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March 08, 2007
West Will Not Meet East, And Vice-Versa
Why the Yankees and Mets don't play each other in the spring...from The Record:
So if the Mets were willing to go coast to coast to see the Red Sox, why didn't they make the ride to Tampa instead? Because the Mets and Yankees already face each other six times every summer during interleague play.
And even if they were interested, the Yankees say they have no appetite for the 155-mile ride to St. Lucie.
"If the Mets want to come here, that's fine, but I'm not going there," said Yankees GM Brian Cashman. "I had one year where Kevin Brown came up with a bad back because of a long bus ride, so it's something you try to avoid as much as you can."
As someone who has been trapped in the car for three-hours at a clip, I can understand why people try to avoid 155-mile rides.
But, here's an idea: Why not meet somewhere in the middle and play? There is a park in Winter Haven that's used by the Indians (for now). Maybe the teams could work out a deal for the Yanks and Mets to use that park for some games? That's a one-hour drive for the Yankees and a 2-hour drive for the Yankees. Sure, the Mets get the short-end on this one. But, they're the one with the issue of being on Florida's east coast - where there's fewer teams to play.
Then again, the Yankees don't need this - they have enough teams to play and they sell out all their games in Tampa. So, basically, it's the Mets problem - and probably the reason why we will not see these teams play against each other in Spring Training ever again.
Posted by Steve Lombardi at March 8, 2007 12:40 PM
Comments
Ugh, I hate 6 Yankees - Mets games a year. I would much rather have it be one 3 game series, alternating parks. Too much hype.
Posted by: rbj ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.waswatching.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 8, 2007 01:57 PM
Why did the Mets leave St. Pete in the early 1990's? If they wanted to own their own ballpark, weren't there plenty of places on the Gulf coast that they could've picked over the very remote location of Port St. Lucie?
Posted by: MJ at March 8, 2007 03:00 PM
Thanks for coming back love the blog. I just found it and now i depend on it.
Posted by: ls at March 8, 2007 04:31 PM
Six games is enough. Spring training doesn't need Yanks vs Mets.
Posted by: Ghostwheel at March 8, 2007 08:16 PM
Why did the Mets leave St. Pete in the early 1990's?
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That's a good question, I haven't been able to find anything on the matter. I suspect the Mets wanted their own facility? Or Port St. Lucie offered the best incentive for the Mets to move?
Posted by: Raf at March 8, 2007 10:39 PM