At last, a perfect baseball day.

Yesterday was a perfect baseball day for me. My Mets took their second straight from the Marlins, and scored 11 runs. Add to this the four they plated in their Saturday shutout of the Fish, and they scored more runs in their last two games than in their previous seven. They're off today before a two game homestand against red-hot Oakland, then immediately back on the road for four games in Pittsburgh and three in Atlanta. My rational mind tells me this schedule doesn't bode well for a continuation of their recent brief period of success, and they're still mired in fourth place in the NL East. Still....

The perfection of the day was completed by my favorite Designated Hitter League team, favorite by virtue of their representing my old home city although they didn't exist when I lived there, the Rays, beating the Astros 5-2. Also, my wife's team, the Red Sox, topped Oakland 7-6. Out of spousal loyalty, but also because I like the team, I root for the Sox whenever they're not playing the Mets or the Rays, and especially whenever they're playing the Yankees. Unlike my law school classmate and friend Richard B., I am a Yankee hater, though I share with him a liking for the Orioles, my third favorite AL East team. The first Major League regular season game I attended, in the summer of 1970 shortly after I first took residence in New York, was a Yanks-O's game won by the Birds on a two-run homer by Boog Powell.

So what, those of you from outside the New York area (and maybe even some of you in it) may be asking, is that odd-looking logo at the head of this post? Well, the "B" is a near, though not exact, copy of the "B" on the cap last worn by the Brooklyn Dodgers. The "C" looks almost as if it could have been lifted from a Chicago Bears cap or helmet, but theirs is more elongated. What it stands for is "Cyclones." This is the cap emblem of the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets' Class A minor league affiliate that plays its home games in lovely MCU Park by the beach in Coney Island. I hope I don't jinx them by noting this, but they're off to a very good start, with an 8-2 record that is best in the New York-Penn League (this is a "short season" league). The Cyclones also won on Sunday, defeating the Aberdeen Iron Birds (an Orioles affiliate whose emblem is a jet fighter) 2-1.


On the subject of minor league action, the above video of sparkling defensive play by the Toledo Mud Hens (my third favorite minor league team name, following the Cyclones' league rivals the Batavia Muckdogs) has been making the rounds, and got to me courtesy of high school classmate Pete Cook. Terrific play by the second baseman and shortstop, but I'm not sure about the call at first. Any opinions?