There were questions to answer. They itched to prove their doubters wrong.
For one game, the first one of the season, they did just that. Their ace, Johan Santana, pitched five smooth innings. Their franchise face, David Wright, reached base three times and drove in the winning run. Their bullpen, redesigned over the winter, combined for four scoreless innings.
Under a blue sky unblemished by clouds, the Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 1-0, in front of an opening day crowd of 42,080 at Citi Field.
Now there are just 161 more games to go.
Like college students returning home to find their childhood bedrooms redecorated, the Mets spent some time Thursday morning acclimating themselves to the significant aesthetic changes at Citi Field.
After playing their final spring training game Wednesday in Tampa, Fla., the Mets were getting their first look at the new outfield wall. From the field, the decreased space of the playing surface was easily perceptible and difficult to ignore. Several Mets echoed the same sentiment, that the walls were "right on top of you."
Jason Bay, one of the players who may benefit from the new dimensions, focused onlookers' eyes toward the new left-field fence in the sixth inning when he launched a ball in the general direction of the new porch of seats there. The ball hung in the air — and fans seemed to hold their breath — before it fell for an out on the warning track.
Otherwise, the walls were not a factor in the game.
Meanwhile, the lingering doubts about Santana's surgically repaired left shoulder were dissolved for at least one day after his clean, five-inning performance.
Making his first start for the Mets in 573 days, Santana allowed just two hits and did not give up a run, while striking out five Braves. He left the game after throwing 84 pitches.
Santana's momentum briefly ground to a halt with two outs in the fifth. With Matt Diaz standing on second, Santana issued full-count walks to the Braves' eighth and ninth hitters, loading the bases and drawing Dan Warthen, the Mets' pitching coach, to the mound. The crowd cheered wildly as Michael Bourn grounded meekly to Santana for the third out.
After parrying that threat, the Mets countered in the bottom of the inning, putting runners on first and second and sending Mike Baxter to pinch-hit for Santana. But Baxter, who won a job during spring training to be the Mets' left-handed hitter off the bench, looked at three straight strikes from Tommy Hanson (0-1), allowing the scoring opportunity to fizzle.
Against Hanson in the sixth, Andres Torres walked to start the inning and raced to third when Daniel Murphy pulled a single to right field. Wright, who missed significant time during spring training with a strained oblique muscle, laced a single to left to score Torres and give his team a 1-0 lead.
But Torres went on to become the only negative symbol of the game when he limped off the field, accompanied by Ray Ramirez, the Mets' trainer, after he tried to chase down Tyler Pastornicky's line-drive triple in the seventh. The Mets said during the game that he had strained his left calf muscle, the same injury that forced him to miss significant time in spring training.
The game ended how the Mets' front office imagined it could, with the three new faces in their bullpen, Ramon Ramirez, Jon Rauch and closer Frank Francisco, combining with Tim Byrdak to silence the Braves through the last four innings.
Despite the win, the Mets' 51st season — they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their inaugural year — began on a solemn note.
The family of Gary Carter, the former Mets catcher who died Feb. 16 of brain cancer, stood on the field for a moment of silence, then helped unveil a printed logo featuring the No. 8 and Carter's nickname, Kid, on the left-field wall.
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