New York, NY – Its almost June, the heat is officially here and some things that once looked so promising have gone south faster than Canada geese in October. And in the case of the Rangers, things ended in a fiery wreck that saw coach John Tortorella lose his job.
At the trade deadline, the Rangers shipped Marian Gaborik to sunny Columbus for a few Tortorella-type players. I guess this was Torts’ last chance to get the Rangers to the finals. With Marc Staal on the shelf and Stralman going down early in the Bruins series, the Broadway Blueshirts never stood a chance. They were forced to play defensemen that, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t find a spot on a preseason roster, let alone a playoff roster. A lot of things would have had to go the Rangers’ way to beat a tough Bruins team with a healthy roster. Unfortunately the dasher board that broke Anton Stralman’s face also broke the Rangers’ back.
I liked Tortorella and I though he was a good fit for the Rangers. But allegedly, a lot of the players, and some of the more high profile ones, disagreed. In the end I think a change at the top may be good for the Broadway Blueshirts and I’m not really that upset to see the back of Tortorella. Kreider should probably have played a lot more and that is on Tortorella. It will be interesting to see what the Rangers do with Brad Richards now that Torts is out of the picture. Something has to give. They can’t leave an assistant captain out in the cold forever.
Good luck to Cheesy’s Bruins as they take on the Penguins in the Eastern Finals. It should be a good series between two teams with different styles. The big, physical Bruins versus a Penguins team with all the skill in the world. I think the Penguins take this series in six as Crosby goes from strength to strength.
In the Bronx, the Yankees just got their pinstripes handed to them by the Mets. The Yanks havent been beaten that badly since the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776. Coming into this series, the Bombers were flying high in first place in the AL East while the Mets were free falling towards the cellar of the National League. The Yankee bats have gone cold. Vernon Wells started the season on fire and now he couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo. CC Sabathia has lost his form, if not his ginormous waistline. Even Mo blew a save to a Mets team that makes the Bad News Bears look like the Gashouse Gorillas.
The Yanks get Youkilis and Teixeira back tonight. Just in time for the Bosox visit to the Stadium. As a Yankee fan, I’m just happy this subway series nonsense is over so we can get back to real baseball. Pettitte will be back soon also. Hopefully this gets the Yanks back to winning ways. I’m still not convinced that this is a playoff team. But we’ll see if they can keep afloat until the rest of the walking wounded come back into the fold.
Hopefully June begins a lot better than May is ending.
