Matt Yallof: Straight. Streets.

(Note: Sippy Momo has a piece about last night's rain-soaked win immediately following this post from A.F.O.M.G.)

Hey guys, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. So I was killing time at work when I hopped on over to get my New York sports online, there, at SNY.tv. And there it was. The lead story. Our man Matt Yallof had finally made it: his blog was featured as the lead story over at the SNY website.

One of the increasingly familiar faces over at SportsNet New York, you'll remember Yallof from many a broadcast of Pre Game Live... excuse me, North Fork Bank Pre Game Live, or Nissan Post Game Live.

Now a little confession here. Perhaps it's that he simply has no chance of measuring up to resident SNY frat boy Chris Cotter, who always looks like he's desperate for his next keg stand or the next chick to show his "Oh" face, but I had always thought Yallof a little soft.

That all changed when I read the latest entry on his blog (link: http://www.sny.tv/article.jsp?content=blog_yallof).

That's because Yallof, in the midst of gushing about the Mets' offseason acquisitions, notes with a mix of pragmatism and street sensibilities that we can only hope will become his trademark, "Sure, [the Mets] have the money to spend, but how many times in the past have we seen teams with money -- the Mets included -- spend mad-cash and come up empty?"

I mean, it's true. We've definitely seen the Mets spend mad cash before and come up empty. Like, hello, 2002 anyone?

But not this time. Like our man B.I. up above used to say, fuck a dollar and a dream -- with Omar in charge and the Mets 18-9, we've got a dollar and reality, son.

And that's basically what Yallof's post reminds us of. The Mets made a bunch of solid moves this offseason, and with the team sporting a .667 winning percentage and a 5-game lead in the NL East after 27 games, the proof is in the pudding.

Yes, the Kris "Slump-Stopper" Benson deal isn't looking too pretty right now, but Yallof's point is that Duaner Sanchez is our best reliever and the likely heir to the Billy Wagner throne (a la Mariano Rivera-John Wetteland).

It's that Carlos Delgado... he's at first base!... is everything Mets first basemen weren't in 2005, Mike Jacobs aside.

And it's that Xavier Nady and Paul Lo Duca have been everything you could have asked for in the early going.

And after all that, Yallof still finds time to vent about the pitfalls of hosting a small gathering with friends: "A Mets team that is always in search of good starting pitching (I guess every club is also looking because starting pitching is like ice at a party -- you never have enough)". So true!

All kidding aside, the blogs at the SNY website are a very solid feature. I always loved reading the notebooks of Keith Hernandez, Howie Rose, and all the rest over at MSGNetwork.com (RIP), and the blogs at SNY are the heirs-apparent of those.

The commentary isn't as expert perhaps as when Joel Sherman was writing up his impressions, but the blogs are nevertheless worth checking out in the waning hours of work.

But if you see Matt Yallof roaming the streets this weekend, well, just try and stay out of any 1-D battles.

Yallof: Money! Cash! Hoes! Money-Cash-Hoes!!

- A.F.O.M.G.

UPDATE: Alright. Who else saw Jeromy Burnitz on Pre Game Live just now? Possibly the greatest interview of all time. Be sure to watch the re-run of Daily News Live tonight at 11 p.m. to catch all the highlights. J-Burn!