The Mets aren't collapsing. They are deflating. There's a difference. Time remains to pump them back up. But if they don't get the air back into the balloon, there's no shame attached. I did not dream amid the mess of April, May and June that the Mets would be clinging to the remnants of a […]

Over the summer, I contributed a bit of research to a very exciting project regarding the history of Shea Stadium. I pass along from the people with whom I worked an announcement that might be of some interest to you.

Maritime and Spitfire Pictures, producers of LAST PLAY AT SHEA, a documentary feature based on Billy […]

So for the reasonable price of $10,000, I joined the Shea Stadium Premiere Club. Didn't think I could afford it, but it turns out if you go to a game without buying a pretzel or a soda, your savings mount up rather quickly. Thus, with the extra 10 G's I saved Sunday by buying nothing, […]

… is Joshua, after having two Dashes wrecked by rain and one hijacked by ESPN, finally got to run the bases. Emily and I walked around the warning track with him, marveling at how big Shea is from a player's-eye view. Joshua chugged around the bases (My! Kid! Is! Running! The! Bases! At! Shea!) and […]

Good things about Shea Stadium when you’re absolutely sick of it from having been there all week (and you’re sick while you’re there):

• Jon Niese, who, if he were sold at the concessions, would be the freshest thing in the house.

• Section 36, Row F of Upper Deck which gives you — and this is […]

In April or May, rainouts are shrug-your-shoulders stuff, down payments on an unexpected doubleheader or on-again off-day at a point so much later in the season that the date seems like science fiction. We're gonna play Pittsburgh in … August? Wow, August. Yawn … wonder how we'll be doing then?

A September rainout, though, is […]

“May I help you?”

“Is this where I can buy Mets tickets?”

“Yes it is.”

“Great. I'd like two for Friday night, September 12 against the Braves.”

“We have those.”

“Say, if it rains, can I come anyway?”

“Absolutely.”

“And can I sit and wait for a couple of hours?”

“We encourage it.”

“If there's no realistic chance the game will be played, can […]

Field Level was always aspirational. It was the part of Shea you saw on TV, the part of Shea closest to the Mets, the part of Shea that was listed first when you thought about buying tickets. Beginning in the middle of 1980, it was flaming orange, which gave it cachet (or ca-Shea) to burn.

That […]

And to think it seemed mildly insane to have an off-day after a two-game series. After whatever the hell just happened for the last two nights, we could all use a week listening quietly to whale songs in a warm bath in a dim, candlelit room.

Worry of the moment: What if we make it […]