Monday, September 14, 2015
BRONX NEWS: Heartbreak Loss for #Fordham Home Opener
BRONX NEWS: Heartbreak Loss for #Fordham Home Opener: Heartbreak Loss for #Fordham Home Opener Fordham Begins Home Football Season By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK (SPORTS) - Ranked 21 st /...
Heartbreak Loss for #Fordham Home Opener
Heartbreak Loss for #Fordham Home Opener
Fordham Begins Home Football Season
By Howard Goldin
BRONX, NEW YORK (SPORTS)- Ranked 21st/20th in the two most reputable FCS football polls (FCS Coaches’ Poll and STATS FCS Top 25) before the 2015 season, Fordham University students, alumni, and fans were hopeful of another successful season for the Rams, in which they reach the FCS post-season as they did the past two seasons.
Fordham (1-1) improved in the rankings to 16 in both polls with a 37-35 defeat of Army in the opening game of the new season on the road at West Point. The victory was Fordham’s first over Army and their second over an FBS school. Fordham did not let several potential difficulties prevent them from achieving a victory. The Rams lost 30 seniors to graduation and had 18 new starters. Many of their key players are new to the team.
Fordham faced no easier opponent for their home opener on Saturday. The Villanova Wildcats (1-1) despite a loss in their opener are ranked tied for 2 in one poll and 6 in the other. The wildcats are the highest ranked football team Fordham has ever played at Jack Coffey field on Fordham’s Bronx campus.
Last year’s FCS Player of the year, John Robertson, Villanova’s senior quarterback was responsible for all 14 of the points scored by the Wildcats. His six-yard pass to Kevin Gulyas put the Wildcats on the scoreboard mid-way through the first quarter. Less than three minutes into the second quarter, Robertson, the favorite to be the CAA Offensive player of the year for the second straight season, ran the ball four yards to cross the goal marker for the game’ second touchdown.
Villanova’s 14-0 lead remained in effect until 3:52 before the half when Kevin Anderson, the Fordham quarterback, threw a touchdown pass of 20 yards to freshman Cory Caddle.
The 14-7 score remained intact for the rest of the contest. The closest either team came to scoring again were two field goal attempts by Villanova that were blocked. The Villanova win broke the 14-game home winning streak of the Rams.
The Fordham offense that was exhibited the previous week against Army was not present as the Rams were held to 182 yards gained. The rains which fell on the Bronx throughout the contest could have been a factor in holding down the scoring. The far less experienced Fordham players were opposed by a team that is dominated by upperclassmen and ranked among the best in the FCS.
Both teams were ranked as pre-season favorites to their respective conference championships. Thus, it is likely the Rams and Wildcats will achieve many more impressive victories as the season progresses.
#Fordham #Rams #Home Opener
Sunday, September 13, 2015
BRONX NEWS: Double Danger for #Yankees
BRONX NEWS: Double Danger for #Yankees: Double Danger for #Yankees A double dip loss for #Yankees puts postseason in jeopardy? By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK (SPORTS)- T...
Double Danger for #Yankees
Double Danger for #Yankees
A double dip loss for #Yankees puts postseason in jeopardy?
By Rich Mancuso
BRONX, NEW YORK (SPORTS)- The two home runs and seven runs batted in from Brett Gardner were overshadowed Saturday in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium. And the Toronto Blue Jays took advantage of a Yankee pitching staff that hit their lowest point, and more importantly the two losses to the potent hitting Blue Jays showed that the Yankees are in dangerous territory.
And with another game Sunday afternoon, all of a sudden the Yankees realize they need to win that one against the Blue Jays. Why? A loss with 21 games to play and their chances of catching the Jays diminish with a 5-½ game deficit and that will make it much more difficult.
Then there are the surging Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins who all of a sudden pose a threat in the AL wild card postseason picture, and from the way this pitching staff has performed, though there still is still time for adjustments, the danger does exist that a postseason that looked secure is in definitely in peril.
So the question is how could the Yankees, who are also not slugging the ball with that proficiency of a month ago, turn the corner from seeming to be secure to the unsecure? And with three straight losses to the first place Jays, are the Yankees in the same class with a team that continues to slug the ball with an otherwise mediocre pitching staff?
“We need to right this,” Manager Joe Girardi said after a long day of baseball. “This time of year we are fighting. We have to reach down.” But after a first game that started after 1pm and a day to night that ended about 10:21 pm, there were not many Yankees fans left in the building that have a thought their team will overcome this latest debacle.
It started with Michael Pineda on the mound in Game One, and ended with Ivan Nova on the mound in the nightcap, a second game that started at night because the Yankees could not finish off the Blue Jays in that first game that went over four hours in 9-5 11-inning loss.
Pineda wasn’t good, and Nova was worse when he could not get out of the first inning by allowing six runs that were all earned. So quickly, Masahiro Tanaka has to be the stopper Sunday afternoon and if the Yankees do get to the postseason, and that now remains in the balance, Tanaka could be the ace and would take the mound in a one-game wild card elimination.
But the Yankees still feel they have that shot to overtake the Blue Jays. Anything is possible with four games remaining between the two teams, but you take a look and now they may be fighting more for wild card survival with Texas and Minnesota within distance, and a review of that uneventful 11th inning in the first game and it is hard to comprehend.
However dissecting that inning, where Bryan Mitchell and Chasen Shreve could not find the strike zone, is something Girardi and the Yankees hope to avoid again down the stretch where every game is significant.
Mitchell, perhaps in a situation not accustomed too, walked two and hit a batter and was lifted after striking out Dioner Navarro on a foul tip. Bases loaded and one out, Shreve gets the call from Girardi and walked pinch hitter Russell Martin on four pitches and Toronto goes ahead. Then an RBI single, a walk with the bases loaded got another run in, another walk to Jose Bautista and another run scored.
Keeping track was hard to do, and it was also a task for the fans to see an inning of that magnitude and one that that can’t be recalled in all the years of this illustrious New York Yankees history. More so, can the Yankees recover from what has become a nasty five-game losing streak and falling quickly at the wrong time of year?
Girardi said about using Shreve in that situation, instead of Adam Warren who for some reason was not available out of the pen, “Shreve has been more of a strikeout pitcher during the season and that is what I was going for in that situation.” Shreve has an 18.00 ERA in his last three outings.
But it could be a total pitching breakdown. The reliable Dellin Betances gave a fat pitch to Bautista in the eighth inning, his 35th home run, that put Toronto ahead at the time 5-4.
Five straight losses and another one to go Sunday afternoon. Everyone is tired, even the Yankee Stadium security and support staff. And those fans. There was more of a Toronto Blue Jays presence when Game Two got underway, and that could not have made it easier for the Yankees or their hierarchy looking around.
Bautista said after the 10-7 second game and sweep, “It means nothing.”
It may have been worse if Gardner did not hit a late three-run home run in the nightcap. And it may not mean anything until the Blue Jays no longer have a race for the top. But for the Yankees it does mean something, and there is not much time to get things back to normal in order to avoid missing the postseason a third straight year.
“It doesn’t for me,” Gardner said about the first three games going to Toronto and things changing fast. “It could if they win four in a row against us but I don’t plan on that happening.”
Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
#Yankees #BlueJays #Nova
Saturday, September 12, 2015
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