It took the Mets a little more than two weeks, but they've somehow managed to squander a seven-game lead in the National League East. Since September 12th, the lead has slowly gotten smaller and is now zero, zilch, zip, nadda, nil. With three games left in the regular season, the Mets are tied with the Phillies for first in the NL East. The last time the Mets weren't in sole possession of first place......

Mets 7, Marlins 6 (11 innings): A third straight win has pushed thoughts of panic to the back burner. Philadelphia lost, meaning the Mets' lead is 2 1/2. Stranger things have happened, but the Mets have buckled up in the driver's seat in the National League East. Please support David Wright for the MVP award. He put the team ahead in the 11th after another poor performance from the relievers. That bullpen still has to......

Marlins 8, Mets 7 (10 innings): Taking a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth against the Marlins should be no problem right? Not when Billy Wagner is mysteriously absent -- the Mets later said he was having back spasms -- and his replacements are the not-so-capable Pedro Feliciano and the highly inflammable Jorge Sosa. They combined to cough up the lead in the bottom of the ninth, ruining a dramatic comeback posted by......

Phillies 5, Mets 3: After every one of these crushing losses, the Mets must thank someone that the Phillies don't play as well against the rest of the league as they do against New York. Pedro Martinez's six-inning, nine-strikeout performance was a distant memory when Carlos Beltran's field trip misplay turned what should have been an inning-ending lineout into a two-run triple. With the win -- the seventh straight against the Mets -- the Phillies......

Yankees 12, Mariners 3: Chien-Ming Wang doesn't deserve the American League Cy Young award, but he should get some lower votes. In a game the Yankees needed to win to keep their wild-card lead, Wang pitched 7 1/3 innings and kept the Mariners under wraps. That came as a welcome development after the Yankees learned that Roger Clemens will need a cortisone shot in his pitching elbow. Why was he out there Monday anyway? Horacio......

Tigers 16, Yankees 0: Needing a win to salvage a split in Detroit, the Yankees instead got a beating and left having lost three of the four games to the Tigers. Boston awaits New York for a three-game series that starts Tuesday, and the Yankees can't be blamed if they feel a sense of urgency. Mike Mussina has felt that way for a while now. The results, including Monday's performance against Detroit, haven't been pretty.......

Reds 8, Mets 4: Double, bunt single, walk, grand slam. That's how this game started for John Maine, and the Mets never recovered. The Reds needed four batters to score four runs. The Mets took all nine innings. With the Braves' win over the Pirates, the Mets' National League East lead has dwindled to 1 1/2 games. That said, there's no shame to losing to the Reds with Aaron Harang on the mound. Dumping one......

Yankees 12, Angels 0: While the Yankees take three days off, they'll have pleasant thoughts about a rare laugher against the nemesis Angels. Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano all hit three-run homers off Ervin Santana, one player involved in last winter's trade rumors surrounding Rodriguez. Despite winning five of seven, the Yanks enter the break under .500 for the first time since 1995. The good news? They made the playoffs as the wild-card......

Phillies 5, Mets 3: Mike Pelfrey's appearance as a last-minute replacement for Oliver Perez didn't come out as planned, costing the Mets their sweep of the rival Phillies. Carlos Delgado continued his revival by hitting another home run. On the negative side, Aaron Heilman allowed two runs in another shaky relief outing. The Mets lead the Phillies by five and the Braves by four in the National League East. A's 11, Yankees 5: Scott Proctor's......

Mets 6, Phillies 5; Mets 5, Phillies 2: Things couldn't have gone much better for the Mets. Brothers Carlos, who have been struggling of late, combined for three homers. Orlando Hernandez and John Maine combined to hold the Phillies in check. New York leads Philadelphia by five games in the National League East. Of all the developments, Beltran's and Delgado's homers have to be the most welcome. Billy Wagner also deserves plenty of recognition, even......

Yankees 10, White Sox 3: When Mike Mussina pitches well these days, he doesn't last too long. He cruised into the seventh inning in Chicago on Thursday before being derailed and helping give up a one-run lead. That didn't stop the Yankees, who used a Bobby Abreu double to take the lead for good in the eighth. Thinks got dicey with Kyle Farnsworth's appearance in the bottom of the inning, but an Alex Rodriguez......

Mets 7, Marlins 2: Reports of Carlos Delgado's demise have been greatly exaggerated. At least for now. He hit two home runs as the Mets romped past the Marlins and moved 3 1/2 games in front of the Braves in the National League East. Delgado's poor play -- he has fewer homers than Damion Easley, after all -- had been a source of concern for the Mets. But his two-homer game backed John Maine,......

Yankees 8, Indians 6: All that talk of Alex Rodriguez's problems in important -- so-called "clutch" -- spots seems to be a thing of the past. So did the Yankees third baseman suddenly discover the ability to perform when it matters, or did people give him too hard a time to begin with? He doesn't seem to care. The Yankees entered the ninth inning down by four runs, and the first two men in the......

In keeping with our lists of events from 2006, here are some of the sports stories that Gothamist found compelling in the past year. It ranges from the playoff disappointment from the Mets and the Yankees to the welcome performances of last season's Rangers, this season's Jets and Rutgers. Mickelson Chokes at Winged Foot: Everyone knew the Winged Foot course in Mamaroneck, N.Y., was a tough place to play, but no one found it crueler......

Maybe the Mets needed Snake Plissken on their side Thursday night, because their lineup sure wasn’t getting it done. Twenty-two year old Zach Duke stifled the Mets for seven innings allowing only two hits and one walk while striking out five in the Pirates’ 5-0 victory. Carlos Beltran seems to have reinvented himself since his horrific collision. Thursday night, Beltran reached base three times, had two hits and stole a base. Perhaps a broken facial......

The Mets' disappointing losses have suddenly become much more. After a sloppy series against the Yankees, the Mets played even worse in a three-game sweep against Atlanta, capped by 3-0 loss against the Braves Wednesday. They didn’t even score a run in the last two games, though they faced two starters who were working on only three days’ rest. They even lost to Kyle Davies, who was making his second major league start. Woe is......

162 games after they began, the Mets have finally finished the season with a record of 71-91, good for 4th in the National League East. For what it's worth, the Mets improved from last year when they finished last in the NL East and with 5 less wins. The season ended with a win against the Montreal Expos, a team that moving to Washington D.C. and the retirement of Todd Zeile and possibly the......