Day 198/365 - At Citi Field

I took the day off work and caught the Acela up to NYC today so I could see the Nationals play the Mets in their new ballpark, Citi Field. This was my first Nats road trip of the season. I usually try to catch a couple of their road games each year. This year I'll be going to both of the brand new ballparks in New York. In each case, I bought my ticket on-line the day they went on sale and I got a pretty good seat in both ballparks. Here at Citi Field, my seat was thirteen rows back from the field and just a little to the left of home plate.

With this trip, I've now been to watch pro baseball at fourteen different parks: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Camden Yards in Baltimore, Olympic Stadium in Montreal, RFK Stadium in DC, Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia, Wrigley Field in Chicago, U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Old Yankee Stadium in NYC, Shea Stadium in NYC, Minute Maid Park in Houston, Nationals Park in DC, Petco Park in San Diego, and Citi Field. My favorite so far is Wrigley. It's so snug and cozy there it's like you're watching a baseball game being played in a friend's backyard. My least favorite is probably Three Rivers. With the way that stadium was designed, it was like watching a game being played at the bottom of a well.

Citi Field is all right. I like it better from the outside than the inside. It has a very nice facade that is a throwback to old Ebbits Field and the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the main entrance is cool. Inside, it's really nothing special, although the bridge in back of the bullpens is a good gimmicky touch. The seats feel like they're far back from the field. I just had a couple hot dogs, a pretzel, and some crackerjacks so I can't really speak about the food options there, but the beer choices are pathetic. I walked all around the lower seating bowl and all they had on tap was Bud and Bud Light. I did find a stand that at least had Brooklyn Lager in a can, so I didn't have to go thirsty.

The Nats lost tonight, as per the usual. They kept it close, though. The final score was 4-3 and they were going up against a really tough pitcher in Johan Santana. They scored two runs in the ninth inning, so at least they made it worthwhile to stick around to see how it finished. Oh well, hopefully I'll get a better result when I go see them play at the New Yankee Stadium in June.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)