Phillies 8, Mets 6: Johan Santana threw eight innings of two-run ball and then turned the game over to the bullpen with a 5-2 lead. No problem, right? Not quite. Duaner Sanchez, Joe Smith and Pedro Feliciano gave up six runs -- the first five of which came before anyone got an out -- and the Mets choked away the opener of a three-game set that will decide first place, at least for the time......

Yankees 7 Oakland 1: If you believe in omens, New York started the second half on a great note. After struggling all season long to get clutch hits, the Yankees got a bunch of them Friday as they easily beat the A’s. It was the newest Yankee, Richie Sexson, who got the Yankees on the board with a RBI-single in the first. New York then blew open the game with a huge home run from......

The Yankees won their second game against the Tamba Bay Devil Rays in 21 hours and the Mets won their fifth in a row....

Photo of David Wright congratulating Carlos Delgado after a grand slam in Yankee Stadium by AP/Frank Franklin II Photo of Jose Molina congratulating Bobby Abreu at Shea Stadium by AP/Julie Jacobson Eight hours of baseball in two different stadiums ended with both the Mets and Yankees scoring 15 runs and earning a split of their doubleheader. The first game was the “Carlos Delgado Show” as Delgado hammered Yankees’ pitching for nine RBI’s thanks to......

Photograph of David Wright being congratulated by third base coach Luis Aguayo after his solo home run by Julie Jacobson/AP Mets 8 Seattle 2: New York came out angry and scored early as they romped to a sweep-avoiding victory. Maybe it was Jerry Manuel’s decision to change the team's warmup routine, maybe it was the thought of being swept by the worst team in the American League. Whatever the reason, the Mets showed some......

Photograph of Jerry Manuel arguing with home plate umpire Brian Runge, who then threw Manuel out of the game, by Julie Jacobson/AP Mariners 11, Mets 0: Yes, the Mets are on the verge of being swept by the worst team in baseball. Seattle rocked Mets starter Oliver Perez for six runs in five innings and the Mets looked lost against Mariners knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. To be fair, they would look lost against a slow-pitch......

Yankees 6 Kansas City 3: Start number two for Joba was longer and somewhat better. Chamberlain lasted 78 pitches, which translated to 4-1/3 innings, striking out five and allowing three runs. He really made only one bad mistake, a hanging slider that Jose Guillen crunched for his 10th home run of the season. Johnny Damon continued his hot hitting with two more hits and scored two runs. Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi both hit home......

Mets 6, Dodgers 1: If this homestand was a referendum on Willie Randolph's performance, the Mets helped his job security. Johan Santana worked into the eighth after enjoying a 10-batter, five-run third. Ryan Church, who will revert to the Ryan Church of old at some point, had a homer in that inning, as did Carlos Beltran. It was Church's first game since May 26 and his first start since May 20 in Atlanta. The......

Mets 3 Los Angeles 2: For seven innings it looked like the Mets would lose and Tim McCarver’s yammering about their lack of passion would come true. Inning after inning had passed and the Mets had blown several scoring opportunities, but the eighth inning proved to be a difference maker. Down 2-0, David Wright got things going with a double. Carlos Beltran followed with his fifth home run of the year, tying the game and......

Dodgers 9, Mets 5: A missed call at first base started the Dodgers' eighth-inning rally, but the Mets hardly helped themselves. Pedro Feliciano induced what should have been a groundout by Juan Pierre to start the frame. But he was called safe even though Jose Reyes appeared to throw him out. Aaron Heilman, coming off his best outing of the year, proceeded to give up a double and three straight singles before being relieved and......

Yankees 12 Seattle 6: Day 2 of the “Joba change” was a success as Chamberlain pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Mike Mussina and the Yankees busted open a close game against the Mariners. Mussina wasn’t good, giving back the four runs the Yankees scored in the bottom of the second, immediately in the top of the third. Bobby Abreu had a huge day, going 2-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBI’s. Jason......

Photograph of Mets relief pitcher Duaner Sanchez, center, surrounded by infielders, from left, Raul Casanova, David Wright, Jose Reyes, Damion Easley and Carlos Delgado as manager Willie Randolph, lower right, comes out to the mound to take out Sanchez after the Arizona Diamondbacks scored five runs in the eighth inning by Paul Connors/AP Yankees 6, Mariners 1: Johnny Damon had two doubles and a home run and Mike Mussina pitched six innings of one-run......

Yankees 9 White Sox 5: Bobby Abreu had a huge grand slam in the seventh to put the Yankees up 6-3 and Johnny Damon added a 3-run shot in the 8th to put the game safely out of reach. Chien-Ming Wang was shaky, but fought through six innings and got the win. It is the 50th win of his career and Wang becomes the fastest pitcher to win 50 games since Dwight Gooden did it......

After days of waiting for their bats to step up, the Yankees’ offense came around on Monday and that combined with great pitching propelled them to an easy 6-1 win. Bobby Abreu got things started in the first with a screaming liner over the wall in right for a home run that put New York up 2-0. It was part of a 3-for-3 night for Abreu that ended with him only a double short of......

Rangers 3, Islanders 0: They don't know where they'll be seeded, but the Rangers are going back to the playoffs. Jaromir Jagr scored the first two goals in the first period, and the team never looked back. Even though many fans saw this as a foregone conclusion for the last several weeks, the Rangers weren't taking any chances. “It’s never been like that before,” Jagr said. “You don’t realize when the coach is telling......

Photo of Hideki Matsui holding up a drawing of his wife by the AP Hideki Matsui is sneakier than he looks. First, he disappears Wednesday to get married. On Thursday, it transpired that earlier this year, Matsui, while already engaged, had joined a bet with Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu, two other Yankees bachelors. The three would award the prize to the one that got married first. Matsui won, tying the knot with his......

Cleveland 6 Yankees 4: The 2007 Yankees’ season ended as it began, in disarray. Chien-Ming Wang didn’t make it out of the second inning and while Mike Mussina was reasonably effective, he left with a 6-1 deficit. Meanwhile, Paul Byrd managed to shut down the Yankees’ offense. Somehow, Byrd pitched around 10 base runners in five innings and the Yankees squandered numerous opportunities to score. In a way, that was the story of this......

Yankees 8 Indians 4: It looked bleak in the third inning. Already down 2-0, the Yankees watched Roger Clemens hobble off the mound with a hamstring injury. But, Phil Hughes came in and stabilized things and Johnny Damon hit a huge three-run home run to put New York ahead. After Trot Nixon misplayed a Robinson Cano single into a three-run event, the Yankees had seized control of the game and reversed the momentum in......

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......

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......

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. And, the offense responded with Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi and Andy Phillips providing big hits. With Boston splitting a doubleheader, the Yankees gained a ½-game in the standings. But, they will have to keep their......

Yankees 7 Orioles 6: This game is an example of how good things are going for the Yankees right now. Ace gets slapped around for three runs in the first, no problem. All-time great closer blows it in the ninth, no problem either. New York stormed back from a 3-0 deficit and overcame a blown save by Mariano as well. As has been usual recently, home runs played a part in the show. Bobby Abreu......

Alex Rodriguez settled anticipations of his 500th career home run early in the Yankees game against the Kansas City Royals this afternoon. With Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu on second and first base, A-Rod swung at the first pitch Kyle Davies served him and knocked it over the left field fence. It was Rodriguez's 36th homer of the season with 108 RBIs, and the magic number 500 has the third basemen on the verge......

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 2, Reds 1: On a night when the Mets honored one member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, a future member inched closer to the 300 win milestone. It was Ralph Kiner Night at Shea Stadium and the Mets announced that their broadcast booth at Citi Field will bear the broadcaster's name. The TV booth at Shea is already named after Kiner, who played in the Majors for 13 seasons, mostly with the Pittsburgh......

Yankees 5 Minnesota 1: It should have been a great night at the ballpark. Roger Clemens became only the 8th pitcher to win 350 games and Bobby Abreu hit a monster home run, into the middle of the upper-deck in right, but it was all overshadowed by A-Rod. This wasn’t about his wife’s t-shirt or a dramatic play on the field, but the sight of A-Rod grabbing his right leg after running to first in......

Rockies 4 Yankees 3: It’s funny how the longer you watch baseball, the more you tend to see things repeat themselves. In 2005, the Yankees used a big winning streak to get out of a deep hole and climb above .500, only to fall back to .500 and below when they got swept by the Royals in a series where they made way too many mental errors and only scored six runs in three games.......

Yankees 4, Diamondbacks 1: The Yankees are rolling, winning seven games in a row and now stand at .500 for the first time since May 9th. The fact that they're only .500 after their win streak shows how awful their record was before. Bobby Abreu extended his hitting streak in the 1st inning with a three-run homer off Brandon Webb, last year's Cy Young winner in the NL. That was all the team needed as......

Yankees 13 Pirates 6: It’s official, the Yankees are on fire. Sunday they completed their sweep of the Pirates, bludgeoning them behind two home runs from Alex Rodriguez and a 4-4 day from Bobby Abreu. The win was their sixth in a row and leaves them one game below .500 and 9 ½ back in the division. From the outset, the bats were cooking, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but the......

Yankees 10, White Sox 3: When Mike Mussina pitches well these days, he doesn't last too long. He cruised into the seventh inning in Chicago on Thursday before being derailed and helping give up a one-run lead. That didn't stop the Yankees, who used a Bobby Abreu double to take the lead for good in the eighth. Thinks got dicey with Kyle Farnsworth's appearance in the bottom of the inning, but an Alex Rodriguez......