Bad Last Home Opener
Well there are some high level meetings or some such going on here – has made for a weird level of tension here at hq.
But that’s not what I want to write about – soooooo – off we go.
Well the Mets, in true Mets fashion managed to cock up their last home opener at Shea - to begin - the pitching wasn’t very good – especially the relief pitching – as a starter Perez was shaky but the rest were just awful – in the dreadful 7th inning they managed to go to 3-2 on something like 6 straight Phillies hitters in a row. Just god awful really.
But the hitting wasn’t much better – while David Wright managed to give two balls a ride they went to the deepest part of the Stadium and were caught – and other than Delgado’s massive home run they were suffering from what I’ve heard called “third hit blues” you know where say the first guy gets an out – then the next two singles and then well – if your team isn’t doing well it’s a pop up followed by a strike out or if they are really doing badly – a double play ball. It’s where the amzain’s seem to be stuck at this moment.
And the fielding was a bit spotty as well – what with Delgato hitting Utley in the back with a ball trying to turn a double play – (Utley probably needed a couple of aspirin after the game – he was also hit by a pitch 3 times – 4 is the record by the by) and there some passed balls as well, all of which seemed like a throwback to the Mets of the 60’s when thrown balls steadfastly refused to land in gloves on a regular basis.
In all the team played like they had spent the night swilling cough syrup – maybe they were pressing too hard maybe they had partied to much the night before – maybe well I don’t know maybe all their cycles were down on the same day – whatever the reason the result wasn’t a lot of fun for the faithful.
And the mood got sour quick in the upper deck – there were any number of fights (always a sign things are going bad on the field) that required the cops and security people to spend a lot of time running up narrow steep stairs and dealing with angry drunk people. Not fun for them I’ll tell you.
But there was even a big fight in the field level seats which was different – Most Shea fights are in the upper deck - for what seems pretty straightforward class reasons – if you can afford an field level box you’re smart enough to know that punching the obnoxious Philly fan in the face is not the right option (as tempting as it may).
All in all a pretty ugly day at the big Shea – not the ugliest however – that remains the opening day in 1995 after the end of the 1994-95 baseball strike – it was a late April night game – Shea was well over ½ empty (I even got a field level seat that year) and the mood of the crowd was that of a mean drunk at a dive bar looking for an excuse to hit someone in the mouth – I walked very carefully that night – even the normal bumping into each other that happens at games could start something like making sparks while standing in a knee deep pool of gasoline.
Not the idyllic day I had been looking for drenched in nostalgia and soft feelings but you get what you get in baseball and there is always tomorrow or next year.
Still it kind of stunk.
The new Stadium looks almost done (I’m sure there is a lot of work to do) and is quite lovely to look at. Still it’s a weird thing looking out of Shea and seeing the new Stadium right there – the old view was parking lots and chop shops - I’m oddly reminded of the Last Tom Baker Doctor Who where all during the show he was being trailed by a ghostly figure in white which in the end turned out to be the new re-generation of the Doctor himself (if you’re not a Doctor Who fan this won’t make a lick of sense but what the hell) – it’s weirdly what it felt like. I also wonder what Citi field being there is going to do the typically strong winds that swirl around Shea’s outfield (Typically they blow in – one of the things that made it a pitcher’s park).
Still busy so this will have to do. We have a show on Sunday and then we spend the rest of the time banging the drum for the CD release – more details to come.
Peace Love Opening Days
But that’s not what I want to write about – soooooo – off we go.
Well the Mets, in true Mets fashion managed to cock up their last home opener at Shea - to begin - the pitching wasn’t very good – especially the relief pitching – as a starter Perez was shaky but the rest were just awful – in the dreadful 7th inning they managed to go to 3-2 on something like 6 straight Phillies hitters in a row. Just god awful really.
But the hitting wasn’t much better – while David Wright managed to give two balls a ride they went to the deepest part of the Stadium and were caught – and other than Delgado’s massive home run they were suffering from what I’ve heard called “third hit blues” you know where say the first guy gets an out – then the next two singles and then well – if your team isn’t doing well it’s a pop up followed by a strike out or if they are really doing badly – a double play ball. It’s where the amzain’s seem to be stuck at this moment.
And the fielding was a bit spotty as well – what with Delgato hitting Utley in the back with a ball trying to turn a double play – (Utley probably needed a couple of aspirin after the game – he was also hit by a pitch 3 times – 4 is the record by the by) and there some passed balls as well, all of which seemed like a throwback to the Mets of the 60’s when thrown balls steadfastly refused to land in gloves on a regular basis.
In all the team played like they had spent the night swilling cough syrup – maybe they were pressing too hard maybe they had partied to much the night before – maybe well I don’t know maybe all their cycles were down on the same day – whatever the reason the result wasn’t a lot of fun for the faithful.
And the mood got sour quick in the upper deck – there were any number of fights (always a sign things are going bad on the field) that required the cops and security people to spend a lot of time running up narrow steep stairs and dealing with angry drunk people. Not fun for them I’ll tell you.
But there was even a big fight in the field level seats which was different – Most Shea fights are in the upper deck - for what seems pretty straightforward class reasons – if you can afford an field level box you’re smart enough to know that punching the obnoxious Philly fan in the face is not the right option (as tempting as it may).
All in all a pretty ugly day at the big Shea – not the ugliest however – that remains the opening day in 1995 after the end of the 1994-95 baseball strike – it was a late April night game – Shea was well over ½ empty (I even got a field level seat that year) and the mood of the crowd was that of a mean drunk at a dive bar looking for an excuse to hit someone in the mouth – I walked very carefully that night – even the normal bumping into each other that happens at games could start something like making sparks while standing in a knee deep pool of gasoline.
Not the idyllic day I had been looking for drenched in nostalgia and soft feelings but you get what you get in baseball and there is always tomorrow or next year.
Still it kind of stunk.
The new Stadium looks almost done (I’m sure there is a lot of work to do) and is quite lovely to look at. Still it’s a weird thing looking out of Shea and seeing the new Stadium right there – the old view was parking lots and chop shops - I’m oddly reminded of the Last Tom Baker Doctor Who where all during the show he was being trailed by a ghostly figure in white which in the end turned out to be the new re-generation of the Doctor himself (if you’re not a Doctor Who fan this won’t make a lick of sense but what the hell) – it’s weirdly what it felt like. I also wonder what Citi field being there is going to do the typically strong winds that swirl around Shea’s outfield (Typically they blow in – one of the things that made it a pitcher’s park).
Still busy so this will have to do. We have a show on Sunday and then we spend the rest of the time banging the drum for the CD release – more details to come.
Peace Love Opening Days
posted by Unknown at 9:42 AM
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