Below The Beltway

After another summer when it seemed like they’d have the NL East sown up by mid-September, the New York Mets played their last game at Shea Stadium and eliminated themselves from the playoffs:
The Mets have tried distancing themselves from last year’s epic collapse, but they cannot help themselves. For the second consecutive season, they were [...]

One year ago, the New York Mets completed one of the most stunning collapses in the history of baseball when they went from 5-12 and ended up spending October at home.
This year, they seem poised to come up short of the postseason yet again:
NEW YORK – For all the talk about his six-year, $137 million [...]

Not only will 2008 mark the end of the iconic Yankee Stadium, the Mets will be getting a new stadium at the end of the season as well:
Standing in the numbing cold amid fluttering snowflakes, Jeff Wilpon expressed few warm, fuzzy feelings for Shea Stadium on Tuesday as he led a guided tour of Citi [...]

This is going to be one for the history books.
When the season started, the New York Mets were off to a great start. First in the NL East for the entire season, until the very last day that is:
The Mets completed a stunning collapse with an equally stunning performance in a 8-1 loss to the [...]

Earlier this year, the Yankees were sliding and the Mets were surging.
Now, as we enter the last weekend of the regular season, it’s the Mets who find themselves in trouble:
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies are done chasing.
After 159 games, the Phillies are finally atop the division standings — albeit tied with the free-falling New [...]

Alex Rodriguez hit two more home runs, Mike Mussina won his 100th game as a Yankee, and the Yankees pounded the Tribe yet again:
CLEVELAND (AP) — Alex Rodriguez took a couple more swings up to No. 503. Mike Mussina saved mementos from No. 100.
The Cleveland Indians? They got their usual two and stopped right there.
Rodriguez [...]

Two more players from New York joined Alex Rodriguez in setting a record yesterday.
First the Mets’ Tom Glavine became the latest member of the 300 win club:
CHICAGO, Aug. 5 — The likeness on Tom Glavine’s Hall of Fame plaque will reflect how history perceives him. He will wear the cap of the Braves, for Atlanta [...]

Another pitching injury, another loss:
The Yankees? recent plight probably does not generate much sympathy around Queens, not with their 26 World Series titles and their latest one captured at the hands of the locals. But if, if, if there ever were a time when Mets fans could, even for a fleeting second, look deep into [...]

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but the Yankees were eliminated by the Detroit Tigers:
DETROIT (AP) — As a reborn baseball town erupted in splashes of orange and blue around them, the Detroit Tigers danced in the infield, kicking up dirt like kids on a sandlot.
They grabbed Jim Leyland, hoisted him on their shoulders [...]

It took until the last day of the season, but the 2006 baseball post-season is finally set in stone.
The full schedule can be found here, and it shows the Yankees facing the Tigers in the opening round while the Mets face the Dodgers. Sounds like fun, now let’s play some baseball !.