COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

Here is the rotation that the Yankees will throw at the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS that begins tonight in the Bronx. Game 1: CC Sabathia vs. Justin Verlander. Game 2: Ivan Nova vs. Doug Fister. Game 3: Freddy Garcia vs. Matt Scherzer. Game 4: CC Sabathia vs. Rick Porcello. Game 5: Ivan Nova vs. Justin Verlander. Verlander will not pitch in game 4, because he has never pitched on three days rest in his career. Fister and Verlander combined to go 14-0 with a 1.66 ERA for the Tigers since August 16. Nova earned the number two spot in the rotation after winning 16 games this season. Sabathia will have to be the anchor of this baseball team if they are to advance. Game one is on TBS at 8:37 pm.

According to a report from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.com, the Red Sox are expected to part ways with manager Terry Francona on Friday morning. Two days after Francona managed the biggest collapse in baseball, as his Red Sox went 7-20 in the month of September, blowing a nine game lead in the AL Wild Card, not to mention the AL East, Francona will not be back as manager. GM Theo Epstien said he didn't want Francona to become a scapegoat for the Sox collapse, but with Francona's contract coming with a 2012 and 2013 option worth $4.25 million, the Red Sox thought it wasn't worth continuing with Francona. He was not fired, but the sides agreed to part, according to the story. Francona's Sox got off to a 2-10 start to the 2011 season, before going 81-42 from late April to August 31. In short, during the months of April and September Francona went 9-30 with a team that was expected to be the best in baseball. The White Sox and Nationals are currently looking for a new manag...

It was a night unlike any other in the history of regular season finales in Major League Baseball: Four games to determine two playoff spots. The Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves had huge leads of 8.5 games in their respective AL and NL wild card races at the start of September. Both teams blew those leads and ended up in a dead heat with the St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays entering play. The formula for all four teams was simple: Win! If all four teams won, then one-game playoffs would have been played on Thursday to determine the leagues' wild cards; however, don't tell that to Braves and Red Sox that both blew late leads in Wednesday night's action. The Braves held a 3-1 lead on the Philadelphia Phillies at home, only to watch Philly tie it with runs in the seventh and ninth innings. The game went into extras, and the Phillies did away with their divisional rival when Hunter Pence singled home Brian Schneider with the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th. The Brav...

In what will likely be his final game in a New York Mets uniform, Jose Reyes went out in as embarrassing a fashion as he could possibly dream up. In the bottom of the first inning in the Mets season finale against the Cincinnati Reds, Reyes bunted for base hit single, then took himself out of the baseball game because he had full knowledge that he was two points ahead of Milwaukee's Ryan Braun for the NL batting average title. In short Reyes cared more about a pointless statistic than about the well- being of a franchise, for which he will most likely no longer work for come November. When asked about the decision to pull Reyes out of the game, Terry Collins back tracked, and said that Reyes, himself, decided to come out of the game, creating a huge uproar over his actions. The actions by Reyes came as a shock to everyone sitting at Citi Field when his replacement was booed by the Mets fans. Even Keith Hernandez called Reyes' move "disappointing." This begs the questi...

Following Gang Green's shoddy performance in Oakland, California on Sunday, Jets Hall of Fame quarterback did something that might soon become a pattern if things don't improve for the Jets: criticize Rex Ryan . Namath has had just about enough of Ryan, his bravado, and his cocky football team when he spoke with Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay on ESPN radio on Monday: " It starts at the top. Coach Rex Ryan, I think, has been doing a great job getting the team to two (AFC) Championship Games. But if there's one thing about the athlete, if you keep telling him how good he is, he's going to start believing it, to the point that he may not be preparing not quite the way he should. He may be losing some respect for the other team ." That would definitely explain the series of lazy plays by the Jets since Ryan has been coach. As has been duly noted on this web site, the Jets have a propensity for sleepwalking through three quarters of any game they play against an ...

Three weeks are now in the books on the 2011 NFL season, and what a wild ride it has been. Take for example the NFC East. A year ago, the Eagles dominated the division, with the Giants, Cowboys and Redskins bringing up the rear. This year it's flipped. Dallas is in first with a 2-1 record, followed by Washington and the Giants, who upset Philly. The Eagles are in last at 1-2. Meanwhile the NFL is abuzz over the 3-0 starts by the Lions and Bills. The Lions haven't been 3-0 in a season since 1980, when Jimmy Carter was still president!! The Lions stunned the Vikings with a 23 point comeback to win in overtime 26-23. As for Buffalo they erased a 21- 0 deficit, their second consecutive big comeback, to beat the rival Patriots 34-31. The win snapped a 15 game losing streak to New England, and povalted the Bills into first place in the AFC East. Is Hell freezing over? Perhaps it is. The Lions, Bills, 49ers, Cowboys, Browns, Texans, Redskins, and Raiders are all 2-1 or better and eith...

RAIDERS 34 JETS 24 There were no miracle blocked punts this time around. The New York Jets put up a heck of a stinker in Oakland Sunday as they dropped a 34-24 decision to the youthful Raiders; the Jets got manhandled in every facet of the game. Who cares that the Jets offense racked up some numbers toward the end of the game; it didn't make up for the stinkfest that the Jets displayed on Sunday afternoon. They entered this game with an inability to run the ball, an inability to get their big play receivers involved in the offense, and an inability to protect the quarterback. All three issues rose their ugly heads in Oakland. For starters the philosophy of ground and pound is officially kaput. Once again the rushing attack was non-existent for the Jets as Shonn Greene ran for only 59 yards on 13 carries, and whenever he touched the ball, he was grounded and pounded into the ground himself by the Raiders defense. The passing game was very limited too. Santonio Holmes had only one ca...

GIANTS 29 EAGLES 16 The New York Giants have saved their season. Granted, it is only Week Three, and there is still a lot of football to be played, but for a Giants team decimated by injuries, written off by their fan base, and led by a head coach battling for his job, won the most important game for Big Blue since their Super Bowl victory more than three years ago. Nobody expected the Giants to walk into Philadelphia and pull out a victory, especially with Michael Vick playing this game, concussion or no concussion. Instead the Giants came out like gangbusters, opening up a 14-0 lead on Philly, shocking the Dream Team and rest of America. Eli Manning's 40 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jacobs in the first quarter set the tone for Big Blue. Later in the quarter, Manning hit a streaking Victor Cruz 74 yards down the sideline for the score, giving the Giants a 14-0 lead. Even though the Eagles scored 16 consecutive points, the Giants never let Michael Vick and LaShaun McCoy dictate t...

Listen Here for the fourth installment of Open Mike , the sports pod cast featured on Flippin Out Radio and UStream.com. This week we take a look at the Giants vs. Eagles match up, where Michael Vick has been cleared to play after suffering a concussion in last week's loss to the Atlanta Falcons. After that, we discuss the MLB playoff picture, and where the Yankees fit into the October landscape. Finally I take your calls, to discuss Jets vs. Raiders and much much more.

YANKEES 4 RAYS 2 GAME 1 YANKEES 4 RAYS 2 GAME 2 The New York Yankees are heading back to October for the 16th time in the last 17 years. The Bronx Bombers got it done once again as they swept away the Tampa Bay Rays in a double-header at Yankee Stadium while the slumping Boston Red Sox fell to the Baltimore Orioles 6-4 in Boston, helping the Yankees capture this title. In game one, the Yankees clinched no worse than a playoff spot in the 2011 postseason when the came back to beat Tampa Bay 4-2. The Rays held a 2-1 lead going into the eighth inning, until Eduardo Nunez cracked a solo shot to left to tie the game against James Shields who was clearly running out of gas. After a single by Brett Gardner and a walk to Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano nailed a double to center field to drive in both runners giving the Yankees the lead. Then in came Mariano Rivera in the ninth, and the greatest closer of all time notched down save 603 with a crisp ninth inning to clinch the playoff spot. The Yankee...

An intriguing report has come from Forbes.com regarding the most overpaid players in the NFL, and Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez tops the list. Sanchez, who inked a five year $60 million deal in 2009, has provided mediocre results since becoming the Jets franchise quarterback. Here is the their reasoning : " Sanchez, though, has also thrown three interceptions. He enters Week 3 with a middle-of-the-road passer rating of 87.7. That’s an improvement over the low 70s Sanchez averaged in his first two seasons after signing a rookie contract worth up to $60 million over five years. This season happens to be the balloon year of Sanchez’s five-year deal: he’s owed $14.75 million. Like any QB drafted high, Sanchez is being paid for the potential the club figures he has to develop into a star. But while he’s progressing, there’s no way to avoid viewing his salary as anything but excessive until that big year actually comes . " So picking the most overpaid requires a touch of subjectivi...

On Tuesday, Giants safety Antrelle Rolle decided to stick his foot down his throat when he said that he wanted to face Michael Vick on Sunday. Citing that he didn't want people to complain about the legitimacy of a Giants win when they "beat" the Eagles, Rolle wants to pulverize the Eagles with Vick. By next Tuesday, Rolle might be wishing that he never opened his big mouth. Vick, who suffered a concussion against the Atlanta Falcons Sunday night when he was spun around and bent backwards, his head slamming into the shoulder of his own offensive lineman, is preparing to play on Sunday. Vick took part in the Eagles walk-through on Wednesday morning, even though he didn't practice later in the day. Head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder said Vick doesn’t have “a whole lot of concussion symptoms,” and would undergo further testing, including seeing an independent neurologist in the next day or two. “Just because he doesn’t have symptoms today doesn’t mean he won’t have sy...

Even though he made an acrobatic catch in the end zone Monday night in the Giants 28-16 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Domenik Hixon's season is now over yet again. For the second straight season, Hixon tore his ACL in his right knee and will be lost for the year. The Giants were hoping that Hixon would be a key contributor to the Giants this season after the team let Steve Smith and Kevin Boss go via free agency. Ironically, Hixon was injured on that terrific catch. Before his injury trouble, Hixon had over 1,500 yards as a kick and punt return man for Big Blue; however, during spring practice in May of 2010, Hixon injured the knee on a sprint at the Meadowlands. After a full year of rehab, Hixon was now healthy and contributing to the Giants offense until this big blow. Where the Giants go from here is anyone's guess. There are available free agent receivers like Randy Moss and Terrell Owens. Big names, but big names who are well past their prime, and who's negative his...

Now Mariano Rivera is both literally and figuratively the greatest closer to ever pitch in major league baseball. Ever since Trevor Hoffman became MLB's all time saves leader a few years ago, it was pretty widely accepted that as good as Hoffman was, he was not really the best closer in baseball. That title belonged to Rivera before he ever came close to 602 saves. Rivera developed a reputation as the game's greatest closer with his impeccable performances in the most important games in Yankees history. This is a man who has locked down opponent after opponent in October, and the man who has locked AL Pennant after AL Pennant and World Series after World Series with his clam, cool demanor, and one pitch: a cutter. To say that Rivera has had ice water in his veins over the last 15 years of his Hall of Fame career, does only so much justice. No one pitched with more gusto, and more intimidation than Rivera. When good ole number 42 came out of the Yankees bullpen everyone, even th...

When the Jets begin preparation for the Oakland Raiders on Tuesday, they will do so with full knowledge that they will be without Nick Mangold for the duration of a brutal three game road trip that takes Gang Green from the Black Hole to Baltimore and then to New England. Mangold suffered a right ankle sprain when a Jaguars defender rolled up on his leg in the first quarter of the Jets 32-3 victory over Jacksonville at the Meadowlands on Sunday. Mangold, a Pro-Bowl center will be greatly missed by this Jets offense as they square off against two of the top defenses in the NFL, the Pats and Ravens, over the next three weeks; it could be a rough stretch for Mark Sanchez who threw two picks Sunday, and the running game, which only gained 49 yards on the Jags. The Jets hope that Colin Baxter can fill in for Mangold and insist they don't need a veteran. I think the Jets better start looking. Like I wrote on Sunday, former Giants center Shaun O'Hara is a free agent, and would be a ...

JETS 32 JAGUARS 3 See what can happen when the New York Jets remember when kick-off is and actually play for 60 minutes? After last week's lucky victory against the Dallas Cowboys, the Jets needed a laugher in the worst way, and they finally got it against the pathetic Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jets wasted little time in putting distance between themselves and a Jaguars team that beat them two years ago in old Giants Stadium as Mark Sanchez opened the game completing four consecutive passes highlighted by a 33 yard pass to Dustin Keller and culminating in a 17 yard touchdown strike to Santonio Holmes. For Keller, this was the break out performance the Jets have been waiting for from him for some time. He had six catches for 101 yards and a touchdown. It was Keller's best individual performance for Gang Green since Week Two of the 2010 season when he had seven catches for 115 yards against the Patriots. If the Jets offense has any plans of doing big things this season, they have...

For the third episode of Open Mike, I welcome CSB graduate Alex Cordova, and the two of us break down the Jets dramatic comeback against the Dallas Cowboys last week, as well as the Giants hideous showing in Washington. We also take a look ahead to the Jets-Jaguars and Giants-Rams match-ups for week 2 of the NFL season. Will the Red Sox collapse? Boston is holding onto a slim lead in the AL Wild Card race, entering Friday's action with a three game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays. We discuss that situation further. Take a listen! HERE

The Jets will be back in blue. The New York Jets are bringing back the Titans uniforms for Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. New York will wear the blue helmets, with blue jersey and gold pants for the first time since 2009. During the 2009 campaign, the Jets wore the uniforms three times, wearing the blue jersey against the Tennessee Titans in September before switching to white jersey's with blue numerals in an October 25 game against the Raiders, and a November 1 game against the Dolphins. Overall, the Jets went 2-1 in the Titans jersey's in 2009. All time, the Jets are 5-2 when they wear the uniforms. In that time frame, the Jets have averaged 35 points a game when they wear the jersey, highlighted by a 56-35 victory over the Cardinals in 2008.

Jets 27 Cowboys 24 Apparently, the Jets like to play like this. Don't show up for three quarters, then miraculously wake up, rally and win the game in the fourth quarter when it appears that all hope is lost. Sunday night's season opener against Dallas was a continuation of a fun, and very disturbing pattern by Gang Green as the Jets pulled one out against the Cowboys 27-24. However, for three quarters, the Jets looked clueless. For three quarters the Jets had no pizzazz, and for three quarters the Jets couldn't throw or catch a football if it hit them in the face. The Jets defense gave up huge plays to the Dallas Cowboys in the first half; for example, Dez Bryant schooled Revis Island on a number of occasions. Bryant dazzled early with a 42 yard catch to set the Cowboys up at the 17-yard line. Five plays later, Romo found Bryant again in the corner of the end zone against Antonio Cromartie for the score. As for the Jets offense, they were asleep at the wheel. They couldn...

Redskins 28 Giants 14 Giants fans, now you can panic! After a horrid pre-season that saw the Giants lose seven players for the year to injury, as well as lose the availability of Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora to nagging injuries, the Giants went out and played like trash in their regular season opener against the Redskins. Rex Grossman looked like Joe Theisman as he threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns against the banged-up Giants secondary. The Giants feared that the loss of Terrell Thomas would have a big impact on the play of their secondary and it clearly did since the Giants couldn't find a way to bat a ball down, couldn't find a way to cause an interception, and couldn't cover a receiver if their lives depended on it. After the Giants grabbed a 14-7 lead on a Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown, the Redskins stormed back to tie the game before halftime. Grossman hit Jabar Gaffney for 39 yards to spot the ball at the Giants 15 yard line. Then, on the next play, Grossman hit Ant...

On Friday, September 9, I held my second podcast for the show Open Mike at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting on Flippin' Out Radio and U-Stream. Today's pod cast I go over Thursday night's classic between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns, all three touchdowns coming in the first quarter, as Green Bay held off the Saints 42-34. I then move on to a discussion of Peyton Manning's status for the upcoming season. Manning had surgery on his neck for the third time in 19 months. The Colts believe that Manning could return by November, but chances are he won't play this season. I continue to discuss the status of the NFL with John Silva, a graduate of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, before concluding the show on the Jets and Giants. Take a listen RIGHT HERE !!

Tragic events have occurred this afternoon in Russia that will shake local hockey teams here in the New York area. A Russian plane, carrying 45 people from the Russian ice hockey team the Lokomotiv of the EHL, crashed early Wednesday killing all but two people on board. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, as the players were heading to Minsk for a game on Thursday. It is believed that two former Rangers, a former Islander and a former Devils' prospect were aboard the plane. Former Rangers player Alexander Karpovtsev, who won the Stanley Cup with the team in 1994, and was working with the Russian team, as well as former Rangers defenseman Karel Rachunek, 32; center Josef Vasicek, 30, who played for the New York Islanders from 2005 to 2008; and Alexandr Vayunov, an NHL prospect who played for the New Jersey Devils, all perished on the flight.

Another one gone, Another one gone, Another one bites the dust! So the musical chairs of injury continues for the New York Giants as Jon Goff is expected to miss the season after tearing the ACL in his right knee. Goff was the Giants starting middle linebacker, a guy who was showing steady improvement over the past three seasons. He was a run stuffer for the Giants, as recorded 70 tackles last season. Ironically this was Goff's walk year, he was scheduled to be a free agent after the season, and now he won't even have a chance to take his play to the next level in order to make a mega contract next year. Goff is one in a long line of injuries for the Giants this year. The G-Men already lost Terrell Thomas, Clint Sintom, Marvin Austin, Bruce Armstrong and Bruce Johnson for the season. They have also lost Prince Amukarua for the first month of the year with a broken foot. Plus the G-Men will also be without Osi Umenyiora who is nursing a knee injury for the first month of the yea...

As posted on Bleacher Report: Are you ready for some football? Eight weeks ago, it seemed unfathomable that the NFL would be up and running at this point in September.Talks between the owners and players were so distant and bitter, there was discussion of cancelling the entire pre-season and the first half of the year, or even cancelling the entire 2011 season. Thankfully, both sides realized the price of no football was too great a risk, and eventually the sides agreed to a new CBA, and with it, a new dawn. Now that football is back, we are going to get a heck of a marquee match-up on Sunday night. New York's bright lights may not be enough to keep the glow on this match-up between the up-start, big mouthed Jets and America's Team, the Dallas Cowboys . Rex Ryan , once again, has written a blank check for his New York Jets , stating that this is the best roster he has had in his three years as head coach, an...

On September 2, I held my first official radio program on Flippin Out Radio broadcast from the Connecticut School of Broadcasting. The show titled "Open Mike," opens with a discussion of A.J. Burnett's performance against the Boston Red Sox on September 1, a virtuoso performance by Burnett who shut down the Red Sox for five and a third innings. Then I move on to the Mets fiasco involving Fred Wilpon and David Einhorn. Einhorn was denied rights to become a partner with the Wilpons because he wanted to eventually become a full time owner of the Mets franchise, which the Wilpons didn't want. I have strong words for the Wilpons. Later I welcome in Mike Sanfillipo of Triple Coverage, and Magic 98.3 FM. Sanfillipo joins me to talk about the Mets as well as the opening of the NFL season. LISTEN TO THE POD CAST HERE !

Yankees 4 Red Sox 2 This was a game the Yankees truly needed to win. With so much to prove to themselves, in a season where their pitching has staff has been abominable, the Yankees got the kind of effort from A.J. Burnett that they had been waiting for all season. Burnett was brilliant. For the first time in months, he impecable with his control, and never wavered in his confidence. A noticible difference in Burnett's performance was his delivery. Burnett understands that he is no longer a guy who gun rip off 98 mph on the radar gun, and is in the midst of learning how to pitch more creatively. He did it tonight, mixing and matching his pitches for five and a third innings, giving up five hits and two runs, while striking out four. The only mistake he made was a pitch to Dustin Pedroia, who cracked a two run homer in the fourth inning, but overall it was a big step for Burnett. Burnett and Phil Hughes have been teetering on the brink of being out of the Yankees...

The concerns about how far this New York Yankees club will go this fall are being expedited big time in this week's series against the Boston Red Sox. Tuesday nights impressive 5-2 victory was huge from the standpoint it gave CC Sabathia his first win against Boston this year, in an epic 128 pitch marathon, that saw him throw 50 pitches through the first two innings of the game. Sabathia who was 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against Boston this year, needed to show the Yankees he can beat their biggest rival, for if he struggles against them, then nobody can pitch well against Boston. While Tuesday was a shuttle reminder of how good the Yankees could be when things are clicking for them, Wednesday night was an example of what can go wrong for this team. Phil Hughes was putrid again. Giving up six runs in five and two-thirds innings, Hughes' ERA rose to 6.75, and, now tonight the Bombers turn to A.J. Burnett. Burnett has been the model of inconsistency and failure all season lon...

David Einhorn will not become a part owner of the New York Mets after all. Both the Mets and Einhorn failed to come to terms on a agreement on terms that would require Einhorn to give the Wilpon's $200 million in order to have a non-controlling stake in the franchise. According to terms of the deal, Einhorn could have become majority owner in three to five years, but that all fell through when the sides couldn't agree on the initial stake in the franchise. Adam Rhubin of ESPN New York reports that the Mets will now try to sell off smaller shares to family and friends in order to make up for the $200 million they need to help pay off the team's debts. This is another in a long line of black eyes for the Mets franchise. Not only are the nearing bankruptcy thanks to the Bernie Maddoff scheme, they can't even sell off a small portion of the team without making mass headlines. What a joke, and this is a franchise that believes it can re-sign Jose Reyes in the o...