Citi Field - Petco Park East?

[HarlemBrew]

So I managed to get to Citi Field for two Brewers-Mets games over the weekend. I'll get to the subject after a quick review. I'm new to NYC but I do work awfully close to Shea/Citi so I think I have a decent perspective of whats going on there. The exterior is somewhat better looking than Shea Stadium was. They did some sort of historic colonnade that sharply goes into this post modern style (it looks ok). The color and materials look good. I no longer have to look at big walls of blue and massive concrete ramps. I do have to look at a massive Citi Field, Pepsi & various other signs. They could have honored Shea Stadium more than putting an asphalt parking lot over it (they built a kids field where County Stadium used to sit in Milwaukee). It doesn't really say Home of the Mets anywhere except on the scoreboard & the subway station (since the MTA refused to use Citi field). The plaza space out front is ok other than some curbs you have to step up and down without tripping if you are lucky (they actually have people with loudspeakers warning you about the steps, talk about bad design). The subway station isn't very accessible even though the MTA just blew 15 million dollars on it.



Getting into the stadium can take a little while. There really aren't enough entrances. The Jackie Robinson rotunda felt lonely and desolate to me. They have big blue number 42 set in there, but its behind the escalators to the 2nd level(what the hell?). Speaking of escalators, there aren't nearly enough. Good luck finding the elevators. Good luck finding the stairs. Who designed the signage for this place??? I felt like I was in a Vegas casino trying to find my hotel room when in fact I was trying to find my seat! There aren't nearly enough bathrooms. Always long lines. The food is very popular, not too expensive, but you gotta wait an inning just to get your $5 hot dog.



Sitting in the upper deck you can see the field and the players fairly well. I didn't feel like I was in a 500 section. However, I couldn't see left field. I was in sitting in the aisle seat row 2. The stairs came up to my left and they had a landing with glass paneling which blocked my view (not to mention constant flows of people coming and going & food vendors yelling stuff). I imagine the landings are partial obstructions for aisle people of the first 10 rows of every section up there. They also had a railing across the front of the section that forced the first 2 rows to crane our necks the entire game otherwise we couldn't see home plate. I did manage to score some sweet sweets 15 rows behind home plate. They were very comfortable and gave an incredible view. Problem was they were half full of people who didn't seem to care much (too expensive?). Come on, two Brewers fans going crazy and relatively calm responses from the Mets fans??? Jerry Seinfeld was sitting 10 rows behind me (he was more into the game than everyone else around me). One of the best parts about the park is how you can walk around and find standing room here and there and watch the game from various perspectives.



The ball did NOT carry at all. The field is incredibly deep with very high walls. There were many well hit deep balls that I thought had a chance that didn't come anywhere close (as in didn't make it to the warning track). The prevailing winds are almost always blowing in from left field.



JSonline New York - Ryan Braun is happy he plays his home games at Miller Park instead of Citi Field.



"I wouldn't be overly excited about playing 81 games here as a hitter," said the Brewers' leftfielder.



The New York Mets' new ballpark is in its infancy, but it does appear to favor pitchers more than hitters. It's 384 feet to left-center field, and except for in the very corner, the leftfield wall is 16 feet high.



The ballpark is deeper to right center (415 feet) than straightaway center (408). The rightfield wall also drops back for several feet and is elevated in that area to 19 feet as a promotion for a local sporting goods store.



"There aren't going to be many home runs to the middle of the field," said Braun. "You've got to get it pretty good."



"You notice it in batting practice. We were centering up balls that went off the wall or barely out.



Braun lined his first home run of the season Friday night in one of the few places where the wall slopes down - in the left-field corner. But Braun doesn't think there will be many cheapies over the course of a season.



"I wouldn't be surprised if it plays similar to (San Diego's) PETCO Park," he said. "I really wouldn't. It would take more time to see it but it's big with those high fences. And the infield grass is thick.



"At Shea (Stadium), the wind was able to blow out. Here, they have big grandstands in the back so the wind can't blow out. I thought Shea played small.



"I'm sure their hitters are already talking about it. It'll be interesting to see how the ball carries in the summer." Sorry to all of you who picked David Wright in the top 4.