Results tagged “nleast”

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 - May 15th! How did they get to where they are now? Starting on Sept. 14th, the Mets went 4-10, including a 5-game losing streak and a 4-game losing streak. It didn't help that the Phillies went on a tear during the same stretch of games, including a three-game sweep of the Mets.

You probably won't catch any Mets fans or anyone associated with the club purchasing these yet, but MLB.com already has the New York Mets 2007 NL East Division Champions Roster T-Shirt up for sale on its website. Talk about counting your eggs way before they're hatched. The shirts aren't even available for pre-sale only, but are "in stock and ready to leave the warehouse" in 4-6 business days! Hmm...in 4-6 days, the NL East will have been decided. Does this mean MLB.com can cancel your order if the Mets fail to win their division?

Oliver Perez improved to 4-1 against Atlanta this season, throwing seven strong innings allowing only two runs and striking out seven. David Wright continued his quest to become a 30-30 player with his 28th home run in the sixth, a two-run shot that scored Jose Reyes. Reyes also scored the first Mets run and stole his 75th base of the year.

• Yankees 9 Blue Jays 2: Tempers flared in Toronto as the Blue Jays decided to retaliate for a second day against Alex Rodriguez for his infamous “HA!”. Josh Towers plunked Alex and the benches emptied twice before play resumed. Things cruised along from there until Robinson Cano got hit, although it looked unintentional, in the seventh. But, that was enough for Roger Clemens who started the bottom of the seventh with a fastball away before depositing his second pitch squarely into Alex Rios’s back. Clemens and Torre were ejected since both benches had been warned, but the message was sent- don’t mess with A-Rod.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Toronto Tantrums "

• Yankees 8, Orioles 7: Way back on June 28th, the game between the Yankees and Orioles was suspended in the 8th inning with New York up 8-6. Last night, the two teams continued the June game with Mariano Rivera allowing one Baltimore run to make things exciting in the 9th before picking up what is officially his 10th save of the season.
• Orioles 4, Yankees 2: In the regularly scheduled game last night, the Yankees were unable to drive in the key runs to beat the Orioles. The Yankees had 5 runners at 3rd base over the course of the game, but were unable to plate any of them. Andy Pettitte had a solid game that consisted of one bad inning, which was all Baltimore needed. Pettitte allowed three runs in the 3rd inning when he allowed three hits and two walks. On the positive side, he did retire the last 12 batters he faced.
• Nationals 6, Mets 2: It's the games against the bad teams that the Mets need to win if they want to keep their minuscule lead in the NL East. Unfortunately, they couldn't muster up much offense last night against Washington. Moises Alou went 1-4 including a double and a run scored in his return to the team, but that wasn't nearly enough to bail out Jorge Sosa. Sosa allowed 5 runs over 6 innings and had the Mets in a hole from the 2nd inning. The Mets and Nationals play a day-night doubleheader Saturday with Mike Pelfrey pitching in one game and Orlando Hernandez in the other.

Give him the shiny blue National League jacket, spangled with every team logo, not the Mets jacket. Sure, he'd use police barricades as planks to scale the fence at Shea, but he was there to root for players -- Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays and Juan Marichal -- not the home team. Too tight a circle. Too small an o.

Chavez’s home run wiped out a 2-1 Yankee lead, which they had taken on a home run from Hideki Matsui. Apart from Matsui, the bats continued their cold streak managing only six hits against Oliver Perez and two relievers. Bobby Abreu continued his pathetic hitting, looking lost in a pinch-hitting appearance in the eighth.

With their future stadium as the backdrop, the Mets took on the "team to beat in the NL East." Those were the words of Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins in January, words that he would eat in the Mets 11-5 win Monday afternoon. John Maine lacked control in his second start of the season, loading the bases in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. Maine was removed after 4 2/3 innings of work. The Phillies left 9 runners on base in the game, but in the 6th inning Ryan Howard, the reigning NL MVP, hit his first home run of the season. The two-out, three-run home run came off Ambiorix Burgos, giving the Phillies a 5-3 lead.

-Pirates 3 New York 2: The Mets really know how to kill a party. With everyone primed for a division-clinching win on a weekend night, New York has punted twice. Pittsburgh scored with two outs in the ninth to win the game and prevent the Mets from clinching the NL East. While we know they will ultimately win it, it’s too bad they are going to make their fans head to work with hangovers. Then again, after eighteen years, you probably shouldn’t complain if you are a Mets’ fan.

-S.I. Yanks 2 Tri-City 0: In what will hopefully be a sign of things to come, we have a baseball championship to celebrate. The Baby Bombers are champions of the New York-Penn League for the second year in a row! It is the first time the league has had a repeat champion in 25 years.

- 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.

-Yankees 6 Baltimore 3: The game plan has become very familiar: keep working the count to force the starting pitcher to work hard and then once he is out of the game, bomb the bullpen. Erik Bedard shut down New York for six innings, but needed 106 pitches to do so. The Yankees scored all six of their runs after he left with Johnny Damon hitting a big home run and Robinson Cano delivering a clutch RBI-single. The win and the Boston loss puts the Yankees’ lead in the division back to three games.

-Yankees 6 Orioles 1: It has been a great week for New York, adding big names, going 5-1 and taking a two-game lead in the AL East. The Yankees latest victory was powered by solo homeruns from Damon, Jeter, Cabrera and Giambi combined with a shaky start from Jaret Wright. Wright only lasted his usual six innings while walking four and giving up five hits, but Baltimore could never come up with a big hit against him.

Time to take a 15 year trip back in time. Jesse Chan-Norris was cleaning his apartment when he found a ticket stub for a game between the Mets and the Cardinals from September 22, 1991. The Mets lost the game 2-1 in front of a crowd of 21,113. The loss brought their record to 72-77. The craziest thing about the ticket is the price - $14! A similar ticket now would cost more four times the amount.

The question is, will they make a move before the trading deadline? This seems to be the year, so giving up youth for a proven pitcher would be prudent, but the ghosts of the Kazmir trade still haunt the franchise and may keep Omar from improving his club.

-Mets 6, Braves 4: Pedro Martinez allowed four runs in the first inning but cruised afterwards, and the Mets' win over the Braves helped increase their already-large cushion in the NL East. For the fans who have waited so long for the Mets to overtake the Braves (the Amazin's have never beaten the Braves since they joined the NL East), this September will not be dramatic. Still, only the most fastidious fans will have a problem with the manner in which the Mets will likely take the crown.

- 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.

-Williamsport 3, Staten Island 1: The other Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the first, but they would be held scoreless the rest of the way.

-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.

-All seemed set for local favorite Phil Mickelson to win the U.S. Open. He had come close at Bethpage (2002) and Shinnecock (2004). On Sunday, he entered the final hole needing a par to win and a bogey to force a playoff. But he double-bogeyed the hole, and Australian Geoff Ogilvy won the championship. As Ogilvy told NBC's Bob Costas afterward, the Winged Foot golf course in Mamoroneck may have beaten all the golfers. Ogilvy's +5 score reflects how difficult the course proved.

-Mamaroneck's Winged Foot golf course proved challenging to the US Open field on Thursday, with only Colin Montgomerie shooting under par. Tiger Woods finished at a six-over-par 76. With everyone from from ESPN to Sports Illustrated billing this as a battle between Woods and Phil Mickelson, fans will have to wait for that duel to emerge, if it does.With such a tough course, the tournament should be wide open throughout.

-Mets 9 Phillies 7: Carlos Beltran is making everyone forget his poor 2005. Beltran homered again, his 18th of the year, while the Mets battered Philadelphia for nine runs and thirteen hits. Carlos Delgado and David Wright also homered in the win. All of the offense was needed because Tom Glavine and Aaron Heilman had off nights. Glavine struggled through four-plus innings, giving up seven hits and four runs while Heilman came in with a five-run lead and gave up two hits, a walk and a three-run home run.

- 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.

Even though they lost 8-5 to Atlanta on Sunday, the Mets will take the results from the series in Atlanta. The Mets left town with a rare series victory at Turner Field and their first since 2003. In fact, they'll be happy with their April performance, where they lost just one series (to Atlanta at home) and ended up sitting six games ahead of the Braves in the NL East. Yes, it's a long season, but it's still a good start.

There was a crowd on hand last night as the Mets faced their NL East nemises Atlanta Braves. It was possibly the biggest Mets crowd Gothamist has seen in April except for opening day. A cool 36,867 were on hand to witness Pedro Martinez's 200th career victory, becoming the 103rd pitcher to reach that mark. After the 4-3 victory, there was a little video on "Diamond Vision" that showed some clips of Pedro's performances. There wasn't any mention of the 2003 ALCS though.

Another year, another slogan for the Mets. This year's: "The Team. The Year." Indeed it seems like that's the company line so far. At yesterday's "Workout Day," Cliff Floyd and David Wright both mentioned bringing a World Series to Queens. It was a notion that proved to be very popular with the 13,000 plus fans on hand. Perhaps it was the constant reminders that 2006 is the 20th Anniversary of the World Champion '86 Mets that was getting everyone excited or maybe it was the sun. But for a Mets fan, when you look at the moves during the off-season, you can't help but think the 2006 Mets have a chance.

With plenty of time left before the holidays and the start of next year's baseball season, Omar Minaya has checked off his major tasks for the off-season. First baseman, done. Closer, signed. Catcher, officially finished yesterday when the Mets traded for Paul Lo Duca from the Marlins as Florida continued their fire sale. Minaya acquired Lo Duca from the Marlins for 21 year-old pitching prospect Gaby Hernandez and another minor league player to be named later. Lo Duca, who is 33 years-old, was born in Brooklyn, grew up as a Mets fan, and is excited to play for the team. He said yesterday that he expects the team to win as well, "I'll be disappointed if we don't win the NL East."

Despite the fact that the Mets finished their 2005 season on Sunday afternoon with an 11-3 loss, one couldn't quite say that it was a season of disappointment. Finishing with an 83-79 record, their best record since the 2000 season, the Mets managed a 3rd place tie in the NL East.

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.