Safe at Home with Mr. Met, by nycmikewp at flickr A baseball fan was arrested and charged with criminal trespass, disorderly conduct and harassment after making a regrettable scene at last Saturday's game against the Dodgers at Shea Stadium. 32-year-old Christian Hansen was reportedly inebriated and pushing children out of the way to get some face time with Mr. Met, the team's mascot whose costume head is an enormous smiling baseball. Hansen allegedly began......

Photograph of Joe Torre and Willie Randolph greeting each other before a game in Port St. Lucie, FL, by Nati Harnik/AP Okay, Mets manager Willie Randolph hasn't been in pinstripes for a while, but this photograph of him saying hi to new Dodgers manager Joe Torre just seems like something from the bizarro world - not that there's anything wrong with that! Randolph, who was a Yankees coach under Torre, said, "It was a......

Everything's coming up rosé on Staten Island: on the heels of the new aquarium unveiling in the ferry terminal, plans for the island’s first vineyard are coming into focus. Borough President James Molinaro (pictured, right) has pledged $2 million for the project, which will establish a 2 acre vineyard and demonstration winery at the Staten Island Botanical Garden. The organic vineyard will yield its first wine about four years from now; it’s the brain-child of......

Johnny Podres died last night in a hospital in upstate New York at the age of 75. He'd been suffering from serious medical problems for some time. In 1955, Podres ensured himself a place in Brooklyn and baseball history as a young left-hander who pitched the Dodgers to their only World Series Championship while in Brooklyn, and he did it against the hated Yankees. Ask someone real quick, "Who was the World Series MVP in......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: person under a train at 71st St. and 16th Ave. in Brooklyn, a stabbing on 112th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan, and a bank robbery at Ave. of the Americas and West 18th St. in Manhattan. The Times wonders if people will be hoarding pre-rate-increase Metrocards the way token buyers used to stock up before a fare hike. A 17-year-old from Mt. Vernon was being held at Rikers......

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Franklin Ave. and 169th St. in the Bronx, a missing child on West 54th St. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Fulton St. and Red Hook Lane in Brooklyn. Walter O'Malley was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame recently. The former owner of the Dodgers, he infamously moved the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles because the city wouldn't build him a new stadium. Times......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unstable building on 118th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan, a person burned on 130th St. and Park Ave. in Manhattan, and a shooting on Lafayette Ave. in Brooklyn. Maybe it's because we're lifelong NYC baseball fans who think the Dodgers still belong in Brooklyn, but we think Joe Torre looks goofy wearing an LA jersey. Maybe he should lose the tie. Citigroup's Charles Prince is ousted or......

Well, it didn't take long for Joe Torre to find a new job (not that it should have). He's trading The Bronx for Chavez Ravine and "fans" like Rudy Giuliani for Posh Spice. The Post is reporting that the former Yankees manager has agreed in principle to a three-year $14.5 million deal (hopefully there are no performance incentives) to be the next manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He would be replacing Grady Little, who......

Tigers 5, Yankees 4: Joe Torre says the Yankees are "all right," and that's a good description. They're not in great shape, but they're not quite foundering. Phil Hughes allowed three early Tigers home runs -- while going in a pitchers' park -- and the Yankees couldn't make it up against Detroit's bullpen. After the Red Sox swept the White Sox, the Yankees sit 7 1/2 behind Boston in the American League East. That wild......

Mets 4, Dodgers 3: The performance of the Mets bullpen and of Carlos Delgado haven't exactly inspired fear recently, so when Orlando Hernandez pitched deep into the game and Delgado actually hit, things were going pretty well. Hernandez threw for 7 great innings, allowing only 2 runs by the Dodgers and retired 12-straight at one point. Delgado used the game to break out of a 0-19 slump at the plate. Dropped all the way down......

Mets 5 Dodgers 2: Omar has to be smiling about the Oliver Perez trade. Yes, Xavier Nady is a nice outfielder, but Perez is developing into something special. He showed this ability before, in 2004, but after that he was bad enough to get traded away by Pittsburgh. Now, he is averaging almost a strikeout an inning and is second on the Mets with 12 wins. Friday night, Perez pitched seven shutout innings and out-pitched......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on Lincoln Ave. in Brooklyn, a hostage situation on Duane Ct. on Staten Island, and a sexual assault on West 153rd St. and Macombs Pl. in Manhattan. "Live Free or Die Hard" director Len Wiseman is slated to direct a remake of "Escape From New York," with Gerard Butler ("300") assuming the role of Snake Plissken, who was originally played by Kurt Russell. The Bronx......

Rep. Charles Rangel spoke with WNBC newsman Gabe Pressman Friday evening for an interview that will air Sunday morning. He told Pressman that New Yorkers shouldn't favor Giuliani just because he's from their area or showed some type of leadership in the hours and days after 9/11/01. Rangel attributes Giuliani's positive impression as simply the product of filling a vacuum created by an absent-for-hours President Bush. While the Congressman appreciates that temporary performance, he hopes......

Major League Baseball really wants the public to get excited for the post-season, so it has created an Actober promotion, which has the slogan "You're a fan. Act like one!" Actober, which has been up since the All-Star game, is mainly a contest to encourage fans to "create and submit the best original video that reenacts a famous Major League Baseball postseason moment" and fans will vote on their favorite. The three winners will......

Yankees 21, Devil Rays 4: Every Yankee starter had a hit, an RBI and a run scored. The team put up 20 hits in consecutive games for the first time in more than 100 years. It scored 38 runs in less than 24 hours. Shelley Duncan had two home runs .Too bad the Devil Rays and their suspect pitching staff can't stay in the Bronx a little longer. The good news? The Yankees move on......

Devil Rays 14, Yankees 4: Pitchers can go from cruising to losing in a matter of batters. Mike Mussina's propensity to allow home runs makes him especially prone to such reversals of fortunes. He looked good for two innings on Friday but couldn't finish the fifth. Four games at home against the Devil Rays might look like a well-wrapped Christmas present, but with Matt DeSalvo and Kei Igawa scheduled to start both ends of......

Mets 13, Dodgers 9: While Tom Glavine was on the mound attempting to win his 299th career game, the Mets were trying to win their first game against the Dodgers this year. In an trip to Los Angeles earlier this season, the Mets were swept in a three game series. The Mets jumped out to a 6-run lead in the first inning last night and never trailed, but Glavine couldn't keep the Dodgers from scoring......

Mets 5 Reds 2: Oliver Perez made a triumphant return from the disabled list pitching six innings and striking out six while leading the Mets to victory. Perez’s start was just part of the excellent pitching by the Mets as Feliciano, Heilman and Wagner combined for the final three innings while only allowing one baserunner. Jose Reyes was 2-for-3 with a home run and Ramon Castro continued to show what a great backup he is......

Watching the Brooklyn Dodgers documentary on HBO made us dig for some more footage on YouTube. The team had many nicknames, one being the Trolley Dodgers, and their fans were often dependent on the trolley system to get to the games. The above film shows a Brooklyn trolley at 5th Avenue and Flatbush, 5th Avenue and Bergen Street and finally 5th Avenue and 9th Street, with some great shots of the people and area......

If you're itching for some baseball during this season's All-Star break, and hate the Yankees too much to endure a rebroadcast of last night's premiere of The Bronx is Burning, The New York Sun recommends an HBO documentary on the Brooklyn Dodgers that will premiere tomorrow night. "Brooklyn Dodgers: The Ghosts of Flatbush" chronicles a decade of seasons (plus one) for the team and the borough it belonged to, from 1947 to 1957. The......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Broadway in Manhattan, a water search between 19th and 26th Aves. in Queens, and an injured officer on Albany and Clarkson Aves. in Brooklyn. One would think that Albany pols were immune from shame, but Gov. Spitzer wants to make a tour of it, in an attempt to embarrass Joseph Bruno. The latest group to organize against a Wal-Mart invasion in their community: Orthodox Jews.......

Mets 10 Oakland 2: What a difference a week makes, the Mets snapped out of their recent slump and swept Oakland this weekend, finishing them Sunday with an easy win. As usual, Jose Reyes got things going, 3-for-4 with a RBI and a double. Valentin and Gomes added three hits and John Maine pitched seven great innings to send the Mets to the victory. The division lead is now 3-games and a big series......

Yankees 7 Arizona 2: It took 60-something games, but the Yankees are finally playing like everyone thought they would from the beginning. A punishing lineup and solid starting pitching have finally shown up at the same time and the result is an eight-game winning streak. Wednesday, it was Mike Mussina’s turn on the mound and he provided his best game of the year. Moose threw over 100 pitches and made it into the eighth,......

Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 1: The Yankees are rolling, winning seven games in a row and now stand at .500 for the first time since May 9th. The fact that they're only .500 after their win streak shows how awful their record was before. Bobby Abreu extended his hitting streak in the 1st inning with a three-run homer off Brandon Webb, last year's Cy Young winner in the NL. That was all the team needed as......

Dodgers 5, Mets 3: Orlando Hernandez has looked nearly untouchable when healthy this season, but he couldn't mystify the Dodgers in Los Angeles. He allowed five runs -- four earned -- in 5 2/3 innings and the Mets dropped their third straight and seventh in eight games. Their offense can't be blamed for the losses leading up to Monday, but it can take the heat for this one. The Mets struggled against Randy Wolf......

Yankees 13 Pirates 6: It’s official, the Yankees are on fire. Sunday they completed their sweep of the Pirates, bludgeoning them behind two home runs from Alex Rodriguez and a 4-4 day from Bobby Abreu. The win was their sixth in a row and leaves them one game below .500 and 9 ½ back in the division. From the outset, the bats were cooking, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but the......

For the first time ever, the MLB First-Year Player Draft was televised. ESPN2 covered the first round and while they gave it the same treatment that the NFL and NBA drafts get, it is hard to get excited about a bunch of players from high school and college that you have never seen in your life. When all was said and done, 1,453 players were picked and can now all say they were drafted. The......

LAist is experimenting with blogging dates from J-Date, but finds the best men are found offline. Some date vicariously online and that is one reason why porn is big -- really freaking big -- so they ask if they should cover XXX since the heart of it lays in the city's San Fernando Valley. A writer grapples with her food porn photography obsession, another gets censored on Flickr, one gets scooped by the LA......