Reflections from Port St. Lucie

[Editor’s Note: In conjunction with our Citi Field preview, we asked Brian Erni, a Courier reader and avid Mets fan with Whitestone roots, to share a few of his thoughts from Mets spring training.]
There is something different about a spring training trip than any other type of vacation. More a pilgrimage than a mere result of a flight and hotel accommodations, fans flock religiously to see their favorite team prepare for the upcoming season. I myself have made the journey 10 times in my brief two and a half decades of life, this being the ninth season in a row I’ve traipsed around the Sunshine State to watch my beloved New York Mets. And whether it’s the air of divinity around the return of live baseball, the unfettered access to the players or being the first of your friends with a tan, there is simply nothing else like it.
A day after a Southwest jet got me to Tampa International Airport, I was on my way to my first game of the spring, where memories of my first Grapefruit League excursion in 1996 came flowing to my mind on the car ride to my first destination, Ed Smith Stadium. Back then, it was the thrill of a lifetime when I was chosen to become Mets bat boy for a day. Putting on my heroes’ uniform, picking out Jose Vizcaino’s bat, getting my chubby 11-year-old belly pinched by John Franco — it was all I had ever dreamed of. Only something like this could happen in a place where, on a typical day, hot dogs consumed outnumbers work e-mails read. If Ray Liotta’s Shoeless Joe Jackson from Field of Dreams delivered his “Is this Heaven?” line, it would have been apropos.
But nearly a decade and a half later, those memories gave way to five spring games this year for which, as a Mets fan, there was business to take care of. The goal: scouting for 2009. My first Saturday in Sarasota, the Cincinnati Reds took on the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays, and I gathered as much intelligence as I could on the Mets’ first regular season opponent. Note to New York: jump on Bronson Arroyo early and often.
And speaking of those Mets, a home-and-home with the Atlanta Braves (and a couple of two-hour car rides) was next on my docket. Mets-Braves games at Disney’s Wide World of Sports have been a staple of my past nine trips down, and they’ve offered a ton of memories. In 2002, I sat in front of Steve Phillips while we watched a young Angel Pagan in front of the Lake Buena Vista crowd. “He can fly,” I remember Phillips saying. “Just needs to figure out how to steal first base.” (As many Mets fans now know, Pagan solved that problem in his last few big league seasons, carving out bench jobs with the Cubs and Mets. Now if only he could stay healthy.)
Another former Mets general manager, Jim Duquette, set aside close to 15 minutes to chitchat with me before a game there in 2004. If the National Anthem hadn’t cut off our conversation, I’m not sure we would have stopped before the third inning. I told him I wouldn’t hold the Kazmir trade against him forever. I’m still trying to hold up my end of that promise.
Anyway, in front of over 8,000 fans at Champions Field, the Mets lost to their division rivals, 5-1. And just as each spring training trip has its own unique story, this one evolved into the battle for the coveted fifth starter’s spot in New York’s rotation. Jonathon Niese put together five strong innings, surrendering only a two-run home run to the presumed Atlanta starting centerfielder and Rookie of the Year candidate Josh Anderson. Daniel Murphy hit the cover off the ball to the tune of 3-4, even making noise on a hard line out to deep centerfield that Anderson tracked down with a route that would make Magellan look like he had sailed a day.
The next day at Tradition Field, the race escalated, where Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia both took the hill. Livan’s solid five innings of one-run ball was followed by a mashing of Garcia so bad it looked like all he needed was an L-screen to complete the effect of his throwing batting practice. It became evident who was the front runner; since then, both Niese and Garcia have been reassigned to minor league camp.
At the end of the week, though, it wasn’t the positions won and lost or the runners left in scoring position that really mattered. It was baseball debates in the sun between perfect strangers, the amount of hot dogs consumed and — for the first time this year! — the feeling of standing up and willing a ball to go over the fence. This tradition, along with its beautiful weather and scenic sights, is host to a love for the game and a hope for a new season that is unrivaled anywhere else is the sports world. It’s where the story begins. It’s the reintroduction to your family for the next six months. Quite simply, it’s Heaven.