It was a Beautiful Day for Gary, Keith, and Ron

I've been posting more on the Facebook page for this blog than I have on the actual blog. And I did it again last night, and again today with photos.

For those that don't follow the site on facebook, you should. In any event, here are my photos from the day. I couldn't see a way to embed a Facebook photo album as a slideshow on a webpage, but Webshots can do it.



Just to recap briefly. The weather was beautiful. The Mets won. And in between, I got to see some of the friends I've made over the past 2 seasons through the self-sustained social network of Mets fans known as blogging.

• Gary Cohen and Ron Darling came out to sign autographs for the group. Mets catcher Josh Thole also came down to sign.
• The GKR group had t-shirts, sweatshirts, and even sweatpants for sale (among a few other things), where I purchased two different shirts of the new neon GKR design (really cool - one in Mets blue and one in black with long sleeves).
• They had their big raffle for a chance to win one of 100 gift baskets. I didn't win one this year, but I did last year and they're all pretty nice.
• They had scratch off tickets where every ticket gives you something. I played several times and game home with things like a Seton Hall Men's Basketball prize pack (which is good because it went to a long time Seton Hall fan - and if you didn't know, Gary Cohen calls play-by-play for Seton Hall on the radio) and a key chain of the Shea Scoreboard Skyline (one of my favorite items from Shea). I also won a GKR cookbook.
• We got to go onto the warning track for the National Anthem. That's always cool. I'd say I saw myself on the video screen except that it was hard to see it looking high up when you're that close (I was standing pretty close to CF).
• Kevin Burkhardt was hanging around the party area, posing for pictures and signing a few autographs. His son celebrated a birthday by joining the group on the warning track and he's at the age where he can run around the party area and it looks cute. He even sold me on buying one more scratch off ticket. Lynn Cohen (the group's organizer) brought out a cake for him to the CF seats and had those of us in the area sing to him.

And this recap wouldn't be right if I didn't do these two things. First, go to GaryKeithAndRon.com or PitchInForAGoodCause.org, not only to see their recap, video and/or photos (which I'm sure will be there soon) from the day, but to take a look at what they do and buy merchandise. The other is to say a big THANK YOU to Lynn Cohen and the GKR elves (lots of helpers - that's what they're called on their t-shirts) for putting this together. Everything on Saturday was great. It's such a great way to end the season as a group. These are all Mets fans doing something good.


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I'll be going to the game on Saturday

On Saturday I will out at Citi Field as part of the Gary Keith and Ron (a.k.a. Pitch In For A Good Cause) group. By now, I shouldn't have to introduce you to them. It's a good group. A good cause that good Mets fans can rally around. Being with a group like this is a good way to end a season.

Anyway, follow me throughout the day at on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/RememberingShea and my mobile pictures page.

You know what would be really cool? If the real Gary, Keith, and Ron wore t-shirts from the GKR collection.


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Spring Training Trip 2010 - Day 10

First, a note aside from the game. It was Gary Keith and Ron bobblehead day. GEICO sponsored it. Lynn Cohen and a small staff from GaryKeithAndRon.com were also on hand selling a small selection of t-shirts outside of no-name stadium, including one or two new designs, along with a few other items on the table. They also took part in the day's raffle with the prize being a GKR t-shirt autographed by the 3 of them. On the facebook page, I posted a picture from the table as s riddle for my readers.

It was also my first time at the stadium since the naming rights changed hands to DigitalDomain.com (Digital Domain Park). The biggest changes aside from literal references and the logo on the scoreboard's video screen were the removal of every single reference to the name "Tradition Field", starting with "Tradition Field Sports Complex" sign below (I don't know how much of this had been done in time for Wednesday's game since I wasn't there; the picture was from Tuesday), except for the one on the mural on the press box/suite facade.


Game 12 - Nationals vs Mets @ Port St. Lucie
No autographs today. I knew it had to happen eventually, and it happened today. I don't care about it as much though. The back fields were open a little before 9:30am, I saw gym class, I went to watch the minor leaguers while the big club split into a pitcher/catcher fielding drill on one field and the hitters went to the stadium to hit. It looked like there were 3 minor league intra-squad games going on. I have no real idea what the teams were, or why some players wear white while others wear gray (it wasn't a division of who played on each team in these games, nor did it look like positions). Update, from MacksMets.com, St. Lucie 2, Savannah 1 was the score and teams in one of the games.

Into the stadium and the Nationals were on the field taking BP and later a little pre-game infield drilling. Nothing really going on. I was talking with some friends rather than sitting quietly listening to the usher tell people to stay out of the aisle while nothing was going on by the Mets dugout. During the last pre-game stretching, it was more of the same. I didn't see anyone come out to sign at all.

For the game, well, it's good to be back with the Mets after the break. Takahashi started (not the Takahashi from last year). 3 innings, hit up a bit, 1 run in the 2nd, 3 in the 3rd, and the Mets were down. Wright had 2 run scoring hits early on to keep the Mets in it (good to see him stepping up - maybe he overheard me the other day being overly critical of him). Castillo hit a 3 run homer in the 7th to give the Mets the lead, but it couldn't be held. Kiko Calero pitched the 10th and gave up a 2 run homer, and was pulled after a walk. Mets lose 7-5 in 10 innings.

One more game to go, and I'm glad I don't have to sit through another attempt by Oliver Perez (inserting in Takahashi pushes Pelfrey back to tomorrow). I won't begin to guess much on the rotation and the actual order of pitchers other than Johan Santana pitching on Opening Day.


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A few programming notes

A few items of note while I try to figure out what to write here on the Mets ticket prices for next year (to which, I may hold my final word until I see a pricing chart)...

SNY's own Ron Darling will be working the Yankees playoff series for TBS. That's a battle for my senses - the most evil baseball team and the best analyst in the game. Ronnie will be paired with Chip Caray on TBS's lead team for the Division Series and NLCS. (Thanks to Neil Best for that tip). No word if anyone of note will be on ESPN Radio, but Neil has all 4 pairings on TBS.

NHL Center Ice has a free 3 week preview to start the season. On most cable companies (primarily those with inDemand programming), that also means a bonus free preview of MLB Extra Innings for the last 4 days of the season (started last night). So in most cases, check out the channels before spending the $69 for the pennant race package. Schedules for both are available on their respective websites.

I'll be out in the crowd with the GKR group on Saturday and then back in the worst seasts in the house, section 405, on Sunday to serenade the Mets.


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