Laura Albanese

New York

Sports Reporter and Writer at Newsday

Lover of underdogs. If you can't win, don't play. Sportswriter @Newsday + IG @laurawritesstuff

Articles

Islanders fans blame team's poor play for drop in UBS Arena attendance

1 week ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

The Islanders season will end with a whimper Thursday night — no playoffs, poor performance down the stretch, and, in the biggest drop yet at the team's four-year-old arena, attendance numbers that reflect a fan base losing confidence in the team. "People have lost hope," said Robert Nelson, 56, a lifelong fan from New Hyde Park. The Islanders averaged 15,979 fans per game in the team's 41 home games this season at the 17,255-seat arena.
Yankees-Giants debacle didn't have to happen

1 week ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

Though he wouldn’t fully come out and say it, Friday night appeared to mark one of the first known occasions of a manager petitioning to lose a major-league baseball game. And Aaron Boone was completely right in doing so. It was a strange moment, but a necessary one. The Yankees' 9-1 loss to the Giants started after a 26-minute delay, and the hypothetical “window” of playable weather never materialized.
Yankees' Devin Williams deserves better than overreactions by fans

1 week ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

It’s a time-honored tradition, as old as the grand sport itself. It is, at the time of this writing, April 11, the baseball season is about two weeks old, and some player who has had excellent success up until this very moment clearly is washed up — doomed to haunt the annals of history as a shriveled husk of unfulfilled potential. That’s right. It’s time to overreact.
Albanese: Mets rotation has held up thus far, but team could use help

1 week ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

The Mets lineup is deep and star-studded. Their infield defense, led by Francisco Lindor, is solid. But their pitching remains a question mark: Oh, sure, the bullpen might be OK, but can they really survive all these injuries, and can they thrive despite not having a true wipeout ace? If you’ve made it this far without beginning to craft a strongly-worded email on how I should pay more attention to the games, I applaud you for your restraint.
Three takeaways from the Mets-Marlins series

2 weeks ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

The Mets' 5-0 loss to the Marlins Wednesday might have been an uninspiring finale, but otherwise, the first homestand of the year was nothing short of charmed – riding a hot start by Pete Alonso, strong starting pitching, and a shutdown bullpen to five wins in their last six games. Here are three takeaways from their 2-1 series win over the Marlins. 1. Brett Baty is still at second base . . . for now.
Mets' win streak snapped in shutout loss to Marlins

2 weeks ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

For one of the few times in this young season, the Mets got to see what it was like to play against . . . well, themselves. While the Marlins don’t have nearly the same star power, they did do a pretty good impression of their NL East foes Wednesday afternoon, stymieing their bats behind a masterful starting pitching performance by Max Meyer as the Mets dropped the series finale, 5-0, at Citi Field. The loss snapped a six-game win streak and was their first loss at home this year.
Mets' Citi Field 5 Borough Mascot Race a big hit

2 weeks ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

The moment before the gate opens Friday afternoon is tense, pregnant with the possibility of both failure and conquest. The participants stand in a single file line, mute and unmoving. Only the man in the suit and headset speaks, giving updates to an unnamed figure on the other end — his eyes trained on the vast green arena ahead of him. The five behind him are modern gladiators waiting to fight before a roaring crowd of 43,945. They are: A building. A pizza slice. A ferry. A giraffe. A train car.
Chronicling an accidental ballpark foodie's taste testing tours

3 weeks ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

I buy a sweater with a lobster on it to prepare for the event. It feels thematically appropriate: I’m going to Citi Field for their “What’s New” – an annual unveiling of all the new products and promotions fans can expect in the upcoming season. But everyone knows what the draw is: the food. Heaps of gyro meat. A tomahawk steak longer than my forearm. Poutine that’s inexplicably been stuffed into an eggroll. There’s no lobster on the menu this year, and my sweater and I are crushed.
Yankees strike out 16 times in loss to Diamondbacks

3 weeks ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

The weather was admittedly miserable Wednesday night in the Bronx, though the extra breeze coming from home plate came courtesy of the Yankees. After a charmed start to the season, the Yankees could count on neither their starting pitching nor their torpedo bats to save them against the Diamondbacks, dropping the second game of the series, 4-3, and striking out 16 times along the way.
Leadoff role just another at-bat for Yankees' Paul Goldschmidt

3 weeks ago | newsday.com | Laura Albanese

It stands to reason that after playing over 1,900 MLB games, you’d be a little surprised if, say, your manager asked you to bat leadoff for the first time in your career. But it also stands to reason that after 1,900 MLB games, you’d know to expect just about anything. “It’s fun,” Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt told Newsday Wednesday with something of a verbal shrug shortly after the posted lineup card indicated that he'd be batting leadoff for the fourth game in a row.