A clean sweep

The sweeping view from 222 today included seeing The Chief in the new outfit his mother completed recently. The deeply stained one — worn throughout most of his stretch of 1,280+ consecutive games — has been retired. Finally. Thankfully. No one seemed more grateful than the delightful Debora. Later in the game she assisted a man who tried to catch a Brian McCann foul ball with his forehead rather than the glove on his hand. She's the best!

But who's counting?

A rain delay is as much a part of baseball as overpriced popcorn and obnoxious Mets fans. But it beats playing indoors.

Last night's Braves-Mets game was delayed, not because of rain but the expectation of rain. Apparently, team officials' fear of losing starting pitchers after about three innings or so (with a doubleheader on tap for the next day) caused fans to stare at an empty field for more than an hour after the official start time.

When the rain finally arrived, it stayed much longer than forecasters predicted. Marshall and I stayed a long time too, but not to the end like we would have in days gone by. Family and work responsibilities pulled us away.

The rain delay (of three hours and 43 minutes, but who's counting?) sent the game into the wee hours, ending on a magnificent Freddie Freeman homer in the bottom of the ninth inning (which I viewed from home).

That game-ending swing came a mere eight and a half hours (but who's counting) after Justin Upton's homer popped the leather of my glove in a weather-shortened BP. (Did you see that catch, I mean, poach, MK?)

Now the Braves and Mets will need to wipe the sleep from their eyes and play two more games on the same day this one ended. But through the blurriness, the Braves and their fans will also see a nice seven and a half game lead in the NL East.

But who's counting?