I was at the Met game last night vs the Washington Nationals. Some thoughts:
1) It was Mexican Heritage Night/ Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Night/ NY Lotto Night. There were 4 ceremonial first pitches. There was a Mexican R & B band who did a 2 song set, complete with back-up dancers. The Pepsi Party Patrol came out 3 times during the game. People did the wave during a tie game with the Mets at bat. The entire night had a very minor-league vibe to it.
2) There were about 20,000 people there, tops. Now I know the weather was bad earlier in the day, and it was a Tuesday, and it was the Nationals…. but a) if you are a team in a pennant race and b) if your stadium is closing in 12 games, where the hell are the fans?
3) I didn’t think it was possible, but the beers at Shea suck worse than the beers at Yankee Stadium. $8.50 for a 16 oz?? At least in the Bronx you get a 24 oz for that much, and a huge Fosters for $9.50.
4) Citi Field looks sweet. I look forward to seeing a game there.
5) The Mets bullpen is going to be a big problem for them in the playoffs. I could not believe some of the guys being trotted out to serve up runs to a terrible Nationals team. Luis Ayala is not the answer at closer.
6) He runs like a glacier (seriously, pick em up and put em down), and is still not an MVP, but Delgado is in a serious hitting zone right now. His HR looked like some of his old school shots.
7) For one night at least, Damion Easley looked like a great fielder, grabbing several hard-hit balls which were headed out to right field. Jose Reyes looked a step slow, as several singles ran past him on his right side.
8) The Nationals feature 2 former Mets (Anderson Hernandez and Milledge) and 3 former Yankees (Alberto Gonzalez, Wil Nieves, and the immortal Aaron Boone). Their best player seems to be either Willie Harris or Ryan Zimmerman. Elijah Dukes could be good. The bullpen looked like it belonged in the minor league game this contest felt like. Who are these guys? I can name one or two relievers from almost every team in baseball, but I had no idea with the Nats.
9) I think “God Bless America” is a more appropriate 7th inning complement to “Take me out to the Ballgame” than “Che la Luna”.
10) The Nats manager should not have turned Beltran around to the right side. Seems like he has more power that way.
11) The natives are growing restless with David Wright. I was surprised at the treatment he got from the crowd.
12) I am not sure I would ever feel confident with Oliver Perez. He is Dr. Jeckyl and Mrs. Hyde. I have seen him throw an 8 inning 10+ K game and look dominant, then I see him last night.
For what was likely my final visit to Shea, it will certainly go down as an interesting one. Very un-AL, but I suppose some of that should be chalked up to weather, and opponent.
The Widening Geier 
September 10, 2008 at 11:52 am |
Yankee snobbery at its best. We were playing the worst team in the league after September call-ups. It was actually a very entertaining game under the circumstances. As for God Bless America, I am with Carlos Delgado on that one. But I guess I would be ultra-patriotic too if I was George Steinbrenner. Only in America can an ex-felon piece of blowhard shit like him be so celebrated. Ask your aunt, I always curse and turn the channel as soon as Michael Kay introduces that Kate Smith crap. The Mets’ seventh inning song is “Lazy Mary” I believe. They’ve been doing that for several years. Fun song. I’ll take it over God Bless America anyday. Hell, I’d take Sweet Caroline over God Bless America. And you might be too young to know this, but they played Sinatra after games back in the 80’s. The Yanks proceeded to copy them.
By the way, I watch a lot of Yankee games. They have done the wave at “the Stadium” plenty of times this season. You’re right about the beer –but you can get Beck’s for the same price as Budweiser if you know where to go (I do, of course).
As for the crowd, I saw that game on TV and know the stadium pretty well. There was more than 20,000, but far fewer than the announced crowd. I thought the same thing as you. But the weather sucked all day, it was a work night, and the Met crowd is more the drive in from the island crowd than take the train (or limo) from Manhattan crowd like the Yanks. It is thus much more easily suppressed by bad weather.
That first Delgado shot was majestic. I assume you were leading those MVP chants after his second? Or were you thinking, “goddamnit, that fucking Karl might be right after all”?
September 10, 2008 at 12:12 pm |
The Wave is always shut down by boos in the Stadium. Always. It makes the rounds twice tops and then dies. It also does not happen at pivotal moments in the game, as it has the last 3 Met games I have been to as Shea (atlanta, Yankees, and Nats).
The announced crowd was 53,000. There were tracks of empty seats. I know you watched on TV, and know the stadium pretty well, but I was great at counting in kindergarten and can decently eyeball a crowd. The most they had was half the announced crowd.
The fact remains that there are 12 games left ever at Shea, the pennant is on the line, and you can’t fill the place. Forget the opponent, forget the weather, thats poor fanhood, not Yankee snobbery.
September 10, 2008 at 12:35 pm |
After the Yankees miss the playoffs this season, next season and the one thereafter, and Citifield becomes the “in” place to be like Yankee Stadium has been the past few years and Shea was in the 80’s, you’ll see the same thing happen to the Yanks.
They sold 53,000, and there were probably 35,000 present on a weeknight with massive thunderstorms all day against a last-place team. Whatever. Dads driving in from the Island with kids in tow will skip a game on a rainy, school night. And, unlike Yankee stadium, no one is gonna miss Shea. Met fans (and the tourists who have been flocking to Yankee Stadium this season) are not rushing out to Shea to see it for once last time. Trust me on this one.
And what’s so bad about the wave? The kids love it. And Met fans have no problem with it because it was fun (and new) back in the 80’s when the Mets owned this town. Shea is probably the stadium most associated with the wave from the mid-80’s.
September 10, 2008 at 1:02 pm |
Baseball fans don’t do the wave in a tie game with your team at bat, when you are holding onto a division lead and see Philly score several times to get back in the game with the Marlins 10-8.
September 10, 2008 at 2:03 pm |
Never a big fan of the wave, but hardly anything to get upset about. In any event, after going to last night’s game, you have got to be pretty impressed with the Mets’ offense right now. With Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado and Church all healthy (knock on wood) and performing, their lineup is really deep right now.
So, were the letters “M V P” repeatedly uttered by you following Pedro Cerrano’s second homer? You know why he got so hot after Willie got fired? Manuel got him a live chicken to sacrifice.
September 10, 2008 at 2:39 pm |
Mets have the same attendance problem as the Cyclones – once the summer is over, there aren’t as many group tickets to fill up the stadium with, which is why they do their big Catholic school nights in early June and late September.
There are a lot of Mets fans, but not nearly enough to consistently fill a stadium. The Mets are popular regionally. The Yankees are popular internationally. Do the math.
September 11, 2008 at 9:38 am |
53,000 tickets were sold to the game so having enough fans to consisently fill the stadium is not the issue. Charlie’s question is why were were there so many no shows?
As for the Mets being a mere “regional” team, as of a few weeks ago, they were number 1 in all of baseball in road attendance. Red Sox were 2. Yanks were 3. I don’t know where they stand today. The Yanks and the Red Sox would be flipped if Fenway wasn’t so much smaller than Yankee Stadium.
And Happy Birthday, Charlie.
September 11, 2008 at 10:10 am |
Thanks. You coming tomorrow night?
September 11, 2008 at 10:11 am |
We’ll be there.
September 18, 2008 at 10:00 am |
Waiting for you to give me a hard time about the Mets. But with this bullpen, it is unreasonable to expect anything from this team, let alone accuse them of collapsing. They have the bullpen of a last place team.
Quick trivia question: name the only outfielder in MLB with both 100 runs and 100 ribbies this season? Hint, he has 110 runs and 106 ribbies and is the most underrated player in the game.
September 18, 2008 at 12:50 pm |
Trivia answer-
As of today, Carlos Beltran is the only OF with 100 and 100.
Within a game or two, Manny, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Ludwick, Carlos Quentin, Jason Bay will all be with him.
But yes, Beltran deserves some love as a damn good CF.
but Manny for MVP, that preening asshole.
September 18, 2008 at 1:30 pm |
Quentin is out for the year, and Hamilton has only 93 runs. None of those guys play gold glove defense. Nor do they have 20+ steals. Pointed out that Beltran is alone at 100/100 because it never ceases to amaze how under-appreciated he is.
Pujols will be the MVP, unless Delgado or Howard go berzerk over the next ten days. Manny hasn’t played enough in the NL.
September 25, 2008 at 8:40 pm |
Definitely wanting any post beginning with “Upon…” Missing your insights!