Wow…where do I begin? First thing first…I do not miss Shea Stadium one bit. Forget 22 years of going to games there. This is incredible. I got to the new park around 3:30 for a solid hour tailgate. My sister and I walked over the main entrance to find our bricks outside of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. This was the one place I need to spend more time. There were SO many people in there that we didn’t stay very long. We walked in and grabbed a beer for a surprisingly reasonable $7.50. You are allowed to walk around the field level seats outside of the 1st and 3rd base for BP. Got some good pictures from there. Then we started walking around the stadium. The bridge in right center field has a great vantage point for the game. A lot of people hang out there for an inning or so. The “Taste of the City” section behind center field is great. Shake Shack is well worth the wait. Food in general I feel is the same price or cheaper than last year. People will complain about $20 ribs and a $12 lobster roll but who eats this at a freaking baseball game? Hot Dog $3.75. Great burger, fries, and a beer at the Shake Shack $15. Hot Sausage with onion and peppers on a sub roll $7.25 (I thought this was too expensive until I tried it…amazing). I still want to hit the French Fries stand, the taco restaurant and Blue Smoke at some point. We walked around the whole stadium before the game (Even passing Marissa Tomei much more clothed than in The Wrestler at one point) and it is incredible. The lines were just too long to get into the team store so I passed on that. Great feature that is long overdue…TV’s at all the main concession stands so you don’t miss a pitch, and throughout the walking areas and in the bathrooms they have the WFAN broadcast of the game going. The bathrooms are smaller which creates lines so you have to time it right. I can’t even describe the new urinals but it is definitely an adjustment when you make you first trip to the bathroom.

 

Our seats were in the right field in foul territory. The Pepsi Porch seems like they would be great tickets but seems to be a lamer version of the Bleachers at Yankee Stadium…at least the way the people acted. The opening ceremony was well done. The funniest part of the game was during the Padres announcements. Cliff Floyd gets a solid 20 second ovation when he is announced and the place got loud when he tipped his cap to the fans. Next to him was announced Heath Bell who got the most violent boos except for Governor Patterson and Ollie Perez. I have never heard a crowd go from overwhelming cheer to overwhelming hatred so quickly. It was cool to see Seaver throw out the first pitch to Piazza but if they walk around anymore with an arm around another people are going to think they are a couple. The bromance is entering an awkward phase.

 

As for the game…as only the Mets can the leadoff hitter Jody Gerut hits the third pitch over the right field wall for a home run. It is the first time a new ballpark opened where the first hitter went yard in the history of Major League Baseball. We now refer to Jody Gerut as Trivia Answer. Welcome to life as a Mets fan. Mets then dug themselves a huge whole which included Mike Pelfrey falling down trying to throw a pitch. Awesome. Luis Castillo got the first RBI for the Mets to make it 4-1. Around the 4th inning Ryan McGirr calls me to let me know he has an extra ticket 3 rows behind the Mets dugout. I met up with him for a beer and then headed to the seats for the next two innings where I passed a box with Jerry Seinfeld and Matthew Broderick, Donald Trump’s seats, and sat 2 rows behind Governor Patterson. The box to the left of Seinfeld had Dwight Gooden, and the one next to that was Omar Minaya’s. The seats were ridiculous. I was down there for David Wright’s game tying 3 run homer and even caught a T-Shirt from the Pepsi Party Patrol. Of course to start the 6th Ryan Church drops a fly ball in left that was some how called a triple. And after stranding the runner on third for the next two outs, the Mets get called for their 3rd balk in 7 games (that has to be a record) to score the winning run for the Padres. Ex Met Duanar Sanchez pitches a 1-2-3 8th inning and ex Met Heath Bell gets the save in the first game in Citi Field…a 6-5 Padres win. Only the Mets.

 

All in all this is an amazing stadium. I am biased as a Mets fan but I rank it up with Safeco Field in Seattle, PetCo Park in San Diego, and Coors Field in Denver as my favorite stadiums (I have now seen 18 of the current 32). It reminds me most of PetCo Park on the inside and AT&T Park in San Francisco from the outside. Just a great great place to see a game. It will not sink in until my second game there that this is where the Mets play for good.

 

Your Trivia Answers:

Starting Pitchers – Walter Silva and Mike Pelfrey

First Win – Edward Mujica

First Loss – Brian Stokes

First Save – Heath Bell

First Hit/Home Run – Jody Gerut

First Mets Hit – David Wright

First Mets Home Run – David Wright

First Mets RBI – Luis Castillo

Final Score - Padres 6 Mets 5

 

 

Stadium Grounds: 10

Let’s be honest…it is still next door to Shea. The bricks around the Jackie Robinson Rotunda looks very nice and it is quite clean. However, there just isn’t much around the stadium to look at.

 

Parking: 0

Tara had no problems getting a spot in our normal lot which leaves us at about the same distance that we were for Citi Field. I heard a lot of complaints about getting out of the lots but we flew right out. Parking however is $18. Such a rip off. Once they open up parking to what used to be Shea this rating should go up.

 

Seat Value: 10

$50 to be in the promenade is fairly ridiculous but it is opening night in a brand new ballpark. Plus the seats of what used to be the upper deck, are much closer than the old upper deck. I get the feeling your best Value seats will be “promenade” right be hind home plate which will be on average $30.

 

 

Interior Design: 40

It really is a gorgeous ballpark. I am not that big of a fan of the quirky outline of the field but it is impressive to look at. I can’t rightly describe how much of an improvement this is over Shea.

 

Tribute to Jackie: 50

I mean…I should give better than a perfect score for the rotunda. It is amazing.

 

Sightlines: 30

I thought it would be better but it is still very good. There are plenty of seats where you can see the whole field (we couldn’t see the right field corner) but no park is perfect here. The seats in the last few rows of the upper deck in left field were poor planning. The scoreboard really kills all sightlines. The view from the prime seats in the plaza level is amazing.

 

Concessions: 50

It is going to be tough not to buy food in this ballpark unlike previous years. No matter how much I eat at the tailgate, see all these places is going to make me hungry once inside.

 

Prices: 10

It is expensive…but the reason that it is getting a positive rating here is because everything is the same price or cheaper than last year. Yes there are expensive items…but those options were never available before. Bottom line is you can still get Subway, Dunkin Donuts or a hotdog relatively cheap if you have kids and can get some amazing food for yourself if you are willing to spend a little.

 

Scoreboards: 30

Although Tara was quite confused by the new scoreboard in left field, I really liked it. While the giant right center field scoreboard can never be replaced, I think this actually gives more frequent updated information including runners on base and outs in the inning. You can also see the out of town scores in various parts of the bark. One thing I didn’t like was the balls, strikes, and outs features inside the part. Instead of the numbers they have white, red, and green lights accumulating the totals. I just didn’t like the way it looks. The two giant screens in center and right center field are very nice.

 

Weather: 15

It was cold…I have been more cold but it was still cold. It stayed dry though and there are very few seats that are covered in this stadium. Rain will not be fun to deal with in this park.

 

Staff: 20

They didn’t leave an impression on me…which is already a huge improvement over Shea

 

National Anthem: 20

Nice job by the cast of the West Side Story, but I thought they could do a little bit better for Opening Day of a new ballpark.

 

Promotions: 30

I thought the replica ticket with Citi Field logo was a nice touch for all ticket holders. Simple but something I will hang onto for a while.

 

Crowd Support: 25

Overall it was fairly average as people are still getting used to the stadium and it was an April game vs. the Padres. I expected it to be louder overall but I think fans have their guard up a little after the last 2 seasons. Include me in that group. However when Wright hit the 3 run homer…the place went nuts.

 

Crowd Personality: 25

Mets fans are Mets fans but it was a very corporate fan base overall for last night. There were some great fans around us making some great comments. The people in the Pepsi porch trying to start the wave should have been ejected after their 10th failed attempt. Kudos to the bulk of the ballpark for not allowing this to happen.

 

Speaker System: 20

Clear and precise. Howie Rose sounded great in the introductions. The Q&A with Carlos Delgado was a little tough to understand…but that wasn’t all of the speakers fault.

 

Stadium DJ: 10

If felt like he didn’t do much…but I like that it wasn’t overbearing.

 

Crowd Entertainment: 35

Pepsi Party Patrol: check. God Bless America to Take Me Out To The Ballgame to Lazy Mary: check. Sweet Caroline: somewhat regrettably check. I even caught a T-Shirt while sitting with the rich folk, but Tara set one of the T-Shirt cannons made it up past us. What made it so great…The return of Professor Reyes!!! It’s called Reyes University now but still, we got to learn how to say “I am a switch-hitter.” Most helpful for those living in the village. (Thank you…I’ll be here all week)

 

Location: -10

It is still surrounded by chop shops…no getting around that.

 

Transportation: 30

It doesn’t get much more accessible than the 7 train. Just don’t get stuck on a local train like I did. Driving is still very easy to Citi Field.

 

Overall: 460

Citi Field will never fully be able to compete with San Diego, Seattle, and Denver because it is in Flushing, Queens. However if you can put you blinders up and just look at the stadium itself from the outside, and the get into Citi Field, it is tough not to love. Once I get picture onto my computer I will send out the link.