SU watched the Yankee game last night – even saw the end after the rain delay and dozing off.  Luckily, I coordinated my nap with the rain delay almost exactly.  Takes skill to do that.  A few thoughts:

• JA Happ must be happy about the shortened season so he doesn’t have to worry about giving up 50 home runs this year.  He is not to be trusted.
• There is something about the Yankees this year that makes them unexciting.  I think it’s a combination of pitchers taking too much time between pitches, catchers giving 127 signs for every pitch and guys striking out at a high rate.  Actually, if you scan many box scores so far, not a lot of scoring or base hits in most games.  Has the sport become waiting for the home run?
• So, managers now have a 30-man roster to play with.  SU likes that.  And with COVID, you know you are going to have games canceled all over the place.  It’s like playing outside in Miami or Seattle with the rain and no roof – not every game will be played if you didn’t have a roof.  Boone brings in Loaiziga after the rain delay in the 6th inning and makes him pitch 3 full innings.  He has a rested bullpen as the Yankees hardly ever play, and he has extra relievers as well.  I know there is the 3-batter minimum but why bring him out for a 3rd inning in the 8th protecting a 1-run lead?  Sure enough, he gives up a 2-run home run and if not for the heroics of Judge in the 9th inning, that’s a loss.  In a 162-game season, no big deal but in a 60-game season, big deal.  And no comments from Kay, Cone or O’Neil.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred has just ruled that Gary Sanchez’s at bats will no longer be televised.  Just too painful to watch and he doesn’t want to scare children watching him swing at low and away sliders over and over again.  Now, I know now that I have ragged on him, he will hit 2 home runs tonight against Boston.  He is red hot or ice cold.  But SU has tired of the act.

SU likes the SNY Met broadcasts showing fans in the bleachers and they have the cut outs behind home plate.  When you combine that with piped in crowd noise, a much better viewing experience.

MLB has announced that doubleheaders will start tomorrow with only 7 inning games.  SU says go for it!  This actually makes managing a lot more interesting with the challenge of when to take out your starter and how to manage relievers with 3-batter minimums.  Great idea.  Think about how Boone will manage JA Happ in that situation?  Boone will be limited to 7 innings to make up for any early deficit.  SU says late 1st inning is not too soon to take him out.

It’s annoying that the Astros have escaped the booing for their cheating the last 2 years.  Opposing teams need to be more creative with piped in booing.

SU watched some of the NBA game last night between the Lakers and the Clippers.  Good stuff.  Very up tempo and the viewing experience is good.  Ready to ramp up my NBA interest as they near the start of the playoffs.

It will be interesting to see what MLB does with the Miami Marlins.  SU does not know the full story but players need to be smarter with what they do and where they go away from the stadium.

Still hoping for college football this Fall.  But not feeling it.

SU is back from some R&R up in Cape Cod and has been checking out the baseball action.  Some early observations:

• SU likes the FOX broadcast where they (at least in Wrigley Field) show a fake crowd for any foul balls hit down the lines.  It’s a computer produced crowd of real people.  I suppose that they could also do this for home runs.
• The home ballparks are piping in crowd noise at the appropriate times.  Another good move.
• Too much A-Rod.  Ready to move on to the local broadcasters.
• SU hates the Yankee all right-handed line up.  Enough chatter of how big they are although Voit and Stanton clearly stayed out of the weight room for a number of months now.  Especially Voit who must have lost 50 pounds.  I can’t believe I am even saying this but they should start Tyler Wade at 2nd base and play LeMahieu at 1st base.  They have too many hitters that are clones of one another: Judge; Stanton; Sanchez; Voit; Hicks.  SU says it’s hard to win with only 2 left-handed bats in the line up (Hicks, Gardner).
• The Generational One is off to a great start.  The trick will be to keep him healthy now.  Paxton’s velocity on his fastball was down 5 mph from last year – not a good sign as he is still recovering from surgery on his back.  With Severino out for the year, one of the youngsters needs to step up.
• The Mets already had their first blown save from Diaz.  Glad to see him get that out of the way quickly.  SU says in a 60-game season, you cannot afford those nor the early exits like Paxton gave them last night.  You have to try and win every game.  Sure, the number of teams in the playoffs is expanded (which is great) but you also want to have home field for that first round 3-game series.
• Greg Bird was so bad in preseason that he did not make the Texas Rangers’ roster.  And to top it off, they have moved Todd Frazier from 3rd base to play 1st base.  Disappointing for SU but Bird earned it in his career.  No one to blame but himself or perhaps as some on this blog say he was never that good.

Bottom line: great to have baseball back and SU will ease into it.  But  Boone needs to sprinkle in the contact hitters to the line up like Tauchman and Wade (ugh, still hard to even say that).  Balance is key.

SU has tried to watch the MLS games but to be honest, I can’t hang in there for a 1-0 game.  I have watched several games and still have not seen a goal.  Excited about the return of the NBA.  SU predicts that with no fans in the stands, it will feel like a scrimmage and the pace of play will be very fast and up tempo.  Defense will be secondary.

Are you ready for some live games?  Or too funky for your tastes?