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”
Posts: Rants and Raves, Friday Baseball
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”
Posts: Rants and Raves, Friday Baseball
May 11, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011 – Mets 1, Rockies 2
Tuesday, May 10 2011 – Mets 4, Rockies 3
Last night I realized that I was nearing the end of my homebrew supply, and with no cold beer awaiting me at home I picked up my go-to baseball beer, Miller Lite, whilst doing the weekly grocery shopping and eagerly anticipating heading home to watch the Mets take on the Rockies at homer-happy Coors Field. I made it home with a few minutes to spare and while waiting for the game to start I checked my email and threw a few wise-ass comments up on my friend Kim’s facebook page. She too was watching the Mets from her home in Western NY, and she remarked that it would be tough to be a Rockies fan and have to wear all that ugly Barney-purple gear. I agreed and added that all that winning and making the playoffs would be a real bummer too.
Click here to read the rest of: “A Rockie Start”
Posts: Game Journals, From the Couch
May 10, 2011
Sunday, May 8 2011 – Mets 2, Dodgers 4
As I mentioned in the previous post, I spent this past Sunday with my family at Citi Field, our first ballgame as a family and Lily’s first game ever. Both girls were pretty excited, but in all fairness they would be excited to go to prison as long as there was the promise of hot pretzels and cotton candy.
Having Kate and I for parents has predisposed them to the Mets and baseball. It’s on the TV most weekends and Mr. Met and the various Mets logos decorate a number of my t-shirts and hats. They recently picked out some Mets hats of their own and Caelyn still squeezes into a David Wright shirt I bought her two years ago because she loves it so much. They’ll occasionally “watch Mets with Dad” as they call it, but often that watching involves a lot of playing with My Little Ponies and the occasional glance up at the screen when David Wright comes to bat.
Neither of us went into this particular trip to the ballpark with expectations of actually, you know, seeing the game. I didn’t even know that it was Mother’s Day when I bought our tickets. I just chose a free Sunday and a team I’d like to see them play. We arrived to a fairly empty parking lot and for only the second time in my life I parked close to the stadium itself. Even arriving early in the past, earlier than we were on Sunday, I’ve always parked by the Marina, the stadium lots full. The only other time I got a spot this close was on the last day of the 2010 season – my first game with Caelyn.
Click here to read the rest of: “Bring Your Kiddies, Bring Your Wife…”
Posts: Game Journals, From the Ballpark
May 9, 2011
We celebrated Mother’s Day this year by heading down to the ballpark on a gorgeous Spring day with both kids in tow. When I bought the tickets back at the end of March, I wasn’t aware that this particular Sunday fell on Mother’s Day, but it ended up being a happy coincidence. The day also marked Lily’s first game, Caelyn’s second, and our shared first game as a family – now that we are more than reasonably sure that this will be our final family configuration. The mere thought of another baby is enough to send me running to the “V” section of the Yellow Pages.
In the past I had often taken my mother to the game on Mother’s Day, back when I had my Sunday ticket package and even in the few years after that. She’s a Red Sox fan, owing to living in Boston for a brief time as a young nurse in the mid-70′s, and I suspect somewhat in accordance with her contrary nature, living now in a sea of Yankees and Mets fans. But the Mets are not the Yankees and she has always seemed happy to go to the games with me. She’s a much easier game day companion than my father, far more flexible, and doesn’t feel the need to point out every Mets error or strikeout to me as if I somehow missed it, and then remind me that Mets suck.
Click here to read the rest of: “Mother’s Day”
Posts: Personal History
