Thoughts from Sec 405

At the game and getting to the game, I took about a page's worth of notes on Citi Field from my second real game experience and third trip there overall. I'll leave my evaluation of the club and last night's gritty 10 inning win for my quarterly review this weekend.

• Coming off the train, I saw more blue and orange on the LIRR platform than I did inside the Mets ballpark. The color scheme must look really weird to those coming in for the US Open Tennis in August/September who are unfamiliar with the local baseball team. I like the blue and orange at the train, but it shouldn't be the only time I see those colors all night.


• BP really just sucks when you can't get over to the dugout. That, for me, was half the fun. The players just don't come over to the area down the RF line all that much.


• I found out first hand that a grown man of 6'0" could bend over from the first row of seats to the field to pick up a baseball. Just one of those random balls lying of the grass behind 1B that was kicked over by one of the trainers.


• The ribs at Blue Smoke in CF are good. No line at all at about 5:15pm, and they were steaming hot inside the container. I'm going to try different foods each time I go. I still felt the need for a foot-long hot dog before the game though.


• I got to walk through the Promenade Club, now that it seems to be open to any fan. Nothing special, at least not for me. I'd rather be at my seat watching a game.


• I did get to check out some views from different RF seating areas in the Promenade. The difference between the "infield" seats and "outfield" seats on the 1B/RF side, besides the price, is that the "outfield" seats cannot see the RF corner (at a minimum) or any of RF (at the worst place). The "infield" seats are far enough away from the angling of the far RF seats that it never creates a problem, while the "outfield" seats are either part of the problem or very much obstructed by it. That seemed to go for both the "box" seats (400s) and "reserved" (500s). It's a shame. At Shea, the only difference between the two, aside from the seats near the foul poll, was just distance from home plate.


• Those LED ribbons, while the do obstruct some views, are not as bad as I had first thought. Most of the obstruction from my seat was the angling of the seats in RF blocking the view of the corner.


• The Amtrak Acela club seems to have a brick oven. I sat directly across from it in RF, and could see a flame through the window. I will probably never get in to eat there.


• I've seen this noted in other places, but I'll say it here too. There is no place to see the lineups at all times before or during the game. The RF scoreboard screen which shows it is also used for replays, ads, and other info. Even before the game, they put it up and take it away. That's how those new scoreboard video screens are - different from the older ones like we had at Shea where the lineups and out of town scores were on the side of the scoreboard, which was eventually upgraded to show video. Those flag poles block the view of that RF scoreboard when you're sitting on the 1B/RF side of the park. It's annoying.


• The RF corner design on the Field Level seems to invite some obstructions.


• I don't know if it was me, but there were some parts of the Promenade reserved seats on the 3B/LF side that seemed to have very little usable light.


• I noticed that the entrance from the concourse to the Promenade reserved seating behind home plate (above the clubs) uses the old style where you enter into the middle of the section instead of from below it. It takes away some seats, but doesn't obstruct anything. Premium seating of course.


• Looking over to the LF landing area in the Promenade, those last 3 sections in fair territory, it looked like the plexiglass is lower on those staircases than it is on any of the other staircases on the Promenade. Lower plexiglass makes less obstruction...maybe.


• The scoreboard uses different graphics for the players each time through the lineup (like first at bat is something with the Tops logo, third at bat is something with Citi Field in the background, etc.) One of the at bats, it's "Vote for xxx" for the All-Star game. I didn't check my ballot, but I didn't think reserves would be there, yet I saw "Vote for Tatis", "Vote for Cora", and "Vote for Santos". I should have paid attention when Pelfrey got up in that turn through the batting order to see if they had "Vote for Pelfrey" when pitchers aren't even on the ballot.