It was a great night at Progressive Field for Indians fans last night, as the Tribe thumped the Detroit Tigers 10-3 behind a 5-5 night from Jason Kipnis and a stellar home debut by Ubaldo Jimenez. Jimenez looks dominating when you see him in person as I did last night.

The Indians took a real gamble by sending two #1 picks to Colorado for Jimenez, but so far he looks like the real deal. With Justin Masterson, the Indians now have two front-line starters at the top of the rotation, with a very capable Josh Tomlin as the #3 starter. Then you have an inconsistent but sometimes dominating Fausto Carmona and several young starters like Carlos Carrasco and David Huff.

The offense is also starting to heat up, with young players like Kipnis providing a spark. Kipnis reminds me of a young Lenny Dykstra. The Indians are now within two games of the Tigers after taking the first two games of this series. Shin-Soo Choo should be back soon, and possibly Grady Sizemore as well. They definitely need Choo to come back strong and Sizemore would be a bonus.

Former Mets and Phillies star Lenny Dykstra was jailed Monday on grand theft auto and drug-possession charges after being accused of using bogus information to lease a car from a Southern California dealership. The New York Times has the rest of the details.

Dykstra, 48, was charged with 25 misdemeanor and felony counts of grand theft auto, attempted grand theft auto, identity theft and other crimes, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. He faces up to 12 years in state prison if convicted.

His accountant and a friend were charged in connection with the suspected auto theft but not with drug crimes, Robison said.

Prosecutors contend that the three men tried to lease high-end cars from dealers this year by providing phony information and claiming credit through a phony business called Home Free Systems. Two dealerships rejected the lease applications but a third allowed the men to drive off with three cars, according to a statement from the district attorney’s office.

According to the report, the police who arrested Dykstra found cocaine, Ecstasy and synthetic human growth hormone Somatropin at his San Fernando home on April 14.

Just to be clear, these charges are separate from his arrest for bankruptcy fraud. How this guy has avoided jail time up to this point is one of the greater mysteries of our society.

According to a report by the New York Post, the former Mets and Phillies star was charged with bankruptcy fraud for allegedly selling items from his $18-million mansion without permission. After filing for bankruptcy in July of 2009, Dykstra apparently destroyed and sold property that was part of the bankruptcy estate without the permission of the trustee.

Apparently the items he was selling ranged from sports memorabilia to a $50,000 sink. Now, I’m no financial whiz but I would assume if you’re having issues with debt, buying a $50,000 sink probably isn’t the best idea. I mean, a quick Google search resulted in this $342.48 Moen 22356 18’ Gauge Single Basin Stainless Steel Kitchen Sink, which includes free shipping. Me thinks $50K is a little much for one sink.

If you read through his Wikipedia page, it’s a wonder how this guy hasn’t spent serious time in jail. Seems like a real shady character to me. And when I say “shady,” I mean he likes to partake in illegal things and somehow evades punishment.

It’s all too much for Jon Stewart, who has a field day with this one.

Former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies’ baseball star Lenny Dykstra has filed for bankruptcy.

The 46-year-old has no more than $50,000 of assets and between $10 million and $50 million of liabilities, according to a petition filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California.

Jonathan Hayes, one of Dykstra’s lawyers, had no immediate comment.

Dykstra’s filing comes in the wake of some 20 lawsuits he faces tied to his activities as a financial entrepreneur, including The Players Club, a glossy magazine he had helped launch, according to published reports.

The bankruptcy petition shows several banks among Dykstra’s largest unsecured creditors, including units of JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N).

Known as “Nails” and “The Dude,” Dykstra played for 12 years with the Mets and the Phillies before retiring in 1996 with a lifetime .285 batting average and 81 home runs.

It’s amazing how sometimes these former athletes wind up with no money after years of making millions. It doesn’t make any sense, but then again, most of these guys aren’t getting sound financial advice from the get-go so maybe it shouldn’t be that surprising.

Which is why it’s incredibly sad that yesterday, the last regular season game at Shea clinched nothing more than a ticket home for the players and coaching staff. As I texted my buddy Dave and his kids during the game (they were there in person to experience the heartbreak), I watched the game and had some awful memories come flooding back—the collapse of this year equaling the collapse of last season. I also felt the familiar disappointment that was a little more pronounced in the 2006 NLCS, as Yadier Molina clubbed a two-run homer the inning after Endy Chavez made one of the most spectacular plays you’ll ever see. Chavez did it again yesterday, and then the Marlins hit two home runs in the following inning off of a Mets bullpen that was overmatched pretty much all of 2008, but more so since Billy Wagner went down with a season-ending elbow injury.

But, well, we can’t change fate. And while the Brewers and Phillies play in the 2008 postseason, and Shea Stadium gets ready to be torn down for good, I’d like to share a few memories that stand out in my mind, whether I was there or not….

1. My first game, July 26, 1971…it took me a bit of research for this because I was only 7 years old at the time. I know it was summer night game against the Cardinals, and Bob Gibson not only dominated my Mets but hit a triple off Ray Sadecki. I can still see Gibson flying around the bases. I also remember how green the grass looked and how great peanuts and hot dogs could taste at ballparks. And how cool it was that you could throw your peanut shells under your seat. And names like Bud Harrelson, Tommie Agee and Cleon Jones.

2. My first playoff game, October 11, 1986…this is a day I’ll never forget. There was an October chill in the air and a buzz in Shea that lasted the entire game. Darryl Strawberry hit a 3-run shot off of Houston’s Bob Knepper that tied it, and then little Lenny Dykstra hit a 2-run line drive homer off Dave Smith in the bottom of the 9th that won it. As if in slow motion, I thought the ball was going to reach the wall for a double, but when it cleared the fence my buddies and I man-hugged and high-fived for half an hour. Remember that high fives were both acceptable and cool back then.

3. Watching Game 6 of the ’86 series, October 25, 1986 at Harry-O’s bar in Mineola, NY with my buddies Tom and Dave. Amazingly, as we all sulked in our beer, Tom kept positive with the Mets trailing the Red Sox by two runs with two outs and down to their last strike. Tom said, “Come on, just a base hit.” What followed were three hits, a wild pitch and some divine intervention as Mookie Wilson’s grounder rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs. So low, then so high. And if you experienced it like I did, you’re getting goose bumps as you read this. If you were there, I can’t even imagine what it felt like. My dad handed me the newspaper the following morning, and the headline was something like “Mets win with Miracle in 10th!”

4. The last game I saw at Shea, May 25, 2002—It was also the first time my wife Jen had been to Shea, and it was while we were dating. The Mets lost to the Marlins (sound familiar?) 6-5 with Kevin Olsen beating them. There were guys like Mike Lowell and Cliff Floyd and Luis Castillo in the Marlins’ lineup and guys like Mo Vaughn and Timo Perez and Robbie Alomar in the Mets’ lineup. Man, how times change. That was also the day I bought Jen a rally monkey, Mo Mo (named after Mo Vaughn). She still says it was the best $20 I ever spent on her.

5. That painful Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006, October 19, 2006. Jen and I went to the Smoky Mountains for a three-day weekend, and while the Mets were playing in a critical Game 7, I was not allowed to sulk for too long if they lost, nor did I want to sulk in the great Smoky Mountains! It rained really hard during our four-hour drive, and even harder once we arrived at our log cabin. Then the unthinkable happened. Right after Chavez’ spectacular catch that I thought was a positive omen, the power went out, and we had to sit in our car and listen to the game on the radio. Making my nerves rattle more was the fear of a black bear rapping on the driver’s side window. I remember hearing Shea fall silent as Molina hit that home run. Then the power came back on, and I got to see Carlos Beltran look at a called third strike against (grrrr) Adam Wainwright to end the game.

There’s plenty more…..the beer man who would shout “Hey load ‘em up!”……my buddies and I, all recent college graduates, taunting umpire Joe West one night when he was manning first base…..going to Shea almost every time Dwight Gooden pitched in 1984, and watching him blow hitters away with the nastiest fastball-curve combo I’ve ever seen…..experiencing early heartbreak when the Mets lost Game 7 to Oakland in 1973….and experiencing it again when the Mets lost to the Dodgers in the 1988 NLCS….and again when they lost to the Yankees in 2000…..having my older brothers take me to games when I was a kid…..watching games on TV with my dad on Sundays.

It’s the end of an era, but memories like this, good and bad, make the ushering in of Citi Field in 2009 that much easier. Let’s hope the magic, mystique and memories continue on, and let’s hope the new era of the Mets brings with it a few more championships.