If a batted ball hits the pitching rubber and goes ...

Filed under: Mets , NL East , MLB Hot Stove , MLB Free Agency A week ago, Mets fans were in an uproar. There was lots of action on the Hot Stove, none of it emanating from Queens. At the time, the Mets fans were overreacting. One Monday later, it is time to grumble. All we hear out of the Mets camp is that they don't want to be bidding against themselves. Well, the fact of the matter is, the Mets might just have to bid against themselves. Because they may no longer be a premium destination in baseball.

Filed under: Giants , Redskins , NFC East , NFL Live Blogging The New York Giants enter Monday's game against Washington on the outside of the NFC playoff picture -- making it, essentially, a must-win game. The Redskins , meanwhile, have nothing to play for except their own pride ... and the opportunity to help spoil the Giants' playoff chances. Because, you know, misery loves company. Our Monday Night Football Live Chat begins at 8:30 PM ET, so please join us for all of the fun and festivities. More Coverage: Giants-Redskins Box Score | Week 15 Scoreboard

Filed under: NFL It doesn't take long, just a loss or two in the wintertime, for familiar doubts to form about Brett Favre . Much like the lines on his forehead and gray in his beard, the sudden troubles become more noticeable than his body of work, only feeding the fatalism that follows him. Being an ultra-sensitive, all-knowing watcher of his approval rating among media and fans, he has his antennae way up high -- too high -- in what is supposed to be the season of his renaissance and potential Super Bowl triumph, which would be an eternal story. Which surely is why he overreacted like an infant when his coach, Brad Childress , wanted to remove him from a personal pummeling Sunday night in Charlotte. It's Childress' job to keep Favre healthy for the postseason and not subject him to needless punishment against the unrelenting pass rush of Julius Peppers , particularly when Favre's demise last December with the Jets involved his foolish decision to play with a torn biceps tendon in his right shoulder. When he wasn't being sacked by Peppers and other Carolina defenders, he was knocked down 10 times on an evening when the Minnesota offensive line looked like putty and left tackle Bryant McKinnie was benched.

Filed under: Current Events , Golf First, some good news for Tiger Woods : no new mistresses came forward this weekend so the list unofficially stands at 14 . And John Daly has even offered his counsel . Now the bad news: Tiger's mother is apparently "angry and disappointed" by her son's behavior. And rumors persist that Elin Nordegren will seek to divorce Woods, probably sometime after the holidays. Via the New York Post : "She wants 100 percent divorce, 100 percent custody of the children, and half of everything. And she won't be changing her mind," a confidant of the Swedish stunner told the British tab[loid News of the World]. The hard-line stance stems from Woods' refusal to seek help for his twin addictions to sex and pills, the paper reported. ... "Tiger was supposed to be working on getting better, and he hasn't done anything," said Nordegren's pal. "Elin is livid that he hasn't checked into rehab and gotten himself off his drugs. He's acting like a big baby." The Post puts "half of everything" at $300 million. As for Woods, who hasn't been seen in public since halftime of the Cal-Stanford game on Nov. 21 , People.com 's Linda Marx hears things (via SbB ): Woods and a group of buddies, including some golfers, have left North Palm Beach, according to a source who has seen the golfer's 155-ft. luxury yacht. "Tiger's boat Privacy has been docked at Old Port Cove in North Palm Beach for more than a week," the source tells People. "On Saturday morning, after stocking up on provisions from Costco on Northlake Blvd., the boat left town." Another source tells People that Woods, 33, is going to cruise in the Bahamas for a few days after hanging around the Palm Beach Gardens area this past week. Whatever happens to Tiger off the course, the consensus seems to be that he should get back to playing golf as soon as possible, take the media glare off his personal problems, and focus on winning tournaments. Daly was right : "... As soon as he comes out he's probably going to win, and then everything's forgotten..."

Filed under: Canadiens Of all the injuries to big-time players this NHL season, the Canadiens' loss of defenseman Andrei Markov may have been the most underrrated by measure of impact to the team. Perhaps it's because Markov is a brilliant player but not a star. Maybe it's because the quiet Russian does not grab headlines. Or it could be that he plays in the minor hockey town of Montreal. (Just kidding about that last one). Whatever the reason, sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone. And boy, did the Canadiens miss Markov's 24-minutes of sterling two-way play.

Filed under: Bengals , Broncos The NFL is unlikely to fine Chad Ochocinco , Brandon Marshall or any other player who paid tribute to the late Chris Henry of Cincinnati during Sunday's games. Ochocinco, who originally wanted to wear his teammates number 15 against the San Diego Chargers , carried Henry's jersey onto the field before the game. Then he fell to his knees in the end zone and looked up at the heavens after scoring on a 49-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer during the game. Marshall, who wears No. 15 for Denver, warmed up in a Jersey with "Henry'' on the back although he wore his own name during Sunday's game with Oakland.

Filed under: Vikings , NFL Quarterbacks The Vikings failed to get anything going offensively in a 26-7 loss to Carolina on Sunday night. Adrian Peterson totaled just 35 yards rushing, while the Panthers sacked Brett Favre four times and knocked him down on several other occasions. By the third quarter, Minnesota coach Brad Childress had enough of Favre taking shots, and despite the Vikings clinging to a tenuous 7-6 lead, tried to pull his QB from the contest. That, of course, did not go over well with Favre. "Yeah, there was a heated discussion, I guess you would call it," Favre said after the game, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "We were up 7-6 at the time. No secret, I was getting hit a little bit. I felt the pressure on a lot of plays. We had seven points. So I think everyone in the building was like, 'They're not moving the ball, they're not getting points.' Brad wanted to go in a different direction and I wanted to stay in the game.

Filed under: NFL Editor's Note: This column has been updated from its original version. In this year of the fraud, from Tiger to A-Rod to Balloon Boy, we now confront the question of which football team is the bigger tease: the Saints or Cowboys. It's entirely possible both will crash in the postseason, which should confirm a once-common sentiment that the Vikings are the NFC's most complete team given their playmakers on offense, difference-makers on defense and the fact Brett Favre 's arm hasn't fallen off as his gray beard reveals flecks of -- would you believe? -- white. But then, just as we started to envision the world's first All-Apolis Super Bowl, Minnesota laid its own rotten egg Sunday night against Carolina. It was the second time in three games that the Vikings looked like wannabes. They couldn't run the ball with Adrian Peterson, couldn't stop the run, fell flat in the fourth quarter and let Matt Moore -- Matt Moore? -- find the forgotten Steve Smith enough to hand Minnesota its third loss. As for Favre, he was tortured the entire game by Julius Peppers and last was seen winging an interception in the end zone, as he did so often last winter in his Meadowlands meltdown with the Jets.

Filed under: North Carolina First, I thought it was me. Guess not. Looks like Roy Williams really is out of control. And don't look now, but Williams' North Carolina basketball team will spend Tuesday night playing the first of three consecutive home games when (yawn) Marshall comes to town. Which means the Dean Dome will have plenty of empty seats. Which means you should be able to hear a Marshall fan yell something at a North Carolina player at the foul line such as -- oh say, "Don't miss it, Deon." Which means Williams may embarrass himself again.

Filed under: Bengals , Chargers , AFC North , AFC West SAN DIEGO -- Much of Chad Ochocinco 's media-savvy life is carefully crafted for maximum exposure. Sunday was not. Sunday, the actions and emotions were spontaneous. The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver did not wear his friend Chris Henry's jersey onto the field at Qualcomm Stadium, but he took a piece of his late teammate's soul with him. He hung the No. 15 jersey in a locker stall next to his. A "15" nameplate appeared above the empty locker. "Surreal," Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer called the past few days. There is no script for how NFL teammates should act and react after a teammate suddenly dies. Henry, 26 and still finding his way in life after years of wrong turns, fell out of the bed of a moving pickup truck driven by his fianceé last Wednesday. Police described the incident in Charlotte, N.C., as a domestic dispute. He sustained catastrophic injuries.

Filed under: NFL EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Unbelievable. The New York Jets were one goal-line stand away from moving within inches of the playoffs, and the No. 1 defense in the NFL all but laid down in the end zone and started making snow angels. Unthinkable. The Jets allowed the Atlanta Falcons to drive 73 yards on their final possession -- sound familiar, Gang Green fans? -- the holes in the formerly impenetrable dam growing bigger with every play, until there was Matt Ryan firing a 6-yard, fourth-down, score-or-go-home bullet into the gut of Tony Gonzalez at the lip of the end zone. Incredible. Gonzalez, the perennial Pro Bowl tight end who was kept fairly invisible for much of Sunday, celebrated his catch of the game-winning touchdown with 1:38 left by dunking the football over the goalpost. The Jets, stuck in a zone with one defender over the top and two on each side of Gonzalez, stood numb, stunned, as if someone had just broken into their house and stolen all their Christmas presents. Falcons 10, Jets 7. There was just enough time left for Mark Sanchez to throw one more interception, for the Jets to incur one more mindless penalty and for the angry, shivering masses to stretch their lungs with a rumble of boos and warm their arms by firing snowballs toward the frozen tundra.

Filed under: Broncos , Raiders , AFC West Once again, the Oakland Raiders are playing spoiler in the AFC playoff picture. Back in Week 11, they shocked the Bengals . Two weeks later, they went into Pittsburgh and stole a game from the defending Super Bowl champions. Sunday, they were back at it again, as they squeaked by the playoff-hopeful Denver Broncos , 20-19. This one was a bit different, though. The Raiders seemed to be finding their stride under Bruce Gradkowski , but he fell injured last week. And Oakland would be forced to use three different quarterbacks -- Charlie Frye , JaMarcus Russell and J.P. Losman -- Sunday in Denver. Of all the stunning things that happened this weekend in the NFL (Jerome Harrison ? seriously?), watching JaMarcus Russell come through with a clutch, game-winning touchdown pass in Denver has to take the cake as the most amazing. Russell is easily the biggest draft day bust in recent memory; an albatross to the Raiders due to his lack of any discernible progress and the gargantuan contract he possesses.

Filed under: Panthers , Vikings , NFL Live Blogging Minnesota's stretch run has suddenly gotten a lot more interesting. New Orleans loss on Saturday night means that, however unlikely it may be, the Vikings can capture the NFC's No. 1 overall playoff seed if they win out and the Saints trip up again. Carolina, on the other hand, has already started looking ahead to next season. At 5-8, the Panthers have already been eliminated from the playoffs. Still, the Panthers aren't one of the more frequently featured teams when it comes to national television, so they'll be eager to spoil Minnesota's party, especially in front of Carolina's home fans. We'll be live chatting Sunday night's game, starting at 8:30 p.m. Come join us.

Filed under: Sunday Wrap-Up , NFL Value Machine Sunday Evening Wrap checks out players who increased or decreased their value during the Sunday afternoon games. Riser of the Week: Hmm ... did anyone have a huge game that was surprising? Oh yeah, Jerome Harrison put up 47.8 points in standard scoring leagues. That's 286 rushing yards, 12 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He was a hot pickup earlier in the season, but many had moved on to Chris Jennings or even Josh Cribbs in fantasy leagues due to what we'd seen recently and what we'd heard from Eric Mangini. The 36 touches didn't just accidentally happen, by the way. The Browns had to have put together a game plan revolving around Harrison in the run game. This was a guy who entered the game with just one 100-yard game in his career. He only received seven carries last week. Don't be angry if you had Harrison on your bench -- as I did -- because there was simply no reason to play him in good conscience. Sometimes the unknown happens in fantasy football . The Browns play the Raiders ' weak run defense next week, so make sure to get Harrison in there. He won't be repeating this game ever again, but we now know he's Cleveland's horse.

Filed under: Chicago Bears , NFL Coaching It's a bad sign if your boss won't tell you your job is safe. It's a really bad sign if your boss goes out of his way to say any suggestion that your job is safe is false. And that's what happened to Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith on Sunday. Smith, whose Bears were blown out in Baltimore against the Ravens, was the subject of a report on Friday saying his job was safe. But when Bears general manager Jerry Angelo heard about the report, he said it wasn't true : "At the end of the year, we sit down, we talk," Angelo said in Baltimore, according to the Associated Press.