Hey guys,
I’m sorry it’s been a few weeks since I last blogged, but hey – I’ve been busy! I’m finally feeling pretty settled in with the Mets and NYC. Right after I was traded we went on the road for two weeks. When we got “home” (I’ll admit it felt a little weird at first calling that first time back to New York a “home stand”) we stayed for a week and then headed out west to play the Padres and the Diamondbacks. For that week in between I found myself overwhelmed with not just baseball, but adjusting to a new city.
My wife Catie actually had to carry most of the load when it came to finding a place to live, packing up our stuff (which included our dogs), etc. We were lucky to have our family come up to help us get settled. Both Catie’s parents and my parents headed north and they helped us accomplish a ton. We ended up finding a place to live that’s just outside the city. I’m still a country boy at heart, and not to mention we had to find a place where our three dogs would have room to roam, so a place in the heart of the city wasn’t at the top of my list for now.
Luckily I have found some time to enjoy myself off the field since I’ve been here. Every time Catie and I visited New York in the past, we always dined at our favorite restaurant Tao. Now that we’ll be here for the next few months I’m sure we’ll be frequent diners there.
For the most part, baseball has been the only thing on my mind, but I did have an opportunity to play golf a couple weeks ago with David Wright. It’s been good to have a change of scenery. I’m really enjoying my teammates, and although I don’t get to play with my best buddy Brian McCann anymore, Wright and Murph and the rest of the guys have been great to me. Jerry and Omar have been nothing but welcoming and I really enjoy working with them every day. And not to mention…the fans and media have been fantastic!
Adding to my list of things I enjoy about New York…Citi Field. If you haven’t had a chance to go yet I would strongly suggest it. It’s a beautiful stadium and if you’re really lucky you can hit the Delta Sky360 Club and Lounge. Probably the most famous part of the stadium so far is the homerun apple in centerfield. It’s been the topic of discussion on SportsCenter a couple of times because of its minor malfunctions, but nonetheless we all love it. It’s reserved solely for a homerun hit by a Mets player.
Feel free to send me suggestions for places to go and things to do in my new city. Looking forward to calling this home… for seven months out of the year at least.
Take care and I’ll check back in soon.
Jeff
New York Mets
August 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
If you want to try Puerto Rican food head over to Sofrito at 400 east 57th and order the pork shoulder.
http://www.sofritony.com/
I wish I could get into the Sky360 club tickets out of my reach does my silver soon to be gold status get me in lol
By the way, it wasn’t cool that you broke the Apple. They had to raise it between innings because of you.
August 11th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Jeff- you’ve been a great addition to what was a lifeless team. Glad to see that you’re turning your season around, as well.
As for NYC, TAO is a little played out by now. Good for some drive-thru when you are only visiting NYC. There’s plenty of other fantastic restaurants where the scene is not Bridge & Tunnel.
I encourage you to get an apt in the city… Battery Park City or Gramercy Pk if you have dogs. Check out the beaches on LI, as well.
Enjoy
August 17th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Dude you better pick up the slack with David Wright on the DL because of that Loser Cain hitting him in the head, you guys are even worst off than what you were already.