Mickey Togs

In the New York Jets 2022 season opener, on a dreary and drizzly afternoon in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the New York Jets got the 2022 season off to a rough start as they were beaten by the Baltimore Ravens, 24 – 9.

The first half saw the two teams engaged in a tight defensive struggle. Neither team could get much going on offense as they exchanged a series of short possessions followed by punts.

The Ravens got on the board first with a short field goal and added a touchdown when Lamar Jackson hit Devin Duvernay in the end zone. The Jets closed out the first half with a 45 yard field goal to bring the Jets within 7 points at halftime.

In the second half it was all Ravens. The Ravens put up 14 unanswered points on a couple of Lamar Jackson touchdown passes. The Jets offense couldn’t get anything going. In garbage time the Jets moved the ball through the air, but they couldn’t get into the end zone until it was much too late and the Ravens were never really threatened in the second half. 

The Jets scored a meaningless touchdown in the final minute on a Joe Flacco pass to Tyler Conklin to get within 15 points. Greg Zuerlein missed the extra point to conclude a terrible Jets debut for the veteran kicker.

With the loss the Jets start off the 2022 season the same way they have started every season since 2018, on the short end of the score. 

The first time Brett Baty stepped on the field in the big leagues, he simply took a look around. Then came a moment he’ll remember for a lifetime.

Baty homered in his first major league at-bat, and the New York Mets held off the Atlanta Braves 9-7 to snap Atlanta’s eight-game winning streak.

After being outscored 18-1 in the first two games of the series, the NL East-leading Mets jumped to a 6-1 lead and barely made it stand up to push their advantage over the Braves back to 4 games. And Baty was partially to thank.

The 12th overall pick in the 2019 draft, he came up for the first time in the second inning with a runner aboard and the Mets already ahead 2-0 on back-to-back homers in the first off Jake Odorizzi. After taking a ball, Baty connected with a hanging curve on his very first swing in a New York uniform.

Aaron Judge continues his pursuit of history and putting the Yankees on his back while he’s at it. 

Judge crushed his 54th home run of the season, a two-run shot that broke a tie game in the sixth inning and lifted the Yankees to a 5-2 win over the Twins at the Stadium. 

It was the third straight game in which Judge has homered — the third time he has done so this season — inching him closer to Roger Maris’ franchise — and American League — record of 61 set in 1961. Judge’s 54th homer came in the Yankees’ 135th game of the season after Maris had 53 through 135 games in 1961. 

As usual, Judge had no reaction to getting closer to Maris’ mark. 

“It’s just not important to me,” he said after adding a double and a walk. “What’s important to me is winning. Winning this division first off and putting our team in a good position going into the postseason. It’s not all about me, no matter what happens. If I go 0-for-4 or 4-for-4, it’s not about me. One guy can’t win or lose you a ballgame.”