Ticket Woes

Feb 26, 2007 01:27 PM

It gets harder and harder to get the platinum level type ticket every season. Last year I managed to have tickets for opening day, and all three subway series games. This year I have 3 tickets to opening day, and 3 tickets to one of the Subway Series games. I also have 4 tickets to a second subway series game, but that's only because I took the financial hit and bought a Saturday season-plan which included one.

Sadly baseball is becoming, at least here in New York from my perspective, a sport for richer folk. Now I don't remember the days where you could see a baseball game for less than the current price of a mocha at Starbucks, but even at 24 I can see the ever increasing cost of being a fan.

I understand that a fan has to remember that baseball is a business, but I think that _baseball_ needs to remember that it is also a game and a passion of a lot of ordinary, average people. It's understandable that baseball tries to make money, by offering corporate boxes, charging more for prime games, and the like. There are millions of us out here that are fans that cannot come up with hundreds of dollars to see a couple of games, but are willing and enthusiastic about spending what money we have on the sport we love. Making it hard for the average fan to buy a cheap ticket, even to deep bleacher seats just alienates us, and mutes our interest in the game.

Some people have wonderful memories of paying quarters to get into memorable games of baseballs rich history, remember getting into the bleachers just so they could see some of baseballs great players play. Others listen to stories of fathers, or grandfathers, or uncles as they recollect some of the exciting games they went to, even if they weren't rich, while we listen on, remembering just how much to costs to be able to goto a game today.

With the construction of Citi Field, and others like it, the philosophy of having no bad seats is a wonderful one, but if the trade off is the cheapest ticket being $20 or $30+ dollars, I'd be just as happy watching it at Shea. For the true fans, it's not about the seat, the concourses or the view. It's about the game in front of us.

Beltran's First Inning Runs

Feb 21, 2007 02:13 PM

Beltran seems confident this year, and thirsty to improve. It's good to see a player that had a good year last year still striving for more. He wants to win an MVP, and steal more bases. This will lead to more walks for Delgado, and will put David Wright in the situation to really hurt teams early. The Mets excelled at first inning runs last year, and with Reyes poised to steal at least as many, and probably more, and Beltran looking to eclipse his totals from the last two years in this year alone, the Mets look like they'll be able to continue the trend of scoring first.

When Reyes and Beltran are on, opposing pitchers are looking at the possibility of having to retire both Delgado and Wright or risk at least two runs. Another bonus, especially on the road, is the effect on the Mets pitchers. Having a lead early is obviously a good thing, and with a lot of the Mets starters being young and inexperienced, this could help them settle in and help win games.

Excited

Feb 15, 2007 11:47 AM

Maybe it's because it's the first year the Mets have made the playoffs in a while, or maybe it's because of how devastating it was leaving Shea after game 7, but i'm very impatient about the start of the 2007 season.

Even though the roster is still unknown, there are a lot of young pitchers out there ready to make the team and shine. And a lot of them will get the chance to. Orlando Hernandez will probably miss a couple of starts here and there, and there are always injuries and switches during the season. On top of this, Pedro rarely pitches a whole season, but this year it will be the first part of the season he misses, so that when the time comes to pitch in the playoffs, not only will he hopefully be energized from missing it last year, it'll feel like July for him as he'll only have been pitching a couple of months.

We've got enough relievers out there to find something that works and Wagner...well, he's not Rivera, but what else is there?

Delgado is a very smart player, and after his struggles last year, I think he'll be having a monstrous year, Reyes is only going to get better, i'm predicting 70+ steals this year. David Wright is only improving too, and as of yet he's the only position player in Port St. Lucie right now. He's going to hit 30 home runs and 130 rbi's this year. I've been saying this all off-season, and he's been doing great in the games he's been playing, I think Anderson Hernandez is going to be a starter on this team.

I miss Cliff Floyd, and I think he's going to have a huge year this year, but I think are outfield can get it done. I'm interested to see what happens with Milledge.

I'm strongly considering trying to goto Spring Training this year, but if not, I have every intention of winning the lottery and scoring tickets for opening day.