Nelson Figueroa!  Not only did he pitch a sick game, he made a catch that has to be one of the best I have seen.  A laser hit up the middle and he made a back hand catch behind his back.  He is like a cat out there.  My friend Rick joined me tonight and he was sporting a vintage Casey Stengel jersey, quality.  It was a beautiful day in Manhattan, mid 70's and nothing but blue sky.  How quickly Shea gets windy and cold, by the 4th inning it felt like mid November.  The return of dirty Sanchez tonight!  Boy it is good to see him back on the mound, great work.  After 14 innings the Mets pulled out a anticlimactic victory with two wild pitches. 

It was a fairly small crowd tonight.  I am looking forward to seeing some big games again at Shea with some larger crowds.  I mean, all the games are important, two more victories in April last year and we don't have the collapse. 

Rick is a doctor and may be taking a job in DC.  We had a good time talking about the city I once lived in, and a part of me is jealous that he will be returning to that beautiful city (see post below about the new National stadium).  We also talked about all the stadiums we have been to in MLB.  I realized that I have seen some great stadiums and more than I realized, here they are: 

Shea, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, RFK, Camden Yards, PNC Park, Coors Field, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium.

Speaking of jerseys, I keep seeing the same clown at Shea this year that had a customized jersey that has on the back "Shea 1964-2008".  Come on, are you really going to spend $250 on an authentic jersey that has this written on the back.  I may have to add this to the rules of jersey wearing, no customized sayings or names allowed.  After seeing how my friend James abused a 30+ year old Nationals fan last year for brining his glove to the game, I can only imagine what he would say to this guy. 

My friend Cristina and I went to the Mets game tonight and saw a fantastic pitching performance from the Big Pelf.  He looked absolutely sick tonight, and I think we are all hopeful that he can keep it up, we will need him to perform.  Cristina is good friends with my cousin and is from Minnesota.  She is a huge Twins fan and had some great stories of going to the Metrodome growing up.  I never could understand going to watch baseball inside, it just feels gross, kinda like a dog humping your leg. 

Sitting next to us were two kids who kept calling Lastings Milledge a dillweed.  I couldn't understand where these kids came up with this insult.  It was only when I was home watching the post game that an ATT commercial came on where someone is called a dillweed.  I now see this commercial all the time.  Talk about kids being a sponge.  I can only laugh now every time I see this commercial.

Anyway, on Jackie Robinson night, a solid Mets win.  Reyes had a good night and Mets faithful on another cold night went home happy. 

My first full game of the year, and what a good one.  My brother Jack and I went to the game.  We took LIRR to the game, and this is the preferred way to travel to Shea, only 16 minutes from Penn Station.  Great start by Johnny Maine and a big hit by Angel Pagan sent us all home happy.  It was an enjoyable, albeit cold, night at Shea.  Not much of a crowd, and my brother and I both agreed that April baseball at Shea does not draw big crowds, but next year at CitiField it will be a hot ticket.

A few weeks back I went to Stockholm with two friends, both who are huge Mets fans.  It was an amazing trip, Stockholm is absolutely sick and the nightlife is off the charts.  I recently got together with my friend Brian, who traveled with me, at The Village Tavern to catch a Mets game.  As you may know from past posts I travel a fair amount internationally and I always take notice of any Mets gear I may see.  Brian and I both were absolutely appalled to see that the clothing store H&M, which is on every corner in Stockholm (like Starbucks in NYC), were selling New York Yankees hats.  Come on now, what is up with that!  We did also see a local wearing a leather Yankees jacket and another clown wearing a red Yankees hat.  Sorry to say, no Mets gear. 

I am off with the same two friends to Iceland in June, we'll see if the locals are more Mets friendly.

My opening day was not as I had expected.  Not because the Mets lost, but because of other issues, but more on that in a bit.  My brother Dave and I ended up driving to the game in his extended cab truck as he came from work.  I do not recommend driving to any games this year, there is absolutely no parking.  As we were driving into the Shea area we were blown away by how amazing CitiField looks.  It is quite amazing to think that next year we will be watching games from this beautiful new stadium.  After sitting in traffic and finding zero traffic we ended up pulling in front of the bus/limo parking lot.  After a few minutes of convincing the attendant that the extended cab wouldn't fit in any other parking spot but the but/limo lot, they let us park there.  Rock Star parking, right in front of Gate A and with a perfect view of the new stadium.  We were both so excited.....opening day, beautiful weather, perfect parking.  Just as we were cracking open our first beers I get a call and text from my office with an urgent message.  As it turned out there was an emergency back at the office.  I hadn't even taken my first sip of beer or enjoyed the fact that we were at opening day.  It turned out to be a possibly career altering situation, so I told the office that I would make my way back to the city.  My brother and I decided to go into the stadium and watch the fly-by and first inning.  It was a tough decision, for as you know with my last post, opening day is my Christmas Day. 

It was sad that this was the last opening day at Shea.  The new stadium is so amazing, but I have grown to love unfriendly confines of Shea.  Even though I had to leave the game in the first inning, it was nice to say that I was there.  My brother ended up leaving with me and driving back to the city, and I appreciated this gesture.  Turns out we missed a pretty lame game, but I will always remember this opening day for many different reasons.

It is 7:30 am on the Mets home Opening Day.  I couldn't sleep last night as I was too excited for the game today.  It looks like the weather should be fine, mid 50's with some sun.  Our seats are perfect, front row of the Mezzanine and in the sun all game long.  I just realized that this will be a strange day, the last home Opening Day at Shea Stadium.  All of the attention has been placed on the Yankees and their last season in their stadium, for good reason as they have so much history.  However, for us Mets fans, we will all feel some sadness that our "eyesore" of a stadium will be gone.  It doesn't have the history of Yankee Stadium, nor does it have any of the charm or friendly confines, but it is our home and for people like me it is where we saw our first game and fell in love with baseball.  I will miss Shea, but will certainly welcome CitiField with open arms.  So, Shea, how about we make some sick memories in the last season. 

For five years I lived in the DC Metro area.  These were some of the greatest years of my life, the only thing missing was baseball.  There wasn't a blog world in 1999, so it was very difficult to follow the Mets.  I lived in a sick house in McLean, VA with three of my best friends from high school and all of them were Yankee fans.  During the summer of 2000 we bought DirectTV and the baseball package and it was the first time in many years that I was able to watch the Mets play with any sort of consistency. 

So, my years in Washington, DC are filled with great memories but I had no local baseball team.  I can't count the O's because the trip up to Baltimore was a disaster.  I went to a few Yankee games at Camden Yards, as well as one Mets game during interleague play.

Anyway, you must be asking what the hell am I getting at.  Well, my very good friend Kevin (big shot on the Hill) still lives in DC and has been a season ticket holder with the Nationals since day 1.  He has remained loyal to his local team even though he is a lifelong Yankees fan.  I have to admit, I would have been wrapped up with the Nationals and bought season tickets if I was still living in the area.  I asked Kevin to write me a little blog entry about the opening night at the new stadium.  Also, you may want to visit this website to look at the amazing transformation of the Anacostia riverfront. 

Here is what Kevin had to say:

"The Nationals' new stadium is sick.  Great sight lines, very modern and "airy", really fits in with the DC vibe and architecture.  I've had seasons to the Nats since they moved to Washington from Montreal so I was excited to see my new seats at the new stadium.  I was lucky to get Club Level and the Club is great.  It was not as fancy and up-scale as I expected, but it was still a nice set-up.  the stadium is similar to that of Pittsburgh's, on the river, good views, modern, open feeling.

And what could I say about the game itself.....for the Nats to win in the bottom of the ninth with two outs with Zimmerman hitting the homer, what can I say.  Not as great as your boy Wright hitting one, but it was a cool feeling for Washington.  I can tell you, the electricity this morning in downtown DC is crazy, people are very excited about this team, stadium and season."

The Nationals were the only thing missing when I was living in DC.  I moved to NYC the year before the Expos moved there.  Thanks Kevin for the blog entry and I will definitely be hitting you up for a game this summer.  Looks like those Nationals are hot now, I can imagine the buzz in DC is pretty good right now.  However, please hold off on visions of winning the East, it is a long, long season and Odalis Perez is your #1, enough said.