Mets 13 Marlins 0: The game is the good news as the Mets pounded out 17 hits against Florida in an easy win. Ryan Church got it started with a home run in the second and David Wright also added his first shot of the year. Oliver Perez looked very good, striking out eight over six innings. The bad news came from Pedro Martinez who is out 4-to-6 weeks with what is being described as......

Alex Rodriguez has a permanent residence in the spotlight. His contract and tendency to put his foot in his mouth both have something to do with it. A bigger reason is the media's unhealthy obsession with him, but that's besides the point. Tuesday's hot topics: Rodriguez's valuing winning over money and Jose Canseco's steroid allegations. In his interview with the Daily News, Rodriguez says he made a mistake when he went to Texas for more......

Photo of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte by AP/Chris O'Meara Andy Pettitte has always wanted the ball in his hand with the game on the line...until now. Faced with the prospect of having to publicly contradict his friend, Roger Clemens, Pettitte asked to be excused from tomorrow’s hearing in Congress. Representative Tom Davis told Newsday last night that the Pettitte deposition matched McNamee’s in “most details” but Roger Clemens’ deposition says Pettitte is mistaken.......

When it came to New Year's Eve countdown broadcasts, we were traditional and stuck with Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Which means we missed out on $275-million man Alex Rodriguez counting down with Carson Daly on Daly's New Year's Eve program. New York sports talk radio was discussing the Yankee's appearance, jokingly calling him "Mr. New York." Well, not only is A-Rod loving NYC these days, he's also being managed by Guy Oseary......

A Historic Collapse: The Mets held a seven-game lead with 17 to play and were caught looking ahead to the playoffs. What followed was among the worst collapses in history and one that revealed the weaknesses of the players, the manager and the general manager. Jose Reyes and his questionable -- and downright poor -- play summed up the the performance on the field. Manager Willie Randolph's mismanagement of the bullpen came to light......

Alex Rodriguez went on 60 Minutes last night and firmly denied that he used steroids. When asked if he had ever used steroids, HGH or any other performance-enhancing drug A-Rod firmly stated “no” and then explained, "I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I've always been a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unsusual rescue on Laurel Ave. in Brooklyn, a school evacuation on Crescent Ave. in Queens, and an armed robbery on White Plains Rd. in the Bronx. A-Rod stays in NYC for 10 more years! Columbia University spares the Cotton Club. A City Council bill would make hanging nooses illegal, in addition to stupid. A teengager went stab-kill crazy on 13th St. when he assaulted three of his peers.......

A day after the NY Post served up a Thanksgiving day front page cover of Knicks president and coach Isiah Thomas as a turkey, the embattled Thomas proclaimed he would stay in his job, saying, "I don't foresee there being any changes this year." Which the Post calls "LOAD OF BULL?" But really, if there's one thing that the Post and Daily News must have been thankful for, it's having such a spectacularly poorly managed......

In news that isn't coming as a surprise to anyone, Alex Rodriguez, the former and probably future Yankees 3rd baseman, was named the American League Most Valuable Player today. It was the third time Rodriguez was named the MVP, winning previously in 2003 with the Rangers and in 2005 with the Yankees. This past season, A-Rod set career high marks in runs scored (143) and RBI (156). He also led baseball with 54 home runs......

The wedding date hasn’t been announced, but it seems like all the plans have been made. Alex Rodriguez is about to sign the richest contract in sports history- again. The framework of the deal is a 10 year/$275 million contract. In addition, A-Rod and the Yankees are working on a revenue sharing agreement if A-Rod breaks the home run record. One thing you won’t find in the contract is an opt-out clause, so this really......

It looks like Alex Rodriguez is set to come back as a member of the New York Yankees...and for less money than what they were rumored to be offering before. The former Yankees 3rd baseman is reportedly hammering out a 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees. Sources tell the Daily News that a deal could actually be worked out in the next 24-28 hours. So much for the 10-year, $350 million offer the Yankees......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Fatal jumper on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, a MOS (member of service) bitten by a dog at 48-36 47 Street in Queens, and a car vs. a building at West 27th Street in Manhattan. A-Rod may stick with the Yankees in a last-minute windfall deal that may be worth worth $280 million. Ira Levin, the author of "Rosemary's Baby," "The Boys From Brazil," and "The Stepford Wives" passed away......

The news that Stephon Marbury is heading back to the Knicks may be only the second-biggest reconciliation in New York sports this week. There are reports that Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees are talking again and discussing what it would take to bring Rodriguez back to the Yankees. Apparently stung by the reaction to the timing of his opt-out, A-Rod has approached the Yankees and at least discussed the possibility of a new deal. The......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 160th St. and Archer Ave. in Queens, a shooting on East 119th St. in Manhattan, and a construction accident on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, Before anyone accuses A-Rod of greediness for spurning an offer of $30 million a year, let it be known that would make the top-performing athlete a pathetic piker among NYC earners. Maggie Gyllenhaal acclimates to Brooklyn: She isn't comfortable with her......

Stating that “this is about being a New York Yankee again today,” and proclaiming, “I expect to be in the Fall Classic next October,” Joe Girardi met the media as the next manager of the New York Yankees today. Girardi sought to differentiate himself from his predecessor saying, “I am going to be myself. There are expectations on me and my coaching staff, the same that were on Joe Torre when he came in......

The Yankees have offered Joe Girardi the job of manager, further emphasizing the fact that the Steinbrenner boys, and not their father, are now in control. According to reports, Girardi has been offered a three-year deal worth approximately $2-million a season. Negotiations are described as “ongoing” currently. As a side note, Don Mattingly has apparently turned down an offer to coach on his staff. Assuming Girardi accepts the offer, he will take control of a......

All the rumors of an extension of Alex Rodriguez's contract with the Yankees are pointless. Why? Because A-Rod has decided to opt-out of his remaining three years with the Yankees. The announcement was made by Scott Boras during tonight's World Series game. He totally jumped that 10-day opt-out period. By opting-out, A-Rod passes on the remaining three-year $72 million portion of his contract and has likely played his last game as a New York Yankee.......

An ESPN report yesterday cited sources that say the Yankees are ready to offer Alex Rodriguez a record contract extension. The offer for the Yankees third baseman would be an extension in the range of five years and $30 million a year. Rodriguez is currently signed with the Yankees through the end of the 2010 season at $27 million a year, but can opt-out of his contract in the 10 days following the World Series,......

The Yankees' season ended last week, but the team is still a hotbed of activity. A group of executives for the Bombers will be meeting in Tampa, FL early next week to come to a decision regarding the fate of Joe Torre, the team's manager. George Steinbrenner, who made a name for himself as an eager firer of managers before taking an involuntary break from baseball, declared that he'd like to fire Torre after last......

Welcome to the first day of the Yankees’ offseason, buckle your seatbelts this is going to be a wild ride. While it is 99.9% certain that the Yankees are going to have a new manager for 2008, his identity remains a mystery. Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly and Tony LaRussa are the top names you hear, but remember in 1995 the Yankees shocked a lot of people when they chose Torre, so don’t be surprised if......

Cleveland 6 Yankees 4: The 2007 Yankees’ season ended as it began, in disarray. Chien-Ming Wang didn’t make it out of the second inning and while Mike Mussina was reasonably effective, he left with a 6-1 deficit. Meanwhile, Paul Byrd managed to shut down the Yankees’ offense. Somehow, Byrd pitched around 10 base runners in five innings and the Yankees squandered numerous opportunities to score. In a way, that was the story of this......

Playoffs? That might be boring compared to the new news Alex Rodriguez gets to enjoy - he and his wife Cynthia are expecting a baby. The couple, who already have a 2-year-old daughter, told People.com, “We realize what a special gift children are, and feel very blessed to welcome our second child." Cynthia, aka C-Rod, added that she feels great and plans on finding out the sex of the baby, "We're just real excited. "It's......

St. Louis 3 Mets 0: And so it has come to this, with three games left in the year the Mets are now tied for first with the Phillies. A seven-game lead has evaporated in two weeks and with the Padres winning tonight, missing the playoffs has become a very real possibility. How this team breaks out of these doldrums is hard to imagine. The Mets only got one runner to second base in Thursday’s......

Yankees 6 Royals 3: At this point, the YES Network should just play a “ch-ching” sound everytime A-Rod steps up to the plate. After hitting a home run for the 5th-consecutive game on Sunday, A-Rod has 52 for the season, the most for a Yankee since Mantle and Maris hit 54 and 61 in 1961. He also has 138 RBI’s with 19 games left, which puts him in line to have the most RBI’s as......

Yankees 10 Seattle 2: A-Rod didn’t want to go for a MRI and while the results were negative, he had to talk Joe Torre into putting him into the lineup. Good thing he did, because A-Rod hit two home runs in the seventh as the Yankees exploded for eight runs in inning. A-Rod’s home runs and the Yankee explosion will overshadow a great start by Phil Hughes, but they shouldn’t. Hughes was brilliant over six......

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and his wife Cynthia were the very portrait of a snuggly couple at a U.S. Open match yesterday evening. The Post says the couple was "love-love" but the tabloid is probably disappointed that it's not a picture of A-Rod with a stripper friend or C-Rod in her naughty tank top. And earlier in the day, Rodriguez had a home run and an error (that led to two unearned Devil......

Quick, call the locksmith! Before Thursday's Yankees-Tigers game, Mayor Bloomberg gave away yet another key to the city. Just last week, Bloomberg gave a ceremonial key to Mets pitcher Tom Glavine for winning his 300th career game. Thursday's key was for Alex Rodriguez hitting his 500th career home run. Rodriguez said that the key "will be something I hold dear to me for the rest of my life." In addition to receiving the key......

Yankees 11, Indians 2: We thought things were supposed to be tougher for the Yankees when they played winning teams, but that doesn't seem to be the case. While Mike Mussina allowed one run in the first inning, the Yankees scored all they would need in the second when they tagged Paul Byrd for 7 runs. The inning included a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez, who added another two-run shot in the 8th inning. While......

Yankees 9 Blue Jays 2: Tempers flared in Toronto as the Blue Jays decided to retaliate for a second day against Alex Rodriguez for his infamous “HA!”. Josh Towers plunked Alex and the benches emptied twice before play resumed. Things cruised along from there until Robinson Cano got hit, although it looked unintentional, in the seventh. But, that was enough for Roger Clemens who started the bottom of the seventh with a fastball away before......

Major League Baseball really wants the public to get excited for the post-season, so it has created an Actober promotion, which has the slogan "You're a fan. Act like one!" Actober, which has been up since the All-Star game, is mainly a contest to encourage fans to "create and submit the best original video that reenacts a famous Major League Baseball postseason moment" and fans will vote on their favorite. The three winners will......