There is the old adage in sports of “next man up” when a team is faced with injuries to key players. We have seen this play out for the past couple of weeks with the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and of course, your NY Yankees. Guys get hurt – it’s part of sports – and you hopefully have a deep bench to step in. The Celtics have been without Marcus Smart and Al Horford for key playoff games but have persevered into the NBA finals. They are a dangerous team and SU says a good match-up with the Golden State Warriors. This will be a fun series.

SU was rooting for the Miami Heat and found it interesting how Erik Spoelstra managed his roster and bench in the last two games. The rotation is certainly shortened in the playoffs vs. the regular season and you wonder if coaches ever have 2nd thoughts about who they played once the series or season is over. SU was disappointed that Duncan Robinson was almost completely taken out of the rotation for the playoffs over concerns that he was a liability on defense. You wonder what his prospects are going forward and the loss of confidence? I guess getting paid $18 million a year softens the blow.

And then we have the Yankees. SU has been warning for weeks that the offense is tenuous at best given how Judge and Stanton have carried the team. Stanton is now on the IL with a strained calf and who knows if that becomes a season long concern? Will they no longer even put him in the outfield? Donaldson is on the IL with a shoulder issue but truth be told, he has done little on offense this season. SU says the big concern is the outfield as you are doing to see Hicks and Gallo playing A LOT. Hicks is in an awful slump with RISP and look, we all see it. He has zero chance of getting a hit from the left side. He should no longer bat left-handed – you have to platoon him. Teams do the extreme shift and that just causes him to swing even harder into the shift. Yesterday, with 2 strikes, they put an infielder in the outfield and left the entire left side of the infield open. Hicks is at best a .230 hitter and should only bat right-handed from now on. Let him platoon with Andujar who has shown signs of life.

Gallo just needs to be designated for assignment. Cashman has made some good pick-ups in the bullpen and with the starting pitchers but Gallo was a mistake. Not a NY guy. He is now batting 9th and that is even too high in the order. SU notes that the Yankees do not seem to have any minor league outfielders who are ready for prime time. Florial got a shot but went hitless. Matt Carpenter is the DH fill-in and has looked OK. If Greg Bird was not the king of missed opportunities, he would have been a candidate but he has not shined as of yet in Scranton.

Loaisiga is hurt yet again and Chapman is also on the IL which is a relief. Cashman will go with a closer by committee when Chapman returns. Holmes is better this year but if a team keeps winning, you really need more than one closer. The Yankees are being carried by the starting pitchers but that won’t last. Someone will get hurt – they always do on the Yankees.

Bottom line: great to have a cushion and to be in 1st place obviously. But Cashman needs to look for mid-year talent for the offense if they are going to make a deep playoff run in 2022.

Finally, you may want to check out the French Open quarterfinals this week. Djokovic vs. Nadal, and this kid Alcaraz is the real deal. Interestingly, for the Nadal-Djokovic match, it may come down to when the match is played. A day time match favors Nadal and a higher bouncing ball in warm conditions. A night match favors Djokovic in slower conditions. Alcaraz has played more night matches than the others and wants a day time match. Amazon Prime is broadcasting the night matches apparently and they will surely want Nadal – Djokovic. Apparently, in the majors, the players submit their requests for when they want to play their matches in the late rounds. Interesting. SU says they will give the nod to Nadal for day-time given his career record.

And finally, finally, SU is not a fan of the MLB games being played on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. I mean how are you supposed to flip around to the different channels? Btw, if you follow along on mlb.com, there is about a 45-second to 1 -minute delay on Amazon for the game action. You may or may not want to try that.

In case you missed it yesterday, Josh Donaldson on the Yankees continued his recent issues with Tim Anderson on the White Sox by calling him “Jackie” yesterday when their paths crossed near 2nd base. In their last series about a week or so ago, Donaldson put a hard tag on Anderson at 3rd base and the two of them had words then.

Anderson is one of the most out-spoken Black players in MLB, and does want to be viewed as a leader within Baseball as he expressed in a Sports Illustrated article back in 2019. He always has a lot to say, reacts strongly to a lot of things, and is clearly the team leader of the White Sox. Donaldson has played for many teams and brings along his own baggage. Certainly not the type of player the Yankees look to put on their roster going back about 15 years under Cashman.

SU’s take: he was trying to engage with Anderson near 2nd base and smooth things over from what had happened last series. Apparently, he has jokingly called him “Jackie” since that article came out over the past few years. Anderson was having none of that yesterday and reacted. Things escalated from there. I don’t know if Donaldson is a racist or not. But to me, this is an easily resolved matter. Today, before the game, Donaldson and Anderson should get together – either under the stands or even on the field – and talk it out man to man. Donaldson said he would apologize yesterday – just put it to rest. The problem is that the Yankee Bleacher Creatures are going to start chanting “Jackie, Jackie” today when Anderson comes to bat or makes a play in the field, and that will not be a good look for the Yankees or baseball. You also wonder if the Yankees will try and hit Anderson or if the White Sox will hit Donaldson.

Communication is supposed to be Aaron Boone’s strength. Well, this is his moment to get with Donaldson and LaRussa and calm things down. Whatever Donaldson’s intentions, he has a chance to set things right and turn a bad moment into a teachable moment. As always, interested to hear others’ thoughts. And please keep it civil.

The French Open starts today and in the same half of the men’s draw you have Alcaraz, Nadal and Djokovic. Djokovic and Nadal would play each other in the quarterfinals. It’s likely that for either Djokovic or Nadal to win, they would have to beat the other plus Alcaraz and then likely Tsitsipas in the other half of the draw in the finals. A lot to do. Tennis should find another way to do the draws. This seems very lopsided.

This year, we have been treated to several game 7s in the early rounds of both the NHL and NBA playoffs. It’s interesting to see how teams respond – especially the favored teams in their respective series. Phoenix had the NBA’s best record this year and was oh, so close to winning it all last season. But they had a historically awful performance Sunday night – trailing by 45 points at one point in the 2nd half. SU says they will not recover from this with the current roster. Now it’s true that Devin Booker had a hamstring injury that no doubt hampered him in the series. My take is that teams that barely fall short the previous season have a hard time winning it all the next season. For some reason, it does not usually work out. No doubt they were feeling the pressure as the Pelicans extended them in the first round more than expected.

And then we have the NY Rangers. Long-time subscriber, M. Levine, has offered his services to provide commentary on the Rangers this post-season and he weighs in here:

Hockey people I trust thought the Rangers were 50-50 to make the playoffs, so finishing where they did was a real accomplishment, and coming back from 3-1 down against a really good team took it to another level. They are probably the weakest of the 4 teams remaining in their conference, and may even be the weakest of all 8 remaining. That being said, this is the NHL, where upsets can happen, and this team has three things on their side that all NHL teams need, and that should make them a tough out – tremendous team chemistry and character, as shown in the last series (down 3-1 in the series, down 2 goals in game 5, 2 goals in game 6, and down a goal with 6 minutes left in game 7); a big-time goalie, despite some shaky moments last series; and a great power play.

SU must admit that I watched more hockey the last 2 weeks than I have in the last 3 years. The Ranger games have been very exciting – good stuff. We will see if momentum carries over to the next series. Certainly belief will carry over if they fall behind on the road at the start of the series with Carolina.

The Yankees continue to thrive. Shades of 1998 for sure. SU continues to worry that either Judge or Stanton will get injured, as that will hurt. Joey Gallo has hit .300 the last few weeks – it’s hard to believe as I have watched my share of games and just cannot recall that many hits. He is either a walk, strikeout or a home run. Nothing in between. They are beating up on the lesser teams as they need to, and will have built a nice cushion once their schedule becomes more challenging in the Summer. SU says enjoy the ride while it lasts. Btw, Aroldis Chapman may not be the official closer the rest of the season. He is no longer a sure thing as he cannot locate his fastball for a strike anymore.

Interesting note (but only to a few people): Michigan will have a player on the NBA championship team this season. Jordan Poole may be the only one who actually steps on the court (vs. Stauskus on the Celtics, Duncan Robinson on the Heat, and Trey Burke on Dallas), but it is still a nice achievement for a college team.

29 games in, the Yankees are 21 – 8. SU cannot recall the last time they started a season that way and I am too lazy to look it up. But it feels like a long, long time. The question is whether they can sustain this pace of play and if they are a legit good team. My thoughts:

1. The pitching is solid. The starters are not world beaters – except for Cole in theory – but they are consistently good 1 through 5. They do need to provide more length. The bullpen has been outstanding but they have to cover a lot of innings every game and SU says that will catch up to them soon enough. When you have to throw multiple relievers every game, the odds of them all being good every game are not great. There will be blown saves along the way.
2. Judge, Stanton and Rizzo have carried the team. And to date, they have each done it at a time when the others were not hot. This has translated into an excellent record. Note to readers: neither Stanton or Judge usually play a full season. The Yankees are one oblique or calf injury away from being a .500 team.
3. The team has gotten little from Hicks, Gallo, catcher and Donaldson. And I mean little. Donaldson had his 10-game hitting streak broken which got him all the way to .217 as he had 1 hit each game. He seems to be a good clubhouse guy and a good fielder but SU is waiting to see what he has left in the tank. Gallo is what we thought he was. I do think he has been better of late – takes a few walks and has hit in some tough luck – but he will settle in at .201 soon enough. SU is not a Hicks fan. Both catchers are good defensively and tell the truth: good to not have Gary Sanchez here anymore. Just catch the ball and we are happy. LeMahieu has bounced back nicely and IKF is a very good shortstop.

Bottom line: the answer is TBD. Great start to the season but a long way to go and the offense needs to show us what it is.

Tom Brady FOX deal: $375 million for 10 years. Really? Is he that compelling? Obviously a GOAT at QB but how do they know this will translate into the booth? Have you every listened to Grant Hill on TNT doing the NBA games? Super nice guy but says literally nothing any of you would say watching a game with your buddies. Troy Aikman makes about half this amount and his favorite line is, “that was a heck of a throw” or “that was a heck of a play.” Seriously, listen to him come the Fall. Tony Romo is the new standard but he talks too much for SU.

For those Tennis Channel viewers out there (approaching double digits now globally), the next star showed his stuff this past weekend in Madrid. Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, just turned 19, beat Nadal, Djokovic and Zverev in succession to win the tournament. One week after winning in Barcelona. Up to #6 in the world. And SU says his best surface is not clay – he can play on all courts. And can even volley effectively. A guy to watch. Good for the sport as the Big Three approach the finish line.

Credit to the NBA for suspending Dillon Brooks of Memphis for game 3 of the playoff series with Golden State after injuring Gary Payton Jr. on a breakaway layup. Payton broke his elbow. SU says the issue is not the one play but that Brooks has been that type of player going back to his days at Oregon in college. Basketball, when played correctly, is a free flowing game with cutting, passing, moving without the ball and getting shots up way sooner than 24 seconds. The NBA game does not need that style of physical play. Draymond Green was ejected in game 1 but at least he tried to catch the player after his foul. The game has really evolved and the 7-foot post player is a thing of the past. Crazy. You only keep a 7-footer around if he can shoot 3s.

Comment on the NCAA transfer portal. Not a fan. Players opt out so quickly to move to another school rather than compete for playing time. There is no guarantee that you will get the playing time at the next school. There are certainly circumstances where it makes sense but SU sees many where it was just poor judgment.

All I got for today. As always, welcome your comments.