Baseball & Politics

The Presidential Race and Baseball are my topics of conversation today.

Let’s start with the race for the White House in which we’re starting to really separate pretenders from contenders and who would have thought just a few months ago that Rudy Giuliani would be gone from the race before next week’s “Super Tuesday?” However that apparently is what’s going to happen after the former mayor of New York City finished third in the Florida primary Tuesday…a state he had targeted and pretty much had to win. Now Rudy is expected to bow out and throw his support behind John McCain, whose win in Florida gives him a lot of momentum heading in to next Tuesday where 22 states, including New Jersey will hold primaries or caucuses and 41% of the GOP delegates are up for grabs.

McCain was pretty much considered out of the picture just a couple of months ago but the Arizona senator looks more and more like the front-runner with only Mitt Romney now posing a serious challenge. Here’s one for you….how about Giuliani running as Vice President on a ticket with McCain? That would be a long-shot but it would make an interesting duo to battle Clinton or Obama in November.

New York Mets fans have been ripping management for not making any off-season moves to help their pitching staff. The patience of General Manager Omar Minaya has paid off though with a tentative trade that brings one of baseball’s best pitchers to Flushing, Queens. The Mets and Twins have reached tentative agreement on a deal for Johan Santana in which New York gives up four prospects but not any of their regulars. The Amazins’ now have until Friday afternoon to sign Santana to a contract extension, one that could cost more than $150 million over six years. You would expect that this deal will get done and it dramatically changes things in the National League where the Mets are now the favorites.

Basketball teams are beginning to clinch division titles with a trio celebrating with wins Tuesday night. The Toms River North Boys wrapped-up their first Class A South title in ten years…Monsignor Donovan secured the Class B South Non-Public championship and the Point Boro Girls clinched at least a share of the B South crown.