Shinjo Millionaire

The last time I went to a Yankee game, I saw fans wearing jerseys of former Yankees such as Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Last night, when I went to Citi Field, I saw fans wearing the jerseys of former Mets Tom Glavine and Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

At least I hope that was a fan wearing no. 47 and not Glavine angling for a return.

There were also a lot of fans wearing Phillies jerseys – mostly of Chase Utley. Saw some Ryan Howards as well, but even most Phillie fans don’t seem to be showing up in New York wearing a Jimmy Rollins jersey.

The clubhouse store promoted three books by noted Met authors – Rusty Staub, Ron Darling and Alyssa Milano.

Speaking of Shinjo, he has gone on to bigger and better things since his MLB days – winning the Japanese version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and modeling his own line of clothing. Perhaps he can get a store at Citi Field next to Alyssa’s.

Then again, giving Shinjo his own store would mean that something at Citi Field would actually be named after a former Met player. Can’t have that!

On the food front, my friends Steve, Norman and I got to the game at 5, which meant there were no lines at Blue Smoke or El Verano Taqueria and only a few people on line at Shake Shack. Steve got a shake before we all got Blue Smoke ribs. I was impressed enough to get four ribs for $10 on previous visits – this time I got five!

I really didn’t need to eat much after that, but, after all, there was no line at all at the Taqueria, so I got an order of two carnitas tacos. It wasn’t even 5:30 and already we were having trouble finding one of the small round tables to eat at.

We later went to the World’s Fare store, where Steve got a Mama’s of Corona cannoli and gave it a good review – and a great review for ballpark food.

There is a Mama’s up on the promenade level near where we were sitting, but I have not yet seen it open – it seems to close sometime before the eighth inning. Carvel’s was still open, so we did get ice cream during the eighth inning.

We had hoped to get back to our seats in time for the winning rally. Instead, there were three more innings of increasingly frustrating baseball.

Tim Redding is the last person I want to see on the mound for the rubber game, but he does have a 3.29 ERA in 11 starts against the Phillies. Howard is only 3 for 21 against Redding and Rollins is 5 for 32.

But Chase Utley, the Met killer so far in this series, is 8 for 18 against Redding with two homers.

Jamie Moyer gave up seven runs against the Mets the last time he faced them, but that lineup included Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado. Still, the Mets should have a chance to make up for last night and win the series.

I am now 2-3 at Citi Field this year, counting the exhibition game. Last night was the first time I saw the Mets lose at Citi Field without Squawker Lisa there to serve as jinx. But I did call Lisa just before Utley’s game-winning homer, so maybe she managed to jinx the Mets over the phone.