Pitching is such a vital part of the game, as far as winning is concerned.

On most teams the set up man has become more valuable, on others not so valuable.

Something to keep in mind — it’s raining lightly. The infield could be very wet on ground balls.

What is a drop and drive pitcher? He is a guy who drops and drives. Very simple.

So by guessing right you might have guessed wrong.

Giambi walks too much. He’s always clogging up the bases with all that walking.

As a new day begins in New York, the sun sets in Hawaii.

If football is a game of inches then baseball is a game of inch.

If that ball had more elevation, it would have been a home run.

If the double play is a pitcher’s best friend, what is a fielder’s choice? An acquaintance?

It’s better to have a fast runner on base than a slow one.

One thing about ground balls. They don’t go out of the ball park.

The reason we call that pitch up and in is because the arms are attached to the shoulder.

He wears his hat like a left hander!

Any ball that goes down is much heavier than any ball that stays on the same plane.

The blood on his sock looks exactly like Oklahoma!

You don't want to use too many statistics. The ones that apply to a July or August game won't be relevant on Saturday.

American McCarver

A House Divided

By Michele Catalano, July 1, 2011

This was the sign in front of my parents' house in October of 2000. The Yankees and Mets were playing each other in the World Series. What you don't see here (and I'm forcing my mother to find a picture of) is the roof of the house - which slants down and faces a street with heavy traffic - on which my father used duct tape to divide the roof in half with a Mets logo on one side and a Yankees logo on the other, with "His" and "Hers" written underneath them. 

A Subway Series between the Yankees and Mets this weekend divides my parents' house once again. It's a tradition, this rivalry. It's part of our family dynamic and I wouldn't have it any other way. Me, my youngest sister and my mother on the Yankees side and my father and middle sister (who has always been the kiss-ass kid) on the Mets side. 

There have been fights, altercations, name calling and goading. There was my father's effort to have my daughter's first words be "Yankees suck!" and me teaching my children to laugh like little Pavlov's Yankee fans to every time my father said "Let's go Mets!" I still have the broom I used to chase my sister around the yard in 2003 yelling "Sweep! Sweep!" and my father treasures the blackmail photo he took of my then infant son wearing a Mets cap the same way I treasure the moment I put a Yankees bumper sticker on Dad's brand new car. Or the time my father told my mother "you might as well be giving blowjobs to Roger Clemens." Yes, that really happened.

Our mutual love of baseball is what makes our family rivalry so much fun. The game we adore brings us together even as a Subway Series tears us apart. We'll watch the games as a family (at this point the Yankee fans outnumber the Mets fans because my kids have chosen their baseball allegiance wisely), curse at each amicably, make fun of each other's teams viciously yet still have those moments of baseball neutrality when we all agree on how much we hate A-Rod. 

I look forward to a Yankees-Mets series the way some people look forward to a war. I have my insults and jabs lined up like sharpened weapons. I know my father and sister have done the same. I've prepared my kids for battle. We're ready for a weekend of family fun and togetherness.

Bring it on, Mets.

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