The NY Rangers continue their amazing playoff run going back to last season with so many consecutive games being decided by 1 goal.  As of now, they are winning their share of these but you have to figure their luck may change – and it may be this week unfortunately.  The Yankees are in the same boat as they play a lot of close games which means they need to always use the Twin Towers (as A-Rod calls them) of Betances and Miller.  Girardi won’t allow his relievers to pitch on 3 consecutive games so it inevitably creates days like yesterday where you can only use one of them.  SU says it’s not sustainable over the long term and you will start to lose your share of the close games.  No bullpen is perfect.  The offense needs to do more and learn to manufacture runs without the benefit of the homerun.

He doesn’t get the same attention as LeBron or Stephen Curry but Blake Griffin is really coming into his own in this post-season for the Clippers.  SU has not watched him that much but he is the complete package.  Did you see his stat line last night without Chris Paul in the line-up?  26 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists.  The Clippers basically ran their offense through him on most possessions and let him make decisions on when to shoot or pass.  Those are amazing numbers for a forward.  Knick fans: think of your main man, Carmelo.  If he ever hit 5 assists you would be singing his praises.  Griffin is light years ahead of Melo as a franchise player.  It’s an interesting contrast.

Speaking of the Knicks, Isiah Thomas is returning as the President and part-ower of…. the Liberty!  SU says this is just the beginning.  Once Phil Jackson bails on the rest of his contract, isiah will be warming up in the bullpen.  The clock is ticking.

Loved the comments yesterday on our friend Pedro Martinez.  From S. Goldman: “I heard the Pedro interview with Mike Francesa yesterday afternoon. It was just like watching him pitch. He was bright, articulate and incredibly entertaining. But he was also maddeningly stubborn and confident that he had never done anything wrong and every incident in which he was ever involved has a back story in which he was the real victim. He spoke of all the intentionally hit batters but also of how certain ones weren’t (“Jeter, yes. Soriano, no”). He was extremely critical of a couple of opponents and threw a few teammates, coaches and owners under the bus. Every injury he ever sustained was somebody’s fault but never his. Same could be said for every run he ever gave up and every elderly coach he ever threw to the ground. All in all he was incredibly entertaining. 90% of sports autobiographies should never have been written but he deserves to sell every copy. I hated him as a player and he’s probably not a great guy either. But he’s incredibly entertaining and sports can use more personalities like him.”

And from S. Long up in Beantown: “You are just learning now that most of Pedro’s HBPs weren’t accidents? Seriously? I haven’t read the new book excerpts, but I recall an earlier article about Pedro hitting people. The gist was that he wasn’t necessarily hitting them on purpose, he just didn’t give a crap whether they got hit or not. He said “It’s my job to throw the ball. It’s their job to get out of the way.” Personally, I wish more pitchers had that attitude.”

It’s only May 4th and we certainly don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.  A Yankees’ sweep in Boston?  We don’t see that everyday.  The Mets are shut out 1-0 in back-to-back games?  The pitching always gives them a chance to win but the injuries may finally be catching up to the offense.  SU thoughts from the weekend:

• ESPN must take Curt Schilling off the air for Sunday Night games.  I cannot be the only person out there who just cannot listen to him anymore.  SU prediction: he does not make it through the season.  As we speak, Joe Morgan is warming up in the bullpen and practicing saying “The Yankees are just not that good.”
• In case you were watching “Mad Men” like SU last night and missed it, the Red Sox and Yankees engaged in a little beanball action.  Hanley Ramirez got hit with his team down 8-1 and took MAJOR offense feeling it was intentional.  Really?  Because he did what to them?  SU will beat the rush and will start hating him now as he clearly has the sense of his namesake, Manny Ramirez.  Of course, the Red Sox had to retaliate and hit Ellsbury on a 3-0 pitch after a couple of previous pitches missed him.  The umpire could have stopped it before then but it’s baseball and you need to settle it on the field.  To be continued as they will face each other many more times.  This is when you wish you still had Roger Clemens who loved these situations.
• Speaking of beanballs, you have to check out the excerpts from Pedro Martinez’s new book Pedro in last week’s Sports Illustrated.  Some books should just not be written.  He focuses on the 2003 season and fesses up to the fact that most of his HBPs in his career were intentional.  I know, shocking news.  SU always hated him when he was on Boston but respected him.  Great pitcher.  Now I can hate him and not respect him.  Feels better.
• The Mets continue to get great pitching but will need to find some offense until David Wright and others return.  It’s hard to win a lot of close low scoring games.  Baltimore did it in 2013 but the odds say you will trend closer to .500.  The Yankees are doing it now with their starters going 5 innings and a lights out bullpen.  That is not sustainable as the relievers will tire at some point.
• Jose Pirela is lighting it up for the Yankees in the minors in his rehab assignment going 11 for 19 over the weekend with power.  Look for him to be brought up very, very soon, and they should put him in the line up every day.  He is clearly better than Drew or Gregoius and even Headley could use some competition for his playing time.  At what point do you say that Stephen Drew is in fact a .150 hitter at this point in his career?
• Mark Texeiria, for all his early success, is hitting about .080 with RISP.  But the Yankees are powered by Ellsbury and Gardner this year who seem to always be on base.

The Jets had a great draft and seem to be trending in the right direction.  As predicted, Clippers – Spurs series was fantastic and SU hopes that Chris Paul can get well fast to get them to a Warriors – Clippers Western Conference final which would also be fun.  Finally, will the Rangers play any playoff games this post-season that are not decided by one goal?  No doubt stressful for the diehards.

Homerun #660 turned out to be a game winner for A-Rod and the Yankees.  So, how do we feel about that?  SU has a few thoughts:

• First of all, full disclosure: I had dozed off during the game and only woke up in the 9th inning.  The Yankees are painfully boring to watch even though they are in 1st place.  But I did stay up to watch the post-game show and A-Rod’s interview with the media.
• SU is happy for A-Rod for hitting a game-winning homerun but I feel almost nothing about him tying Willie Mays.  I also feel nothing about Barry Bonds’s record, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and all the others.  All tainted.
• But… you have to give A-Rod credit for the way he has carried himself this year.  I do feel he is sincere in how he feels lucky to even be playing this year and given another chance.  He has all the money in the world but this guy is insecure to the nth degree.  He makes bad decisions, takes bad advice (see all the lawyers and PR experts who advised him over the last year and a half.  It makes you wonder how anyone would ever hire any of those people right?  What a stupid strategy) and has an ego the size of Jupiter.  I thought he was sincere in his post-game remarks and he is incredibly fortunate to play for Joe Girardi who has a knack for how to handle him in NY.  Joe Torre was not that way.
• The Boston fans gave him the business of course.  SU wonders how Big Papi would handle things if he was closing in on one of these records?  Let me help you with that: hit the dinger, stand at home plate posing for about 10 seconds per usual and then jog around the bases in about 45 seconds.  Say what you want about A-Rod but he does his thing and acts like he’s been there before.  Big Papi failed his drug test but still gets a pass from everyone.   For SU, his homerun records are as tainted as the others.

Bottom line: A-Rod is a goofy guy who is trying his hardest to finish his career in a more reputable fashion.  SU can live with that and as I have said before, he is the one batter in the line up that is worth watching.  Just hope he can stay healthy to maintain my interest for the rest of the season.

Soooooo, how do you feel about A-Rod tying the Say Hey Kid?

SU caught much of the Rangers game last night and was just settling in for overtime when the Caps snuck in that late goal.  I think the Rangers do better when I don’t pay attention.  Many of you may have missed it but relatively new SU subscriber E. Mass (our first under-40 commenter) made some poignant comments last night about his favorite team.  A few excerpts in case you missed them:

“I’ve watched quite a bit of them and I can say that they put in more effort, collectively, than I’ve seen from any other New York team….Every single player puts in 110% effort, and I think game 4 of the first round is when I realized this squad is my favorite. The Rangers were already up 2-1 in the series and down 1-0 2 minutes into the game. They were playing with house money and could have easily phoned it in with 2 more games in NY ahead of then. Instead of phoning it in, they came back pissed off and scored a gritty goal, bringing the game to OT and ultimately winning it there, in Pittsburgh. Even if you don’t like hockey, and it’s not for everyone, I’ve never seen guys work harder every second of every game than the Rangers this year.”

Meanwhile, P. Bok brings this perspective from down South on the choices that young guys make picking a sport:

“I think that some of these athletes at some time want to play another sport (Terrell Owens, Manny Pacquiao) but they are locked into where they have the most opportunity to succeed. Look at someone like Russell Wilson. Football is not a bad choice for him. With the O-Line around him, the offense run by Seattle, and the rules to protect the QB, he is basically playing flag football out there. Yes, he may have had a shot for baseball before choosing football (his numbers are actually not that bad for a 2B) but he will eventually cash in playing football (and will use baseball as a bargaining chip). For those kids that are 6’5″ and 315 pounds in high school their choices are limited. College football teams have 85 guys. College basketball teams have 14. Certain athletes get bored with baseball and don’t want to play it… not to mention hitting a baseball is a lot harder than people realize (same with fielding one)”

You have to give props to the Clippers for getting that series to a game 7 and winning a second time in San Antonio.  They are long known to be a “soft” team but they have shown a lot of heart in this series.  They need to seal the deal now and take the final game.  A Golden State – LA Clippers Western Conference finals would be a great series between 2 teams and 2 coaches that really don’t like each other.  In an era where athletes on opposing teams are sometimes hugging more than competing (the exception being the KC Royals against anyone), it’s refreshing for the fans to see a little hatred out there.  The Cleveland-Chicago series will also be a war.  In contrast, no doubt this weekend Big Papi will hit his 289th career homerun against the Yankees and every Yankee player will look to give him a big hug afterwards.  SU says enough of that already.