MLB new york Mets

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the milestones keep coming for Albert Pujols. He went into the record book in grand fashion Friday night, belting his 31st home run of the season. The drive was his fourth grand slam of the season and 10th of his career, both Cardinals' franchise records. The latter mark nudges him past Stan Musial on the club list.

"He broke Stan Musial's career record?" manager Tony La Russa asked. "I'll go bow to his feet here in a second. That's a serious point to make."

Pujols is on pace to finish 2009 with 61 home runs. And just in case that's not enough for you, it came in the eighth inning with the Cardinals down 3-0 to the Reds. St. Louis went on to beat Cincinnati 7-4.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Mets not only snapped their five-game losing streak, but they did their part to save the world on Wednesday. After manager Jerry Manuel's team meeting in the wake of Tuesday's loss, the Mets all came to the ballpark on Wednesday on buses, instead of players arriving individually in cabs. Although the team-building experience may have actually done more to save on fuel than to actually bond, the result was a 1-0 victory.

Manuel wasn't going to take credit for his speech firing up the team, especially since pitcher Mike Pelfrey missed it. Pelfrey had left the ballpark early Tuesday night to get some rest.

"I told him, 'If he'd been at the meeting, he would have thrown a no-hitter,' " Manuel joked.

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Things went pretty well for Jack Clark during his three years as a St. Louis Cardinal in the mid-1980s. He hit 66 homers and the Cardinals went to the World Series in 1985 and 1987. Sure, they dropped each of those series in seven games and the '86 Cardinals finished 28 1/2 games behind the Mets, but you'd think 20-plus years of perspective might make any leftover pain go away.

You'd think wrong.

Clark still harbors a honey of a grudge against that Mets club and aired his grievances well ahead of the Festivus season.

It's a baseball podcast. The math is easy right? BaseCast. Let's rock.

Hey there! It's the initial MLB FanHouse BaseCast. You know you're excited, and frankly, you should be, because it's pretty freaking awesome. In this episode, host tandem Will Brinson and Andrew Johnson (Prez) welcome Matt Snyder and Ed Price into the proverbial fray.

We discuss -- with Snyder -- the Cubs' lack of success, the insane notion of cutting Carlos Zambrano and if a division title is still in the works. Then Ed joins us from Yankee Stadium where we (ironically?) talk about the banged up Mets, the NL East race and whether the Braves plan on making a deadline deal or not.

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Mets fans, you can breathe a huge sigh of relief. Monday night, we passed along the information that Carlos Beltran was visiting a specialist -- and outlined the worst-possible-scenario: Beltran missing the rest of the season. Instead, he's been diagnosed with just a bone bruise, as the team originally believed.

Beltran's choice of doctor raised eyebrows, considering he visited a well-known micro-fracture surgeon, Dr. Richard Steadman. Still, Steadman examined Beltran and determined he just needs to stay off his feet. He did push back the timetable for Beltran's return to after the All-Star break.

As if the Mets needed to deal with more bad news this season Carlos Beltran is now going to visit a specialist. Beltran was in the midst of an All-Star season when he injured his right knee. Right now, all we know is that Beltran has a bone bruise under his knee.

The possibly worrisome news is the fact that Beltran is visiting Dr. Richard Steadman, who performs micro-fracture surgeries. If Beltran does, in fact, have or develop a micro-fracture in the knee area, that's even bigger trouble than his current DL stint. Judging from what we've seen in baseball and other sports, and the fact that we're almost in July, micro-fracture surgery would probably end Beltran's season. We can't get ahead of ourselves just yet, though.

Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

"This concludes our test of the emergency attendance enhancement system. We now return to the regularly scheduled season."

Yes, the 13th season of interleague play wraps up Sunday, except for a Cubs-White Sox makeup game. We have survived six San Diego-Seattle games (that's more zeroes than an A-Rod paycheck).

We didn't learn much we didn't already know: the system has inherent flaws and the American League rules.

For the sixth straight year, the AL has had** the better record in interleague play – 129-108 going into today.

Take out Cleveland and Oakland, and the AL is 119-84.

"It probably is" as big a gap between leagues as in past years, one AL team official said, "until you get to the World Series. Then it doesn't matter."

NEW YORK – CC Sabathia is just fine. Perfectly healthy.

So healthy he could hit fifth for the Mets.

After a week of consternation in the Yankees universe over Sabathia's pricey left arm – he came out of his last start, Sunday at Florida, with a sore biceps – he proved there was nothing to worry about. Sabathia was perfect in six of his seven innings as the Yankees throttled the Mets 9-1.

Before the game, Yankees manager Joe Girardi wasn't sure if Sabathia was OK, keeping his fingers crossed his $161 million ace would make it through the pregame session.

NEW YORK - Mets right-hander John Maine, who was supposed to continue a minor-league rehabilitation assignment Saturday, instead will not pick up a ball for a week because of recurring discomfort in his shoulder.

Maine (5-4 with a 4.52 ERA) called his injury "a little bit of a pinched nerve" and conceded he will be out at least through the All-Star break.

Without Maine, the Mets can continue to use Fernando Nieve in the rotation. Nieve, claimed from the Astros on waivers in March, is 3-0 with a 1.31 ERA since being called up.

Oliver Perez, out since early May, is scheuled to pitch Sunday for Class A Brooklyn on his rehab assignment.

Maine, who went on the disabled list June 12, said he was fine throwing a bullpen session Wednesday but had his shoulder act up Thursday while playing catch.

"I had to say something," he said. "I thought I could get through it and I just couldn't.

"I threw about 10 [times] and it hurt, so I just stopped."

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

The NL Wild-Card Race
Team	W	L	GB
Brewers	37	32	-
Giants	37	32	-
Rockies	37	33	1/2
Cubs	34	32	1 1/2
Mets	35	33	1 1/2

You Oughta Know ...
There are now five teams within 1 1/2 games of the NL wild-card lead.

San Francisco on Monday lost to Oakland for the first time in the past six Bay Bridge Series meetings to fall into a tie with idle Milwaukee.

Meanwhile, the Mets beat the Cardinals and the Rockies took advantage of six (!) wild pitches to beat the Angels, so both picked up a full game.

So Colorado is a 1/2 game back, and the Mets and Cubs are 1 1/2 out.

It bodes for a fun race. A year ago today, only three teams were within five games of the NL wild-card lead and Tampa Bay had a three-game lead on the AL side.

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