My Citi Field experience (with pictures)

I was at Citi Field last night for my first time. The stadium was nice, the food was good, but the team stunk. Unfortunately, the latter is the most important aspect of a new stadium to a baseball fan.

Bronson Arroyo of the Reds twirled a four-hit shutout, and the Mets looked as ugly as can be. One play in the fourth inning was a perfect representation of how they’ve been playing.

With Brandon Phillips at third, Jerry Hairston missed an attempted squeeze bunt, so the Mets had Phillips picked off. Catcher Brian Schneider threw to David Wright, and then he threw it past Schneider as Phillips slid home. No error was charged to Wright, and Phillips was credited with a steal of home.

I took the subway to the field and below is the view from the subway. Apparently, the parking lot on the left is where Shea was.
Here is the view from my seats ($90 face value is ridiculous! But I bet Yankee Stadium prices are even worse…).

The Ebbets Club sections behind home plate really appealed to me. Of course they had open seats, but they wouldn’t let us in.

I was a little confused about the main entrance featuring Jackie Robinson. It just seemed a little to much Dodgers history, where the Mets history (as little as it is) should be located.

A few more observations of the stadium:

• There were not a lot of vendors, leaving a lot of open space in the surrounding walkway. I’m only comparing it to the old Yankee Stadium where there was almost no places without vendors.
• All of the best food places were behind the outfield seats. Why clump all of the places together? It was extremely crowded.
• I had the Penne from the Pizza vendor. It was delicious.