Going to the game...

[Vic Sage]

... on Friday, with the family. It looks like Harvey v the Nats.
Anybody else?

[Vic Sage]

good weather tonight, Harvey v Gio.
Nobody else?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I hear Jay Bruce may be there

[Vic Sage]

oh joy. I'll tell him you said hi.

[Centerfield]

Nice game to see in person.

[Vic Sage]

yeah, but the family tired and we left by the 10th. damn it. I need to go to games alone.

[Centerfield]

Best game I've ever been to at CitiField. In fact, other than the No-Hitter I can't think of another game I would have rather seen.

We could tell things would be different the minute we arrived. We have never had to park so far away and wait so long to get into the stadium. (the delay meant we had no time to eat at the club before the game). The crowd was buzzing right from the get go. We were all dying to give Cespedes a nice welcome and reward Wilmer Flores. deGrom was, obviously, shaky in the first. You could tell right away that he didn't have his slider. It also felt like he was getting squeezed by the home plate ump (especially on the 3-2 pitch to Werth), but it's was hard to really tell from our seats. The Desmond hit was softly hit. We were all shocked to see it find it's way through. Falling behind early was a bit deflating, but there was still a lot of energy in the bottom of the inning. Cespedes got a huge ovation. I feel like he may have been trying too hard to do something special in his first at bat.

There was a "holy shit" moment when Flores hit the deep fly ball. I felt like it didn't have enough off the bat, but it kept on carrying. Too bad. It would have been incredible.

The energy started to drain as the game wore on. deGrom was not finding his slider, the Mets were not hitting. It seemed like everyone wanted to cheer but there was nothing to root for. The Duda home run got everyone going. deGrom didn't find his slider but seemed to get his change up working. Things were looking better.

The second Duda home run was the loudest I have ever heard CitiField. Everyone was jumping and screaming. It was funny, I felt like the place should have been shaking. Here is my suggestion for next year, weaken the CitiField infrastructure.

Matt Williams makes some curious decisions. I thought he might walk Cespedes, but I thought he even he would not be so dumb considering Duda is raking. Thanks Matt. The go-ahead double was even louder than before. Good chance for Wilmer to get a cheap RBI and let us cheer him. It was not his night.

Familia = awesome. We were all on our feet.

Fireworks were nice.

Great game overall.

[Frayed Knot]

Funny thing about walking Cespedes to get to Duda is their splits this year
Cespedes vs LHPs: .183/.244/.329
Duda vs LHPs: .305/.359/.558

Now their career numbers aren't nearly so lopsided (although Cespedes has always been slightly better vs RHPs during his ML time) but add that to the Lucas hotness factor (we here at CPF labs are still working out the numbers on that) and it makes the decision even more shaky. And, as I mentioned in the IGT, he's doing all high leverage inning stuff, plus all of Friday's late & extra innings, without touching either of his top two relievers.
Williams is a definite "by the book" kind of guy with his bullpen and he's been burned by it several times in his first 1-1/2 as manager, including last October.

[Edgy MD]

Best thing about this, though, is that the Mets finally have a lineup that might cause a manager to have the occasional dilemma.

[Fman99]

If the current five man rotation holds true for the next two weeks, Fboy and I will be at the Sunday Aug 16 matinee against Pittsburgh, which should shape up as a Harvey day.

[Fman99]

Now it's sounding like there will be a call up for a start next week, pushing Colon/Niese to the Saturday/Sunday starts. In that case we will be there for the Sunday matinee to see Niese, sad to not catch one of the kids over the course of those two games.

[Guest themetfairy]

Touch base with me. Depending on how things play out this weekend I may be able to join you.

[Fman99]

themetfairy wrote: Touch base with me. Depending on how things play out this weekend I may be able to join you.

We will keep you in the loop, for sure. It'd be great to coax some other CPF'ers out for a "hello," I know SJR is always good for a brewski each time I see him at the park. It'd be great to see if Irish and Lorcan could join us as well.

[Ceetar]

I've been itching to get Sophie back out to a second game. That Sunday sounds promising.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Sundays are out for the near future, unfortunately... but a late-next-week Citi appearance may be in the offing for TeamLWFS, with adorable Mets-fans-in-Philly nieces in tow, no less.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Our next apearance is Friday the 14th vs.Pittsburgh.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Anyone going to the game tonight?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I hear Eric O'Flaherty will be there

[batmagadanleadoff]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I hear Eric O'Flaherty will be there

Him and that beautiful scoreboard that I expect to be filled with home team goose eggs.

[Fman99]

Now the broadcasters are suggesting that the Mets may wait to call up the 6th man in the rotation until after the Pittsburgh series, meaning we WOULD get to see Harvey pitch that Sunday. Which would be preferable.

[Edgy MD]

Who's doing the deGrom thing this evening?

[Guest d'Kong76]

Not sure yet, but would like to hit the matinee tomorrow.

[Edgy MD]

I'm in town, thinking of finally breaking the tape on Citi Field.

I'm seeing 'em twice next week in Balto, so I'm not sure.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm gonna be there, along with another famous member of the CPF, g-fafif. You should stop by!

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: I'm in town, thinking of finally breaking the tape on Citi Field. I'm seeing 'em twice next week in Balto, so I'm not sure.

do it do it do it

[Edgy MD]

Whoah. What section is the royalty sitting in these days?

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: Whoah. What section is the royalty sitting in these days?

Careful, he tends to pick sections with broken seats.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: Whoah. What section is the royalty sitting in these days?

Look for us in 511, row 3 or 4. Twas a last minute thingy with some current and former work acquaintances.

[Fman99]

Fman, Fboy, MetFairy, D-Dad, all in tow, Sect 137, row 17, Sunday afternoon for Harvey and Mets/Pirates. Stop by and say hello!

[Guest d'Kong76]

Sunday might be my Plan B if tomorrow doesn't work. I like gay dames.