I wake up most days with my mind on Met things that have already happened. Today I woke up with my mind on Met things that have not yet occurred. I woke up this morning and decided I wanted K-Rod as our closer.

Then I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and decided differently.

The only American […]

Ow, this stove is … not particularly hot.

Ow, this stove is … not particularly hot.

During other, long-gone and apparently equally endless offseasons, Bill Veeck used to call up one of his fellow owners and engineer a “dog-and-cat trade” — a swap of generally useless utility infielders or outfield caddies or what in a few more […]

“Josh. What are you doing?”

“I don't know. What are you doing?”

“Protecting oil companies from litigation. They're our client. They don't lose legal protection because they make a lot of money.”

“I can't believe no one ever wrote a folk song about that.”

—Sam and Josh, “In the Shadow of Two Gunmen,” The West Wing

When my mother wanted […]

Since arriving in the middle of October, my authentic Shea Stadium outfield wall brick and I have had a running dialogue. Not necessarily the most scintillating of conversations. It can be like talking to a fraction of a brick wall.

My brick calls me Mack, as in “Hey Mack…” He hasn't bothered to learn my name […]

In the platinum cheap seats, the mood was indeed one of good-natured dislike rather than holy war hatred; bonus points to the Mets fan who intermittently waved a sign referring to their Mr. Damon as JOHNNYCAKES.

—”The Cool of the Evening,” May 22, 2006

One of the things my friend Charlie Hangley says he'll remember about Shea […]