Revis and Mangold Upset At Jets Contracts

The drama that is the New York Jets has gotten really interesting this week.

With mandatory mini-camps taking place in Florham Park and East Rutherford this week, both Darrelle Revis and Nick Mangold are upset over their current contract status.

As most have heard, Revis came to camp, but skipped out on certain practices because he feels the Jets are playing cheap on his contract. Revis' contract which has two years left on it, wants to be paid as the highest paid corner in the NFL. Currently Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is the highest paid corner at $15 million. It is believed that Revis wants $20 million per season. Meanwhile, Ryan did talk with Revis about his protest.

Center Nick Mangold is also unhappy.

"It's deeply disappointing," Mangold said Tuesday after the morning practice. "I've tried to do the right thing, on and off the field. I feel it's the Jets' turn. Not having the security of an extension is bothersome."

Mangold is entering the final year of his contract, due to make $3.3 million. The Jets have yet to make a proposal for a new contract, claiming they're handcuffed by the CBA rules and the uncertain labor landscape. (ESPN).

The Jets built this grave themselves. They released Alan Faneca without the player's knowledge. Released Thomas Jones which upset people in the clubhouse, and traded Leon Washington after his leg injury, and a year after the Jets couldn't give him a new contract with guarenteed money. The Jets also approached Revis after the season about ripping up his current contract and giving him a new one.

Obviously the players are a little jumpy about the Jets front office dealings. They don't trust that Mike Tannenbaum and Woody Johnson will take care of them financially. This mess could get worse as time moves on.

Keep in mind, Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, and D'Brickshaw Ferguson are also in the final years of their contracts.

Surging Mets Hold Off Indians

METS 7
INDIANS 6

The suddenly surging Mets won their fifth straight, and fourth on the road, with a 7-6 nail biter over the Cleveland Indians, last night in Cleveland.

Johan Santana struggled yet again, but at least this time the Mets put up some runs for him. Santana went seven innings, gave up four runs, walked two and struck out only one. He got the win, but didn't look good doing it.

With a 1-0 lead, Santana gave up a solo homer to Travis Hafner in the second. Then, he gave up a two run single to Trevor Crowe to give the Indians a 3-1 lead. The Indians tacked on one more run on Santana in the fourth when Jason Donald singled to center to drive in Johnny Peralta to make it 4-1.

Luckily for Santana, the rest of the Mets brought the bats. David Wright's infield single brought home Alex Cora, and then Jose Reyes' swipping of home, on the Indians botched relay throw to home tied the game at four. Finally, Ike Davis cracked a two run homerun to deep center to give the Mets a 6-4 lead.

It got really interesting in the ninth, when K-Rod surrendered a two run blast to Shelly Duncan to cut the Mets lead to 7-6, but he was able to get Crowe on a deep popout to end it. The Mets are 36-28, and just a half game behind the Braves for first in the NL East.

Yankees TKO Roy Halladay & Phillies

YANKEES 8
PHILLIES 3

New year, same stadium, same result.

The New York Yankees picked up where they left off in October in their budding rivarly with the Philadelphia Phillies, smacking the Phils 8-3 at Yankee Stadium. The win was equally special, since the Bombers destroyed Phillies ace Roy Halladay.

Halladay just didn't have it against the Yankees. He lasted six innings, gave up eight hits and six runs, including three homers.

The Yankees were in control from the start. In the second, Brett Gardner lined a two run triple to center to bring in two runs to give New York a 2-0 lead.

Then in the third, the Yankees went yard on Halladay. First, Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot to right, his third homerun since coming off the DL. Nick Swisher followed that up, with a solo blast of his own to right center to make it 4-0 Yankees.

C.C. Sabathia who has had a rough season did his part, giving the Yankees seven quality innings, allowing only three runs while striking out seven. Sabathia is now 7-3 with a 4.00 ERA.

The Yankees offensive barrage continued in the fifth as Mark Teixeria pulled a homerun to the right field corner to make it 5-3 Bombers.

With the win the Yankees remain tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for first in the AL East.

Jets cut prices on 18,000 PSL's

So it comes down to this.

As a last ditch effort to sell out GIANTS Stadium for Jets game, the Jets organization has decided to cut prices on 18,000 seats up for PSL's. Cuts are going for as much as 50%. After the Jets failed to coax fans with constant phone calls and emails to buy the seats at the previous, ridiculous rates, the Jets have no choice but to cut prices.

But don't jump on that credit card that fast Jet fans, because the prices are still steep. Lower end zone seats have been reduced from $5,000 per seat to $2,500 per seat. Second level mezz. end zone, has been cut from $4,000 a seat to $2,500 a seat. Finally, the lower sidelines have been slashed from a whopping $15,000 per seat to $10,000 per seat. Overall, the cuts are costing the Jets $47.25 million in losses.

The prices are still ridiculous. Jet fans should continue to protest the costs until these prices are reduced to a resonable rate, if not eliminated. The Giants have sold out the building, with the exception of 1,500 seats that could always be sold on a individual game basis, or sold to brokers on Stub Hub.

At least the Giants have a recent history of success; they won the Super Bowl more than two years ago. The Jets are a bigger gamble for investors, they were a lucky lot to get to the playoffs last season, and have not had a season of more than 10 wins in 11 years.

Yankees Can't Ignore Toronto Now

So Yankee nation, confident that your defending champions are better than the Blue Jays?

For the past two days it didn't look like it, as Toronto beat the Yankees in each of the first two games of a weekend series. The Jays have hit, pitched and totally dominated the Yankees in the first two games.

In game one, Jose Bautista cracked two homers, and went 3-for-3 against the Yankees. Bautista has a MLB leading 18 homers this year, and is clearly the most ignored All Star this season - as he is getting no votes in the fan balloting. Bautista is in the midst of a career year.

Meanwhile Brett Cecil dominated the Bombers for eight strong innings, yielding only one run as Toronto won 6-1.

In game two, Andy Pettitte was great, giving up only two runs (homers to Veron Wells and Alex Gonzalez) in seven and two-thirds, but the homer happy Jays were too much for the Yankees pen as Aaron Hill won it in the 14th with a single to left-center for the 3-2 victory.

Now the Jays will go for the sweep today, and who is on the mound for the Yankees? Well, it's just Javier Vazquez and his six ERA. The Jays (33-24) are a game and a half behind the Yankees (34-22) for second place. Obviously the Jays are for real and are not going anywhere.

Mets Get Their Wish: No More Oliver Perez

Well the Mets are no longer being held hostage by Oliver Perez.

No, the Mets didn't release him, or trade him, or option him to Triple-A. No Perez is now on the disabled list.

Before the Mets 6-1 victory over the Marlins, Saturday, the Mets announced that Perez would be on the DL with Patella Tendinitis in his right knee.

Manager Jerry Manuel insists that this move is only about getting Perez healthy.

"This, purely, is Oliver Perez. Oliver Perez came in and said his knee is bothering him," Manuel said. "I've been [with the Mets] for a number of years and the integrity of those men [in the front office] has not wavered when it comes to these situations."

Sure Jerry, sure. I am sure there was a bottle of wine popped open in the clubhouse when word of Perez's injury came filtering through.

Tom Brady Wants Patriots To Pay Up

Over the last few years we have seen a lot of high profile NFL stars move to other teams, that we would never think was possible. Brett Favre left the Packers to play for the Jets and Vikings; Donavan McNabb was recently traded from the Eagles to the Redskins.

Can you imagine if Tom Brady joins that list?

It could happen.

In a story from Yahoo sports, Brady, 33, is in the final year of a $60 million contract, and right now negotiations between his party and the Patriots has stalled. "there’s a growing sense of disconnect between the two camps,"(Yahoo).

"With the specter of a work stoppage following the 2010 season looming, Brady’s situation seems entwined with the uncertain labor landscape, to the point where he could be angling toward prospective free agency after a new collective bargaining agreement is reached," (Yahoo).

The new CBA has yet to be reached between the players union and the NFL, meaning that there is the threat of a work stoppage next March that could cancel the 2011 season. However, the two parties come to an agreement on player contracts, could play a big role in determining what a 34 year old Brady will make come 2011.

He probably will finish his career in New England, but never say never. We have seen it enough in the recent past -- maybe one day Brady will wear another uniform other than the Patriots.