SB Nation User Blog: pipkin

I went to Citi Field today

pipkin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:03:12 -0000

Please consider the below remarks my off-the-cuff and highly subjective review of the park. Oh yeah, the Mets lost, but it was a good game. Hayden Penn did not pitch for the Marlins, which was disappointing for me and the firend I went with (he's also an O's fan). I'm not giving letter grades or anything, just impressions.

First Impressions: So, as you may have heard, they have this replica of the facade of Ebbets Field as their main entrance. Once you enter that, which they call the "Jackie Robinson Rotunda," you are faced with a bunch of mural-sized photographic enlargements of various non-Yankee New York baseball moments (mostly stuff from the Mets). There are also retail opportunities, I think. There are always retail opportunities these days. My impression of all this, honestly, was not very high. The photos are accompanied by lame on-word catchprhases like "Commitment" and "Excellence" and "Community," which just struck me as corny and inspirational-poster worthy. The photos themselves, as well as the architectural quotation of Ebbets and the naming of the thing after Jackie Robinson (who was never associated with this particular franchise) just struck me as an obvious and cynical ploy to grab all the non-Yankee baseball history in the city, despite the fact that those other two franchises still exist and presumably have plenty to do with their own history. Now, maybe I'm wrong on this, being an outsider. I'd be perfectly willing to admit that I'm wrong if a bunch of baseball fans from Queens and (especially) Brooklyn feel that the Mets are the legitimate inheritors of the non-Bronx baseball legacy in the city.

The Field: The other reviews that complain about the outfield wall being gimmicky are right. The fence does this weird undulating-looking thing that bears no relation to the parking lot the field sits in. It's like that little corner of the right field corner of OPACY on crack. It was really distracting, though its presence did lead to three triples in the game, which was exciting. Overall, though, it seems like Populous/HOK may have fallen into self-parody or the Wilpons asked for a bunch of dumb stuff. Or both. Also, the sight lines don't seem great. I was in a $69 "Excelsior" (read: club-level) seat and had to look at a TV monitor to see what happened on a couple of balls hit into the left-field corner. If I'm dropping that kind of coin I kind of expect to see the whole game.

Concourses: Snazzy. Wide open, you can see the field from them. I approve. Also the club-level has these super-ritzy bars that I didn't avail myself of because I already dropped all this money on the ticket and I have papers to write tonight. But if I was a corporate dude looking to get tanked and drive my beemer into a wall on the LIE, I'd sure love to do it at Citi. Due to NYC law (I think) the whole thing is non-smoking, which is fine with me but strikes me as kinda shitty for smokers. Oh well. It made the walk to the 7 train rather smoky, besides.

Electronics/Gadgetry: I was in the club level, so I can't speak for the whole stadium. But there were TV's with the SNY feed that let you check that stuff out. The out of town scoreboard is prominent and fairly easy to read, and even tells you what uniform # is pitching for each team, as well as runners on base and outs. The runners on base are green lights and kind of hard to see during the day. Oh well. There were a TON of speakers overhead for the stadium music. It was too much. The music was too loud (maybe I'm just old). Luckily, the music overall was less obtrusive than at OPACY, with a lot of traditional-sounding organ music. They did do some weird stuff like play an O.A.R. music video before the game (those dudes are from Montgomery County! And they stink!), but overall the aural experience would've been fine if it wasn't too loud. Oh, also, their scoreboard race was between a forklift and a light truck because it was sponsored by some equipment rental company. Weird. No Thank God I'm a Country Boy, obviously. They play New York State of Mind after the game, which I thought was a dumb attempt to be like the Yankees. But maybe other people actually like that horrid song.

Food: Citi has gotten a lot of pub for being foodie friendly. I had a Nathan's dog and a Super Pretzel. They both tasted like they always do, though the condiment bar was cool. In addition to NYC deli mustard they had those onions in sauce that you get at the street carts, plus sauerkraut. I hear the beer selection is good. I didn't drink, like I said, so I can't comment. I'll go over the summer and get hammered, I'm sure. Prices seemed reasonable for any non-Yankee team you'd expect to go to. Cheaper than Fed Ex, too! heh. They very prominently serve Dunkin Donuts coffee, which is kinda weird in NYC, but whatever.

Other Stuff: The 7 train makes it easy to get to, and my friend (who drove from Philly) didn't complain about the traffic or parking or anything. The bathrooms were clean and had these nifty futuristic-looking urinals. Ushers and food people seemed friendly enough. Some more than others. The usual.

The baseball: The Mets are kinda crappy and National League ball is dumb. Jose Reyes lead off with a triple and Jerry Manuel called the safety squeeze with Alex Cora, who he for some reason thought would be a good chocie in the two hole. *rolls eyes*

Conclusion: The park is fairly expensive, though I dunno what the cheapest seats are like. When I agreed to go to the game I didn't realize what kind of tickets he had. Oh well, it's only money. It seems like a nice enough park, but the attempts at uniqueness just seemed like bland simulacra. It's a very corporate park with little heart. It wasn't full. Maybe about 3/4, which doesn't seem too bad for a chilly (60ish degrees) afternoon in April. Overall it struck me as a kind of mallpark-lite. A perfectly pleasant place, but, befitting its location, kind of featureless.

PS - I saw two people wearing face masks in what I assume was an attempt to prevent swine flu. Americans are so stupid.

obscure question

pipkin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 18:58:29 -0000

Does anyone remember the farmhand/brief major league starter that was from Australia? I think he played earlier this decade? He threw approximately 84 mph with a big looping curve that fooled absolutely no major league hitters. I recall that Jim Hunter liked him, or at least liked talking about Australia. His name might've been Sean. I've been looking at old rosters (which is always a trip) but can't seem to locate him. He might not have actually made the majors, but my impression is that he got a couple of starts and got blasted.

This has been bugging me for the last 20 minutes or so. Thanks for your help.

Well this is hardly relevant, but... (mostly off-topic)

pipkin — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:12:29 -0000

Given the inspired nickname of our current skipper, I thought I'd share a song that gives me a great deal of amusement. The song, by indie-pop band The Bird and the Bee, is about David Lee Roth, but when you think it's about Dave Trembley it's quite amusing. At least I am quite amused.

The lyrics almost work, except for the part about the band. First three verses in bold for emphasis.

When I was a child,
You captured my devotion
I spent so many hours
Exploring mixed emotions

All of the ways you spoke to me
All of the things you provoked in me
I'll always love you

Diamond Dave
No one can hold a candle
Nothing else is quite the same
Pretty Dave
I'll always remember
I still carry such a flame

When you left the band
I couldn't understand it
But I've forgiven you
Now that you've recommitted

All of the time you spent away from me
All of the missed opportunity
I'll always love you

Diamond Dave
No one can hold a candle
Nothing else is quite the same
Pretty Dave
I'll always remember
I still carry such a flame

Come on, Dave
Show me what you got
I can take it

I'll always love you

Diamond Dave
No one can hold a candle
Nothing else is quite the same
Pretty Dave
I'll always remember
Diamond Dave
I'll always remember
Pretty Dave
I'll always remember
I still carry such a flame

Here's a low quality video to go with: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Foj_enLpD4c

Brady Anderson in 1996 - Most well-rounded season ever?

pipkin — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:04:37 -0000

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/the-george-grantham-all-stars/

This dude at the Hardball Times (I found this via the wonderful Shysterball) took a concept that Bill James came up with whereby you look for players who were above-average for their careers in thirteen offensive statistics. Only Mr. Willie Mays and a guy named George Grantham met the requirements.

This other dude decided to look at it on a by-season basis. The results may surprise you. Or not, since I just gave them away. Whoops.

I miss Gary and Jim (a game thread)

pipkin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:16:05 -0000

I'm watching the O's-Yanks game on New York TV, listening to a team that I think must be Michael Kay and Ken Singleton, and it's really surreal. I don't like it. This is the first game I've watched since I moved to New York three weeks ago. It's strange listening to other announcers.

I'd even take Jim Hunter and Rick Dempsey. Well, maybe not. But I would love to hear Gary & Co.

Michale Kay just said Mussina is going to get Cy Young votes. Which is dumb. dumb. dumb. dumb.

pretty steal.

ed. note - use this as the game thread, since y'all were anyway. Crafty people, you bunch. -duck

Kevin Millar tied the game with a homer off comeback igniter Armando Benitez, and then Adam Jones...

pipkin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:59:09 -0000

Kevin Millar tied the game with a homer off comeback igniter Armando Benitez, and then Adam Jones connected off Benitez for his second game-winning homer in as many games.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.orioles07jun07,0,7611655.story

On Trax Keeping His Job

pipkin — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:06:18 -0000

Steve Trachsel pitches against the Royals tonight. This is very, vary bad. According to theorioles.com Trax has "the manager's vote of confidence." Still, he seems to need to pitch well in order to keep his job.

Pitching well against the Royals is really, really easy. They have an inept, historically bad offense. In many ways they're like the Orioles, in that their pitching staff is actually pretty decent and their offense stinks. Trax will probably go out there and pitch a quality start with 4 walks, 2 Ks, 7 hits, and a decent amount of luck. This will fool Diamond Dave into thinking he's worth keeping around for a while longer, that he still has something left in the tank.

I almost would prefer to see him get shelled by this terrible group of hitters in order to get rid of him. Nothing against him personally, of course, but I just don't want him on the team any more. He's not good.

Off topic: I hate Dan Snyder

pipkin — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:37:20 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3215817

Seriously, what the hell is he doing? This is not how a successful sports franchise is run. He fires his highly-paid assistants, hires two relative no-names, and yet still doesn't name a coach. If he was gonna hire Fassel he should've already done it, and he just fired his other frontrunner.

Next season is gonna be a disaster. He's the new Al Davis, except without the early success to kinda excuse his behavior.

PA back to his old ways, kills deal with Cubs

pipkin — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:43:07 -0000

According to ESPN.com's Rumor Central:

"Orioles owner Peter Angelos killed a 7-for-2 trade that would have sent second baseman Brian Roberts and left-handed pitcher Erik Bedard to the Cubs, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"I don't think we're going to do anything, to be honest with you," Cubs manager Lou Piniella told the newspaper when asked about trading for an infielder. "If we do, it'll be in the outfield. ? It would be a right-handed bat to help out in center field. I would think that's probably a possibility, as opposed to the other things you all have been hearing about."

The Cubs reportedly are interested in Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd."

Goddammit. I dunno whether this deal would've been good or not. But I thought we were done with this bullshit.

On another note, FEAR THE TURTLE!

D-backs in a ton of trades

pipkin — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 07:37:04 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3155417

So, basically, the D-backs trade a bunch of prospects for Dan Haren (wow...he's really good, and they didn't trade any ML guys that i've heard of for him...bad or good for bedard trade?), and also trade Jose Valverde (overrated, but to Ed Wade, which makes sense) for a bunch of different guys.

Can I just say that I dunno who the D-backs gave up, but Dan Haren is gonna eat the NL West for breakfast. He gets to pitch against terrible lineups in San Fran, San Diego, and LA all the time. Even pitching in Phoenix and Coors won't hurt that too much. He was awesome in the good league. Now? Big money, and the quotes in the article show he knows it.