Shake It Up (One Sixty-Two: Day 121)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day One Hundred Twenty-One: Angel Pagan, New York Mets

Sometimes it’s worth driving 22 miles each way just for some pizza and an Italian ice. On a Friday night in August, with summer nearing its twilight, we decided to take the girls to a pair of Staten Island, N.Y., institutions – Denino’s Pizzeria and Ralph’s Ices, located across the street from each other on Port Richmond Avenue. Anyone on the island will tell you that there’s nothing like a pie from Denino’s – the sweet sauce, the fresh cheese, the perfectly textured crust. Many New York City publications list Denino’s as one of the top pizzerias in all five boroughs. And as for Ralph’s, the water ices here taste as close to the genuine fruit as possible, yet they’re sweet enough to fit the bill for the perfect summer dessert.

Over in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park, the hottest dinner-dessert spot in New York City just keeps growing in popularity. The Shake Shack, with its walk-up windows and outdoor seating, regularly features incredibly long lines snaking through the park. In these lines, you’ll find locals and tourists alike who crave a good burger and frozen custard shake. I’ve waited in the line, and I can tell you that the food is worth every minute of the wait. Since so many people agree, the Shake Shack has branched out to locations throughout Manhattan, as well as to a particular baseball stadium in Queens.

When you get to Citi Field, there’s a lot to check out, as the second-year stadium features an impressive array of activities, food venues and standing-room views of the field. But the clear-cut winner for most popular spot in this ballpark is the Shake Shack, located in the concourse out in left-center field. You can stand here and miss at least a third of the game, just waiting for a vanilla shake. Many people do it.

Now under normal circumstances, I would argue that these people are wasting their money. No disrespect to the delicious shakes, but if you’re paying to see a baseball game, shouldn’t you actually watch the game rather than wait in line for food? In 2010, however, there’s a clear counterargument to be made that Citi Field hasn’t actually hosted much genuine baseball of late. The Mets have given their fans a flashback to the dismal days of the late 1970s this summer by falling precipitously out of the pennant race and into the lower levels of their division. The team has had embarrassments on and off the field, and fans are wondering just what direction these Mets are headed.

So, with that in mind, maybe a long wait at the Shake Shack is a smart move right now. When the Mets are on the field, one of the closest players to the Shake Shack is outfielder Angel Pagan, who splits his time between left field and centerfield. While Pagan’s skills are not to be confused with those of his All-Star teammates Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Jose Reyes, Pagan has arguably been the most consistent player in Queens this year. He is hitting just a hair below .300, and he has 10 homers, 30 steals and 40 extra-base hits. He’s been dependable and more than competent for manager Jerry Manuel, and these days at Citi Field that’s enough for a medal.

So watching Angel Pagan has been one true treat for Mets fans this year. Beyond that, though, 2010 is shaping up to be a tough one for the Flushing faithful to swallow. Unless, of course, you’re on line at the Shake Shack. Or, even better, listening to the game in your car while finishing off a Ralph’s Ice. Your team’s fortunes may be melting, but the summer is still here. I’ll take a medium watermelon ice, please. My day is complete.

Sing it, Sister (One Sixty-Two: Day 12)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day Twelve: Octavio Dotel, Pittsburgh Pirates

It was a beautiful Monday night in May, and the family decided to meet up for dinner. My parents drove up from the Jersey Shore, my brother hopped over the bridge from Brooklyn, and Amy, the girls and I hustled over from central Jersey. Our meeting place was one of New York City’s premier pizzerias: Joe & Pat’s of Staten Island.

We devoured the house salad, with its sprinkling of red peppers and its heavy dose of Italian dressing. We congratulated my brother, Eric, on finishing his master’s degree, and showered Katie with praises for her second-grade report card. After the salad, our waitress brought us two large-cheese pies, with their thin crusts, delightfully sweet sauce, and tender cheese. This is the same pizza we would eat with my grandfather when we’d take him out for lunch in his later years. On this night, the pies were gone before we could finish catching up on one another’s lives.

The night was young enough that we could all drive a couple miles north to Ralph’s Ices, where we’d treat ourselves to some delicious fruit ices at one of the oldest Italian ice shops in New York City. I hopped in Eric’s car for the short trip from Joe & Pat’s to Ralph’s. As we talked, I kept waiting for the conversation to turn to baseball – fantasy leagues, Yankees, anything. But on this night, we had so much more to converse about – summer plans, our own writing, the new job a friend has taken in a Brooklyn school, and the upcoming christening of another friend’s daughter.

It felt rich and rewarding, for all of us to spend this time together and for my brother and I to shift our conversation away from baseball for a night. Of course, as the girls neared the ends of their ices, Eric and I finally broke down. We started talking about Pirates reliever Octavio Dotel, and whether we can rely on him for our joint fantasy baseball team. We gave it about a minute of talk and thought, then moved on to something else. Chelsea wanted Eric to see her new tattoo, and Katie wanted to drive back to our house with her grandparents.

It was time to go. The night had been sweet. And while Octavio Dotel might not know it, his current team once had a theme song some 30 years ago: Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family.” The song had a much different context inside the 1979 Pirates locker room than it did for an evening of pizza in 2010. But its overall message – sure, it was just the same.