Aug 31, 2010

Gotta break the record-breaking tie!

It’s the last day of August and the Yankees and Rays have been tied for first place in the AL East for a record eight straight days now! Exciting? Yes! But something Yankees fans could probably do to live without? For sure.

Not to take anything away from the Rays, who are playing great baseball, but if this is the Yankees team that’s going to be donning the pinstripes one month from now, they may not be division champions. 15-13 isn’t a bad record for September when you’re resting your best players and preparing for a championship run, but when you’re in the middle of a penant race, and your division rival goes 17-11 in that same month, it’s not acceptable for August!

Of their 13 losses, five of them came in games where the starting pitcher had allowed four runs by the 4th inning. After going 3-1 in July with a 2.00 ERA, A.J. Burnett went 0-4 in August with a 7.80 ERA. In three of Burnetts’ five starts he gave up at least six earned runs. This is the Yankees’ number two pitcher! With Andy Pettitte recovering from an injury, Burnett’s more important than just a number two pitcher and has left Joe Girardi with very little to be confident in.

Aside from the stress derived from Burnett, Yankees Universe has to be sick of Javier Vazquez and his inconsistencies as well. After going 3-0 with a 3.54 ERA in July, Vazquez stunk it up and lost his spot in the rotation going 1-2 with a 5.96 ERA in August. Vazquez pitched 4 and 2/3 innings in relief against Oakland last night and recorded a win, but is one outing enough to feel better about the Yankees second most inconsistent pitcher after the mediocrity he's returned to in New York this season?

It’s not quite a crisis for the Yanks yet, but they cannot enter the playoffs with CC Sabathia being the only pitcher they can trust to win them a big game. Phil Hughes and Dustin Moseley both had winning records in August but neither one of them have significant playoff experience. Ivan Nova has looked impressive in two starts, but these are the first two starts of his career! Then there's Pettite, the 38-year old is having the best season he's had since he pitched in the National League, can he return from his groin injury and be as lights out as he was before he went down? All I know is the Yankees can’t depend on a rookie and a veteran coming off of an injury to get them through the playoffs.

Not to say that the guys that are getting wins for the Yankees can't do it in the playoffs, but they aren’t the team that won in the playoffs last season, and they have never been in a big situation like they currently are. The odds most likely aren’t in the favor of a Sabathia, Nova, Moseley rotation come October. The Bats have been swinging, and there’s still an A-Bomb to return to the lineup, but as the Yankees proved all last decade, the bats don’t win in October.

Aug 25, 2010

Who’s Darrelle Revis?

Why is it that the most talked about subject at Jets’ training camp is a person that isn’t even there? Not a person that was traded or let go, but a person who made a personal decision to not show up. We’re talking about a person who has three years left on his rookie contract, which he signed just three years ago.

This is a Jets team that was one half of football away from playing in the Superbowl last season. This team has one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, the most controversial coach in football, and Vincent Chase’s stunt double at quarterback. For a team that fields a 53-man roster, you mean to tell me that one player, a cornerback (not quarterback), can make or break a teams chance of being the best in the league?

Quite frankly, yes. Darrelle Revis is that good and should be paid. So please, Woody Johnson, open up your wallet to put the Jets over the top as more than a B-class organization, and let your team give their fans an opportunity at their first championship in over 40 years. Revis could be the difference between the Jets having the best defense in the NFL and the Jets having the best defense in the history of the NFL.

If for nothing else, the world is tired of hearing about this story. It’s negative publicity for the Jets and a distraction toward what could be a very special year. This team can not risk letting another home grown great just leave, it sends a bad message to the locker room to continuously have John Abraham-like situations. Successful organizations reward the guys who better your franchise, and Revis is the best of the best. They paid D’brick, they paid Mangold, now it’s time to pay Revis and David Harris and make a run at championships!

Aug 21, 2010

Go New York, Go New York, Go!

Amar’e was wrong, the Knicks aren’t back. If Carmelo Anthony is at the center of a press conference in the immediate future, sporting the orange and blue, then maybe STAT’s statement wasn’t too far off…but for right now it’s safe to say the Knicks are still very much a work in progress.

With that said, the summer of 2010 has been a successful summer for the Knicks. Sure, LeBron and Wade are going to be playing together in South Beach instead of 45 minutes from Rockaway Beach, but anyone that thought LeBron was coming to New York was truly dreaming. To put things in perspective, the Knicks got the best big man available, the best point guard they’ve had since Doc Rivers (sorry Steph), a real up-and-comer who has been said to be on the same level talent-wise as guys like Michael Beasley and Lamar Odom, and several role players who should thrive in Mike D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense.

Will they be a playoff team? Maybe. Will they be better than they’ve been the last five seasons? Definitely. While Knicks fans are probably a little sad to see David Lee go, they now have three players capable of grabbing rebounds instead of one undersized big. David Lee is probably the only real Knick since Allan Houston, but in all due respect, that’s less because of David Lee’s capabilities and more because of the lack of talent the Knicks have showcased over the last decade. And while the names filling out the Knicks roster spots this year aren’t overly impressive, they’re the guys that Donnie Walsh and D’Antoni feel comfortable running with.

It took two years for Walsh and D’Antoni to overhaul the overrated, overpaid roster that he who shall not be mentioned put together, and they deserve a chance to work with the guys that they actually brought in. And while it doesn’t seem that this team is the team they have in mind for the long haul, they have some good pieces that will contribute and give New York a different feel.

Amar’e Stoudemire is something the Knicks have never had. Yes, he’s 25, has had two major knee operations and a freak eye injury but he’s no Antonio McDyess. He isn’t made of glass, he isn’t soft, and he isn’t afraid of the challenge of playing in New York. He is athletic, he is VERY skilled, he is familiar with D’Antoni’s offense, and he has experience playing in meaningful games. I can’t lie, I’m a little nervous about his knee, but after the surgeries he’s had he hasn’t skipped a beat. Every season STAT comes back better, more aggressive, and hungrier. He wants to be one of the best in the NBA and plays like it, unlike another big who relies on twitter and youtube for publicity, but has only been to the playoffs twice in seven seasons and has never won anything, and also plays away from the basket because he’s the softest 6-11 in basketball (cough Chris Bosh cough). Amar’e is in another league than David Lee and is the most talented player the Knicks have had since Patrick Ewing, straight up.

Speaking of David Lee, while it’s sad that he wasn’t in the Knicks future plans, Donnie Walsh made a great move by signing him and trading him to Golden State. They lost a very good Knick, but got back Kelenna Azubuike who is a well-rounded wing player coming off of knee surgery, Ronnie Turiaf who is a less skilled but more athletic Charles Oakley, and Anthony Randolph who really is the wild card of this trade. As I mentioned earlier, Randolph’s name has been thrown around with the likes of Lamar Odom and Michael Beasley as he’s a taller player, but very athletic and very skilled. Randolph’s entering his third year in the league and many believe he’s due to breakout, especially playing for offensive friendly Mike D’Antoni.

And then there’s Raymond Felton. As many remember, Felton was the third point guard drafted in the 2005 draft after Chris Paul and Deron Williams. And while Paul and Williams have become probably the two best point guards in the NBA, Felton’s almost faded into obscurity in Charlotte. Although you don’t hear much about him, his numbers haven’t been bad and maybe a change of scene is all he needed. He won in college and with the freedom of the 7 seconds or less offense you have to like he chances of being more effective, I mean, Chris Duhon averaged 12 and 8 in this system and he’s Chris Duhon. Even though he isn’t the best shooter, Felton will have other shooters on the floor with him so he isn’t pressured to shoot like other D’Antoni guards have in the past.

The Knicks will also bring back emerging youngsters like Toney Douglas, Bill Walker, Wilson Chandler, and 2008 lottery-pick Danilo Gallinari, to go with big men Earl Barron and Eddy Curry's contract. Hoping to learn from this core of veterans will be second round draft picks Andy Rautins, a good shooter who's JJ Redick at best, Landry Fields, a Pac-10 superstar who will probably fill the role of hustling rookie, and Jerome Jordan, who probably won't see the floor if he even makes the team.

When you add up all the pieces it doesn't quite equal 90's New York basketball, but this team has to give Knicks fans a hope that they're in for better days. The roster is still a work in progress, and with how aggressive Walsh has been, days are definitely brighter in the basketball mecca of the world. That is, as long as he who shall not be mentioned stays out of the picture.