Sunday, April 25, 2010

BUCKETS OF RAIN. [04-25-10]

Mets v Braves
04-25-10

It is easy to hate on ESPN games except for one simple fact: they are the best games in which to find yourself an upgrade. We found Caesar’s Club Platinum for tonight on the secondary market for a very, very deep discount.  There are seats at a discount because someone who bought the ticket for an afternoon game is probably not going to want to go to an 8pm game. Their loss is your gain. Be industrious. Be creative. We have done this before and it is always a memorable night -  a crazy last minute trip to Philly in April 08, and another Santana start against the Dodgers that had us behind the dugouts at Shea for our first and only time, and a Johan start in September 08.

Tonight, despite the rainout, was also memorable. It was memorable because we watched Michael Pelfrey dig himself out again and again. We watched him do what we have been beseeching him to do for what seems like forever: man up and do your job. Earlier Sunday evening, during my weekly podcast, I was talking about Mike Pelfrey and how I needed to see 5 starts before I felt I could declare that he was a starting pitcher that we could Rely On. I am willing to cut that number down to 4 after tonight.

Despite the naysayers in the media and Negative Nelly know-it-all fans WHO WEREN’T EVEN AT THE BALLPARK, there were a lot of people at this game for a Sunday night game starting at 8pm when there was an 80% chance of rain. I attribute that to people wanting to see us sweep the Braves, to the team finally playing watchable baseball, and to Mike Pelfrey being on the mound. Yes, the unprecedented announcement that fans should move to any seats they could find in the Excelsior or Field level past the dugouts was quite likely to make it look less deserted on TV, but I’ll say this again: there were a lot of people there. They were hiding in the clubs or they were stacked five and six deep in the concourses behind the seats on the field level. If you looked you could see them. I was looking.

Our seats were in a prime Caesar’s Club location and were an absolute joy. We moved up three rows when the rain picked up a little bit but the views were still outstanding. It’s another world down there, if you are there for baseball and paying attention and riveted to every movement. It was a little slice of heaven. Of course, we were sitting in front of four guys who spent the evening debating things like the Dominican Republic being on the other side of Puerto Rico (yes, I know it’s not, that’s the point), and then one kept asserting that England and Ireland weren’t on the same piece of land, but were near each other (keep in mind he was insisting on this because someone was disagreeing with him. However, judging by my Twitter feed and the agony people were going through listening to the trio of Miller, Morgan and Hershiser, I started to think that we had the better end of the deal. We didn’t have to hear them, and the Mets were playing pretty okay baseball right in front of us.

(I don’t want to harp on these guys, but the best was when Luis Castillo was on base, and Jose came to bat, and they cheered Jose at bat - and then Luis stole a base and they cheered Jose for stealing the base. No, I swear they did. The people between us and them could not keep a straight face.)

Just when things were getting good, the heavens opened up, and we scurried down to the Delta Club, where we found an empty booth, bought a bag of popcorn, and took out the deck of cards we always have with us in case of rain delays. Thanks to MLB At Bat on the iPhone, we could listen to WFAN (because the game is always called on WFAN before it is announced at the ballpark). Since the rain delay happened before the 7th inning, the bars were still open and still serving. (I had a Kahlua & coffee before the game which was hands down the best thing I think I have ever had at Citi Field - it was worth every penny of the $10 I paid).

I have been saying since the 20-inning game last Saturday that my fervent hope was that that game would be a positive catalyst, that it would be an event that could tie the 2010 Mets together somehow, in some fashion, so we could stop talking about Prevention & Recovery and talk about hits and runs. I know there is still John Maine, but there is part of me that likes that they are giving him a chance to dig his way out of this. I know there is still Carlos Beltran, but I will still keep hoping we will see him back this year. I know there is David Wright not hitting, but there is no way that can last. Yes, Jerry is, and remains, an idiot (I am still white hot angry that he sent Luis Castillo up there during the 20 inning game to BUNT AND GIVE UP AN OUT OFF OF A POSITION PLAYER… no I am quite serious when I say this makes me angry right this very minute). I think there is something salvageable about this season. I do not think we are going to have to write it off like we thought we might. I know, 19 games. But again, as always, I am just looking for hope. I don’t come to the ballpark to wallow in despair.

Our seats tonight gave us admission to all clubs, but we focused our attention on the Delta 360 Club as The Place We Are Least Likely To Ever Find Ourselves Again Any Time Soon. I took photos and will write things up at another time, but I am going to tomorrow night’s game and it is late and I sat at Citi Field until 11:30 and then had to take the milk train back since there was no express for some reason. In the meantime, enjoy the photos I was able to take from my TOTALLY AMAZING SEATS tonight.

p.s. The Mets have a Twitter account worth following! @NewYorkMets. (I can’t believe it either.)