It feels like too much time in between the time the Mets sprayed champagne in the visitor’s clubhouse at Wrigley and Tuesday night’s first pitch of game 1 of the World Series. I hope the Amazin’s magic doesn’t get lost in the layoff.

Even if there was no schedule rigidity for TV, I guess the earliest the Series could have started was Sunday given it wasn’t until Friday night that KC finished off their series. So you do what Terry’s done and say we could use the time off.

Before it was clear who would come out of the AL, Met fans didn’t seem to be too choosy about their next opponent. I preferred the Royals given the scariness of the Toronto lineup and the advantage that seems to come with a dome but then that stat surfaced on KC’s superiority on making contact vs. plus-94 heat. I actually most feared the Cubs, Cards and Pirates going in. When the Mets made mince meat of the Cubbies like they did, the prevailing theme here in Queens has been “there’s no stopping us.”

There was a little bit of a debate about which way to go with the rotation. I would have preferred to reset – and go back to Jake, Thor, Knight, Matz in that order but it’s not a big deal that Terry’s using the Knight to open things.

I’m happy for Howie who finally got to yell into a live microphone that his Mets won the pennant. I’m also actually happy for Francesa – who is a Yankee fan – but has been a huge believer in what was being built by Omar and then Sandy when the cries of cynics were the loudest. Mike’s been so spot-on so many times about the Mets when he easily could’ve gone sour or distant on them – especially against the backdrop of the switch to WOR and the corresponding difficulty of getting Met players to come on the air with him.

A lot of people from outside New York have asked me what the city’s been like during this great Met run. It’s actually not that crazy given the way this place works. It’s so busy and so diverse and people are just trying to get to where they’re going and then back home. I mean, my day-to-day has been fun because people I interact with know I like the Mets and so there’s been a lot of congratulating and discussion of the previous game’s highlights. The Utley takeout of Ruben got things really wound up in the papers and Murph’s theatrics have kept things spooled really tight.

I don’t have cable so I mainly listened in bed and went to the bar for a couple of the games. The Series is on free TV so that’s good. I’ll be in Lexington, KY for the three home games but will watch with Cardinal fan Jeff D. No prediction on outcome but Met fans have great faith in the rotation.

-The announced attendance at Madison Square Garden for Sunday night’s Flames/Rangers game was 18,006 which is what they say it is for every game. I went with double-L and sat up in section 417 in the last row of the blue seats. It was the quietist “sellout” crowd I’ve ever been in. You could hear a pin drop for the entire first period and a half of the contest. Our view of the near net (the one the Rangers shot at in the first and third periods) was blocked by fans of normal height seated in front of us. A TV monitor bolted to the support beam/flooring for the sky bridge above us showed the game broadcast but the feed was about a second and a half behind the live action which made it an unhelpful visual aid. I got the tickets via the team’s resale site. No mention was made of the obstructed view. It probably should be. The seats cost about quadruple what you’d pay for a similar seat at an Islanders game. Sixteen ounce plastic cups of beer were $11.50. I really like Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi and so I was glad to see him blast one home on the end of the ice we could see. Kevin Hayes set up the first Blueshirt score with a dazzling behind the back pass. Former Blackhawk Antti Raanta was solid in net for the Rangers. Hopefully, Raanta plays a lot to spell Hank so he’s fresh and healthy for the Cup run. This team is ridiculously loaded with talent. Mats Zuccarello is a pleasure to watch. He’s back from that frightening injury sustained in the Penguin series last spring when he got hit in the head with a McDonagh slapper. One other small knock on the Garden. Why not just let the escalators run downward after it’s over? The fact you have to walk down a dozen flights of stairs that smell like piss to exit the world’s most famous arena after a one-billion dollar renovation is ridiculous.

-Talk about burying the lead. Today’s front-page Times story about US concerns that Russia is exploring ways to sever and sabotage deep-sea cables critical to world commerce waited until the very end of the piece to drop in this little nugget. “Russia is also building an undersea unmanned drone capable of carrying a small, tactical nuclear weapon to use against harbors or coastal areas, American military and intelligence analysts said.” That’s great. Yeah, we’re gonna lose internet and oh by the way…

I was listening to Laura on WNYU-FM two Friday’s ago and she played a really intriguing tune. Laura does this with regularity. She plays a lot of really cool stuff.

But this song a week ago Friday really grabbed me. When it was over, Laura gave the info. I scribbled it down and quickly bought the digital version of the LP containing the tune. The band is Helen and the name of the record is The Original Faces. Released a few weeks ago by Kranky, Helen is led by Liz Harris who I’ve learned is a versatile artist best known for her work as the musician Grouper.

The Original Faces is an incredible collection of songs. I can’t really make out much of what Harris is singing but the tunes are really beautiful. There’s an emphasis on catchy bass guitar lines and sweet-sounding vocals but the recording deliberately deemphasizes clarity on Harris’ microphone – or perhaps it’s the mix. I don’t know. You can hear the drums and bass clearly but not the vocals. There’s a second female voice on many of the tunes. I’ve read some reviews indicating the second voice is not identified by full name in the liner notes/credits.

It’s a really big sounding record. It’s only 32 minutes long but it’s a hefty serving of lo-fi but somehow lush sound without any hint of production gimmickry. It sounds like it could have been made 30 years ago or more. But it wasn’t. It’s brand new. The song titles reference pretty basic neutral-sounding topics with the exception of “Dying All The Time,” which opens with a peppy drum line and a jammy guitar sound with organ blended in. Harris drones some words I can’t understand until she blurts the song title in a way you can make out.

There’s not a clunker on the entire record. My favorite is “City Breathing” which is really uplifting and hum-able. At the end, horns kick in. Maybe a couple of alto saxophones?

The song Laura played on successive Friday afternoons was “Violet” which is a total rocker. I’d love to see the band live although it’s unclear if Harris intends to take this lineup on the road.

-The construction of several luxury high-rise buildings in Long Island City, Queens is becoming an obscene sight as you pass it these days. The straight-up sky fillers are sprouting up all around Queensboro Plaza and appear poised to join an already-completed cluster of glassy, pricey monstrosities along the river further south of the Plaza. If the wind is blowing right, construction dust blows into your face as you stand waiting to make the N to 7 transfer at Queensboro. There’s zero modesty and no feel or look of worker-class accessibility to what’s being built over large swaths in the heart of LIC. It’s gaudy and actually kind of scary in its scale. It doesn’t fit in the Queens I love. I don’t know. They’re gonna be magnets for rich people who want a view of the city. Who’s overseeing the transformation of LIC? Maybe we should listen to Helen’s “City Breathing” and take a step back. It’s too late I guess. Will these people who occupy these units flood the 7 train? Probably not. They’ll probably take Uber.

-Speaking of the 7 train, I’ve been using the new 7 line station at 34^th Street and 11^th Avenue a lot to access bike share on the west side. Rare is the brand new subway station (first addition in 26 years) and this one is spectacular. The entrance is beautiful with a huge tile mosaic art piece greeting you on the way in. The escalator connecting the upper mezz level with the lower mezz just above the platform is the steepest, longest escalator ride you’ll ever take. My nieces are coming for their maiden NYC visit in January and I’m definitely gonna try to impress them with this crazy escalator. My only beef is that there’s no escalator connecting the lower mezz to the platform but it’s only a single flight of stairs. No longer is 42^nd Street/Times Square the end of the line on the 7. Now, you can take it all the way to Javits, just one avenue block from the Hudson River. There’s not a whole lot of life there yet – and the concern again is that all the stuff that’s being built there appears to be for the wealthy, But for now, it’s a great way to get a bike share bike for the easy launch onto the west side bike trail. It also gets you to the doorstep of Megabus which uses 34^th Street across from Javits as its pick-up/drop-off point. No longer do you have to make the long walk from Penn Station to reach the cheap bus to Philly. Although, I wonder if Megabus gets the boot once the big shooters start occupying their bright and shiny in that part of town. The other aspect that’s cool about this new station is that it seems like a lot of people don’t really know about it yet. It’s always empty getting on and off there, so you feel like you have a little secret subway angle.