Kuzul

Well NY sports fans, this is the time of the year we have all been waiting for. MLB playoffs, NHL season getting under way and the NFL season is in full swing. Granted, the Mets haven’t been respectable since June, the Yanks are doing what they do best: winning games in October. They swept the Minnesota Twins to move onto the American League Championship Series, awaiting the winner of the Tampa Bay Rays/Texas Rangers series.

The Islanders and Rangers opened their seasons over the weekend. The Isles lost a hard fought game 5-4 in a shootout against the Dallas Stars. The Isles welcomed back goalie Rick DiPietro as the opening night starter for the first time since 2007. Even though injuries have hurt them early on in the preseason, the Islanders brought in some new defenders to help sure up the front of the net as they hope to take some of the pressure off of DP.

The Rangers welcomed the Derek Stepan era as he scored three goals in his NHL debut, including the deciding goal, in a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

In their first head-to-head meeting of the year, the Isles got the best of the Rangers 6-4. One of the headlines coming out of the game was the obscene gesture new Islanders defenseman James Wisniewski made towards the always controversial Sean Avery.

As much as it pains Jets fans to admit, the Giants may be a playoff team this year as well. The Giants defense has looked unbeatable the last two weeks, shutting down the Bears and the Texans respectively. In Sunday’s win over the Texans, the Giants defense improved to first in the NFL in yards allowed per game (244.6), per play (4.1) and passing yards (146.0), and second in sacks (19). Hakeem Nicks is making a statement with his play as of late, and will be a big part of the Giants success as the season goes on.

Once again, the Jets defense looked very impressive as they were able to get past the Vikings 29-20 on Monday night, improving to 4-1. The offense struggled throughout the first three quarters, only managing five field goals. The defense turned out to be better than their offense as they put the game away late when Dwight Lowery intercepted Brett Favre‘s pass and returned it for a touchdown with 1:30 left in the game. In the spirit of Halloween, that was the nail in the coffin.

As October continues, the sports world may revolve around New York, even if no one wants to admit it. With two contending football teams, a baseball team that is the favorite to reach the World Series, and a pair of hockey teams fighting for respectability, the next few weeks of New York sports are going to be very interesting and undoubtedly exciting.

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Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Uecker will be returning to the broadcast booth Friday after a three-month absence recovering from heart surgery. The 75-year-old voice of the Milwaukee Brewers had surgery on April 30 to replace his aortic valve, aortic root, and part of his ascending aorta.

His first game back will be a home game when the Nationals come to Miller Park, and Uecker is scheduled to hold a news conference prior to the game. It will be Uecker’s first time in the booth since an appearance June 24 in the second inning of the Brewers’ game against the Minnesota Twins.

This is Uecker’s 40th season behind the mic for Brewers games. For non-Brewers fans, he was the voice behind the mic in the movie “Major League.”

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The New York Mets finally have their ideal lineup, and now it’s time to start producing.

Throughout the season, I’ve had a feeling Jerry Manual was going with the saying from last year that didn’t impress any fans. He wanted to basically stay within striking distance until players came off the disabled list.

We know Jose Reyes is at the top of the lineup and Carlos Beltran is hitting cleanup; the Mets should have no lack of offense from top to the eight-hole (I’ll give the pitcher a little slack).

With Angel Pagan holding more than his own while he replaced Beltran, players such as Jeff Francoeur and Jason Bay need to pick it up. Bay isn’t producing in the home-run department like he was expected to, and Franceour’s bat is so bad that his terrific arm in right field just isn’t a good enough replacement to get him starts every day.

Granted, the Mets paid Bay enough money to play him everyday, but his bat may become a liability toward the end of the season if he doesn’t start producing.

David Wright has surpassed his terrible season from last year, so anything he has put up so far is a bonus. When Reyes scores, the Mets win. I know it’s much easier said than done, but it’s a fact.

Mike Pelfrey isn’t doing what he did in the first two months of the season, so the bullpen is going to be in high demand; it may be time for the front office to make a move to bring in a solid reliever.

Oliver Perez is scheduled to come off the disabled list this week and he could rejoin the team in Arizona; he is headed to the bullpen. I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but I guess we will find out soon enough.

With rookie Jon Niese and journeyman R.A. Dickey anchoring the staff, all they need to do is keep the Mets in games and hope their offense can come through in the late innings.

This should be a very interesting last few months of the season.

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