(Sports Irreverence from The Other Tip of the Goldberg)

All of us Phillies fans should have been happily dusting off our Whitey Ashburn impressions and laughing at the madcap turn of events of last night’s 16-inning bizarro thriller versus the Astros at Citizens Bank Park. Only, the game did not end happily—a 4-2 loss to a mediocre team at home is not my idea of a happy ending.

NEW YORK-- Although many believed the Mets were out of the playoff race, that may not totally be the case. Yes, it's going to be tough to overcome, but coupled with last night's Phillies loss, the Mets are now seven back in the Wild Card race.

At one point, it seemed they were forever sinking into oblivion. What could keep the Mets in a wild race that has seven teams within 7.5 games, is the way they play at home.

Six years ago, prior to Game Four of the ’04 ALCS, Kevin Millar strutted around Fenway Park with a message.

“Don’t let the Sox win tonight!” Millar bellowed to anyone that would listen.

Of course, the Red Sox trailed the New York Yankees 3-0 in the series and looked all but titleless for yet another October. The Curse of the Bambino appeared to live for another year.

But Millar didn’t see it that way.

When you're a fan of a team that never wins and has no real chance of winning, it's hard to get really excited.

There's no real point in hoping for a winner, so there are other things you have to get riled up about.

And it's doubly hard as a fan base to find things other than wins to really be passionate about as a united group.

Maybe a third times the charm for Florida Marlins’ OF Cameron Maybin?

Geovany Soto made a solid statement his 2008 rookie season, slugging his way to a .371 wOBA, third among Major League catchers (Brian McCann and Joe Mauer).

He also tied for the Major League lead among catchers with 23 home runs.

Soto followed his impressive rookie campaign with a pretty severe sophomore slump, much to the chagrin of Cubs fans and potential fantasy owners predicting him to repeat or build upon his first season. 

Even Michael Bourn would look at this and think he's out.

The Yankees have just lost the first game of a three-game set to the Blue Jays, 3-2. Here are my thoughts:

Granderson’s AB

One of the turning points in the game was a questionable strikeout call on Curtis Granderson in the top of the ninth inning. The graph shows it wasn’t that close, it was way out of the strike-zone.

He just won't seem to go away.

Sammy Sosa said in an interview with Chicago Magazine his number should be retired in the Chicago Cubs organization.

"That number should be untouchable because of the things that I did for that organization," Sosa said. "That right there shows me that they don't care about me, and they don't want to have a good relationship with me."

NOTE: team and player statistics updated through Monday morning, August 23 11:00 AM CT
 
1. New York Yankees (77-47)
As every week goes by, I’m believing more and more that the Yankees are going to be the ones to take the AL East once again. And with C.C. Sabathia holding a strong 17-5 record with a 3.02 ERA and 151 strikeouts to this point, I say we have a new favorite for the AL Cy Young Award.

2. Tampa Bay Rays (76-48)