NY Yankees: Signs of life… and yeah, Covid is still around. And in the shocking news department, Stanton is injured. Whaaaat? No way! But, Judge is back big time. A lot is going on for the Yankees. I think the Covid count still stands at 8 as of this writing. Seven are members of the coaching staff and mostly show no symptoms, thanks to the vax, but the 8th is Geyber Torres. There have been no new cases since Thursday. Let’s hope it stays that way. Other than a clunker against the Rays Thursday night, the Yankees won the rest of their games this week including 2 against the aforementioned Rays and 2 against the Nats highlighted by a thrilling 4-3 extra inning win over Scherzer and his 14 Ks. The Yankees beat the O’s last night despite having 7 players in the lineup who were batting .200 or less on the season. Weird friggin times.
NY Mets: The Mets also had themselves a heckuva week. last night’s heartbreaking loss agains the Rays was the only blemish. The news isn’t all rosy however, as deGrom had to leave Sunday’s game with right side tightness (whatever that is). But not before striking out 6 in 5 innings while giving up one hit and going 1-2 at the plate, raising his batting average to .467. There are no words to describe his greatness. Lindor meanwhile fell below the Mendoza Line once again. But who cares. The Mets are in first place!
NY Rangers: The fallout continued this week as Coach Quinn was fired along with three of his assistant coaches. And Brian Leetch resigned from his team operations post. Two big questions are out there: 1) Who will the Rangers hire as HC; Torts, Gallant, Babcock, Tocchet, or that Knoblauch fella from Hartford who filled admirably during the Covid stretch? 2) Will the Rangers try to get Eichel this off-season? My instincts say no to Torts v.2 and yes to Gallant. And I think the rebuild is officially over and the the rangers will get Eichel. Also, I read an article that reminded Rangers fans to root for the Caps in the playoffs because King Hank is there and he deserves a Stanley Cup. That may be true and I’m a huge Hank fan, but I hate the Caps and Tom Wilson more, so no, I will not root for them. Ever!
NY lslanders: Speaking of the playoffs, the Islanders get ready to square off against Crosby and the Pens. It will be an interesting matchup of the Isles’ strong defense against the Pens’ high-powered offense. Let’s see how far Varlamov and Barzal can carry this team. A lot of pundits say that the Isles have the best chance of all the #4 seeds to go deep into the playoffs. I believe them.
NY Knicks: Only three games were played by the Knicks this week. But they were all big. First there was an extremely impressive win against the Clippers in LA. Rose played like it was 2011 again, leading the team in both points (25) and assists (8). Then there was the OT loss soul-crusher agains the Lebron-less Lakers. AD and Kuzma were too much for them unfortunately. Then we heard boos Thursday night at the Garden with the Knicks down 17 agains the Spurs in the 3rd Q. The Knicks responded though and went on a 20-6 run. The hero of this game was none other than Alec Burks and his 30 points. The Knicks are in a battle with the Hawks and Heat for those coveted 4 and 5 seeds. The 6th seed will out likely have to face the Bucks in the 1st round. Not fun.
Brooklyn Nets: The Nets followed up their impressive win over the Nuggets in Denver last Saturday with wins against the Bulls and the Spurs this week. But the best news of the week for the Nets was the return of James Harden against the Spurs. And get this… he had 11 assists in the game. That ties the amount of assists he had all last season. Just kidding. Actually, many people see Harden as just a shooter, but he is actually averaging 10.7 assists a games this season so far. The Nets remain in 2nd place in the East.
NY Giants: So Toney showed up to rookie camp with the wrong shoes and practiced for a bit with only one shoe. These are the kind of stories that a Hall of Fame will look back on and laugh about during the induction ceremony. Or one the critics and press will call a prescient sign looking back at a failed career as a bust. I’m hoping for that funny story version. The 2021 schedule came out and the Giants will open the season against the Broncos at home September 12th. And we will have to wait all the way until November 28th to get our hands on DeVonta Smith and the hated Tankles.
NJ Jets: Wow, the schedulers did not mess around with this one. The Jets will open the season against Sam Darnold and the Panthers September 12th In Carolina. Might as well just get it out of the way from the scratch. Zach Wilson will learn all about NY pressure right from the start. Should be a good experience for the young man. Thank goodness for Zach that the game is in Carolina. Could you imagine the fan reaction if he throws 3 INTs while Sam throws 3 TDs in the 1st half? Ouch.
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