My Sights and Sounds - Saturday Night Seat Upgrade at Citi Field

That mark in the parking lot lane is where second base at Shea Stadium was. That was the least fabulous of my Saturday night discoveries. Read on, Macduff.

The ensuing drama that resulted from my fractured relationship with the New York Mets as a Shea Stadium Saturday Plan Holder has been chronicled here before. Regular blog patrons will remember that, in the team's first year at Citi Field, yours truly and his neighboring seat mates were kicked to the curb. Well, actually, the heavens. Even more specifically, a flight path into LaGuardia Airport. I sent a snarky letter to the Mets and it was forwarded to Joan, a lady in charge of ticket sales. Long story short, she used to work for the Dodgers and took my allegations of inferior customer service to heart. She moved us to a lower part of the upper deck and all was improved.

Several days and months off the calendar, I'm going to last Saturday night's Met game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. I decide to send Joan an e-mail and let her know I'm there. She told me to do so a while back because she wanted to meet me in person. I'm obedient and do exactly that. Joan writes back and says that she would love to upgrade me and my neighbors for the game. It seems the visiting team turned back some tickets.

Did they ever!

We showed up on Saturday and met the delightful Joan in the Met offices so we could make the official seat exchange.

I glanced down at our new tickets. Row 1.

Row 1!

As it turned out, we were now right behind the Diamondback dugout. Scampering down the aisle to our newly appointed bliss, my mind flashed back many years before. You read it here several months ago.

My very first Met game at Shea Stadium was in the box behind the visitors dugout. My baseball life in Queens had now come full circle.

While I always prefer a little height at baseball games, this vantage point for just one evening was perfect. And the dugout roof makes a nifty desk and table for your scorebook and grilled sausage sandwich.

This may have been my only opportunity in life to talk with an Arizona Diamondback while they were warming up for the game. But, I left them alone. I also didn't bother chatting up the security staff either.

For a fleeting moment, I thought there was another perk to such great seats. Money can be found on the dugout roof! Alas, it belonged to the chick next to me, who was already chucking down the brew. They were Diamondback folks, as they stood up to stretch during the visitors' seventh inning. By the way, outfielder Chris Young tossed me a ball as he made his way to the dugout after catching the third out. Why me? I think the girl next to me was sloppy drunk at that point.

David Wright of the Mets getting ready for any ground balls hit to third. In this position, he looks a lot like me when my back goes out. Yes, we were that close.

This evening also gave me the chance for my closest encounter ever with Mr. Met, who popped out for the seventh inning stretch. The Mets are now using a Billy Joel version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," followed by the quintessential "Crazy Mary" as sung by Lou Monte. By the way, Mr. Met's head appears a little smaller when you're only fifteen feet away from him.

A very, very special night in Queens. Thanks, Joan. When can we do this again???

And, folks, there might be more baseball dreams ahead tonight as I have my Dodger Talk experience. Watch this space for a report on all the fun.

Dinner last night: BBQ Chicken Pizza at the Dodger game.