Results tagged “juliejacobson”

For all the noise of this Yankees offseason, as far as the team on the field goes, all it amounted to was the status quo. Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera are all back -- and richer. Young pitchers Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy and center fielder Melky Cabrera didn't go to the Twins for Johan Santana. The 2008 Yankees will be a slightly older albeit considerably more expensive version of the 2007 team. And most fans are fine with that.

With some of his current Yankees teammates on hand, Andy Pettitte addressed the media in Florida this afternoon. Pettitte, who previously admitted using Human Growth Hormone in 2002 and again in 2004, apologized to the Yankees, Astros, and his fans for the "embarrassment" he caused. Pettitte said, "I want to apologize to the New York Yankees and Houston Astros organizations, their fans, my teammates and all baseball fans for the embarrassment I have caused them. I also want to tell anyone who is an Andy Pettitte fan that I am sorry."

11:27PM: We're enjoying the postgame coverage of the Giants' victory, with sad Tom Brady, really excited Michael Strahan (singing Eli's praises), Peyton Manning being thrilled with his brother's success (aw!) and thoughts from the 1972 Dolpins, secure with their undefeated record for another year (but the Patriots still won more games in a row!). While we've been inside, there are a number of large crowds celebrating the Giants' win all over the city - the police have been called to break some of them up!

And now Congress is getting in the act. They have “invited” current/former Yankees, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch to testify January 16th. In addition, Brian McNamee and Kurt Radomski have also been invited.

A timeout and a holding penalty on the Jets couldn't prevent Mike Nugent from hurting the Jets' draft position helping the Jets end a disappointing season with a 13-10 win over Kansas City on Sunday evening at the Meadowlands. A 33-yard make, which set off some premature celebrations, turned into a 43-yard try after Wade Smith got nailed for holding. Nugent made that too, a fitting sendoff for special teams coach Mike Westoff, who told his team he wouldn't be back next season. He's been suffering from a malignant tumor in his femur and has walked around on crutches while leading the most successful of the Jets units. Given how inconsistent the offense and defense have been, that shouldn't be too hard, but the Jets' Leon Washington was one of their biggest threats -- as a returnman.

As if baseball didn’t have enough problems Curt Schilling has decided to weigh in on the Mitchell Report. Schiling, the never-shy pitcher for the Red Sox opined that Roger Clemens should either clear his name or give up his four Cy Young awards won after 1997.

"If he doesn't do that then there aren't many options as a fan for me other than to believe his career 192 wins and three Cy Youngs he won prior to 1997 were the end. From that point on the numbers were attained through using [performance-enhancing drugs]. Just like I stated about Jose [Canseco], if that is the case with Roger, the four Cy Youngs should go to the rightful winners, and the numbers should go away if he cannot refute the accusations."

Jamal Crawford led the way with 32 points and Zach Randolph added 20. Even Eddy Curry looked interested with 23 points and 9 rebounds, only his third game of the season with more than 8 rebounds. Add it all up and the Knicks got out of the cellar in the Eastern Conference.

Magic 112, Knicks 102: As fun as it is to jump on Eddy Curry and his 80:1 pound/rebound ratio, the Knicks have other problems. Dwight Howard made things difficult for one of the Knicks big men -- though the other, Zach Randolph, did manage to have 23 points on 13 rebounds -- but the New York shooters' failure to back them up the frontcourt cost the Knicks this game. The perimeter players didn't play...

Yesterday, there was excitement over the U.S. Olympic Men's Marathon Trial being held in the heart of Manhattan and top three finishers Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell qualifying for the 2003 Olympic team. But the event was also tragic: 2003 U.S. Marathon champion Ryan Shay suffered an apparent heart attack 5.5 miles into the race and died. Witnesses described that shortly after 8AM, Shay seemed to fall during the course near the...

Well, it didn't take long for Joe Torre to find a new job (not that it should have). He's trading The Bronx for Chavez Ravine and "fans" like Rudy Giuliani for Posh Spice. The Post is reporting that the former Yankees manager has agreed in principle to a three-year $14.5 million deal (hopefully there are no performance incentives) to be the next manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He would be replacing Grady Little, who...

The reports of George Steinbrenner’s demise may have been exaggerated. In an interview with Ian O'Connor, Steinbrenner showed the fire that longtime fans of the Yankees are used to. While it wasn’t punching out someone in an elevator, this was a classic motivational ploy from the Steinbrenner textbook - win or the manager is gone. Of course all of this ignores the fact that the Yankees are lucky to have even made the playoffs. Teams...

• Mets 2, Yankees 0: Poof! Just like that, the Mets' five-game losing streak and the Yankees' nine-game winning streak have been snapped. Oliver Perez shut down the Yankees for the second time this season, and Roger Clemens was good but not good enough in the loss. Jose Reyes and Carlos Gomez -- the two Mets speedsters and fans of untucking their jerseys within seconds of the final out -- supplied the two Mets runs. Given the teams' divergent paths of late, the Mets probably needed this game more. Their bullpen, a source of weakness during their stumbles, shut down the Yankees late. With Tom Glavine going against Tyler Clippard on Saturday, the Mets probably have the edge. Then again, Clippard already has one strong start against the Mets -- in his Major League debut.
• Sky 73, Liberty 66: Things don't look as rosy for the Liberty, losers of three of four. Shameka Christon and Tiffany Jackson were the only people in double figures, but they and their teammates didn't shoot that poorly or play that bad defense.

The Mets offense didn’t take long to get going with Jose Reyes leading off with a single and stealing second. He scored on an infield single by Carlos Beltran, which ended with a collision at first base. Beltran was shaken up on the play and although he stayed in the game and ran the bases, he was lifted before the start of the second inning. He has a bruised right knee and will get a MRI on it Friday.

That’s what Benitez did, coming in with a 4-3 lead in the twelfth and issuing a leadoff walk to Jose Reyes. Benitez showed his characteristic pose and balked Reyes to second. Reyes was on third when Benitez balked again, sending Reyes home with the tying run. At that point, you could see what would happen next. Benitez, totally unnerved, finally served up a meatball to Carlos Delgado and Delgado crushed it for the game-winning home run.

With the Yankees' win over the Red Sox yesterday that ended a 7-game losing streak, it seems that Yankees manager Joe Torre can breathe easily - for the moment. Torre answered questions about his job security before the game with aplomb, saying, "For me to say 'this,' 'this' or 'this,' I don't want to pawn it off and say it's not my fault. I'm in charge here. If you're going to enjoy the good times, you have to understand that to get there, you have to deal with some potholes." His players chimed in:

Jason Giambi: "I know in New York there's a lot of shock value. It's pretty ridiculous. This is a good ballclub. Joe can't control injuries; all he can do is put guys out there that want to play and want to win."

Continue reading "Stankee Yankees: Panic in the Bronx"

Their starting pitching is completely broken and Mariano Rivera can’t get an out. The offense is now slumping and the bullpen imploding from overuse. Steinbrenner is reportedly ready to fire Joe if they are swept by Boston. Jeff Karstens takes the hill today, gulp.

Welcome to the dumb fan hall of fame, Frank Martinez! Martinez was arrested on Friday after he shined a high-powered flashlight onto Shea Stadium's field during the Mets-Braves game. Martinez used a Streamline flashlight to bother Braves pitcher Tim Hudson and shortstop Edgar Renteria, and second base umpire Paul Emmel had to call a timeout because he was "visually impaired."

If you didn’t see any Giants games this year and tuned in to yesterday’s 23-20 loss, you were treated to a microcosm of the season. Dumb penalties, inconsistent quarterbacking, tough running and a defense that can’t make a key stop, plagued the Giants all year and cost them the game Sunday.

With their 23-3 win over Oakland, the Jets capped their unpredictable run to the playoffs in a predictable way. Few people expected the Jets to finish at .500 this season, but by the time the Jets beat Miami last week, most had them taking down the Raiders in the season-finale. But give the Jets credit for taking advantage of the win-and-you're-in situation, even if it came against a team that last won on Oct. 29.

In keeping with our lists of events from 2006, here are some of the sports stories that Gothamist found compelling in the past year. It ranges from the playoff disappointment from the Mets and the Yankees to the welcome performances of last season's Rangers, this season's Jets and Rutgers.

How many more shots to the gut can this team take? With seven minutes left, the Giants took a 22-21 lead and were a solid defensive stand away from winning a huge game. But, the Eagles marched down the field in only 8 plays and took the lead. With just less than three minutes left, the Giants came onto the field needing to go 80 yards for the win.

Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly, and representatives from the Port Authority and FBI gave a press conference about the tunnel terror plot a few hours ago. This morning, the Daily News revealed that officials had "foiled" a plot to flood the city Katrina-style (no matter how technically unfeasible it would be), sending people into a tailspin, both the "crap, no" and the "the government is making this too big a deal" kinds. From the NY Times:

Mark J. Mershon, the agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York office, said at a news conference this afternoon that Lebanese officials had taken the plot's "mastermind" into custody in Beirut and that he had confessed. Mr. Mershon said that the Lebanese officials had identified the suspect as Assem Hammoud, a 31-year-old Lebanese native, and reported that Mr. Hammoud had sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda.Mr. Mershon said two of the other eight people he described as "principal players" in the plot had been taken into custody in other countries, although none had yet been charged with any crimes. He said that an investigation was continuing, involving six countries on three continents.

Continue reading "Tunnel Terror Plot Press Conference"

The building was rocking to the chants of “MVP” and Rangers’ fans were being treated to a dominant performance from a player for the first time since Mark Messier left for Vancouver. It was a night when Jaromir Jagr looked unstoppable and the idea that the Rangers would lose seemed impossible.

There was only one way this season could get any worse for Knicks’ fans and it happened last night. In the fourth quarter of their 114-109 loss, the Knicks watched in horror as Channing Frye collapsed on the floor after a collision with Andre Barrett. Frye’s left knee was injured and while x-rays were negative, tests will be run today to see if any ligaments were torn. Ironically, the injury occurs almost 21 years to the day of Bernard King’s crippling knee injury.

Kevin Weekes had not started in goal since the middle of January and figured to be rusty last night, but the Rangers picked up their defense and didn’t allow an Islander shot in the first eleven minutes of their 5-2 victory. With the upcoming Olympic Break, the Rangers will need to rely on Weekes more to get through the compressed schedule in March and April.

For most of the game, the Rangers had the lead thanks to Jaromir Jagr’s scoring prowess and Henrik Lundqvist’s brilliance in goal. So, when Martin Rucinsky scored to give New York a two-goal lead with just over eleven minutes to play, it seemed like the game was in the bag. Maybe that’s what the Rangers felt, because Philadelphia stormed back and eventually won the game 3-2 in overtime.