Day 1 - March 06, 2013 - Mets-Team Venezuela @ Port St. Lucie
First day in camp. It was pretty quiet in the morning. Early start time, I didn't try to head out to the back fields in the morning. I'll be here for 5 more home games and 2 days without a home game, so I don't care about missing it today. For all I know, they didn't have it this morning. Batting Practice is a more quiet time since the Mets hardly hit inside the stadium where the fans are. A couple of autograph opportunities right before the game, but I don't push in like I used to, and I didn't get anything. I think it was Colin Cowgill and Marlon Bird and John Buck signing.
On to the game, and my first chance to watch the Mets in person in 2013. Jon Niese started, got hit around, the bullpen wasn't helping, the Mets weren't hitting initially, and they were down big. Then they started to come back and at least make it interesting. The ball was moving out to right (Miguel Cabrera of Team Venezuela hit one over the awning beyond the RF berm). In the end, the Mets lost 14-10.
For as much as they looked over-matched against Team Venezuela, we have to remember that one team is a team of top players all playing together getting ready for a tournament in 2 days, and the other team, for as much as we joke about them being a AAA team at best, is a team playing a mix of regulars and bench players, and later in the game, real minor leaguers, that is getting ready for a season that doesn't start for about 3 1/2 weeks, so I would have expected Venezuela to beat the Mets (and any WBC team competing against an MLB team right now to do the same).
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