Should Be Working Instead

There's nothing like a midweek day game. Most people are working, but a bunch of them are enjoying a relaxing day at the ballpark. Unless you're a Met fan.

The Mets found a way to blow another one today. It was the first weekday matinee of the season, and my first of the season as well. Last season I went to four. The Mets are now 0-5 since last season in these games. All of them memorable:

4/8/08- Opening day vs Philadelphia. We're looking good with a 2-0 lead after 6 until the bullpen and some shoddy defense takes over, a sign of things to come. Phillies spoil the home opener with a 5-2 win.

4/30/08- A beautiful sunny day, yet the game was delayed 40 minutes. Not a cloud in the sky, but a water main break in the area. Oliver Perez gives up a 7-spot in the second inning and the Mets lose 13-1 to the Pirates.

5/15/08- Mike Pelfrey takes a no-hitter into the 7th inning. The problem was the game was still scoreless at that point. The Nationals get a leadoff hit in the 7th to end the bid, and scratch out a run in the 8th. With Carlos Beltran on third and one out in the 9th, Carlos Delgado lines out to first, Beltran's too far from third and gets doubled up.

6/12/08- 4-2 Mets lead the Diamondbacks in the 9th. Enter Sandman. Wagner gives up 2 in the 9th, Heilman one in the 10th and the Mets lose 5-4.

4/29/09- Johan has a new bullpen now to protect his leads. However, up one run in the 8th, JJ Putz walks the first two batters of the inning, a sac bunt and 2-rbi single later the Marlins take the lead. After the Mets have the first two reach base in the bottom of the 9th, they fail to score one, capped by a bizarre decision to pinch hit Omir Santos, who had to run in from the bullpen, for Ramon Castro, who had two hits on the day. Santos popped out to end the game with the bases loaded.

Game 7 Loss

The Rangers season is over after a 2-1 loss to the Caps in game 7 last night. Despite managing only 14 shots through the first two periods, the Rangers played arguably their best two periods of the series. Washington was tentative and the Rangers were loose, poised, went after the puck and got it every time.

The final period was a different story all together. A pathetic one shot on goal. After Sergei Federov's backbreaker with a few minutes to go, they could not muster anything. It was so bad they did not even get a chance to pull the goalie and were pinned in their own zone most of the final minutes. You almost hoped the two great saves Lundqvist made after the goal in the closing seconds would turn into a rush the other way and a miracle goal. No chance.

Had the pleasure of watching the game with many Ranger fans at the Ziegfeld Theater. They handed out thundersticks just like in game 3 and I politely refused. Just like game 3, the thundersticks were popping in the last few minutes and even a blue bulb was tossed at the movie screen. The atmosphere was great and the fans were into it, with "Let's go Rangers" and "Hen-rik" chants right throughout. Boos for any image of Ovechkin or Brashear (who served the first of his six game suspension). Outrage at every non-call against Sean Avery. It was fun to watch a game surrounded by so many fans, making it feel like a home game.

Instead of on to Boston, Gary Bettman gets his wish and has his Pittsburgh-Washington series, thanks to a Devil loss as well, another shocker of a game. Folks, we could be Devil fans, that loss was as crushing as it gets.

Arriving home, I caught the 9th inning of the Mets eventually losing the second game of their series with the Marlins. As Derrick Coleman once said, "Whoopdie-damn-doo."

Third String Catcher?

Shake Shack line time last night: arrival 6:40, order placed at 7:20. Was it worth it? For the first time sure. You gotta have this burger eventually. Next time, maybe I'll stop by after trying everything else and the line is not as long. Will it ever happen? Who knows?

The bullpen is a good place to hang out and eat if you don't mind missing an inning or two. There are all these picnic tables there and no one's using them. Unlike most places of the stadium, there is no audio of the game, no viewing of the game. You really get a feel for how crappy the visitors bullpen is. The Marlins relief core were either huddled on chairs in front of a flat screen or just loosening up and not paying attention to the game. Get rid of the ad covering the bullpen fence, please. While it's nice that they are making it as inconvenient as possible for the opposing relievers, they are also doing a disservice to the fans, taking away what would be a very cool area to hang out and heckle some relievers while still following the game.

What did I get for peace and quiet while downing a burger by the bullpen? Missing the highlight of the game, an Omir Santos grand slam. What will be of the catching situation when Brian Schneider returns to action? I think we are seeing the last of Ramon Castro.

How about that one week wonder, Emilio Bonafacio? Welcome back to Earth Emilio, and welcome back to Earth the Florida Marlins.

Bloody Sunday

A lot similarities between this game 6 and Friday night's game 5. The only difference was the Rangers actually tied the game in the first period. Same sad story, however. Donald Brashear recklessly elbows Blair Betts in the head, knocks him out and gets only two minutes because he was roughing with Paul Mara. The Rangers absolutely roll over the rest of the game. Only Callahan and Dubinsky put out some effort.

When the game is pretty much out of reach, you want to at least send a message the next game. There was none of that. Lob a soft shot on Varlamov and no one follows up with a few hacks at the smothered puck. No one challenged Brashear like Shanny did a couple of years ago. Did the Rangers not watch or see highlights of yesterday's Pitt-Philly game? Down 3-0, Maxime Talbot gets into a fight, gets his ass kicked, but sparks his team to a comeback and eventual win. No one on the Rangers had any guts today. Scratching Colton Orr today backfired. Scratching Sean Avery on Friday backfired today, as he did not look like himself at all.

With an average Henrik Lundqvist, this series is now 6 games to 0 for Washington. Oh wait, they only need four to win. The Rangers have three wins in this series??



Being at the Garden this afternoon I had the pleasure of missing the Met game, the other half of the Washington massacre. I see David Wright struck out three times and was booed. As for Oliver Perez, the score says it all.

Let's see, Nelson Figueroa throws a quality start last week and gets DFA'd. His replacement, Casey Fossum, gets DFA'd after his second appearance today, throwing some gasoline on the fire in the 5th inning. Who's next?

Washington vs New York

Flashback to 1992. The Rangers were up 2 games to 1 in the second round of the playoffs vs the Pittsburgh Penguins. Up by a score of 3-1 in the second period, Mike Richter lets in an awful goal by Ron Francis from beyond the blue line. We know what happened after that. The goal that gave the Caps a 2-0 lead in game 5 last night gave me the same feeling. It can only go downhill from here.

The game itself was a disgrace. Without Sean Avery in the lineup (a move I actually did not have a problem with), the Rangers rolled over, gave up, and showed no grit and toughness whatsoever. The play that was a microcosm of the whole game was when Erskine was pushing around Callahan and laughing at him, while Cally gave a few token gloves-in-the-face, nothing more. At that spot you just drop them and go. I don't know what he was afraid of- you're not getting suspended for fighting in that situation. At least Torts showed some fire.

Cally is obviously not the problem however. Paging Gomez, Drury, Antropov, and Zherdev! Simeon Varlamov has made the saves he had to make, but he has not faced any sustained pressure at any point since starting game 2. Three goals in the last four games! Lundqvist has won three games for the Rangers, games that easily could have gone the other way. The Caps, on the other hand, have destroyed the Rangers in their two victories. I don't think there ever was this much a pessimistic feeling for a team that had a 3 games to 2 series lead going home for a game 6.

Henrik, please steal us one more tomorrow. I have more confidence against Boston than against the beast that is Alexander Ovechkin.



The other team in D.C. however, is a disgrace. Who the hell is in charge of the Washington Nationals? Let's put together an ensemble of hotheads Scott Olsen, Elijah Dukes and Julian Tavarez. Ryan Zimmerman must love his new ballpark or something, signing a five-year extension. I guess you gotta give the guy credit for being loyal. I'd be looking for free agency as soon as possible.

Johan Santana is locked in and is worth every penny. Four game losing streak? Let me start out by striking out the first six batters I face, to give the team a little boost.

I like Bobby Parnell. Throws hard and throws strikes. Parnell, Putz, and K-Rod, nothing but strikeouts. Total 180 from last year's bullpen, post-Wagner.



Nats, thanks for handing us game 2 of the series this afternoon. Eight runs given up, five of them unearned. Good bounce back game for Mike Pelfrey. He was not spectacular, but all the ground balls he gave up were a good sign. Even most of the base hits he gave up were singles that found holes. No problem with that. He'll just induce a double play.

Washington's baseball team needs a general manager fast, someone who will break up this bunch. Jim Bowden should have been fired a while ago, never mind this scandal that forced his resignation. Just how many starting outfielders are on this team? Did I mention Julian Tavarez already? The guy who admits he signed with them only because no one else wanted him?

The Mets are 0-5 in the last game of a series. The Rangers are home with a chance to advance in the playoffs. Let's lay Washington to rest tomorrow afternoon.

Oh Baby, No Baby: Rangers one away, Mets swept

Can you believe the Rangers have a three games to one lead over the Capitals? You can thank Henrik Lundqvist for that one. After an intense first period that was well played, the ice tilted towards Henrik. Thanks for some iron behind him and fantastic play, he saved the day.

Just like last Wednesday, I had to resort to getting to the Garden just to catch as much of the final period as I possibly could. The last report of 2-0, 2nd intermission on the phone, became 2-1 with 13 minutes to play as I arrived at the top steps above Penn Station onto the Cheering for Children tiles, with the televisions in view. Several other Ranger fans were there as well.

You would think anyone in charge would notice that a bunch of people were intently watching the third period and maybe have done something like, I don't know, turn on the sound of the game. Things get confusing when you're watching the game on TV, then you hear Markus Naslund's voice, "Hi, this is Markus Naslund, welcome to Madison Square Garden, the World's Most Famous Arena", followed by Sam Rosen calling a Naslund goal, which has nothing to do with the action on the screen. Then you got the goal song blaring while you're busy sweating yet another Washington power play with a few minutes to go in the game.

Sean Avery, what can you say? Inexcusable. What he did was wrong, indeed. With all his miscues, what was he doing on the ice in the last few minutes anyway?

People who left early to catch trains (and there were quite a few leaving the lobby area, who were at the game) should give their tickets to someone else before the game. I don't know how you leave that game.



When one season ends, whether it's hockey or baseball, you look forward to devoting your full attention to the other sport. However, if the Rangers and Mets keep this up, we'll be looking forward to training camp in September when this current Ranger season ends.

What is going on with John Maine?



Albert Pujols is a monster. Livan Hernandez is what he is. Unfortunately Sean Green threw gas on the fire this afternoon. The Mets have now lost four straight and are reeling.

Luis Castillo is actually one of our hottest hitters, and he gets another day off, the second in a week? He's getting the day game after night game catcher treatment.

We can only hope the Mets will be relevant once hockey season ends. That's all we ask for with every somber end to a Ranger season. Maybe it will be June when that happens and the ending to not be somber. Henrik will have to have many more nights like last night.

Slide! Cardinals 6, Mets 4

Despite all the other blown early leads this season, this obviously takes the "worst game of the season" tag thus far.

Heck it could've been worse earlier. Oliver Perez walked the leadoff man on four pitches. He regrouped after that, but then it all fell apart in the 5th inning in typical fashion. Three chances to get one more out and qualify for the victory and our $36 million man could not get it done.

The Mets had an easy 5-4 lead in the 8th. Carlos Beltran, however, chose not to get dirty. Instead he steps on Yadier Molina's (I'm sick of this guy) foot instead of home plate and gets tagged out.

How much longer do you go with Daniel Murphy in left field? You think the kid has any pressure on him to keep up that .300+ batting average? He turns a line out to left field into a triple. JJ Putz finally gets knocked around and gives up two runs and that's your ballgame.

ECQ GM3: Capitals 4, Rangers 0

Talk about being outplayed right from the beginning. The Rangers did not even get a sniff. Well, ok, they got a post that should have tied the game, but a mere few seconds later the Caps turned that into a 2-0 lead. The crowd is out of it and that's your game.

Of course the refs are going to have it in for Sean Avery. He does not help matters by diving all over the place. Are there legit penalties not called against Avery? Yes. But explain to me how this guy is such a good skater, but you constantly see his butt all over the ice. Again, some of it are from legit crosschecks. Most of the time, however, especially in front of the net, watch for that really thin string that goes around the blue paint in front of that opposing goalie. Avery trips on that all the time.

I know the Caps love to stick it to the fans in any way they can, but for Ovechkin and Backstrom to come out for the mock salute at center ice post game, well, that was amateur hour right there.

Nice job by MSG with the thundersticks. Include a small light bulb inside them, perfect for the fans to throw on the ice if the game was ugly, which it was. Classless act by the fans to do that, but it was a dumb decision by the promotions department from the beginning.

Apparently MSG security is giving crap to fans for throwing balloons during the national anthem, a practice that has been done before every playoff game since the lockout. Who the hell is running this Mickey Mouse organization? Oh yeah, Jim Dolan. Ranger fans should celebrate the day this team gets sold. Unfortunately it does not look like it's happening anytime soon.

Thundersticks?

Apparently everyone attending game 3 at the Garden Monday night will receive a pair of Thundersticks.

The Garden has hit a new low. What, are thundersticks cheaper to buy in bulk than towels? One of the coolest sights/experiences of MSG playoff hockey the last few years was everyone waving their towels as the Rangers hit the ice before the game. Now they are taking it away. Let's hope this is a one game thing. If you may recall, in 2006 for game 3 vs the Devils, blue towels were handed out. The effect was horrible; they went to the whites for game 4 and have not changed since. Until tomorrow night.

Blogs are Tough

OK, I'll admit it. Keeping a blog up to date is not easy. Seeing that I have not really expressed my thoughts on the Rangers and Mets since the second to last game and the opening Cincy series, respectively, I'll throw out a bunch of random thoughts to sum up the past week or so.

Rangers:
-It was sweet to see them win that last game in Philly. So what if it gave just as hated Pittburgh home ice. Sticking it to the Flyers in their own building was fun. Add to that the shorthanded goal we got, the first one they've given up all season.
-I missed most of game 1, but was able to get to the Garden lobby with about 15 minutes to go in the third to watch on the TVs they conveniently have set up there. Works out perfectly, especially when your next train is not until 9:45. Anyway, to my dismay, a 3-1 lead was 3-3, but a sweet move by Dubinsky put the Rangers ahead to stay. Plenty of Knick fans exiting at halftime of their last home game (an 8pm start) was kind of annoying, but not too much of a distraction. I guess if there were any Knick fans that were Ranger fans, they decided not to attend this one, because no one leaving the Garden stopped to turn and look up at the TVs.
-I was not subjected to an NBC Ovechkin lovefest because I invested in this thing. However the first test was kind of a failure, as NBC HD was about 10 seconds later than the radio feed. My new toy only allowed you to delay the radio feed by 8 seconds. Decision time: watch NBC HD with Emrick and the gang or watch NBC standard def with Kenny and Dave on the radio. The latter it was. It's amazing that the Rangers have now won the first two road games of the first round to take a 2-0 series lead each of the last three seasons. Let's hope it turns out the same way (we can do without the game 3 overtime loss, which was the case vs. Jersey last year).

Mets:
-The Marlins are annoying. How is it they get away with their six year plan of winning a title, blowing it up, winning again six years later, blowing it up again, and now six years later are off to a great start, looking like a good team except for their bullpen. Emilio Bonafacio is the new Shane Victorino. Pain in the ass.
-Speaking of pain in the ass, welcome back to Citi David Eckstein, here to torment the Mets again. Padres win two of three in the first ever series in the new park. More on that in a bit.
-A sweep over the Brewers would have been a nice end to the homestand after losing the series to the Padres. However, Todd Coffey pulls a 1970's style 2.2 inning save, getting out of jam after jam to hold on for the victory.
-What the hell do the Mets have against Ryan Church?
-I know Fernando Tatis has to get some playing time, but to stick him at second over Castillo, who's red hot- I don't know about that one. To top it off, the first two batters reach base late, calling for a perfect bunt situation with Tatis coming up. Instead of pinch hitting Castillo to bunt, Tatis strikes out.

Citi Field:
-After attending the exhibition game I was in love with the place. Then I attended opening night. I'm not going to be as picky as many others who have expressed criticism, but here are my only gripes:

Ads covering the bullpen and the tarp over the bullpen. I mean, wow, do the relievers get no respect or what? No wonder JJ Putz was watching the game from the dugout today. It looks silly from a design perspective- you build these bullpens for fan access and then make it look worse than it would have if fan access was not the intent and they were built in normal spots in right and left field. Even the TV crew can't figure out who's warming up in the visitor's pen! Why bother trying to show who's warming up on TV through the chain fence, there's nothing to see! Embarrassing for a new park.

Excelsior level access. I understand not letting certain cheap seat holders to the Caesar's Club. But the concourse level as well? Let all the fans have access to those fancy bars on the Excelsior concourse. If you can go to the field level, you should be able to go there as well.

Put fans so close to the field that they can touch fair balls down the line. Genius. These umpires must be going nuts, their job is not getting any easier with the new parks.

New Yankee Stadium:
-Why don't they just call the first row of the bleacher area Jeffrey Maier row? It took only until the 4th game for a controversial homerun call due to fan interference. There are going to many more of these. Citi is not much better. Watch for the first homerun in left field to be touched by a fan and deflect off the orange stripe on top of the fence and back into play. The instant replay rule must have allowed these designers to have the first row of seats so close to the homerun fence. It's like they want the new parks to set a record for most homeruns requiring instant replay.

NHL playoff predictions

Sorry, I hope I'm wrong- I said the Devils would beat the Rangers in the 1st round last year...

1-BOS over 8-MTL in 7
4-PIT over 5-PHI in 4
6-CAR over 3-NJD in 6
2-WSH over 7-NYR in 5
8-ANA over 1-SJS in 7
2-DET over 7-CBJ in 5
6-STL over 3-VAN in 7
4-CHI over 5-CGY in 6

6-CAR over 1-BOS in 6
4-PIT over 2-WSH in 7
2-DET over 8-ANA in 6
4-CHI over 6-STL in 5

4-PIT over 6-CAR in 6
2-DET over 4-CHI in 7

4-PIT over 2-DET in 6

Washington

You think the Garden can come up with something that includes clips of this video during a TV timeout in games 3 and 4?

It was going to be either Washington or Boston. Many said the games with Boston were close and Washington was just too damn scary. Screw that. Ever hear of "be careful what you wish for"?

Bring on the Caps. The series is probably going to be wild, with plenty of back and forth action. How much time do you think Staal and Girardi are going to see if they are going to be labeled "the shutdown pair"? You're looking at 30 minutes a game, easy. Can't forget about Mike Green. The d-men will be plenty busy with the forwards, and it will be up to our forwards to keep their heads up for the sneaky defenseman.

As we wait for the schedule to come up we hope for as few conflicts with Met games as possible.

Bad Ollie; Rangers clinch

Oliver Perez was cruising through the first couple of innings. This was not the pitcher who was told he was out of shape coming back from the WBC. Then came a couple of walks to the bottom of the order and the wheels feel off in typical Ollie fashion. 8 runs later he's gone in the 5th and has an ERA of 16.62.

The Mets chipped away nicely. You almost had the feeling they were going to come back. However, Arthur Rhodes (who lately owns the Mets), David Weathers and Francisco Cordero were untouchable.

You can't blame Gary Sheffield for taking strike 3 in his first at bat as a Met. Leading off the 9th down two, you're just trying to get on base any way you can.

You knew the first loss was going to come sooner or later. At least they won the series. On to more pressing matters at the moment if you are a reader of Flushing the Garden.

The Rangers are in! They do it in the last couple of games of the season, like they usually do. Despite the great October, it never ends easy.

Don Van Massenhoven, who usually screws us, put the whistle in his pocket when Marty Biron appeared to have the puck covered early in the game, only to have the Rangers bang it in to take a 1-0 lead. It turned out to be huge.

Remember what I said about Crosby, Malkin and pig-face a couple of weeks back? Well, someone needs to deck Scott Hartnell. Pull him around the ice by his hair or something.

Ryan Callahan scored again. This guy is our star all of a sudden.

Unfortunately the Flyers could be a scary team come playoff time. They are saying their resident goon, Daniel Carcillo, played his best hockey last game and he looked pretty good today. Danny Briere was back to his scary little self today. It felt like it was the second round of the 2007 playoffs vs Buffalo out there watching him. And I didn't even mention Carter, Richards and Gagne.

Who was that on the ice for the Flyers with the name NODL on his back?

If Paul Mara is going to let that beard continue growing for the playoffs, I'd love to see a long run just to see how that thing turns out.

The question now is: do you hope for a Montreal point or two on Saturday and a Ranger loss on Sunday to get Boston instead of Ovechkin, Green and the rest of the Caps? Be careful what you wish for, you know how that turns out.

Mets 9, Reds 7

There we go, that's more like the stuff we're used to. A good old, sweat it out, load the bases in the 9th and hold on for the victory save. K-Rod decided to walk everybody, then get out of the bases loaded one out jam. That error on Delgado, a questionable call by the first base umpire for leaving the bag too early on the throw to first did not help matters.

Scary first inning for Mike Pelfrey, but he bounced back nicely.

Here's to more of the Carlos Delgado from the second half of last season. Nice to see that homerun out of the way early in the season.

Damn, JJ Putz gave up a run in the 8th. Sean Green allowed an inherited runner to score the inning before that. It's not supposed to be this way.

Why is David Wright sliding head first into home?

Let's erase the demons of 2005 by sweeping the opening series in the matinee today. Damn afternoon workday games.

Rangers 3, Canadiens 1

Just one more win and we're in. After a slow start, the Rangers must have received a talking to in the first intermission and dominated the rest of the way. Combined with the Florida loss in Philly they are now up 2 points with 2 to play, and own the tiebreaker. The Cheesesteaks now have to continue to help us by coming out flat on Thursday night in the first of a home and home.

For all his struggles as a Ranger, his success elsewhere, and cheap shots at current Rangers, I can't hate Alex Kovalev.

Carey Price looked like a mess out there tonight. Although that was a great stick save on Antropov in the third.

Those Subway ads put on the glass were annoying. To make matters worse they first appeared in the third period, completely throwing you off for the first few minutes.

Markus Naslund was noticeable out there tonight. And Chris Drury scored two goals!?

Let's wrap this up on Thursday. Don't need a due or die situation in Philadelphia on Sunday.

Mets 2, Reds 1

Aside from the new stadium, there has not been opinion and commentary on the Mets themselves here. With opening day now having come and gone, it's time to get going.

We have a bullpen now. Not since 2006 have we been able to say that. Yes it's only one game. But this is exactly what the braintrust had in mind over the winter meetings. Santana-Putz-K-Rod not quite. On this cold and frigid Cincinnati day, we needed Sean Green to come up big as well.

Daniel Murphy is awesome. He's the perfect #2 hitter and showed it with a patient at bat before launching one into the rightfield seats.

Freakin MLB gameday did not pick up the WFAN feed today. So those of us stuck at work without a radio and who did not speak Spanish had to listen to the Cincinnati feed (WADO, home of the Met broadcasts in Spanish, was available on Gameday radio). Made us root harder for Putz when those clowns were hoping for a walk and a blast from Votto in the 8th. Of course they made it a point to remind us that Votto hit a double off JJ while playing for Team Canada in the WBC. Sit down Joey!

Hey, Luis Castillo had a double.

The Mets offense picked up right they left off last season, leaving 50 men on base.

It was opening day, listening to the game at the office was not enough. The DVR was rolling come evening time. Welcome back Gary, Keith, and Ron. I only watched maybe a couple of innings of spring training, all 45 days or so of it.

Oh baby, baseball's back. Thanks to what the Mets have done the past couple of seasons I'm pretty numb to what the Rangers are doing right now. Although the same cities are kind of making it irritating. On the diamond, Philly gets in the last two years because we lose to Florida. Now on the ice, Florida could get in because we lose to Philly.

Bruins 1, Rangers 0

Same city, different coach/system, same result. I know Boston plays the trap, but does it not seem like every game in this building has been 0-0, 1-0 or 1-1? Oh, the exciting hockey.

The only thing that made this game watchable was Sean Avery inadvertently (hey, he was in the way!) knocking Tim Thomas in the back of the head in the third period during a TV timeout. It lead to a scuffle and what was going to be a Ranger power play but was changed to a 4 on 4 after the referees decided to look at the video replay on the scoreboard. Let's show a replay of every penalty on the video board from now on why don't we? Ugh.

For those criticizing Avery for that play, you should realize that he actually looked around to see if any officials were watching, did his thing, and almost got away with a Ranger power play. The worst thing that would have happened was a 4 on 4, which was the case. Of course Thomas was going to react like that- he's a hothead. If Thomas did not react, the refs would not have seen the originally strike by Avery and nothing would have been called. If anything, Avery got under Thomas' skin a bit, which was something that had to be done considering the way the game was going.

Turns out the Rangers got a power play not long after that 4 on 4 started and got a chunk of 4 on 3 time. Yet they still can't score. The power play is pathetic.

Florida goes out and wins the next night (against Pittsburgh, go figure- thanks Cindy) to force a tie for the 8th spot, with both teams having three games to play. Rangers have the tie breaker with the most wins. So they simply need to stay even in points with Florida in the last three. When all is said and done, it could be down to the last game at Philadelphia- Florida ends their season the night before.

Citi Field Review

After almost three years of looking at construction photos, it was finally time. The first game at Citi Field. Coming into the day, all that you could think was "just get me in the damn ballpark" considering the weather. It was a steady rain most of the day. Any other day you complain about the Mets not calling the game early enough and making people come in, pay for parking, pay for dinner and beers, sit for an hour, then find out there's no game. Not on this day. Just get us in, game or no game.

Going down the stairs to exit the "Mets/Willets Point" stop was nothing new. You get out and head left towards Gate E. No more. At the foot of the steps, you were transported to a different place. It's amazing, the last game last October, the new place was up and pretty much done on the exterior, yet this time without our big blue toilet bowl casting a shadow over it the scene is completely different. There was a sidewalk and new parking where what used to be day of game ticket sales and the Mets bullpen.

The Jackie Robinson Rotunda was packed as expected. It was just several minutes before first pitch, so we made our way over to the left field game walking along what used to be the spot for the old apple and just beyond the visitor's bullpen. How appropriate it was that the left field gate featured a silhouette of "the catch", not too far from the spot Endy gave us hope in game 7.

Damn the place smelled good as you walked in. If you were slightly hungry, you were quickly starving. We took the stairs up to the promenade. A good way to get the blood moving on a chilly evening. After nightmares of plexiglass and stairway obstruction, I was relieved to find that my seats were just fine. Perfect view of every scoreboard. Solid seats that you don't have to pull up. Maybe people will be less inclined to hop down seats when making their way down a section. I can't tell you how many broken seats I sat in at Shea.

After one inning, we left our seats to explore the park. Every line for food was at least a 10 minute wait. Centerfield on the field level was shoulder to shoulder. The early start and curiosity of the new place had people hungry and wandering. Wide concourses to ease congestion? Not today, but give it a few games.

Approaching kiddie field and the dunk tank came my first minor gripe. Where the video/audio of the game? No clue what's going on if you're out here. Maybe that will change by the opener.

The Pepsi Porch was above us, but how the heck do you get up there? That's for later. Over the bridge, we peered down at the old Shea apple. The 360 was completed as we arrived at the Rotunda. How quickly the place changes to a museum.

We can take elevators now? That we did, back up to the Promenade for dinner on the picnic tables behind homeplate.

Caesar's Club on the Excelsior level was very nice. A good place to warm up on a cool night or cool down on a steamy one. However, it's probably the only time we'll ever get in. There was no one checking tickets at the door we entered. They were everywhere else, and again later when we tried to get in again.

Exiting the club on the right field side we found the entrance to the Pepsi Porch. Again, another place to hang out and watch the game from a different vantage point. Those junkyards out back gotta go.

One other negative about the place is that maybe there are too many hiding spots. There were more than a few people lighting up to smoke.

An hour rain delay did not ruin things one bit. We were not really paying attention to the game anyway, but if we wanted to we wouldn't miss much. There are TVs everywhere you look. Except Kiddie Field of course.

The old apple in the bullpen plaza got a nice restoration job in the offseason. In a way you kind of wish they kept it dingy and beat up the way it was. It's a heckler's delight down there, with only a chain fence separating the fans from the visitor's bullpen.

Can you believe this is home now? I thought I was on a road trip and was expecting to either go back to my hotel after the game or drive a few hours to get home. Looking forward to a return on opening night and many more games after that. Oh yeah- the Mets beat the Red Sox and closed the game with Putz in the 8th and K-Rod in the 9th. Looking forward to many more results like that as well.

Hurricanes 4, Rangers 2

The Hurricanes are on fire. This should not have come as a surprise. As soon as the Rangers missed out on four first period power plays, you kind of knew they were done.

This other Ruutu is not much different than his brother. The season almost came to a sure end Ruutu bumping Lundqvist, who ended up down and hurting, holding his head. After some stretching of the arm/shoulder by Jim Ramsay, he shook it off and played on.

Congrats to Corey Potter who scores his first NHL goal. Dan Giradi scores his first in 50-something games. That tells you about the offense.

The Islanders, fully aware that they are hurting the Rangers, lay their usual egg versus Montreal, allowing the Habs to get a little further away in 7th.