“My body was going one way, leg the other way and I had an impact on my hip. So we’ll take some time here to get some treatment and heal.” –Not Tim Tebow
MARLBORO, NY – Sometimes in the sports world, as in life, things aren’t always as though they appear. Three noteworthy topics all dealing with local teams give me something which to opine. The trifecta include the Henrik Lundqvist Injury, Tim Tebow Tryout and the blazing-hot New York Yankees.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Heimlich, I mean Henrik, together again. And so we have word that The King of No Cups is on the shelf for two to three weeks with a “a muscle strain in his hip.” I am talking about the New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundquist who seems to have tweaked himself somewhere from the waist down during the Blueshirts 5-2 win over Florida this past week. And Eddie Shore once sent Joe McGrath of the Charlestown Chiefs a terrible masturbator… but I digress.
Serendipitously, the Rangers now turn to the better statistical net-minder on their team, Antti Raanta, whom has seen an unusual number of starts (20) for an understudy at this juncture. Moreover, Raanta betters his counterpart in GAA 2.32 to 2.65, Save % .922 to .913. and has three shutouts to The King’s two. Not so coincidental is the timetable for Lundquist’s return of one week prior to the start of the playoffs, giving him the necessary rest a 35 year-old needs at this point.
In my estimation the Rangers are also unwilling in giving up the first wild card slot, which guarantees a softer opponent than the one they would face in the 2 vs. 3 divisional match-up in the Metropolitan. They are almost a lock with a 12-point lead for that spot and have no thoughts of finishing higher, so the timing of this whole injury thing is a bit fishy.
“Gosh, I was trying to hit a dinger and win it. I so wanted to… For me that’s honestly I still have to work on, ‘Oh grit your teeth and go to work.’ I was talking to Jay (Bruce) for a while about it, ‘Breathe Tim, just breathe, be smooth.’ So many little things to work on.” -Tim Tebow
The Tim Tebow Experiment is all but over after God’s favorite son went 0-7 with three strikeouts and nary a bit of contact with the ball during his two-game Spring Training tryout. Tryout? Is that what they’re calling it when an Instructional League, Member of the Flock, makes the jump all the way to the Big Leagues? He never had a chance and every sports fan knows it was just a ploy by the Wilponzis to make a little extra dough down in Port St. Lucie, via more asses in the seats and jersey sales. No matter how much he sounds like the Dalai Lama in his experience, Tim Tee-ball being given a shot means there are at least one or two players worthy of a chance who didn’t get it because of this publicity stunt. If I’m one those prospects I’m pissed-off for being undercut by The Tebow Whiff.
The New York Yankees lead all of Spring Training with a 13-3 record, I know they have the most championship trophies in the Majors but can we wait until July before anointing them with another title? Some of their fans (DJ Eberle, Ben Whitney, Buddy Diaz) would have you think – based upon Grapefruit League play – it’s in the bag. It’s called the Exhibition Season for a reason.
That’s it. Please comment below and come back tomorrow for Misinformed Bombers Backer DJ Eberle. And please follow us on Twitter – @CheesyBruin & @MeetTheMatts, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matt.
