After months and months of waiting, Citi Field finally opened to its first regular season baseball game yesterday evening. Since the Mets lost, the true star of the game was the new stadium. Fans were mostly excited by Citi Field — the only complaints were about the sight lines for some of the seats. Thousands of seats have views that are missing parts of the field, which caused some fans to wonder what the stadium designers were thinking.
As with any grand opening, Citi Field's first game was attended by local politicians including Governor David Paterson and Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The loudest boos of the evening (even louder than those for the visiting Padres) were for Governor Paterson. Mayor Bloomberg (who walked away with a souvenir ball that hit the protective netting in front of his front row seats) was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos.
The new stadium has seen several firsts already: first home run (Jody Gerut off Mike Pelfry's third pitch), first Mets home run (David Wright in the 5th inning) and the first cat incident (an orange cat ran from one dugout to another). One thing Citi FIeld is still waiting for is its first win.