In the third inning of the Mets’ grand home opener against San Diego, a tan-colored feline appeared behind home plate, leaped a few times in the general direction of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the Mets dugout.
What kind of omen is that? It was a black cat that crossed the Cubs dugout in 1969, apocryphally sealing the Mets’ bid for a division title at Chicago’s expense. After Monday’s game, this one — bearing the wrong color and heading toward the wrong dugout — could very well be an omen of strange mistakes.
Better starting pitching would have won the Mets the game, which they lost 6-5. But oddball errors were the cause of loss that lingered more clearly after this one ended. In the second inning, Mike Pelfrey’s left cleat became caught in the dirt, causing the pitcher to take a post-delivery tumble. In the sixth, Ryan Church allowed a catchable fly to right field to skim off of his glove. Two batters later, with the Padres’ Luis Rodriguez safe at third but temporarily stranded, reliever Pedro Feliciano balked.
Those two latter errors turned a 5-5 tie into a one-run Padres lead that would not be relinquished. Former Met Heath Bell retired three straight to close out the game.
Costly as they were, the mistakes obscured the real culprit in the Mets’ loss: Pelfrey, who gave up five runs (all earned) in five innings, including a game-opening bomb to Jody Gerut on the third major-league pitch in Citi Field history.
“I just think that I’m not executing pitches, and that’s the name of the game,” Pelfrey said. “The bottom line is that I haven’t been very good the last few starts. I need to be a lot, lot better, and I’m going to be a lot, lot better. … The last two performances [are] nowhere close to where I want to be, or how I envisioned starting the year off.”
“I haven’t seen his real good stuff yet,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel agreed.
The Mets’ loss wastes a memorable home run from David Wright, who went 2-for-3 on Monday despite a slow start to the season. With the Mets trailing 5-2 in the fifth and possessing runners on first and third, he homered to left field, sending Citi Field into a frenzy (and popping up the new Home Run Apple for the first time) that assumed fate was on the Mets’ side.
One inning later, however, the home team was behind again. That tan cat clearly had other ideas.
MAJOR LEAGUE FIRSTS AT CITI FIELD
Hit/Home Run/RBI/Run: Jody Gerut, San Diego CF (first inning)
Strikeout: Mike Pelfrey (first inning, against San Diego LF Chase Headley)
Mets Hit: David Wright (double, first inning)
Mets Home Run: David Wright (fifth inning)
Mets RBI: Luis Castillo (double, second inning)
Mets Run: Brian Schneider (second inning)
