Friday, September 10, 2010

DO IT AGAIN. [9-10-10]

Mets v Phillies
9-10-11

I am opening this post with a photograph of Carlos Beltran rounding the bases, because everyone hates Carlos Beltran and I am tired of mindless irrational hatred. Because I love Carlos Beltran, and I will miss him when he is gone.

It is my fervent wish that one day Carlos Beltran gets to play for a team and a fanbase who appreciates him. He is a phenomenal athlete. He is not a reprehensible individual off the field. He is deeply religious. He is shy. He plays hurt and he plays hard. He makes catches that seem easy because he is such a phenomenal athlete. This, of course, has nothing to do with the game, and more to do with the way the Mets are mishandling their relationship with him. However, the ways in which the Mets continue to mishandle just about everything is the theme of this post.

We were at the game tonight courtesy what I have dubbed “condolence tickets” from the Mets. As you may have heard, they have been phoning plan holders, apologizing for the season, and inviting you to attend a game for free.  These seats, in Section 125, row 19, were courtesy of TBF’s plan. I got a call yesterday and, for lack of choices (since we’re already at most of the upcoming home games) picked 10/1. We have 6 more games to attend before we added this one. We already have tickets for 10/1, but we just decided to give those away (if anyone will take them) and take the better seats for our last game of the year.

I was dreading being at Citi Field for a game against the Phillies. I dread it because Phillies fans are dreadful people. They are the worst of the worst. However, turnout was light, and mostly muted. The Mets fans who AUGHED and OWWED at every missed opportunity were their own form of torture. Not being in Section 514, I wasn’t about to turn around and remind the people plotzing that that WAS Roy Halliday on the mound, in case they had forgotten. We were going to be lucky to get one or two hits.

And then the Mets proceeded to get those hits.

I dubbed this the most unnecessary slides in the history of sliding into base. It wasn’t so much a slide as a belly flop, and still, an unnecessary belly flop.

And then, just as suddenly, the Mets proceeded to give them right back up, and a few more insurance runs for good measure. It was that moment when the air deflates out of the ballpark, the tension holding the bubble on the surface and aloft fades away, and it dissolves into the surface like it was never there. There were a few half-hearted attempts on the part of the AV staff to run their LETS GO METS on Citi Vision, but mostly, they kept it to themselves. Because every time it went up, I wanted to get up out of my seat, take the elevator upstairs, knock on the door and say, “Really? No, really?”

Mostly, I took pictures from my lovely field angle.

I know it is the enemy, but I have to take the shot of the battery coming in from the bullpen - for either side, but at least for one - before each game.

I could get a shot of David Wright running out….

And I could get a shot of David Wright reaching own and touching the dirt like he does at the start of every game.

Here is Lucas Duda at bat. Feel the, erm, late season callup.

When Igarashi came in, I amused myself by making references to search and destroy. (Get it? Iggy? Search and.. oh, never mind.)

I was the most excited I was the entire evening when I realized we would be right near Mr. Met during the stretch.

But mostly, I got nothing for you. It is baseball, we are playing out the string. Maybe we can put a small dent in someone’s playoff chase, but I doubt it. We will see the Brewers, we will see the Pirates, and then we will see the Nationals. And then the season will be over. I am past anger. I am even past ennui. I am in some no-man’s-land of detached orbit.

P.S. I am saving it for a full post that I will write over the weekend, but let me just mention that out of nowhere, we were both stopped and searched by Citi Field security while walking down the sidewalk on 126th Street. I was informed by another security guard that that is ballpark property, but I am not entirely sure that it is.  We were not drinking, loitering, being loud, or doing anything but walking at our normal pace to get to the ticket windows at the Bullpen Gate (where the condolence tickets are being handed out). We were not wearing Mets shirts but we were wearing Mets hats. We were about to enter the ballpark, where we would be searched before entering. I didn’t know what my rights were at that moment and didn’t feel as though I had the right to refuse. I am still so livid about this that it is best that I not try to write about it further until I cool down. However, if you have ever been stopped and searched while just walking towards the ballpark, I would like to know about it. Because maybe this goes on all the time and it was just my first experience running into it.