Dillon Gee is now 6-0.  6-0?  Man, he’s got to be due for an injury soon.  (He is a Mets Pitcher after all.)

The Yankees are 5-3 on their current West Coast Trip.  Regardless of what happens today, I still consider this a great victory.  Let’s face it.  The Yankees are normally terrible on these West Coast swings.  If they didn’t come home with a decent record, you know they would have left Nick Swisher in Oakland.  (With the way he’d been hitting as of late, that wasn’t necessarily a joke.)

Finally, Jeter is 15 hits away from 3000.  I think we’re all looking forward to him achieving this goal.  First, it’s virtually locks him in for the Hall of Fame.  Second, it stops the “drunk text” countdowns from my friends at all hours of the night. Finally, the Yankees can focus on winning games and Jeter can go back to those terrible Ford Fusion commercials.

Seriously Folks, do you really believe he would drive a Ford Fusion? 

We may not always be rooting for the same team; Nevertheless, this is something I believe we can all agree on.

Our thoughts are with Gary Carter.

Today, Baseball Hall of Famer and Mets Great, Gary Carter was reported to have Stage 4 Brain Cancer. Unfortunately, a scary diagnosis not much different than that, which took the life of Mets Great, Tug McGraw. 

According to published reports, Carter's tumors are inoperable. A great disappointment, especially when bestowed upon a man who is the physical embodiment of optimism.  As Ron Darling said during tonight's Mets Broadcast, "[Carter] never wanted to make the last out."

The 57-year-old Carter is expected to learn about his options (however few) at Duke University's Cancer Institute treatment center tomorrow. 

This is truly a sad day.  Carter is one of the true ambassadors of the game and an overall good person.  Here's hoping that Darling is right.  Carter deserves a couple of extra innings to keep fighting.

It’s been fifteen years since Major League Baseball instituted Interleague Play and the game has been better for it.  Midseason attendance spikes. It drives revenue and frankly, especially in the case of regional rivalries, a little healthy competition between family members is never bad.

In Chicago, it’s the “Crosstown Classic”.  In northern California, it’s the “Bay Bridge Series”.  However, the most famous of these regional rivals would easily have to be New York’s very own “Subway Series.”

Before Interleague Play was a gleam in Bud Selig’s eye, the “Subway Series” was pretty common in New York.  After all, two New York teams have faced each other in the World Series fourteen times dating back to 1921. (Technically two New York teams played each other in the “World Championship Series” in 1889, but being that the Subway didn’t make its debut until 1904, that series could probably best be described as a “Trolley Series.”)  The most of the regional rivals by far.

Beyond the postseason, the Yankees and Giants used to play exhibition series against each other from time to time. These match-ups were known as the "City Series." Sometimes they were even played in October, on the rare occasion that either team wasn’t in the World Series. After 1940, this became difficult because the Yankees routinely appeared in the World Series. In the seventeen-year span between 1941 and 1957 (when the Giants and Dodgers left for California), the Yankees appeared in the World Series twelve times.  They only failed to reach the Series in 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948 and 1954.

Prior to the abandonment of New York by the city's two National League teams, the Yankees and Dodgers began to play an annual midseason exhibition game called the Mayor's Trophy Game.  It benefited sandlot baseball in New York City. The proceeds raised by the Yankees went to leagues in Manhattan and the Bronx while the proceeds raised by the Dodgers went to leagues on Long Island and Staten Island.

Interest in the annual charity event was revived in 1963 with the expansion New York Mets.  With it, bragging rights to the city were back on the line.  The Yankees were no longer the only team in town and at some points they weren’t even the best team in town.  (For those of you born after 1996, this seems like an impossible idea, I know.)

Most of the time, these games weren’t very competitive.  If one team was great, the other was usually very bad.  After dwindling interest as well as public bickering between the owners of both teams, the Mayor's Trophy Game was discontinued following the 1983 season.

It was revived again as a pre-Opening Day series titled the "Mayor's Challenge" and hosted many recent Yankees’ and Mets’ Greats like Doc Gooden, David Cone, Al Leiter and Don Mattingly.  However, as the Major League schedule evolved and the game became harder to schedule, it was eventually discontinued for good in 1992.

…Because without him, last night’s loss to the Red Sox would have been insufferable.   Don’t get me wrong.  Last night was terrible. The Yankees left too many runners on base.  Their play was sloppy and uninspired.  Hell!  Fox couldn’t even find a celebrity Yankees fan willing to talk on air.  Sure, who wants to talk to Joe Buck? But, really? No one could be found anywhere in a Yankees/Boston game in New York?  Who was I watching?  The New York Yankees or the Pittsburgh Pirates?

However, around the 5th inning this game took on a new level of interesting.  It became less America’s Pastime and more “The Real Housewives of the Bronx”.  It was less about the game and more about who was sitting on the bench.  Did Jorge Posada decide that he couldn’t or simply didn’t want to play last night?

Manager Joe Girardi released the lineup for last night's game. Posada was slotted into the 9^th hole as the team’s DH.  Interestingly enough, this was the first time Posada batted ninth since 1999.  A fact not lost on reporters in the Bronx.  Thus the barrage of questions began.

Posada had been getting heat for his lack of contribution to the team as of recent.  He hadn’t hit a homerun since April 23^rd, was far too expensive to sit on the bench and wasn’t hitting his own weight.  Come to think of it.  He was barely hitting my weight.

Undeniably, the lights have been far more glaring on Posada than on fellow “Core Three” teammate, Derek Jeter.  Is there a double standard?  Perhaps.  Nonetheless, if the pressure was getting to Posada, he didn’t let on during the pregame press conference.

But by the first pitch, Posada is out of the line up.  This was strange, but not unheard of.  Players are pulled from the line up all the time.  They fall ill.  Injuries are uncovered.  Family issues come up. Maybe Posada was under the weather?  Girardi must have had a good reason to take him out of the line up.  This is 17-year Yankees veteran, Jorge Posada, after all.  He wouldn’t just pull himself from a line-up because he was having a “bad day.” He would never put himself or his ego before the team.  Or would he?

By mid-game, things get juicy. Yankees GM Brian Cashman met with reporters.  He claimed that it was Posada who pulled himself from the game. Cashman didn’t offer a reason for the removal, causing rumors of insubordinate behavior by the beloved Yankees veteran to spread like wild fire.

Adding fuel to the fire was Laura Posada, Jorge’s wife.  She took on the role of PR rep and took to Twitter and Facebook mid-game saying, "Jorge loves being a Yankee…He's trying his best to help his team win. Today, due to back stiffness he wasn't able to do that."  What back stiffness?  This was new to everyone. Better yet, why wasn’t Jorge speaking for himself? Within a matter of innings, a spot in the lineup developed into the most uncomfortable “he said/he said” since Charlie Sheen and CBS.

Is it out of the realm of possibility that Jorge Posada’s frustration and ego got the best of him?  No.  This once proud Yankee is hitting well below the Mendoza line and there are plenty of young bucks itching to take his place.  Has there been a giant double standard applied?  Yes and maybe it’s starting to get to him.  He might be a member of the “Core Three”, but that doesn’t mean he’s not human.  Face it.  Derek Jeter didn’t receive half the scrutiny that Posada received when he hit the schnied. 

Should Posada be coddled because of his past contributions to the team?  No. Baseball is a game of what have you done for me lately.  Nonetheless, in a post-steroids era, perhaps we all need to learn that we’re supposed to get old.  Our bodies break down and its ok.  There comes a point in time when perhaps even our heroes have to hang it up. 

But is it fair to judge players by different standards?  No.  But when was life fair?

Ultimately though, should Posada be given the chance to explain his actions without his wife’s twitter account?  Yes.  He is at least owned that. 

With the Yankees battling injuries and the Mets battling…themselves? This week I turn my attention to the AL Central.  It’s May 7^th and the Cleveland Indians are in first.

What?!

That’s right.  This is a team once voted the most disliked team in all of Major League Baseball (even over the Yankees)!  A team picked to place dead this year is actually in first place.

Sure, we’re only entering the second week of May but according to the “experts”, shouldn’t the Cleveland Indians be a hundred games out of first by now?

Maybe it’s just me, but have you noticed how this year’s Cleveland Indians are looking more and more like the Tribe from the movie, Major League?   It's true and this is not a thinly veiled reference to Charlie Sheen ranting like “Captain Crazy Pants” in a Chief Wahoo hat.  Think about it…

Left for dead, they have become the team to beat in the AL Central.  And just like the Yankees in the movie, the Boston Red Sox couldn't hit the broadside of a barn when they faced Cleveland.

Just like the movie, the Indians have a big bopper with questionable immigration status as well (i.e. Pedro Cerrano).  I’m looking at you, Shin-Soo Choo!  If he didn’t carry his team to a Gold Medal in the Pan-Asian games, he was looking at mandatory military service… in South Korea!  

They also have a crafty veteran looking for that elusive championship.  However, I’ll say it now.  Grady Sizemore sports a far cuter hairdo than Jake Taylor.

Finally, have you checked out Closer Chris Perez?  This left-of-center (or in his case, right-of-center) hurler is making the 2011 Cleveland Indians a relevant contender through out the league, even if his look screams NHL 1994.  

And I bet he would be far funnier in front of a microphone than Charlie Sheen ever could.  But, that's not that hard.

Sure, they might share a city, but the Knicks and Yankees have more commonalities than you think. I’m talking specifically about Phil Hughes and Chauncey Billups.

Hear me out…

Yankees fans have been pretty disappointed by Phil Hughes and his “dead arm.”  However, I encourage them to look at the situation from a Chauncey Billups point of view.

A Chauncey Billups point of view?  Like I said, hear me out...

Is this post-Hughes Yankees pitching staff a dream scenario?  Of course not.  Is Chauncey Billups the Knicks’ ideal point guard? No.

Chauncey Billups is essentially a placeholder.  He’s holding fourteen million dollars to get the missing stud the Knicks so desperately need after the new CBA agreement (and probable NBA lockout) are negotiated.  

Garcia and Colon are more than capable placeholders until Hughes comes back.  If he doesn’t come back, then they hold the fort until a sexier ace hits the block around the trading deadline.

And if there's one thing the Yankees are fairly decent at, it's negotiating the trade deadline to their advantage.

If Billups can stay healthy and Garcia/Colon can continue to eat up innings, each respective team has the ability to turn the corner and cure serious Achilles’ heels.

….if you even want to call him a journalist. 

Did you get a chance to check out Mike Francesca’s Radio/Television show on WFAN or YES today?  About half way through the show, Francesca announced that he had breaking news, a story that would change the face of sporting news … irrevocably. 

The NFL Lockout was back on.  What?

There was only one problem.  The report was flat out false and after listening to Francesca pontificating for fifteen minutes, he promptly had to issue an apology. 

So, let’s see here.  Mike Francesca just willy-nilly announced a “breaking news” story in which people’s livelihoods are at stake and it’s completely false?  People normally get fired for this.

Did he miss the first day of Journalism 101?

How does one report a completely unsubstantiated story without fact-checking it?  His excuse, it was reported first on ESPN.  So what?  Shame on you Mike Francesca and your crew for not double checking your sources before you go air.  Does Brian Williams report every AP story that crosses his desk?  If he does, you can be damn sure that he’s got his facts in order.  Frankly, today was just another example of Francesca’s desperate attempt to revitalize his tired format. I marvel at the longevity of his career and can think of a multitude of radio personalities that can make better use of his valuable air space.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake was arrested on shoplifting charges, after being  accused of trying to steal sixty dollars worth of American Rag t-shirts from a downtown Macy*s.  Sure, I used to work at Macy*s.  I know the lines tend to get long, especially around "Friends and Family" time and sure, maybe our employees tend to lose their Macy*s "Magic" on occasion.  But T-shirts?  And not even design ones to boot?   The man makes just about $425,000 a year.  I’m sure American Rag would have been happy to send him boxes of t-shirts, if he just asked.

The 23-year-old starter was booked at the Hamilton County Justice Center on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of shoplifting, a charge carrying a maximum of 180 days in jail. I doubt that the Reds will loose too much sleep regarding their stop-gap measure for an injured Johnny Cueto. If Barry Bonds can lie to the US Government and walk, this punk won’t even see an ankle bracelet.

Leake was arrested two hours before Cincinnati pitchers were expected to take batting practice before the final game of the Pittsburgh series. Of course, he was out in time to make his next start and get the victory in an 11-2 win over the Pirates on Saturday.  I’m sure if he made a salary closer to an employee at Macy*s, the CPD wouldn't have been so flexible.

Can someone explain to me why there is any sympathy for Manny Ramirez today?  No, seriously.  Please walk me through this.  I’m willing to listen.  

            I’m listening to the talk radio and I’m reading blogs (not unlike my own) and all I hear about is what a great character Manny was.  Character?   Seriously?  What's your definition of character?

            Don’t get me wrong.  I appreciate the great “characters” of the game.  Tommy Lasorda, Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra were all great characters of the game, yet not one of them ever made a mockery of the game like Ramirez did.    Telling your team that you need to arrive late to Spring Training for family reasons only to collect an appearance fee for an Atlantic City car auction doesn’t quite give you the same warm fuzzy feeling as, “It’s not over, till it’s over.”

            Let’s not get me started on Ramirez' flagrant disregard for the game as well.  First, he was named in the Mitchell report for allegedly testing positive for the use of performance-enhancing drugs during the 2003 season.  Ok.  Go ahead and make the argument that he was just one of many and there were no laws against PEDs at this point in baseball.  However, fast forward to 2009.  Manny is suspended 50 games for violating baseball's drug policy…allegedly.  I heard a caller yesterday on the radio actually say, “but he was only caught with a female hormone.”  What?!  Did you think Manny was trying to get pregnant?!  Sadly, at this point, it’s pretty much common knowledge that female hormones are used to restart natural testosterone production after a steroid cycle.   Fast forward to this week, Manny is informed of yet another violation of the drug policy.   That’s two positive test results since Major League Baseball implemented their PED rules.  In true “Manny style,” Ramirez spat in the face of Major League Baseball again.  He rather retire than face the 100 game suspension he deserves. 

            Does Manny Ramirez deserve to a ticket to the Hall of Fame?  Maybe, if he pays admission.  Manny might be retiring with a lifetime batting average north of .300 and 500+ Home Runs under his belt; however, he hasn’t shown once that he was able do it on his own without any help.  

           The great tragedy of Barry Bonds was that he did have the talent to make it on his own.  The great tragedy of Manny is that we let Manny be “Manny” as long as we did.

As each Grapefruit and Cactus League game inches us closer to Opening Day, I’ve looked back at some of the most beloved cinematic salutes to our national pastime…except this week, of course.  Seriously, folks, they can’t all be winners.  So, today I look back with all the crankiness of a Nick Hornby novel at one of the most overcooked of all cinematic baseball turkeys – Fever Pitch. 

No, I’m not talking about the funny 1997 Colin Firth vehicle about a long, suffering soccer fan.  I’m talking about the terrible 2005 American version, starring the woeful Jimmy Fallon, as a long, suffering baseball fan.  Oh!  So that’s what makes it American…baseball.  What?  Does Soccer not transfer from English to English?  If I didn’t spend $10 on the ticket and wasn’t the designated driver, I would have walked out on this disaster 15 minutes in.  

Fever Pitch (2005) was directed by the Farrelly Brothers (Hall Pass) and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (A League of their Own).  The film introduces us to Ben (Fallon) and Lindsey (Drew Barrymore).  Opposites in everyway, they fall in love.  Everything is going great until Opening Day reveals a deep secret about Ben – he’s a Red Sox Fan.  Can their budding romance survive the baseball season?  Better yet, who cares?

I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never sat through such a flawed movie in my life.  It wasn’t even bad enough to be good.  The Farrelly Brothers were so wrapped up in location (with scenes actually shot at and around Fenway Park), authenticity (cameos by actual Red Sox) and rewriting the ending that they forgot about a little thing called, acting. (Note: I don’t want to give away too much about the 2005 or 1997 movies, but when the Red Sox actually won the World Series, some major scenes had to be reshot.)

Watching Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon as romantic leads on screen is as exciting as watching paint dry.  You know the performances in the film are pathetic when ex-Red Sox, Johnny Damon, easily puts in one of the more charming performances in the film.  Stella Adler and Babe Ruth must be rolling over in their graves.

I was never a Nick Hornby fan, but I always liked the novel, Fever Pitch.  Because it’s autobiographical, I feel like it speaks to some inherent truth in all of us.  If I could make a business card that said “Trish Vignola – long, suffering sports fan”, I would.  Seriously, Fever Pitch is not Hornby’s typical heaping helping of whinny men suffering from “Peter Pan” complexes.  It’s actually good.

Maybe the 1997 film worked so well because Hornby was actually involved in the production, writing the screenplay.  Maybe the 2005 film failed so badly, because the Farrelly Brothers got so wrapped up in Americanizing the film, they forgot about story or dynamic casting.  Maybe a film that was less than 10 years old at the time had no business being remade?  Thank god Hollywood learned its lesson with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Oh, wait! Too late.