Stuck in Time

This is the front car of the train stuck at 74th street after two tornadoes and a microburst (see what you learn watching weather reports) hit Queens and Brooklyn.  As the weather was wrecking havoc, I couldn’t help but notice the irony.  I never made it to Citi Field on Thursday.  And neither did 1986 … which has seemed to be as far away as 74th street for about three years now.

Considering what happened to other people’s homes and lives on Thursday, a two and a half hour trip that was supposed to be to a ballgame but turned out to be a trip to nowhere doesn’t seem so bad … even when you throw in the 24 hours without working internet. (By the way, the first thing I saw when the cable came back?  Sean Green on the mound.  I immediately threw my cable box out the window and blamed the tornado.)  But that it was my last set of tickets to Citi Field for 2010, there was a small bit of downer.  I mean, yeah the season sucked.  But to prepare to say good-bye for the year and then never get a chance to threw me off.  You prepare to spend nine innings saying good-bye until you realize that all the roads are jammed and you can’t do it … and then all of a sudden your last memory of 2010 is Jon Niese getting crushed by the Marlins … that’s a jolt.

(And before you remind me that I could use the tickets to go to the Brewers series … no I can’t.)

But I think of it this way: If I had gone, the Mets would have lost (Rationalization: pass it on), and Kevin Mitchell would have come to the park to beat me up (concussions in golf is a growing problem, apparently).  It would have been the closest to 1986 that Citi Field has ever seen. 

How do I know all this?  K-Rod texted it to me.

Friday of course was the day we all realized that life is much tougher when your opponents don’t come from Pittsburgh.  Maybe the Braves didn’t bother to drink so much on the trip in, as the other day ESPN personality Colin Cowherdcredited the Mets great home record to the fact that opponents like to drink and screw and take their wives to Tiffany’s while they’re in New York (not necessarily in that order) on his radio show.  Of course that doesn’t explain why the Tigers (Detroit), Rangers (Arlington), and Athletics (Oakland) are a combined 55 games over .500 at home, but who needs variables with this kind of research, right?  (I guess there are bars and beds everywhere.)  Besides, we all know it was the sign stealing.  Right, Charlie?

Or maybe the Braves just don’t drink on holy holidays.