And no, that headline is not made up. Mark O'Donnell, the partner of disgraced ex-New Jersey governor James McGreevey, has found a cause to call his own: fighting New Jersey's illegal tiger bone trade, a thing no one knew existed until this WSJ article was published. more ›

When faced with the daunting task of buying a birthday present for a tiger cub, you may feel overwhelmed—would they really use a Waring blender? Have they seen Breaking Bad season 3 already? But when it comes to the Bronx Zoo's tiger cubs, no need to worry about which Stephen King novel to hastily giftwrap, since they can tell you exactly what these cubs really want: a delicious meatsicle! Or a knucklebone! Or...Calvin Klein Obsession! more ›

Ladies, why waste time trying to find Mr. Right on the cold and impersonal Internet when true romance awaits just around the corner at the nearest payphone? Meet 40-year-old Malik Turner: He's into tigers (and cats!), Ferraris, video games, threesomes and foursomes; he is gainfully employed and his hobbies include "riding the subway." AND. HE. IS. AVAILABLE! His contact info can be found in the NY Post today because a reporter discovered Turner's rigorous personal ad posted in Hell's Kitchen. So what are you waiting for? Pick up the phone and call now—for your convenience, he's taped his digits to a payphone. more ›

The Bronx Zoo is welcoming not one, but two sets of tiger triplets! Check out the Malayan and Amur tigers frolicking around in the videos below. The Daily News reports that the Malayan cubs were actually abandoned by their mother—the Zoo's director told them, "She just kind of woke up one day and decided she didn't want to take care of them anymore. If it had happened in the wild the cubs would have perished." Meanwhile, the Amur triplets are still nursing, and their 300-lb doting mom Sasha is always nearby protecting them. more ›

Following a press conference PETA held yesterday at which time they released footage of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus employees beating animals, the feds have now said they will investigate the matter. The Daily News reports they will try to find out if the circus has violated the Animal Welfare Act. With crystal clear footage of trainers beating on animals, one even punching an elephant in the face, you would think this investigation would be a short one. In response to all the unwanted attention, a spokesman for the circus sent us along this canned comment packed full of denial:

It is no surprise that PETA would once again release misinformation about Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Ringling Bros. believes that the recent video produced and distributed by PETA is questionable in its context regarding the portrayal of the animal handlers at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Ringling Bros. is a fully licensed traveling exhibitor and from January through June of this year, the alleged time covered in the video, this particular Unit was found to be in compliance with federal, state and local regulations. more ›

It's unsurprising that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has been called out in the past for abusing their animals, but it's another thing to see it all on tape. PETA went undercover this year and captured Ringling workers on video beating and whipping elephants. The organization announced their findings today at a press conference (NY1 has footage), calling upon Madison Square Garden to ban the circus, or at least the use of animals in their show. more ›

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. more ›

In news that isn't coming as a surprise to anyone, Alex Rodriguez, the former and probably future Yankees 3rd baseman, was named the American League Most Valuable Player today. It was the third time Rodriguez was named the MVP, winning previously in 2003 with the Rangers and in 2005 with the Yankees. This past season, A-Rod set career high marks in runs scored (143) and RBI (156). He also led baseball with 54 home runs... more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an injured police officer on Queens Blvd. and Ascan Ave. in Queens, a stabbing on Nostrand and Willoughby Aves. in Brooklyn, and a large fight at Targee St. and Sobel Ct. on Staten Island. Neighbors, customers, and small investors get involved to save a local bookstore in Park Slope, Brooklyn. In order to pay off sex harassment lawsuits and under-performing athletes, the Dolans are jacking up cable rates for... more ›

The Yankees' season ended last week, but the team is still a hotbed of activity. A group of executives for the Bombers will be meeting in Tampa, FL early next week to come to a decision regarding the fate of Joe Torre, the team's manager. George Steinbrenner, who made a name for himself as an eager firer of managers before taking an involuntary break from baseball, declared that he'd like to fire Torre after last... more ›

Marlins 8, Mets 7 (10 innings): Taking a three-run lead into the bottom of the ninth against the Marlins should be no problem right? Not when Billy Wagner is mysteriously absent -- the Mets later said he was having back spasms -- and his replacements are the not-so-capable Pedro Feliciano and the highly inflammable Jorge Sosa. They combined to cough up the lead in the bottom of the ninth, ruining a dramatic comeback posted by the Mets in the top of the inning. Then Sosa gave up the winning run all by himself in the 10th. Why is Sosa in there? Because everyone else stinks or had been used, frankly. After seeing the right-hander struggle so frequently of late, Manager Willie Randolph still didn't look for another option. more ›

The Mets don't get a reprieve as they travel to Atlanta for a weekend series. In the span of four days, they managed to let the Phillies right back in the division race. September doesn't look as fun as it did on Sunday. more ›

Friday night, Perez pitched seven shutout innings and out-pitched one of the best in the NL, Brad Penny. David Wright had a home run and Mike DiFelice went 3-for-3 as the Mets won the series opener. more ›

• Red Bulls 5, Galaxy 4: Giants Stadium fills up for plenty of events, but Red Bulls games don't usually rank among those. Saturday's did, if only because David Beckham's Los Angeles Galaxy was in town. Those fans, who were there for Beckham and not the Galaxy, found another rare treat: goals in a Major League Soccer game. Soccer doesn't need frequent scores to be exciting, but the rare 5-4 game never hurt anyone. Not only did Beckham play, but he stayed on the artificial pitch the whole game, setting up three goals in his team's loss. The nine total goals fell two short of the league record, which came nine years ago. Jozy Altidore had two of them for the Red Bulls, who are now 10-7-3.
• Yankees 5, Tigers 2: Control can do wonders for a pitcher. Roger Clemens didn't have his best stuff, but he did well in two departments: strikeouts and walks. He K'd eight and walked none through six innings while allowing two runs, and Bobby Abreu's two-run homer off the left-field fair foul pole helped make him a winner. So did the bullpen, which in Kyle Farnsworth, Luis Vizcaino and Mariano Rivera provided three innings of scoreless relief. The Yankees can take three of four in the series if they win when Chien-Ming Wang takes on Jeremy Bonderman, the man who eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs last year.
• Mets 7, Nationals 4: The good news: Luis Castillo homered and the Mets won. The bad news: Damion Easley sprained his ankle, and, with Ramon Castro moved to the disabled list, the Mets' catching corps now consists of Mike DiFelice and Sandy Alomar Jr. Their short-handed lineup -- Carlos Delgado was also out nursing an injury -- still had David Wright, who doubled home two runs to give his team the lead for good against John Lannan, a Long Beach, N.Y., native.

Quick, call the locksmith! Before Thursday's Yankees-Tigers game, Mayor Bloomberg gave away yet another key to the city. Just last week, Bloomberg gave a ceremonial key to Mets pitcher Tom Glavine for winning his 300th career game. Thursday's key was for Alex Rodriguez hitting his 500th career home run. Rodriguez said that the key "will be something I hold dear to me for the rest of my life." In addition to receiving the key... more ›

• Yankees 6 Tigers 1: In desperate need of starting pitching the Yankees turned to a reliable source. Andy Pettitte threw eight innings of five-hit ball shutting down the Tigers’ offense and giving his team a chance to win. more ›

• Tigers 8 Yankees 5: Detroit is a great offensive team and the question the Yankees have to answer is, can their pitching stand up to a great offensive team? In the first of eight games against Detroit, the answer was a resounding no. more ›

• Yankees 16, Royals 8: It was bound to happen and it took a little while, but Alex Rodriguez became the 22nd player in Major League history to hit 500 career home runs and the youngest player to reach that mark. A-Rod got it done early in the game, hitting a three-run shot in the 1st inning of yesterday's win against the Royals, which is the same team he hit #499 off of on July 25th. For future trivia usage, A-Rod hit the first pitch he saw from Royals starter Kyle Davies into the left field stands and he becomes the 3rd player to reach the milestone in a Yankees uniform (Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle). Like the first inning, the rest of the game was a run-fest, with the two teams combining for 33 hits. The Yankees are now 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. Nationally, #500 for A-Rod is overshadowed by Barry Bonds tying Hank Aaron's career mark of 755 in San Diego, a mark that Rodriguez should break if he stays healthy and continues to play. Bonds had 180 fewer home runs when he was Rodriguez's age.
• Cubs 6, Mets 2: Perhaps John Maine didn't get enough work in his last outting when he pitched a rain-shortened 5-inning complete game. He didn't even last that long in yesterday's game. Maine was pulled after only 2 2/3 innings as he allowed 6 Cubs runs in the 3rd inning, all with two outs. That was all the Mets would give up, but it was also all the Cubs would need. In the inning, Maine hit one batter, walked three, and gave up four hits. It was his first loss in three starts. Ted Lilly held the Mets to only two runs, both on Moises Alou solo home runs, over 7 2/3 innings.
• Cyclones 7, Tigers 2: The Cyclones avenged an extra inning loss Friday night with an easy win Saturday. They broke open the tie game, scoring 5 total runs in the 5th and 6th innings.

• Yankees 16 White Sox 3: Is it really possible that the Yankees could tie a club record by belting eight home runs, yet somehow Alex Rodriguez would be about the only person not to get one? Somehow, that’s exactly what happened Tuesday as every starter except for A-Rod, Jeter and Andy Phillips went deep and Hideki Matsui did twice. Shelly Duncan continued his Shane Spencer imitation by belting his 4th home run in 21 AB’s. more ›

• Royals 7 Yankees 0: Kei Igawa should buy a plane ticket back to Japan. Today’s ledger of 5.2 innings, seven hits and 2 walks while allowing five runs just reinforced the fact that Igawa is nothing more than a batting practice pitcher. The Yankees could have won seven-straight, but they didn’t, at least we know that Igawa is junk and Phil Hughes will be back in the rotation soon.
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• As baseball takes it's yearly break to play a somewhat meaningless game, there was so much mutual respect between Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez that we almost think that Barry and A-Rod should get a room. With Bonds on the verge of Hank Aaron’s record of 755 career home runs, Bonds said that when Rodriguez breaks his in the future, he'll be there. “And when you do, you don’t have to worry about calling me. I’ll call you. If you want me there, I’ll be there. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.” Bonds, who is 42, is only four homers away from tying Aaron and Rodriguez is at 494 career home runs at the age of 31. What did A-Rod say about Barry? “I love Barry. I’m one of his biggest fans. If you think about his work on the field over the last 20 years, it’s been second to none, maybe Babe Ruth or the all-time greats."
• Speaking of A-Rod, Shaun Powell thinks that it's no longer a question of whether Rodriguez is good enough for the Yankees next year, but a question whether the Yankees are good enough for A-Rod. Rodriguez can opt-out of the final years of his contract, making him a free agent next year. Powell's reasoning? The Yankees are no longer contenders, but a team that's headed in the wrong direction. A team that has less of a chance to win a title than the Indians, Tigers, or Brewers.
• Down in the Minor Leagues, Lastings Milledge is on the mend from his strained ligaments and could return the the bigs after the All-Star break. Milledge is lighting it up with AA Binghamton, hitting .435, with three home runs, a double, a triple and eight RBI. L Millz, who last made news when rapping, is heading to the Cyclones to keep playing through the All-Star break. Milledge's recovery couldn't come sooner for the Mets, who have three outfielders on the DL.

• Yankees 9, PIrates 3: A little more than a month after his dramatic announcement, and despite a short delay, Roger Clemens returned to the Yankees with a win yesterday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemens threw for 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 runs, and struck out 7. It was The Rocket's first win with the team since 2003 and his 349th career victory. The 44 year-old Clemens threw 108 pitches, 69 of them for strikes. While the return of Clemens was the big news of the day (each start of his will cost about $900,000), the bigger news is the team's winning streak. The Yankees have won a season-high five games in a row, and are 2 games under .500, where they haven't been since May 9th.
• Tigers 8, Mets 7: Runs have seemingly been hard to come by in recent days for the Mets. Yesterday, they scored 7, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. Oliver Perez had a rough outing for his 2nd loss in a row, allowing 5 runs over 5 innings. Guillermo Mota didn't help things when he relieved Perez, giving up 3 runs in only 1/3 of an inning. The Mets have lost 5 of 6.

• Yankees 5 Pirates 4 (10 innings): Derek Jeter always seems to come through in the clutch and Friday night was no different, even if the way he did so wasn’t that impressive. With the bases loaded and one out, Jeter hit a little dribbler between first and second. Needing to get the out at home or turn a double play, the Pirates’ second baseman tried to barehand the ball and couldn’t make the play. more ›