Mets may blow their last chance.

Today, the Mets beat the Nats with superb pitching by Tim Redding, timely hitting by Jeff Francouer, Daniel Murphy, and David Wright, and a rare--these days--save opportunity made good by Francisco Rodriguez.

Unfortunately, this puts the Mets thirteen games "behind" Washington in the one race the Mets can still win: the race to the bottom of the NL East. This is with thirteen games left to play.

I'm contemplating the bleak prospect of a Yankees-Dodgers World Series. If it happens, I may hold my nose and root for the Yanks, unlike in 1955 and '56.

Old-time country music from the green hills of Brooklyn.

Yesterday afternoon I attended part of the Twelfth Annual Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree, at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. I walked in as a group of musicians, led by a fiddler with an impressive red beard, were jamming under a tent (see clip above).

After that, a smaller group performed under a tree.

Finally, on the lawn nearby, a group that included accordion and autoharp as well as a guitarist and vocalist, did the Carter Family classic, "Will the Circle be Unbroken?" Unfortunately, my memory card reached capacity before the song was over.