Baseball

I'm not quite sure why I like this photo as much as I do -- the sight of a Phillies fan being run down and tasered gives me joy. Plus, he's got this weird, "Maybe this was a bad idea..." look on his face. Perhaps all Phillies fans everywhere should be tasered, just for fun.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has approved the one day contract for actor/comedian Billy Crystal to become a New York Yankee.

Barney Dreyfuss, former owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates,  has been selected to join the Baseball hall of fame in 2008. His name was on 10 of 12 ballots, surpassing the 3/4 requirement. What is little known is that he came over from the Louisville Colonels after the 1899 season, opting to merge with another club rather than be contracted completely out of the league.

The Mets came into the series on Friday as the best record in the NL, and a magic number of 1 to clinch their first division title since 1986. The Pirates won on Friday and Saturday, combined with Phillies wins, to keep the Mets still unclinched going into today's game. The Pirates would not be denied, winning 3-0 and being the first NL team to sweep the Mets this year. It marked win #63 on the season, the win that keeps them from losing 100 on the season - a mark that seemed almost certain back at the All-Star break.

The Pirates fell behind 4-0 early in the game, only to score 3 in the bottom of the fifth and one more in the bottom of the sixth to tie it a 4 all. They fell behind 5-4 in the top of the Seventh, only to get the run back in the bottom half of the inning.

The 8th, 9th and 10th innings were scoreless - before the Cubbies scored a run on a single after two walks to take a 6-5 lead. But not to be outdone, the Pirates got successive hits in the bottom of the 11th after the leadoff batter grounded out to find themselves with men on first and third with one out.

The Buccos managed a third win in a row, now with a record of 50-78 with 34 games remaining. They must go 13-21 over the rest of the season to avoid losing 100 games. Their win percentage on the season of .391 extrapolated for the rest of the season would mean 13.28 games won out of 34, or just enough to avoid losing 100.

Freddy Sanchez went 1 for 4, and still leads the NL with an average of .346.

Streaky as anything, the Pirates extended another tonight in a 4-2 win over the Brewers. This marked the 4th win in a row, building upon a sweep of Division leader St Louis over the weekend. Before the streak, the Pirates had lost 5 in a row, which had followed close on the heels of another 5 game winning streak.

They are now 16-13 since the All-Star break, and 46-73 overall. They must go 17-26 in the remaining games to avoid losing 100 games. If they can keep up their post-all star pace, they should be ok in this department.

With the White Sox exorcising their curse of the black sox last night, beating the Astros 1-0 to complete a sweep, in winning their first series since 1917, on the heels of the Red Sox ridding themselves of "the curse" last year (they had last won the year after the White Sox, 1918), the question presents itself, which curses or streaks of futility are left?

Worst of the list has to be the Cubbies, who last won the series in 1908. Beyond that have to be the Indians and the Giants

Never won: