July 22, 2011
Through a confluence of events, some of which are being written about in this very journal, I have not enjoyed one of my very favorite summertime traditions in many weeks; that being the televisual feast that is Friday Night Baseball. In fact I have seen very few Mets games at all since the last day of May. But life happens, and I have found that when it does it happens suddenly and compounds quickly until the proverbial snowball becomes a metaphorical avalanche of the mundane.
Fortunately for my loved ones and myself, nothing bad has happened, in fact many good things have – but my attention, as it inevitably does as summer begins, has drifted away from the television and with it the New York Metropolitans.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: Reading about the Baseball”
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May 20, 2011
Happy Friday to you all (and by you all I mean all three of you) and welcome to another pulse-pounding edition of Friday Baseball here on Raising the Apple! In typical NY fashion, as the Mets and Yankees get ready to play the first of two inter-league series this year, the clouds have parted and the sun has come out for the first time in over a week – just in time for this weekend’s series at the House that George Built in the Bronx.
Though it’s not really a Subway Series, they’ve only played one of those – the World Series in 2000, when fans took the subway to both ballparks. If the series is only at Yankee Stadium, then it’s just a Yankee home-stand, no different than if they were playing the Tigers. But, it’s NYC, and the battle for the city’s baseball heart, so it needs a better name than “inter-league play” and Subway Series sounds cool, so just go with it.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: Not Quite a Subway Series”
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April 29, 2011
Hello fellow Mets fans and welcome to another exciting edition of Friday Baseball here on Raising the Apple! This Friday ends a particularly busy week for me work-wise, one that has left me with very little spare time to devote to any of my myriad of hobbies and interests, let alone this journal which has been woefully un-updated as of late.
This recent lack of time and increased focus on work and my familial duties has gotten me thinking about just how I tend to manage my free time and what my energy gets devoted to when I am not working or parenting or husbanding. Fortunately my wife and children are the things I love most in this life, so I always make sure to spend a good deal of time with them, and Kate shares many of my adult interests, such as baseball and certain other cultural touchstones such as books, plays, movies, and television. Thus we get to pursue a lot of our shared interests together, and what remains is the same for most people I suspect: the niche interests of the individual.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball – You Down With OCD?”
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April 22, 2011
Friday has come once more, and with it another weekly installment of Friday Baseball here on Raising the Apple. I’ve been waiting for this weekend since last Sunday afternoon. There’s nothing particularly special about this weekend, no big events to anticipate or any big games from a baseball perspective. It’s a holiday weekend depending on your religious proclivities, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Easter myself. No, I’ve spent all week dreaming of this weekend because I’ve been away in the very windy city of Chicago all week attending a conference, and this weekend is my first opportunity to see my girls in what has felt like no less than an eternity.
Ordinarily I like to travel, seeing new places and having new experiences in them, but this trip was a solitary one and I found myself feeling more acute loneliness than I ever have before. My well documented fear of flying certainly did not help as it bookended the trip with the fear of never seeing my family again, but even my days safe on the ground felt hollow and empty without them.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: There’s No Place Like Home”
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April 15, 2011
Happy Friday to you all! It’s the end of the work-week (well at least my work-week) once more, and with it comes another edition of Friday Baseball here on Raising the Apple. The Mets have been swept at home by the Rockies in a 4 game set that included a traditional doubleheader and are ending their first home-stand of the 2011 season 1-6 while heading into Atlanta tonight with a 5 game losing streak. But all is well, cause, that’s baseball.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: Keep Calm and Carry On”
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April 8, 2011
Step right up and greet the Mets! Bring your kiddies, bring your wife, guaranteed to have the time of your life! Because the Mets are really socking the ball, knocking those home-runs over the wall! East-side, west-side, everybody’s coming down – to meet the M-E-T-S Mets of New York Town, of New York Town!
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April 1, 2011
Hello and welcome to another edition of Friday Baseball here on Raising the Apple! Spring should be here, but apparently even God likes to play April Fools jokes. I woke up this morning to wind and snow out my kitchen window and all desire to play a prank of my own went right out of me. It appears we dodged the nor’easter our local forecasters all claimed to be heading our way, but 36 degrees and snowing is not how I pictured this day. I’ve been threatening to run screaming through the streets naked if it snowed one more time, and I might actually do it. It’s been a long winter and after finally getting the grass back after months of nothing but snow only to have it taken away again is just a bridge too far.
My hopes were raised a few days ago when the Mets played their last Spring Training game. Most of the starters came out in the third after getting a couple of at-bats, which worked for me since I was taking advantage of the final day of my MLB.TV preview to watch the first hour of the game during my lunch break. The temperature hit 55 degrees and I was able to crack open my window and put my feet up on my desk while I ate my PB&J. It was a good day to take one last trip virtual trip to Florida, even for only an hour.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: Waiting for This Year”
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March 25, 2011
Happy Friday afternoon to you all, it’s time for another edition of Friday Baseball here on Raising the Apple. We’re heading into the final week of Spring Training, the time when rosters are set, lineups are tested, and everyone from the fans to the players are sick and tired of exhibition games and ready for the season to just start already. I’ll miss the palm trees and the laid back nature of Spring Training, but I’d be pleased as punch if the season started today. This Spring felt longer than usual for Mets fans, at least it did for me, and I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve all been holding our collective breaths and waiting for something, but what – I can’t quite put my finger on.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: The Spring of our Discontent”
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March 18, 2011
Welcome to Friday Baseball, the first in a regular feature I plan on doing here on Raising the Apple. Sunday will always be my favorite day to watch a ballgame, especially out at the ballpark, but Friday Night Baseball has always had a special place in my heart. Fridays have a kind of magic to them, especially to us work-week-rank-and-file Americans. Being a great lover of tradition and ritual myself, I have had several concerning Fridays over the years.
Click here to read the rest of: “Friday Baseball: Just what the Doctor Ordered”
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