NIAGARA FALLS, NY – Happy Monday, Yesterday was a classic Western New York “four seasons” day. We had rain like it was spring, snow like it was winter, you could see your breath like it was late autumn, and sunshine and green grass for a while that made you feel like it was summer. All miserable. But what was not all miserable was the weekend in New York sports. So today we’ll be talking about the week in review for the New York Mets, a New York Knicks update, and a Buffalo Sabres update.
NY Mets Week in Review
“11 losses in a row is diabolical.” That was the comment on YouTube that stuck with me. What makes it worse is that the Mets have the second-highest payroll in all of baseball, and what it’s gotten them is 11 losses in a row and dead last in the East. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the number one team in payroll, are looking dominant like the number one team in the West and clearing a path toward being number one overall.
And the Mets players who were let go and not given the money last season—like Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso—seem to be doing okay in their new digs. This 11-game slide has seen losses through all manners: poor hitting in pitcher’s duels, bad pitching in games where the team scores five or six runs (that includes starters and relievers), and errors from misplaying ground balls in the infield and misjudging balls in the outfield. Take your pick—it’s a different poison each game deciding how they will lose.
It’s still very, very early in the season, but if this slump is not broken soon, the Mets may need to win 75-80% of their games just to have a shot at the wild card.
NY Knicks Update
The Knicks did their best to rest up for the playoffs, and they played Game 1 at home against the Atlanta Hawks. A really strong performance—New York won by double digits. The Hawks are actually a pretty good first-round matchup for the Knicks. Although they’re athletic, they’re just too young and inconsistent, and they’re not playing in a position to be a serious problem for the Knicks.
Now the Knicks need to stay focused and keep using their full bench. I’m surprised Jose Alvarado isn’t getting more time down the stretch and isn’t in the playoff rotation, but anything can happen because the Knicks are a bit deep at the guard position. If the Knicks are smart, this is a gentleman’s sweep and it’s done in five.
Sabres Update
Before I talk about the game last night, I just want to point out that the Sabres are playing well again in the classic blue and gold with the old Buffalo and swords logo. For a while, when they first grew to prominence about 20 years ago, they started out with the classic logo, then went to what we in the Western New York area call the “goat head”—that’s also black, red, and white, and that was the era of Dominik Hasek and those guys. Then when that era was done, they tried to go back to the blue and gold but with a charging buffalo that was kindly referred to as the “slug” because that’s more of what it looked like. Then after the slug, they went back to the original logo. Not that the logo had anything to do with the return to the playoffs—it’s just interesting.
What did lead to the return to the playoffs is none other than Tage Thompson. That’s right, Cage but—with a “T” or Tag with an “e” at the end. However you want to mark this kid’s name, he has been the real deal, and yesterday he helped bring the team back from a deficit to a 4-3 win, with four points (two goals and two assists).
This version of the Sabres is different than previous versions. The last ones were built on very good defense, grinding forwards, fantastic goalkeeping, and clutch goals. Although the same can be said for clutch goals led by Thompson, this scoring line is just relentless pressure. Digging pucks out of the corner with their feet, recycling to the blue line, and working it around to take another shot—they keep coming. They’ve got solid goalkeeping and defending, but the thing you have to worry about with this team is that they are going to take their shots from far and from in close. They have a real “you can’t win if you don’t shoot” mentality, so even bad-angle shots are still worth a shot to them.
With this big-time back end in front of them, they set the tone against the Bruins—a team that they technically should beat. But this is the team’s first playoff game in 14 years, so a lot of them are new to the playoff pressure. One cool fact for us Western New York residents: the game started with a radio play-by-play call from Rick Jeanneret’s family beating the game drum. If you’re from this area, you know that Jeanneret is to Sabres hockey what Tim Russert was to Bills football. They still know how to keep it classy around here.
Thanks for coming. Stay tuned tomorrow for The Big Aristotle
