SCOTT JACOBS

So this just in: the Mets did it! They won. They finally won. The Mets won their coin flip determining the tie breaker between them and the Brewers in terms of who would play where if the two tied to end the regular season. O, you thought I meant they clinched something of relevance? Ha!

This just in too: Pat White probably regrets his decision to come back for his senior year. Look, school and graduation is all fine and dandy, but c’mon, two losses in the first three games? It’s not like West Virginia is playing USC and Texas. No, they’re playing (and losing) to the likes of East Carolina and Colorado. What’s a matter? North Dakota was taken?

The Marlins are pulling a Will Ferrel and they’re going streaking! They’ve won nine in a row and have crept slowly back into the “they actually still have a mathematical shot if they basically win the rest of their games” discussion. Not on the list: Detroit. And you thought the third highest payroll in baseball bought you the post-season? Yeah, right, you can’t even buy the post-season with the highest. Back to the drawing board in Detroit.

Interesting news out of New York where the Yankees have announced they will allow fans onto the field for the final home game at Yankee Stadium. It’s a fascinating idea given the nature of pro sports’ “look don’t touch” mantra, and I think it’s great. Allowing the fans access to the field and monument park one last time before the tare the whole kitten cabodle down is nothing short of brilliant. It’s a throwback to Yankee Stadium’s earlier years where running onto the field during a game wasn’t that unheard of.

Auburn plays LSU in a top 10 match-up Saturday. What’s missing? The “these truly are two top 10 teams part.” I certainly don’t feel like the Tigers (of Auburn) are top 10 caliber. Three points? Three points in a 3-2 win over Mississippi State is top notch? Uh, no. Which is why the Tigers (who I think are also over-rated) will trounce the Tigers this weekend, before falling out of the top 10 shortly thereafter. Did you get that? Tigers over Tigers. It’s a bold pick, but I feel good about it happening.

Kansas State running back Leon Patton was dismissed from the team yesterday after get this- he abused a baby. You know the stupid line, “I’m so angry I could kick a baby.” Well, Patton took the idea pretty literally. He shook a two month old boy. And Riley County Police charged the running back with child abuse. Not surprisingly Patton was already on you guessed it- probation- after the former Wildcat was issued a citation for driving with a suspended license and it was discovered he stole two video games from Walmart. And people wonder where the idiot-jock stereotype comes from.

Joey Harrington has found a new gig. In the Crescent City. Yup, Harrington signed with the Saints yesterday, and is now their number three backup. So let’s summarize Harrington’s once promising career.

2002: Number three pick in the draft to Detroit. Epic failure as Lion.
2006: Traded to Dolphins
2007: Cut by Dolphins, Falcons sign him, and after Mike Vick saga he becomes the starter.
2008: Harrington fails horribly as the starter in Hot ‘Lanta and is released. Now he’s with the Saints.

I think it’s finally safe to say: Joey Harrington was a major draft bust!

SCOTT JACOBS

When you look at the standings right now they seemingly read backwards.

They don’t look right. They look extreme… ly odd? There’s no rhyme of reason to make sense of what has happened early on as we steamroll confusingly closer to Yankee Stadium, home of the All Star break.

Originally Yankee Stadium was the House that Ruth built and money tore down. Now it’s looking like the Stadium that the Yankees laid to rest by fading into further mediocrity.

The Yanks who, as we all know by now, but I’ll say it again just for sheer entertainment, have by far and away the highest payroll in baseball. Apparently though, 200 million dollars can’t even buy you a winning record. Adding injury to their insult are the shockingly good Tampa Bay Rays. They’re 12 games above .500 and a little blip in the Sun Sentinel joked that a Tampa Bay-Florida series would probably not garner the best of uh, ratings. But that matchup, as crazy as it sounds, is a hell of a lot more likely then say, a Detoit-Mets Fall Classic.

And that my friends and fellow world earthlings is nothing short of amazing.

Tampa Bay (35) and Florida (32) had a combined 67 wins going into tonight’s play. The Mets (29) and Detroit (24) came in at a rather baffling 53. Do the math and the Sunshine State is swinging a hot baseball stick.

But that’s not all. The Tigers, pre-season favorites by many to win the American League, have the same number of wins as the lowly Washington Nationals

The Oakland A’s, who dealt Dan Haren to Arizona and some other players as well, were supposed to be cellar dwellars in 2008. They’re five games above .500! The Mariners who bolstered their pitching staff, or so it seemed, with the acquisition of Erik Bedard after a strong and surprising 07 campaign are the only team in the resurgent AL West without at least a .500 record.

In fact, the only fight the stunningly pathetic M’s are putting up, is the one with Colorado, the reigning NL champs, who are already 16 games below .500. Those two teams currently stand 1-2 not in this week’s ESPN power rankings, but in this years’ loss column.

I really thought the Rocks were for real, and last year was no fluke. But they’re not doing much at all this year to back up my once confident case that they were not a one and done team. Not only is last year looking more like a “caught lightning in a bottle and ran all the way to the World Series” type of deal, but this year is absolutley destroying the hopes of a reinvigorated fan base who must feel like last October was 20 years ago.

Of course, misery loves company, and the Rockies picked the right division to be really pitiful. The NL West, by far and away baseball’s best overall division last year, boasting three teams with 0ver 88 wins, couldn’t have flipped more this season if they tried. We expected the Giants to be bad, and boring without Barry and they are. But 9 games below .500, as San Fran sits now, is good enough for third. The Padres, who lost to the Rocks in heartbreaking fashion in the play in playoff game last year, are even worse at 14 games below .500. The Dodgers are in second with a losing record, and having lost 8 of 10. But wait, there’s more. The division leading D’backs, who looked like baseball’s best team earlier in the year are freefalling dropping 8 of their last 10 as well. Add it up, and in the last 10 games, Arizona still has the same 3.5 game lead over LA as they did 10 games ago, when their fall from grace began.

The Cubs made the playoffs last year, and came into this year facing the prospect of 100 years without a title. They have the best record in the bigs at 38-21 and a nine game winning streak to boot. The Cardinals are the biggest surprise, sitting comfortably in second, with a record that would have them leading or tied for the division lead in the AL Central, NL East, and NL West. The Reds, this off-season’s chic pick to actually do good, are 28-31, the same mark as LA. They’re in fifth place. The commerical says it Pays to Discover. I say, it pays to be in the NL West or AL Central.

The AL Central has to be the biggest shock by far. Not only are the Tigers and Indians both under .500, but the division leading White Sox (it’s 2005 all over again!) just got threatened by their manager to get more offensive help or ELSE! Of course, no AL Central report would be complete without the Twins, who dealt Johan Santana, had no expectations whatsoever to be a factor this year, and are two games above .500.

So here’s the recap:

Division leaders:
AL: Rays, White Sox, Angels
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks

Division doormats:
AL: Yankees, Royals, Mariners
NL: Nationals, Pirates, Rockies

More crazy story lines:
The Marlins led the NL East almost the entire month of May until the Phillies took 2 of 3 in a series between the two and haven’t looked back yet.

The Rays are setting franchise marks almost every time they step on the field. And Baseball Prospectus saw it coming. Before the season there was an article on SI.com with statistics suggesting the Rays would be this year’s surprise team, winning, if I recall correctly 85 games. At the rate the Rays are going, 88 would almost be a disappointment now!

The Chicago Cubs entered June with baseball’s best record for the first time in uh, only a century. They swept a seven game home-stand for the first time since 1970. Maybe it’s time to start taking the old montage, “This is our year,” seriously. At least for now that is.

The Tigers, who some thought might score over 1000 runs this year have a ways to go. In fact, before they focus on an absolutely unreachable plateau, they may want to score more runs then their opposition. 26 runs in the red are the baby cats, who have been baseball’s saddest excuse for a title contender amongst the big money teams so far.

Stay tuned. With the Cup going to Detroit, and the NBA Finals over in no longer then two weeks, we’ve got baseball, baseball, baseball for a few months, and nothing else. So let parity reign, for sanity’s sake!