After last night's Game 1 loss to the Phillies, the Yankees are hoping to even up the World Series. Now, manager Joe Girardi is benching Nick Swisher. The AP, which calls him the "slumping outfielder," says Swisher will be replaced by Jerry Hairston Jr. who "is 10 for 27 in his career against Phillies starter Pedro Martinez." 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 ›

But, the Mets were not done. They scored a single run in the seventh and then two in the eighth with a two-out rally to tie the game. Jose Reyes led off the ninth with a single, but Daniel Murphy struck out trying to bunt him to second and David Wright struck out. Reyes stole second on the play and the Cubs chose to intentionally walk Carlos Delgado. That brought Beltran to the plate and after taking two pitches, he lashed the game-winning hit off the first baseman's glove. more ›

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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 ›

• Mets 3 Colorado 0: Finally this team is playing the way the fans expected. Make it eight-straight after Saturday’s victory and even Pedro’s early exit couldn’t dampen the mood at Shea. The Rockies only managed one hit against four Mets’ pitchers and every regular in the lineup got a hit. more ›

Mets 10, Phillies 9: Leave it to the Mets to stake Pedro Martinez to a 10-1 lead and then make him sweat it out. Martinez was charged with two runs in 5 1/3 innings, striking out six. He gave up two home runs, but this time they came with no one on base. Things looked rosy when he left thanks to David Wright's 2-for-5 night that included a home run. Then the Mets handed things over to the bullpen. Even Martinez had an RBI -- he also had a run score when third baseman Greg Dobbs committed an error on a ball scalded down the line. more ›

Sidney Ponson, who will soon be forgotten himself, made a start that will be forgotten. That's thanks in part to his ineffectiveness but mostly to the Yanks' offensive explosion spearheaded by Jason Giambi (grand slam, six RBIs) and Alex Rodriguez (homer, three RBIs, four runs scored). Every Yankees starter had a hit. That includes Brett Gardner, who could be the new center fielder if Melky Cabrera continues his sour play. Ponson, picked up as a stopgap measure, was barely decent -- but fully clothed -- until the sixth inning, when he allowed a pair of two-run home runs. But then the Yankees exploded for a nine-run seventh. more ›

Losing Wang for an extended period of time would be a devastating blow to the Yankees who have already lost two starting pitchers to injury. They will keep their fingers crossed that Wang’s injury is only a sprain and not a dreaded lisfranc fracture. more ›

Joe Torre’s return to New York wasn’t a happy one as the Mets beat up on the Dodgers 8-4 Thursday. more ›

The bad news came from Pedro Martinez who is out 4-to-6 weeks with what is being described as a “mild strain” of his hamstring. What that means is Martinez is definitely out for April, but beyond that is impossible to tell. El Duque told SNY before the game that he needs three rehab starts in the minors, so he could be back in the rotation around April 20th. more ›

Few players can catapult a team from worriers to prohibitive favorites, but Johan Santana can put his name on that list. Before the Mets got him, they and their fans were looking over their shoulders to the Phillies and Braves. Now the team is almost overloaded with optimism. more ›

Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez, as well as the Mets organization, made statements about the video of Martinez appearing at a cockfighting event in the Dominican Republic.

From Pedro Martinez: "I understand that people are upset, but this is part of our Dominican culture and is legal in the Dominican Republic. I was invited by my idol Juan Marichal to attend the event as a spectator, not as a participant." more ›

A video showing Mets star pitcher Pedro Martinez at a cockfight in the Dominican Republican briefly surfaced online, outraging some people. Cockfighting is a popular - and legal - sport in the Dominican Republic, but it's illegal in almost all of the United States. more ›

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 the season. more ›

• Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4 (14 innings): If they knew their four-run rally in the ninth inning would only result in a 14-inning loss, maybe they wouldn't have been so excited when they produced that unexpected effort. Roy Halladay hardly had to exert himself over the first eight innings, but some shoddy defense and timely hitting in the ninth undid all that.They always say it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, but that doesn't help the Yankees' bullpen in advance of Saturday's game. Mariano Rivera, Joba Chamberlain and Luis Vizcaino all threw scoreless innings in relief before Brian Bruney allowed the go-ahead run. Boston took care of Tampa Bay on Friday, increasing its lead to 2 1/2 games in the American League East. The Yankees' margin of error in that department just went from small to smaller.
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• Yankees 8, Twins 0: On a night where the Yankees shut out the Twins, perhaps the best news on the evening was that Alex Rodriguez played. A day after straining his hamstring against the Twins, A-Rod returned to the lineup and went 0-4, but also started a double play in the 4th inning to help keep the Twins off the scoreboard. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his best stuff, but he was still good enough to shutout the Twins over the 7 innings he pitched. Wang only allowed 4 hits in his first win in three starts.
• Rockies 11, Mets 3: What is it with New York baseball teams playing in Denver? The Yankees couldn't win there and so far this series, neither can the Mets. Mets pitchers set out to give the fans at the game a good show on fireworks night at Coors Field. After chasing triple A call-up Jason Vargas out of the game in the fourth inning, Ryan Spilborghs hit a grand slam off of Joe Smith. Colorado had two other home runs in the game as well. All told, Colorado managed 18 hits in the game. After staring their road trip with three straight wins, the Mets have now lost three in a row. Adding insult to injury, former Met shortstop/second baseman Kaz Matsui had a big night, going 5-5 at the plate. Some good news for the Mets though - Pedro Martinez looked good in a simulated start and could be back in August.
• Cyclones 2, Ironbirds 1: The Cyclones scored a run in the 8th inning to break a 1-1 tie and come away with the win.

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 the prohibitive favorites to win the pennant. This year's edition is a talented but flawed team. more ›

Remember the days of Don Zimmer sitting in the Yankee dugout next to Joe Torre? Does anyone else miss those, because we sure do. Just seeing Zim with Torre is refreshing. We can't help but think what they were talking about. "Remember that time when you and Pedro Martinez got into a fight? Or that time where you got beaned in the head by an errant throw and wore an army helmet afterwards?" more ›

Mets fans, your wait is finally over. No, not because it's Spring Training, and not because of a World Championship, but because one member of the New York Mets will finally be enshrined in...Madame Tussauds. The 204-figure museum, which bills itself as "New York's most famous tourist attraction" (get it? famous), will unveil its first wax Mets figure on April 2. The house of wax already has five Yankees figures - Derek Jeter, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle (under repair), and George Steinbrenner. more ›

- If you like winter sports, do we have some good news for you! Not only is it bone chillingly cold out, but this weekend is the 2nd annual Winter Jam in Central Park. They are making snow for Saturday's event (from noon until 4). Activities include cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice sculpting, an amateur rail jam, and free hot chocolate. Snowmaking began on Monday and continues through today. When done, there will be 2 feet of snow for Saturday. more ›

Derek Jeter didn’t win the MVP award yesterday. That isn’t a huge surprise because there was another worthy candidate, David Ortiz. The problem is, he didn’t win it either, Justin Morneau did and once again the baseball writers have messed up. more ›