Mets 7 Astros 4: Not only did Justin Turner hit a three-run home run, he also drove in five runs in the Mets' victory over Houston. That home run was also his first career home run! This was also the Mets' third consecutive series victory. more ›

With some of his current Yankees teammates on hand, Andy Pettitte addressed the media in Florida this afternoon. Pettitte, who previously admitted using Human Growth Hormone in 2002 and again in 2004, apologized to the Yankees, Astros, and his fans for the "embarrassment" he caused. Pettitte said, "I want to apologize to the New York Yankees and Houston Astros organizations, their fans, my teammates and all baseball fans for the embarrassment I have caused them. I also want to tell anyone who is an Andy Pettitte fan that I am sorry." more ›

• Angels 2 Yankees 1 (13 innings): The Yankees had their chances and probably would have won this game if they hadn’t made five errors in it. The biggest were Miguel Cairo’s mishandling of a grounder in the top of the 13th, which resulted in two errors and allowed the Angels to score the go-ahead run. more ›

• Yankees 7 Minnesota 6: The Yankees showed some grit Thursday, overcoming another lousy start from Kei Igawa and a lack of clutch-hitting to get the win. Things looked great in the first couple of innings as New York rebounded from a two-run deficit take a 5-2 lead thanks to home runs from Cano and Cabrera. But, Igawa was awful again, giving the lead back in the fourth by allowing three runs to score with two outs. Igawa may have come with a $46-million price tag, but the Yankees can’t keep sending him out there every fifth day. more ›

With the news that Roger Clemens is returning to the Yankees, reactions from the local media and Yankee fans are generally positive. Clemens made the announcement during the 7th inning of yesterday's 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners. After the singing of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," Bob Sheppard directed the crowd to the owner's box for a special announcement. Only then did the public find out that Clemens would be returning to pitch for the Yankees, "Well, they came and got me out of Texas. I can tell you, it's a privilege to be back. I'll be talking to y'all soon." more ›

Yankees fans can now rejoice, because Roger Clemens is returning to the New York Yankees. The 44-year old right-hander, who last pitched for the Houston Astros last season, announced his plans to the crowd during the 7th inning stretch of today's Yankees-Mariners game (audio from WCBS), "Well, they came and got me out of Texas. I can tell you, it's a privilege to be back. I'll be talking to y'all soon." How surprising was the announcement? When Clemens left his house this morning, his wife knew, but not his children. Clemens, who has come out of retirement several times, last pitched for the Yankees in 2003. While with the Yankees, Clemens won two World Series rings, in 1999 and 2000. Last season, he was 7-6 with a 2.30 ERA in 19 starts with the Astros. more ›

During the Yankees' spring training game against the Cincinnati Reds, Roger Clemens dropped by with his son and they watched Andy Pettitte pitch three scoreless innings. Of course, who could pay attention to Pettitte when the Rocket was around. more ›

Joe Torre opened his press conference this afternoon by saying that he had “just gotten off the phone with George Steinbrenner and he has informed me that I will be the manager in 2007.” So closes one of the more bizarre 48 hours in Yankees’ history. First we heard Joe was gone, then he was coming back, and then no decision had been reached. (And somewhere in there, Giuliani called Steinbrenner to save Torre's job.) Now we know, Torre is returning. more ›

With the U.S. Open behind thanks to two days of rain, plenty of tennis was played on Sunday in Flushing. Andre Agassi's final match, a loss to qualifier Benjamin Becker, drew most of the headlines, but Andy Roddick's resurgence also deserves some attention. He won his third-round match over Fernando Verdasco and will play Becker -- not Agassi -- in the fourth round. Jimmy Connors may have helped the 2003 champion, but only time, and tougher matches, will tell. more ›

- Mets 4, Astros 2: We always thought that Philadelphia fans had the reputation for being the nastiest fans in the sports, but maybe not. Last night, former Astro and current Mets MVP candidate, Carlos Beltran made a game saving catch with two runners on base in the 9th inning and hurt his knee on the fence in the process. While being helped off the field, an audible group of Astros fans were actually booing Beltran. The injury was diagnosed as a bruised knee. John Maine won for the 5th straight time as the Mets reduced their magic number was reduced to 12. more ›

- Yankees 8, Twins 1: Doing well against a potential first round opponent is never a bad thing. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they weren't facing one of the Twins' aces yesterday. Fortunately, it looks like Alex Rodriguez might be coming out of his slump. A-Rod got the Yankees off to a good start with a solo home run in the 2nd inning and later added another solo shot in the 7th. There was even a bases-loaded single in a four-run Yankee fifth inning. It was the 2nd game in a row that Rodriguez had a home run and the first time since July 1st and 2nd, good enough to earn him a curtain call. Corey Lidle pitched six shutout innings for his 3rd win as a Yankee. more ›

-Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4: After playing like they were going to drop their third straight game in Toronto, the Yankees' offense woke up just in time to win Saturday. Chien Ming Wang pitched a decent game, Alex Rodriguez struck out four times, and Mariano Rivera pitched an uneventful ninth inning for the save. Sometimes, Wang must wonder how good he'd be if his defense were even average behind him. Wang struck out only one; he has always relied on getting ground balls turned into outs. If his team's defense ever improved, Wang's success would be even greater. more ›

-Mets 7, Astros 0: As WIllie Randolph's Mets cruise through the second half of the season to the playoffs, pundits will say their postseason success will rest on their pitching. John Maine, part of the deal that sent Kris Benson to Baltimore, threw a four-hit shutout in the Mets' victory over the Astros on Friday. Maine's performance -- on short notice, no less -- will allow for optimistic Mets fans and management to see him in the third or fourth rotation spot come October. But a shutout against the Astros doesn't make a dominant starter, and, as impressive as it was, the Mets should wait to see more. more ›

- Tonight at Shea Stadium (assuming these apocalyptic thunderstorms stop), Good Morning America Weekend Edition anchor Kate Snow will be selling cotton candy to the masses as the Mets face the Astros. Her stint as a vendor is part of GMA's Summer Dream Jobs segment (or something like that) where anchors do various jobs unrelated to reading stuff off a teleprompter. Could they not give her a slightly harder job? When you sell cotton candy, you barely have to walk anywhere, all the kids go right up to you. more ›

-Mets 4 Reds 2: Tom Glavine struggled through 6 and 1/3 innings, but was bailed out by some excellent relief pitching from Chad Bradford and the Mets used three doubles in the tenth to beat Cincinnati. New York now comes home to face the Astros this weekend. more ›

-Mets 7, Blue Jays 4: What are the chances the Mets will reach the playoffs? High, according to Baseball Prospectus? Why? Their offense has been excellent and their pitching has kept up. A year after making the fourth-most outs in the history of baseball, Jose Reyes has proved to be something other than an offensive black hole. Carlos Beltran has come close to earning his paycheck, and everyone knows about David Wright. Steve Trachsel has always been adequate, and that's what he was Sunday. more ›

- For those that like the Yankees (or Tigers for that matter), the Yankees-Tigers tonight will be televised at Bryant Park, in what they are dubbing "Pinstripes in the Park". In addition to the game, former Yankees Goose Gossage and Graig Nettles will be on hand, there will be drawings for free airplane trips, and first 2000 fans will receive a free blanket. "Gates" open at 5:30 and the game starts at 7:05. Unfortunately, no alcohol allowed, but they will be selling "ballpark food". more ›

- Early this morning, Xavier Nady underwent emergency appendectomy surgery and was later put on the 15-day DL by the Mets. Nady's unfortunate situation is good news for Lastings Milledge, arguably the best player in the Mets farm system. Milledge was called up from AAA and will start in tonight's game, playing right field and batting 8th. The 21 year-old Milledge was hitting .291 with 32 runs, 4 home runs, 19 RBI and 32 walks. The young outfielder also had 8 steals and 42 strikeouts in the 50 games with the Norfolk Tides. more ›

In what is becoming a slightly disturbing trend, the United States lost again in the World Baseball Classic. First, they lost to Canada, yesterday, the Americans lost to South Korea, 7-3. South Korea, who is 2-0 in the 2nd round and is unbeaten in the WBC, slugged their way to victory. Hee-Seop Choi teed off for a three-run homer in the 4th inning off of Astros pitcher Dan Wheeler, giving the Koreans a 6-1 lead. South Korea added another run in the 6th and the United States mounted a feeble attempt at a comeback in the 9th. more ›

- The Politicker reports that the D.A. Pennebaker documentary of the Ferrer campaign hasn't been happening for a while, because the crew wasn't "getting a film that was worth doing, as compared with what you just got off of every TV screen." Damn TV! more ›

To add insult to injury, the Braves clinched their 14th straight NL East title last night with their win and Philadelphia's loss to the Mets. Love them or hate them, 14 in a row is a commendable feat. If only the Braves could win more than one World Series in that stretch. more ›

The best the Mets can now do at the end of this series is come to a half game of the Wild Card. With a tough road trip ahead, one has to wonder if this will be the closest they come the rest of the season. While last week's trip west was encouraging, the competition will be harder on the coming trip. Florida, Atlanta and St. Louis all have better winning percentages than the Mets. more ›

Kris Benson threw a season-high 125 pitches for his 7th win of the season. He allowed only 4 hits and 1 walk in 8 innings of work. Benson was aided by #6 hitter Mike Piazza, who was 3-3 with 3 RBI including a two-run a 425-foot home run into the Pepsi Picnic Area in left field. more ›

As if his pitching wasn't enough, Martinez also had a hit and a run scored. Very impressive for someone who just got his first hit since the 1997 season last week. Tempers flared in the hot night when Cliff Floyd was hit by Roy Oswalt in the bottom of the 7th inning. There was jawing, finger pointing, and bench clearing, but no charging, ejections, or retaliation. At least not yet. more ›

Victor Zambrano stuggled at times, loading the bases twice, yet only allowed one run in the situations. Mike Piazza, never known for his ability to throw runners out, bounced a ball off the pitcher's mound into the outfield. Yikes. Fortunately for the Mets, John Franco was no better. Franco, who has quickly become the whipping boy for this series, allowed one run and one hit in only 1/3 of an inning. He picked up the blown save, the loss, and had a little tripping incident. more ›

Clemens was welcomed with a chorus of boos that lasted the whole game, but again pitched well. The 42 year old, and reigning Cy Young award winner, pitched 7 innings, giving up only 2 hits and 1 walk, surrendering no runs and striking out 9. His Mets counterpart, Kaz Ishii, also pitched well. Ishii also went 7 innings and allowed 2 hits, 3 walks and had 5 K's. Control problems, Ishii? Nah. more ›