Red Sox continue early domination of Yankees

Red Sox 11
Yankees 6

For the seventh time in eight games, the Boston Red Sox dominated the New York Yankees. The Sox, who were led by three hits from Jacoby Ellsbury, and a two run shot by David Ortiz, and a three run blast from J.D. Drew dominated New York yet again, this time to move into first place in the AL East.

It is now easy to forget that Boston opened this season 1-10. Since that time the BoSox are 34-16 one of the best records in the majors, and a team that looked dead in the water is very much alive.

The Sox once again put the Yankees in an early hole jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning thanks in large part to Big Papi's homer.

A.J. Burnett didn't have it for the Yankees. In five and two-thirds innings, Burnett gave up seven earned runs, while walking four. His record falls to 6-4. In spite of a positive start to the 2011 campaign, Burnett still can't shake off the doubts he amassed in all of 2010, when he couldn't pitch out of a paper bag. This start is another example of his ineffectiveness.

Now should Yankee nation panic? No. Two seasons ago, the Yankees opened the season 0-8 against the Boston Red Sox, then went on to win the next 10 matchups en route to a World Series championship. So not all is lost, and not much can be taken from regular season match-ups in June.

The Yankees are only a game out of first, and for the most part, have put the troubles that lurked around the clubhouse in May far behind them.

And even if the Yankees lose the division to the Red Sox, does it really matter? Considering how mediocre the rest of the AL is, two teams will most definatley come out of the Eastern Division, and with Tampa Bay having trouble remaining over .500, chances both Boston and New York will make their seemingly annual trip to October.

2011 NFL schedule could be cut to eight games

The NFL is getting closer to the reality that there will not be a football season later this year.

Contingency plans were revealed this morning that the NFL has plans to cut the upcoming season in half, and play only eight games set to begin in late November, pending a settlement in October!

If the owners and players agree to a new CBA in October, the league will allow a brief free agency period and short training camp before opening the truncated 2011 season at the end of November .

It was hoped that the worst case scenario would be that the first three weeks would be wiped out in September, thus allowing the league to re-schedule those three games for late January.

Every team in week three of the regular season, set for Sept 25, was intentionally scheduled with a same bye week as their opponent for week three. That game would be made up on the bye week of the two teams; (i.e. the Jets and Raiders are scheduled to play each other in week three, both teams would have a bye week on Halloween, and if the game on Sept. 25 was canceled because of the lockout, it would have been moved to Halloween weekend).

Jets regular season schedule as it stands today:
DALLAS
JACKSONVILLE
@ Oakland
@ Baltimore
@ New England
MIAMI
SAN DIEGO
Bye Week
@ Buffalo
NEW ENGLAND
@ Denver
BUFFALO
@ Washington
KANSAS CITY
@ Philadelphia
NEW YORK
@ Miami

Jets schedule if September only is wiped out:
@ Baltimore
@ New England
MIAMI
SAN DIEGO
@ Oakland*
@ Buffalo
NEW ENGLAND
@ Denver
BUFFALO
@ Washington
KANSAS CITY
@ Philadelphia
NEW YORK
@ Miami
DALLAS*
JACKSONVILLE*

*- moved from week's 1, 2, 3 of the original schedule.

Possible Jets schedule if only 8 games are played: *** (Not official)
NEW ENGLAND
@ Denver
BUFFALO
@ Washington
KANSAS CITY
@ Philadelphia
NEW YORK
@ Miami

There is a chance that no games in the first half of the year will be played.

Both the owners and players are miles apart from any compromise, so it looks more and more likely that the dispute will head into the fall.

This lockout has become so ridiculous that the NFL is better off canceling the entire season. Without a full off-season, rookies have not been able to meet with their coaches and players and get little chance to learn their playbooks. All veteran and rookie players will be out of shape if the NFL returns in late November, that even a blitzkrieg training camp won't do much to alleviate the problem of hamstring pulls and various injuries.

If the players and owners can't come to an agreement by late July, just cancel the season and save the players from injuring themselves badly in a short season that will have virtually little meaning.

Plaxico Burress released from jail. Now what for former Giant?

Plaxico Burress is now a free man.

After having served two years in a state prison for gun possession at a New York night club in 2008, when the Super Bowl winning wide receiver accidentally shot himself in the foot, while having a good time with fellow former Giant Antonio Pierce, Burress is now free.

Arguing whether Buress deserved the harsh sentence is an argument long ago in the past. I personally believe that Buress didn't deserve the harsh sentence. Yes, his punishment was for possessing an illegal fire arm, but he never pointed the gun at anyone, never shot anybody, and certainly didn't commit as heinous as crime as say Michael Vick, who got a similar two year sentence for killing and mutilating dogs.

The Giants probably won't bring back Buress at all this year, if there is a football season in 2011. Even though the memory of Buress making the winning touchdown catch in the end zone of Super Bowl XLII three short years ago is still engrained in the memory of Giant fans alike, the G-Men would be foolish to bring him back.

Buress was a trouble maker in New York long before the gun incident. Consistently late for team meetings, and causing head coach Tom Coughlin to pull his hair out of his head, because of his lazy personality on and off the field, Buress was a handful.

Plus the 2011 New York Giants are solid at wide receiver. From Steve Smith to Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks the Giants have three good receivers for Eli Manning to throw to.

With that trio of receivers, Manning has had the two best seasons of his life. He threw for 4,021 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2009, and 4,002 yards with 31 touchdowns in 2010. Sure you can never have enough talent, but at 33 years-old, and assuming there is a season, what does Buress really have left?

He could be a cheap option for the Giants this summer, but if they want to move on, no one will blame them.

Rumor has it the Philadelphia Eagles would target Buress, and vice versa. The Eagles are no strangers to bringing in jail birds into their nest, having nabbed Vick in 2009, and reaped the benefits of that gamble in 2010, when Vick earned Pro Bowl honors as the team's starting quarterback.

The Eagles have Mr. Everything in DeShaun Jackson, but lack any true depth behind him at wide receiver. A tandem of Burress and Jackson is hard to pass up in Philadelphia for an Eagles team that will try to hold off both the Giants and Cowboys this season for the NFC East title.

If Burress behaves himself, he will be a great addition to any team. It is hard to find receivers who possess the size and skills that Burress had when he was in his prime. Plus if the Michael Vick experience is any indication, then Burress may still have something left in his legs.

Now all Burress has to do is wait even more, because he returns from prison waiting liking everyone else as the 2011 NFL season remains in limbo.

Donnie Walsh out with Knicks

General Manager Donnie Walsh is done with the New York Knicks.

"Following a long series of discussions regarding his future role with the New York Knicks, Donnie Walsh and I have mutually agreed that he will be leaving his position ... at the end of June," Dolan said in a statement.

This marks then end of Walsh's wonderful job turning around a disaster that was a basketball team, decimated by the hands of Isiah Thomas.

In three years, Walsh stripped the Knicks of their salary cap woes, and rebuilt the team into an Eastern Conference contender with the acquisitions of Amar'e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, and Chauncey Billups.

Walsh wanted full control of the franchise, which was a huge sticking point with Dolan. Another problem with the relationship between Walsh and Dolan was Isaiah Thomas. During the past year, Dolan was reported to be contact with Thomas about player personnel, which angered Walsh, and set forth rumors that Thomas was on his way back to the Garden.

Who will replace Walsh is anyone's guess, but the Isiah back to the Knicks rumors will surely heat up again. Thomas and Dolan have remained close friends inspite of Thomas' firing and disregard for the Knicks brand when he was here.

If Thomas returns to take over the Knicks, it could be the beginning of the end of a possible Kincks run in the Eastern Conference.

Coach Mike D'Antoni is entering the final year of his contract, and there has already been speculation that he could be replaced by former Lakers coach Phil Jackson if the right situation permits itself.

Terry Collins lashes out about the Mets

It only took two months before Terry Collins blew his top over the play of the miserable New York Mets.

After New York lost their second straight crushing loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Collins had just about enough coming off as testy and angry during his post game press conference. WATCH IT HERE!!!

Now this was not in the ilk of Lou Pinella, or for that matter, Mike Ditka, Dennis Green, or Jim Mora Sr., but it was clear that the Mets manager had steam coming out of his ears.

"I try every night to figure it out," Collins said. "I don't have the answers. I'm wringing the rag dry of coming in here and having to look at (the media) and sit here and have you look at me like a stinking fool. ... I'll take all the F***ing blame you want to dish out."

The most interesting part of Collins rant was that he promises that the atmosphere will and must change, even if he has to get different players. Now that's the spirit. That has been the Mets big problem the past four years. They have gone through three mangers and none of them have been able to figure it out. It falls on the shoulders of the players, who don't know how to execute on the field of play.

You have to appreciate Collins passion, but let's remember this is the same guy that rubbed people the wrong way in Houston and Anaheim for his short temper, which led to his firing. And keep in mind, Collins was not the first choice for this job, that was Clint Hurdle, who has done a fabulous job managing the same Pirates who are smacking around the Mets this week.

David Wright could be the one that gets traded

With GM Sandy Alderson set to cut as much payroll as possible for the cash strapped New York Mets, rumors began flying around, Wednesday that the Mets could look to deal third baseman David Wright either this year, or in the offseason.

According to WFAN, a baseball source believes that if the Mets re-sign Jose Reyes, they would not object to trading Wright to save payroll.

Wright who has two years left on his contract, became the subject of a slight by owner Fred Wilpon, when the bankrupt owner called the All Star a "good player, but not a superstar" in the New Yorker magazine a week ago.

According to the scout who spoke to the Daily News: “Look at their club and look at the other shortstops around the league, and trading Wright makes more sense,” said the scout. “You can play (Daniel) Murphy at third and he’ll give you enough offense there. But you can’t replace Reyes’ offense with (Ruben) Tejada.”

The scout added: “Really, there are only a couple of shortstops in baseball that are on Reyes’ level, and Sandy is all about value, so I think when it comes down to it, he’d rather re-sign Reyes and trade Wright.”

True, Reyes has a lot more value than Wright at this point of the year, and his importance to the Mets success trumps that of Wright as well. Reyes' ability to steel bases, hit with some power, and gather up triples is hard to find, especially for a short stop. The Mets could always find a power hitting third baseman.

That being said, Reyes' value may never be higher. Trading Reyes now would make the most sense, since the Mets could get the most in return in terms of prospects and young major league ready players.

Wright, would not garner a lot in a trade right now. In the off-season, he could, possibly garner a lot more interest from teams in search of a third baseman, or even a DH.

Either way it is clear that stars like Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez, Johan Santana, Wright and Reyes are ALL on their way out of town.

Mets great Gary Carter has inoperable brain tumor

Last week Gary Carter was very worried about a pending MRI regarding tumors that surfaced on his brain. As it turns out the tumors are inoperable.

Doctors will begin immediate surgery and recovery for Carter, who will undergo chemotherapy.

Carter's daughter Kim, described the tumors as a "snake" that crawls across to the back of the brain. The left side of Carter's brain holds the largest tumor.

Doctors hope that they can help Carter complete a full recovery.

This is a tramatic time for the New York Mets hall of famer. A man who helped spearhead the Mets turnaround in 1985, when he was acquired from the Montreal Expos, Carter helped lead the Mets to the 1986 world championship.

He hit 32 homers and drove in 100 in his first year with the Mets. Even though his average dipped severely after 1985, Carter was still a consistent centerpiece to the Mets successes.

If the Mets ownership was smart, which we know they are not, they would retire Carter's number. Give the man a day to be honored by the Mets fans, because you don't know how much longer he has. Hopefully, Carter will recover, and live into and through his golden years.