{"id":281,"date":"2012-04-25T18:22:34","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T22:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=281"},"modified":"2012-04-26T18:08:59","modified_gmt":"2012-04-26T22:08:59","slug":"281","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=281","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The professional athlete I have admired most during my stretch as a sports fan here in New York came back to town Tuesday night for the first time since he was cast aside by Met owner Fred Wilpon.<\/p>\n

Jose Reyes wore the Met uniform for nine seasons.\u00a0 He was plucked from the Dominican Republic as a sixteen-year-old and spent the next dozen years in the organization.\u00a0 Reyes loved it here.\u00a0 He basically grew up here.\u00a0 He wore a smile to the ballpark and never got into trouble.\u00a0 Reyes flashed eye-popping speed running the bases and was an electric defensive player.\u00a0 He was largely responsible for building the team\u2019s Hispanic fan base which made for a much more enriching experience in the stands on most nights.\u00a0 He also taught us English speakers a bit of Spanish during nightly lessons broadcast on the video board in center field.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the expiration of a below-market long-term deal Reyes signed before becoming arbitration eligible coincided with Wilpon\u2019s darkest hour.\u00a0 Reyes most certainly would have stayed had it not been for Wilpon\u2019s entanglement in the Madoff mess.\u00a0 After becoming the first Met to ever win a batting title last season, Reyes signed a six-year, $106 million deal with Miami.\u00a0 He never received an offer or match attempt from the Mets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I circled this date on the Met schedule long ago because I wanted to welcome Jose back.\u00a0 I arrived when the gates opened and got as close to the Marlins dugout as is allowed to watch him take BP.\u00a0 A group of about 50 Met fans gathered down the third base line and serenaded Reyes with \u201cJo-se, Jo-se, Jo-se-Jo-se, Jo-se\u2026Jo-se\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Other fans heckled Reyes and lobbed insults at the kids embracing the return of the best shortstop in franchise history.<\/p>\n

It was a windy, chilly night.\u00a0 The crowd was really small considering the significant buildup in advance of the Reyes return.<\/p>\n

The announced attendance number was 20192 but that figure is what the Mets say is the number of \u201ctickets sold.\u201d\u00a0 There couldn\u2019t have been more than 15-thousand people on hand.\u00a0 The seats behind home plate were occupied by just a scattered few bodies.\u00a0 Empties outnumbered fulls in those seats by a 20 to 1 ratio.<\/p>\n

Most newspaper accounts of the game indicated Reyes was heavily booed when he led off the game.\u00a0 The Post\u2019s Kevin Kernan wrote that the ratio of boos to cheers was 95 to 5.\u00a0 That\u2019s nonsense.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d put the ratio at 60-40 in favor of Reyes.\u00a0 Whatever it was, I don\u2019t get why any Met fan would be anything but openly thankful for the half career we got from Jose before he was pushed out by an owner forced to cut payroll.<\/p>\n

Yeah, Reyes missed portions of the last three seasons with bad hammies.\u00a0 And yeah, the way he backed into the batting title on the final afternoon of the 2011 season was disappointing.\u00a0 But Reyes was a great Met and I\u2019ll forever remember him fondly.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Marlins are probably gonna be a good fit for Jose.\u00a0 The team is loaded with colorful characters.\u00a0 None more so than new manager Ozzie Guillen.\u00a0 Now two weeks removed from the Fidel Castro remarks, Ozzie must find a way to put a clamp on his non-baseball on-the-record commentary.\u00a0 He\u2019ll win games with that team for sure.\u00a0 But his mouth gets him in trouble when he explores other subjects with those gathered around him.<\/p>\n

A sixty-second video tribute to Reyes came just before first pitch.\u00a0 Johan Santana struck out 11 in just six and two-thirds.\u00a0 His fastball topped out at 89.\u00a0 I can\u2019t explain why Johan was so effective last night.\u00a0 His velocity was nothing special.\u00a0 He dotted the corners and had some movement but didn\u2019t appear to have dominant stuff.<\/p>\n

Josh Johnson had 9 K\u2019s for the Fish.\u00a0 Former Met Dave Kingman was at the game.<\/p>\n

This was my first look at the structural modifications made in the outfield to reduce dimensions at Citi Field.\u00a0 Most hideous is the new party deck in left field in front of what was once called the Great Wall of Flushing.\u00a0 A shoddy-looking platform and wall is now erected on what used to be the LF warning track.\u00a0 Fans occupy the narrow strip but it looks awful.\u00a0 It\u2019s just thrown up there.\u00a0 I would have stuck with the original pitcher-friendly dimensions and built the team around young arms and defense.\u00a0 Instead, the Mets caved to the concerns of David Wright who may not even stick around long enough to gain a full season of benefit from the easier-to-reach fences.<\/p>\n

When I reached the box office before the game, I asked for the cheapest ticket available.\u00a0 I was handed a \u201cpromenade level\u201d seat for $15.\u00a0 I ended up watching the first half of the game in the right field overhang.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that ushers don\u2019t interfere with efforts to sit there regardless of one\u2019s seat assignment.<\/p>\n

With a stiff wind in my face, I looked for a warmer part of the park after five innings.\u00a0 I ended up in a Caesars Box down the first base line.\u00a0 Accessing this area requires a ticket proving you belong but I found a locked door propped open slightly and was good to go.<\/p>\n

Before the game, I had a single patty Shake Shack burger ($6.50) and a Czechvar ($8.50) in the center field food court.\u00a0 As far as ballpark food goes, the Shake Shack burger is as good a value as you can get if you find yourself forced to eat at the game.\u00a0 Everything about it is done with flair.\u00a0 The bun is toasted.\u00a0 The patty is substantial and flavorful.\u00a0 The special sauce is unique.\u00a0 It\u2019s served wrapped in paper in a small box with half the sandwich sticking out.\u00a0 I usually try to save all my shekels for cold brew but it\u2019s hard to pass on food at Citi given the solid number of options.<\/p>\n

One notable change in 2012:\u00a0 Beer sellers are handing you the sixteen-ounce can without pouring it into a cup.\u00a0 Domestics are $8.\u00a0 I much prefer handling the can vs. a cup and so I view this as a positive development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The professional athlete I have admired most during my stretch as a sports fan here in New York came back to town Tuesday night for the first time since he was cast aside by Met owner Fred Wilpon. Jose Reyes … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[54],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s28tEv-281","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}