Once upon a time, Ray Kinsella had to turn his corn field into a baseball diamond and travel across the country in search of a reclusive author to reconnect with the memories of his upbringing and come to terms with his late father. Nowadays Yankee fans simply have enter in their credit card information and are well on their way to owning an eighty-dollar tablespoon of dirt from the old stadium in order to do the same. more ›

The Yankees closed Yankee Stadium last night with a star-studded pregame ceremony that ranged from poignant to super cheesy. Dressing up actors as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and other deceased Yankees was ridiculous, but seeing Yogi Berra standing at home plate and wearing his uniform was great. more ›

Tonight, the Yankees will face off against the Cleveland Indians at Yankee Stadium, and many hope the Bronx Bombers can avoid the sweep (and mayflies) and claw their way back to winning this first round of playoff games. Since things are so nerve-wracking, we thought some Yankees fans - and even haters - might be find this Village Voice story funny. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an attempted abduction at Balcolm and Barkley Aves. in the Bronx, loose horses on Tremont Ave. in the Bronx, and a school bus fire at the toll booth plaza of the Throgsneck Bridge in the Bronx.
• Not showing a lot of confidence in the Ivy Leaguers he was cheating money from, Columbia's student-aid head wrote emails to the loan company he held stock in outlining that he needed an "idiot-proof way" to send students to Student Loan Xpress for their educational loans.
• Get ready for Fleet Week. It begins this Wednesday with the Parade of Ships up the Hudson.
• A fascinating story on the development of DUMBO and how the neighborhood came about its name. It was conceived by a group of drunken writers and artists one night as a way to make the area seem unattractive or embarrassing to people looking to buy million-dollar residences there.
• Bernie Williams met chants of "Bernie! Bernie!" as he received an honorary degree and addressed the graduation ceremony at Iona this weekend. Mets Manager Willie Randolph also received an honorary degree and addressed graduating students, but at Fordham, where his own daughter was one of the graduates.
• Edward R. Murrow High School's renowned chess team, dubbed "Kings of New York" and the subject of a recent book, was beaten by a team of middle-schoolers from Williamsburg's I.S. 318 at the Brooklyn High School Chess Championship over the weekend.
• NY1 looks at the changes that have occurred in Red Hook, Brooklyn over the past 15 years, and the murder of a popular school principal that seemed to mark the community's turning point.

Eddy Curry had a very nice offensive game, going 9-17 from the field and adding 11 boards. He still doesn’t play any defense and you have to suspect that a healthy Shaq would have done more damage than 20 points, but a win is a win and this one was a big one. more ›

The Yankees owe a lot of things to Bernie Williams for his great play the past 16 years, but they do not owe him a roster spot for 2007. Bernie can no longer play defense and his offense has eroded to the point that he is only viable against left-handed pitching. more ›

The Yankees needed another pitcher and they got one they knew well. Andy Pettitte is coming back to the Bronx, a move that should make Yankees’ fans very happy. more ›

-Yankees 7, Devil Rays 4: In The Show, they play through the rain. Either that, or it wasn't as bad in the Bronx as it was on Staten Island. In any case, the Yankees came from behind to beat the Devil Rays. No one should be surprised that the Yankees won with an outfield of Kevin Thompson, Bernie Williams and Aaron Guiel, but people should be pleased with Hideki Matsui's upper-deck home run. If he's healthy in the playoffs, the already-potent Yankees lineup becomes even more daunting for the opposiing pitcher. more ›

-Aberdeen 7, Staten Island 2: No harm, no foul for the Class A Yankees, who still lead their division by five games over the Cyclones. more ›

-Phillies 3 Mets 0: For the first time since they went to Philadelphia, the Mets got a good pitching performance. Tom Glavine pitched well, surrendering only three runs over seven innings, but Jon Lieber was better. Lieber held the Mets to only five hits and did not allow a runner past second base as he pitched his first shutout in five years. New York will try and avoid being swept tomorrow afternoon. more ›

-Yankees 5, Blue Jays 1: Bobby Abreu's walk set up a bases-clearing tiebreaking double by Bernie Williams, and the Yankees won the opener against Toronto. Abreu didn't have a hit in his three at-bats, but his patience fits in with the rest of the Yankees lineup and will be an asset for the team, even if he doesn't hit for power. Jaret Wright gave a typical performance. He lasted only five innings and kept the Yankees in the game. It's not worth the $7 million a year he's making, but it's betterr than Sidney Ponson. more ›

-Mets 7, Florida 6: David Wright's three-run homer helped the Mets come back and earn a split of the weekend's four-game series. They won't be tested until the playoffs, but the biggest challenge for the NL East leaders will be readjusting their starting rotation. After Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine, question marks remain. The Mets are fortunate to have a second half and a 12-game lead to make adjustments. more ›

- Yankees 1, Devil Rays 0: What does Jaret Wright have to do to pitch more than 6 innings? Last night against Tampa Bay, Wright's pitch count was only at 91 after the 6th inning, he tied a career-high strikeout total with 10 and only allowed four hits. The Yankee bullpen kept the D-Rays hitless in the next three innings to preserve Wright's 5th victory of the season. The lone Yankee run came on a 2-out RBI by Bernie Williams in the 4th. The Yankees spoiled the Tampa debut of Jae Seo, who 2-hit the Yankees over 7 innings. more ›

- Orioles 6, Mets 3: For the Mets, their 8-game winning streak had to end sometime, and that sometime was last night against the Orioles in a rematch of the 1969 World Series. Alay Soler struggled at the start of the game, but it he pitched well enough to give the Mets a chance for their 9th straight victory. Aaron Heilman blew the save and the Mets chances at victory in the 7th inning when he allowed 4 runs. more ›

- Mets 15, D iamondbacks 2: Pedro Martinez has waited a long time for his sixth win (since April 28), and the Mets didn't want their bullpen to have a chance to blow it. So they scored 15 runs and swept four games from Arizona, who entered the series leading the NL West (they've since dropped to second). The Mets continue to lead the NL East. more ›

-Red Sox 9 Yankees 3: For five innings it seemed like the Yankees might pull off an improbable sweep. They led Boston 3-1 heading into the sixth, but Jaret Wright suddenly lost control of his fastball and Boston jumped all over him and two subsequent relievers to cruise to a 9-3 victory. The loss leaves New York with a ½ game lead in the AL East. more ›

Red Bull New York lost to FC Dallas, 2-1. While the loss was only the 2nd loss of the season for the Red Bulls, they only have one win. The rest of their games all ended in a tie. more ›

The Mets won a 9-8, 16-inning thriller over the Phillies. The official length of the game was 5 hours 22 minutes. The game ended on a home run by Carlos Beltran. Mets fans should rejoice tomorrow as there's no more Lima Time. It will mark the debut of Alay Soler, the team's 9th starting pitcher this season - the team used 8 all of last season. more ›

Billy, it’s Metallica on the phone, they want their song back. Actually, you have bigger problems than a stupid song, you just threw your manager under the bus after blowing a 4-0 lead in the ninth. You were “surprised” to be used in that situation? Don’t you think for $11-million a year Willie Randolph should be able to choose when and how often he uses you? more ›

A four-run Yankee first inning and Randy Johnson starting against them couldn't stop the Mets from a come-from-behind, 7-6 victory over their neighbors in the Bronx Friday. David Wright's two-out single off Mariano Rivera won it in the bottom of the ninth. more ›

Stick a camera in his face and Randy Johnson is the toughest guy on the planet, but if you put him in front of hitters he turns into mush. Johnson was pathetic last night, not only giving up hits, but also walking five batters. Sixteen million dollars sure doesn’t go as far as it used to. more ›

Was the first game of the season an aberration or are the Yankees simply a victim of superior pitching? Does Gary Sheffield need another visit from Barry Bonds’ trainer? These are the questions they face as they look at a 1-3 start after losing last night in Anaheim 4-1. more ›

The Yankees head into the season hoping to capture their 27th World Championship. Once again they have the highest payroll in baseball and once again anything less than total victory will be a failure in the eyes of their bombastic owner. more ›

Yesterday, Billy Wagner, the new Mets closer announced that he was dropping out of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. CC Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians is also stepping aside, which is potentially a bigger problem for the United States than Wagner not playing. The US team now only has 3 starting pitchers - Jake Peavy, Dontrelle Willis and Roger Clemens - potentially a problem considering all the rules on the books. Lucky for the United States, they only have three games in pool play. more ›

Major League Baseball announced the 60-man US World Baseball Classic roster yesterday with several players on the Mets and Yankees named as possible team members. The US list includes Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Al Leiter, and Alex Rodriguez. The Mets have Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner and David Wright on the US players listed. While the 60-person list is a list of players that can play in the tournament, the eventual roster must be trimmed to 30 players the day before tournament play. more ›

The Yankees may have found a new centerfielder, but that doesn’t mean they are saying goodbye to their old one. Bernie Williams has agreed to return to the Bronx for another year and $1.5 million. more ›

Baseball has a wacky transaction system. Yesterday the Yankees offered Bernie Williams arbitration, but only because they knew he would decline it. Why the apparent waste of time? Because without the offer, the Yankees would have lost negotiating rights to Bernie and if Bernie had accepted he would have been in line for a salary near ten million dollars for 2006. So, the Yankees and Bernie have until January 8th to make a deal. Even if they do, Bernie won’t be back as a starter and a certain, hairy, centerfielder may take his place. more ›

It was a season of lows and highs from an 11-19 start to 95 wins and a playoff spot the Yankees gave their fans a story with many twists and turns in 2005. There was the emergence of Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang and the painful decline of Bernie Williams. In the end, the Yankees couldn’t keep the momentum they had built in September going and fell to the Angels in five games. more ›

The Yankees used timely hitting and solid pitching to beat the Angels 3-2 Sunday night knotting their series at two games apiece. The decisive Game Five will be played tonight at 8pm. more ›