COHEN'S CORNER SPORTS

 YANKEES 7 - BLUE JAYS 2  The Yankees are inching closer and closer and closer to the postseason. And once again Giancarlo Stanton is a big reason why.  The Yankees pounded the Toronto Blue Jays 7-2 in the first of a critical late-season, three-game series that is going to go a long way in determining the fate of the AL Wild Card game that is to take place next Tuesday. And right now, the Yankees are in the driver seat.  And they may have come very close to shutting the door. Not only did New York's win get the Bombers another win up on Toronto in the standings, but the Boston Red Sox lost to Baltimore 4-2, meaning New York's magic number is down to just 3. Which means if the Yankees take care of business in the next two days, and get another assist from Baltimore, they will be in the postseason before Friday.  As has been the case of late, the Yankees used the long ball to their advantage.  Aaron Judge's solo homer in the top of the third inning tied the g...

YANKEES 6 - RED SOX 3  What a weekend for Giancarlo Stanton. For the second straight night, the Yankees outfielder played a prominent role in another Yankees comeback, as both Stanton and Aaron Judge went yard in New York's 6-3 victory over Boston. The victory gave the Yankees a series sweep of the Bo Sox, as the Yanks now jump over Boston for the top wild card slot.  With a week to go in the season, the Yankees control their own destiny with a trip to Toronto beginning Tuesday. The Yankees could essentially knock Toronto out this week.  As for Stanton he has been unconscious the past two games. On Saturday, he hit a grand slam that gave the Yankees a stunning 5-3 lead in the eighth inning in Boston. On Sunday, he did it again, this time he did it again with a two-run blast that extended New York's lead to 6-3.  Before Stanton's heroics, it was Judge who gave the Yankees the lead when he crushed a pitch from ex-Yankee Adam Ottovino to center field for a two-run doubl...

 BRONCOS 26 - JETS 0  If this is what a rebuilding effort looks like, it sure is going to hurt.    The Jets were no-shows on Sunday in Denver, completely and totally out of their league as the (3-0) Broncos led by ex-Jet Teddy Bridgewater ran roughshod all over Gang Green.  The competitive nature of this one was basically over after Denver went through the Jets like a hot knife through butter on their second drive of the day, an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ate up over seven minutes, that culminated in a Javonte Williams one-yard plunge. It was only 7-0, but it felt like it was over right then and there.  Zach Wilson had no chance in this game. Not with a patch-work offensive line. Not with a supporting cast so putrid even Sam Darnold would look bad with it.  Wilson completed only 19 passes in 35 attempts for 160 yards. He was sacked five times. The only good news is Wilson threw only two picks this week, an improvement from the four he tossed a week ag...

 FALCONS 17 - GIANTS 14 Another week, another missed opportunity for the Giants. Another week, another loss. At 0-3, the Giants are in an all too familiar spot. They are winless, starring at an uncertain future. In a year that is must win, with no excuses, the Giants look like a team destined for another double-digit loss season, and with it, more questions rather than answers about its personnel both in the front office, on the sideline, and between the lines.  Once again there were the Giants with a late fourth quarter lead of 14-7. After struggling to ignite the offense all day, Daniel Jones finally figured something out in the third quarter, leading the Giants on a 10-pla, 71-yard drive to the Falcons one-yard line, before Saquon Barkley dove over a pile of Giants and Falcons for the score to give Big Blue the lead.  Jones would later dive into the end zone, himself for a two-point conversion to make it 14-7. However, that is about as it would get for the Giants. The ...

 PATRIOTS 25 - JETS 6  For Zach Wilson, Sunday's game against the New England Patriots was the rude welcome to the NFL that was inevitable.  For Jets fans, it was like Groundhog Day. They have seen this before many, many times. In fact Wilson's four interceptions against New England put him in rarefied company with Sam Darnold and Mark Sanchez as quarterbacks who threw four picks in a single game their rookie year. The only outlier was Alex Smith with San Francisco in 2005. Wilson tried too hard. He tried to squeeze a ball into triple coverage that was picked. Later he tired to hit Corey Davis down the sideline when he had Elijah Moore open in the flat, and instead overthrew Davis for the pick. The other two picks were airmailed. Even head coach Robert Saleh acknowledged that Wilson needs to play "boring football."  We know Wilson has the arm, but he needs to develop the poise to become a better and more accurate quarterback. Otherwise games like this on Sunday will ...

WASHINGTON 30 -  GIANTS 29  In what will go down as one of the worst losses in Giants history, there are so many, and I mean SOOOOO many different directions to go with the Giants 30-29 loss to the Washington Football Team on Thursday night, but one theme stands out above the rest: mistakes.  The Giants had one mistake after another on Thursday that in the end, cost them a chance to even their record at 1-1, earn a huge win in the division and spoil a spirited effort by quarterback Daniel Jones, who had one of the best games of his career.  But as has become commonplace with the Giants in recent years, even the best efforts by the most impactful position on the field is not enough.  There were the Giants leading 23-20 with less than seven minutes to go in the game. Up to this point Daniel Jones was having his way with the Washington Football Team, driving the ball down the field to open receivers, while the Giants defense held Washington to a pair of field goals...

BRONCOS 27 - GIANTS 13  Remember that song by The Who, Won't Get Fooled Again ? Well, maybe that is Giants fans right after their football team put forth a dismal showing on Opening Day in a 27-13 loss to the Denver Broncos, and it wasn't even as close as the final score indicated.  The Giants were horrible. It was more of the same for a Giants team that promised to be better this season, in a year that is now or never for quarterback Daniel Jones.  Instead the Giants mustered only 60-yards on the ground in Saquon Barkley's return to the lineup. Barkely, who was clearly on a pitch count, had 10 carries for 26 yards on the day. Heck, Daniel Jones ran for more yards, 27 in fact,  while running for his life.  As for Jones he wasn't much better. Outside of his touchdown pass to Sterling Shepherd in the first quarter, he couldn't move the offense, and even fumbled the ball back to Denver with New York trying to answer with Denver in front 17-7.  On the flip side...

 PANTHERS 19 - JETS 14  Well it was sort of an afternoon of vengeance for former Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, who had his moments Sunday against his former team. He had a 57-yard touchdown to fellow ex-Jet, Robby Anderson in the second quarter, and later scored a touchdown of his own that helped build a 16-0 lead, but other than that there wasn't much else to speak of. It wasn't really flashy for Darnold, who for the first time in his career played with a solid offensive line and actual weapons around him. Think about it, if Darnold had Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore when he was a Jet, he probably would still be here.  In fact of the 279 yards passing by Darnold on Sunday, 89 of those yards went to McCaffrey.  On the flip side, rookie quarterback Zach Wilson looked the part of the rookie - especially in the first half, and was not helped by the fact the Jets couldn't block for him, especially on the right side of the offensive line.  Seemingly al...

 YANKEES 8 - METS 7  At the end of the day it was a thumbs down for Mets second baseman Javier Baez.  In a game that featured so much, from a touching tribute to the 20th Anniversary of 9-11, to a back-and-forth affair, as neither team wanted to hold a lead, Baez's throwing on a grounder by Luke Voit, proved to be all the Yankees needed to steal one from the Mets, ending their seven game losing streak.  The error allowed Andrew Velazquez to score from second after he came into the game as a pinch runner for Giancarlo Stanton.  The deciding run capped off what was a three-run eighth inning for the Yankees, started by a mammoth two-run home run by Aaron Judge that tied the game at seven. Judge had two homers in the game, including a solo shot in the top of the second inning that gave the Yankees an early 5-0 lead.  In fact, the Yanks had three homers in that second inning with Kyle Higashioka and Brett Gardner hitting bombs of their own to build that early Ya...

 Before they took the field to battle one another in the Subway Series, the Mets and Yankees joined in a moment of unity to remember the lives lost on September 11, 2001 during a 20th anniversary ceremony at Citi Field.  Both teams came out of their respective dugouts to greet one another and stood together in a single formation for the playing of the national anthem and the honor guard. Former Yankees and Mets skippers Joe Torre and BobbyValentine, both threw out the ceremonial first pitch to first responders.  There was even a documentary of the famous Mike Piazza home run on September 21, 2001 against the Braves that proved that it was ok to cheer again after the tragedy of 9-11.     For more on the story, click here. 

 METS 10 - YANKEES 3  Let's first be honest here, the Mets are not going anywhere. A .500 team that loses two of three to the Marlins over the week; whose front office is in disarray after not just one, but two general managers went by the wayside for poor judgement off the field, and whose owner battles anyone and everyone on Twitter, is not heading to the postseason.  Yet that doesn't mean they can't beat a scuffling Yankees team.  And that is exactly what happened Friday night. The Mets pounded the Yankees 10-3 on Friday, sending the Bronx Bombers to their seventh straight loss. And since that wonderful 13-game winning streak, the Yankees are 2-11 in their last 13 game.  The only shred of good news for the Yankees is the fact the Toronto Blue Jays lost to the Baltimore Orioles, meaning the Yanks maintain a slim 1/2 game lead for the final wild card slot. The Red Sox are in the process of losing to the Chicago White Sox, so Boston won't gain any more ground fo...

 BLUE JAYS 5 - YANKEES 1  Here come the Toronto Blue Jays.  Toronto beat the Yankees for the second straight night, this time behind six superlative innings from ex-Met Steven Matz, as Toronto closed to within two games of the final wild card spot, and 2.5 games from the Yankees in the top spot for the Wild Card.  It comes as the Bombers have now lost four in a row, and eight of their last ten.  To make matters worse, Gerrit Cole left Tuesday's game with two out in the fourth inning due to tightness in his left hamstring. Aaron Boone said he was optimistic about the injury, and that the Yankees caught it early. Still an injury to the staff ace at this point in the year should raise concerns.  The Blue Jays broke the 1-1 tie in the fourth with a pair of sac flies from Lourdes Gurriell Jr. and Reese McGuire. Marcus Seimien and Alejandro Kirk added solo homers as the Jays blew the game open at 5-1.  Toronto has now won six in a row, and nine of its last ...

If you thought the Mets season couldn't get any more bizarre, well, it did on Tuesday.  A day after the Mets gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to the Nationals amid another Edwin Diaz implosion, Team President/Acting General Manager Sandy Alderson revealed that Jacob deGrom's mysterious elbow injury that has led him to miss the last two months is a sprain/partial tear of the UCL i n his right elbow.  Just the words "tear" and "UCL" is enough to make Mets fans panic. Typically this is the kind of diagnosis that would lead to Tommy John Surgery, but Alderson said that such an extreme measure wouldn't be necessary. "This is a very low grade thing that has resolved itself," Alderson said. "The ligament is perfectly intact at this point. Whatever condition existed before has resolved itself and that is one of the reasons he didn't pitch for a period of time."   Just the fact that the Mets hid the fact that deGrom had some form of structural dama...

 Only the Mets can find a way to top their own ineptitude.  A day after Javier Baez and Francico Lindor tried to put their self imposed "thumbs down" controversy behind them, Mets Acting General Manager Zack Scott has been busted on charges of drunk driving in a story broken by the New York Post.  "Scott, 44, was nabbed at 4:17 a.m. Tuesday when cops caught him snoozing in a 2018 Toyota on South  Lexington Avenue near the federal Courthouse..." New York Post.   According to the report, Scott refused to give blood or take a breathalyzer test, but underwent a field sobriety test and failed. He was charged and released and is due back in court in White Plains on Thursday.  Added to the intrigue, ESPN reporter Jeff Passon tweeted that Scott was at Steve Cohen's house in Connecticut attending the team's Amazin' Mets Foundation the night he was arrested for drunk driving and dozing in his car.  The Mets issued the following statement:  "We were surprise...