I was there: Mets v. Yankees 5.17.08

I was there: Mets vs. Reds 5.11.08

Today’s game was surely….interesting

Ponderance: Recapping the Road Trip

The Metsies are now on an off-day after a road trip to Arizona and LA. Some thoughts.

Friday night I was out at the bar and they had the game on. Despite there being a lot of people there, apparently no one else was really paying attention to it. When David Wright made his spectacular diving catch in foul territory I was the only one who cheered. Imagine that!

Every time Eric Byrnes (Diamondbacks) came up to bat, I had to laugh at his at-bat music, “Lose Your Love Tonight”. It’s so….random. Not at all what you’d expect for at-bat music. Don’t get me wrong I like that song. It’s even on my iPod…on my running playlist at that…but still. Interesting choice.

My softball games Tuesday night didn’t end until 11pm so I got to listen to some of the game in LA on my way home. They were up when I went to bed. I didn’t think that they’d lose it after all that. So it goes and goes and goes.

I was home for yesterday’s game so I saw Angel Pagan’s “Rambo” catch over the wall in left field. That was pretty spectacular but pretty scary. It looked like he landed on his head, but of course there’s no camera angle into the seats so who knew what really happened. At least it’s only a bruised shoulder and not him ending up with a broken spine or something.

Today the Maine-iac himself is 27! Happy Birthday John Maine!

And congrats to former Met, Carlos Gomez who hit for the cycle last night in Minnesota. I saw him play on the spring training tour and talked to the Minnesota fan next to me who had a lot of good things to say about him. I think he’ll do well in Minnesota.

I was there: NYM v ATL 4.27.08

Game 2 of the Shea Summer Sundays was yesterday. Some quick shots:

* It was definitely a double layer day. As in wearing Under Armor Cold Gear leggings and long sleeve mock turtleneck under jeans and a sweatshirt under my winter coat. Brrrr. I was comfortable though. Comfortable is good.

* It was foam finger day! I have no idea what I am going to do with mine though.

* Arriving off the train at Gate E where our seats are, there were crowds galore. What in the world was going on??? We were even there before noon! Turns out it was also Youth Baseball day and there was tons of kids and parental units going in for their “parade” around the track. A short walk to Gate D allowed us a much quicker entry into the stadium. Even still the right side of the bag check line was out to the end of the barricades. No one was on the left side. A bit more of a walk got us Zero wait time. Baa baa sheep!

* The french fries at Shea are really hit or miss. Sometimes they are good. Sometimes they are bad. This time? Perfection. Really. They were cooked just right and I think they were the best fries I’ve had at Shea in a looooong time.

* It was good to see Smoltz-ie implode and give up runs and get knocked out of the game. It was also good to see all those home runs!

* I like going to games. I like watching them from the park. I do not like not knowing what’s going on though. By that I mean the insane controversy that exploded almost immediately with Carlos Delgado’s non-curtain-call moment. I mean yeah, everyone was cheering and waiting but whatever he didn’t come out. Your point people?

* Three cheers definitely go to Ryan Church for his catch at the wall. It was very weird to see because everyone just sort of stood around watching. Whichever Braves guy that was on 2nd just stood transfixed there. The Mets sort of just stood around on the field. It was almost like…wait…did he catch it or did we just transport ourselves to an alternate universe??? Church got the Big Standing Ovation though. Well deserved. Excellent catch.

* Three boos go to the LIRR. No not the Mets. The LIRR. How can you say you are running “Extra Trains” when the trains are coming at their usual times? Usual times is not extra. We got to the train no later than we ever do. We always get on the first train. This time we had to wait a half hour for the next one. The people that they stopped up on top? They were going to have to wait AN HOUR. WAITING AN HOUR IS NOT EXTRA TRAINS! This is why I drive to Queens and take the train 5 minutes. Because seriously if I took the train that is closest to me, yesterday it would’ve taken 4 hours to get home. The first time I was stupid and took the train two years ago, it took me 3 hours. I learned my lesson. Still though – I am not happy about this latest turn of events with the train. Yes we are a captive audience, but GET REAL!

Opening Day: Play Ball!

Today was the day so many people were waiting for, for a loooong time…Opening Day! And the Mets win! Not too shabby for day one! 🙂

A lot of people were pretty excited for this day. I have to say it was pretty anti-climactic for me mostly because I just spent the past week watching 9 games already. Yeah, they didn’t count for much of anything, but I’ve already had baseball back in my life so today’s opener was like just another baseball game for me. That sounds horrible.

“Spring Training” for one of my three softball teams is supposed to start tomorrow, but then it’s also forecasted to rain. Hm. I’ve busted out all the gear again and it is sitting in the trunk of my car…waiting…. The bad news in this however, is that I may be starting our season on the DL – I had a “lovely” visit to the orthopedist today for a knee injury I suffered way back in January while out running and it seems I may have some torn cartilage. Yuck. An MRI in the next day or two (that I still need to make an appointment for) will confirm such. Then following confirmation, arthroscopic surgery and onto the DL for 3-4 weeks. Bummer. Really.

SANTANA!

(That’s really all that’s necessary to say)

Spring Training Review: Tradition Field

Ah, home sweet home. This was Stop 2 on the Supersized Spring Training Tour and was a night game at that. The day started out with a bit of worry as it was raining pretty much allllllll day. By around 4pm though, the grey skies started to clear and it had stopped raining. Thank goodness!

The outside of Tradition Field is somewhat reminiscent of Shea with the blue exterior. (So will they renovate once CitiField opens?! There is some brickwork but will they take away the blue?) Parking is on grass lots like much of the Grapefruit League. The largest of the souvenir shops is located outside the park and cannot be accessed from the interior of the park. You can however have your ticket scanned out so that you can go into the store and then scanned back in when you want to go back to the park. (Just question the security guards before you do this to make sure that is still policy this year! I’m not responsible for you not getting back in!) There’s a decent amount of souvenirs, although the shop definitely wasn’t the biggest of the Grapefruit League. It’s roughly the size of the shops on the Mezzanine level. I wasn’t thrilled with most of the tshirts, although I did find a pretty nice orange shirt in a small enough size. I also checked out the kids section and found (and promptly purchased) a wonderful orange sweatshirt for myself. (yay for fitting into the kids clothes!)

Since we were sitting at the computer at the exact time tickets went on sale for this game and every other game, we ended up with good seats – right perpendicular to first base, 3 rows up. Not too shabby. The view was good, and seats comfy.

Overall I liked the park. I’m somewhat biased, but I would say it was the 2nd best stadium we went to. The best stadium (in my opinion) will be left for a future review, but I will say that yes, I realize it is total sacrilege to state that particular stadium as the best. That will be your one clue for now.

Some pictures behind the cut

Spring Training: Mets & Orioles

Both the Mets & Orioles tickets went on sale today…had all the computers raging and ready to go.  I could swear that last year the Mets used Ticketmaster for ticket selling.  Instead this week we got the sucky “waiting room” business again.  We managed to get pretty good seats though for the two games we are going to.  Similar seats to what we had last year, just a few rows back.  Our Orioles game tickets (in which they play the Mets, of course) we have AMAZIN’ seats in the cushy box seats (which my Spring Training book declares them the best in the stadium thanks to lots of leg room) in the 1st row.  This now makes two games we have Row 1 seats – for the Orioles and for the Indians.  Woo. Two or three games left to buy for next week.  Still undecided on one.  We’ll figure it out though