Opinion

The Mets were at home this past windy weekend taking on the San Francisco Giants. After Sunday's game, the Mets now stand at 17-14, tied for second place in the National League East . They are two games back of the first place Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets are 5-5 in their last ten games.

Here are some thoughts from this past series with the Giants:

Back On The Winning Track

THE MEAT OF THE ORDER

Every week there are three things I deem to be really important. It's kind of like the "meat" of my lineup. This week, there is only two because my DH is on the disabled list.

1. Zach Duke isn’t plunking anyone.

This whole “unwritten rule” thing has gone far enough. We are talking about these things way too much for them to be “unwritten” at this point. So let’s start calling them “The unwritten but often spoken of” rules of baseball.

In "The 209" they call that pitchin'.

The days leading up to Oakland A's pitcher Dallas Braden's perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday—the 19th in MLB history and the first for Oakland since Catfish's 42 years ago—sure had its fair share of talkin'.

The New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez said he didn't want to extend Braden's "15 minutes" after continued questions and jawing about the controversy regarding the two players' baseball etiquette dust-up (mound dirt-up?) last month.

Well, Alex Rodriguez, it's time to remember the name of Dallas "Instant Hero" Braden, because in a few years, he might be on your team.

The Oakland Athletics pitcher tossed a 4-0 perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays, marking the first perfect game in Oakland in 42 years when Catfish Hunter achieved the feat.  Hunter would eventually sign a free-agent contract with the New York Yankees.

Last month, Dallas Braden was the subject of headlines after calling out Alex Rodriguez for taking a shortcut, and that path led right through the pitching mound. Apparently, the feud is still going. 

On the May 8 episode of "Pardon the Interruption," Braden continued to bait A-Rod, because he felt slighted after the New York Yankees slugger tried to play down comments he made about the Oakland A's starter having not done much as a major leaguer yet. 

The Dallas Braden/Alex Rodriguez feud is still going strong, and while part of me feels that Braden ought to let it go and move (which he appears to be doing tonight with eight perfect innings against the Rays so far), all of me feels that Alex Rodriguez is one of the bigger punks in the game.

After winning back-to-back division titles, the Cubs now appear on the brink of having two straight years of October golf. The Cubs' core players are quickly passing their prime as the ballclub becomes increasingly more inconsistent.

Now it's still early in the season and a Cubs run to a Wild Card spot isn't mathematically impossible, but even if the Cubs make the playoffs, it is very, very clear they cannot compete with the Cardinals and Phillies in the National League or the Yankees, Devil Rays, or Twins in the AL.

Red Sox ace Josh Beckett got rocked—again—Friday night, allowing nine earned runs in 5 1/3 innings to the Yankees, marking the third time he’s given up seven earned runs or more in a start this season.

Through seven starts (41 innings) in 2010, Beckett is 1-1 with a despicable 7.46 ERA and 1.66 WHIP.

Most teams would love the opportunity to choose between two of the best starting pitchers in the major leagues, but for the Phillies this question became an agonizing decision. Who did they want? The dominating Roy Halladay, or their very own post-season hero Cliff Lee? In the end, amid much controversy back in Philadelphia, the Phillies decided to acquire Roy Halladay and send Cliff Lee to Seattle.

Milton Bradley…thanks for finally telling us what we’ve known for 11 years…that you’ve got mad issues!

In this portion of his bizarre Game of Life, Bradley went 0 for 2 (two strikeouts) Tuesday night during a home game vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. After the second punch-out, Bradley supposedly stormed into the clubhouse and left Safeco Field.