The morning started with rumors of names mentioned in Senator George Mitchell's report to Major League Baseball, but not until this afternoon were any rumors substantiated. Stating in his report that “there is much about the illegal use of performance enhancing substances in baseball that I did not learn,” Mitchell proceeded to lay waste to the careers of many notable players, perhaps none more so than Roger Clemens. In the report Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens’......

The wedding date hasn’t been announced, but it seems like all the plans have been made. Alex Rodriguez is about to sign the richest contract in sports history- again. The framework of the deal is a 10 year/$275 million contract. In addition, A-Rod and the Yankees are working on a revenue sharing agreement if A-Rod breaks the home run record. One thing you won’t find in the contract is an opt-out clause, so this really......

For a team used to making miracles, conjuring up a disaster had an especially bitter taste. With a sloppily played 8-1 loss to Florida and the Phillies' 6-1 win against the Nationals, the Mets' season ended about a month too early. The loss capped an agonizing stretch of two and a half weeks in which the Mets played some of the worst teams in the National League and still played their worst baseball of......

Marlins 7, Mets 4: Who thought this bad dream would last this long? Needing a quality start from Oliver Perez to stop their bleeding, the Mets instead got a vintage -- as in 2005 -- effort in their fifth straight loss. Not even Byung-Hyun Kim could play the platelet to the Mets' open wound. The Marlins righty kept the Mets in check, and Oliver Perez lost control at the most critical points. Even David Wright,......

Mets 8 Nationals 4: Boy did they need this one. With the division lead down to 1-1/2 games, the Mets could not afford to get swept by Washington and they showed some fight Wednesday night, by getting a game they had to have. And, perhaps best of all, the Phillies lost in extra innings, putting the division lead back at 2-1/2 games. Moises Alou shook off an injury and provided three hits and a......

Yankees 8, Red Sox 7: Everything looked good for the Red Sox as they were playing last night's game. They were up 5.5 games on the Yankees and about to make it 6.5 when the top of the 8th came around and everything went south. Down by 5 runs, the Yankees scored 6 runs in the inning before making a single out. They started the scoring with back-to-back solo home runs by Jason Giambi......

There's one member of the Mets that is up for the Hall of Fame today. The Mascot Hall of Fame, that is. The round-headed ball of a mascot is trailing by about 5,500 votes in the race for popularity on the Mascot Hall of Fame website. He trails The Coyote, the mascot of the San Antonio Spurs. The Post pulls out all the stops to make sure Mr. Met is the top vote getter.......

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......

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......

Starting this morning and through Sunday, the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour is making its 2007 stop in New York City with the AVP Brooklyn Open. In it's 2nd year in NYC, the Brooklyn Open features over 150 beach volleyball players, a temporary 4,000-seat stadium, and 13 outer courts that will offer general admission seating (ticket info). Qualifying round play began today at 8 a.m. One of the teams this morning almost missed its 8......

Yankees 5 Cleveland 3: New York has passed the first big test on their current schedule, sweeping Cleveland and improving to 15-games over .500. Sunday’s win was the toughest of the series as Andy Pettitte and Jake Westbrook locked into a pitcher’s duel for the first part of the game before the Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead. But, Cleveland made things interesting in the ninth. Trailing 5-2, Cleveland got three-straight hits off of......

Mets 5, Nationals 0 (5 innings): John Maine lasted five innings. Normally that wouldn't that be that good, but then the rains came, the game was called 90 minutes later and Maine had a complete-game one-hitter. Don't look past Maine's battery-mate, Ramon Castro, who went 2-for-2 with a home run and has looked great when he's seen the time. Would the Mets be a better team with him as the regular catcher and Paul......

Mets 6, Pirates 3: Tom Glavine picked up his 299th career win by taking advantage of a rare night of productivity from Paul Lo Duca. A start after wilting despite having a 6-0 lead before he threw a pitch, Glavine shut down the Pirates at Shea. Lo Duca entered the game with a .312 on-base percentage and a .357 slugging average, and, despite the Mets' laughable efforts to have him elected to the All-Star Game,......

Yankees 7 Minnesota 6: The Yankees showed some grit Thursday, overcoming another lousy start from Kei Igawa and a lack of clutch-hitting to get the win. Things looked great in the first couple of innings as New York rebounded from a two-run deficit take a 5-2 lead thanks to home runs from Cano and Cabrera. But, Igawa was awful again, giving the lead back in the fourth by allowing three runs to score with two......

Oakland 7 Yankees 0: Not only did the Yankees lose on Saturday, but they managed only a single hit in the game, Johnny Damon’s single to center in the sixth. Apart from that, they were totally embarrassed, giving a half-assed performance in another utterly forgettable game in an utterly forgettable season. The Yankees’ offense is completely off the tracks and it won’t matter what trade they make if players like Damon, Abreu, Cano and......

Mets 1, As 0: It may have taken three weeks, but the Mets have finally won a series in June. In dramatic fashion last night, the Mets defeated the A's on a 9th inning double by David Wright. It was also the first time the Mets have won back-to-back games in 22 games. Both starting pitchers pitched magnificently, with Joe Blanton pitching 8 innings of scoreless ball for the A's and Orlando Hernandez going 7......

The first release numbers for All-Star Game balloting was released yesterday for the National League and four Mets are leading in the yearly popularity contest. Jose Reyes, David Wright, Paul Lo Duca, and Carlos Beltran lead at their respective positions, with Beltran as the leading vote-getter in the National League across all positions. Reyes and Wright made their first appearances at the "Midsummer Classic" last season, while Lo Duca is a four-time All Star and......

Mets 3 Yankees 2: Willie Randolph deserves the game ball in this one as he allowed Endy Chavez to swing away on a 1-0 count and Chavez hit the game-winning home run. No one in the stadium thought Chavez was going to do anything but bunt with a runner on first, and when Andy Pettitte grooved one, Chavez responded. Chavez’s home run wiped out a 2-1 Yankee lead, which they had taken on a......

Mets 6, Cubs 5: Manager Willie Randolph appeared to give up on this game before it started. With Jason Vargas fresh up from Triple-A to take the mound and the Mets coming off a game that ended past 1 a.m. Thursday morning, the Mets rested Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Jose Reyes and Damion Easley. Paul LoDuca also rode the pine, but that was an expected move for a catcher and a day game following a......

Mets 6 Cardinals 1: Yes, baseball followed all the other sports and sold out for the highest dollar, ruining the best tradition in sports, Opening Day, but at least they put a New York team into “Opening Night” this year. It doesn’t make up for the NLCS, but the Mets got 2007 off to a great start, pummeling Chris Carpenter and getting a great start from Tom Glavine. Paul LoDuca had 3 RBI’s and......

Windows of opportunity in baseball often come in small sizes. After coming within a run of the National League pennant last season, the Mets hope their chance hasn't run out yet. Make no mistake, the Mets remain a force to be reckoned with and could end up finishing with a better result than they did last season. But they shouldn't expect the regular-season cakewalk they had last season, and they can't hope to be......

Not everyone was forunate enough to score Game 7 tickets, or didn't want to spend 4x the ticket price for them. Instead we are here with friends live blogging the Cardnials vs Mets! The Cardinals' Jeff Suppan is a better pitcher, but we don't think he'll have the night he had during Game 3. Oliver Perez has a lot to prove, but manager Willie Randolph will pull him and throw everyone in the bullpen......

Given the pitching matchup entering Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, Sunday's high-scoring affair should come as no surprise. With a slugfest win over the Cardinals, the Mets tied the series at two games apiece before Monday's Game 5. They can thank Carlos Delgado, who hit a three-run homer in the fifth to snap a 2-2 tie before adding two-run double during a six-run sixth inning. The Mets' patience helped wear out......

Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green and Guillermo Mota all hurt their former team and led the Mets to a 9-5 win over Los Angeles as the Mets swept the National League Division Series. Lo Duca had two RBIs, Green had three hits, and Mota threw two innings of scoreless relief. The win gives the Mets three off-days before they host the winner of the St. Louis-San Diego matchup in the NL Championship Series on......

Although they may come to miss Orlando Hernandez -- likely out for the postseason -- in the future, the Mets made do without their starting in Wednesday's 6-5 win over the Dodgers. They took a 1-0 lead in the three-of-five series. Carlos Delgado's four hits -- including the go-ahed single in the seventh inning -- led the offensive barrage. For all the talk about rotations in this series, bullpens will also play a large......

-Yankees 7 Blue Jays 2: While the news on the field was good, the Yankees got some bad news off of it. Randy Johnson has a herniated disk in his back and took an epidural injection Friday to relieve the pain. As severe as the injury sounds, it does not necessarily mean that Johnson will miss the postseason. He will attempt to throw in the bullpen before one of the games this weekend and New......

-Yankees 7 Rangers 4: It was an unusual night in Texas. The Yankees managed only four hits, but still won the game thanks to some wildness on the part of the Rangers’ pitchers. In the fourth inning, New York scored three runs thanks to three walks, a hit batter and a single that could have been ruled an error. In the fifth they added three more runs thanks to Aaron Guiel’s home run. Mike Mussina......

It's not enough that David Wright is the new sex symbol for New York's baseball teams, now four other Mets get in on the action. Well, sort of. The July 17th issue of Sports Illustrated (on newsstands now) has the five members of the New York Metropolitans on the cover with the title, "Welcome To Rip City, The Adventures of Captain Red Ass And the Intrepid Mets." Of course, with that whole Sports Illustrated......

-Mets 5 Pirates 0: The game could have ended after the first inning when New York jumped all over Kip Wells for all of their scoring. Jose Reyes led off the game with a triple and scored on Paul LoDuca’s single. The Mets loaded the bases and Jose Valentin doubled home two runs. After a wild pitch scored another run, Endy Chavez singled home the fifth run of the inning. That was all El Duque......

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......