New York’s Baseball Scene Is Basically a Tale of Two Cities

↵It’s hard to tab the New York Yankees as a team of destiny. They contend for World Series titles year after year, their spending habits are often blamed for making Major League Baseball a plutocracy that rewards the big-market teams with wins and glory. They are either the definition of a classy, winning franchise or the personification of arrogant, humorless baseball-as-business thinking, depending on which borough you’re in, and nowhere in either view are they considered underdogs.
↵↵But when the legendary Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin are combining on one-hitters in the Bronx, it’s hard to deny that fortune may be smiling on the Bombers.
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↵↵⇥The shortstop also flashed quick reflexes while on deck - he neatly plucked Jose Molina’s foul as it ricocheted off the backstop and handed the souvenir to a young girl.↵↵↵And the Yankees lead the majors in on-base percentage and slugging. And they have CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett for short series. And Mariano Rivera and Philip Hughes are both having fantastic years.↵

↵↵The Yankees may not be the prohibitive World Series favorites, but their case is easiest to make.↵

↵↵Meanwhile, the Mets may get David Wright back soon! That will help them stay ahead of the Nationals in the NL East, I’m sure.↵

↵↵If nothing else, it’s a brief glimmer of hope on a weekend that has seen the Mets concede an eighth-inning homer on an 0-2 count and cough up two leads in one game. And their three-game set against the Cubs isn’t even over yet: Tomorrow, Nelson Figueroa, never confused for a Cy Young contender, goes for the Mets, while the Windy City crew turns to Carlos Zambrano.↵

↵↵It’s almost enough to make a Braves fan pity them. Almost.↵

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