Midday Recap: Not what they had in mind

Carlos Torres fans 6 as the Mets win.  It's becoming crunch time in the playoff chase.  And the NFL gets a huge weight lifted off their shoulders as the regular season gets set to begin next week.

Gary Wiepert | Associated Press

But the big story today is the Buffalo Bills 35-13 loss to the Detroit Lions in the final game of the preseason. New roster members Matt Leinart and Thaddeus Lewis had a tough time generating offense, with the former of the two completing only 3 of 10 passes for 11 yards.  Leinart also threw two picks as he played for much of the first half before being pulled in favor of Lewis.  Lewis completed 7 of his 16 passes for 132 yards, including a 4th Quarter touchdown.

Kellen Moore scored 2 touchdowns, going 10/18 for 78 yards for the Lions.  Shaun Hill completed 4 of 5 passes, two for touchdowns.  Matthew Stafford had a tough time, with only one completion out of 6 passes.

For the Bills, it ends a preseason they would rather forget.  Things looked promising for the Bills through the first two games, but then injuries started to plague the team.  EJ Manuel's knee injury being the toughest, as he looked very good through the first two preseason games, and according to reports he was also looking very good through camp too.

Kevin Kolb's possible career-ending concussion also hurt the Bills, resulting in the pickups last week of Thaddeus Lewis and Matt Leinart.

And with the New England Patriots looming the 2nd Sunday of September to kick-off the 2013 season, the Bills needed a confidence booster last night against the Detroit Lions.  But with the loss, the Bills have more questions than answers, and there's still a question of whether or not EJ Manuel will be ready to go for the season premiere on September 8th.

Link: Detroit Lions @ Buffalo Bills Boxscore via Yahoo! Sports

MIGHTY MET

Seth Wenig | Associated Press

Carlos Torres has proven his versatility throughout the season with the New York Mets. The Kansas State alum has made appearances for the Mets both from the bullpen and in the starting rotation.  With Matt Harvey sidelined for the year, as well as other starting rotation injuries, Torres made his return to the starting rotation yesterday afternoon against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Torres looking good early, striking out the side in the 2nd inning.  He would get run support in the 3rd inning as Daniel Murphy doubled home Eric Young.  Then Anthony Recker would add to the Mets score as he homered to left field to bring home himself and Justin Turner in the 4th.

Torres would continue to be scoreless until the 7th, when he surrendered back-to-back singles to lead-off the inning, and then a sac fly from Darin Ruf would bring home Chase Utley to end the shutout and also Torres's day.

Scott Rice came in to end the 7th, and then Eric Young would triple with the bases loaded to add to the Mets lead, as they would go on to win 11-3.  The 11 runs is the most compiled by the Mets at Citi Field since their opening day game against the San Diego Padres on April 1st.

Torres went 6 2/3rds innings, allowing the lone run in the 7th inning.  He struck out 6 and walked no one in the win.  In his 55 innings of work this year, Torres has allowed only 7 walks.

CHASING OCTOBER
The New York Yankees kick off a three-game series tonight against the Baltimore Orioles.  For the Yankees, this could be a critical series as the Yankees are 8 games back of first place Boston, and 5 games behind the Oakland A's for the last wild card spot.  The Yankees are 5-7 against the O's this year.

Speaking of the A's, they're starting up three games against the Tampa Bay Rays out in California.  Tampa Bay holds the 1st Wild Card spot, but only by a half-game.  Cleveland enters a critical three-game series in Detroit, made more critical after being swept by the Atlanta Braves.  Out 6 1/2 games in the AL Central, the Indians are looking to break their cold streak of late, hindered by their 31-36 record on the road.

Meanwhile in the National League, it is becoming likelier with each passing day that it is going to be three from the NL Central getting into the postseason.  Cincinnati holds the second wild card spot, with a 6 game lead over the Arizona as the nearest team outside looking in.  The Pirates remain 21 games over .500, and only need 5 more wins in order to end their 21 year streak of losing.

PRESEASON ROUNDUP

Bill Kostroun | Associated Press

All 32 NFL teams were in action on Thursday as the preseason wrapped up.  Matt Simms shined as he went 33 for 44 for 285 yards as the New York Jets 27-20.  Simms is expected to be the No. 3 QB on the Jets depth chart, and is likely to back up Geno Smith as Mark Sanchez has been announced as out for their first regular season game.  The Jets overcame 5 turnovers by dominating the time of possession battle, and used their 26 1st Downs to their advantage. Kahlil Bell had both of the Jets rushing touchdowns, gaining 80 yards on 21 carries.

The Giants ended their preseason with a 28-20 loss against the New England Patriots.  Down 20-14 entering the 4th Quarter, the Patriots used two touchdown tosses by Tim Tebow to fuel them to victory.  Tebow completed 6 of 11 passes for 91 yards, but was sacked four times for a loss of 25 combined yards.  Eli Manning completed 6 passes for 74 yards, and Curtis Painter went 8 for 11 for 94 yards.  However, the Giants lost backup RB Andrew Brown, who for the 2nd straight year broke his left leg.

SETTLEMENT
The National Football League has announced a settlement with over 4,500 retired players.  The settlement is worth over $750 million, and will help those retired from the National Football League who suffered from symptoms from dementia or other concussion-related issues.

Former Washington Redskins Quarterback Mark Rypien told the Associated Press that help is coming for those who need help, but it is sad because this couldn't be done earlier to help prior cases.  Rypien is well-familiar with the issue, having suffered two concussions during his 11 seasons in the league.

The settlement removes what would have been a major distraction for the league as the season gets closer to the start of the regular season, which kicks off next Thursday.

Midday Recap: Carlos Torres rebounds from his 2nd pitch, Jagr on the move

Boston slows down a hot charging Tampa Bay team.  Jaromir Jagr takes his talents down I-95.  And San Francisco and the Cincinnati play a doubleheader of unusual nature.

Howard Simmons | New York Daily News

But the big story this morning is Carlos Torres's 2nd start for the New York Mets.  Torres started by allowing a solo shot by lead-off hitter Andrelton Simmons, but then calmed down to keep the Braves at one run through his 6 innings of work.

The bullpen kept the Braves bats quiet, failing to allow a hit through their three innings of work.  Bobby Parnell, who blew a save in the Mets 2-1 loss on Monday, struck out two as he earned his 19th save of the season.

Ike Davis helped the Mets earn Torres his first win of the season thanks to his double in the 6th inning that scored Daniel Murphy to give the Mets the 2-1 lead, and the force was with John Buck as he brought Marlon Byrd home to widen the gap.  A Juan Lagares sac-fly would bring the final score of 4-1.

The Braves scored 1 run on 7 hits, all against Torres.  Torres struck out 6 and walked 2 as the one earned run he allowed boosted his ERA to 0.94.  Ike Davis, who earned boos after his first two at bats, drove in cheers thanks to his go-ahead double in the 6th.

For Braves starting pitcher Kris Medlen, it was his third loss in a row.  Allowing 14 runs in his last three starts, Medlen's spot in the starting rotation is in jeopardy.  He's allowed 24 hits and struck out 13 during this three game span, and in all three games, he had to be replaced prior to the end of an inning.

On-Deck: Jeremy Hefner came back from the All-Star break with a dud in his last start against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Touting one of the best ERA's since the start of June, Hefner got torched for 8 runs on 10 hits as his season's ERA rose 0.60 after the Friday effort.  If Hefner can return to the form he had prior to the All-Star break, the Mets stand a chance of climbing back to within 9 games of the Braves in the NL East.

It hasn't been pretty, but Tim Hudson is a winner of his last three starts.  Allowing 8 runs on 23 hits in the three-game span, Hudson has struck out 13 as the Braves offered him some run support to overcome those deficits.

Game Coverage: 6:30PM on 1230 FOX Sports Radio

Mar-GONE

Jim McIssac | Newsday

The New York Mets begin proceedings to release pitcher Shaun Marcum from their roster.  Yesterday, prior to their game against the Braves, the Mets placed Marcum on waivers with the intent of an unconditional release from their roster.  Marcum was shelved from the lineup a couple weeks ago with a thoratic outlet syndrome that required season-ending surgery.

Marcum went 1-10 this year with a 5.29 ERA, with his lone win being at the Chicago White Sox in June.  Marcum had a season-high 12 strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves on national television, but had consistency issues throughout the season.

ROADBLOCK
The Tampa Bay Rays fail to convert on an opportunity to do what the Los Angeles Dodgers accomplished the previous night.  In their way was the Boston Red Sox, who kept firm control of 1st place in the AL East with their 6-2 win last night in Boston.

Heading into the game, the Rays were winners of 6 straight and 9 of their last 10.  And down 3-2, the Rays had the opportunity to tie the game after Jose Molina doubled with one man out.  However, the Rays were unable to move the runner over, and was stranded at 2nd after Junichi Tazawa got Desmond Jennings to strike out to end the 7th.

The Red Sox would pad their lead with three in the 8th inning, pushing the Rays back to 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox for the lead in the AL East.

GOING DOWN I-95

USA Today Sports

Jaromir Jagr is heading down the Atlantic.  The Boston Bruin has signed a 1 year contract, worth $2 million, to play for the New Jersey Devils.  The signing replaces the hole that came when Ilya Kovalchuk retired from the NHL to play hockey in Russia.

Last year Jagr scored 16 goals and 19 assists with the Boston Bruins and the Dallas Stars.  Those 16 goals would have led the Devils, and his 35 points would put him one point behind team leader Patrik Elias.

UNUSUAL DOUBLEHEADER
It was an unusual doubleheader for the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.  In the first game, the Reds prevailed 9-3.  Following the game, both teams changed jerseys, with the Giants wearing the road colors and batting first, and the Reds treated as the home team, despite the game being played at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  In the nightcap, the Giants, as the road team, prevailed 5-3.

The weird doubleheader came about after rain postponed the Giants/Reds game on July 4th in Cincinnati.  After the two teams had a tough time rescheduling the game for its home field in Cincinnati, the two teams came to terms on the doubleheader in San Francisco.