For nearly four decades, the AAA affiliate in the Tidewater area of Virginia was part of the New York Mets organization. Known to millions of fans as the Tidewater (then Norfolk) Tides and playing mostly in Norfolk, VA area, the Tides were a baseball mainstay here in Hampton Roads from 1969 – 2007. Starting their journey at Met Park and eventually moving to Harbor Park, the Tides consistently put a quality team on the field that fed the NY Mets parent club. In 2007, the Tides changed teams at the parent level, moving over to the Baltimore Orioles, their current parent club. The Mets went on a decade plus, near cross country journey of AAA Affiliates (New Orleans, Buffalo, Las Vegas) before settling closer to home in Syracuse, NY. The Syracuse Mets have been the AAA Affiliate of the NY Mets since 2019. And last night at Harbor Park, the Syracuse Mets faced the Norfolk Tides at Harbor Park.
It was a hot and humid night at Harbor Park when Rachel arrived around First Pitch of last night’s game. It was equally as hot and humid when Rachel and I left the ballpark several hours later. The humidity was oppressive. I was sweating just sitting in my seat. There was no breeze to speak, just pizza oven heat all around you. Other than that, it was a beautiful night for baseball. It had rained about 3 hours before game time but there were no rain clouds present at Harbor Park when we found our seats just to the left of home plate. Section 203, great view of every play, every pitch, every at bat. Highly recommended.
By the end of the 1st inning, I could tell this game was different. The fans showed up for this game. It was louder than I had remembered from previous games this season. There were kids running around, but not obnoxiously running around bothering fans for foul balls. There were families and first dates and military folks like at a typical Tides game. But the mood was different. In short, I felt like baseball fans were at the game, not just people showing up to a game on a random night. It was awesome, I loved the atmosphere and it made the game a ton more enjoyable for me.
The two clubs kept the game very close early. One or two hits, one or two runners on base were erased without any runs being scored. A Tides home run by CES (Christian Encanarcion-Strand) in the 4th and 2 more in the 5th seemed like enough to secure the win. Rachel and I had a few hot dogs in the concourse area behind the Tides dugout. And I got to check out the cranes and construction and progress of the new casino being built in the former parking lot of the Tides. For the past few Tides seasons, parking and getting to the games has been a sore spot for Tides fans. For me, its no problem because Rachel and I just “Ride The Tide,” the free rail service to and from games. It is way, way better than driving to Harbor Park, attempting to find parking near the stadium, and dealing with the congestion in and around the stadium pre and post game.
Back to and settled into our seats, I watched inning after inning of quality pitching, good defense, a few pitching changes, and before I knew it the bottom of the 9th was calling. The Syracuse Mets, filled with MLB caliber talent and MLB experienced players, scratched 2 runs home before the final out was made. Final score – Tides 3 – Mets 2. Close game, well pitched, both sides played well enough to win. And then the lights went out, the music pumped out of the stadium speakers, and it was time for fireworks.
From start to finish, from the train ride to the park, through the game, the hot dogs, the pitching, the fireworks, and the rail ride home it was an awesome night of baseball. The Mets, in town all week to take on the Tides, used to call Norfolk/Tidewater home – the game was sort of a coming home event of sorts. Our seats in Section 203 never disappoint, there is a full view of Harbor Park from those seats. Heck, I almost caught a foul ball that ricocheted off the facing behind home plate. A step ladder would have helped, perhaps. Great fans last night – super friendly, into the game, no obnoxious foul ball ventures running around, loud when the Tides did well, loud when they won. Overall, it was the best Tides game I have been to in years and another awesome Norfolk baseball experience at Harbor Park, Norfolk, VA, USA.
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