4/22/11 Diamondbacks at Mets: Citi Field
Looking to redeem myself for yesterday’s weather anomaly. The spirit of redemption was in the air. I could just feel it (well actually not in the air because it was absolutely fafafafreezing). I thought this would be a great day for snagging:
This was definitely NOT the case. Here is the view of the outfield to my left:
Looks harmless great for a day of redeeming,right? Well, the view to my right in the Outfield:
Well that’s pretty bad too but below was the stupid season ticket holders batting practice on the field made toss-up almost impossible for all of Mets Bp.
Diamondbacks Bp:
is best summed up as, “They (weren’t) throwing anything and (weren’t) hitting anything” I thought it was just the left field guys but when I went over to right field, the Major League coach (whatever that is),Wilson Valera, was hitting back every ball that came to the wall with a fungo:
Every… Single… One.
That was it. Nothing for the duration of Bp.
The plan as for the game was, go back into foul territory for the Diamondbacks’ at-bats and go for third out balls when the Mets were hitting.
Zack Hample was in Left Field (yeah he was at yet another of my games) for the game but I did meet two other ballhawks:
They would be: Howie (a ballhawk/autograph collector) in the Happy Youngster shirt and Jordan Elkin (ballhawk just this season who has already caught a Russell Martin Home Run and is averaging 3.33 balls per game) in the red and balck sweater. Yes I did crop myself out of the picture because the person taking the picture couldn’t check to make sure he got the picture right because of my cracked camera screen.
Anyway, I used my, whatever shade of Red the Diamondbacks gear is now, hat to get Russell Branyan to throw me the third inning third out ball for #1 on the day. Sweet relief! I now went almost solely for foul balls over here:
I actually should have had two and learned a valuable lesson, Never Give Up On A Ball. The first Foul ball:
went about three people deep in the row started by the kid in the Navy blue hood and black windbreaker. Rushing down only by looking at the ball, I stopped chasing once I got to the row it was going to land in because I couldn’t go any further into the row. The ball was then dropped into the row in front of the people, which I could have easily entered and caught the rebound had I been aware of the fact.
The next foul ball, bounced of the electronic video strip:
Fell down:
And landed a row behind me:
It actually landed in the chair of the gentle man in the jeans but everyone (including Jordan) rushed to a spot they thought it landed two seats to the right. I didn’t want to get in that mess (if you look carefully, you can see the result of the spilling of various beverage and food items) nor deny Jordan of his first foul ball if he got it.
Turns out, they were chasing a phantom ball as the man leaning over the baby carriage:
snatched it from underneath their noses.
That was pretty much it for the night. The umpire, Greg Gibson, only gave out one ball that was designated to one person in the stands.
One other thing of note, though. I got partial documentation of it while I was taking this picture:
of a poster saying, “Why leave a city with six professional sports teams and the Mets?” (so true now that the Knicks are relevant again). The poster is towards the upper part of the picture (left if oriented properly) but after taking it I realized the person cut off by the bottom of the picture looked like Keith Olbermann. It may indeed have been him as the person was carrying a briefcase and wore a mlb.com credential holder but the person also had a cane and broken/fractured foot. So can anyone who follows Olbermann tell me if something happened. Obviously, it doesn’t make much of a difference now but it would be a fun story to tell/know. Matt, do you read ballhawking entries or just the “Offseason Recap and Preview”s?
Oh, and the Mets won their third straight.
Diamondbacks 1 Mets 4
Stats:
- 1 measly ball at this game (#75)
- 14 balls in 6 games this season= 2.33 balls per game
- 31 straight games with at least 1 ball
- 18 straight games at Citi Field with at least 1 ball
- 26,546 fans * 1 ball= 26,546 competition factor
- Time at Game 4:55- 10:23= 5 Hours 28 Minutes
- 6 straight games with Zack Hample/other ballhawks ruling my decisions sub/abconcious.
Just a warning, the entry about Sunday might not go up quickly because I have no charger for my battery.
Observing Baseball 
In a nutshell, come for bp and skillfully stay. Better explanation coming in my entry of tomorrow’s game.
Mainly, just how to sit in the seats directly behind the $2,500 ones. But I may think of more questions closer to time……
Thanks for the help,
-Matt
Sure but about what? Just ask me questions and I will respond. Though my response if you follow up right now will have to be in a while as I have a game to go to…
Wanna share? I mean, how are you going to tell me what YOU know without letting me in on the knowledge? Come on man. 🙂
-Matt
Just general knowledge I have about Yankee Stadium for taking my fair share of unplanned tours throughout the place. For example, Monument Park, The Museum, how to sit in the seats right behind the $2,500 ones, etc.
Thanks for the info. I was leaning towards Yankee Stadium anyway, and you helped me to decide. Yankee Stadium it is. Trust me. The Yankees won’t find me sitting in the dugout seats. $2,500 is rediculous. What did you mean by other things? What else should I know?
-Matt
In terms of experience, I think there is no doubt that Yankee Stadium is the better of the two. I mean it is a pain for ballhawks because of security etc but even when the Mets are better than the Yankees, Yankee Stadium is still the better atmosphere. The only thing is that the price for tickets tends to grow faster as the quality of the ticket increases. For example, the cheapest seats in Yankee Stadium are cheaper than the cheapest of Citi Field but as the quality increases, the Yankee Stadium tickets start to close that gap and actually cost way more than Citi Field tickets. I think you have heard of the $2,500 dugout seats?
Hope this helps but there are other things if you want to know more too,
Mateo
Matt,
Actually beat you to the punch this time. It was hi on the train. Either that or another person has a scary resemblance to Keith Olbermann that also hurt his foot. I don’t know if you know this but Olbermann is a fellow Mlblogger. http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2011/04/22/the-proverbial-one-legged-butt-kicking-contest/
Thanks anyway,
Mateo
You beat me at my own game! Ouch. Only joking. Glad you found out anyway. Also. Forgot to ask this before. I’m coming to NYC in August and was wondering which ballpark, in YOUR opinion, is better for my first NYC game experience. Citi field or Yankee stadium? And no, I didn’t realize that Keith also had a blog.
-Matt
Yeah, I read your ballhawking entries. As a matter of fact, I have five blogs that I check out/read entries, regularly. (Those five include Zack’s, Dodgerfilms, Avi’s(2131 and Beyond), Cook and Son Bats’, and YOURS.) I mean, I check out others, but those are the main 5. (Was there a specific reason you asked? Or just wondering?)
-Matt
Wow. I didn’t realize that I had developed such a reputation as a “researcher”. Hmmm. Anyway, I just sent a tweet to Keith asking him about it. (No reply yet.) I’ll be willing to look into it tomorrow. I have no school, and would be glad to do it. I know you said to not feel obligated, and I don’t. But I still want to give it a shot anyway. (I’ve been successful a few times for Zack.) And hey, reading is not something I enjoy. So the fact that your blog is amongst the other four that I read regularly, should give indication that I enjoy it. Don’t down your own blog. It’s really fun to read. Keep it up!
-Matt
Wow those are some big name blogs. What am I doing amongst them? The reason I mentioned you was I was joking that you would find out whether or not Keith Olbermann has hurt his foot recently or not as you have developed a reputation as a researcher. Though it was just a joke. I saw that you had a busy Easter and do not feel obligated to do this.
Again thanks for reading,
Mateo