By Christina Kelly
While winter in New York makes baseball seem a far-off (and often painful) memory, the 2009 season has become a reality in Florida with the commencement of Mets and Yankees Spring Training last week.
The Mets’ Oliver Perez and the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang pitched 2 innings of shutout ball in their debuts.
The Mets’ first three wins of spring training were due in a large part to an explosion of offensive production. In these games, the Mets scored a total of 31 runs, with grand slams by Jose Reyes and Brian Schneider. In the Yankees’ first two wins, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada went deep.
Hofstra sophomore Jodie Abelson, an education major, wants to feel good about what the Mets have to offer, but is playing it safe.
“I am cautiously optimistic. The bullpen has improved, but I’m concerned that Delgado might not have as good of a year as last year. Also, I’m concerned about Ryan Church’s health and the left field situation with Murphy and Tatis,” said Abelson.
Jessica Saponieri, a junior and an English major, believes that Yankees fans have a lot to talk about, and she’s not just speaking of the controversy surrounding A-Rod.
“The clean slate a team gets every year is what keeps fans coming back for more. I think with the addition of CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett, this really could be then Yankees year,” Saponieri said.
While Spring Training may be only a week old, many of the Mets and Yankees will be departing to open the World Baseball Classic beginning Thursday.
Nine Mets players including Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado (Puerto Rico), Jose Reyes (Dominican Republic), and David Wright (US) as well as starting pitcher Oliver Perez (Mexico) relief pitcher J.J. Putz (US) will be facing off in this global competition.
The Yankees will send seven players including Derek Jeter (US), Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano and Jose Veras (DR) and Francisco Cervelli (Italy).
For the next three weeks, these teammates will have to put their blue and orange or blue and grey pinstripes in a locker and don their individual country colors. The opposite world that seems to be the World Baseball Classic will have David Wright looking to his left to be greeted by Derek Jeter at shortstop, while Alex Rodriguez’s counterpart will be Jose Reyes.
The WBC falling so close to the season has always been a hotly debated issue, yet both Abelson and Saponieri agree that they are looking forward to seeing their favorite New York stars play these upcoming weeks.
“I think fielding players can get hurt just as easily during spring training, though I feel like the WBC puts more pressure on the pitchers than spring training does,” said Abelson. This is the explanation the Mets gave for Johan Santana declining his invitation to participate.
Whether it’s in the next few weeks or the next six months, New York Baseball has a lot in store for the 2009 season.