We are having a wonderful time here in the Bronx which is the home of the New York Yankees. They are not in town this week, so Jerry and I took the 5 train to Grand Central Station where we changed to the 7 that took us to the new Mets ballpark, Citi Field, in Queens. We met my brother and purchased $15 tickets in the upper deck. When we got inside the gate, a man asked to help us locate our seats and said, "Here you can sit in the club level courtesy of the Mets." These seats were in row 16 behind the first base dugout and included "at your seat" food/beverage service (we got our own though) and access to the dining room that is reserved for season ticket holders (didn't go there either).It was a beautiful afternoon, but then any afternoon at the ballpark is great! The weather has cooled from the previous 4 days, and here was a stiff breeze blowing toward right field. In fact, it was blowing hard enough that I had to buy a hat to keep my hair out of my eyes.
This was a great game. The Mets were down 7-0 by the time they came up to bat in the 3rd inning. They ended up winning 9-8 so there was lots of scoring. I have been to hundreds of baseball games and never before have I seen something that occurred in this game. The game was tied in the 8th inning, and the Mets had a runner on first. 
The manager put in the team's best bunter as a pinch hitter to sacrifice the baserunner to second. He fouled the first pitch, then took a ball, then fouled another for what we thought was a 1-2 count. The umpire had called a balk, so the second strike was negated. But that wasn't the unusual part...the manager changed batters to a different pinch hitter which is allowed, but very rarely happens. He inherited the 1-1 count with the runner on second due to the balk. A wild pitch moved him to third, then a sacrifice scored what ended up to be the winning run. My scorecard is a mess...it is much harder to score a National League game with lots of pitching changes, pinch hitters, and double switches that change the pitcher's spot in the line up to somewhere other than last.After the game, we reversed our route and took the 7 train back to Grand Central Station. We walked a few blocks to have dinner at an Irish pub, then found our way to the 5 train headed uptown in Manhattan and into the Bronx.
In the morning before we left for the game, a tree specialist crew had arrived to cut down a large oak tree across the street from Becky's house. We are talking about a very tall tree on a very narrow street with lots of houses, fences, cars, wires to be concerned about. By the time we got back from the game, there was a pile of leafy branches and small limbs in the street, but the main part of the tree was still standing. Becky said Con Ed (utility company) had come in the afternoon, so perhaps work was stopped due to some sort of problem.
The crew returned this morning and finished the job. It kept us entertained for hours. Their skillful precision at roping up the limbs and dropping them only on the existing pile was impressive. Evidently they have a large chipper in Queens that makes mulch, but they didn't finish hauling everything away before work stopped for today. In the evening, a small car pulled up and two guys loaded up the trunk, drove off, and returned twice more to take away firewood. There is never a dull moment in this city!
In the afternoon we walked to a great playground where Leighton had a great time. Riley loved the swing and the slide.
I keep thinking of the Gyo Fujikawa book Oh What a Busy Day!
