To Sweetness! baseball used to be quite foreign
To her this American game might as well be Ecuadoran
But then sometime last year while she was sleeping
Into her dreams Wright, Ike and others came creeping
Soon she was watching the post-game on SNY
The pre-game too with Bobby O, my-oh-my
Last year she took to players who this year are gone
Like Frenchie for one, and she always liked Angel Pagan
Now in Rochester even the spring is cold and quite snowy
So she cooked up an idea -- at first she feared it too doughy --
But some more time in the brain -- her's is hot as an oven --
The idea popped up perfect as if bewitched by a coven
The Mets, spring training, and Florida's Port St. Lucie!
The idea was more than just tasty, why it was downright juicy
Sweetness! called her dad and soon they were flying on jets
To Florida! In March! To cheer on the Mets!
In Fort Lauderdale where they landed the traffic was fierce
And the veil of parking for dinner took an effort to pierce
But just off 1A they found the Cafe Blue Fish
Where natives love their seafood like the Chosen love knish
Later, in Port St Lucie on dear old Route 1
Their choice of Best Western proved an astute one
The room was big enough for two, though not quite a true suite
Two TV's, big beds and fast internet made things complete
Breakfast on Sunday morning should be more than just bread
So Sweetness! and Jake disdained the motel's free spread
And instead headed down to Jensen Beach where they found
Jan's Place where eggs, biscuits and orange juice all wear the crown
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| Half a block from Jan's Place |
They saw surfers and sun tanners but no swimmers, why?
Up by the concession stand flags did flap in the breeze
Red and blue flags, and a sign to read if you please
Red means dangerous swimming and blue means sea pests
What could the latter mean? Surely not the many bikinied breasts
The lifeguard told them the pests were Man-of-War, type Portuguese
And against their hurtful sting there were no good warranties
Jake and Sweetness! had seen some strange seaweed on the shore
And it's a good thing they didn't investigate more
For from the blue balloons these critters use to float
Dangle tentacles that sting "like a bee" -- from the lifeguard a quote
Soon it would be game time so they hurried back to St Lucie
For it was Mets v. the Red Sox! No time to be loosey goosey!
The ticket was a hot one, so their seats were out on the berm
And there were so many Sox fans our duo often did squirm
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| From the Berm Beyond Right Field |
But the game was a good one with home runs galore
Two by the Mets, and Bosox had three, yes that's one more
But Boston's were solos, while Ike's, a two-runner
And when Duda hit the game winner, why it couldn't be funner
So thought our duo until at Duffy's they had dinner
Where they actually met a World Series winner
Ron Darling was there and they both shook his hand
Even in Florida flip-flops old Number 12 looked grand
But the excitement was not over for Sweetness! and Jake
The tuna at Duffy's was good but more was at stake
For next door bowling who else did they see?
Why it's Ike! (Sweetness!'s heart skips a beat) and the tall Pelfrey
This historic night of Sunday seemed like a dream
They stopped on Route 1 to celebrate with ice cream
For Sweetness! the night could be made better by nada
Unless, that is, they had managed to see young Mr. Tajada
The next two days were nice too, in the Florida sunshine
So don't think that these short verses seek anything to malign
Or that Monday and Tuesday were anything worse
It's that Sunday has used all the "epic" verse....
On Monday, early, Jake went to a big time golf course
Seeking the cool of the day for his blood most Norse
It was a lot of money for his game, which is not great
Still he managed to shoot a very fine 98
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| The Ryder Course at PGA Village |
The Mets game on Monday was against the Tigers of Detroit
And our duo got to see Mr. Dickey and his famous knuckle ball
Which danced up to the plate, bringing a chuckle to all
Dinner that night was down in Stuart, a town somewhat strange
For it has a traffic circle, intersected by a track for choo-choo trains
Their hoped-for restaurant was closed on this Monday night
So Jake and Sweetness! ate elsewhere, the food unfortunately slight
Tuesday was started with breakfast down again at Place-de-Jan's
Of her killer orange juice they had become rabid fans
And dinner that night proved a good local thrill
Back down Jensen Beach way at Caps Island Grill
Tween breakfast and dinner was their final Mets game
Though a split-squad affair the fun was the same
They sat four rows from the field, the best seats of the trip
And could even see the relief pitchers adjusting their grip
The Nats won this game four to three
But our duo was not that unhappy
for they didn't have to suffer and see
Oliver Perez pitch up in Kissimmee
The flight home was the usual delayed affair
But this father and daughter just didn't care
And so what if this is doggerel in its rhyme
