New Leader In NL East

For the first time since mid April the New York Mets are alone a top that NL East. Led by seven strong innings from starter Oliver Perez and a clutch two-run double in the 8th inning from Carlos Delgado the Mets pulled out the 3-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. This could be trouble for the Phillies who have coasted most of the way thus far. The Mets, winners of seven out of their last ten games are starting to catch fire at the right time.

With the trade deadline quickly approaching it will be interesting to see what these two teams will do to better themselves for the home stretch. The Phillies earlier this week acquired Joe Blanton from the A's but the price was steep as they had to part ways with the #2 and #4 prospects in their farm system according to the Baseball America rankings. There were rumors earlier in the week about a possible trade between the Phillies and Rockies that would have sent Brian Fuentes and Matt Holiday to Philly for a package of promising young players that would have included rising star Shane Victorino. Those talks however have since quited down.

The Mets certainly have a reputation for not being afraid to pay the price to go out and get what they need to win. With GM Omar Minaya at the helm, they are sure to explore all possibilities to adding what ever missing link they see fit. Given the recent strong performances from their starting rotation, their only real need may be another arm in the bullpen and perhaps a little more depth off the bench. That is assuming that the Pedro Martinez injury is not anything serious. Other than that have no glaring weakness at this time.

It will be interesting to see what the coming weeks bring us. This is sure to be a fun race to watch.

WNBA Reacts to Catfight

For those of you who may not have heard, the WNBA got a little publicity boost Tuesday night when a fight broke out on the court following a hard foul during a Detroit Shock-Los Angeles Sparks game. During the brawl that ensued an assistant coach pushed one of the faces of the league to the ground, another player had to be carted off in a wheelchair after falling while trying to restore peace, and several other ladies passionately pushed each other around.

This may have been the first time in league history that the WNBA was featured during the first 15 minutes of Sportscenter. A league that is often described by the average sports fan as boring, dull, and even robotic finally showed some emotion. On Wednesday one of the top searches for sports news on several of the top sports site in the world was "WNBA Fight."

So how, you might ask, did the league respond to this media blessing? WNBA president Donna Orender released the following statement: "The WNBA and its players represent all that is good about sports: passion, hard work and sacrifice. On a nightly basis our players display extraordinary skill, athleticism and competitive fire. The events Tuesday, however, were inexcusable and in no way indicative of what the league stands for. We hold our players to a very high standard and these suspensions should serve notice that the behavior exhibited at the end of Tuesday's game will not be tolerated."

I will now give all of you a moment to stop laughing before we continue on...

For a league that loses millions of dollars yearly, has no major television deals, struggles on a nightly basis to even half fill their arenas, and gets zero respect on the national sports level to come out and say that drawing attention to the league and playing with a little passion is "inexcusable" is absolutely absurd. Emotion is part of sports. It is what makes sports so fun to watch and play. It is why professional sports in this country is a muti-billion dollar a year industry: it entertains, it draws people in, it makes people devote their lives to celebrating it. But apparently the WNBA does not want that.

Instead of suspending 10 players today the WNBA should have sent out a memo to the rest of the league telling them that this is how the game should be played. I am not saying that the WNBA should be turned into a pay-per-view fight night. But please, play with a little passion. Show the world why your sport should be watched and taken seriously.

There is a reason why the NFL is the most watched sport in this country. And there is also a reason why the WNBA is currently one of the least.