COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

The New York Yankees are in trouble.  At 29-25, the Yankees are scuttling, having lost six of last seven games, including a 3-1 loss the the first place Rays on Monday. Who are these Yankees really? This is a team that has been so streaky this season, it's hard to get a real gauge on how good this team really is.  Outside of Aaron Judge (.300, 13 HR, 29 RBI) and Gerrit Cole (6-2 1.87 ERA), no one has been consistently good, especially of late.  Meanwhile, the Mets are getting healthy. At 25-20, first in the NL East, the Mets are welcoming back Pete Alonso, Seth Lugo and Kevin Pillar to the ballclub.  Check out the vlog here!!   

 HAWKS 105 - KNICKS 94 A second quarter implosion proved to be too much to overcome, as the Knicks dropped a 105-94 decision to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of their first round playoff series. The Hawks now lead the best-of-seven 2-1.  Julius Randle once again came up small for the Knickenbockers, hitting only two of his 15 shots from the floor, including going 0-for-4 in a second quarter where he was completely invisible.  The only player to even play well in a Knicks uniform was Derrick Rose, who was once again fantastic. Rose scored 30 points for New York, was 13-for-25 from the floor, and even hit on three-of-five shooting from downtown. He was marvelous, but he couldn't carry a team that couldn't hit a shot.  The Hawks were just too consistent, too often, and the Knicks couldn't slow them down. Trea Young led the way with an 8-for-19 shooting evening with 21 points to lead Atlanta.  Atlanta can take a strangle hold on the series on Sunday.  CELTICS 125...

  BLUE JAYS 6 - YANKEES 1  This wasn't so much about the Toronto Blue Jays walking into Yankee Stadium, and finally showing the kind of power that many thought would be a daily occurrence for them.   This also wasn't so much about ex-Met Steven Matz making his return to New York City to toss a gem against the Yankees, even though it was a story. Instead, this was all about Corey Kluber, who left the game after three innings with right shoulder tightness. He will undergo an MRI on Wednesday.  Kluber threw only 58 pitches, his only blemish was a two-run blast that he served up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that gave Toronto a 2-0 lead. What is disconcerting is that the injury comes a week after Kluber tossed a no-hitter against Texas.  Kluber was economical in that start, throwing 101 pitches last week, so there is no telling what caused the injury. The Yankees will learn more on Wednesday.  Of course any kind of arm injury is a concern, especially with Klube...

 NETS 130 - CELTICS 108  The Brooklyn Nets left little doubt on the floor Tuesday night that they are pound for pound the better team in their opening round series with Boston with an emphatic 130-108 victory to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Kevin Durant led the way with 26 points and eight boards on 8-for-12 shooting. He was also a perfect 2-for-2 from downtown and 8-for-8 from the free throw line.  The Nets as a team were much sharper from three-point landing, connecting on 45 percent of their attempts as they used it to power past the Celtics.  Even Joe Harris got into the action, dropping 25 points on Boston. Harris hit a huge three-pointer in the first quarter that gave Brooklyn a 14-12 lead, and they would never look back. In fact Harris connected on three more three's in the opening quarter as Brooklyn built a 27-13 advantage, en route to a 40-26 lead after the first.  In short the competitive nature of this game was over early.  Kyrie Irving (1...

 One week after saying he didn't feel the state of New Jersey was able to move forward with the Center for Disease Control's controversial decision to go "maskless" amid the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy did a complete 180 on Monday , lifting mandates for indoor and outdoor mask use, and lifting social distancing requirements.  Instead the governor is now putting the onus on businesses and the state's citizens to make reasonable decisions on their own. Murphy said there would be no mechanism to determine a person's vaccination status, and that the mask requirement would be lifted for all people regardless of vaccination status, (a huge gamble. One that could end up blowing up in the Governor's face).  Murphy's decision comes amid outside pressure to join the growing crowd of states who are ditching COVID restrictions, even though less than 40 percent of the nation has been fully vaccinated. New Jersey, by itself has only...

 HAWKS 107 - KNICKS 105  For the first time in about 15 months Madison Square Garden was at full throttle with over 15,000 fans sitting shoulder to shoulder -- even with the pandemic far from over, and less than 45 percent of the state of New York fully vaccinated, mind you -- they sat there hoping that their Knicks would bring the glory days back again to open the 2021 postseason.  Instead Atlanta's Trea Young had other ideas. With 0.9 left in regulation, Young hit a running jumper to sink the Knicks 107-105, silence the crowd and send the Knicks home for the night down 1-0.  Young was deadly on Sunday night, netting 32 points, 10 assists and 7 boards. He also accounted for 13 of Atlanta's 36 fourth quarter points, and nailed off his free throws. In fact he was 9-for-9 from the charity stripe.  The loss is especially disappointing for the Knicks who came back to take a 73-71 lead at the end of the third quarter. But the Knicks never enjoyed a lead larger than 7...

 NETS 104 - CELTICS 93  To really nobody's surprise the Brooklyn Nets pulled away and easily won their opening game of their first round series against the Boston Celtics 104-93.  After the Celtics gave us a nice tease, when they lead the Nets 53-47 at the break, the Nets "Big 3" got the memo that it was time to actually try and combined to score 28 of Brooklyn's 31 points in the third quarter as the Nets pulled out in front and never trailed again.  The turnaround was huge, considering Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden were a combined 0-for-11 from beyond the arch, and a combined 5-for-20 from the floor in the first half.  But this is the kind of team the Nets have been all year. They are so talented, and All Star heavy that it doesn't take much for them to overcome teams. It's almost like the Nets are bored before the game even tips-off.  It's their boredom that makes them a boring watch, and also makes them susceptible to getting picked off la...

 YANKEES 2 - RANGERS 0  Corey Kluber spent a better part of the past two years rehabbing from injuries. In 2019, he fractured his right arm after he was hit by a line drive as a member of the Cleveland Indians, and never pitched for the Indians again.  Last season, he tried to comeback as a member of the Texas Rangers, but made only one appearance before he was removed for what would be diagnosed as a torn terse major muscle in his shoulder.  He didn't pitch again after that.   Now on his third time in as many seasons, Kluber had a lot to prove in 2021, signing a one-year deal with a Yankees team that was desperate for some veteran pitching. The Yankees were betting that if Kluber could come close to reclaiming the Cy Young candidate he once was in Cleveland, then they would have that perfect number 2 starter behind Gerrit Cole. On Wednesday night, he returned the favor to the Yankees for believing in him.    On Wednesday night, Kluber became the ...

 The Mets showed tremendous fortitude the past two nights beating back their rivals, the Atlanta Braves, while dealing with a multitude of injuries that have hampered both their rotation and lineup. Check out today's vlog to get the latest hot takes on the Metropolitans. 

 Kevin Pillar will meet with a facial specialist in Atlanta , according to a Press Release by the New York Mets. The news comes after last night's hideous moment when Pillar was drilled in the face with a 95 mph fastball from Jacob Webb. Pillar crumpled to the ground after getting hit and had blood gushing out of his nose.  The incident was so shocking that it appeared to rattle Webb, who was removed from the game and sat on the bench in tears as he was clearly playing the moment back and forth in his head.  According to the Mets, Pillar suffered multiple facial fractures as a result of the hit by pitch.  Pillar did Tweet out that he was fine, and thanked everyone for the well wishes.  Pillar joins a growing list of 13 Mets who find themselves on the Injury List as play begins today.

 RANGERS 5 - YANKEES 2  The Bombers dropped their second straight Monday in what was easily the worst performance by Gerrit Cole this season as the Yankees ace gave up five runs in five-plus innings of work to fall to 5-2 and raise his ERA over two.  After starting strong by striking out the side in the bottom of the first, Cole hit a wall in the second inning. He served up a solo shot to Adolis Garcia, and a RBI double to Isiah Kiner-Falefa to give the Rangers a sudden 2-0 lead. A RBI by single by Jose Trevino capped a three-run Texas rally later in the inning.  Offensively the Yankees never really got going. Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Clint Fraizer were all hitless in defeat. It didn't help matters that the Yanks were without Giancarlo Stanton who is on the 10-day Injury List, retroactive to May 14 with a left quad strain.  The Yankees called up reliever Albert Abreu from Triple-A to fill the void. Heck Abreu even got into the game Monday, tossing three shu...

 METS 3 - BRAVES 1  The injuries just keep piling up for the New York Mets.  Taijuan Walker and Kevin Pillar joined the list of the walking wounded that already includes (in no exact order) Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Carrasco, and Seth Lugo. Yet, somehow the Mets found a way to persevere through it all and get a huge 3-1 win in Atlanta, ending a three game losing streak they suffered in Tampa over the weekend.   Pillar suffered easily the most gruesome of the injuries Monday when he took a 95 mph fastball from reliever Jacob Webb off of his nose in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded, and the Mets leading 1-0. Pillar fell to the ground with blood gushing from his nose, and was taken out of the game.  A clearly distraught Webb was also removed, and stayed in the dugout in tears over what had happened.  The video of the events was quiet disturbing.    Meanwhile, Mets right handed starter Taiju...

 If you told anyone a year ago that the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks would both be in the playoffs in 2021, you would get a cross-eyed look. Not only were the Nets trying to embark on rebuilding their team with superstars -- one of whom in Kevin Durant, spent the entire 2019-20 campaign on the shelf recovering from an Achilles Tendon tear he suffered in the 2019 Finals with the Warriors. But, the Knicks were still an utter embarrassment. When COVID-19 postponed the finish to the NBA season, the Knicks were 21-45; a total disaster, a continuous rebuild going on 20 years running since their "glory days" of the the 1990s. They hired Tim Thibodeau in the off-season, a coach with a strong pedigree for success, but nobody expected this so suddenly.   And let's be honest, the NBA isn't exactly popular these days after the Association put its proverbial foot in its mouth with outspoken left-wing politics that alienated half its fan-base.  With NBA television ratings sli...

 The NFL picked a real juicy one to kick-off the season for the New York Jets.  Gang Green will open its 2021 campaign in Charlotte against Sam Darnold and the Carolina Panthers on September 12 at 1 p.m.  It will mark a very quick opportunity for Darnold has to avenge his old team after the Jets traded him to the Panthers a month ago to make room for rookie quarterback Zach Wilson.  You can imagine the subplots already.  Not only will the game be a showdown between Darnold and Wilson, as well as Darnold against Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh, but it will be a revenge game of sorts for ex-Jet Robby Anderson, who is now the Panthers number 1 receiver. Douglas opted not to sign Anderson last off-season, allowing the speedster to head to Carolina.  In addition to it being the first game of the Robert Saleh era, it will be the first shot Panthers head coach Matt Rhule gets against the team that opted to hire Adam Gase over him. Gase and Rhule were finalists for th...

 According to Art Stapleton of the Record, and later reported by Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, the Giants will begin their 2021 campaign at home against the Denver Broncos on September 12 at 4:25 on FOX.  This is an interesting choice considering both the Broncos and Giants are coming off of subpar seasons, and there is no guarantee as of yet that the Broncos will acquire disgruntled Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers -- although it is rumored that the Broncos are his preferred destination, if Green Bay should acquiesce.  More importantly the game marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. 20 years ago, the Giants opened the 2001 season on Monday Night Football in Denver. That game took place the night prior to the terrorist attacks, and was the last NFL game in our pre-9/11 world.  This year's contest will take place on the day after the 20th anniversary.  Will fans be in the ballpark is another question. With states loosening up their COVID rest...

 METS 3 - ORIOLES 2  This was huge. Sure the Mets were playing the lowly Baltimore Orioles, but after having won five in a row coming into play on Tuesday, the Mets found themselves trailing 2-1 in the late stages, with the prospect of facing ex-Met Matt Harvey tomorrow afternoon with the chance to sweep his old team.  That would have been a nightmare no Mets fan wanted apart of.  And neither did the Mets, who staged an amazing ninth inning rally to stun the Orioles 3-2, and capture their sixth straight victory to improve to 17-13.  The rally started in the bottom of the ninth when Kevin Pillar lifted the first pitch he saw from Ceaser Valdez and narrowly missed a game-tying solo homer. Pillar would hang in their and work what would turn out to be an eight pitch at bat, before singling through the hole at third.  Jonathan Villar would follow with a single of his own toward second, and suddenly the Mets had the game tying and winning runs aboard with nobody ...

YANKEES 3 - RAYS 1  The Tampa Bay Rays have owned the Yankees of late. That's not exactly earth shattering news, considering the Rays were 5-1 against the Yankees entering play Tuesday, and had won every series they faced against the Bombers dating back to the end of the 2019 season.   So it was imperative for the Yankees, who have been playing much better baseball the past two weeks to get off to a flying start against their AL East rivals, and who better to lead the charge than Jordan Montgomery.  Montgomery, who gave up eight runs in 11 innings against Tampa Bay this season, had easily his most impressive outing of the year. He held the Rays to just a single run on two hits over six innings, while striking out nine and walking one.  The Rays were 0-for-5 with RISP, and didn't have an extra base hit again after a double by Manuel Margot in the fourth inning. Their only run coming on a Mike Zunino homer in the third inning. That is how dominant Montgomery and t...

 METS 4 - DIAMONDBACKS 2  After only two warmup pitches before the top of the sixth inning, Jacob deGrom's day was done.  The Mets ace, and arguably the best pitcher in the sport, was feeling tightness on his right side again, the same pain that led him to miss his last scheduled start a week ago.  The Mets indicated that deGrom will have an MRI Monday on his lower back near his right side to make sure there is no serious injury to the pitcher, before diagnosing further.  The news comes off the heels of five superb innings by deGrom, who held the Arizona Diamondbacks to just a run on one hit in his first start since April 28 against Boston.  Still, as has been the case lately with the Mets, bad news doesn't seem to stop this team from finding ways to win. The Mets persevered, swept the lowly D-Backs 4-2 on Sunday behind another stellar effort by a suddenly hot Mets bullpen.  The combination of Miguel Castro, Jacob Barnes and Edwin Diaz combined the hol...

 YANKEES 3 - NATIONALS 2  It wasn't that long ago Giancarlo Stanton was considered the prime example of Yankee ineptitude over not only the first month of the 2021 season, but of the ineptitude over the past several seasons. Stanton has the second largest contract on the team, and naturally, when a slugger of his ilk is batting .158, as he was on April 21, there is going to be a lot of anger directed from the fan base.  Well since that time, Stanton has been on fire. He has raised his batting average 140 points, went on a 12-game hitting streak, and is hitting a blistering .375 for the month of May. He even had eight hits and two huge homers this week against the Houston Astros.  Suddenly, Stanton is now a bloom in the eyes of Yankees fans everywhere.  On Sunday, Stanton was a hero once again. This time his single to shallow left with two runners aboard, drove home Travis Wade with the game winning run to beat the Nationals 3-2 at the Stadium, capping off a home...

 METS 5 - DIAMONDBACKS 4  Leave it to the Mets to turn what should be a night to celebrate a huge come-from-behind win into a debate over rats, raccoons and opossums. This is the kind of drama that only the Mets could create, because why not.  During the seventh inning stretch of Friday's Mets-D-Backs, Michael Conforto notices there is something going on in the tunnel of the Mets dugout and sprints downstairs to see what is happening. Teammates and training staff join him in the tunnel to break up what appears to be a fight.  Later we see Francisco Lindor and Jeff McNeil visibly upset in the Mets dugout. In fact, after a flyout by McNeil in the bottom half of the seventh he runs back into the dugout tunnel. Lindor soon follows with his biggest hit in a Mets uniform, a two-run homer that tied the game at four, and quickly runs back into the dugout tunnel himself afterwards. No celebration after the blast. No smiles, at least not until Patrick Mazieka's infield single ...

YANKEES 7 - ASTROS 3  There were just under 11,000 people at Yankee Stadium Tuesday night, but it felt like a full house as fans serenaded the visiting Houston Astros with boos and chants of "cheaters" throughout the night. This was the moment Yankees fans have been waiting nearly two full years for.  Two years since it was revealed that the Astros had been cheating by using garbage cans and wiretaps to steal signs of their opponents, fans across the sport have waited to let the "Cheat-stros" have it. Well thanks to COVID-19, fans had to wait until this season to even have a shot at it, and Yankees fans were no exception. Not after their team had been eliminated in the ALCS twice by the Astros in 2017 and 2019.  Between the lines the Yankees let the Astros have it in a different form, pounding Houston starter Zach Grienke out of the game after four innings, highlighted by a mammoth two-run homer by Giancarlo Stanton that jump-started a delirious Yankee Stadium crowd...

METS 8 - PHILLIES 7  Only the Mets and Edwin Diaz could turn an exciting 8-4 lead into a nail-bitter as the Mets nearly blew a four-run lead to the Philadelphia Phillies Sunday night.  Diaz, who had come into the 9th inning in a non-save situation, and hadn't given up an earned run in his last seven-and-a-third innings pitched, imploded big time. He walked Didi Gregorious to open the inning, before giving up an RBI triple to Roman Quinn to make it an 8-5 ball game.   After Matt Joyce with two out, Diaz served up what appeared to be a three-run homer by Rhys Hoskins that tied the game at eight.  However replay showed that the ball off Hoskins' bat might have instead hit the railing and bounced back into the the field of play making it a ground rule double, not a homer. The umpires changed the ruling, as close as it was to being a home run.  The Mets caught a huge break. Instead of being tied at eight and facing Bryce Harper in a game-winning RBI situation, ...

 Leave it to the Internet to start salacious rumors, but this is the world we live in. According to a Giants fan site, called 366 Sports, disgruntled Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has put the Giants on his list of preferred destinations, joining the Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders on such a list.  Rodgers has stated that he is unhappy in Green Bay, and there is a belief he wants to be traded. If the Packers do not meet his demands, he has even threatened retirement. In fact, during the draft there was a call placed by the San Francisco 49ers to Green Bay about Rodgers services, a call that quickly ended. The Packers have stressed they are committed to Rodgers.  Rodgers feels differently of course.  When asked about the Rodgers situation, Giants General Manager David Gettelman said it was "none of my business," according to a Tweet from Giants beat writer Art Stapleton . The Giants were not one of the teams that inquired about Rodgers, and they are...

After failing Sam Darnold the past two years, it appears Jets General Manager Joe Douglas wants nothing to do with a repeat of that performance, and is doing everything he can to replenish the Jets offense, while giving new "franchise quaterback" Zach Wilson some needed weapons.  It started Friday when the Jets acquired speedy Ole Miss wide receiver Elijah Moore with the 34th pick in the draft. Moore had a first round grade on many draft boards, but slipped into round 2.   The cousin of Titans star receiver, A.J. Brown, Moore is a tad undersized at 5'-9", but he has tremendous speed and is considered the perfect game breaking slot receiver. The Jets could have addressed corner (Asante Samuel Jr.) or added to their O-line here, Teven Jenkins and Landon Dickerson were still out there, but they opted for more speed on the offense.  In addition, Moore could be a replacement for Jamison Crowder, who is also 5'-9", and will count $10 million against the cap.  Mean...

 A lot of people are praising Giants General Manager David Gettleman this weekend for swinging deals throughout this NFL Draft. It started Thursday when Gettleman traded the number 11 pick to the Bears, who used it to take Justin Fields.  The Giants selected wide receiver Kardarius Toney with the 20th pick they received from Chicago. The selection of Toney was a downer because it failed to address bigger needs for the Giants on the offensive line with tackles Christian Darrisaw, Liam Eichenberg and Teven Jenkins still on the board. It also came after the Giants watched the Cowboys and Eagles dance around them to take DeVonta Smith, the speedy Heisman winner from Alabama. The only good part of the deal was the fact the Giants obtained a first rounder from the Bears, a pick they Giants could use next year to potentially get a quarterback should Daniel Jones flame out a la Sam Darnold style in his third season.  Friday and Saturday, Gettleman kept dealing. He traded down fr...