RFK Stadium
From Ballpark Roadtrip
Mike's Notes:
Sharing Justin's prime seats - buffet - waitress service
The sewage smell underneath the prime seats
Jumping all the people in line at the metro station
Brickskellar kicking us out and not calling a cab
Riding 6 (?) deep in the taxi
That guy sleeping on the bench at the bus station
RFK Stadium
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
July 6, 2005
July 7, 2005*
Contents |
The Road Trip
Mike picked up Ed & Lumpy in Newburgh, NY and took a side trip up to Cooperstown. After crashing at Mike's place that night they went down to Bill's in the Bronx to scoop him up and head to Cooter's in Gaithersburg, MD. Vin drove down from CT in parallel and Joker came over from Frederick, MD with a bottle of tequila, bottle of margarita mix, a towel, and a whistle so we could do upsidedown margarita from the bed of his truck as needed.
We were able to get the commuter line down to RFK, which was a good thing, after having upsidedown margaritas from a Tacoma.
After the game we went in to Georgetown at a bar called the Brickskeller, which boasts the Guiness record for largest selection of commercially available beers. We couldn't finish them all before they threw us out at was supposedly closing time, even though we were in the middle of a heated game of Golden Tee. We asked if they could call us a cab and they refused and made us leave. Thanks!
So there were seven of us on the curb in DuPont Circle and we finally found a cab. Luckily the guy was willing to risk his hack license and piled 7 of us into one cab for a pretty long haul back to the rail station in Gaithersburg. Every so often he would say "duck" and we'd have to crouch down to avoid any trouble with the law. When we got back to the train station there was a guy on a bench passed out. He probably got the Brickskeller a little bit earlier than us and actually finished all of the beers.
The Park
The Game
METS WIN!! Sorry, not too many times I get to write that.. despite seeing the Mets on just about every trip in some fashion.. The Mets jump out an early lead with a shot by Cameron in the first.. Unfortunately we don't get to see this as we are still jockeying for position to see who is going to go down to the pentagon seats directly behind home plate..
Things settle down, Joker and Cooter head down to the good seats, while the rest of us head up to somewhere behind the moon (comparatively speaking of course)..We grind through the next couple of innings quite quickly with little action, until the Nats rip a couple of runs off Glavine in the bottom of the 4th, as Castilla, Byrd and Carroll all score off a series of singles in the inning (Nats 3 - Mets 1).
A scoreless 5th and into the sixth we go... Mike and Lumpy have taken up spots in the home plate seats and get to watch the Mets tag Livan Hernandez for 3 runs up close and personal like, as Beltran, Floyd and Wright all score in the inning on hits by Anderson and Castro..
Seventh inning, and time for the next 2 to head down to the pentagon seats, so Ed and I make our way down.. only to realize that the serving time has run out, so no perks for us.. that's okay, as I am still sitting right behind home plate wearing my Mets shirt, in a opposing stadium, in seats not meant for away fans.. the attendant checked our tickets more times than was really necessary, but since the Mets were now winning, he was surely only interested in my safety.. especially when I'm the only person for rows and rows clapping when Beltran comes across the plate to add another run in the top of the 8th off a deep sacrifice by Anderson (Mets 5 - Nats 3).
Looper comes in to close out the Nats in the bottom of the 9th, and by this point there is only Ed and I and a lot of empty seats.. Final Score, Mets 5 - Nats 3..
But wait.. there's more... Since we don't have be in Baltimore until 7:00pm, we get a chance to catch a rare 2 city double header.. With no tickets, and only a slight hope of actually getting to see the game, we head to the park.. Tickets are available, but we are looking for a deal..
First inning comes and goes (Mets take a 1-0 lead) - we're still outside..
Second inning scoreless -- still outside
Third inning Nats get 2 -- still outside, but wait, someone approaches with a fist full of tickets, and even better, they're free! So in we go..
We get to the seats just in time to see the Beltran score for the Mets off a deep double by Vidro.. and that would be the only scoring that we would see.. Kris Benson for the Mets and Tony Armas for the Nats go on to shut everything down for the remainder of the afternoon (for us).
The game would go to the 11th inning without us, as we were on the road to Baltimore for the next stop.. but yes, I am happy to report that the Mets pulled out a victory in the 11th on a play where Piazza hit a single into right scoring Beltran, but Floyd was thrown out at the plate attempting to score, followed immediately by Piazza being thrown out at second trying to advance on the throw to home.. Not pretty, but it was enough .. hearing it on the radio had to do..!
