I am sick and tired of watching this man, Aaron Heilman ruin wins for the Mets. Last night (5/30/08) he came in during the 8th inning and destroyed what could have been a 4th straight win for the Mets but instead gave away four runs in zero innings pitched!

At the end of every month I am going to give my "Poo Poo Player Award" out to whichever MLB player deserves it for that month in the season. This month, well, Aaron definitely deserves it.

Aaron Heilman Stats
5/30/08 Dodgers vs. Mets Recap

CONGRATULATIONS TO AARON HEILMAN FOR RECEIVING THE POO POO PLAYER AWARD FOR THE MONTH OF MAY!

I can't remember one season that I have been to/will be to these many Mets games in my life. Sure, I've been to a good amount an average kid would go to a season but since I moved back from Los Angeles, California and I am not attending school right now, games are hitting me every week. I love it.

Last night I caught the Dodgers/Mets game at Shea. It was "Joe Torre's Return to New York" and the man deserved the standing ovation the fans gave him as he came out to the mound in the 7th inning.

The day started out with waking up, watching sportscenter, cleaning around the house, showering, and getting to Linden train station in time for the 3:42 PM train to New York Penn Station. The Linden train pulled up as the ticket machine was printing my tickets. I made the train, but barely. I got to Penn Station at 4:08 PM and rushed to the LIRR.

Surprisingly, Thursdays around 4 PM aren't THAT crowded. Usually in New York, if you are looking to get on ANY train/subway/bus, you know for a fact that it will be crowded with minimal space (if at all) and will smell like B.O. the entire ride.

As I approached Shea Stadium/Citi Field, I thought about where I might go for BP. Right Field Loge was getting some baseballs tossed to them from Duaner Sanchez and Pedro Feleciano but after the two kids caught them from field level, they left to sign autographs before heading into the clubhouse.

For the next hour and a half Shea Stadium looked like this:

I wasn't begging for baseballs. I was waiting for it to come to me. I moved from the Field Level to the Loge where i watched most of BP from. Once I found my spot in the Loge section of Shea Stadium next to the right foul pole, I watch a hooked foul ball enter the Field Level seats EXACTLY where I was standing no more than two minutes beforehand.

BP ended early and the Dodgers didn't think warm-ups were necessary today at all before a game so I was forced out of Section 31. As I was walking around the stadium, I passed by this one guy with a jersey I thought I'd never see...

Now, I know you were probably expecting a classic player for the Mets but this time, no. I got a kick out of this for one reason and if you are not aware what that reason is, look those three numbers (420) up.

After a couple of laps around Shea, I settled down in the Loge: Section 18, Row D - Seat 17. The ballpark was still empty and I waited patiently for the game to begin while eating the delicious FREE Popcorn they gave out last night. BP was packed up and pre-game festivities were happening on the field. Little Leaguers lined up across the warning track, groups danced and sang, and then it was game-time!

Because I'm too lazy to recap the entire game, you can read all about it here. The stadium started filling up around 8:10 PM but before that, this is what a busy section of the Loge looked like:

The game ran a little late but it was nice to see the Mets win their third in a row considering all the "talk" that has been going on concerning them these past couple of weeks.

I stayed behind home plate from the 8th inning for the remainder of the game, waiting for a foul tipped ball to reach me but that didn't happen at all. I should definitely try and buy tickets for this seat. Look how amazing this is, even from a camera phone:

After Joe Smith threw three straight strikes to end the game, I rushed out of the stadium and over to the LIRR to wait at the front of this mess for 15 minutes before they let anyone else through.

Getting home around 12:20 AM wasn't what I really wanted to do on a Thursday night but at least I am off of work today and can relax before making dinner for the girlfriend.

I did another one of those homemade panorama's but this time of Shea Stadium:

In my last entry, I mentioned my first New York Mets experience. This was the second game of my MLB career, as the first was at Yankee Stadium, July 23, 1996.

**Notice the price for a Field Level ticket 11 years ago compared to today's price of $74 for face value.

The game was rained out but Oliver Perez was still in the bullpen warming up when it wasn't even his start. Billy Wagner was throwing some serious heat while waiting for the rain to settle but that wasn't going to happen. As Oliver was going into the bullpen dugout, I yelled, "Oliver! How bout that ball?!" He tossed that up one kid away but I managed to snatch it bare-handed. The kid later said, "Yeah, I'll let you have that one." and I left.

The game got rescheduled for the next night which meant I was waking up at 8:30 AM to go back to Shea to see a double header. Sweet. I spent over 12 hours there on May 20, 2008 to see the Mets beat the Reds 12 - 6 and then lose with terrible defensive skills 7- 1. At least I got my first ball out of it. I never asked for a ball once in my life.

One time, at my first mets game, Bernard Gilkey hit a foul boul right to me but my dad jumped in front of me, spilled the popcorn, soda, dropped his pretzel, and still managed to knock the ball away from my glove and into the hands of an elder. That's the closest I've ever been to a Major League Baseball until May 9, 2008.

Tuesday May 20, 2008
Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium
Bronx, New York

5:17 PM - I entered Yankee Stadium for the last time in my life before they demolish a building that should be considered a museum. It is a landmark and there will be chaos when they ram that bolder into the front entrance. I was going there with my Uncle Mark who is a big Yankees fan. Him and I champed it out in the rain, waited for it to settle and go away just in time before the start of the game at 7:10 PM.

I picked up a pair of tickets on StubHub! which has been a savior to me a lot so far this season. Although these were our seats:

We sat here and enjoyed the game until the 8th inning before leaving. We sat ten rows up and the cop that talked to us the entire game didn't mind at all.

The game started off with a 7 - 0 lead from the Baltimore Orioles at the end of the first inning. Mike Mussina was taking a beating. It looked like he was throwing good material but the bats on the Orioles bench were awake and they wouldn't stop making contact with the ball. 2nd inning: two more runs come in for the Orioles and Alex Rodriguez hasn't even made an appearance at the plate so far this game. It was his first appearance back from his strained right quad and in the 6th inning he blasted one that landed either in Monument Park or near it. From my seat in the bleachers I couldn't see where it had landed exactly.

Jeter got hit in the wrist to be immediately aided to and taken out of the game. Yes, I understand Derek Jeter is the Captain of the New York Yankees and also one of the most pampered players in the MLB but relax, it was just a bruise. He should've felt that instantly whether something broke or not.

In the 6th inning, LaTroy Hawkins decided to throw three extremely inside pitches to Luke Scott before going upstairs and almost drilling his head. Umpire Chuck Meriwether ejected him instantly. The benches cleared and it was on. The coolest thing about the dugouts clearing was being right in front of the bullpen and hearing the players right before they ran top speed to the infield.

After we left, I heard a guy behind me asking for ticket stubs then some other guy with a thick Bronx accent said, "What do you need these stubs for? This was THE WORST game in Yankees History!" I chuckled and then shouted out "Let's Go Mets!" to quickly silence the folks around Yankee Stadium two days after they got smacked by the Mets in a two game series, compliments of the rain for canceling the first game.

We took the 4 Subway until it dropped us off at 34th, walked in the wrong direction for 10 minutes, then walked to Penn Station where we waited half an hour for our 11:09 PM Train to Linden, New Jersey.

The night was over but I did manage to create a homemade panorama of Yankee Stadium. Check it out: