Seriously, I know there have been a few series that went the distance – maybe it’s 2 series that went the distance – but the playoffs have not been entertaining this year. You have two ultra-dominant teams that will no doubt have a great Finals but is that enough? Jeff Van Gundy said last night that they should make the finals best of 11 games. He was probably only half-joking. The NBA has a problem – for the moment. An off-season of free agent moves plus a strong draft may start to rebalance things but for now, not good and not FAN-TASTIC!
Speaking of not fantastic, the Yankees are starting to show some signs of what David Cone likes to call “regression to the mean.” Tanaka is out of sorts and SU suspects there is an injury in play here. Back in April, his fastball was touching 97 and 98 mph which was very unusual for him. But lately, we are down in the low 90s. Long-time SU subscriber S. Goldman believes Gary Sanchez is not a great catcher and that may actually impact all of the starters which could be a factor as well. But Tanaka is enough of a veteran to call his own game and he is just off. Brett Gardner was on fire for 2 weeks but throughout his career, he is either hitting .450 or .125. He has always been hot and cold and we are now approaching the winter weeks for him. SU believes that they are too right-handed without a productive Greg Bird in the line up.
It is certainly no time to panic. After all, for SU, this was a transition year where you wanted to play the youngsters. I did not think they would win 90-95 games and as certain pitchers go down (see Chapman), it shortens what is not a deep bullpen. SU says bring up some more youngsters and get them the experience.
The bean balls are starting up again. In sports, it’s all about “respect” and “dis-respect.” In yesterday’s Yankee game, Matt Holliday gets hit by an off speed pitch with a runner on first base. No way that was intentional. Then, Yankee reliever Tommy Layne who is bad on his best days hits Dickerson on the numbers after he had hit 2 home runs. It was unnecessary and you could see the pain on Girardi’s face in the dugout. Of course, the Rays retaliate and hit Aaron Judge. SU says Layne will be released by Monday as who needs a bad pitcher making trouble? Dodgers and Marlins had a major incident and of course, the Red Sox and Orioles had theirs. I know it’s tradition but if you lose a top player in one of these beanball incidents, how stupid is that? It needs to stop. Find a better way. Post some inappropriate pictures on the internet – be creative.
Finally, as shown on Tennis Channel yesterday and viewed by SU along with at least 9 others globally, Novak Djokovic showed some chops – finally – and annihilated Dominick Thiem, one of the up and coming youngsters who beat Nadal on clay on Friday, by 6-1, 6-0 playing flawless tennis. Maybe, just maybe, he is finally coming out of his funk and regaining some of the fire. With the French Open on the horizon, the timing is good.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Can we treat the Conference Finals like the new intentional walk in baseball? Just let the Warriors and Cavs go to first base and start the Finals on Tuesday.
No compelling match ups at all. Houston/OKC was decent but that is about all until we get to the finals.
Speaking of hoops, which always makes me think of the disastrous Knicks, how about the Knicks swapping 1st round picks with the C’s, and packaging Carmelo and getting some other player from the Celtics? The Knicks haven’t had a decent point guard in about 40 years now. I’d like to see them build a youth movement only supplementing with veterans — not signing over the hill veterans to be the focal point.
Francesca addressed this Knicks/Celtics swap last week and said it won’t happen. He started off by asking who the Celtics would want taking big shots in the 4th quarter, Thomas or Carmelo? His point was that they would both want those shots and it wouldn’t work. But then he went on to make the point I’ve been making for a year…Carmelo doesn’t make any team better. He has no value. True, he’s never had a great supporting cast. But he’s had countless combinations of players and coaches around him who have all had greater success in other situations than when playing alongside Carmelo. Nobody is trading for him.