Hitting Back

-Two solid wins for the Mets and Yankees to start the second half. The Amazin's won their third straight 6-3 over the miserable Cubs, getting solid pitching from Steve Trachsel and the usual contribution from David Wright along with a go-ahead hit from Cliff Floyd.

-Meanwhile in the Bronx, the Yanks snapped Jose Contreras' streak without a loss at 17 by pushing across three runs in the eighth- including a go-ahead single by Melky Cabrera and key double by Johnny Damon which proved to be the winner. Though Mariano Rivera made things interesting allowing two runs, he won the battle against A.J. Pierzynski to get the save.

-Combined with Boston's second straight loss to Oakland, suddenly the Bronx Bombers find themselves just 1.5 out of first. Amazing what can happen in the span of two days.

-So who had Royals' reject Aaron Guiel hitting a home run off the facing of the upper deck?

-The most interesting ballgame outside New York took place in San Diego where the Braves overcame their awful pen to hold off the Padres in 11 wild innings 15-12. After getting four in the first, Tim Hudson gave up five runs in just three innings. Despite that, the Braves were still in good shape up 8-5 in the fifth after Chipper Jones connected for his second homer of the night. But ex-Met Mike Piazza tied it with a three-run shot and Josh Barfield put San Diego ahead in the sixth. Three nights after blowing a save for the NL in the All Star Game, Trevor Hoffman gave up three to Atlanta to put his team down 11-9. But as usual, Atlanta's awful closer if you can call him that Jorge Sosa gave it up to force extras. After Adam LaRoche hit his second homer of the night to put the Braves up again 11-10, the Padres got another run off Sosa to send it to the 11th. Finally, the Braves plated three thanks to Barfield's misplay and Tyler Yates recorded his first major league save to end the madness. This game in a nutshell is why the Braves have struggled mightily. If they had any pitching, they'd be a lot closer.

-Barry Bonds, Steve Finley and Moises Alou became the first trio of 40 year-olds in MLB history to start a game in the Giants' 5-3 win over the Phillies at Pac Bell.

-In other news, with fading slugger Bonds facing indictment charges for perjury due to the BALCO investigation, no truth to the rumor GM Brian Sabean was on the verge of bringing back Jeffrey Leonard to fill the void. That would be much better than his trade three years ago for Pierzynski, sending Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano to the Twins. The same Pierzynski who was let go of in 2004 and helped lead the White Sox to their first World Series championship since 1917.

-Michelle Wie was hospitalized Friday due to severe heat exhaustion while attempting to become the first woman to make a PGA Tour cut in 61 years. In her second day at the John Deere Classic, she only played the first nine holes before becoming too sick to continue. At the time, she was eight over par and had virtually no chance of making the cut. Hopefully, she'll have a speedy recovery. But I'll say it again. Why should Wie get special treatment when she hasn't even dominated her own tour? Blame golf. They are exposing this teenager to far too much while shafting a proven LPGA winner such as Annika Sorenstram. Credit WFAN's Kevin Burkhardt for taking a similar stance on his show Friday night regarding why Wie can't just compete against the LPGA.