Spared, sort of

I was teaching, and so not able to watch live, the sweep in Philly. I was in Seattle, and so not able to watch live, the Phillies sweep at Shea two weeks later. Particularly with the Yankees surging, it was good to be spared the New York press last weekend, but I can't pretend that I didn't check in on the score repeatedly while the Mets were playing the whole time we were gone-- starting from the minute we landed, when I turned on my phone to find that the Phillies had won the first of the weekend. Never the less, its significantly less emotional to keep up with a game on a Treo than it is to watch it live, and so I was spared a good lot of the gut-wrenching that most fans suffered over those three days I spent on the west coast.

Between the travel, the holidays and the teaching, I haven't been able to see many games in the last 10 days. Never the less, the minuscule lead the Mets have carried this week (increased today to 2.5 games, and more importantly to 3 in the loss column) has been nail-biting. Its hard not to be pessimistic, what with the seven-game losing streak against Philadelphia and the mostly lackluster performance in Washington, but I'm managing. I'm buoyed by something Gary Cohen said on a broadcast this weekend-- this team, for all its foibles, has consistently done what needs to be done to keep the lead in the division. I've noticed that too.

There are seven games left in the season, and I plan to attend at least two, possibly more of them, and we bought tickets to the second and third game of the NLDS in the lottery. I'm confident we'll be able to use them.