New York

In New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of

There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York

These streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York

This is the chorus (as sung by Grammy winner Alicia Keys) to Jay-Z's current hit single "Empire State of Mind."

All anybody’s talking about in the New York area is the Islanders’ first regulation win over the Rangers (though Jimmy Rollins predicted it on Monday). You can’t walk down the street without somebody stopping you and asking all about the hockey team from Long Island.

Will they get on a roll? Is John Tavares the real deal? Islanders, Islanders, Islanders!

The Yankees had lost Game One of the World Series on Wednesday 6-1 to the Phillies.

With Game Two of the World Series on Thursday, the Yankees felt a little pressure with their backs against the wall.

The Yankees were sending up their No. 2 starter in A.J. Burnett, a guy some Yankee fans don't have complete faith in, but at times has the look of being completely dominant, while the Phillies were countering with Pedro Martinez, a pitcher who is certainly no stranger to the postseason, the World Series, or pitching in Yankee Stadium.

The strategy when facing Pedro Martinez is always to just wait him out, get his pitch count up, then pounce on the relievers who take over for him in the seventh inning.

In the fourth, everything appeared to be going as planned, as Mark Teixeira's homer tied the game and the Yankees started getting better swings against the future Hall of Famer.

For many years I wondered why so many people seem to have such a disgust for the Yankees.

You either like them or you don't. "They buy their players," people say, or, "They spend the most." Show-offs. Greedy.

I never believed it—until now.

I, myself, have been a Yankee fan since 1987. I watched them play through terrible seasons, paying over the hill sluggers until the mid '90s. They turned it around and eventually rode their core of players (Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams) to a dynasty.

Put on your old Donnie Baseball jersey, pour a cold beer, and get out your Tim McCarver voodoo doll...it's time for the World Series!

River & Sunset has 11 reasons why the American League champion Yankees will topple the National League champion Phillies in the annual Fall Classic.

11. Home-field advantage

The Mets need an everyday left fielder—on that we can agree—but the question of who Omar Minaya will make the effort to acquire and who he is willing to give up in the process is what fans are concerned about this winter.

Free agent acquisitions are obviously a big issue with the winter meetings in December, but trade opportunities will no doubt also present themselves, and Minaya needs to be aggressive but not further deplete the Mets' anemic farm system in the process.

The New York Yankees are back in the World Series for the first time in six years. For those not familiar with the American League champions, River & Sunset has provided a brief rundown of each player.

I liken my feeling prior to first pitch of Game Six last night to how Lindsay Lohan must feel on the eve of a mandatory probation hearing.

Unjustly annoyed. Kind of dazed. Quite nervous. Thinking about what can be ingested to take the edge off things.

I was annoyed because I knew the series should already be over. I was dazed because all those maddening off days had turned my apartment into the Overlook Hotel. (All off days and no play make Dan a dull boy.) I was nervous because of 2004. I was thinking about drinking gluttonous amounts of vodka.

For those that don't know, Steve Phillips the former Mets GM and current ESPN analysis has been caught in a love affair with an ESPN employee. Well maybe not caught, perhaps outed is a better phrase. His mistress went public with the affair and not just to the Phillips' family, but she felt the need to inform the New York Post in an exclusive deal.