Hey There:
Timmy and I got to go to the Met game on Friday night. It had the makings of one of those games you'll be talking about for years.
It was the first game since the pandemic that stadium capacity was increased to 90%, so the place was packed. Jacob deGrom was starting, so we were almost guaranteed to see something magical.
Sure enough, deGrom was amazing. 6 innings, 1 hit (which was erased when the hitter, Wil Meyers was thrown out stealing 2nd) 10 strikeouts No runs Zero.
The man is pitching to a 0.56 ERA. For those of you not familiar with baseball, that's an unheard of statistic.
The night was almost perfect, actually it was great, but not perfect.
For one thing, deGrom left the game after 6 because his elbow was bothering him. That's enough to make my stomach turn.
For another, the lines at the concession stands were unbelievably long. Because they don't take cash anymore, there weren't any walking vendors selling food or drinks, you had to go to the concession stands. Tim and I got there early enough that we didn't have to wait on a line to get our initial food. But the mid game pretzel, the late inning ice cream, and since deGrom was pulled, the consolation beer* was out of the question. You'd miss at least 2 innings if you went to get food.
The other issue I had was the guy sitting next to me.
He and his wife were there. It was bad enough he felt the need to chat me up after every play, but every time the Mets got a hit, or Jake struck someone out, he felt the need to slap me on the shoulder.
His wife, who sounded like Mrs. Roper from Three's Company, kept saying "Just leave him alone, he's watching the game with his boy". But she was just making it worse, the more she told him to stop, the more he was determined to chat me up.
I gave him a high 5 after one play, but when he tried to give me a hug after deGrom's two RBI single, I drew the line. "Dude, really? I asked.
"What? C'mon!"
Remember on the Sopranos, whenever someone would say "What? We're just breaking balls!"? Go back and look at the clips. Anytime that sentence was spoken, the speaker ended up either dead or close to it a few minutes later. That's what this guy reminded me of. And since I didn't have Paulie Walnuts or Silvio Dante near me, I just had to grin and bear it.
Fortunately, Karl (the Ace) Ludwig and (Razor) Ray McGarvey, with Trish and Maureen respectively, were sitting a level down from us, so Tim and I headed down to them. We got to see Edwin Diaz close it out, and then the 6 of us took the 7 train back to Woodside. We grabbed the 10:53 Long Beach train and called it a night.
But for all my kvetching, it was awesome to see the stadium packed and hear it rocking. And to see Jacob deGrom, who is a once in a generation pitcher in person is a thrill.
And the more of y'all that get vaccinated, the more good things we can all enjoy.
POLITICS: NYC Mayor's Race
Since I moved out to the burbs 11 years ago, I don't get to vote in the mayor's race anymore. It's a good thing too, because it looks awfully confusing to me.
Apparently you don't merely vote for who you want as mayor as much as you rank your choices. Here's how it works for choosing the Democratic Mayoral nominee according to the NY Times...
Think of ranked-choice voting as voting in rounds: If a single candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes in the first round, then he or she wins, and that’s the end of the race.
If no one exceeds 50 percent of votes in the first round, the candidate in last place is eliminated, and all other candidates move on to the next round. All the votes for the eliminated candidate will be reallocated to whichever candidate those voters ranked second, and then the votes are retabulated. Then the candidate in last place after that will be eliminated.
In New York’s primary, these rounds of elimination will continue until there are two candidates left — even if a candidate collects more than 50 percent of votes before the very end. The candidate with the most votes in the final round wins. In each round, when a candidate gets eliminated, his or her votes get redistributed to whoever was ranked next on the ballot.
I don't get it. Are we looking to put someone in City Hall or Cooperstown? I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just not sure what the point is. I understood mail in voting and early voting for President because we were trying to protect people from COVID-19, but I'm trying to figure out what the purpose here is.
Seriously, this sounds more like how they vote for the Cy Young Award. To that end, why don't we just eliminate the middle man and make Jacob deGrom the Mayor of NYC? I don't even think Yankee fans would have a problem with that.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES- Help Wanted in New Orleans
Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in New Orleans is so hard up for hard on specialists, that they are offering $1,000 sign on bonuses for strippers to return to the Bourbon Street jiggle joint. The incentive is also open to those looking to make a career change.
“We look forward to reverting back to a seven-day per week operation, just as we were prior to COVID,” said Ann Kesler, General Manager of Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club New Orleans. “In order to do so, we need to ensure that we have an ample number of entertainers to sustain our guests, which is why we are implementing a signing incentive to both local and out of state entertainers.”-WAFB Channel 9 New Orleans.
There is this notion going around that folks don't want to go back to work because the money they are collecting on unemployment is too good to give up. On the flip side, the argument is that companies have to offer a wage that will make it worthwhile for people to return to work. It's just another thing for all of us to argue about, which we all need like we need a hole in our heads.
So I say kudos to the Hustler Club for this aggressive and out of the box approach to reducing unemployment in America. Other companies might want to consider it.
I’m watching the Westminster Dog Show as we are about to publish. They are having it up in Westchester this year. They usually have it at the Garden. Don’t see why they couldn’t have it there this year, the Rangers and Knicks aren’t using it right?
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On a sad note, please take a minute to say a prayer or give a good thought to my big brother Ed (Auggie) DePuy and his family, whose mom, Patsy DePuy passed away this week. Thank you
Stay Safe
and Have a Great Week
*I wouldn't have had a beer even if the lines were short since I drove to the Oceanside Train Station.
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