Before Matt Harvey and the Mets lost to Paul Maholm and the Braves 0-4, The Big Bad Baseball Gypsy and I traveled to Broadway Station, a Bar/Restaurant near...well...the Broadway station of the N Q trains in Astoria. We were on pace to arrive there at or just after Harvey's first Citi Field pitch, but never did I foresee the trouble I would have trying to see Matt Harvey's 1st Citi Field inning in the borough of Queens.
When we got to the bar, the game was not on. I figured this would be the case and I would have to ask them to put it on somewhere. Plus, they have booths with personal TVs, which is fantastically convenient (if they can find what you're looking for.) They had the Olympics on, the Yankees Blue Jays on, and some other thing I cannot remember... probably more Olympics, and probably something obscure like Boxing with head pads. As they fidgeted with the many different receivers they have, the guy trying to get it done said that they only have the MLB package on DirecTV, no local Sports package (although apparently the YES has a separate agreement with the provider.) The game was blacked out on the satellite and they have to save the cable TVs for the football game, which apparently wasn't on DirecTV. "Hey, I'm a Mets and Jets fan. If it were up to me, I'd certainly have the game on," he said. "Well, I want to spend money here so see what you can do." While he kept screwin' around, I checked my MLB app and saw a runner on. Once it became hopeless for him to try to move channels around or whatever, we left. "That's absolutely ridiculous that you can't watch the Mets game in a QUEENS BAR," the Voodoo Gypsy said. "Is there a Chase near here?"
Right across the street from where I was thinking of going was the bank, and we went to wait for an ATM. Right in front of us was a guy wearing a Mets hat and a Pepsi T-Shirt Toss Shirt. "Nice shirt," I said. "Thanks. I'm actually going to the game." I looked down at my phone and saw that Jason Heyward just hit a 2-run home run. "Well, Jason Heyward just hit a 2-run home run." The man rolled his eyes. "Great." "Don't worry. Harvey'll settle down. Enjoy the game."
We went across Broadway to a place call Veslo, a fancy Croatian restaurant that also poses as a fancy sports bar. I had watched Lin put up 39 on the Lakers there and they have absolutely delicious food. We went to the farthest end of the bar and asked for them to put the Mets game on. The TVs contents included the likes of Martin, a Cindy Crawford make-up infomercial and the PGA championship, with the volume down and what sounded like cheesy Croatian ballads throughout the restaurant. The bartender asked a bus boy whether he knew what channel SNY was as she scrolled through the TV Guide. He did not know. The owner came over and started scrolling through. "But we're watching golf!" He said, half-jokingly. "Really? On friday night at 7:30?" Every single one of them scrolled through as if not a single soul had ever come in there asking to watch SNY. "You want the YES network?" He said as he landed on the channel. "The last thing I want is the YES Network." He kept scrolling down until he got to the baseball package and clicked on the Braves broadcast, which was obviously blacked out. "No, it's definitely up before the YES Network." "You're getting on edge, arntcha?" the Gypsy said with a smile on his face. Finally, they landed on SNY, and just in time to show Matt Harvey walking off the mound at the end of the top frame with the score still only 0-2. We each grabbed a beer and took a look at the menu. And apparently it was a Halloween episode of Martin. "You think it's a bad idea to ask them to put the Yankees Blue Jays game on that screen?" I said to the Gypsy with a chuckle.
Harvey, though wild, once again limited the damage and kept us in the game. But Paul Maholm's brilliance, more so than a putrid offensive approach, got the best of us.
When we left Veslo after the game, across the street on the second floor was a bar with a neon Mets sign in the window and what appeared to be a Mets jersey hung up in the back.
"Apparently we shoulda gone there."
LET'S.
GO. METS.
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