Around The Majors- Friday

Feel the excitement of the 2nd to last weekend. Can't take the heat? Then stay out of the postseason. Jerry Crasnick of ESPN chimes in on the struggles of the choking Mets.

Thursday Recap
Zach Greinke struck out 10 over 8 shutout frames as the Royals blanked the White Sox 3-0. Tony Pena Jr drove in 2 for KC. Baltimore scored 5 times in the 10th, 3 on a Brian Roberts homer to defeat Texas 6-3. Garrett Anderson drove in 3 as the Angels clinched at least a tie for the AL West crown with a 9-5 win over Seattle.
Tulowitzki and Holliday each homered and drove in 3 as Colorado scored 6 in the 2nd to down the Dodgers 9-4. Barrett and Kouzmanoff each drove in 2 as Brett Tomko pitched the Padres past Pittsburgh 6-3. Philadelphia scored 4 in the 7th, 3 on a Jayson Werth bomb to edge Washington 7-6 and inch closer to the NL East lead. The Mets scored 4 in the 9th led by a 3 run triple by Marlon Anderson, only to have Jorge Sosa blow it by giving up 3 in the bottom half. Enter bottom 10, where Dan Uggla's double off of Sosa scored Hanley Ramirez to shock the free falling Mets 8-7. Amazin, isn't it? Miggy Cabrera homered and knocked in 3 for the Fish. Chipper Jones drove in 2 as the Braves beat the Brewers 3-1. Rookie JR Towles broke an Astros franchise record with 8 RBI's as Houston hammered the Cardinals 18-1. Jeff Keppinger drove in 2 as Homer Bailey did nicely in Cincy's 4-2 win over the Giants.

News and Notes
- The Astros have named former Phillies GM Ed Wade their new General Manager. The Pirates are close to naming Indians Special Assistant Neal Huntington their new GM, according to the Beaver County Times.
- Junior Griffey will miss the remainder of the year with groin problems, Albert Pujols could be shut down as well with a strained calf.

Weekend Preview
Friday
2:20 today has Maholm facing Marquis in Wrigley. Good game in Cleveland tonight as Carmona battles Blanton and the A's. Hudson faces Villanueva as Braves-Brewers is at 7pm on ESPN. Halladay faces Wang, Eaton pitches in Washington, Beckett and Kazmir go in Tampa, and Pedro battles the Marlins. On some ESPN stations, Backe and the Astros will face Piniero and St Louis at 8pm. Buehrle battles Santana, Loaiza-Hernandez in Phoenix, Peavy faces Colorado, and the Angels go for the division title.
Saturday
Vazquez faces the Twins, Duke and Hill go in Chicago, and Marcum and Kennedy battle in The Bronx. FOX games today include Smoltz and Gallardo, Batista and Escobar, and Perez and Kim in Miami. Haren and Byrd battle, Rogers faces the Royals, Dice-K battles the Rays, Arroyo faces the Giants, Liz faces Volquez in a 'spect show, and Brandon Webb and David Wells square off. Wells is more like round, though.
Sunday
Hamels battles the Nats, Harden faces Westbrook, Meche battles Verlander, and Sheets goes against the Braves. McGowan battles Clemens, Maine faces the Marlins, Wakefield battles Tampa, and Gorzalanny and Zambrano duel. Floyd faces Slowey, Francis faces Maddux, Harang faces the Giants, Weaver battles Lackey, Billingsley battles the Dodgers, and Oswalt goes to St Louis on sunday night. (8pm ESPN).

State of The Mets
What would happen if the Mets don't make the playoffs? Jerry Crasnick of ESPN had this to say:
"It will be extremely ugly. But the Mets still owe Willie Randolph more than $4 million on his contract over the next two seasons. That's an awful lot of money for a team to eat."