My First Visit to Shea

First, I want to post that the Phillies signed Tad Iguchi.

Anyway, here we go:

8:00ish: After falling asleep until 4AM the night before, I woke up around 8 to find out that the hot water heater was broken. So, to add to the morning rush, I had to get to my grandparents so I could take a shower.

10:20: We finally start our venture up the Garden State Parkway to the Metro Park, NJ train station. Accompanying me is my friend Rooney (a Mutt fan) and Martin, a kid we worked with from Slovakia. Martin has never been to New York City (or a baseball game), so we went up early to show him some of the city.

11:30: We got our tickets to get into New York Penn Station. We're waiting for the 11:46 train. Metro Park is doing a lot of construction and this place looks like the station barely survived a WW2 bombing.

11:55: The train is late. As I mentioned earlier I am going with a Mets fan. I am pondering laying out on the track. Why am I going to Shea? Why have I already wasted $45 to go to that dump and I'm not even in the city yet.

12:42: We arrive underneath Madison Square Garden. It is hotter than Hell.

Now the following events pretty much happen between 1 and 4:45ish:

So, we got up to the street level and started walking around the city. Before we got to Times Square, I got a text from my friend to meet her @ Bryant Park. She was there modeling in shows for Fashion Week or Month, whatever it is and we met up with her real quick. (side note: Wow, a lot of hot girls in that area.)

After that, we ventured back over to Times Square and the surrounding area on 7th Avenue and all over. We went to your normal tourist spots and we thought it was cool that they set up a giant screen in Rockefeller Center for people to hang out and watch the U.S. Open.

We then venture over to the NHL Store and NBA Store. I might have mentioned this before, but the NBA Store makes the NHL store look like a joke. The NHL store is terrible and looks like some shitty store you'd see inside the mall with some hockey jerseys. They don't even have rare or hard to find things that you can buy for cheaper. The NBA store was awesome, but they did not have any Sixers jerseys in the 1983 style. An Elton Brand jersey in that style will be my first Sixers purchase in a long time.

We then walked up toward Central Park and checked out some of the Central Park zoo from the outside. I used to work on 55th and Fifth Avenue, so I've done most of this walking stuff often and I'm still happy I can find my way around.

We finally start trying to find our way to the 7 train and we have to head all the way back to Bryant Park. There are pretty much three stops for the 7 train in Manhattan: Times Square, Bryant Park, and Grand Central.

Around 4:30 we get on the 7 train and venture out to Queens. I'm sorry, wait, no I'm not; if I ever hear a Met fan say Filthadelphia one more time, I am going to flip shit. Queens is one of the dirtiest looking cities I've ever seen (of course my only view was from the Subway window).

5:05ish: We get up to the Shea Stadium stop. Before we venture into the stadium, we decide to walk around the U.S. open area in the park nearby. Arthur Ashe stadium looks great and the whole facility looks nice, if you're into watching tennis live.

5:25ish: We finally went inside Shea just before the Phillies began their batting practice. The Phillies had two lefties hitting them at left and right. Matt Stairs was one of them, but I could not tell who the other one was. Is Geoff Jenkins cleared to take BP?

So, we're watching the Phillies BP and I'm starving and thirsty, but the only beer Shea has is Budweiser and the food looks like shit. Absolutely nothing liked appealing in the stadium that had a stench of piss. The seats were metal and not very comfortable, adding into the fact I was surrounded by Mets fans. There was a decent amount of Phillies fans, but we all know the big trip for the Phillies fans was going to be today. Too bad it has been moved to tomorrow already because of Tropical Storm Hannah.

Anyway, there's a whole lot of nothing going on for awhile, so I'm just taking pictures of Shea and what I can see from Citi Field. Citi Field looks like it is going to be beautiful and I love how they've borrowed some things from Ebbets Field.

7:10ish and awhile after: The game finally starts and Victorino gets on quickly. We scored in the first on a ground out by Chase. Brett Myers got in a little trouble, but got a nice ground ball by Delgado for a double play. Before Delgado's at-bat, Mets fans were chanting "M-V-P, M-V-P". This is the same guy they booed unmercifully and wanted off the team a little before the All-Star break.

Anyway, the game developed into a pitcher's duel and Brett Myers was just dealing. He threw first-pitch fastball to almost every Mets' hitter and made them look silly with his curveball. Mets' were loud when the Mets' staff tried to pump them up. I'll give them that, Shea Stadium can get very loud. Anyway, a little before 9PM, I decided for some reason I should video tape Greg Dobbs at-bat. Dobbs seems to see Pelfrey well and I was surprise that Jerry Manuel did not bring in a lefty. Well, here is the video:


All of the Mets fans thought that Ryan Church made the catch and they cheered loud, until they realized Dobbs was still circling the bases and the Phillies went up 3-0. Mets fans started leaving the stadium, but a lot of them did stay. Myers got through the 8th, but he was done and Lidge came into get the save. God, it started to get scary, but I'm happy as hell that we did not trade Victorino. He's an amazing center fielder and one of the best in baseball. Also, great play by Bruntlett there, but I am not sure why he is our defensive outfield substitute. Which leads me to ask, why is So Taguchi still on the team? Anyway, we got the win and it was crazy trying to get out of Queens. I have pictures of the mass exodus up the Subway ramps. It was absolutely nuts.

Anyway, we finally get back into Times Square on what was supposed to be an Express train, but it wasn't. We walk around the area a little more looking for a bathroom, but most places had their damn bathroom closed. It was absolutely fucking retarded. I finally find one in the Virgin MegaStore. The whole night I wanted a slice of pizza, but there was no one in the area to get any. We got back to Penn Station hoping to catch the 11:42 train, but after finally getting a Starburst and green tea at the Duane Reade, we had just missed it. The next train was at 12:42, so we had to wait an hour in ome incredibily uncomfortable chairs. It absolutely sucked. Around 12:30 the train got there (it was one of the new double-decker NJ transit trains) and it was nice except for a really annoying drunk girl talking loudly about God knows what. I wanted to shove my foot in her mouth.

We arrive in Metro Park around 1:30 and I didn't get home to my bed until about 3:15AM. All to see fucking Shea Stadium before they blow that dump up.
3-1 on the year for Phils-Mets games I've attended. 5-5 on the year as a whole and I have one scheduled game left against Milwaukee.