And they’re off – MLB has entered its final month of a long season, but there is still much to be decided in the final stretch. The division, wildcard, and pennant races are yet to be determined. With less than 20 games to play, teams are focused in on magic numbers to clinch a playoff spot. The stats of all the following teams/players come prior to Monday’s action:

AL East: The New York Yankees lead a tough division and are only 3 ½ up on the Boston Red Sox. The Bronx Bombers and Boston are one and two in runs scored, homeruns and RBI’s in the league respectively. The Yankees pitching staff is led by ace CC Sabathia and surprising rookie Ivan Nova.

The Red Sox are led by Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. Beckett is having a great bounce back season and holds an ERA of 2.49. These two will battle to the end of the regular season to see who gets home field advantage in the playoffs.

AL Central: Cy Young and even possible MVP candidate, Justin Verlander has been nothing but spectacular for the Detroit Tigers. He has been the reason the Tigers have built a 10 ½ game lead in the central. He leads the AL in ERA with a 2.44, in inning pitched with 229 and strikeouts with 232.

Verlander also has a no-hitter to his credit this season and a record of 22-9. If the Detroit pitching staff can somehow catch up with Verlander then they could make some noise in the playoffs.

AL West: The tightest division in all of baseball is between the Texas Rangers and the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim. The Rangers lead the Angels by only 2 ½ games. Texas is all offense and improved their bullpen at the trade deadline by acquiring Mike Adams and Koji Uehara.

Los Angeles offense is anemic but their starting pitchers are keeping them in it. Led by Jered Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana they are trying to carry their teams hitting into the postseason.

AL Wildcard:  The race is really on with the Tampa Bay Rays climbing back in it after sweeping the weekend series against the Boston Red Sox. They sit only 3 ½ games back and the Sox are worried. Red Sox David Ortiz said, “Hell yeah, you’ve got to worry.” Boston was chosen by many to represent the American League in the World Series.

Let’s see if they can even hold off the Rays for a playoff spot. The two kick off a four game series starting Thursday  at Fenway.

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Standing up to someone is sometimes difficult. Now imagine standing up to someone with a gun. That is what a 15-year-old Bronx girl did on Sunday, June 12, 2011 landing her in the hospital, barely alive. Yvette Marie Torres was hospitalized in critical condition when she challenged gunmen who had fired into the air. One of them cowardly shot her after she had gone to a party in Fordham Highs Saturday night. Police said that a dispute broke out and spilled onto the streets.

When two young men began firing shots into the air, Torres, who has a fearless personality growing up with three brothers, quickly spoke her mind. “My sister argued with them, saying: Why are you shooting?” her brother, 20-year-old Jonathan Dimental said. She did not know any of the men and as she was yelling at them, one of them shot her in the back of the head.

Doctors stated on Sunday afternoon that Torres was showing “good signs”, but was still unconscious and breathing through a ventilator. However, there is a high risk of her passing away. She had been placed in a medically-induced coma. A family friend said that “her mother has not left her bedside and is not talking to anyone.

She is still in a state of shock and has prayed non-stop.” The parents are angry that no one has come forward or cooperated with police in this investigation. She has been nicknamed “The Brave One” because she stood up not only for the people at the party, but to anyone who was listening and watching.

Due to the shooting of Torres and lack of progress in finding the person who shot her, a group of concerned residents from the Bronx, Queens and even Massachusetts has formed to take the investigation in their own hands. According to Bronx News Network, the group, lead by Nelson Figueroa, a childhood friend of Yvette’s mother, has organized a “Rally for Yvette” on Saturday, June 25 on the same spot where Yvette was shot.

They created a “Rally for Yvette” Facebook Page to advertise the event. According to Figueroa, Yvette was taken out of a medically-induced coma on Tuesday, June 21, and was given two days to respond. Doctors were continuously checking for brain activity, he said. Police still have no leads as to the shooter and have not arrested anyone as of yet.

egd / Shutterstock.com

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The New York Yankees defeated the New York Mets 9-3 Sunday after a huge seventh inning to take the first leg of the Subway Series and tie the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the AL East.

The six games between the Mets and Yankees are always some of the most looked-forward to games of the entire season by fans in New York. No matter how the teams seemed to have been playing before, the stakes rise with pride and bragging rights on the line.

Since 2000 when the two teams met in the World Series, the games have only gotten more intense. Countless unforgettable moments make this series so much more than just a few games in the standings.

Fans will always remember the feud between former Mets’ catcher Mike Piazza and Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens which resulted in a hard fastball to Piazza’s head.

The Mets’ faithful will of course never be able to live down Luis Castillo’s error on a routine fly ball off the bat of Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the ninth inning to lose the series in June of 2009.

It seems as though when these two teams get together, there are bound to be fireworks. Unfortunately, all we had heard about these teams early-on in the 2011 season had to do with abundant struggles and big problems that needed to be addressed to turn their seasons around.

This series showed signs that such rash judgments may have been a bit premature.

The Yankee captain Derek Jeter came up big amidst his struggles, driving a two-rbi single up the middle to tie the game in the bottom of the 7^th, sparking a monstrous eight run inning for the Bronx Bombers en route to victory.

The Yanks welcomed their hot inning, since they are so often criticized for only being able to score via Home Runs (most of which from the bat of the red-hot Curtis Granderson), and their lack of ability to play “small-ball” and manufacture runs. These criticisms are quite unfair.

As any baseball fan knows, teams always seem to hit better in the summer months when the whether gets better and the new players on the team (which the Yankees have plenty of) get a chance to become accustomed to their new surroundings.

Yankee fans need not worry, their team will be fine. Judgments of a team by their mediocre record in May must come with a grain of salt. Not to mention they are perched atop one of the toughest divisions in Major League Baseball, and have a better record than the Boston Red Sox who were deemed the favorites in the entire American League after all of their off-season acquisitions.

Injuries have really bitten both teams early on in the 2011 season. Yankee manager Joe Girardi is patiently awaiting returns from pitchers Phil Hughes and huge free agent pick-up, Rafael Soriano, who should bolster a pitching staff that when healthy, can be scary for opposing lineups.

In Queens, first year manager Terry Collins has had to deal with star players David Wright, Jason Bay, and Angel Pagan see stints on the DL, not to mention waiting for left-handed ace Johan Santana to return from off-season shoulder surgery.

All things considered, Collins has done a fine job so far in his first go-around in New York. Jose Reyes is having a career year, Carlos Beltran seems to be healthy again for the first time in nearly two-seasons, and knuckleballer R.A. Dickey seems to have become a fan favorite, holding down a seriously depleted pitching staff.

Coming into the 2011 season the Mets did not seem to have very high expectations, and yet they find themselves hovering right around .500, with a renewed attitude that could carry them into a fight for a wild-card spot in the National League should things go their way.

If nothing else, this series proved that the Mets could at least hang with one of the better teams in the league, even on the road.

As for the Yankees, winning this series may be a small victory in terms of the standings, but it was a bigger sign for fans, proving that this teams struggles are not permanent. The team must adjust to now being one of the older teams in the league, and with that, must come the knowledge that losing streaks happen. They have proven winners, veterans, and a solid mix of young talent that should allow them to make yet another run at a World Series title this season.

All in all, good things seem to be on the horizon for both New York ball-clubs. As summer begins, look for the bats to heat up, and both teams to compete night in and night out. There’s no quit in New York.

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