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Mets have chance to produce some hometown magic at All-Star Game

July 13, 2013 5:27 PM By DAVID LENNON david.lennon@newsday.com

Photo credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke | From left, John Buck, Bobby Parnell and David Wright celebrate their 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals in at Citi Field. (April 21, 2013)

The last time New York played host to the All-Star Game was 2008 in what would be the farewell season of Yankee Stadium. Or at least its original location at 161st Street and River Avenue.

As the Kodak moment of that historical goodbye, every living Hall of Famer was invited to participate in the pregame ceremonies, and the Bronx ballpark got a grandiose exit while bathed in the national spotlight.

The actual playing of the All-Star Game that year was not exactly a Midsummer Classic. Ask anyone what they remember most and it's likely to be the uncomfortable night of Dan Uggla, who made three errors. Maybe that it ended at 1:38 the next morning. Few would recall J.D. Drew was named MVP.

Now that the game is taking place on the other side of the Triborough, um, RFK Bridge, the Flushing edition represents something entirely different for Citi Field, which gets its first real crack at prime time since the doors opened in 2009.

We're not talking about Sunday nights on ESPN or any variety of Saturday time slots on Fox. With the Mets absent from the playoffs since 2006, Citi Field has yet to have a true turn in front of baseball's biggest audience, and this finally is the time.

The Mets' ballpark got a few lucky bounces, too. David Wright rode a late surge to overtake the Giants' Pablo Sandoval as the starting third baseman -- an honor that eluded him a year earlier in Kansas City. And the pitching supernova named Matt Harvey transformed himself from future ace at the end of last season to Cy Young threat during the first half of this one.

Both give the Mets a chance to show off a little while hosting the game, which is something every team hopes for when playing host to 70 of the sport's brightest stars. And let's face it, other than Wright and Harvey -- perhaps the return of the ponytailed Mrs. Met -- the Queens franchise hasn't had a heck of a lot to talk about while killing time before 2014.

"I was drafted by this team, developed by this team," Wright said. "This year, being at home, obviously it's special."

The last player to win the MVP in his own stadium was Pedro Martinez, who started that year at Fenway Park and struck out five in two innings, including four in a row: Barry Larkin, Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. It was the first time in All-Star history that the first three batters whiffed.

Before Martinez, who later became a Met himself, another future resident of Flushing returned to his hometown of Philadelphia to claim the MVP. That was Mike Piazza, then still a Dodgers favorite, who smacked a home run off the Indians' Charles Nagy and added an RBI double off the Angels' Chuck Finley in one of the last great moments of the long-since-demolished Veterans Stadium.

The Mets now have the chance to bask in some homegrown glory of their own. In Harvey, the National League could send out a starter capable of duplicating Martinez's '99 power-pitching theatrics. Imagine what Citi Field -- with every seat filled, standing room only -- would look and sound like if that were to happen.

For an exhibition game that has been criticized for its over-marketed significance -- we know, we know, it counts -- Citi Field hasn't seen anything like this before. Nothing close. And there is meaning in that for the Mets.

"It hasn't quite hit home yet," Harvey said shortly after getting the All-Star invite, "but it's definitely a huge honor. I couldn't be more excited that it's in New York, and I'm glad I'm playing over there with David."

Not as thrilled as the Mets are, or their weary fan base is. Both will cling to this night as their ticket to the Big Show, an opportunity to experience how the other half lives, if only for a few hours. Citi Field, too often an afterthought, is the place to be on Tuesday night.

Should Wright and Harvey come up big on this midsummer stage, it might never be looked at the same way again.