The Mets released pitcher Oliver Perez earlier today, and the Daily News rejoices by saying the "Ollies Follies are over." Mets GM Sandy Alderson that Perez's last outing on Saturday (where he gave up two home runs in relief) showed "additional evidence that the velocity was not there, the command was not there. It wasn't going to work in a starting role and it didn't appear it was going to work in a relief role, at least anytime soon." And Perez seemed to be fine with the decision. more ›

While the Madoff lawsuit has dominated the headlines and overshadowed the Mets this winter, there is still a team to be constructed and a 162-game season to be played. Given the glare of the Wilpons financial woes, how are new GM Sandy Alderson and new manager Terry Collins doing with that task? more ›

There's still almost a month left in the baseball season, but the Mets are in fourth place in their division, two games below .500, and have essentially given up on another mediocre year. They've tacitly acknowledged they are out of contention for the playoffs by giving away Jeff Francoeur and Rod Barajas; in addition, Jason Bay, Johan Santana and Jose Reyes are all injured, and average home game attendance has dropped by nearly 5,000 people this season. For a while, it seemed like the K-Rod scuffle would be the quintessential metaphor for the teams' season, but now another off-the-field incident has captured the enraged minds of sportswriters everywhere. more ›

Yankees 3 Oakland 1: For seven innings Phil Hughes dominated Oakland. Hughes issued a walk in the second and then retired twenty-straight batters before allowing a hit. For the game, Hughes allowed only one other walk and a run while striking out ten. On offense back-to-back triples by A-Rod and Cano got the Yankees on the board with Cano scoring on a Posada groundout. Brett Gardner added a RBI in the ninth to give the Yankees a two-run lead. Mariano Rivera worked around some trouble in the ninth to nail down the save. The Yankees will go for the sweep later this afternoon. more ›

• Yankees 7 Oakland 2: Kurt Suzuki shook off a pitch behind him from C.C. Sabathia by homering on the next pitch to give Oakland an early lead that didn’t stand up. Sabathia was retaliating for the A’s hitting A-Rod in the top of the first. Both teams were warned and they settled down from there. Sabathia got into a groove and pitched eight innings while allowing only two runs. The Yankees busted things open in the sixth with five runs and remain seven games in front of Boston. more ›

• Mets 6 Arizona 4: It wasn’t a pretty road trip, but the Mets escaped with a win. Luis Castillo provided the game-winning single in the eight with two outs and the Mets added another run in the frame and another in the ninth. That helped them survive a shaky start from Oliver Perez and a shaky close from K-Rod. No matter, the trip is over and they will return home to face the Giants on Friday.

• Mets 9 Arizona 6: New York got back to winning thanks to a grand slam from Angel Pagan. Pagan’s shot in the 8th broke open a 5-5 game. The Mets had takes a 4-2 lead in the fourth, but Oliver Perez was shaky again. Perez did a Nuke LaLoosh impression, striking out seven while walking five over five innings and 112 pitches. Despite his wildness, Perez would have earned the win if Bobby Parnell hadn’t given up two runs in the sixth. But, Pagan bailed him out and K-Rod bailed out Brian Stokes in the ninth to record his 24th save.

• Yankees 6 Baltimore 4: Segio Mitre did just enough to earn his first win as a Yankee. New York fell behind 1-0, but quickly erased that deficit thanks to a RBI from Nick Swisher and two RBI’s from A-Rod. Robinson Cano added a two-run homer in a three-run fourth to make it 6-2 and it appeared that the Yankees would cruise to an easy win. But, Baltimore battled back against Mitre, scoring a run in the third and two more in the sixth to make it a two-run game. That’s where Aceves, Coke and finally Rivera took over and shut the door to preserve the win. With the victory, the Yankees moved into sole possession of first.
• Washington 4 Mets 0: Oliver Perez “only” walked six and the Mets couldn’t manage much against Washington's’s John Lannan. Lannan was brilliant, scattering seven hits to earn his first MLB shutout and the Mets fell another game behind the Phillies.

• Braves 5, Mets 3: That was not the start to the season's nominal second half that the Mets were looking for. Oliver Perez skated through six innings, walking four -- which is probably low for him -- and allowing three runs. The bats scored three runs in the fourth inning (Gary Sheffield, Jeff Francoeur and Daniel Murphy had the RBIs) to take a 3-2 lead but only got two hits the rest of the night. Philadelphia won, so the Mets now trail the Phillies by 7 1/2 games in the National League East. And they're in fourth place. And the injury news is mostly murky, too.
• Galaxy 3, Red Bulls 1: Even with David Beckham rusty in his return to the Galaxy, the Red Bulls still put forth a subpar effort. Juan Pablo Angel scored the only goal, and it was on a penalty in the 87th minute with his team down 3-0.

Start with the offense. The loss of Carlos Delgado was huge and it exposed a mediocre squad. Beltran and Wright are having great years, Gary Sheffield has been a nice addition, but everyone else disappointed this year. Jose Reyes was having a bad year before he got hurt. Daniel Murphy looks like a player who played only one game in AAA before coming to the majors. Luis Castillo is Luis Castillo. There are too many dead spots in the lineup. And don’t blame the ballpark, the Mets actually hit better at Citi Field than on the road. more ›

Green wasn’t the worst Mets’ pitcher as Oliver Perez was terrible again, walking 6 in just over two innings of work. With his ERA sitting almost at 10, it is time to take a page from the Yankees’ playbook and get Perez on the DL so he can work out his problems in the minors. more ›

What did it finally take for the Mets to re-sign free agent pitcher Oliver Perez? A three-year, $36 million contract, according to the Post. Perez, a 27 year-old lefty who the Mets acquired in 2006, has struggled with his control at times, walking 105 batters last season (a league high) while going 10-7 with a 4.22 ERA. Perez and his agent Scott Boras reportedly wanted a four-year contract, but the Mets didn't even give Perez an option for a fourth year. In his two full seasons with the Mets, Perez is 25-17 with a 3.91 ERA, but somewhat more importantly he's can pitch in New York and is successful against the Phillies (2.06 ERA over the last two seasons). The Mets' staring rotation now looks like Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Perez and either Tim Redding or Freddy Garcia. more ›

What the Yankees need to avoid doing is overpaying for any of the other starters out there. A.J. Burnett has been injury-prone throughout his career and will still probably get a huge deal. Derek Lowe has enjoyed pitching in the NL the past few years and may have a rough transition back to the AL and Ben Sheets makes Burnett look like a picture of health. more ›

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The Phillies are in action in LA, but for now the Mets are a ½-game in front in the NL East. The Mets now head to Pittsburgh for a four-game series with the Pirates.
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The win gives the Yankees a split of the series with LA and sends them off on a eleven-game road trip on a high note. more ›

So now the Mets sit all by their lonesome in first place. They still have their problems. Nick Evans and Marlon Anderson (!) are still playing left field. Pedro Martinez hasn't looked good at all. The Phillies and the Marlins don't appear to be going anywhere for now. But the Mets probably have the best team in the division, and, for the first time since April, it is theirs to lose. more ›

• Yankees 5, Red Sox 4 (10 innings): Brett Gardner's seeing-eye single in the 10th inning helped the Yankees salvage a split. And, in history-making news, Alex Rodriguez tied Mickey Mantle on the all-time home run list (they both have 536 home runs) with a solo shot. more ›

Another Met who will be sorry to see the Subway Series end is Carlos Delgado. Delgado hit his third home run of the series, a shot that put the Mets up 2-0. The Mets added a run in the sixth thanks to a wild pitch, but the Yankees cut it to 3-1 when Wilson Betemit hit a bomb to left. The Yankees threatened in the ninth when Jeter got on base and A-Rod hit a deep fly to left, but it stayed in the park and Billy Wagner took care of business after that, setting down the Yankees for his 18th save.
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