Mets v Pirates 7-11-21

We've not been the best baseball game attenders this season considering we're the "Traveling Baseball Babes," but in our defense, the extended lockdown done did us dirty. Suddenly, our weekends are filled with birthday parties, rescheduled bridal/baby showers, rescheduled weddings, bachelorette parties, anniversary parties, bbqs, and all of the other sh*t people enjoyed having before the pandemic hit and now they are all crammed into the same tiny window instead of being spread out throughout the year. We've literally had zero time to attend baseball games. Hell, we haven't even had time to post these recent blogs. Look at us. We're two months behind on sh*t.  

Which brings us to this particular Mets game. Normally, we pick games for a specific reason. Maybe it's the opponent, but mostly it's due to a special bobblehead giveaway. In this scenario, we picked it because it was the only Sunday we had free to go to game together. We didn't even know that there was a free giveaway (a Jacob DeGrom jersey) until the night before and Serena had to work so late on Sunday that we assumed we'd never get to the park early enough to get one.

For whatever reason, security had us circle around the ballpark before funneling the entire Tri-State area into one parking lot entrance. Seemed a bit ridiculous and inefficient to us, but what do we know? We didn't go to security guard school. We parked roughly 30 minutes to game time and since we were convinced that we didn't have a shot in hell at getting the DeGrom jersey, we meandered leisurely over to the gate with the shortest line. 

Lo and behold, we managed to get inside very quickly AND snag a pair of jerseys, which will come in handy next season when we finally get to make our way back to the ballpark again. 

They're shockingly not bad. Usually the free giveaway jerseys are absolute trash or the color is totally offensive, but here, neither was the case. 

We grabbed a pair of beers and headed up to watch the game. This is the view from our seats:

We weren't hungry yet (shocking, I know), so we hung out in our sweltering seats for roughly 6 innings. The Mets were performing marvelously, leading 5-2 before we headed to the Jim Beam Suite for air conditioning and food. This time around, we got ourselves some wine because we're classy broads like that. Also, we're suckers for souvenirs cups (as you can see). 

We also split a Polar Burger and an Ultimate Grilled Cheese. The burger was $16.50 and the grilled cheese was $10.25. 

The burger was Pat LaFrieda's black truffle blended burger patty with maple spiced caramel onions, smoked gouda, lettuce, tomato (which Serena picked off), and claw sauce on a brioche bun. The grilled cheese was provolone and american cheeses with pimiento spread in a pinwheel flatbread and it was served with what they called "tomato fondu," but let's call a spade a spade. It was served with a cup of jarred marinara sauce. 

While we stuffed our faces, Pittsburgh managed to scrape another 2 runs across, making the score 5-4. They wanted to make it interesting for us. We still didn't think much of it because the Mets were hot and the Pirates sucked (they still suck). We watched the game in the air conditioning until the bottom of the 8th when we decided that we needed ice cream (bottomless f*cking pits we are apparently). 

The line to the ice cream and waffle stand was so long that we ended up watching the remainder of the game from the line. 

And what a remainder of a game it was - the Pirates scored 2 more runs in the top of the 9th and closed it out to win 6-5. 

Mets Opening Day 2021

 April 11, 2021

Once again, there was hardly any traffic on the way to Flushing. No issues parking and parking was free this time around. 

We're not going to cover the New York State rules of engagement for sporting events again, but you can read about it here when we discussed it during the Yankees' Opening Day post. 

Back to the day at hand. Lisa prepared sausage and peppers, chicken wings, burgers, hot dogs, and garlic fries. It was a spread for the Queens of Queens (if you don't understand this reference, you're too young to read our blog). Again, we basically crushed it. At this point, our teams should be hiring us to prepare meals for them. And also, to pitch out of the bullpen. And possibly to help the players learn how to better accessorize. We're jacks of all trades. 

Mrs. Met came by our seats to see how we were doing. She had quite a lot to say. She was clearly pissed off, which means she fit right in with us. She stayed most of the game with us because she enjoyed our miserable company so much. 

Just like for the Yankees' game, the view from our seats were ideal. No one around to annoy us or question our knowledge for baseball. Or hit on us. 

The Mets typically win their home opener, so when they started losing, Lisa was convinced it was because we weren't there. So...things started to get a little dicey. We turned to Mr. and Mrs. Met for comfort. 

And things got out of control...

In the end, the Mets did actually go on to win their home opener. Of course, they did it in quite an interesting fashion this time around with Conforto stepping into a pitch with bases loaded, which allowed the winning run to walk brusquely home while wearing a fanny pack. 

Cooperstown Strikes Back & May The Fort Be With You

Since our retirement from baseball stadium touring, we've decided to visit forts. We are now the Traveling Fabulous Fort...Folks. As you know, we previously traveled to the Alamo, so Fort Ticonderoga being our second fort pretty much makes us fort experts now. 

Fort Ticonderoga is close to 5 hours north of us. In other countries, if you drive 5 hours north, you'd probably hit another country. Here, you're still in New York. Unfortunately, the circumstances of the current pandemic basically ensures that crossing state borders ends up being more of a pain in the a$$ than it's worth, so this summer's travel plans had to be relegated to the great state of New York.

It would probably be odd if all we did today was post about forts...or would it?

Just kidding. We did actually do some baseball related activities this year against all odds. From Fort Ticonderoga is 3 hours from Cooperstown, but it took us close to 4 hours because the GPS led us up the hill and back down like the Grand Old Duke of York on a single lane road. We felt that the Hall of Fame was due a second trip, because of Mike Mussina's and Mariano Rivera's recent inductions. 

Due to COVID-19 protocols, this visit was definitely different. For starters, we had to reserve a time slot for our visit. We had to wear a mask while inside the building as well as on the streets of town. Everyone was given styluses at the entrance in order to utilize the touch screens at certain exhibits and markers were on the floor and in sitting areas to designate social distancing. Despite the restrictions, it was actually quite peaceful and enjoyable. We never felt that we couldn't get to an exhibit due to crowds. 

In addition to our stylus, the man at the front desk assessed gave us a team-specific scavenger hunt based on our clothing. This plays right into our wheelhouse because then the Hall of Fame suddenly became a competition for us. A competition that we'd win at all costs. Even if it meant knocking a small child over to do so. 

We will now share with you the results of the scavenger hunt that we won fair and square, but was not given a prize for at the end. In fact, we aren't even sure that we were congratulated on the victory. 

First up for the Yankees is Lou Gehrig's locker and for the Mets is Pedro Martinez's 3,000th K jersey.

Second is Joe Dimaggio's retired #5 jersey and Tom Seaver's 19-strikeout game baseball cap.

Third is Mariano Rivera's World Series cap and Dwight Gooden's rookie jersey.

Fourth is Babe Ruth's Home Run Record Crown and Tommie Agee World Series glove.

Fifth is Yogi Berra's perfect game mitt and Ray Knight's 1986 World Series helmet. 

Sixth is Aaron Boone's ALCS home run bat and Johan Santana's first no-hitter ball.

Seventh is Mickey Mantle's rare 1952 Topps card and David Wright's final game helmet. 

Eighth is Aaron Judge's 44th home run (of his rookie season) jersey and Pete Alonso's rookie batting gloves.

Ninth is Derek Jeter's World Series jersey and Casey Stengel's retired number. 

The real reason of visiting the Hall of Fame has nothing to do with the scavenger hunt, but that was a bonus. The real reason was not to celebrate Derek Jeter's induction (even though there's an entire display for him). If you don't know how Serena feels about Derek Jeter by this stage of our blog, we don't know what you've been reading. 

The real reason was to visit the plaques of these two men:

Before you assume that Serena's animosity prevented from taking a photo of Derek Jeter's plaque, we'd like to inform you that there was no plaque due to COVID-19. There was a sign that said so and everything. 

Sidebar: these two signs hung in strategic locations made us laugh. 

You're welcome. 

Mets vs. Marlins 8-6-19

Lisa filled out a survey emailed to her from the Mets and as a thank you gift, the Mets granted her two field level seats to select mid-week games of her choice. At the time of the survey, the Mets were still sucking a bag of d*cks, so it was likely that the Mets' offices were simply trying to put butts in the seats. By the time the game rolled around, the Mets were contenders again, which means that this is the first time something actually worked out to our advantage. Serena found player t-shirts on sale at Modell's, so we finally got ourselves adorable Mets and Yankees shirts to wear to the games.

 

(FYI: this photo was featured on @MetsHotties on Instagram. That's how cool we are. And it basically means that we're famous).

Also at the game, we got suckered into signing up for Clear so that we can get into the New York ballparks faster (and also through airport security). It's amazing. We've already used it once at Yankee Stadium and we plan on using it for our Disney trip in October. Lines will be a thing of the past! At least at airports and local sporting events.

Thanks to Clear, we flew into Citi Field and headed right for food. We had a difficult time deciding what to eat so Lisa stood on the Blue Smokehouse line and ordered the mac and cheese topped by brisket and Serena stood on the taco stand and ordered the nachos topped by barbacoa and two bottles of water. Blue Smoke cost us $13 and the nachos cost us $24.

In retrospect, this was probably too much food.

Afterwards, we headed to our seats.

 

The Marlins had a pretty rough night. Both Wilson Ramos and Pete Alonso hit home runs in the 5-0  beatdown.

 

Remember how we ordered too much food? Then we did this:

 

We've been dying to get these home run apple cups since Citi Field started serving them, but every time we've gone, it's been a little too chilly for ice cream. Our only complaint is that we had to get soft serve, which Serena finds incredibly irritating. She thinks it's fake ice cream. One step above those ridiculous Dip N' Dots. Lisa doesn't mind it as much. They should offer legit ice cream as an option. Citi Field already has legit ice cream at other concession stands. This was also a $24 expense. Apparently, we like to throw money away like we're Antonio Brown. At least if it was real ice cream, $24 would have been less offensive.