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| Not Shea Stadium, 2017 |
Miami Marlins vs. New York Metropolitans
Not Shea Stadium (Citi Field)
MLB (National League)
Queens, NY
7:10 PM
Outside the Game:
It was a late evening Saturday game for another "Opening Weekend," so I spent the morning in my regular Saturday schedule of doing the laundry and taking a nap. Eventually, I got ready for the game, and instead of walking, I decided to get an Uber to the Hoboken PATH station. However, the traffic in Hoboken was awful, and I of course managed to get to the PATH train right after a 33rd train had left. The good news was that it left me time to re-up all my transit passes while I was waiting for the next train to show up.
I eventually got my train to NY, and managed to snag an Orange subway connection right away, but I was not so lucky with the 7, running down the stairs to watch one just pulling out. This was then compounded with an announcement nearly immediately afterward saying that there were "serious delays" on the 7 line, making me wait an extra long time for the next train, which was wall-to-wall people almost the entire ride out to Willet's Point thanks to the aforementioned delays.
Eventually free and just before the gates opening, there were huge lines already piled up and the main gate, so I went around the back to the Bullpen entrance, which was bereft of anyone except the guy manning the gate and some old timers in line ahead of me. The gates opened on time, and I was off to the Shake Shack for my first burger of the year.
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| Shots fired |
I bailed on the fireworks after the game, and I was back to the subway in good time. Just as I was boarding the 7 homeward, the fireworks started going off in the distance. I was in no mood. The trip back home was uneventful, and I was in bed before midnight, wondering if this awful night was going to be a bellwether for the season.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Center field to home plate, Not Shea Stadium |
Good old Not Shea was open for another season of business, and there were a bunch of changes afoot. Out in center on top of the "7 Line Army" section was a Jim Beam Bourbon Bar. So now you know where they get their "team spirit." There were also new round plaques of retired numbers up on the left field side by the out-of-town scoreboard.
The biggest change was in the non-alcoholic beverage concession, where over the winter the Pepsi Porch had miraculously become the "Coca Cola Corner," which was gussied up with some new Coca-Cola bottle patio chairs and some new Coca-Cola branded amusements like fast pitch and cornhole. The brought-in wall in left now hosted an entire row of seats instead of the party area that was there previous seasons. There were also more low-key corporate naming rights with the restaurant out in left becoming the "Porche Grill" with a car out front that they got up there somehow, there were "Nikon Photo Spots" all around the park now, and Spotswoods took over the club level concession name.
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| The Mets welcome you, peasants |
In less-appealing changes, the area by the Whiffle-ball field that had previously housed the kids store now had a DJ booth, for some godawful reason, and the kids store moved upstairs, to be replaced with a "Season Ticket Holder Lounge." Yes, the Metropolitan ownership will do absolutely everything to give season ticket holders some stupid perks, but not anything that anyone wants or is asking for.
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| I loves ya, Case. |
The crowd was a little sparse for the cold April Saturday evening game. Less people to be disappointed, really. Mr. Met and the ill-conceived Mrs. Met were on hand for the between-innings entertainment, which hadn't changed all that much at all.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| First Shack of the year |
I grabbed my first Shack of the year and later got a Rao's meatball sub in the club area dining. I did my visit to the team store and the museum, and then had my walk-around to see what was new in Metropolitan land.
My seats were just past third on the club level, and there was a big family in front on me, with one guy who kept bragging all game about how he was connected and got the seats. There was an awesome old lady sitting next to me. Her jacket was covered in pins, and she was scoring the game along with me. I just wish the team had put on a better performance for her, but she was old enough to be immune to disappointment. I envied her.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Marlins vs. Metropolitans |
This early season matchup between the bottom-dwelling Marlins and the bottom-aspiring Metropolitans was a one-sided route that wasn't even much fun to watch. The fact that New York was no-hit through 5.6 innings is about all you need to know.
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| I mean, really. |
The Marlins started off the top of the first with a one-out double brought home on a ground out and a single to steak them to a 1-0 lead. As mentioned, the Metropolitans were no-hit until the 5th (with a perfect game thrown against them until a two-out fourth inning walk), so let's ignore them until the later innings. Miami got a leadoff homer to left to lead off the second, and a questionable triple and a sacrifice fly brought in another run in the third, extending the lead to 3-0.
Miami had only one baserunner on an error in the fourth, and scattered a walk and a single in the fifth. The Metropolitans began the bottom of the fifth with two strikeouts, and then Duda finally got the first hit, a homer to left with authority. Back-to-back walks followed, but were stranded, with the score a more respectable 3-1. Miami only had a walk in their half of the sixth, and the New York promptly went back to going in order.
The Marlins put another run on the board in the seventh with two walks and a single, while the Metropolitans scraped together another single. Not quite done scoring, Miami started the eighth with three singles in a row and a suicide squeeze bunt to plate two more runs, while New York only managed a single in their half, leaving the score 6-1. The Marlins continued feasting on the New York bullpen in the ninth, turning a walk and two singles into two more runs. The only good thing was that the Metropolitans got so good at striking out (13 on the night) that they managed to get on base with one before feebly ending the inning and the 8-1 loss.
The Scorecard:
Marlins vs. Metropolitans, 04/08/17. Marlins win, 8-1.
Although I picked up a $6 program, I didn't even bother to check the scorecard until I got home. I was so inured to the awful designs the Metropolitans had put out that I was shocked in flipping through the program on the way home that it appeared they had adopted a new, clean design for the scorecard that I would definitely have to check out on subsequent visits.
That said, and not knowing the above, I scored the game in the BBWAA scorebook. There were a few interesting plays from a scoring perspective. Let's start with strikeouts. There was a strikeout bunting in the top of the fourth, for a rare MLB "K-B." There were also two "K-2"s on Marlins players where the final third strike was not caught cleanly, which you don't find in many major league games unless a knuckleballer is going. The Metropolitans just struck out a lot, but they had an even more rare K in the bottom of the ninth where the runner reached base because the batter was not put out after a dropped third strike.
There were also a bunch of plays that needed actual notation. A bunch of double-shifts required a shifted player line for both teams in the scorecard to accommodate new players. A Metropolitan challenge on a safe steal call in the top of the seventh was denied. The first oh-so-time-saving immediate intentional walks that I saw in person happened in the top of the seventh. And then there were a couple of calls I disagreed with the scoring on. A triple in the top of the third was clearly an E8 on a botched play, and conversely, an E5 ruled in the top of the fourth was clearly a single. I don't know what the official scorer was doing on those plays, but it wasn't even home cooking.
The Accommodations:
Jersey City, sweet, Jersey City
2017 Stand-Alone Trip
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