But rather than damn a season that has 147 games left (91%  remaining ), I think I would just like everyone to take a deep breath.

You don’t need to  get a guillotine ready to chop Dan Warthen’s head, or Oliver Perez, or whoever is the next media, fan base whipping boy.

In fact, I believe it’s this whole overly intense nonsense that’s part of the problem. Everyone’s screwed up in the head, living on a viscous cycle of feast or famine.

Don’t fire anyone, or overpay a injury prone Pedro Martinez, or breakup the core.

At this point, anything other than being frustrated is overreacting. And in this city, it pays to play it cool.

Yet the Rangers are up three games to one. What gives?

It comes down to one factor and one factor only. Henrik Lundqvist. He is by far and away the best goalie that I have ever seen in a Rangers jersey, and I am including Mike Richter in this conversation. He doesn’t buckle under pressue, and makes saves that make me pinch myself because I don’t believe they are real. Henrik has put the team on his back, and I truly believe, because of the lack of scoring prowess that the Rangers have, that they will only go as far as he will take them.

I’m also uberly impressed with the way Wade Redden and Michal Rosival have bounced back after their horrendous regular seasons. They have stabilized the defense and taken some of the heat off of youngsters Dan Girardi and Marc Staal.

Not so impressed with Sean Avery. I think I am probably the biggest Sean Avery fan in the world. I pull for this guy all of the time to find that balance between his agitating style and the amount of skill that he has. I really thought he had finally turned a corner. However, in this series he has been absolutely awful, and back to the ways that plagued him in Dallas. I don’t know if he is just trying too hard, but he has taken dumb penalty after dumb penalty. It almost seems as if the pressure of the playoffs have knocked him off of his game. He needs to get back on track. Right after Lundqvist, he is the most important piece towards getting the Rangers to the next level. I really hope he finds his game before he gets benched by John Tortorella.

Nik Zherdev? He’s a goner after this season. Tortorella hates him and I’m pretty sure he hates Torts as well. I love Zherdev’s game, and I think he could put himself on the level of a Nik Backstrom or and Alex Semin. It is just that he only seems to try in the first five minutes of the game, or at his convenience. The Rangers bought him in to be their go-to-scorer, and he has failed miserably since Tom Renney was let go.

Look for the Rangers to have difficulty locking this thing up tomorrow night unless Lundqvist puts on another show. Beating the Caps three times in their own place will be difficult. Look for Avery to bounce back as well. I think Torts knows he needs Avery in these tough playoff games.

Yankees

• I don’t like the new place, and let me tell you why.  If the real, the one, the only Yankee Stadium were the working-class blue collar Bronx, then this new joint is uppity snobbish Manhattan.  Let’s start with the most egregious new feature of the new place, the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar.  I was watching the game last Thursday when they had Bob Lorenz give a report from the bar, and reading off some of the menu.  Truffle Fries.  Grilled Cheese Brioche.  Ahi Tuna Nicoise Grilled Pita.  Blue Crab Mini Tacos.  Shaved Roasted Lamb Loin, Tzatziki, Crisp Greens, Tomato.  What the hell are those things?  Is this place a ballpark food joint or a cafe on the Upper West Side?  I remember shredding the Diamondbacks in 2001 because they served spinach quiche at Bank One Ballpark.  The stuff on the menu at our place makes spinach quiche look like hot dogs with chili, cheese and onions.
• Tommy Bahamas.  Are you kidding me?  The patrons of this abomination are probably all A-Rod fans (because as we know, A-Rod drinks wine coolers).  Next time I go to a game, I think I am going to stand outside Tommy Bahamas and mock all of the people in there.  And I swear on the holy name of Wade Boggs (who once drank 64 beers on a cross-country flight) that if I see umbrellas inside of the drinks, I will cross over to the south side of 161st Street, break into the real Yankee Stadium and pretend I’m watching a game there.
• Let me go on another rant about going to a ballpark to watch a game in one of the bars.  Why bother?  Essentially what you are doing is paying an insanely expensive cover charge.  Why would you pay $50+ for  one ticket to the game, to then go to one of the bars to watch?  It makes no sense.  If you’re going to watch the game from a bar, you might as well walk down the street and go to your local watering hole, where you won’t have to pay to get in.  If you buy a ticket to a ballgame, watch the damn game from your seat.  It’s completely baffling why people would go to a ballpark and then watch the most of the game from one of the bars.  With Pinheads spending their money so Pinhead-edly, it’s no wonder we are in a recession.
• The Peter Max Art Gallery.  You cannot be serious.  An art gallery in a ballpark that houses the Yankees, the greatest franchise in sports history?  I almost walked out of the ballpark when I saw this place.  How could any real fan justify having an art gallery inside of a ballpark.  That would have NEVER flown in the real Yankee Stadium.  But in this new wine and cheese ballpark, it’s embraced.  Not to mention, the pictures suck.  If you go, check it out and you’ll probably agree.
• Now that I’m done ripping the new place and it’s “amenities” let me talk about what really matters, the game.  It’s too early to definitively make a call, but this place is playing out like a joke so far.  If you’ve watched any of the games, you know what I’m talking about, particularly the barrage of home runs to right field.  It’s all the rage on the Yankee blogosphere right now, and rightfully so.  Batted balls that should be routine fly balls to the right fielder are home runs and standard home runs to right are Ruthian blasts.  Check out Big Tex’s home run last Friday, it was a monster.  The place is already being called Coors Lite, a reference to Coors Field in Colorado, one of the greatest hitters parks you’ll find.  I think the reason the ball is carrying so well is that the concourses are now open, creating a wind tunnel to the playing field.  At the real Yankee Stadium, the field was separated from the concourses, but now everything is open, which has to create more wind.  All I can say is this: imagine the show Josh Hamilton would have put on if last year’s Home Run Derby were held at this place instead of the real Yankee Stadium?

Mets

• Federal Bailout Field has opened to rave reviews thus far (but let’s be honest, a rat-infested boiler room is luxurious in comparison to Shea Stadium), but one of the biggest complaints from Met fans about Federal Bailout Field is that it fails to showcase the Mets history.  How is that a bad thing??? When the greatest moment in the history of your franchise is an error made by a player from another team, a play considered by most to be the greatest gaffe in baseball history, do you really want your history showcased?  If I were to put together a showcase of the Mets history, I would have to pay tribute to legends such as Bobby Bonilla, Mel Rojas, Kenny Rogers, Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Armando Benitez, Mark Corey and the legendary Pepe Mangual (shout out to Tony Marra if you actually read this blog).  Let’s not forget anti-heroes like John Rocker, Chipper Jones, Yadier Molina and countless others.
• Unlike the new place where the Yankees play, Federal Bailout Field is playing out to be a hitters graveyard.  Just ask Brew Crew slugger Ryan Braun, who had this to say, “I wouldn’t be overly excited about playing 81 games here as a hitter.  There aren’t going to be many home runs to the middle of the field.  You’ve got to get it pretty good.”  Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It’s not ideal to be a hitters graveyard, but if you ask me it’s better than playing in a bandbox like the new place where the Yankees play seems to be.  The obvious beneficiary of the new ballpark will be Johan Santana, who is the front-runner for the Cy Young award no matter what his home ballpark is like.  Pitching in the spacious Federal Bailout Field should make him a lock.

I always prided myself on having a better stadium than the Mets.  I used to laugh when Met fans would somehow try to make the case that Shea Stadium was better than Yankee Stadium.  It was like listening to my good friend Rod Blagojevich rationalize selling the Illinois Senate seat.  Unfortunately, with the two new ballparks, that gap has narrowed considerably.  The new place where the Yankees play does not live up to my standards for a ballpark.  It belongs on the corner of 72nd Street and Park Avenue, not on the corner of 161st Street and River Avenue.  I miss Yankee Stadium.

That said, “the new stadium” is an absolute joke, or it has at least played as such the first homestand. I have never seen the ball carry in a major league stadium as I’ve seen it the past week-especially to right field. It’s worse than Citizen’s Bank Park’s left field. And IT’S APRIL!!. I mean, if the ball carries this well now, imagine what will happen when the weather is warmer, when the ball physically travels farther.

Obviously, that plays well for the Texiera, Cano and Posada among others to have big power years. It also means if you’re a pitcher, you can’t pitch on one side of the plate. You’ll have to pitch inside to rigthties and away to lefties.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues, and how the Yankees and opposing teams will address it.

The benefit of today’s loss is that I was able to stop watching in the second inning.  I didn’t have to waste my time and sit through all 9 innings just to watch them lose.  Another little story about lopsided losses.  I had a softball game today, where we won 18-3 by the mercy rule (for the record, I drove in 3 of those runs and scored another 3).  After the game, one of my teammates asked if we got anything bonus for winning by the mercy rule.  Another teammate sarcastically replied, “Yeah, after 6 mercy games we get a Power-Up.”  To quote Vin Diesel from The Fast And The Furious, “It doesn’t matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning’s winning.”  Same for losing.

All that being said, the biggest concern of the day obviously has to be the third disastrous start from Chien-Ming Wang.  CMW turned in yet another abysmal performance, failing to get out of the second inning for the second straight start.  Like I said after Tuesday’s debacle, I am convinced he’s still hurting, from his season-ending foot injury last year.  He has been too good of a pitcher over the course of his career to suddenly become Satoru Komiyama Jr.  I have a proposal for what the Yankees should do with Wang right now.  And I hate making such a proposal, because:

1. CMW is a good friend of mine (or alt least I claimed he was one night at a bar).  I’ve been a full-fledged CMW guy since his debut on April 30, 2005.  It hurts to see one of my favorites pitch so badly.
2. I am not a reactionary fan, the Pinhead who calls up Joe Beningo on WFAN screaming “TRADE THIS BUM!!!” after one bad game.  I am a rational fan who thinks things through, and I’m usually right.

That being said, here is what I hate to say: Wang needs to be sent to the minors.  Clearly something is wrong with him, more than just a slump or the routine struggles or a major league pitcher.  Wang’s ERA is a robust 34.50 after today.  Tim Sharobem had a lower ERA than that in slow-pitch softball.  Wang is absolutely KILLING us right now.  Not just because we’ve lost all three of his starts, but because his failure to pitch past the third inning is taxing our bullpen so badly that I heard that Jose Veras is organizing a Tea Party outside of the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar tomorrow. Remember last Tuesday when the pen was stretched so thin that outfielder Nick Swisher had to pitch?  Yeah that was a Wanger game.

Wang is causing so much damage right now that we cannot justify keeping him on the roster.  He needs to be sent down to the minors to work things out.  It’s not a radical proposal.  Roy Halladay, one of the best pitchers in baseball, had a good year for the Blue Jays in 1999.  But in 2000, he had a 10.64 ERA after 13 starts, earning a demotion all the way to AAA.  The next year, he started out in A ball before working his way back to Toronto, where he re-established himself and eventually won the 2003 Cy Young award.  And let’s not forget the defending Cy Young winner, Cliff Lee, who was demoted by the Indians in 2007.  I really believe the Yankees should consider a similar move for Wang right now.  They have plenty of pitching depth in the minor leagues, starting with Phil Hughes.  Let Wang work out his issues in where he won’t be hurting the big league club, the only Yankees squad that actually matters.  I hate saying it, but at this point it’s the right thing to do.

We’re awfully spoiled, folks.  Think about what we’ve had the last four weeks: we’ve seen Martin Brodeur become the winningest goalie in NHL history,  the opening of two brand new baseball stadiums, and a now a 500th homerun.

Last night, new Met Gary Sheffield hit a pinch hit homerun in the 7th inning to tie the game against the Millwaukee Brewers 4-4.  The Mets would eventually win the game 5-4.

It was a pretty great at bat, actually. Sheff battled Brewers reliever Mitch Stetter for nine pitches, and then on an inside fastball (that didn’t get inside enough), Gary in typical Sheffield fashion turned on the pitch and launched a 400 foot bomb down the left field line.

It was also great to see the other Mets’ reaction. I mean, it was kinda expcted, but it’s always great to see that emotion and players embracing one of their own who has done something special. Remember Sheffield’s only been with the team for about two weeks. Very nice.

I am not gonna get all crazy and say Sheff will be a great acquisition and a great teammate who will help the Mets make the playoffs. I don’t know.  But this was an awesome moment. As many of you know, Sheffield is the nephew of Mets great Dwight Gooden. Sheffield grew up in Tampa, FL watching his uncle pitch at Shea, and always had an fondness for the Mets franchise. He was rumored to become a Met dozens of times over the past 12 years. Considering all that, it was great to see Sheff become the 25th player to hit 500 career homers in a Mets uniform.

Congratulations, Gary. Hopefully it’s the start of many exciting moments with the team.

Yet the Rangers pulled this one out!

Yes, as unbelievable as that might sound, for once this season, the Rangers pulled a game out from under an opponent who is clearly better than them. Well, almost better anyways.

The difference in this game? Much like I said earlier in the week, Henrik Lundqvist versus Jose Theodore. Theodore was absolutely putrid last night. If you put Lundqvist, who stood on his head throughout the barrage of shots from Alex Ovechkin (13!), on the Capitals, I am pretty sure that they would in the least get to the Stanley Cup Finals. Theodore was slow, out of position, and seemed like only a shell of his former Hart and Vezina Trophy self. I wonder how long it will be before Bruce Bordreau will pull the plug and put rookie Simeon Varlamov between the pipes.

Some other thoughts on last night’s game:

• Ovechkin is without a doubt the most dynamic player in the NHL. With respect to Sidney Crosby, I never seem to think that he will just overpower you and take over a game the way that Ovechkin does. I found myself at multiple points in the game just resigning myself to Ovechkin putting the team on his back and scoring the equalizer. Thank God it never happened. You can argue that Crosby doesn’t have AS many weapons as AO, but I still would take him over Crosby on the Rangers.
• Brandon Dubinsky, where have you been all season? That was a fantastic undressing on the final goal of the game. I will continue to stick to my guns that Dubinsky will be what Adam Graves was to the Rangers of the 1990′s. It always seems like he steps it up when it most matters, and last night, with Chris Drury out, he needed to step it up.
• Sean Avery did what he does best as per the usual. I really think the refs also need to start giving Avery the benefit of the doubt. When he got into the little tustle with Theodore, where was the call on Sergei Federov, who absolutely ran Avery from behind.  I also loved that Avery threw Mike Green into the Rangers bench. Speaking of Green, he is the best goal-scoring defenseman I have seen since Kevin Hatcher.
• If the Rangers are going to win the Stanley Cup, Lundqvist will have as good as he was last night. Goaltending, much like pitching in baseball, is what truly wins hockey games.
• I think Scott Gomez is going to have a huge playoffs. He was virtually non-existant throughout the regular season, but since John Tortorella came along, he has definitely picked up his game.
• I hope Chris Drury is back for game two. The Rangers need Captain Clutch to ruin some team like he ruined the Rangers in ’07.

• Obviously the story of tonight’s game is starting pitcher A.J. Burnett, who turned in a DY-NO-MITE start on the heels of Chien Ming Wang’s debacle last night.  The Yankees, particularly the bullpen, desperately needed Burnett to go deep into tonight’s game, after the pen had to mop up with 7 innings last night.  Burnett not only pitched deep into the game, but he dominated deep into the game.  He had a no-hitter going through the first six innings before Carl Crawford broke it up with a leadoff single in the 7th.  (On a side note, the YES announcers went way too far in talking about Burnett’s no-hit bid.  Michael Kay, David Cone and John Flaherty talked about the possible no-no all the way from the end of the 5th inning until Crawford’s single.  In fairness to the announcers, it’s been 10 years since the Yankees last no-no, when Cone threw a perfect game against the Expos.)  Burnett almost unraveled, giving up two runs in the 7th, before settling down and shutting down the Devil Rays.  So far, Burnett has played the stopper in each of his first two starts.  Don’t underestimate how huge that is, particulary if Wang doesn’t get his act together.

• Is there anyone on more of a tear than Nick Swisher right now?  If he was any hotter he’d be dating Kim Kardashian.  For a guy who was the odd-man out coming out of spring training, he’s making it impossible for Joe Girardi to keep him on the bench.  The way Swisher is going right now, that spells bad news for Hideki Matsui (who looks old and slow so far) or Xavier Nady (who I think is a lot closer to the league-average player he was from 2003 to 2007 than the borderline All-Star he was in 2008).  Obviously Swish is going to come down to earth, but the Yankees need to ride out this hot streak.  Even when he cools down, I think he will force the Yankees to make him an everyday player.

• Was I seeing things, or was that really Brett Gardner hitting not one, but two balls over the heads of the Devil Rays speedy outfielders???  Granted, Crawford in left and Bossman Jr. Upton in center were playing at shallow depths usually reserved for Little Leaguers, but Gardner got the job done and made them pay twice.  He’s not going to hit for consistent power, but if he can keep defenses honest, that will open up a lot of territory for him to slash away.  I’m still not sold on his ability to get on base at a high enough rate, but I like what I saw from him tonight.

• For the last 7 years, I have been constantly exasperated watching Jason Giambi hit hard ground ball after hard ground ball right into the eye of the “Giambi Shift.”  When the Yankees cut ties with the Giambino this winter, I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to deal with the shift anymore.  Well, 8 games into the season, it’s back.  The Devil Rays employed the exact same shift on Giambi’s replacement Mark Teixeira tonight.  Hopefully Big Tex can do a better job of keeping defenses honest than Giambi did, so that I won’t have to spend the next 8 years watching my well-compensated first baseman pound hard-hit balls right into the shift.

• Nice work Brian Bruney, striking out All-Star caliber players Bossman Jr. Upton, Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria in order in the bottom of the ninth.

I have watched both of his starts and can easily pinpoint why Wang has struggled so mightily: his sinker is not sinking.  When that happens, hitters will kill the ball.  If I were Tim Sharobem, I would come up with a corny joke like, “His sinker is more like a STINKER!!!”  Now, any casual observer can tell you that Wang is getting crushed because his sinker has been ineffective.  The real question is, why?  Is he still hurt?  Are his  mechanics off?  Is there something else?  Those questions I cannot answer.  Those issues will be resolved by the Yankees medical staff and coaching staff.  Hopefully that end result will be Wang returning to 2006 form.  But at this point, that’s not a safe bet.

Meanwhile, the Bronx isn’t the only borough on pins and needles tonight.  Federal Bailout Field was opened in classic Mets fashion.  It started off quite auspiciously when Padres outfielder Jody Gerut, the first batter in the history of the new ballpark, kicked things off with a home run off Mike Pelfrey.  Vintage Mets.  Then it got even better.  After the Mets heroically erased a four-run deficit to tie the game at 5, they handed a run right back to the Padres after Padres shortstop Luis Rodriguez (who???) reached third on a three-base error by outfielder Ryan Church.  Mets reliever Pedro Feliciano (it always comes back to the bullpen) then showed his moxie by not allowing a hit which would score Rodriguez on a base hit.  Nope, instead Feliciano balked, yes that’s right BALKED, to score Rodriguez.  That put the Padres ahead 6-5.  The San Diego bullpen took it from there, shutting down the Mets the rest of the way.  To top it all off, it was not just one, but TWO former Met relievers that closed out the Mets in the eight and ninth innings.  Duaner Sanchez and Heath Bell both threw perfect innings to close out the first game in Federal Bailout Field history.

Look at the history of the Mets, from their first game on April 11, 1962 to the last game at Shea Stadium on September 28, 2008 (the penultimate game of the Collapse Part II for those of you not familiar).  If you were to take into account all of this history and then draw up a storybook way for them to open their brand new beautiful stadium, it would go like this:

• The first batter in the history of the ballpark, the other team’s lead-off hitter, will hit a home run.
• The Mets will give their fans false hope by staging a comeback in the middle of the game.
• The Mets bullpen will rip their fans hearts out by allowing the other team to get ahead… with a three base error and a BALK.
• The other team’s bullpen, led by two Met cast-offs, will in the words of Tim Sharobem “LOCK IT UP” to nail down the win for the other team.

Wow, I could not have drawn it up better myself.  I’m sure all of you Met fans out there will be irate upon reading this, but tell me I am wrong.  Go ahead, give your franchise an honest look and tell me that I am wrong.  Nice new digs.  Same old Mets.

However, in my eyes, the Rangers will only go as far as goalie Henrik Lundqvist will take them. He needs to go ahead and put the Rangers on his back. They aren’t built to win games 6-5 or 5-4. This is especially true coming into a series with the Washington Capitals, who feature four dynamic goal scorers in Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom, Alex Semin, and Mike Green. If the King can make the saves, the Rangers will win this series, mainly because Jose Theodore is just downright awful between the pipes. If he can’t, well look for Glen Sather to remake the Rangers yet again.

My prediction? Considering the fact that I have been wrong about the Rangers all year, I will go ahead and say they win this series in seven because of Henrik and because of the lack of quality goaltending on the Caps. And since my predictions usually never pan out, I’m sure the Capitals will sweep the Rangers in 4. Lets go Rangers!