Home

The loss of Aaron Judge clearly has impacted the Yankees’ offense, but the reigning AL MVP wasn’t the only slugger on their roster who previously has proven capable of carrying a lineup for lengthy stretches.

Giancarlo Stanton also had been one of those hitters earlier in his career — and when healthy, at times, with the Yankees — but he has been searching to regain any semblance of his timing and power stroke since returning from the injured list.

Stanton now is batting .119 (5-for-42) with 15 strikeouts over his first 12 games since making it back from a six-week hamstring absence. 

Those numbers include seven hitless at-bats with one walk and five Ks as the Yankees were swept — 6-2 and 4-1 — by the Red Sox in Sunday’s day-night doubleheader at Fenway.

“I just need to find my rhythm, pick the ball up a little sooner,” Stanton said between games. “The reps help, but at this time, I don’t have time to just take reps to get them under my belt. I need to make an impact when I’m in there, so I just need to figure it out.”

Stanton has not been the only lineup regular slumping since Judge was sidelined with a toe issue two weeks ago; Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Josh Donaldson also have been mired in pronounced skids.

“They’re gonna hit. Big G is gonna hit. They’re gonna get it rolling.,” Aaron Boone said. “We just gotta grind our way through it right now while we’re in a little bit of a struggle.”

The 33-year-old Stanton has spent significant time on the injured list in each of the past five seasons since appearing in 158 games in his first year in pinstripes in 2018 following a trade from the Marlins.  

New York Mets closer Edwin Diaz is not giving up on potentially playing in 2023 despite suffering what appeared to be a season-ending knee injury in the World Baseball Classic.

Diaz spoke to the media and raised the possibility of pitching again in 2023, saying it was his goal if some of his upcoming tests came back clean.

“I’m feeling great, we are working hard to see if I can come back. The doctors say I’m doing great,” Diaz said. “They want me to get my knee better first, then they will see how I respond in my strength, all these things I have to do. If the tests come back good, I might throw this year.”

Diaz pitching in 2023 is probably a long shot, but one he is unwilling to rule out at this point. He sounded optimistic after the injury, and the chances may be enhanced since his arm was not impacted.

Diaz was dominant in the closer role for the Mets in 2022, posting a 1.31 ERA with 32 saves.

The Vegas Golden Knights, in just their sixth NHL season, defeated the Florida Panthers 9-3 Tuesday night in Las Vegas to win the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in five games.

Vegas captain Mark Stone had a goal in each period to lead the Golden Knights, who joined the NHL before the 2017-2018 season. 

The 31-year-old Stone becomes the first player since 1922 to net a hat-trick in a Stanley Cup-clinching victory, according to the NHL. 

After the game, each player took a turn, as is tradition, in hoisting the famed trophy.

“Unbelievable,” Stone said of the experience. “I just looked at my teammates’ eyes … One of the craziest feelings I’ve ever had. Just to know that I did it with my 25, 30 best friends makes it that much more special.”   

The Golden Knights’ offensive prowess was again in full display on Tuesday night at the T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights became the seventh team in NHL history to score five or more goals in three or more games of the same Stanley Cup Final series.  

Former NBA All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony announced his retirement from basketball. 

“Now the time has come for me to say goodbye to the court where I made my name, to the game that gave me purpose and pride,” Anthony said.

“With this bittersweet goodbye to the NBA, I am excited about what the future holds for me.” 

Anthony, 39, a former national champion at Syracuse, was selected No. 3 overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2003 NBA Draft and spent his first eight seasons with the franchise before being traded to the New York Knicks midway through the 2010-11 season, where he played for seven seasons. The Brooklyn native had later stints with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers.

Anthony retires ninth on the NBA all-time scoring list with 28,289 career points during his career. The former Syracuse standout was a 10-time All-Star, a scoring champion in 2013 and a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Buck Showalter turned to the oldest trick in a manager’s playbook in an attempt to extract results from his under performing team.

After the Mets lost for a seventh straight game on Friday, Showalter held a closed-door meeting, during which he stated the obvious: the team needed to play better.

According to a person who was in the room, players were urged to “dig down deep” and find “another level of competitiveness.”

Maybe Showalter’s words resonated on Saturday or maybe the Mets were just fortunate enough to have Kodai Senga pitching and due for a rebound after the clunker he produced in his last start.

This one adhered to the offseason blueprint: Senga rolled into the late innings without much resistance and the bullpen held, allowing the Mets to snap their longest losing streak in four years with a 5-1 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park.

Senga fired a two-hitter over seven innings, allowing one unearned run. The right-hander struck out six and walked four, helping the Mets to exhale after Justin Verlander and Tylor Megill gave them short, ineffective performances Thursday and Friday. 

The Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat Monday night to win the Championship. It was their first time making it to the NBA Finals. 

It wasn’t until this year that the Nuggets won the Western Conference — they lost in their four previous trips to the Western Conference Finals in 1978, 1985, 2009, and 2020. Two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led the team to the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Nuggets finished the 2022-23 regular season with a record of 53-29 — the best record in the Western Conference.

In the playoffs, the Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games before beating the Phoenix Suns in six games.

The Nuggets then swept the Los Angeles Lakers four games straight in the Western Conference Finals.

The Heat ended the regular season 44-33 before their surprising run as an eight-seed. They defeated the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games. 

The Atlanta Braves came back against the New York Mets for the third time in the series, completing a dramatic sweep against the NL East rival as the Braves walked it off, 13-10, in ten innings. 

As Atlanta improves to 38-24, the Mets drop their sixth straight game and continue their free-fall in the NL East standings.

An Ozzie Albies three-run home run sealed the deal after an Orlando Arcia homer in the bottom of the ninth was enough to force extra innings.

The rivalry continues to get more and more one-sided. After seeing several fans and media members react poorly to the first two games of the series, it will be interesting to see the fallout from the completed sweep. 

On the Mets broadcast, the postgame show brought up phrases that you never want to hear as a fan like “there’s a lot of season left,’ or “if things don’t turn up, changes need to be made.” 

To make matters worse for the Mets, this is the first time in their history that they have lost 3 consecutive games games when they held a 3-run lead. They’ve been playing baseball since 1962.

Without Aaron Judge, thriving is probably out of the question. But if the Yankees can survive until their captain returns, they would be thrilled.

In the Yankees’ first day of games since their best player was placed on the injured list, they survived by digging a hole and climbing out.

After fighting back but falling in a 6-5 matinee loss to the White Sox on Thursday, the Yankees responded by shutting down Chicago in a 3-0 victory to salvage a split of the day.

A sparser-than-usual Bronx crowd of an announced 40,659 watched the Yankees (37-27) play through an air-quality crisis that postponed Wednesday’s game.

The Yankees dropped a series to the White Sox (28-36) in part because a couple of veteran pitchers in Game 1 — Luis Severino and Michael King — allowed a combined four home runs. 

The final one was a two-run blast from Eloy Jimenez that gave the White Sox a seventh-inning lead they would not cough up.

Paige Spiranac is embracing the next decade.

The golf influencer celebrated her 30th birthday on Sunday, marking the special occasion with an empowering message about feeling “confident” in her “own skin.”

“I know most women don’t like to talk about their age because people act like there is a shelf life and treat us like spoiled milk lol,” Spiranac said.

“Truth is I’ve never felt sexier and more confident in my own skin. Here’s to getting older!”

Spiranac commemorated her big day with a photo shoot she promises to share with her fans.