Wicked good time in Chowdah-town

In order to enjoy a big group dinner, a breakfast that included "Evan's famous french toast" and a day of sightseeing with friends, we headed up to Boston for the weekend.

My old college housemate, Andy, and his wife, Emily, were kind enough to let us stay with them in Cambridge. Thanks guys! I was really impressed by what a fun (and very walkable) town they lived in. I hope they like house guests, because I will definitely have to visit again soon. :)

Our sightseeing day included a great tour of Fenway Park, walking through downtown Boston and checking out Quincy Market area. The Fenway tour was a lot of fun. I enjoyed soaking up all the crazy trivia. For example, did you know that the longest homerun ever hit at Fenway was 502 feet by Ted Williams? It's commemorated with a red seat in Section 42 under the Ford advertisement. Or did you know that there is a "secret" morse code on the left field scoreboard that says "TAY" and "JRY", a memorial to now deceased former owners Thomas A. Yawkey and Jean R. Yawkey?

Next time, I want to really check out all the American Revolution stuff in Boston like sites along the "Freedom Trail", the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the nearby Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Old North Church (One if by land, and two if by sea...) and Paul Revere's house. Looking forward to it already!

Ya Gotta Believe! Let's go Mets!

Today begins the long six month wait until the next NY Mets baseball game. Sniff. Hopefully, football, college basketball and sumo wrestling (?) can distract me until then.

In a game that I woke up at 2:15 am to listen to on the MLB.TV radio feed, the Mets lost to the Florida Marlins 8-1 behind one of the worst starts in Tom Glavine's major league career. The Washington Nationals were no help, losing to the Phillies, thus putting the Mets post-season bid squarely into the "Not Gonna Happen" column. But, on the upside, my parents got to go to the game.

It's amazing how quickly things can change. The Mets spent 147 days in first place this season and led the Phillies by seven games on Sept. 12th! I was sure that we'd be enjoying the NL East division title and the postseason for sure. Even the Baseball Prospectus Postseason Odds calculations had the Mets at a 99.8% chance to make the playoffs on Sept. 13th.

But then, the Mets then went 5-12 while the Phillies went 13-4. Ouch.

You have to hand to the Phillies. Hitting a stretch of 13 wins with only 4 losses is pretty incredible. Using superstitious baseball logic, I can only conclude that the unsavory outcome in the NL East was a direct result of my Mets T-shirt being too old. The good luck that should have come from wearing it has worn off, so I guess need a new one, right? ;)

Here's hoping that the team still includes David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes next season. With that core plus a 2nd baseman, new reliable pitching/bullpen and a few bonus outfielders we'll be set.

M-E-T-S ! Mets! Mets! Mets!