Mets miserable mid-April stretch
You might recall in last week’s column that I urged both Yankees and Mets fans not to press the panic button after both teams went on five-game losing streak. After all, we’re still in the first month of the season and still 140 games to be played. While the Yankees seem to have stabilized following a sweep of the Royals this weekend, the Mets have now slumped to historic lows.
Sunday’s 2-1 extra-innings setback to the Cubs made it 11 straight losses, their longest such skid since 2004. Their 7-15 record is not only tied for the worst in MLB with the aforementioned Royals, it’s also tied with the 1983 season for their third-worst start in franchise history, only bested (or I guess in this case, ‘worst’-ed?) by the 1962 and 1964 campaigns when they went 5-17.
If you thought those numbers were bad, just take a look at what they’ve been doing at that plate during this horrid run of form. In nine of those 11 games, they produced two or fewer runs, including three shutouts. A big part of that is their failure to knock in runners in scoring position, batting a paltry .145 in those scenarios and going 0-9 in the Cubs series alone.
It’s no coincidence that Juan Soto’s injury has played a part in their offensive woes. Although the Mets did win their first three games without their top hitter, the well (and the wins) have dried up. This reminds me of the Yankees in 2023 when they were without Aaron Judge for a chunk of the season and they evidently struggled at the plate. It indicated a sign of poor roster construction then, and that’s certainly the case now on the other side of town.
In hindsight, the Mets’ hitting struggles shouldn’t be a surprise when they elected not to re-sign the all-time leading home run hitter in franchise history in Pete Alonso. What do you know? The Mets have the fourth-least homers with just 16. When you also trade away an underrated and consistent hitter in Brandon Nimmo and get in return an aging Marcus Semien whose past couple seasons have shown signs of declinement, that hasn’t helped, either.
Given how last season ended and how much the roster changed entering this season, the Mets needed to get off to a good start to instill confidence in fans that things would be different and that they were heading back in the right direction. Instead, frustrations have boiled over in Queens, and understandably so.
With all that being said, it’s not like the season is completely lost. There’s still 86 percent of the season to go for things to turn around. Remember just two years ago when the Mets were in a major rut in late May and were 11 games under .500? Remember the Jorge Lopez meltdown? Now remember what happened after that whole fracas: a remarkable turnaround and a deep run in the postseason. While this year’s team lacks the magical feel from those 2024 Mets, they have more time than that team did to dig themselves out of a hole. Perhaps getting Grimace to throw out the first pitch again will make lightning strike twice?
Giants send Dexter Lawrence to Cincy
I was planning on saving the NFL talk for next week’s column to recap how the Bills, Giants and Jets fared in the draft. But the G-Men wanted to make headlines earlier than anticipated with a blockbuster trade.
On Saturday night, Big Blue sent star defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals in exchange for the 10th overall pick in this year’s draft. The deal shouldn’t come as a shock given that Lawrence requested a trade two weeks ago due to a breakdown in contract negotiations, but it still pains me and I’m sure many of my fellow Giants fans to see one of the best at his position and inarguably the team’s top defensive player leave the building.
The general consensus from the football world is that this is a ‘win-win’ trade for both parties. The Bengals finally get some much-needed help on defense so that Joe Burrow’s offense doesn’t need to score a bajillion points to have a chance of winning, while the Giants free up more cap space and are more flexible in the draft with two top-10 picks.
However, just like my mindset with April baseball, it is still way too early to tell who exactly won this trade. It’s entirely possible that Lawrence continues to regress after suffering a nearly four percent drop in pressure rate from 2024 to 2025. On the flip side, it is certainly plausible that the Giants swing and miss on both their top picks, assuming they keep both. The last time they had two top-10 picks? 2022. In Joe Schoen’s first year as general manager, they took Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has been a solid edge rusher but hasn’t quite lived up to the hype, and Evan Neal, who was a complete bust at offensive tackle but has been given a second chance at guard. I can’t say I fully trust Schoen to hit on either of these two upcoming premium picks, let alone both of them. But again, only time will tell if this was the right move, though Schoen has not given me much confidence in his ability to rebuild. He’s undoubtedly added some nice pieces to the team, but a 12-38 record over the last three seasons does not reflect well on any general manager. At least John Harbaugh can help him out this Thursday.
Cornell men’s hockey grabs goalie from transfer portal
In the current age of college sports, the two words that have taken over the lexicon are ‘transfer portal.’ Every day, the debate about the portal gets hashed out on social media, especially now that the college basketball portal is open. The ‘portal era’ has made a tremendous impact on football and basketball, but don’t forget that it’s being used more and more in the other sports.
Cornell found out about that the hard way on Wednesday when goalie Alexis Cournoyer entered the transfer portal. He only lasted two days in the portal before national runner-up Wisconsin snatched him up.
The news came out of nowhere after a phenomenal freshman season in between the pipes. Cournoyer had the tall task of filling in the skates of Ian Shane, but he thrived in his debut season. The Québécois posted a .915 save percentage and was named the ECAC Ken Dryden Goaltender of the Year and the Ivy League Rookie of the Year as well as being a semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award, which goes to the best Division I goaltender in the regular season.
While the Ivy League has been accustomed to seeing its athletes transfer to larger schools, the overwhelming majority of those cases are for their graduate years. It’s uncommon to see someone transfer after just one year, but the Big Red has suffered the same fate as many of its fellow mid-major counterparts in this new era of college sports.
It will be slightly more difficult for schools like Cornell to keep up with the bigger fish, but the Big Red still has plenty of things going for it. There are still athletes out there that value an Ivy League degree. There are still athletes out there that appreciate the rich history that Big Red hockey holds and the significance of playing at Lynah Rink in front of the Lynah faithful. And even if you think all college athletes care about these days is NIL money, at the very least Cornell is moving with the times. On Wednesday, the athletics department launched “Big Red Exchange” to help connect athletes to NIL opportunities.
Cornell is not shying away from using the transfer portal for its own benefit, either. The Big Red has landed Maine goaltender Mathis Rousseau, who committed to the program Saturday on his Instagram account. Rousseau split time in goal this season as a freshman, recording a .896 save percentage. He will join incoming recruit Nick Cirka to make up the current goalie room heading into next season.
Other things that caught my eye
- Continuing with the hockey talk, how about those Buffalo Sabres? Sunday night officially brought an end to a 15-year playoff drought as the Bruins rolled into town for Game 1 of their first-round matchup. The atmosphere inside a packed KeyBank Center slightly deflated when Boston struck first in the opening period and shrunk a bit when they doubled the lead early in the third period. But then came the stampede. Four goals in a 4:34 span suddenly gave the Sabers the lead and they would hold on to win it 4-2. When Buffalo scored its final goal, the sound level meter reached a whopping 107 decibels. If that doesn’t tell you how much that city missed playoff hockey, I don’t know what will. Also for the Cornell hockey fans, there are two Big Red alums to keep track of in the Stanley Cup playoffs: Sam Malinski ‘23 for the Colorado Avalanche and Jeff Malott ‘20 for the Los Angeles Kings.
- It was also a great start to the postseason for the Knicks thanks to a 113-102 victory over the Hawks. Jalen Brunson set the tone by going 5-5 with 15 points in the opening five minutes and ended the game with 28 points, while Karl-Anthony Towns chipped in with 25 points. Atlanta had no Trae Young to match that output, but that didn’t stop Knicks from continuing their explicit chants about their former supervillain. If the Wizards ever face them in the playoffs (which could be sooner rather than later if Young and Anthony Davis stay healthy), expect those chants to be even more boisterous.
- Wednesday’s highly-anticipated rivalry matchup between Cortland and Ithaca men’s lacrosse did not deliver an instant classic. Instead, it was Red Dragon domination with a 16-5 rout in enemy territory. Cortland built up a 11-2 lead heading into halftime as Ithaca struggled without its top scorer Tim Rogers. Luckily the Bombers bounced back with their fifth one-goal win of the season, edging Vassar 12-11 to punch its ticket to the Liberty League tournament. Cortland is of course already in the SUNYAC tournament and will likely earn top spot and home field advantage given that they’ve won their five conference games by at least 13 goals. As for Cornell, Saturday’s 15-9 win at Dartmouth was expected, but they had to work for it with the game tied at 7-7 entering the fourth quarter. It can clinch first place and home field advantage for the Ivy League tourney if it beats Harvard this Saturday at Schoellkopf Field to close out the regular season.
- The Premier Lacrosse League draft took place on Tuesday night, and yet another Cornellian will join the professional ranks. Senior long-stick midfielder Brendan Staub was selected 23rd overall by the Philadelphia Waterdogs, where he’ll rejoin forces with his old teammates CJ Kirst and Gavin Adler. Then on Wednesday night, it was time for the inaugural Women’s Lacrosse League draft, where Ithaca native Shea Baker was selected seventh overall by the Boston Guard. Baker will remain in the city as she wraps up her career at Boston College, where she helped them win a national championship in 2024.
- Two other former local high school standouts stole the headlines on the diamond. Groton’s Elisa Allen tied the home run record for Binghamton softball with 44 career dingers as only a junior. Moravia’s Luke Landis is just a sophomore and is already the all-time home run leader in SUNY Poly baseball history with 13 long balls.
