NEW YORK, NY – Last night was a rough one for both the Yankees and NY Rangers. The Bombers were overpowered by a fresh and hungry Indians squad. The Rangers overpowered the Colorado Avalanche… and still managed to lose. It was a night of MLB and NHL Sports Hell.
The Yankees couldn’t touch Trevor Bauer. They didn’t have a hit until the fifth or sixth inning. They only managed three hits all game. Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player candidate Aaron Judge went for the golden sombrero last night, striking out four times in four at-bats. Sonny Gray only lasted 3.1 innings, giving up three runs before heading for an early shower.
The bombers will need to regroup for game 2 later this afternoon. Corey Kluber will look to give the Indians a commanding 2-0 lead. The Yanks should look to spoil the party. Hopefully Aaron Judge can make contact at least once. Baby steps. CC Sabathia will take the mound in what could be the last start of his career. Sabathia has had a decent season but he will need a lot of help from the bats today to prolong his careerIt’s been a good ride for Ol’ Cheeseburger, but it’s time to call it a career. He’s been a good Yankee and he’s got one ring to show for it. 
He’ll need to pitch the game of his career if he want’s a shot at another ring. First pitch is a few minutes after 5pm. Hopefully CC can keep the Bombers in it for five innings and the bats will wake up. Its a tough ask against Kluber.
On the ice…
The Rangers played really well but still lost to a Colorado Avalanche team that finished dead last in the Western Conference and 46 points out of the last Wild Card slot. The Rangers shipped two goals in the first period as Lundqvist showed some early rust. Mika Zibanejad bulged the onion bag twice on the power play to tie the game up. In the end the Blueshirts were done in by too many odd-man rushes and a stellar performance by Avs goalie Sergei Varlamov. It should have been a game for the Blueshirts to test out the new parts and bank two points before heading up to Toronto for a Saturday night match-up against a very good Maple Leafs team.
The Broadway Blues played especially well in the third period last night, but couldn’t find the equalizer. There were good signs from the Blueshirts in the losing effort. Zibanejad opening his account after signing the big contract. Kevin Shattenkirk showed what the Rangers power play can be. Special teams is one area where the Rangers needed a lot of improvement and it looks early on like they’ve made considerable progress in that regard.
Saturday night’s game against the Leafs will be a stern test. We’ll see what the Rangers really have. Filip Chytil made the squad out of training camp and will be looking to create goals for Nash and Zuccarello. He’ll need to keep his head up as there have been signs of his age in preseason. The hits will be unforgiving if he doesn’t protect himself.
BUT…
Lets take a mulligan on last night. Hopefully both the Yanks and Rangers can set things right. We’ll see tonight what the Yankees have. Hopefully, they have more than three hits in them.
That’s it for now. Please come back tomorrow for the winner of the MTM Saturday Scribe Slot.
