Opening Night at Citi Field

Game 7: Padres 6, Mets 5
3-4 for the season

It was opening night at Citi Field, and not unlike Citigroup's performance in the last year, the Mets failed to deliver. Pelfrey was wild, and while he settled down after an inning when that was a problem in Cincinnati, he didn't so much settle down tonight. Really, though, it was the lack of hitting that hurt the home team tonight, combined with an unfortunate balk from Pedro Feliciano, the only survivor of last year's Mets bullpen. The hitting hasn't been there to back up the pitching so far, and the pitching hasn't been as good as it can be. Never the less, I can't get too upset about the results of the first seven games of the season; those teams that are hot in April are rarely hot in September.

It must have been disappointing for the fans at the Field tonight, but from where I sat (I didn't see any of the game until the 5th inning), it was sort of like watching the Mets lose away from home, though they were wearing the home whites tonight. That ballpark, no matter how blue and orange, just doesn't feel like home yet. I'm sure that many of the fans that were there tonight felt the same way; for a good portion of the game, the seats were pretty empty, while the lines at the food stands and other attractions were long.

Alexis and I are going to the next game, on Wednesday night, and I have to admit that I'm feeling strange about it; on the one hand, I want to sit and enjoy the sublime pleasure of a baseball game in a stadium built for baseball, but on the other, I want to explore everything the new stadium has to offer. I think the answer might be to get there ridiculously early, walk around the place to get a sense of direction, perhaps sample some of the amazing food options available to me, see the view from all the public areas of the Field. I expect it will be both exciting and disorienting; happily, that's a combination I've learned to live with quite well in the last half-year.