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It took longer than most people expected, but baseball was back in New York on Saturday night. And though it was an exhibition game with no fans at Citi Field, that was fine with Pete Alonso. “This is one of the days we were wishing and waiting for during the second offseason,’’ Alonso said before …
It took longer than most people expected, but baseball was back in New York on Saturday night.
And though it was an exhibition game with no fans at Citi Field, that was fine with Pete Alonso.
“This is one of the days we were wishing and waiting for during the second offseason,’’ Alonso said before going 2-for-4 with an RBI in a 9-3 loss to the Yankees in the first exhibition game for both teams.
And though Alonso won’t be setting any single-season home run records this year, thanks to a 60-game schedule, he still has some lofty goals with Opening Day less than a week away.
“For me, I want to approach every single day with a relentless attitude,’’ Alonso said.
“I want to be as productive as I possibly can [be]. Whether it’s coming up clutch, a play on defense, a homer, there are a lot of different ways I can help my team win a ballgame.”
But his eyes remain on a bigger prize, one that — for all his success during his spectacular rookie season a year ago — Alonso has yet to reach.
“For me, I ultimately want to help my team get to the postseason and win a championship,’’ Alonso said. “This year, we have an amazing team. We have an incredible pitching staff and a dynamic lineup. We just want to be able capture this opportunity and take advantage of it.”
They’ll have to do so, though, without fans at Citi Field for the foreseeable future.
And few players in recent history have been embraced as quickly — and been as quick to return the embrace — of New York as Alonso was in 2019.
“Playing with no fan isn’t anything unusual … for ballplayers because we had to go through the minor leagues and certain leagues didn’t draw as well as others,’’ Alonso said. “Especially on a Tuesday or Wednesday night in the middle of summer, when it’s probably 105 degrees, there’s not very many people going to those games.”
Alonso said he would “miss playing in front of the fans,’’ but added, “At the end of the day, it’s what’s between the lines and playing against the other team out there. For me, I know all the fans are watching. I love those elevated and incredible, intense moments, but I know those moments are still gonna happen because they are created within the game.”
He’s just happy to be back on the field following the sport’s shutdown in March due to COVID-19.
“During this quarantine or second offseason, it was kind of, ‘Hopes up high, heads down low,’ ” Alonso said. “You hope and want and dream in order to get back, but you have to take one day at a time. There was a lot of unknown. We didn’t necessarily know how the future would unfold or what would happen, but we’re so happy to be back.”
He’s also planning on building on what he did as a rookie, when he continued his practice of making notes daily in a marble composition notebook to become a better hitter.
“I’m excited to test out what I’m working on: being disciplined in the strike zone, elevate my game defensively and just being a better baseball player,’’ said Alonso, who made a nice scoop at first in the third inning.
And while the notebook might be different, Alonso doesn’t intend to change much.
“It may not be a marble notebook, but I’ve still got a notebook,’’ Alonso said. “Instead of ‘2019,’ it’s labeled ‘2020.’ ”
The story continued Saturday.
