Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a scaffolding collapse on Vernon Blvd. and 51st Ave. in Queens, an unstable building on East 102nd St. in Manhattan, and a homicide on Tompkins Ave. in Brooklyn. Probably one of the worst group of employees one should try to steal IDs from for bogus credit cards is cops. A civilian employee of the NYPD was arrested for doing just that at her second job as a clerk at......

Rangers 2 Washington 0: It wasn’t an offensive explosion, but it was enough. Chris Drury put the Rangers in front with a goal 6:45 into the second period and the power play clicked again a few minutes later when Michal Rozsival made it 2-0. That’s all that Henrik Lundqvist needed as he recorded his 3rd shutout of the season by making 31 saves. Lundqvist has played every game of the year so far for New......

Cleveland 110 Knicks 106: The good news is the Knicks played a pretty good game on the road against a tough opponent. The bad news is they still lost. Zach Randolph had a nice debut with 21 points and 14 rebounds and Jamal Crawford also had 21, but LeBron James exploded for 41 points. The Knicks stayed in the game to the end and if they had done a little better from the line (11-19)......

Ottawa 4 New Jersey 1: It’s been 25 years since the original Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey and Wayne Gretzky called them a “Mickey Mouse organization”. That team struggled to establish an identity in an area with a historic franchise and, at the time, a franchise that was the best in the NHL, but they managed a 3-3 tie in their first game in their new building. The current Devils are one of the......

Henrik Lundqvist cannot feel too comfortable these days. The fact is if he makes one mistake, his team is going to lose the game. That is the sorry state of the Rangers’ offense, which while suffering from bad chemistry and untimely injuries has in turn vanished from the face of the ice. Tuesday night it was Pittsburgh blanking them 1-0, despite 36 shots from New York. In fact, they hit at least one post, so......

Boston 1 Rangers 0 (shootout): It was reasonable to expect that the Rangers would take some time to blend in their new acquisitions, but this is getting ugly. After seven games, New York has stumbled to a 2-5 record and looked lifeless in doing so. The offense, which was supposed to be the strength of this club, has struggled, being shutout twice and scoring only one goal twice. Saturday the Rangers couldn’t score again, despite......

Islanders 2 Rangers 1: Bryan Berard is a guy you have to root for, regardless of what team he plays for. In 2000 he suffered a horrific eye injury, one that should have made visors mandatory for all players, but he came back and played again after seven eye operations. The former rookie of the year with the Islanders missed most of last year after back surgery and he had to fight his way onto......

Cleveland 6 Yankees 4: The 2007 Yankees’ season ended as it began, in disarray. Chien-Ming Wang didn’t make it out of the second inning and while Mike Mussina was reasonably effective, he left with a 6-1 deficit. Meanwhile, Paul Byrd managed to shut down the Yankees’ offense. Somehow, Byrd pitched around 10 base runners in five innings and the Yankees squandered numerous opportunities to score. In a way, that was the story of this......

Yankees 8 Indians 4: It looked bleak in the third inning. Already down 2-0, the Yankees watched Roger Clemens hobble off the mound with a hamstring injury. But, Phil Hughes came in and stabilized things and Johnny Damon hit a huge three-run home run to put New York ahead. After Trot Nixon misplayed a Robinson Cano single into a three-run event, the Yankees had seized control of the game and reversed the momentum in......

Cleveland 2 Yankees 1 (11 innings): Baseball has had many weird games and plays in its history, but it is hard to think of a more bizarre scene than Jacobs Field in the eighth inning last night. Swarms of mayflies descended on the stadium, disrupting play and perhaps affecting Joba Chamberlain. Chamberlain, called in to protect a 1-0 lead in the seventh was swamped by the insects and suffered an uncharacteristic bout of wildness. Two......

St. Louis 3 Mets 0: And so it has come to this, with three games left in the year the Mets are now tied for first with the Phillies. A seven-game lead has evaporated in two weeks and with the Padres winning tonight, missing the playoffs has become a very real possibility. How this team breaks out of these doldrums is hard to imagine. The Mets only got one runner to second base in Thursday’s......

From last place to the playoffs, the Yankees have taken their fans on a trip, but they will play October baseball once again. The same cannot yet be said about the Mets. Wednesday night the Yankees completed a remarkable reversal, recovering from a 21-29 start to clinch their 13th-straight playoff spot with a 12-4 win. While it isn’t a definite, chances are they will be the Wild Card team and open the playoffs in......

Toronto 4 Yankees 1: You would have thought that the news that AJ Burnett was scratched from his start in favor of Jesse Litsch would have been good for the Yankees, it wasn’t. Litsch did a great imitation of Burnett, dominating the Yankees for almost eight innings and when Andy Pettitte struggled in the second, Toronto had all the offense they needed. The loss drops New York two full games behind Boston with only......

Yankees 12 Blue Jays 11 (10 innings): What could have been one of the more painful losses of the season turned into a very satisfying win. Down 3-1, the Yankees rallied to a 6-3 lead, only to fall behind 8-6. Once again, the bats responded, putting New York ahead 9-8, but Toronto jumped ahead again 11-9 in the eighth. The Yankees had another rally in them and tied things up in the bottom of the......

Mets 8 Nationals 4: Boy did they need this one. With the division lead down to 1-1/2 games, the Mets could not afford to get swept by Washington and they showed some fight Wednesday night, by getting a game they had to have. And, perhaps best of all, the Phillies lost in extra innings, putting the division lead back at 2-1/2 games. Moises Alou shook off an injury and provided three hits and a......

Yankees 4 Red Sox 3: Boston will still win the AL East and will probably have the best record in all of baseball, but the Yankees have shown that they can beat them when it counts. After starting the season 1-5 against Boston, New York won the season series by going 9-3 in the final 12 games. Sunday’s win was a flashback to the old days. Derek Jeter had the big hit, Roger Clemens had......

Yankees 9 Toronto 2: Alex Rodriguez didn’t hit a home run, ending his streak at five-straight games. He did manage two hits, but it was some other Yankees that shouldered the offensive load for a change. Johnny Damon had a great game, going 3-for-5 and making an outstanding catch. Jason Giambi woke his slumbering bat with a grand slam and Jorge Posada added two hits and a home run. Phil Hughes did just enough and......

Mets 3 Braves 2: The Mets have chosen an opportune time to get hot. Not only are they bounding closer to their second-consecutive division crown (a first for the franchise) they are putting an end to the Braves’ playoff hopes. Oliver Perez improved to 4-1 against Atlanta this season, throwing seven strong innings allowing only two runs and striking out seven. David Wright continued his quest to become a 30-30 player with his 28th home......

Yankees 6 Royals 3: At this point, the YES Network should just play a “ch-ching” sound everytime A-Rod steps up to the plate. After hitting a home run for the 5th-consecutive game on Sunday, A-Rod has 52 for the season, the most for a Yankee since Mantle and Maris hit 54 and 61 in 1961. He also has 138 RBI’s with 19 games left, which puts him in line to have the most RBI’s as......

Yankees 3 Kansas City 2: It wasn’t always pretty and it was too close for comfort, but in the end the Yankees got the job done. Alex Rodriguez got things going in the second with his 49th home run of the year and Jorge Posada added his 19th to put the Yankees up 2-0. But, Ian Kennedy struggled with his command, walking three in the first and then allowing four hits in the second to......

Yankees 10 Seattle 2: A-Rod didn’t want to go for a MRI and while the results were negative, he had to talk Joe Torre into putting him into the lineup. Good thing he did, because A-Rod hit two home runs in the seventh as the Yankees exploded for eight runs in inning. A-Rod’s home runs and the Yankee explosion will overshadow a great start by Phil Hughes, but they shouldn’t. Hughes was brilliant over six......

Mets 10 Reds 4: It was September 27th, 2006, when we last saw him. Something was obviously wrong and as he left the mound that night Mets’ fans everywhere felt their playoff dreams go down the drain. It took almost 49 weeks, but the Mets got their ace back Monday. Pedro returned to the mound and while the radar gun readings weren’t pretty, he got the job done. Five innings, two runs and four......

Mets 3 Braves 2: Some people may question Willie Randolph’s managing, but they had better give him credit for this weekend. After a dismal sweep at the hands of the Phillies, the Mets responded in a huge way, sweeping their archrival in Atlanta. Tom Glavine contributed at both ends, driving in the first run of the game and allowing only one run in six innings. David Wright added his 25th home run of the year,......

Mets 5 Dodgers 2: Omar has to be smiling about the Oliver Perez trade. Yes, Xavier Nady is a nice outfielder, but Perez is developing into something special. He showed this ability before, in 2004, but after that he was bad enough to get traded away by Pittsburgh. Now, he is averaging almost a strikeout an inning and is second on the Mets with 12 wins. Friday night, Perez pitched seven shutout innings and out-pitched......

Angels 7 Yankees 6 (10 innings):Extr Up and down, up and down, this game kept spinning. Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run homer to put New York ahead, but the Angels came back. Jorge Posada hit a homer to tie things up in the eighth, but the Angels wouldn’t relent. They made things very interesting in the bottom of the ninth, but Mariano escaped a huge jam. Unfortunately, that left him unable to pitch the tenth......

Yankees 6 Tigers 1: In desperate need of starting pitching the Yankees turned to a reliable source. Andy Pettitte threw eight innings of five-hit ball shutting down the Tigers’ offense and giving his team a chance to win. And, the offense responded with Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi and Andy Phillips providing big hits. With Boston splitting a doubleheader, the Yankees gained a ½-game in the standings. But, they will have to keep their......

Tigers 8 Yankees 5: Detroit is a great offensive team and the question the Yankees have to answer is, can their pitching stand up to a great offensive team? In the first of eight games against Detroit, the answer was a resounding no. The Tigers knocked around Mike Mussina for seven runs (six earned) in five innings of work. The Yankees had some chances, getting fifteen runners on base, but couldn’t mount a sustained rally......

Mets 10 Pirates 8: What should have been a laugher became a little too close for comfort two different times Wednesday night. The Mets jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first, thanks to doubles from David Wright and Carlos Delgado and a home run from Moises Alou, but Pittsburgh crept back into the game. The Pirates scored twice in the second and added single runs in the fourth and sixth to make it......

Yankees 7 Orioles 6: This game is an example of how good things are going for the Yankees right now. Ace gets slapped around for three runs in the first, no problem. All-time great closer blows it in the ninth, no problem either. New York stormed back from a 3-0 deficit and overcame a blown save by Mariano as well. As has been usual recently, home runs played a part in the show. Bobby Abreu......

Yankees 5 Cleveland 3: New York has passed the first big test on their current schedule, sweeping Cleveland and improving to 15-games over .500. Sunday’s win was the toughest of the series as Andy Pettitte and Jake Westbrook locked into a pitcher’s duel for the first part of the game before the Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead. But, Cleveland made things interesting in the ninth. Trailing 5-2, Cleveland got three-straight hits off of......