-The baseball playoff picture is clearing up. With the Mets taking yesterday’s final game at Florida 7-6 in extras thanks to NL MVP candidate David Wright’s clutch RBI single while the pesky Nats held on to defeat the Phillies 5-3, New York is looking good to take their second straight division with a week to go.

Willie Randolph’s club entered tonight’s opening game against Washington with a two and a half game lead. Though they’re on the verge of dropping the opener trailing 10-3 with Mike Pelfrey roughed up and Guillermo Mota drawing more boos with another brutal performance, they would still lead the Phils by two games with six left for each club.

The Amazin’s Magic No. is five. They’ll face the Nationals twice more, then play a make up game at Shea against the Cardinals before finishng up with three against the Marlins. Meanwhile, Charlie Manuel’s resilient Phils finish up with six at home but must host the Braves for three starting tomorrow before the Nats come in for a weekend series.

It won’t be easy to break their 14-year playoff drought since the 1993 Phillies fell to the Blue Jays in six on Joe Carter’s memorable ninth inning home run.

They do trail the Padres by half a game for the wildcard. San Diego begins a three-game series in San Francisco tonight before wrapping up with four at Milwaukee.

The Padres are coming off being swept by the Rockies who have now reeled off eight in a row and are just a game and a half back (game behind Phils). San Diego will try to rebound despite losing outfielder Milton Bradley who tore his ACL in bizarre fashion while protesting vehemently and being spun around by manager Bud Black and falling awkwardly.

Could only happen to a hot head talent such as Bradley who’s worn out his welcome in other places but was a catalyst for San Diego after they picked him up from Oakland. He’s just not smart.

They also could be without center fielder Mike Cameron who has a torn ligament in his right thumb after Bradley accidentally stepped on it while the ex-Met tried to make a diving catch on a Garrett Atkins inside the park home run. It looks like Cameron will only be available off the bench as a pinch hitter which could be a big blow to the Padres’ chances.

Meanwhile, the Cubs are in the driver’s seat having taken four in a row and leading the Brewers by three and a half to reduce their Magic No. to four as they head to Florida for three before concluding the season in Cincinnati.

They aren’t getting any help from the Cards tonight who at last check were being pounded by Milwaukee 12-2. Prince Fielder hit his senior circuit leading 48th dinger and certain NL Rookie of The Year Ryan Braun has his 33rd and driven in three.

In 107 games which includes tonight, the third baseman has 91 RBI’s to go with a .322 average and 85 runs scored. Just amazing numbers for the 2005 first round pick (fifth overall) out of Miami Florida. If he somehow got to 100 RBI’s and the Cubs collapsed, should he get MVP consideration? Why not. His situational numbers and splits are impressive for a first-year player. Don’t believe us? See for yourself:

Ryan Braun’s 2007 Splits

Braun’s 2007 situational stats

Definitely gives you some food for thought with Wright, teammate Fielder, Matt Holliday and Phillies Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and 2006 NL recipient Ryan Howard getting most of the attention.

It might all depend on how this final week plays out. It’s definitely one of the most exciting and unpredictable races we’ve seen.

Stay tuned. Expect the unexpected.

-With the Yanks falling at The Stadium to Toronto 4-1, the AL East is all but over. Unless Boston falls apart, they’ll win the division and the Bronx Bombers will settle for the wildcard. What’s unknown still is whether it will be the Angels or Indians in the first round. Just wait and see.

-The Giants showed an awful lot of resolve in yesterday’s 24-17 come from behind victory at Fed Ex Field over NFC East rival Washington. This was a real gutcheck for Tom Coughlin’s group who overcame a 17-3 deficit by getting three unanswered scores all in the second half while the Skins’ offense stalled.

Eli Manning didn’t have a great day turning it over three times (2 Ints, 1 lost fumble) but the Big Blue QB was money on third down at one point helping his desperate team convert seven consecutive times in those situations to keep drives alive. Along with strong second half by Plaxico Burress on a bad ankle, the two hooked up for the winning touchdown as Plax made the adjustment on a tough pass and took it to the house.

What we can’t figure out was why the Skins’ playcalling down the stretch was so brutal. With the ball inside the Giant 2 and still at least 55 seconds left, they chose to have QB Jason Campbell spike the ball and waste a down rather than run another play. The strategy made about as much sense as the rushed fourth down call to give the ball to Ladell Betts for a second straight time and watch him get dropped in the backfield as Big Blue held to earn the big win.

It was about as poor a last minute goal line series as you’ll see. Especially from what was an undefeated team.

You have to wonder how a Joe Gibbs overstaffed team (have you seen how many assistants they have) could have such poor execution in that situation against what had been a porous Giant D up until the final 30 minutes yesterday.

It doesn’t matter as the Giants will take it and try to carry momentum forward when they return home to host the Eagles who also got back on track with a blowout 56-21 win over another overrated unbeaten Detroit. Donovan McNabb threw for four touchdowns and 381 yards while Brian Westbrook had 221 total yards and three scores.

Andy Reid’s team did all this despite possibly the ugliest jerseys anyone’s ever seen:

As Shaggy in Scooby Doo would say, “Yiiiiiiikkkkkkeeeesss.”

Have you ever seen anything that ugly before? It even beats the old Islander Fishstick logos.

It’s supposed to be a 1933 throwback. Just pray they never wear it again.

-Meanwhile, the Jets also got their first win hanging on to beat division rival Miami 31-28 at The Meadowlands. Chad Pennington didn’t have great numbers but still accounted for three touchdowns including his a QB sneak for his first rushing score since 2004.

Leon Washington returned a kick for a 98-yard score and Pennington made two nice throws to Laveranues Coles and underrated tight end Chris Baker for passing TDs as Gang Green prevailed despite two late touchdowns by Miami which made things interesting before the Jets’ Eric Smith recovered an on-side kick with 70 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

More encouraging was running back Thomas Jones who broke out for 110 yards on the ground after a couple of quiet weeks. Eric Mangini’s club will need more of that type of production when they play winless Buffalo next week.

-If the Titans win this game at New Orleans, the Saints will be 0-3. They’re finding out just how tough it is a year later after being media darlings last year. Playing a first place schedule is much tougher and with it come loftier expectations for Sean Payton’s club who got all the way to the NFC title game before being routed by Chicago.

-Speaking of the Bears, with another brutal performance last night including three picks with one returned all the way for a TD in a blowout home defeat to unbeaten Dallas, Rex Grossman just might be finding a seat on the bench in favor of veteran QB Brian Griese. At 1-2, they’re already in some trouble.

-If anyone caught the nasty preseason tilt on Islanders TV between the Rangers and Isles, then you know what happened between Chris Simon and Ryan Hollweg isn’t over. For more on that game which featured a goalie fight between Rick DiPietro and Al Montoya, please check out our entries over at Battle of New York.

-As the NHL regular season inches closer, we should have a preview forth coming. Stay tuned.