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America's Mayor in action. Cubs fan Chris Hayes fails to compliment Mayor Sayegh on his choice of wardrobe. Very bad form.

Andre Sayegh, mayor of Paterson, N.J., is quite clearly the best mayor in America.

Some thoughts on kickstarting http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/05/21/this-beautiful-game-in-these-challenging-times/http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/05/21/this-beautiful-game-in-these-challenging-times/this beautiful game in these challenging times.

“I know that the Mets are playing in Atlanta. You know how? Because the fans aren't cheering for them.” —Me, age six, grasping the concept of home and away for my parents' amusement, Game One, 1969 NLCS

The Athletic piece offered a welcome window into the Seaver psyche c. 1968, but it saddened me to read Monday's side of the story and be reminded Tom is no longer available for comment.

The oft-talked about, legendarily written about St. John's @ Yale pitchers' duel from 1981, young Ron Darling vs. young Frank Viola, with Roger Angell and Smoky Joe Wood looking on.

Went out to run errands on a Saturday afternoon as the Mets played in Arlington in 2011. Mets were at bat. I'd get out of the car, take care of an errand, get back in, the Mets would still be batting. Repeatedly, all in the same inning, which yielded eight runs en route to a 14-5 rout of the Rangers. One of my better shopping trips.

I sat next to Mrs. Marte at Citi Field last season. This is a shock.

K-Rod misses MLB in general, also eyes a comeback. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/05/k-rod-plans-another-comeback-effort.htmlhttps://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/05/k-rod-plans-another-comeback-effort.html

He's back...with a book to promote. Colon, who has pitched 21 seasons and won 247 games, said his time with the Mets from 2014 to '16 held some of his fondest memories. He highlighted the clubhouse environment and the Mets' young pitching staff, particularly Noah Syndergaard, who anointed him "Big Sexy" -- which became the title of his recently released autobiography. “That Mets team was really something special," he said. "I've played with 10 teams, but with the Mets, the way all those players treated me, how that entire franchise treated me, from the front office to the kitchen staff, it was amazing. And Mets fans are the best. In the beginning, when they laughed at me every time my helmet fell off, at first I felt uncomfortable. But when I saw how much the fans enjoyed it, I asked for a bigger batting helmet so that it would fall more because it was so much fun for them!" He added: "If it was up to me, I would retire with the Mets. I would like my career to end in New York." https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29190477/bartolo-colon-46-yearns-one-more-season-majorshttps://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29190477/bartolo-colon-46-yearns-one-more-season-majors

Art has been released from the hospital.

No exchanges of lineup cards. New baseballs any time a ball is put in play and touched by multiple players. Players wearing masks except while on the field, standing six feet apart during the singing of the national anthem and “God Bless America,” sitting six feet apart in the dugout and, if necessary, even in the stands. These are just some of the proposed protocols in a 67-page document concerning health and safety that Major League Baseball delivered to the Major League Baseball Players Association on Friday night. For the proposals to be enacted, the union must agree to the procedures outlined in the document, making them subject to change. The operations manual for the abbreviated 2020 season, a copy of which was obtained by The Athletic, covers medical and testing protocols for COVID-19, spring training, facility protocols, on-field operations, league operations and transactions, travel, and player and staff education. https://theathletic.com/1818308/2020/05/16/exclusive-mlb-proposes-medical-protocols-to-players-in-67-page-document/https://theathletic.com/1818308/2020/05/16/exclusive-mlb-proposes-medical-protocols-to-players-in-67-page-document/

Art coached for Ron Washington (“Wash”) in Texas after the Mets disaster ended. He was with the Rangers when they made their lone trip to Shea in 2008, ironically the weekend when the Mets held off on firing Willie Randolph, only to off him on the West Coast in the East Coast wee hours directly thereafter.

Bob Watson, top-flight Astro, 73, from kidney disease. Scored baseball's millionth run.

Art Howe in an ICU with COVID-19, but is communicative.

More from the Strokes. Few bands are as synonymous with New York City than The Strokes, who helped launch the rebirth of the city's rock scene nearly 20 years ago. So it's fitting that their new album, The New Abnormal, concludes with “Ode To The Mets,” a mercurial and layered finale of nearly six minutes. But you won't hear frontman Julian Casablancas crooning about the team's bullpen woes or Wilpon mismanagement—in fact, he doesn't mention baseball at all. Like much to do with the team in Queens, it started as a joke. Casablancas, a Manhattan-raised Mets fan—one of his first memories is the team winning the 1986 World Series—attended the 2016 Wild Card game against the Giants at Citi Field with Paul Vassallo, a Strokes guitar technician. After New York lost 3–0 when Jeurys Familia gave up a three-run home run in the ninth inning, Casablancas wrote “Ode To The Mets” while waiting for the 7 train on the platform outside the stadium. But the brutal loss—which, Casablancas claims, didn't hurt much because he was “expecting them to lose the whole time,” though he also proudly recalls waging “psychological warfare” against Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner by heckling him—didn't directly inspire the song. “I did write it on the subway platform of the 7 sadly waiting for the train, but I wasn't really thinking of the game,” he says. https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/05/12/ode-to-the-mets-strokes-julian-casablancas-interviewhttps://www.si.com/mlb/2020/05/12/ode-to-the-mets-strokes-julian-casablancas-interview

https://youtu.be/nc3YzsuAy34https://youtu.be/nc3YzsuAy34

Chad ochoseis wrote: Hey-wait-he-was-on-that-team is, like, our brand, at least as much as "starting pitching" and almost as much as "great big-head mascot." This is something I've often wondered about when I run out of other things to wonder about. Is this true, or does it look that way because we pay more attention to the Mets and because self-flagellation is also part of our brand? I once heard a fellow blogging-type talk about Mets fans' allegedly unique intense interest in their up and coming minor leaguers and thought there's no way we're the only fans who get excited over prospects or let down by youngsters who don't pan out. Same for this sort of thing. We had Bobby Abreu late in his career? Who didn't?

Hi BOB! In recent years I've come to dread the Arizona series from a blogging standpoint, as 9:40 starts in Phoenix are inevitably later than they appear, I can't stay awake and feel grumbly up games during which I nodded off. Here in the post-Jacobs era, I do remember a 9-0 win getaway weekday afternoon win from 2014 that undercut my conclusion that the Mets were totally hopeless, which, frankly, annoyed me because being partially hopeless is akin to being a little bit pregnant. Sometimes you prefer clarity. Last year Callaway was reportedly taking calls (or messages) from Van Wagenen telling him when to remove deGrom. In a world that shattters norms regularly, it wasn't surprising to learn the GM couldn't be bothered with letting a manager manage. Though today is Mother's Day for those who celebrate, Chase gave us a very happy Father's Day in 2018 when Joses Bautista and Reyes, along with firecracker Brandon Nimmo momentarily rescued the Mets from their June swoon with ninth-inning heroics no one saw coming. Sometimes you don't mind clarity being set on its ear.

They showed a splendid “last day of the season” episode from October 7, 1987, last week, featuring the Tigers topping the Jays for the division (while the Twins watched intently for their playoff opponent from their clubhouse) and Reggie Jackson calling it a career at Comiskey, with peeks from all over the majors of players and umps saying goodbye for winter. Really, it could have served as a poignant series finale. This week we saw John Fogerty hosting a profile of Bob Gibson 20 years after his 1.12 season of 1968. However well-intentioned (or aspirationally slick) stuff like that didn't have the same snap as what we remember TWIB fondly for.

They all make compelling points.

1969 1986 NLCS Bartolo's HR Ralph https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/beyond-the-booth-live-snys-gary-keith-and-ron-answer-fan-questions-and-talk-1969-mets/313401198https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/beyond-the-booth-live-snys-gary-keith-and-ron-answer-fan-questions-and-talk-1969-mets/313401198

How many hot dogs will be passed down the row from vendor to customer?

Pete Alonso to appear in expanded version of The Last Dance, according to this totally real promo. https://youtu.be/2i94NiMW_Wohttps://youtu.be/2i94NiMW_Wo