After the major hiatus in blog writing, I've decided to make my presence felt once again, and what a time to do so. Yesterday, if you were busy on Mars and missed the game, the Giants managed to unfathomably blow a 21 point cake walk in the 4th quarter. Before we complain, let's start from the beginning.
Before the game even went underway, a heck of a Star-Spangled Banner rendition was played via trumpet. Just by looking at the NY players on the screen, you knew they were ready. After a 3 and out on their first drive, the New York Giants played very strong just flat out making plays. From an interception by Corey Webster, fumble recoveries by Kenny Phillips, some serious pressure on Michael Vick, all the way to Mario Manningham letting the Philadelphia Eagles know he's a high calibur receiver, the Giants had it rolling. They seemed to benefit from every borderline call, they beneifted through take-aways, and they had their home crowd pouring their hearts into the game every down making it extremely difficult for the Philly attack to get moving. Everytime Philly had a chance to creep back in the game, they would seem to blow it for themselves, but that would only set the table for later.
The Giants ended the first half picking up a fumble that was reviewed by the booth which stood as called, and the very next play Eli Manning chucked an 8 yard touchdown pass to second year-standout wideout Hakeem Nicks. Big Blue was firing all cylinders, and nobody in the stadium really thought it would be a game, the table was set for a G-Men victory.
During halftime, a jazz group, with each member wearing a different Giants jersey, played Christmas music. It seemed to be some real easy listening type stuff that just felt right being it was 24-3, a 3-score cushion always makes you feel safe. I even remember thinking that if it was Madden, the Eagles would be off the sticks with the 21 point rule in all.
After making tons of huge plays, Mario Manningham let what should've just been a first down to keep a drive moving, turn into, well, a turning point. The Giants were moving the ball with ease, and the same could not be said for the Eagles. However, a gift-wrapped fumble in Giants territory was given to the green team. The Eagles would then, finally capitalize and get themselves a touchdown. At this point its 24-10, still breathing easy, but it just shouldn't have happened.
The Giants would eventually get themselves that touchdown back with a little over 8 minutes left in regulation. Kevin Boss made a nice 8 yard catch in the back of the endzone, to, well, what we all thought at the stadium, would solitify it. The dance music came out, Disco Stu was moving, hell I was even dancing to some Hypnotize. Everyone was sure to put the game in their pocket, and lead the NFC East, a statement, dominating win.
This is the point where I think the Eagles did what the "Monstars" did in Space Jam when they took NBA players' talent away. It felt like Philly was able to do anything they wanted, and the Giants were completely on their heels. Starting the barrage of Eagle points was a 65 yard catch by Brent Celek for a touchdown. It was a quick score, somewhat alarming, but its still a sizeable lead late in the game, still breathing easy. However for some reason, the Giants didn't think a onside quick would ensue with only 7 minutes left down 2 scores. They might not onside kick, however they could. Nobody was ready for it, and the Eagles got the ball back, and scored again with ease, going right down the field. Everyone in the stadium at this point could sense the Eagles found a way to get themselves going, and the Giants look like they may never stop them again. Giants get the ball back finally, don't convert on a big 3rd down after a tough false start penalty by Dave Diehl, and the Eagles got the pigskin back, once again. At this point as a Giants fan you're thinking just making a stop and the game is over. Some how, some way, make a stop. They didn't.
After it's 31-31, the Giants have the ball with 3 timeouts, and about a minute-ten to get themselves in position for a game-winning field goal. It should not have to come down to that after a 21 point edge in the 4th quarter, at home, but you just would like to get out of there with a win. Eli Manning under, and overthrew a couple targets leading to a 3 and out, which would give the Eagles the ball back before the end of regulation. After seeing number 10 deep, everyone and their mama are thinking just punt that thing out of bounds, and let's go win a coin toss. However, a bad snap plus a nervous rookie punter, equalled what is now known as "the (low, wobbling, line drive) punt." DeSean Jackson did exactly what he was set up for, taking the wormburner 65 yards to the house as time expired, and literal silence at New Meadowlands Stadium. Fights weren't necessarily even happening like they usually do after a tough loss or win, the place was in a state of shock. Spike Lee didn't even know what to say. It was one of the longer walk-to-the-car journies I've ever experienced.
What did the Giants blow? Well besides a 21 point lead late in the game against your division rival, they blew a 10-4 record, being in the driver's seat to win the NFC East, have a legitimate shot at homefield advantage, and a first round bye. That's the tough part about the loss besides the mannor it was done in. Be positive Giants fans, we've seen this team lay so many eggs in years past, and while this may be tough to swallow, a win next week in Green Bay (last time they played there in catapulted them to the Superbowl, it was also 1 degree) puts the Giants into the playoffs for sure, and they finish in Washington.
Let's not forget about some pretty terrible losses back in '07, went in as a Wildcard team, won the show. It's just a matter of getting hot at the right time. Might as well get the losses out of the way now as opposed to in the playoffs when it will send you packing. Get it out of your system G-Men, let something like this never happen again, or at least for the rest of this season.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Nets Clip L.A. 110-96
After a heartbreaking 91-90 loss to the Orlando Magic at home, the Nets would choose not to put their heads down, but to rather keep their chins up while starting their first west-coast swing of the season against the Clippers. New Jersey knew the Clippers have had their struggles, (1-9 at the time) however these roadtrips are not easy, and you got to take advantage of winnable games, that seems to be something talked about frequently in regards to the Nets. However there is no doubting the talent LA possesses, with rookie phenom Blake Griffin accompanied by Eric Gordon, and other rookie who played beside John Wall in college, Eric Bledsoe.
The Nets would start out great playing great defense against Blake Griffin and shooting really well from the perimeter until the 6:42 mark in the second quarter where they would lose their star player Devin Harris, who fouled Blake Griffin hard on a breakaway. Harris would be called for a flagarant 2, which means 2 shots and the ball for the Clippers, and an ejection for Harris. Nets had an 11 point cushion at this point in time. A lot of people might not have been sure about how this would affect these guys, instead it inspired them to get on their "A" game and take care of business and that is exactly what happened. The Nets would control an 11 point lead at halftime, and would never look back. The Clippers made their run one time in the 3rd, and one time in the 4th, but behind great shooting performances from Travis Outlaw, (23 points) Brook Lopez, (24 points) and with Farmar sprinkling in 15 and 12, Humphries' 13 and 12, the Nets would hold off the young Clippers 110-96. With Lopez doing what he does best, Humphries becoming a double-double threat, Outlaw and Morrow shooting, a maturing Derrick Favors, and a very talented and revived Devin Harris under Avery Johnson, the Nets really do have some good parts here.
The Nets will go to Utah tomorrow night to take on the red-hot Utah Jazz who are coming off of their first loss since beating the Clippers, Heat, Magic, Hawks, and Bobcats all in comeback fashion. It will be a tough task for the Nets, but a good measuring stick to see the Nets' growth. The Nets growth is obvious, and a pretty thing to see, but with Sacramento and the Denver Carmelos after Utah, and Atlanta and Boston to come home to, Net fans are going to find out exactly what their team is made of.
The Nets would start out great playing great defense against Blake Griffin and shooting really well from the perimeter until the 6:42 mark in the second quarter where they would lose their star player Devin Harris, who fouled Blake Griffin hard on a breakaway. Harris would be called for a flagarant 2, which means 2 shots and the ball for the Clippers, and an ejection for Harris. Nets had an 11 point cushion at this point in time. A lot of people might not have been sure about how this would affect these guys, instead it inspired them to get on their "A" game and take care of business and that is exactly what happened. The Nets would control an 11 point lead at halftime, and would never look back. The Clippers made their run one time in the 3rd, and one time in the 4th, but behind great shooting performances from Travis Outlaw, (23 points) Brook Lopez, (24 points) and with Farmar sprinkling in 15 and 12, Humphries' 13 and 12, the Nets would hold off the young Clippers 110-96. With Lopez doing what he does best, Humphries becoming a double-double threat, Outlaw and Morrow shooting, a maturing Derrick Favors, and a very talented and revived Devin Harris under Avery Johnson, the Nets really do have some good parts here.
The Nets will go to Utah tomorrow night to take on the red-hot Utah Jazz who are coming off of their first loss since beating the Clippers, Heat, Magic, Hawks, and Bobcats all in comeback fashion. It will be a tough task for the Nets, but a good measuring stick to see the Nets' growth. The Nets growth is obvious, and a pretty thing to see, but with Sacramento and the Denver Carmelos after Utah, and Atlanta and Boston to come home to, Net fans are going to find out exactly what their team is made of.
Cowboys Hold off Giants
The Dallas Cowboys marched in to New Meadowlands Stadium with a 1-7 record, a new head coach, back-up quarterback Jon Kitna, and nothing else but a heart full of pride. The Giants went ahead 3-0 on a Lawrence Tynes field goal, only to be shocked by a quick touchdown drive that was capped off by a 13-yard touchdown catch by Dez Bryant. David Buehler would then miss the point after. It's 6-3 Cowboys, no worries for Big Blue yet. Dallas would get the ball back and hit on a field goal, still only 9-3 Cowboys, a one score deficit. The unthinkable would then happen right as the Giants were knocking on the door, ready to take the lead, Eli Manning would make a rushed throw intended for a Hakeem Nicks slant, instead goes right, I mean right into the chest of Bryan Mccann for a 101 yard interception return for a touchdown. A big swing, instead of 10-9 Giants, or at least 9-6 Cowboys, becomes 16-3 Cowboys, and you could feel a bit of tensness in the crowd. Cowboys would get all the way to 26-6 before the Giants would score their first touchdown. One it got to 26-13, the Cowboys would answer almost immediately, and it just seemed everytime the Giants got a bit of momentum, it was given away just like that. 33-13 just doesn't sound like its your game.
However there is still a quarter and a half of football to be played, but while the New York football Giants try and get a touchdown back, the lights go out, literally. After a 15 minute haidus, everything was good to go, and then Giants would convert a 35 yard wide open touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Boss. 33-20 at this point, and the Giants realize they are only two touchdowns behind, just play defense and have meaningful possessions. Once it was this score, you could tell the Cowboys were just holding on for dear life. Giants would blow a couple of opportunities but they would still have a chance despite the breakdowns. With time against the Giants, Eli Manning would throw a deep ball for Hakeem Nicks that he would catch, break a tackle, and score a huge touchdown that would only be called back for a hold on guard Kevin Boothe on a play that had nothing to do with the result. A tough call which would be the turning point of the rest of the game, Giants would turn the ball over, get it back, only to do the same thing in the red zone, another interception.
It doesn't matter who you play, in the NFL if you put yourself in as big of a hole as the Giants did to themselves, you cannot rely on coming back when so many things can go wrong. Dallas' offense made the "big play" time and time again, while the Giants would blow their big plays time and time again whether it was personnel or being cancelled out by a yellow flag. Giants now find themselves tied for first place with who else, but the Philadelphia Eagles, and that sets the table for this Sunday night in Philadelphia where the two teams will battle it out for first place. Let the Philly hate get even worse.
However there is still a quarter and a half of football to be played, but while the New York football Giants try and get a touchdown back, the lights go out, literally. After a 15 minute haidus, everything was good to go, and then Giants would convert a 35 yard wide open touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Boss. 33-20 at this point, and the Giants realize they are only two touchdowns behind, just play defense and have meaningful possessions. Once it was this score, you could tell the Cowboys were just holding on for dear life. Giants would blow a couple of opportunities but they would still have a chance despite the breakdowns. With time against the Giants, Eli Manning would throw a deep ball for Hakeem Nicks that he would catch, break a tackle, and score a huge touchdown that would only be called back for a hold on guard Kevin Boothe on a play that had nothing to do with the result. A tough call which would be the turning point of the rest of the game, Giants would turn the ball over, get it back, only to do the same thing in the red zone, another interception.
It doesn't matter who you play, in the NFL if you put yourself in as big of a hole as the Giants did to themselves, you cannot rely on coming back when so many things can go wrong. Dallas' offense made the "big play" time and time again, while the Giants would blow their big plays time and time again whether it was personnel or being cancelled out by a yellow flag. Giants now find themselves tied for first place with who else, but the Philadelphia Eagles, and that sets the table for this Sunday night in Philadelphia where the two teams will battle it out for first place. Let the Philly hate get even worse.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
1-0
The 2010-2011 New Jersey Nets have already accomplished something the '09-'10 team could not, that's getting a win before December 4th, not to mention stand over .500. In the season/home opener, the Nets could not ask for more. It was against the Detroit Pistons who have a couple players who can hurt you, but just aren't what they used to be. The Nets played an exciting 4 quarters in front of a solid Prudential Center crowd, where the lead went back and forth, and right when the old Nets would have lost hope, these new Nets immediately hit a 3 and fought right back. Down the stretch a bunch of big plays where made including a go-ahead 3 pointer by newcomer Anthony Morrow which put the Nets up 2 with 20 something seconds left. The Nets would play D, get the ball back, and Farmar would hit 2 clutch free throws. However, the Nets were not out of the woods just yet. Charlie Villanueva would hit a trey for Detroit making it a 1 point game. The Nets would knock down 2 more clutch free throws, get the ball back, but Terrence Williams would then miss both! It's a 101-98 ballgame at this point with 2 second left or so. Detroit got a 3 off before time expired, but it didn't even draw iron, and the Nets would indeed prevail.
Brook Lopez was Brook Lopez in this one scoring 25 and grabbing 9 boards. He's starting to become top-tier player in this league, and by the end of the year he should have some good credentials, including an all-star appearance. Besides Lopez, 3rd overall pick Derrick Favors played a strong role in this game. With just 20 minutes of burn, Favors gripped 10 boards, and added 8 points as well, just a solid rookie debut. He's another guy who will have grown by season's end. Devin Harris played a good leadership role scoring 22 and had 9 dimes to accompany while Jordan Farmar, Harris' backup, had 10 big, high energy points off the bench. Terrence Williams off the bench played with a spark doing a little scoring, rebounding, and assisting. Anthony Morrow sprinkled in 13 points by hitting a couple big 3s, including the game-winner, while guys like Outlaw, Humphries, and Damion James, played solid defense, got some boards, made some plays.
The differences between this Nets team and last year's are so vast that you can't even bring up last year after last night. A new arena, the beautiful Prudential Center, a new owner, Mikhail Prokarov, the Russian billionaire who will do whatever it takes to build a winner. A new General Manager, Billy King, who has now had experience as a GM, and he's already made a couple of decent moves. Plus the Nets basically have a new roster. Out with the old, in with the new. Even with all that, Avery Johnson is the biggest reason why the Nets can be successful this year. He's a guy who has played in the league before and is a student of the game. From the way he played, you could just tell he's going to be a good coach. High basketball IQ, high octane. He brought a Dallas Mavericks team (with Devin Harris) to an NBA Finals, something the Mavs have had trouble with, with other coaches. With the Nets he's gotten them to be an aggresive team on defense, the boards, and even scoring. It might be early yet, but Avery has the heart, there is no question, and it looks like he's injected that into this young, new, New Jersey roster.
Brook Lopez was Brook Lopez in this one scoring 25 and grabbing 9 boards. He's starting to become top-tier player in this league, and by the end of the year he should have some good credentials, including an all-star appearance. Besides Lopez, 3rd overall pick Derrick Favors played a strong role in this game. With just 20 minutes of burn, Favors gripped 10 boards, and added 8 points as well, just a solid rookie debut. He's another guy who will have grown by season's end. Devin Harris played a good leadership role scoring 22 and had 9 dimes to accompany while Jordan Farmar, Harris' backup, had 10 big, high energy points off the bench. Terrence Williams off the bench played with a spark doing a little scoring, rebounding, and assisting. Anthony Morrow sprinkled in 13 points by hitting a couple big 3s, including the game-winner, while guys like Outlaw, Humphries, and Damion James, played solid defense, got some boards, made some plays.
The differences between this Nets team and last year's are so vast that you can't even bring up last year after last night. A new arena, the beautiful Prudential Center, a new owner, Mikhail Prokarov, the Russian billionaire who will do whatever it takes to build a winner. A new General Manager, Billy King, who has now had experience as a GM, and he's already made a couple of decent moves. Plus the Nets basically have a new roster. Out with the old, in with the new. Even with all that, Avery Johnson is the biggest reason why the Nets can be successful this year. He's a guy who has played in the league before and is a student of the game. From the way he played, you could just tell he's going to be a good coach. High basketball IQ, high octane. He brought a Dallas Mavericks team (with Devin Harris) to an NBA Finals, something the Mavs have had trouble with, with other coaches. With the Nets he's gotten them to be an aggresive team on defense, the boards, and even scoring. It might be early yet, but Avery has the heart, there is no question, and it looks like he's injected that into this young, new, New Jersey roster.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Cheers
I've been dreading the day that I actually get on here and talk about elimination, but I've had my couple days to bum around, and with Brian Cashman already dismissing pitching coach Dave Eiland, (just realized that we had a "Long-Eiland" pitching coach/hitting coach tandem) it's already time to look ahead. But before we do that, let's look at what just happened.
When you're as big of a fan as I am, you start to classify good nights with how the Yankees faired as well, and already many memories come to mind when I think of it like that. A few games stand out in my mind. Specifically, Yanks/Dodgers, Sunday night, June 27th, an 8-6 win, and an even better weekend for the kid. Yanks rallied back from a 6-2 deficit in the 9th to tie things up after unlikely heroes such as Chad Huffman and Colin Curtis knocked in big runs. Huffman drove in 2 runs and Curtis tied the game with an rbi ground out off of Jonathan Broxton. While this is all going on, I'm at a party that I was just about to leave, so I'm standing, but as I'm standing the hits and runs start to tally up, so I'm there having people bring me beers as I stand in the same spot for the better of the Yanks, and sure enough, NY would tack on 2 more in the top of the 10th to win the game 8-6. Great win, great night, fantastic weekend.
May 17th was the first game of a three game set against those Dread Sox where the Yanks won 11-9. I remember being drunk on a Monday night for some reason while watching Jonathan Papelbon blow a 2 run save, giving up a 2 run shot to Alex Rodriguez to tie it, and another 2 run homer that wrapped around the foul pole to Marcus Thames, the walk-off with 2 outs. There are few things I'd rather see happen, but we won't get into all that.
September 8th, 14th, and 17th are all pretty magical dates in my eyes. On September the 8th, the Yanks had nothing going offensively all day, until Nick Swisher hit a walkoff 2 run homer off of Koji Uehara to win the game 3-2 against a tough Buck Showalter managed Baltimore Oriole team, right as I parked in front of my house after a long day. I sprinted to my backyard with my arms raised in triumph where my dad was watching Swisher take the pie in the face. It would stand as a big win because the Yanks played a very flat September, and needed some wins to stay in good playoff standing. The 14th was that back and forth game where Ivan Nova gave up 6 runs in the 5th inning to erase a 6-0 lead. Logan would come on to give up a 7th run, but the Yanks showed resiliance to tie it right back up in the next half inning. Jorge Posada would come through with a pitch-hit homerun to make it 8-7 in the top half of the 10th, followed by Greg Golson ending the game by making a pin-point throw to get Carl Crawford for the final out at third base. It was a big win on the road in the middle of a pennant race that put the Yanks back into first place. The 17th was awesome because it was the same night as a magical softball win for T&A, as well as in Baltimore for the Yanks. Down to his final strike with the Yanks down 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Alex Rodriguez hit a crushing 3-run-homerun off of Koji Uehara put the Yanks up 1, and Rivera would come in to shut it down. I actually traveled to Baltimore the next morning to see an 11-3 win during a night where a bottle of Captain Morgan was finished within 4 minutes between 3 people, faulty tickets may have been purchased, our section having a million sexy girls and most happened to be Yankee fans, but to top it all off, CC won his 20th for the first time in his career.
This is a time where all those Yankee haters are out in full force saying the knew the Yanks just didn't have the pitching, didn't have clutch hitters, this guy is too old, so is that guy, blah, effing, blah. But it's also a time to celebrate another fun season, another time period during a lifespan. Many things happen throughout the course of a baseball season; good, bad, baseball-related, not even baseball related. I use baseball as a tool to reflect on certain things that happen. It makes every day, every game count, and that's the beauty of it for me. Yeah, we didn't get 28. We didn't get our first back to back championship since 2000. We aren't necessarily the dynasty we thought we were. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada are all acting their age finally. Mark Teixeira had another bad start that he never really recovered from, then destructed by injuries that eventually ended his season a couple days prematurely. However there are a lot of good things that we can look at; the emergence of Robinson Cano, the importance of Brett Gardner, a big-time pick-up for the bullpen in Kerry Wood, Mariano Rivera posted a 1.80 ERA at 40, and the prospects coming forth such as Ivan Nova, Jesus Montero, Brandon Laird, and Austin Romine. I'll be here all offseason and I'll disect any big news that happens so stick with me! I'll bring you Nets and Giants flavor as well until we get back to pitchers and catchers in late February, which feels like a long time from now.
When you're as big of a fan as I am, you start to classify good nights with how the Yankees faired as well, and already many memories come to mind when I think of it like that. A few games stand out in my mind. Specifically, Yanks/Dodgers, Sunday night, June 27th, an 8-6 win, and an even better weekend for the kid. Yanks rallied back from a 6-2 deficit in the 9th to tie things up after unlikely heroes such as Chad Huffman and Colin Curtis knocked in big runs. Huffman drove in 2 runs and Curtis tied the game with an rbi ground out off of Jonathan Broxton. While this is all going on, I'm at a party that I was just about to leave, so I'm standing, but as I'm standing the hits and runs start to tally up, so I'm there having people bring me beers as I stand in the same spot for the better of the Yanks, and sure enough, NY would tack on 2 more in the top of the 10th to win the game 8-6. Great win, great night, fantastic weekend.
May 17th was the first game of a three game set against those Dread Sox where the Yanks won 11-9. I remember being drunk on a Monday night for some reason while watching Jonathan Papelbon blow a 2 run save, giving up a 2 run shot to Alex Rodriguez to tie it, and another 2 run homer that wrapped around the foul pole to Marcus Thames, the walk-off with 2 outs. There are few things I'd rather see happen, but we won't get into all that.
September 8th, 14th, and 17th are all pretty magical dates in my eyes. On September the 8th, the Yanks had nothing going offensively all day, until Nick Swisher hit a walkoff 2 run homer off of Koji Uehara to win the game 3-2 against a tough Buck Showalter managed Baltimore Oriole team, right as I parked in front of my house after a long day. I sprinted to my backyard with my arms raised in triumph where my dad was watching Swisher take the pie in the face. It would stand as a big win because the Yanks played a very flat September, and needed some wins to stay in good playoff standing. The 14th was that back and forth game where Ivan Nova gave up 6 runs in the 5th inning to erase a 6-0 lead. Logan would come on to give up a 7th run, but the Yanks showed resiliance to tie it right back up in the next half inning. Jorge Posada would come through with a pitch-hit homerun to make it 8-7 in the top half of the 10th, followed by Greg Golson ending the game by making a pin-point throw to get Carl Crawford for the final out at third base. It was a big win on the road in the middle of a pennant race that put the Yanks back into first place. The 17th was awesome because it was the same night as a magical softball win for T&A, as well as in Baltimore for the Yanks. Down to his final strike with the Yanks down 3-1 in the bottom of the 9th, Alex Rodriguez hit a crushing 3-run-homerun off of Koji Uehara put the Yanks up 1, and Rivera would come in to shut it down. I actually traveled to Baltimore the next morning to see an 11-3 win during a night where a bottle of Captain Morgan was finished within 4 minutes between 3 people, faulty tickets may have been purchased, our section having a million sexy girls and most happened to be Yankee fans, but to top it all off, CC won his 20th for the first time in his career.
This is a time where all those Yankee haters are out in full force saying the knew the Yanks just didn't have the pitching, didn't have clutch hitters, this guy is too old, so is that guy, blah, effing, blah. But it's also a time to celebrate another fun season, another time period during a lifespan. Many things happen throughout the course of a baseball season; good, bad, baseball-related, not even baseball related. I use baseball as a tool to reflect on certain things that happen. It makes every day, every game count, and that's the beauty of it for me. Yeah, we didn't get 28. We didn't get our first back to back championship since 2000. We aren't necessarily the dynasty we thought we were. Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Jorge Posada are all acting their age finally. Mark Teixeira had another bad start that he never really recovered from, then destructed by injuries that eventually ended his season a couple days prematurely. However there are a lot of good things that we can look at; the emergence of Robinson Cano, the importance of Brett Gardner, a big-time pick-up for the bullpen in Kerry Wood, Mariano Rivera posted a 1.80 ERA at 40, and the prospects coming forth such as Ivan Nova, Jesus Montero, Brandon Laird, and Austin Romine. I'll be here all offseason and I'll disect any big news that happens so stick with me! I'll bring you Nets and Giants flavor as well until we get back to pitchers and catchers in late February, which feels like a long time from now.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Yanks All Set for Game 6
Alright, let's pump our fanbase full of confidence in this one. The Yanks face yet another elimination ballgame, their back's are against the wall, it's win or go home for a loooong winter. After a couple shalackings at home, the Yanks pulled out a quality win in game 5 behind their ace, and showed Texas that it isn't going to be easy. This team has a "never say die" attitude, but they will be put to the full test by playing on the road for possibly 2 games. How many times this year have the Yanks looked awful for a mini-stretch, and then just winning 7 in a row all of a sudden? Feels like they did that alot. This a very streaky bunch, but it all starts with Phil Phranchise on the mound.
How the Yanks win tonight: Yanks would like to see at least 6 innings from Hughes, keeping Texas under 4 runs preferably. Yankee bats need to do what they did in game 5; get some runners on any way they can, and then get those timely hits, and maybe steal some bases? Colby Lewis will take the mound for Texas tonight. It's Colby Lewis. The Yankees failed to get anything going in game 2, however this time they will be looking for not only revenge, but to keep their playoff lives in tact. The Yankee lineup without Teixeira honestly has some spice. What I mean by that, is no longer can guys rely on the supposed big run producer to get everything done, (even though Tex really hadn't) but they themselves now know they have slack to pick up. Also without Tex, Robby "BOOM" Cano slides into the 3 hole. I've wondered all year why Cano has not been in that spot because he not only hits for power, (especially in these playoffs my god!) he's a .300 hitter, something no other Yankees have next to their name. I love him, especially during last year's playoffs, but ALEX RODRIGUEZ needs to get it together. If he can swing it, the Yanks are so scary that you may need to cover a child's eyes, and maybe even give him the earmuffs. Bottom line is, Pay-Rod is an essential piece to the New York lineup. Not only is he capable of the world, he's hitting right in the thickness of the order. With Cano doing his thing in the third spot, A-Rod doing his thing, Swisher maybe coming back to life, and a couple of other guys putting together good at-bats and hits, the Yanks are fine. Remember the Rangers have only won one playoff game at home in franchise history. They aren't as confident as they appear to be, and after game 1, they still won't feel safe. This is about taking the crowd right out of the game and just straight stun them by stunting on them. Feel me? I have this playoff beard going that I've been told to shave many times, but no can do. I do not plan out shaving anytime soon either, it's cold outside, and I'm getting sick. Win tonight, Cliff Lee or not, the Rangers will be on the ropes after knowing they could have closed it down much earlier. Remember in a game 7, anything can happen..especially when you have Yankee magic.
How the Yanks win tonight: Yanks would like to see at least 6 innings from Hughes, keeping Texas under 4 runs preferably. Yankee bats need to do what they did in game 5; get some runners on any way they can, and then get those timely hits, and maybe steal some bases? Colby Lewis will take the mound for Texas tonight. It's Colby Lewis. The Yankees failed to get anything going in game 2, however this time they will be looking for not only revenge, but to keep their playoff lives in tact. The Yankee lineup without Teixeira honestly has some spice. What I mean by that, is no longer can guys rely on the supposed big run producer to get everything done, (even though Tex really hadn't) but they themselves now know they have slack to pick up. Also without Tex, Robby "BOOM" Cano slides into the 3 hole. I've wondered all year why Cano has not been in that spot because he not only hits for power, (especially in these playoffs my god!) he's a .300 hitter, something no other Yankees have next to their name. I love him, especially during last year's playoffs, but ALEX RODRIGUEZ needs to get it together. If he can swing it, the Yanks are so scary that you may need to cover a child's eyes, and maybe even give him the earmuffs. Bottom line is, Pay-Rod is an essential piece to the New York lineup. Not only is he capable of the world, he's hitting right in the thickness of the order. With Cano doing his thing in the third spot, A-Rod doing his thing, Swisher maybe coming back to life, and a couple of other guys putting together good at-bats and hits, the Yanks are fine. Remember the Rangers have only won one playoff game at home in franchise history. They aren't as confident as they appear to be, and after game 1, they still won't feel safe. This is about taking the crowd right out of the game and just straight stun them by stunting on them. Feel me? I have this playoff beard going that I've been told to shave many times, but no can do. I do not plan out shaving anytime soon either, it's cold outside, and I'm getting sick. Win tonight, Cliff Lee or not, the Rangers will be on the ropes after knowing they could have closed it down much earlier. Remember in a game 7, anything can happen..especially when you have Yankee magic.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Yanks Face Elimination in Game 5
Deep Breath...If I were to get on the lap top last night and type something up I would have probably said this is my last blog, this makes me sick, and I've made bad calls. My Yankee confidence has completely got in the way of the clear picture. Texas has outplayed the Yankees all series long, and backing one beating by another last night. The Yanks took a 10-3 loss last night after A.J. Burnett nearly missed qualifying for win. The Yanks had a 3-2 lead, and weird things just started happening. The minute Lance Berkman's homerun in the second inning was reversed into just a long strike, you just got a bad feeling that things weren't going to go the Yanks' way.
The Yankees failed in a bottom of the 4th rally, the same rally in which Mark Teixeira pulled his hamstring, and is now out for the entire postseason. After the Yanks put a goose egg up in an inning where they really could have pulled away, and a superstar injury, you could just see it in their faces that they were beaten, yet they still had a 3-2 lead. In the top of the 5th, A.J. Burnett had 2 outs, and a runner on second. After a managers' choice to intentional walk a David Murphy who has stung the Yanks in the past, Bengie Molina homered on the first pitch he saw from Burnett. This put the Rangers up 5-3, and they would never look back.
Now during the intentional walk of Murphy, A.J. Burnett almost threw a pitch away, and that right there should have been the indicator. This year, none of us had ever seen A.J. recover after looking shaky, so why would this situation be any different? It seems to me like Girardi wanted Burnett to qualify for a win, and prove he made the right move. Besides the bad managerial decisions, the Yankees just simply aren't hitting, and the Rangers are making all the plays. Whether it's in the field or at the dish, the Rangers are doing it when it counts. Normally, it is the Yankees who catch all of these breaks, and get lucky. This is unfamiliar territory for the Yankee team being down 3-1 in the ALCS. Can they flip the switch?
CC Sabathia faces off against C.J. Wilson in possibly the final game at Yankee Stadium this year, where fans decide to threaten A-Rod, bobble foul balls, and leave early. Now this is a game where you must believe CC is going to go out there and do what he does best, giving the team a chance to win. Still, on the other side, Wilson isn't a bad pitcher. You will know right away what kind of swag, if any, the Yanks have. Game starts in 25 minutes. Let's believe in this thing, one game at a time, and don't even think about Cliff Lee waiting at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully my next article will be talking about how tired the Yanks got from scoring 100 runs today.
The Yankees failed in a bottom of the 4th rally, the same rally in which Mark Teixeira pulled his hamstring, and is now out for the entire postseason. After the Yanks put a goose egg up in an inning where they really could have pulled away, and a superstar injury, you could just see it in their faces that they were beaten, yet they still had a 3-2 lead. In the top of the 5th, A.J. Burnett had 2 outs, and a runner on second. After a managers' choice to intentional walk a David Murphy who has stung the Yanks in the past, Bengie Molina homered on the first pitch he saw from Burnett. This put the Rangers up 5-3, and they would never look back.
Now during the intentional walk of Murphy, A.J. Burnett almost threw a pitch away, and that right there should have been the indicator. This year, none of us had ever seen A.J. recover after looking shaky, so why would this situation be any different? It seems to me like Girardi wanted Burnett to qualify for a win, and prove he made the right move. Besides the bad managerial decisions, the Yankees just simply aren't hitting, and the Rangers are making all the plays. Whether it's in the field or at the dish, the Rangers are doing it when it counts. Normally, it is the Yankees who catch all of these breaks, and get lucky. This is unfamiliar territory for the Yankee team being down 3-1 in the ALCS. Can they flip the switch?
CC Sabathia faces off against C.J. Wilson in possibly the final game at Yankee Stadium this year, where fans decide to threaten A-Rod, bobble foul balls, and leave early. Now this is a game where you must believe CC is going to go out there and do what he does best, giving the team a chance to win. Still, on the other side, Wilson isn't a bad pitcher. You will know right away what kind of swag, if any, the Yanks have. Game starts in 25 minutes. Let's believe in this thing, one game at a time, and don't even think about Cliff Lee waiting at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully my next article will be talking about how tired the Yanks got from scoring 100 runs today.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Yanks Face 2-1 Deficit
It's safe to say the predicition I made was a bad one, (4-2 Yanks, reality 8-0 Rangers) and I let the Yankee fan in me take over a little too much. It's also safe to say Cliff Lee is the most dominant pitcher baseball has seen since Pedro Martinez. There are plenty of good pitchers out there, however Cliff Lee can dominant a game in a different way. You could tell just from the swings New York took, that they were so off balance. Nobody knew how to approach him. If you take the patient approach, he's already 0-2 on you. If you take the aggressive mindset, all you're doing is lowering his pitch count. Just to think if this series does go 7 games, this team will have to face him on the road. Yanks better win 3 straight.
It was a game were the Yankees trailed before some people even got a chance to flip the game on. Top 1st, Josh Hamilton, the natural, took a pretty good curveball of the end of his bat from Pettitte out of the yard after Michael Young wore him out after finally getting a 3-2 single. It was a shame for Pettitte, because those would be the only 2 runs he would surrender, and you knew he was going to bear down. But you also knew it was going to be hard to get runs. The Yankees didn't have a baserunner until the 5th inning last night, struck out 13 times against Lee, and the one inning they had a shot with a runner on second, (Gardner) Jeter fans on a high fastball. Swisher then would move the runner over to third but with now 2 away, and Tex (0-11 in the series) fails to come through, again. The Yankees blew their chance at putting a run on the board which would have made it a fathomable game to win. Their only chance last night was getting to the Texas bullpen prematurely, or at least seeing Neftali Feliz in the 9th inning down just 2, instead of 8. They might have had a shot, which is where the question of leaving Wood in for a second inning arises. However Logan and Robertson normally do their job in that situation, so you can't hate Girardi for that.
Bottom line the New York Yankees need to hit the baseball. Tonight they see Tommy Hunter who is one of those regular season pitchers who the Yanks normally tattoo for 8 or 9 runs. A.J. Burnett is scheduled to start for the Yanks, yet another reason to hit the ball, because Texas will most likely hit too. Tonight I'm seeing more of an 8-6 type of ballgame, with defense and bullpen being the x factors. As a baseball fan, not even a Yankee fan, I do see the Yanks evening the series at 2 games a piece, and quieting all the critics. With a Yankee win, it becomes a best of 3 series, with the first game being the first matchup, CC Sabathia, and C.J. Wilson. Then, let the fun begin, again.
It was a game were the Yankees trailed before some people even got a chance to flip the game on. Top 1st, Josh Hamilton, the natural, took a pretty good curveball of the end of his bat from Pettitte out of the yard after Michael Young wore him out after finally getting a 3-2 single. It was a shame for Pettitte, because those would be the only 2 runs he would surrender, and you knew he was going to bear down. But you also knew it was going to be hard to get runs. The Yankees didn't have a baserunner until the 5th inning last night, struck out 13 times against Lee, and the one inning they had a shot with a runner on second, (Gardner) Jeter fans on a high fastball. Swisher then would move the runner over to third but with now 2 away, and Tex (0-11 in the series) fails to come through, again. The Yankees blew their chance at putting a run on the board which would have made it a fathomable game to win. Their only chance last night was getting to the Texas bullpen prematurely, or at least seeing Neftali Feliz in the 9th inning down just 2, instead of 8. They might have had a shot, which is where the question of leaving Wood in for a second inning arises. However Logan and Robertson normally do their job in that situation, so you can't hate Girardi for that.
Bottom line the New York Yankees need to hit the baseball. Tonight they see Tommy Hunter who is one of those regular season pitchers who the Yanks normally tattoo for 8 or 9 runs. A.J. Burnett is scheduled to start for the Yanks, yet another reason to hit the ball, because Texas will most likely hit too. Tonight I'm seeing more of an 8-6 type of ballgame, with defense and bullpen being the x factors. As a baseball fan, not even a Yankee fan, I do see the Yanks evening the series at 2 games a piece, and quieting all the critics. With a Yankee win, it becomes a best of 3 series, with the first game being the first matchup, CC Sabathia, and C.J. Wilson. Then, let the fun begin, again.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Giants Good Enough
Yesterday, the New York Football Giants took on the Detroit Lions at New Meadowlands Stadium. The Detroit Lions proved to be a worthy opponent, however they lost their 24th straight on the road, and the Giants were proud to be apart of that streak. The Giants won this game 28-20, by running the football very well, making good throws when they needed to, not turning the ball over, and playing clutch defense. They got timely turnovers. However, it seemed as though Detroit came to New Jersey with a much better gameplan than the last two teams who faced the G-Men did. They keyed in on the Giants' stud wideout Hakeem Nicks, and kind of just took him out of the game. This made the Giants go to Mario Manningham and Steve Smith, but to the Lions' credit, they made other people try and beat them. On the offensive end for Detroit, they threw a lot of underneath passes, being they knew the Giants have a good pash rush, and run defense. To Detroits credit, with their second string quarterback getting hurt early in this game, Drew Stanton played his heart out and made some plays for Detroit.
Detroit's offense converted on many third down attempts and made the Giants defense stay on the field, longer then they would've in previous weeks. This simply kept them in the ballgame. Although the Giants seemed like they had the game in the bag a number of teams, the Lions stayed resiliant as they have in games this season, and kept Giants fans from leaving the stadium prematurely. The Lions may be 1-5, however they are a threat to any team out there, and if you don't play solid football the day you play Detroit, they will beat you. As a Giants fan, I am not disheartened by an 8 point when with a 9 point spread, I'm proud they got the job at hand done. The Giants are tied with the Philadelphia Eagles at 4-2 and at the head of the NFC East. Next week Big Blue will face the poor Cowboys. Those 1-4 Cowboys will be looking for a way to get their season back on track, it will be the Giants' job to go into big D and step on their necks.
Detroit's offense converted on many third down attempts and made the Giants defense stay on the field, longer then they would've in previous weeks. This simply kept them in the ballgame. Although the Giants seemed like they had the game in the bag a number of teams, the Lions stayed resiliant as they have in games this season, and kept Giants fans from leaving the stadium prematurely. The Lions may be 1-5, however they are a threat to any team out there, and if you don't play solid football the day you play Detroit, they will beat you. As a Giants fan, I am not disheartened by an 8 point when with a 9 point spread, I'm proud they got the job at hand done. The Giants are tied with the Philadelphia Eagles at 4-2 and at the head of the NFC East. Next week Big Blue will face the poor Cowboys. Those 1-4 Cowboys will be looking for a way to get their season back on track, it will be the Giants' job to go into big D and step on their necks.
Win One for Freddy
After the first two games have come and gone, the Yanks and Rangers travel back to New York where the next three games will be played. If the Yanks defend their homefield, they could be punching their tickets to their second World Series in 2 years. However they will have to get past the old rival Cliff Lee tonight. New York will have some things to honor while they play out the rest of their playoff games. Classic superfan, Freddy "Sez" Schuman died at 85 yesterday of a heart attack. Freddy was a beloved war veteran who brought homeade signs with cute phrases about the Yanks, and the fans would bang on his shamrock frying pan for good luck. I've grown up banging on that frying pan, and the last time I got to hit some metal, was after game 6 of last year's World Series, the clincher. Freddy will be missed greatly from the fan prospective, and in a year where Bob Sheppard, George Steinbrenner, and Ralph Houk died, this just happens to be another great person in the Yankee culture to pass away.
The first two games were wild, the first one being much more so than the second. The number one thing game one showed me was that a Yankee rally can start at any point in the lineup, and in any inning. Why are the Yankees the best offensive team? Balance. When you got a thick middle of the order like they do, with guys like Posada, Granderson, and Gardner finishing it off, you're in good shape. Gardner turns the lineup over like a mofo, and in game one, he did just that. Sliding head first into first base on a tough chopper that he beat out and starting the 5-run outburst that would change the outcome of game one, making it a 6-5 victory.
Game two was brutal in many aspects, basically, game one without a comeback. The Yanks still put some men on, and Robbie struck some good swings on pitches, and the Rangers were shaking and sweating, however the Yanks lost 7-2. That's how you know the Rangers are still shook in some light. Although the Yanks missed a chance to go up 2-0 and put this Texas team on the ropes with Colby Lewis going for them, and Phil Hughes going for NY, they still have the homefield advantage for the rest of the series, and it just seemed like the Rangers did everything they possibly could to win that game, and they still felt like they weren't safe.
Now tonight will be the battle of a couple left-handed pitchers with pretty marquee names. Andy Pettitte for the Yanks and of course Uncle Cliff Lee for the Rangers. The Yanks have not had a great history against Cliff Lee, and Lee has had a great postseason career. At the same time, Pettitte is virtually unbeatable at home and in the playoffs, so something has to give here. Most people may think Pettitte, but he is a solid as a rock in this setting, this is what everybody will remember him doing when it is all said and done, he wins games just like these. Cliff Lee is due for a subpar outing, he is a human being right? First ALCS home game, Mr. Pettite on the hill, Lee due for a bad outing, and the Yanks won't lose two in a row. Yanks win tonight beyond everyones love for Cliff Lee, 4-2.
The first two games were wild, the first one being much more so than the second. The number one thing game one showed me was that a Yankee rally can start at any point in the lineup, and in any inning. Why are the Yankees the best offensive team? Balance. When you got a thick middle of the order like they do, with guys like Posada, Granderson, and Gardner finishing it off, you're in good shape. Gardner turns the lineup over like a mofo, and in game one, he did just that. Sliding head first into first base on a tough chopper that he beat out and starting the 5-run outburst that would change the outcome of game one, making it a 6-5 victory.
Game two was brutal in many aspects, basically, game one without a comeback. The Yanks still put some men on, and Robbie struck some good swings on pitches, and the Rangers were shaking and sweating, however the Yanks lost 7-2. That's how you know the Rangers are still shook in some light. Although the Yanks missed a chance to go up 2-0 and put this Texas team on the ropes with Colby Lewis going for them, and Phil Hughes going for NY, they still have the homefield advantage for the rest of the series, and it just seemed like the Rangers did everything they possibly could to win that game, and they still felt like they weren't safe.
Now tonight will be the battle of a couple left-handed pitchers with pretty marquee names. Andy Pettitte for the Yanks and of course Uncle Cliff Lee for the Rangers. The Yanks have not had a great history against Cliff Lee, and Lee has had a great postseason career. At the same time, Pettitte is virtually unbeatable at home and in the playoffs, so something has to give here. Most people may think Pettitte, but he is a solid as a rock in this setting, this is what everybody will remember him doing when it is all said and done, he wins games just like these. Cliff Lee is due for a subpar outing, he is a human being right? First ALCS home game, Mr. Pettite on the hill, Lee due for a bad outing, and the Yanks won't lose two in a row. Yanks win tonight beyond everyones love for Cliff Lee, 4-2.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Texas It Is; CC vs C.J. First
During the season every time the Yanks faced off against Texas, I felt a playoff matchup coming in the future. The last time the Yankees went to Texas it was ugly, and that series set the tone for the entire month of September. In that series, the Yanks were swept away by the Rangers losing two games in walk-off fashion, Rivera losing one, and Cliff Lee dominating the last game of that series. Now those games really did have playoff-type atmosphere, but this is a different month, and a different season. The Yankees showed they knew the difference against Minnesota.
The big thing people look into in any playoff series is pitching. This series is obviously no different, but even more important. Both of these offenses can rely on a 3-run homer, but they can also get stolen bases, and play small ball equally good. The Yanks and Texas both won games in "small ball" fashion the the first round. That's what makes this such a good matchup. Because the Rangers had to throw Cliff Lee in game 5 to survive the first round, he will not be able to pitch game 1 or game 2, (both in Texas) advantage Yankees.
The Yanks will be on the road for the first two ballgames of the series, and the matchups will be CC Sabathia for the Yanks, squaring off against C.J. Wilson. Then it becomes either Andy Pettitte versus Colby Lewis, or Phil Hughes versus Colby Lewis. It will be interesting to see which way they go, because Pettitte and Hughes both pitch well on the road, and both love the hot weather in Texas. If it were up to me, I would keep it just how they had it last series, Pettitte then Hughes, it did work out. (Game 3 the Yanks face Cliff Lee.) Now it becomes either A.J. Burnett, that's right A.J. Bumett, or Sabathia in game 4 on short rest. This all depends on how the series has gone by that point. Tommy Hunter is the Rangers fourth starter, and we're all licking our chops for him. If it is CC on short rest in game 4, A.J. moves to the 5th game, and in that case, hopefully the Yanks sweep, however I predict Yanks in 6. Here are the possible pitching matchups laid out as nice and neat as possible for ya. Another "pre-series" article will be written before the start of the series.
Game 1
Sabathia vs. Wilson (in Texas)
Game 2
Pettitte/Hughes vs. Lewis (in Texas)
Game 3
Hughes/Pettitte vs. Lee (in New York)
Game 4
*Sabathia/Burnett vs. Hunter (in New York)
Game 5
Burnett/Sabathia vs. Wilson (in New York)
Game 6
Pettitte/Hughes vs. Lewis (in Texas)
Game 7
Hughes/Pettitte/*Sabathia vs. Lee (in Texas)
Bold=my preferred method
*=short rest
This all depends on if they decide to throw Sabathia on short rest. If CC goes to work on short rest in the 4th game, he'll be available to do it again in game 7. However they likely won't pitch Sabathia three times in this series. Personally, I don't have a problem with the veteran Andy Pettitte pitching a game 7 if he needs to. The Yankees clearly have a deeper pitching staff than the Rangers, from judging the possible matchups, it's easy to tell. While the Yankees really only have one question mark, (A.J. Burnett, maybe its a double ??) Texas has at least two (Lewis and Hunter.)
The Yankees need to win this series before the 7th game so they can limit the times they see Texas', and maybe baseball's best postseason pitcher, Cliff Lee. Other than Uncle Cliff, their rotation doesn't scare me too much. Who's ready?
The big thing people look into in any playoff series is pitching. This series is obviously no different, but even more important. Both of these offenses can rely on a 3-run homer, but they can also get stolen bases, and play small ball equally good. The Yanks and Texas both won games in "small ball" fashion the the first round. That's what makes this such a good matchup. Because the Rangers had to throw Cliff Lee in game 5 to survive the first round, he will not be able to pitch game 1 or game 2, (both in Texas) advantage Yankees.
The Yanks will be on the road for the first two ballgames of the series, and the matchups will be CC Sabathia for the Yanks, squaring off against C.J. Wilson. Then it becomes either Andy Pettitte versus Colby Lewis, or Phil Hughes versus Colby Lewis. It will be interesting to see which way they go, because Pettitte and Hughes both pitch well on the road, and both love the hot weather in Texas. If it were up to me, I would keep it just how they had it last series, Pettitte then Hughes, it did work out. (Game 3 the Yanks face Cliff Lee.) Now it becomes either A.J. Burnett, that's right A.J. Bumett, or Sabathia in game 4 on short rest. This all depends on how the series has gone by that point. Tommy Hunter is the Rangers fourth starter, and we're all licking our chops for him. If it is CC on short rest in game 4, A.J. moves to the 5th game, and in that case, hopefully the Yanks sweep, however I predict Yanks in 6. Here are the possible pitching matchups laid out as nice and neat as possible for ya. Another "pre-series" article will be written before the start of the series.
Game 1
Sabathia vs. Wilson (in Texas)
Game 2
Pettitte/Hughes vs. Lewis (in Texas)
Game 3
Hughes/Pettitte vs. Lee (in New York)
Game 4
*Sabathia/Burnett vs. Hunter (in New York)
Game 5
Burnett/Sabathia vs. Wilson (in New York)
Game 6
Pettitte/Hughes vs. Lewis (in Texas)
Game 7
Hughes/Pettitte/*Sabathia vs. Lee (in Texas)
Bold=my preferred method
*=short rest
This all depends on if they decide to throw Sabathia on short rest. If CC goes to work on short rest in the 4th game, he'll be available to do it again in game 7. However they likely won't pitch Sabathia three times in this series. Personally, I don't have a problem with the veteran Andy Pettitte pitching a game 7 if he needs to. The Yankees clearly have a deeper pitching staff than the Rangers, from judging the possible matchups, it's easy to tell. While the Yankees really only have one question mark, (A.J. Burnett, maybe its a double ??) Texas has at least two (Lewis and Hunter.)
The Yankees need to win this series before the 7th game so they can limit the times they see Texas', and maybe baseball's best postseason pitcher, Cliff Lee. Other than Uncle Cliff, their rotation doesn't scare me too much. Who's ready?
Monday, October 11, 2010
Giants Have Number One Defense in the NFL
5 games into the NFL season the Giants have already been through a lot. From an embarrassing Sunday night loss to Eli's brother, to a loss to the Titans that included self inflicted wounds, all the way to Tiki Barber saying Tom Coughlin lost the team and there aren't any leaders. So the Giants are 0-5 right? Oh no, those are the 49ers. The Giants are 3-2 and tied for 1st place in the NFC East with the Redskins (of course Green Bay couldn't help us out and just beat the Skins) and Eagles. However the Giants have started to really roll after a 17-3 destruction of Bears offensive linemen and quarterbacks, and a 34-10 manhandling of the Houston Texans who people were ready to proclaim AFC South champs.
Most people, like myself, figured the Giants would put up a dud performance after making everyone believers after the Chicago wooping. However the Giants backed up one great performance by another one, and this time on the road against in my opinion, a better team. Hakim Nicks had one of those superstar games catching 12 balls for over 100 yards (second straight week) and a couple of touchdowns. The defense had sacks, turnovers, solid tackles, and the only touchdown they gave up was set up by an Eli Manning interception. Now the Giants have the best defense in the NFL when its comes to total yards given up per game as well as passing yards given up per game. (6th in rushing.) If ya'll don't trust me, here you are. http://www.nfl.com/stats/team
The Giants have Detroit at home next week, who are coming off of a 44-6 victory over the Rams. This would be the type of game the old Giants could lose, after two convincing wins and then putting up a clunker against a bad team. However I trust the Giants that they won't lose the the Detroit Lions who haven't won a road game in years. They have a good offense, but the way the Giants defense has been playing, it shouldn't be a problem.
Most people, like myself, figured the Giants would put up a dud performance after making everyone believers after the Chicago wooping. However the Giants backed up one great performance by another one, and this time on the road against in my opinion, a better team. Hakim Nicks had one of those superstar games catching 12 balls for over 100 yards (second straight week) and a couple of touchdowns. The defense had sacks, turnovers, solid tackles, and the only touchdown they gave up was set up by an Eli Manning interception. Now the Giants have the best defense in the NFL when its comes to total yards given up per game as well as passing yards given up per game. (6th in rushing.) If ya'll don't trust me, here you are. http://www.nfl.com/stats/team
The Giants have Detroit at home next week, who are coming off of a 44-6 victory over the Rams. This would be the type of game the old Giants could lose, after two convincing wins and then putting up a clunker against a bad team. However I trust the Giants that they won't lose the the Detroit Lions who haven't won a road game in years. They have a good offense, but the way the Giants defense has been playing, it shouldn't be a problem.
Yanks Go In....To the ALCS
Of the 58 pitches Brian Duensing threw Saturday night, the Yankees swung and missed at NONE of them. We can all marvel and then realize that it was just the TWINS, but the Yanks are a force. Behind Sabathia, Pettitte, and Hughes, they are so hard to beat. Each start got even progressively better than the other. Sabthia gave up 4, Andy gave up 2, while Hughes threw 99 pitches over 7 shut out innings. It is good to see the Yanks are getting some length from their starters, so they can shorten the game with a solid bullpen.
Yanks now can watch football, and other playoff baseball until the start of the ALCS which is Friday. Tomorrow night they will find out if they are going to be facing Texas or Tampa. Because this series went 5 games, (I called it going back to Tampa after 2-0) Cliff Lee or David Price will not start game 1 on short rest, so right there its advatage Yankees. I'll have more for ya ALCS-wise once we find out who we are playing.
Yanks now can watch football, and other playoff baseball until the start of the ALCS which is Friday. Tomorrow night they will find out if they are going to be facing Texas or Tampa. Because this series went 5 games, (I called it going back to Tampa after 2-0) Cliff Lee or David Price will not start game 1 on short rest, so right there its advatage Yankees. I'll have more for ya ALCS-wise once we find out who we are playing.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Yanks Beat Twins Twice, Back to NY up 2-0
If there's one thing we've all learned from the first 2 games, the Yankees are dangerous. After a lame September, (under .500) people were trippin' thinking the Yanks just did not have it this year like they did last year. Whether its because its the Minnesota Twins or not, New York is still showing that they are the toughest team in the AL.
Even with a subpar strart from CC, the Yanks still managed to come down with game one. Sabathia was able to keep the Yanks from falling too far behind, got out of some big jams. The Yankee offense played a bit of a Muhammed Ali role, making Francisco Liriano throw pitch after pitch in 5 scoreless innings. The offense decided to start throwing punches when Liriano looked vulnerable in the 6th, and sure enough, they ended up with a 4-run outburst. CC would give Minnesota back a run, and it would be tied at 4s. The bullpen would then come in to do a good job, the Yankee one that is. Jesse Crain would give up a 2 run moonshot to Mark Teixeira which no announcers even made an attempt at calling when it happened. Kerry Wood and Mariano River cleaned up the 8th and 9th, and 6-4 Yanks was game one.
Game two was classic Pettitte for ya. 7 innings, 2 earned. Just made great pitches, every pitch but just about two. Lance Berkman was the offensive story in this one, homering to give the Yanks a one-run lead, and then doubling to give them a 3-2 lead. Curtis Granderson collected 3 hits, driving in one, and scoring one. The great thing about this Yankee lineup, is that a rally can ignite at any time. Whether its the top of the order stirring the pot, or 6-9 getting it going, kind of like last night.
The Yankees now go back to New York just needing to win 1 of the next 3 games, and 2 of them being at Yankee Stadium. Phil Hughes will get the game 3 start with a chance to sweep the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS for the second year in a row. He usually pitches better when he's gotten rest. Rest is what he has gotten, instead of making his last scheduled start, he pitched via bullpen, and only threw one inning, an effective inning, even picking up a win. We'll see what Phil of the future holds, if by chance the Yanks lose, CC Sabathia goes in game 4. I think we can all smell ALCS and beyond...
Even with a subpar strart from CC, the Yanks still managed to come down with game one. Sabathia was able to keep the Yanks from falling too far behind, got out of some big jams. The Yankee offense played a bit of a Muhammed Ali role, making Francisco Liriano throw pitch after pitch in 5 scoreless innings. The offense decided to start throwing punches when Liriano looked vulnerable in the 6th, and sure enough, they ended up with a 4-run outburst. CC would give Minnesota back a run, and it would be tied at 4s. The bullpen would then come in to do a good job, the Yankee one that is. Jesse Crain would give up a 2 run moonshot to Mark Teixeira which no announcers even made an attempt at calling when it happened. Kerry Wood and Mariano River cleaned up the 8th and 9th, and 6-4 Yanks was game one.
Game two was classic Pettitte for ya. 7 innings, 2 earned. Just made great pitches, every pitch but just about two. Lance Berkman was the offensive story in this one, homering to give the Yanks a one-run lead, and then doubling to give them a 3-2 lead. Curtis Granderson collected 3 hits, driving in one, and scoring one. The great thing about this Yankee lineup, is that a rally can ignite at any time. Whether its the top of the order stirring the pot, or 6-9 getting it going, kind of like last night.
The Yankees now go back to New York just needing to win 1 of the next 3 games, and 2 of them being at Yankee Stadium. Phil Hughes will get the game 3 start with a chance to sweep the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS for the second year in a row. He usually pitches better when he's gotten rest. Rest is what he has gotten, instead of making his last scheduled start, he pitched via bullpen, and only threw one inning, an effective inning, even picking up a win. We'll see what Phil of the future holds, if by chance the Yanks lose, CC Sabathia goes in game 4. I think we can all smell ALCS and beyond...
Monday, October 4, 2010
Yanks Wind up with Wildcard; Bring on the Twins
Well last Friday's Pettitte/Matsuzaka matchup never happened because of the rain, but the following day a Pettitte/Wakefield and a Burnett/Matsuzaka did. The first game was another classic matchup between Boston and New York, whether the Red Sox have the replacements playing, or minor leaguers, it doesn't matter, all games subject to go extra innings, which both did on Saturday. Andy Pettitte scattered 9 hits and 3 earned over 4 innings. While it wasn't the picture perfect playoff-like Pettitte, it was still a grind-it-out performance. Pettitte kept the Yanks in the ballgame, and allowed the Yankee offense to go to work on the knuckleballer Tim Wakefield. Wakefield can either throw a shutout over 7 innings, or give up 7 runs in 7 innings. This time Wakefield let up 5, in 5 innings. By the 7th, it was 5-3 Yanks with the big guns ready to go in the bullpen. The Yanks' bullpen would end up faltering, allowing a run in the 7th and 8th innings behind a compilation of Logan, Chamberlain, and usually Mr. Automatic Kerry Wood. Phil Hughes would come on in relief and got a well-earned 18th victory of the season. Brett Gardner would score after stolen base, after stolen base on a Jeter chopper. Small ball has been doing the trick for the Yanks as of late. The legend Mariano would get his 33rd save in the bottom of the 10th.
Game 2 was the same and different. There couldn't have been worse guys to go to for the back-end of a double header than A.J. Burnett and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Both pitchers threw a ton of pitches early and got in jam after jam creating picket fences on both halves of innings. 4-3 Yanks going into the 6th somehow, but that's where Burnett does what he does best, letting the Red Sox tie it right back up and then hand it to basically the Scranton (minor league) bullpen. Yanks would get 2 more runs in the top half of the 7th off of reliever Scott Atchison who looks like he's 57, but they would give those 2 runs right back in the bottom of the 8th thanks to a first in second jam Royce Ring left for rookie Ivan Nova. This was Nova's audition for a relief role in the postseason, and failed, not miserably, but did fail. Ivan Nova does not have it in the stretch. He is a completely different pitcher with runners on base, for the worse. This was a perfect storm, 1st and 2nd, 1 out, first relief appearance. He would let up 4 hits, walked 3! Got out of the inning tied somehow, and this led to another extra inning game in the same day where they would lose behind Ivan Nova himself, giving up a near homerun which ended up being a double, (would've been a triple if he didn't admire it) and the walk-off base hit to Eric Patterson, younger brother to Corey.
The worst part about the second game is that I left homecoming at Rutgers to go home and watch it. That makes me pretty awesome right? With that loss and a Tampa win, the Yanks lost control of their own destiny. Going into Sunday the Yanks would have to win behind Dustin Moseley and Tampa would have to lose to Kansas City (Sean O'Sullivan the starter) for the 3rd time in a 4 game series. In fact, neither happened. The Yanks would drop Sunday's game to Boston 8-4, while Tampa came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 in extras.
The Yanks will be going in as the Wildcard after what looked like another division clinching season. It isn't neccessary to be a champion but it does mean the Yanks have to travel to Minnesota instead of coming home and playing Texas, and if the Yanks and Rays advance past the first round, they would have to go to Tampa, but it is what it is. Cue up the excuses and get ready for Liriano/Sabathia on Wednesday.
Game 2 was the same and different. There couldn't have been worse guys to go to for the back-end of a double header than A.J. Burnett and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Both pitchers threw a ton of pitches early and got in jam after jam creating picket fences on both halves of innings. 4-3 Yanks going into the 6th somehow, but that's where Burnett does what he does best, letting the Red Sox tie it right back up and then hand it to basically the Scranton (minor league) bullpen. Yanks would get 2 more runs in the top half of the 7th off of reliever Scott Atchison who looks like he's 57, but they would give those 2 runs right back in the bottom of the 8th thanks to a first in second jam Royce Ring left for rookie Ivan Nova. This was Nova's audition for a relief role in the postseason, and failed, not miserably, but did fail. Ivan Nova does not have it in the stretch. He is a completely different pitcher with runners on base, for the worse. This was a perfect storm, 1st and 2nd, 1 out, first relief appearance. He would let up 4 hits, walked 3! Got out of the inning tied somehow, and this led to another extra inning game in the same day where they would lose behind Ivan Nova himself, giving up a near homerun which ended up being a double, (would've been a triple if he didn't admire it) and the walk-off base hit to Eric Patterson, younger brother to Corey.
The worst part about the second game is that I left homecoming at Rutgers to go home and watch it. That makes me pretty awesome right? With that loss and a Tampa win, the Yanks lost control of their own destiny. Going into Sunday the Yanks would have to win behind Dustin Moseley and Tampa would have to lose to Kansas City (Sean O'Sullivan the starter) for the 3rd time in a 4 game series. In fact, neither happened. The Yanks would drop Sunday's game to Boston 8-4, while Tampa came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 in extras.
The Yanks will be going in as the Wildcard after what looked like another division clinching season. It isn't neccessary to be a champion but it does mean the Yanks have to travel to Minnesota instead of coming home and playing Texas, and if the Yanks and Rays advance past the first round, they would have to go to Tampa, but it is what it is. Cue up the excuses and get ready for Liriano/Sabathia on Wednesday.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Shades of '07 Giants
Tonight we witnessed what Giants' fan have been waiting for, for the last year since the painful, depressing, morale-crushing loss to the New Orleans Saints in week 6 of the 2009 campaign - a solid defensive performance.
After winning the Superbowl in 2007, with majority of the credit to the Giants solid defensive play, Big Blue's "O's" haven't exactly lived up to the intimidating, electric reputation they established. In 2009 the Giants ranked 29th in points per game allowed as well as total points allowed above only the St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions; a large decline after ranking very high in most major defensive statistics in 2007. This week on the gridiron, however, the Giants went toe-to-toe with the undefeated Chicago Bears who's offense of late has been rolling lead by #6 Jay Cutler. Cutler, after coming off his worst statistical year of his career (27 TDs and 26 Picks) in his first year with the bears, has come out in 2010 with a vengeance and a point to prove. So far during the 2010 campaign, he's throw for 870 yards, 6 touchdowns and only 2 picks through 3 weeks of the season with an outstanding QB rating of 109. I can imagine after watching the Giants vs. the Titans the week prior, Cutler went into the new Meadowlands Stadium confident, expecting to walk out as the first and only 4-0 team in the NFL this year. Well for those of you who didn't catch the game, the G-men came out making a GIANT statement to those who have doubted them. However, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump on the "Giants D is back" bandwagon just quite yet.
As every week goes by, we as Giants fans witness our team give up the big play time and time again. Yes, we occasionally watch the Giants put on a decent defensive display, and by decent i mean allowing 14-21 points with a turnover or two and a win. Is it just me or does an epic failure always seem to follow a solid performance by the Giants, whether it's on the offensive side or the defensive side. I cannot remember the last time i watched the Giants string solid back to back wins together after week 5 of 2009. And already after a slow defensive start to this season, the giants made a huge statement vs. the Bears holding them to 173 yards of total offense, 0-13 on third down, an average of 2.1 yards per play, and 3 total points on the scoreboard. Oh, did i mention the Giants D showed how big their "D" really is by forcing Jay Cutler out with a concussion, back-up QB Todd Collins out with an injury, and sacking the 3 Bears' QBs 9 times in the first half (an NFL record) and 10 total times in the game. After all these accomplishments it's also important to point out that the G-men had a few key injuries on the defensive side including starting linebacker Keith Bullock. With such gaudy defensive numbers, it should be clear that this win was a breeze for the Giants as the defense gave the offense so many scoring opportunities, right? Wrong.
Even with the 3 turnovers and 10 sacks, the Giants offense severely struggled. The Giants were only able to string 3 points together in the first half and 17 total in the game. To me, no Giants fan can be satisfied with such a poor offensive performance. I watched people's Facebook status' all night about how proud of the Giants they were and how they were so excited that the defense came to life, however, i feel that the hype and excitement of this defensive performance has blinded the fans of the big picture.
The G-men have a lot of issues that need to be worked out quick if they want to have any chance of making a serious playoff run this year. To briefly touch on them, they need to sort out the special teams on the offensive and defensive side. The Giants defensive special teams is very weak allowing approximately 38 yards per kick off return which is the worst in the league. On the offensive side, the Giants' kick returner Darius Reynaud cannot hang on to a kick for the life of him, either fumbling or bobbling every ball that is headed his way. The rookie punter Matt Dodge has punted so poorly that after every punt the Meadowlands stadium crowd filled with Giants fans let's out a monstrous roar of boo's to remind Dodge of how lousy he is. Next is the painful offensive play calling of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride who thinks calling a draw on every second down and going out of shotgun on third and short is the way to win in the NFL. There are a few bright spots to the Giants offensive, however; Ahmed Bradshaw is having the big season (or at least start) that i called he would have, and the angry helmet-launching second string linebacker-running back, Brandon Jacobs, found himself getting off of the blue-colored paydirt after tacking on a late score for the Giants. Perhaps that score will give Jacobs a little boost of confidence as the newly dubed #2 back. It is also worth mentioning that Jacobs did finally do some down hill running, just ask some of the Bears secondary.
The bottom line is despite the excellent defensive performance the Giants put on today i don't think it is the right time to get our hopes up as there is still much work to do. I think what Sunday's game showed us is that there is some life left in the Giants D and when they're motivated to win they can really get after a quarterback and make a veteran like Cutler look like a freshman high school QB. I think today also showed us that the Giants offense and special teams have a long way to go before we should even think about calling ourselves a serious contender in the NFC East. But hey, if the Giants can continue to play well and string some wins together it may not be a bad time as we are not sure how long Mike Vick will be out for the Eagles leaving the NFC East up for grabs to this point.
-Eric Krempa-
After winning the Superbowl in 2007, with majority of the credit to the Giants solid defensive play, Big Blue's "O's" haven't exactly lived up to the intimidating, electric reputation they established. In 2009 the Giants ranked 29th in points per game allowed as well as total points allowed above only the St. Louis Rams and Detroit Lions; a large decline after ranking very high in most major defensive statistics in 2007. This week on the gridiron, however, the Giants went toe-to-toe with the undefeated Chicago Bears who's offense of late has been rolling lead by #6 Jay Cutler. Cutler, after coming off his worst statistical year of his career (27 TDs and 26 Picks) in his first year with the bears, has come out in 2010 with a vengeance and a point to prove. So far during the 2010 campaign, he's throw for 870 yards, 6 touchdowns and only 2 picks through 3 weeks of the season with an outstanding QB rating of 109. I can imagine after watching the Giants vs. the Titans the week prior, Cutler went into the new Meadowlands Stadium confident, expecting to walk out as the first and only 4-0 team in the NFL this year. Well for those of you who didn't catch the game, the G-men came out making a GIANT statement to those who have doubted them. However, I'm not sure I'm ready to jump on the "Giants D is back" bandwagon just quite yet.
As every week goes by, we as Giants fans witness our team give up the big play time and time again. Yes, we occasionally watch the Giants put on a decent defensive display, and by decent i mean allowing 14-21 points with a turnover or two and a win. Is it just me or does an epic failure always seem to follow a solid performance by the Giants, whether it's on the offensive side or the defensive side. I cannot remember the last time i watched the Giants string solid back to back wins together after week 5 of 2009. And already after a slow defensive start to this season, the giants made a huge statement vs. the Bears holding them to 173 yards of total offense, 0-13 on third down, an average of 2.1 yards per play, and 3 total points on the scoreboard. Oh, did i mention the Giants D showed how big their "D" really is by forcing Jay Cutler out with a concussion, back-up QB Todd Collins out with an injury, and sacking the 3 Bears' QBs 9 times in the first half (an NFL record) and 10 total times in the game. After all these accomplishments it's also important to point out that the G-men had a few key injuries on the defensive side including starting linebacker Keith Bullock. With such gaudy defensive numbers, it should be clear that this win was a breeze for the Giants as the defense gave the offense so many scoring opportunities, right? Wrong.
Even with the 3 turnovers and 10 sacks, the Giants offense severely struggled. The Giants were only able to string 3 points together in the first half and 17 total in the game. To me, no Giants fan can be satisfied with such a poor offensive performance. I watched people's Facebook status' all night about how proud of the Giants they were and how they were so excited that the defense came to life, however, i feel that the hype and excitement of this defensive performance has blinded the fans of the big picture.
The G-men have a lot of issues that need to be worked out quick if they want to have any chance of making a serious playoff run this year. To briefly touch on them, they need to sort out the special teams on the offensive and defensive side. The Giants defensive special teams is very weak allowing approximately 38 yards per kick off return which is the worst in the league. On the offensive side, the Giants' kick returner Darius Reynaud cannot hang on to a kick for the life of him, either fumbling or bobbling every ball that is headed his way. The rookie punter Matt Dodge has punted so poorly that after every punt the Meadowlands stadium crowd filled with Giants fans let's out a monstrous roar of boo's to remind Dodge of how lousy he is. Next is the painful offensive play calling of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride who thinks calling a draw on every second down and going out of shotgun on third and short is the way to win in the NFL. There are a few bright spots to the Giants offensive, however; Ahmed Bradshaw is having the big season (or at least start) that i called he would have, and the angry helmet-launching second string linebacker-running back, Brandon Jacobs, found himself getting off of the blue-colored paydirt after tacking on a late score for the Giants. Perhaps that score will give Jacobs a little boost of confidence as the newly dubed #2 back. It is also worth mentioning that Jacobs did finally do some down hill running, just ask some of the Bears secondary.
The bottom line is despite the excellent defensive performance the Giants put on today i don't think it is the right time to get our hopes up as there is still much work to do. I think what Sunday's game showed us is that there is some life left in the Giants D and when they're motivated to win they can really get after a quarterback and make a veteran like Cutler look like a freshman high school QB. I think today also showed us that the Giants offense and special teams have a long way to go before we should even think about calling ourselves a serious contender in the NFC East. But hey, if the Giants can continue to play well and string some wins together it may not be a bad time as we are not sure how long Mike Vick will be out for the Eagles leaving the NFC East up for grabs to this point.
-Eric Krempa-
Friday, October 1, 2010
Yanks Sit Back, Go to Sleep Tied with Rays
As any real Yankee fan would, I tuned into Rays/Royals last night and cheered on Kansas City knowing that with a KC win, the Yanks' half game defecit would evaporate. Simultaneously, I'm sipping some MGDs for some reason watching the Padres lose a 1-0 ballgame to the Cubs thanks to Heath Bells' first loss of the year. Jon Garland had thrown 6 and a third scoreless innings. Jose Bautista also hit 2 more homers, (54) as the Jays spanked the Twins 13-2, Minnesota has lost 6 of 7.
After the Royals held on to a 3-2 win the Yanks were tied for first place in the AL East and now it all comes down to 3 games. Yanks will face Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight, who pitched well against them last Sunday giving up 2 runs, (A-Rod 2-run homer) in 8 innings. Andy likes to Pettitte goes for the Yanks tonight in a final regular season tune-up. This is the perfect situation for Pettitte. He gets a chance to redeem himself after his last rocky outing against Boston in which he allowed 7 runs. Pettitte also gets to pitch in a "playoff like" atmosphere up in hateville and gets to help the Yanks win their division in the final series of the season. Exciting baseball has officially started, and in the words of Chubbs.."HERE WE GO!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLx0v7yabo
After the Royals held on to a 3-2 win the Yanks were tied for first place in the AL East and now it all comes down to 3 games. Yanks will face Daisuke Matsuzaka tonight, who pitched well against them last Sunday giving up 2 runs, (A-Rod 2-run homer) in 8 innings. Andy likes to Pettitte goes for the Yanks tonight in a final regular season tune-up. This is the perfect situation for Pettitte. He gets a chance to redeem himself after his last rocky outing against Boston in which he allowed 7 runs. Pettitte also gets to pitch in a "playoff like" atmosphere up in hateville and gets to help the Yanks win their division in the final series of the season. Exciting baseball has officially started, and in the words of Chubbs.."HERE WE GO!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLx0v7yabo
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Yanks Lose to Jays; Cito Gaston honored with Mustache Night
On a night where many of the Blue Jays painted on dark 'staches in due respect to legendary manager Cito Gaston for his final home game, the Yanks took an 8-4 loss. Javy Vazquez took the ball for the Yanks and did exactly what everybody figured he'd do, give up a 3-run homer at some point. It was a 4-0 ballgame where it came to a crossroads in the 5th inning. Runners on first and second, 2 out, and Javy's pitch count just reaching 90. On many occaisions Joe Girardi has been in a similar situation whether its CC, Hughes, Nova, or Burnett on the hill in the middle of some chaos. Instead of giving Vazquez the hook like he would've CC, Hughes, Nova, or A.J., (for good reason) he leaves him in, and sure enough a 3 run homer off the bat of Aaron Hill follows. This makes it a 7-0 game, and really hurts the chances of winning a ballgame the same night the Tampa Bay Rays drop one to the O's, ground could've been made up however it wouldn't.
A-Rod homered to lead off the following half inning, and 2 more runs would follow to make it 7-3. Wow if Vazquez was pulled when he should've been that's a 1 run ballgame. In front of the biggest Blue Jay crowd in years, the Jays beat the Yanks with the fans chanting "Yankees suck" in the 8th and 9th inning. For a team that hasn't made the playoffs in over 15 years, and the Yanks being the team who have made it 14 times in those last 15 years, its kind of farfetched. Yanks stay a half game behind Tampa, and need to finish a game better than them because of the tiebreaker they hold, thanks to Girardi basically forfeitting the last 2 games of the 4 game series versus the Rays.
According to http://www.riveraveblues.com/, the Yanks have announced they will go with a 3 man rotation even with the shorter gaps between playoff games this year. That rotation consists of CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and drum roll please......A.J. Burnett. Just kidding, Phil Hughes will be the game 3 starter. Short rest will play a role in the Yankee postseason, so here we go.
A-Rod homered to lead off the following half inning, and 2 more runs would follow to make it 7-3. Wow if Vazquez was pulled when he should've been that's a 1 run ballgame. In front of the biggest Blue Jay crowd in years, the Jays beat the Yanks with the fans chanting "Yankees suck" in the 8th and 9th inning. For a team that hasn't made the playoffs in over 15 years, and the Yanks being the team who have made it 14 times in those last 15 years, its kind of farfetched. Yanks stay a half game behind Tampa, and need to finish a game better than them because of the tiebreaker they hold, thanks to Girardi basically forfeitting the last 2 games of the 4 game series versus the Rays.
According to http://www.riveraveblues.com/, the Yanks have announced they will go with a 3 man rotation even with the shorter gaps between playoff games this year. That rotation consists of CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, and drum roll please......A.J. Burnett. Just kidding, Phil Hughes will be the game 3 starter. Short rest will play a role in the Yankee postseason, so here we go.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Clinch; CC nears CG
The Yankees have clinched playoff contention for the 14th time in the last 15 years last night in a 6-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was one of those, "this guy is the best pitcher in the league" games from CC Sabathia (21-7.) CC threw 8 and a third innings striking out 8, and giving up only 3 hits and an earned run in the process. The last batter he retired was Jose Bautista, the Major League leader in homeruns. Runners being on first and second at the time made Girardi's decision to yank him, however I don't understand why you don't let him pitch to Vernon Wells after he already got the more dangerous hitter out. Rivera did come on to clean up the small mess, clinching yet another big game for New York.
Son of former Yankee Doug Drabek, Kyle Drabek took the loss for Toronto (0-3.) The Yanks went the entire game without homering, "bottom-line worthy" guys included Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner who both had multi-hit games, as well as A-Rod who knocked in 2 runs. The first four batters in the Yankee lineup all had rbi. Travis Snider homered in the 3rd inning for Toronto, their only run.
Now that the Yanks have clinched at minimum, the Wild Card, the AL East chase is on. Tampa beat the Orioles 5-0 last night, so they have clinched a playoff birth as well. We'll have to see how Mr. Girardi plays this thing out being he wants everyone healthy and rested for October-ball, starting with tonight in Toronto. After tonight they finish the season up in Boston, of course. In my opinion I don't think you can go up to Boston and half-ass it. Even though they are the ones who missed out on the playoffs for the first time since '06, you do not want to go into the playoffs after being ripped up by your biggest rival, postseason team or not. If you see Robertson in the ballgame with the score within a run or 2, the Yanks want this division, on the flip side if you see Chad Gaudin in that same situation, welp, be happy with the wild card, and get ready for Minnesota.
Son of former Yankee Doug Drabek, Kyle Drabek took the loss for Toronto (0-3.) The Yanks went the entire game without homering, "bottom-line worthy" guys included Derek Jeter and Brett Gardner who both had multi-hit games, as well as A-Rod who knocked in 2 runs. The first four batters in the Yankee lineup all had rbi. Travis Snider homered in the 3rd inning for Toronto, their only run.
Now that the Yanks have clinched at minimum, the Wild Card, the AL East chase is on. Tampa beat the Orioles 5-0 last night, so they have clinched a playoff birth as well. We'll have to see how Mr. Girardi plays this thing out being he wants everyone healthy and rested for October-ball, starting with tonight in Toronto. After tonight they finish the season up in Boston, of course. In my opinion I don't think you can go up to Boston and half-ass it. Even though they are the ones who missed out on the playoffs for the first time since '06, you do not want to go into the playoffs after being ripped up by your biggest rival, postseason team or not. If you see Robertson in the ballgame with the score within a run or 2, the Yanks want this division, on the flip side if you see Chad Gaudin in that same situation, welp, be happy with the wild card, and get ready for Minnesota.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Recognizing the Two Big "Dogs"
This is Eric Krempa logging in to M. Tozz's blog, we're going to be blogging together over the next few months so i figured I'd start it off with a homerun, hitting 2 pretty hot topics right now.
First and foremost we all know the past 10 years (roughly) have been dubbed the "Steroid Era" in Major League Baseball, and i believe over the last few years the numbers in baseball have came back to reality for the most part from the years where hitting 50+ homeruns was barely acknowledge as an achievement. We saw guys like Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Lee, David Ortiz, etc. put 50+ over the fence; but these guys are by no means small. This year, Jose Bautista, representing the shockingly improved 2010 Toronto Blue Jays, has hit 52 big flies with still 5 games left to play. Now i try not to be a hater but this has to raise some serious questions throughout the league. In 2006, this guy hit 16 dingers, followed by 15 in 2007, 15 in 2008, and a weak 13 last year in 2009. Suddenly, in 2010 he comes out and leads the league with 52 homers setting an MLB record of the largest increase in homeruns from one year to the next; +39 and counting.
When i discuss this topic with people they say things like, "well, athletes are becoming much stronger with more intense workout ethics" and "he may have straightened out his mechanics and found his swing." I don't care who you are, no workout that you may do in the off-season and no adjustments/improvements you may make to your swing can give you a +39 and counting homerun improvement.
The question arises - what is the answer to this monster slug fest going on in Toronto for #19? Obviously, i do not have the answer nor does anyone else - all we have is speculation. I am not accusing Jose Bautista of being a juicer, i am simply suggesting that we should not rule out the possibility that Bautista is using HGH or some other form of PEDs. So considering the other side of the argument - well what if Bautista is actually doing this naturally? If he is, then what he's doing is incredible, he has set an MLB record, and he deserves a huge contract and Toronto has finally found the star they've been looking for......but he's 6'0 190 lbs. has hit for average his whole career with below average homeruns - i just don't believe it.
Moving on to the next hot topic i want to acknowledge the performance of the former #7 of the Atlanta Falcons and the new #7 for the Philadelphia Eagles, Mike Vick. It's hard to believe that this time last year Mike Vick was failing as a back up for the Eagles and even more unbelievable, this time two years ago he was in prison. This guy has literally become a stud in the NFL by playing only 8 quarters of football. I know many people are skeptic about whether starting Vick was the right decision in Philly; i believe after seeing him play the last 2 games the skeptics are gone. Let's face it, the Eagles made a bad decision dealing McNabb to the Redskins and putting the weight of the Eagles' franchise on the shoulders of a backup with only 3 starts under his belt, Kevin Kolb. Yes, he had 3 solid starts and gave an injured Philadelphia Eagles squad some life coming out and making the offense look good, but to go out and deal your franchise quarterback after all that he has done for the franchise? I personally don't agree and i think the Eagles made a mistake. But luckily, they have been saved now that Vick has revitalized the Eagles 2010 hopes.
After watching the Eagles play in the first week of the season, i made a facebook status saying by week 3 Mike Vick would be the Eagles starter. I don't know if i actually believed it would be that soon, but regardless he is the starter by week 3 and it made me look right. Kolb sitting on the bench is a pretty expensive backup making $12 million this year with $9 million guaranteed - OUCH. It wasn't hard to tell that Kevin Kolb wasn't ready to bare the weight of the Eagles and i think its wrong to dub a quarterback a star after only 3 starts - which leads me to the Mike Vick bandwagon.
If you took the risk of getting Mike Vick on your fantasy team, which i did out of desperation as my starters were Alex Smith and Joe Flacco, you already know that Mike Vick stunned everyone putting up some big time numbers this past week vs. the Jags. Granted, it was only the Jags but for only your second true start after being a back up for a year and being in prison for 18 months before that, i was definitely impressed. I want to say for the record that i don't believe we can dub Mike Vick the Eagles savior just yet because he has only really played 8 quarters. Who knows how long he'll hold up getting hit 30 times a game, we really don't know how good of physical conditions he's really in.
I do know that he got me 33 fantasy points by putting up 3 touchdowns and 291 yards while going 17-31 not to mention he rushed for a touchdown. He gave the Eagles a sense of relief as well as momentum putting them atop the NFC East over the Dallas Cowboys and disappointing New York Giants. Oh did i forget about the Washington Redskins whom will be making their way into Philadelphia to take on the Eagles this upcoming week - Donnovan McNabb making his return to Philly. I believe he should get a solid reception but as we know, Philadelphia Eagles fans aren't known as being the classiest.
A final note on Michael Vick - when he was in Atlanta everyone knew that Mike Vick was more of a runner than he was a quarterback. His pocket passing was below average, his arm was strong, but his accuracy was lousy. He has come out looking like a completley new quarterback throwing accurate strikes out of the pocket, and oh yeah, the second you doubt or forget about his shades of Atlanta Falcons scrambling, he busts out 30-yard touchdown runs. So far i'm sold on Mike Vick and 2 years ago when he was in prison i did not believe he would ever return to the NFL. Wow was i wrong.
First and foremost we all know the past 10 years (roughly) have been dubbed the "Steroid Era" in Major League Baseball, and i believe over the last few years the numbers in baseball have came back to reality for the most part from the years where hitting 50+ homeruns was barely acknowledge as an achievement. We saw guys like Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Lee, David Ortiz, etc. put 50+ over the fence; but these guys are by no means small. This year, Jose Bautista, representing the shockingly improved 2010 Toronto Blue Jays, has hit 52 big flies with still 5 games left to play. Now i try not to be a hater but this has to raise some serious questions throughout the league. In 2006, this guy hit 16 dingers, followed by 15 in 2007, 15 in 2008, and a weak 13 last year in 2009. Suddenly, in 2010 he comes out and leads the league with 52 homers setting an MLB record of the largest increase in homeruns from one year to the next; +39 and counting.
When i discuss this topic with people they say things like, "well, athletes are becoming much stronger with more intense workout ethics" and "he may have straightened out his mechanics and found his swing." I don't care who you are, no workout that you may do in the off-season and no adjustments/improvements you may make to your swing can give you a +39 and counting homerun improvement.
The question arises - what is the answer to this monster slug fest going on in Toronto for #19? Obviously, i do not have the answer nor does anyone else - all we have is speculation. I am not accusing Jose Bautista of being a juicer, i am simply suggesting that we should not rule out the possibility that Bautista is using HGH or some other form of PEDs. So considering the other side of the argument - well what if Bautista is actually doing this naturally? If he is, then what he's doing is incredible, he has set an MLB record, and he deserves a huge contract and Toronto has finally found the star they've been looking for......but he's 6'0 190 lbs. has hit for average his whole career with below average homeruns - i just don't believe it.
Moving on to the next hot topic i want to acknowledge the performance of the former #7 of the Atlanta Falcons and the new #7 for the Philadelphia Eagles, Mike Vick. It's hard to believe that this time last year Mike Vick was failing as a back up for the Eagles and even more unbelievable, this time two years ago he was in prison. This guy has literally become a stud in the NFL by playing only 8 quarters of football. I know many people are skeptic about whether starting Vick was the right decision in Philly; i believe after seeing him play the last 2 games the skeptics are gone. Let's face it, the Eagles made a bad decision dealing McNabb to the Redskins and putting the weight of the Eagles' franchise on the shoulders of a backup with only 3 starts under his belt, Kevin Kolb. Yes, he had 3 solid starts and gave an injured Philadelphia Eagles squad some life coming out and making the offense look good, but to go out and deal your franchise quarterback after all that he has done for the franchise? I personally don't agree and i think the Eagles made a mistake. But luckily, they have been saved now that Vick has revitalized the Eagles 2010 hopes.
After watching the Eagles play in the first week of the season, i made a facebook status saying by week 3 Mike Vick would be the Eagles starter. I don't know if i actually believed it would be that soon, but regardless he is the starter by week 3 and it made me look right. Kolb sitting on the bench is a pretty expensive backup making $12 million this year with $9 million guaranteed - OUCH. It wasn't hard to tell that Kevin Kolb wasn't ready to bare the weight of the Eagles and i think its wrong to dub a quarterback a star after only 3 starts - which leads me to the Mike Vick bandwagon.
If you took the risk of getting Mike Vick on your fantasy team, which i did out of desperation as my starters were Alex Smith and Joe Flacco, you already know that Mike Vick stunned everyone putting up some big time numbers this past week vs. the Jags. Granted, it was only the Jags but for only your second true start after being a back up for a year and being in prison for 18 months before that, i was definitely impressed. I want to say for the record that i don't believe we can dub Mike Vick the Eagles savior just yet because he has only really played 8 quarters. Who knows how long he'll hold up getting hit 30 times a game, we really don't know how good of physical conditions he's really in.
I do know that he got me 33 fantasy points by putting up 3 touchdowns and 291 yards while going 17-31 not to mention he rushed for a touchdown. He gave the Eagles a sense of relief as well as momentum putting them atop the NFC East over the Dallas Cowboys and disappointing New York Giants. Oh did i forget about the Washington Redskins whom will be making their way into Philadelphia to take on the Eagles this upcoming week - Donnovan McNabb making his return to Philly. I believe he should get a solid reception but as we know, Philadelphia Eagles fans aren't known as being the classiest.
A final note on Michael Vick - when he was in Atlanta everyone knew that Mike Vick was more of a runner than he was a quarterback. His pocket passing was below average, his arm was strong, but his accuracy was lousy. He has come out looking like a completley new quarterback throwing accurate strikes out of the pocket, and oh yeah, the second you doubt or forget about his shades of Atlanta Falcons scrambling, he busts out 30-yard touchdown runs. So far i'm sold on Mike Vick and 2 years ago when he was in prison i did not believe he would ever return to the NFL. Wow was i wrong.
No Way!
If you watched last night's Yankee game, (7-5 loss) A.J. Burnett showed once again that he is completely unreliable. Now I was an early Burnett supporter, he won game 2 of the World Series last year when the Yanks were down 0-1. I've brought that point up to people countless times, however time and time again Burnett has been underperforming. In the playoffs you cannot expect to win when your starter goes 2 and a third giving up 7 runs in the process (Burnett did that last night.) Even with the Yankee offense, they're going to be facing other team's best pitchers at all times, your starter must keep you in the game. I think A.J. Burnett has never actually learned to "pitch." He has been a "thrower" his whole career, relying on his electric stuff, which just isn't as electric anymore. Early in his career he was able to get by with his 97 mph fastball and nasty breaking stuff. The guy has never had control. You combine bad location with his stuff being less electric, major league hitters are going to take advantage and that's just what's been happening. That is what has led him to 10-15 with an ERA in the 5s.
Having said that, Phil Hughes looks to be the best bet at the second spot in the playoff rotation behind Carsten Charles Sabathia. Mr. Hughes won the second most games on the team, 17 to this point, and he has been pitching much better as of late. Mr. Pettitte is a lock for the third spot being the crafty bulldog veteran that he is. Will he be the Pettitte we all know and love, or the elderly looking Pettitte that the Red Sox tagged for 7 runs last Friday night? The average Yankee fan has to believe in the first one.
Let's face it, the Yanks have question marks with their starting pitching. I would say their bullpen has a good thing going with Logan against lefties, Chamberlain/Robertson in the 7th, Kerry "I do not surrender runs, in fact I'm just going to K you" Woods in the 8th, and then Mo in the 9th. However, Mo has not been his automatic self since that series in Texas where he hit Francoeur to bring in the winning run. The weird thing about Rivera is that his control hasn't been on point which has been a staple in his career. It is Mo, he'll turn it around right? Hopefully he'll get a couple redemption chances before the postseason starts in just over a week from now.
The Yankees have 5 games to play, two more against Toronto, (CC going tonight) and three up in Boston to close it out. At this point the Yanks' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 1; any combination of a Yankee win and a Red Sox loss, and are a half game behind Tampa who lost last night to those pesky Baltimore Orioles in last night's action. The Rays play two more against Baltimore, and finish the season in Kansas City. Based on how things play out, the Yanks can either be opening at home against Texas next Wednesday, or going to Minnesota to battle the Twins. Who do you want to see? I know my answer.
Having said that, Phil Hughes looks to be the best bet at the second spot in the playoff rotation behind Carsten Charles Sabathia. Mr. Hughes won the second most games on the team, 17 to this point, and he has been pitching much better as of late. Mr. Pettitte is a lock for the third spot being the crafty bulldog veteran that he is. Will he be the Pettitte we all know and love, or the elderly looking Pettitte that the Red Sox tagged for 7 runs last Friday night? The average Yankee fan has to believe in the first one.
Let's face it, the Yanks have question marks with their starting pitching. I would say their bullpen has a good thing going with Logan against lefties, Chamberlain/Robertson in the 7th, Kerry "I do not surrender runs, in fact I'm just going to K you" Woods in the 8th, and then Mo in the 9th. However, Mo has not been his automatic self since that series in Texas where he hit Francoeur to bring in the winning run. The weird thing about Rivera is that his control hasn't been on point which has been a staple in his career. It is Mo, he'll turn it around right? Hopefully he'll get a couple redemption chances before the postseason starts in just over a week from now.
The Yankees have 5 games to play, two more against Toronto, (CC going tonight) and three up in Boston to close it out. At this point the Yanks' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 1; any combination of a Yankee win and a Red Sox loss, and are a half game behind Tampa who lost last night to those pesky Baltimore Orioles in last night's action. The Rays play two more against Baltimore, and finish the season in Kansas City. Based on how things play out, the Yanks can either be opening at home against Texas next Wednesday, or going to Minnesota to battle the Twins. Who do you want to see? I know my answer.
Monday, September 27, 2010
I'm/We're Baaaaaaack!
So as I sit here on Lil Wayne's birthday with headphones around my ears listening to his new goods, I've also realized how long its been since I've gone in via blogspot. I've been pursuing the dream of being a broadcaster which I'll someday fulfill, and the computer gets infected like a (Rutgers?) college student..get it..aha.. So once my computer is finished having surgery for the eighth and hopefully final time, we'll be in this b!+c# daily.
What a horrific sports weekend it was if you happen to like the Yanks, Rutgers football, Giants football, or Tozzi and Associates (T&A) softball team. All of these squads caught some L's this weekend. Quick review; T&A loses 12-4, ( I happen to be hitting .667 with 1 HR and 5 rbi however that's nor here nor there) Yanks lose Friday, Saturday to the hated Red Sox, finally salvage one last night but not before the immortal Mariano Rivera blows yet another save, something that Yankee fans haven't been accustomed to worry about, really ever. Giants play one of those games where if you are a fan, you wana hurt something, someone, or just straight up have nothing to say because its hard to fathom that many mistakes made at the professional level. Rutgers can hang with the big boys, but without an offense it will be hard to make noise in a competitive Big East. To make matters worse, The Carmelo-to-Nets deal was in limbo, but from what I've heard talks have indeed picked back up, we'll monitor that day-to-day. The cherry on top was watching the Jets beat the Dolphins (in between commercials for yanks/sox.)
As far as what went wrong in each game...Friday the Yanks experienced a nightmarish start by usually sure-handed Andy Pettitte in a game where they trailed 10-1, before a homerun barrage that would still fall short, losing 10-8. Besides Pettitte's misfortunes, Joe Girardi loves to throw in the towel early in the regular season, so he'll bring in relief pitchers like Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre, (who are supposed to be used in 10-1 games and not 0-0 or 4-3 games which has been the case lately) and young prospects who haven't proven much, in this case Jonathan Albaladejo. Jonny A, i'll say because I would rather not type in his last name, botched a toss by Mark Teixiera that would've gotten the Yanks out of the inning, a 3 run homer follows, and that's the game right there. Saturday, the Yanks started Ivan Nova, Sox started Jon Lester. Nova did not have his good stuff on this day, and of course Lester did as he normally does. That explains Saturday in a nutshell.
While this is all going on, I'm at the Rutgers/UNC game. A lot of people did not expect Rutgers to even hang with a tough North Carolina team who has had their way with Rutgers in the past. However, despite Rutgers' poor performance in the first two games, Rutgers showed resiliance, and a tough mentality on defense. Tom Savage made a couple nice throws, however he threw picks in bad spots, which was almost forshadowing for the Giants game which would play the next game. Mohammed Sanu was featured in just about every play whether he was throwing the football, running it, or catching it. The Rutgers running game never could get going, even with pretty stellar play from a rather young front line. San San Te missed a field goal that ended up being crucial in a 17-13 defeat. If he makes the chip-shot field goal, Rutgers has a chance to win the game, with just a field goal. Coach Schiano might want to think about playing D'Antwan Williams, troublesome or not, he is the best running back on this football team, and the running game can really assist QB Tom Savage.
As for the Giants, who knows. Too many problems externally, and internally. So many penalties for a Coughlin-coached team, don't understand it. Penalties and turnovers in really big spots, whether it was the Titans side of the field, or the Giants side of the field, two touchdows, or at least field goals were given away by fumbles and interceptions, a chop block in the Giants own endzone called for a safety which lead to a Titans score, that's all one needs to know. I've always liked Coughlin, but you have to wonder what's going on when the number one point of his is discipline, and there is none. Bill Cowher? I guess that will be assessed after the season, give Mr. Coughlin one more chance. Giants are 1-2 and they will be facing Chicago at home next week.
What a horrific sports weekend it was if you happen to like the Yanks, Rutgers football, Giants football, or Tozzi and Associates (T&A) softball team. All of these squads caught some L's this weekend. Quick review; T&A loses 12-4, ( I happen to be hitting .667 with 1 HR and 5 rbi however that's nor here nor there) Yanks lose Friday, Saturday to the hated Red Sox, finally salvage one last night but not before the immortal Mariano Rivera blows yet another save, something that Yankee fans haven't been accustomed to worry about, really ever. Giants play one of those games where if you are a fan, you wana hurt something, someone, or just straight up have nothing to say because its hard to fathom that many mistakes made at the professional level. Rutgers can hang with the big boys, but without an offense it will be hard to make noise in a competitive Big East. To make matters worse, The Carmelo-to-Nets deal was in limbo, but from what I've heard talks have indeed picked back up, we'll monitor that day-to-day. The cherry on top was watching the Jets beat the Dolphins (in between commercials for yanks/sox.)
As far as what went wrong in each game...Friday the Yanks experienced a nightmarish start by usually sure-handed Andy Pettitte in a game where they trailed 10-1, before a homerun barrage that would still fall short, losing 10-8. Besides Pettitte's misfortunes, Joe Girardi loves to throw in the towel early in the regular season, so he'll bring in relief pitchers like Chad Gaudin, Sergio Mitre, (who are supposed to be used in 10-1 games and not 0-0 or 4-3 games which has been the case lately) and young prospects who haven't proven much, in this case Jonathan Albaladejo. Jonny A, i'll say because I would rather not type in his last name, botched a toss by Mark Teixiera that would've gotten the Yanks out of the inning, a 3 run homer follows, and that's the game right there. Saturday, the Yanks started Ivan Nova, Sox started Jon Lester. Nova did not have his good stuff on this day, and of course Lester did as he normally does. That explains Saturday in a nutshell.
While this is all going on, I'm at the Rutgers/UNC game. A lot of people did not expect Rutgers to even hang with a tough North Carolina team who has had their way with Rutgers in the past. However, despite Rutgers' poor performance in the first two games, Rutgers showed resiliance, and a tough mentality on defense. Tom Savage made a couple nice throws, however he threw picks in bad spots, which was almost forshadowing for the Giants game which would play the next game. Mohammed Sanu was featured in just about every play whether he was throwing the football, running it, or catching it. The Rutgers running game never could get going, even with pretty stellar play from a rather young front line. San San Te missed a field goal that ended up being crucial in a 17-13 defeat. If he makes the chip-shot field goal, Rutgers has a chance to win the game, with just a field goal. Coach Schiano might want to think about playing D'Antwan Williams, troublesome or not, he is the best running back on this football team, and the running game can really assist QB Tom Savage.
As for the Giants, who knows. Too many problems externally, and internally. So many penalties for a Coughlin-coached team, don't understand it. Penalties and turnovers in really big spots, whether it was the Titans side of the field, or the Giants side of the field, two touchdows, or at least field goals were given away by fumbles and interceptions, a chop block in the Giants own endzone called for a safety which lead to a Titans score, that's all one needs to know. I've always liked Coughlin, but you have to wonder what's going on when the number one point of his is discipline, and there is none. Bill Cowher? I guess that will be assessed after the season, give Mr. Coughlin one more chance. Giants are 1-2 and they will be facing Chicago at home next week.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Stop The Whining
Thursday, July 8th marked the first day free agents could officially signed with their respective squads. It also was the same day LeBron James would have an hour long special on ESPN to "benefit charity" and what not, something I've never seen before, but I guess it's something fit for a king. Somehow Jim Gray got that interview, haven't seen him anywhere marquee since Tyson went all crazy on him after the Lennox Lewis fight. "All praise to Allah!"
However, after LeBron said, "I decided I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and play with the Miami Heat." The whole nation seemed to just start hating on somebody who has been easily the most exciting basketball player to watch play a game in this decade. We all know why Cleveland is sour grapes, but for anyone else to be upset with LeBron James doesn't even make sense. Everyone always brings up "legacy." Legacy isn't something a player necessarily worries about at 25 years old. Legacy is something one looks back on. After LeBron's career is over in Miami, he might be looking back on some crazy hardware. This was a basketball decision. He just wants to win championships. How about that all three of these guys are taking less money to play with each other. Although they have already made fortunes and are still with endorsements, it isn't all too common in this day and age. If you ever have seen his documentary, you know he's all about playing with the same group of competitors for years and winning championships. Even though he was off the charts in high school, LeBron played with some exceptionally talented players for the high school level, and they won, alot. This could be a similar story, just elevated to the NBA level.
If Bron chose the Bulls that would have been about basketball as well, however LeBron said himself he just liked the fit with the Heat better, yeah, Wade and Bosh are his boys, and they are nearly as dynamic as King James himself. I'd like to live in South Beach myself. If he went to the Knicks, it wasn't about basketball, they suck. If it was the Nets, it would have been to be a mentor for young players under Mikhail and Jay-Z who would've made him unreal money in the process. It just shows you LeBron was worried about what the final score is after the final buzzer sounds than a clothing line, or what his fragrance might smell like from a new LeBron line of cologne. If he went to Cleveland it would've been a legacy decision, and to me, that is a little more egotistic than what people think it to be. People must remember, Cleveland drafted him, he played for them. He brought them to a Finals single-handed, and gave that area of the country 7 exciting years, making the snippy little boy (owner) Dan Gilbert a whole lot of cheddar in the process. That's a whole other animal. That's just not professional, bottom-line. LeBron was going to do at the end of the day what made him happy, and rightfully so. Because we've been watching his life like "The Truman Show" ever since the Sports Illustrated where he was tagged "The Chosen One" was issued, we think we know what's best for him and the NBA. And the only reason I'm mad, I'm a Nets fan, and the Miami Heat are going to be in our grill for years to come.
However, after LeBron said, "I decided I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and play with the Miami Heat." The whole nation seemed to just start hating on somebody who has been easily the most exciting basketball player to watch play a game in this decade. We all know why Cleveland is sour grapes, but for anyone else to be upset with LeBron James doesn't even make sense. Everyone always brings up "legacy." Legacy isn't something a player necessarily worries about at 25 years old. Legacy is something one looks back on. After LeBron's career is over in Miami, he might be looking back on some crazy hardware. This was a basketball decision. He just wants to win championships. How about that all three of these guys are taking less money to play with each other. Although they have already made fortunes and are still with endorsements, it isn't all too common in this day and age. If you ever have seen his documentary, you know he's all about playing with the same group of competitors for years and winning championships. Even though he was off the charts in high school, LeBron played with some exceptionally talented players for the high school level, and they won, alot. This could be a similar story, just elevated to the NBA level.
If Bron chose the Bulls that would have been about basketball as well, however LeBron said himself he just liked the fit with the Heat better, yeah, Wade and Bosh are his boys, and they are nearly as dynamic as King James himself. I'd like to live in South Beach myself. If he went to the Knicks, it wasn't about basketball, they suck. If it was the Nets, it would have been to be a mentor for young players under Mikhail and Jay-Z who would've made him unreal money in the process. It just shows you LeBron was worried about what the final score is after the final buzzer sounds than a clothing line, or what his fragrance might smell like from a new LeBron line of cologne. If he went to Cleveland it would've been a legacy decision, and to me, that is a little more egotistic than what people think it to be. People must remember, Cleveland drafted him, he played for them. He brought them to a Finals single-handed, and gave that area of the country 7 exciting years, making the snippy little boy (owner) Dan Gilbert a whole lot of cheddar in the process. That's a whole other animal. That's just not professional, bottom-line. LeBron was going to do at the end of the day what made him happy, and rightfully so. Because we've been watching his life like "The Truman Show" ever since the Sports Illustrated where he was tagged "The Chosen One" was issued, we think we know what's best for him and the NBA. And the only reason I'm mad, I'm a Nets fan, and the Miami Heat are going to be in our grill for years to come.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
NBA Offseason; Up in the Air like a Jump-Ball
With the 2010 NBA Draft looming, just one day away now, the offseason hot stove is starting to ignite. With the historic amount of top-tier free agents available this summer, it has been said by many people that this draft this just the calm before the storm. Many people's focus, not just mine, is what the New Jersey (for now) Nets are going to do. The Nets are in limbo more than any other team, however they have the most to work with. Having already shipped off a favorite of mine, Chris Douglas-Roberts to Milwaukee for a future second round pick, (Nets will have 2 first round, and 2 second round picks in the next couple drafts) the third domino has fallen, and now things are going to start happening. (First domino; the Prokhorov takeover, second domino, the hiring of head coach Avery Johnson.)
Mock drafts have had the Nets scooping up Georgia Tech power forward Derrick Favors ever since the draft lottery took place, not to mention the Nets getting absolutely screwed in that after a lowly 12 win season. It is what it is though, but now the Nets are interested in a couple different guys. I'm not sure if its just Rod Thorn playing poker with other teams, or he honestly doesn't know who to get. The options for the Nets besides Favors are Demarcus Cousins, Wesley Johnson, and Greg Monroe. The Nets are high on all of these guys, however Cousins skill set just says center, and with the Nets already delighted with Brook Lopez, chances are they're going to let somebody else have the big man. Wesley Johnson plays the position the Nets might need depending on where they play Terrence Williams, small forward. Wes had a ridiculous 1st team AP All-American season at Syracuse last year, however he is about to be 23 so you may not see too much more production considering he will have to make these same plays in a tougher league. Greg Monroe will be a good pro, but i do not think the Nets will reach for him at number 3.
What you could see is the Nets actually trade the pick and move down and get someone like Monroe. Having said that there is also speculation that Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets is actually on the trade market. The Nets have been the team associated with those rumors, a proposed trade could be the pick, Devin Harris, for Chris Paul. We'll surely see what happens, what I would like to see happen, LEBRON JAMES! If the Nets get Lebron it almost doesn't matter what else happens they will be a perennial one seed, however you have to prepare for life without LeBron. This lineup would be fine with me...Devin Harris at point guard, Terrence Williams at shooting guard, Rudy Gay at small forward, (restricted free agent) either Amare Stoudemire/David Lee/Carlos Boozer/or Chris Bosh (unrestricted free agents) at power forward, and of course Brook Lopez at center, with whoever they draft coming off of the bench along side Courtney Lee and Kris Humphries.
If Evan Turner somehow doesn't go top 2 considering the recent departure of Sammy Dalembert going from the Sixers to the Kings, Philly could end up wanting Cousins or Favors. Just imagine Devin Harris with T-Will and Evan Turner on the wings....or LEBRON JAMES!
Mock drafts have had the Nets scooping up Georgia Tech power forward Derrick Favors ever since the draft lottery took place, not to mention the Nets getting absolutely screwed in that after a lowly 12 win season. It is what it is though, but now the Nets are interested in a couple different guys. I'm not sure if its just Rod Thorn playing poker with other teams, or he honestly doesn't know who to get. The options for the Nets besides Favors are Demarcus Cousins, Wesley Johnson, and Greg Monroe. The Nets are high on all of these guys, however Cousins skill set just says center, and with the Nets already delighted with Brook Lopez, chances are they're going to let somebody else have the big man. Wesley Johnson plays the position the Nets might need depending on where they play Terrence Williams, small forward. Wes had a ridiculous 1st team AP All-American season at Syracuse last year, however he is about to be 23 so you may not see too much more production considering he will have to make these same plays in a tougher league. Greg Monroe will be a good pro, but i do not think the Nets will reach for him at number 3.
What you could see is the Nets actually trade the pick and move down and get someone like Monroe. Having said that there is also speculation that Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets is actually on the trade market. The Nets have been the team associated with those rumors, a proposed trade could be the pick, Devin Harris, for Chris Paul. We'll surely see what happens, what I would like to see happen, LEBRON JAMES! If the Nets get Lebron it almost doesn't matter what else happens they will be a perennial one seed, however you have to prepare for life without LeBron. This lineup would be fine with me...Devin Harris at point guard, Terrence Williams at shooting guard, Rudy Gay at small forward, (restricted free agent) either Amare Stoudemire/David Lee/Carlos Boozer/or Chris Bosh (unrestricted free agents) at power forward, and of course Brook Lopez at center, with whoever they draft coming off of the bench along side Courtney Lee and Kris Humphries.
If Evan Turner somehow doesn't go top 2 considering the recent departure of Sammy Dalembert going from the Sixers to the Kings, Philly could end up wanting Cousins or Favors. Just imagine Devin Harris with T-Will and Evan Turner on the wings....or LEBRON JAMES!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Yank'd; The Will to Win
A starting pitcher who had lost his last 11 consecutive starts, was a solid inning away from qualifying for a win, not to mention a straight shut down of the New York Yankees. Justin Masterson, who we all know from coming up with the Boston Red Sox and not doing a bad job in the process. However he was the main piece involved in the Victor Martinez trade. Masterson has good stuff but has just struggled with a team who can't even win games in the AL Central, which is a rather weak division. However, today seemed to be Masterson's day, inducing ground balls with his sinker which would dive down and in to right-handed batters. The 7th inning came around, and while Cleveland had a 3-0 lead over Yanks' starter A.J. Burnett, the Yanks did what they are known for.
Swisher, who just simply does not want May to end, hit a hard line drive single to center to lead it off. Masterson would then walk Juan Miranda. After the 1st and 2nd with 0 outs situation for Masterson, he struck out the pinch hitting Cervelli. That was a big out, however Derek Jeter was next up, and he made it happen. Jeter delivered with a 2 strike, 2 run single, which made the Yanks minus 1. 3-2 Indians, for Curtis Granderson. The Grandy-Man turned on an inside fastball off of lefthander Tony Sipp, and belted it down into the right field corner. The Yanks had 2nd and 3rd, and two outs for Mark Teixeira. Tex had been up and down, but if there was ever an appropriate time for him to break out, it was right then and there. Marky Tex launched a ball towards the left/centerfield gap which reached the audience with ease. The Yanks took a 5-3 lead with that 3-run gamechanger, and never looked back winning the game 7-3. Mariano Rivera even came in, in a non-save situation. The Yanks needed a for-sure win, and what does MO do, he locks it down.
Swisher, who just simply does not want May to end, hit a hard line drive single to center to lead it off. Masterson would then walk Juan Miranda. After the 1st and 2nd with 0 outs situation for Masterson, he struck out the pinch hitting Cervelli. That was a big out, however Derek Jeter was next up, and he made it happen. Jeter delivered with a 2 strike, 2 run single, which made the Yanks minus 1. 3-2 Indians, for Curtis Granderson. The Grandy-Man turned on an inside fastball off of lefthander Tony Sipp, and belted it down into the right field corner. The Yanks had 2nd and 3rd, and two outs for Mark Teixeira. Tex had been up and down, but if there was ever an appropriate time for him to break out, it was right then and there. Marky Tex launched a ball towards the left/centerfield gap which reached the audience with ease. The Yanks took a 5-3 lead with that 3-run gamechanger, and never looked back winning the game 7-3. Mariano Rivera even came in, in a non-save situation. The Yanks needed a for-sure win, and what does MO do, he locks it down.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tough One to Swallow
These blog posts are pretty scattered and I apologize to my followers for that, i know i have quite a bit of notoriety, however I live some kind of lifestyle. Sometimes no matter what I have scheduled, i must get down to brass tax and talk about what's going on, on the field. First, my prayers go out to Cleveland Indians starting pitcher David Huff after being hit in the left side of the head off of an Alex Rodriguez comebacker in the bottom of the 3rd. The CAT scan was negative but he'll remain at Columbia Presbyterian with his family and for further evaluations. After my own father had something similar happen in his playing days it is something to worry about, but let's hope he's ok. Having said that, there are a couple of baseball issues that were raised in this 4 hour and 22 minute debacle.
The Yanks hit, C.C. pitched mediocre, but logged enough innings to qualify for a win and he only gave up 4. Everybody enjoying a hot summer Memorial Day weekend baseball game at Yankee Stadium including viewers at home and the players on the field all thought it was lock-down after a 10-4 lead was in tact. The game was where the Yanks wanted it, but the lead just evaporated after C.C. left the game. Girardi mixed and matched like he always loves to do, but it really did not work out in his favor this time. David Robertson, who has been up and down this year was not very effective, and then on top of that, he leaves the game with a lower back strain. Hopefully he'll be alright, but you have to wonder if this injury stemmed from the ball Mauer hit in Minnesota that ricocheted off of him. They then brought in Sergio Mitre who didn't get it done. After Mitre, it was Marte for 3 pitches, who did his job. That's where Girardi got cute bringing in Joba Chamberlain with a 10-6 lead and he did not fair well at all. Joba would give up 4 runs on 4 hits, and gave the Indians a 12-10 lead! Then Russel Branyan hit a towering homer of Chad Gaudin in the 8th. The Yanks would get one back in the 9th off of an rbi double by Derek Jeter. The Yanks would lose 13-11 to Cleveland in a game that featured 412 total pitches. Not how the Yanks and there fans thought this one would play out.
The Yanks hit, C.C. pitched mediocre, but logged enough innings to qualify for a win and he only gave up 4. Everybody enjoying a hot summer Memorial Day weekend baseball game at Yankee Stadium including viewers at home and the players on the field all thought it was lock-down after a 10-4 lead was in tact. The game was where the Yanks wanted it, but the lead just evaporated after C.C. left the game. Girardi mixed and matched like he always loves to do, but it really did not work out in his favor this time. David Robertson, who has been up and down this year was not very effective, and then on top of that, he leaves the game with a lower back strain. Hopefully he'll be alright, but you have to wonder if this injury stemmed from the ball Mauer hit in Minnesota that ricocheted off of him. They then brought in Sergio Mitre who didn't get it done. After Mitre, it was Marte for 3 pitches, who did his job. That's where Girardi got cute bringing in Joba Chamberlain with a 10-6 lead and he did not fair well at all. Joba would give up 4 runs on 4 hits, and gave the Indians a 12-10 lead! Then Russel Branyan hit a towering homer of Chad Gaudin in the 8th. The Yanks would get one back in the 9th off of an rbi double by Derek Jeter. The Yanks would lose 13-11 to Cleveland in a game that featured 412 total pitches. Not how the Yanks and there fans thought this one would play out.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Back to Earth..For Now
It appears Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner are indeed human after all. After unbelievably hot starts to the season by the rookie catcher and second year outfielder, both have tapered off quite dramatically. With the excruciatingly high number of injuries on this team, the youth and reserves need to play at a high level day in and day out. However, back-up players are not used to carrying as much weight as these guys have had to do. While I'm sure Cervelli and Gardner will pick it back up sooner or later, its pretty unlikely they will do it at the pace they were before.
At this rate, the Yanks are still able to win around 96 games, (and in the AL East that could still only be second place) but they are going to have to get back to doing what they did throughout April, and that's pitching well, as well as getting runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs across the plate. The Yankees have indeed had a tough schedule thus far. Only 4 out of 10 different opponents they have played have losing records (Angels, Orioles, Mets, White Sox.) The Mets and Angels are definitely better than there records show as well and are both still tough to play on the road. Plus the Yanks have already played multiple series' against Boston, Tampa Bay, and are now getting ready to square up against the Minnesota Twins for the 4th, 5th, and 6th time of the year over the next 3 days.
The Yanks will then return home and face the Indians for 4 games and the Orioles for 3, should be a favorable homestand. The month of June should be good to the Yankees, getting guys back from injury and facing only 3 teams with winning records as of now. With Curtis Granderson's resurgance in sights, I think all Yankee fans will not take him for granted after we've had to fill his spot with the likes of Randy Winn against right handed pitchers and minor league infielder Kevin Russo against left handers. The Yanks need big Tex to get back to what he's been doing for most of this month and Robby Cano to get back to what he was doing all of April, getting rbi's, but remember it always starts with good pitching..
At this rate, the Yanks are still able to win around 96 games, (and in the AL East that could still only be second place) but they are going to have to get back to doing what they did throughout April, and that's pitching well, as well as getting runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs across the plate. The Yankees have indeed had a tough schedule thus far. Only 4 out of 10 different opponents they have played have losing records (Angels, Orioles, Mets, White Sox.) The Mets and Angels are definitely better than there records show as well and are both still tough to play on the road. Plus the Yanks have already played multiple series' against Boston, Tampa Bay, and are now getting ready to square up against the Minnesota Twins for the 4th, 5th, and 6th time of the year over the next 3 days.
The Yanks will then return home and face the Indians for 4 games and the Orioles for 3, should be a favorable homestand. The month of June should be good to the Yankees, getting guys back from injury and facing only 3 teams with winning records as of now. With Curtis Granderson's resurgance in sights, I think all Yankee fans will not take him for granted after we've had to fill his spot with the likes of Randy Winn against right handed pitchers and minor league infielder Kevin Russo against left handers. The Yanks need big Tex to get back to what he's been doing for most of this month and Robby Cano to get back to what he was doing all of April, getting rbi's, but remember it always starts with good pitching..
Sunday, April 25, 2010
You gotta read this..DEEP
A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.
He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.
After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble... At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.
When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.
When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'
'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.. 'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.
Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up. 'The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked.
'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'
The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'
'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'
'How about my friend here?' the traveler gestured to the dog..
'There should be a bowl by the pump.'
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.
'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.
'This is Heaven,' he answered.
'Well, that's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'
'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell.'
'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'
'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'
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