A two hour drive to Croton-on-Hudson, an hour long train ride to Grand Central Station, a 30 minute train ride to Flushing and $200 later i get to watch the third string line up for the Mets. WTF?????
As of Saturday morning the "Probable Pitchers" report said John Maine. But when i saw Maine shagging balls during batting practice it didn't bode well. Then when the line ups came up on the score board i thought "This isn't Port St. Lucie is it?" It's great to see the young guys, but for my first game of the season, it would have been nice to at least seen most of the regular line up on the field. Only Carlos Beltran was in his regular position, David Wright was being given a much deserved day off and alot of the other guys are out due to injuries.
In my mind, Jerry left Tim Redding in way to long. Once the wheels went off the bus early in the game it would have been good to see some other pitcher come in and bail him out. Two runs in the first inning isn't uncommon, but when you've got a guy who's sporting a 6.75 ERA you might want to reconsider starting him when you only have a 1/2 game lead in the East. Jeremy Reed had a great chance to bring David Wright up (he was in the "On-Deck Circle" as the last out was made) which my son predicted would be a grand slam tying up the game, but it wasn't to be.
Our first trip to Citi (i like the shirt i saw on a fan yesterday: "I'll just call it Shea Anyway") may have been spoiled by a loss, but the ballpark gets a thumbs up. We sat in the "Pepsi Porch" which was well worth the convenience of having your own concessions, food, and bathrooms. The only thing that stunk was the sightlines as the balls went into deep right field. I talked to a long time employee of the Mets who said that there were numerous sightline issues throughout the park. We walked into Ceasers Club and were impressed with it's elegance. The main food area in center field near the Shake Shack was crowded (a bit TOO overcrowded for me), and to echo some other complaints there was far too little Mets history through the park. The old "Home Run Apple" is squirreled away near the picnic area (can't really get to it all that easy), and the pennants that the Mets have won over the years are relegated to a wall that faces the "Chop Shops" outside the park.
I get the "Jackie Robinson Rotunda" but would it be too much to put the Home Run Apple in the middle, or some busts of former Mets (Seaver, Tex, etc). Robinson played for the Dodgers, and we aren't the Dodgers!
just like I said
You don't do that to fans on a Saturday. Valentine did it with Piazza all the time. Especially now that you've got people still seeing the new stadium for the 1st time.
A Bit Jealous
Hey, at least you got down to a game. I've been wanting too but just too busy since I'm also taking summer classes for grad school. I'll give you a shout when I plan to go down in case you're interested. I've heard about those "sightline issues" before. I thought that the great thing about Citi was going to be how all the seats we're angled to get the best view of the field? I guess they figured we'd all be so stuffed with pulled pork and shakes that we wouldn't notice.
Sucks for you
For fans who paid enormous amounts of money and used a lot of energy to see the Mets play, it stinks.
But from a team-winning point of view, it was a perfect call.
A. We've seen before that these "minor league" lineups often seem to yield wins
B. Many of the Mets had valid reasons to have a day-off
C. The Marlins had their ace - a pitcher that the Mets regulars struggle with
Even if you'll say "A" is untrue or unestablished and the Mets were basically conceding the game before it began, it still makes sense to get that "loss" out of the way. I believe Saturday's loss (which came without stigma or negative feelings), set up Sunday's win and increases the potential of wins in upcoming games this week.
I understand how it feels though. When I went to my first Mets game as a child, I looked forward to seeing Darryl Strawberry hit a home-run. On the way to the game, we heard that Darryl would not be playing because he had injured his thumb (as I recall). (Btw, I would not see Darryl Strawberry play until April 1998 - when the Yankees played in Shea Stadium because of a beam collapse in their stadium. I decided to attend the game in the hopes that Mets fans in the crowd would prevent the Yankees from corroding Shea. I stuck around for the Mets-Cubs game later that evening.)
Bad Luck Game
The past week was a bad one to go see the Mets with their "A" players on the field. Who knew that injuries would take out Delgado, Reyes, Ryan Church and Carlos Beltran at the same time? It's amazing that we managed to go 5-1 on the short homestand. The pitching, save for Redding, was good but the weak competition also helped out.
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