Fri AM BRB (4-2-21)
Photo Cred: Kathy Willens, Associated Press b/w New York Daily News
This Day in Music (4-2-1939)
The “Prince of Motown,” Marvin Gaye is born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. in Washington D.C.
The MLB season began in earnest yesterday, but unfortunately, not for the New York Mets and their fans. A day after the Mets finally struck a 10-year, $341 million deal with Francisco Lindor, the team and their fans were disappointed to learn that Opening Day festivities would have to wait. Late yesterday morning it was announced that due to a rather rampant case of COVID currently circulating around the Nationals organization, the primetime game between the Mets and Washington would not go ahead. Later in the day it was announced that the game could not be made up on Friday, leaving the Mets in a holding pattern as to when their season is going to begin. The Mets were able to render one of the biggest questions looming over their season irrelevant by locking up Lindor to become the new face of their franchise. Now they’re asked to show mental toughness in staying focused for an Opening Day that is now firmly TBD. Certainly this is not how new owner Steve Cohen wanted his tenure to begin, but for once, his Mets are a casualty of chaos, not its creator.
The 2021 season did get underway for the 27-time World Champion Yankees, though the Bombers seemed to largely forget that fact beyond the fourth inning. Leaving 10 runners on base from the fifth inning on, the Yankees lost a frustrating opener to the Blue Jays 3-2 in 10 innings. While the Yankees had many chances to take advantage of, none will haunt the team more than the lineups driving forces, DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge, failing to push a runner home with one out and the bases juiced in the 9th. In truth it’s hard to complain when an opportunity is gift-wrapped for the team such as this and they simply drop it like an infant tired of holding a cell phone. Fans were rightfully frustrated, and I’m sure the Yankees appreciated having 10,850 of them back to boo the team in person. One player who most ridiculously drew the ire of the Opening Day crowd was 2020 postseason hero Giancarlo Stanton. While Stanton did go 0-5 with three strikeouts, it’s this writer’s opinion that what the slugger proved last October earned him a bit more leniency from any real Yankees fan than he was offered yesterday afternoon. While Thursday was not the best day for the Bronx Bombers, Opening Day did offer plenty of signs that the Yankees will be just fine. Despite a shaky second inning and giving up his gratuitous home run, Gerrit Cole was every bit of the ace the Yankees expect him to be. Striking out eight in 5.1 innings, Cole looked utterly dominant at times, ballsy in spots (challenging and blowing away Vlad Jr with a 3-1 heater), and most importantly, in sync with embattled backstop Gary Sanchez. To the surprise of none who believes in irony, El Gary was about the only Yankee who shined in perpetuity on Thursday. The man who most fans wanted to see traded or outright cut this offseason took the first pitch he saw 407 feet into the left field seats, providing the Yanks with their only offense against the crafty Hyun-Jin Ryu. Sanchez went 2 for 3 with a walk, as well as delivering a beautiful throw to nab Randall Grichuk trying to steal second base. Though there will no doubt be no honeymoon period for Sanchez, perhaps confidence is all he needs to prove the real Gary Sanchez is finally standing up.
In perhaps their biggest game of the season to date, the New York Islanders proved they will be a force to be reckoned with this spring. Led by a hat trick by Matthew Barzal, the Isles lapped their chief competition for the East Division crown, the Washington Capitals, in a dizzying 8-4 win. With their victory Thursday, the Islanders once again drew even with the Caps for the division lead, though Washington does maintain a game-in-hand. The Pittsburgh Penguins have also begun to surge, winning five in a row to create what is currently a three-way tie atop the East. The Islanders will still be looking high and low for reinforcements ahead of April 12th’s trade deadline, though a place in the playoffs does seem all-but-secured…While the Rangers did not make things easy on themselves Thursday night, the Blueshirts were able to take two points from the Buffalo Sabres after Mika Zibanejad smashed a beautiful feed from Artemi Panarin past Dustin Tokarski at 4:32 of overtime. Their heroics came after the Rangers failed to see the game through in the third period, allowing Tage Thompson to beat Igor Shesterkin with four seconds remaining to send the game into the 3 on 3 sudden death period. Games like this are a reminder of two facts: first, the young Rangers have much to learn before truly being considered a threat to crash the chase for the Stanley Cup. While they are still early in their development, the Rangers are, for better or worse, expected to beat teams like Buffalo if they’re to have any chance at the playoffs. Good news is they got the job done come hell or high water. There's reason to believe this team doesn’t know when to quit, and at three points behind fourth seed Boston, anything can happen. Yet, it is important to keep things in perspective. If in the end the 2020-21 Rangers are able to thrill their fans the way they did last night, they’ve done their job for the immediate term.