The Yankees and Mets head into today’s trade deadline with similar objectives, upgrading their bullpens, but the Mets have already strengthened their team. Yesterday, the Mets acquired Luis Castillo from the Minnesota Twins for AA catcher Drew Butera and Class A outfielder Dustin Martin. Martin had a .779 OPS for St. Lucie while Butera, considered more of a defensive player, had struggled in AA hitting only .188. In Castillo, a three-time All Star and former......

Devil Rays 14, Yankees 4: Pitchers can go from cruising to losing in a matter of batters. Mike Mussina's propensity to allow home runs makes him especially prone to such reversals of fortunes. He looked good for two innings on Friday but couldn't finish the fifth. Four games at home against the Devil Rays might look like a well-wrapped Christmas present, but with Matt DeSalvo and Kei Igawa scheduled to start both ends of......

- Yankees 8, Twins 1: Doing well against a potential first round opponent is never a bad thing. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they weren't facing one of the Twins' aces yesterday. Fortunately, it looks like Alex Rodriguez might be coming out of his slump. A-Rod got the Yankees off to a good start with a solo home run in the 2nd inning and later added another solo shot in the 7th. There was even......

- Mets 11, Rockies 3: Would it be safe to say that David Wright is out of his slump? We'll see when he leaves the friendly atmosphere of Colorado, but last night it certainly looked like it. Wright had a grand slam in the 1st inning against Josh Fogg. Jose Valentin added to the offensive production with two solo home runs of his own and Carlos Delgado had his own solo shot. Dave Williams......

- Mets 6, Nationals 4: John Maine's scoreless inning streak surely couldn't last. Former Yankee Nick Johnson ended the streak at 26 with a home run in the 4th inning of last night's win against the Nationals. Maine's chance of winning his third game ended in the 6th inning when the Nationals scored 3 runs, chasing him from the game. The Mets scored two in the 7th to break a 4-4 tie with RBI......

-Mets 1, Cubs 0: It took ten innings before Jose Valentin's RBI single plated the game's first, and deciding run. With the win, the Mets avoided a sweep at home to the Cubs, which would have been harmlessly embarassing. Instead, they saw John Maine pitch another dominant outing (even if the Derrek Lee-less Cubs don't send up a credible lineup) and make a case for a prolonged stay in the starting rotation. With Orlando Hernandez......

-Mets 8 Reds 3: Carlos Beltran became the first player in four years and the first Met since Robin Ventura to hit grand slams in consecutive games. Beltran’s blast broke open a 3-2 game and ensured Mike Pelfry of his second win. Xavier Nady and Jose Valentin also went deep for New York. -Yankees 5 Seattle 4: Down 4-2 in the ninth, the Yankees benefited from a blown call at first and managed to......

- Marlins 3, Mets 2: John Maine was the tough-luck loser yesterday in the first game of yesterday's doubleheader against the Marlins. Maine allowed only 6 hits over 6 innings, but three of those hits were home runs. The Mets didn't offer up much run support in the loss, getting only 3 hits. - Mets 17, Marlins 3: All the offense the Mets were lacking in game 1 against the Marlins came out in......

-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......

Oooh. The Mets have unloaded Kazuo Matsui to the Colorado Rockies for a bucket of balls. Actually, no. In return, the Mets get utilityman Eli Marrero. Marrero has played at catcher, first base, and in the outfield this season. Matsui, who started the season in extended spring training, joined the team after Anderson Hernandez was injured. While with the Mets this season, Matsui's shoddy defense improved, but his bat was still as dead as ever.......

-Yankees 2 Boston 1: No Matsui, Sheffield or Jeter; no problem. You may think the Yankees’ offense isn’t what it used to be, but it still can draw a key walk or get a key hit to provide the win. Tuesday, it was Jason Giambi who walked with the bases loaded to provide the winning run. While the offense provided just enough, the game would not have been won without Melky Cabrera. Cabrera, who looked......

-Giants 7 Mets 6 12inn: It was a game that had a lot of familiar events. Armando Benitez blowing a save and the Mets coming back in dramatic fashion, but the ending was different. Jose Valentin and Lastings Milledge homered in the tenth off of Benitez to bring New York back from a 6-4 deficit, but Pedro Feliz knocked in the winning run in the twelfth to give the Giants a series win. -Baltimore 11......