Grateful Gooner

There seem to be dark forces at work…

// October 5th, 2007 // No Comments » // Baseball, New York Rangers and New York Yankees

So, in the span of 48 hours, the Phillies have lost their first two NLDS games by a combined score of 14 – 7, the Yankees got crushed by Cleveland 12-3 in their opening ALDS game, the Red Sox won their opener and the Cubs have dropped two to the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks!

Jimmy Rollins seems to be the only Phillie who realizes that the season didn’t actually end on Sunday, and that there’s a hell of a lot more work to do. Rollins was responsible for all of the Phillies runs yesterday apart from a Ryan Howard solo shot.

Chase Utley is 2-9 with five strikeouts, including a National League record four strikeouts in game one. Is it a case of the pressure getting to the young Phillies?

How to explain what happened to the Yankees last night? I think I can in seven words; Chien Ming Wang’s sinker; Joe Torre; CC Sabathia. Wang’s sinker was nowhere to be found, and all of his pitches stayed up in the zone, making life very easy for the Indian hitters. Joe Torre seemed to give up way too early by going with unproven rookie relievers in the 5th inning. Did he forget this is a FIVE game series? As for Sabathia, well, the likely Cy Young winner had great stuff last night, and was able to keep the Yankees at bay. Can Andy Pettitte pull the Yanks level tonight? History’s on his side, but then his last few starts were less than stellar. I guess we’ll know by 8 pm tonight.

The only silver lining last night was the return of the NHL. A four goal explosion in the third period gave the Rangers a 5-2 win over the visiting Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden. Chris Drury scored in his debut for the team, setting the pace for a dominant Rangers performance.  I signed up for NHL Center Ice so I was able to catch some of it when flipping back and forth from the Yanks.   I’m really looking forward to watching some great hockey during the dead of winter, and all indications are that the Rangers are going to build on last year’s exciting play and truly contend for the Stanley Cup come June.

Rangers sign Gomez & Drury

// July 2nd, 2007 // 1 Comment » // New York Rangers

In what could prove to be a banner day for the club, the Rangers signed both Scott Gomez AND Chris Drury to free-agent contracts yesterday, the first day of free-agent availability for both players.

Gomez, 27, comes from the arch-rival Devils, and Drury, 30, arrives from the Sabres, who beat the Rangers in a tough six game Conference semi-final this past season. Both players are centers, meaning that Michael Nylander will not be back. Gomez will probably center Brendan Shanahan’s line, while Drury will line up on the first scoring line with Jaromir Jagr.

This is very exciting news. I didn’t know how much of a chance we had in getting either player, let alone both. To get them both is a major coup.

Brian Leetch Retires

// May 24th, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Rangers

After an 18 year career, 16 of those with the Rangers, Brian Leetch has decided to hang up his skates. Leetch started his career with the Rangers in 1986 when he was drafted out of Boston College. He made his first start for the Rangers in 1988, and was part of the US Olympic team that year (and again in 1998 & 2002).

Leetch was part of the storied 1994 Rangers team that won the Stanley Cup after a 54-year drought. In a playoff run that included the amazing goal-keeping of Mike Richter, not to mention Mark Messier’s hat-trick in game 6 of the Conference Finals against the Devils – a game Messier guaranteed the Rangers would win, it was Leetch’s play that drew the most praise, earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff’s best player.

The 10 time All-Star and 2 time Norris Trophy winner (best defenseman), scored 247 goals with 781 assists for 1,028 points, making him one of only seven NHL defensemen with at least 1,000 career points.

My favorite player of that 1994 team, Leetch’s was the first jersey I ever got. I was very disappointed when the Rangers decided to let him go a few years ago, and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors.

Sabres 5 – 4 Rangers

// May 6th, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Rangers

Unable to recover from the horrible collapse of Friday night, the Rangers were out gunned by the Sabres to crash out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this afternoon. Four goals in the second period did the damage as Buffalo now moves on to the Eastern Conference finals against the Ottawa Senators. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the Rangers were in every one of these games except game one, and that bodes well for the future.

Sabres 2 – 1 Rangers

// May 4th, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Rangers

7.7 seconds. 7.7 feckin’ seconds. 7.7 seconds.

Rangers 2 – 1 Sabres

// May 2nd, 2007 // No Comments » // New York Rangers

Henrik Lundqvist’s pad save from a Donald Briere shot with just 13.4 seconds left in the third period of last night’s game four preserved a 2-1 win for the Rangers, and evened the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-finals at two games a piece.

Game five takes place Friday night in Buffalo, and coverage will begin @ 7 on Versus.