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If the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are to survive tonight’s possible elimination game against Josh Beckett and the Boston Red Sox, red-hot Mark Teixeira’s bat is going to need some help from his friends. Even though L.A. is down 2-0 to the reigning World Champs, it’s no fault of their 28-year old first baseman. After “Big Tex” batted at a .308 clip in the regular season, he’s kept his team in games one and two of this Division Series by collecting five hits and two walks in only nine at-bats, that’s a .741 postseason average. The Angels will send young southpaw Joe Saunders to the hill tonight as Los Angeles tries to extend their season another day against the Red Sox tonight at Fenway Park.

It’s often said that sequels are never better than the original. For the New York Mets and their fans, this one’s all too familiar. The Mets capped a second straight September collapse with a 4-2 loss to the Florida Marlins Sunday, ending the team’s chance at the postseason and closing the doors of historic Shea Stadium, their home for 45 years. New York lost in a familiar fashion, a decent effort from starting pitcher Oliver Perez (5.1 IP, four hits, two earned runs) before handing it over to their absolutely abysmal excuse for a bullpen. Although MVP candidate David Wright preached that the Mets lost as a team, it was the epic failures of relievers Scott Shoenweis, Luis Ayala and Aaron Heilman that damned this team in the long run. 29 blown saves, including 16 since the All-Star break won’t cut it on any team, even if you had a lineup of some of the Mets’ all-time greats in their primes. Aside from the catastrophic loss to a team that was not only playing for nothing but shut these same Mets out of the postseason just a season ago, the franchise dropped the ball on giving a fitting goodbye to their beloved Shea Stadium. The ceremony featuring Mets greats like Darryl Strawberry, Tom Seaver and Willie Mays took place after the heartbreaking, season-ending loss and was not only awkward to watch, but downright nauseating given the current rosters performance just minutes before. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to this team in the offseason. I expect interim manager Jerry Manuel to be given a new contract and for general manager Omar Minaya to make a hard run at Los Angeles of Anaheim closer Francisco Rodriguez. Regardless, these moves are months off. Months that will be cold and bitter for everyone who believed in the 2008 New York Mets.

Move over Ryan Howard, there’s a new offensive record holder in town and his name is Mark Reynolds. Swing and a miss. The Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman stroke out twice in Friday night’s 6-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies, giving him 201 punch-outs on the year and setting a Major League record for strikeouts in a single season. Despite setting the dubious record, it comes so during the 25-year old’s breakout second season that’s seem him pop 28 homers and 96 runs batted in. The D-Backs missed the playoffs this season and a big reason why is inconsistency at the plate. Though the fault is definitely not Reynolds’ alone, he combined with teammates Chris Young and Adam Dunn to strike out an unreal 527 times this season.

The Boston Red Sox will take the field at Fenway Park tonight hoping that ace Josh Beckett can earn a victory over the Cleveland Indians and seal the fifth playoff appearance for the club in the last six seasons. Although Beckett has been subpar by his standards this season, there’s not another starter in the game today with the big-game mystique of the 28-year old righty. The runner-up for the American League Cy Young last season, Beckett is 12-9 with a bloated 3.96 earned run average this season but has allowed only two runs in his last 19 innings of work. He’ll be opposed by Cleveland youngster Zach Johnson, who has a ghastly 6.35 ERA in nine appearances since being shipped to Cleveland in the deal that sent C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Red Sox, who enter the game 91-64, are 30 games above .500 at home and trail the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays by only a game-and-a-half the three-game series with Cleveland.

We can end the discussion for American League Rookie of the Year. With the Tampa Bay Rays feverishly trying to fend off the Boston Red Sox in the American League East, their 6-10 record in September is no way due to the spectacular hitting of rookie third baseman Evan Longoria. In fact, since the calendar has flipped to September, Longoria is hitting a team-best .320 with seven runs batted in. The rookie had his most impressive game at the plate so far this season when he belted three home runs in Thursday’s 11-8 loss to the Minnesota Twins. On the year, Longoria now has 25 home runs with 78 runs batted in to go with a strong .281 average. The Rays look to extend their lead in the AL East when they match up against starter Nick Blackburn and the Twins for the third of a four-game set at Tropicana Field.

The New York Mets‘ bullpen let them down again Sunday, blowing a two-run lead against the Atlanta Braves while letting their NL East lead over the Philadelphia Phillies shrink to only one game. Luis Ayala started the ninth inning with the Mets on top 4-2 before promptly giving up two singles to Casey Kotchman and Kelly Johnson and serving up a three-run go-ahead home run to pinch-hitter Greg Norton. The absolutely abysmal is becoming the norm for the Mets ‘pen and the numbers tell the story. Yesterday’s ninth inning: three relievers, five runs on five hits and one loss. Not only did the team waste a two-home run effort from David Wright and seven strong innings from starter Oliver Perez, their lead in the National League East has dwindled to one single game over Philadelphia, who swept a double-header Sunday from the Milwaukee Brewers. With Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim closer Francisco Rodriguez looking to hit the free agent market at the end of the season, do you think general manager Omar Minaya might have a slight interest?

The Los Angeles Dodgers polished off a three-game sweep of their National League West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks Sunday with a 5-3 victory at Dodgers Stadium. The win amounted to Los Angeles’ eighth straight while the Diamondbacks have now lost 10 of their last 13 games. Arizona is unexpectedly stumbling down the stretch, even while being able to send out aces Dan Haren and Brandon Webb two nights out of each week. A 19-game winner, Webb has particularly sputtered in the last few weeks. In his past three starts, Webb has three losses to combine with a monstrous 12.51 ERA, including Saturday’s 7-2 defeat at the hands of LA. The Dodgers now lead Arizona by a game and a half entering a grueling 10-game road trip that will take them to San Diego, Pittsburgh and Colorado starting Monday night. The D-Backs will continue north from Los Angeles to the Bay Area to start a three-game series with the third-place San Francisco Giants Monday evening at AT&T Park.

With the Boston Red Sox already missing a myriad of key players due to injury, the reigning World Champs will get fireballer Josh Beckett and starting third baseman Mike Lowell back in action for this upcoming weekend’s series against the Texas Rangers. Lowell has been on the DL since suffering an oblique strain during a check-swing August 12th against the Rangers. Arguably the most important offensive player in last year’s stretch run, Lowell is hitting .270 with 14 home runs and 67 runs batted in 101 games this season. More important for this year is the return of Josh Beckett. Though not having the 20-win season of a year ago, Beckett is still considered to be the most dangerous October starter in the game and will be crucial if the Sox want a chance at catching the first place Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East. Tampa currently owns a four-game lead over the Sox but will be tested as the two match up six times in the next two weeks.

The word “peak” seems to have no meaning to Toronto Blue Jays starter Roy Halladay. Anytime I get a chance to watch the 2003 American League Cy Young award winner start a game, I always seem to find myself thinking “this is the best I’ve ever seen him“. Halladay again redefined his ceiling today as the five-time All-Star beat the New York Yankees 6-2 to take the final regular season game between the teams at historic Yankee Stadium. Allowing only two earned runs over seven innings, the 31-year old Halladay improved to 4-1 against the Bombers this season and bought the Jays to within two games of New York for third place in the American League East. While Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians is my pick for this year’s American League Cy Young, Halladay is certainly not far behind in the conversation. The righty fireballer is 17-9 with a miniscule 2.69 ERA (in a division with the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and the Yankees) and is on pace to record more than 200 strikeouts for the first time since his 2003 Cy Young-season. After taking two-of-three from the Yanks in the Bronx over the weekend, the Jays welcome in the Minnesota Twins for a three-game set at Toronto’s Rogers Centre starting Tuesday night.

Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer drew closer to making Major League Baseball history Friday night as the 25-year old went 5-for-6 against the Oakland Athletics. Mauer raisied his American League-leading average to .324 while driving in four to lead Minnesota to a 12-2 beating of Oakland. Behind his hot bat, the Twins are now 76-59 and trail the Central-leading Chicago White Sox by only a half-game entering Saturday’s contest against the A’s in Oakland.