Yesterday, I went to my first baseball game of the season. It was the second game of a three-game series between the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants. This was the only time the Mets would be in town, so I didn't want to miss it.

To avoid traffic, I took Caltrain to the park. I wanted to arrive early so I could eat dinner at one of the nearby restaurants and still have time to wander around the park before the game began. The first place I came across that looked appealing was Nama Sushi. It wasn't busy, so the service was quick. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, so I went with the moderately priced salmon entree ($12.50), which came with the standard rice, miso soup, and salad. It wasn't bad.

From there, I strolled over to the stadium, entered through the main gates, and wandered through the promenade level. There is something about AT&T Park that I just love. It feels old and new at the same time. It also has an energy that one doesn't find in many places.

Big, bright signs on the walls advertised food and drink vendors with memorable names like Say Hey! Willie Mays Sausages, Stinking Rose Restaurant, and Murph's Irish Pub. I stopped by the Cable Car Bar and ordered a glass of chardonnay because I had recently read a newspaper article touting the wines at AT&T Park. A glass will set you back $7.75, but that isn't as bad as the beer, which will set you back $8.00.

I was lucky to get a seat on the left field side. I was only about nine rows back from the field, so Barry Bonds and Moises Alou weren't too far away. As luck would have it, nobody hit a thing to left field the entire night. Wait, that isn't true. Alou did fly out to Bonds in the first inning, but I think he did that just to keep Bonds on his toes. Otherwise, nothing was hit to left, as evidenced by the following photos of two very bored outfielders...

Matt Cain was the Giants starting pitcher. The kid (he's only 23) is my favorite pitcher on the team. He had a rough outing in his previous start, so I was rooting for him to rebound. Unfortunately, he ran into trouble straightaway.

Jose Reyes led off the game with would have been a triple if not for the fortuitous bounce the ball took over the center field wall to make it a ground rule double. David Wright followed with a double that scored Reyes. Then Carlos Beltran hit a double, which scored Wright.

By the way, if you remember this post, then you know of my affinity for the first two men in the Mets' lineup. I'll admit that I was secretly hoping they would do well. By doing well, I mean I hoped they would reach base, but wouldn't actually cross home plate. They did better than I had hoped and three Mets crossed home plate; the third scoring on Alou's sacrifice fly to Bonds.

The Giants responded promptly with an out, a single, a caught stealing, and another out. Tom Glavine was pitching for the Mets. At the beginning of the game, he was seven games away from his 300th win. By the end, he was six games away. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In the second inning, Cain gave up a single to Paul Lo Duca, who would go on to single two more times before the night was done. Cain got the next two men out, but gave up a sweet triple to Jose Reyes that scored Lo Duca.

After that run, Matt Cain shut the Mets down for the next five innings. He ran into a little bit of trouble in the sixth by loading the bases with two outs, but he somehow managed to get Reyes to fly out to center field before any damage was done.

The only Giants run came in the fifth inning. After Rich Aurilia grounded out to second, Bonds came up and promptly launched a solo home run over the center field wall for No. 745. My camera wasn't ready to catch the actual home run, so I settled for taking a photo of the sign of the leader board in center field.

That made the score 4 to 1 in favor of New York and that's the way it would end. Both Cain and Glavine would pitch seven innings. Kevin Correia pitched two perfect innings for the Giants, while Pedro Feliciano held the Giants scoreless in the eighth and Billy Wagner got the save in the ninth by striking out Pedro Feliz to end the game.

The most valuable player of the game was New York's Jose Reyes. He doubled, tripled, scored a run, and drove in a run. The least valuable player was San Francisco's Todd Linden. He struck out all three times he batted.

As I left the park, I took one last photo for memory's sake...

For fun, I tried my hand at scorekeeping last night. It's the first time I've ever successfully scored an entire game. It isn't perfect by any means, but I'm pretty proud of my attempt. My happiest moment came in the third inning when a late-arriving Mets fan took a seat next to me and asked for a game update. I was able to give him a quick recap with the help of my scorecard. Here it is...