Padres Spoil Mets First Series In New Home

For the Mets, everything was set up perfect. New ballpark and a doormat coming to town to open it with a sweep. At least, that was the script if you cared to believe the hype. But something went wrong.The San Diego Padres continue to defy expectations. The writers, amateur and professional, thought it would take 20 games for the Friars to win 7. Especially considering that three of their first four series (Next up, the World Champs) were against teams expected to fight for division titles. Even the Giants were expected to beat up on the Padres, especially with Cy Young winners starting two of the three games.Opening night at Citi Field, and the ballpark opens the way no other ever has. Jody Gerut hits a dinger on the third pitch of the night. And Adrian Gonzalez hit a shot too. At one point, the Friars led 5-1. But according to ESPN and most of the post-game interviews, the first five runs the Pads scored were meaningless. The game turned on a balk. Which became the latest in a long line of conspiracy theories. Somehow, everytime San Diego gets the better of a New York team, there's an excuse. In this case, David Eckstein saw a balk and started yelling about it. Which, if a Met had been at the plate, would have been called the ultimate in awareness and smart baseball. But no, since it was a Padre (or lets face it, any player for any team except a Met) it somehow becomes cheating.Hmmm, lets see what was said about it."If you watch the replay," New York catcher Brian Schneider said following the game, "Eckstein saw it and started jumping and pointing, pointing, pointing. And then Bruce called it." (MLB.com)Okay, wait a second Perry Mason. Eckstein saw what? Oh, right. The Balk. The one everyone admits the umpire was correct to call. So because Eckstein saw it too, it shouldn't count? Fine. So then because Eckstein struck out, you got jobbed? Oh wait. Eckstein doubled. Gentlemen, those grapes belong in candy, not wine. Like, sour warheads candy.Padres win, 6-5.Then the Mets got the middle game... and lets give credit, they got it because they took great advantage of an opportunity. And even if you have the taste of something like the grapes from the night before in your mouth when you say it, you have to admit that Jose Reyes is an exciting player. I mean, scoring from first on a passed ball? Wow. And that was no wild pitch. Wild pitches don't deflect off a glove at shoulder height. That one should have gone against Nick Hundley. But at least Adrian homered again. Mets win, 7-3.Tonight, the Friars were down three nothing after Jake Peavy gave up an early home run. But they came back and put up a five spot in the third on the way to taking the series. Jody Gerut got things started again, with other contributions coming from Eckstein the Pest, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Chase Headley. And, like the first night, Heath Bell got the save. Padres win, 6-5.So after 10 games the Padres are where no one expected them to be. 7-3 and in first place. Yeah, like everyone else, I have to admit I am waiting for the wheels to come off. But lets start to give some ideas to crow recipes. Because these guys are playing well. They have not been winning with flukes, they have been winning with solid ballplaying. No one is hitting .750. No one has thrown shutouts. No, the manner in which this team is winning games is sustainable. We aren't going to go 159-3, despite fun text messages from friends drunk on the sweet wine of early positive returns. We aren't even going to win the 110 games that projecting this record would indicate. Heath Bell will blow some saves. We will strand runners. We will make errors.But Adrian might hit the 45 dingers he is on pace for...or at least 30. Jake might win 17 or 18 games. And we might all love David Eckstein. And maybe, just maybe... we will have enough respect that the Mets announcers will call us the Padres instead of the Pirates and remember that the team Greg Vaughn hit 50 home runs for was the opponent currently on the field, not the Devil Rays.