I figured a Saturday double header was the perfect chance for me to head to New York City for the first time. Not only was it my first time in the city, it was also my first major league double header. We started our trip somewhat spontaneously on Friday after work. After an insanely long bus ride we finally made it to the city. Approaching the city at night was incredible. I can’t believe it has taken me so long to visit NYC! Our friend Rachel and her two wonderful roommates were generous enough to let us stay with them in their awesome Times Square apartment.
We woke up pretty early for the first game on Saturday, and took t
he train to Queens. I was pleasantly surprised by Shea Stadium. A few people had told us what a dump it was, but I didn’t feel that way at all. It reminded me a lot of RFK and it seemed like every seat had a good view. We opted to sit in $9 tickets, and ended up above the Nationals bullpen. We quickly made friends with the usher in our section; his name was Alfred Rodriguez (A-Rod for short). He was impressed we had made the trip all the way from DC, and thought we were the only Nationals fans in the stands. After a few innings he offered us seats in the front our section just above Ryan Church in left field.
Kristen and I headed to the concession stand for a drink and were stopped by another Nats fan. It was awesome to run into people from home. He had made the trip with his family, and was also a season ticket holder at RFK. I love road trips because we get to see different stadiums, watch great games, hang out in fun cities, but mostly I enjoy the camaraderie we have with other traveling fans.
We headed back to our seats and settled in for a long, hot, and sunny game. The gam
e itself wasn’t too exciting. I am a fan of the Redding/Flores combination. Redding has really impressed me in his last three starts, and he and Flores seem to have a rhythm that usually works. Saturday afternoon Redding lasted six innings giving us just one run on five hits. He also struck out a season high eight batters including Gotay, Delgado, Castro, and Anderson. Redding got into some trouble in the 4th but only one run was scored.Unfortunately, Redding couldn’t get the offensive boost he needed from the team. It was looking dim for the Nationals, Jimenez led off with a single but that was the only hit for 3 more innings. With Felipe Lopez up to bat, I leaned over to our friend Rachel and told her to look out because Lopez likes to hit shot home runs in situations like this. Sure enough he took the next pitch and knocked a homer over the right field wall. It was impressive, it tied the game in the sixth, and kept the Nats from a shut out.
It was in the 7th when Saul Rivera got into some trouble. With one out and a runner on second, Gotay singled to right field and Jose Reyes scored, giving the Mets the lead. Rivera then walked David Wright and Delgado singled scoring Gotay and the Mets led 3-1. It was a surprising performance from Rivera. He has been such a force in the bullpen as of late, pitching his last 6 innings without giving up a run. With our starting rotation constantly changing, it is a comfort to us to have a strong bullpen. These guys have stepped up every game.
Despite the loss, the game was great fun. We had a great time chatting with A-Rod and I think we
impressed some Mets fans with our baseball knowledge. We headed out of the stadium to find a place to relax during the break between Saturday’s games. The area around Shea isn’t that impressive, in fact it was hard to find a place to re-dehydrate. We finally settled on a Mexican place and had some authentic food before the game. It was a great afternoon and I was pumped for the last leg of our day…Saturday night’s game!
Entries (RSS)