Royalty w/o 9/26 in review

Post Season in the Bronx

This was the last week of the baseball season. The regular season that is. For the fifth consecutive season the Mets were playing out the string. It was another up and down season for the Metropolitans. They started the season 5-13. From that point on, they played .500 ball the rest of the way.

In years past, the season normally ended on a Sunday but this year was different. The season ended on a Wednesday. The reason being they didn't want the World Series to be extended into November again.
Much to my chagrin, the Mets played an afternoon game in the closing game. Unfortunately, I had to work.
I did see them wrap up with the Cincinnati Reds on Monday night and Tuesday night though.

Monday night they battled it out with the Reds before they lost, 6-5.

Tuesday night was my grand finale at Citi Field for this year and it was a fun night up in the stands as the King entertained the crowd who was sitting around us with his unique strikeout call. Some nights are better than others. It depends on the pitcher on the mound and the people in the stands. On this night, he had a very captive audience and they thoroughly enjoyed his act. In addition, we had some surprise guests. They were the King's father, Miguel and his half brother Charlie. We also had our good friend James Gabriele and his son Andrew too. Their company added to the atmosphere which was very festive.

One person in particular, Phillip Poeta who I believe I've seen in the past near where we sit up in section 516/517 depending on the size of the crowd was on hand.

I decided to reach out to him and we enjoyed each other company during the game. He said he comes to around 20 games a year. He does live in New Jersey so that's not bad all things considered. He said he likes to travel. I told him about all the places the King and I have gone. He said he's been to seven different ballparks this year. I told him that's great. He said he went to Pittsburgh for the first time. He also mentioned Chicago and Milwaukee. He sounds like an up and coming ballpark chaser.

I told him to check out my blog so he can get a more in depth overview of what royalty is all about. I plan to stay in touch with him. That way if and when he needs my expert advice on getting from ballpark to ballpark and/or place to place, he knows I'm here if and when he needs me.

As for the game we saw, it was a long one. The Mets eventually lost to the Reds again, 5-4 in 13 innings as Drew Stubbs laid down a beautiful squeeze bunt to end this marathon. The Mets' bullpen collapsed again in this one causing the game to go into extra frames. It was prolonged agony in what may have been the last time I saw Jose Reyes wear a Met uniform. If that's the case, at least Jose gave me a lasting memory. He hit two home runs in the losing effort.

Like they say, wait till next year. For us Met fans that's all we can do. With or without Jose Reyes, I plan to be back at Citi Field on April 5th for Opening Day against the Atlanta Braves.

I wound up going home after work Wednesday and Thursday night. Friday night after work I went up to Yankee Stadium after stopping off at Donovan's Pub for dinner in Queens first to see post season baseball but after the Yankees played an inning and a half against the Detroit Tigers, mother nature unexpectedly got in the way for a change. After waiting until around 10:30PM they suspended the game. They were planning to resume Saturday night at 8:37PM.

Stay tuned for the recap of our adventurous weekend. Just so you know we didn't return to Yankee Stadium. We went out of town instead as planned.

In addition, I plan to write a special post about my boy Gio Gonzalez of the Oakland Athletics who had a solid season on the mound.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman