The Olympics are over, the NFL and college football have not yet begun, and MLB has the spotlight for the next two weeks. Is anyone else surprised that we’ve got the Red Sox at the Yankees and the Phillies hosting the Mets?

Boston’s got a chance to squash the glimmer of hope the Yankees have for making the postseason for the 13th straight season … and it sends the imposing threesome of Wakefield, Paul Byrd, and Jon Lester to the hill. How many lives do these blasted Yankees have? (Yes, we realize Byrd is the man who knocked New York out of the postseason last year.)

The Mets, meanwhile, seem to have planned in advance for this week: Pedro followed by Johan, and they’re facing Old Man Moyer and Kyle Kendrick. Two wins for the Mets should put them up 2.5 games with about 30 to go – plenty of time to collapse again.

Other random observations: Why can’t the Twins solve the Mariners? Minny’s only 4-3 against the worst the AL has to offer. That’s deplorable. Eventually, somebody’s going to blame the M’s and the Republican Convention for the Twins choking.

Milwaukee’s taken 9 of 13 from the Cards this season, but they’ll all be irrelevant if the Brewers drop the two starting tonight and let St. Louis cut into that 3.5 game Wild Card lead. Remember what Milwaukee did to us last year? Not sure we could stomach another one of those.