Home Opener IGT - San Diego Padres @ New York Mets

[Fman99]

C'mon, Jose.

[Guest Kong76]

Oh well, that's that. Er, that's fat. I mean have a nice evening and arrive
home safely.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Damn it!

The Mets need to get some fat ass pitchers.

[Fman99]

Feh. Stupid fat ****y Heath Bell.

Mets laid down for the Padres bullpen, last 10 hitters go in order. Weak.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

A freaking balk.

Hey Pedro, that's so 2008.

Horrible.

[metirish]

So much for my IGT .




you be my bitches , bitches

[Guest Edgy DC]

0-1 in that stupid patch, which, by the way, stays hard and flat and therefore makes a perfect commercial when the players are shot in profile.

[Fman99]

Gwreck wrote: We already know it'll be the Domino's patch. I do expect to see blue hats and pinstripes, however, or else Charlie Samuels should be fired.

Actual conversation:

Fwife: "What's with that big patch?"

Fman99: "Oh, that's the patch they're going to wear at home this year."

Fwife: "Wow, it's stupid looking."

[HahnSolo]

The score runs in a bunch early (well in this case the fifth inning) and do nothing in the later innings was done to death last year, guys.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm disgusted with these bums. I knew we were in for it when Beltran fouled out on a 3-1 pitch from Duaner F. Sanchez.

Embarrassing really.

[Gwreck]

I was there. Not much fun aside from the Wright home run.

I didn't see much in the IGT about Reyes stupidly getting thrown out at second after his leadoff single in the 3rd. I felt that was a big momentum killer. He was very close -- and may have slid off the bag -- but it was still a really stupid thing to do, considering we were down 3 at the time.

I didn't care much for Jerry's bullpen management in this game. When Stokes came in, I figured him for a two inning stint and not for righty matchups.

Pregame introductions featured Cliff Floyd getting a very nice standing ovation from the Shea crowd and him appearing to be very touched by the gesture. Nice hat tip from Cliff. Heath Bell lustily booed (he also tipped his cap while grinning); Duaner got a mixture.

No heavy booing for the Mets players. Biggest cheers to David, Jose and Rodriguez. (Granted, Johan was not there. He was mentioned but it was tough to hear over the PA at that point).

Seaver and Piazza walking in from the bullpen was a nice touch but the moment was a little bit lost given how much other stuff was going on on the field at that time. No introductions/mention of Doc, Darryl, Rusty, etc. I am pleased to report that the Shea family did present the good-luck floral wreath to Jerry Manuel.

It's still taking a while to get used to the new park. Having now been there several times, I think they really make a mistake by not having enough escalators. Big bottlenecks on the stairs while leaving.

[A Boy Named Seo]

I got nothin' to say.

[Guest themetfairy]

Back from the game. Too tired to think, although I thought there was a good number of staircases for post-game egress.

It was nice watching a game in the new home, even though it was a sucky result.

I'll post some pix tomorrow, when I'm conscious enough to go through them properly.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

The new ballpark looked great on the television. However, the team didn't look too good.

As stated numerous times before, the patch on the sleeve looked very plain and uninspired.

[Guest themetfairy]

Yeah, but when they wear it you know you're going to get your pizza in 30 minutes or less.

[Guest themetfairy]

It's fuzzy, but here is the cat on the field -

[Gwreck]

themetfairy wrote: Back from the game. Too tired to think, although I thought there was a good number of staircases for post-game egress.

Do you mind me asking where you were sitting?

We are in the upper level directly behind home. Either of the two staircases were disasters. The wait was several minutes just to get into the staircases and then a very slow walk down. Not much pushing but if this is what it was like after a game it gives me pause as to what might happen if an emergency evacuation was needed.

[Gwreck]

Edit: Duplicate post.

[Guest themetfairy]

Um, er, we were actually in the Ebbets Club. So we probably used the same staircase, but starting from different levels.

I did scope out the egress from our regular Promenade level seats, though - there's a ramp and a staircase nearby.

As opposed to getting out of the upper tiers of Citizens Bank, this is much, much better designed.

BTW, Doc Gooden was in the house -

[metsmarathon]

from today's NY times...

"At Shea, the fan who caught Gerut�s homer would have thrown it back. Not here. Too good of a souvenir. "

i'm sorry, but i don't believe that foolish behavior has made its way into our city just yet. i mean, does anybody remember a game at shea where an opponent's home run was thrown back onto the field? i had always thought new york fans were at least smart enough to not do that. boo, sure. but throw back a perfectly good souvenir? no way!

[Guest Edgy DC]

No, there's no tradition of cooties at Shea.

[Guest themetfairy]

Here's Gary Sheffield, in his home field Mets debut -

[stevejrogers]

="metsmarathon"]from today's NY times... "At Shea, the fan who caught Gerut�s homer would have thrown it back. Not here. Too good of a souvenir. " i'm sorry, but i don't believe that foolish behavior has made its way into our city just yet. i mean, does anybody remember a game at shea where an opponent's home run was thrown back onto the field? i had always thought new york fans were at least smart enough to not do that. boo, sure. but throw back a perfectly good souvenir? no way!

I agree, I think we'd know about it if it was a tradition at Shea. It's more of a Wrigley thing.

Maybe once in a while I'm sure it must have happened, but it isn't something to hang a "tradition" tag on it.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

My Buddy Will always says that if he catches a home run and you see it thrown back on the field, look closely and you'll see his severed hand still attached to it, since he'd never give it up.

Stupid Cubs tradition, and the Times writer should know better.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Most home runs hit at Shea landed where no fans were sitting.

[Gwreck]

themetfairy wrote: Um, er, we were actually in the Ebbets Club. So we probably used the same staircase, but starting from different levels. I did scope out the egress from our regular Promenade level seats, though - there's a ramp and a staircase nearby. As opposed to getting out of the upper tiers of Citizens Bank, this is much, much better designed.

I don't think the Ebbets Club seats had the same staircase. Don't those seats exit to the field-level concourse?

There is indeed a ramp from the Promenade that goes out at left field. But that's the only one in the stadium, I think. People on the right field side and in the infeld aren't so lucky.

[Centerfield]

It was a suckass game. We got to be happy for about ten minutes before Church dropped that ball and Feliciano balked him in. Too many times this season, the offense has put up runs only to give them back in the next half-inning.

It wasn't a great crowd either. I'm not sure if the sound just doesn't resonate here at Citi, but I feel like it never got as loud as Shea. And there were certainly lots of people there last night that weren't Mets fans. People weren't standing with two outs, two strikes, the chants never really got going, etc. I thought it was shameful how lackluster the ovation was for Seaver and Piazza.

That being said, the stadium is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Lots of legroom in the seats, great views, great food, great atmosphere. During the whole time I kept thinking I was at someone else's park and found myself subconsiously thinking the Mets were the road team. They fixed that out-of-town scoreboard thing Gwreck mentioned so there is a little red dot indicating the team that is batting. Plus, it was hard to see from our seats, but when the seating goes all the way around, I guess that is unavoidable.

My only complaint about the ballpark is the outfield wall. I hate it. The weird configuration. The recessed wall in right, the high wall in left, the stupid high wall in center to protect the apple. Nobody is ever going to clear that. Plus they have one of those lines so you'll need replay to determine whether it was a HR or not. Why not just put a regular fence out there so that everything that's over it is a HR, and everything that bounces back is in play. Plus the color scheme is weird. Orange and black on the outfield wall makes me feel like i'm in San Francisco. If the wall is black, put the numbers in blue. Or white. The new apple looks great. And the bridge, which I thought was a stupid idea, actually looks really cool.

Lazy Mary made the trip over from Shea, which was great. Unfortunately, so did Sweet Caroline in the 8th inning, which I think sucks. Beer guys have to ID everyone, each time. So the old guy sitting in front of me had to pull out his license like seven times. "Do you think I'm getting younger as the night goes on?"

Some asshole tried to start a "Yankees Suck" chant on the way out but was shouted down by everyone else. That's nice to see. The same asshole then saw a bunch of Marines and tried to start an "Iraqis Suck" chant. Which I was disappointed to see a few Marines joined. If Iraqis suck, why are they risking their lives to help them? I would hope Marines would be bright enough to correct the man and say "Insurgents Suck" or something to that effect.

The sausages are good.

[Gwreck]

I tried for forget that Sweet Caroline ever happened. It got so heavily booed from my section that I couldn't tell if the sheep were singing along in the rest of the park.

I think part of the problem with Seaver and Piazza is that they weren't properly introduced. The PA wasn't loud enough for much of the game/pregame ceremonies.

[Frayed Knot]

Centerfield wrote: It wasn't a great crowd either ... And there were certainly lots of people there last night that weren't Mets fans.

"Event" goers no doubt.
Bloomberg was there, which is understandable.
Trump was also which is never a good thing IMO.

] My only complaint about the ballpark is the outfield wall. I hate it. The weird configuration. The recessed wall in right, the high wall in left, the stupid high wall in center to protect the apple. Nobody is ever going to clear that. Plus they have one of those lines so you'll need replay to determine whether it was a HR or not. Why not just put a regular fence out there so that everything that's over it is a HR, and everything that bounces back is in play.

If I were asked during the planning stage what one thing I'd want in a new park my answer would have been, 'no disputed HR areas'.
I don't mind the asymmetry or varying wall heights and they can put all the nooks and crannies in there that they want (btw, what differentiates a nook from a cranny?) but just let a HR be easily distinguishable from an in-play ball.

[Gwreck]

The only place I see there being a disputed home run problem is on the left side of centerfield, where the wall and the stands come together. Everywhere else seemed to be pretty clear that the line was just on the top of the wall and wasn't there to split a wall between home run and in-play.

Have no problem with the home run line topping the wall for aesthetic purposes.

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One other thing I forgot to mention were the ridiculous tarps that extended over the bullpens and blocked the view of the relievers. Makes no sense to have put the bullpens in a highly visible spot in the stadium if they were just going to block them later.