MLB

All of this talk seems extremely preliminary, but perhaps there is something to it. There have been rumors over the past couple of days involving either the Mets buying the Islanders, or simply the Mets building an arena next to Citi Field that would house the Islanders and perhaps a Major League Soccer team as well.

Yesterday, I posted a quick recap of Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran’s rehab progress, or lack thereof. In it I wrote that he had started light baseball activities, but that he was still experiencing pain.

It turns out that as I was writing that Beltran was working out. He told Newsday that while the progress has been slow, he was finally able to run without pain. That’s great news.

Some reasonably available players to assist you in the strikeouts category. Realize that some of these will come with high ERAs & WHIPs because if a pitcher has low numbers in those categories and a good K total, they’re already spoken for.

Yankees Minor League first baseman Juan Miranda would probably be in the Major Leagues if he were on at least 15 other teams around baseball, but he’s a Yankee and stuck behind Mark Teixeira. It did make for interesting news the other day when he was almost called up only to find out that it was outfielder Greg Golson who was called up instead.

DeSean Jackson has been finding himself in the headlines a lot this week.

One interview with The Sporting News has turned into a giant fiasco, pitting Jackson against his former quarterback and his offensive coordinator.

Let me start off by saying this: I love Francisco Cervelli.

I love his game, love his heart.

He calls a better game than most guys who have been around much longer than him, and boy, is he swinging a hot bat right now.

But no matter how much I love Cervelli, he will have to wait his turn to be the New York Yankees' full-time backstop.

Because for now, it's Jorge Posada's job.

Why?

Because he deserves it.

He's hung in there. He's part of the core four. He's done so much for this team, and now, he is worthy of some respect.

Old illusions die hard.

Albert Pujols is a heart-warming inspiration. He’s also, potentially, a soul-crushing disappointment. After the traumas of the Steroid Era, many baseball fans have invested their remaining faith in the apparent integrity of the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman—which would be better news if St. Louis Cardinals first basemen weren’t an inherently untrustworthy species of idol.

Misery means longing for what you’ve lost.

Maturity, on the other hand, means living with what you’ve found.

When you have a team with this much talent, you have to wonder why they are struggling to stay above the .500 mark (the Red Sox currently have a record of 18-17) and, frankly, the only thing I have been able to come up with is that there is a pervasive sense of entitlement and unhappiness within the Red Sox clubhouse.

Dan mentioned this in his game recap last night, but I thought I’d explain in a little more detail .

Nick Swisher left last night’s game in the eighth inning when an old biceps injury flared up. He initially felt something in his arm a few weeks ago, but thought nothing of it because it went away so quickly. He re-aggravated the injury while hitting in the batting cages between games last night.

By now, Cleveland Indians fans have grown accustomed to watching their favorite players being shipped out of town around the trade deadline.

Casey Blake, Paul Byrd, Mark DeRosa, Ben Francisco, Ryan Garko, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Carl Pavano, and C.C. Sabathia have all been shipped off between late June and early August the last couple years—and that doesn’t count winter exports Franklin Gutierrez and Kelly Shoppach.