Make no mistake, the Mets made a tremendous strategic upgrade when they changed managers from Willie Randolph to Jerry Manuel in June 2008. The former struggled with the elementary questions of bullpen management and player and media communication; the latter excels at all three.
But even in a game Manuel managed supremely Read More
While much has been made of sideshows this spring ranging from Johan Santana’s brief elbow troubles to the signing of bench-bat Gary Sheffield, the outlook for the 2009 Mets is…not that bad.
The team won 89 games last year despite a horrible bullpen due to strong contributions from both the lineup and Read More
Just two years ago, the 2007 New York Yankees reached the playoffs with 94 victories despite a mediocre pitching staff, because the offense averaged six runs per game. The 2009 edition should reach a similar level of success, but it is likely to happen because of, not despite, their pitching.
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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla.—With the 2009 season a week away, the Mets have not announced who their fifth starter will be. But on Saturday, tucked away on a minor league field shaped to mirror the dimensions of Citi Field, Livan Hernandez made his strongest case yet for the spot, while early favorite Freddy Garcia provided Read More
The largest conference tournament for the best conference in the country begins Tuesday at Madison Square Garden with the bottom eight members of the Big East squaring off. Incredibly, not a single one of the eight has an NCAA tournament bid locked up—in fact, it’s like that only three of them can get Read More
It has been generally understood that given the strength of the Big East Conference this season, a 9-9 in-conference record would be enough to make the NCAA tournament; 10-8 in conference would make a team a lock. Even 8-10 would put a team at the periphery of the NCAA picture, with some work to Read More
How did high-flying Syracuse (No. 22 in ESPN/USA Today poll), a team that began the year 16-1 on the strength of one of the most efficient offenses in the nation, become Syracuse, 1-5 in its last six games and edging toward NCAA tournament bubble status?
Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, whose Huskies handed the Orange their Read More
The report from Sports Illustrated that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids means many things. Foremost among them: the $423.5 million dollars the New York Yankees spent on free agents C. C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A. J. Burnett to make championship baseball the story in the Bronx is wasted money from a public relations Read More
Despite being ranked No. 1 in the country by ESPN/USA Today, it is far from certain that the University of Connecticut will even win the Big East regular season title—they are currently tied for second with Louisville, trail Marquette and sit just a game ahead of Pittsburgh.
But consecutive victories this past week at Providence Read More
In a league as deep and challenging as the Big East, it was reasonable to assume that for some of the league’s better teams, making the NCAA tournament would be no easy task.
But few expected those teams to include Georgetown and Notre Dame, both ranked in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25. No. 25 Read More
