Opening Day 1998 marked the first time the Mets played an opener at Shea Stadium in March—and they enjoyed one of the warmest lid lifters ever in New York. It was 82 degrees and sunny at game time on March 31, 1998. In the third and final Opening Day start by Bobby Jones as a Met, the Phillies went down in order in the first. Curt Schilling set the Mets down easily in the bottom of the first. And on and on it went.
Through nine innings the Mets had just two hits. The Phillies had more chances, but they still came up empty. Mel Rojas even threw two shutout innings. By the 12th it was the longest opener in Shea history. And that warmth and the sun disappeared as the day dragged on. Oklahoma farmboy Butch Huskey got hungry enough in right field to summon his inner cow and started eating blades of grass. Tim Spehr, pulled off the rubbish pile to catch since Todd Hundley would be out until summer, was the only Met with multiple hits. Spehr would have just five more hits in 20 games—and the anemic army of fill-in backstops would lead to the cry for suddenly available Mike Piazza to come to Shea.
The one catcher nobody expected to be a hitter was Alberto Castillo. After 10 years in the minors he had proved he was a good defensive catcher but his average rarely poked over .220 in Tidewater or elsewhere. He was the last bat on the bench. A botched sacrifice by Edgardo Alfonzo and a single hit too hard to left by Bernard Gilkey to score Brian McRae loaded the bases with one out. Light-hitting Luis Lopez had a chance to be a hero; he popped up. Up stepped Castillo. Nicknamed Bambi because of his soft features, he was tough enough to be a catcher but looked like he’d bolt like a deer at a loud noise. Those left at Shea were loud—and freezing in their shorts and T-shirts. Just as it seemed they’d have to start burning bats for fuel, Bambi lined a single and sent everyone home.