Ready, set, goooooooo!
What's up?! For the next month or so, I'm transforming my blog which is typically used for creative works such as stories, songs, poems, etc and I'm going to use it to document my personal goodbye to a place that has meant the world to me, Shea Stadium. For the sane, it would take one day or a handful of times at the ballpark at most, to take in the ambiance, watch a great team live and bid farewell. But for me, that's just not enough. I have spent many, many, many days and nights at Shea to see my beloved Mets this season. And now, 15 home games remain. I'm going to attempt to attend every single one. And on this site, I'm going to recap them! That means the game, which means the most. After all, we are in a pennant race (and we're 3 games ahead!). But in addition, I'm going to throw some pictures, videos, old memories, recent memories on here! I'm doing everything I can to take a game, bring it home and post it right here. Turning a memory into a physical object is the goal. You'll see scorecards of most of the games scanned on here as well. Yeah, it's that nerdy and hardcore. This is the time to go crazy because pretty soon, My Sanctuary will be transformed into a parking lot and the phrase, Shea Faithful will turn into the Citi Faithful?! Weird. The new park does look beautiful though.
It all starts later tonight against the hated and I mean, HATED Phillies, who trail the Mets by 3 games for the NL East lead. As we know, no lead is big enough. Personally, I have a great feeling about this year's team. There's just a certain confidence there that was missing a year ago today. It doesn't hurt that Mike Pelfrey has emerged as a great starter. Not only does he lead the team in wins, but he's the first Mets starter in years to pitch back to back complete games. Hopefully the trend will continue against a potent Philadelphia lineup. Bret wife beater Myers will oppose the Mets. Since his return from a brief stint in the minors, Myers has been very effective. He hasn't given up more than 3 earned runs since them. So let's cross our fingers and fasten our seat belts. It should be an interesting and hopefully, fun ride.
15
September 5th, 2008
Well this was a frustrating one. I guess as a diehard fan, you could say that every loss is a frustrating one: A blowout, a close high scoring game, a close low scoring game. But tonight's game was rough for a couple of reasons. For starters, the Mets offense couldn't get anything done! Walks, hits, small ball, utilize speed, nothing! And it's a tough pill to swallow as a fan because we just saw them sweep a very good team on the road, the Brewers. So all the fans were pumped to see the surging Mets continue their winning ways against the hated Phillies, especially with tons of Philadelphia residents in attendance. For a team that's won nothing, how obnoxious and arrogant are those fans? No joke, I heard an E-A-G-L-E-S chant in the 8th innning. I don't EVER want to hear Philadelphia considered a good baseball town again. Terrible. Who cares about football in the 8th inning of a very important September game. The football season hasn't even started yet.
Bret 'wife beater' Myers was incredible and struck out ten. It pains me to type this. I want to erase and rephrase the statement. But I will refrain from doing so because he shut us down. Case closed. Sure, we had chances but they were too few and far between. 3 hits in 8 innings. Tough to get momentum established that way. Daniel Murphy continues to prove he's already a big time hitter. 2 hits, both doubles. Already a fan favorite. I saw a guy wearing a Murphy shirt. That was pretty damn awesome. But nobody else could hit or drive him in. Ugh! On the defensive side, I got frustrated very early in the first inning, because of a seemingly harmless one out single by Shane Victorino (I despise that man). I knew that would come back to haunt us because Victorino plays like he belongs in Cooperstown when he plays us. So naturally, he stole second, and on the throw by Schneider in an attempt to throw him out, throws the ball in the outfield, allowing him to advance to third. A ground out later, and the jerk scores. 1-0 at 7:15 PM. Great! Pelfrey was amazing and as advertised. You won't hear me complain about him the rest of the season. He made one big mistake in the 7th with two out and two strikes, one man o., Gregg Dobbs (you gotta love these no names that rise to the occasion) hits a ball to right that just seemed to carry and carry. I really thought Church was going to find a way to grab that ball. He almost did. But after he jumped at the wall and crotched in anger afterwards, it took the life out of me, my friends, and the crowd. 2 run homer. 3-0 Phils.
The crowd was relatively quiet the entire affair until the 9th when Lidge got into a real jam. The bats came alive and fans, inculding myself, had the sense that this time was gonna find a way to get the big hits and win it. Two on with one out, one swing could tie it. Lidge was wild, giving up a couple of hard hit balls and losing the strike zone. Beltran, who's been on a bit of a tear was up. On a 3-1 pitch, he swings and flies out to left. Damn! Looking at the replay at home, it looked to be a ball too. I won't complain about his aggressivness though. Especially seeing Luis Castillo strike out looking 3 times! I'm usually calm about things like that, but I screamed after that 3rd one, 'Swing the bat!!" Seriously,, play Easley and A. Reyes, will you? Nobody wants to see him hit anymore. Then with two outs, Church hit the ball a ton, but right to...wait for it...Victorino. Mets lose. Phils now just two games back.
It's just one game but a few things bothered me. Wright is one of my favorite players, but his recent offensive slump is a bit of a concern. We all know how great he is, but I worry that he's trying to hard and pressing. We need him to be clutch if we want to win this division. If he doesn't relax at the plate, it's bad news. Now I'm thinking and hoping that he's just a bit tired and a day off will fix this (although the entire team had one off Thursday). We'll see. Second, as a paranoid Mets fan or just a paranoid person in general, I can't help but think back to last season and how we just let this team walk all over us. I don't want that feeling again! Please, for the love of God, just play this team like you've been playing them all season long. Time will tell if history will repeat itself...Duh.
The bullpen continues to be pretty stellar. Wow. Did I just say that? Keep it up Stokes. ANd Rincon, all you had to do was throw one pitch and you moved above Heilman in my list of options.
I wish I could throw some pics on here. I brought my camera and as I was about to take a shot of the new Citi Field sign displayed at the right side of the park, the batteries had run out. So I don't have pictures and I didn't bring the scorecard book tonight. But tomorrow's another day...Well probably not due to the rain.
I will say that I was a little disappointed with tonight's attendance. There was a good turn out but the entire left side of the upper reserved section was empty! How! This is crunch time people. September against the Phillies. Let's at least get 50,000 in there. Almost a year ago on a Friday night, the place was packed for a game against the Phils. Weird...Maybe it was the fear of rain or maybe the fans are just scarred.
Not so funny story, my friend and I bought the tickets on the Mets site for 30 bucks a pop because we were afraid of a big crowd. A few hours after purchase our friend calls us and has 14, yes 14 free tickets!! That didn't make me a happy man. Terrible timing. I should've known then and there it wasn't gonna be our night.
Typically I don't get food at Shea, due to prices and options. I frankly get tired of chicken tenders, soggy fries and hot dogs. And a beer?! Forget it. But I didn't eat all day and was forced to shell out the 7 or 8 bucks, who's counting now. I try to forget about the price and I think it's working. I did get free pudding out of it, but it wasn't very good. Too warm.
As I said, there were lots of Phillie fans in the stands. A few that sat right behind us. This is probably why I saw security working overtime tonight. Lots of ejections. Lots of explitives. Lots of idiots.
Well now it's time for My Shea Memories. I've decided to cap off the first segment with my first game ever at Shea (sort of). It was 1994. My friend and his parents took me for my birthday. I was just really getting into the NBA and the Knicks but this trip would give birth to an insane and epic era. It was a hot July day. Of course everyone remembers 94 as the year shortened season because of greedy people. But it was my first real taste of baseball. I believe I went to Shea earlier, when I was 5 but I don't fully remember. i could just be making that up in my head. Anyway, back to July 94. It was Old Timer's day and I got a free reprinted program of the 1969 World Series which I still have in my room. I don't remember too much about it, but obviously they were honoring the 69 Mets. Here's what I do remember. The Mets sucked that day. It's only fitting that my first game of recollection was a loss. A blowout at that. It was definitely a rude awakening. They played the Padres and lost something like 8-1, 10-1. I forget, but it was rough. I did get a picture of myself posing as Met and it was put on a mock baseball card. It's on the right side of the site. It was a great day. I came home to a mini surprise birthday my parents had thrown for me in our now cat infested backyard. My grandmother was in the hospital that month and passed on later that month so it was a very sad and eye opening time for me. But days like that picked my young spirits up and it stuck with me.
So there's memory number 1. Looking forward to writing 14 more! I have hundreds but let's keep the number small for now..
So the game tomorrow is in serious jeopardy. It's at 3:55 but the forecast calls for heavy rain all day until midnight so it doesn't look good. If it does rain out, I'll indeed be there Sunday for the day-night doubleheader. Always tough to sweep those but who knows. Pedro and Johan! I just really hope they don't jerk us around and call the game early. There's nothing worse than taking a 1.5 hour train ride just to see a goofy picture of mr. met on diamond vision with a sign that reads rain delay or postponement! FAK! Call it by noon please and I'll be happy.
In any event, I'll check in tomorrow. Tough loss but the 2008 Mets WILL get through it. I promise you this. Later.
All 'baseballed' out...Double post later today
Okay. I have all my thoughts set up. I have the scorecards scanned, two memories I'm ready to share and a couple of pictures via shitty cellphone camera. (The actual pictures will be ready for Tuesday against the pesky Nats) But I must be honest. AFter being at Shea for 6 hours plus, experiencing several emotions, and more 7 train rides than one should ever have to endure during a 24 hour span, I can't write the Game 14-13 recap right now. Not the way I want it to be written. I won't rush these. Too important. But later today, there will be two recaps! It will sound bipolar due to the drastically different outcomes, but it's coming.
Here's a preview though: Thank the LORD they won that second game! What a relief. It's like that feeling where you really have to goto the bathroom (You could choose in your head whether it's number 1 or 2) and you can't find a bathroom anywhere. But at the last possible moment, you find an open Starbucks or Barnes & Noble, or isolated corner. That's the kind of relief I experienced tonight after Ayala got that 3rd out. So stay tuned. Two posts, manana.
One more thing: How many times is Delgado gonna save our bacon!? Hopefully deep into October...
14
After having a good night's sleep, I was able to recharge the baseball batteries, digest 18 innings of baseball and without further interruption, here are the game 14 and 13 recaps/entries
SEPTEMBER 7th 2008
(Game 1)
Phillies- 6
Mets- 2
I wish I could just skip this one and go straight to discussing game 13. But you can't always get what you want. Well, there's not much to say about this one. No positives came out of this game at all. Only serious concerns. At least with the Friday, you saw a solid outing by Pelfrey against a very dangerous Phillies lineup. But this one? Ouch.
I actually had a good feeling going into that game. The 2pm start gave me time to get to Shea early. I was one of the first 25,000 fans there, meaning I became the lucky owner of an XL Shea stadium t-shirt. Seriously, why do they have to be so damn huge. I'm thinking of using it as a blanket. It's that big (that's what she said.) Anyway, since I got there early, I was able to see this very odd promotion day they decided to do: Internet Safety Awareness Day. Mind you this has absolutely nothing to do with baseball. But that wasn't a deterrence. The Pepsi Party Patrol quizzed kids regarding the internet. I found it a bit condescending. I'd b really offended if I was a kid because these people think they're so stupid. Then a goofy robot mascot danced on the field and performed a rap on the diamond vision on how to avoid internet predators. Why?!
Onto the game thankfully! I know Pedro hasn't been dominant at all this season, but I still got chills when he took the mound and the speakers blasted his pretty catchy Dominican tune. I kept saying, just get through the first unscathed and he should be alright. He's given up his fair share of first inning runs throughout the year. After a ground out and two pop ups, I felt fairly confident that Petey was going to come up huge for us. The bottom of the first brought me back down to Earth in terms of energy. Jamie 'I throw junk' Moyer effortlessly retired the side in order. I didn't feel confident at all with the bats that game. Maybe it was because of what happened Friday night or because Moyer, with the exception of his last outing against us, always gives us troubles. So the 2nd inning come. During this inning, for a brief moment, I felt as if someone kidnapped me from my seat, threw me in a time machine and brought me back to a Sunday afternoon game against the Phillies in sept. 07. The same game where they made several errors. It wasn't as bad, but after a walk to Werth, Greg Dobbs, the brand new Mets killer, hit a ball hard to right field. It was catchable, but Tatis, who is really a 3rd baseman, has been put in the outfield, misplayed it and the ball sailed right over his leaping attempt. The Phillies always seem to capitalize on mistakes so this was basically the turning point of the game. Newly acquired Matt Stairs drove in one run on a sac fly. Now the Dobbs hit was not Pedro's fault, even though they ruled it a hit. But if you're a big time pitcher, you have to get Carlos Ruiz out in that spot to limit the damage. You can't let a hitter of his caliber beat you. In other words, he sucks! But he hits a single, and the Phils at that point extended the the to 2-0. Then came the top of the 4th, which just put the nail in the coffin. Ryan Howard led off with a double. Werth hits a single. And Greg Dobb does it again. He basically ends the game with a 3 run shot. The damage continued that inning though. Ugh. Ruiz gets a double! What is it with these scrubs? Jimmy Rollins hits a bloop that lands between Reyes and Evans, who is also an infielder turned outfielder. An error wasn't charged but the ball was a very catchable. 6-0!
The good news is that the Phillies wouldn't score another run for the remainder of the game. The bullpen continues to be, dare I say, solid. They stopped the bleeding. Knight, Schowenweis, Heilman, Feliciano, Figueroa, and Sanchez combined for five innings of shutout ball. That's a mouth full.
The bad news is that the Mets offense stunk up the joint. Sometimes at Shea, in the Upper Reserved section, it smells like rotten eggs. It's terrible and I have no idea where it's coming from. But yesterday, it was the offense that generated that smell. Until the 8th inning, we only had 1 hit and it was a bunt single by Robinson Cancel, the refrigerator. You know things are bad when Cancel is all of your offense. In the 8th, Moyer was taken out of the game and the Mets took advantage, scoring 2 runs off the recently solid Scott Eyre. At this point, the crowd got pretty loud for a 6-2 ball game. There was plenty of energy. But when Delgado struck out, the balloon was deflated.
There were more Phillies fans in the afternoon affair than I'd ever seen at Shea. And they still chanted Eagles! Enough already. But a friend of mine heard chants such as 'Just like last year', referring to the 07 collapse. Of course they'd go on to do nothing in the post season but that's a whole different story. Good job by the Phillie fans. They finally did yesterday what Mets fans do all the time, which is make the road trip to see the game.
I had a whole list of concerns after Murphy grounded into the double play to end the game. When the Jurassic Park theme song was played (apparently the Mets lose theme song) I was pretty upset. First off, Pedro. I love him. As I alluded to earlier, I get excited watching him pitch, but there have been one too many outings like this where he gives the team nothing. I know he got no run support, which I'll get to in a minute. I know Tatis misplayed the ball and Evans should have caught the Rollins bloop, but you have to get guys like Ruiz out. You have to give the team more than four innings of work! Mets fans love him but they just don't trust him anymore. And by looking at his facial expressions, he looks like he doesn't trust himself. I still have faith he could give solid outings against teams like the Nats, Braves and Marlins which is basically the rest of the schedule. But what about the Cubs? What about the Brewers if they meet them in the post season?
Next concern: the offense. Where the hell was it? Everyone praised Myers' outing of Friday. You could excuse that, but after Saturday afternoon, you got the sense and the fear that the bats may be falling into another slump. They made things respectable in the 8th. But Wright in particular continues to slump. He should have well more than 105 RBIs, which sounds crazy because that's a superb number. Is the Tatis magic over? Is Reyes in a slump? Ramon Martinez is pinch hitting? Are the September demons back? Will I get a bobble head tonight? What the hell am I going to do in between games? Why are Phillies fans so stupid? These are all the questions I asked myself afterward.
One more question. How come I got no reception on my cell phone at Shea? You would think I was in a cave somewhere. I kept trying to make calls and send texts and they wouldn't send. ANd it's not just me. Friends with T Mobile have similar problems. Unreal. But I did get a text after the first game that said "Wagner out for year". Just great. At this point, this looks like a bad day.
I only took one picture on my cell during the afternoon affair, and that's the newly installed Citi Field sign on the right side of the building. I have a feeling we're going to be seeing that logo a lot! They may stamp it on us as we enter the games next year. That is, if we could get tickets. So here that is.
And here's the scorecard for that game. Forgive me if there are a couple of errors. I started keeping score since early July and I've been pretty addicted ever since. Some fans label it as an annoyance or homework or a distraction. I was one of those fans but I must say, I never knew numbers could be that fun. It really keeps you involved in the game. I make sure it's always secondary with the game and atmosphere kept at the forefront.
Now it's time for My Shea Memories. I wanted to mention another double-header since it's relevant to yesterday's theme. You don't usually see traditional doubleheaders at Shea anymore. There was one earlier this year with the Rangers. But the one I want to talk about is a douple dip in September of 2006. It was against the Braves. I was down because classes had resumed, summer was over and this one class in particular was stressing me out (Creative Writing). So I went to my 9 am class and it ended like at 11ish or something. And I thought to myself how great it would be to ditch this dreaded class and go to the double header which started at 1. Then I realized I had time to take the 2 train, switch to the 7 and make it for first pitch. Initially, I said no. I'm a nerd. I never do that. But what the hell? I only live once. So I ran to the Flatbush stop and I felt spontaneous. It was such an awesome feeling. On the 7 train, this old man approaches me and asks if I need a ticket. I said yeah, just one and he offered to give me a loge ticket for half the price. So i gave him the cash and I had a loge ticket for the price of an upper reserved AND I had two games to look forward to. The elderly man was pretty great too. He knew a lot about the team and I believe he was a season ticket holder. At the beginning, I sat next to him which was a bit odd. I had made friends with a man triple my age, but he was probably one of the cooler dudes I met at Shea. I know I have an old soul but that was pushing it. He met his other friend and moved next to him in the middle of the game. So I was ditched by an old guy. Great. I was relieved a bit though. The Mets won the first game. During the second one, Jeff Franceour fouled a ball back to where I was sitting. It was a few rows in front of me but the place was pretty empty like many second games of double headers. So I ran along with like 4 others. Somehow I got my hand on the ball before anyone else did. Of course some asshole scratched my hand in the process. But I got the ball! And I'm looking at it right now. AND the Mets won the second game of the double header as well. So I'm pretty glad I went to that one.
Okay. Game 14 was a tough loss but there was another game in three hours. And because there's nothing to do in the immediate vicinity, it was time to go to Manhattan before game 13...
13
September 7th, 2008
(Game 2)
Phillies- 3
Mets- 6
Finally! A 'Happy Recap''. We needed this win in the worst way. As I said late last night.
There was a lot of angst going into the second game, at least for myself and the fans. However, this year's team seems to have a short memory, which is a wonderful thing. They can brush off rough loses or lackluster outings and come out looking like a different team. We were all hoping this would be the case for the second game, but you just never know in September.
I splurged a little for the night cap. I really wanted a good seat for this one. So I got a loge seat near the third base/left field side. Over 90 percent of the games I've been to were spent in the upper reserved section. A red seat has been my second home but this was a welcome change. What a view I had of the three mammoth home runs. I'll get to that in a moment. Here's the view.
Anyway, the energy for the night game was what I expected the entire weekend to be like. The fans were loud and understood the importance of the game. They drowned out the few Phillies fans that had stayed for the second game. This was basically a sell out. I'm looking at the attendance now. It says 54,980 and it certainly seemed like that. There were few empty seats. And that's the way it should be for a game of this matter. I think everyone went to this game in order to avoid staying at home and being forced to listen to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan's subpar play by play skills.
I get to the night cap after having a quick meal in Manhattan. So that meant two extra trips on the 7 train. Always packed. Always a drag. But I love it. I also love night games. I know afternoon ones are great too and traditional but primetime ball is awesome. And you just get the sense that at night, a game in September means that much more. It's odd and I can't explain it but the atmosphere is turned up a few notches and that's always been the case. But here's my first issue. No bobblehead. Mets brass, I know you had a bobblehead day for everyone last month (Wagner; you jinxed him!) but come on! You have the third best attendance in baseball. Take care of your fans and offer a few thousand more bobbleheads for everyone! Will it really kill you?! Obsessed fans and overgrown children (myself) look forward to days like those. They get a promotion, save it, collect, etc. But you can't give me or another dedicated fan who plans his summer around this team a plastic toy?! My friend told me he saw a kid rip of the head! WTF! Please! Do something nice for the fans! Give us a break and stop being so cheap. After 07, we earned a little break. I'll never understand it. I went to Seattle this year, and they gave out Felix Hernandez bobbleheads to everyone. I have one here. They do the same in most ballparks, and they don't have the funds the Mets do, like a network, a bank paying them millions for naming rights, etc. Anyway that hurt passing the box of bobbleheads. The diehard fan knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Now to the recap. Crowd was pumped. Santana came out to Santana Forget About It. Here we go! Rollins hits a grounder to Reyes. 1 out. Then I quickly got sick because Utley gets a single. Then Werth is walked, then Howard gets an RBI single. They're hitting our ace! They have a lead already! And Burrell the original Mets killer is up. This can't be happening! What am I doing?! I started to think all the above. Luckily Santana struck out Burrell and had Victorino fly out to left. That was huge! I let out a sigh of relief. Though the Mets were already trailing and we had to face their ace, Cole Hamels, Johan limited the damage, something that Pedro failed to do.
The bottom of the first was the turning point of the game. The Mets needed to make a statement early, and they did. After Reyes pops up, Church, who I love batting second, hits a single to left. Wright then reached on catcher interference. Charlie Manuel argued the play for no reason. It's quite obvious that he interfered. Coste didn't even argue. Naturally, Manuel does and gets ejected. That fired up the crowd because we love a good fight. Beltran comes up big with an RBI single. The game is already tied at 1. I knew things were going to be different that night after that hit. Talk about coming up big?! Delgado hits a ball that goes up the middle and drives in two. 3-1! He hits into luck AND he hits the ball hard. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Because the Phils drew closer after Johan gave up his second and final run of the night. Howard hit a bomb which he seems to be doing on a nightly basis. Thankfully it was a solo shot.
The Mets would get that run right back in the bottom of the 3rd with a mammoth shot of their own from their own first baseman. Delgado hit a shot of the right field scoreboard. Man did he crush that Hamels curve ball. 4-2 Mets. They would extend that lead in the 5th inning with an even longer solo home run by... MVP...MVP. Delgado crushes another one. This time a change up that nearly reached the Mezzanine seats! 5-2. Delgado comes out for the curtain call. His second one of the year. A year that started off with fans booing him and calling for his release. I always wanted to keep him. i don't want to sound smarter than anyone because I'm not smart at all. But I think if he could give you a little more than he did offensively in 07, it was worth keeping him one more year. I didn't like the replacements that were being mentioned. That was an even bigger factor in my mind. Mike Carp was everyone's favorite name. Sexson, crazy enough was mentioned a swell. One wasn't ready. The other, past his prime. But not in a million years did I expect this! He's been the team's most clutch hitter BY FAR. And it seems when he goes, so does the team, a claim commonly used for Jose Reyes.
Santana was solid. 2 runs in 7 1/3. He got out of trouble when he needed to (the 1st inning) with 6 strikeouts, 3 of them coming in one inning! Yes! Then the bullpen came in...No! But like I said in game 14, the bullpen has been solid. Never thought I'd use those two words in the same sentence ever again. But with Heilman buried in there because of roster expansion, it's been much better. Felicianao came in to get Howard to ground out to Deli. Then Stokes was called to face Burrell who grounded out. End of the 8th!
I love how Jerry is pushing his starters. I almost got a heart attack when I saw Santana pitch the 8th. But he's getting every last ounce out of guys like Pelfrey, Ollie and Johan, as it should be! I also love his selection in the bullpen. Using one guy to get one out. We've seen it fail this year, but perhaps with more options it can work.
But don't tune out yet. There was an inning of baseball left, and as Mets fans have learned this season, it's never over until you hear that Takin Care of Business victory tune. Luckily they got that valuable insurance run. Easley hit a lead off triple. Thank you Jerry again. This time for playing Easley in BOTH games yesterday. I think he's the only guy in Mets organization that understands he can't keep trotting out Castillo just because he has a 4 year deal. Schneider drove him in with a sac fly. 6-2.
Bottom of the ninth was scary time. Ayala came into a non save situation. Victorino had to find a way to piss me off. So he gets on base with an infield single. Schneider, for some reason, tries to throw him out when he had NO chance to. So he rushes the throw and the ball goes into the stands. E2. Victorino at second. GREAT!! Cardiac arrest time. Ayala got Feliz to fly out to center, although the ball seemed to be hit hard. Stairs comes in and gets a BS infield single as well. So now I'm real worried. Especially when I hear a bench player comes in the game to pinch hit. You know how these types of guys love to kill us. And he nearly did, when he hit a bomb to left field. Guess what? Manuel's annual defensive switch was in place so at left was no other than Endy Chavez who leaped near the wall (the same infamous AIG ad) and caught it. Thank you Lord! A run scores on the play but that's okay. So the last out?! A strikeout for "J-Roll". Mets win. Mets avoid the sweep. The Phillies fans that asked us to get the broom ready can now shove that same broom up there...
Here's a victory shot from shitty cell phone camera:
Great win. Important win to keep the lead at 2. The Phils just beat the slumping Fish. I hate scoreboard watching! Now I have to invest that same passion for two games?! Ay!
Here's the scorecards of the night game. I've never done two scorecards in one game. Pretty crazy. Not as crazy as keeping one during a 14 inning affair against the Cardinals earlier. And then they lose!
Great W. Must take care of business after the off day against the always tough Nats.
My Shea Memories time. This game against the Phils really gave me playoff fever. There's not much better in sports than having your favorite baseball team in the playoffs. Only 8 teams in the entire league make it so you really have to earn that spot. My first taste of playoff baseball came at Shea of course. 1999 was the year against the Arizona Diamondbacks. No, it wasn't the Todd Pratt game winning homer in game 4. It would've been awesome to be there though. It was game 3.
I remember how hard we tried to get tickets. My mother and I kept calling ticket master. We just got the internet and wasn't reliable as it is today. So we did it the old fashion way. Call and get a busy signal. Repeat 1000x. We finally got through and got a couple of mezzanine seats for HOME GAME 1, which later turned out to be game 3 of the nlds. I really thought we were going to be unable to use the tix as the Mets were about to choke and give up their wildcard spot, being down two games with three to play! BUt the amazing happened and they win a one game playoff against Cincinatti. When they did that, I grabbed my tickets and held them up in the air. It was finally going to happen. I was going to see my Mets in the playoffs. I went with my brother Ray and we got there super early to see batting practice. We were behind the visitors dugout when I held a sign. It was stupid but what can I say? I was young and excited. It used that Visa card Priceless theme. It was new back then! So after BP, I begged for a ball, and Lenny Harris, former Met GREAT pinch hitter, threw a ball in my direction which I caught. This was my first baseball ever received at the ballpark. It was great. So many things have changed since then, technology wise, personal growth. But the joy you get during those times, they don't change. And thank goodness for that. The Mets blew out the Diamondbacks. The crowd was packed and absolutely crazy! I'd never seen Shea like that. It was a long time coming though. Beautiful stuff. Hershiser got the W believe it or not. I wish I still had the stub for that one. That was the last post season game I had gone to that year and overall I've been to about 6 Mets playoff games. But this first one was very memorable.
Well now it's onto a two game series against the Nats. Value dates meaning 5 bucks a ticket! YES!!! I'll be back with better pictures. Ollie Perez takes the hill. See you tomorrow night.
12
September 9th, 2008
Nationals- 8
Mets- 10
Wow! What a game. If you enjoy offense, then you loved this one. Personally I love offense as long as it's coming from our side only. I enjoy nice 10-1 wins. But as Mets fans know, easy victories have been a rarity this season. It doesn't matter that this Nationals team has the second worst road record in baseball. It doesn't matter that they have Anderson Hernandez leading off. It's going to be a dog fight.
So this morning, the prospects of a game being played were questionable after a thunderstorm hit the city. It was a loud one too. I think I almost pissed my pants at one point. I went on both the Nats and Mets sites to see when they'd be able to make it up in case of a rain out. They both had off the 11th so I was prepared to not goto Shea tonight. But 5pm rolls around and it's dry outside. Gloomy but dry. I get to the stadium around 6:45 and NO ONE is there, which I expected and was fine with because the line for tickets was empty. If you've waited on those lines on any kind of regular basis, you know how much of a pain in the ass it is. Some people are so damn selective, they end up spending 10 minutes before they buy a freaking ticket! Buy a couple and let's go! But I waited for no one tonight. And it's 5 dollar night! I think the cotton candy is more expensive than the actual ticket tonight. That's wild. For some odd reason, all the regular Upper Reserved seats were sold...Right...Are we talking about the same game? That place was a ghost town tonight and they only have non alcohol section tix? Odd but fine because once I got in, I had my choice of seat and sat next to a friend in section 2.
They did this interesting tribute today to breast cancer before first pitch. Much better than the weird internet safety day. Hundreds of fans wearing pink shirts formed the breast cancer ribbon on the field. It was a really cool touch. Here's what it looked like. (I brought the camera)
Following the tribute, the game starts! And here we go...Perez looked relatively strong through the first two innings, only giving up a single to Zimmerman and a walk to Aaron Boone. Why anyone would walk Boone is beyond me but Perez looked decently solid. On the offensive side, the bats had it going on in the 2nd against John Lannan. (No Beatles jokes please.) Delgado started it all with a lead off single. Yes folks, he can now do it all! Soon you'll see him steal bases. Tatis then comes up and hits a double! Second and third no out. I was a little nervous with the bottom of the order coming up that this would be another one of those wasted opportunities moments. Silly me, because Manuel has realized Castillo can't hit. Easley comes up and hits a two run double! 2 nothing. This gonna be an easy one...
Then Perez gives up the lead quickly. I'm talking Tom Glavine giving up the lead quick! First problem. Hernandez, the former Met, the same one that couldn't hit a lick, hits a single. Are you kidding me!? Why should I be surprised though Guzman then hits a towering fly ball deep to left that I prayed to go foul. Like most of my prayers, this one was unanswered. 2 run home run. Game tied! Great...Perez playing down to his competition. We haven't seen this one before...Seriously, I thought he got over this stupid part of his game. These are the Nationals. As my friend Matt texted me during the game, these hitters are 'no names'. Get the job done!
Thankfully the Mets quickly regained the lead with a solo shot by Ryan Church who seems to finally be getting his swing back. What a big lift that is. Manuel, keep batting him second when you can. 3-2 and it was only the beginning! Wright hits a single. Then Beltran comes up big with a double which Wright tried to score on but was thrown out at the plate! Ugh! Here we go again. More missed scoring opportunities. Wrong! Mr. Delgado hits an absolute bomb that hits the scoreboard! This guy is a beast! 5-2 Mets.
Then the wheels come off for Ollie in the fourth. he walks Boone and then the Nats hit single after single after single after single after single. I'm not exaggerating or trying to be funny. 5 straight singles off Perez. Manuel then pulls the plug on Perez who couldn't even get out of the 4th. Very disappointing and scary outing. Nelson Figueroa comes in the game, who has some history against the Nats, calling these a a female softball team earlier in the year. But Milledge gets an rbi single. Then he walks Dukes...You know for a female softball team, they're really giving you some trouble there, Nelson. Luckily Aaron Boone grounds into a 6-4-3 double play. But the damage had been done. 5 runs in one inning. 7-5 Nats. It's happening all over again!
Not these resilient Mets! They tie it right back up in the 4th. Lannan was taken out for Estrada because Acta loves to manage these games against the Mets like it's game 6 of the World Series! Schneider hits a lead off single. Later, Reyes hits a double. Yes, his bat is coming alive again! Church grounds out but gets the job done as a run scores. Mock comes in and Wright gets an RBI single. Now his bat is coming alive! Clutch hit. Game tied at 7.
The Nats would score again in the 5th, where Brandon Knight initially struggled. But he limited the damage to just 1 one. 8-7 Nats. Yikes again!
The score would remain this way until the 6th. Church got it started with a single. Then came Beltran. Acta of course made another pitching change, because remember, this is a World Series game. He puts in Manning and Beltran says ADIOS! A two run shot into the picnic area. Beltran goes deep at Shea! Always a great thing to see. But as the 06 slogan stated, Buy one Carlos, get one free.' Delgado hits another BOMB that flies into the Mets bullpen. Maybe it's Delgado who thinks the Nats are a female softball team. 10-8 Mets! The fans were DYING for a curtain call but Delgado didn't give one tonight. No biggie though. He's given a couple recently. I could understand him not feeling too comfortable doing it regularly. THis was his 7th multi homer game which leads the majors! What a turnaround! And I predicted it!
That would be the final score. The Mets would need solid outings from Smith, Show, Stokes and Ayala but they all chipped in and shut out the Nats like they should've been the entire game! Mets win!
Here's the scorecard scans. I used this new book that I'm not too fond of plus the pencil got dull. So it's a big incomplete but you get the idea...
And the Phillies lose! That was another stressful situation because the Marlins took a huge early lead that the Phillies nearly erased...but failed!
As far as the scene around the ballpark goes, 50,000 tickets were sold. Probably about half of those holders showed up, the die hards. I met the craziest man I may ever encounter. Anyone that goes to Shea on a regular basis and sits in the Upper Reserved section behind home plate, will often hear a strange yell from an unknown spot after a strikeout. It goes a little like this: Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....STRUCK HIM OUT!
Yes. My friend and I sat next to the He struck him out guy. The bearded diehard was like a walking scoreboard, holding a custom made scoreboard in one hand and an XM satellite radio in the other, to update us on the Phillies game...and the Red Sox game, and the Yankees game. It got very confusing at one point when he'd shout out scores. My friend asks him how many games he's attended, thinking he'd beat or at least tie his number. He uttered 205 or something to that effect, THIS YEAR. This man travels the northeast, sometimes the country going to every and any game. Minor league, Phillie games, Nats, games, single A games. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever heard. He then says he's been to over 200 games a season since 1985!!! WTF!!!! And has been to over 6,000 games at Shea Stadium lifte time. This man was immortal. To many, he's a nut. To me, a legend. He handed us his notebook which lists all the stadiums he's been to, how many times. I kid you not. I couldn't make this up. And one of the stadiums on the list had been torn down for nearly 50 years, the Polo grounds! Ahh! And he was making plans with a friend to see a Nationals-Padres at DC game over the weekend!? He says,"hey it's baseball. it counts' when the friend scoffs at the idea. Then they plan to go to Philly on Thursday, a Mets off day, to see our rivals play the Brewers. Wow! Suddenly, I don't feel so crazy. But I couldn't help but wonder if I was taking a gander at what my future held. Ha. He had Mets and Yankees season tickets. Don't ask how or why! I couldn't tell you. They should build a statue for this dude.
And that was My Shea Memory for tonight. Very current, I know but I can't top it or share something better with you for now!
Tomorrow's another 5 dollar day! Woo! And big Pelf will go more than 4! I guarantee it. Let's sweep the two game series and get to win 82!
And here's the video of the night! It's Ron Darling counting down the remaining games at Shea with Mr. Met! I won't talk anymore in these videos. Promise.
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