Greetings from Shea Stadium in the Big Apple. The Mets of New York take on the Phillies of Philadelphia in a huge NL East showdown that seems eerily similar to the 2007 season. Last year, the Mets had a sizable lead in the NL East ahead of the second place Phillies, but a late season sweep by the Phillies in New York played a huge role in the Mets collapse that ultimately resulted in the two teams switching spots atop the NL East, with the Phillies going to the playoffs and the Mets staying home. Flash-forward to today, where the Mets find themselves just three games ahead of the Phillies. Unlike last year, the Mets are playing solid baseball, but it doesn’t matter, as a sweep will still get things all tied with the end of the season in sights. The Phillies would love for history to repeat itself with another division championship jump-started by a sweep, and the Mets want nothing more than to lay to rest the demons of the past by successfully hanging on to the division lead they have held for so long. This series will either prove itself to be a case of deja vu to last season, or another reality will be created.. one where the Mets hang tough.
A 1st inning run proved itself to be enough for the Phillies, as they won by the score of 3-0. The Mets have one of the better offenses in the National League, with numerous all-stars at the heart of their order. That didn’t matter to Phillies starter Brett Myers, who put on a masterful pitching display by going 8 innings with ten strikeouts and just three hits given up. Mets starter Mike Pelfrey also pitched extremely effectively going 7 innings and giving up just three runs (two earned), but just not as good as Myers. The only offense came by the hands of Chase Utley’s 1st inning RBI via groundout and an insurance two-run home run in the 7th by Greg Dobbs. Things got interesting in the bottom of the 9th for the Mets, but ultimately, Phillies closer Brad Lidge was able to finish it off and give the Phillies the all-important victory.
With the somewhat storied tradition of the Mets at a stadium that is on its final legs, I was expecting an electric atmosphere from beginning to end. Sadly, I was slightly disappointed. The Mets can simply be called an average place to see a game and nothing more. The stadium was far less than stellar, but I was never expecting much. My only frame of reference was during (I think) a Seinfeld episode where Jerry said how Shea was a dump (the alternative was he said that in real life). Sure enough, Jerry was right. This place was one of the more confusing stadiums to get around. Each section was divided by metal railing, and each section was made up of only like four seats. This resulted in a ton of metal bars that didn’t help make the stadium look all that nice. The sightlines were also bad, as the rise between rows was slight so that you had to keep maneuvering yourself to change with what the people did between you and the action, and this wasn’t helped by the constant traffic down the aisles. The charm wasn’t all that great either, as nothing really stood out from this team to differentiate it from the rest of the teams besides a LETS GO METS chant that featured celebrities like Kevin James, Chris Rock, and Darryl Strawberry trying to get it started via a jumbotron recorded video. But out of everything, the fans disappointed me the most, as I was expecting something at least up to par with the other east coast teams I’ve seen (except the Nats but I don’t count them.. they’re new). This was an extremely big game with a division rival that kept them out of the playoffs last year, which you would think would make it all the more exciting.. much like with the game I saw between these two teams in Philadelphia that included the same stakes as it does now. That place was off the hook, this place was loud but not HOLY SHIT THIS IS SO FUCKING HUGE loud. Maybe it had to do to the pitchers duel this game became with no runs being scored by the Mets, but even if it did the Mets had a small deficit whereas the Phillies had a large one for their game and it was still really loud there. To be fair, this place did get loud when things got really interesting in the 9th, as the Mets fans reacted loudly to the situation. But where was that the rest of the game? There were runners in more innings than just the last one. However, this did raise the experience up a bit. They are good fans, I could tell, since they still had real hope even down 3-0 in the 9th. But I was expecting something amazing, and I can’t say it was, but it still was pretty good. With all that said, I’m going to give the Mets a B and 14th overall, ahead of the Angles but behind the White Sox. If the fans were as good I thought they would be, it would be a top five experience, but they were just okay, so they have to be middle of the pack.
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