Blogs – Page 96 – Keefe To The City

Dec 10, 2019

Eli Manning Made Me Return to Rooting for the Giants

I didn’t know how to feel watching Monday night’s Giants game. After spending the last six weeks rooting heavily against the Giants, I found myself unsure of how to act with Eli Manning starting.

I didn’t know how to feel watching Monday night’s Giants game. After spending the last six weeks rooting heavily against the Giants in order to enhance their draft position and end the Pat Shurmur era, I found myself unsure of how to act with Eli Manning starting.

I was against the team’s decision to use the No. 6 pick in the draft on a quarterback, especially Daniel Jones, after already bringing Manning and his salary back for the 2019 season. Once Manning was removed from the starting role following the Week 2 loss, I accepted that I had seen No. 10 play for the last time as a Giant, and had moved on to the Jones era and what would hopefully be the final season of watching and listening to the loser that Shurmur is. Following back-to-back losses in Weeks 5 and 6 to fall to 2-4, the Giants’ season was effectively over, and I spent the last nearly two months rooting against Big Blue, and it was a fun-filled and satisfying six weeks. I got a glimpse into the life of football fans who root and bet against the Giants, and let me tell you, it was a lot easier than rooting or betting in favor of the Giants. It felt as though the outcomes were predetermined as losing comes way too easy for this roster and this coach, and even in the few games in which the Giants had the lead or the score was close in the second half, they still easily managed to lose.

Monday presented a dilemma. I wanted the Giants to win under Manning to prove to the front office they had made the wrong decision in moving on from him both before the season by drafting Jones and during the season after only two games. In a year in which the NFC East champion might have a .500-or-worse record, had the Giants stuck with Manning, they could have been playing for the division title this month instead of figuring out who they will draft at No. 2 or possibly even No. 1.

If the Giants were to win on Monday, it would make Manning look better and Dave Gettleman and Shurmur look like fools, and would also move Manning’s career record back over .500. But a win would potentially go to helping Shurmur get a third season as Giants head coach (though no amount of wins for the rest of the season should help him keep his job). A Giants win would also greatly improve the hated Cowboys’ chances at winning the division and reaching the postseason. If the Giants were to lose, it would help justify Gettleman and Shurmur’s plan to move on from Manning, help the rival Eagles stay alive in the division race and decrease the Cowboys’ chances of reaching the postseason, which would decrease Jason Garrett’s chances of being the head coach of the Cowboys in 2020, which could lead to him becoming the head coach of the Giants, which would be the slightest upgrade over the organization’s last two head coaches. Because of the toss-up for what result would better serve the Giants, I decided to root for the Giants to win for Manning and no other reason.

The Giants didn’t win, losing another game they should have won. A game they led 17-3 at halftime and lost 23-17 in overtime as they were shut out after the first half. The Giants tried to play it safe in the second half with running plays and short passes, completely abandoning the deep passes which gave them their two-score lead, and their safe play allowed the Eagles’ defense to eventually solve the easy-to-solve Giants defense and come back to win.

The Giants did have their chances to win the game in the final minutes. They took over with 1:53 left, but a quick three-and-out gave the Eagles a chance to set up a game-wining field goal attempt, which is the way most Giants-Eagles games seem to end. For the first time in what feels like forever, the Giants’ defense actually prevented a last-minute score from losing them a game, but then Shurmur’s inability to doing anything right made its weekly appearance. With the Eagles facing a fourth-and-1 on their side of the field with more than 40 seconds left, the Giants had two timeouts. The Giants could use a timeout to stop the clock, receive a punt and have around 40 seconds and one timeout to move the ball in position for their own last-second field-goal attempt. Instead, scared the Eagles might go for it yet again on fourth-and-1 on their side of the field, Shurmur waited and waited and then waited some more to see what Doug Pederson might do, and it wasn’t until there was only 19 seconds left that Shurmur finally used a timeout. Shurmur had wasted nearly 30 seconds of clock standing there thinking about what to do a the clock continued to run and then all his offense could do was kneel the ball and hope to win the coin toss in overtime.

The Eagles won the toss, received the balls and minutes later, the game was over. The Giants never got a chance to either match or beat the Eagles in overtime as the defense arrived just in time to lose the team another game.

If that was the last time Manning ever plays for the Giants or in an NFL game, he went out playing well, throwing for two touchdowns and displaying his signature sideline deep balls that hopefully one day Jones will be able to throw to his own team.

The Giants were more than likely never going to the playoffs in 2019 no matter who was their quarterback, but a two-win season couldn’t have been expected, not with their schedule and not in this division. All that’s left for the Giants now is to continue this losing streak for the next three weeks, finish the season with 12 straight losses, pick second or possibly even first in the draft, and pack up Shurmur’s office, and potentially Gettleman’s office as well.

Blogs • Yankees • Yankees Offseason

Dec 9, 2019

Yankees Can’t Lose Out on Gerrit Cole for a Third Time

The Yankees missed out on Gerrit Cole when they drafted him knowing he was going to college and then because they didn’t want to part with Miguel Andujar or Clint Frazier. They can’t miss out a third time.

Nine years ago tomorrow, I slipped into a deep and long depression. Not because it was winter and freezing cold or because the Rangers were wasting Henrik Lundqvist’s prime with a bad defense and mediocre roster or because the Giants would soon suffer the Meltdown at MetLife against the Eagles to ruin their season or because I still wasn’t over the ALCS loss to the Rangers. I became depressed because Cliff Lee turned down the Yankees.

At the time, the first month-plus of free agency had been reported as a mere formality and Lee signing with the Yankees was deemed inevitable. They needed him. They desperately needed him, and after failing to successfully trade for him in July of that season and having the ALCS swung against them because of it, they weren’t going to be stopped. Lee was going to be a Yankee and after beating them in Games 1 and 5 of the 2009 World Series and Game 3 of the 2010 ALCS, he was going to help them win games in October rather than help them lose.

I still remember seeing Jon Heyman’s tweet of a “mystery team” suddenly being involved in the Lee sweepstakes. The term “mystery team” has haunted me since that day and even the word “mystery” still bothers me. Eventually, the mystery team would be revealed as the Phillies and Lee was going back to Philadelphia even though the team had screwed him over by sending him to baseball Siberia in Seattle the prior offseason after trading for Roy Halladay. The Phillies’ offer was for five years and $120 million. It was less than the Rangers’ six-year, $138 million offer and much less than the Yankees’ six-year, $148 million offer with a player option for a seventh year at $16 million. I wrote this reactionary blog at the time with tears streaming down my face.

Lee was the one that got away … twice. Brian Cashman’s unwillingness to include Eduardo Nunez in the July 2010 deal for Lee (only to release Nunez in the spring of 2014) allowed Texas to swoop in and get him, and Lee not caring about taking substanially less money and years to pitch for a team which had shipped him away left the Yankees standing empty-handed. Maybe Andy Pettitte doesn’t briefly retire after the 2010 season if the Yankees land Lee, and the team has a rotation of CC Sabathia in his prime, Lee in his prime, Phil Hughes coming off an 18-win, All-Star season, Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. Unfortunately, Lee went to the Phillies, Pettitte did retire and the Yankees turned to Freddy Garcia’s smoke-and-mirrors act and gave Bartolo Colon a chance to ressurect his career. Miraculously, Garcia and Colon were good enough for long enough and Ivan Nova emered as a major-league starter for the Yankees to reach the postseason, but once the Yankees got to October, Colon wasn’t allowed to start, Garcia was ineffective and Nova pitched like you would expect a rookie to pitch in the playoffs. (The Yankees’ inability to hit with runners in scoring position, especially in Game 5 also played a big role in their first-round elimination.)

This offseason, an offseason followed by the exact six-game ALCS loss nine years ago (win Game 1 on the road, lose Game 2 on the road, lose Game 3 at home, lose Game 4 at home, win Game 5 at home, lose Game 6 on the road), the Yankees have a chance to sign another starting pitcher who has already gotten away twice.

Nearly a month ago, I wrote Don’t Expect the Yankees to Sign Gerrit Cole. I wrote it because why would Yankees fans expect the team to sign the most-coveted free-agent pitcher this offseason when he would likely command the most money of any pitcher in history? It’s not 11 years ago when the Yankees offered CC Sabathia a record-breaking contract on the first day of free agency and continued to outbid themselves to persuade him away from his home of California and put him in pinstripes, and it’s not nine years ago when they made the highest offer to Lee. The Yankees don’t operate the way they did a decade ago, and they have 10 years of mixed results to show for it.

The Yankees were unwilling to take on Justin Verlander’s salary at the 2017 waiver deadline, and he single-handedly swung the 2017 ALCS in the Astros’ favor by winning Games 2 and 6. After coming within a game of the 2017 World Series, the 2018 Yankees’ payroll was cut by $50 million. After falling short again in 2018 because of their starting pitching, the Yankees were unwilling to give Patrick Corbin an additional year on his offer and he ended up in Washington. The Yankees have had several chances to drastically upgrade their rotation either through free agency or a trade over the last three seasons and they have come up short each time, unwilling to offer enough money or unwilling to depart with their prospects. Combine all of this with the front office thinking starting pitching isn’t why they lost in the ALCS again, and you will understand why no Yankees fan could think it’s a given they would make a realistic run at Cole this winter.

That has all changed over the last week with the Yankees flying across the country to meet with Cole followed by reports the Yankees won’t be denied by the ace and that the team has either offered or is prepared to offer Cole a seven-year, $240 million contract, breaking both the average annual salary and total contract records for a starting pitcher. I have gone from accepting a rotation of Luis Severino, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, Jordan Montgomery and J.A. Happ to now accepting nothing short of Cole in the rotation. The reports of the Yankees finally remembering they’re the Yankees after years of counting their pennies and nickel-and-diming their way to a 10-year World Series drought appears to be over has made me believe in the Yankees’ financial prowess again. It has made me believe they are done wasting seasons and opportunities in this current championship window.

The Yankees missed out on Lee twice. Once because they were overvalued their prospects and once because he turned down their offer.

The Yankees have already missed out on Cole twice. Once because they drafted him despite knowing he wanted to attend college and once because they didn’t want to part with Miguel Andujar or Clint Frazier. They can’t miss out on him a third time. They can’t.

***

My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

Blogs • Rangers

Dec 2, 2019

Rangers Finally Headed in Right Direction

The Rangers might not be a playoff team, but they’re finally headed in the right direction, which didn’t seem possible a year ago at this time.

I got on an early-morning, day-after-Thanksgiving Amtrak to Boston to watch the Rangers play against the league-best Bruins. The decision to battle through a hangover and a stomach full of heavy holiday food as if I were battling Zdeno Chara for position in front of the net to travel a few hours and a few hundred miles to watch the rebuild Rangers play the contending Bruins felt regrettable the second the train left the station. It had been just over a month since the Bruins ran the Rangers out of their own Garden with a 7-4 road win in which the Bruins looked like were from a different league. Now here I was, not in the best conditions, voluntarily traveling to see a potential repeat of that game.

For the last six weeks, the Rangers have been a much different team since that late-October loss, going 10-4-2 in that time (mostly without Mika Zibanejad who was hurt in the October loss to Boston) with impressive wins over Tampa Bay, Nashville, Carolina (twice), Pittsburgh and Washington. The Rangers have, at times, looked like a team which was able to skip the early, depressing phases of a full rebuild by miracously acquiring the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft and landing the best available free agent in the offseason, and at other times, have looked like the team with the youngest average age in the league, backboned by an inexperienced defense. It’s the Rangers team that beat Tampa Bay and Nashville in back-to-back games, upset Washington and came back from four goals down in Montreal to stun the Canadiens that made me want to get on that train, full knowing that the team which laid a pair of eggs against Ottawa in November might make an appearance.

The Rangers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in Boston and increased it to 2-0. But with the seemingly impossible way two-goals leads have been getting blow in the league this season coupled with the Bruins having not lost a home regulation game since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Bruins were down but far from out. After receiving a lucky bounce in which Henrik Lundqvist put the puck in his own net, the Bruins were on the board in the final two minutes of the second, and less than five minutes into the third, the game was tied. The Rangers wasted a 5-on-3 in the second and a four-minute power play in the third, and when David Quinn sent the unusual combination of Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchnevich and Adam Fox out in overtime, a loss was inevitable. Seconds after those three hit the ice, the goal horn was going off and “Zombie Nation” was blaring.

It was a crushing loss considering the two-goal lead and the two advantageous power-play opportunities, but from a big-picture perspective, it was a well-earned point on the road against the best team in the NHL a month after that same team embarrassed the Rangers. Even better for the big picture was the Rangers’ ability to bounce back with a 4-0 win game less than 24 hours later in New Jersey against their well-rested rival.

A year ago, the Rangers also played on the day after Thanksgiving in what was a 4-0 loss the Flyers. That Rangers team went on to lose 42 of their remaining 62 games, finishing with the fifth-worst record in the Eastern Conference and the least amount of regulation wins in the NHL. It was an expected outcome in the first full season of the rebuild and a glimpse into what might be a very long road to getting back to the playoffs. It felt like the Rangers were in the beginning of an extended dark era with no real timeline for when the next time their season might have an 83rd game. The final years of Lundqvist’s career were wilting away like the rose in the glass case in Beauty and the Beast and the Rangers were going to have to succesfully hit on an unprecedented amount of draft picks for several years to escape their lack of talent.

The chance to draft Kaapko Kakko, sign Artemi Panarin and use Winnipeg’s own first-round pick to acquire Jacob Trobua quickly changed the Rangers’ fortunes and future. Those three offseason acquisitions combined with the reliable Mika Zibanejad, a breakout season from Strome, Tony DeAngelo and Pavel Buchnevich finally realizing their potential, the already-arrived offense of 21-year-olds Fox and Ryan Lindgren, Filip Chytil’s 0.50 goals per game and Lundqvist beating the crap out of Father Time has sped up the rebuild and has the Rangers on the playoff bubble through 30 percent of the season.

I expected to see a lot more games like the late-October loss to Boston this season than I expected to see games like the late-November loss to Boston and the quick turnaround win over New Jersey. I expected the Rangers to certainly be more enjoyable to watch than they were last season and for a few surprising upsets along the way, but I didn’t expect this kind of success, this often, even if the season is only two months old. Each game feels like a playoff game as this roster has little margin for error and each win feels like a major accomplishment in a division with the Capitals, Islanders, Flyers, Hurricanes and Penguins in windows in which they’re expected to play deep into the spring.

This nearly six-week run which started back on Oct. 24 with an offensive barrage in a 6-2 win over Buffalo could very well come to an end and the other shoe could drop, leaving the Rangers alongside Ottawa, New Jersey and Detroit in the standings, where they were thought to end up before the season began, but I don’t see it. I don’t see this Rangers team going back to the basement of the conference or the league. They might not be a playoff team, but they’re finally headed in the right direction, which didn’t seem possible a year ago at this time.

Blogs • NFL • NFL Picks

Nov 27, 2019

NFL Week 13 Picks

Since deciding to only root for the Giants to lose this season, the season has become much more enjoyable. There’s no getting upset or frustrated because there’s no expectation to win, just lose, and the

Since deciding to only root for the Giants to lose this season, the season has become much more enjoyable. There’s no getting upset or frustrated because there’s no expectation to win, just lose, and the Giants are as good at losing as any team in the league. Now with seven straight losses, the Giants currently hold the No. 3 pick in the 2020 draft. It’s about as good of a scenario as you can ask for for your team to be in when you know they aren’t going to the playoffs anyway and when they stopped playing meaningful games six weeks ago.

(Home team in caps)

Chicago -3.5 over DETROIT
The Bears did everything they could to lose to the Giants and they still won. That’s how bad these Giants are. The networks keep including the Bears in the “In the Hunt” graphic when displaying the current playoff picture, but they couldn’t be less in the hunt at three games out with five games to play. They might be able to pick up a game this week with a win over the Lions, who have lost seven of eight, and the Vikings in Seattle, but picking up another two over the last month is going to be nearly impossible. The Bears are finished. Now they have to figure out who is going to play quarterback for them in 2020.

DALLAS -6.5 over Buffalo
The Cowboys had a chance to upset the Patriots in Week 12 and take a 1 1/2-game lead in the NFC East. Instead, they lost because they’re the Cowboys and the Patriots are the Patriots and now they are more than likely going to lose the NFC East given their schedule and the Eagles’ schedule. If the Giants have to suck, the next-best thing is the Cowboys sucking, and they do. They will get their Thanksgiving win, but then the downward spiral will begin.

ATLANTA -7 over New Orleans
Last week, the Saints blew a two-touchdown lead to the Panthers and needed a missed chip shot to have a chance to win the game in the final seconds. Two weeks before that, they were blown out by a one-win Falcons team in the Superdome. The Saints are trending in the wrong direction like they were at this time last season. The Falcons might be awful and battling for draft position, but I’m sure they would also like to take away New Orleans’ first-round bye as one last hurrah before the entire Falcons’ coaching staff is fired.

BALTIMORE -6 over San Francisco
I normally like to pick against the team that has to make the cross-country flight, but I don’t like to give six points in a game between two of the league’s top teams. In this game, I have to given how much the 49ers rely on their defense for offensive support and how little the Ravens’ offense cares about the opposing defense.

CAROLINA -10 over Washington
Had the Panthers moved away from Cam Newton prior to the start of the season, they would still be in the playoff picture and battling for a wild-card berth. Instead, they will have to settle for a .500-ish season and experience and growth for their young quarterback.

New York Jets -3.5 over CINCINNATI
The Bengals have a two-game lead on the No. 1 pick with five weeks to go. It would be a major upset if they were to pick anywhere other than first this spring and the only way that upset could happen is if they were to win a few games. The Jets, on the other hand, are in the middle of putting together an unnecessary winning streak which will only give their fans the idea that they can somehow win out and sneak into the playoffs at the No. 6 seed. All the Jets are doing is moving themselves down in the draft yet again. Mediocrity at its finest.

INDIANAPOLIS -2.5 over Tennessee
The Texans will lose to the Patriots this week and that will be their fifth loss. The Colts and Titans both have five losses, so whichever teams win this game will be tied record-wise with the Texans for the division lead with four games to play.

JACKSONVILLE -1 over Tampa Bay
Two 4-7 teams playing a meaningless game. Give me the home team and the better defense. The much better defense.

Philadelphia -9 over MIAMI
The Cowboys’ expected loss to the Patriots kept the Eagles within one game of the Cowboys with five games to play. The Cowboys have the Bills, Bears, Rams, Eagles and Redskins remaining while the Eagles have the Dolphins, Giants, Redskins, Cowboys and Giants again. The Eagles are going to win the division if they can beat the Cowboys at home in Week 16 and they might win it anyway with this cupcake schedule. Then Jason Garrett will be fired, and I will have to spend the early days of 2020 worrying about the Giants hiring him.

Green Bay -6.5 over NEW YORK GIANTS
This line is surprisingly low because of the Week 12 scores. But don’t let those scores fool you. The Packers are still a good team and the Giants are a joke.

Cleveland -2 over PITTSBURGH
A three-game winning streak has the Browns back in the playoff picture, sitting one game out of the No. 6 seed. That 6-seed? The Steelers. Neither of these teams are any good and whichever AFC team wins the 6-seed and has to go to Arrowhead is going to get blown out anyway. But what I’m rooting for here is for the Browns to continue to their run and then fall short of the playoffs in the final week or two of the season.

Los Angeles Rams -3 over ARIZONA
A year after the Rams went to the Super Bowl thanks to a non-pass interference call and then proved they didn’t belong in the Super Bowl once there, they are going to miss the playoffs completely unless they’re able to run the table over the last five weeks or at worst go 4-1. Their schedule: at Arizona, Seattle, at Dallas, at San Francisco, Arizona. It’s going to be a difficult task, but it’s doable.

KANSAS CITY -10 over Oakland
The Chiefs aren’t going to have home-field advantage in the second round of the playoffs or the AFC Championship Game, so they’re once again not going to the Super Bowl. Last season, they couldn’t win the AFC with home-field advantage in the AFC Championship Game and they had a much better team. But the Chiefs still have to win to hold on to their one-game division lead over the Raiders and at least keep their home game for Wild-Card Weekend.

Los Angeles Chargers -2.5 over DENVER
All season I waited for the Chargers from last season to emerge and all season they just kept losing. Now with seven losses, it would take an absolute miracle for them to reach the postseason. Instead of the “Chargers are a contender” storyline from this time last season, the new narrative is “What should the Chargers do with Philip Rivers?”

New England -3 over HOUSTON
The Patriots always beat the Texans. That’s not going to change anytime soon.

SEATTLE -3 over Minnesota
I made the mistake last season of picking Kirk Cousins to lead the Vikings to a win in Seattle. I’m not going to make that same mistake again.

Blogs • Rangers

Nov 26, 2019

It Will Always Be Weird Seeing Mats Zuccarello in Another Uniform

I can still see Mats Zuccarello standing at center ice waiting to begin his shootout attempt in his first NHL game with Sam Rosen setting the stage. “In his first NHL game, here he comes,

I can still see Mats Zuccarello standing at center ice waiting to begin his shootout attempt in his first NHL game with Sam Rosen setting the stage.

“In his first NHL game, here he comes, in against Dan Ellis, to keep it alive … slows down … fakes … SCORES!”

A skilled, undrafted Norwegian forward, Zuccarello’s shootout success in the AHL had become a major selling point in New York, where the Rangers desperately needed help in obtaining the extra point. And in his NHL debut, the eventual fan favorite started building his fan base.

It was upsetting to see Zuccarello get traded last season to Dallas and it was beyond weird seeing that familiar smile light up wearing victory green, silver, black and white after assisting on a Tyler Seguin goal in his Stars debut. For as weird as it was seeing Zuccarello play for the Stars last season, it was just as weird seeing him wear a different shade of green in his return to Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

Nearly two years ago, Zuccarello watched as the core of the Rangers continued to be destroyed with Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller joining Ryan Callahan, Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi in Tampa Bay and Rick Nash being sent to Boston. Entering the 2018-19 season, Zuccarello’s impending free agency made him a coveted trade asset for the Rangers and the idea of him being separated from the Rangers and his best friend Henrik Lundqvist literally started to ruin his life off the ice and diminish his play on it.

There was still hope the front office and Zuccarello could come to terms on an extension at some point last season, but when the news broke on prior to the trade deadline that he would be a healthy scratch, it became clear Zuccarello had played his last game as a Ranger. There was still a sliver of hope the Rangers could re-sign him in the offseason, but as a soon-to-be 32-year-old who likely wouldn’t be part of the next competitive Rangers team, coupled with the fact the Rangers let him go in the first place, it was always highly unlikely.

It took an incredible amount of poor personnel decisions, bad big-money contracts, horrible trades and nonsensical negotiating tactics for Zuccarello to end up in Dallas and now Minnesota. It should have never ended the way it did for Zuccarello in New York and had the Rangers been able to knock off the Devils in 2011-12 or been able to hold a two-goal lead or win an overtime game against the Kings in 2013-14 or hadn’t lost Game 7 at home to the Lightning in 2014-15 then none of this would matter now. The Rangers would have accomplished their goal, they wouldn’t have wasted Lundqvist’s prime and they would have won in the small timeframe they had to win. Instead, those three seasons are remembered as what could have been rather than what was.

Like Lundqvist and the other staples of this recent Rangers team, Zuccarello deserved better than to watch the best years of this core be wasted by jettisoning out the wrong players, and most egregiously, extending the wrong defensemen. Zuccarello deserved better than to spend the 2017-18 season on a team built as if it could still win and he deserved better than to play his last season for the Rangers on a team secretly hoping it would be bad enough to pick at the top of the draft.

Unlike his Dallas debut when a Rangers blue undershirt could be spotted below his shoulder pads clashing with the Stars’ color scheme, there was no hint of Zuccarello being an ex-Ranger on Monday. That is until he watched a highlight video of his own Rangers career on the big screen as the building gave him an extended standing ovation, eventually leading to him leaving the bench for the ice to salute the crowd. There he was, the fan favorite and former core member, in another uniform, thanking the Garden for thanking him. And there he was, watching the Rangers pick up a comeback win against his Wild, a win he could have and should have been a part of.