Queens

On the Difference a Month Makes

Not Shea Stadium, 2012

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Metropolitans
Not Shea Stadium
National League
Queens, NY
4:05 PM


Outside the Game:
I don't know what possessed me to go to a game on Cinco di Mayo, but it was almost a month to the day after my last game, the Metropolitans weren't doing nearly as badly as everyone expected, and Johan Santana was pitching. Saint Johan. Johan the Great. But not as of yet.

It was a 4:05 game, and it was unseasonably warm, so I decided why not. I puttered around and did my normal Saturday routine before heading off to the park. The subway ride out was uneventful, if full of other Mets fans taking advantage of the warm weather and the lack of collapse this far in the season to take in a game.

Yah, mule!

I was a bit worried about the ride back, but the game packed up early enough that the hard-drinking crowd wasn't out yet, and I was able to slip back to my apartment before the place turned into Barter Town.


The Stadium & Fans:

Center field to home plate, Not Shea Stadium

As mentioned, it was still a bumper crop of fans out to see the Mets perform way over their heads -- and not inconsequentially get a Tom Seaver Bobble Head. The stadium news of the day seemed to be that they gave the cops at Not Shea tactical Segways to ride around on, because if there's one thing that the cops need was another way to not have a walk two feet.

The feet of greatness

While grabbing lunch at Blue Smoke, I got to witness a rare occurrence. A panel in one of the huge scoreboards at the back of center field had gone out, and I got to watch them replace it. Those giant scoreboards aren't all one display, but a series of smaller synchronized displays, so that if one of them goes out, they don't need to replace the entire unit. This repair is apparently done by removing an adjacent "square" from the board, unplugging the damaged square, reaching out with a new square, and slapping it into place. Frankly, I would have though that the process would have been a little more high-tech, but there you go.

There were a bunch of people in cheesy Mexican sombreros, which I found a little inappropriate. I doubt they would be wearing novelty yarmulkes on Passover, for example. Everyone seemed to be happy with the Tom Seaver bobbleheads, at least. The "Veteran of the Game" was a ninety year-old World War II vet and his wife who were celebrating that selfsame birthday at the park. (They also subsequently won the Kiss Cam, which smelled of a fix, really.)

He welcomes you all.

The only other weirdness was the all-white version of the Blue Man Group that performed the national anthem. I'm pretty sure they mentioned the group's name, but I'm sure it didn't register at all with me.


At the Game with Oogie:

Score time

I was in the bronze Ceasar's Club seats this time, parked behind our majestic third baseman (who had his first 0-fer in what seemed like the entire season that day). The seat and view were exactly what I'd come to expect, and the fans around weren't annoying, so victories all around.

There was a family sitting to my right, and the father was fighting the losing battle of keeping his youngest daughter more interested in the game than in her Gameboy-thing. He eventually gave up and spent most of his time talking with his pre-teen son, who at least seemed engrossed in the proceedings on the field.


The Game:

First pitch, Diamondbacks vs. Metropolitans

I've not had stellar luck seeing Johan Santana pitch live, so I didn't have a ton of hope for this game. Still, the D-Backs went in order in the first, but so did the Metropolitans. Johan set down the first two in the top of the second before giving up a monster homer to center and then a double to left after that before closing it down. The Mets scattered a single and a walk, but the second ended with the score 1-0 D-Backs.

Johan scattered two long singles in the top of the third, and the Mets only had two base runners of their own in the bottom. Arizona threatened in the top of the fourth with a back-to-back walk and single with one out, but Santana ended that half with two fly outs.

It was in the bottom of the fourth that the Mets would do their damage. After a ground out to third to start the inning, two back-to-back short singles were followed by a walk to load up the bases with one out. Knowing this team too well, I didn't get overly excited, but Mike Nikeas singled to center to bring home two runs, and Santana bunted everyone over to make it second and third with two outs. Torres singled to bring them in before Tejada flew out, ending the fourth with the Mets up 4-1.

Not one to make this easy, the Mets looked to give it all right back. Two singles and a double in the fifth brought two home to make it 4-3 Mets, and the Mets only managed a single in their half of the inning. The D-Backs got a runner in scoring position in the sixth with a single and sac bunt, but they could not bring him in. The Mets did nearly the same in their half, with no change in score.

The D-Backs went in order in the seventh, and the Mets only managed a single. Parnell came in for the eighth and only let a single get by him, while the Mets went in order.

And then our "closer" came in. Owner of an ERA north of 6 and a 1-1 record, this was not exactly comforting. After getting the first batter to fly to center, Francisco gave up a walk, and the pinch runner promptly stole second. Waiting for the inevitable, I was pleasantly surprised as another fly to center and a strikeout proved me wrong and cemented the 4-3 Metropolitans victory.


The Scorecard:

Diamondbacks vs. Metropolitans, 05/05/12. Metropolitans win, 4-3.

Once again, I was using the BBWAA scorebook in three colors, plus regular pencil. There wasn't anything scoring of note, except that there were a lot of strikeouts (13 total), and the Mets went exactly 50/50 on swinging and looking. David Wright, who was hitting over .400 at the time, had one of his first 0-fer games of the year, and Frank Francisco, rocking a 6.97 ERA at this point, managed to notch a save without giving up a run.


The Accommodations:
Hoboken, as per usual

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2012 Stand-Alone Trip