WEST PITTSTON, PA – For a sports weekend the started with a downer Friday night when the New York Yankees coughed up a huge lead to the Cleveland Indians in Game 2 and carried into Saturday and Sunday with disappointing losses by the Oregon Ducks and Buffalo Bills, respectively, there was just a glimmer of bright light Sunday night.
What a performance by Masahiro Tanaka, Greg Bird and the Yankees. Live to play another day.
Here’s a fresh batch of Ebs’ Hot Takes. Enjoy.
Masahiro Tanaka proved me right. Remember my very first Yankees hot take of the season? I know Angry Ward does.
It was that Masahiro Tanaka would win the AL Cy Young. While I was off on that one, Tanaka proved he has that Cy Young ability in Sunday night’s win.
Pitching seven frames of three-hit baseball, he was lights out. Again.
Tanaka’s last six starts at Yankee Stadium: 5-1, 1.29 ERA (42 IP, 6 ER, 57 K).
Gary Sanchez tweeted “Every great story happened when someone decided not to give up,” Saturday afternoon.
"Every great story happened when someone decided not to give up."
— Gary Sanchez (@ElGarySanchez) October 7, 2017
Yankees in five.
The Buffalo Bills aren’t there yet. I know it’s not like me to not make bold predictions and such. Especially with the Bills. These are hot takes after all.
However, Sunday’s disappointing loss was yet another reason for caution with the Bills. And yet they’re still in first place.
This defense is for real. There’s no denying that.
However, the offense is so bad. Buffalo was down its top-two pass catchers and couldn’t move the ball if the world depended on it. The Bills forced three turnovers and had a monster punt return, yet all they could muster was 16 points.
Not good.
Luckily for the Bills, they have five straight winnable games ahead of them after the bye.
The New York Jets will finish with a better record than the New York Giants. Yes, I know the New York Jets hold a three-game lead over the New York Giants.
So this might not be too bold, but on paper this Giants team is much, much better. A team I thought could win the NFC East. That was until Sunday.
Not only did the Giants blow a fourth-quarter lead against the then-winless Los Angeles Chargers, but they took a huge hit while doing so.
As much as Odell Beckham Jr. can be a pain, you hate to see a player’s season cut short with an injury. Especially considering how talented OBJ is.
But then they lost Dwayne Harris, their starting kick returner, to a season-ending injury. Both Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepard got banged up too.
The Jets still have a couple of games left against the Miami Dolphins, while that NFC East is going to be tough to get through for the Giants.
It’s going to be close!
Come back tomorrow for Ben Whitney and please follow us on Twitter at @ByDJEberle, @MeetTheMatts & @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
