So I am still battling this nasty cold, but have my wits a little bit more together today.  Still downing a few shots of DayQuil to keep me going through the work day, but I slept really nice after the crash from it.

But just because this blogger gets sick, doesn’t mean the sports stop.  Plenty of action around the diamond yesterday afternoon and last night.  A team from NY is red hot, the battle in the AL Central remains tight, one of the all time greats continues to move up the HR chart, the NL Central has the two best teams in the NL, the two best teams in all of baseball finished their head to head match-up, and the Nats still suck.

The New York Mets have had quite the up and down season.  All hell was breaking loose just before and after the firing of Willie Randolph, but it seems as if the ship has been righted and nobody is as hot as the Mets are right now.  They have won 8 of their last 10 after taking the down the Braves 6-3.  Mike Pelfrey pitched a 3 hitter and David Wright provided the offense to lead the Metropolitans. (NYDN)

How can you not be impressed by the Minnesota Twins? How much does this piss of fans of small market teams that have done squat for several years?  The Twinkies took down the A’s 3-1 in spite of a wildness from Fransisco Liriano. Minnesota remains a game out of first in the AL Central. (Star Tribune)

Don’t know whatelse to say about this game here, but that the White Sox just crushed the Mariners.  Seattle is so bad.  How did anybody pick these guys to finish first at the beginning of the season? The Kid, Ken Griffey Jr., hit his 1st HR as a member of the White Sox, but his 609th HR of his career. That tied him with Sammy Sosa for 5th all time. (Chicago Sun-Times)

The Astros talked a lot of trash prior to their series with the Brewers, maybe they should keep their mouths shut the rest of the season. JJ Hardy had a two run blast in the 8th inning to seal the series victory for Milwaukee. Manny Parra wasn’t pretty, but effective enough to get his first victory in 6 starts to move his record to 10-6. (Houston Chronicle)

The Rays had a golden opportunity to claim a huge sweep against the Angels, but the bullpen failed them.  After Carlos Pena doubled in Mr. Hustle himself, BJ Upton to tie the score, Grant Balfour and Chad Bradford could not keep the Angels off the board.  Fransisco Rodriguez grabbed his ML leading 48th save to close out the 5-4 win.

Like I said, the Nats suck.  The latest in their 12 game losing streak came in the form of a shut out to the Phillies. Brett Myers pitched all 9 innings to help keep the Phillies only a game and a half out of the NL East lead. (Philly.com)

Instant Replay is finally becoming a part of baseball.  So-called purists may be up and arms over this, but this will be good for baseball.  MLB and Umpires have reached an agreement to implement the system into the game. (SI.com)

The most dominant team at the Olympics picked up gold again.  Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor won their second straight gold medal after defeating the team from China, 21-18, 21-18.  They battled rain and soggy court conditions but still were able to win their 108th consecutive match together. (LA Times)

Usain Bolt follows up his hot dogging 100m record breaking performance by running the 200m in record time as well. The World’s Fastest man is a cool title to hold.  I remember vividly when Michael Johnson set the record in Atlanta.  I thought the way he ran was so funny looking…Anyway, this begs the question, Phelps or Bolt for best Olympian of 2008?  You already know where my vote goes. (SI.com)

It finally looked as if the Redeem Team was going to be challenged in a game.  They “struggled” against the Aussies for the 1st half of the game yesterday, only leading by 12.  Well, a 14-0 run to start the second half pretty much ended any shut Australia had at competing with the US. The Americans pulled away for a 116-85 victory.  Next up for Team USA in the semifinals?  Argentina and a chance to “Redeem” themselves from a semifinal loss in 2004. (Yahoo Sports)

This US team is looking mighty impressive.  Probably better than the 1996 and 200 teams.  What about the actual Dream Team? (Fox Sports)

There is no new contract for Steven Jackson, but he has agreed to report to Rams camp for the final two weeks of the preseason, in hopes of hammering out the deal very soon.  Fantasy owners can now adjust their draft rankings. (STL Today)

Former Heisman Trophy winner and alum of tOSU, QB Troy Smith, will be evaluated further as a possible starter for the Baltimore Ravens.  The Ravens defense can no longer carry a QB, the kid needs to step up. (Baltimore Sun)

Anquan Boldin still wants out of Arizona, but the Cardinals are not giving into his trade demands.  This is not the NBA, so trying to trade a guy with an expiring contract will not give you much in return.  If Boldin wants to get paid, he will have to play for his new contract.

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