NEW YORK -- The borough that never got over losing the Dodgers celebrated the return of professional baseball to Brooklyn on Monday with the home opener of the Cyclones.
|  | | The Cyclones take in the atmosphere before their first game in Brooklyn on Monday night. |
Brooklyn, used to having its heart broken, cheered as the Cyclones rallied for a 3-2 win in 10 innings on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Cyclones stormed back from a 2-0 deficit, with a two-run, two-out homer by Edgar Rodriguez that tied the game and forced extra innings.
"I love it. I love rooting for the home team," said Dionne Durant, 27, as she watched the game with her husband and two children. "I think it's great. It enhances the community and it gives real life to Brooklyn."
On hand was Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who threw out the first pitch. Giuliani was influential in getting the $39 million ballpark in Coney Island built.
"Having come to Coney Island from the time I was 2 years old with my grandmother, its wonderful to see the ballpark here," Giuliani said. "I can't tell you how much this means to New York City."
Thousands of people, including numerous Little League ballplayers, joined Giuliani, Mets owner Fred Wilpon and his son, Cyclones CEO Jeff Wilpon, in a pregame parade, from the Coney Island Aquarium to the stadium. The route was a throwback to the days when a post-Labor Day parade helped extend the summer season for beach businesses.
For those not among the lucky 6,500 with tickets to the sold-out game, it was being carried on the team's Web site, on a local college radio station, on New York City's public television station, and on local-access cable.
The founding of a Mets affiliate in Brooklyn helped balance the pull exerted by a recently created Yankees affiliate in Staten Island. The Cyclones played at St. John's University in Queens last year.
Seth Kurpiel, 22, a Staten Island native and diehard Mets fan, came with his father, Bob, also a lifelong Mets fan. They crossed New York harbor to escape the shadow of the Yankees affiliate.
"I hate the Yankees. No, hate is too nice a word. I would say that I loathe the Yankees," the elder Kurpiel said.
His son concurred.
|  | | Final preparations are made at the Cyclones' new $39 million stadium in Brooklyn. |
"I'm not going to pay to support the Yankees' team in Staten Island," he scoffed. "It's just six dollars for the game here and you have a seat 20 feet from the field."
A Class-A affiliate of the Mets, the team was 3-3 after six games on the road before its home debut.
"It's definitely level-A baseball, but with a couple of breaks there could be some major league players out there," Bob Kurpiel said.
Much of the team's appeal is linked to the Dodgers, who played their last game at Ebbets Field on Sept. 24, 1957, before owner Walter O'Malley moved them to Los Angeles. In a list once compiled by a couple of the city's newspaper columnists, O'Malley was ranked with Hitler and Stalin as one of the 10 worst men who ever lived.
The Cyclones' logo is a curlicued B reminiscent of the Dodgers' old symbol, intertwined with an ornate C.
The new minor-league team has received a royal Brooklyn welcome, including a hot-dog concession run by Nathan's Famous, a Web site full of nostalgia for the old days, and a parade through the streets of Coney Island.
The team is named for an old-fashioned wooden roller coaster, the Cyclone, that clatters, soars and dips beyond left field. But in that great Brooklyn tradition of giving every newcomer a New York nickname, the Cyclones already have three: Da Brooks, Da 'Clones and Da Psychos. (The Dodgers, of course, were Dem Bums.)
"It's a great thing to have baseball back in Brooklyn," said borough resident Lou Massato, munching on a hot dog before the game. "Since the Dodgers left, everybody wanted baseball back here."
Joe Gonzalez was wearing his Cyclones shirt at the game.
"It feels good to bring Brooklyn back on the map for baseball," the 34-year-old said.
The team has already been dubbed "Da Brooks" in radio broadcasts of previous games. Other nicknames come from Web site fans.
Jeff Wilpon has been too busy readying for the home opener to notice the nicknames. "Usually it takes time for a team to get a nickname," he said, adding, "I hope they don't call them the Psychos."
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