Thinking Thoughts...in English [J. Mark English]

Talk about sudden role reversals in the New York area when it comes to baseball. The Mets lost again today, making them losers of 6 of their last 7 games. They were blown out today by the Tigers 15-7. Now they will continue to embark on a stretch of their season which may be the toughest any baseball team has ever had to face. Starting with Detroit, they Mets are playing six teams in a row whom all made the playoffs the year before. That would be the Tigers, the Dodgers, the Twins, the Athletics, and finally a rematch of last years NLCS withthe Cardinals. Man, oh man what a schedule. No team in the history of baseball has ever had to do such a thing. This is what awaits the Mets, just as they are deepening their June swoon. This club better turn this around soon, or they could be looking at a world of pain.

Meanwhile, things are looking skyward in Yankee land. Pride can be found again in the Bronx. The Bombers notched a series sweep today against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Now they're only a game behind the elusive .500 mark. They are only five games behind in the wild card. And they still have a lot of baseball left to play. I'm really beginning to regret writing off the Yankees a few weeks ago. They've been the hottest team in baseball since I wrote them off.

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Lets hear it for the girls fellas! Great to see Rags to Riches win the Derby. What an appropriate name for a filly that jolted out of the gate with a stumble. But she came through at the end, taking away first place from Curlin by a nose. If you recall it was Curlin's nose that defeated Street Sense by a nose in the . Which means Rags to Riches might have won the Kentucky Derby by two noses...

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Rafael Nadal wins again on clay at the French Open. Can he please beat Roger Federer on another surface now besides clay? Federer is still the best tennis player in the world. Nadal can't hold that title until he wins on something other then clay.

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Tough TV choice tonight as to what to watch. The NBA Finals or the Sopranos finale? If you have any self respect you'll tivo the Finals (you can always just check out the blog for updates) and you'll see how it all ends for Tony. My bet is that Tony winds up in witness protection. Either that or David Chase makes a cameo appearance, shoots Tony and then blows his own head off just to assure that there can be no more episodes of the Sopranos after tonight. Anyway, enjoy the finale. There will still be more basketball after tonight no matter what happens.