Here we are at the first stir-crazy point of spring training, the first afternoon that 1:30 rolls around and you think, “Can't they televise a split-squad game or something?” At least a week from now they actually will play a game. It'll even be an actual game, at least by spring training's low standards. It'll even be televised. It'll even be on ESPN.
Yeah, I know, it'll only be on ESPN because it's the Nationals' first-ever game, but I'm still thinking of it as a Met game. I'm glad we got to see the Expos' final game ever (forever known in the Hietpas household as Young Joe's debut), but I'll be a heckuva lot more glad to see that first Nats game, if only because I didn't have to wait four months to see a baseball game before that last Expos affair.
Trivia question: Who was the last player to play baseball in an Expos uniform? (Answer below)
One reason I'm happy to see Pedro on the mound is somewhat shameful: He will hit people with a baseball in situations that call for people to be hit with baseballs. This will be a welcome change — I'm still steamed about Bobby Jones' turning the other cheek after Steve Avery hit Jose Vizcaino, let alone Shawn Estes' missing the Antichrist (just aim for the middle “6,” for Chrissakes) or Glendon Rusch hitting Tino in the ass with a palmball after said Antichrist tried to decapitate Piazza. Try that with Pedro and yeah, he probably will blow your head off. And what's wrong with that? Good old-fashioned country hardball in my book, particularly now that the guy's wearing our uni. As Mike told the papers, he's an SOB out there on the mound. (Star-Ledger customers, who apparently are thought to be shrinking violets, read that he's a tough customer.)
In fact, I was at what I'm pretty sure was the last regular-season Met fight. (Apologies if you were too.) A Google search indicates it was May 11, 1996: Pete Harnisch felt Scott Servais's attitude would be improved by punching him, leading to 18 minutes of mayhem with the crowd chanting “Let's Go Mets!” and John Franco getting ejected on John Franco Day, which is pretty priceless. As befits Shea's silly prudery, there was no mention of the ejections, leaving us all to resort to radios to figure out why our closer wasn't coming into a razor-tight game. Pretty good game — Rico Brogna won it with a homer in the 9th — and somehow the Republic continued to stand.
(Piazza's freakout at Guillermo Mota doesn't count, because it was spring training and he didn't catch him. No onus attaches to new favorite Heath Bell for peaceability, however: He was ordered not to retaliate by Lights Up the Room, and looked unhappy about it.)
Postscript to John Franco Day: Our friend Chris was there, and in the early innings he was explaining how a staggeringly high percentage of the games he attended featured on-field fights. (He's a Boston fan who goes to Yankee Stadium, so there should be an asterisk.) When Harnisch punched Servais, Emily and I looked at him and he shrugged and said, “I'm the Human Fight,” a nickname he retains to this day.
Random news gleanings: Philip Humber is the winner of spring's First Rave That Means Nothing — he is (brace yourself) Throwing the Ball Really Well. Oh good.
Answer to trivia question: Brad Wilkerson went on MLB's tour of Japan as an Expo last fall. There's a doomy short story in there somewhere.
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