On Resuming
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| Not Shea Stadium, 2025 |
Chicago Cubs vs. New York Metropolitans
Not Shea Stadium
National League
Queens, NY
7:15 PM
Outside the Game:
After a season's absence trying to organize my life situation to an acceptable degree, I decided to take the plunge and head back to the ballpark from my new, old place.
I dallied with the thought of driving to Queens for about two seconds, and then considered taking in the train, which would be too time inflexible coming home, or would involve me driving and parking in Hoboken (again raising the specter of driving), and then conceded to the inevitable and decided to try and take the bus right by my house to the stadium. This would end up right at Port Authority, where it would be a quick 7 ride to the park, and really, how bad could even the bus be on an early Saturday afternoon?
The answer is what made me largely abandon the bus as a means to commute. Firstly, on the weekend, NJ Transit combines two bus lines into one, nearly doubling the commute time, but that was factored into their scheduled timing. But even with that, the bus ended up arriving over twenty minutes late for no appreciable reason other than incompetence. No traffic, or accidents, or construction would justify it.
At any rate, the good news is that I was eventually and tardily dumped into Port Authority, where there is a direct connection to the 7 trains, which still managed to transport me to the park a half hour before gates opened. I took a quick walk around to see the receding of the chop shops to progress and the pre-game "Street Party" going on before attaching myself onto one of the longer-than-expected lines by the right field gate. I soon discovered this to be because of a bobble-head giveaway that evening. But at least I was in the shade while I waited.
Heading home was similarly disappointing, and not just because of the game result. After boarding a 7 train that the passengers were assured was an express, we soon found it to be a local, elongating the commute. Back at Port Authority, it took a couple of tries and nearly being locked in a gate--which was opened to enter but not to exit--to find the correct berth for the bus home, as well as a bonus miserable 20 minute wait in the muggy heat, thirsty and sweaty. But board the bus we did eventually, and it had the two-route path home as well, but I eventually was dropped off a block from my house, where I quickly grabbed a drink and a much-needed shower before bed.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Center to home, Not Shea Stadium |
In my involuntary one-year sabbatical, there were a lot of little changes to the Not Shea. The museum, for some reason, was ousted from its home to make more space for the already sprawling team store, with the Hall of Fame plaques relegated to pillars at the top of the main escalator, by the lineup board. The Shake Shack finally ousted Blue Smoke to take over the entirety of that center-field pavilion for itself. I'm not sure if it lessened the lines at all.
The restaurant on the club level was no longer reservation-only and was open to the masses, and to be honest, I can't remember which member of the cola wars owned the current Coca-Cola Porch the last time I was there. Mr. Met & his wife were taking photos as soon as gates opened now, and the aforementioned "street party" special event was a DJ, some food stalls (one run by Mookie Wilson's family), and merch. So, you know, whatever.
It was a good Friday crowd that kept faith until the end, but they went home without anything to cheer about.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| The first Shack in a while |
I went straight in the right field gate to Shake Shack and landed my first Shack of the year, then did my normal bumming around and photography before shouldering my way into the team store and trying to track down what happened to the museum. I had a supplementary pizza & pretzel before the game started in the luxury level. I honestly can't be bothered to learn the new names anymore. Caesars? Smirnoff? Whatever. I had pizza.My seat was on the third base side at the top of the bronze level. There was a lovely old couple sitting next to me, and a gaggle of Japanese fans in the row in front of me, clearly here to watch the Cub's Suzuki.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Cubs vs. Metropolitans |
The Metropolitans, flying high for most of the year, of course started their first rough patch as soon as I show up for a game, contesting a match with the playing-over-their-heads Cubs. But you can blame anybody except Baty, who went 2-4 with five RBIs in an attempt to single-handedly win the game despite the ambivalence of the rest of the team.
The Cubs struck first and early. A leadoff single, an error on a stolen base attempt, a walk, a single, a walk, and another single brought home two runs, giving the North-siders an early 2-0 lead. New York went uninspiringly in order, as did Chicago and the Metropolitans in the second. The Cubs opened the third with a double and a single to extend their lead to 3-0. New York got an odd hit-by-pitch followed by a catcher's interference that went nowhere in their half of the frame.
Chicago lead off the fourth with a home run to pad the lead to 4-0, but the Metropolitans finally got something going with two singles and Baty home run to center to close the deficit to 4-3. The Cubbies only had a stranded single to show for the fifth, as did New York. Chicago finally went in order again in the sixth, while the Mets stranded a leadoff single that stole their way into scoring position.
The Cubs went in order again in the seventh, while New York left a single and walk on the basepaths. The eighth heated up again as Chicago strung a series of walks and singles into two more runs to open up their lead to 6-3. In the bottom of the inning, the Metropolitans got a man on base for Baty to hit another one out, closing the lead again to one run at 6-5. The Cubs went meekly in order in the ninth, as the Mets erased a leadoff walk with a double play and couldn't get the batting order around to Baty again, ending the game at a 6-5 loss.
The Scorecard:
Cubs vs. Metropolitans, 5/10/25. Cubs win, 6-5
I was trying out the new Frixion erasable pens for the first time at a park, so I went to use the regular program scorecard for the first time in a long time.
Using the new heat-erasable ink actually went a lot better than I expected, and scoring the game involved a lot less paraphernalia, so this may be something I move to going forward, even if the cost of pens over pencils is appreciably higher.
The game itself had few things of note. An infield single in the top of the first was nearly a great 5-3 putout and was noted as such, and in the bottom of the third, an F-6 putout was erased on a catcher's interference, awarding the batter a base.
And that was pretty much it.
The Accommodations:
Clifton of my heart
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