One of the Worst Collapses in Baseball History

To make a long story short the Mets lost 12 of their last 17 while the Philadelphia Phillies won 13 out of  17 to win the National League East title.  It is arguable the worst collapse in baseball history.  I arranged my schedule today to be home at 1 PM to be able to watch the entire last game which began with the Florida Marlins scoring 7 runs in the first inning off Tom Glavine.  The final score was Florida 8 Mets 1.  I'll have to root for the Yankees to go all the way.

 

                            

What a pennant race in the National League

I thought the Mets died last night after losing to the Florida Marlins 7-4 putting them one game behind the Phillies with two games to play.  Today the Mets beat Florida 13-0, but the big story was that John Maine was pitching a no-hitter until there were two outs in the eighth inning when an infield hit killed his bid for a no-no.  In 46 years no pitcher for the Mets have ever pitched a no hit game.  The Phillies lost today to the Washington Nationals creating a tie for the NL East lead with one game to go.  Everything rests on what happens tommorow.

                                                    

Gunman Found at St. John's University

From 1990-92 I worked at the libary of St. Johns University.  Today a student on campus was carrying a rifle.  He was apprehended before anybody was injured unlike the tragedy at Virginia Tech last April when 32 people were killed.  For further information, follow the link below.

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_269152217.html

Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan Returns

Last Wednesday was the premier of the second season of Theme Time Radio Hour on XM Radio hosted by Bob Dylan.  I don't have a subscription to XM, but somebody posts the show which I download regularly.  We lsitened to this show during dinner tonight.  The theme of this show is Hello songs.  As you can see from the set list below, Bob picks songs from different genres of music.

• Hello - Sherman Williams Orchestra - (194?)
  
  
• Hello Mary Lou - Ricky Nelson - (1961)
  
  
• Hello It's Me - The Nazz - (1968)
  
  
• Hello Darlin' - Conway Twitty - (1970)
  
  
• Hello Josephine - Luke 'Long Gone' Miles - (196?)
  
  
• I Wanna Say Hello - Pee Wee King - (195?)
  
  
• Hello Mello Baby - The Mardi Gras Loungers - (195?)
  
  
• Hello Trouble - Buck Owens - (1964)
  
  
• Hello, Aloha! How Are You? - The Radiolites - (1926)
  
  
• Hello Walls - Willie Nelson - (1962)
  
  
• Hello Stranger - The Carter Family - (1939)
  
  
• Hello Stranger - Barbara Lewis - (1963)
  
  
• Hello In There - John Prine - (1971)
  
  
• Hello Goodbye - The Beatles - (1967)
  
  

                        

Yom Kippur is over

For many years there was an orthodox synagogue in my part of Flushing since this neighborhood was predominantly Jewish.  As time passed, the Jews either passed on or moved to Florida.  The synagogue building was sold to the adjacent nursing home whose owners are allowing the congregants to use the community room for services.  For about 4 years we have gone to this congregation on the high holy days.  On Yom Kippur I say a memorial prayer for my father.

Finally, the Mets won

The Mets finally broke their 5 game losing streak with an 8-4 victory of the Washington Nationals.  As of this moment the Phillies are tied 1-1 with the St. Louis Cardinals so for now the Mets are 2 games ahead.  It is turning into a race in the AL East with the Red Sox lead falling to 1 1/2 games.  Back at the end of May the Yankees were 21-29 and 14 1/2 games behind the Red Sox.  The next 10 days will be exciting.

Oy Vey, the Mets are losing Ugly

Just when I thought the Mets could just coast into the NL East championship they are on a 4 game losing streak.  They are not just losing, but losing ugly.  At least I didn't go to any of the games that they lost.  The bullpen just can't do anything right.  Tonight, I had to turn off the game after they were losing 12-4 to the lowly Washington Nationals.  They must turn it around fast.

Across the Universe (Movie)

I finally saw a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed today.  The Terrific Three saw the movie Across the Universe which features Beatles songs sung by the cast.  The film is set in the late 1960s when these Beatles songs were first released.  The Beatle's music is timeless and appeals to all ages. There was a cameo of the voice of Cousin Bruce Morrow on the radio.   Lee asked to see it.  Since the movie is in limited release this weekend, we had to go into Manhattan to see it.  Afterward we walked over to the Virgin Music store and bought the soundtrack CD.  After a while we get tired of the College Point Multiplex.

Rosh Hashanah wishes

To all Jewish readers of this blog, I wish a happy and healthy new year.  I wish all others happiness as well.  For an explanation of Rosh Hashanah please see http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday2.htm  for an explanation of the significance of the holiday.

Jeopardy's new season

I think I reported in an early post that I have watch Jeopardy since the Art Fleming days in 1964.  Today was the first show of the 24th season of the Alex Trebek era.  They made some changes in the graphics, but the show goes on.  I hope some of my students in Freshman seminar are reading this.  I told them that this would be the easiest class they will ever take at NJIT.

Freshman Seminar Tomorrow at NJIT

As I start my 16th year at NJIT, I am also teaching a section of Freshman Seminar.  I have done this almost since I began.  It is difficult to keep 18 year olds "entertained" during the class period.  I start out by saying that it will be the easiest class they will ever take, but they get no credit for it.  This year I will only have to teach 6 weeks instead of the usual 10 weeks in other years.  I will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.   Anything is better than babysitting a computer lab.

Tom Glavine wins #303

We headed out to Shea today for likely the lat time this season.  Today's game was the last of our 7-pack.  Tom Glavine retired the first 15 batters while David Wright hit a solo home run with chants of MVP.  He ran into a little trouble in the eighth inning and subsequently was relieved by Aaron Heilmann and Billy Wgner who got the save in the 3-1 victory.

                                                         

Beginning of the new school year

Yesterday, the day after Labor day was the beginning of the school year for everyone it seems.  Just last week things were so slow with the NJIT campus almost deserted.  Starting yesterday the buildings were full of students.  Of course, the busiest place in the library is the computer lab.  Our number one question is why doesn't my account work.  Lee had a tough time the first two days with his school bus.  I really don't want to discuss the details.  Hopefully things will be better for him tomorrow.

76 Pitches

Ok Young Mike, the entry will not be as poignant as the last one.  Although it was a nice day today, I had to stay inside at 1 PM to watch the Mets play the Cincinnati Reds.  Pedro Martinez pitched his first game of the season after recovery from rotator cuff surgery.  After 5 innings and 76 pitches Pedro left the game with the Mets ahead 4-3.  The relief pitching and the hitting came through late in the game as the Mets won 10-4.  If Pedro stays healthy the rest of the way the Mets can go all the way.  Maybe we'll have a repeat of the 1986 World Series with the same result.

                                                          

Cemetery Visits today

It is customary to visit the graves of loved ones before the high holy days in September.  I picked up my mother this morning and went with Karen and Lee to my dad's grave in New Montefiore Cemetery on Long Island.  It is hard to believe that it is 10 years since he passed away.  From there we visited the graves of Karen's mother and grandmother in a nearby cemetery.

On a happier note since Tuesday will be my mother's 88th birthday, we took her out for breakfast at the Scobee Diner in Little Neck on the way home.

I went to the BBC2 web site and there was no listing for Sounds of the Sixties this week.  Oh well.  So I am listening to the Acoustic Cafe on Boomerradio.com for the first time in many months.

 

Random Thoughts of The Day

I was always a fan of specialty programming on the radio.  Somehow I found podcasts of the Lost Lennon Tapes on the web.  I believe that in the late 1980s the show was heard on WNEW-FM.  WCBS-FM is playing the top 500 songs this weekend as voted by the listeners.  This time I voted for Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles which landed at #303 on the survey.  I'm really glad that the executives at CBS radio got rid of the Jack format at 101.1.  Saturday Night Oldies will be on only for 1/2 tonight since WABC is committed to broadcasting Army football.

A little later we will go to see the Bourne Ultimatum at the local multiplex.  At least the wether will be nice this weekend.