[2011 Baseball Tour] Part 3: Citi Field (Anaheim Angels at New York Mets)
Mets gonna Met.
Before the Game:
-On the way to Detroit airport, I had a PROFOUND thought on a hilarious coincidence that just SOUNDS like something that would happen to me, and it happened twice (once recently). Almost drove off the road when it came to my mind. Without getting too much in to it (don't want to embarrass people), it has to do with the intersection between my love life and a rare event in baseball. XD
-Fell asleep on the plane to La Guardia, even though I didn't want to. There was a storm system in NYC when I boarded, but it cleared out by the time I got there. That good weather would be short-lived.
-After I got to the hotel, I made my way to Times Square to meet up with neko4. She did the usual tourist stuff with me; we went around all the usual Times Square sites, went into the Disney Store, the Toys R Us, and even the Yankee Store (to which we caught the postgame of the Cubs' 3-1 victory over the Yankees).
-After that, we made our way to Citi Field in pouring rain. It died down a bit when we got to the stadium, but luckily our seats were under a roof! What luck, the ones I picked out before were 2 rows in front (which would have been in the rain), but after deciding to add the $12 food vouchers, we ended up getting those seats.
-We went to get food, and I went back up to our seats, but while neko4 was getting popcorn (then she changed her mind due to faulty registers and got fries), the rain REALLY started to pick up, as did the thunder. To the point where Citi Field made an announcement for everyone to get into a covered concourse. I went down to her, and we took cover. XD; We waited there with some other fans/ushers until the rain died down; after that, there was no more rain the rest of the night.
-Someone should have thought this out better. New York City, and you bring in a guy from Fox News to throw the first pitch. GUARANTEED HEEL HEAT. XD; (Although I would have booed an MSNBC guy too. I really hate both sides.)
-Running bit time: I'm going to keep a running count of how many times they play Empire State of Mind. And tomorrow, I'm going to keep a running count of how many times they play Shipping Out For Boston. XD;
-Let's go to the game now. Tonight's pitching matchup: the Angels' Joel Piniero vs. the Mets' Chris Capuano.
6/17/11 Game Recap: Angels 4, Mets 3
Top 2nd: After trading 1-2-3 innings, Howie Kendrick hit a double over the CF's head to get the first hit of the game. He would get to 3rd on a deep sac fly by Mark Trumbo, but Peter Bourjos would ground to 3B Justin Turner, and the inning is ovNO WAIT TURNER THREW THE BALL AWAY!!! It skipped into the dugout, Kendrick scored, and Bourjos would be awarded 2nd. Since this is a National League park, and the 8-hitter (Jeff Mathis) was up, he would get intentionally walked to bring the pitcher up. Piniero would ground out to end the inning. 1-0 Angels
Mid 2nd: They play Empire State of Mind again, bringing the count to 2. Surprisingly, this would be the last time they played it.
Bottom 2nd: The Mets would strike back quickly. Right away, Daniel Murphy hit one to the cavern in right-center field, and used the extra real estate to reach 3rd! Angel Pagan would quickly single him home. Jason Bay, who has drawn the ire of Mets fans for making big money and sucking, would ground into what should have been a double play, but Kendrick (2B) would throw the ball away, giving Bay 2nd! Just like in the top half, they'd walk the 8-hitter (Ruben Tejada) to get to the pitcher, and Capuano would strike out. 1-1 Tie
End 2nd: Now this I wasn't expecting. Citi Field put up a message saying "CITI FIELD WELCOMES KE$HA". I DESPISE Ke$ha, but it was still kinda cool with a celeb in the house. neko4 and I would make simultaneous posts about it, but no one would see both because we don't yet have any mutual friends. XD;
Top 3rd: Maicer Izturis would get the inning started with a seeing-eye single to left, and Erick Aybar would sac him over. Torii Hunter would single to make it 1st/3rd 1 out for Vernon Wells, who lined one to short; too hot for Jose Reyes to handle. It would go into left, and score a run. Howie Kendrick ended the inning by grounding into a double play. 2-1 Angels
Bottom 3rd: Yet another strike back by the Mets. With 1 out, Turner walked, then Beltran hit a liner right into Piniero's leg. Beltran would reach safely, but Piniero would be able to stay in the game. With 2 out, Angel Pagan would put one in to right to score the tying run, but that's all the Mets would get; more baserunners stranded. 2-2 Tie
Middle 4th: They do a "text for the song you want to hear" bit, with the choices being Flo Rida, Mumford and Sons, or Jennifer Lopez. Fuck you Citi Field, fuck you.
End 4th: 2 lucky fans would win tickets to Ke$ha's Get $leazy Tour stop in NYC. ...Stay classy. XD;
Top 6th: Let's go all the way here. Torii Hunter got the inning started with a single, but would stupidly get caught stealing 2nd with 1 out. Kendrick would at least single to keep the inning alive, then Mark Trumbo hit a dribbler up the middle. It was a bit too far for Reyes to get a clean catch-and-throw, but the scorekeepers gave Trumbo the hit. (Thank god! I have him on my fantasy team.) Bourjos would then hit a screamer JUST out of Turner's reach to score Kendrick. That would be it. 3-2 Angels
Bottom 6th: Only thing to note here is that Bourjos made a REALLY nice jumping catch at the wall on a Ronny Paulino fly ball to left-center.
Top 7th: Bobby Parnell would come in for Capuano. Izturis would get on him early with a double down the right field line, then Torii would single him home with 1 out. Vernon Wells would then ground into a double play to end the inning. 4-2 Angels
Bottom 7th: Hisanori in the house! He came in for Piniero to get the last two outs of this inning.
Bottom 8th: Scott Downs would come in for Hisanori. Jason Bay (still getting booed by the home fans) would reach 2nd on an E6, then Paulino would double him home on a fly ball over the CF's head. That's all the Mets would get, but there was hope! (P.S. Angels, maybe you shoulda left Hisanori in.) 4-3 Angels
Bottom 9th: RIGHT AWAY, the Mets would mount a threat against closer Jordan Walden. Jose Reyes walked, then he'd walk Turner too after being SCARED TO DEATH by Reyes's baserunning. (Reyes would steal 2nd anyways, before the walk.) So could the Mets mount a comeback with Carlos Beltran, Daniel Murphy, and/or Angel Pagan? Strikeout, Strikeout, Strikeout. Game over. FINAL SCORE: Angels 4, Mets 3
So in typical Mets-like fashion (and their fans would admit as much), they had high hopes at the end, only for them to get dashed in the worst way possible. Let's get this shit started. >Mets
And here are 112 pictures from NYC and Citi Field. You'll see Times Square, rain, Ke$ha, simultaneous posts about Ke$ha, Collins-kantoku (Terry Collins used to manage Orix), Mr. Met awesomeness, and GODLY night-time shots.
UP NEXT: Shipping out for Boston, to see the Boston Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers. The game has been moved to a night game because of the Bruins' parade, but I guess that's a good thing given the time stamp of this post; I would have had about 3 hours of sleep going in to it and HAVING to get there early. XD; (Granted, I didn't fare much better in reality)
Before the Game:
-On the way to Detroit airport, I had a PROFOUND thought on a hilarious coincidence that just SOUNDS like something that would happen to me, and it happened twice (once recently). Almost drove off the road when it came to my mind. Without getting too much in to it (don't want to embarrass people), it has to do with the intersection between my love life and a rare event in baseball. XD
-Fell asleep on the plane to La Guardia, even though I didn't want to. There was a storm system in NYC when I boarded, but it cleared out by the time I got there. That good weather would be short-lived.
-After I got to the hotel, I made my way to Times Square to meet up with neko4. She did the usual tourist stuff with me; we went around all the usual Times Square sites, went into the Disney Store, the Toys R Us, and even the Yankee Store (to which we caught the postgame of the Cubs' 3-1 victory over the Yankees).
-After that, we made our way to Citi Field in pouring rain. It died down a bit when we got to the stadium, but luckily our seats were under a roof! What luck, the ones I picked out before were 2 rows in front (which would have been in the rain), but after deciding to add the $12 food vouchers, we ended up getting those seats.
-We went to get food, and I went back up to our seats, but while neko4 was getting popcorn (then she changed her mind due to faulty registers and got fries), the rain REALLY started to pick up, as did the thunder. To the point where Citi Field made an announcement for everyone to get into a covered concourse. I went down to her, and we took cover. XD; We waited there with some other fans/ushers until the rain died down; after that, there was no more rain the rest of the night.
-Someone should have thought this out better. New York City, and you bring in a guy from Fox News to throw the first pitch. GUARANTEED HEEL HEAT. XD; (Although I would have booed an MSNBC guy too. I really hate both sides.)
-Running bit time: I'm going to keep a running count of how many times they play Empire State of Mind. And tomorrow, I'm going to keep a running count of how many times they play Shipping Out For Boston. XD;
-Let's go to the game now. Tonight's pitching matchup: the Angels' Joel Piniero vs. the Mets' Chris Capuano.
6/17/11 Game Recap: Angels 4, Mets 3
Top 2nd: After trading 1-2-3 innings, Howie Kendrick hit a double over the CF's head to get the first hit of the game. He would get to 3rd on a deep sac fly by Mark Trumbo, but Peter Bourjos would ground to 3B Justin Turner, and the inning is ovNO WAIT TURNER THREW THE BALL AWAY!!! It skipped into the dugout, Kendrick scored, and Bourjos would be awarded 2nd. Since this is a National League park, and the 8-hitter (Jeff Mathis) was up, he would get intentionally walked to bring the pitcher up. Piniero would ground out to end the inning. 1-0 Angels
Mid 2nd: They play Empire State of Mind again, bringing the count to 2. Surprisingly, this would be the last time they played it.
Bottom 2nd: The Mets would strike back quickly. Right away, Daniel Murphy hit one to the cavern in right-center field, and used the extra real estate to reach 3rd! Angel Pagan would quickly single him home. Jason Bay, who has drawn the ire of Mets fans for making big money and sucking, would ground into what should have been a double play, but Kendrick (2B) would throw the ball away, giving Bay 2nd! Just like in the top half, they'd walk the 8-hitter (Ruben Tejada) to get to the pitcher, and Capuano would strike out. 1-1 Tie
End 2nd: Now this I wasn't expecting. Citi Field put up a message saying "CITI FIELD WELCOMES KE$HA". I DESPISE Ke$ha, but it was still kinda cool with a celeb in the house. neko4 and I would make simultaneous posts about it, but no one would see both because we don't yet have any mutual friends. XD;
Top 3rd: Maicer Izturis would get the inning started with a seeing-eye single to left, and Erick Aybar would sac him over. Torii Hunter would single to make it 1st/3rd 1 out for Vernon Wells, who lined one to short; too hot for Jose Reyes to handle. It would go into left, and score a run. Howie Kendrick ended the inning by grounding into a double play. 2-1 Angels
Bottom 3rd: Yet another strike back by the Mets. With 1 out, Turner walked, then Beltran hit a liner right into Piniero's leg. Beltran would reach safely, but Piniero would be able to stay in the game. With 2 out, Angel Pagan would put one in to right to score the tying run, but that's all the Mets would get; more baserunners stranded. 2-2 Tie
Middle 4th: They do a "text for the song you want to hear" bit, with the choices being Flo Rida, Mumford and Sons, or Jennifer Lopez. Fuck you Citi Field, fuck you.
End 4th: 2 lucky fans would win tickets to Ke$ha's Get $leazy Tour stop in NYC. ...Stay classy. XD;
Top 6th: Let's go all the way here. Torii Hunter got the inning started with a single, but would stupidly get caught stealing 2nd with 1 out. Kendrick would at least single to keep the inning alive, then Mark Trumbo hit a dribbler up the middle. It was a bit too far for Reyes to get a clean catch-and-throw, but the scorekeepers gave Trumbo the hit. (Thank god! I have him on my fantasy team.) Bourjos would then hit a screamer JUST out of Turner's reach to score Kendrick. That would be it. 3-2 Angels
Bottom 6th: Only thing to note here is that Bourjos made a REALLY nice jumping catch at the wall on a Ronny Paulino fly ball to left-center.
Top 7th: Bobby Parnell would come in for Capuano. Izturis would get on him early with a double down the right field line, then Torii would single him home with 1 out. Vernon Wells would then ground into a double play to end the inning. 4-2 Angels
Bottom 7th: Hisanori in the house! He came in for Piniero to get the last two outs of this inning.
Bottom 8th: Scott Downs would come in for Hisanori. Jason Bay (still getting booed by the home fans) would reach 2nd on an E6, then Paulino would double him home on a fly ball over the CF's head. That's all the Mets would get, but there was hope! (P.S. Angels, maybe you shoulda left Hisanori in.) 4-3 Angels
Bottom 9th: RIGHT AWAY, the Mets would mount a threat against closer Jordan Walden. Jose Reyes walked, then he'd walk Turner too after being SCARED TO DEATH by Reyes's baserunning. (Reyes would steal 2nd anyways, before the walk.) So could the Mets mount a comeback with Carlos Beltran, Daniel Murphy, and/or Angel Pagan? Strikeout, Strikeout, Strikeout. Game over. FINAL SCORE: Angels 4, Mets 3
So in typical Mets-like fashion (and their fans would admit as much), they had high hopes at the end, only for them to get dashed in the worst way possible. Let's get this shit started. >Mets
And here are 112 pictures from NYC and Citi Field. You'll see Times Square, rain, Ke$ha, simultaneous posts about Ke$ha, Collins-kantoku (Terry Collins used to manage Orix), Mr. Met awesomeness, and GODLY night-time shots.
UP NEXT: Shipping out for Boston, to see the Boston Red Sox take on the Milwaukee Brewers. The game has been moved to a night game because of the Bruins' parade, but I guess that's a good thing given the time stamp of this post; I would have had about 3 hours of sleep going in to it and HAVING to get there early. XD; (Granted, I didn't fare much better in reality)