Tagged: Citi Field

Me on PIX news. Oy, K-Rod.

Saturday evening found me on the 7 train off to watch the Mets play the Phils, an uneven match up of Misch vs. Halladay, when I received a text from awesome WPIX field correspondent and Pick Me Up Some Mets friend Debra Alfarone. 

This would be K-Rod’s first game back after his two-day suspension for…sigh…beating his fiance’s father in full view of the clubhouse family lounge. At the time, Mets fans figured he was back–our hot head closer on the day of his public apology. Debra was at Citi Field interviewing fans to see if they accepted K-Rod’s apology, and to see what happened next. 
Before heading in to watch the game with a friend, we stopped off to talk with Debra about what K-Rod needed to do to smooth things over with his teammates. The clip caught the last part of the interview, and I’ll add the caveat that I’m much more comfortable writing than speaking! K-Rod’s actions were bad enough before–and I can’t say (as the clip says) that I do think management would have forgiven him–but now the fans are unlikely to ever speak his name well again. And there’s no hope of making up his actions to his teammates.
K-Rod’s temper turned out to make him a bad teammate, embroiling his comrades in the worst way in his own personal turmoil. He’s out for the season, likely never to wear a Mets uniform again, and now our beleaguered team has no closer. Help us Hisanori Takahashi, you’re our only hope. 

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xegbwl?additionalInfos=0

Here’s K-Rod’s last time entering the field. The boos were louder on the broadcast. Badly done, K-Rod, injuring yourself, your family, and the team we root so passionately for. 

http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xeg7yu?additionalInfos=0

But despite the unfortunate circumstances, this past Saturday, I loved seeing talented Debra Alfarone at work, and I hope PIX features many more of her segments to come. Here I am with my friend Tobey, Debra, and her awesome cameraman. Add in a green-themed cap giveaway for Irish Day (Tobey and I got the very last two at the left field gate!), steak tacos, and a frozen mango rum drink to the great company, and we proved it’s still possible to have a fun time at Citi during a disappointing season. 
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At least one decent acquisition (we hope!)

I’m back! My blogging hiatus took a wee bit longer than I wanted it too. I was all set to come back raring for 2010, but then the whole Beltran fiasco happened. What a mess. But at least it healed the rift between team and front office and made the Mets seem like the awesomest organization for any free agent to join. Or the opposite of that. In truth, losing Beltran for the beginning of the season is a tough, tough blow. But I have high hopes for Angel Pagan, our Angel in the outfield. He’s surprised us before. Come on, Angel, save your inevitable injury for when Beltran’s back and healthy!

What made me excited for ’10 again wasn’t our player acquisitions–although Welcome, Jason Bay, I do look forward to watching you play, and hopefully you’ll keep Carlos B. on speed dial for fielding advice. No, what made me excited for Citi again was a commercial I saw during Hot Stove (how good is our KB doing in the studio? Great job!). Apparently McFadden’s is opening a bar in Citi Field. A real Mets bar. A place that hopefully will host parties for away games–I’d be surprised if Cerrone doesn’t partner with them for something, and they’re already sponsoring metsblog–and provide shelter during rain delays for us non-club ticket holders. Citi Field really needed a bar that everyone could access. Even that little bar outside the Caesar’s Club was Caesar-ticket only. It was infuriating. For non-beer drinkers like me, and for anyone who didn’t want to get wet during a rain delay, Citi Field kind of sucked in that arena.

So far, googling “McFadden’s Citi Field” brings up my own Twitter (I honestly can’t write “Tweet” without feeling like an idiot) about it only in 2nd place, and so I’m not sure there’s much info out there. But here’s what the helpful internet has led me to find:

The Citi Field McFadden’s should be on the LF side, and open to both those inside and outside the ball park. I wonder, though, if it will be like the team store, and so closed to the outside during home games.

Would I go to the McFadden’s in the city for anything non-Mets related? Well, no. But there have been some decent Metsblog parties there in the past, most notably in 2006. So let’s see how they do with a less…sure to win team. They just might sell more drinks!

I leave you with this from Omar Minaya, from the same Hot Stove episode that caught my eye with the McFadden’s commercial. I can’t help but laugh at how Omar’s trying to skirt the Beltran issue. My fave part is in italics. Good for KB for not letting it slide!

Kevin Burkhardt: “I think you need to tell us what happened with Carlos Beltran. Was there a miscommunication there?”

Omar Minaya: “I think the best thing to say about Carlos Beltran, I mean, um, first of all, Carlos Beltran, you know, it was report–Carlos Beltran had told me about that he was going to have that operation. We spoke about it. I talked to Carlos. Carlos, so we understand this, Carlos Beltran did not do nothing wrong.”

KB: So you knew he was having the surgery?

Omar: Oh yes. He called me and he told me. Carlos Beltran is very professional. Carlos Beltran can’t wait to go out and help his team. Carlos Beltran is a warrior. The other thing is, there was a problem. There was a problem in the process, as far as, and I say this, but not in the process of Carlos–not that Carlos Beltran was responsible for that process… I knew that he was having surgery the next day. I knew that he was going–he told me, uh,–and like with anything else, as long as the protocol goes through, we–the pro–the problem was in the process as how we got–went through the process.

Thanks for clearing that up, Omar. (At least he didn’t say it was Adam Rubin’s fault.)