Royalty w/o 8/29 in review

Thanks to Hurricane Irene, I was affected by her aftermath. Since I work with people who live in Westchester, I wound up working the full day. They couldn't get to work because Metro-North, their commuter train suspended service due to Irene.

With that being said, I had to miss the whole first game of the doubleheader between the Mets and the Florida Marlins at Citi Field which the Mets wound up winning. I was going to get out of work early so I could see most of the first game but that didn't go as planned.

I wound up seeing the Mets play the second game as they completed the sweep of the twinbill as they squished the Fish, 5-1.

Off the field and in our section 516, I was planning to see the CitiFSHooligan's and Hooligals but it seemed like most of them came for the first game and they either left or went downstairs for the second game so I didn't get to really enjoy their added entertainment.

Tuesday night after work, I went back to Citi Field to see the Mets play game three of the five game series with the Marlins.

On this night, the Mets and Marlins matched zeroes for the first six innings as Mike Pelfrey of the Mets and Javier Vazquez of the Marlins both pitched well. That was true until the seventh inning when Mike Pelfrey unraveled as he got beat up as the Marlins put up a five spot in the top half. Four of those runs were given up by Big Pelf. The Marlins added another run in the ninth as they went on to shutout the Mets, 6-0.

Wednesday night on my way to Citi Field, I stopped off at Subway and Carvel which are located in the same place right off the Junction Blvd. stop on the 7 train which is one express stop from Citi Field. I indulged by having a royal meal at Subway and a hearty dessert at Carvel.

After I stuffed my face, I got back on the train and off to Citi Field I went.

When I arrived at Citi Field, I saw my pal Vincent Ascanio near my seat in section 516. He was supposed to join me for dinner but he had a big lunch so he decided to pass up the golden opportunity. He did ask me how it was. I couldn't come up with enough adjectives to describe it but I did tell him he definitely missed out. He said he'll join me the next time.

I had additional company at the game as I saw an old friend who I grew up with. That was Jonathan Karten who was at the game with his son Matt who was attending his very first baseball game. When I asked Matt what he thought he said he was having a good time. Hopefully his daddy will bring him back again some day.
As for the game we saw, the Mets beat the Marlins, 3-2. The Mets fell behind 2-0 in the first inning. They clawed their way back to tie the score at two in the sixth inning. In the seventh inning, Lucas Duda delivered what proved to be the winning run as he delivered the go ahead hit that secured the victory for the Mets.

Thursday night I went back to Citi Field once again for finale of the five game series.It was my 200th game that I've seen at Citi Field.

The Mets once again fell behind early 2-0 after two innings. They came back and put four runs up in their half of the third inning. They tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to build a 7-2 lead. Luckily they did because they tried their best to give this game away as they barely hung on to win, 7-5.
Friday morning I flew out to Kansas City for the Labor Day weekend.

Check back for the special posts that I'm going to do that will go into extensive detail of the great time I had out in the Heartland.

As always, thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty enjoys the added entertainment of the Hooligan's and Hooligals at Citi Field!

CitiFSHooligan's in Section 516

Back in the good old days when the King and I went to see the Mets play at Shea Stadium, the place always seemed to rock and occasionally shake from time to time thanks to the people who were in the building.

The King was always notorious for his signature strikeout call which some people liked and others didn't. But like anything else that's just the way it is
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Nowadays the people who go to a game seem like robots all the time. When the scoreboard says make noise, they make noise.

Citi Field is nothing like Shea was. I know some people think it's such a better place than Shea. That's only true you're a corporate person or somebody who happens to have a lot of money to burn. For us real baseball fans and/or everyday people, that's not the case.

Needless to say, I miss Shea big time. That place was not as bad as people said. The City of New York owned that building and they never properly maintained it. That's why people mainly influenced by the media preferred to call it a "dump".

Shea Stadium held 55,000 people and majority of the seats were in foul territory which meant most of the views weren't bad and they were much more affordable to all walks of life.

Citi Field on the other hand, has many obstructive views or "blind spots" if you will. That's not an opinion that's a true fact. It's sad but true. It only holds 41,000 give or take. A good number of them are horrible seats mainly in the outfield. Fortunately for the King and I we were blessed to have a few of the better seats as we see it at a somewhat reasonable price. In matter of fact, our seats are a bargain compared to many others there.

Furthermore, the Mets had a distinct advantage playing at Shea, where those of us who were old enough witnessed two World Series Championships in miraculous fashion. I was only a year old when they won in 1969 so I can't relate to that. But in 1986, it was an unbelievable feeling to be a Met fan.

With all that being said, I want to point out and acknowledge a special group of people who have been coming to Citi Field a few times a month and they happen to sit in our section 516.

They refer to themselves as the "CitiFSHooligan's". They consist of a bunch of guys who they say are the "Hooligan's and there are some young ladies as well who go by the name "Hooligals". They also wear their own personalized jerseys so they're easy to distinguish amongst the rest of the section.

They like to enjoy the game, get the crowd involved, drink their beer, have lots of fun and be merry.

They have different antics that they roll out as the game goes on. For example, they sing different songs for the Mets when they come up to bat. They have different chants as well for opposing fans. They do everything in good fun which makes for an entertaining night out at the ballpark for everyone who's there.

When they show up at the game, they say and sing I quote "I believe the Mets will win." That doesn't always hold true but it doesn't hurt to believe like the late great Tug McGraw said "Ya Gotta Believe" back in the day.

Their record is 6-3 they said when then show up. Based on my math, that's the equivalent of the 1986 Mets overall record of 108-54. That's a winning percentage of .667. So like Meatloaf sings, "two out of three ain't bad".

Last Tuesday night, they kept us entertained and their belief willed the Mets to an improbable 5-4 win.
Even when the Mets lost a few weeks ago, Christine aka "Bean" one of the Hooligals said and I quote "I try to keep it positive".

We need more people like them on a daily and nightly basis to inject some life into the building.

For some reason, the Mets have had a hard time winning at home.

Don't blame it on the spacious field of play, that's one of the few things they got right with the ballpark in my eyes.

The Mets need to build a team that strives on speed so they can take full advantage of their new home field.
After all, the dimensions are for both teams. It would help if they could add a true power hitter or two so we can see the "Apple" in centerfield go up once or twice a game.

This year and last year the Mets have been like a roller coaster ride with plenty of ups and downs.

I think going forward in 2012 and beyond, they need to take my advice. Hopefully they can find a way to keep Jose Reyes in a Met uniform and hopefully he'll stay on the field so he can spark the Mets resurgence to the glory days here at Citi Field.

Off the field, I think the Mets should set up a special section so people like the "CitiFSHooligan's" can take over and energize the rest of the crowd throughout the game. For further details about them, look for them on Twitter and follow them and while you're at it, you can follow me @royaltytoursusa if you're not already doing so.

Believe it or not, I'm trying to be realistic in my thoughts and ideas, we'll have to wait and see what actually happens in the future.

Met fans, hang in there. I expect to enjoy another World Series Championship before my time is up.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman

Royalty w/o 8/1 in review

Mike Jaffee, Bryan Gilligan, The King, Vincent Ascanio, Fuzzy, Michael Abrams, Steve Tepperman, Me and Nelson Greer  

After my road trip ended it was back to work Monday morning.

After work it was back to my home routine. I went to Citi Field to see the Mets play the Marlins. I had some familiar faces in the house. Vincent Ascanio, Steve Tepperman, Martin Caamano and Michael Abrams showed up to keep us company.

In addition, we were treated to some more in-house entertainment as the Hooligans and Hooligals showed up as well. It's always fun to have them in our section 516. They always bring an added dimension to the live game experience.

As for the game we saw, the Mets fought hard but they fell short in 10 innings when Mike Stanton of the Marlins hit a game winning grand slam to give the Fish a 7-3 victory.

Tuesday night I went back for more at Citi Field after work. This time the Mets had a 3-2 lead going into the ninth inning. Justin Turner aka "Ginger Boy" made a costly error that gave the Marlins a 4-3 decision over the Mets.

Wednesday night I went to Subway and Carvel thanks to my boy Vincent Ascanio who discovered a new place to eat on his way to Citi Field. I met him there and we both ate like royalty.

After we ate we got back on the 7 train and we hoped to see a baseball game even though it was raining at the time.

We finally got to Citi Field and we went upstairs and once we got off the elevator we were treated as we saw a bunch of old time baseball fans and members of our group that we know who we haven't seen in quite some time.

It was quite a gathering as you can see in the picture above. Our pal Cory Zimmerman was also at the game took our picture. While we waited to see if the game would be played we got to catch up and have plenty of laughs like we used to back in the good old days at Shea Stadium.

Unfortunately they decided to call the game off so we didn't get to enjoy the game together. Hopefully we will get another chance to do so in the future.

Thursday night I went home after work since there was no game in the area to go to. I didn't mind since my body needed to rest up after running around rigorously.

Friday night after work I went back to Citi Field as the Mets were hosting their division rival, the Atlanta Braves.

The Mets took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning but that's all the runs they scored for the game. The Braves went on to beat the Mets, 4-1.

Saturday night it was back for more punishment. First mother nature decided to interfere. The game was delayed by an hour and two minutes at the start.

Luckily the Mets found a way to win this time. It was a seesaw battle but they managed to pull through, 11-7.

On Sunday I went back for the rubber game of the series. It was another heart breaking loss by the Mets as their nemesis Chipper Jones of the Braves delivered the game winning hit in the ninth inning to win the game and the series for the Braves, 6-5.

It should be noted that impressive rookie Jose Constanza who killed the Mets all weekend long with his speed, arm and bat hit his first major league home run.

Another week in the life of royalty is in the books.

Remember if and when you want to take part in the live experience please let me know so I can arrange to accomodate your needs and wants.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman