WHO'S GOT TWO THUMBS AND WENT TO A METS GAME?

Just a warning- this is going to be one of those Let Me Tell You About My Vacation And What I Thought of Things articles, so if that's not your bag I highly advise not reading this. That kind of thing is usually not my bag, but this was a special occasion for me, so what the hell?

I'm a Met's fan and have been for many years. I've also lived in New York my whole life. But, until Saturday the 28th, I had never been to the city. I've been close before- I actually went to the first regular season game ever played in (now)MetLife Stadium and (then)New Meadowlands Stadium.

(For those wondering, the Giants played the Panthers the year before they drafted Cam Newton first overall. So, naturally, the Panthers were bad and terrible, and eventually finished 2-14, thanks to having the worst offense in the league by a significant margin with awful years from Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen. The Giants were also boring and it rained, but the stadium was shiny and new and I got to see NYC from across the way, so that was cool.)

But onto this trip. Like I said, I'd never been to New York City before (my mother, who came with me, had been a couple times- not that that helped with her sense of direction, or lack thereof in this case). I've read about NYC and how big and overwhelming it can be for outsiders. But it honestly wasn't that bad. Sure, there were a lot of people on the streets, and it was big, but once I learned how to read the signs (and my phone's GPS), I was totally fine. It's a place I could definitely visit again and be at ease.

Back to the Mets; with their trip to the World Series in the recent past and with the team penciled in as a World Series contender this year, this was the perfect time to go see them. We arrived at Citi Field close to 5 in the afternoon on the 28th. I knew the stadium's exterior was based on old Ebbets Field, but, man, does that really show through in person.

The Ebbets Field similarities continued when we got inside. The interior was lined with odes to the Brooklyn Dodgers and the TV was playing something probably on Jackie Robinson (I sadly didn't think to snap pictures of this). I don't know if this is a regular feature or if they just put it up because the Dodgers were in town, but it was pretty neat.

Our seats were at the very top of the stadium (the next highest point was the roof, so we weren't going any higher). You can see for miles, though the height did make me a bit uneasy (the fact that the only thing preventing me from falling four stories to the promenade below was some cross-wired steel mesh didn't help with my anxiety). Despite being so high, the view was incredible. We were behind home plate (behind being a relative term) and we could see everything. And you can see the players on the field perfectly from that height- they aren't like pinstriped and gray ants. These seats cost just $80 a pop, which is an incredible deal for the view you get.

But the main event (and why I definitely wanted to come once I found out it was happening), was the pregame ceremony. The 1986 World Championship team was being honored and every living member on the World Series squad was there, including coaches. Any deceased members had family members come in  their stead. It was all very cool and well done, and afterwards the 2016 squad came out and slapped hands with their 1986 counterparts. And the ceremonial first pitch was Jesse Orosco (who threw the final out of the World Series in '86) to Gary Cater's son (Carter caught the final out of the World Series in '86; Gary Carter died in 2012 of brain cancer). It was all worth the price of admission.

My aunt specifically asked me to get a picture of Mookie Wilson (who hit the infamous roller ball through Bill Buckner's legs in Game 6), so here he is.

I was excited for the game. Noah Syndergaard (who's friggin' incredible) was on the mound for the Mets. He's been their best pitcher this year, so I thought I was going to get a hell of a treat. Well, I got two-and-a-thirds innings of him at least.

Okay, just in case you don't know the context, here it is. Last year in the NLDS, the Mets were playing the Dodgers and Chase Utley slid hard (and illegally) into Ruben Tejada, fracturing Tejada's leg in the process. Tejada wouldn't play for the rest of the postseason and Utley was suspended for two games (he appealed his suspension, so he played for the rest of the series, and his suspension was later overturned anyway).

Cut to this season. The Mets already played a series in LA this year, but there was no incident. There was no incident on Friday, either, when the Dodgers came to Queens. But after Syndergaard struck out three batters in two-and-a-thirds innings (Utley included), Syndergaard threw a pitch behind Utley's head. It wasn't close to hitting him, but Syndergaard was thrown out of the game, followed shortly after by an irate Terry Collins.

The next time Utley came up (facing Logan Verrett) he hit a solo home run. And the fourth time he came up to the plate, against Hansel Robles, Utley hit a grand slam, putting the capper on a laugher of a game.

Before I get into my opinion on the fiasco, let me say that holy crap did the crowd hate Chase Utley. Utley played most of his career for the Philadelphia Phillies, and I'm not sure the crowd hated him then as much as they do now. He was the only Dodger that got this kind of reception. Hell, the crowd cheered when Kenta Maeda could stay in the game after he got hurt by Michael Conforto's comebacker.

I get it; Utley hurt a Mets player (even though Tejada is now playing for the St. Louis Cardinals- or not, he just got waived-, it's the principal of the things), and, baseball being as much a draconian, macho exercise of dominance as it is a game, retaliation should've been expected.

Now here's my hot take- I think both Syndergaard and the umpire were wrong. Syndergaard was rolling and shouldn't have risked an ejection against one of the better teams in the National League. He also could've rubbed it in to Utley by holding him scoreless through the entire game (he'd already struck out Utley earlier in the game). Syndergaard said the ball just got away from him in the postgame media scrum, which he had to say to not get suspended, even though that is a huge line of bullshit.

With that said, home plate umpire Adam Hamari's got quite the trigger finger, doesn't he? I even said to my mom when the umpires were being introduced that I was relieved to not know who any of them were. Well, I at least know who Hamari is now. That's great.

Syndergaard's ejection is especially rich, since earlier this month, in the Blue Jays/Rangers game that turned into a series of punches and mean-mugging, Matt Bush started things off by hitting Jose Bautista (clearly) intentionally for Bautista's bat flip in the playoffs last year against the Rangers (because celebrating a home run that effectively won the Blue Jays their first playoff series in two decades is apparently the worst thing you can do in baseball). Bush wasn't even on the Rangers when the lost in the playoffs and he was only issued a warning in-game and didn't get thrown out. He didn't even get suspended afterwards, only receiving a fine.

So where's the consistency? Bush doesn't get thrown out for intentionally plunking Bautista, but Syndergaard gets thrown out for sailing a baseball (likely intentionally, but still) up near Utley's head? That's, objectively, an immense amount of horseshit.

Utley was the catalyst for the Mets' eventual 9-1 loss. We left after the bottom of the 7th inning and got ice cream on the way out, which, it turns out, can make anything better. Even though I saw the Mets at their not-best, I'm never going to forget this game.

I got to see bullshit baseball politics and a hated dude go crazy with two home runs and five RBIs. It was a great night with a great pregame ceremony and great theatre. It was worth the trip and the price.