Yanks' Gardner would be great fit for Mets

Yanks' Gardner would be great fit for Mets

Antonelli/News

Brett Gardner would be a lot more valuable to the Mets as their leadoff hitter and center fielder than he is as the No. 9 hitter and left fielder for the Yankees.

PORT ST. LUCIE So the Yankees showed up here on Tuesday without their billion-dollar infield or their star center fielder, and that sort of took the glitter off the first spring training game against the Mets sinc e 1996.

Im aware these games dont count, but if the New York teams are going to bother playing Grapefruit League games against one another, shouldn't the paying customers have some sort of guarantee they'll get to see the big names?

After all, Digital Domain Park, mostly half-full throughout the spring, hadn't been this packed, with standing-room tickets sold to accommodate the demand, in years.

I haven't seen it this full since Darryl and the boys were here, was the way one long-time stadium worker put it.

Actually, the attendance of 7,644 was the highest ever at this ballpark. The demand was such that $ 30 tickets were selling on eBay the last couple of days for as much as $ 200, and $ 20 tickets to sit on the right-field berm were going for $ 60.

There seemed to be as many Yankee fans as Mets fans, but in any case, followers of both teams were obviously excited for this matchup, exhibition game or not.

The scheduling of these games should have been done with more thought, considering the Yankees had a night game on Monday in Miami, which is the reason Joe Girardi said he didnt bring the likes of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson up I-95.

However, they also have an off-day on Thursday before opening the season in nearby St. Petersburg on Friday, while the Mets were busing to Tampa for Wednesday's return match with their full squad, and then flying to New York without an off-day before their season opener on Thursday.

Though many Mets people were grumbling privately, GM Sandy Alderson took only a subtle dig on the issue of the missing stars.

Thats an issue for Major League Baseball, not for us, he said. But I dont know whether Yankees fans are happy to see a Yankee uniform or would prefer to see somebody recognizable in the uniform.

Of course, heres the real problem for the Mets. For all the Yankees who weren't here , it wasn't hard to find one that epitomizes the huge gap between the two teams these days.

Put it this way: How much do you think the Mets could use Brett Gardner?

A solid on-base percentage guy with tremendous speed, Gardner would be a lot more valuable to the Mets as their leadoff hitter and center fielder than he is as the No. 9 hitter and left fielder for the Yankees.