NEW YORK, NY – It was a pretty good week for the Bronx Bombers. They took three of four from the defending World Series Champion Kansas City Royals. Granted, they are still in last place in the AL East and well below .500. But there are some signs of life for the Yankees who have under-performed – even by the low expectations coming out of the Grapefruit League.
Before surging to the playoffs, the Yankees will have to tread water while they deal with the injury bug that has been striking their geriatric roster for years. Alex Rodriguez is on the DL, and Jacoby “Carl Pavano II” Ellsbury could join him sometime soon. Ellsbury is nursing a hip injury and hasn’t played in a week. He’s started running so he might avoid a stint on the DL. We’ll see. Mark “Mr. Glass” Teixeira returned to the lineup from his own injury last night and promptly sent his batting average onto the interstate. It’s only a matter of time before he’s injured again.
One bright spot for the Yanks is the return of Aroldis Chapman from his suspension for a domestic violence incident last year. The Yankees know their starting rotation is not built to give the team seven innings every night so they loaded up the back end of the bullpen. It will be interesting to see if the Bombers can get back in the playoff race with Betances, Miller, and Chapman shoring up the back end of the bullpen.
Over in Queens, the Mets are proving that the best offense is a good offense. The Bash Brothers, Bartolo Colon and Noah Syndergaard helped their own causes this week with the bats. Thor managed to hit two dingers against the Dodgers, which is one more home run and one more extra base hit than Yankee third baseman Chase Headley has all season so far. The Amazin’s are now tied with the Washington Nationals atop the NL East, after last night’s capitulation to the Dodgers.
Speaking of choking teams from Washington, on the ice the Pittsburgh Penguins unfortunately continued their march towards their inevitable Stanley Cup victory, by defeating the Washington Capitals in six games. Now the Pens face the Tampa Bay Lighting who are appearing in their second straight Eastern Conference Final after putting Tall Matt’s Brooklyn Islanders to the sword. I don’t think the Bolts have much of a chance in the series but hopefully I’m wrong.
Out west, the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks won game 7 blowouts and will face off in the Western Conference Final. That series should be an all out war between two fast and physical teams. I’ll be rooting for the Blues. They were one of the original expansion teams, coming into the league in 1967 when the league went from six to twelve teams. In the 49 years since, they haven’t won a single Stanley Cup. I’m hoping they break that streak this year and leave [leaf] the Toronto Maple Leafs as the team with the longest active cup drought. The Leafs won their last Stanley Cup in 1967, the last season of the Original Six Era.
Thats it for me. Come back tomorrow for a guy that could dive into a pile of boobs and come out sucking his thumb, Junoir Blaber.
