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......

Mets 13, Marlins 0: For once, optimism abounds. John Maine struck out 14 and took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning -- he lost it on a bleeder up the third-base line -- to guide the Mets back into a tie for first place. For once, the Mets roughed up a pitcher they needed to rough up. If they hadn't gotten to Chris Seddon, they probably didn't deserve to make the playoffs. Even though......

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......

St. Louis 3 Mets 0: And so it has come to this, with three games left in the year the Mets are now tied for first with the Phillies. A seven-game lead has evaporated in two weeks and with the Padres winning tonight, missing the playoffs has become a very real possibility. How this team breaks out of these doldrums is hard to imagine. The Mets only got one runner to second base in Thursday’s......

Padres 9, Mets 8 (10 innings): After playing two back-and-forth games, the Mets and Padres pulled out all the stops in this 10-inning affair. All the stops, that is, except the ability to hold leads. The Mets rallied from a 6-1 deficit in the sixth inning to take a one-run lead, but Billy Wagner blew that as the Padres took the lead in the top of the ninth. Not to worry. For the second time......

Yankees 8 Angels 2: Don’t let the final score fool you, this was a much closer game. The Yankees scored in the fourth and the Angels scored in the sixth to make it 1-1 heading into the seventh. That’s where the starting pitching diverged. Andy Pettitte continued his brilliance while John Lackey ran into trouble. New York scored twice in the seventh and four-times in the eighth to blow the game open. The win moved......

Mets 7, Padres 6: When Trevor Hoffman enters a game, more often than not, it's over for the opposing team. Then again, the all-time save leader with 513, has never been good in New York. Last night, the Mets came back from a one-run deficit in the 9th with Hoffman in the game for a dramatic victory. From the Mets standpoint, the bottom of the 9th was perfect and they looked like the Mets of......

Yankees 8, White Sox 1: Jorge Posada predicted Tuesday after the Yankees went deep eight times that Alex Rodriguez would hit two homers Wednesday. Rodriguez didn't come through -- he went 0-for-4 -- but Posada did. The underappreciated Yankees catcher hit two of five Yankees blasts as the Yankees won their third straight game. Rodriguez, on the other hand, can't seem to join the party. He's gone 0 for his last 21 to tie the......

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 1: Roger Clemens gave up a run in the first and didn't dazzle anyone with his brilliance during six innings, but that first-inning strike was all the Blue Jays would get. They would go on to rue their missed opportunities after Shaun Marcum controlled the Yankees for six innings before Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run double to start a four-run eighth. What does this win -- the Yankees' fifth straight --......

Yankees 3 Blue Jays 2 (10 innings): This was a wild one. Andy Pettitte and Roy Halliday pitched brilliantly each allowing only one run before turning it over to the bullpens and that’s when things really got interesting. First up was Kyle Farnsworth, who grows more useless by the day. Farnsworth managed to put the go-ahead run into scoring position with a wild pickoff throw and the Blue Jays ended up taking a 2-1 lead......

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 4: The Yankees used some home runs and a bloop single to beat Toronto. Alex Rodriguez hit his 32nd home run of the season and career home run number 496, but it was Andy Phillips who delivered the go-ahead runs. With two outs in the 6th inning, Phillips broke a tie game with bloop single to center, scoring Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano. The two teams combined for six home runs......

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......

Yesterday was supposedly the luckiest day of the century and many people got married to better their marriage success odds. The Post has a feature on a couple who met while they were waiting for a 7 train - the wedding of Diana and Joseph Saporito included seven bridesmaids, seven groomsmen, 21 tables (21 being a multiple of seven) and Lucky 7 lotto tickets. The NY Times had a story about an unlucky fellow......

If you were a 17-year old looking to meet Mike Piazza, your childhood idol and favorite baseball player, what would you do? If you're Ryan Leli, you make some fake press credentials, sneak into Shea Stadium, participate in some Q&A with Piazza, and then pose for pictures. That's what Leli, from Head of the Harbor, did last August when Piazza was visiting with the San Diego Padres. Padres officials became suspicious of Leli when he......

Youthful chutzpah, laminating arrogance, or plain stupid? The Queens DA's office has pressed charges against an 18 year old who used fake credentials to gain access to the NY Mets during home games. Ryan Leli made a fake NBC Universal employee ID card on his computer, and managed to get into the August 10 game between the Mets and the San Diego Padres. Mets officials seemed to be tipped off that something was wrong because,......

-Mets 7, Padres 3: As hard as it might be to believe, the Mets hadn't swept a three-game series at home until the beat the Padres on Thursday. And no, they hadn't swept a four-game series either. Orlando Hernandez is not to be forgotten, and the Mets lead their division by 14 games. According to baseballprospectus.com, the Mets have a 99.4 percent chance of making the playoffs. Wow. -White Sox 5, Yankees 4: The Yankees......

-Yankees 7, White Sox 6: Randy Johnson threw six no-hit innings, and the Yankees didn't blow a six-run lead to take the second game from Chicago. Bobby Abreu hit a homer, and, besides Kyle Farnsworth's allowing four runs, Johnny Damon's leaving the game with a groin injury was the Yankees' only bad news. Boston lost again to Kansas City, so the Yanks are up by three over the Red Sox. If they can carry that......

-Mets 3 Padres 2: It was the perfect homecoming for Mike Piazza and Mets’ fans. After giving a huge ovation to the former face of the franchise, the Shea faithful got to watch the new face of the franchise, David Wright, collect two RBI’s and propel New York to victory. As if there was any doubt left that a new era has arrived at Shea, Billy Wagner came in and preserved the one-run victory. -White......

Here’s the good news, the Mets bolstered their bullpen today. The bad news is, they had to. Last night Duaner Sanchez separated his shoulder in a taxi and will probably miss the rest of the season. So, New York went and traded Xavier Nady to Pittsburgh for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez. The Mets then turned around and traded Perez to the Padres for Scott Linebrink. Hernandez returns to New York and with the addition......

Well, it could have been worse for Victor Zambrano in yesterday's 7-4 Mets loss to the Padres, but Zambrano was only in the game for 4 innings. During those innings, Zambrano pitched poorly again and allowed 5 runs. Josh Barfield started the scoring action in the 1st inning with a solo home run and Brian Giles finished Zambrano in the 4th inning with a grand slam. The Mets made the game more interesting in the......

After stumbling through the last two games of the series against the rival Braves, the Mets must have had a long flight to San Diego Wednesday afternoon. For a while, it looked like Thursday night's 7-2 win over the Padres would feel long also. The Mets could only manage a Kaz Matsui inside-the-park home run (which could have been caught by Padre rightfielder Brian Giles) off Jake Peavy. Once Peavy left in the 8th, the......

Sunday, Mike Piazza agreed to a $2 million contract to return to the state where he began his Major League career, signing a one-year contract with the San Diego Padres. Staying in the National League, the 37-year old, joins the defending NL West champs and, according to his agent, was told that he could "catch as much as he wanted to." How much might that be? Reportedly about 90-100 games behind the plate as well......

Unfortunately Mike Cameron knows San Diego well. In August, he had that horrifying crash in the outfield with Carlos Beltran. Yesterday, Cameron was traded to the Padres for Xavier Nady, a right-fielder and first baseman. Assuming both players pass their physical, the Mets stand to save $5 million next year, something that already has local baseball writers speaking about Manny Ramirez. The trade would end a brief stint with the Mets for Cameron, who joined......

Why haven't the Yankees won the World Series since 2000? Is it their lack of playoff-ready players? Their pitching? Nope. It's because Jesus hates the Yankees. At least according to the t-shirt from Busted Tees. That Jesus fellow is so picky. Maybe Jesus just doesn't like The Boss and his wild spending on veteran players instead of developing talent internally. Oh, what can the Yankees do to win the favor of Jesus again? So who......

All the Mets needed to defeat the Padres last night was David Wright. The third baseman tied a career high with 6 RBI last night as the Mets won, 9-1. Of course, it didn't hurt that Kris Benson pitched a great game, allowing only one run in 8.1 innings. Despite Benson's performance, it was Wright that stole the show for the 2nd night in a row. With Pedro Martinez having his worst outing of the......

Perhaps the last thing anyone expected with in last night's Mets game was a victory. Pitching for the Mets was Kaz Ishii, who lacks consistency and control. His counterpart for the NL West leading Padres was Jake Peavy. Add the fact that the Mets have a love of .500 ball and it seems like an automatic loss. It was anything but that. Ishii pitched 6 shutout innings and allowed only four hits. We'll consider Ishii......

Usually when the Mets send Victor Zambrano to the mound, it's another loss for the team. In last night's 2-1 victory over the Diamondbacks, Zambrano had his best game ever as a Met. He went 8 innings, allowing only 5 hits and 3 walks. The one earned run Zambrano allowed came in the 9th inning after he was replaced by Braden Looper who picked up his 11th save in a row. The offense was supplied......

The Red Sox and David Wells have agreed to a two-year contract worth at least $8 million. Wells, the former girthy Yankee starter will join the Red Sox after one season with the San Diego Padres when he was 12-8 with a 3.73 ERA in 31 games pitched. Before joining the Padres, the 41 year old Wells had back surgery after two seasons with the Yankees. For those two seasons. 2002-03, Wells was 34-14 in......

Don't look now, but the Mets lost again, falling to the Florida Marlins, 5-4 (box score). The loss was the Mets' 5th in a row and extended the Marlins win streak to 6 games. The only bright spot for the Mets was Wilson Degado, who had an impressive game offensively. Batting 8th and playing shortstop, Delgado went 3 for 4, knocking in four runs and hitting a home run in the 4th. Without Delgado, the......

- The Jets win in Indianapolis - The battle over a new stadium for the Nets continues. - The Yankees nearly sweep the Indians, but fall short. Must have been the squirrel. - The Mets are dogs in August and drop four to the Padres. - Lots of Olympic action including a hot summer beach match. The week in full.......