Blogs – Page 194 – Keefe To The City

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Rangers • Rangers Playoffs

May 16, 2014

The Key to the Canadiens

No one knows the Canadiens like Bruins fans, so I decided an email exchange with Mike Miccoli would be the best way to finding out how the Rangers can beat beat the Habs.

Every Rangers fan should have celebrated the Canadiens’ Game 7 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night because it meant the Rangers would face the Canadiens in the Eastern Conference finals and not the Bruins.

No one knows the Canadiens more than Bruins fans, who might be more concerned with the Habs than their own B’s. Because of this, and because the Rangers are playing the Bruins’ rival, I decided to email Mike Miccoli, who covers the Bruins for The Hockey Writers, and ask him how the Rangers can beat the Canadiens.

Keefe: Usually when I email you, it’s about the Bruins because the Rangers are either playing them, about to play them or have just played them. Unfortunately (but really fortunately), the Rangers and Bruins won’t play again until at least October.

I’m emailing you today because the Rangers are playing the Canadiens and I don’t know anyone who knows the Canadiens better than you. I feel like you might even know them more than you know your Bruins. But before we get into how the Rangers can win the Eastern Conference for the first time in 20 years and since we were in third grade, how are you holding up after Game 7? (If you don’t respond to this email I’m going to assume you aren’t holding up well and call 9-1-1.)

Miccoli: Ahh, the NHL playoffs. Is that still going on? I wasn’t aware since the best team in the NHL decided to stop playing so early. I figured they just called the whole thing off. Guess not.

If we’re being honest, the Montreal Canadiens rewrote the script here. I really thought everyone was destined to see a Blackhawks/Bruins Cup Final rematch. In a really twisted way, part of me thinks that can still happen but I won’t get into the logistics of how right now. I’m glad it’s over–really, I am. The hockey was smeared by postgame comments and instead of hearing about the actual game, we had to put up with “respect,” “class,” and “squirting.” It got old fast, but don’t tell the Canadiens that! Friday morning, the day before Game 1 of the Rangers-Canadiens Eastern Conference finals and Montreal is still talking about the Bruins. Here’s where I think your Rangers can really capitalize. The Canadiens are a team so obsessed with certain aspects of the game that make zero difference in the actual end-result of a series. Oh, the opposing team doesn’t like you? That’s terrible! Whatever emotion the Canadiens had for the Bruins won’t be replicated against the Rangers.

How are you feeling about the series? Have you been ignoring the Rangers dreadful record playing in the Bell Centre?

Keefe: I don’t get the Boston-Montreal media battle, which has taken on a life of its own and has become to the media more important than the actual Boston-Montreal games. It seems as though media members in both of the cities want to be the center of attention rather than the players and results of the games and it’s unlike anything I have ever seen.  I also don’t get why the Montreal media is still talking about Boston and the Bruins series. Not only did it end two days ago, but the Canadiens are playing for a chance to play for the Cup starting tomorrow and I’m still seeing new stories on reactions to the “respect” and “class” you talked about and the life and times of Milan Lucic. When will it stop? Will it ever stop? Will there still be Bruins-related stories coming from the Montreal media after the Rangers series has started?

I’m actually feeling confident in this series. Sure, the Rangers and more importantly Henrik Lundqvist have been awful for a long, long time on the road in Montreal, but there’s just something about what transpired over the last three games against the Penguins and the Rangers not having to face the Canadiens that has me overly optimistic about this series. There’s a very real chance all that confidence could be erased by Monday night and the Rangers could be starting at a 2-0 series deficit heading to MSG, but for now … Wooooooo! Let’s go Rangers!

As I eluded to in my opening email, I wanted to ask you about how to beat the Canadiens even if the Bruins couldn’t do it. I thought if the Rangers faced the Bruins, they would be facing an enhanced version of themselves and would eventually lose, but with the Canadiens’ fast-paced tempo, I think the Rangers will be successful.

Now with realignment, the Bruins and Canadiens will likely face each other in the playoffs nearly every year, which should be good for your health and well-being. But because of this I’m sure you know the weaknesses and flaws of the team that will be preventing the Bruins from winning the Cup again for the foreseeable future.

You have seen a lot of both the Rangers and Canadiens. What do the Rangers need to do that the Bruins didn’t?

Miccoli: The Bruins and Canadiens are going to play each other every year and my favorite hockey rivalry is going to become terrible for my health. You’re absolutely right. That said, Bruins should be back next year. Hopefully. Maybe. God, I don’t even know.

Here’s what they couldn’t do against Montreal: figure out Carey Price. Beat Price, and you’ll win. It’s simple enough, right? Get the puck past the goaltender, score goals, win games. Price has been playing out of his mind this postseason and that’s a big problem for a team like the Rangers who can struggle on offense. The Canadiens coaxed the Bruins into playing dumb hockey, too. Maybe they dove a bit (they did), got away with one or two calls (also did this), but it worked because the Bruins played into all of their tricks. The Rangers have to play smart hockey and not get into anything extracurricular with the Canadiens because on top of everything else, their power play has been tremendous.

To me, it’s less about matchups for the Rangers and more about finding ways to generate offense. Yes, Pacioretty and Vanek are threats, but they were sort of invisible up until Games 6 and 7 against the Bruins when Zdeno Chara and some other Boston defenseman decided to fall asleep. Lundqvist is going to bail out the Rangers a lot this series and I wouldn’t expect anything less. As long as the Rangers are able to get shots off and find bodies to put in front of Price, they’ll score goals. Well aware, of course, of how difficult that’s been for New York.

It’s odd that you’re confident here. I don’t think I’ve predicted the Bruins to win a series since 2011.

Keefe: Well, I think I am confident to a degree. I always feel like the Ranges will let me down and lose anyway, so the confidence is somewhat of an act and really doesn’t matter. I think because the Bruins have become the class of the Eastern Conference, you have obtained the lack of confidence I get with the Yankees because they are supposed to win. And when your team is supposed to win, you start to envision the ways they will let you down and not win. The Rangers have yet to reach that level, so any postseason success at this point is almost like a bonus, especially since they are playing with house money now after coming back against the Penguins.

As for the Canadiens, I feel like the Bruins series was their Eastern Conference finals the way the 2003 ALCS felt like the Yankees’ World Series and then they didn’t show up against the Marlins in the actual World Series. Like we said, the focus in Montreal is still on what already happened in the conference semis and not what to expect in the conference finals, and it almost feels like the Canadiens and their fans cared only about eliminating the Bruins and maybe they will continue to live in the past as the postseason moves on.

It seems like any non-Canadiens, Islanders, Devils or Flyers will be rooting for the Rangers in this series because everyone (with the exception of the fans of those four teams) loves Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers don’t really have any scumbags or dirty players on their team that the general public doesn’t like. I know you’re hopping on the Rangers bandwagon since you already ordered your Lundqvist jersey.

Miccoli: At the end of Game 7 in Boston, maybe a few seconds before the handshake line happened and Lucic threatened to kill a guy, a “Let’s go Rangers” chant broke out. Everyone in Boston, literally everyone, is a Rangers fan for the next couple of weeks. I know we talked about the Rangers not having any “love to boo” players on the roster unlike Chara, Marchand, and Lucic for the Bruins. I know it’s repetitive, but it’s another reason why I think that the Canadiens will have a tough time getting up for this series. They’re the better team but I don’t think the passion will be there. Their championship was beating the Bruins in Game 7 in Boston. They won.

Another thing I should mention about the Canadiens is their speed. They made the Bruins look like David Ortiz rounding third on a hot summer’s day at Fenway this series. The Rangers have a lot of skill, power, and speed up and down the lineup, where I wouldn’t say any of those three are necessarily a strength, but they’re pretty evenly distributed. The Bruins had skill and power with very little speed. The Canadiens amplified that.

I’m not sure everyone outside of the teams you mentioned are rooting for the Rangers though. In all honesty, I sincerely think that the majority of casual hockey fans that don’t see a Bruins or Penguins team in the ECF may not even watch. This ECF actually reminds me a lot of the Rangers-Devils one from a few years ago. Yeah, it’s good rivalry but would I watch if I didn’t love hockey? No. I wouldn’t.

Keefe: Well, after hearing everything you had to say, I’m sticking with my prediction f Rangers in 7 since that’s the only way the Rangers know how to win a series. That’s not a joke. Here are the Rangers’ last 11 playoff series:

Pittsburgh – Won in 7
Philadelphia – Win in 7
Boston – Lost in 5
Washington – Won in 7
New Jersey – Lost in 6
Washington – Won in 7
Ottawa – Won in 7
Washington – Lost in 5
Washington – Lost in 7
Pittsburgh – Lost in 5
New Jersey – Won in 5

The Rangers haven’t won a playoff series in less than seven games since 2007-08 when they beat the Devils in five in the first round. I’m not sure what’s worse when it comes to that or the fact that they haven’t won a playoff game when leading in a series since the first round against Washington in 2008-09 (a series in which they blew a 3-1 series lead in).

I want to watch meaningful hockey in June because the last time the Rangers played in June I had just learned how to write cursive and would spend Fridays having my third-grade teacher Mrs. Hunt read us Roald Dahl books and hand out Starbursts.

Welcome aboard the Rangers’ bandwagon. Let’s hope this train has eight more wins on it.

Miccoli: Let’s be clear here, I’m rooting for the Rangers only because I’m a Boston resident and they happen to be playing Montreal after eliminating the Bruins. Also, Henrik. I think they win in 7, too … only because I want to see you and my roommate, also a big Rangers fan, sweat out seven games against Montreal. Once that happens, go Blackhawks! Go Ducks! Go Kings! Go any other team not in the East.

I will say this, though–this time of year is fantastic. As someone who has gotten to cover it and enjoy it twice in the last four years now, I can safely say there’s nothing better and that everyone should experience it just once. With that said, yes, I hope you get to experience a Cup Final again.

I just hope the Blackhawks (or Kings or whoever) wins it in six.

Blogs • Rangers • Rangers Playoffs

May 16, 2014

The Season’s Not Over for the Rangers

The Rangers are back in the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years despite The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell writing them off after Game 4 against the Penguins.

The Rangers weren’t supposed to come back against the Metropolitan-winning Penguins down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference semis. They weren’t supposed to go to Pittsburgh and dominate Game 5, take care of business at home in Game 6 and then let Henrik Lundqvist further prove why he is the best goaltender in the world in Game 7. The Rangers were supposed to lay down and serve as a red carpet for the Penguins to return to the Eastern Conference finals for the second consecutive year. At least that’s what The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell said.

Following the Rangers’ Game 4 loss to the Penguins, Campbell (the man who called U.S.-born hockey players “pampered, entitled rich kids“) wrote an 852-word “column” (I use this word loosely) titled “Season’s over for the Rangers, now it’s time to look to the future” and took the easy route out of having to analyze hockey by going with the lazy rhetoric of “a team down 3-1 can’t come back” and pouring dirt on a still-breathing Rangers team and season. I had always been under the impression that it takes four wins to win a seven-game series, but Campbell informed me that you actually only need three. I could have used Campbell during the 2004 ALCS.

On Friday, the Penguins fired general manager Ray Shero and head coach Dan Bylsma could be next after failing to get out of the second round and failing to reach the Stanley Cup Final since winning it in 2008-09. On Saturday, the Rangers will play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in Montreal while the Penguins will actively be looking to rebuild their front office in what will be the fourth day of their offseason. So let’s look back at Campbell’s “column” and his premature thoughts.

Well, the New York Rangers have allowed the star players of the Pittsburgh Penguins to finally find their way in this series. But the reality is that players such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury don’t even have to be that good. That’s because the bottom six forwards for the Penguins are outplaying the top six of the Rangers.

This story was written after Game 4. After Game 4, Fleury had produced back-to-back shutouts in Games 2 and 3, Malkin had two goals and three assists and Crosby had one goal and two assists. But over the final three games of the series, Fleury allowed 10 goals, Malkin had a goal and an assist and Crosby didn’t have a point as the Penguins scored three total goals in those games? It looks like the Penguins’ bottom six forwards were actually on the same level as the Penguins’ top six forwards.

And as long as Crosby can keep absorbing the hits to the head from Marc Staal and his merry band of headhunters, the Penguins have basically punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference final. Any team that is down 3-1 to a group as talented and explosive as the Penguins is always in serious trouble. A team down 3-1 whose best player is Mats Zuccarello is basically finished.

Marc Staal is a headhunter? That’s news to me. I would have classified him as someone who could afford to be more aggressive on the ice, but understand why he’s not due to his own history of head injuries and his career-threatening eye injury last season. But hey, let’s call Marc Staal a headhunter because ONE TIME he made high contact with Crosby. And who’s in Staal’s “merry band” of fellow headhunters and what makes them so merry? Does this band have a name? What instrument does Staal play? I could see him as a bass player.

I’m the biggest non-Penguins fan Sidney Crosby fan in the world. I defend and support The Kid against critics from every corner and he’s not the media and he’s not the Pittsburgh and Canadian honks (that’s the first time I ever used the word “honk” but Mike Hurley used it the other day and it stuck with me) that get visibly, emotionally and then literally distraught when something or someone hits him high. But if we’re going to call Marc Staal (the Marc Staal with 254 penalty minutes in 460 career games) a headhunter then what word do we use to classify someone like Matt Cooke? Well, let’s ask Campbell, since just last week he wrote a column titled “Has Matt Cooke really changed? Hell, yeah!”

Nothing against Zuccarello, but if he’s the best player for the Rangers, and he is, it means their highly-paid stars are not doing the job, which they’re not. Full marks to the Penguins for getting the job done, but this is a mediocre team they’re playing at the moment, one that would get ripped to shreds if it had to play in the Western Conference. Perhaps they’ll point to the fatigue factor – and if they’re still tired they should immediately fire their strength and conditioning coach – but this was a Ranger team that played with no urgency, no ability to handle the puck and no pushback. And that’s on the stars of this team, from Henrik Lundqvist out.

Mats Zuccarello was great during the regular season (19-40-59) and has continued that play in the playoffs (3-5-8), but he’s not the Rangers’ best player, not even close. But if you didn’t watch the Rangers during the regular season and just quickly browsed their team statistics page, then that is the conclusion you would come to.

What does “Full marks to the Penguins for getting the job done” mean? What job did they get done? Winning three games? Sending a series to seven games? Reaching the conference semifinals? Blowing a 3-1 series lead? Losing two home games with a chance to eliminate the Rangers?

Is that what I think it is? Is it? No, no, it can’t be. That can’t be a columnist from The Hockey News blaming Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers trailing 3-1 in the series at one point. But it is. This is real life.

As I have said many times in many ways in many places, Henrik Lundqvist is the sole reason for any post-lockout success the Rangers have had. He is the reason they have reached the playoffs in eight of the nine seasons of his career and he’s the reason the Rangers came back to beat the Penguins in this series. And if the Rangers win the Eastern Conference or the Stanley Cup, it will be because of Henrik Lundqvist. He is the New York Rangers. But that didn’t stop Campbell from looking at the final scores of the first four games of the series to make a judgment. The box score doesn’t show goals that the Rangers scored against Lundqvist, but it does show that in two of the four games the Rangers were shut out. Where was Lundqvist in those two shutout losses? Why didn’t he provide more offense?

All in all, Game 4 was a pathetic effort from a team that fancies itself a contender in the Eastern Conference. But here’s the thing. The Rangers simply aren’t that good. They have a long way to go before becoming anything approximating a legitimate threat to win the Stanley Cup, or even come close. It’s probably safe to assume now that the first-round series between the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers pitted the two worst teams in this year’s playoffs against one another.

If the Rangers “simply aren’t that good” then what are the Penguins? And what do we make of a team that reaches the conference finals? The Rangers have won two series this postseason, two Game 7s (and they have won their last five Game 7s) and they just won three straight against a team that boasts the best player in the world and possibly the second-best player in the world as well.

If the Rangers and Flyers were the two worst teams in the 16-team tournament then what do we make of the Penguins? What are the Lightning, who lasted four games in the playoffs? What about the Red Wings who lasted five? What about the Avalanche who went down as a 1-seed or the Blues who choked? What do you make of the 12 playoff teams that aren’t playing anymore?

And part of the problem for the Rangers is they remain their own worst enemy. Perhaps it would be different if the Rangers weren’t such a desired destination for players. Then it might not be tempted to try to grab every fading star player just because he happens to be available.

Think about it. Brad Richards came to the Rangers in 2011 on a nine-year deal. Other teams made more lucrative pitches to Richards, but he essentially had his heart set on playing for the Rangers. The moment Rick Nash waived his no trade clause with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2013, it was basically assumed that the Rangers were going to get him. And when Martin St.-Louis sulked his way out of Tampa Bay prior to the trade deadline, it was to go to one team and one team only – the Rangers.

Thank you for writing how long Brad Richards’ contract is for and for giving us a behind-the-scenes look at the Nash trade and for telling us where St. Louis wanted to play.

Each of those acquisitions has been nothing short of a disaster so far. Nash, who had a dreadful game and an equally dreadful playoff for the Rangers, is now getting booed every time he touches the puck. In his own building. Nash has actually been contributing in his own end of the ice, but so does Anze Kopitar and it doesn’t stop him from creating offense. Since the 2006 Olympics, Nash has played a combined 45 Olympic and NHL playoff games and has four goals. Richards has scored some and had a pretty good first season in New York in both the regular season and the playoffs, but seems to be on the decline and is the point man on a power play that hasn’t scored in its past 38 opportunities. And St-Louis? Three goals in 30 regular season and playoff games since coming to the Rangers.

Unless Richards started putting together some Gretzky late-80s stat lines when he came to the Rangers, there’s no way he could ever justify his nine-year, $60 million deal. But who could? That’s what the going price was for him at the time of his free agency and like Campbell said, the Rangers weren’t the only team willing to dramatically overpay for him. Richards wanted to be a Ranger. And I’m not so sure he’s been a disaster. He’s played in 210 of a possible 212 regular-season games in three years and has 56 goals and 95 assists in those games. He is the Rangers’ leading scorer in these playoffs and was their leading scorer when they went to the conference finals two years ago. Aside from John Tortorella inexplicably scratching him during the playoffs last year (I wonder what John Tortorella was doing on Tuesday night?), Richards has been a solid Ranger. He hasn’t been the elite No. 1 center and playmaker the Rangers thought they were signing for nine years, but he hasn’t been as bad as everyone has made him out to be either.

I can’t make any excuses for Nash’s lack of postseason scoring, but to say he has been a disaster is irresponsible. Last season he had 21 goals and 21 assists in 44 games (over a full season that’s 39 goals and 39 assists), and the Rangers were winless in the four games he missed due to a concussion. He didn’t have a great postseason last year (1-4-5 in 12 games), but no one on the Rangers did after the first round. This season, Nash missed 17 games with another concussion suffered in the third game of the season and finished with 26 goals and 13 assists in 65 games. Now that’s not a strong ratio, but Nash has never been one for apples and unsurprisingly he has 336 goals and 292 assists in his career, which is a pretty drastic difference. But his 26 goals this season translate into 32.8 goals over a full season. I wanted Nash at the 2011-12 deadline and was willing to include Chris Kreider in a deal to get him and he ended up being the missing link the loss to the Devils. I was ecstatic when he became a Ranger and becaues of that, I have been an adamant supporter of him and have yet to give up on him after a couple bad postseasons. He’s still creating offensive chances and playing tremendous defense (yes, I’m aware he’s not paid to do those things), so it’s not like he isn’t helping the team win. But to think the Rangers have reached the conference finals without him scoring a goal is incredible, and if one of his patented streaks begins in the conference finals, the Rangers will be playing for the Cup.

What would Campbell’s solution have been for St. Louis? Keep Ryan Callahan, meet his ridiculous contract demands and destroy the Rangers’ future? Campbell probably would have liked that so he could churn out some more “columns” about how the Rangers have cap issues. Callahan was getting traded no matter what once he wouldn’t compromise with Glen Sather and Sather got the best return for him. If it wasn’t a trade for St. Louis, it would have been a trade with the Sharks or Ducks for much lesser packages. And I’m pretty sure it’s St. Louis and his personal life that changed the locker room over their last three games and changed the course of this season. But yeah, what a disaster Martin St. Louis has been!

Which brings us to the future of this team. Yes, it’s time to start looking to the future. The Rangers have $54.9 million committed to salaries for next season. They have only four regular defensemen – Ryan McDonagh , Staal, Dan Girardi and Kevin Klein – signed for next season. Up front, Derick Brassard and Chris Kreider are restricted free agents.

By saying that St. Louis has been a disaster, Campbell implied that trading for him was a bad move and that implies that the Rangers should have kept Ryan Callahan and that implies the Rangers should have signed Callahan and that would have ruined the Rangers’ chances of re-signing most of these players he just named. But like I said, that’s likely what Campbell wanted. You do know 850-word “columns” aren’t going to write themselves.

So, the question must be asked. On which of Nash or Richards should the Rangers use their remaining compliance buyout? Knowing them, probably not either, but it would rid the Rangers of one onerous contract. If it were Richards, the Rangers would be forced to pay $18 million in real money since $33 million of his $60 million deal has already been paid out, but would have a cap savings of $6.7 million for the next six seasons. If they were to buy out Nash, it would cost them $21.3 million in real dollars and would save them $7.8 million against the cap for each of the next four seasons.

If anyone gets bought out, it’s not Nash. But if the Rangers weren’t going to buy Richards out after last season’s playoff embarrassment and Richards’ letdown in play then why does everyone think it’s such a guarantee he is bought out after this year? Yes, the Rangers could use some cap relief and he would provide that, but he has become the captain of this team despite wearing just an “A” and though Ryan McDonagh will be the next captain of the Rangers, it’s obvious Richards has an important role with the team.

In our annual Future Watch issue, THN ranked the Rangers dead-last in terms of its group of prospects. Which means the Rangers are far closer to a tear-down than they are a Stanley Cup championship. Perhaps it’s time to begin that process now.

Campbell has since written an excuse for his “column” saying he isn’t apologizing because he is in the business of making predictions. So what does he do? Make another prediction of course. This time he says the Rangers will lose to the Canadiens.

And the Rangers might lose to the Canadiens, but right now the Rangers are four wins away from playing for a championship. They are eight wins away from winning their first championship in 20 years. It’s only been three days since the collapse of both the Penguins and Campbell’s prediction and they have already been torn down.

Blogs • Yankees

May 14, 2014

Subway Series 2014 Diary: Yankee Stadium

The Yankees lost the first two games of the 2014 Subway Series and have now lost six straight to the Mets, so let’s look at what went wrong in the Bronx.

The Rangers overcame a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Penguins and advance to the Eastern Conference finals and the Yankees lost two games in a row at home to the Mets and have now lost six in a row to the Mets going back to last year. Is it 2014? Is this real life?

Two years ago I did a Subway Series Diary for the Yankee Stadium portion of the rivalry to recap what I watched over the three-game series and I said:

I feel weird calling this a diary since I have never had a diary before. I remember in elementary school when we were forced to have a “journal” in one of those black-and-white Mead notebooks.

Well, here we go again.

MONDAY
With the Mets losing eight of their last nine and looking ripe for their annual free fall, I didn’t think there was a chance the 2014 Subway Series could go the way the 2013 Subway Series went. But when Monday started off with Mark Teixeira not being in the lineup due to “fatigue” and “tired legs” and the $23.5 million-per-year and $138,888-per game first baseman said, “I was on the bases a lot this week. Just a little tired. I’ll be fine,” doubt started to creep in. When the Mets took a 1-0 first inning lead and held that lead into the second and the Yankees loaded the bases with no one out only for Kelly Johnson and Brian Roberts to fail to drive a run in, the doubt grew larger. Then Brett Gardner saved Johnson and Roberts by hitting a grand slam to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead and I was relieved that order had been restored in the Subway Series. I thought “The Mets are the Mets” and started to think about winning three of four in the series, if not sweeping the series. And then the seventh inning started.

Alfredo Aceves’ second tour with the Yankees is going about as well as Javier Vazquez’s second tour with the Yankees went. Sure, Alfredo Aceves 2.0 is averaging 9.3 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9, but he’s ruined the last two games he pitched in (he blew Saturday’s game in Milwaukee and Monday’s game) and he’s only pitched in four games (he did pitch 5 1/3 scoreless innings against Tampa Bay on May 4 and maybe that’s the sign the Yankees need to put him in the rotation). But Aceves wasn’t the only wrong button that Joe Girardi pushed with a 7-5 lead and nine outs to go in the game. Here are the lines for the bullpen:

Alfredo Aceves: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Matt Thornton: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Preston Claiborne: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3K

Everyone loves to praise Girardi for how he uses his relievers and how he manages their workloads (he did a great job giving Mariano Rivera extended rest in his final season last year, so he could throw pitches to WFAN’s Craig Carton this week at Yankee Stadium), but Girardi’s biggest bullpen problem this season hasn’t necessarily been managing workloads as much as it has been determining who should pitch when. It’s not completely his fault since the entire league has dictated the idea of set bullpen roles, so that someone like David Robertson can no longer be the escape artist he once was when it comes to escaping jams for others. Because Robertson is the closer, he can now only escape his own jams. And that’s why Robertson was standing in the bullpen on Monday night ready to enter the game, but because it wasn’t the ninth inning and because the Yankees weren’t winning or the game wasn’t tied, he stayed in the bullpen watching the 2014 version of The Goof Troop light the game on fire like my great grandmother burning her trash in the backyard as if it were no big deal. If there are going to be set bullpen roles (and there are), then David Robertson pitches the ninth, Dellin Betances pitches the eighth and Girardi can mix and match the other innings and outs with his binder. That is the only acceptable pecking order after six weeks.

Even after watching the bullpen punch out early and after giving up nine runs, the Yankees had a chance to tie the game in the ninth with Derek Jeter on first with one out for pinch hitter … Mark Teixeira!

“All year long, they looked to him to light the fire, and all year long, he answered the demands, until he was physically unable to start tonight — with two bad legs.”

That’s how Vin Scully started his famous call of Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run and I thought Michael Kay might start to rattle something similar off, not because Kay likes to overdo it with drama more than any other baseball play-by-play man (which he does), but because it was nearly a miracle that hours after taking a seat on the bench due to tired legs, Mark Teixeira was hitting in the ninth.

And Teixeira got the job done with a single to right to put the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate in Brian McCann. But then McCann hit into the predictable game-ending double play and the Subway Series picked up right where it left off last May.

TUESDAY
For someone fighting for their job, Vidal Nuno basically did the equivalent of showing up to work an hour late wearing shorts and a T-shirt, streaming Netflix in your cube, taking a two-hour lunch, scrolling through Facebook pictures for the remainder of the post-lunch day and then accidentally forwarding an email containing a pornographic link to a company-wide list at 4:02 p.m. before leaving for the day. Nuno was given a golden opportunity to make a case that he could be a reliable starter in the rotation and replace Ivan Nova this year and also to throw his name in the mix for a spot in the rotation next year when Hiroki Kuroda leaves or if Nova still isn’t health. But Nuno has followed up every promising start with an A.J. Burnett-like egg and if it weren’t for CC Sabathia also landing on the disabled list, Nuno would probably be getting his seat back in the bullpen. Here is how Nuno has done over the last three weeks since joining the rotation:

April 20 at TB: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

April 26 vs. LAA: 4.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

May 2 vs. TB: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

May 7 at LAA: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

May 13 vs. NYM: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1 K

Sean Henn would have been proud of Nuno’s performance on Tuesday night, letting the Mets hang a 4-spot before the Yankees could even bat for the first time and then continuing to let the Mets add on to their lead with the offense trying to erase the deficit. The problem isn’t just Nuno, it’s that the Yankees needed two starters to replace Nova and Michael Pineda and Nuno and David Phelps have proven to be coin flips in their short stints in the rotation. And now the problem is even bigger with Yankees asking Chase Whitley to take CC Sabathia’s spot in the rotation on Thursday. The last time someone named Chase started a game for the Yankees, I was sitting at Fenway Park wondering if I wanted to watch baseball ever again.

After watching Aceves blow Saturday’s game and then Monday’s game, there he was again on Tuesday being called upon to stop the bleeding and give the offense a chance to get back in the game and there he was again ruining a game. Aceves gave up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings before handing off the ball to Matt Daley, who actually did his job this time after taking part in the April 19 disaster in Tampa Bay.

Standing between a four-game losing streak and a seven-game Subway Series losing streak is Masahiro Tanaka and I’m happy he’s standing there. Right now, Tanaka’s not only the one Yankees’ starter who can be trusted, he’s the only Yankees’ starter who can win.

Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

May 14, 2014

The Subway Series Makes Its Stop at Citi Field

The Yankees were swept at home in the first half of the Subway Series and now head to Queens searching for answers against the Mets.

So far the Subway Series hasn’t gone as I had hoped. The Yankees scored 14 runs in the Yankee Stadium portion of the series, but gave up 21 as the bullpen couldn’t keep it close on Monday and then Vidal Nuno and the bullpen ruined everything on Tuesday. The Yankees have now lost six straight to the Mets and the last time the Yankees beat the Mets was June 24, 2012. Boone Logan won that game for the Yankees and Rafael Soriano saved it.

With the Yankees and Mets continuing the Subway Series at Citi Field, Matt Callan of Amazin’ Avenue joined me to talk about the growing positivity for Mets fans, how Curtis Granderson is fitting in on the other side of town and what Matt Harvey means to the Mets both on and off the field.

Keefe: The Yankees came into the Subway Series on a two-game losing streak thanks to some bad starting pitching in Milwaukee. With the Mets losing eight of nine entering the series, I thought this four-game set came at the right time and would put the Yankees back on track. So much for that.

After the Yankee Stadium portion of the Subway Series, the Yankees have now lost four straight and are back to .500 for the first time since April 12 when they were 6-6. Fortunately for them, no one in the AL East really wants to run away with the division and the Yankees are just 1.5 games back of the Orioles for first.

There is usually a negative attitude and aura around the Mets from their fans and over the last six or so years I guess there has been a reason. But this year, even with Matt Harvey out after undergoing Tommy John surgery, there seems to be a rare sense of positivity around the Mets, even for their most pessimistic fans. Do you feel like that’s true?

Callan: I think beating the Yankees helps for positivity. As much as you want to pretend that that’s not a big deal, it’s always kind of a big deal. I think there is a certain amount of positivity right now due to that, and due to the call-ups of some hyped young arms like Rafael Montero and Jake de Grom.

However, I also think that the mood around any team (not just the Mets) shifts so quickly now, in the age of Twitter, etc., when a team’s outlook is judged almost on an at-bat-to-at-bat basis. If you asked a Mets fans how they felt about the team on Sunday afternoon, when they were in danger of being swept for the second straight series and losing nine of their last 10 games, they probably would’ve said “lousy.” And if the Mets drop the next two to the Yankees at home, they’ll very quickly forget the two wins in the Bronx. That’s not a Mets fan thing so much as a fan thing.

More than anything, I think Mets fans have accepted that the team is still not ready contend, and so any sign of life is greeted as a treat rather than taken as an entitlement. Not sure that translates into positivity, but it’ll do.

Keefe: Curtis Granderson was a good Yankee. He was brought in to be a quick-fix for the Yankees’ outfield depth and that resulted in trading Austin Jackson. He hit 84 home runs between 2011 and 2012 and averaged 29 per 162 games during his four years in the Bronx. Had the Yankees successfully traded for Cliff Lee in July 2010, Granderson would have gotten the ring he is still looking for and had he helped out offensively in the playoffs in 2011 or 2012, maybe he could have gotten another one.

Granderson was brought to the Mets to give the team power and some middle-of-the-order presence as well as experience and leadership. However, he was made for new Yankee Stadium, as we just saw once again on both Monday and Tuesday. But Citi Field isn’t the Stadium and Granderson has just one home run in 71 at-bats there this year. He has been struggling to provide consistent offense through the first month and a half of the season, but what are your early feelings on Granderson as a Met?

Callan: I’ve always liked Granderson for simple “seems like a nice guy” reasons. I personally didn’t have enormous expectations from him for many of the same reasons you mention. He is what he is at this point in his career: an aging outfielder who strikes out a lot but can still hit home runs under favorable circumstances.

There are fans who expected more of him, of course, and he’s gotten some rough treatment already from fans who’ve dubbed him Jason Bay 2.0. The big difference between Granderson and Bay is that Bay completely fell off a cliff, whereas Granderson is still exactly the same player he was, possessing skills that don’t translate well to Citi Field.

The Mets’ front office still hasn’t figured out how to build a lineup that can win at Citi Field. I doubt Sandy Alderson thought he’d solved that puzzle when signing Granderson, and I doubt Granderson thought he was the answer either. They both know he’s a bridge to some hypothetical right fielder of the future. Whoever that is, hopefully he has a better idea how to score runs in that ballpark.

Keefe: The Mets had to make a decision when it came to Ike Davis and Lucas Duda at first base and for now and for the future of the position and the Mets chose to trade Davis to Pittsburgh and keep Duda. Since the trade with the Pirates, Davis has hit .273/.368/.394 with one home run and seven RBIs and Duda has hit .262/.360/.369 with one home run and nine RBIs. The production has been as even as possible and it looks like the Mets would have ended up with the same result as of now no matter who they picked. But the decision to go with Duda over Davis won’t be decided for a while.

Were you a fan of the move to trade Davis and keep Duda, or should it have gone the other way?

Callan: It was clear one of them had to go, and it’s probably for the best that Ike Davis was the one who went. His struggles at the plate were almost soul crushing. It might be the most helpless I’ve ever seen a guy look at the plate, at least one who used to tear the cover off the ball.

There were a lot of contributing factors to his decline, like a weird leg injury that knocked him out for a year, and a bout of Valley Fever, which never goes away and can be quite debilitating. (Conor Jackson had to quit baseball altogether after contracting the disease.) The Mets also announced their intention to trade him in the offseason so loudly they might as well have honked AWOOGA horns everywhere they went. I think everyone involved realized that whatever potential he once had, Ike and the Mets were never meant to be.

Lucas Duda still strikes me as, at best, a DH in a league without that position available. But of the two, I think he’s more likely to succeed in a Mets uniform.

Keefe: Matt Harvey is the future and future face of the Mets. Despite being just 25 and having pitched in 36 games in the majors, he has shown the ability to be a true ace in the league. However, what comes with being an ace and a pitcher and a franchise face in New York is everything that comes with being a celebrity. Because Harvey is the most important Met his off-the-field actions have been closely followed since he isn’t able to give anyone anything to talk about regarding him on the field this year.

What are your feelings about Matt Harvey the pitcher? How big of a deal is it for him to return to the Mets healthy and be the pitcher he was pre-injury? And how sick are you of hearing about his off-the-field life?

Callan: Matt Harvey was the best and worst thing about the 2013 Mets. He was the best because for a few brief, shining months he was among the best pitchers in baseball. The Mets have touted their prospects as their future for the past few seasons, but Harvey was the first one to make it to the bigs and not only contribute, but dominate. His starts became events, and when he pitched, Citi Field came alive for some of the very few times since it opened. There was one awesome night when he outdueled Stephen Strasburg and a very loud crowd chanted the Nationals’ ace off the mound with yells of HAR-VEY’S BET-TER.

His Tommy John surgery was, obviously, the worst thing about 2013 because it robbed him from us not only the rest of last season, but all of this year, too. His injury was also terrible because it provided a smokescreen to the Wilpons. Rather than be forced to put up or shut up and finally make a true accounting of their financial situation, the Mets’ owners could point to Harvey (explicitly or implicitly) as a reason for punting on 2014.

The return of a healthy Harvey would immediately rejuvenate the team and its fanbase, and would also go a long way to forcing the Wilpons to either spend on the team or finally admit that they can’t. Harvey’s status will tell us pretty much everything about the Mets in 2015. So yeah, he’s kind of a big deal.

Being a huge sports star in New York, Harvey has to deal with tabloid nonsense. I don’t worry about it in his case because it all seems to roll off his back. I do wish at times he’d tone things down, just to give the Post less ammunition, but he’s obviously not a tone-it-down kinda guy.

Keefe: This October it will have been eight years since the Mets last made the postseason. Aside from the most optimistic Mets fans, no one pictured them as a team that would contend for the playoffs in 2014 and it was viewed more as a year to give their young players experience and build for the future and create an organization that could sustain success. But just three games back in the NL East and with some roster changes from Sandy Alderson, maybe the Mets can be a surprise story this summer.

What were your expectations for the Mets coming into the season and have they changed with the 19-19 start?

Callan: I expected very little of the Mets going into this season, based on Matt Harvey’s injury and their unwillingness to spend over the winter. My expectations haven’t really changed at all, even though they continue to hover around .500. They have been more fun to watch at times than I expected, and the starting pitching has been better than advertised even without Harvey. But the lineup is still pretty brutal, and the bullpen always teeters on disaster. I’m mostly looking forward to the eventual call up of Noah Syndegaard and a few other pitchers from their farm system. If those guys can contribute this year and get some experience for some hopefully not-too-distant contending future, then I’ll be happy.

Blogs • Rangers • Rangers Playoff Thoughts • Rangers Playoffs

May 6, 2014

Rangers-Penguins Game 3 Thoughts: 120-Minute Shutout

The Rangers lost Game 3 to the Penguins and were shut out for the second consecutive game thanks to another embarrassing offensive performance.

The only good thing to come from Game 3 was when the MSG big screen showed the “I am Queens Boulevard” scene from Entourage and then cut to Adrian Grenier at the Garden while the series’ theme played and Grenier mouthed the signature line from the show.

The last time the Rangers scored a goal was when I paused Game 1 on Friday night in overtime because I had broken the seal earlier in the game and on the way back from the bathroom my friend Nunz ruined the game’s ending for me with a text message. Since Derick Brassard ended Game 1 with a shot that Pierre McGuire was convinced never went in, the Rangers have been shut out for two games, six periods and 120 minutes by Marc-Andre Fleury. And even though Fleury had the best regular season of his career this year, in the playoffs he is supposed to be what Nick Swisher has been in the playoffs for his entire career. But if you’re a Penguins fan right now, it’s Fleury who has saved the Penguins in this series and their season even if Rangers fans know it’s their team’s offense that’s responsible for those things.

Once upon a time in the playoffs, the Rangers were 3-for-12 on the power play. That time was after Game 2 against the Flyers. Since then, the Rangers are 0-for-34 and 0-for-13 in this series alone. If Fleury is supposed to be Nick Swisher then the Rangers’ power play is Robinson Cano in the 2012 playoffs. In Game 3, the Rangers went 0-for-5 on the power play, including a scoreless four-minute power play, and it was their power play that led to Sidney Crosby’s first goal of the playoffs when he scored on a breakaway 19 seconds after a Pittsburgh penalty in the second period. And then later in the second, Jussi Jokinen jumped out of the box, picked up a loose puck, turned it into a breakaway, turned the breakaway into his fifth goal of the playoffs and ended the game. Two Penguins goals on two breakaways, both at the end of Rangers power plays.

The Rangers dominated the play in the game, outshooting the Penguins 35-15, but even the 13 Penguins shots that weren’t their breakaway goals were higher-quality scoring chances than all of the Rangers’ 35. Outside, low-percentage shots is what the Rangers’ offense has become over the last two games and because of it, they are now staring at the daunting task of going at least 3-1 against in order to advance against a team that won the division and finished second in the Eastern Conference despite losing the most man games in the league this year.

There’s not much to say about a 2-0 loss that’s following a 3-0 loss. But something needs to be said, so I will focus on the two players most important to the Rangers’ success and the two players who I have said all along would have to carry them if they were to make an extended run. One is doing his job and one isn’t.

– Rick Nash is now pointless in the last seven games and has still yet to score in these playoffs. He has played 22 playoff games for the Rangers over the last two years and has one goal. One. I’m not ready to light a match and throw it on the “Rick Nash is the Rangers’ A-Rod” fire yet and I’m not sure I ever will be, but it’s getting harder and harder to support the guy I wanted the Rangers to trade the entire system for at the 2012 deadline. The hardest part about his extended slump is that he is creating chances and is playing well aside from not actually putting the puck in the net. It’s gotten to the point where it’s laughable that he can’t seem to get one bounce to go his way while so many lesser players in the entire playoffs have found a way to score. It will happen. I just hope there’s enough time left in the season for it to happen.

– I couldn’t believe the Penguins only finished with 15 shots in the game since it felt like much more and once again Henrik Lundqvist did everything outside of stopping two breakaways to give his team a chance to win. But really, giving up two goals against the Penguins and their defense/goaltending situation should be enough to win, even in the playoffs, considering the Blue Jackets didn’t have a problem scoring against them in the first round. It’s scary to think there could be back-to-back shutouts in this series and they didn’t come from Lundqvist since goaltending is the one area where the Rangers have a considerable advantage over the Penguins. Lundqvist has done his job, the way he always done his job in the playoffs, and has held the Penguins to two goals in each of the first three games of the series and has held the best player in the world and possibly the second-best player in the world to a combined one goal and he has a 2-1 series deficit to show for it thanks to the offense. If the Rangers are eliminated by the Penguins, it won’t be Henrik Lundqvist’s fault. It never is.