NL East

In 2010, the Philadelphia Phillies fully anticipate making the playoffs for the fourth straight year, and for many Philadelphians anything less than a World Series appearance would be a disappointment.

The Phillies have gotten to this point, in part, on the basis of the best left-handed hitting in the National League.

There was a time, however, when dominant left-handed hitting by the Philadelphia Phillies was incredibly deceptive and actually masked severe deficiencies in the Phillies' lineup.

Like vultures surrounding a dead carcass, teams are flying overhead of the Chicago White Sox, hoping for some scraps to add to their contending team as the White Sox slowly waste away in the American League Central race.

The Texas Rangers have already shown interest in 33-year-old catch A.J. Pierzynski and the latest whispers say the Philadelphia Phillies, among others, are scouting reliever/setup man J.J. Putz and closer Bobby Jenks, with a focus on the latter.

It's difficult to get excited about the Mets these days, and I'm not going to take the bait of a single great night of baseball and build it into a fantasy about how good this team may be. But after tonight's win against the Yankees, it's cerainly seems possible to get really excited about what we saw from Mike Pelfrey, Mejia, and KRod.

Pelfrey

If you thought last night's pitching matchup was something, get a load of this one.

Tonight, in the rubber game of the Subway Series, it'll be a battle of left-handed aces. Two guys that have been paid over $150 million to lead their respective starting rotations.

For the Mets, that man is Johan Santana. Coming off of a game in which the Mets lost, to no fault of Santana, he'll be trying to pitch the Mets to a series win. That would be a feat in itself, considering the Mets lost against Javier Vazquez and had the hard task of beating the top two Yankees pitchers.

The Mets invited most of their 2000 team to a weekend reunion at Citi Field. Last night, the Mets honored several stars of that team prior to their game against the Yankees.

The manager of that team was nowhere to be found. Bobby Valentine wasn't on the guest list.

If that does not convince folks he will not be managing the Mets again, nothing will. It's clear Jeff Wilpon has no use for Valentine.

It was a breakout game in many ways for the "core" Mets players on offense.

Behind Mike Pelfrey's strong outing of six innings, one run, six hits, and five strikeouts, were Jason Bay getting four hits and David Wright getting two RBI singles.

Phil Hughes was on the mound for the Yankees, and for the second consecutive outing he struggled.

For the first time in the history of the Subway Series I think to myself "Could the New York Yankees please put us out of our misery and sweep us?"

A sweep by the Yankees would go a long way towards putting the final nail in the coffin of the Omar Minaya era. Jerry Manuel can stay.

For the first time since mid-April, the Phillies lineup was the way it should be. Every starter was playing, and they were handling John Lackey and the Red Sox fairly well along with the help of a stellar performance by Cole Hamels.

But once Jimmy Rollins hit a single in the sixth inning and had to limp to first base, the mood was immediately sucked out of the air.

What a pitching matchup we have in store today for game two of the Subway Series. It'll be a battle of two right-handed starters who have this season developed in to big time pitchers.

For the Mets, it'll be Mike Pelfrey. The last time Big Pelf pitched, he was trying to snap a five-game losing streak in Atlanta on a night in which the entire Mets front office was on hand.

He did a fantastic job of doing that, as he went 7 2/3 strong innings, allowing only two runs.

The New York Times mentioned the Mets' awful attendance at Citi Field last week. It was in the front page of that newspaper.

Last night, the Yankees helped the Mets get their second sellout crowd of the season by making an appearance at Citi Field for a weekend series. There's a good chance the Mets will sell out tonight and tomorrow night.

The Yankees inspire people to show up at other stadiums when they go on the road. That's why many American League teams want the Yankees to come to their town often.