The New York Mets were defeated by the Miami Marlins on Wednesday afternoon.  The game took place at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida and the final score was 6-2.  Matt Harvey made the start for the Mets and pitched ok.  Tim Tebow and Luis Guillorme each had two hits to lead the offense. 

Harvey pitched 3 1/3 innings giving up five hits and four runs with only two being earned.  He walked one and struck out three and took his third loss of the spring.  Erik Goeddel pitched to two batters and retired them both, Rafael Montero pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up two hits and two runs with four walks and three strikeouts and  Tim Peterson pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and he struck out one.  Paul Sewald pitched an inning giving up a hit. 

Michael Conforto had a hit, John Mora had a hit and Phillip Evans had an RBI.  Wilmer Flores had a hit, Dominic Smith drew a walk and Travis d’Arnaud drew a walk.  Colton Plaia had a hit, Tebow had two hits and Guillorme had two hits and an RBI.  Conforto, Mora and Plaia each hit a double and the Mets were 2-13 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.  Harvey committed two errors and Reynolds committed an error.  Conforto had an outfield assist and so did Mora. 

In the first J.T. Realmuto hit a sac fly to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead.  In the second Matt den Dekker hit a sac fly to increase the lead to 2-0 Marlins.  In the fourth den Dekker hit a two-run double to extend the lead to 4-0.  In the sixth Miguel Rojas hit a two-run single to make it 6-0 Marlins.  In the seventh Guillorme hit an RBI single to put the Mets on the board at 6-1.  In the eighth Evans hit an RBI ground out to make it 6-2 and that would be the final score. 

The New York Jets end their miserable season with a loss in Buffalo

The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills by the score of 28-9 on Sunday. The game took place at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, New York. The Jets looked as miserable as they have all season, Mark Sanchez got another chance to start and wasn’t very good once again. Tim Tebow didn’t play at all and he will be gone very shortly I suspect. 
Sanchez was 17-35 for 205 yards, no touchdowns an an interception. Shonn Greene led the rushing attack with 74 yards on 19 attempts. Bilal Powell had 56 yards on 12 carries, Lex Hilliard had two yards on a carry and Joe McKnight had two yards on a carry.

Jeremy Kerley had three receptions for 88 yards, Braylon Edwards had four receptions for 42 yards and Jeff Cumberland had three receptions for 36 yards. Jordan White had one reception for 13 yards, Powell had two for 12 yards and Hilliard had one for seven yards. Konrad Reuland had one reception for four yards and Greene had two for three yards.

McKnight had four kickoff returns for an average of 18.8 yards with 33 being his long. Nick Bellore had one for eight yards. Robert Malone had four punts for an average of 43 yards with 61 being the long. Bart Scott led the defense with five tackles and an assist.

Ryan Fitzpatrick was 12-26 for 225 yards and a touchdown. C.J. Spiller led the Bills rushing attack with 59 yards on 24 carries. Tashard Choice had five rushes for 30 yards and a touchdown and Brad Smith had two for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Stevie Johnson led the receivers with six catches for 111 yards, Spiller had two for 72 yards and a touchdown and Smith had two for 26 yards. Ruvell Martin had one reception for 11 yards and T.J. Graham had one for five yards.

Rian Lindell was 0-2 on field goals and made four extra points. Smith had three kickoff returns for an average of 26.7 yards and Justin Rogers had one for 27 yards. Shawn Powell had five punts for an average of 39.2 yards with 51 being the long.

Bryan Scott had an interception and Nick Barnett led the defense with six tackles and five assists. Spencer Johnson had a sack.

The Jets finished their season at 6-10 and the Bills had the same record. The Jets are going to make some changes and now we await the fates of the coaches and the General manager. It looks like the head coach will stay with everyone else going. It should be an interesting offseason as they try to trade Sanchez and they get rid of Tebow. I expect Tebow to land in Jacksonville where he will be the starter and restart his career and probably end up doing well.

The New York Jets suffer an embarrassing loss on Thanksgiving night to the New England Patriots

The New York Jets were defeated by the New England Patriots by the score of 49-19. It was a embarrassing performance. Mark Sanchez was terrible but Tim Tebow had a couple of cracked ribs and he wasn’t able to play although he was the only other quarterback on the roster for the game. The Jets didn’t have a good game in any facet of the team. 
Mark Sanchez was 26-36 for 301 yards and one touchdown and he threw an interception. He also fumbled the ball and the Patriots ran it back for a touchdown. Shonn Greene led the Jets rushing with 71 yards on 14 attempts, Bilal Powell had 40 yards on 12 attempts and a touchdown and Joe McKnight rushed for six yards on one carry. Sanchez had two yards rushing on two attempts. Jeremy Kerley had seven receptions for 86 yards, Dustin Keller had five receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown and Jeff Cumberland had four receptions for 58 yards. Chaz Shilens had two receptions for 28 yards, Clyde Gates had two receptions for 20 yards and Stephen Hill had two receptions for 16 yards. Powell had two receptions for 13 yards, Greene had one reception for nine yards and Konrad Reuland had one reception for seven yards. Nick Folk was 1-1 on field goals making a 32 yarder and making two extra points.

David Harris led the defense with eight tackles and two assists. Demario Davis had six tackles, LaRon Landry had five tackles and three assists and Kyle Wilson had four tackles and two assists. They didn’t have any sacks or interceptions.

Tom Brady was 18-28 for 323 yards with three touchdowns. Stevan Ridley had 21 rushes for 97 yards and a touchdown. Shane Vereen had 10 rushes for 42 yards and Brady had three rushes for five yards and a touchdown. Danny Woodhead had two rushes for eight yards, Julian Edelman had one rush for three yards. Vereen led the receivers with two catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. Wes Welker had seven receptions for 71 yards and a touchdown, Julian Edelman had two receptions for 64 yards and a touchdown and Aaron Hernandez had two receptions for 36 yards. Brandon Lloyd had three receptions for 26 yards, Daniel Fells had one reception for 24 yards and Woodhead had one reception for 11 yards. Stephen Gostkowski missed his only field goal attempt, he had seven extra points.

Jerod Mayo led the Patriots defense with eight tackles and three assists and a sack. Brandon Spikes had seven tackles and four assists, Steve Gregory and Alfonzo Dennard each had five tackles. Donta Hightower had a sack.

The Patriots moved to 8-3 and in first place in the AFC East and the Jets dropped to 4-7 and tied for last place with the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East.

The New York Jets end their losing streak in St. Louis

The New York Jets defeated the St. Louis Rams by the score of 27-13 on Sunday afternoon. The game took place in St. Louis. The Jets are now 4-6 on the season and have a game on Thanksgiving against their rivals the New England Patriots. I wouldn’t say the offense was great but Mark Sanchez did a good job managing it, no turnovers from their offense. The Jets defense was really good and they ended their three game losing streak.

Sanchez was 15-20 for 178 yards with one touchdown and Tim Tebow was 1-1. Shonn Greene had 18 rushing attempts for 64 yards, Bilal Powell had 11 rushes for 42 yards and two touchdowns. Joe McKnight rushed four times for 14 yards. Chaz Schilens led the receivers with four catches for 48 yards with one touchdown. Jeremy Kerley had three catches for 43 yards, Powell had two catches for 18 yards and McKnight had a catch for 18 yards. Konrad Reuland had one catch for 18 yards.

Nick Folk was 2-4 in field goals with his long coming from 51 yards. He had three extra points made. Laron Landry led their defense with eight tackles. Muhammed Wilerson had a sack and Eric Smith had an interception.

Sam Bradford was 23-44 for 170 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. Steven Jackson led the Rams rushing attack with 81 yards on 13 carries, Daryl Richardson had six carries for 26 yards and Bradford had one attempt for seven yards.

Austin Pettis had two catches for 46 yards, Danny Amendola had seven catches for 41 yards and Brandon Gibson had three catches for nine yards and two touchdowns. Chris Givens had four catches for 19 yards, Richardson had one catch for 18 yards and Lance Kendricks had two catches for 14 yards.

Greg Zuerlein had one extra point made and no field goal attempts. James Laurinaitis had ten tackles and an assist to lead the Rams defense. Quintin Mikell had a sack, Chris Long had two sacks.

The Jets will play the Patriots on Thanksgiving in their next game before having 11 days off. The Jets will need a big win if they want to get some momentum and have a chance at the playoffs. The Jets are at 4-6 right now and have to make their move.

The New York Jets rout the Buffalo Bills in their season opener

The New York Jets came out flying in their season opener. They were 0-4 in the preseason and had a lot of trouble scoring. Their first team couldn’t score a touchdown, well not it is the regular season and what a difference it makes. The Jets defeated the Bills by the score of 48-28. The game took place at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. 
Mark Sanchez looked like a man on a mission as he played a fantastic game. Tim Tebow was pretty quiet, he had five plays for 11 yards and when he was out there they ran eight wildcats for 22 yards and he recovered an onsides kick. Sanchez threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns. There was no quarterback controversy this week.

Shonn Greene ran the ball 27 yards for 94 yards. He had one touchdown and it was an average of 3.5 yards per carry. Stephen Hill led the team in receiving yards with 89 on five catches. That is a 17.8 yard average and he had two touchdowns.

The defense was led by LaRon Landry who had six tackles and one assist and Darrelle Revis had an interception. Santonio Holmes and Jeremy Kerley each had four receptions. Holmes had 68 yards and Kerley had 45 yards.

The Jets are 1-0 and will play at Pittsburgh on Sunday September 16^th, 2012. We will see how the wildcat is used going forward and if it truly has an impact or if it is just meant as a distraction to the other team. If the Jets keep winning and playing like they did against the Bills it won’t matter though, they sure looked good in week one but it is only one game.

The New York Giants defeat the New York Jets in the preaseason

The New York Giants defeated the New York Jets by the score of 26-3 on Saturday night in preseason football. The game took place at both teams home stadium which is Metlife stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It really didn’t matter if Tim Tebow or Mark Sanchez was starting the Giants defense was very good. Tebow may have even been a little better but he was going up against the backup defense so it’s hard to judge.  Lawrence Tynes the Giants kicker had four field goals, Eli Manning had a pretty good game but the Giants starting offense didn’t do much against the Jets starting defense. The Giants backup offensive players did most of the damage. David Carr led the Giants going 5-9 with 83 yards. The leading rusher for the Giants was David Wilson the rookie who had eight carries for 26 yards and Victor Cruz led the receivers with five catches for 51 yards.
Tebow led the Jets offense going 5-14 with 69 yards. Shonn Greene led the running backs with 11 carries for 36 yards and White led the recievers with three catches for 28 yards.
The Giants defense had seven sacks. Each team had one interception and the Jets had one sack. The Giants are now 1-1 in the preseason and the Jets are 0-2. The preseason doesn’t mean anything though and you can’t take much out of it. The Jets will take on the Carolina Panthers next Sunday at home and the Giants will take on the Chicago Bears on Friday at home.

New York Yankees Wednesday Notes

Here are the Yankees notes from Wednesday.  The Lohud Yankees blog has it all covered with Chad Jennings.  It is heavy on Phil Hughes talk as he continues to impress this spring. 

Phil Hughes isn’t breaking new ground when he talks about keeping it simple. He talks about not thinking too much about the big picture, controling the things he can control, and taking everything one step at a time. It’s cliche, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

So what was today’s step?

“Probably the changeup,” he said. “I really hadn’t gotten a chance to throw as many changeups as I want. It seems like a lot of quick swings this spring so far, and you don’t necessarily get to have those drawn-out counts. I seemed to have a few of those today where I could really incorporate my changeup. I threw some 3-2 changeups and things like that. If I really think about the one thing that I really took a step forward with today, it was probably the changeup.”

Hughes went to his changeup for two of his three strikeouts, including his strikeout of Matt Joyce two innings after Joyce had homered on a first-pitch cutter. Hughes guessed that he went to the changeup 15 times today.

“It was very good,” Russell Martin said. “He wasn’t as consistent early on with it, but as the game went along it was getting better and better. He got in some crucial situations and he made some good pitches. … I think he’s just getting confidence the more he throws it.”

We could all go back several years to read several articles about the development of Hughes’ changeup, and we could look at any number of Michael Pineda stories written this spring to read about the importance of that pitch for a starting pitcher. Ultimately, for Hughes, the development of the changeup isn’t anything new, it’s just the latest in a series of steps this spring.  The thing is it seems every spring there is talk of a changeup and then it doesn't carry over to the spring.  I am saying this in general not specific to any one player. 

“It seems like (last spring) was so long ago, to think back on how I was feeling,” he said. “I know that (the ball’s) coming out better than it was. For me that’s kind of one building block of what I need to do. The changeup needs to come along and the cutter and everything else, but physically I feel better.”  It seems to be showing as well.

Obviously Joe Girardi was in Port Charlotte and not in Tampa, but he said reports were positive about Derek Jeter getting through today’s scheduled workout. The plan is still to have Jeter go through one more full workout tomorrow and then play Friday.  I think he is fine and could of played yesterday but the Yankees want to be extra careful especially with him missing the time last year with a calf injury.

Girardi is not planning to watch CC Sabathia pitch at the minor league complex tomorrow. There’s really nothing he needs to see there. He said he’s pretty sure Sabathia’s going to make the team. “I think he might even start Opening Day,” Girardi said.

Another day, another impressive performance by Justin Maxwell. Today he was 1-for-2 with two runs scored and the go-ahead double in the ninth inning. He’s hitting .435 this spring. Still not sure the Yankees will find a spot for him on the roster (unless this Swisher injury is worse than expected).

 Speaking of impressive, Clay Rapada pitched another hitless inning, this time with two strikeouts. He’s been awfully good this spring, especially against lefties. He struck out two lefties today, and they were pretty good lefties: Luke Scott and Carlos Pena. Those would be exactly the kind of guys Rapada would have to face in the regular season.  I like him as the second lefty as he comes somewhat sidearm and gives a different look.  I think he could be very valuable to the Yankees.

 Cesar Cabral also looked pretty good today. “After he gives up the double and the balk, he settled down nicely to get a couple strikeouts and get out of the inning,” Girardi said. “That was good stuff.”  The second lefty candidates have all looked good this spring. 

 Someone asked Hughes whether he’d be happy to have a roster spot locked up and defined year after year. “That would be nice,” he said. “I’ll take a 10-year contract, too.”  He always seems to have to battle something in his  young career.  Him and Joba Chamberlain both for such young men have gone through so much early on in their career.  I guess it is part of being in New York and playing for the Yankees. 

I wonder if anyone will ask any Tim Tebow questions tomorrow.  I think everyone is jumping in on the Tebowmania.