Up at 5:55. Horrific night’s sleep.

Breakfast at 6:50. Need to fuel up for the long day ahead. Give me plenty of those funny textured eggs.

Leave the hotel at 7:10. 58 degrees never felt better.

Arrive at the stadium at 7:15. I could live and work down here.

About 15 others are there already. Within 2 minutes I despise 80% of them. They are all “dealers” seeking autographs and are clearly not Mets fans. We enjoy giving them dirty looks throughout the day.

We watched about half of the team arrive for the first full day of camp in ridiculously expensive cars. What a way to make a living. No autographs but fun to get immersed in this world of spring baseball.

By 9:30 the gates open and we are ready to go.

Within minutes, the players are out on the field ready to stretch and warm up.

Yeah, that is the “Captain” David Wright leading the way.

A quick team meeting and then the players scattered among the 5-10 different fields.

Before they arrive, I try to get as many equipment photos as I can.

A thing of beauty.

Manager Terry Collins runs between fields, tending to his troops.

I spend a good deal of time trying to get candid shots of the players.

As practice drew to a close, some of the players started to sign autographs and it was absolute friggin chaos.

My kids are buried somewhere in that crowd and while my daughter scored big time with a David Wright signed ball.

My son was nearly trampled to death while trying to get a Yoenis Cespedes autograph. He was knocked to the ground by grown men acting like immature 10 year olds. It was an insane scene and completely different from the more laid back atmosphere we experienced last spring. Guess that’s what happens when you go to the World Series.

After recovering from the onslaught of overzealous fans, we headed out of the facility with one last stop at the media gate to see if we could hunt down a player or ten.

Tomorrow we are getting up at 5:45 with plans to be at the stadium by 6:30. Either a brilliant or asinine move. The goal is to see every player arrive and stalk welcome them.

I’m exhausted but excited already.

Some other tidbits from the day:

• I am badly sunburned and my face looks like a raccoon. What is this sunscreen you speak of?
• We admittedly allowed Ruben Tejada to pull out in front of us when leaving, and subsequently chased his car down for an autograph.
• We saw Wally Backman at lunch after practice and knew to stay the hell away based on his negative body language.
• Shopping at Walmart in Port St Lucie is remarkably the same as shopping at WalMart in New Jersey.
• Never underestimate the beauty of a hotel pool for children.
• Always overestimate the fun time spent at a chain restaurant on a Friday night.

Until tomorrow.