On Wednesday night I went to Citi Field in Queens, NY, home of the Mets, to watch the Padres-Metsies game. Solid ballpark, great night. Not only did the Padres win 9-5, but there were a fair amount of strong performances, historic moments (if you consider James Darnell's first big league hit "historic," which I do), and even a little drama in the 9th (Heath Bell did pitch after all).
If you don't mind, I think I'll show you some photos.
I thought it was nice of this Mets fan to recognize former Padres first-round pick, and current Mets minor-leaguer, Allan Dykstra. I mean he hasn't even made his big league debut yet and this guy already has an Allan Dykstra jersey. That's supporting the system!
I attended the game with noted Metsies fan, and guest of this blog, Father D.P. McGillicutty. We began the game sitting in right field just beyond the foul pole, a few yards into foul territory. This is not a bad spot to watch the game. You have a clear view of the field and, on nice nights, you can see a bit of the sunset above the stadium lights. The sun shines in your eyes for a few innings, as the photo above proves, but I'd still recommend this spot if you're looking for a good outfield seat.
How good was that '86 Mets squad? In addition to this photo of Keith Hernandez, Doc Gooden, and Darryl Strawberry, the Mets also showed a montage of Gary Carter highlights on the big screen that made me want to clasp hands in a manly way with my worst enemy. What a pack of monsters. Seeing the billboard above, it made me wonder what similar billboard the Padres could hang at Petco. It would have to be three guys from one of our best teams - probably the '84 or '98 squad - and you'd need a stud pitcher, a stud HR hitter, and one of the team leaders. They wouldn't all have to be home-grown players (Hernandez was drafted by the Cardinals), but it would be nice if 2 of the 3 guys were drafted and developed by the team.
So obviously, Tony Gwynn is on the billboard in the middle spot occupied in the photo above by Keith Hernandez. Then, if we're doing an homage to the '84 team, let's put up home-grown kid Kevin McReynolds in the Strawberry spot (ironically McReynolds played with all these guys on the Mets a few years later), and let's put Eric Show on the board in the Gooden spot. Arguably Goose or Dravecky or Lefferts could take that spot, but I'm putting the spotlight on Eric. It's my imaginary billboard after all. (Ed. note: the '98 billboard of Gwynn, Cammy, and Kevin Brown wouldn't suck, nor would the '05 billboard of Peavy, Giles, and Trevor, not to mention the '78 billboard of Winfield, Ozzie, and Gaylord Perry. Let's get these hung at Petco immediately.)
Check out this action shot of former-Padre Mike Baxter warming up between innings. Baxter is a Queens native so he's living the dream at the moment. At least that's my guess. I haven't actually talked with him about it. In this game he went 1-3 with two walks, which means, if my math is correct, he was on base three times. Not bad for a youngish guy trying to break in with his hometown team. When Alderson and DePodesta claimed him off waivers a few weeks ago, I thought it was a dirty sneaky move, but I totally respected it. And maybe now Mike will get a good shot to prove himself at the big league level over the next 6 weeks. Good luck to him.
I posted this slightly blurry photo from right field merely for comedic purposes. You can't really tell from the photo, but that's Cameron Maybin jogging down the first-base line back toward the dugout. Moments before taking this photo I had turned to McGillicutty and said, "Watch Maybin go yard here." Then, with that statement barely out of my mouth, Maybin hit a dribbler four feet in front of the plate and was thrown out at first. And then I took this photo.
See, isn't that hilarious?
Check out that moon. Reminded of a moon I once saw in Pittsburgh.
If anyone ever tells you I wasn't at the game where James Darnell got his first big league hit, they are wrong. Remember that. Could come in handy in a bar bet someday.
Shake Shack is one of New York's best spots to get a burger. Very trendy but also very tasty. They put up a location in the outfield at Citi and the Mets put a sweet neon skyline of New York above the sign. This is kind of a haphazard photo of it, but you get the idea. I'm a fan of the whole presentation.
And here's a last final shot of Citi Field from outside the stadium. That's the back of the centerfield scoreboard. You can see the small green sign for McFadden's toward the bottom of the photo. That's a sports bar that's on the Citi Field grounds that is a good spot to go if it's past the 7th inning, the game is fairly meaningless, and you stupidly run out of beers. One caveat: you can't get back into the stadium once you walk into McFadden's.
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