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Opening Day

Opening Day.

The day we’ve all been waiting for.

It’s such a relief to see the Mets finally playing meaningful baseball again, and finally it’s time to put aside conjecture and projections for real stats and concrete results. Citi Field is nice and all, but now the focus can be on David Wright’s batting average, Jose Reyes’ range, or Beltran’s shear awesomeness instead of tacos or exclusive beers (as great as those things may be).

I seem to get more and more excited for baseball every spring, and this year was no exception. I even went to seven baseball games already. Four spring training games plus an exhibition as well as the St. Johns game at Citi Field and a World Baseball Classic match-up. It’ll be nice to sit down, crack open a beer, and root for the Mets on the same team and really care about the outcome.

Thanks to the Braves, the Mets are already a half game ahead of the Phillies (one in the loss column.) However, they’re behind the Braves by a half game(tied in the loss column.) There is a lot to look forward to this year, and it all starts today. It’s great that the Phillies lost, but you can’t scoreboard watch in April anyway(I won’t tell you that the Phillies elimination number is 162). It’s about the Mets going out there, game after game, and taking care of business. Putting up Ws.

You can find something to complain about and be nervous about later. For now, let’s sit down with our empty slate and enjoy some baseball. Collapses or Championships from last year don’t count in this years win total. Let’s Go Mets!

 

Edit:  And the Mets win! Good Start to the Season.  Woo!

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More From Citi Field

Citi Field is still very much a work in progress. They’ve already changed the green to black around the Apple, for batter’s eye reasons. I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far, and I can’t wait to get there when it counts. Of course, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t things that went wrong, or that don’t seem quite right. I’m not going to whine and cry and count Mets banners and complain when it doesn’t meet my internalized quota, but I’ll point out my observations from my second trip. (Read about my first trip)

 

From Citifield

While some people working their did seem friendlier, I did nearly get into a fight with the woman checking tickets at the Caesar’s club door. Stupidly of me, I let my hat blow off my head from the Promenade, and it landed one level down. I raced down the stairs to try to retrieve it, basically begged this woman to let me just grab my hat, and all she could do was utter variations of ‘No, go upstairs’. Eventually someone tossed the hat down the the field level, where the ushers were actually helpful.

 

Look! a Bottlecap!
From Citifield

Since the concourses are set back under the seats Cow-Bell Man’s normal style of walking around the stadium would keep him away from the action and mostly unheard.

 

I had to sign for my $23 purchase at Box Frites. At least the line moved, and they’re slowly learning how to swipe, fill up sodas, find the buttons on the register and move a line.

 

The Promenade Club is too low down/embedded into the stands, so that the rows of seats just in front of it actually blocks the view of home plate from inside. I don’t know if there is anything to be done about it though.

 

The Mets really should reconsider the contract with whatever escalator company they use.

From Citifield

There are more seats at Citi with small obstructions here and there. (Although none as bad as back rows of the Loge) I had to stand to see Wright make any catches along the dugout. It’s one of the drawbacks of not building huge dizzying grandstands and keeping fans closer to the field.

 

Some people expressed dislike for the black and orange walls and the green seats. I don’t think any choice would’ve made me unhappy here so I may be biased, but I kind of like that the Mets stadium is built on top of a Polo Grounds look, with a Ebbetts Field entrance. It’s certainly not any of those parks in any way, and it is where we came from. Especially the Polo Grounds. The line? I’m curious how it will play out. It might just work.

 

I’m suspecting ceremony the 13th, when I’m not there, with putting the flags up.

 

From Citifield

Blanche de Queens, one of the exclusive Citi Field beers out in the Taste of New York center field concourse, is excellent. As it’s name suggests, it’s kind of a white ale, similar to a Blue Moon. It was a full-bodied beer with plenty of flavor, while still being light and smooth. It was by far the best beer I’ve ever had at a sporting event. I can’t wait to try the Brooklyn Sabroso Ale next time. I tip my hat to Garrett Oliver and Brooklyn Brewery.

From Citifield
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A(nother) First Look at Citi Field

A(nother) First Look at Citi Field from the St. Johns Game.

First it’s come a long way, and it was beautiful.

From Citifield

I was getting butterflies driving towards it as I saw the first signs mentioning it, and as I looked for a spot. The parking lot (the main, Shea, General/Prepaid) that I parked in is still only partially done, so hopefully it’ll provide more exiting opportunities. I left at 2:30, but had I left a regular Mets game at the end with everyone else it might have been a mess.

From Citifield

I got there at 11:35, and figured rather than go to LF and go right in, I’d wait at the Rotunda to enter there at 11:40. I’m glad I did. The Rotunda, and the area around it, are terrific. Even the dwindling pile of Shea is beautiful in it’s own way, and people were indeed taking pictures with it. I crossed into the building, and the Rotunda is amazing. Still plenty to be done, but still amazing. I was confronting with the urge to be 18 places at once and running all over. Seeing as that was impossible, we started with probably the most mundane, the team store.

From Citifield

Team store’s a big step up from the one at Shea. And there are more of them too. There is also Alyssa Milano’s first female boutique shop in right field. I bought a Citi Field inaugural season shirt, and a shot glass, and moved on.

From Citifield

The views are great from everywhere. Sure there are more cut off corners, and a handful of overhangs in the way in a couple of places, but they definitely tried to minimize those (except for the overhang, which even if you miss the plays at the wall in RF, is still pretty cool). I didn’t find a seat that I flat out said, “I wouldn’t want to sit here”. Top rows of the Outfield Promenade Reserve aren’t great, but they’re better than UR section 36 Row N, which is what they were going for.

From Citifield

Another subject that’s important to me, Beer and food. While they retained some of the ‘generic’ staples like Nathans, preliminary reports suggest that at least the food will be served properly, hot and fresh. The concessions are quicker and more orderly, and hopefully they’re properly set up to be well stocked. The real story is the rest of the stuff. Prices are better than at Shea from what I could tell, and they have a billion more options. Much has been made about Blue Smoke and Shake Shack and Box Frites and tacos and catch of the day and on and on. I can’t wait to try them all, but Shake Shack was as good in the Citi as it is in the City.

From Citifield

Beer. I can be a bit of a beer snob, and I rarely drank at Shea because it was a struggle to find anything worthwhile. (Although they did have Killians and Blue Moon last year) I wasn’t paying $8 for a crappy Bud. This year there are dozens of options, all over the place, and local ones. All the outfield concessions have specialty beers, that appear to have been designed exclusively for the venue. That the beer was actually designed with the food you’re eating with it in mind is thrilling to me. Shack Shack has their exclusive Shackmeister Ale, and Blue Smoke has it’s Blue Smoke Blend, all from Brooklyn Brewery. There was some Queens Ale at the Box Frites place which I can’t remember the name of, but I can find no indication of a beer with Queens in the title from Brooklyn Brewery, which lends to the idea that it’s exclusive to that location. It’s going to be hard for me to not try all four of these beers on Saturday against the Red Sox, I only have to remind myself that they aren’t going anywhere.

From Citifield

I wandered all around and didn’t see everything. Much of every trip to the place for a while will be a new experience, which is great. New seats, new views. Every game is an adventure. I’ve got tickets to three regular season games already, and I’m sure I’ll be to at least two dozen more.

From Citifield

The ping of the aluminum bat felt so wrong.

From Citifield

Seeing the Mets on the out of town scoreboard was a unique experience, and pretty cool.

From Citifield

There some glitches and errors. Many will be fixed I’m sure. Some escalators weren’t working right, some water still pooled in some areas. Some TVs weren’t hooked up. The smoke from the BBQ place can/did drift past the scoreboard (depending on the wind) so you can see it in the outfield. No big deal really.

From Citifield

All you really need to know is that you need to get there at your first opportunity. You won’t be disappointed.

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Mets Opening Day Pack

It appears that if you haven’t acquired tickets to Opening Day in some manor, the Mets are offering a 5-game pack that includes the game. However, it looks like these are games are slow-selling seats from the other packs. It’s only available for baseline box, and field box seats. This means you’re going to have to spend at least $400 a ticket, for five games, to buy this package. Chances are if you can afford this, you’ve already spent the money on a package for the season.

 

I’d love to do this, but at $75 a ticket++, I just can’t afford it. You can add any other four games from April and May, which could be two Phillies games if you so choose. You’d probably spend almost this much money buying similar seats on stubhub for just Opening Day.

 

However, it does mean that there are unsold tickets to Opening Day. If this package doesn’t finish them off, they’ll have to put these tickets out there somewhere. There is probably an outside chance that we can get lucky and get these tickets through some sort of second-chance lottery, or just dumb luck.

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Exhibition Starters

Because I have nothing better to do.  Let’s guess at who’s going to start the two games against the Red Sox!

 

I suppose one has to be the 5th Starter, which is likely Livan Hernandez.  This way puts him closer to a normal day in the rotation anyway.  So who would the other guy be?  

 

My best guess would be Jon Niese.  Despite being sent to minor league camp today, he still seems to be the ‘6th starter’.  So what better time to get him some no-pressure major league experience against an excellent offense?

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Going down to Florida

I’m going to Spring Training for the first time ever. Thanks to the Netherlands, I get to see Jose Reyes down in camp. While listening to talk about spring isn’t that interesting, I’m sure being there will be a thrill. I’m expecting to come back and be anxious for the season to start. (Well, I’m anxious now too..)

I know most people don’t want to read another Spring Training story anyway, so when I get back, I’m going to go picture happy and post some odd or interesting pictures I take. If I don’t have anything good, I’ll just post a picture of my lunch or something.

For those of you that know what I look like (roughly, none of you). I’ll be in section 120 row A, which is roughly the third to last section down the line, right behind the Mets bullpen on Saturday.

Here is my itinerary.

Thursday: MIN @ PIT. Ho hum right?

Friday: NYM @ DET. Yah Mets!

Saturday: Port St. Lucie. WAS @ NYM. Behind the dugout as I said, if I don’t get a ball at this game, I’m pathetic.

Saturday night: Miami. WBC. Puerto Rico vs. Netherlands winner against the loser of the USA vs Venezuela game today.

Sunday: NYM @ FLA. Then I fly home.

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World Baseball Classic isn’t all bad

I’m not a huge fan of World Cup type competitions. I enjoy some of the Olympic events, because I don’t see those events competitively very often. I’m not overly enthused about the World Baseball Classic as it goes, because ‘USA’ doesn’t actually represent the best of what this country has to offer in terms of baseball players, and as fun as the games may be, it’s still going to be second-rate to the World Series. Second-rate means that since I have a better option, I’m not going to be that excited about it. I feel the same way about minor league baseball and college sports.

However, I’m also not against the World Baseball Classic. The number one reason cited for disliking it usually falls along the lines of injury. This is valid in a sense, but the thing is these guys aren’t robots that live in bubbles. They’d be in Florida or Arizona working out and playing games anyway. I can understand the worry, but you can have that same worry if they were with the club playing games, running in the outfield, or simply taking a taxi cab to the stadium. As far as baseball players go, you generally worry about them getting injured least while they’re actually performing, and that’s what these players are doing in the Classic. Pitchers are also held to a pitch count which is very similar to what they’d pitch in a Spring Training game.

We’re always criticizing players that don’t seem to play hard, or don’t seem to care. We claim they’re multimillionaire athletes playing for the money, not for the love of the game. However, things like the World Baseball Classic suggest that this isn’t the case. These players honestly want to play these games. They are excited to be out there competing for their country, and we should be thankful to have these competitive players on our teams. This has to be better than lulling players to sleep in a sense of complacency with a full month of meaningless spring games.

So far, I’ve enjoyed catching what Classic games I can. It’s certainly more exciting than Spring Training games, and while it’s not quite watching the Mets during the season, it’s exciting in it’s own right. I’m making my first trip down to Florida for Spring Training this week, and it coincides with round 2 of the Classic in Miami. I bought tickets, for what seems like way too much money for Dolphin Stadium, to game two between the Pool C runner up versus the Pool D winner. I’m excited to be there, and I think it will be an interesting experience. It also adds a little bit of intrigue to the round one games. At this very moment, I’m watching Venezuela play Italy in an elimination game. The winner plays the USA team, and the loser of that game is the team that I will see on Saturday. At the very least, I know I get to see the Mets from Puerto Rico on the other side, and as much as I probably should be rooting for the US to win the pool, I’d rather them be second, so I get to see the Mets on the team when I’m there.

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Christening Citi Field

When will the Citi be ours?

As much as I’m looking forward to Citi Field, I’ll always miss Shea at least a little bit. Right now we’re in that limbo stage, where the Mets don’t actually have a ‘home’. Until mid-April when they actually settle into the new park, all my Mets thoughts still encircle Shea Stadium. Citi Field doesn’t feel like home quite yet. For many of us, I suspect that our first day walking into Citi Field will feel much like we’re on vacation checking out San Francisco’s, or Pittsburgh’s, or wherever you’ve gone’s new ballpark. This time it’s ours.

So what will it take for it to feel like home?

Will it be that first, “Now batting, number seven, Jo-se Reyes!”? (I’m not buying for a second that it won’t be Jose leading off.)

Will it be after seeing that Apple come up for the first time, watching whoever hit it turn third and step on the plate?

I know some of you less optimistic types are going to turn to whoever you came with the first time Castillo grounds out in a key spot and say, “Now it feels like Shea.”

Maybe it’s the first win? The first time we stand and cheer and get crazy for a 9th inning and a K-Rod save? The first walk-off?

Maybe some people will be a little more accepting. Will it be the first tailgate? The first time you sit in the new seats and take in the whole park? The first time you get up to go to the bathroom or concessions between innings and don’t miss an entire inning? The elevator ride up the Rotunda? (How can you not go into the park through the Rotunda the first time?)

I’m leaning towards the first ‘big game’ moment at the new park. This probably will be against the Phillies, walking out with all my fellow Mets fans, satisfied and high-fiving the Mets win.

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Spring 2009

It’s spring. The first televised Mets game is on, and I’m excited. The team looks good, and cheery. They can forget last year and focus on this year, start working towards a better future. I opened a beer and started watching at 12:30 when Mets pregame started on SNY. I’m excited for the season, for the team, for the new park. This is the start of it. Pitchers and catchers is a nice milestone, but it doesn’t hit home the same way seeing the players live, and hearing Gary Keith and Ron does.

 

More than anything, I have something else to look forward to. I’m going down to Florida on March 11th, and actually seeing the games is making me antsy to get down there. img_3444