•It's not another "Natinals," but rather Pedro forgetting to button up. Also Charlie Manuel forgetting to take Pedro out early enough (that sounds familiar). The Yankees even the series, sending it to Philadelphia. Hey, at least we're not seeing another sweep this year. (Thanks to reader Jay for the screenshot.)

•Vince Young will be back behind center on Sunday. Best case scenario, he replaces LenDale White as the rusher who'll spell Chris Johnson.

•The first AP poll is out, and Kansas is your overwhelming number one. But more fun is seeing who barely snuck in. Old Dominion and Holy Cross received one vote apiece. What, they're letting Nancy Lieberman-Cline and Bill Simmons vote now?

•The Big Lead has a good read on Jozy Altidore's stunted development. It's troubling, and with Charlie Davies likely out next summer, he's a more crucial piece than ever. For those of you who are confused what I'm talking about, it's soccer. Just move on.

•North Carolina takes down No. 13/14 Virginia Tech on a last-second field goal. It's been two and a half years...is it okay to not root for Va Tech now?

•Fifty thousand St. Louisans step off the ledge; Albert Pujols says he wants to be a Cardinal for life. Still, when people want to be somewhere for life, they sign long-term contracts like the ones the Cards have repeatedly offered. Just saying...

•Proving that Angelenos dole out their fandom based on how close to the playoffs each team is, here's a poll from the LA Times where USC comes out on top as LA's favorite team

•Finally, from Fail Blog, we bring you the only seat at Neyland Stadium that has a seatback:

Philly fan who came up for the game? Want to drown your tears in a bottle? Have we got the deal for you:

Hotel Indigo NYC Chelsea, the boutique chain's newly opened first New York City location is celebrating the Yankees entry into the World Series with a special deal for Philadelphians! In anticipation of your misery, the hotel is ready to cheer you up with its "Drown Your Sorrows" champagne promotion. Here's how it works: Book a room for the night of any World Series 2009 game with the Phillies playing at Yankee Stadium. If – as expected – the Phillies lose, then present your ticket stub at the front desk showing your attendance at the game, along with a valid drivers license proving your address in the city of Philadelphia (and that you are 21 or over!). You will then receive a complimentary bottle of Perrier-Jouet champagne to help ease your pain.

Eat it, Daulerio. Or should I say, drink it?

•Michael Vick will be eligible to play as early as week three. So that means Donovan McNabb only has to hold off a few weeks on getting injured. CAN HE DO IT? It's the plotline of the year, as far as I'm concerned.

•Pedro Martinez: "Leave Mr. Lincecum to me. *Laughs evilly* " Martinez, who hasn't won a Cy Young in nine years, outduels Tim Lincecum, who hasn't won a Cy Young in eight months.

•What's it like fasting for Ramadan when you're a pro tennis player? Pretty much what you'd expect: hard. But c'mon. Sneak a Powerbar. Queens is the land God forgot.

•Jon Garland is masterful against his former team. Not a surprise; statistically, it's much easier to pitch against the Diamondbacks than it is to pitch against any non-Diamondback teams.

•Carl Edwards fractured his foot, but he still expects to race on Sunday? Not a sport.

•Because I'm a proud(?) alum, Temple manages to lose to Villanova, who hadn't beat a D1 team in six years, since they beat...Temple. And the inaugural Mayor's Cup goes to a school that isn't even in the same city.

•Punter over at With Leather dug up this gem of a video. Don't skip around, just watch from beginning to end. The tension is exquisite.

• Though they dropped the ball with that Vikings Favre jersey, the online store at NFL.com is apparently trying their hand at predicting Michael Vick's football future. Jason Campbell, you're officially on the hot seat.

• Another day, another pitiful "brawl." Benches clear in the Giants-Dodgers game after Pablo Sandoval thought he got hit by a pitch. Giants win, still can't score runs, etc, etc.

• There's a batting helmet that's guaranteed to prevent skull fractures, but major leaguers won't wear it because it looks goofy. This in a sport where guys tuck their pants into their socks.

• Suck it up, Victorino. A Copa Sudamericana soccer match was interrupted when a fan with a knife attacked a player on the field. And then came the flares...

• Jerry Remy put in a cameo appearance in the NESN booth and admitted he hasn't been watching the Red Sox games this year. At least since the All-Star break, that makes him the luckiest man on the face of the earth.

•More proof the NFL hates you. Opening night will be kicked off with a free concert from Tim McGraw and the Black Eyed Peas.

• The old man's still got it. "It" being fifth starter stuff on a National League team. Pedro's line: 5 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs.

-Antoine Walker joins the NBA All-Star team of gambling deadbeats, alongside Charles Barkley, Alonzo Mourning and Michael Jor[REDACTED BY EDICT OF CZAR STERN] At least Walker tried to pay off his debts. Too bad the checks bounced.

-Pedro Martinez signs with the Phillies, anticlimactically ending his courtship. Also sure to be anticlimactic Pedro's return to the bigs.

-Meanwhile, Los Angeles has taken their offer to Lamar Odom off the table. Gamesmanship? Or, with the cap coming down, can the Lakers simply not afford to pay $9 mil to a fourth option who's running out of potential to live up to?

-To afford to offer Paul Millsap a contract, the Jazz will have to take out a bank loan. Why again did we think Salt Lake City could support a professional sports team?

-MMA poster girl Gina Carano's ex says there's a sex tape. He also says he's "smashed a lot finer than that." Classy.

-Bud Selig says Pete Rose's HOF eligibility is "under review." He declined to set odds for the prop.

-Tony Romo lost a girlfriend, but gained a sense of humor. Does this make you like him more? Didn't think so.

-Because no one believes that Prince Fielder is a vegetarian, here's a list of the 50 fattest MLB players of all time. Starting with Prince's daddy.

Said Posada:

"I thought he was going to hit me in the head with a bat after we had the fight and he pushed Don Zimmer," Posada said. "It was ridiculous. I mean, he throws at Karim Garcia because he's losing the game. I mean, there's no class."

Martinez responds:

"When I pointed to the head, it wasn't precisely to tell him that I wanted to hit him in the head," Martinez said. "Nah. He's a human being, he has a family, and I'm a professional. [The pointing to the head] was because he cursed my mom. I was telling him, 'I'll remember that.' "

"He knows — he's Latin, as much as he pretends to be American, he's Latin — that cursing your mom in Latin America will get you into a fight," Martinez said. "That's something I would never do to his mom, because she doesn't play. She's not on the field. She's someone you admire and respect, and I didn't like that."

Martinez was the losing pitcher in the Mets' 7-2 loss to the Nationals on Tuesday, a result which allowed the Phillies to regain first place in the East. But perhaps this is the spark that's going to carry Pedro and the Mets back into first. Just kidding; they're doomed, as you know.

Pedro Livid Over Posada Diss [New York Post]

Chamberlain's much-anticipated starting debut didn't go so well: He gave up two runs, one earned, and walked four before being removed in the third after 62 pitches. Alex Rios extended his hitting streak against the Yankees to 24 games and David Eckstein had three RBI as Toronto won 9-3. Roy Halladay (7-5) won his fourth straight decision. Hank Steinbrenner blamed it all on the media, naturally. "Tonight was a creation of the media," he said. "If this had been a first start for any other pitcher on any other team, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal.”

Meanwhile, Martinez (1-0) threw six innings in his return from the disabled list from a hamstring injury, surrendering seven hits, three runs, three walks and striking out three on 109 pitches. He also had two singles and an RBI, the Mets beating the Giants 9-6. Pedro hadn't pitched since April 1. Damion Easley had a three-run double during New York’s eight-run fifth.

• One Town That Won't Let You Down. If the Cubs are going to start swooning, hadn't they better get to it? Before you know it June will be over. Chicago won its ninth straight as Alfonso Soriano had a three-run homer and Mark DeRosa had a two-run shot to lead a 9-6 victory over San Diego. The Cubs have the best record in baseball at 38-21, and even their former players are talking trash.

• Oh Wandy, Well You Came And You Gave Without Taking ... Run-scoring doubles by Lance Berkman and Miguel Tejada and Wandy Rodriguez's six shutout innings in his second start after coming off the disabled list led the Astros over the Pirates 2-0.

• Watchoo Talkin' About, Willis? Jack Cust beat out an infield single in the 11th, driving in Kurt Suzuki from third, as the Athletics beat the Tigers 5-4. Oakland native Dontrelle Willis made his first start and second appearance since coming off the disabled list for the Tigers, pitching four scoreless innings.

• The Bondsification Of Boston. With David Ortiz lost for who-knows-how-long with that wrist injury, The Soxaholic and Boston Sports Blog are both openly speculating on the chances of a certain Mr. Bonds being signed by the Red Sox to fill the void. Whether or not this could actually happen, it's sparked some lively debate with the commenters. Boston beat Tampa Bay 7-4 on Tuesday.

• Wizard Cat Defensive Player Of The Day. Yorvit Torrealba, Colorado Rockies. The Rockies' catcher scored a decent shove to the face and then a fine two-point takedown of the Dodgers' Matt Kemp, following Kemp's strikeout in the eighth inning of Colorado's 3-0 win. Unfortunately that was the end of the action, as everyone else in this benches-clearing "brawl" simply milled about exchanging business cards. Wizard Cat gives this play: Four wands.

"It's taking a toll on me and my family, my dad's situation," Martinez said, referring to a form of brain cancer afflicting his 78-year-old father, Pablo. "I haven't been there for them. I just realized that between last year and this year I haven't been there for my family, my parents.

"That'll probably drag me away from the game a little sooner than people expect. After this season, I'm going to go back home and think about it and I'm going to decide."

Martinez, recovering from a hamstring injury, will meet the team in Atlanta today to throw in the bullpen, and may make a start on Monday at Shea against the Marlins. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is only 12-9 since 2005, and has appeared in only one game for the Mets this year. But even though he has rarely been around recently, I've always enjoyed the idea of Pedro Martinez as a Met, and it would be a shame to see him go.

Pedro Martinez Mulls Retirement At End Of Season [New York Daily News]

No word yet exactly how long Pedro will be out, but it's not going to be soon, which means we hope you like El Duque. Mets fans are somewhat concerned.

Pedro had had such a good spring. I know. I also know, as we all do, that such a good spring means nothing. Just as such a terrible spring means nothing. But a pop in the hamstring of an aging starting pitcher means quite a bit. It means ... well, we'll start to know soon enough, but it probably means no Pedro J. until May. And it certainly means that all of our attempts to tell ourselves that the Mets' problems with age and infirmity were overblown lasted exactly 12 1/3 innings. Less than that if you count Alou's groin and El Duque's foot and Castillo's knees and Beltran's knees and Wagner's back and Delgado's hip. Which we weren't doing yesterday, because it was Opening Day and we won and we were glorious.

• We Still Want To Call Him "Joey" Sometimes. Josh Hamilton's inspiring! return from the occasional moments of awesomeness surrounded mostly by paranoia and fear depths of drug addiction continued last night with a two-run homer off J.J. Putz in the ninth inning to give the Rangers a 5-4 win over the Mariners. Hamilton, once again, heroically resisted the urge to snort the third base line at the end of his home run trot, for which we continue to salute him.

• Troy Glaus Is No Scott Rolen. Glaus' throwing error in the eighth inning — on a very easy play at the plate — helped lead to Colorado's 2-1 win over our Cardinals. Yes, indeedy: Kip Wells and Kyle Lohse had a pitching duel.

• Undefeated! There are three 2-0 teams in baseball. The Washington Nationals (who were off yesterday), the Los Angeles Dodgers (who have beaten the Giants twice, which shouldn't count) and the San Diego Padres, who beat the Astros 2-1 yesterday. Pretty good for a team whose top pinch hitter is Jody Gerut.

Cockfighting is still legal in the Dominican Republic, so Pedro wasn't actually breaking any laws, but there's a reason that it's illegal in this country: It's a hideously cruel, barbaric practice that's nothing short of torture for the animals involved. The damage is done now, sadly, but we're asking Pedro Martinez and Hall of Famer Juan Marichal (who was also present at the event) to take part in our "Developing Empathy For Animals" training seminar, which Michael Vick voluntarily attended after being charged, so hopefully some good will come of it. We're also calling on the league to offer animal-sensitivity training for MLB players.

Yes, PETA is calling for commissioner Bud Selig to require all MLB players to attend animal-sensitivity training sessions. I see absolutely no way this will fail to happen. Barry Bonds: "You have to get me signed with a team, Jeff! I don't want to miss that animal seminar!" And, um, how many major leaguers are hunters? I think quite a few.

The letter can be found here. I'm with PETA in the sense that I don't see how cockfighting can be condoned as a sport. It's nothing less than torture, really. The same way I felt about middle school PE.

Pedro Martinez Cockfighting Video [TMZ]
Pedro Martinez Attends A Cockfighting Event [The PETA Files]
This Should Cause The Mets No PR Problems Whatsoever [Deadspin]

Martinez and Marichal laugh before releasing the roosters. The two took part as honorary "soltadores," the word used to describe the person who puts the animal to fight. The animal released by Martinez appears to be killed on the video, which was posted Tuesday on YouTube. The fight takes place in the Coliseo de Gallos (Rooster Coliseum) in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic's biggest cockfighting venue. Cockfighting is legal and popular in the Dominican Republic.

This very well could be a non-story, but as always the court of public opinion will have the final say. And by that I mean there could be some very comical chicken costumes in the stands during Mets away games this season.

We should note: Despite my feeling that people who participate in this "sport" should be dropped from a blimp onto an enormous cactus, it is completely legal in the Dominican Republic. Wait, this post is getting too serious. Um, so, here's this!

Mets' Pedro Caught On Tape At Cock Fight [MSNBC]
Let Us Rid Ourselves Of The Cockfighting PED Menace [Deadspin]

Pedro Martinez is working to help victims of Hurricane Noel — some people had more troubles than just having to find a new wedding venue — and that's a noble goal. When he's done, we suggest hitting the weights. And fast.

Mets Stars Aiding Tropical Storm Victims [Associated Press]

Moises Alou had a two-run homer for the Mets, winners of eight of nine since being swept in a four-game series at Philadelphia. With a six-game lead over the Phillies, it's pretty clear that this race is over. But should Pedro's return signal the printing of World Series tickets in New York? Let's hold up on that kind of talk ... Pedro has pitched only 10 total innings in his two starts since his return; strong outings, yes, but coming against the Reds and Astros. He also had a double on Sunday. If you're like me, don't you have the feeling that the Mets are playing a little over their heads right now? No? OK, forget I mentioned it.

• Red Invasion. Josh Beckett went seven innings to earn his 18th win as the Red Sox beat the Orioles 6-3. Mike Lowell drove in two runs for Boston, which always seems to draw more fans at Camden than the Orioles do, or at least sometimes it seems that way. The Red Sox finished 6-3 in Baltimore this year and has had a winning record at Camden Yards every season since 1998, going 54-23 during that span, according to AP.

• No, Can't Call This One Yet. The Yankees all but punched their ticket to the playoffs as Alex Rodriguez hit his seventh home run in five games and his ninth in 11, New York beating Kansas City 6-3. The Yankees are four games ahead of the Tigers in the AL wild card, and 5 1/2 behind the Red Sox in the AL East. On second thought, this isn't over yet.

• Alone Again, Naturally. Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun hit consecutive homers to start the game, making Milwaukee the third team in major league history to do so. The Brewers beat the Reds 10-5, while the Cubs were losing to the Pirates 10-5, giving Milwaukee a one-game lead in the NL Central.

• Giants 4, Dodgers 2. The Dodgers didn't do themselves any favors by dropping a series to the Giants, finding themselves 5 1/2 behind the front-running Diamondbacks in the NL West.

He pitched a simulated game today, and didn't look too shabby.

Pedro Martinez threw 5 1/3 innings of a simulated game against a combination of players from the St. Lucie Mets and Gulf Coast League Mets Thursday. With Mets general manager Omar Minaya watching, Martinez allowed four hits and two runs, one earned, and struck out three batters with no walks. He hit one batter, but threw 50 of 67 pitches for strikes.

With the Mets trying to hang on for the playoffs, the mental image of Pedro pitching on a freezing October night is a pleasing one. Here's hoping the Mets play the Dodgers again, and Grady Little tries to pull him, at last.

Martinez Pitches In Simulated Game [TCPalm]

We never really liked the notion of people as mascots, by the way, and now feel even more uncomfortable after reading the following:

de la Rosa's body will be sent back to the Dominican Republic after an autopsy and could be put on display in a museum, his agent said.

When we go, please promise we won't be stuffed and placed in the blog exhibit at the Smithsonian.

de la Rosa Dies At 38 [CBS4Boston]

How are Mets blogs holding up?

• Faith And Fear In Flushing: "Summing up Pedro through cold empty stats has always been a fool's errand — if there's ever been a pitcher whose intangibles and unquantifiables must be spoken of, it's him. Which is one of the reasons this isn't another invitation to cannonball into the East River. Lead the Mets? He already has. We'll never know how many tete-a-tetes on the dugout bench helped the rest of the staff, or how many clubhouse or team-bus antics helped the young players realize they belonged. Here's devoutly hoping he'll drag his protective boot to Shea next week and then to St. Louis or Los Angeles or San Diego or Houston and then (we even more devoutly hope) to destinations unknown, so that wise counsel can be given or a joke cracked when it really matters to some member of the 2006 postseason squad. 26th man, sixth starter, second pitching coach — as long as I see him there, I'll feel better about things. He taught a lot of his current teammates the things they needed to learn to come this far. Those lessons won't evaporate along with his roster spot."

• Metstradamus: "Pedro Martinez was signed by the Mets to help get them to the playoffs. Now, everyone else has to get the Mets through the playoffs, as Pedro's left calf (after all the worrying about the right calf) has a torn muscle. So five months after the Mets were looking for a special shoe for Pedro, now they'll need a dolly instead. Make no mistake, this blows."

• Metphistopheles: "A cynical part of me wondered if this was a covert move by the Commissioner's Office to bring parity to the post-season. One pitching arm tied behind our back just to make it fair, as Rush Limbaugh would say. Other than this, Mrs. Martinez, the play is still excellent."

We didn't realize the Mets actually had a losing record in games Pedro started this year, kind of an amazing statistic. We bet they'd still like him around, regardless.