---It is the calm before the storm (literally if you live in the NY-metro area and were alive last night) as the Mets begin a tough stretch of their schedule with three at home against the first place Phillies.

Coming into the series, the Phils have a 3-game lead on the Mets, one that may continue to grow if the Mets do not get (and stay) healthy.


---The Yankees were able to get rid of one of the monkies on their back as they took two-out-of-three from the Rays. The balls continue to fly out of the park at a scary rate. They now must deal with the bigger monkey on their back, as they start a 3-game series in Fenway against the Red Sox. AJ Burnett MUST get some revenge on the Sawx after he blew that six run lead last month to them that many believe led to the rest of the Yankees' troubles with Boston.


Clash of the NHL & NBA in Primetime Tonight:


---Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight in Pittsburgh. Detroit is just one win away from hoisting the cup for the second consecutive year in the same amount of games, against the same team, in the same arena. Sports can be very odd at times.

-Speaking of hockey, it is being reported that Brent Sutter is leaving the New Jersey Devils to go back and coach a junior team in Alberta in which he owns. If this were any other franchise, there would be cause for concern. But with Lou Lamarillo in charge, the coach as well as the transition will undoubtedly work out well.


---Game 3 of the NBA Finals is also tonight as the Magic are in a 'must-win' situation after dropping the first two games in Los Angeles. It will be interesting to see how Stan Van Gundy gets his guys to respond, specifically after game two, which they should have won.


---Is the Vikings' deadline for Brett Favre really ESPN's?
Reports are surfacing that this supposed deadline was in fact made up by ESPN and that Brad Childress and Minnesota's front office never gave Favre any kind of deadline to make a decision on whether or not he was going to play. Just another twist in the annual 'Brett Favre Summer Saga'.


---Tonight marks the first crack at trying to turn Major League Baseball's draft into something similiar to the NFL draft. Good luck MLB Network, I will surely be watching.

(I wonder who will go first? hmmmmm...)

Earlier today and throughout the show, Barry and I posed this question to the you...

What Should The Mets Trade For First?


The results were as follows:

Starting Pitcher 35%

Relief Pitcher 29%

First Baseman with pop 18%

Outfielder with pop 12%

Other 6%

(Matthew Cerrone of METSBLOG.com voted for starting pitcher)

(Barry voted for first baseman)

(I voted for starting pitcher)


---Thanks to everyone who voted. Look for our next poll on Wednesday.

THE GOOD:

New York Yankees
Another good week lands the Bronx Bombers in this category. Mark Teixeira continues his hot hitting and A-Rod is showing signs that he is almost back completely offensively. It remains to be seen what they will get out of Chien-Ming Wang, as they have moved Phil Hughes to the bullpen (for now). The rain delay on Friday helped the Yankees in a big way as that enables the rotation to be switched around so that Wang isn't pitching against the Red Sox (thank god).


Roger Federer
I would never try to even imitate someone who knows tennis, but this guy is down-right dominating as he took home the French Open title, which tied the record for most Grand Slam titles wins.


Roy Halladay
Another complete game shutout this afternoon. Two dominant wins this past week, including a complete game shutout today, lands Doc Halladay here. Not hard to argue.


Phil Mickelson
Glad to see that Phil's wife's prognosis is good. After she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Phil left the game and was absent for a few tournaments. Luckily it looks like it was detected early and Mickelson is back with the tour.


Stanley Cup Finals
Game five not withstanding, you have to give credit to the Penguins for winning both games at home after being beaten up good in Detroit for the first two. After the Red Wings beat up on the Pens in game 5, 5-0, they are just a game away for a repeat Cup. We will find out Tuesday night if we have the same result two years in a row...Red Wings in 6. (If G Chris Osgood could have only played this well during his time with the Islanders).

Pavel Datsyuk Staying with the hockey theme, after missing a huge chunk of playoff action with an injured foot, Datsyuk returned in game 5 and had two assists. Defintely may be what puts the Wings over the top.

Livan Hernandez
Mets fans have to be thrilled with what they have gotten out of Livan his last few starts. Sure they were against the likes of the Nationals and well, the Nationals, but a win is a win and he has surely helped to spell the bullpen who is not only shorthanded, but also in need of a rest whenever it is possible.


THE BAD:

David Ortiz
My, how the mighty have fallen. From World Series hero, to a struggling DH who's true age is now being questioned. There are more theories as to why he has fallen from grace than hits by Ortiz so far this year. Interesting to say the least...

Brett Favre
So he apparently did have bicep surgery...Just another twist in Favre's annual saga of whether to stay retired or not. That 'deadline' that the Vikings imposed certainly expired quietly, no?


Pittsburgh Pirates
By trading OF Nate McLouth to the Braves earlier this week, the Pirates have proved yet again, that they serve as a AAA team for contending teams. I understand not being able to afford good players when you are a small market team, but...

A) His newly signed contract wasn't terrible (3 years, $15.75 mil).

B) How can you expect to build any kind of fan base when they have no one to hold on to on a long-term basis?

John Sterling
Not only does he mess up 20 more calls this week, but perhaps the worst one in recent memory is when he starts with his "A-bomb from A-Rod' when it was in fact Hideki Matsui who hit the home run. Not very appropriate, and that is as far as I am going with that one.


THE UGLY:

New York Mets Medical Staff
Okay, I know you can't really blame injuries on any one person, but this is just rediculous. This past week, JJ Putz had to go under the knife and have elbow surgery which will keep him out 2-3 months and it a tear in Jose Reyes' hamstring was discovered which will keep him out another 2-3 weeks. The schedule gets harder as the injuries continue to pile up. Omar's phone bill must be through the roof, as he HAS to be trying to make a deal.

Who next? John Maine...apparently may be dealing with a little bit of dead arm. Stay tuned.


Lakers-Magic Game 1:
Not trying to jump the gun or anything, but for an NBA Finals matchup that looks to be good on paper, game 1 was a complete dud. The Magic left all that momentum they had built during the Eastern Conference Playoffs back in Orlando.

(UPDATE) Okay, so game 2 going to overtime helps, but still doesn't take away from the awful game 1 performance by Orlando.

Frank Wren
The General Manager of the Atlanta Braves, made a PR mistake, even if he was telling the truth. You can be sure that he was not happy that his comments about Tom Glavine were made public. Glavine, who was released earlier this week by the Braves after working toward one last comeback, was apparently told by Wren that he wasn't capable of getting an out any more, among other insulting things. This left John Schuerholz to try and fix things, as Glavine has threatened to file a grievance with the Players Union. Not to mention the timing of his release, which was right after he sold out the Braves' affiliate stadium which can't give away tickets to games...


My Fantasy baseball team's performance
Come on, I have to be able to vent somewhere...

David Wright helped the Mets to save some face in the middle of this horrid stretch with that double in extra innings last night. Hopefully for the Mets, a hard-fought win like that can spark some momentum for the rest of the weekend.

Not only was last night's game rained out between the Yankees and Rays, but so was an excellent pitching matchup. Luckily we get it today as David Price takes on CC Sabathia. First pitch, 1:05.


---Zach Greinke is human after all. He had his first bad start of the season last night lasting only five innings against the Blue Jays in a 9-3 loss.

---Yankee fans must have felt great seeing or hearing about Carl Pavano's complete game shutout against the White Sox last night. It has become quite apparent that he never wanted to pitch in New York. Some of the injuries might have been legit, but I find it hard to believe that all four years worth were...

---Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals is tonight in Detroit. A pivotal game to say the least as Pittsburgh battled back after losing the first two games, to win games 3 and 4 at home. If the Penguins could some how find a way to win tonight, they would set up a chance to bring home the cup at the Igloo in Pittburgh on Tuesday.

---Friendly reminder, game 2 of the NBA Finals is tomorrow night.

Tests on JJ Putz'z ailing elbow have revealed that the Mets pitcher will have to have surgery. Early word is that Putz will be out 8-10 weeks. With the way he has pitched lately, the Mets won't be missing much in his absence. To say that the Mets have been hit hard by the injury bug so far this year would be a gross understatement.

Lakers in 4 11%
Lakers in 5 11%
Lakers in 6 0%
Lakers in 7 44%
Magic in 4 0%
Magic in 5 0%
Magic in 6 22%
Magic in 7 11%

Most picked Lakers in seven, hopefully the Magic play a little better in the games to come than they did last night...Thank you for voting. More polls to come.

Kevin Burkhardt of SNY is reporting that there is a new injury to talk about with Jose Reyes, and this one could put him on the shelf for a while.

Burkhardt is reporting that there is a tear in his right hamstring and he will rest for two days before being re-evaluated. Just add this to all of the bad news that the Mets have been getting on the injury front lately...

Sooner or later, Mets fans will have to stop taking comfort in the fact that they will be getting guys back from the DL after a loss. The truth is, Delgado probably isn't coming back and now you really have to question when you will see Reyes and if you will ever be able to see him at 100% again this year.

The question is, can Alex Cora serve as the Mets' SS for the rest of the season?

The Big Unit has won his 300th game, hitting the magical mark that all pitchers strive for. Major League Baseball was nice enough to let the rest of the country in on this historic game by showing it on the MLB Network.


Possibly the last 300-game winner that Major League Baseball will ever see... Take it all in.

Carlos Beltran was visibly upset (as he should be) about the loss to the Pirates this afternoon. He told reporters after the game that he was 'embarassed.' Mapping out this month, no one really expected the Mets to lose three games in Pittsburgh. Even with all of the injuries, the Mets have managed to beat the teams they were supposed to be (i.e. the Pirates, Nationals and Marlins) yet not this week.

They head to Washington D.C. to start a weekend series with the Nationals, a team they MUST beat up on to get their confidence high for their series next week, at home, against the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.


---Meanwhile, Brian Bruney isn't the only eighth inning guy in New York to have elbow trouble. It is well known that JJ Putz has had some issues with bone spurs in his elbow, however doctors agreed that they would be able to have the surgery after the season was over. After the game, Putz said they may have to consider moving it up. I don't think the fact that he has given up seven runs on nine hits and two walks in the last 1.3 innings is reason to want delay the surgery either.

DirecTV subscribers have something to complain about...

With one out and two on in the top of the ninth, the game cut out and the screen went black. LUCKILY, I am one of those losers that actually gets enjoyment out of the 'Yankee Stadium Bonus Cam channel' and knew to flip to it.


Either way, it was a nice win for the Yankees, taking two-out-of-three from the Rangers heading into their four-game series with the Rays.


---Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, another rough loss for the Mets. They got nothing out of Mike Pelfrey, who struggled from the start. JJ Putz had another bad outting as well, giving up a couple runs in one inning of work. Hopefully better luck finds them in D.C. over the weekend.