A couple of months ago, one of my college buddies, Hirxie texted me to say that he wanted to go see a game at Shea, “before they tear down that dump.” Hirxie’s a Red Sox fan. So heading into the final month of the season, we looked at a couple of dates and picked Wednesday September 24 against the Cubs. Stubhub had some great seats down the right field line, not far away from the Jeff Francoeur game in 2007, for face value. Off we went to one of the final games in Shea’s history…
1) Ollie is on the mound tonight. (Come onnnnn GOOD OLLIE!! No whammies! No whammies! STOP!)
2) “Yeah, this’ll do.” ~Hirxie upon realizing how good our seats are.
"Yeah, this'll do."
3) “I didn’t realize it was that close.” ~Hirxie on Citi Field. (Well TV does add a good 20-30 pounds.)
4) Hirxie’s favorite memory of Shea is Macarena Gate. This happened way back in 2005. Mike, Hirxie and I grabbed tickets upstairs down the left field line for Mets-Giants, Sunday Night baseball, hoping to catch a glance of and heckle Barry Bonds in the middle of the steroids scandal. Unfortunately, Bonds never saw the field that night. Also, I kept telling Hirxie how awesome the 7th inning stretch was when they play “Lazy Mary.” This was in 2005. They started playing that around 1999. As “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” finished I stood up ready to clap and sing. There was one problem. They didn’t play “Lazy Mary,” they played “Macarena” and I went into such a rage infused frenzy, I can’t say the words I used. Let’s just say Mike and Hirxie enjoyed it thoroughly to the point that Mike emailed me the lyrics to “Macarena” in Spanish later that week. (Great friends I have.)
5) 2-0 Braves. (Not that it matters now.)
6) My cousin Eddie is here sitting 4 rows behind me. How is that for random? (This night may take a turn right here.)
7) “You know, it took me until the final week of Shea’s existence to find a hidden gem. The Field Grill, down in the food court down the right field line had amazing food including pulled pork, brisket and sausage sandwiches. I had the pork. And the woman behind the counter was one of the happiest and most excited workers I’ve ever met at Shea. And they gave you chips on the side! (Why did it take me this long?!?!?)
8) The guy behind me just said, “Too high.” (“Who gives a $hit it’s gone!” I had to.)
9) 3-1 Braves. (Again, not like it matters now.)
10) Wow, Delgado’s grand slam took forever to come down. That was a moon shot.
11) Following the grand slam, which has to be one of the highest points of the season for me, this crowd knows there is so much baseball left, especially with Ollie on the mound.
12) 3-3, Philly has tied it.
13) “F@#&in Rays!” ~Hirxie
14) “Dude, what do you care? You’re IN the playoffs.”~Me
15) I’m not even gonna describe what just happened, but the Cubs have tied this game at 5.
16) I hate this team, I hate this bullpen. I hate Ollie.
17) 9-3
18) “It is high, it is deep! It is gone!” This what I’m dealing with behind me. (Ulch!)
19) Eddie just came down and said his just spoke to his wife, my cousin Donna, who said we were on TV. Actually, the camera was focused on him waving a towel, but they could see me sitting in front. Donna’s comment to Eddie was, “Just get home safely.” (Fair enough.)
20) Bobby Parnell comes out to “Thunderstruck” by ACDC. That’s my bullpen entrance song! (I like him already.)
21) Notre Dame alum Jeff Samardzija is in for the Cubs. The really really drunk Mets fan the next section over is screaming at this guy in the section to my right who is wearing USC gear. (Dude, he doesn’t care, we’re all Mets fans right now.)
22) I tell ya, this Mets team just will…not…QUIT! (Sorry Mike.)
23) Hey look! Chipper Jones helped us! “See? He’s not a bad guy.”~Hirxie. (I’ll say it again…RED SOX FAN!!)
24) Samardzija’s pants “are tight,” according to Hirxie. He is married, don’t worry. Yes to a female, but now I can’t look towards the mound. (God, I hate you Hirxie.)
25) 6-6 on a bases loaded walk. Shea is ready to rock. This team needs to respond!
26) Again, even though they scored a run on a bases loaded walk, the Mets leave the bases loaded in the 8th with the score tied at 6. (There goes the responding.)
27) Hirxie and I moved seats to go sit by my brother Frank who was also at the game sitting 2 rows down behind the Mets dugout.
28) I LOVE Daniel Murphy, a lead off triple to start the 9th is a way to get it started.
29) Wow, way to NOT put the ball in play D-Wright. (I’m really getting tired of his lack of clutchness.)
30) Intentional walks to Beltran and Delgado. (I never like this move, but when Ryan Church has like 50 strike outs this week, I guess it’s not a bad move, yep….down he goes.
31) And Castro just struck out. By the way, the Phillies and Brewers both lost.
32) “We don’t deserve this.”~text from Mike.
33) Way to NOT keep us in the game Ayala! Mets bullpen! Wohoo!!
34) “Mets fans should get free pacemakers.”~text from Laura
35) Hirxie left after the 9th, but texted me later, “Just saw, that sux.” (Gee thanks)
36) I’m tired of this.
37) “I just left headed to the subway sick to my stomach, I just tried to stab myself to death and failed.” ~My buddy Paco, a HUGE Mets fan.
And finally, this one from Pepsi Girl
38) “Words cannot express how disappointed I am. But am I surprised? Not ONE bit.”
That pretty much sums up the sentiments of every Mets fan. Pepsi Girl is good at that.
Well we all know what happened in the end I know I have still one more update to go, but when I look back on the 2008 season, there are a lot of moments that you could point to that cost us the season, but this game was a back breaker. There’s not much else I can say about this game.
Next update and last of the season will be the final game at Shea.
