Wed AM BRB (6-2-21)
This Day in Music (6-2-1978)
Bruce Springsteen releases fourth studio album Darkness on the Edge of Town. The follow-up to Born to Run was delayed almost three years due to a legal dispute with management.
Photo Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke b/w Newsday
While they still went about business about as painfully as possible, the Yankees dug deep to outlast the Tampa Bay Rays in 4-3 in 11 innings. The final release came in the form of a two-run, walk-off HR by Clint Frazier, who despite struggling mightily this year was able to send fans into a frenzy with his “legendary bat speed,” once heralded by Yankees GM Brian Cashman. The win comes as a massive relief for a Yankees team that had seen themselves spiral back into the collective slump that saw them start 5-10. The win certainly wasn’t pretty, but in order to start something you simply need to get one over the line. In a game where the Yankees were staring down Tyler Glasnow, a pitcher that has continuously baffled them, stealing a win was all the club needed to do. Falling down 2-0 after a two-run, first inning HR by Austin Meadows felt almost like a death-blow to the Bronx Bombers, but starter Domingo German was able to steady himself and the team with another reliable five innings before turning the game over to the bullpen. Lost in the shuffle of the Yankees roller coaster ride in 2021, the bullpen firmly planted their flag in the ground as the league's best Tuesday night, with six Yankees relievers allowing zero hits over six innings to keep the largely lifeless lineup pushing forward towards Frazier’s decisive blow. The reserves of the relievers were put to the limit last night, as unlike in years past, Aaron Boone has been moving away from using six or more relievers in a ballgame for much of the 2021 season. Not only did the likes of Aroldis Chapman and Chad Green come to play, but their dominance was matched by the likes of Lucas Luetge, Wandy Peralta and Luis Cessa, while Jonathan Loaisiga, though still inconsistent at times, appears to be rounding himself into the next dominant Yankees reliever. Though the the offensive highlights are still sparse, at best, the Yankees are witnessing a possibly exciting development (trying to be as tepid as possible, here) in the return of Miguel Andujar’s power. For the second time in as many days, Andujar was able to deposit a dinger the opposite way providing the Yankees a spark and giving the team a lead in the fourth inning. Despite the HR being his only hit in five trips to the plate, Andujar has seen his average rise to the realm of the living, now sporting a .239 clip and (hopefully) trending upwards.
Last night was a game of two halves for the New York Mets, one that started with a terrific start by Marcus Stroman and an exciting display of offense from a lineup that desperately needed one, only to end in a frustrating 6-5 10-inning loss to a Diamondbacks team that had lost 14 of its previous 15 games. The good included five shutout innings by Stroman, Dominic Smith snapping his long-standing HR drought to open the scoring in the fourth and a thrilling RBI-triple by Francisco Lindor, who is still searching for a catalyst to break out from his season-long slump. Lindor’s triple came on the back of a minor dust-up between Stroman and D-Backs 2B Josh Rojas concluded the bottom of the fifth inning. Though emotions seemed to momentarily light a fire under the Mets, they also appeared to get the better of Stroman in the sixth when he allowed a three-run HR to Pavin Smith cutting the Mets four-run lead to one. Though the Mets bullpen was able to preserve the lead thanks to Aaron Loup and the continued renaissance of Jeurys Familia, but Mets closer Edwin Diaz was unable to slam the door in the ninth inning. Rojas came back to bite the Mets in the ninth when he secured a single off Diaz that was misplayed in the OF by Billy McKinney allowing the tying run to cross for the struggling Diamondbacks. The Mets were able to convert on the ghost runner in the top of the 10th when James McCann pinch hit for Mason Williams and delivered a clutch RBI single to wrestle the lead back. Despite the torrid swing in momentum, the Mets were unable to add to the win column Tuesday night when Josh Reddick ripped a fair ball by a razor’s edge down the right field line where McKinney once again misplayed the ball allowing the tying and winning runs to score. The Mets will certainly wake up today feeling as though they gave a precious win away, but last night’s loss did provide a number of signs that the offense is looking to turn a corner sooner rather than later.
Fulfilling what was to many a fait accompli, the Brooklyn Nets officially finished off the Boston Celtics at the Barclays Center with a decisive 123-109 win in the game and an even more emphatic 4-1 series victory for Brooklyn. Making no plans to return to TD Garden for a sixth game, the Nets pulled out all the stops on Tuesday, with the borough’s big three of Durant, Harden and Irving combining for roughly three quarters of the team’s points in the win. Tuesday was no doubt the finest performance of the 2021 playoffs for James Harden, who’s 34 points paced the game and secured the former MVP a triple double as he also added 10 rebounds and assists each. Though Boston was able to hang with the Nets for the majority of the first half, the team as a whole was unable to match the intensity of Jayson Tatum, who brought the Celtics 32 points in 41 minutes despite the game, and the series, very obviously slipping through the team’s fingers. The Nets will now prepare themselves for a showdown with the Milwaukee Bucks, who swept away the Miami Heat in short order to set up the star-studded matchup of Eastern Conference heavies…The Knicks will look to keep their remarkable run alive tonight at the Garden as the Hawks come in for a do-or-die game five for the upstart Knicks. While the fatal flaws of this Knicks team have been unfortunately exposed by Trae Young and the Hawks, tonight presents an opportunity for Julius Randle and co. to prove to the front office, and the city, that they are the players we so desperately want them to be. It will be no great failure if the Knicks cannot extend the series tonight, but this matchup with the Hawks has asked a lot more questions than its answered about the viability of this roster in the coming years. For tonight, the Knicks will hope to make those questions for another day.