The Starting Five

The New York Yankees have announced their starting rotation for the 2011 Major League Baseball season. Manager Joe Girardi made the final decision Saturday, choosing Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia for the last two spots in the rotation. The biggest spring training surprise, and I use that term loosely, Bartolo Colon, will be the long man in the bullpen.

The decision was expected for most of the spring, although Colon's performance made the decision a little tougher on the manager. "The innings that Freddy has logged in, the wins last year," Girardi told ESPN. "He stayed healthy all of last year."

The top of the rotation has been locked in with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Phil Hughes. The Yankees and all of the fans are expecting a bounce-back year from Burnett. To ensure some confidence in the struggling right-hander, Girardi named him the No. 2 starter last week, a spot most of the baseball community thought would go to Hughes.

The Bombers will break camp and head north for their home opener on Thursday afternoon against the Detroit Tigers. Sabathia will take the mound for New York, while Justin Verlander will start for the Tigers.

It's finally baseball season. My prayers have been answered.

We'll have lots of coverage on the Yankees' opener as well as the rest of the New York sports world, coming up soon on the Nose Bleed Seats.

Be The Man-thony

After Carmelo Anthony's worst performance as a New York Knick on Friday night, he quickly dressed and left the arena for the team bus. The Knicks had just fallen to a terrible Detroit Pistons team 99-95, in a game they should have won so many times, but didn't. Anthony's play didn't help the cause, as he shot a woeful 2-for-12 from the field for a total of 6 points.

When Anthony was traded to the Knicks back in late February, he said he wanted to be the man and take on the "brightest lights." Obviously Anthony didn't realize that the lights are still bright when you don't play well. In fact in this city, they are even brighter.

Although Anthony later said that he wasn't upset with coach Mike D'Antoni or his teammates, he voiced his displeasure with the officials. However, he has said he wants to be a leader and "the" guy. Friday night's performance both during the game and after, proved he wasn't.

A new Melo will have to show up today against the Milwaukee Bucks and throughout the rest of the season if the Knicks want to have any chance of playoff success.

A Day at St. John's

All is quiet on the outside.

Photo taken outside Carnesecca Arena.

...And on the inside too.

Photo taken from the last row inside Carnesecca Arena.

Getting up close and personal with the court.

Photo taken from the first row inside Carnesecca Arena.

I wouldn't call it an action shot...It was just too good to pass up.

Photo taken from the first floor inside the D'Angelo Center.

Just some old guys drinking coffee.

Photo taken from the second floor inside the D'Angelo Center.

NYY Spring Training Update

The 2011 Major League Baseball season is right around the corner. The clocks have been pushed ahead and the days are getting longer. Yes, it's a good time of the year. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we should take a look at what's been going on down in Tampa with the New York Yankees.

Tomorrow will mark one month since pitchers and catchers reported for the New York Yankees. At that time, we had no idea how A.J. Burnett would bounce back from one of the worst seasons of any Yankee in history. So far, so good. However, let's not forget that it is the spring and the real test comes in less than three weeks when the Yankees open up the regular season at home against the Detroit Tigers.

Another question going into the spring was how Derek Jeter would react to the adjustments made to his swing by hitting coach Kevin Long. Jeter has so far passed with flying colors. In 24 at-bats this spring, Jeter has hit .333, forcing writers to talk about something other than how many times he has hit the ball on the ground, which was a story early on.

Jorge Posada has accepted his role as the team's designated hitter. He has also been a catching mentor to newly-acquired Russell Martin along with young catching prospects Jesus Montero and Austin Romine. Although Posada is struggling early on, hitting just .231, he's focusing on adjusting to his new role, which will take time.

The final hurdle of the spring will conclude with who will head north with the last spot in the starting rotation. Early on, it seemed like Freddy Garcia would be the run-away winner. However, all of that changed with today's performance against the Twins in which he allowed four runs in 2 2/3 innings. Bartolo Colon has pitched well, posting a 3.00 ERA in the spring, but I believe Garcia will recover and be the team's fifth starter to open the season.

Sergio Mitre, who's also competing for the fifth spot in the rotation, will get the ball against the Red Sox tomorrow night.

"D" Is Key

The New York Knicks are 3-3 since acquiring Carmelo Anthony from the Denver Nuggets late last month. However, with a more consistent defense, the Knicks might be undefeated in the Melo Era.

These past six games have been a roller-coaster ride for Mike D'Antoni's Knickerbockers. After handling the Miami Heat down in South Beach, the Knicks blew a big lead to the Orlando Magic, marking a terrible collapse on defense. Not to be outdone, the Knicks played even worse defense Friday night when they were dealt their second loss in a week to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Yes, the Cleveland Cavaliers who own the NBA's worst record, 12-49. Yes, the same Cavs who are 3-0 against the Knicks this season. I know what you're thinking, but LeBron James doesn't play for them anymore.

The problem with this team has always been defense. As the old saying goes, defense wins championships. Unfortunately for the Knicks, they don't play any.

The Knicks have also fallen five games behind the Atlanta Hawks, who they play tonight, for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, and a half-game in front of Philadelphia for seventh.

New York must play much tougher defense over the final 22 games if they want to have a deep run in the playoffs. D'Antoni has to stress defense, even though he is known as an offensive coach. If he doesn't, he may not be coaching these Knicks next season.

Capture the Storm

To show my Red Storm pride, I created a video highlighting my semester abroad. Thanks to St. John's great study abroad program, I was able to live in Rome, Paris, and Dublin for five months. In that time, I saw so many wonderful places. Well, I don't want to spoil it. Check it out for yourself.