New York City. Shea Stadium. April 12, 2007. Mets and Phillies. The Fountain of Youth Game: Tom Glavine, 41 years young, versus Jamie Moyer, 44. 30-something degrees. Plenty of Nathan’s Hot Dogs vendors. Zero guys hawking hot chocolate. Lots going on in and around the ballpark…

-The first thing I’m impressed with is the MTA train. No, I didn’t see a guy give up his seat so a lady with three bags in her hand could sit. I did, however, think it was nice how there’s a train station less than 500 feet from Shea’s E Gate. Very convenient.

-Another observation you have upon leaving the station: The Mets’ new ballpark, Citi Field, which opens in the ’09 season, is being built so close to the current stadium that you’d swear they were touching each other. Renderings of the new facility are all around Shea and it looks fantastic.

-We get to our seats. We’re in the loge section, lower level, towards the back. We have a solid view of everything, but because we’re sitting directly under the next level, chances of getting foul balls or free t-shirts are as good as Imus’ hopes of being the commencement speaker at the next Spelman College graduation ceremony.

-People talk about baseball crowds in my native Atlanta rarely go over 30,000 during the season. Some of that is true. But I’m looking around the sea of orange chairs in Shea and I see lots of empty sections. The paid attendance is announced at 33,355, but if there are 27,000 here, I’d be shocked.

-The sparse attendance could be blamed on the temperature. At game time the temp was announced at 44. Bull! If it’s anywhere over 35 here, I’d be shocked.

-I only see three umpires. That’s kinda odd. Come to find out, Jerry Layne had to leave the park early because of family reasons.

-Philly comes out the gate swinging—literally! Leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins goes deep against Glavine. A guy two rows in front of me shouts, “You suck!” New Yorkers typically hate good players on rival teams, but the resentment towards J-Roll runs a little deeper because of some spring training comments the Philly shortstop made about his team being the cream of the NL East crop. Oddly, Mets fans disagreed.

-Ryan Howard, the reigning NL MVP and easily the Phillies’ most intimidating presence at the plate, looks off with the bat in his hand. He doesn’t seem comfortable. He goes 1 for 3 for the night; still, he’s batting just .212 for the young season.

-My coworker, Ronnie, a Philly native, calls Philadelphia’s next batter, Pat Burrell, “Captain Caught Looking.” What a great nickname for a guy who pulls a Matthew McConaughey ever other time he steps up there, looking utterly dazed and confused at the plate.

-I already told you Glavine and Moyer’s ages, right? 85 combined years of fooling Major League hitters with 79 MPH fast balls and 68 MPH change-ups—amazing! What’s even wilder is that this is the oldest match-up of lefty starters in baseball history. Look it up…

-The Mets’ young sluggers (Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright) haven’t really gotten it going yet. When they do, hide the wife and kids ‘cuz it’s going to get ugly out there for opposing teams.

-Jose Reyes, the team’s super slick shortstop, is having a great season. Easily the most popular player on the Mets roster, Reyes is greeted to a cascade of cheers every time he comes to bat. There’s even a “Jo-se! Jose, Jose, Jose!” chant that goes along with it that sounds way hotter in person than it does now in this blog.

-There are some pretty interesting in-game things happening at Shea. Two that stand out are the “Where Are They Now” segment (locating old Mets in their new surroundings) and this virtual home derby played on the MLB 2K7 video game.

-Take a peak at the scoreboard and see a “PPD” next to Seattle’s name again. Wow, that’s five postponements in the first week and a half for the Mariners. Talk about your hard luck.

-Philly’s Jimmy Rollins hits another homer. The guy in front of me: “You still suck!”

-Glavine and a host of New York relievers survive Rollins’ offensive exploits and win the game 5-3, giving the crafty future hall of famer his second win of the season, leaving him just eight short of the esteemed 300-win mark.