IGT May 7: Gay dame @ Chavez Latrine

[Guest holychicken]

I really needed this laugher. I can go home and build my new PC happily tonight. . .assuming we don't blow an 11 run lead. . .

/begins to worry.

[Benjamin Grimm]

That's so September 2007.

[Guest Big Junk]

That was a 10 pitch at bat to Loney and a LOT of fastballs.

[Guest KC]

I'm overtired or shot ... I swear Cohen just said gay dame a minute
ago by accident.

[Guest themetfairy]

We always have suspected Gary of lurking here, haven't we?

[Gwreck]

Going into today's game, the Mets were the only team to not have a starting pitcher go more than 7 innings.

With 7 pitches to retire the side in the 8th, sure looks like Maine will be going for the CG Shutout.

[G-Fafif]

Gary just gave Maine a CG for the one-hitter last September 29. He departed after giving up the one hit in the eighth. But the more one forgets about last September, probably the better.

[G-Fafif]

Gary cops to brain cramp, reassigns Maine's 2007 shutout to rain-shortened effort against Washington. An honorable broadcaster.

[Gwreck]

Cynic in me says it was the SNY version of the Immortal Chris Majkowski (sp?) who corrected Gary...

[HahnSolo]

There goes the shutout.

[G-Fafif]

But the win counts!

[Frayed Knot]

[worthless lament]Why da fuck couldn't we have had one or two of today's hits last night?!?![/worthless lament]

[nymr83]

they just showed on the news that Church's homerun was caught by a fan holding an infant!

[Gwreck]

Reminds me of the old Dave Barry quote:

"The difference between men and women is that if a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base."

[A Boy Named Seo]

Was in New Orleans for Jazz Fest (and to woo me this Memphis Belle), so I missed the first two games, but went out today. Opera Singer was doing the anthem again and she picked this game and me to go with her on the field. She's pretty cool, that Opera Singer.

Same deal as last year, if some of you remember. You enter in the area where the office-type employees go to work every day. They gave us our passes, got the Opera Singer some water and stuff, we goofed around for a minute, and then they took us up to the press booth for her sound check.



The Dodger Stadium escort this year was super friendly and talkative and a cutie pot-pie in her own right. Corie, I think it was. Or Korey. Something like that. Here she is next to this kid Brock I'll tell you about later.



Hummina, hummina.

I told you guys last year about the bullpen cart, I think. That thing's cool. I told cutie pot-pie how much I dug it and she said she told the higher-ups to bring it back, but nothing came of it. I told her to push harder. They weren't ready to listen maybe.



So, sound check is up in the press booth where Dodger organist Nancy Bea Hefley and (and her ever-present husband of 50 years) does her work. I walked in the same time as Howie Rose and said kind of excitedly, "That's fucking Howie Rose!", but I said it quietly and no one heard me, I don't think. I saw Rob Reiner coming into the can as I was leaving and found that quite a bit less cool. Anyway, here's a shot. Not of Reiner's Meathead, but Opera Singer warming up. A little blurry, this one.



We went down to teh field next for her second sound check. They had her show up later this year so we missed all of BP, which I'm not gonna lie, sucked a little. Kid got a little sassy on her second run-through. She kicked just as much ass, though.



Two peeps threw out first balls, some chick from "Friday Night Lights" I'd not heard of and some guy who used to be some kind of equipment manager for the Mets, but is now affiliated with the Dodgers, I think. His Dodger jersey only said "JT" on the back. Can't remember his name. All the Mets guys knew him and were up on the rail booing him and laughing and someone even lightly chucked a baseball out at him. Tommy Lasorda was his catcher and dropped the lollipop JT looped at him (blurry, too).





It's about noontime now, so she's gotta sing. She steps out by the big "LA" behind home plate and just belts out a fucking gorgeous opera-tinged (but not full-on opera) National Anthem. Sparse crowd right at 12PM, but enthusiastic and appreciative.







As soon as she was done, that kid Blake from earlier ran up and gave her a huge hug. It was pretty cute. He showed up to the game with his dad, who skipped work and had the kid skip school to they could watch a little day-time baseball. Is that nice or what? So he takes the kid down to get autographs before the game and some girl, maybe cutie pot-pie, asks the kid if he wants to kick the game off NASCAR-style by shouting "Time for Dodger Baseball!" as they players start their engines. Dad's completely excited and tells me he's been a Dodger fan over 40 years and can't get over that he's standing on the same field they play on. I tell him his kid'll now be a Dodger fan 40 years from now, too.

Then Blake stomps out, two-hands the mic like some speed metal frontguy and screams, "Time for Dodger Baseball!" like Vin Scully never could.



Kid's even got eye-black on for chrissakes. Hard-core.

Cool, let's play ball then.

We're ready to head to the seats when David Wright comes out for a game of catch with Marlon Anderson. He's like 30 feet away and cutie pot-pie likes him just as much as me and Opera Singer do, so we all hang out and I start snapping pictures.



Davey starts stretching it out and moves closer to us. 20 feet or so, then maybe 10 feet away. Then, like 5 feet away. The girls' jaws have dropped to the perfectly manicured grass and I'm acting gayer than Charles Nelson Reilly, too.







Even closer.



Closer still.



Josie steps out to start the game. We finally have to leave.



Here's our seats. Not too bad.



What else? I got the kid to go Mets for a minute. Here she is Chad Cordero-style.



Her Met-love didn't last. Here's us about to throw-down before the game. I'm the hobo on the right.



Her: "Let's get a picture."

Me: "There's a game being played, girl. C'mon, Churchie!"

(PS- $12 bucks for that stupid beer.)



So that's about it. Mets kicked ass. John Maine was awesome. Me = happy. Her = faking sad.



Walking out, she gets cheeky with Gibby and I stare down Mike Marshall. Not that one, the other one.





That's it. Good night, kids.

[Guest Triple Dee]

themetfairy wrote: Holy fuck! Who are these guys, and what have they done with our Mets?

DSM-IV would diagnose this team with Bipolar disorder (type 2).

[Guest Triple Dee]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: That's it. Good night, kids.

Seo, you look exactly how I pictured you, except with long-hair and a beard. Very nice pics, thanks for sharing.

[Guest themetfairy]

Seo - what a cool experience! Thanks for the pix and the wonderful report

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LMAO.

Was wonderoing where where you were this series. Shoulda known: Hanging out with babes and the Mets. FU!

[Theoldmole]

How was JazzFest? I used to go every year, but not in a long time.

[metirish]

Very cool Seo , looks like a great time and that kid rocks.

[Guest themetfairy]

I don't usually make it a point to sit down and watch Mets Fast Forward, but I missed a lot of yesterday's game so I'm watching it now. I figure it's just going to be a highlights reel

Pagan's catch was, indeed, impressive!

[soupcan]

Seo - love the pictorial!

That should be a mandatory CPF thing. Anyone who attends an away game must then provide us with slide show.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

A slide show including pix of chixxx with nice dumpers, preferably.

[A Boy Named Seo]

TheOldMole wrote: How was JazzFest? I used to go every year, but not in a long time.

I went on Friday and Sunday and we blew off Saturday for a night of debauchery in the Quarter.

Friday was better. The forecast called for rain and it kept people away, and when the rain came, it was a nice little cool-off. I didn't know 3/4 of the people playing, but the blues tent and the gospel tents were my favorites. The peeps I was with were hot for Michael Frenti. I wasn't at all, but I was hot for this girl who was hot for Michael Frenti, so I stuck through his set and we closed with the last half of Stevie Wonder, who was great.

Keb Mo was the best on Sunday for me. Santana was playing. The Neville Brothers, too. Stuff I didn't really care about (and they had the biggest crowds), but I stuck with my peeps. The smaller tents with the more local, authentic acts were the best. I wish I saw more.

Sunday was hotter than hell and humid, too, and there were so many more people, it was less enjoyable for a temperate climate dude like me. I'd go again if I were closer, but skip the big, touring headliners for the real shit on the undercard.

The food was awesome. It was just too hot out I didn't feel like eating. I tried some delicious crab cakes, some shrimp creole, and a freaking alligator pie, which looked like a hot pocket, and I guess kinda tasted like one, too (a chicken one). Can't win 'em all. The red beans and rice was A+.

Keb Mo way back there somewhere:

[Guest AG/DC]

Are there no black people left in New Orleans?

[seawolf17]

AG/DC wrote: Are there no black people left in New Orleans?

Well, certainly not at the touristy things.

I almost missed Seo's pictorial buried here in the IGT -- glad I clicked in here! Very cool experience.

[Centerfield]

Amazing. Great slide show Seo.

That like never happens to me.

[Guest AG/DC]

Where does one find a 21-year-old songbird with sass and VIP passes?

[Guest themetfairy]

When you're as charming a ballgame companion as Seo is, I'm sure those kinds of invitations are frequent