Many Mets Games July-August 2015

I'm falling behind on blogging about Mets games, and for that I'm sorry. But I'm going to make up for all of that at once in this entry, as I didn't have any spectacular games. Hope you enjoy.

Dodgers @ Mets 7/23 
This game turned out to be a very interesting one. I didn't show up too early for BP, but I did show up in time to get an autograph. On the day Chris Heston threw a no-hitter at Citi Field, I got a ball tossed to me by Curtis Granderson. Now, I wanted him to sign the ball.

Before the game, as he usually does, Granderson warmed up then came over and signed minutes before the game was going to start. I found a good spot in the well-organized line and then waited for my chance to get down. After a couple minutes, I got down to the bottom and gave Granderson the ball and pen. I asked him to personalize it to me, which he did. I also told him he threw it to me the day of the no hitter, and he just nodded and said that was cool. Before I left, I got a quick selfie with him before meeting my friend to watch the game.

The game itself was a tough one to watch as a Mets fan. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw started off strong. Through six innings, he had faced 18 batters and retired all 18. It was 2/3 of the way to a perfect game. Then, Granderson led off the seventh inning with a solid single to right, breaking all of the pent up tension at Citi Field. Kershaw dominated the rest of the way, allowing just three hits in a complete game shutout and 3-0 Dodgers win. After the game, I tried to get a ball from the home plate umpire, Ben May, and was thankfully successful.

Here is the ball, but stay tuned below for some more Mets game recaps.

Padres @ Mets 7/30
A week after that first game, I was back at Citi Field for a weekday day game between the Mets and Padres. I got to the stadium really early, and immediately noticed there was no batting practice. The Mets relief pitchers were warming up, and I wanted to see if I could get any of them to sign. I brought a ball that Granderson and Josh Edgin signed for me last year, and I wanted to add some signatures on it.

One of the first guys out of the dugout was Carlos Torres. A couple people near me asked him to sign, and he obliged. He signed the ball right under Graderson's signature from last year and took care of everyone before getting ready for the game. I met Torres in 2013, and he was very nice then as well.



The next guy out of the dugout was hard throwing reliever Hansel Robles, and he also came over and signed. I got him on the same ball right under Torres' signature. His signature isn't much, but it is what it is.

A couple minutes later, new Met Tyler Clippard emerged from the dugout. When he was walking to warm out, I yelled out and asked if he would sign when he was done. He replied that he would. True to his word, he came over a few minutes later after getting ready. I took the video below:



Clippard signed the ball and he also signed a Washington Nationals logo card that I had on me for a while. Here is the ball and the card:













After getting Clippard, none of the other Mets pitchers came over to sign. Before the game, I got Granderson to sign a photo of him on a magnet that I got in a Detroit Tigers fan pack many years ago. I think I'm finally out of stuff for him to sign, we'll see how that goes. The magnet is a little smaller than a regular baseball card.

During the game, I again watched with my friend and left in the top of the ninth inning when the game went into a rain delay. It wasn't pretty. I watched the top of the ninth at field level and the bottom of the ninth four hours later at home.

Rockies @ Mets 8/10 
At the next home stand, I went to the Monday night opener between the Mets and Colorado Rockies. I headed straight to the third base side to see what I could get from Colorado. Batting practice yielded little, but I saw a good chance when I was waiting by the dugout and saw Rockies reliever Tommy Kahnle walk into the little tunnel where I previously met Shawon Dunston. He is from the Albany area, and he was telling an usher to let his family members down to see him.

While he was waiting for his family to come down, he signed a blank autograph card for me. He didn't sign much, but he did get to see his family, which was a cool sight to see.




Before the game was going to start, I got in position to try and get the big target for the day, former Met Jose Reyes. I got Reyes to sign a ball and a card for me back in Citi Field's first year, and I hadn't gotten his autograph since. That changed on this night. I don't have many photos, but I just happened to be in the right spot and he signed a ball for me on the sweet spot. Here is a tweet I posted that describes what happened.

@lamelaza_7 blurry pics but thanks for taking the time to come and sign last night. You'll always be loved in NY!!! pic.twitter.com/SfYszNBYji

— Aaron Cheris (@AaronHowie) August 11, 2015

Notice why my tweet has so many retweets? That's because Reyes himself retweeted it to his more than 150,000 Twitter followers.  Here is a better photo of the signed ball.

The Mets won this game in dramatic fashion. That does it for this entry. Thanks for reading!

Dodgers @ Mets 5/20/14 at Citi Field

It's good to be home. It was time for my first game of the year. I went to Citi Field on Tuesday night for the Mets game against the Dodgers. After purchasing a ticket on StubHub the day of the game, I was off to Flushing.

I arrived right on time for the gates to open, and saw Zack Hample waiting patiently for the gates to open as well. He was about 15 people ahead of me in line, and when the stadium opened, he went to left field as I went to my usual spot down the third base line. 

Within 10 minutes of going to my spot, a few balls got hit toward one of the Mets coaches that was hitting fungos back to the bucket. He tossed one to a gloveless fan near me. So, when the next ball was hit over to him, I asked if he could toss it up. He looked at me, and threw a perfect strike right to my glove. I thanked him, and he went back to fielding the balls and I went to a different spot down the line. I later found out that it was Tom Goodwin, the Mets first base coach. I took the photo of him on the right after he threw me the ball. 

One of the highlights of batting practice was watching Yasiel Puig hit. He was hitting bombs into the second deck in left field seemingly on every other pitch. He easily hit at least five up there, and the two or three people up there got many chances to catch some home runs. I moved down toward the dugout near the tarp to try and get some autographs. 

Many people signed, but I was in an unlucky spot. Puig, Clayton Kershaw, Scott Van Slyke, and Don Mattingly all signed for people at the dugout, which I wan't able to get to. Carl Crawford and Dee Gordon signed for people about 10 feet to my left. When getting autographs, 10 feet might as well be 10 miles because I was stuck in a mob of people and I couldn't move an inch. 

Both Crawford and Gordon were signing in the five minutes right before the national anthem. At about 7:05, after the anthem was played, Matt Kemp finished warming up in left field and walked over to the mob of people wanting his autograph. He signed for about three minutes, signing for as many people as he could. I walked over to where he was, and got my hand in with the mob of people within arm's reach of Kemp. He took my baseball and signed it on the sweet spot quickly before handing it back to me. I took two photos of him signing, then he ran back as the Mets took the field to start the game. You can see the ball he signed at the bottom of this entry. I am happy to say I emerged from the mob with all of my limbs intact.

That was all for before the game. The game itself was an interesting one. The nine inning game took over four hours. It was one of the longest, if not the longest nine inning game in Mets history. The Mets lost 9-4, and there were a lot of runs, pitching changes, and runners left on base to go around. Here are some pictures I took of Yasiel Puig and Brian Wilson. I think they are pretty good pictures.

For the whole game, I was about five rows behind the ball boy on the third base side. I didn't end up getting a ball from him, but I saw him give balls to a bunch of different people, mostly kids. As the four hour marathon game was winding to a close, I went toward the dugout where the umpires walk down the tunnel. I had gotten a few balls there like THIS game last year. At about 11:20 p.m. the game ended and home plate Larry Vanover walked toward the tunnel with the rest of his crew. See what happened next below.

Yeah, he gave me a ball. Good thing I was on the left side of the tunnel farther way from the dugout. That ball justified me staying for the entire game. I had considered leaving, but figured I would stick it out and see if I could get a ball after. After I got the ball, I ran as fast as I could to catch the LIRR back to Long Island, and made it home shortly after midnight.

Here are the two baseballs I got at the game. The Larry Vanover ball is the one on the right, and it is rubbed up with mud, ready for game use. If the last pitch of the game was a foul ball, he probably would have given the ball I got to the pitcher.

Here is the Matt Kemp signed ball. Not the greatest signature ever, but better than others that I have gotten throughout they years. This is all I have for now. I may be back at Citi Field again soon. Good luck graphing!