Neil Keefe talks New York Yankees. New episodes after every game.
The Rangers finally broke through and won against in the Penguins in their fourth try this season. Rather than blow a lead to the Penguins like they had in the first three games against them, the Rangers overcame a deficit to win 3-1 on Monday. The Rangers are now undefeated with Tony DeAngelo no longer part of the team.
Scott Reinen of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the state of the Yankees as spring training approaches, including the Yankees' decision to stay under the luxury-tax threshold, saying goodbye to Adam Ottavino and Masahiro Tanaka, bringing back the same exact lineup and why an expanded postseason field will ruin the regular season.
The Rangers have played the Penguins three times this season. They have held a third-period lead in all three games. They have lost all three games. The Rangers have blown every lead they have had since the second game of the season.
The Rangers had to win on Thursday night in Buffalo. At 1-4-1 and in the midst of a four-game losing streak, they desperately needed to salvage the fourth and final game of their road trip and get two points. And they did just that. After blowing another two leads in the game, Alexis Lafreniere scored the overtime game-winner for the first goal of his career.
The Red Sox were happy to take Adam Ottavino in the Yankees' salary dump of the right-hander. Why wouldn't they be? He makes the Red Sox better and his removal from the Yankees makes them worse. Sure, the Yankees then went and signed Darren O'Day, but why couldn't they have both? Why couldn't they have five elite relievers? For 2019, on paper, they had six. Now they have four. For the second time in three years, the Yankees have cut payroll by $50 million in the middle of a championship window....
The Rangers lost to the Sabres 3-2 on Tuesday and have now lost four straight games, all by one goal. To make matters worse, it was their third straight lost in which they had a lead in the game. They blew three leads in two games in Pittsburgh and blew another two leads in Buffalo. The Rangers' postseason chances are declining by the day, and they need to turn their season around before they no longer can.
Two games in Pittsburgh and two losses for the Rangers. The Rangers blew two one-goal leads and have now lost three straight and four of five to begin the season. The Rangers sit alone in eighth and last place in the East tied with Ottawa for the worst winning percentage in the league. Things need to change and change quickly if the Rangers want to think about the postseason.
The Yankees added another starting pitcher to their rotation by trading for the Pirates' Jameson Taillon. The right-hander hasn't pitched since 2019 after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery, and he joins a Yankees staff that is full of starters who returning from injuries and who haven't pitched much, if at all, over the last few seasons. The trade was a no-brainer for the Yankees considering Taillon's salary ($2.25 million) and what they had to give up. If healthy, the Yankees would have a ...
The Rangers had a two-goal lead in Pittsburgh and they blew it, losing 4-3 in a shootout. Yes, the young Rangers played well, but it was a bad loss. The Rangers have now lost three of four this season, and in their first loss they didn't show up, in their second lost they dominated play and couldn't score, and on Friday in Pittsburgh, they blew a 3-1 lead. At some point, moral victories in these games can't be enough.
The Yankees can no longer only worry about the Rays in the AL East. Coming off an unexpected postseason berth, the Blue Jays have decided to surround their young, very good and inexpensive core with established major leaguers. The Blue Jays added former Yankee Kirby Yates to the back end of their bullpen and then went and gave George Springer a six-year, $150 million contract.
The Rangers followed up their impressive shutout win over the Islanders with a loss to the Devils to finish their season-opening, three-game homestand. The Rangers outplayed the Devils and controlled the game for much of the night, but the few minutes they took off and the few lapses they had all seemed to lead to Devils goals. Now the Rangers find themselves needing to bounce back quickly with a two-game series in Pittsburgh this weekend.
The Yankees are reportedly close to re-signing DJ LeMahieu and have signed Corey Kluber to a reclamation contract. Even still, the lineup is the same as last year's, the rotation is less and the bullpen is essentially the same, and the team wasn't good enough to win the World Series with that roster. They weren't even good enough to get out of the division series. Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the state of the Yankees with less than a month to go until the scheduled ...
After getting embarrassed and shut out at the Garden on opening night, the Rangers bounced back with a 5-0 blowout win over the Islanders. Mike Carver of the Isle Seat Podcast joined me to talk about the two-game series between the rivals to begin the season.
The Rangers were embarrassed and shut out in a 4-0 season-opening loss to the Islanders at the Garden. Brian Monzo of WFAN joined me to talk about the Rangers' loss as we try to not overreact to the first of 56 regular-season games for the Blueshirts.
I thought the goal of each Yankees season was to win the World Series. I’m not so sure anymore. The Yankees haven’t made a move this offseason to improve their roster and there’s a month left until spring training.
There's a report from Yahoo! Sports that DJ LeMahieu is "dismayed" with the Yankees and has asked his agent to connect with other teams on a contract. If true, it's not a surprise as the Yankees have yet to sign the team's best player. They have yet to do anything this offseason.
It's been three days since the last podcast and DJ LeMahieu is still a free agent, and over the last three days, the Yankees haven't improved their roster or rotation. The Yankees did finally make an offseason move, but it was nothing more than a depth move that will hopefully not have any impact on the team this season.
It’s been nearly three months since the Yankees’ season ended and they have done nothing to improve their roster in that time. They haven’t done anything to their roster at all, other than have impending free agents become free agents and release the ineffective Jonathan Holder. Spring training is a little more than a month away (if the season starts on time) and the Yankees are much worse today than they were when they were eliminated.
The Yankees had to bring Zack Britton back for 2021 (and 2020), so they did. The Yankees didn't want to pay Brett Gardner $10 million for 2021, so they didn't. But everyone should expect Gardner to re-sign with the Yankees at a much lower cost.
Aaron Boone can keep talking about how the Yankees were a tie game in the eighth inning of Game 5 of the ALDS from beating the American League-winning Rays, but the difference between the two teams was much greater than that. The Yankees weren't going to score a second run in that game if it went 10 innings or 100 innings. The Yankees might be in a championship window, but when you look at the roster construction of the Rays or Astros, the Yankees don't appear to be close to even winning the AL ...
I didn't expect the Yankees to win Game 4. But if they were to win Game 4, I expected them to win Game 5 with Gerrit Cole on the mound. Well, they won Game 4, and now I expect them to win Game 5 and advance to the ALCS.
The Rays have exposed the Yankees over the last two nights with some help from the home plate umpires. Now the Yankees will give the ball to the worst of their starting pitching options to try to save the season and force a Game 5. The Yankees will be expected to win Game 5 with Gerrit Cole on the mound, but can they even get there?
The Yankees are in big trouble. They relinquished their ALDS lead with the worst possible first-guessed pitching decision and now they desperately need to win Game 3 or their season will likely end this week.
Gerrit Cole didn’t pitch like any Yankees fan expected him to pitch in Game 1 of the ALDS, but he pitched the way he has against the Rays all season. Thankfully, the Yankees’ offense showed up for the third straight game to open the postseason and made sure Cole’s off night didn’t cost the Yankees a win in the best-of-5.
The Yankees have a chance to avenge their disappointing 2-8 record against the Rays from the regular season by beating them in the ALDS. In order to do so, the Yankees’ offense will have to put up runs to keep the bullpen from blowing games and to keep Aaron Boone from managing the Yankees to a series loss.
The Yankees are very luck they aren’t playing an elimination Game 3 against the Indians with J.A. Happ on the mound on Thursday night. Aaron Boone did everything he could to manage his team to a loss in Game 2 on Wednesday, but the Yankees’ offense wouldn’t let his ineptitude overpower their ability. The Yankees will now play the Rays in the ALDS with a chance to avenge the regular-season disappointment against their biggest rival.
The Yankees' offense took Shane Bieber out of Game 1 and Gerrit Cole took the Indians' offense out of Game 1. Most importantly, the Yankees' offense and Cole took Aaron Boone out of Game 1 in what was an easy 12-3 win in the best-of-3.
The Yankees keep talking about how they are trying to win home-field advantage for the best-of-3 series, but they’re clearly not trying their hardest. If they were, why was Michael King starting or opening on Monday night against the Blue Jays? It was a perfect opportunity to give Clarke Schmidt his first major league start, and instead, the Yankees went with the guy who has pitched a combined 14 innings over four starts/opens this season with an 8.36 ERA.
The Yankees are going to the postseason. It's something we have known since Opening Day when it was announced the postseason field would be expanded to eight teams. Now it's official and the Yankees can use the last seven games of the regular season to get ready for October.
The Yankees were rained out on Thursday and now will play a doubleheader on Friday against the Orioles. With Gerrit Cole in Game 1 and Masahiro Tanaka in Game 2, the Yankees need to sweep a doubleheader for the first time this season. The Yankees need to win at least three out of four against the Orioles this weekend. Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the state of the Yankees, which isn't good right now.
