Royalty w/o 4/18 in review

After spending Monday which was Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, the rest of the week I went to Citi Field to see the Mets play.

Here's how it played out:

Tuesday night the Houston Astros made their first and only visit to Citi Field this season.

The Astros got a stellar start from Wandy Rodriguez who allowed just one run over seven innings. The only run came when former Astro Carlos Beltran led off the seventh inning with a home run. The Astros went on to beat the Mets, 6-1.

Wednesday night the Astros beat the Mets again. This time the game was tied at three when Hunter Pence hit a solo home run to lead off the eighth inning to give the Astros the 4-3 victory.

Thursday night the Astros were looking for the sweep but they didn't get it as the Mets finally woke up and beat them, 9-1. It should be noted that Mets catcher Mike Nickleas hit his first major league home run.

More importantly, the King and I were able to meet up with one of his co-workers from the Post Office, Ralph Ascanio who was there with his wife and son Vincent. It was great to see them again. They were selected as the Uncle Jack's Steakhouse fans of the game too. They won a gift certificate to enjoy a dinner at Uncle Jack's.

Furthermore, I plan to do a special post about Ralph and his son Vincent. Stay tuned for that.

Friday night I passed up the opportunity to go to Madison Square Garden for game 3 of the best of seven series between the Knicks and the Boston Celtics.

Instead I decided to go to Citi Field again to see the Mets play.

As for the game I saw, the Mets beat the Arizona Diamondbacks who rattled their way to New York. The Mets got a fine pitching performance out of starter Mike Pelfrey who allowed one run over seven innings to pick up the victory. In addition, centerfielder Jason Pridie made his major league debut and he got his first major league hit as the Mets went on to win the game, 4-1.
Saturday afternoon I went back to Citi Field to see if the Mets could get back online. They were searching for their third straight "W". Despite a rain delay that delayed the start of the game, the Mets wound up winning again. They beat the Diamondbacks, 6-4. In the process, rookie Jason Pridie hit his first major league home run.

On a personal note, this game was my 4,000th baseball game that I've seen live in person.

More importantly, the King and I got to see a few baseball fans who we hadn't seen in a while but they go way back with us over the years. They were Fred Lack from Jersey City, NJ and his friend Jeff who lives in nearby College Point, NY. These guys are good people and big Met fans. It was great to see them again. Good people are find to find but we have a way of attracting them. Despite the rain delay it turned out to be a fun day thanks to them. We were able to chat and catch up on things.

I look forward to seeing them back at Citi Field in the near future.

Sunday was Easter and I decided to press my luck and I went back to Citi Field to see if the Mets could sweep the Diamondbacks and win their fourth game in a row.

The Mets did indeed beat the Diamondbacks by a score of 8-4.

By doing so, the Mets wrapped up a successful homestand by winning four out of six. They did it against lesser competition but a win is a win. Over the course of a full season, you have to beat whoever you play as often as possible to be successful. Hopefully this is a start to a new trend for them. Time will tell. It's a long season. At least for the time being, they've given their fanbase a glimmer of hope.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman