Astros 6 Mets 3

 

It was another Sunday at Citi Field. but the result was typical for this 2026 season.  First inning home runs by Lindor and Soto gave the Mets an early 2-1 lead, but it did not hold up.  They were ahead 3-2 in the 6th inning, but  pinch-hitter LaMonte Wade Jr.'s two-run homer put the Astros ahead for good.

For the first time this season we received bobble head dolls of Mr. Met standing next to the Unisphere.  We arrived at 2:35 PM for a 3:10 PM start and there were still dolls being given out.  Since the bobble heads are only give to the first 15,000, usually people arrive 2 hours before game time and have to wait on line to get their prize.

Game Recap

Ron Parker Formerly of WCBS-FM Passes Away

 

A short biography of Ron Parker may be found at Radioinsight.  I met Ron at a WCBS-FM BBQ in August 2009 in Staten Island.  I also listened to him on SiriusXM, but he worked at many radio stations over the years.

Recorded in 2012, this features Ron Parker as host and includes guest call ins from Herb Oscar Anderson and others.   Lots of aircheck flashbacks included!

Dolly Parton Sings Knockin' On Heaven's Door with Ladysmith Black Mambazo:

 

I never heard this before.

Bruce's Journal Posts Linking Dolly Parton to Bob Dylan

 About an hour ago as I was looking at my phone I saw the sad news hat Dolly Parton passed away at age 80.  There will be many tributes written about her, so I should not repeat what is being said elsewhere.  I just found a YouTube video of Dolly covering Dylan's Don't Think Twice.

Here are two other posts in this journal linking Dolly to Bob:

Dolly Parton talks about Bob Dylan - January 2009

Dolly Parton singing Blowin' In the Wind - January 2020

RIP Dolly

Random Thoughts of the Day - August 25, 2026

 

• A wooden fence was constructed around Whitestone Lanes and its parking lot.  The next step will be to demolish the building.  I assume the apartment building will not be completed for at least two years.
• There is construction underway for apartments in the parking lot of the Bay Terrace Shopping Center.  That neighborhood will be more congested.
• Rookies on the Mets including Carson Benge, Nolan McClean, Zac Thornton, and A.J. Ewing have had promising seasons.  I hope this bodes well for the 2027 season.
• It seems that when I drive around Queens there is always construction going on somewhere.  I guess it is necessary.  We all most cope with inconveniences in our lives.

The Trade of Pete Crow-Armstrong is one of the Worst in Team History

 

The Mets have made some very bad trades in their history.  For example:

• The Tom Seaver Trade
• Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi
• Amos Otis for Joe Foy

The trade of Pete Crow-Armstrong was made July 30, 2021 at the deadline.  The Mets were leading the NL East at that time and were looking for an infield partner for Francisco Lindor. Crow-Armstrong was ranked the #5 Mets prospect at that time. Let's review what happened since then:

• Javier Baez signed for the Detroit Tigers for the 2022 season and beyond making him a 2-month rental for the Mets
• Pete Crow-Armstrong has emerged as a perennial all-star and is even considered as a future Hall of Famer

Statistics for Crow-Armstrong from Baseball-Reference

The Mets received several prospects at the deadline this year.  Time will tell how they will work out.

Beatles Rarity - Sweet Georgia Brown with Tony Sheridan

 

The story of this recording may be found in the Beatles' Bible.  It was recorded on May 24, 1962.  I requested it on Bob Radil's 60s 70s show last night.

For National Radio Day - Turn Your Radio On by Roger McGuinn

 

For many years I have turned my radio on.  I have listened to plenty of AM, FM, and internet radio stations.

I Renewed My New York Mets Ticket Plan for 2027. I guess I am too loyal

 

I guess I have been to loyal of a Mets fan since day 1 in 1962.  I stuck with them through the bad years including the early days of the franchise, the years after the Seaver trade, and the early 1990s.  I also remember 2007 and 2008 when they lost several games in September and missed the playoffs.

For the last few years I purchased a 20 game plan that includes 13 Sundays.  We have been sitting in section 516 which is in the upper deck behind home plate.  I renewed my plan for next season.

There is likely to be a lockout since the collective bargaining agreement will expire after this season.  The owners will insist on a salary cap while the players oppose it.  The question is how long the lockout will last.  The owners learned their lesson in 1994 when a work stoppage in August prevented the playoffs and World Series from occurring.  Hopefully, the labor dispute will be resolved before spring training.

Tommy John Was a Pitcher Not a Surgery

 

Yesterday Tommy John passed away at age 83. He was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 26 seasons between 1963 and 1989. He played for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, California Angels, and Oakland Athletics. He was a four-time MLB All-Star and has the second-most wins (288) of any pitcher since 1900 not in the Hall of Fame.  Obviously, he deserved to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

He is best known for Tommy John Surgery, medically known as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction, a surgical procedure that replaces a torn ligament on the inner side of the elbow with a tendon harvested from elsewhere in the body.  More than 2400 athletes have undergone that procedure since 1974 when Tommy was the first recipient.  In an interview some years ago Tommy said it should really be called Frank Jobe Surgery and named after the doctor who developed it.

Tommy John's career statistics from Baseball-Reference

Michael Fallon's biography of Tommy John from SABR's Bioproject

Mets 4 Nationals 3 with the Jay Buckley Baseball Tour In Attendance

 

Over the years the family has attended 6 Jay Buckley Baseball Tours seeing games all over the country.  There are many entries in this journal documenting our trips.  Today, Tour 20 was at Citi Field to see the Mets play the Nationals.  We stopped by the group sitting in Section 125 and chatted with Jay for a while;

Lee took a photo with Jay

Christian Scott started the game for the Mets and pitched into the 7th inning.  The highlight of the game was Luis Torrens’ 407-foot homer to straightaway center off Jake Irvin (2-7) put the Mets ahead for good in the fourth.  Kodai Senga struck out 2 in the 9th inning to earn his third save.

Box Score

The crazy thing is the Mets' record is 9-3 after the trade deadline.  Maybe they can end the season with a respectable record.

Cunningham Park in Queens

 

On most Saturday mornings Lee and I like to walk around Cunningham Park in eastern Queens.  I found some information about the park:

• Website from the NYC Department of Parks
• History of Cunningham Park
• Wikipedia Entry

Random Thoughts of the Day August 13, 2026

 

• A neighbor who drives the Q44-SBS told me that about 70% of customers don't pay the fair.  People on SBS buses enter through the back doors that allows loading faster to hasten the trips.  But doesn't that defeat the purpose when so much money is lost to the MTA?
• I don't understand why people talk about their medical problems  through social media.  Some even post photos of themselves in hospital beds.These issues should be private.
• I don't know who is worse, the Dylan enthusiasts or the baseball superfans.  Two young ladies who do a Dylan podcast say they enjoyed the film Hearts of Fire.  I think it is just about the worst thing Dylan ever did.  Some of the baseball "nuts" will travel to all ends of the USA to see games over many years.  They often will see two games in a day.  They'll see the Mets in the day and the Brooklyn Cyclones at night.

Patches by Dickey Lee - Random Oldie of the Day

 

Random Thoughts of the Day - August 8, 2026

 

• Last night I had a dream about visiting the University of Rhode Island, where I was a graduate student from 1972-74.  I last visited the campus in 1978.  I still get snail and email from them asking for money.  Why does my dreams bring me into the past?
• Since the trading deadline, the Mets are now 4-0.  Are they going to do what the Red Sox are doing now, by getting hot?  I doubt it.  Nobody says anything about the human side of professional athletes.  Where do a player and his family live after they are traded in the middle of the season and not know how long the team will keep them? Likewise, many players move from the majors to the minors and back several times in a season.
• I still don't know what percentage of hits to this journal are from real people and how many are from bots.

I am Giving Dating Apps One Last Try

 

I have written about my disappointments with dating apps several times in this journal.  After Karen passed away in 2021, I didn't even want to think about dating for at least one year.  I always thought that it would be nice if I found someone, but it was OK if it didn't happen.  All those years ago, my parents brainwashed me so I wouldn't even think of dating a gentile girl.

I did try a Jewish dating site, but nothing worked out.  Many of the matches were from women who lived 200 or more miles away.  You can't travel so far for a first date.  A friend convinced me that if the intention is not marriage or cohabitation, the difference in religion is not that important.  At my age, I don't think I'll remarry.  At first, I thought I should only seek out widows.  Someone else convinced me that I should not be dismissive of divorced women since the mourning process after a divorce may be similar to mourning after a death.

Since Eharmony was rated the #1 dating app for older adults, I decided to sign up with them.  So far, the results have been the same.  There is a chatting relationship that dies out quickly.  Ghosted again.  I'll stick with it until my agreement with them concludes.  I will not renew and am not optimistic right now.

There are more important things in the world.

Is David Stearns Being Fair to the Loyal Fans of the New York Mets?

 It is part of MLB culture that, at the trading deadline, teams not in contention for a playoff spot get rid of players with expiring contracts.  In this way, the losing team gets prospects in exchange.  Here are the moves the Mets made:

Nobody knows how these prospects will work out in the long ron

This obviously created openings in the roster that were filled:

Dedniel Núñez (RHP) – Returning after pitching in the minors on a Tommy John surgery rehab assignment.

Jefry Yan (LHP) – Bullpen reinforcement brought up to fill vacated pitching spots.

Nate Lavender (LHP) – Left-handed reliever called up following bullpen departures.

Chayce McDermott (RHP) – Acquired from the Dodgers in the Ben Rortvedt trade and immediately brought up.

Xzavion Curry (RHP) – Recalled just days after being optioned back to Triple-A

Obviously, the team has been weakened for the rest of the 2026 season.  No team wanted Polanco, Robert, or Senga.  What moves will David Stearns make in the offseason?  With a lockout looming, we don't know waht will happen.

Here We Go Again Miami Marlins 2 Mets 0

 

I think David Stearns should have fired the hitting coaches instead of the manager, since the Mets managed only 5 hits today.  As usual, they could not hit with runners in scoring position as they left the bases loaded in the 7th inning.  Joe Mack homered, Xavier Edwards added an RBI single, and Sandy Alcantara tossed six-plus solid innings for the Marlins, who won the final three games of the four-game series.  Now it is off to Cleveland.

Box Score

Article in the New York Times Summarizing Films by or About Bob Dylan

 

This article, written in December 2024 by New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson provides brief descriptions of films concerning Bob Dylan.  It is written for casual fans, not my Dylan scholar friends.  I was intrigued by this statement by Wilkinson:

"Somehow it’s not the worst movie (referring to Hearts of Fire) from this period, though. Dylan made a cameo as a painter in the 1990 drama “Catchfire” (a movie its director, Dennis Hopper, disowned). But the real stinker is “Masked and Anonymous” (2003), directed by Larry Charles and co-written by Charles and Dylan (under the pseudonym Sergei Petrov, for some reason). Dylan also stars alongside a bizarrely stacked cast. It’s set in a dystopian near-future America ruled by a dictator. Dylan is (yet again) a washed-up musician, this time named Jack Fate, who is bailed out of jail by some cynical entertainment promoters to perform a benefit concert for … America?

It’s very badly crafted, with clunky editing and a ponderous structure, but if you’re itching to hear old 1960s Dylan songs performed in weird new ways, you’re in luck."

Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.