September

Phillies 8 - Mets 2

If Tuesday's game brought home everything that is great about being in a pennant race, yesterday's was the flip side. It hurt to watch Pedro take that kind of beating. It was a disappointing game on a lot of levels. You want more than that when your team has a chance to take the wild card lead.

Welcome to September baseball, where "meaningful games" is more than just a marketing phrase. I'd almost forgotten how you just live and die with each day's game. And I have to admit - even when it really hurts it's still fun. It's fun to be in it, I can only hope that they can hang on for a while.

I've been listening to WFAN this morning. I know it's not good for me, but I can't help it. Where I live in Connecticut, there are few Mets fans. The Yankees and the Red Sox rule around here. I used to work in a place where I actually knew a couple of Met fans, but no longer. Often listening to WFAN and reading some of the blogs is the only contact I have with live Met fans.

Still, the type of Met fan that calls WFAN tends to be a LOT ANGRIER than the few I used to know. Sometimes it gets old, all the negative vibes floating over the airwaves. But I'm a northeastern guy, and there's an odd comfort to unreasonable anger - along with biting sarcasm, it's how I know I'm home. When I'm in different parts of the country for any length of time, I have to fight down an urge to scream "why are you all being so f---cking nice to me?"

It's September, and the passion is back...