Trust Issues

I like baseball adventures. I’ve seen the Mets play in Baltimore in 1997. Miami in 2003. Philadelphia in 2006 and 2007. Cincinnati in 2007. Washington in 2009. Tampa in 2012. Chicago in 2013. Montreal in 2014. I was hoping to see them in Milwaukee this season, but for various reasons, it didn’t work out. And I didn’t have a backup plan for a baseball adventure … at least nothing that would involve travel whether the Mets were involved or not.

So I made Monday night my baseball adventure for the season. It didn’t involve travel in the sense of needing a hotel room or a flight, but I’d say that a 3 hour 50 minute commute which included an hour train ride, an hour and a half of another train ride, and an hour walk brought about because of a lack of cabs and because of “oh, this doesn’t look that far away on Google Maps, I could walk it” counts as a Lewis & Clark type baseball expedition. Two games, one day, and by some stroke of luck … the full 17 and a half innings of the Lowell Lake Monsters, Brooklyn Cyclones, York Revolution and Long Island Ducks.

(With the score of both games ending up 5-4 in favor of the home team … spooky.)

On the way to the second game it hit me “You know, the Mets are playing the Nationals, and this time it’s a pretty meaningful series. There’s a little rain in the forecast, maybe I should just forget going to two games in one day and go home and watch the Mets play the Nationals from the comfort of my own home. It hit me in part because of Will Leitch’s great article on why Mets fans aren’t ready to believe quite yet, which is ironic because my answer to it proves Leitch’s point.

“All the team’s pain of the last few years, all the years since the Mets moved to Citi Field (a lovely park that so desperately wants a christening postseason), all of that should be leading up to this moment. This is what fans have been waiting for, right? A pivotal series against a division rival in late July with first place on the line? If the Mets sweep this series — with their three stud starters on the mound — they will be in first place all by themselves. They’re already at 37.1 percent playoff odds to end the fifth-longest postseason drought in the game. This is as good as it has gotten in Flushing for a long, long time.

And everyone’s so miserable!”

I live and die with the Mets. And yet I decided that I was not going to change my life for a supposed “important game” because I knew what would happen. I’d go home, watch the game, and rue my decision not to see the Long Island Ducks so that I could watch the Mets disappoint me again and make me #BeMoreMiserable.

And I was right.

So even though I had a crazy 3:50 commute from one ballpark to the other (Coney Island and Central Islip aren’t as close as you would think two places in the same general area of the world would be), and a cab ride home that I think ended in an assault (I’m assuming), I’m glad I did what I did. The stories from tonight were amazing. The story from tonight’s Mets game was pretty much standard.

Today’s Hate List

Actually, they’re more gripes than hate

1. The Brooklyn Cyclones: Guys, don’t announce over the P.A. that it would be a good idea to visit the Arancini and Pig Guy NYC stands during the game if the stands are empty during the game!

2. The Long Island Ducks: Although I appreciate the fan assistance booth giving me the phone number for a cab company to take me to the airport, perhaps you can recommend a more reputable cab company to the next person that asks. Maybe one with a dispatcher. Or one that sends a driver that can break a 20 without having to resort to quarters … or to taking a passenger for a quick stop at the 7-Eleven to break a bill so he can get exact change. (Yes, these things actually happened. And I’m still happy with my decision to do this.)

3. The Applebee’s off Sunrise Highway: At least the Ducks gave me the phone number to a cab company. The best I got out of you guys was a well meaning “sorry bro.” Maybe have one on standby if one of your actual paying customers gets plastered on your watered down mojitos and can’t take the wheel.

4. The cab company I called on the way to the Ducks game: Responding to “I’m looking for a cab” with “Well did you find it yet” doesn’t really help me. Especially when you tell me “well, there’s an hour wait because of our drivers changing shifts.” Thanks, Don Rickles.

5. Me: Because I could have avoided most of the above nonsense if I had only learned to drive back in high school.

Also:

6. Daniel Murphy: I cannot wait until I can call him “Former Met Daniel Murphy”.