Misery Loves Company: Two Guys Watch Baseball

Games 112-117 - Mets

Mets 10, Astros 1
Astros 11, Mets 1
Mets 5, Astros 4
Mets 3, Diamondbacks 1
Diamondbacks 2, Mets 1
Diamondbacks 7, Mets 4
Record: 48-69

Much like Mr. Russell, I was neck-deep in nothing remotely connected to the New York Mets: sunny skies, warm ocean waters, and cold beers, without the sunny & warm parts. Hung over SportsCenter recaps of wins and losses (equally proportioned, for once) were the unnecessary updates to the season. Discussions with the one other Mets fan at the beach ranged from cynical to hopeful and took potshots and solace intermittently. Unfortunately, a lame duck season is only worthy when it offers something new and different, something to carry over to the next spring, and while there appears to be much to build upon for the next campaign, it's still not all that gratifying when you look across the aisle at a team in the running for this year's prize.

Of course, that team is the Red Sox, who seem to be playing as if they want no part of the pennant race. The grass is always greener, Boston batsmen, and what looks like a leisurely, relaxed August and September void of the pressure and inevitable misery of the stretch run is really a tedious, monotonous, flat-out boring two-month exercise of reading other people's box scores. Don't peer over here longingly; don't even cast a sidewards glance as you pause to catch your breath. Keep chugging ahead for fear of the doldrums that lie beneath you.