(Neil Miller/Sportsday Wire)
A poetry slam? Maybe, just maybe, Curtis Granderson started a new trend.
After putting the Mets ahead for good with a three run double in the eventual 13-7 win in Game 3, the right fielder motioned to the dugout and quietly snapped his fingers.
Show him the money? No Granderson is not Johnny Manziel.
“Kirk Nieuwenhuis and I have been joking around about spoken word and poetry slams, if you ever attend them, the way you clap, you clap like this,” Granderson said. “So it’s just something that we have been doing, joking around about the quiet calm way to cheer for somebody.”
That may have been the only quiet event in Game 3 for the Mets.
Citi Field was loud and raucous. From the moment the Dodgers and Mets took the field for the opening introductions, the 44,276 in attendance were heard loud and clear. They let the Dodgers know how displeased they were with the actions of Chase Utley and they showed the love to everyone in blue and orange, especially a shortstop ho limped out on a cane.
“We knew going in it was going to be loud, it was going to be a lot of energy. The response when our guys came on the field was unbelievable,” said manager Terry Collins. “Certainly Ruben, him walking out there I thought meant a lot to all the guys on the club and the fanbase. They were tremendous, and when we fell behind they were still 100 percent into it and I think it helped us come back.”
They came back and slayed the beast. Any momentum the Dodgers may have had from Game 2 was left out in Los Angeles. This was Met territory.
It’s the fans who help make the postseason for the Mets. This is their fourth Division Series and they still haven’t lost at home. Citi Field may not have been the nuthouse, wacky shack that Shea Stadium was, but it is proving to me more than just a pretty park. When filled and unleased, Citi is proving to be a weapon the Mets can use on their side.
“I think the fact that it’s the playoffs and it’s in New York, you know, the fans were, you know, from as soon as we all stepped on the field, they were electric,” said starting pitcher Matt Harvey, who went five innings for the win. “And I think they definitely were the tenth man, as you could say, for us, and you know, I know the offense definitely fed off of their emotions, and there’s not much you can say, that they were awesome from pitch one.”
Yankee Stadium lost something as they moved across the street and the Garden renovation took some of the atmosphere away. Barclays Center is proving that it’s not the Old Barn, while I challenge you to find any New York football fan that likes Met Life Stadium over its predecessor.
But the Citi seems to be on the Mets side. Unlike Yankee Stadium, which was built for corporations, the Mets home is a people’s park. The fans in the stands seemed to be true baseball fans, going to the game to support the Mets.
It’s what baseball is supposed to be.
It’s been seven years since Citi Field opened and sometimes you had to wonder if the park would ever see its full potential.
Tonight, in its first playoff game it did.
Let’s hope it carries over until tomorrow.
Keep the poetry slam going.
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