Shut out of the 1 p.m. ferry to Governors Island because of the 2009 Jazz Age Lawn Party, we wandered around Lower Manhattan, wondering what to do. First went over towards The Battery and Pier A, which they seem no closer to renovating, except for some fancy signage:
First off, Citi Field is cool. And I say this as someone who appreciated Shea Stadium and feels that too much of our 1960s architecture is being decimated and that one day we will all regret callously tearing it down. But you can’t argue with the amenities and the general atmosphere of the new stadium. The food is much, much better, as is the beer ($7.50 for Danny Meyer craft brews definitely beats overpriced Budweiser — and believe me, I drink more than my fair share of Budweiser when I’m not watching baseball). And for the most part, the Mets’ home has been updated in a way that lends itself to the ballpark experience. Good for them. You step off the 7 train and walk into this fantastic new stadium that isn’t a dump. That’s cool.
That said, the view from the upper rows of Section 538 is, well, crap. That big out-of-town scoreboard in left field must be wonderful to consult, but when you climb up to your seat and see a fancy high-definition screen on the back side of it, it’s a pretty good indication that your view is obstructed; Citi Field features amenities, but they wouldn’t include some amenities unless they had to:
Keep in mind, these are not considered “obstructed view” seats — the face value of these tickets is $19. Which is fine, whatever, but it’s strange that a new stadium — any new stadium — has obstructed-view seats. We can kill a terrorist in Waziristan from a drone piloted by a person in Tampa but HOK can’t figure out how to make the upper rows of Section 538 not feel utterly claustrophobic? That disappoints! Another beef: our Section 538 tickets were the “best available” when we got them. So where was everyone? There were so many empty seats around the stadium that the Mets skipped the “Guess the Attendance” feature. (By the way, I see Mike Lupica already found a way to fetishize and Terkelize Section 538.) But at least it’s not New Yankee Stadium, because that place sounds insane.
OK, and speaking of New Yankee Stadium — and its absurdly ridiculous prices for the best seats — the Mets don’t seem to be doing much better. I know the weather was funky and it’s early in the season, but, jeez, it’s the Phillies — you’d think this would be a hot ticket. But check out the difference between the field level section behind the dugout and the field level section behind the on-deck circle:
So being that this was a Mets-Phillies game, we expected heated emotions, though we didn’t see much of it until the walk — the long walk — down one of Citi Field’s long stairwells (no ramps?) where Mets fans commenced with the customary “Ass-Hole” tomahawk chop at hapless Phillies partisans:
Yeah, yeah, of course “Philly Sucks!” But let’s just recap for a second: Sure, Johan Santana pitched really well, but then so did Chan Ho Park, who gave up only one hit through six innings. Chan Ho Park. Chan. Ho. Park. And the one run the Mets did score was off a terrible throwing error on what should have been just a single. You’re chuffed? I don’t know that I would be. What’s more, you’re still in third place.
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