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The Joe Girardi era in New York is over. A 10-year ride that included a World Series title in 2009 and a return to prominence in 2017 ends with Girardi simply saying the Yankees didn't want him back. Those Yankee fans who clamored for Girardi to be let go after Game 2 of the ALDS against the Indians got their wish. "With a heavy heart I come to you because the Yankees decided not to bring me back," Girardi said in a statement. The decision by the Yankees is surprising considering the Yankees overachieved in 2017. With so many young players, the team wasn't expected to be competitive this season, but Girardi got the most out of the budding talent as the Bombers won 91 games and advanced all the way to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Under his guidance, Aaron Judge became a superstar, belting 59 home runs, breaking a Major League rookie record. Luis Severino became the ace of the pitching staff, and the Yankees found budding young stars ...

The New York Mets have their new manager in former Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway. After a weekend of intense speculation that the franchise would go for someone familiar like hitting coach Kevin Long, or former bench coach Manny Acta, the franchise decided to go with one of the best pitching coaches in the sport as its next skipper.  While nobody knows how Callaway will do in the pressure cooker of New York City, this was an intriguing and bold move by the Mets. For starters the hiring of Callaway means that the Mets were willing to be wowed by someone from the outside. Just having an open mind is huge points to the Mets front office, because they reeled in a man who learned from one of the best in the game in Terry Francona. Speaking of Francona, it is interesting to note that even he was was wowed by Callaway when he first met him in 2012. The story goes that when Francona took the Indians job , he was encouraged to meet with Callaway as a potential candidate for...

DOLPHINS 31 - JETS 28  Only the Jets could find a way to tease us this long. For three quarters of football the New York Jets looked like and played like a legitimate ... (dare I say) ... playoff contender. They thoroughly dominated the Miami Dolphins for three quarters. The Jets offense carved up Miami's leaky secondary with ease, and the defense was having its way once again with Jay Cutler. Then with the Jets leading 21-14 in the third quarter, Cutler got hurt, leaving the game after getting drilled into Hard Rock Stadium's dirt-painted-green turf, giving way to Jet-killer Matt Moore. But long before Moore settled into tearing the Jets apart, as he usually does, Moore threw a killer interception to Marcus Maye. The Jets quickly turned that Moore mistake into points when Josh McCown connected with Austin Seferian Jenkins for a 10-yard score to push the Jets lead to 28-14. A 14-point lead with 15 minutes to go. This game should have been over.  The Jets should have be...

ASTROS 4 - YANKEES 0  HOU wins series 4-3 The Yankees spectacular run in 2017 came to a screeching halt last night in the Lone Star State as the Houston Astros move on to the World Series after 4-0 victory over the Bronx Bombers in Game 7. After getting shutdown by Justin Verlander in Game 6, the Yankees had no answer for the combination of Charlie Morton and Lance McCullers, both of whom combined to three-hit the Yankees. For a team that has prided itself on power, the Yankees were totally stymied in every single game that was played in Houston in this LCS. In four games, New York scored only three runs. That is not going to win any games. To do nothing against Morton and McCullers is unacceptable. Soon the Yankees inability to do anything offensively caught up with them in the fourth inning when Evan Gattis launched a 2-2 slider by CC Sabathia off the facing in left field for a solo home run to give the 'Stros a 1-0 lead. With the way the Yankee offense was hitting, th...

YANKEES 5 - ASTROS 0 NYY lead series 3-2 The New York Yankees are just one win away from the World Series. The team that nobody thought would even be close to returning to the Fall Classic this season, let alone the ALCS continues to prove the doubters wrong. It has been a season of comebacks for the Yankees, the Bronx Bombers have made the postseason their own comeback story. First it was the wild card game against the Twins where they trailed 3-0. Then it was the Indians series in the ALDS where they were down two games to none. Now it is the ALCS. The Yankees were down two games to none against the Astros, and erased that deficit, and, at the same time, exercised their Dallas Keuchel demons in one foul swoop to take a 3-2 series edge. All New York has to do is beat Justin Verlander on Friday night and their ticket to the World Series will be punched. Keuchel just didn't have it. Five days after frustrating the Yankees offense with a collection of off-speed pitches in Ga...

YANKEES 8 - ASTROS 1  HOU leads Series 2-1 All rise, the Judge is back. Aaron Judge awoke from his postseason slumber to help deliver a much needed laugher for the Yankees as they blew away the Houston Astros 8-1 in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. After two crushing losses to open the series in Houston, the Yankees won a game the desperately had to have to keep the series alive. Judge played a key roll in the win. First he robbed Yuil Gurriel of extra bases when he snared in a fly ball against the right field wall. Then, a couple of innings later, Judge destroyed a Will Harris cutter and planted it over the left field wall for a 3-run homer that blew the game wide open at 8-0. For a man who has really struggled to find his stroke this postseason, Judge's Game Three performance was a reminder of how dominant he can be. If it serves as a turning point will depend on how he does in Game 4 on Tuesday afternoon. Judge wasn't the only headline grabber of t...

ASTROS 2 - YANKEES 1 HOU leads series 2-0  It was Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series. The Yankees were playing host to the Baltimore Orioles. Then Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter lined a pitch to right that a young boy named Jeffery Maier leaned over the wall and knocked over the fence for what the umpires called a home run. It was fan interference, but the umpires let it slide, and the Yankees would go on to win the game, and defeat the Oriles in the LCS, en route to the 1996 World Series title. Fast forward 21 years later, the Yankess might be experiencing the Jeffery Maeir situation once again. Only this time it is going against them.  With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Astros shortstop (how ironic) Carlos Correa launched a 99-mph fastball to right. Aaron Judge tried to make a play on it until 12-year old Carson Riley leaned over the wall and knocked the ball off the top of his glove and into the seats. The umpires called it a home run. Even wo...

ASTROS 2 - YANKEES 1  HOU leads series 1 - 0  Dallas Keuchel continued his mastery of the Yankees in Game 1 of the 2017 ALCS, as he guided the Stros to a 2-1 victory and 1-0 series edge in this best-of-seven match-up. If the Yankees are going to win this thing and get to the World Series, they are going to have to figure out Keuchel who owns a 0.71 ERA in two postseason starts this year, and has a 0.00 ERA in 13 innings against New York in the playoffs. Remember it was Keuchel who blanked the Yankees over six innings in the 2015 Wild Card game. The Astros' ace dominated New York's see-fastball, hit-fastball offense with a heavy dose of soft stuff. Changeups, sinkers and a whole lot of sliders. His hardest pitch clocked in at 92 mph. Against a lineup like the Yankees, being crafty can be a work of art. And for seven innings on Friday night, Keuchel delivered a masterpiece. He gave up only four hits, all singles, and struck out 10 batters. He handled the likes of Aaron ...

YANKEES 7 - INDIANS 3 Series tied 2-2  In the course of two games the Yankees have gone from dead team walking to just 27 outs from a date with the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. That is how rapidly things can change in a five game playoff series. The Yankees brought the thunder to their game against the Indians on Monday, coming away with a 7-3 win before a rocking Yankee Stadium. The Stadium was on fire from first pitch, with the echo of deep chants, cheers and euphoria spread throughout the building, making it seem more like a European soccer event, or even the late 90's when the Yankees were kings of the baseball world. There is something about this Yankee team that is endearing. They never give up. Last week they were down 3-0 in their wild card game to the Minnesota Twins and pulled it out. In this division series they were down two-games-to-none, with the manager's head on the proverbial chopping block. Now, if they win on Wednesday, Ga...

YANKEES 1 - INDIANS 0  CLE leads Series 2-1 It was a thrilla in the Bronx. The New York Yankees answered the call and shut up the critics after a disastrous Game 2 with a thrilling 1-0 win over the Indians to keep their season alive for at least one more night. It is amazing how things can change in the matter of 48 hours, but that is exactly what the Yankees did Sunday night. On Friday, Yankees fans were ready to ship Joe Girardi out of town after a controversial decision not to challenge a supposed "hit by pitch" on Lonnie Chisenthall that led to a 5-run inning for Cleveland. Two days later the Yankees flipped the script and left Yankees fans cheering with a performance for the ages. Never has the new Yankee Stadium rocked as loudly as it did on Sunday. The fans could feel something special was happening and the players fed off it. Mashairo Tanaka needed the performance of his career against 18-game winner Chris Carrasco and he delivered big time. He showed raw emo...

CHARGERS 27 - GIANTS 22 The Giants season has gone from being over to being a total dumpster fire. Not only did Big Blue lose to the Chargers 27-22, but they may have lost Odell Beckham Jr. for the season. With four minutes left in Sunday's game, Beckham landed awkwardly on his left ankle and had to be carted off the field. Early indications are the injury is a fractured left ankle -- the same ankle he injured in August in preseason. There will be an MRI on Monday to determine what kind of surgery is required. Chances are Beckham will need surgery and could miss the rest of the season. That is a huge blow to the Giants, who also lost Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepherd to ankle injuries in the first half and never returned. Dwayne Harris was carted off the field with a fractured foot. The injuries are the lead for what was a horrible day for the Giants, as the fell to 0-5 for the first time since 2013. They started 0-6 that season. Eli Manning was under siege all day. He...

JETS 17 - BROWNS 14 To say that this game was ugly would be an understatement. The New York Jets had absolutely no business winning this football game, but did so because the Cleveland Browns just can't help themselves from being ... well ...  the Cleveland Browns. The Browns could have easily blown the Jets out were in not for a series of stupid mistakes that sunk them. Let's review: Mistake #1: At the end of the first quarter, the Browns were moving the football well on New York, with DeShone Kizer actually playing well. After an 18-yard scramble by Kizer on third and three at the Jets 24, Cleveland had a 1st and goal at the Jets six. It seemed almost certain they would score. Ah, but it wasn't to be. Kizer tried to lateral a football to Isaiah Crowell, but the running back wasn't expecting the football and fumbled it. The Jets fell on it, killing Cleveland's drive. Mistake #2: Thanks to a couple of big throws by Kizer, the Browns were able to erase a co...

Week Five of the NFL season is now upon us, and this is a huge week for a number of teams. The Giants and Chargers do battle in a match-up of 0-4 teams. One will have to win this game, at least we think. Meanwhile the Jets visit Cleveland for a dangerous game against the lowly 0-4 Browns. Who will win? Who will lose? Check it out here.

INDIANS 4 - YANKEES 0 CLE leads series 1-0 For all intents and purposes the Yankees season is on the brink in Game 2. Why? Because they face the Indians best pitcher, Corey Kluber in a game they must have after Trevor Bauer dominated them on the hill in Game 1, as the Indians came away with a 4-0 victory.  Bauer was awesome for the Indians. He had a Yankees offense that led all of baseball in home runs, and was second in RBI's, total bases and hits to just two singles in six-and-two-thirds innings of work. In fact, Bauer was so good he had a no-hitter going for him until Aaron Hicks broke it up with a double in the top of the sixth.  A lot of people questioned Terry Francona's decision to go with Bauer in Game 1, especially with guys like Kluber and Carlos Carrasco at the ready. But Francona, ever a manager who has the pulse of his players, said no to the skeptics and rolled with Bauer -- a pitcher he saw turn his career around in 2017 with 17 wins in 31 ...

YANKEES 8 - TWINS 4 The Yankees are moving on to Cleveland after coming from behind against a very game Minnesota Twins team in Tuesday's AL Wild Card. After falling behind 3-0 in the games' opening inning, this group of young Bronx Bombers showed why this playoff game would be different than playoff contests before this one. Two years ago in this very spot, the Yankees lost to the Houston Astros. That would not be the case this time, even if the early results didn't look too good. The Yankees need to give a lot of credit to Chad Green and David Robertson. Both relievers stymied the Twins in the middle innings, allowing the Yankees to grab the momentum back and ride it all the way to victory. Green came in when the game was teetering on the brink. Yankees starter Luis Severino struggled in his postseason debut, allowing home runs to Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosario as the Twins jumped out to a 3-0 lead. When Green came into the game, he was looking at runners on s...

BUCCANEERS 25, GIANTS 23  Don't blame the offensive line for this one. Don't blame Odell Beckham Jr. and his antics either. Don't blame Eli Manning, who put his team on his shoulders for 60 minutes on Sunday. The Giants 25-23 loss to the Buccaneers, which has dropped this team to 0-4, is all the fault of head coach Ben McAdoo. Why? Because he has allowed this team to be this bad. It's no longer about one unit being bad. The Giants are finding ways to lose, especially games that they should win. Throw away last week's loss to Philly, because this was the game the Giants should have won. They fell behind 13-0 and stormed all the way back to make it ball game. Eli Manning engineered a 7-play 62-yard drive and scored a touchdown by himself before the half to cut the deficit to 13-10. Early in the third quarter, Manning had the Giants rolling again, hitting Beckham, Brandon Marshall and Sterling Sheperd on short precise throws to keep the chains moving on an 11-p...

JETS 23 - JAGUARS 20 - Overtime For three quarters the New York Jets had done just about everything right against a good Jaguars team. They held a 20-10 lead; Bilal Powell and Elijah McGwire were killing the Jaguars front seven with one big run after another; Luke McCown was managing the game nicely, and the Jets defense was smothering the Jaguars. The game was heading for a blowout victory for the Jets, especially when McCown dropped a dime into the hands of Robby Anderson for a 41-yard completion to the Jacksonville 14-yard line. Another field goal, or even a touchdown, and Jets would be walking to a 2-2 record. It wasn't to be, as the Jets reminded us all why this imperfect team can be both exciting and frustrating to watch. McCown tried to lateral the football to Powell, but the ball bounced off his shoulder and was picked up by Myles Jack who dashed 81-yards the other way for a shocking Jaguars touchdown to make it 20-17. At this point it was easy to think, "here ...