Subway Series Game 1: Squawking Mets fans get their comeuppance

Yes, I know I am writing my Game 1 wrapup after Game 2. So sue me!

Anyhow, Squawker Jon and I didn't buy Subway Series tickets months ago, as we should have. And because this series has been a hot ticket, with even standing room only tickets going for $80 and up on the secondary market for Friday's game, and Harvey Day tix going for $150 and up, it wasn't looking good for the Subway Squawkers to get Subway Series tickets.

The 7 Line is in the top left part of the picture.
The seats in this picture were more full
than the expensive seats.

However, I threw out to the universe that we needed tickets. (Although, not in this blog -- Squawker Jon made me take out my line about needing Subway Series tickets. He thought it was too "beggy"!) My request finally worked, though. On Friday afternoon, one of the directors at my day job came through with free two tickets for us, courtesy of a certain TV network, in the main level of Yankee Stadium. This included access to the Audi Club and the Mohegan Sun Club, both places I had never gotten to visit! I was so happy to get these tickets!

This was great -- not only to get to see Friday's game, and see it in good seats, but to give Jon a bit of comeuppance, after his mocking my throwing our ticket request out to the universe! (Incidentally, after all this, Jon "joked" to me during Saturday's game that I should have gotten us tickets for *that* game! Sheesh.)

The tickets Jon thought I would never get!

Anyhow, before the game, we checked out both clubs to see what was what. In retrospect, given how much Squawker Jon griped about the weather (you can read him whining about the cold and the price of hot chocolate here), we probably should have gone to one of the clubs later on in the game. But then Jon probably would have found something else to whine about, like Yankee fans!

As expected, Yankee Stadium food choices were awful. We were sitting near the Papa John's pizza stand. Most popular pizza city in the world, and your pizza choice is Papa John? Really? Before the game, Jon found the Parm stand, which is hidden in a different place it was hidden in from last year. I tried the fried chicken and waffles stand, sponsored by Aunt Jemima. It is a sorry commentary on the food at Yankee Stadium that my chicken and waffle sliders meal, with the waffle courtesy of a corporate food company, was one of the only edible things I have ever eaten at the ballpark!

Yes, that is an A-Rod shirt!

When looking online for a photo of the sliders, I found this quote last year from the person in charge of cuisine at Yankee Stadium:

"We are always trying to push the culinary envelope, making sure that we align ourselves with current culinary trends and our guests' expectations," said Yankee Stadium Executive Chef, Matt Gibson. "For us, it is important to make sure that everyone who walks through the gates of Yankee Stadium has a memorable food experience."

Yeah, nothing says pushing the culinary envelope like the Johnny Rockets' stand. And I guess the time I got food poisoning after eating the Yankee Stadium sushi was memorable. As was seeing how the once expensive but delicious Lobel's prime rib sandwich is now expensive and disgusting (and not delicious.) C'mon, Yankees -- step up your food game already!

Subway Series t-shirt in the Yankees clubhouse shop.

Anyhow, the game itself was perfect for Yankee fans. Even though there were four (!) sections of the 7 Line Army at the game, the Met fans didn't really have much to cheer about, as the Yankees started mauling on Jacob DeGrom right from the beginning. Some Rookie of the Year! And as Jon noted, we had a great view of all of the homers flying out of the ballpark, including Mark Teixeira's two homers!

I do think the entertainment between innings is pretty lame. You have Alex Rodriguez, the most charismatic player on the team, but you don't use him in your skits, in favor of an assortment of indistinguishable, unmemorable players? Not to mention Brian Cashman inserting himself into a skit. Good grief. 

But the game was great for Yankee fans, shutting up most Met fans pretty early. However, when I went to go use the restroom during the game when the score was 6-0 Yankees, I heard some Met fan yelling "Yankees suck" over and over. I took the bait and yelled back, "Scoreboard!" The fan busted out laughing and said that he was looking for a reaction, but everybody else was ignoring him. We talked a little and laughed a little, and he ended up hugging me!  This is the Mets' "Army" for you -- even the trash talkers aren't very fierce!

At about the sixth inning or so, two knuckleheaded Yankee fans -- a young woman and a young man -- sat right behind us, as the people behind us had either left for the night, or gone into one of the clubs to warm up. (Incidentally, the game's official attendance was 45,310, but the stands were more empty than you would think for such a Subway Series game. Many of the people in the expensive seats either didn't show up, or were in the clubs all evening.)

Anyhow, this twosome, especially the woman, were foulmouthed, even by ballpark standards. This woman, who was more than a little wasted, screamed at her companion for at least two minutes straight, unleashing epithets that would make a drunken sailor blush. And she wouldn't shut up. I told Jon by the eighth inning that if we didn't move elsewhere, I was going to say something to her, and it wasn't going to end well! So we moved a level down, and watched the rest of the game from the back of the field level.

I had noticed that at that the t-shirt stand near us didn't have any A-Rod stuff. So at the end of the game, I went to the official Yankees clubhouse store, and did find some A-Rod shirts. But no dirt capsules!

I am off to the solo version of the High Rock Challenge (click to see what madness I am doing today!), so my Game 2 report will not be written until this afternoon. So sue me!