Rangers lament loss of vet Wheeler for season
-
Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — Blake Wheeler‘s regular season ended Thursday night when he injured his right leg in the New York Rangers‘ win over the Montreal Canadiens.
As the Rangers prepare for their Stadium Series game against the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the loss of the 37-year-old Wheeler was weighing heavily on them.
“As much as these guys are teammates, we lost a friend. He’s obviously going through something that no one wants to go through, so there’s more to it than just the impact on the team,” Rangers captain Jacob Trouba said. “We all care a lot about the hockey and our jobs, but we’re also humans and friends and have families outside the rink.”
Trouba was Wheeler’s teammate for six seasons in Winnipeg before the two were reunited this season with the Rangers.
“I’m not saying this is true, but maybe he played his last hockey game [last night]. That’s something that you see as a player and as a friend. It’s emotional. It’s something you think about so that you don’t take things for granted here,” Trouba said. “And for me it’s a little extra tough. He’s a guy I looked up to, and he’s helped me a lot in my career.”
Wheeler went down in pain 11 minutes into New York’s 7-4 win. His right leg bent at an unnatural angle, and he was unable to put weight on it, needing help getting off the ice. The Rangers placed him on injured reserve Friday.
Wheeler has 21 points in 54 games in his first season with the team after being bought out of his previous contract last summer by Winnipeg.
“He’s been amazing since he’s been here,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “His presence, he comes into work every day positive, hardworking. He was committed to being a part of this team and making it successful, and he did that both in the room and on the ice.
“And when you lose a veteran player like that, with such an impact in the room, that’s tough to replace. Certainly our thoughts are with him and a healthy recovery at some point. But that’s a tough one last night. We miss him.”
Wheeler had been skating with center Mika Zibanejad and winger Chris Kreider on the Rangers’ top line. In practice at MetLife on Friday, winger Jimmy Vesey took his place. Vesey has 12 goals and 6 assists in 52 games this season for the Rangers and has skated with Zibanejad and Kreider as a linemate before.
“It feels good to rewarded for good play,” Vesey said. “But at the same time, it’s tough to see a teammate go down like that. Pretty awful to see him not be able to off the ice on his own. Especially a veteran guy that has been in the league so long. He’s not going to stay down unless he’s hurt. It’s brutal see a friend go down like that.”
After Wheeler was injured, the Rangers recalled forward Matt Rempe from the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack. He skated on the team’s fourth line in practice Friday. If he plays in Sunday’s Stadium Series game, he could become the first rookie to make his NHL debut in an outdoor game, according to the league.
Laviolette wouldn’t confirm that Rempe is in the lineup but praised his recent play in the AHL and called him “a great kid, smiling from ear to ear, looking for an opportunity to play.” Rempe, 21, said he couldn’t help but notice the next game on the calendar for the Rangers after his recall.
“Outdoor game. That would be pretty damn cool,” he said.
His mother and two sisters are flying in Saturday to attend Sunday’s game and potentially see Rempe make his NHL debut. He said his skills are suited for an intense game against a rival.
“I think I play a hard physical game that runs on adrenaline, so I’m going be juiced up to the max. I think I’d be buzzing out there. How can you not be going, with all the fans and playing outdoors? Like, this is pure hockey. It’s unreal,” he said.
Vesey said it would be a debut to remember.
“That would be a pretty sick first game. Stadium Series and Rangers vs. Islanders,” he said. “If he’s in, I’d probably just say that it was the coolest NHL debut I’ve seen so far.”
Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.
Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.
If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.
“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”
Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.
“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”
Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.
The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.
“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”
The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.
Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.
The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”
Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.
San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.
-
Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Former White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle was forever immortalized inside Rate Field as the team unveiled a statue in his honor Friday.
Buehrle, 46, played 16 years in the majors, including the first 12 with the White Sox, who he helped win a World Series in 2005. He won 214 games and pitched 200 innings or more in 14 consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2014.
“I can’t put it into words,” Buehrle said after the unveiling. “You don’t play the game for any of this. You never think of number retirements or statues. I can’t even wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense.”
The statue is an action shot of him throwing a pitch.
His wife and kids were in attendance and helped pull off the cover to unveil the statue while his 2005 teammates looked on. The event kicked off a weekend reunion for the World Series team which went 11-1 in the postseason, beating the Houston Astros in four games to take home the title.
Buehrle was a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting in 2005.
“Well-deserved,” former right fielder Jermaine Dye said of the statue. “Great teammate. Great leader. Definitely someone you want on a ballclub to lead a pitching staff.”
The White Sox rotation — led by Buehrle — threw four complete games in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2005, missing a fifth complete game by two-thirds of an inning. It’s an unheard of accomplishment in today’s game since starters infrequently go the distance.
Besides being an innings-eater on the mound, Buehrle was a fast worker — a favorite trait of his catcher, A.J Pierzynski. And he wasn’t someone who threw a lot of different pitches. He caught it and threw it without much input from behind the plate.
“He was fast,” Pierzynski said. “We had Jermaine Dye calling pitches from right field some games. We did come crazy things you wouldn’t recommend to people to do nowadays.”
Buehrle is a notoriously low-key guy who hates the spotlight but even he was moved by the team’s decision to honor him with a statue, which joins former slugger Harold Baines in the right-field concourse.
“I joked with him when I saw him,” Dye said. “I told him ‘Man it takes you getting a statue to get you out of the house.'”
Buehrle added: “I was literally nervous as can be today. This is not my comfort zone but by no means am I taking it lightly. This is incredible.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike