Ten Thoughts On Citi Field

Boxscore

1) I am so happy they’ve continued to improve the subway service from Manhattan to the ballpark. The terrible, 6 turnstiles through a stupid iron tower choke-point is gone, replaced with a huge staircase leading up to something like 20 turnstiles. On top of that, they’ve kept the post-game “Super Express” service that only makes four stops in getting to Grand Central. Getting to Grand Central in a 20 minute train ride is so much more awesome than getting there in 50 minutes. I know that isn’t really the Mets call, but I’d like to think they had some sort of input with the MTA.

2) I can’t really put in to words how absurd the location of Citi Field is in the world of stadiums. I mean, granted, Yankee Stadium is in a hole in the South Bronx — but at least there are a couple bars nearby. At Shea, once you were in the parking lot, you were surrounded by fence and barbed wire so the stuff outside the perimeter was of little consequence. In the new place, everything is open and beautiful and new and you can walk all the way around the building. When you walk out to 126th Street, you get a full view of the trainwreck of property across the street from the stadium. Instead of restaurants and bars, you have interstates, chop shops, and car repair garages — and that’s ALL there is. Thanks Robert Moses! You knew neighborhoods! I really hope the Wilpons get their wish to flatten this disaster and turn it in to a little ballpark neighborhood.

3) The entryways are also a billion times better. We were able to enter through the Jackie Robinson Rotunda in a very efficient line for bags. I look forward to getting a better look at the Rotunda later in the season when it isn’t mobbed. I’d like to congratulate the Mets also for successfully stealing most of the Dodger’s historic importance. As Hulse put it: “It’s not like the Dodger’s are using their New York history anymore. Would you leave an orphan sitting around the city?” When we were leaving, gone are the terrible ramps that took forever to walk everyone down to the same door. Instead, we walked to the promenade and directly out via a stairwell. Fantastic.

4) Speaking of the promenade — absolutely amazing. All of the concessions on the promenade have views of the field. Gone are the days when you had to totally leave the action to go buy beer. You can see the field and crowd from everywhere. And the concessions! My opening day meal was a shrimp po’boy with spicy mustard, corn and clam chowder, cheese fries, and a Blue Point Toasted Lager on draft from the “Long Island styled seafood stand” Catch Of The Day. Besides that, Danny Meyer’s Shake Shake and Blue Smoke make an appearance — along with two new offerings in a Taco Stand and a French fry stand. This is on top of a pizzeria and the old Shea/Aramark concessions. In case you were wondering, the Sausage & Pepper hero from Shea is still available and still among the best stadium deals at $7.

5) Also on the promenade is plenty of picnic tables and standing room tables where you can eat your food without bringing it back to your seat with a perfect view of the game. Mike and I were able to watch most of the opening ceremonies while eating before taking our seats. His girlfriend got a double Shackburger and the deliciousness is the same without waiting an hour in line.

6) I don’t have kids, but the “Fanfest” area is pretty awesome. They have a “scale version” of Citi Field (Kiddie Field) where kids can hit wiffle balls off a tee and run the bases. In dead center field is even a mini-Diamond Vision screen where you can catch replays. On top of that are batting cages, an X-Box area where you can play 2k Sports and a dunk tank!

7) For sake of completeness, I took a moment to walk upstairs to the Caeser’s Club. They have people at the doors checking ticket stubs and, I will say, I find the whole “tiered ticketing” thing to be confusing and stupid. Near as I can tell, they have various clubs that you can go to if your ticket is of a certain tier and you can go to your club and anything “lower”. I find the whole thing snooty and ridiculous, but it’s New York so whatever. I went in to the Caesar’s Club and it was very Manhattan-loungey with couches and tables and waitresses and $15 martinis. You can barely tell you’re in a ballpark. I was only in something like this in Shea once when we had the luxury suite. Now there are at least five of these of varying quality. I was going to have a drink in the club just to do it (and get a picture with their live action Cleopatra model), but we were running close to game time now and still had to get dinner.

8) The power alleys in to deep center are insanely far. All three of David Wright, Carlos Delgado, and Carlos Beltran all balls as hard as I’ve ever seen hit that both died in a combination of the wind off Willet’s Point and the 415 feet to deep center alcove. I understand their desire to create a pitcher’s park but yeesh. And, could I get some official ground rules somewhere? Citi Field has a crazy right field wall with overhangs and porches and such — I’d like to know what’s actually a home run and what isn’t.

9) After spending years of my life watching baseball in a stadium designed for football, it’s really great to finally have a baseball stadium. There really aren’t enough good things to say about these new digs. Great job to the organization — you know, besides the whole winning the first game thing.

10) If anyone would ever like to argue with you over the idiocy of the “Loss” stat, I’d point them at this game’s box score. Brian Stokes took the loss in this game. In the game itself, starter Mike Pelfrey gave up 5 runs. Stokes then “allowed” a man on base with a three base error before getting an out. Pedro Feliciano came in and balked in the winning run. Stokes took the loss without having actually given up an earned run or really doing anything at all to contribute to the team’s loss. This is how we are supposed to judge pitchers.