Tuesday, April 08, 2008

NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP. [4-8-08]

We are late, the bus is late, and of course the train is running local, which gets us out to Flushing later than we had wanted. There are more Mets fans than I remember on the street, on the bus, on the train, more fans wearing colors than I remember. When we get off at Willets Point and head down the stairs, I can’t understand what the bottleneck at the bottom is and am about to get cranky when I see a large round white head: Mr. Met, and all is forgiven. I might benignly suggest that congregating at the bottom of the exit stairs might not be the best idea in the world, but it’s Mr. Met! He can get away with anything. Everyone loves him. Grown men clamor for a hug, a high-five, a handshake. TBF is angling for a photograph, and I remind him that we have about another 40 games this season at which this can happen.

The rotunda is gone. I knew it was going to go, but seeing it gone, replaced by those utilitarian stairs with a sturdy corrugated metal roof, bothered me. Also, we’ve lost that incredible vista, coming out of the subway station and seeing the expanse of Shea right there before you, the best backdrop ever. Instead, you now come down stairs and BOOM, Citi Field in front of you, and you stop and take out your camera and promptly careen into hordes of people who have just come down the stairs and are now taking photos of Citi Field.

THE METSGRRL GUIDE TO SHEA STADIUM.

Hi there. You probably want to take a look at my GUIDE TO CITI FIELD, given that Shea Stadium no longer exists.

In honor of the last season, for those of you out-of-towners headed for Flushing to see the old gal before they knock her down (can’t implode buildings in the NYC limits any more), I present to you The MetsGrrl Guide To Shea Stadium. Obviously, this is not for the people who are out in Flushing every week. I looked and looked for a good guide to Shea, and couldn’t find one. Since I’m relatively new to the joint, I judged myself most qualified to write one.

I’ve closed the comments because it wasn’t being helpful any more, and too many potential visitors were leaving comments looking for advice instead of writing in.

Last updated: July 22, 2008: I keep updating based on search queries I see come into the site. Here’s a summary list of the most popular requests:

1. There is no bag check at Shea Stadium, but you can bring bags, water, and food into the stadium. You can bring soda or any other non-alcoholic drink in a plastic bottle. You can also bring sunscreen.
2. There are no bars, restaurants or things to do near Shea.
3. There is no detailed seating map beyond the one that’s on the Mets’ web site. We’re losing the stadium this year, no one is going to do one now.
4. Obstructed view seats are noted below.
5. Where to sit is discussed ad nauseum below.

BUYING TICKETS

Unless you’re trying to come to see the Subway Series, a Saturday game, or flying thousands of miles, you probably don’t need to buy tickets months in advance if it’s just important for you to be in the stadium.  Keep in mind, however, you’re not the only one thinking this - there are hundreds of thousands of people in the Tri-State area who want to take Grandpa or the kids or their nephew to Shea one last time. So ticket sales are up this year and it will be harder than it’s been before to get tickets.

Mets.com is your friend for ticket purchasing, or you can call 718-507-TIXX. They are still not in bed with Ticketbastard, so enjoy the quaintness of our ticketing system for one last year. If you don’t like what you’re pulling, pick up the phone and call until you get someone who knows the system well and can help you out. Not all ticket operators are equal. You want to find the one who can say, “Well, I can put you in row K of Section 1 but if you’ll sit in Section 4 I can put you in row C.”

Important: Just because the ticket system online says that you’re getting “best available” does not necessarily mean that you are. Let me stress this again: if you do not like what you pull up online, pick up the phone and call. You are not dealing with a Ticketmaster operator, you are dealing with someone who will likely know the vagaries of the Mets ticketing system and can help you get something better. If you live overseas, you are better off waiting until you can call than buying anything just to get in the door. And if you read this guide only to discover you’ve bought a crappy seat, call the Mets: in the comments below, people note how they went through the same thing only to have the Mets exchange their tickets for them.

Secondary market: You can also try StubHub (now that MLB is in bed with them), but be prepared to pay. A lot. A heckuva lot, if you’re coming from out of town, and are used to lower ticket prices. There is now a StubHub pickup window at Shea, and fairly decent buyer protection. I have seen some incredible bargains there, but I have also seen a lot of overpriced crap there. Caveat emptor.

Day of Game: There are ticket windows at gate E (the first gate you come to after getting off the subway) and gate A, all the way on the other side of the stadium. If you are in town ahead of time, you can go to the Mets Clubhouse Shop on 42nd St., right near 5th Avenue, and buy a ticket there. Do not expect great knowledge of the ticketing system or the Shea seating chart, however.  Keep in mind that service charges apply to all purchases except those at the stadium. However, these are not Ticketmaster-type charges, they’re still somewhat reasonable.

[yet more, after the jump]

Saturday, April 05, 2008

KIDS CLUBHOUSE 2008.

The first episode of Kids Clubhouse debuted today. I know what you’re thinking - why on earth would I ever be watching Kids Clubhouse? Originally it was just because we were so happy that baseball had started again, and we wanted to watch anything about the Mets that was on television, and also some curiosity about SNY’s programming. But also, my thought was, If this show is going to explain baseball to kids, maybe there’s something I can learn from it.  But we genuinely enjoyed the interviews, the hands-on approach of the segments, and all the players tend to participate, even more than on Mets Weekly, so it just became part of our regular Saturday pregame routine.

Friday, April 04, 2008

MPLS.

TBF is off to Minneapolis this weekend, leaving me a baseball widow. (Not the kind you’re thinking, the kind who has to watch the games by herself.)
“Do you want anything?” he asked last night as he was packing.
I perked up. “How about a Joe Mauer t-shirt?”
“No. But can I borrow your Santana t-shirt?”
“That’s not nice.  How about a TC Bear doll?”
“I don’t know where I can get one.”
“Oh, I can ask, I know people.”
A sigh. “Fine. I’ll get you a TC Bear.”

The mascot collection awaits.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

HIGHER AND HIGHER. [4-2-08]

Last year, TBF’s “Mets Win!” song was “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”. This year, after the first game,he ran over to the computer and the sounds of Jackie Wilson came out of the speakers.
“‘Higher and Higher’?”
“Yep. I also thought it was topically relevant.”

So that’s what was played tonight at the conclusion of the game, over the closing credits showing a nice brotherly hug between OP and Santana. What a nice game: good pitching, good offense, good defense, and a couple of very nice plays. It was an enjoyable game to watch.

As for The Pedro News, well, we already covered much of that here earlier today. As Steve Somers said last night on WFAN, “Robert Andino. Pedro getting hurt. Rick Peterson not wearing a jacket. Only one of those things was not surprising.”

[Memo to SNY: Who is the programming genius who decided that it would be a good idea to take calls in the booth? Is this only going to happen when we’re up 13-0? What next - we’ll be able to IM shoutouts and they’ll scroll across the bottom of the screen?]

MIGRAINE BOY. [4-1-08]

As much as I wanted to see Pedro start, I couldn’t make it through one inning before a migraine sent me to bed. TBF came in to check on me around 11, and my first question, of course, was:
“What happened?”
“We lost.”
“How badly?”
“Walk-off home run.”
“Eeesh.”
“And Pedro got hurt.”
Now I’m awake.
“WHAT?”
“Hamstring, or something.”
“Oh no.”
“The bullpen was great. We just stopped hitting.”
“Sounds like last year.”
“Yeah.”

My mantra for this year: moderation. As I’d like to say to the preening fans of That Team in the Bronx, there are 162 games. This is the year I learn to take it one game at a time. No more pulling my sweatshirt over my head during the first 20 games of the year.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

GAME 1 OF 162. [3-31-08]

Well, the quarantine succeeded, even with the MetsBlog party being literally down the street from my office. I overheard someone in the office informing someone in from the Omaha office that today was Opening Day, and promptly announced that I was in quarantine and that anyone who thought they might be talking game specifics would… well, let’s not get into specifics, but I obviously made my point. I brought headphones today but I cannot wear headphones and do my job effectively, but I changed my Google homepage from iGoogle to Classic, closed the RSS feed, and deleted every comment notification that came into my email. Opening day cupcakes in hand (what, you don’t have opening day cupcakes?), I arrived home around 7:30 to a lovely dinner and settled in to watch the first game of the year.

We can talk about how great Johan was, we can talk about David being David, we can talk about Jose hitting that nice one right down into the outfield and not out into the bleachers, we can talk about Marlon Anderson being The Best Pinch Hitter In The World and how Ryan Church may allow me to stop holding my breath every time a ball gets hit into right field… it’s still one game out of 162 and tomorrow is another day and all that.

To me, the sign of the season was during the team intros, the look on David Wright’s face as he stepped onto the field for the first time, fierce and proud and determined all at once, wrapped up in that glad-to-be-here Virginia farmboy smile. That said it all, and gives me confidence that he’s going to be setting some kind of tone, or doing his best to anyways.

And while hell yeah it was nice to win, more importantly, it was BASEBALL. The Mets. Again. Watching with TBF, him keeping score, me taking notes, the cat running interference. Tomorrow there will be more, and next week, we’ll be back at Shea for the last season.

Man, it’s been one long goddamn winter.

Monday, March 31, 2008

GLORY DAYS.

Per Adam Rubin:

BREAKING NEWS: Sweet Caroline, a Red Sox sing-along tradition stolen by the Mets, may be history. Fans can vote for a new eighth-inning sing-along song through April 4 at mets.com.

The choices:
Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
Build Me Up Buttercup, The Foundations
I Love Rock ‘N Roll, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
I’m a Believer, The Monkees
Land of 1000 Dances, Wilson Pickett
Livin’ on a Prayer, Bon Jovi
Movin’ Out, Billy Joel
Sweet Caroline, Neil Diamond
I’ll Be There For You, The Rembrandts
Waitin’ On A Sunny Day, Bruce Springsteen

My comments, after the jump.

OPENING DAY 2008!

Somehow I have to manage to quarantine myself until I get home from work, so we can make dinner (gourmet hot dogs), have a beer, and watch THE FIRST GAME OF THE YEAR together.

I have been gone since Thursday, so I have a little bit to catch up on. But, I can tell you that I am beyond THRILLED that we get a chance to get rid of “Sweet Caroline” for once and for all. (However, over my dead body will we sing a song by a bandwagon Yankees fan from Jersey at Shea in its last year.) More later.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

REPRESENT, YO.

PERSONAL to the guy wearing the David Wright t-shirt and Mets hat sitting dead center behind the stage at the Springsteen show in Portland, OR tonight: dude, you made our evening.

(I was going to wear my Johan Santana shirt to this show but TBF told me it would be a little obnoxious.)