The Ass End

Apologies to those who clicked on this thinking that this was an Anthony Recker manifesto. But being on the ass end of things is how I’ve been feeling a lot lately. I want to put that out there as a disclaimer for those that think what I’m about to complain about is just sour grapes because this affects me. And you might think I will come across as whiny, and you’re entitled to that thought as long as you recognize that I’m entitled to whine. And quite frankly, I feel like whining so if you’re not okay with that, go click on something else that’s a little more your taste. But what the Mets pulled today is a bunch of crap.

First off, some background. On June 23rd, 2011, I attended an afternoon game between the Mets and Oakland. It was scheduled to start at 1:00, but because of lousy weather it started at 3:25. Wasn’t a big deal since they eventually started the game. Just before the start of that game it was announced that people who held tickets to that game could redeem those tickets for another game, even though the game that day would be played. Excellent. That was above and beyond the call of duty as far as I was concerned.

Fast forward to Saturday. The weather report was garbage. 75% chance of rain was the range for 3pm to 8pm, with heavier stuff coming after that. The Phillies played an inning and a half of their 3PM game against the Nats before calling it, and the Phillies are allowing their fans to exchange their ticket for any home game left on the schedule. The Indians/Orioles game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards was called well before their start time of 7:15, and the Orioles are allowing fans who can’t attend the make up game to exchange their tickets for any remaining home game this season. The White Sox/Tigers game was rained out and the Tigers are only allowing ticket holders for that game to use them for the makeup game on September 21st, but at least fans have close to three months to make other arrangements or sell the tickets on Stub Hub for that game.

The Mets meanwhile played six innings in garbage weather. And fans that sat through that nonsense get to exchange their tickets for one game only … Sunday’s pre-existing game against the Reds with the Steve Miller Band concert coming after that game instead of Saturday. Fans also get to see the completion of Saturday’s suspended game. Fine for the majority of people that are able to pick up and go tomorrow. But some people made other plans for tomorrow. Some people live far away and can’t make that trip twice in two days, and only did so today because there was a game and a concert. And some people don’t work 9-to-5 Monday to Friday. And baseball people … of all people … should understand that.

But they obviously don’t. And now I, being in one of the latter camps, will not get to see the completion of Saturday’s game, Sunday’s game, or the Steve Miller Band concert. And I’m just going to have to live with the six innings of rainy baseball that I bought for $100. And the worst part of it is that if the Mets didn’t play the six innings, then these tickets would have been good for any other game in the schedule. It wasn’t five innings of sunshine and then a torrential downpour, mind you. It wasn’t a situation where you could sit yourself down in nice weather and at least believe that there was a chance of the weather holding off. If that was the case, I would have understood and moved on. This was six innings in solid rain, with the forecast only getting worse from there. It was a game that should never have started in the first place, as three other Major League games in the area were either postponed from jump or called after a short amount of time. We never even sat in our seats because we didn’t want to get wet and stayed underneath cover in right field the whole time.

And while I can see the argument that the Mets don’t play the Reds often and they didn’t want to schedule a full doubleheader on a getaway day for them, there still should have been more of a consideration for all the fans, and not just the ones that can fit Sunday into their schedule. Especially when you made six innings worth of money on beer and concessions.

(Just not any money off of the Angus Steak Grilled Cheese at Pressed, because inexplicably, the stand was out of Angus beef a half hour before the game started. A disappointment for those who had their heart set on that sandwich.)

So that’s my tale of woe. It’s just another in a long line of things I’ve been getting the ass end of lately, and there’s only so much somebody can take without ripping somebody apart for it. Congratulations, Mets … you are that somebody. And I understand that my situation is unique and not among the majority of people. I get it. Trust me, I get it. I’m reminded of it every day. And I realize that my only choice at this point is to chalk it up to “sucks to be me”. I’m all too used to that lately, and unfortunately. But just understand that whether this affected me or not, this is still a series of awful moves by the Mets, who took a different view on this sort of policy just four short seasons ago.