3/31 Monday afternoon, Shea Stadium

Cubs 15 Mets 2
In attendance- Sujan, Jamie, Heidi

All offseason waiting to go to the first Mets game ever with Sujan for this? The Cubs got started on their great season by tearing apart the Metropolitans in Flushing. Corey Patterson had two homers and seven RBIs. Tom Glavine stunk up the joint but Mike Bacsik was worse. He gave up nine earned runs in 2 innings. The game reminded me of the 1988 Orioles opener that they lost 12-0. In that game, Memorial Stadium was deluged with thousands of paper airplanes that the clever fans of Bawlmor had fashioned out of the free calendar giveaway. You can make a lot of airplanes out of a calendar. After that game, many Orioles said things like, "It’s only one game." Of course, that Baltimore team went on to lose 20 more in a row to start that season. Glavine was quoted as saying in the paper after this game, "It is just one game."

So what can I say positive about this game? The new paint job at Shea looked stupendous. The Mr. Met "No Smoking" signs looked excellent and Sujan and I began to plot how to steal one over the course of the season. All offseason (or maybe for five minutes before the game) we wondered what the Mets scoreboard would say as a cheer for Glavine. It turns out that the Mets’ braintrust came up with "Glaviator!" Amazing, huh? Masato Yoshii served me a sausage before the game at the sausage booth. Sujan regaled us with fun stories about hanging out with Barry Zito and his sister and going to see Ben Folds Five. Barry was wearing flip-flops in the winter.

Disappointments -

• No Sammy Sosa 500^th homer, he remained stuck on 499^th.
• The bitter cold.
• The beginning of what was obviously going to be a terrible season. One fan was overheard muttering, "I took off of work for this?" I swear it wasn’t me.

In what proved to be one of the many themes of the 2003 season, Roger Cedeno misplayed a ball into a triple leading to a cascade of boos.

Also overhead at game- An obnoxious guy in a wheelchair who kept yelling about Piazza’s pink stockings.

All in all, a terrible experience. But, it’s just one game, right?

4/ 6 Sunday afternoon, Shea

Expos 8 Mets 5
In attendance- Sujan, Duncan, Suzanne

Another frigid day at Shea. This time with Duncan (a kid in my class) and his mom Suzanne. Duncan gamely made it to the end, but later admitted how cold he was. By the 8^th, he clearly had had enough but refused to go home. I think he didn’t want to disappoint me. At one point, he asked me why the infielders throw the ball around the infield after an out. And I realized that I had no idea as to the origin of that tradition. By the end of the game, Duncan’s sweatshirt had been stretched to the limit as he tried to hide his entire body in it trying for a little warmth.

One Expos run scored when Piazza dropped the ball in a homeplate collision. The guy next to us yelled, "Piazza, you’re a fucking queer!" Oh well, Duncan likes Eminem- par for the course for him.

First weekend game delivered an expected treat- a blown save by Armando Benitez. He came in with a one run lead in the 9^th and gave up 4 runs. The big blow was Jeff Liefer’s 3 run blast.

4/ 15 Tuesday night, Yankee Stadium

Yankees 5 Blue Jays 0
In attendance- Jamie and thousands of assholes

Why? Why do I do this to myself? Well, it was an absolutely beautiful night. Tickets were only 5 dollars. And it was Mike Mussina vs. Roy Halladay. But again, I come back to why? I’ve got to stop going to Yankee Stadium. I never have a good time there.

Everything about a Yankee Stadium experience is annoying. And it starts early- hell, before the game even begins. Before this game Jamie and I had to sit through an awful Yankeeography on the big screen about Don Mattingly. As awful as it was, there is one reason why Donnie Baseball remains my favorite Yankees star of all time- no World Series appearances let alone a victory. Hah! What kind of Yankee is that?

Maybe I’m just bitter but Yankee fans seem even worse than ever. Years of winning perhaps? They seemed more grateful back in ’98. Now it just seems like they take it all for granted.

Overheard:

The Upper East Side girls in the box seats after we snuck down.

"What inning is this anyway?" she asked her friends. She looks at the scoreboard and says, "Oh, the 7^th." It was the 8^th.

Yankee fans are so worldly:

1. The fans next to us for most of the game kept making fun of the Japanese couple in front of us. They kept saying "Thank you", bowing, and clasping their hands to every vendor that sold them another beer in hopes that the couple would notice them.

2. In the box seats the guys behind us became angry at Matsui when he didn’t throw out a Blue Jays runner out at third. "Mondesi would have made that play. Who is that out there? Matsui? Fuckin’ chink." Nice. They plunder the entire worlds’ resources and then make fun of them- truly America’s team after all, huh?

My one pleasure as Mussina baffled the Blue Jays all night was to yell "Booooo" as loudly as I could as everyone else yelled "Moooooosee" for Mussina. I hope he never wins a World Series or has a 20 win season ever. I hate Giambi. I hate them all. So so so much. I’m glad Bart’s jalopy broke down on the way to Yankee Stadium. I didn’t need to see him in the mood I was in all night.

4/ 20 Sunday afternoon, Camden Yards

Orioles 4 Devil Rays 1
In attendance- Stone Groove, Washcloth, and Sujan

Right before we entered the ballpark, three separate groups of people tried to give us free tickets. No takers. Times sure have changed in Baltimore. Upon entering the stadium, we waited in the short line for Boog’s BBQ. When Camden Yards opened, the line for Boog’s was immense. Now, the line is almost non-existent. Boog seemed lonely so we asked him to pose for a photo with Sujan. He seemed very excited to oblige. We tried to convince Sujan to sit on his lap for the picture but no dice. My dad thought that Boog had a thing for Sujan and said about Boog, "He has big appetites- and not just for food." Gross.

During the game, my father would not let Sujan or me spend a dime on any food. At one point, Sujan tried to buy my dad a lemonade and he cried out, "I want to be the big man. Will you let me be the big man?"

Stone Groove asked Sujan where her parents were from. Armed with the knowledge that Stone Groove is a master of deception, she replied that her parents had come from N. Korea on a rice paddy boat. A rice paddy boat? Try S. Korea and on an airplane.

Oh yeah, Omar Daal was great. He mastered the Devil Rays and the game lasted only a little over two hours.

4/ 24 Wednesday night, Shea

Mets 4 Astros 2
In attendance- Sujan, Jamie, Marc
Marc's photos from the game

I was late for this game and the amazing box seats courtesy of the Schleifer-Katz family (parents of a former student) due to a co-worker’s moving fiasco that I had been roped into.

But my bad mood evaporated when Mr. Met and his entourage made an appearance between innings. He was near our seats trying to drum up the crowd’s enthusiasm for the dismal Mets. As he left, one of us asked if he remembered me from the karaoke party in February. He looked at us, pretended to sing into a microphone and then covered his ears. Yeah, that’s right, he remembers! But, he had to go onto the next section. However, a few minutes later I felt a pair of gigantic hands on my shoulders and I turned to find my old pal. He had come back just to say hi. I was so touched by the gesture that I wasn’t even upset that he had spilled my beer.

Al Leiter pitched well, Armando Benitez didn’t blow the game, and we learned that the scoreboard cheer for Cliff Floyd was "Cliff Banger." Ugh.

4/ 27 Sunday afternoon, Shea

Diamondbacks 6 Mets 1
Diamondbacks 7 Mets 3
In attendance- Sujan, Marc, Mitch, Dave N., and Jamie for part of the second game.
Marc's photos from the game

After playing softball in Prospect Park we headed to Shea on a beautiful day. A beautiful day that for all intents and purposes ended the Mets’ season before May.

In Game 1, Brandon Webb mystified the Mets in his major league debut. In retrospect, Webb proved to be a good pitcher all season, but at the time, none of us had even heard of him. Brandon Webb, we all thought? Typical Mets! Mo Vaughn dropped a routine toss from Tom Glavine as the runner scooted past safely. The Mets made three errors and their modest three game winning streak ended.

In between games, the kid in front of us told me that in Game 2, the "Mets better not be playin’." He didn’t like my suggestion that the best chance the Mets had in Game 2 was if the first hitter threw his bat at Randy Johnson and knocked him out of the game.

In Game 2, Randy Johnson struck out 12 and the Mets had no real chance. The Mets made five errors. It was so ugly that in the 5^th inning when Alomar’s lackadaisical flip to shortstop resulting in a safe runner was ruled an error rather than a hit, the Shea faithful erupted in the loudest cheers of the day. By the 6^th inning, not many fans remained. Only the perfect weather kept us there until the 8^th. Oh yeah, the Mets struck out a major league record (for a doubleheader) 27 times in the two games.

But, the day was an enjoyable one nonetheless. It was the first game of the year at Shea that I didn’t have to dress for winter temperatures. It was enjoyable reading the Sunday Times. It was amusing to learn about the ticket Dave had recently received for sitting in an idling car and that he said, "Your mother must be proud of you" to the cop. We were served by Sujan’s favorite androgynous beer vendor who we think is a man. Dave almost called out "Hey Beer Man" until he was filled in on the truth.

It was a day that I lost two bets with Sujan. Before entering the stadium, she insisted that entering through Gate D was quicker than entering through Gate B. I disagreed. We split up and each took our separate routes. And, of course, she won…. by a lot. During Game 2, I complained about all the walks that Jae Seo had allowed thus far in the 2003 season. She insisted that he hadn’t walked anyone yet. "How could she be so wrong?" I thought. Um, luckily for her she had the press notes that Mitch had brought down from the press box (along with ice cream, soda, and Cracker Jacks for all) and promptly pointed out the error of my ways. Damn, I don’t like being proven wrong.

While Mitch was in the press box, he overheard Keith Hernandez talking about how Fred Wilpon had asked him to do more games on television during the 2003 season, "Hell, I could use the paycheck. Why not?"

Jamie showed up halfway through the second game and Mitch covertly ushered him in through the press gate. He arrived in enough time to take one look at the Diamondbacks lineup featuring David Delucci batting cleanup and utter in complete disgust, "These are major leaguers?"

However, Sujan didn’t have as much fun as I did. She was quite upset about the whole thing. She wrote in livejournal: