Comedian Vic DiBitetto, the man who made the famed "Bread and Milk" Video in 2013, and the creator of the "Ticked Off Vic" rants, is a fan of the Yankees and the New York Giants. I've never heard him mention hockey, but, given his Brooklyn origin, if he likes hockey at all, he's probably a New York Rangers fan. Well, everybody's entitled to one flaw.
I am a fan of the Yankees, and, for reasons I won't get into here, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Giants' arch-rivals. But I long ago reached the point where I had no problems with Giants fans, perhaps because they join us in our hatred of the Dallas Cowboys. Nor do I have problems with New York Jets fans, because they had the New England Patriots, and, as a Yankee Fan who hates the Boston Red Sox, I can relate.
When I was 12, the NHL version of the Colorado Rockies moved to the Meadowlands, and became the New Jersey Devils, and I became a fan of theirs. What team did I root for before that? The Rangers? No. Their regional arch-rivals, the Long Island-based New York Islanders? No. Not that far from me, in the other direction, the Philadelphia Flyers? No. All 3 were dirty teams, and I didn't like that. It was the Montreal Canadiens. The "Flying Frenchmen" were smooth, speedy, and classy, but still able to stand up for themselves when necessary, and they were the team that defined hockey in my youth, and indeed for the entire period from the late 1950s to the late 1970s.
The Canadiens have won only 2 Stanley Cups since 1979, none since 1993. The Devils went through 2 hard Playoff series with the Rangers, in 1992 and 1994, before winning their 1st Stanley Cup in 1995, and then again in 2000 and 2003. The Rangers' Cup of 1994 remains their only one since 1940, yet they act like it means more than the Canadiens' record of 24 Cups does.
The majority of people who are Yankee Fans from Spring to Autumn are also Ranger fans from Autumn to Spring. How can these people be so smart and reasonable half the year, and so dumb and jackassed the other half?
(As far as the other sports are concerned: To me, Devils fans seem to be about 3 to 1 Yankees to Mets, 5-1 Giants to Jets, and I can't judge their basketball fandom at all, because they don't seem to care about either the Knicks or the Nets all that much.)
The Devils, having made the Playoffs just once in the 10 years since reaching the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, which was their 1st since moving to the Prudential Center in downtown Newark in 2007, put together one of their finest regular seasons, and got the 2nd seed in the NHL's Eastern Conference. That gave them home-ice advantage over the 7th seed -- the Rangers, the Broadway Boozehounds, The Scum.
We'd beaten them in the Playoffs in 2006 (a sweep) and 2012 (Adam Henrique's double-overtime goal to clinch the Conference Finals a counterpoint to the Stephane Matteau goal that beat us in the same round in 1994), but they'd beaten us in 1992, 1994 (still the most crushing defeat in Devils history), 1997, and 2008 (the 1st Playoff series at the Prudential). So it's 2-4 against them in Playoff series.
Last night's Game 1 was good from an attendance standpoint: Normally, Ranger fans buy up tickets for the games between us, because it's close to Manhattan, cheaper than Madison Square Garden, and we usually don't sell out. The result is that it sounds like a Ranger home game in our building. Not this time: It was about 80 percent Devils fans.
But the game was a total wipeout. The Rangers are experienced, whereas most of the Devils are young, and hadn't played in a game this big. The Rangers won, 5-1, and the Devils were never really in it. They didn't make the effort, and they threw away the home-ice advantage. That ticked me off.
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Last night was also the 100th Anniversary of the opening of the original Yankee Stadium. Which, of course, is now gone. That ticks me off.
The new Yankee Stadium has had its moments. Last night was not one I'd like to remember. Once again, one of the injury-caused holes in the rotation came up, only to be filled by Clarke Schmidt, who can't pitch. He didn't get out of the 4th inning, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits, although he didn't walk anybody and struck out 5. Good control, bad command.
This included giving up a home run to Shohei Ohtani. For those of you who keep track of such things, on the night, Ohtani went 1-for-3, the hit being his 4th home run of the season, and 2 RBIs; Mike Trout went 2-for-4; and former Yankee Gio Urshela went 0-for-4 for the Halos.
Gerrit Cole gave the bullpen a day off on Sunday, and there was already a day off on Monday, and, perhaps sensing that his game was already lost, Aaron Boone gave the good relievers another day off last night, letting guys who had something to prove try to prove it. Greg Weissert got us out of the 4th. Ron Marinaccio pitched the 5th and the 6th, allowing an unearned run (albeit on his own throwing error). Jimmy Cordero pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th, and Albert Abreu a scoreless 9th. So, nice jobs done by some guys who needed to show they could do it. No ticking-me-off there.
But the Brian Cashman philosophy of "Bomb them out of the yard, and you don't have to pitch well" didn't get backed up last night. The Yankees left the bases loaded in the 1st inning, and did it again in the 2nd.
In the 4th, they responded to a 4-run Angels inning with 2 of their own, but neither RBI was a hit: Anthony Volpe drew a bases-loaded walk, the 3rd walk of the inning for Angel starter José Suarez, and Aaron Judge, whom the entire Stadium was hoping would hit a grand slam to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead, could only manage a sacrifice fly, and it was 4-2.
The Angels took a run back in the 5th. And, after the Judge sac fly, the only Yankee baserunner for the rest of the game was Oswaldo Cabrera beating out a grounder to 3rd in the 8th.
Angels 5, Yankees 2. WP: Andrew Wantz (1-0 -- Suarez didn't get out of the 4th, either, and the rule states that a starting pitcher has to go at least 5 innings to get credit for the win. SV: José Quijada (3). LP: Schmidt (0-1, but his ERA rose to 8.79, and his WHIP to 1.884).
The Yankees are 1-3 in games that Schmidt had started this season. In all other games, they are 9-4. This is what another comedian, Arsenio Hall, would have called one of things that make you go, "Hmmm... "
Losing. Seeing Clarke Schmidt as the starting pitcher. Not hitting. Not seeming to even make an effort. That's what ticks me off!
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Also last night, the Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-0 at Dodger Stadium. That did not tick me off, although I usually don't like seeing what I have come to start calling "The Los Angeles Baseball Team" win.
I point this out not to rub it in, but to point out that Clayton Kershaw, his Hall of Fame ticket pretty much already punched, pitched 7 innings of 3-hit ball, while 2 relievers finished the 4-hit shutout -- meaning the Mets got the same number of hits as the Yankees, albeit against a real starting pitcher.
I note it because it was the 200th win of Kershaw's career. With the way pitching is handled by MLB organizations today, we may not see many more 200-game winners, let alone the 300 that once seemed to be tantamount to election to Cooperstown.
Kershaw joins Justin Verlander (244), Zack Grienke (223) and Max Scherzer (203) as the only active pitchers with at least 200 wins. At 35, Kershaw is easily the youngest of them, and the most durable, never having missed a significant stretch of a season due to an injury. Adam Wainwright, who has said this will be his last season, is knocking on the door at 195. The next-closest is all the way back at 163, and it's Cole Hamels. I forgot he was still pitching. He's pitched only 3 1/3 innings in the majors since 2019, and none since 2020. But there he is, trying to work his way back into the majors with the San Diego Padres at age 39.
The only active pitchers under age 35 with at least 100 wins are Gerrit Cole (134), Madison Bumgarner (also 134, but he looks done), Chris Sale (115) and Stephen Strasburg (113, and he's only pitched 31 1/3rd innings due to injuries since he led the Washington Nationals to the 2019 World Championship).
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