Fun Times At Shea

A few observations after attending my first Phillies road game at Shea Stadium last night:

- Nothing was sweeter than Jimmy Rollins' first home run since April 27. The casual chatter of Mets fans in the nosebleeds revealed that nearly all of them loathe J-Roll for his pre-season comments about the Phils being "the team to beat" in the NL East. What surprised me though, was the use of euphemism (e.g. "punk," "all that other stuff he's done") that made Jimmy seem more like Pacman Jones. It was a fascinating study in scapegoating--Mets fans were practically inventing a rap sheet for J-Roll that simply doesn't exist.

- Julio Franco got to pinch-hit in the exciting 7th. Just want to point out that he was part of the Von Hayes trade in 1982. Also, Endy Chavez made us proud by grounding into a double play with the bases loaded (though he hurt his hamstring running it out, sucking some of the schadenfreude out of the situation).

- My buddy marveling at Shane Victorino's throwing arm after gunning down Carlos Delgado in the 4th: "He's like a cannon with a glove!" And Rod Barajas actually blocked the plate, kind of!

- Ladies and Gentlemen, Mets Fan #1: A guy on the long escalator ride to the upper deck loudly argued that Ryan Howard was the worst defensive first baseman in the National League. Ryan later made a great diving stop to prevent a run from scoring in the critical 7th. Presumably, this fan forgot that his own team, which starts Delgado at first, is also in the National League.

- Ladies and Gentlemen, Mets Fan #2: I walked by a guy in the concourse who yelled, "Oooh, the Phillies, never won a World Series!" Presumably, this fan's memory does not extend past the Mike Piazza Era.

- Ladies and Gentlemen, Mets Fans #3-5: A group of three guys several rows down got ejected from the game after they threatened to beat up some other fans for throwing ketchup packets at them, too drunk to realize that they had spilled it on themselves. These were douchebags of the first degree, not a single one of them actually wearing any Mets gear, attending a baseball game in white belts and silk-screened hoodies. It reminded me of when J-Lo used to go to Sox games with Ben Affleck.

- Mets Fans--A Caveat: The large group of young businesspeople in front of us were very friendly and very focused on making propositional bets for every other batter. Good people.

You really can't beat the adrenaline rush of wearing an opposing team's colors in hostile territory, especially when your team wins. Leaving the stadium, I must have given the thumbs-up to or high-fived every single other Phillies fan I encountered. Mets fans silently filed out of the building, mustering only a few "Yankees Suck" chants.

Only six games ahead now and they're not even worried about the Phils. We've got them right where we wanted them a month and a half ago.