Saturday, May 8, 2010

Hurts So Good

10-3! We beat The Scum 10-3! We beat The Scum 10-3! We beat The Scum 10-3!

Nick Johnson and Robinson Cano left the game due to injuries, incurred by Super Punk himself, Josh Beckett, hitting them. Johnson has gone on the Disabled List, while Cano is listed as day-to-day.

The injury bug has bitten the Yankees almost as many times this season as the Mets, and yet the Yankees keep winning.

This was due in large part to Beckett losing his control in last night's 6th inning. The Yanks put 6 runs on the board, going from a 3-1 to a 9-1 lead. Cano and Derek Jeter were both hit with the bases loaded. But, hard as it may be to believe, I don't think Beckett hit either on purpose, because he also walked home a run and threw a wild pitch in the inning. He did not have it last night.

Phil Hughes sure had it, holding the Sox to just 1 run over 7 innings in the little green pinball machine in the Back Bay.

Going back to last season, the World Champion Yankees -- who, don't forget, clinched the AL East last season with a home sweep of the Roid Sox -- have now won 11 of their last 13 against The Scum. Whatever "whommy" (to borrow a word from Stengelese) they had over us is as much history as whatever hold we previously had over them. That hold the Sox had on us? It is high, it is far, it is... gone.

In fact, last night was an awful day for Boston sports. The Celtics lost a Playoff game. At home. Got clobbered by the Cleveland Cavaliers. That would have been totally unacceptable not that long ago. And the Bruins, with a chance to finish a sweep of the Flyers in Philadelphia, lost in overtime.

The Yanks try again this afternoon, weather permitting, at 3:10 on Fox.

*

Speaking of the Cavaliers, I saw two interesting covers at the newsstand. One was the New York Daily News, showing what the Cavs' LeBron James would look like in a Knicks uniform. The other was Catherine Zeta-Jones on the cover of Allure magazine. If you're familiar with this blog, you know which cover I liked better.

Read my keystrokes, Knick fans: You have as much chance of getting LeBron as I have of getting Catherine.

The difference is, she actually lives in New York. (She and Michael Douglas have a place just off Central Park, and she just got nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Her costar is the legendary Angela Lansbury.) Of course, she and the old man also have homes in Hollywood, Bermuda and her native Wales.

But even if clearing all that cap space works, and the Knickleheads do manage to snag LeBron, that won't guarantee anything. A, he still hasn't won a title, and you get the feeling that if he doesn't do it this time with the Cavs, he never will. And B, when the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery was fixed, I mean held, and the Knicks got the top pick and used it on Patrick Ewing, the talk around here was not if Ewing would take the Knicks all the way, but how many times. How many turned out to be zero.

Who's to say that Knick management, which has been pretty bad since their last title in 1973 and absolutely hideous since their last trip to the Finals in 1999, will give LeBron what he needs to win it all at The Garden?

Put it another way: Since the Knicks' last trip to the Finals of their sport, the following New York Tri-State Area teams have made this many trips to theirs: Yankees 5, Devils 3, Giants 2, Nets (yes, the Nets) 2, Mets 1. If you count the WNBA, the Liberty have 2; if you count the MLS, the Red Bulls got to the Final of the U.S. Open Cup just 2 years ago.

Only the Jets, Rangers and Islanders have failed to get to their sport's Finals since the last Knicks trip there, and the Jets did at least make it to the AFC Championship Game last season. In fact, the Jets, who have only one game per round of Playoffs, have won 4 postseason games since 2001; the Knicks, zilch.

In fact, compared to the Knicks, even the Rangers have been rather successful. And, as we all know, the Rangers suck.

*

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series (after the current one): 9, starting Monday night, at Yankee Stadium II. Strangely, it's a midweek series, and only 2 games, The Scum's first visit to The Bronx this season after we've already played 6 games in their place.

Days until the 2010 World Cup begins: 33. A shade over a month.

Days until the World Cup Final: 64.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 119.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 125.

Days until the new Meadowlands Stadium (still unnamed) opens for football: 127. (The national soccer teams of Mexico and Ecuador played a "friendly," as a tune-up for the World Cup, there last night, in front of 77,000. I wonder how many were rooting for Ecuador? It ended 0-0.)

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 154 (estimate).

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 201.

Days until Derek Jeter collects his 3,000th career hit: 388 (estimate).

Days until the Rutgers-Army football game at Yankee Stadium: 553.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 701 (estimated).

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 821.

No comments: