Piazza happy in San Diego

Mike Piazza crossed over from the home dugout at Petco Park to the crowd of Mets loosening up in front of the visitors' dugout. He shook hands with Jose Reyes, joked with batting coach Rick Down and new closer Billy Wagner.
And then he went back to his side of the field, leaving behind the team he had been a part of for nearly eight years. While the Mets entered this series in San Diego with the best record in the National League, Piazza was no longer a part of it, pushed from the spotlight of the Big Apple toward the obscurity of a sub-.500 team for what he even acknowledged was the twilight of his career.
"I'm a realist," Piazza said. "I'm happy for their fans because I think the fans deserve a good ballclub. They stood by us through some lean years recently, a lot of expectations that were unfulfilled. It was sad.
"It's always frustrating and sad for me. I felt like I would have been a big part of that, we had some experiments, at least some gambles that didn't work out. When we're not playing them and we're not doing our thing, obviously I'll be following them a lot."
While the Mets have ascended with the latest round of acquisitions -- including Paul Lo Duca to replace Piazza behind the plate -- it was a parting that seemed one-sided at the time. Piazza came to the Mets and signed a seven-year, $90 million deal after his first year. But he never got the ring he wanted in New York, spending most of his time as the most visible face to blame when things didn't go right.
But in the rebuilding, it was obvious last year that the Mets -- trying to focus on defense, speed and youth -- would have little interest in retaining Piazza as he battled knee and arm troubles that reduced his production at the plate as well as his more obvious struggles throwing. The Mets mouthed the polite answers for a year, but never made a bid to keep him in New York. Piazza finally signed a one-year deal worth $2 million with the Padres, with a team option for 2007 at $8 million.
"It just seemed pretty mutual," Piazza said of his departure as a free agent this past winter. "They were obviously looking in another direction and I understand that. It's just one of those things. I've never really looked at it.
"It just seemed like they wanted to kind of move on in a way that anytime a new organization or at least a new kind of realm comes in as far as the general manager, he kind of wants to put his own spin on things.
"And it was nothing personal between me and Omar [Minaya]. It was just one of those things. It just kind of seemed like they wanted to go in a different direction, which is fine. I totally understand that, and I've never had a negative sentiment at all.
"I feel like I fulfilled my commitment there and they were very generous to me at the time," he added. "I feel like I gave them everything I had on the field. So there wasn't any animosity or anything. A little sad, sure, anytime you turn the page and end a chapter of your career. But again, I'm in such a good place and I'm happy getting an opportunity here, so again, I'm definitely in a good place."
Piazza homered in his first at-bat for the Padres, but has not hit one since. Piazza was the Padres' starting catcher Thursday, going 0-for-3 and lowering his average to .214 before Doug Mirabelli came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh. Before the game, Piazza talked about his role with the Padres, serving as a leader for a young team. But he rarely spoke with teammates last year in New York -- an elder statesman who seemed to have little in common with the youthful team around him. Even Thursday when asked if he had spoken to any of the Mets, he named only assistant trainer Mike Herbst and clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels.
Still, he missed New York -- the pace and the excitement. And he missed the Mets, too, hoping that he would wear a Mets cap when his likely induction to the Hall of Fame comes.
"I'm a little nervous," he said of facing the Mets. "I've been trying to downplay it a little bit, but I am nervous. And they're a good ballclub, so obviously you want to play well, too. I've had a lot of calls from friends in New York and they all said, 'Well, we're rooting for the Mets, but we hope you have a good game.' So I'm like, well, I don't know how I should take that, but it's kind of funny."