Wednesday, April 7, 2010

2010 Baseball Season

Sooo I have this blog that I forget about for months at a time... that's not very nice of me. Of course I would remember it again right now, as I'm supposed to be writing two papers that are due today. But no, those are very low on my priority list. Everyone knows that. And anyone who thinks a Shakespeare play and some Robert Frost poems are more important to be thinking about than the fact that baseball is finally in full swing, then that person is nuts.
Anyway, baseball season officially started Sunday night, with the Yankees/Red Sox opening night matchup at Fenway. You know baseball season is here when you hear Michael Kay make two mistakes in one sentence at 8:00:01, as soon as game coverage starts. "It's a beautiful night here in BALTIMORE as we begin the 2010 BASEALL season!" Ahh yes, my favorite sport of base-all. I also had no idea that Boston was in Baltimore. See you learn something new every day. What would we do without him?

As a Yankee fan, I obviously wasn't too delighted with the outcome of Sunday's game, but there were a few bright points that made the night tolerable. Curtis Granderson's home run in his first at-bat as a Yankee was one of them. Also, Jorge Posada's "Pesky Pole" home run was a highlight; I don't see how people can complain about Yankee Stadium's right field being lame, when Fenway has the worst dimensions known to man. CC was acceptable for awhile, which was nice to see early on. However, the bullpen was "atrocious," to use a Mike Francesa word. All in all the Yankees deserved to lose that game because of how bad the bullpen was.

Although officially baseball started on Sunday night, I got the season off to an earlier start that morning, when I headed to Citi Field to see the Mets workout during their seemingly annual season ticket/plan holder work out day. I was in such baseball withdrawal for five months that this short venture into Corona totally made my day. We got to the park early, for the opening of the gates, and secured a seat on the Mets dugout in the first row. It was a great time watching Kevin Burkhardt and Chris Carlin interview players and see how Jason Bay and the other new additions could easily hit balls out of Citi Field, regardless of how large it is. When it ended, all of the players and coaches were throwing balls and hats into the stands, and me being as lucky as I am, caught the sweaty hat of the Mets' new bench coach. Needless to say, my mom wants it out of the house, but I think it's cool.


After workout day and the Yankees game on Sunday, I was definitely ready for baseball to be back. And for me, baseball isn't officially back until I go to a game, which is what I did on Monday when I went to Mets opening day. We got there again in time for the gates to open. Our first mistake was using the Tom Seaver Suite Entrance. It sounds like a good idea until 20 people are in the atrium waiting for one tiny elevator to take them up to their seats, without a staircase in sight. Luckily, we were the first load onto the elevator. We walked around the field level for awhile, and I watched some batting practice.
Then I went up to Caesar's Club, where the ticket-checking ushers on the level didn't want to let me in because my ticket said "All Clubs Access" and they didn't know if that included Caesars. "Alright, I guess I'll let you in.." Well, I'd hope you let me in considering my seat is RIGHT THERE. Anyway, I finally got into the club and we decided to sit down and eat at the new "restaurant" inside Caesars. We got our drink and appetizers (buffalo wings and bleu cheese kettles fries) which were both unbelievable. After an hour of sitting around, however, our entrees never came. Finally, we just had to tell the waitress to cancel the order because the pregame on-field festivities were about to begin.

We got to our seats just in time for player introductions and stuff. It was great just to be at a baseball game again, and our newly upgrading seats are fantastic. The game was a good one for the Mets, especially David Wright's home run right away. I usually don't leave my seat during games because there's no reason to, but I understand that the concession lines on our level were ridiculous the whole game. Well, Mets, that's what you get when you let everyone go anywhere you want. Last year was GREAT, when you had to have Excelsior level tickets to even get near the level. Not even people with better seats could get onto our level. Now pretty much 80% of the fans have access to the club and it's awful.

For me personally, the game was a good experience because I didn't leave my seat. I'll be going to the game again tonight, as well as tomorrow through Saturday. There's no better way to get baseball season started than attending every single game for a week. Mets games are great and all, especially the food, but all of this week is leading up to six days from now, April 13th when the Yankees open Yankee Stadium for the season, get their 2009 World Series rings, and hoist that championship flag. That's one thing I truly cannot wait for.