Yankees Lose to TB, Rangers sit Tight

Well, the Yankees let one slip away last night, after Randy Johnson pitched very well after missing one start because of a back spasms in his last start two weeks ago. Mariano Rivera wound up blowing a save his 2nd in 3 games after 31 straight saves. They wound up losing the game in 11 innings after Alan Embree and Scott Proctor loaded the bases with Devil Rays and then walking Jonny Gomes for the walk-off walk to end the game. If the Yankees wind up missing the playoffs, which they should based upon their play recently, by less than 7 games, then I know where to lay the blame. They were swept in 3 games in KC at the end of May, and beginning of June. They have gone 4-8 so far against Tampa Bay, and that should be at least 8-4 instead. So that right there is a 7 game turn around that would/should/could have turned things around and put them much closer to the Red Sox in the standings. Now one of my work colleagues pointed out that you can’t look at individual games over a course of a season as a measure of how a team performs, and generally I agree with this assessment. However in the theory that good teams are supposed to be beat the not so good teams, you can point directly to these two relatively bad teams (TB and KC) and say if the Yankees were good or better then they are, then they should have won these games against these lower division teams. At the end of the season, I am going to be pointing back to these two series and say that was the difference in the season.

On the flip side, the Red Sox have been smoking for the past few weeks, and don’t look to be slowing down. If the playoffs started today, they should go 11-0 or close to it. Luckily the playoffs don’t start today, and I can only hope that they will fall back into the old Red Sox ways and slow down in September that will carry over into October. I still think the Red Sox will win the division and more than likely make it to the ALCS, but I would like it to be competitive. It looks like the White Sox are going to walk away with the Central and the A’s and Angels are fighting for the division and wild card, not sure what will happen since I doubt either team will want to face Boston in the first round and might position themselves to play the White Sox instead. In the NL, Tony LaRusso should be fired if the Cardinals do not make the World Series and be at least competitive (6 or 7 games) this year, if not win it all.. They are obviously the cream of the crop in the NL, with the Braves looking for a record 14th straight divisional championship in the East, and no one in the west looking to take charge, though I would bet the Padres wound up with the title, as potentially the first team with a sub-.500 record to win a division, since the strike shortened season of 1994, when the Texas Rangers were in first place 10 games under .500 when the work stoppage occurred. The Astros will take the wildcard in NL and be a force to reckon with as their starters are the cream of the crop with Clemens, Oswalt and now Pettite back from injury and finally looking like he used to when he was a Yankee.

But truth be told, if the Yankees don’t make the playoffs, I probably won’t watch, since the NY Rangers will be back starting October 5 against Philadelphia Flyers (I predict a loss for the Broadway Boys) and hockey will be starting up again with every team in action that night. I see they resigned Tom Poti, a man who never seemed ready to accept the spotlight left when Brian Leetch was traded. He will now be the main man on the point for the Rangers power play, along with Darius Kasper-minus (thank you WFAN Steve Somers) leading the second D-line. According to espn.com, the Rangers still have only 8 forwards and 6 defensemen under NHL contract. It seems like a solid first line with 3 Czechs, with Martin Straka, Jaromir Jagr and Martin Ruchinsky. The second line presumably will be a kid line with Jamie Lundmark centering Garth Murray and Jason Ward. I am not sure who is going to be on the 3rd and 4th line but I guess time will tell. The defense is stacked with big powerful guys in Dale Purinton and Marek Malik, and a speedy Russian Fedor Tyutin.

I know that they will fill some of the roster spots with kids from Hartford, and there are 200 unsigned free agents, but I think Sather and company could be doing more to generate buzz in NYC and getting fans ready for hockey. If the NHL has any hopes of rising from the ashes, they need a strong product in Manhattan, for as good as the Devil’s have been the past 10 years (3 Stanley Cup championships) and for the feel good story the Islanders have been recently, the overall face of hockey in New York remains the Rangers. I don’t think it is a coincidence that hockey popularity peaked in 1994, when the Rangers finally won the Cup. Gary Bettman, who should have quit or been fired like Bob Goodenow, needs to light a fire under the Ranger organization to make a splash, to give fans something to talk about and get excited.