Meaningless Games in September at Citi

This past September, on a cold weekday night, with absolutely no plans, I decided going to the Mets game (by myself) would be a fun activity.

Typically, I don’t go to games by myself, I’ve only gone by myself two or three times in my life, but when I do, I find that I actually really enjoy it. So, I jumped on the secondary market, and found promenade tickets for as low as $2, but decided to “splurge” for a $15 ticket on the Field Level.

I arrived to my favorite sight, no lines and no metal detectors. Instead, I was subject to a quick wand check, and spoke to a friendly security guard.

As part of Fan Appreciation Weekend, a special scratch & win card and a Citi Rally Towel were given away to all fans. The Mets also advertised some other perks and special appearances (some players even scanned tickets on Saturday), but I didn’t see anything else.

I then decided to take a quick walk around the field level, just to gauge the atmosphere at the game, and took note of the many food options that I’ve never tried.

While I do like new and unique food options, I pretty much stick to Shake Shack, Chicken & Fries from Nathan’s, and the occasional Fuku Chicken Sandwich or Lobster Roll from Catch of the Day.

So, I decided to try the “Mex Burger” without Avocado from Keith’s Grill. With the $11 burger, you get a bag of Wise chips and a Tootsie Roll, the only place in the entire ballpark that gives you un-advertised “extras” alongside your main.

There were no line’s at Keith’s, and it tasted pretty darn good.

While I had a Field Level ticket, I ate my meal up in the Excelsior Level. The views are far better up there, and you don’t have kids running across the aisle chasing their favorite player for an autograph.

I’m not saying I don’t like that, I was running around cutting people off when I was young too, but I enjoy the Excelsior Level considerably more most of the time.

I then decided to head back down to the field level for first pitch, where I stayed for the first five innings.

My ticket was located next to a Nationals Fan who was amazed that I was keeping score. Supposedly it’s an extremely rare site at Nationals Park, and he commended me for rooting on the Mets even through the tough times. I countered with the fact that you have to watch the bad baseball to enjoy the good baseball, and he agreed.

I then decided to switch things up and head back to the Excelsior Level, I’ve always found the bathrooms to be considerably more clean in the Excelsior Level, so once I went up there to use them, I decided to stick it out up there for the rest of the game.

One of my favorite non-game moments was the Piano Man sing-along, something that is played during -most- home games at Citi Field during the middle of the eighth inning.

The good news was that after Billy Joel, and after the Mets went down in the bottom of the eighth, we were only three outs away from securing the win versus Washington, and, after three relievers came in, we got the job done!

So this wasn’t the most important Mets game I’d ever been to, but it was an exciting day with the best fans in baseball, and I’ll look forward to cheering them on two more times before calling it a quits on the 2017 Mets.