On Getting Back on the First Horse of the Apocalypse
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| Not Shea Stadium, 2021 |
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. New York Metropolitans
Not Shea Stadium
MLB National League
Queens, NY
7:10 PM
Outside the Game:
But as soon as I actually had a ticket, I didn't particularly care. There was more follow-up forms that I had to fill out and whatnot, but all I was concentrating on was going to my first ballgame in almost exactly a year and a month, and my first game at home for over two years. The itch was real.
With the stadium only being at 10% capacity, I was less concerned than normal about getting in, but alternatively, I needed to get to the park as early as possible, because I finally could. I decided to drive out to Not Shea for the first time since the early 80s. Not on my own, of course, but hailing a Lyft out there, with a ride that was slightly shorter than the public transportation option. I was picked up by a rather no-nonsense gentleman who did not speak a word for the entire ride, which I appreciated immensely. Even though we hit some traffic at around 3:30 crossing Manhattan, I was struck by the fact he was the most technically competent driver with which I think I ever had the pleasure of traveling. He was always in complete control of the vehicle, at the proper distance, aggressive but not dangerous. It was quite a thing to behold. I told him as much when he dropped me off at Not Shea with a little less than an hour to kill before gates opened.
Walking around was surreal. Even for a regular May game, there would be a decent-sized crowd before gates opened, and now it was nothing more than a handful. I wandered around the abandoned landscape, taking in the large same-day testing centers that they had in place by the entrances and seeing all the familiar places before setting up, second in line by one of the gates at the rotunda. About fifteen minutes before gate opened, they let the lines into a socially distanced fence maze, and the hundred or so people in attendance at the time filtered through. At the first checkpoint, they confirmed your vaccination or test record (but not the form I had with me that the Website assured me would be required for entry), and then straight over to the metal detectors, and then ticket scan, and then receiving a Wonder Woman Mrs. Met Bobblehead. It took 600,000 deaths, but the Mets finally improved their gate process.
On the way out, I was taking my time. It was crowded, but not packed back-to-back on the way to the subway, even though they had inexplicably closed the main subway entrance, forcing everyone to go up the narrow side entrances. They re-arranged the tracks as well, but I found the super-express 7 train back to the city, sat in a half-empty car, and was whisked back to Manhatten. A surreal walk to the PATH entrance through an empty Saturday-night midtown put me on a train back to Hoboken, and then a quick and shorter Lyft home, to crash in bed as Sunday came into being.
The Stadium & Fans:
Not Shea Stadium had changed quite a bit in the two years I had been away. And I'm not talking about the "Ford Garage" obstacle course in center field that replaced the dunk tank, or the Tom Seaver exhibit they added in the museum. The place had been made "Covid compliant," most noticeably by restricting all eating and drinking to the seating areas by removing every last outside table and chair. Every concession had social distancing lines in place, and every seat that was not designated for pod seating was zip-tied up to prevent it from being used. They also were strictly enforcing ticket areas, so you couldn't just wander around to any section of the park. They didn't even let you down for batting practice (though that was moot on this evening, as the tarp was out until just before gametime). Mr. and Mrs. Met were wearing face masks, which I both understood but didn't. All guests needed to have a real facemask and were only allowed to take them off when they were in their "pods."
The crowd looked like a late-season September match-up the week or two before fan appreciation day. It was patchy due to the distancing, but it was still incredibly satisfying to be in the a crowd watching a ball game again. The noise isn't what it was, but it was still identifiably watching a ballgame, and that was more than enough.
The Mets spent a good portion of the evening owning an awkward conflict from the previous game, where Jeff McNeil and Franciso Lindor engaged in an altercation in the dugout tunnel that had the whole team running in to see what was going on. It was given the awkward PR gloss of an argument over whether they had seen a rat or a raccoon running around. The Mets leaned into it hard, with a pre-game quiz contest over "Rat or Raccoon," and a McNeil homer had a raccoon superimposed over his face on the video board during his trot.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| First Shake Shack in two years |
It was me and my mask at the stadium. Old habits die hard, and even though I was maybe in the first ten people in the stadium, I made a bee-line for Shake Shack and was perhaps their third customer that evening. Instead of sitting down and watching BP, I headed back to my seat in the pod to eat it up before heading back out. I went to the team store next to buy my normal crap before making a stop in the museum before wandering around on the lower promenade for a while.
I was half keeping my eye out for Jomboy Media's Jake Storiale, who was at the game that night as part of a promo campaign with the D-Backs. While we never ran into each other, I did work out that he was sitting just across from me in the right field seats, so I was able to grab a stalker picture.
I will say this: Pod seating is awesome. While only being able to eat in your seating is kind of a bummer, being able to sit and spread out comfortably is just great. You're close enough to other fans to be part of the cheering and get the atmosphere, but you're also not crammed up against some guy from Staten Island who is scarfing onion dogs all night and yelling on his cell phone to his distributor who is "just screwing him on this deal."
I brought some rice balls and a souvenir soda back to my seat for the game, since there were no concessions in the seats (although you could apparently pre-order with an app, but I never bothered to check). I left my soda cup in my seat on the way out, so that was a bit of a disappointment. But if I have the option of "unvaccinated" pods or wall-to-wall seating, I know which one I will choose going forward.
The Game:
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| First pitch, D-Backs vs. Metropolitans |
The (at the time) newly resurgent New York Metropolitans were facing the surging (at the time) Arizona Diamondbacks early in the second month of the season. Not quite a pitcher's duel and not quite a slug fest, the game ended with a Metropolitans win, so I can't be too critical.
There was a dearth of action early. With the exception of a catcher's interference, the D-Backs went in order in the first, while New York scratched out a single walk in their half. Arizona went in order in the second, while the Metropolitans managed just another walk. The Diamondbacks had a mini-two-out rally in the top of the third, getting a walk and another catcher's interference on base (more on that later), but a strikeout ended the threat. New York, however, got on the board in the bottom of the frame with a leadoff walk driven in by a two-run bomb to right by Jeff McNeil. A walk followed by Lindor, who stole second and scored when the catcher deposited the ball into the outfield, granting an early 2-0 lead, before three straight outs ended the threat.
Arizona went in order in the fourth, while the Metropolitans stranded a leadoff double that made it to third base on a fielder's choice. The D-Backs got a runner to second in the fifth after a one-out, hit-by-pitch got sacrificed over, but there he died on the vine. New York stranded their own runner in their half, with a one-out double making it to third on a ground-out, but no further. In the top of the sixth, Arizona got on the board with a leadoff single that made it to second on an errant pick-off throw, third on a single, and home on a ground-out to second, closing the deficit to 3-1, before a new pitcher and two strikeouts ended the chance. The Mets just had a walk to show for their half of the sixth.
The Diamondbacks tried to extend their momentum in the seventh, and managed a two-out rally. Three singles loaded the bases, but a fortunate ground-out ended the threat with no runs across. New York tacked on a run in their half of the seventh. A leadoff walk was erased on a fielder's choice, but the trail runner stole second and got brought home on a timely single to right, extending the lead to 4-1. Arizona got one back in the top of the eighth with a single, walk, and two-out single to close New York's lead to 4-2. The Metropolitans went in order in the eighth, but the D-Backs only had a leadoff single to show for the ninth, and it went in the books as a 4-2 Mets win.
The Scorecard:
The Mets default scorecard has improved over the years. Now, it is on regular paper with a white background in the centerfold of the program, with good spacing for notes. The top has data lines for the opponent, their record, attendance, date, final score, and home record. There are twelve players lines with spaces for replacements, and each scoring square has a lightly printed diamond, with rows ending in At Bats, Runs, Hits, and RBI and columns ending in runs and hits for the twelve innings provided. Underneath are six pitching lines for each teams with standard stats, along with cumulative totals for double plays, doubles, triples, home runs, errors, and left on base for both teams.
First and foremost, there was not only my first catcher's interference play that I've seen in person, there was the second, with the same batter, in two subsequent plate appearances. That was definitely a case where I whipped around to the big scoreboard when the runner was going to first after clearly not being hit or having four balls. The first CI call was amazing, but the second one just left me incredulous.
The first catcher's interference led straight into the second noteworthy call of the night, where the Metropolitans promptly turned a 6-4-3 double play to erase the issue, but the play was overturned on review, leaving a 6-4 put out. We skip to the third, where Lindor's steal of home from first base was, in fact, his 100th stolen base--and what a steal it was.
In the bottom of the fourth, a play was made on a close play on a grounder back to the mound to catch the advancing runner on third. The runner was called safe, and it was upheld on review, leaving Arizona 1-2 on the day. Top sixth, a leadoff runner made it to second on a E3 on a 1-3 pickoff attempt. Last of note was a two out "hit" in the top of the seventh that was clearly some home-cooking on an E6.
Arizona second baseman Escobar got a golden sombrero and a lovely little hat drawing.
The Accommodations:
I was returning to my same, old apartment, but it was after an evening out, which was a first after over a year.So there's that.
Click here to see all the photos from this trip.
2021 Stand-Alone Trip
