Silly Mutt fans.

 

With Delgado in camp, the story line changes

Thursday, February 23, 2006

BY DON BURKE

Star-Ledger Staff

 

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Carlos Delgado's new wife remembers the reaction her then fianc? got from Mets fans when he made his first appearance here at Tradition Field as a member of the Florida Marlins last spring.

 

A few months earlier, Delgado had spurned a more lucrative offer from the Mets to sign with the Marlins, saying he chose Florida because Miami was more convenient to his home in Puerto Rico and because he believed the Marlins were closer to qualifying for the playoffs.

 

As Betzaida Garcia walked from her car to her seat inside the stadium that day last March, she could hear a great deal of noise. Delgado said she laughingly recalled that moment when the couple arrived in town on Tuesday.

 

"She said, 'Wow, they're booing the hell out of someone in there,'" the first baseman said yesterday morning, his first day in a Mets uniform. "Sure enough, my name was on the scoreboard and I'm coming up to bat."

 

The reaction figures to be decidedly different this time around.

 

Branded as a villain last season for his decision to sign with the Marlins and his continued refusal to stand for the seventh-inning playing of "God Bless America," Delgado is a member of the Mets now. All is presumably forgiven.

 

"That's one thing about New York and I love it -- they're fanatic," he said. "They're passionate about everything they do. And you've got to respect that. When you're on the receiving end (of the boos), it's not that much fun. So, hopefully, when you're on the same side of the fence, it will be better."

 

Delgado, of course, controls much of that.

 

He has already said he will be on the field for the playing of the national anthem and "God Bless America," per club policy. The rest will be determined by how well he performs once he's on the field.

 

Mets fans cut Delgado's close friend Carlos Beltran plenty of slack last season before turning on him for his season-long lack of production. Delgado's bat, which has never produced fewer than 25 home runs in any of his previous 10 major-league seasons, will speak the final word about how well he is treated by Mets fans.

 

His teammates, those who know him already, love him. Delgado spent a good deal of time sitting on a stool in the back of the clubhouse after yesterday's workout swapping baseball stories with new teammates Bret Boone and Billy Wagner.

 

"He brings a lot to a team," said Chris Woodward, Delgado's teammate with the Toronto Blue Jays from 1999-2004. "It's not just the numbers he puts up. But he brings a little bit of an attitude, a presence a lot of our younger guys can benefit from. It's not only what he does at the plate, but how he conducts himself on and off the field."

 

But Delgado, who batted .301 with 33 homers and 115 RBI last season, cautioned that he's no savior.

 

"There's no such thing as the missing piece (of the puzzle)," he said. "I'm just glad they brought me over. ... If everybody realizes that they've got a job to do then nobody has to say, 'Wow, I need to carry the ballclub.' People perform better when they're a little bit more relaxed and when they're not under pressure."

 

And while he was careful not to downplay the difference between playing in New York and playing in baseball-blas? Miami and hockey- crazed Toronto, Delgado didn't sound as if he thought the transition would pose much of a problem.

 

"I'm just going to play the same game that I've been playing since I was a little kid," said Delgado, who plans to live in Manhattan. "Obviously, it's going to be a learning process. ... But, at the end of the day, we're here to play baseball. So I'm going to concentrate on playing baseball and the other stuff, we'll take care of that later."

 

A two-time All-Star with 369 lifetime home runs, Delgado said one of his remaining goals is to reach the postseason for the first time, and he believes the Mets have a "legitimate chance."

 

"I'm not going to be the guy saying, 'I think we're going to be great. We're going to win,'" he said. "Let's execute. Let's get it done on the field because that's where you get it done."

 

His winter was a whirlwind. He and Betzaida were married in early December, just a few days after his introductory press conference at Shea Stadium. There was the honeymoon. Christmas. On Tuesday night, Delgado found himself pushing a shopping cart up and down the aisles of a local supermarket. Early yesterday morning he was back in uniform.

 

"Things were pretty hectic," he said. "But I wouldn't want it any other way. What can I tell you? Life is good. I can't complain.

 

"But today was nice. Nice to finally come out and get into kind of an organized routine. I always say the first day of spring training, you put your uniform on and you don't take it off until October."

 

Late October, if Delgado and the Mets have their way.

 

http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?...3420.xml&coll=1

It's just like Damon in NY, fans will quickly forget all about the past when players are traded/signed.

Ya gotta love sports fans.

Eh, if more people down here cared I'm sure it would be different but the vocal minority is vastly outweighed by the indifferent majority.

 

I can't say that I blame anyone for wanting to play in a market like New York, and I have to give it to the fans that love the hell out of their players, and truly use spring as a 'fresh start,' even if it is hypcritical...I mean, that's what sports are all about, right?

Bleh, the guy signed with us to be near his home, and lost money in the process....And what did we do? We traded him.

 

It's bogus to think that management didn't realize something drastic would need to be done in order to compensate for the lost earnings...

 

I just can't believe they would go out and sign someone so huge if they knew this would happen. It just pisses me off everytime i think about it.

I root for the laundry.

lost money in the process

No, he didn't. The change in income tax are being paid for.

 

 

Had the 2005 Marlins won, drawn well or had any prospect of doing either in the immediate future, I'm sure Loria wouldn't have had a change a heart and Delgado and most of the players would still be here. However, the 2005 team didn't win, draw fans and showed no sign of succeeding in the team's goal - winning a World Series - any time soon. So they took the steps to right the club's problems, on and off the field. They took a risk in 05 and lost. That they were able to walk away from the table and did so is nothing to crucify them over. Nor is the risk they took.

I agree with Rferry