My Trip to the Other Side

On Friday night, I took a trip over the Whitestone Bridge and ventured off to the vast confines of Citi Field to see the Mets take on the Giants. I know, I’m obviously a glutton for punishment to sit through a game featuring two of the worst offenses in baseball (Giants rank 18^th in runs scored and the Mets 26^th) for nearly 4 hours of body-numbing torture. Normally, there would be a better chance of seeing a Polar Bear walking the beaches of Cancun than there would be of the Rambling Ranter sitting at a baseball game in New York that doesn’t involve the Yankees.

 But, like the old saying goes; love can make a man do crazy things. My wonderful Girlfriend (the future Mrs. David Wright, in her mind), comes from a long lineage of New York Mets fans, which easily explains my appearance at Citi Field Friday evening. So, if you’re keeping score at home, her taste in sports teams is far worse than her taste in men (but I digress).

Getting to the ballpark about two hours before game time, we had to maneuver our car around the bales of hay that were bouncing past the empty parking lot (cheap attempt at humor). It was a complete shock just how easily we were able to not only get into the main parking lot of Citi Field, but the hundreds and hundreds of empty spots that were readily available to be occupied.

Once the gates were opened and the few fans who were standing on line waiting for entry, were ushered into the stadium, we began to take a quick stroll throughout the park taking a look at all of the sites (or lack thereof). The Mets team store is filled with any item imaginable stamped with the Mets logo, from the world’s tiniest puzzle, to specialty license plates and pencils. But, one thing I have never understood at any baseball stadium I’ve been to is selling the miniature bats. Every stadium has the rule of not allowing weapons of any kind into the stadium (with good reason), yet for a small price you can purchase your own?? In what world does THAT make sense?

The game itself wasn’t much to write home about. Barry Zito labored through 5 innings and was in line for the win until his bullpen blew the game for him in the 9^th inning. While the Mets failed to capitalize on a 1^st and 3^rd, one out situation in the 9^th inning of a tie game, and then again failed to tie the game for a 2^nd time in the 10^th inning after back to back singles to Center Field put two on and nobody out, I did manage to pick up a few valuable tidbits along the way.

Things I learned that I never wanted to:

•       David Wright’s childhood baseball photo makes him look like Mikey from the Goonies (if you’ve never seen it, just go rent it and shut up. It’s a classic)

•    Scott Hairston’s favorite movie of all-time is Liar, Liar. If I were him, I would not be admitting that in a public forum.

Things that Mets fans should be ashamed of:

•        The “paid attendance” for the game was over 30,000 people. There is NO way the stadium even had 20,000 people. The place was EMPTY.

•   The fans that were there were predominantly rooting for the Giants. A team that plays over 3,000 miles away had more fans in attendance than the home team? That’s a travesty.

•   A fan was arrested and ejected from the game in the 8^th inning for “fighting” with another fan. Now, I’ve seen my fair share of fights in the stands of baseball games (my mother being involved in about 75% of them). I’ve never seen a ‘fight’ resulting in an ejection that involved absolutely no physical contact, or anything remotely construed as an act of aggression. Screaming at someone from 15 feet away should not result in ejection, I don’t care how drunk you are. Unless belligerently drunk and unable to comprehend remedial tasks, attacking another fan or attempting to set their replica jersey on fire (Joanne Ramey specialty circa 2003), you shouldn’t be kicked out of the stadium. The fact that Mets security deemed the drunken ginger in section 135 to be overly-aggressive to the point of needing to be removed is an absolute joke. You Mets fans need to show some pride! Maybe your team would field a winner if there fans didn’t turn into such wimps? What happened to the days of throwing batteries at John Rocker? Stop watching Glee and turn on a re-run of American Gladiators and man the F up!

 

Reasons I hate National League Baseball: 

•    Double Switches. I HATE double switches. Bruce Bochy probably set a record for the number of double switches he made in the last two innings of that game. THREE double switches? He used 20 of his 24 players (Ryan Theriot wasn’t with the team at the time of the game)in only 10 innings. That’s excessive over-managing at its finest.

•   Terry Collins not using the hated double switch when the situation called for it the most. So let’s go over this scenario, your pitcher is due up 3^rd in the bottom of the 7^th inning, you’re bringing in a new pitcher for the top of the 7th, wouldn’t most situations dictate doing a double switch so the pitchers spot in the order doesn’t come up? I’d argue that 9 times out of 10, a manager makes the double switch in this instance. Did Terry Collins do that? Nope, he obviously doesn’t use the same binder of managerial decisions that Joe Girardi uses. Instead of making a double switch and taking out Kirk Nieuwenhuis, replacing him with pitcher Ramon Ramirez and putting Lucas Duda in the pitcher’s spot of the lineup, he decided to just pinch hit for his catcher and his pitcher, using two players instead of only one. PURE GENIUS!

•        Moronic managing decisions. Bruce Bochy using Brandon Belt to pinch hit against Tim Byrdak in the 9^th, when he’s a career .225 hitter and THEN putting Aubrey Huff in left field for defensive reasons in the 10^th inning as part of a double switch (he obviously loves them), when he’s played only 68 games of his 13 year career there.

Things every Met Fan Should Know: 

•     Frank Francisco is not a good closer. April 8^th was the last time Francisco didn’t allow a run when he pitched. Since then he’s pitched 3.1 innings, allowed 7 hits, 7 runs and 3 walks. Just your typical 18.90era in his last 4 appearances. By Memorial Day, Jon Rauch and his 9 consecutive scoreless appearances will assume the closers role.

•        Kirk Nieuwenhuis is going to be a really good baseball player. Coming into this season, the pride of Azusa Pacific University was the #9 rated prospect in the Mets organization. I had never heard of him until I saw him play Friday night. The kid has raw talent. He hustled on every single play like it was the 7^th game of the World Series. He displayed outstanding range in the outfield, tracking down a scorched line drive that seemed destined to be a double. He showed tremendous power the other way (evidenced by his opposite field home run, becoming the first left handed hitter to homer over the left field wall at Citi Field). Most importantly, you could tell he was having fun. That’s something a lot of players today seem to be lacking. The youthful enthusiasm to be playing a kids game and living out your dreams.

•    Ike Davis is a lot worse in person than people really think. He looked absolutely lost at the plate. Flailing away weakly at pitches that bounced two feet in front of the plate. He should not be the starting first baseman, let alone cleanup hitter.

•    David Wright needs protection in the lineup. Hitting ahead of Ike Davis and his anemic batting average will only last for so long until Wright stops seeing anything remotely close to the strike zone. The opposing team has no reason whatsoever to ever pitch to David Wright, until the Mets get him protection. At this point, I don’t care how old he is, or how long it’s been since he’s been an effective defensive player, I get Vladimir Guerrero’s agent on the phone and ask what it will take to get Vlad in Flushing. He is not the player he used to be, but at this point, he can’t be any worse than what they have.