Yo La Tengo – A Mets Tragedy

How come Armstrong and Aldrin could walk on the moon but the Mets cannot collaborate on a simple popup to short left field? Fortunately, the Mets were in Montreal that weekend in 1969, and could not botch up the lunar landing.

Fully knowing what would happen,
I, Tiresias, weary prophet
Stayed up late
To watch.
 
Jacob DeGrom,
Latter-day Sisyphus,
Pushed rock up hill,
Expertly, seven innings.
 
Did he know?
Probably.
No runs.
No runs, ever.
The human condition.
 
I loved the glimpses of The City.
Cable car. Bridge. Bay.
The color orange.
Blankets. Parkas.
I almost never miss anything
from my former life.
But last night I felt a twinge:
“I used to go there.”
 
Beyond my bedtime,
I waited for the inevitable.
And there it was.
Left fielder and shortstop,
Back to 1962.
 
Only one person I could count on being up.
I texted my friend Wakefield
In the Bay Area
Who pitched for the Mets in 1964.
Studied Casey.
Stanford guy.
Probably took a course
In Greek myths.
 
Was he there last night?
“Left field,” he texted back,
Citing the legend of 1962,
"Yo La Tengo,"
When original Mets
Botched a similar play
With similar results.
 
By now,
We have seen it all.
Old fans.
Old writers.
Old players.
But still we watch.
What does it say
About us?
                             *     *      *
The legend of Yo La Tengo:
http://phillysportshistory.com/2011/05/21/richie-ashburn-is-the-inspiration-for-the-band-name-yo-la-tengo/
 
Tiresias: I refer to The Waste Land:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land
 
Bill Wakefield’s Baseball Stats:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/wakefbi01.shtml
 
Very nice article by Deesha Thosar in NY Daily New:
https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-jacob-degrom-dom-smith-20190720-36oevoexyfd3vb4r4fldva3yby-story.html