Sports Radio Service


		Citi Field a new gem By Jeremy Kahn July 5, 2010

	NEW YORK-Since they began playing baseball back in 1962, the New York Mets played in only two stadiums before the 2009 season. From 1962-1964, their first three years in existence, the Mets played at the Polo Grounds at the corner of 155th Street and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, the home of the New York Giants before they headed to San Francisco in 1958. While playing at the Polo Grounds, the Mets were downright awful, as they lost a major league record 120 games in their first season under Casey Stengel. Following the 1963 season, the Mets moved out of the aging Polo Grounds and near the site of the 1964 World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows in the Borough of Queens. Playing at Shea Stadium, from 1964-2008, the Mets hosted three Division Series, where they won all three, seven times it hosted the National League Championship Series, winning four of those and the Mets hosted four World Series (winning two of them). Following the 2008 season, the Mets, who played in Shea Stadium for 45 years, or one year longer than the Brooklyn Dodgers played in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, moved into the brand-new Citi Field. Seating just 42,500, about 15,000 of the now demolished Shea Stadium, this brand new stadium is a jewel in the borough of Queens. I am sitting in this brand new edifice for the first time on this night, and I must say that it is a beautiful stadium or field. As you get off the Number 7 train from Manhattan, you basically walk directly into the building, which includes the Jackie Robinson Rotunda, which sits directly behind home plate. The Robinson Rotunda, is a tribute to the man who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, and it includes pictures and sayings of Robinson and a gigantic number 42. Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning that landed on the fly into the Big Apple that sits in straightaway centerfield over the 408’ mark. After the Mets tied up the game in the bottom of the first inning, the Reds exploded for six runs in the top of the fifth inning, which saw Mets manager Jerry Manuel getting ejected by first base umpire Mark Wegner after disagreeing on a hit batter call. Originally, Scott Rolen failed to check his swing for a third strike, for what would have been the first out of the fifth inning; however Dusty Baker came out of the dugout and argued that Rolen was hit on the arm, after which the umpires got together and agreed with Baker. That brought Jerry Manuel out of the dugout, and arguing with the umpires, he was ejected from the game, this was the second time this season that Manuel was ejected from a game. In that inning, the Reds scored six runs to take a 7-1 lead over the home team . In the bottom of the inning, the Mets stormed right back and scored five runs and narrowed the lead down to 7-6. Votto then hit his second home run of the game, solo shot for his 21st home run of the season and fifth multi-home run game of his career. Former Oakland A’s closer Arthur Rhodes, who will be making his first All-Star appearance next Tuesday in Anaheim, pitched a perfect eighth inning. Rhodes then turned the ball over to closer Francisco Cordero, who got the last three outs for his 23rd save of the season.