What are the Mets listening to these days?

I’ve always been intrigued by the music baseball players choose to have played when it’s their turn at bat.  I was out at Citi Field last night, the new home of the New York Mets, and tried to identify as many songs as possible.  Turned out to be a little more challenging than I thought due to my lack of knowledge in Reggaeton and Salsa music.  The Mets have a lot of Latin players and they seem to prefer these genres.  Maybe the knowledgeable guys at MetsBlog can help me fill in the blanks. Regardless, here were my observations:

First, the overwhelming theme between innings was Beatles music due to the stadium’s promotion for the upcoming Paul McCartney concert at Citi Field on July 17th, on-sale Monday at noon here.  It’s the first concert ever at the stadium and is fitting considering Paul and the boys played the first concert ever at Shea Stadium back in 1965 and Paul joined Billy Joel for the last concert ever at Shea last July.  “Baby You Can Drive My Car” and “Hey Jude” were the featured songs.

Luis Castillo had a Merengue song for his at-bat music, no clue what it was.  After his RBI single the stadium PA blared Richard Berry’s “Louie, Louie.”

Alex Cora chose an unidentified Reggaeton song.  The only time I’ve ever listened to Reggaeton consistently was when I spent a week in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.  Great town, bad music.

Carlos Beltran‘s at-bat song was an unknown Salsa/Calypso song that my gal said “sounded like a bad Macarena”.  I’m 0-3 here.  I don’t speak Spanish.  I feel lost.

Gary Sheffield steps to the plate and it’s Jay-Z’s verse on T.I.’s song “Swagga Like Us.”  A fitting tune for the cocky left fielder. He went 1-5 and is now batting .258.  Swagga like wha Sheff?

David Wright‘s song was hip-hop and it took me a few at-bats to identify it…is it…wait, no…is it really the second T.I. song in a row?  Is it really “Swing Ya Rag,” the rap song that references Louis Vuitton and Gucci and includes the lyrics,

“Alright, okay, I don’t dance, no way
I just take my Louis rag out and wave it round in the air
Take my Gucci rag out and wave it round in the air.”

Alright, he’s playing so well he can play whatever he wants.  He went 3-5 bringing his average up to .354, good for second best in the NL.  He also stole two bases, after which the PA played The Eagles’ “Life in the Fast Lane.”

More after the jump.

Fernando Tatis was next.  This guy returned to the game of baseball in ’07 after taking two years off because he needed money to build a church in his home town in the Dominican Republic.  He rocked some Salsa/Merengue tune for most of his at bats but was greeted with the Superman theme in yet another bases loaded situation. Superman ain’t playin so super lately, but I like the whole church-building thing.

Ryan Church apparently likes metal and has had Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” as his anthem for as long as I can remember being in New York.  There was another metal tune I didn’t recognize during his 2nd at bat, but he returned to “Crazy Train” for the rest of the night.

Omir Santos, fast becoming one of my favorite players despite an unfortunate pop-out in a crucial bases loaded situation last night, also went the Merengue route for most at-bats, but when he came up with the bases loaded the Citi Field music gurus turned to 90’s techno band Durude for their club-hit “Sandstorm.”  Oh, you know it, click here for a taste.

Maybe they don’t let pitchers pick their at-bat music because when Mike Pelfrey came to the plate they played everything from Timbaland’s “Give it to Me” to The Romantics “What I Like About You.”  

There was also the usual ball park tunes played in certain situations: James Brown’s “Get Up”, Black Eyed Peas “Let’s Get it Started”, Kiss’s “I Wanna Rock ‘n Roll All Night”, and Guns ‘n Roses “Welcome to the Jungle.”

When K-Rod came out to pitch the 9th, it was back to Reggaeton.

The Mets lost a heartbreaker after a great effort by Mike Pelfrey but the music was pretty disappointing as well.  Aren’t any of these guys into music?  Can I get a Justice track?  Raph Saadiq? Cut Copy? N.A.S.A.?  Something interesting or creative?  I love Santos but I do miss the Darth Vader theme that Ramon Castro plays for his at-bats not to mention our old Japanese friend Kaz Matsui who used to play Bruce Lee’s theme when we came to the plate.

If I was Met, I’d think I’d rock by Baptist Blacktick by Pavement.  What would you play?  Let me know in the comments below.