Miami Marlins @ New York Mets (game 1)

It was hot again today, with a warm wind.  I had lunch at the Brooklyn Diner next to Times Square, which was nothing special, and then popped back to the hotel to get my match ticket and set off for Queens.

My hotel is incredibly conveniently located near the 7 line subway stop at 42nd St-Times Square, which makes it so simple to get to Citi Field, especially with express trains running.  The train was so packed, not even Jeremy Corbyn could have found a seat.

My seat was round in section 329 today, in the front row, so no people obstructing the view, although the railing is at an awkward height - you either have to sit bolt upright or slouch in the seat to see the batter at the plate.  The section is up the 3rd base line, just past the bag.  I had a superb view of the planes coming in to land - some of them look so close.

It was still warm throughout the game, although the edge was off the temperature a little, so it was pleasantly warm rather than uncomfortably hot.  For some reason, the game did seem to drag on, yet it was in the 9th inning when the 3 hour mark passed, which is slow but not that slow.
 
Although I'm missing seeing Noah Syndergaard and Jacob de Grom pitch for the Mets (although Jacob did actually pinch hit tonight!), I did get to see Jose Fernandez again.  I saw him a few years ago in Miami when he was a rookie and he looked great then.  Not so dominant tonight, but he pitched 6 scoreless innings although with a lot of pitches.

I also saw Ichiro Suzuki, now playing for Miami.  I saw him in Seattle years ago (in the game that he hit a walk-off home run in the 14th inning)  He had two hits tonight and a stolen base, and he scored the first run of the game in the 8th inning.  His two hits helped continue his climb up the all-time hit list, equalling and then passing Wade Boggs for 27th place.

Sadly for him, Jose Reyes tied the game in the bottom of the 8th inning and after 3 and a half hours, Yoenis Cespedes hit the walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to send the remaining crowd wild.  As he waited for the post-game interview, together with his interpreter, he was the recipient of the Gatorade bath - given the heat of the night, he was probably glad of it, although his interpreter didn't seem as pleased.  The interview was conducted through the interpreter, and at the end, the interview thanked the interpreter and Yoenis, to which the latter immediately replied "You're welcome!" in perfect English.

The little girl in the row behind me was busy proving that sometimes, children are too young to understand the game.  I listened to Dad explaining fair and foul balls, which seemed to be a bit too advanced for her.  She thought about for a bit, before asking:

Girl: "Who's winning?"
Dad: "Nobody - it's zero to zero still."
Girl: "Yes, but who is winning?"

Dad was a bit lost for words at that point.



Fortunately, the trip home was quicker and more comfortable.  I was on a Super-Express 7 service with even fewer stops than a normal express service, so it got back to Manhattan in about 20 minutes.  This was despite the very bad timing of the Mets and Novak Djokovic both wrapping up victory at about the same time, so both venues were emptying onto the subway at the same time!