Rays win AL East title; Yankees have to settle for Wild Card

With the Yankees losing to the Boston Red Sox 8-4, Sunday, it opened the door for the Tampa Bay Rays to take advantage and capture the division title away from the World Champions.

The Rays were down 2-0 to the Kansas City Royals before coming back to tie the game on Carlos Pena's double in the ninth. After Jeff Neiman struck out the side in the 11th, Kelly Shoppach reached on an error to drive in Rocco Baldelli with the winning run.

The Rays celebrated their AL East clinching day later...

Where does this put the Yankees? The Yankees are now the wild card and will head to Minnesota for the start of the division series starting Wednesday. Last season, the Yankees beat the Twins in four games in the division series en route to title number 27.

This time it will be a new season. The Twins may be missing Justin Morneau,again, but they have the second best record in the AL, and will get a chance to play the Yankees in their brand new stadium to start the series.

The Twins have gotten great performances all year from the likes of Jon Rauch who closed games in the first half of the year for the Twins when they lost Joe Nathan for the season, and former Yankee Carl Pavano has been great for the Twinkies this season.

The Yankees enter October in a big slump. They have lost two in a row, and lost 17 of their last 25. Pitching has been a concern. Andy Pettitte hasn't really been himself since returning from a groin injury. Phil Hughes has logged in a ton of innings, and A.J. Burnett and Javier Vasquez have been putrid. Even Derek Jeter had a big slump during the month of September.

The best thing about the Yankees right now is C.C. Sabathia and his 21 wins. They will need him to get win number 22 Wednesday if they want to get their season turned around in the right direction.

Comments

Jets, Dolphins and Patriots Playoff Breakdown

Here are the formuli that could get the Jets into and out of the playoff party this season: 1) If the Jets win against Seattle and Miami, they win the AFC East based on a better conference record (8-4) than the New England Patriots, even if New England wins out as well. 2) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins win out and finish at 11-5, the Jets would be 10-6, or 9-7, and probably out of the playoffs. Both New England and Miami would make the playoffs, with the Dolphins as a divison winner and the Patriots as a wild card. The Patriots make the postseason if Baltimore loses one of its final two games. 3) If the Patriots win out and the Dolphins and Jets split, then the Patriots win the AFC East. The Jets will have to hope that they beat Miami to win that tie-breaker and, further, hope that they have a better conference record than the Baltimore Ravens in order to clinch the sixth seed. 4) If the Patriots and Ravens win out and the Dolphins and Jets split their final two games, then ...

Francisco Lindor Remains Red Hot as Mets Top Phillies

Francisco Lindor remains the hottest player in Queens right now. The Mets shortstop blasted two more home runs, including a three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth inning, Monday night to help propel the Mets to a 5-4 win over Philadelphia. Lindor who typically struggles in the month of April is putting together a heck of a month. Monday's two hit effort was the 10th game in the last 11 where Lindor has recorded a hit. In fact in the month of April alone this year, Lindor was hitting at .311 coming into Monday's action. On the year, Lindor is batting .284 with five homers and 13 RBI. Lindor's efforts proved to be prophetic, as the Phillies Alec Bohm crushed a three-run bomb off Edwin Diaz in the top of the ninth to cut the Mets lead to a single run. Fortunately for New York, Diaz was able to shut the door with strikeouts of Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. New York (16-7) has now won five in a row.

Is Aaron Glenn in Danger of Getting Fired?

According to Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio there is a "chance" that Jets head coach Aaron Glenn could be fired at seasons end. While Florio doesn't site any sources, the rumor has caught fire the last two days. The question is would it make sense? Let's examine this for a second? Why it Makes Sense: Glenn has not been great in his first year as Head Coach of this team. The talent has taken a major step backwards, granted two of those talented players were traded away in Sauce Gardner to Indianapolis and Quinnen Williams to Dallas. The decision he and GM Darren Mougey made to give Justin Fields a two year deal proved to be a horrible mistake, and Glenn stuck with Fields for far too long before pulling the plug following the Jets loss to the Patriots on a Thursday night in mid November. Glenn gave now former Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks too much power to run the defense, and the players couldn't stand Wilks. Reports indicated this week af...

COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Search This Blog