Mets 5 Blue Jays 0 in Home Opener at Citi Field

 

Our 20-game package included Opening Day at Citi Field.  Before the game Ed Kranepool who passed away last September was honored.  The players will wear a patch with Ed's #7 on their uniforms this season.  Al Leiter & John Franco, teammates of the  2000 NL Pennant-winning Mets and Bartolo Colón & Juan Lagares, teammates of the 2015 NL Pennant-winning Mets, each threw out the first pitch today.

Francisco Lindor led off the game with a double after the sell-out crowd serenaded him with My Girl recorded initially by the Temptations  Two batters later Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer.  The Mets rallied for three runs in the 6th inning with doubles by Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo.

Tylor Megill pitched 5 1/3 innings of shutout baseball and was relieved by Reed Garrett, A.J. Minter, and Max Kranick who shut the door on the Blue Jays.

Box Score

There is a Johnny Tillotson - Bob Dylan Connection with Blowin' in the Wind

 Sadly many of the artists of the golden oldies era have passed away.  Yesterday we heard of the passing of Johnny Tillotson at age 86.  Most of his hits including Poetry in Motion and Talk Back Trembling Hits charted in the early 1960s.  Leave it to me to find a connection to Bob Dylan as Johnny covered Blowin' in the Wind.

April Fools Day With Bob Dylan

 Mike Riccio, the moderator of the Oldies Message Board compiled a list of the Top 20 "Fool" songs based on the weekly Billboard  Hot 100 lists through 1990:

1. "Everybody's Somebody's Fool," Connie Francis (1960)
2. "Poor Little Fool," Ricky Nelson (1958)
3. "What a Fool Believes," Doobie Brothers (1979)
4. "Foolish Beat," Debbie Gibson (1988)
5. "Chain of Fools," Aretha Franklin (1968)
6. "Fooled Around and Fell in Love," Elvin Bishop (1976)
7. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," the Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon (1956)
8. "Fool #1," Brenda Lee (1961)
9. "(Now and Then) There's a Fool Such as I," Elvis Presley (1959)
10. "Everybody Plays the Fool," Main Ingredient (1972)
11. "The Fool," Sanford Clark (1956)
12. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," Diana Ross (1981)
13. "Foolish Little Girl," the Shirelles (1963)
14. "She's a Fool," Lesley Gore (1963)
15. "The Fool on the Hill," Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (1968)
16. "(Fool) If You Think It's Over," Chris Rea (1978)
17. "Nobody's Fool," Kenny Loggins (1988)
18. "Kissing a Fool," George Michael (1988)
19. "What Kind of Fool," Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb (1981)
20. "Fools Rush In," Rick Nelson (1963)

Bob Dylan covered Elvis Presly's (Now and Then) There's a Fool Such as I on the Basement Tapes.

Lee and I Saw Hell's Kitchen on Broadway

 

It was a family tradition to see a Broadway show on our birthdays.  This year Lee wanted to see  Hell's Kitchen.  It is a jukebox musical built on the music and lyrics of Alicia Keys, with a semi-autobiographical plot about her upbringing in Manhattan in the 1990s.  The play is best described in its Wikipedia entry.

We enjoyed the music and the dancing in the show.  Afterward, we stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, but as usual, it was very busy.  Instead we ate dinner at Applebees.

NYC Casey Stengel Chapter of SABR meeting in Midtown Manhattan

 

For the years (excluding the pandemic years) I have been involved with SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) there has been an annual meeting at NYPL or the Scandinavia House in midtown Manhattan.

There were two panel discussions:

• The Pulse of New York Baseball: Present and Past featuring:
• Laura Albanese - writer for Long Island Newsday
• Billy Altman official scorer and former baseball beat writer for the Village Voice
• Anthony McCarron is a freelance writer who has appeared in Baseball Digest and MLB.com. and others

They discussed various issues including analytics and changes in baseball rules over recent years.

• Met Stories I Only Tell My Friends and Other First-Hand Baseball Stories
• Art Shamsky - Member of the 1969 Mets
• Matthew Silverman - author of several baseball books
• Marty Appel - another author of baseball books who was also an executive with the Yankees

Art discussed his recently published book.  I bought a copy that he autographed for me.  The panel discussed the Yankee-Met rivalry including the 2000 World Series.  The panelists concluded that since the Met signed Juan Soto luring him away from the Yankees, the rivalry will heat up again.

Happy 37th Birthday Lee

 

It is hard to believe that Lee is now 37 years old.  Where did all these years go?  Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital.  We will be celebrating tomorrow by seeing the Broadway show Hells Kitchen.

Uniform #37 was retired by the Mets and Yankees to honor Casey Stengel.

Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour Resumed in Tulsa Last Night

 

Here is the full set list from Bill Pagel's Boblinks Page

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa Theater March 25, 2025

1.	All Along the Watchtower (Bob on guitar and baby grand piano)
2.	It Ain't Me, Babe (Bob on guitar and baby grand piano)
3.	I Contain Multitudes (Bob on baby grand piano)
4.	False Prophet (Bob on baby grand piano)
5.	When I Paint My Masterpiece (Bob on baby grand piano and harp, Tony on standup bass)
6.	Black Rider (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
7.	My Own Version Of You (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
8.	To Be Alone With You (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass, Bob Britt on acoustic guitar)
	15 minute break
9.	Crossing the Rubicon (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
10.	Desolation Row (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
11.	Key West (Philosopher Pirate) (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
12.	Watching the River Flow (Bob on baby grand piano)
13.	It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (Bob on baby grand piano, Tony on standup bass)
14.	I've Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You (Bob on baby grand piano and harp, Tony on standup bass)
15.	Mother of Muses (Bob on baby grand piano and brief harp at very beginning, Tony on standup bass)
	band introductions
16.	Goodbye Jimmy Reed (Bob on baby grand piano)
17.	Every Grain of Sand (Bob on baby grand piano and harp)

Thanks to Anne Margaret Daniel, Susan & Al and Jayne Watson for the phone calls
and Dan Krass, Rechi van Lehen and Bill Goodwin for the emails.

Brief Concert Reviews