Rain delay memories

The Mets broadcast filled the rain delay between New York and St. Louis tonight with a 'Mets classic' - the first game back at Shea Stadium after the attack on the Twin Towers.

You forget the raw emotion of those days immediately following 9/11. Flags are everywhere in the stands, the fans chanting 'U-S-A! U-S-A!', and tears streaming down the faces of more than a few people.

Diana Ross sang "God Bless America" and Marc Anthony did the National Anthem. A group of firemen and cops threw out the first pitch. Their colleagues were all over the field and remembrances of their fallen comrades can be seen throughout the stands.

Immediately after the anthem, NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani was introduced to a standing ovation. From his front row seat, Rudy sort of jutted his jaw, flashed a grin and gave a thumbs up.

Then one of those wonderful unscripted moments took place. From their positions standing along the first base and third base lines, the Mets and their opponents that night, the Atlanta Braves, all shook hands and embraced.

It was like the ending of a playoff hockey series. Don't know if I've seen that before a baseball game.

Here were the starting lineups that night.

For the Mets - third to first - Robin Ventura, Rey Ordonez, Edgardo Alfonzo and Todd Zeile, an outfield of Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Jay Payton and Matt Lawton and a battery of Bruce Chen and Mike Piazza.

None of the New York players wore a Mets hat - they all wore NYC police and NYFD hats.

For the Braves, it was Ken Caminiti at third (remember him as a Brave? I don't), Rey Sanchez, Marcus Giles and Julio Franco. The outfield was Chipper Jones in left (remember him as an outfielder?), Andruw Jones and Brian Jordan.

The battery was Javy Lopez and a young pitcher - a New York native - by the name of Jason Marquis.

The announcers mention that Marquis is pitching that night with a heavy heart. One of Jason's teammates from his South Shore, Staten Island team that went to the Little League World Series in 1991 is a firefighter and now missing somewhere in the Twin Towers.

Across the river in Manhattan, rescue crews are searching for Jason's old friend and thousands of others.

Marquis' teammate was Michael Cammarata. He was killed on 9/11.

Friday night, September 21, 2001 (boxscore here). Almost six years - and another world - ago.