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Mets: Contrary to popular belief, the Mets are still playing real, actual baseball games, ones that count toward the standings and everything. Who knew? This week's highlight was R.A. Dickey winning his 18th game of the season in a 6-2 win over St. Louis. When we recall the 2012 season, we'll certainly note it was another somewhat demoralizing year of Mets baseball, but it would be a shame not to remember it did produce the franchise's first no-hitter and one of the truly great seasons by any Met in any era with Dickey. In other words, it's something.

The Mets ended the week with a 3-2 loss to the Braves on Sunday with the team offering a fitting goodbye to fan favorite and long-time Mets great Chipper Jones. Oh wait, I mean long-time nemesis and destroyer of souls who was feted nonetheless during his last series in Queens. In all honesty, it is a sort of classy thing to do. The Mets' death march continues this week with a visit from the Washington Nationals, who for real went through with that whole "We're seriously shutting down Stephen Strasburg" thing, followed by a trip to Milwaukee to grab a few beers.

Monday, Sept. 10 7:10 PM MLB NY Mets vs. Washington Tuesday, Sept. 11 7:10 PM MLB NY Mets vs. Washington 7:10 PM MLB NY Yankees at Boston Wednesday, Sept. 12 7:10 PM MLB NY Mets vs. Washington 7:10 PM MLB NY Yankees at Boston Thursday, Sept. 13 7:10 PM MLB NY Yankees at Boston 7:30 PM NCAAF Rutgers at So. Florida Friday, Sept. 14 8:10 PM MLB NY Mets at Milwaukee 7:05 PM MLB NY Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Saturday, Sept. 15 7:10 PM MLB NY Mets at Milwaukee 4:05 PM MLB NY Yankees vs. Tampa Bay 12:30 PM NCAAF UCONN at Maryland 4:00 PM NCAAF Syracuse vs. Stony Brook Sunday, September 16 2:10 PM MLB NY Mets at Milwaukee 1:05 PM MLB NY Yankees vs. Tampa Bay 1:00 PM NFL NY Giants vs. Tampa Bay 4:25 PM NFL NY Jets at Pittsburgh

Yankees: For all the freaking out over the Yankees' recent struggles, it could be worth noting that what New York is actually experiencing is a legitimate pennant race. You know, it's the presence of actual tension while watching their games. In other words, it's really fun. The Yankees have spent the past two weeks battling with Baltimore, Tampa and Boston, something that if you really think about it, has been pretty awesome, albeit something that would be awesomer were they winning more of the games. Nonetheless, the Yanks slugged out a huge 13-3 win on Sunday behind a monster game from Curtis Granderson to maintain their slim advantage over the surprising Orioles. They'll stay in the AL East next week with games against Tampa and Boston, hoping that Mark Teixeira's balky calf doesn't continue to linger.

Jets: After failing to score a touchdown all preseason, the Jets erupted to a 48-28 win over Buffalo thanks to Tim Tebow's 11 yards rushing on five carries. It was Tebow's first win as the Jets' lead blocker on punts, as the lefty QB added an onside kick recovery to his all-around dominance in the win. Mark Sanchez chipped in with 266 yards and three touchdowns -- with two of them going to impressive rookie Stephen Hill -- to help Tebow and the Jets open their season with a resounding victory over division rival Buffalo. The Jets head to Pittsburgh next week to face a Steelers team eyeing revenge for last season's playoff loss to the Tebow-led Broncos. Expect extra pressure on punts.

Giants: The Giants were receiving so much glowing press, looking so confident and prepared throughout the preseason, that the only thing they knew to do was to lay something of an egg to open the NFL season in a 24-17 loss to Dallas at home, much to the smirking delight of the loathsome Jerry Jones. He's terrible. If one were looking for a silver lining -- and I spent several hours looking for just such a thing -- they could take comfort that New York appeared to play about as bad as possible and still had a chance to pull the game out late before Tony Romo converted a 3rd and 11 to put the game on ice. Most troublesome was that the team's two biggest areas of concern, the secondary and offensive line, appeared to prove that we all had very good reason for worry. The Giants will host the Tampa Bay Bucs next Sunday, where a win would help ease any potential panic. But if they lose, I think it would only make sense to fire Tom Coughlin.

Big East Football: Rutgers enjoyed a 26-0 shutout win over Howard, an accomplishment I find very difficult to evaluate, but one that somehow doesn't sound all that impressive. Meanwhile, the UConn Huskies suffered a heart-breaking 10-7 loss to North Carolina State at home. A week after a brutal loss to Northwestern, Syracuse again was impressive in defeat, hanging tough with preseason favorite USC in a 42-29 loss. Quarterback Ryan Nassib was impressive again, throwing for 322 yards and a pair of scores.