After the Mets blew their home opener a week ago then the Yankees followed suit in their historic debacle, I got to thinking. How many teams opening a brand new stadium have won that first game?

To make the research reasonable, I started with Oriole Park at Camden Yards. After all, the Baltimore park seems to be the mile stone that kicked off the retro trend that has continued to this day with the opening of Citi Field and Yankee Stadium.

Surprisingly, more teams have lost the opener than won them. Since 1992, 21 new ballparks have opened up in the Major Leagues. The Orioles won their opener with a 2-0 shutout over Cleveland.

Two years later, the Indians opened Jacobs Field, (now called Progressive Field) with a 4-3 win over Seattle in 11 innings.

Texas also opened The Ballpark in Arlington in 1994 and lost to Milwaukee (then in the American League) by a score of 4-3. The Rangers park was changed to Ameriquest Field in Arlington and is now known as Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The Mets helped the Colorado Rockies open Coors Field in 1995. In 14 innings, the Rockies defeated New York by a score of 11-9.

The next ballpark to open was Atlanta’s Turner Field. The Braves won the first ever home opener at Turner Field by a score of 5-4.

In 1998, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now Rays) opened up Tropicana Field. The dingy domed stadium (originally called the Sun Coast Dome) was not new. It had been built over a decade earlier in hopes of landing a major league team. The White Sox were close to moving before their deal was approved to replace Comisky Park. The Giants were also wooed by Tampa but nothing ever came of it. Finally in ’98, the Devil Rays opened the dome, which had been renovated in an attempt to make the place cozy. The Devil Rays lost to Detroit by a score of 11-6.

Also in ’98, Bank One Ballpark opened in Phoenix. The first retractable roof stadium that looks like an airplane hanger saw the Diamondbacks lose to Colorado by a score of 9-2. The name was changed to Chase field in 2006.

In 1999, Safeco Field opened in Seattle. Safeco was the second retractable roof park to open. The Mariners opened the park with a loss to the White Sox by the score of 11-6.

Three brand new ballparks opened in 2000. Detroit opened enormous Comerica Park with a 5-2 win versus Seattle.  The San Francisco Giants opened Pacific Bell Park by losing to Los Angeles by a score of 6-5. Since then, the Giants ballpark has been renamed to SBC Park and is currently known as AT&T Park. Houston’s retractable roof park, Enron Field, opened with loss (4-1) to the Phillies. For obvious reasons, the Astros changed the name of the field to Astros Field until they signed a new naming rights deal with Minute Maid.

Two more ballparks opened in 2001. The retractable roof field, Miller Park opened in Milwaukee. The Brewers, now in the National League, defeated Cincinnati 5-4 in their home opener.  The small and beautiful PNC Park in Pittsburgh opened up the same year. The Pirates lost to the Reds 8-2. In one season, the Reds helped to open two new stadiums.

In 2003, the Pirates paid back the Reds by defeating them 10-1 in Cincinnati’s home opener at Great American Ballpark.

The Phillies opened Citizen’s Bank Park in 2004. They lost to Cincinnati by the score of 4-1.  The Cardinals opened up Busch Stadium III with a 6-4 win in 2006. The next parks to open were Citi Field and Yankee Stadium where both home clubs lost their openers.

So teams that have opened the last 21 ballparks, only 8 have won the home opener. Perhaps the pressure of wanting to win the historic event so badly has played into the loss.  We will have to wait until 2010 when the Twins open Target Field and then in 2012 when the Marlins open up their new retractable roof park to see if a couple more wins can be had.

There is an excellent article in today's Daily News discussing the fact that after three years of construction of the new Yankee Stadium, parks and ball fields that were promised to the community are still non existent.

The piece written by Juan Gonzales asks why did the Mets immediately begin to tear down Shea Stadium after last season and the old Yankee Stadium has only now just begun the demolition process.

I have read a few articles over the past three years describing how the Mets deal was so much cleaner than the Yankees. It really doesn't matter to me because my tax money had nothing to do with the construction of either ballpark. But as a fan of the Mets, it always irks me when I see their ownership derided in the press for this and that when in fact, they appeared to have played by the rules established at the outset of both projects. On the other hand, the Yankees steamrolled their community with promises of replacing park land taken from Macombs Dam Park where the new stadium stands and elsewhere but yet nothing has happened.

The Yankees also went way over budget with their new stadium and had to get the city to kick in hundreds of millions more in tax exempt bonds to finish it. Meanwhile, the Mets needed just 83 million more but that was from a budget of bonds that were originally approved. The Mets were sure they could get the job done for under what they requested and only asked for the balance when they knew they couldn't.

I have not been to the new Yankee Stadium so I cannot offer my opinion to it's beauty and amenities. However, I have been to Citi Field and for half of what it cost to build Yankee Stadium, the Mets did an outstanding job. Citi Field takes a back seat to no current major league ballpark. With all that was built into the new Yankee Stadium, I'm not shocked it cost more than Citi Field but why was it twice the price? That seems extraordinary.

I would hope there are city officials who can pressure the Yankees and other to get these parks and fields built for the kids of the Bronx. You know, those kids who will never be able to afford to go to Yankee Stadium.