The Year Long Ovation

It was just about one year ago, coincidentally a weeknight game against the San Diego Padres, when Met fans started saying thanks to their future hall of fame catcher after a two run home run (with the help of a butchered ball in center field by Padres center fielder Xavier Nady, you know, as long as we're going down memory lane here). The ovation that night...that I was a part of in the stands...wasn't your garden variety "thanks for the dinger, Mike" that he had known for the better part of seven plus seasons. That ovation was different. That ovation was the start of the Mike Piazza farewell tour.

It lasted all the way through tonight.

Tonight's game was certainly not reminiscent of Eddie Giacomin's return to the Garden as a Red Wing in November of 1975, when chants of "Ed-die! Ed-die" punctuated a virtual Red Wings home game at Madison Square Garden after Giacomin felt the ultimate indignity by being put on waivers, nothing gained in return for the then bumbling New York franchise. Thankfully through the Mets' success this season, it didn't go that far...because even though nothing was gained by the Mets in exchange for Piazza either, there was an understanding by all parties that it was best for everyone...Piazza included. And tonight there was nothing but love for all involved...as it should have been. But mostly for Piazza.

Why it was even a question as to whether Piazza was going to be received warmly is beyond me. For all he's done for the New York Mets franchise, he's family. And when family comes home you clean the house, you stock the refrigerator, you wheel out the rollaway bed, you get out their favorite CD's (some Jimi Hendrix, perhaps) and you make family feel welcome. He got an ovation before the game. He got an ovation when he took his position in the field. He got an ovation before his first at bat to the familiar strains of Hendrix's "Voodoo Child". He got an ovation before his second at bat, when with second and third, he had a chance to perform some actual damage on the franchise that provided his paychecks with runners on second and third.

It was Mike Piazza's third at bat that Met fans proved they have enough love for everyone. First, another ovation for Piazza in his Padre surf and sand ensemble (yes, the color that adorns Piazza's pants is actually called "sand"). Then, a moment for the man who replaced him, which flew in the face of what is now known as conventional journalism. Paulie Undertaker received his very own "PAUL-lo-DUC-a" chant after throwing out Brian Giles attempting to steal second. Tonight, the first home game for Lo Duca since he was stung by the pesky bee that is tabloid journalism, and Met fans gave him a little extra something to tell him that although Piazza is forever a Met, Paulie is a Met right now, and through the adversity he's facing now that they've got his back...just as it would be on the streets of Brooklyn when sometimes all you had was your friends.

I'm sure it was a moment Piazza, standing practically next to Lo Duca, could appreciate as it was once Piazza who the tabloids attempted to use to sell newspapers. Next pitch, Piazza lines one to center for his first Padre hit at Shea Stadium...and once again it was love for Mike Piazza as his name was chanted as well. It was five minutes that provided a perfect parallel of past and present.

Future was present tonight too. After all, there are no boundaries when love intersects with baseball. So David Wright not only drove in the tying and winning runs tonight, but he and his partner in expectation Jose Reyes both did what any red-blooded American male would do. They stole bases on Mike Piazza.

But that hardly mattered.

What mattered was that a long lost family member came home...and the year long ovation continues.