Blogs are Tough

OK, I'll admit it. Keeping a blog up to date is not easy. Seeing that I have not really expressed my thoughts on the Rangers and Mets since the second to last game and the opening Cincy series, respectively, I'll throw out a bunch of random thoughts to sum up the past week or so.

Rangers:
-It was sweet to see them win that last game in Philly. So what if it gave just as hated Pittburgh home ice. Sticking it to the Flyers in their own building was fun. Add to that the shorthanded goal we got, the first one they've given up all season.
-I missed most of game 1, but was able to get to the Garden lobby with about 15 minutes to go in the third to watch on the TVs they conveniently have set up there. Works out perfectly, especially when your next train is not until 9:45. Anyway, to my dismay, a 3-1 lead was 3-3, but a sweet move by Dubinsky put the Rangers ahead to stay. Plenty of Knick fans exiting at halftime of their last home game (an 8pm start) was kind of annoying, but not too much of a distraction. I guess if there were any Knick fans that were Ranger fans, they decided not to attend this one, because no one leaving the Garden stopped to turn and look up at the TVs.
-I was not subjected to an NBC Ovechkin lovefest because I invested in this thing. However the first test was kind of a failure, as NBC HD was about 10 seconds later than the radio feed. My new toy only allowed you to delay the radio feed by 8 seconds. Decision time: watch NBC HD with Emrick and the gang or watch NBC standard def with Kenny and Dave on the radio. The latter it was. It's amazing that the Rangers have now won the first two road games of the first round to take a 2-0 series lead each of the last three seasons. Let's hope it turns out the same way (we can do without the game 3 overtime loss, which was the case vs. Jersey last year).

Mets:
-The Marlins are annoying. How is it they get away with their six year plan of winning a title, blowing it up, winning again six years later, blowing it up again, and now six years later are off to a great start, looking like a good team except for their bullpen. Emilio Bonafacio is the new Shane Victorino. Pain in the ass.
-Speaking of pain in the ass, welcome back to Citi David Eckstein, here to torment the Mets again. Padres win two of three in the first ever series in the new park. More on that in a bit.
-A sweep over the Brewers would have been a nice end to the homestand after losing the series to the Padres. However, Todd Coffey pulls a 1970's style 2.2 inning save, getting out of jam after jam to hold on for the victory.
-What the hell do the Mets have against Ryan Church?
-I know Fernando Tatis has to get some playing time, but to stick him at second over Castillo, who's red hot- I don't know about that one. To top it off, the first two batters reach base late, calling for a perfect bunt situation with Tatis coming up. Instead of pinch hitting Castillo to bunt, Tatis strikes out.

Citi Field:
-After attending the exhibition game I was in love with the place. Then I attended opening night. I'm not going to be as picky as many others who have expressed criticism, but here are my only gripes:

Ads covering the bullpen and the tarp over the bullpen. I mean, wow, do the relievers get no respect or what? No wonder JJ Putz was watching the game from the dugout today. It looks silly from a design perspective- you build these bullpens for fan access and then make it look worse than it would have if fan access was not the intent and they were built in normal spots in right and left field. Even the TV crew can't figure out who's warming up in the visitor's pen! Why bother trying to show who's warming up on TV through the chain fence, there's nothing to see! Embarrassing for a new park.

Excelsior level access. I understand not letting certain cheap seat holders to the Caesar's Club. But the concourse level as well? Let all the fans have access to those fancy bars on the Excelsior concourse. If you can go to the field level, you should be able to go there as well.

Put fans so close to the field that they can touch fair balls down the line. Genius. These umpires must be going nuts, their job is not getting any easier with the new parks.

New Yankee Stadium:
-Why don't they just call the first row of the bleacher area Jeffrey Maier row? It took only until the 4th game for a controversial homerun call due to fan interference. There are going to many more of these. Citi is not much better. Watch for the first homerun in left field to be touched by a fan and deflect off the orange stripe on top of the fence and back into play. The instant replay rule must have allowed these designers to have the first row of seats so close to the homerun fence. It's like they want the new parks to set a record for most homeruns requiring instant replay.