Good morning, New York sports fans! If you're a New York Yankees fan, though, there's not much to celebrate this Friday morning.
First, the team lost, 4-3, to the Kansas City Royals. That stretched the Yankees losing streak to three games, and it was the first time this season the Royals won at home.
But there was another awful piece of news to come from the game - closer Mariano Rivera, a future Hall-of-Famer and a career ironman, slipped while shagging fly balls and tore his ACL and meniscus. Rivera was carted off before a game, and the injury deals a serious blow to Rivera's career. This wasn't the way any sports fans - including the one's cheering for the Yankees - imagined his career would end.
After the break, the New Jersey Devils looked to take a series lead and the New York Knicks look to break through against Miami.
Devils Take Down Flyers, 4-3
The Devils got some payback in Game 3, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead. The Flyers bested the Devils in Game 1, with Daniel Briere scoring two overtime goals (one disallowed, one allowed) in the win. Alexei Ponikarovsky scored the game-winner, beating Ilya Bryzgalov at the 17:19 mark. Ilya Kovalchuk, who missed Game 2 with an apparent herniated disk, collected three points in the win. The two teams will wait until Sunday for Game 4.
Knicks One Loss Away From Elimination
The Knicks postseason might come to an end before it even truly began. LeBron James scored 32 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Miami Heat to an 87-70 win in Game 3 of their first-round series. New York shot an abysmal 31.9 percent from the floor. Carmelo Anthony had 22 points, but went 7-for-23 from the floor. He has the lowest winning percentage of any NBA player with 50 or more postseason games. Game 4 will be Sunday at MSG.
Video of the Day
In honor of Rivera, here's a video about the legendary cutter: Sport Science: Mariano Rivera's Cutter (via rsanders75)
Quote of the Day
Mariano Rivera, on the possibility of his career being over: "At this point I don't know, at this point I don't know. We have to face this first."