Vientos has been a great surprise

Speaking of hope for a playoff spot, the Mets started the year stinking bad-bad, but since the All-Star break have been playing pretty good baseball. One of the great stories of the season has been Mark Vientos making the most of his opportunity to play full time. He drew the short straw at the beginning of the season when he got sent down to the minors in favor of Brett Baty. Baty couldn’t put it together, so Vientos got a shot and he’s been playing at a very high level all season long.

Last night’s walk off 2-run HR is just the latest example of his patience, where he forces the pitcher into a long at-bat and then punishes a mistake pitch. I was freaking hyped.

Meaningful September baseball is a great deal of fun.

Caught a 6.5 tennis W

Today’s tennis was downtown on the Arthur Ashe Jr. Courts at Battery Park, named so because that is where the multiple Grand Slam Champion learned to play. It’s a cool piece of tennis history and the courts were surprisingly nice, given that they’re public and in the city. You can never tell what kind of love they’re going to get in the annual budget, but these were in great shape.

We played well and won 6-4, 6-2. I’ve really enjoyed the combo matches this year. There’s only one more week of matches, but we’re still in the hunt for a playoff spot.


Zone 2 life suits me. It’s a workout, for sure, but I don’t feel completely wrung out at the end.

That’s a new look

It’s got to be a challenge to replace a the bottom of a covered porch while preserving the roof and columns.

This building used to be the U.S. Marine Raiders Museum, but they moved in 2005. Given the dicy history of this block, it had probably seen some shit.

The Murlocs – “Loopholes”

One of these bands I ran across on the shirt of a musician in another band I’m watching. It’s been the source of some fun ones.

Cheval Sombre kind of morning

It’s like a cloudy, late-summer beach morning out there, cool and humid with the barest hint of a breeze. This Cheval Sombre record fits exactly.

Bye, Summer

Overcast Labor Day Saturday is a quiet one at the pool.

I’m okay with it.

(thx, Ronan)

5.5 Morning match

I like playing in the 5.5 combo league, where 3.0 and 2.5 players play together. The 2.5 guys are all pretty chill, and they’re new to tennis. There’s no pressure to be on and the matches can be a place to work on different parts of my game.

I didn’t know the zones were in all of the Fitness entries. I guess I really am a Zone 3 man.

Whip

An Acura NSX isn’t the rarest of 90’s sports cars, but we don’t have a lot of them in Richmond.

I didn’t get the antique plate in the photo, but it looked out of place.