FINEST & AMAZIN’
Mets pay tribute to slain cops
The Mets went to bat for the families of two slain New York City police officers at the team’s home opener Monday at Citi Field.
A crowd of 43,947 fans stood and cheered when the images of Detectives Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shown on the scoreboard ( below) before the game, a 20 Mets victory over Philly.
Liu and Ramos were in a patrol car in Brooklyn last December when they were gunned down at pointblank range by a manwho said he was targeting cops as revenge for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown at the hands of police.
Ramos’ two sons, Justin and Jaden ( inset from left, fighting back
tears), and their mother, Maritza ( in blue jersey), joined Liu’s widow, Sanny Chen ( far left), and parents to throw out ceremonial first pitches to Mets stars David Wright, Matt Harvey and Curtis Granderson.
Moments earlier, more than 150 NYPD officers unfurled a giant American flag in the outfield as Aviation Unit helicopters did a flyover.
Mayor de Blasio, who joined them on the field, didn’t get as much love from the crowd. He was booed, as he was last year.
The mayor’s relationship with police has been strained in the wake of the Liu and Ramos murders. Cops even turned their backs on him at the funerals.
THE FRANCHISE that gave us “Ya Gotta Believe” believes again. And it starts at the top. “I’m excited about this team, and I’m hopeful,” Fred Wilpon told The Post in his first public remarks in two years after the Mets’ 2- 0 homeopening win over the Phillies in front of a regular- season record Citi Field crowd.
As Wilpon walked through the bowels of Citi Field, I asked if he could tell from the body language of his Mets that they believe in themselves.
“I was there all spring training; I was there six weeks,” he said. “And they have real confidence — not just, ‘ Well it’s spring training, we have to have confidence.’
“And I don’t ever remember a team that had more character.
“People with talent and character. Character counts.”
What he sees on the field, of course, is far better than what he sees outside the stadium, where a “Ya Gotta Leave” billboard implores him to sell his beloved team he will never sell. Not after all these years of misery. It starts at the top and trickles down into the manager’s office and dugout.
“You sense it more in the dugout,” Terry Collins told The Post. “If something happens, one of the first things you’ll hear is, ‘ Hey let’s go jump on ’ em, let’s go jump on ’ em,’ when someone makes an error. ... The first thing is, ‘ This is how we’re gonna win.’ And, true enough, they score a run.”
A run that Jacob deGrom and the bullpen made stand up.
“The other day in Washington, when [ Ian] Desmond made the error, first thing you heard, ‘ Hey let’s go, let’s make this hurt,’ ” Collins said.
And last year you wouldn’t hear that?
“Yeah, you wouldn’t hear it,” Collins said, “and nowyou are.”
What we witnessed Monday is the union of a high- fiving, chestbumping fan base and a baseball team that is sick and tired of being sick and tired and hungers for October baseball again. No one more than David Wright, 32 years old all of a sudden.
“It just makes you that much more hungry to get back to what it felt like in 2006, running out at Shea Stadium with the place packed, and Shea Stadium swaying back and forth. ... It just pushes you and motivates you that much more ’ cause you get a little taste of it and youwant more,” Wright said.
The Mets are only 4- 3. They aren’t reminding anyone of any Flushing Lumber Co. They have yet to establish Citi Field as a place no one wants to visit. But you have to start somewhere. But maybe it’s already started.
It is about walking the talk now for these Mets. It always helps when you can follow de Grom with Matt Harvey.
“Talk isn’t true confidence, true confidence is you gain that by going out there and becoming good at winning,” Wright said. The chicken or the egg. “It’s that old adage, ‘ What comes first, confidence or winning? Does winning breed confidence or does confidence breed winning?’ ” Michael Cuddyer said.
Confidence comes from de Grom toughing out 6 1/ 3 scoreless innings without his best stuff ... pouncing
on a bunt and throwing to third for the force ... closer Jeurys Familia inducing a 3- 6- 1 Grady Sizemore double play in the ninth that gave Cuddyer chills when he saw euphoria in the stands.
The genesis of “Ya Gotta Believe” came in spring training.
“We had a couple of meetings in spring training, where different guys stood up, that they never did in the past, and said: ‘ Listen, we’re good enough,’ ” Collins said. “Cuddyer said it, David said it, Grandy [ Curtis Granderson] said it. ... You start to pay attention because hey, these guys believe, and if the stars believe, if you’re a young player, you better believe in yourself and you better believe that we can get this done.”
I asked Wright why this team believes.
“Bottom line is I think that we have a good team,” he said. “So when you’re coming to the ballpark and you’re confident in the team that you have, that kinda shows in the body language for sure.”
“Body language speaks more than what you say,” Travis d’Arnaud said, “and all of us believe in each other and you can tell by the way we’re all standing tall and have our chests out, and we all believe in each other.” Chests were not out last year? “Maybe not,” d’Arnaud said, “but right now they are, and right now we all believe in each other, andwe all want to get to the playoffs.”