Quarterbacks

Chad Pennington (Dolphins) - Completed 22-of-29 passes for 228 yards and a TD against the Chargers. He has thrown only 10 incomplete passes in his past two games and has a favorable matchup against the Texans in Week 6.

Matt Ryan (Falcons) - The rookie had his first multi-TD game of his career against the Packers in Lambeau field. Ryan also threw for a career high 194 yards. Wide receiver Roddy White caught eight balls for 132 yards and a TD. Ryan is a serviceable play against the Raiders and Broncos in Weeks 9 and 10.

Runningbacks

Kevin Faulk (Pats)- Carried the ball seven times for 32 yards and two TDs. He also caught four passes out of the backfield for 29 yards. Both of his touchdowns came at the goal line. It increases Faulk's value if he is going to get goal line carries the rest of the season. He has favorable matchups against the Broncos, Rams and Colts in Weeks 7-9.

Felix Jones (Cowboys)- Jones led the Cowboys in rushing against the Bengals despite only getting nine rushing attempts. It was the most carries he received in a game since Week 1 and the team is looking to feed him the ball more. He finished with 96 yards and scored on a 33-yard run in the first quarter. The rookie has scored three times through in his first five games and is averaging 9 yards per rush. He can make a strong bye week flex play with upcoming games against the Bills and Rams.

Wide Receivers

Greg Camarillo (Dolphins) - Finished with six catches for a team-high 68 yards and a TD. His first touchdown of the season came in traffic over Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer. He is developing a strong rapport with Chad Pennington and was targeted eight times. Over his past three games Camarillo has 16 catches.

Rashied Davis (Bears) - Davis had a nice game vs. an awful Lions secondary and it helped that receiver Brandon Lloyd missed the game due to injury. Davis stepped up catching six balls for 97 yards. He was targeted nine times and will continue to receive extended playing time as long as Lloyd is out. Has favorable games the next three weeks against the Falcons, Vikings and Lions.

Bobby Engram (Seahawks) a€" Engram returned from injury and played in his first game this season against the Giants. The crafty veteran caught eight balls for 61 yards. He was quarterback Matt Hasslebeck's security blanket in the slot position. He was tied for third among WR with 12 targets in Week 5. If receiver Deion Branch misses Week 6 then Engram would start at flanker.

Tight End

Greg Olsen (Bears)- Caught three passes for 87 yards against the Lions. Olsen had a 52-yard reception in the first half and his role has increased with the injury to Brandon Lloyd and improved play of QB Kyle Orton.

Kicker

Shaun Suisham (Redskins) - Kicked three field goals against the Eagles including a 50 yarder. He has scored 25 points the past two weeks while converting all seven of his attempts. Suisham has favorable matchups in Weeks 6-8 against the Rams, Browns and Lions.

Defense

Carolina Panthers- The Panthers shut out the Chiefs 34-0 making it their first shutout since blanking the Rams in 2006. They recorded three sacks, two interceptions and forced two fumbles against KC. Larry Johnson rushed for two yards on seven carries and the Panthers have not allowed a 100 yard rusher yet. They have allowed only nine points their past two games

I'll admit it. I miss Brett Favre. Heaven forbid he take one week off and I'm lost. Sunday rolls around, I wake up, eat some bacon, read the paper, and look at my Jerricho Cotchery jersey with longing. It will not be on display today. It will remain in the closet The Jets bye week is here. I am sad but I should rejoice for Eric Mangini loves the bye. He's undefeated in games following a weekend off (ok, so it's only 2 but stilla€¦).

Last season the Jets bye came in week 10. We were parked at an incredible 1-8 and the Steelers (with a 7-3 record) rolled into the Meadowlands along with a seeming 70,000 Pittsburgh fans. The Jets had looked like pure dog crap all season and Ben Rothlisberger was expected to rip us apart in a game the Steelers needed to help secure playoff position. In most people's minds the Jets had already lost. Thomas Jones ended up rushing for 117 yards and Mike Nugent kicked the game winner in overtime. Jones was the first player in 35 games to record 100 yards on the ground against Pittsburgh.

The year before was Mangini's inaugural season. The 4-4 Jets were coming off the bye against the 6-3 Patriots in New England. People expected the handshake at the end of the game to be more competitive than the play on the field. This might be the very game where the "Man-genius" tag came from. My fondest memory was Brady, after getting sacked on the last play, sitting on the ground with mud stuck in his facemask. He was surrounded by Jets in full-on celebration. Hootin', hollerin', high-five'n; the guys in green were going crazy around a visibly battered Brady. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. Not really.

If the past bears any indication as to what to expect from the Jets week off, we should blow out the Bengals on Sunday. These are the Jets though and this will be the first time Mangini is favored coming into a post-bye game. The Bengals are 0-5 it's true. It's worth noting though that the Bengals were in Giant Stadium just two weeks ago and it took the defending Super Bowl Champs extra time to beat them. I'm sure the Bengals are looking at that game as "one that got away." Expect them to rally around their recievers and Carson Palmer. You think Houshmandzadeh's looking forward to his return to the Meadowlands? He put up 146 yards receiving and a touchdown last time he was in town.

My guess is that Mangini's gameplan revolves around stopping the recieving tandem of Ocho Cinco and T.J. Houshmandzadeh much the same as the one he implemented against the Cardinals. With Kris Jenkins in the middle, running on the Jets hasn't been the cakewalk it used to be. Plus I know from my fantasy league that the Bengals' running back situation looks like musical chairs.

Can you tell me which one of the following Running Backs has not played for the Bengals this season?

Kenny Watson

Rudi Johnson

Cedric Benson

William Perry

Ryan Fitzpatrick

Dede Dorsey

Chris Perry

The Bengal's Defense is allowing 171 yards rushing a game. There are only three teams worse than that (the Chiefs are allowing 182- we'll see them in a few weeks). Could this be the week Thomas Jones erupts for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns? We shall seea€¦

I spent my Sunday off from the Jets mostly watching football. Surprise! Thank God for my fantasy league. It kept the Giants game entertaining to watch. Brandon 25-points Jacobs has given me the early lead but a tough Monday Night looms. If anyone knows what happened to Santana Moss please share with a comment. Did the Eagles break his fingers? 0 catches. That's a zero people. He also scored that many points. If anybody has any roster suggestions I'd love them actually. Mine's below if you care to peruse. I can't figure out which quarterback to trade and what I should trade them for. A top ten running back. Favre for Clinton Portis is on the tablea€¦ thoughts? Oh yeah, welcome to my Sunday.

by the way, William Perry hasn't rushed for the Bengals this seasona€¦ yet.

When David Carr's playing in the fourth quarter, it means something's really, really wrong or something's really, really right. For the Giants today, things went really, really right. They blew Seattle off the field, by a score of 44-6. Big Blue totally dominated the Seahawks on both sides of the ball.

The Good

The Giants rolled up 523 total yards (342 in the first half; the most in the NFL this year, and the most for the G-men in 17 years), to Seattle's 187. They rushed for 254 yards (Seattle had 74), and passed for 272 (to Seattle's 113). The Giants also had the edge in first downs (27 to 13) and time of possession (36:28 to 23:32). In the past, the Giants couldn't buy a win after the bye week. This time it was no problem. And no Plaxico Burress on the field? No one even noticed.

Eli Manning led an offense that was a relentless machine. Their first drive of the game was all of four plays, but they cruised 91 yards down the field, capped off by a 32-yard Domenik Hixon touchdown reception. Hixon was the star of the first half with four catches for 102 yards, a TD and also gained 15 yards on an end-around. Plaxico Burress? Who's that. Manning spread the ball around, with eight different players catching a pass. Along with Hixon, Amani Toomer and Sinorice Moss (two TD's) also hauled in four passes. Even Mario Manningham caught a pass, and Steve Smith caught one shoeless. Manning was a precise 19 for 25, with two touchdown passes and threw for 267 yards. He led seven different scoring drives before being replaced by Carr. The offense had 12 plays of 15 yards or longer. They attacked the Seattle D and carved them apart. Jeff Feagles didn't boom his first punt until the third quarter. And Tom Coughlin chose to stick with Old Man Carney, who was perfect once again, kicking field goals of 29, 33 and 35 yards.

The offensive line not only gave Manning the time to stand in the pocket and complete passes all game long (only one sack), they led the way for a pounding running attack. Earth, Wind and Fire took turns scorching the Seattle defense. Brandon Jacobs bulled his way for two TD's and gained 136 yards on 15 carries, including a 44-yard run on the first drive of the game. Derrick Ward pitched in with 40 yards on seven carries. And Ahmad Bradshaw finished things off with 65 yards on 11 carries.

On the other side of the ball, Big Blue's D held Seattle to only two field goals. Fred Robbins and Justin Tuck sandwiched Matt Hasselbeck in the first quarter, almost knocking him out of the game. Mathias Kiwanuka and Dave Tollefson recorded sacks. Kevin Dockery had the only pick of the day and ran it back 44 yards. And Aaron Ross led the team in tackles, with six. The whole second half was garbage time, so Coughlin let the defenders' kids play a few series. The Seahawks still couldn't score.

The Bad

After an incredible start, Hixon had to leave the game with a concussion. He missed the second half. And Kareem McKenzie also left the game with a concussion. When you win 44-6, it's hard to find things that went wrong. Carney had a kickoff go out of bounds, which gave Seattle excellent field possession, leading to their second field goal (and two penalties along the way didn't help). But the kicker probably just felt sorry for the Hawks.

The Ugly

There was nothing ugly for the Giants in this game, so we'll pick the Mets bullpen. The season's over but they're still ugly.

The Giants are 4-0 for the first time since 1990, and lool like (arguably) the best team in the NFL. All aspects of their game are firing on all cylinders. Next week they travel to Cleveland for the Monday Nighter. Hopefully somebody will remind Plaxico that they're not playing on Sunday.

The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning finished off their two-game series in Prague today. Le Grand Orange frightened us once again with the Anthem. She would be good at interrogating criminals. After she finished singing, I was ready to confess to anything. The second game was much like the first. The Rangers dominated the puck (at least in the first two periods) and out-shot the Lightning, 39 to 19 (and 80 to 40 for the two games). And the score was the same also, with the Blueshirts once again winning 2-1.

The Rangers controlled the play in the first period but couldn't get on the board. Tampa Bay had a measly three shots on goal, but Adam Hall managed to slip one by Henrik Lundqvist to take a 1-0 lead. The King thought he stopped the puck, but it trickled past him into the net. The period also saw the first fight of the year with Aaron Voros taking on Ryan Malone. It was short but sweet. And Brandon Dubinsky was whistled for a roughing penalty sticking up for Lundqvist after the goalie was barrelled over in a collision. You don't mind seeing that type of penalty.

Tom Renney rolled out the same lineup as the one on Saturday. And in the second period, they were as dominating as can be. The Lightning didn't even get a shot off until the halfway mark of the period. On the second power play of the game for New York, Wade Redden recorded his first Ranger goal after some beautiful tic-tac-toe passing from Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez. The Rangers were in Tampa Bay's zone the whole power play, blasting shot after shot, with plenty of traffic in front of the net. They ended up one for four on the power play, and two for 11 in the series. Gomez netted the eventual game-winner (with assists from Redden and Voros) when the Blueshirts swarmed and attacked the Lightning. They put relentless pressure on Tampa Bay all period long. After the game, Lightning coach Barry Melrose (back on the bench after 70 or so years; the last time he coached, the Montreal Maroons defeated the New York Americans for the Stanley Cup) said he was embarrassed for his team with what the Rangers did to them in that period.

New York was five for five killing penalties (after going four for four in Saturday's game). Newly appointed captain Chris Drury and Gomez even provided some short-handed scoring opportunities in both games. Lundqvist had another King Henrik game, after looking very rusty in the preseason. The team only scored two power play goals in the two games, but they look better than last season. They're shooting the puck more and creating screens in front of the goalie.

The team is driving to the net, controlling the puck, piling up shots, pressuring the opposition and skating hard. Their Achilles heel, though, was face-offs. They lost that battle by a count of 29 to 17. And, once again, could only tally two goals with all those shots. Will this be an ongoing problem? Or will the goals come? We'll find out. They came out of Prague with four points, though. You can't ask for more than that.

MLB could not ask for a better matchup between two of the most storied franchises in baseball history.

The Chicago Cubs come into the postseason with the best balance of starting pitching, offense, defense and bullpen of all playoff teams. However, they carry the biggest weight on their shoulders in not having won a World Series in 100 years.

This pressure in addition to facing a very solid Los Angeles Dodgers team, will make advancing to the NLCS that much more difficult. However, the Cubs simply have too much depth. Specifically, their starting pitching will allow them to separate themselves from the Dodgers and advance to the NLCS.

Pitching Matchups (First 3 games listed):

Derek Lowe vs Ryan Dempster

Chad Billingsley vs Carlos Zambrano

Rich Harden vs Hiroki Kuroda

Season Series: Cubs won 5 of 7 games

Prediction: Cubs in 4 games

Al Davis is well known for being a difficult man to work for. He's passionate about his Oakland Raiders and he expects them to win. When they don't, he usually takes it out on his coach in a very public fashion. Now you can add Lane Kiffen to the list of coaches Davis ran out of town. To be honest, that list isn't a bad place to be for a young coach. He's in great company- Mike Shannahan, Art Shell, Norv Turner, Bill Callahan, and Jon Gruden all had issues working for Al Davis. I'm thinking that when Davis hates his coach it's a good thing. The truth is he doesn't really want a coach, Al hires personal assistants and that doesn't sit well with most men who are trying to put together a good football team.

When I saw Davis on TV bashing Lane Kiffen in such an unprofessional manner I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. I mean Al Davis, not Kiffen. Kiffen might actually be percieved as more qualified after being fired by the Raiders. This is like a badge of honor or a really good war scar for a NFL coach. On Kiffen's resume it now reads, "2007-2008 Oakland Raiders, Head Coach. Stuck to my guns and was fired."

The man I felt sorry for was Al Davis. Such a blatant display of disrespect could only come from lunacy. He's old. If you haven't seen any of it you should click. He looks like the human Lo Pan, you know the bad guy in Big Trouble In Little China. Davis proceeds to give us details on differences he and Kiffen had on draft picks, contract stipulations, and even defensive formations the Raiders used in games. At least Jerry Jones keeps his "coaching seminars" behind closed doors. Can you imagine trying to talk to 79 year old Davis during a game about your Nickel package and why it's better in a certain situation. No matter what you say, you're wrong and the Al Davis the General Manager and owner is right. While the Raiders haven't looked great, it's hard to imagine a team this discombobulated can win anytime soon. Tom Cable. You ever hear that name before today? Me neither.

I've heard that Al Davis's mom lived to be over 100 years old. That means there's a very good chance the Raiders will suck for at least the next 20 years. The dude reminds me of a cockroach. A nuclear war couldn't stop him from micro-managing his football team.

Here are the answers to yesterday's quiz.

1. Harry Howell has played the most games for the Rangers, with 1,160.

2. Jean Ratelle has scored the second most goals for the Rangers, with 336.

3. Rod Gilbert is the runner up in assists, with 615.

4. The all-time Rangers penalty minutes leader is Ron Greschner, with 1,226.

5. Rod Seiling is the all-time plus/minus leader, at 208.

6. Adam Graves has scored the most goals at left wing, with 280.

7. Rod Gilbert has scored the most power-play goals, with 108.

8. Mark Messier has scored the most short-handed goals, with 23.

9. Ron Greschner has racked up the second most points by a Rangers defenseman, with 610.

10. Walt Tkaczuk has played more games than any other center for the Rangers, with 945.

In what should be the most exciting series of all the divisional matchups, the Philadelphia Phillies will take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Plenty of offense will be showcased in this series with the likes of Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins. However, in the end starting pitching and bullpens win postseason games and the Phillies simply have more of it.

CC Sabathia is a horse who will pitch again on short rest, but without Ben Sheets who has been shut down for the year, the Brewers simply do not have the starting pitching depth that they will sorely need. Additionally, with a shaky bullpen of Salomon Torres and Eric Gagne, the Brewers will not be able to rely upon either of them to record a big out nor to slow down the Phillies powerful offense.

In the end, the Phillies offense, adequate pitching, and great bullpen led by Brad Lidge who coverted 41 of 41 saves will be too much for the Brewers to overcome.

Pitching Matchups (First 3 games listed):

Yovani Gallardo vs Cole Hamels

CC Sabathia vs Brett Myers

Jamie Moyer vs David Bush

Season Series: Phillies won 5 of 6

Prediction: Phillies in 4 games.

With only four more days until the New York Rangers start the season in Prague with returning heroes Jaromir Jagr and Martin Strakaa€¦oops (will Petr Prucha do?), see how much you know about the Blueshirts record book. The answers will be posted tomorrow.

1. Who has played the most games for the Rangers?

2. Rod Gilbert is the all-time leader in goals for the Blueshirts, with 406. Who is second?

3. Brian Leetch is the all-time leader in assists, with 741. Who is second?

4. Who is the all-time Rangers penalty minutes leader?

5. Who is the all-time plus/minus leader for the Rangers?

6. Who is the all-time goal-scoring left-winger for the Rangers?

7. Which Ranger has scored the most power-play goals?

8. Which Ranger has scored the most short-handed goals?

9. Brian Leetch has the most points of any Ranger defenseman. Who is second?

10. Which center has played the most games for the Blueshirts?

For the second straight year, the Mets season came down to game #162, and for the second straight year, the team lost. Season over. No playoffs. After 2007's collapse, Willie Randolph should have been fired, the bullpen gutted and an effort to make the team younger should have been a priority. Instead, Omar Minaya chose to retain his manager, put all of his bullpen eggs in Duaner Sanchez's basket and re-sign Moises Alou and Luis Castillo. All were big, big mistakes.

The main culprit in the demise of the Mets was, of course, the bullpen. Were they single-handedly responsible for every Mets loss? No. But did they have a major leaguea€"high 30 blown saves? Yes. Count 'em, 30! That doesn't mean the team lost every one of those games, but that's a pretty darn high number. In the off-season, Minaya managed to trade away Guillermo Mota to the Brewers. Good start. But, unfortunately, it wasn't a start. That was it. Unless you count Matt Wise, which I don't know how you could. He was last seen driving a Mister Softee truck this summer.

Minaya decided that last year's bullpen, which was a complete disaster coming down the stretch in '07, just needed a little tinkering. As it turns out (and to no one's surprise) it needed 20 sticks of dynamite and a lighter. He put a lot of faith in hoping that Sanchez would return to his pre-injury form. That obviously didn't happen, as Sanchez was a shell of his former self and had trouble hitting the high 80s on the radar gun. Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Scott Schoeneweis and even Billy Wagner failed miserably last year, and repeated their pathetic performance this year. Of course, the injury to Wagner was a big blow, but the 'pen was in trouble before he came up lame. They were forced into roles where they would inevitably fail, because almost every one of the team's relievers was a specialist, who couldn't pitch a couple of innings at a time. Because of that, the bullpen kept putting the team in a position where every game was tight, no lead was safe and every at-bat a nerve-wracking, do-or-die exercise. And the architect of that bullpen was Omar Minaya. Sure, he dumped Jorge Sosa early and picked up Brian Stokes and Luis Ayala off the scrapheap, who helped a little (but like everybody else failed at the end), but a bad plan entering the season is what killed them.

Minaya also made the ill-fated decision to bring back Moises Alou. The oft-injured, 42-year-old left fielder only played in 87 games in 2007, so if you were surprised that he'd only appear in 15 games in '08, raise your hand. Left field was a black hole for two months until Fernanado Tatis was given to the Mets as a gift from the gods. Minaya lucked out there. And how many Mets fans rejoiced when they heard these words last winter: four more years of Luis Castillo. He's the seven dwarfs all by himselfaۥSurly, Limpy, Slappy, Grouchy, Moody, Lazy and Gripey. Damion Easley filled in admirably, but he too was brittle. Argenis Reyes can't hit. So they ended up with Ramon Martinez the last week of the season (they may have been better off if he was starting all year).

Did Minaya do everything wrong? Of course not. He traded for Johan Santana (no small thing), Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. But the team needed an overhaul not a tune-up. The Mets need to stop thinking so highly of themselves. They've been blinded by the regular-season success of 2006, but that year and the next two ended in failure. They won 88 games in 2007 and now 89 this year. What did Bill Parcells once say? You are what your record says you are. So this winter, they need to do what they should have done last winter: jettison Heilman, Schoeneweis, Castillo (would they even be able to perform in front of Mets fans again?) and build around the core young guysaۥDavid Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Santana, but not with washed-up, over-the-hill types (please). They need to build for sustained success and not take the one-year-or-bust mentality. How far has that gotten them? Enough with the Moises Alou's and even the Pedro's. Maybe they should take a page out of the New York Rangers handbook. The Blueshirts realized they couldn't get any further in the playoffs with the Jaromir Jagr's and Martin Straka's and built around their young core group with more youth instead of age. It may backfire or be a step backwards temporarily, but in the long run your window of opportunity for success is longer. The Mets have a young core group; they can do the same thing.

Could the Mets have won one or two more games with a hit here or there and snuck into the playoffs? Absolutely. ( Will Wright ever learn to relax in the clutch?) But why were the Mets in the position for their season to be on the line the last game two years in a row? Because Omar blew it. He miscalculated on how far he should have gone in changing the makeup of the team. (At least the clubhouse sniping and finger-pointing ended when Jerry Manuel became the manager.) But instead of holding Minaya accountable, the Wilpons are giving him a four-year extension. Odd timing. I guess they want stability in the front office (hey, the Detroit Lions had stability with Matt Millen; it's not always a good thing). Hopefully Minaya gets it this time. The Mets have a lot of holes, but let's just hope he fills them the right way.

While Mike Mussina is preparing to go after his twentieth win of the season Phil Hughes is just trying to get his first.

Injuries are what mostly has stood in Hughes' way and I'm not just talking about this year. He has had three major injuries over the past two years and that has cost him a significant amount of time he should have spent developing.

He didn't pitch must last season so he was not fully prepared to pitch in the majors this season. That may have led him to overexert himself and possibly could have led to the stress fracture in his ribs. So he sat on the DL for most of this season as well and when he was healthy enough to return the Yankees kept him in the minors for another month so he missed more time.

Here we are today, and he's set to make just his second start since April tonight and he has yet to get a win. For the most part Hughes is still not ready to take on major league hitters. Sure his stuff looks good, but he can never finish off batters and he runs into wild streaks which cause him to go deep into counts while not pitching very far into games.

It's always the same way, it was this way in 2007, same again in April, and in his last start. Hughes' inability to put hitters away cost him a victory in his last start. He pitched pretty well in that start, but a high pitch count forced him out of the game in the forth inning and he was not credited with a win.

Luckily for Hughes the cause of this problem is also the reason why he should be able to make it through this. Although it may not be to the liking of Yankee fans. He was rushed through the minor league system. In 2005 he missed time to injuries, in 2006 he had his best and most productive year in double-A, and in 2007 he was sent to the majors way before he was ready and he started this season as one of the youngest pitchers in baseball at 21.

So now just 22, Hughes needs to start 2009 in low pressure situation. It should be about his development and not the bombers need for an emergency starter. If he goes through the Arizona Fall League this off-season ready to make the majors next season then fine, but Hughes should be worried about becoming a more refined pitcher without the pressures of being the savior of the Yankees.

If he spends 2009 in the minor leagues then so be it. He took advantage of his time down there this season by adding a cutter to his repertoire so clearly he is still learning at that level. Maybe that's what he needs.

Last night I headed out to Shea and watched the Mets beat the Chicago Cubs 6-2 to stay one game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the National League wild card spot. But before I recap the experience, a quick back story:

Back in July, my wife calls me at work excited, telling me her job was giving out Mets tickets and that she got two for us. She's doesn't like baseball so she told me to take a friend to the game. Fast forward to yesterday. While sitting in the nose bleed seats in right field with my friend "H" a group of about 50 adults come into the section, all at the same time. To say this group of people were, "enthusastic" would be an understatement. From the start they were excited to be there. Singing along (badly) with the national anthem, shouting (constant) "encouragement" to the players, and voicing (forcefully)displeasure with the umpires. But something just was "different" about this group of fans. Then it hit me. My wife's job probably had a block of tickets that they gave out to people at the organization. That in itself isn't unique. Which is unique is that my wife works in the administrative office of a drug rehabilitation organization. I spent probably my last regular season game at Shea with a group of ex-substance abusers. Where they a little loud? Yea. Did they always practice proper baseball game ettique? No. But man, they loved being there. They cheered. Hard. And loud. Very loud. They participated in "the wave" like their life depended on it. They had fun. Can't be mad at that.

Other thoughts/observations:

It's time to put Shea Stadium to rest. Me and "H" spent part of the game naming things that we hope CitiField has that Shea doesn't. Like a ramp thats a little more forgiving on the knees. Or cupholders at every seat. Some actual leg room would be nice too. Shea is a lovable dump, but a dump none the less.

Luis Castillo isn't the most popular Met. This never came across to me on television, but in person its strikingly obvious: the fans HATE Luis Castillo. The mere mention of his name during batting practice was met with boos and groans. There is no way he's on the team next season.

Johan Santana is an outstanding pitcher and a complete player. Until seeing him in person, I didn't realize how good an athlete the Mets ace is. Santana battles at the plate, and his fake-bunt-infield single woke up the lethargic crowd. He also made a outstanding play on the run as the Mets attempted to turn a 3-6-1 double play. It's rare you can say an athlete was worth the money, but Johan has definately delivered this season.

The triple isn't the most exciting play in baseball. Jose Reyes' triple to break the game open was exciting. Once the ball got past Derrick Leeand headed to the corner in right field, everyone in the stadium knew he was headed to third. Seeing the Mets shortstop turn on the jets between first and second is a sight. But what was more exciting than that? Well during the Santana's at bat in the 6th inning, a fan darted on to the field from the left field stands. This fan weaved between the security guys in orange jackets like Barry Sanders in his prime. He made it from shallow left field to second base before the lead footed Shea security guards finally got him to the ground.

Mets' fans love the Braves. Well not really but at 9:55PM when the Braves/Phillies game went final on the scoreboard, the fans in right field broke out into the "tomahawk chop". A few pitches later, Luis Ayala recorded the final out.

All in all it was a great time. I saw Jose Reyes run the bases, Johan Santana battle and will the team to victory, a guy get tackled by four men in orange jackets, and the Tomahawk chop in Queens. Not a bad way to say goodbye to Shea.

Here at Hot Stove we have been paying much attention to Mike Mussina these past few weeks as the aging starter gets closer to winning 20 games for the first time in his career.

He picked up win number 19 in his last start against the Blue Jays and should have a chance to get number 20 against the Red Sox on the final day of the season. The only problem is that Mussina might not be able to make the final start of the season.

Mussina was hit on the elbow by a ball off the bat of Travis Snider with one out in the third inning. Manager Joe Girardi and trainer Gene Monahan came out to check on the pitcher. He took a couple of warm up tosses and stayed in the game. He finished the inning and even managed to pitch two more, but he had to leave the game after five innings and just 73 pitches.

Mussina said he left in the fifth when his elbow stiffened and couldn't guarantee that he'd be good enough to pitch for a chance to win 20.

"Now I gotta worry about if I can actually go out there," Mussina said. "We'll have to see how it feels in a couple of days."

This sounds like bad news for Mussina. Even if he makes his next start a sore elbow could make his stuff less effective. Also he may not be able to pitch deep enough into the start as the elbow is likely to get tighter after every inning.

On top of all of that he is going to be facing a tough offense in the Red Sox who he has a 1-2 record and a 4.57 ERA against. Although most of that was damage done by Manny Ramirez, but Mussina has never faced Jason Bay who has a .910 OPS since joining Boston.

Although he my luck out and face a team who could be resting their starters the day the final season ends. Even then Mussina's chances at winning 20 have taken a severe downturn. Still gives me a reason to watch the Yankees on an otherwise meaningless day.

Last night the Yankees kept up their recent winning ways and beat the Toronto Blue Jays to keep from being eliminated from the playoffs. Unfortunately for them the Red Sox were beating the Indians at the very same time to eliminate the Yankees.

Thing is I'm not really that upset. I mean obviously I'm sad that I won't be watching playoff games this year and that my Mets fan friends are probably going to be more annoying than ever, but the Yankees couldn't keep winning forever and I knew that.

Also coming into this season I was ready for a let down. Using a young pitching staff has advantages, but they are mostly long term. Hardly does a team which is relying on guys under 25 to make up about 60 percent of its rotation win many games no matter how good the rookies are.

But the gamble the Yankees took was a good one because they needed to get out of the rut they were in recently where they barely make the playoffs and then are easily over matched once there. By taking this one step back, OK it may have been two steps back as none of the starters really logged as many innings as they wanted, but soon they will be in a position to take a few steps forward and hopefully begin a new dynasty.

Besides this years team wasn't even that bad. It took a lot of little things to go wrong for them to miss the playoffs. Things started early when Jorge Posada came down with a lingering shoulder injury. Without Posada's bat in the lineup the offense took a beating and I'm sure it couldn't have helped the pitching staff.

Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy shouldn't have been this bad. It is expected that young pitchers are going to struggle, but it's September 24 and neither of them have one win in the majors this season. Nobody really expected that, back in April it would have been conservative to guess they'd combine for 10 wins this season.

Robinson Cano had an unexpected terrible season. Coming into this year his worst season was his rookie year where he still managed 34 doubles, a .297 average, and a .778 OPS. During the first half of 2008 he couldn't have gotten much worse batting .246 without much pop, and a .643 OPS. Then when he was expected to have a big second half he came up short. For the most part he hasn't let it effect his defense, but in a few big spots he came up looking like he wasn't even trying and cost the Yankees when it counted.

Poorly timed injuries also lead to this team's downfall. Heading into the second half of the year the Yanks were finally starting to get their stuff together, but Chien-Ming Wang went down on June 15 and with him went the rotations chances at staying consistent. Without their top starter that meant guys like Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson would be forced to continue making starts which eventually came back to bite the Bombers in the ass. Losing Joba Chamberlain from the rotation for good on August 4 further exacerbated the situation when the team still had a chance for a comeback.

The list of bad omens didn't end there. Derek Jeter played poorly in the first half due to a hit by pitch on his hand which he never received X-Rays for and probably played for weeks with a broken hand. There is also Melky Cabrera to consider, he was the team's starting center fielder who played so poorly he lost his job to an outfield platoon.

With all of this the team is still 15 games over .500 and have a legit chance at getting to 90 wins and in the past 10 years two teams have won the World Series with a worse record than 90 wins. They may even finish this season with a better record than three playoff teams. So they didn't miss by much.

They are also expected to turn over a good portion of the roster which should give them the flexibility they need to put together a good off-season. Finally, they have a decent group of young talent which should be able to produce a few players which will stick around this team for years to come.

Here at Hot Stove we have been paying much attention to Mike Mussina these past few weeks as the aging starter gets closer to winning 20 games for the first time in his career.

He picked up win number 19 in his last start against the Blue Jays and should have a chance to get number [...]