The New York Rangers are rolling

The New York Rangers have been rolling since early December.  They have only lost one game since then with 12 wins in their last 13 games.  The Rangers are completing a tough three city California road trip on Saturday night with the chance to sweep it.  They have been getting great goaltending coupled with good defense and now are scoring goals at a good clip.  The Rangers right now are probably the best team in the NHL and looked prime to make another good run at the Stanley Cup. 

They had been playing really well but then embarked on a three city road trip to California this week.  This was seen as a big test as they were set to face the Anaheim Mighty Ducks who had the best record in the NHL, the defending stanley cup champs the LA Kings and then finally the San Jose Sharks.  The New York Rangers won all three games.  I don't think there is anyone in hockey that wants to play them right now, that is how good they have been.  Henrik Lundqvist has been great and his backup Cam Talbot has been really good as well.  The Rangers are still playing strong defense and now they are one of the top scoring teams in the league as well.  Rick Nash is playing on another level, he may be the best player in the sport right now.  Martin St. Louis is a good goal scorer and guys like Chris Kreider and Carl Hagelin use their speed and can put the puck in the net as well.  The biggest difference is that they can score on the power play now.  They have a good quarterback in Boyle and they are playing with a lot of confidence right now. 

They are currently in third place in their division but have been going back and forth with the Washington Capitals who are fourth and now the first wild card.  It will probably be a battle to the end but the way the Rangers are playing, just make the postseason and then go from there.  They will have the confidence to beat anyone in the league. 

The Hall Of Fame has four new members

The 2015 Hall Of Fame Class is one of the best as they elected four new members, three of them were first ballot.  John Smoltz, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Craig Biggio are the newest members of the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York.  Last year Smoltz saw his teammates Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux go in on their first ballot and his manager Bobby Cox and now he joins them.  There really wasn't much issue with these guys.  The only controversy is why is Mike Piazza still not in.  He got a little bit closer getting close to 70 percent and he should be elected in next year but for now he waits. 

Randy Johnson is arguably  the best left handed pitcher to ever play the game.  He was big and intimidating and once he got under control he was just dominant.  He had two seasons with the Yankees which are here in my backyard and he won 17 games in both seasons but was never exactly what they thought.  If you can win 17 games two years in a row though and still be called a disappointment it pretty much shows just how good he really was.  He started with the Montreal Expos and then went to the Seattle Mariners and was very wild but once he harnassed that he was just lights out.  He had a career record of 303-166 with a 3.29 ERA and 4,875 strikeouts.  He was with the Expos his first two season in 1988 and 1989 and then with the Mariners for 9 full years and then in his 10th season with the Mariners was traded to the Houston Astros.  He spent six seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks and helped them to one world series championship.  He spent two seasons with the New  York Yankees and then back to the Diamondbacks for a couple of seasons before finishing his career with the San Francisco Giants in 2009.  He was a 10X all star and five time Cy Young award winner.  He pitched a no-hitter and a perfect game. 

John Smoltz spend played for 21 seasons and spent all but one of them with the Atlanta Braves.  He spent his final season with the Boston Red Sox and St. Louis Cardinals.  He had a career record of 213-155 with a 3.33 ERA.  He struck out 3,084 and also had 154 career saves.  He was an 8X all star and won a world series in 1995.  He won one cy young award. 

Pedro Martinez played 18 seasons for five different teams.  He was an eight time all star, three time cy young award winner  and won a world series in 2004.  He has the lowest WHIP of any live ball era starting pitcher and his adjusted ERA+ is the best of any starting pitcher in MLB history.  He has the second highest winning percentage in modern baseball history.  He had a career record of 219-100 with a 2.93 ERA.  He had 3,154 career strikeouts and played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. 

Craig Biggio was the only position player to join these three pitchers in the Hall Of Fame class of 2015.  He played 20 seasons all of them for the Houston Astros.  Biggio finished with a career batting average of 281 and he had 3,060 career hits.  He had 291 career homeruns with 1,175 career RBI, he also had 414 career stolen bases.  He was a seven time all star and four time gold glove award winner.  He won five silver slugger awards. 

New York Yankees news and notes as we hit the new year

The New York Yankees have been busy even if it doesn't seem like it.  They have been making a bunch of smaller moves instead of signing some big free agents.  They have remade their bullpen.  David Robertson signed with the Chicago White Sox and Andrew Miller was signed by the Yankees.  David Phelps and Shawn Kelley were traded away.  The Yankees also just traded away former top prospect Manny Banuelos this  past weekend.  They acquired two relievers from the Atlanta Braves for him. 

The Yankees bullpen right now has Dellin Betances and Miller on the backend with Justin Wilson, David Carpenter who they just picked up from the Braves in front of them.  It would appear that Esmil Rogers will be the swingman like Phelps was.  The Yankees are expected to go with a seven man bullpen so they could have a couple more lefties such as Chasen Schreve from Atlanta or their top pick from last year Jacob Lindgren. 

The Yankees have also remade their infield from last season.  Mark Teixeira is the only incumbant.  Chase Headley was signed for four years and he was with the Yankees from the end of July on but he didn't start the season with them.  They have a new shortstop as their captain retired and they now also have a new second baseman in Stephen Drew.  Drew was also with the Yankees at the end of last season but he wasn't with  them for most of the season.  Alex Rodriguez is also back but he is expected to me mostly a DH and maybe only a part time one at that. 

The Yankees defense looks to be very good.  The left side has Headley and Gregorius which is very good with a lot of range and now the right side also has very good with lots of range in Drew and Teixeira.  Brian McCann is a very good catcher and the outfield defense especially in left and center field is very good.  Carlos Beltran might be the leakest weak defensively and he really isn't that bad he is just getting old. 

If the Yankees stay healthy they could have a pretty good season but that is a big if.  They are going to need their pitchers to stay healthy especially because they could really limit the runs allowed with their pitching and defense.  If their pitchers especially at the top are not healthy though that all changes.  I also think their offense will be better, how can it be any worse really and that should help them.  It should be an interesting year as they are definitely transitioning but yet still trying to stay competitive and a winning team. 

The New York Jets win their final game to end a miserable 4-12 season

The New York Jets won their final game of the season in Miami.  They had a dreadful season finishing it at 4-12.  The Jets didn't waste any time firing their head coach Rex Ryan who had a good run and changed the franchise to some degree with his brash style.  John Idzik the GM didn't survive either as he has been fired from the team.  The most amazing thing about this season is that Geno Smith finished the game with a perfect passer rating.  Maybe there is hope for him and the Jets after all.  He was benched earlier this season in favor of veteran Michael Vick who really didn't do much either in his time with the team.  The Jets just didn't have enough talent and they went to Vick too late in the season for it to mean anything anyway.  The Jets need to find a quarterback and I don't know if they will trade for one, draft one or sign a veteran free agent, we will see but they need to do something. 

The final score was 37-24 and this game took place in Miami.  Geno Smith was 20-25 for 358 yards and three touchdowns.  Chris Ivory led the rushing attack with 13 carries for 29 yards.  Owusu had one carry for 23 yards and it was a touchdown.  Eric Decker led the receivers with 10 catches for 221 yards  and a touchdown.  Sudfeld had two catches for 44 yards.  Chris Johnson had 10 carries for 20 yards rushing.  Nick Folk made three of four field goals and all four extra points. 

Ryan Tannehill of the Dolphins was 23-39 for 259 yards and a touchdown.  Miller had 19 carries for 178 yards and a touchdown.  Hartline had five catches for 94 yards, Landry had five catches for 55 yards and Clay had five for 45 yards. 

Harris had 2 1/2 sacks for the Jets, Coples had two, Davis and Richardson each had one and Wilkerson had 1/2 a sack.   The Jets had a miserable season and it came to an end on a positive.  The team will not be the same at all as the head coach and GM will be different and I am sure they will be trying to find a new quarterback at the very least to challenge Smith. 

The New York Giants end their season with a loss

The New York Giants finished their 2014 season with a loss at home to the Philadelphia Eagles.  They finished the season at 6-10 but after losing seven straight, they were able to win three straight before losing this final game.  There were positives to take out of the season like Eli Manning having a very good year and rookie wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. becoming one of the best receivers in the league.  The defense wasn't very good at all this season and they weren't very good in this final game.  Jason Pierre-Paul had a good season and will want to be paid but it remains to be seen if the Giants will bring him back.  Antrelle Rolle is also a free agent but he had a poor season and I don't see him coming back.  Tom Coughlin will be coming back after all with more changes expected on his staff.  If I had to guess I would think they fire Perry Fewell the defensive coordinator and keep the tandem of Coughlin and McAdoo together as the offense grew this season and are heading into the offseason feeling very good about themselves and what they can do in the future. 

The final score was 34-26, Eli Manning was 28-53 for 429 yards and a touchdown.  Andre Williams had 43 yards rushing on 15 carries and Rashad Jennings had 33 yards rushing on 10 carries.  Beckham led the receivers once again.  He had 12 catches for 185 yards  and a touchdown.  Ruben Randle had six catches for 158 yards and it is easy to see why they are excited with Victor Cruz coming back next year to pair with these two. 

Mark Sanchez for the Eagles was 23-36 for 292 yards and two touchdowns.  McCoy had 99 yards rushing on 17 carries and Polk had 38 rushing yards on seven carries.  Matthews had eight catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. 

Pierre-Paul had two sacks for the Giants, Herzlich had a sack along with Kuhn.  Harris had an interception.  Josh Brown the kicker was 4-4 on field goals and made both extra points as well. 

The Giants lost their first two games of the season and then won three straight to be 3-2 on the season.   They then lost seven straight before winning three straight coming into this game.  Their head coach and GM have been on the hot seat but it appears that both will be staying.  The Giants are going to need to turn it around next year though and make the playoffs or else I could see both of them not returning.