week in review

The Week Between Playoff Rounds

The Yankees have had five full days off between eliminating the Twins Saturday and tonight’s ALCS opener. So what did they do in that time? Well, they pondered, and then set, their round-two rotation. They watched a wild A.J. Burnett pitch in a simulated game. And in the virtual world of Will’s PlayStation 3, they advanced to the World Series in seven games. Meanwhile, the Rangers didn’t have much time off after eliminating the Rays. Cliff Lee’s outing in that series’ Game 5 means that he won’t start until Game 3 of the ALCS, and that guys not named Cliff Lee are scheduled to start five of the first six games. But what happened this week that didn’t involve so much waiting?

The Giants got their most impressive win of the year in Houston.

The Jets — who for once were the sidebarbeat Brett Favre and the Vikings on Monday night.

Sandy Alderson interviewed for the Mets job. Billy Beane approves.

Amar’e Stoudemire and the 2010-11 Knicks made their Garden debut.

The Rangers, including Chris Drury, prepared for their home opener.

Our Better Know a Knick series continued with Wilson Chandler (No. 5) and Anthony Randolph (No. 4).

We learned the origin of the Islanders’ new goal song.

We spoke to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about Amar’e Stoudemire (and about being prepared).

And we spoke to Jane Leavy about her new Mickey Mantle biography.

That’s it for us. We’ll be back after Games 1 and 2, then again, as always, on Monday.

The Week Between Playoff Rounds