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! Everybody’s forgetting all about the bad start of the two local basketball teams, and does anybody even know that the Yankees are in the World Series this year? All the Islanders-all-the-time talk is really taking the pressure off the other local teams.

Here at Hot Stove, we know that the Yankees are in the World Series again, as you can’t get anything by us. The Bronx Bombers paid their $200 million entry fee into the Series, setting up a rematch of the 1950 Fall Classic. And with so many off-days, it seems like there are about 59 years between games in this postseason. In the Series we’ve already seen Cliff Lee nonchalantly put the Bombers’ bats to sleep, and in game two the Yankees proved once again to be Pedro Martinez’s daddy. After the game, Martinez also claimed that Mark Teixeira was his uncle, Hideki Matsui a distant cousin and Jorge Posada was his Aunt Lucille. People in New York may not care for the Phillies (or Eagles or Sixers or Flyers), but not everything from Philly is bad. They did give us two of America’s greatest cultural achievements (no, not Chase Utley’s hair): Cheesesteaks and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Of course, the mayors from the two cities made their usual bet on the Series. Many ideas were tossed around on what the bet would consist of: If the Yankees lose, New York City would change its name to Mike Schmidtville, if Philly loses it would change to Little Smellier New York; if the Phils win NYC would have to replace the Statue of Liberty with a 300-foot statue of the Philly Phanatic, if the Yanks win Philadelphia has to tear down its statue of Rocky and put one up of Clue Haywood; if the Phillies win Pedro Martinez gets to slam the Yankee coach of his choice to the ground once more for old time’s sake, if the Yankees win A.J. Burnett gets to smash a pie filled with stuff fished out of the East River in Shane Victorino’s face. They finally settled on the losing city just disappearing from the face of the earth.

In local football news, the Jets and Giants beat Oakland this season by a combined score of 82-7. The Jets kept things simple for Mark Sanchez, who spent the game eating hot dogs in the huddle while watching his running backs go wild. Teams instantly get back on track when playing the Raiders, but can it work like that in real life, also? If your marriage is on the rocks, can you spend the day with the Oakland Raiders and you’ll be on your way to a second honeymoon? Failing out of high school? Will three hours with the Raiders get those grades back up and you’ll find yourself enrolling in Harvard? If your life is falling apart because of an alcohol problem, will running around the football field for an afternoon with the Raiders put everything back into place? Are the Oakland Raiders the cure for all of our problems?

Player of the Week

Shonn Greene: The Jets rookie stepped in when Leon Washington was lost for the season, and gained a whopping 144 yards and scored two touchdowns. But how many spellings of the name ‘Sean’ do we need? Shonn, Chone, Shean, Sean, Shaun, Shawn. Stop the madness.

Runners Up

A.J. Burnett: The Yanks needed Burnett to come up big, and he was clutch in game two, throwing seven strong innings and outdueling Pedro.

Mariano Rivera: After getting a two-inning save to close out the Angels on Sunday, Rivera did it again last night to save game two of the World Series (though he got a little help from the umps).

Mark Teixeira/Hideki Matsui: Each blasted a homer to right, which was enough offense for the Bronx Bombers. But what’s happening to Alex Rodriguez? 0-8 with six strikeouts in the Series? Uh-oh.

Thomas Jones: Another day at the office for Jones – 121 yards and a TD.

Jets Offensive Line: They only let up one sack and have blocked their way to being the first team to have back-to-back 300 rushing yards since the 1975 Bills, who, of course, featured O.J. Simpson. Let’s just hope that none of these linemen become A.C. Cowlings to Thomas Jones’ O.J.

Calvin Pace: The busy linebacker had three sacks, seven tackles and two forced fumbles. But does it really count if it’s against Oakland?

Andy Pettitte: The veteran lefty notched his record-setting 16^th postseason win, while clinching the ALCS for the Yanks on Sunday.

Kevin Boss: The Giants tight end had three catches, but the one late in the game when he was almost knocked unconscious with a helmet to helmet hit earns him a spot here. That’s one tough dude.

Jeff Tambellini: The Islanders went 1-0-2, this week, and Tambellini picked up three goals and an assist along the way.

Brook Lopez: The Nets big man scored 27 points, hauled in 15 rebounds and blocked five shots, but the Nets still collapsed in Minnesota.

Marian Gaborik: The Ranger star had five points in two games, and left a gaping hole in the lineup when he missed Wednesday’s game.

R.I.P. Bill Chadwick: Legendary Rangers announcer The Big Whistle died on Saturday, at the age of 94. He was colorful, loud and fun. I ranked him #7 on my painstakingly non-researched post of the best local announcers of the last 40 years. He was originally a referee and invented the hand signals that refs still use today. I was watching the Rangers game when his death was announced, which reminds me of the time when I was a kid and was viewing the back-to-back Hogan’s Heroes episodes that channel 5 used to show from 11 PM–midnight, when the news team cut in with the startling report that the show’s star Bob Crane was murdered. I instantly blamed Colonel Klink. Coincidence? Synchronicity? The ghost of Bob Crane has haunted me ever since, though. I constantly wake up to find radios in my coffee pot, tunnels built under my house and Lebeau’s strudel sitting on my kitchen counter.

Schmuck of the Week

Eli Manning: The Giants QB may have been over-thinking things a little too much by changing plays at the line of scrimmage on every down, taking two delay of game penalties along the way and throwing three picks. Or was he listening to the Yankees game in the radio in his helmet?  At any rate, Manning had trouble hooking up with his receivers all game long and never seemed to solve Arizona’s defense.

The Rangers ended their three-game losing streak by beating Phoenix last night, 5-2, winning the game for former Ranger announcer Bill “The Big Whistle” Chadwick. “We’re dedicating our season to the announcing legend. So much of my youth was spent watching the Rangers on channel 9, listening to the antics of Chadwick and his partner, Jim Gordon, that for a while there, I thought Chadwick was my father, and my real dad was just some guy from the neighborhood who sat around the living room drinking vodka all the time. We had to win this game for The Big Whistle or I’d never forgive myself,” said captain Chris Drury. (Ok, he didn’t come close to saying that; I said it to myself while I was riding on the subway this morning.)

The Blueshirts were going the wrong way the last week or so, but last night they turned things around and put in a steady performance. They fell asleep after taking a 4-0 lead, and got off to a rocky start in the third period when Dan Girardi took a penalty before he even got out of the locker room, put they took care of business the rest of the way. Brandon Dubinsky and Chris Higgins were set free from chateau bowwow, and both had solid games, though Higgins still can’t buy himself a goal. The defense played well, and Michael Del Zotto is now tied for the NHL lead in points for defensemen, with 12. The team didn’t constantly turn the puck over like they had been, they didn’t make mistakes in the neutral zone and they were quicker to the puck, getting back to the way they want to play the game. And their special teams continue to be among the best in the league.

The stars of the game were the revamped first-liners: Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal and Enver Lisin. Gaborik and Prospal continue to impress, performing as well as anyone could have expected. And the talented Lisin seems to fit right in with the two veterans. As John Tortorella stated, “I think you often put a young kid that doesn’t have the skill that he has in a top position and it may not work. Lis is a talented player and is getting better away from the puck.” Prospal is now two assists behind Joe Thornton for the league lead. The consistently great Gaborik is now tied for the league lead in goals, with 10, and is second in points (18). But we heard the five words no Ranger fan wants to hear last night: “Gaborik limps off the ice.” He claims the injury is not to his hip or groin, both which have given him problems in the past, and no one around the team seems to be concerned, so hopefully it’s just a routine “lower body” injury and he’ll be back for Wednesday’s game.

The Rangers need to find a little more consistency, and play a full 60 minutes, but as Dave Maloney said after the game, they’re a work in progress, with many new players and a new coach. They got back to their winning ways last night, and, surely, The Big Whistle in the sky was up there watching this game, and I could have sworn I heard him yell, “Shoot the puck, Del Zotto! Shoot the puck!”

It was a brutal week for the New York football teams, as the Giants got killed and the Jets fell to lowly Buffalo and lost Kris Jenkins for the rest of the season. Even the hockey teams mixed in some debacles with a few wins. And something bad probably happened to the Mets even though their season is long over.

But even after last night’s loss, the Yankees are sitting pretty, with a 3-2 lead in the series and heading back home. With a budget as high as our country’s deficit, the Yanks had two options this offseason: Use their money to cure the U.S. economy or buy a whole bunch of free agents. They chose the latter, and it’s working out just fine (well, for them). Unfortunately, the one aspect of the playoffs that has stood out the most is the atrocious umpiring. The horrible umpiring in this year’s postseason is unprecedented, but there are things out there that are actually worse, if you can believe it. And there’s only one way to discover what those things are – we’re going to have to play Family Feud. So here we go . . . let’s play the Feud! We’ve surveyed 20,000 Americans and came up with the top 20 answers. Name something that is worse than this year’s playoff umpiring. Survey says . . .

Steve Phillips‘ judgment

Steve Phillips’ taste in women

Steve Phillips’ wife’s taste in men

ESPN’s taste in announcers

The closers on every playoff team except the Yankees

Joe Girardi’s decision to bring in Alfredo Aceves in game three

The Angels’ defense

The Angels’ base running

The Islanders

The Nets

The Knicks

The Mets

Bud Selig

Nick Swisher’s ALCS batting average

Chip Caray

The Tennessee Titans

Eric Mangini

An Omar Minaya press conference

Me spending 45 minutes at work watching a flying saucer-shaped balloon fly over Colorado (oh, who am I kidding? I wouldn’t give that time back for anything)

And the #1 answer: Sobriety

Players of the Week

CC Sabathia: He was the man in games one and four. Eight innings and one run in the first game and then he did it again his next time out on Tuesday. Short rest? No problem. He’s already been storing up food for the winter by eating eight meals a day, so strength wasn’t an issue (ok, he probably does that year-round).

Alex Rodriguez: What’s going on with the erstwhile choke artist? He may be calm and relaxed on the outside, but his clutchness seems to have caught a case of ’roid rage. He has three homers and five RBI’s and is batting .368 in the ALCS

Runners Up

Mariano Rivera: The always reliable Yankees closer has pitched five innings in four games without giving up a run in the series vs. the Angels.

Derek Jeter: He and A-Rod carried the Yanks during the first part of the ALCS. He’s belted two dingers and has driven in three.

Domenik Hixon: The only bright spot for the Giants this week was Hixon’s 281 kickoff and punt return yards.

Thomas Jones: The Jets running back set a franchise-record, with 210 rushing yards. He also had one TD, and two career-long runs in a row (64 and 71 yards), but it wasn’t enough to beat Buffalo.

Zach Parise: The star of the Devils had four goals (including two vs. the Rangers last night) and two assists this week.

Martin Brodeur: The future Hall of Famer ended his hex against Henrik Lundqvist last night and also notched another shutout this week.

Michael Del Zotto: The Ranger teenager added two more goals, which gives him nine points in his first 10 games.

Matt Moulson: In four games this week, the Islander netted three goals and assisted on another.

Schmucks of the Week

Mark Sanchez: He threw a whopping five interceptions, and finished with an 8.3 QB rating on Sunday. Maybe he is the next Joe Namath, after all. Broadway Joe threw a lot more INT’s than TD’s in his career (220 to 173).

Giants D: Not a good game for anyone on the Giants D on Sunday. They let up almost 500 yards, couldn’t cover any of the Saints receivers and didn’t put any pressure on Drew Brees. Are the injuries starting to catch up with them? Did they think too much of themselves and came in to the game unprepared? Or did the recent bad baseball umpiring affect their play?

In the midst of the Rangers’ seven-game winning streak, coach John Tortorella stated, “We’re teetering on going the wrong way here.” And man was he right. The Rangers did more than teeter against San Jose – they plummeted, crashed and burned. Their poor play finally caught up with them. They can come out on the winning side against a team like Toronto while being outplayed, but not against an upper-echelon team like the Sharks. As the third period went on, I thought I was reliving the Giants-Saints game. How did Drew Brees end up with a hat trick?

The Rangers are taking way too many penalties. In the first nine games of the year, they’ve been shorthanded a whopping 49 times, which is third worst in the league. The good news is that their penalty killing is again one of the best in the league. But it’s hard to control the game and score goals when player after player is marching off to the penalty box. More discipline is needed. Part of the problem seems to be that for an attacking-style team they haven’t been doing a lot of attacking. They spend a huge chunk of the games in their own end, back on their heels. Their aggressive forecheck has tailed off, and they’re getting beaten to the puck.

Another issue (which may not go away) is the lack of toughness on defense. They get pushed around and manhandled around the net. Most of San Jose’s goals came when the puck was right in front of the net, not from outside shots. The D doesn’t have the size or snarlyness to clear the crease. Michael Rozsival and Wade Redden arent’t bringing much to the table yet again this year (though Redden has shown flashes of being less than the disaster he was last season). Marc Staal is the team’s biggest, toughest defenseman. Where’s Jeff Beukeboom when you need him?

But the recent poor play of the Rangers is all fixable. Last season’s “success” was partly a mirage, with Henrik Lundqvist bailing them out game after game and needing the shootout to gain two points. That team simply couldn’t score goals. Things are different this season, though. This year’s edition has an offense, a good power play, a system in place with everybody on board and a coach who seems to hold the players accountable. They have a good thing going, so all they need to do is tighten up, pay attention to detail and stop the lazy play.

Foreseeing a game like Monday’s debacle didn’t necessarily take a soothsayer, but it makes you wonder what other events in the future Tortorella can predict. Asked that question after yesterday’s practice, he forecasted sunny skies for the next few days with rain coming on Friday night, prophesized the Dow hitting 12,000 by the end of 2010, envisioned Community getting picked up for another season while Parks and Recreation would be cancelled by Christmas and prognosticated that Manny will continue to be Manny.

Now that the Great Balloon Hoax of Aught-Nine is over, we can concentrate on sports again (CC Sabathia’s uniform is so big and baggy, it could probably be filled with helium and flown across the country, too). This past week in New York sports, the Yankees swept the Twins and now have to take on those pesky, team-of-destiny Angels, the Giants killed the Raiders to stay undefeated, the Jets suffered their second consecutive loss, the Rangers kept on winning, the Devils heated up, but the poor Islanders still couldn’t manage to notch their first victory of the year. The most bizarre moment of the week, though, was the Mickey Rourke sighting on the Giants sideline. And Kevin Bacon showed up at the Garden for the Knicks preseason home opener. Is the cast of Diner making the rounds of the local sports teams to commemorate the 27^th anniversary of the movie?

Besides being at the Knicks game, Bacon could also be seen hiding in the Yankees dugout on Friday because, unbeknownst to A. J. Burnett, that was Shrevie’s wife, donned in curly black wig, behind the plate and not Jose Molina (or even Carol Heathrow for that matter). And wasn’t that Daniel Stern with a headset on standing next to Rex Ryan on Monday Night Football? I’m not an expert in lip reading, but I think Kris Jenkins put Stern’s James Brown album in the jazz section, and Stern was none too happy about it. I’m pretty sure he was also yelling at the Jets defense, “You never ask me what’s on the flip side!” Paul Reiser was spotted sitting at the end of the Islanders bench on Monday wondering if John Tavares was going to finish his sandwich and telling him, “You know what word I’m not comfortable with? Nuance. It’s not a real word. Like gesture. Gesture’s a real word. With gesture you know where you stand. But nuance? I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.” Tim Daly ended up in the penalty box during Wednesday’s Rangers game, and was heard yelling at the Kings, “I’ll hit you so hard, I’ll kill your whole family!” And, yes, that was Steve Guttenberg playing goalie for the Devils against Washington on Monday. He did play Jim Craig in made-for-TV movie Miracle on Ice, after all. Martin Brodeur was busy taking Guttenberg’s hockey quiz, so the actor had to fill in for him.

Player of the Week

Alex Rodriguez: The Yanks’ third baseman batted .455, with two HR’s and six RBI’s in the division series vs. the Twins, and belted a game-tying two-run dinger in the bottom of the ninth on Friday. His transformation from a steroid cheating, adulterous, narcissistic, megalomaniac phony to just a regular narcissistic phony is the talk of the town. He’s even going to star in an upcoming movie, The Pride of Scott Boros.

Runners Up

Ahmad Bradshaw: The Giants backup running back only had 11 carries, but gained an impressive 110 yards and scored two TD’s.

Andy Pettitte: Sunday was Pettitte’s 36^th postseason start, the most in MLB history, and his 15^th win tied him with John Smoltz for most victories. Of course the postseason lasts almost as long as the regular season now. Whitey Ford could have won 30 games if had a chance to pitch in the “postseason” and not just the World Series.

Mariano Rivera: It’s Mariano Rivera Appreciation Week. Look at Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon and Huston Street as exhibits A, B and C to see how good the Yankees have it. The best closer in the history of closers pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, with seven K’s and one walk in the three game series.

Mark Teixeira: The MVP candidate blasted a walk-off homer that just cleared the fence on Friday. Now that it’s playoff time, the deep-pocketed Yankees have specially made shaving cream pies flown in direct from the Gillette factory (though the Yankees had to hire a shaving cream taster to test them for poison beforehand since Gillette is located in South Boston).

Eli Manning: Things couldn’t have worked out better for Manning and the Giants. He was in the game Sunday just long enough to test out his foot and build up a quick 28-0 lead. He went 8 for 10, throwing for 173 yards and two TD’s. He finished with a perfect QB rating of 158.3, which was, coincidentally, the same score I got on my SAT’s.

David Carr: The backup QB mopped up for 2+ quarters, going 9 for 14 (90 yards), and had a rushing TD.

Justin Tuck: The monster defensive end recorded two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He led the D, which dominated―six sacks, three forced fumbles, 124 total yards allowed, and they didn’t give up a first down until well into the second quarter.

Braylon Edwards: The new Jets receiver made his presence felt in his debut, hauling in five passes for 64 yards, including a few acrobatic catches and a TD reception.

Vinny Prospal: The veteran left winger notched two goals and four assists in the three games the Rangers played this week, and netted the 200^th of his career.

Marian Gaborik: Mr. Third Period scored two goals and had two assists in three games. He has a point in all seven contests played by the Blueshirts this season.

David Clarkson: The Devils’ winger scored the game-winner in Saturday’s victory over Florida, and tied the game in the third period in Monday’s shootout win against Washington.

Schmuck of the Week

Rex Ryan: Uh-oh. Did Ryan take classes at the Herm Edwards school of clock management? His defense didn’t seem prepared, but at least he blamed himself for the Jets’ loss to the Dolphins. So he practically volunteered to be the Schmuck of the Week. Don’t forget, he’s a rookie, too. You could throw a few of the Jets players on here, also, for whining about Miami’s wildcat offense.

The season is still very early, but it looks like the Rangers have found themselves a legitimate first line. Marian Gaborik, Brandon Dubinsky and Vinny Prospal fit together like other great trios of the past – the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, the Mod Squad, Richie, Ralph and Potsie, Cream and, of course, Charlie’s Angels (well, maybe not them – or any of the others come to think of it).

Gaborik is the first top-talent game-changer the Rangers have had since the days of Jaromir Jagr (seems like a long time ago now, doesn’t it?). But Jagr was finicky and quirky, and had trouble fitting with other linemates (except Michael Nylander). Gaborik, Dubinsky and Prospal have clicked since game one. And they’re producing on a nightly basis. Gaborik is all he was cracked up to be (I’m crossing my fingers that he doesn’t get injured as I write this), netting five goals to go along with four assists in six games. He has a point in every game, and goals in four of them. Prospal has a point in the team’s last five games, and is standing at a goal and six assists so far. Dubinsky has six points in six games (two goals, four assists).

With scoring coming from up and down the roster – Ales Kotalik, Sean Avery, Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto - there’s no need to break this line up and spread them across two or three lines. They’re dangerous every time they step on the ice. Gaborik is a matchup nightmare for the opposition coach, Prospal’s the smooth playmaker and Dubi does the dirty work. And they’re not a liability on the defensive side, as Gaborik is plus-7, Dubinsky plus-7 and Prospal plus-5.

Now all they need is a name. There was the old French Connection line, the Kraut line, the Legion of Doom and, of course, the Rangers’ own GAG line. How about the BMV line (first name initials)? Nah, too much like DMV, and whenever they’re on the ice, people will associate them with standing in line while getting frustrated and angry. Two Czechs and a Yank? Two Czechs and a Mate? Nope, too sitcom-y. The Duborikal line? Sounds cool and sinister, but it also seems like it could be a medicine you’d take for fibromyalgia. The New and Improved GAG line? Too long. Brandon, Vaclav and Marian? Too much like Peter, Paul and Mary. Any ideas? Comment below, and whoever comes up with the best name will win a case of Duborikal.

The Giants kept on rolling this week, the Jets lost to a good Saints team (but traded for troublemaker Braylon Edwards), hockey season has started, with mixed results for the three local teams, the Mets held a day-long press conference on Monday to announce the firing of two coaches, and the $200-million juggernaut that is the Yankees steamrolled over the Twins in the opening game of their playoff series. Here are some fun facts about the Yanks and Twins:

CC Sabathia eats more food in one year than the farmers of Minnesota produce combined.

Brett Favre was warming up in the Twins bullpen in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s game.

George Steinbrenner gave an inspired speech to the team down in Tampa after the Yankees’ final regular season game. It was short, yet fiery: “Where the hell is my damn calzone!”

After defeating the Tigers in their dramatic one-game showdown on Tuesday, the Twins immediately called Darryl Strawberry, Lenny Dykstra and Keith Hernandez to find out the most effective way to destroy a plane on a flight to New York.

Carlos Gomez almost missed third base, fell down and stopped running when heading for home with the winning run against Detroit because he briefly thought he was back on the Mets.

The real reason Kevin McHale was fired by the Timberwolves was that he spent the last month of his tenure trying to trade Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau to the Red Sox.

Kate Hudson first met Alex Rodriguez when she appraoched him about tips on steroid use, because her husband at the time, Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, weighed only 39 pounds.

The Yankee players have a plan if they fall behind in the series – they realized that they make so much money they can just buy the Twins and force them to pitch Nick Punto and Michael Cuddyer in games four and five.

Trying to change his manager’s mind about not playing him in game two, Jorge Posada committed two passed balls on Wednesday to show that it’s not just A.J. Burnett he has trouble with – he can’t catch anybody.

Former Yankee and Twin Chuck Knoblauch will be honored before tonight’s game by being handcuffed and hauled away to jail.

Player of the Week

Steve Smith: After his 11 catch, 134 yard, two touchdown day on Sunday, he now leads the NFL in catches, yards and TD receptions. He’s stepped up big-time and turned what seemed like a weakness for the Giants into a strength.

Runners Up

Eli Manning: He had another impressive game on Sunday, although he had to leave with a foot injury. His consecutive game streak is now in doubt. I always thought that the only way he would miss a game would be if he had to film another commercial. Manning moved up to third on the all-time Giants list for TD passes (106), passing Sir Francis Tarkenton. He has a long way to go to catch Phil Simms (199) and Charlie Conerly (173).

Michael Boley: The linebacker recorded a sack and five tackles (four in the backfield for losses), but now he has to have surgery – “and like that . . . he’s gone.” The Giants D held Larry Johnson to 53 yards.

Bryan Kehl: He recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and grabbed onside kick to start second half. And guess what? He’s out with an injury, too. The Giants better be careful or they’ll turn into the Mets.

Darrelle Revis: It was another shutdown game for the shutdown cornerback.

Alex Rodriguez: He closed out the regular season with two homers and seven RBI’s, all in one inning, which set the AL record for most ribbies in an inning. And he got two hits and drove in two runs – in the playoffs! Maybe he doesn’t know the postseason has started yet.

CC Sabathia/Derek Jeter/Hideki Matsui: They all did what they were supposed to do in game one.

John Tavares/Micheal Del Zotto: The teenagers made their NHL debuts and both scored their first career goals this week. The Islanders phenom had a goal and two assists in a pair of games, while the Rangers’ 19-year-old defenseman racked up four points in four games, with two goals and two assists, and was plus-one.

Marian Gaborik: So far, so good for the Rangers’ big-money acquisition. He piled up four goals and two assists in the team’s first four games, and scored the tying and winning goals in the third period last night to beat Washington.

Nelson Figueroa: The journeyman right-hander threw a complete game shutout on Sunday. The Mets are finally firing on all cylinders, with a three-game winning streak. You mean the season’s finally over? After the game, Met players threw their hats and other equipment into the crowd, but the fans threw it all back.

Schmuck of the Week

Mark Sanchez: He’s not really a schmuck, just a rookie. He threw three INTs and fumbled once, leading to two Saints TD’s. It had to happen sooner or later.

It’s only three games into the season, but we’re already seeing differences between last year’s Rangers team and this season’s version. A (relatively) new coach and an overhauled roster will do that. Here are seven contrasts between the Tom Renney 2008-09 Blushirts and John Tortorella’s 2009-10 edition.

1. Only one minute and 24 seconds into Monday’s game against the Devils, Tortorella called a timeout and ripped his team a new one. And the players actually responded, by going out, working hard and winning the game. Renney would have politely implored his players to at least act like they were trying, and then been just as politely ignored, resulting in a 6-1 shellacking.

2. The safe, boring, sit-back-and-wait-for-bad-things-to-happen style of Renney is gone. And when the aggressive, all-hands-on-deck attacking mode that Tortorella favors isn’t working that night, the team is showing it can adapt, like they did in New Jersey, settling into a blue-collar battling approach.

3. The defensemen are scoring. Last year the D couldn’t score if they were the only players on the ice, but so far, with the additions of Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy, the blueliners are making a big contribution on offense.

4. This year’s power play is looking different. It’s only produced goals in one game, but it sure seems different. With so many new players playing on the man advantage, they don’t have last year’s failure and bad habits weighing them down. And they have Marian Gaborik and new point men that can make a big difference.

5. They have a world-class offensive talent in Gaborik. They had nothing that resembled him last season. His skill, shooting and puck movement are a sight for sore eyes.

6. Tortorella’s not going to roll out four lines. Renney rotated all four lines religiously last year (and in his defense, his fourth line was often the best one on the ice). Tortorella’s going to give his top players the most ice time. But when the fourth line is needed, they’ll be fresh, as they were when they played a lot of minutes during the last part of the Devils game.

7. Playing time will be cut if the performance isn’t there. Del Zotto and Gilroy sat on the bench for most of the last half of Saturday’s game, with the Rangers only going with four D-men. There was no accountability last season with Renney.

Glen Sather magically and miraculously got rid of Scott Gomez this summer and signed Marian Gaborik. But, much like going into last season, this year’s Rangers are ruled by “ifs” and question marks. Sather overhauled the team yet again – does he ever have a plan? (“This isn’t plans one through eight in outer space, this is plan nine! This is the one that worked!”) Maybe this is the team John Tortorella wants, though, with his faster, attacking style of play. Last season Sather tried to replace the offense of Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka with Nikolai Zherdev, Markus Naslund and other assorted characters, and it didn’t quite work out. The 2009-10 Rangers are thin on defense and have a number of unproven forwards – the only constant is the goaltending, with Henrik Lundqvist and Steve Valiquette back again.

Gone But Not Forgotten: Gomez, Zherdev, Naslund, Lauri Korpikoski, Nik Antropov, Fredrik Sjostrom, Blair Betts, Colton Orr, Paul Mara, Derek Morris and Erik Reitz.

This Year’s Newcomers: Gaborik, Christopher Higgins, Vinny Prospal, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin, Donald Brashear, Brian Boyle, Matt Gilroy, Michael Del Zotto and Alexi Semenov.

And now on to the “ifs”:

If Gaborik stays healthy, he’ll surely be that much-needed scorer the Rangers lacked last season.

If Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan can keep progressing, they’ll fill some of those top-six forward spots that are question marks. Dubinsky had an inconsistent, disappointing sophomore year, while Callahan improved mightily. Can Dubinsky be a number-one center?

If Sean Avery doesn’t do anything stupid, he’ll be a positive on the team. But doesn’t he do something stupid every year?

If Lisin, Higgins and other promising youngsters live up to their potential, the Rangers will have a lot more scoring this year.

If Prospal and Kotalik produce, again, the Rangers will have a lot more scoring than last season.

If the center position isn’t too thin, the team won’t spend the rest of the year trying to find a number-one or number-two pivot man.

If all the young defensemen can be counted on, things bode well for the future.

If Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival aren’t disasters again, well, that would be nice, wouldn’t it?

If the Rangers can get by without a big, physical defenseman, it would be a miracle.

If they turn their power play around, with new faces such as Prospal, Higgins, Del Zotto, et al., it would give them a big advantage over last year’s sorry edition.

If the PK doesn’t suffer with the loss of Betts and Sjostrom, it could pick up where it left off last season, as one of the league’s best.

That’s a lot of “ifs.” And I’m sure there are plenty more I’m missing. My prediction: eighth place again and fourth in the division.

Ranger great Brian Leetch was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame today (along with other first-time-eligible players Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille). And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer, classier guy. Leetch played parts of 17 seasons for the Blueshirts, serving as captain from 1997-2000, and finished his career with Toronto and Boston (we don’t need to get into that now). He was one of the best American-born hockey players ever to play the game, and was also one of the greatest defensemen ever to lace up the skates in the NHL.

His list of awards and accomplishments is long: Of course he’s a Stanley Cup winner, Conn Smythe Trophy winner (first and still only American to win that award), two-time Norris Trophy winner (’92 & ‘97), Calder Trophy winner (’89), two-time First Team NHL All-Star (’92 & ‘97), three-time Second Team NHL All-Star and he played in nine All-Star games. He is one of only five defensemen in NHL history to record over 100 points in a season, and his 23 goals in 1988-89 is a rookie record for defensemen. He played in the Olympics and won the Gold Medal in the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 (while captaining the team).

He was the Rangers’ first-round draft pick in 1986 (ninth overall), and joined the team after playing one season for Boston College. He finished his New York career as the franchise leader in assists (741), second in games played (1,129), ninth in goals (240) and second in points (981). For his career, he netted 247 goals, had 781 assists and 1,028 points. He also tallied 97 points in 95 playoff games. And the Rangers retired his #2 on January 24, 2008.

Brian Leetch was mainly known for his offensive skills, but he was an all-around player, who wasn’t afraid to clear the crease or do whatever it took to help his team. He was always humble, and never had a bad word to say about anybody. He’s a no-doubt-about-it Hall-of-Famer, and maybe the greatest Ranger ever, and now he’s in the part of Toronto where he belongs – not with the Leafs but in the Hall of Fame.