The Sun is Shining....Let's Play Ball

Queens, New York

Looking over Flushing Meadows at a couple of Queens' famous landmarks. Flushing Meadows is of course home to the US Open Tennis tournament (I will have to look into getting tickets) and the landmarks would be the Unisphere (one of the largest globes ever made by the way) and the two Observatories that were part of the infrastructure of the 1964-65 Worlds Fair. Of course most of us will recognize them as the spaceships from Men in Black (still some of Will Smith's best work).

So after what seems like WEEKS of clouds and rain, the sun finally made an extended appearance today. It turned out to be perfect because that appearance happen to correspond with a couple other things. The first being my day off this week (it has been changing every single week since the end of May). The second was one of the best pitching match ups in the major leagues this year. The third (which is kind of the same as the second) was a great matinee match up at Citifield between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets.

2005 National League Cy Young award winner Chris Carpenter.....and I remember when he was just a little Blue Jay.

2004 and 2006 American League Cy Young award winner Johan Santana. Of course he won those awards as a Minnesota Twin but like many small market teams they couldn't afford to keep him so The Mets now have them. Gotta love NYC money.

Ok so Citifield is the new Shea but I cringe when I say that because Citifield is a complete disgrace to what Shea was and stood for. Now don't get me wrong, Citifield is an amazing stadium. They did a great job with it. It just feels too new and too nice and too commercial and well too comfortable. I miss old Shea. At least they brought the giant apple with them (ok they built a new one but whatever).

Look how big and nice this is. At least the airplanes still fly overhead though. It just wouldn't be the same if your conversation wasn't interrupted every 5 minutes by low flying aircraft. (Laguardia airport is just around the corner). In the lower left hand corner of this picture you can see where the apple pops out when the Mets hit a home run.

Anyway, so my day started with a trip on the 7 train to Queens. Now let me just make it very clear that I hate the 7 train over all other subway routes (and most other girls feel the same way). There is just something about the guys that ride the 7 train. It's like their only goal in life is to make every girl that rides it, extremely uncomfortable. They are doing a good job reaching that goal.

Beware the 7 train.

So tickets at Citifield have gone up in price but not nearly as much as Yankee tickets so I was able to get great seats. I figured if I was heading to see 2 former Cy Young winners (that's the award given to the best pitcher in baseball every year in case you were wondering) go head to head, I was going to sit close enough to see. For not very much money (it's all relative) I was able to sit 25 rows behind the Mets dugout......between the pitching mound and first base. Very nice.

This is where my seat was. Very nice view of an excellent pitching match-up. And no you are not mistaken....I did go to a game between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals wearing a Chicago Cubs hat. You better believe I took it from everyone.....but so worth it.

I met some great people as well (as usual). I didn't even hold it against them that they are big time Yankee fans (and of course we all know I am a big time Yankee hater). It didn't hurt that they had brought an entire picnic with them and shared their cookies (cookies bridge all gaps) and well I can always appreciate baseball fans....even if they do cheer for the Evil Empire. Anyway, here are a few of the sights from the game (a 3-2 victory for the Mets by the way).

Hey look, it's Mr. Met. An interesting fact about Mr. Met, he lost his voice sometime in the 60's but can gesture in 12 different languages. Who knew?

Some of the Mets players watching the game. Pitchers Livan Hernandez and Fernando Nieve and either Jose or Argenis Reyes ( I can't see his number or his face so I wasn't sure which one).

I love the old-school socks. I think all players should be forced to wear them.

Mets' closer Francisco Rodriguez better known as K-Rod (you know, because he strikes out so many batters.....clever I know). Arguably one of the leagues best closers. Of course he was the best in Anaheim last year but I guess the bright lights of Queens was just too much of a draw. Once again, you gotta love NYC money.

Hanging out with the giant 42. This is in the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the stadium. Of course as I have mentioned before, 42 was the number that Jackie wore when he played and is now retired throughout baseball.

Well, now that baseball season is in full swing, hopefully I will be able to spend a few more sun drenched days at the ball park.

Julie