The New York Mets hold a strangely special, but very small, spot in my heart. One of my most vivid memories of my childhood was returning home from being out with my mom and dad on a December evening in 1984 and learning that my beloved Montreal Expos had traded my favourite player, Gary Carter, to the Mets. Feeling like a jilted lover is how I now recall how I felt that night. Whether or not it is possible for a ten year old to feel that is beside the point. I was devastated. After Blue Monday in 1981, this was the second of a long line of baseball-related traumas I experienced leading to my Expos leaving for Washington.

Time heals everything, and while I haven’t yet got my Expos back, I’ve learned to love baseball again. So when work took me to New York for a few days back in September, I added on a couple of nights to hang out in Queens and watch the Mets play the Phillies. The Mets to me are the team that got Gary Carter his lone World Series victory, and wearing this Expos hat got me into some great conversations around the ballpark.

Citi Field is littered with images of Gary Carter and every one made me smile. Each conversation my Expos hat sparked over the three games warmed my heart. It was nice to see and hear how much my favourite player meant to the Mets and their fans.

With the Mets long out of playoff contention and the Phillies only barely mathematically still alive in early September, the crowds were sparse over the weekend. All the better for me to snag a prime seat for the Friday night game. Aaron Nola and Steven Matz went head to head in an interesting pitching matchup that the Phillies clinched with a run in the 8th inning for a 4-3 win.

As with most of my baseball trips, I dug into some tasty ballpark eats at Citi Field. Box Frites parmesan and garlic fries, a Fuku chicken sandwich, some great tacos, and a lobster roll that made my Atlantic Canadian heart beat faster… all delicious. The Mets get an A from me for their food offerings.

On Saturday night, while I had a better seat printed on my ticket, I elected to sit at the very top of the stadium to get under a small overhang to escape the constant heavy drizzle that fell for most of the night. And for literally the back row of the upper deck, the view wasn’t too shabby from up here at all. It was an odd ball of a game, with one of the more unique pitching stat lines for a winning starting pitcher I have ever seen. I was thrilled with getting to see Noah Syndergaard start for the Mets and hoped to see a dominant performance. I got quite the opposite – over 6+ innings he gave up 12 hits and 5 walks and still somehow found a way to win.

On this rainy, dreary weekend, one of the saving graces was the amazing Mikkeller NYC craft brewery attached to the stadium. It gave me a great place to stay dry and hang out while waiting for the first pitch of each game. I sampled quite liberally over three days here.

Luckily the craft beer excellence also extended into the stadium. While there isn’t a very deep selection, I had no challenge making excellent selections from New York state for three games. The Rise Up Rye saison by Gun Hill Brewing (left, below) was the best of the best and helped pick up my slightly soaked spirits on Sunday afternoon.

And speaking of that Sunday afternoon, it was a disaster of a weather day to sit outside and watch baseball. I had a great seat along the third base line with a spectacular view of the field and the stadium. All that was lacking was comfort during an afternoon of steady rain and wind. By about the fifth inning of this game, I was doing a mental exercise of remembering which teams have retratable roof stadiums for planning my baseball trip for 2019.

The weather was so bad that it made the Mets decide to change starting pitchers so they didn’t lose their best pitcher to a rainout. It also made most of their fans stay home. The announced crowd was a touch over 24,000, but I doubt half of those actually showed up. That was their loss as it was a great ball game with the Mets overcoming an early deficit to win 6-4.

While the weekend weather was uncooperative, on the plus side, the three games were highly entertaining and I heard from many New Yorkers who miss having the Expos in the league (some really, really miss road trips up to watch their team play in Montreal). I got a lot of pats on the back and well wishes in getting my team back, and even a few thanks for the trade of Gary Carter that got them their 1986 World Series.