Interesting sports weekend as SU decompresses from another failed Yankee post-season. But lots to watch on the sports front in the Fall:

1. The brawl in the tunnel at Michigan Stadium after Michigan beat up on Michigan State was bad. It’s a bad look for college sports. We all love the rivalry games but in sports, you have to accept and acknowledge losing (unlike in politics these days for some but I know, “stick to sports” so I will not go there). Michigan State coach, Mel Tucker, likes to fire up his players but SU says he needs to teach them how to lose (they are getting enough chances this year btw). Several of their players beat up on a couple of Michigan players who happened to be in the tunnel at the end of the game. Suspensions are coming and no doubt there will be criminal charges as well (good). Tucker punted on really commenting after the game and we will see just how he handles it. Michigan plays intense games vs. Ohio State every year and SU can never recall seeing anything like that. This is a reflection of leadership at Michigan State. Own it and fix it.
2. The Giants came back down to reality yesterday in Seattle. The reality is that their 6 – 2 record is a best case scenario as they have won every close 4th quarter game until this week. Their offensive line has been decimated by injury and Barkley earns every yard he gets as the holes are just never that big. But they are still a great story and have a favorable near term schedule. Daniel Jones is playing with a new fire but if they keep running him this much, something bad will happen. Fans hope they can keep it going.
3. Are the Eagles that good? Or is the rest of the NFL a bit mediocre this year?
4. What is up with the Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray? SU says roll him out of the pocket and let him make plays. He is too short to be a pocket passer and his strength is his speed. If he is on your fantasy team, you know what I mean.
5. Kyrie Irving: enough. SU gives props to the Nets’ owner who immediately came out to condemn Irving’s postings of anti-Semitic stories on social media. I caught his post-game comments on Saturday night. A-hole. Great 1-on-1 player but is he the player to be the face of your franchise? He can do a talk show with Alex Jones when he retires – or when he becomes untouchable for any NBA owner. The Nets are a mess.

Election Day is a week from tomorrow. Don’t forget to vote. It matters more this year than ever before.

Well, Yankee fans can now join Met fans (and Brave fans) and look ahead to 2023. Losing to the hated Astros certainly hurts but if you take the emotion out of it, you can admit that the Yankees lost to a superior team. Getting swept is not a close call even though a couple of the games were winnable.

SU offers up these thoughts:

1. The shift goes away in 2023. Does that mean that teams will no longer be so reliant on the home run as putting the ball in play will likely find more holes?
2. When all of your hitters are trying to hit home runs, isn’t that hard against relievers throwing 95 mph high fastballs? Or is that an optical illusion? Or is that reflective of the Yankees not getting almost any hits from the 7th inning on?
3. When you have a lead-off double from IKF in the 2nd inning and Trevino is up, do you not at least try and bunt the runner over? Or try and hit a ground ball to the right side from a hitter who struggled throughout the playoffs? Or do the analytics people say you never sacrifice an out?
4. How many of the Yankee relievers who were over extended in these playoffs develop arm trouble in 2023? Keep an eye on that one. Happens every year to the teams that have deep playoff runs.
5. Player health is a factor. The Yankees were very healthy the first half of the year but definitely had their share of injuries in the 2nd half. Was that a difference maker? Nope.
6. SU is not sure Judge will re-sign with the Yankees. I think he wants to but if the SF Giants make a crazy offer, Hal may not match it. And SU says you cannot put all of your dollars into any one player. The truth is that Judge performs like A-Rod. Great in the regular season but his post-season stats are not very good. You can hope Judge has that one 2009 post season (hopefully not PED-aided) but there is a large enough sample size now that says he may not thrive in October. Something to consider. On the other hand, he totally carried this team in 2022, and covered up the ineptitude and really poor performances by many of his teammates who get to fly under the radar. He would be the captain in 2023 and SU is sure that the team will make that clear. It may be time to roll out Jeter to close the deal.
7. IKF will be gone but Donaldson is still under a $25 million contract and can’t be moved. Stanton has many years left on his deal and while he shows he can produce in October, his $30 million+ salary clogs up the budget.

SU would be thrilled to clean house and go with the youngsters as they have some really good infielders and even a catcher in the high end of the minor leagues. But that is not the Yankee way and no doubt Cashman will be pressured to sacrifice some of them in trades for high paid veterans. Rinse and repeat. And a year from now we will be having the same conversation.

Both Cashman and Boone will stay. Hal is not one to like making such bold moves and he is certainly comfortable with Cashman.

Bottom line: the Mets have a better chance of putting a dynamic team on the field in 2023 as the Yankees will not have the budget flexibility. Houston is a lot better at this point and it’s not that close. It will be an interesting off-season for sure.

We move on. The Giants and Jets are interesting stories and the Knicks look good so far. College hoops is just around the corner. Lick your wounds and enjoy the night time free time. SU will root for the Phillies but truth be told, I don’t tend to watch much of the World Series. The Phillies are a great story and SU likes former Yankee coaches, Rob Thomson and Kevin Long. Easy to root for those guys to succeed.

Feel free to vent here or disagree. The floor is yours.

Truth be told Yankee fans, you were warned by SU. Some have accused SU of going negative on the Yankees but my job is to tell it like it is. SU has watched enough games in the second half of the year, and their performance in the post-season is not surprising. The offense in the 2nd half of the year was carried by Aaron Judge – he covered up for the mediocre and less than mediocre performance of Donaldson, Stanton, Rizzo, LeMahieu, etc. Really the whole team. They only played .500 ball for the last 2.5 months of the season and would have been worse than that except for Judge and the starting pitching.

Well, now Judge is not hitting and is a bit jumpy at the plate. As they say, “trying to do too much.” Stanton has chipped in with some timely home runs and you actually feel like he can get a hit (although he is well below .200 for the post-season which puts everything in perspective). Rizzo as well along with Bader cam get a hit. The rest of the team? Not so much as in no.

The Yankees were fortunate to get past the Guardians as their pitching carried them. And the pitching has been great vs. Houston which is a top offensive team that does not strike out.

SU never calls for managers to be fired. And I like Aaron Boone. But as SU pointed out earlier, in tight playoff series, the manager in baseball can actually make a difference with his moves. I am not talking about the offense and the line-up. None of these guys hit and you can pull the names out of a hat – as long as you put Donaldson 9th or on the bench. But one could make the case that Boone cost the team game 3 vs. Cleveland with the Clark Schmidt move, game 1 vs. Houston (with the Clark Schmidt and Frankie Montas moves) and to some small degree last night with taking Cole out in the 6th inning at 94 pitches. Clay Holmes has still not pitched in this series. Last time I checked, he was their best reliever. SU would have left Cole in but if you felt compelled to take him out, Holmes gets ground balls. Was he not the obvious choice there? Ultimately, when you get 1 hit until the 9th inning, it’s a non-issue but still.

It’s true that Cashman made moves to bolster the roster with left-handed hitters with Carpenter (great move) and Benintendi. Also, DJ LeMahieu got hurt although while he was better than in 2021, he was not great in 2022 and hit about .200 with RISP. He is owed a lot of money for the next 3 years (uh oh). What would have been interesting is that if all of these guys were healthy, who would sit? Donaldson. Would have been fun to see how that played out.

The Frankie Montas trade was the worst one. He gave them nothing. Many want Cashman gone. SU would keep him but take a totally different approach and bring in contact hitters – like the old Yankee teams. For $40 million a year, can you bring in 2 -3 solid players instead of re-signing Judge? Something to consider.

But hey, the series is not over yet and it’s starting to rain now as SU predicted. If we get enough rainouts in a row, you can start Cortes and then Cole in games 4 and 5. Or MLB will have them play through in the rain tonight and we can start the off-season early. What’s sad is that Boone is still changing up the batting order and line-up on October. Speaks volume about the offense.

Let’s face it: Yankee fans are not surprised to be down 0-2 to the Astros in the ALCS. Winning in Minute Maid Park has always been a struggle for the Yankees. Now, truth be told, these 2 games were winnable. I mean the Yankees actually led for a few minutes in game 1.

The frustration for SU is that this outcome was predictable back in April. The Yankees have been all in on winning via hitting home runs and a strong bullpen. Heck, they won 99 games and were dominant for the first half of the season. Why doesn’t this work in the post-season? You know the answer:

1. in the later rounds of the playoffs, you face the best pitchers. And many of them are right-handed.
2. The Yankees field an all right-handed lineup. Apparently intentionally although SU has never understood that playing half their games in Yankee Stadium with the short right field porch.
3. The best teams have a group of relievers that throw between 95 and 100 mph (and by the way, they are also mostly right-handed).
4. The Yankees live and die with the home run. They cannot string hits together – just can’t hit singles, can’t hit where the shift is not playing, can’t bunt for a single.
5. They also can’t put the ball in play where a ground ball gets a run in or a sacrifice fly. And the hitters show no interest in even trying to do that.

Soooooo, the question is at what point do you say that the strategy is not working? The 1998 team did not have anyone with more than 30 home runs but they actually had .300 hitters (you can read about that type of hitter in history books). Hitting .220 put you on the bench. Today, it puts you in the clean-up spot.

Obviously, the series is not over. Stranger things have happened and if the Yankees can sweep the 3 games in New York, and if Aaron Boone does the opposite of what he is thinking regarding the use of relievers and when to take out the starting pitcher, well maybe this will come to pass. The reality is going back to Houston not up 3 games to 2 is a tall order where even winning one game feels like a big lift.

On the other hand, as pointed out by long-time subscriber, S. Greenberg, they are probably in position to set a record for number of strikeouts in a post-season series so that is something. 30 through 2 games is a great start.

SU will try to stay positive but we have been here before and we have seen this before. I am excited about the young guys and the future may be brighter if they get to play more in 2023 and Cashman is able to clear out the Donaldsons, Hicks, etc. That will not be easy but fans are ready for a new approach.

SU is reading that some possible line-up changes may be in order for tonight’s game:

1. Donaldson out; move IKF to 3rd base
2. Stanton back to DH; Oswaldo Cabrera in left field
3. Oswald Peraza at shortstop

Go younger and more athletic. SU is in favor of all of these moves. Carpenter sits, Donaldson sits (please) and Cabrera back in the lineup. We will see what Aaron Boone actually does. SU notes the comments from today’s earlier post. Btw, LeMahieu is not on the post-season roster for the ALCS, and Hicks is out 6 weeks with a knee injury for those keeping score at home. The moves listed above are the ones available for Boone.

SU says roll the dice and play the youngsters. They are easy to root for and maybe they won’t strike out 3 – 4 times tonight. Let the youth movement begin.

Panic moves? Thoughts?

It’s the playoffs. At this point of the season, it’s all about the team, and players need to get over any perceived slights. I mean Joe Torre batted A-Rod 8th back in 2006 in the playoffs against the Tigers when he wasn’t hitting.

Aaron Boone has some decisions to make on the Yankees now that game 1 is in the books. SU wanted Matt Carpenter in the line-up and as we saw last night, er, well, maybe not such a great idea. He has now been up 6 times in the playoffs and all ended in strikeouts. In a short series, Boone needs to make the decision and the right one is to sit him. He is rusty and over matched.

Next, what about Josh Donaldson? He is a very good fielder. There is no obvious replacement at this point other than IKF who won a Gold Glove as a 3rd baseman. SU says just bat him 8th or 9th but get him out of the middle of the lineup. And, by the way, late in the game when you need a hit, do not be afraid to pinch hit for him. He will get over it.

SU listened to Boone in the post-game interview. The Yankees have not used German at all in the post-season. Surely he is more experienced than Clark Schmidt who has now lost 2 games. Boone made a vague comment that German was the long man. But last night you were tied 1-1 in the 6th inning with a chance to steal a Verlander game, and the strategy was to pitch Schmidt and then Montas? I guess the strategy was to steal the game and not use your best relievers.

They (obviously) should move Bader up in the order. He is one of the few hot hitters and in baseball, you ride the hot streaks. SU would also put Oswaldo Cabrera back in the lineup as you just need to have more left-handed batters. I know this will shatter Brian Cashman’s dream of fielding only right-handed hitters but 17 strikeouts was an embarrassment last night. And most of those strikeouts occurred in the last 6 innings. I mean they could not put the ball in play.

What about the umpiring? SU asks: is the box shown on television accurate and the same one that MLB uses to evaluate umpires? If so, that was a truly awful performance last night and once again helps make the case for electronic umpiring. The missed calls were low, high, inside and outside – equally for both teams. I actually think (hope) that the box was not accurate which is possible.

Bottom line: the Yankees win this series if they hit a lot of home runs. As in a lot of home runs. This team cannot string together hits or score via singles and doubles. Houston has far superior starters and relievers, and the relievers seem to all be right-handed. It’s just a bad match-up. SU is committed and emotionally invested but I must admit that I tuned into the Knicks’ overtime last night for mental relief. Tonight’s game becomes HUGE as otherwise, you need to win 4 out of the next 5 to win the series and that is not happening. SU does believe that Severino will come up big but the question is can the Yankees score?

First of all, loved the Gleyber Torres move to rock the baby on the final out. The Guardians deserved that. Further retribution awaits Naylor in 2023 but that will have to wait.

Yankee fans have been here before. Facing Houston in the ALCS, and have come up short each time. Will this time be different? Consider the following:

1. The Yankees field the almost all-right handed line up per usual. Per usual, it’s not a good idea against Houston. SU says that Boone needs to force Carpenter into the line up somehow. Decide what you want to sacrifice (Stanton in left field who might be a liability defensively) but let’s get Carpenter more at bats than the occasional pinch hit appearance.
2. Apparently, there is only one travel day which means games 3 – 7 will be played on consecutive days. Of course, that is a disaster scenario for the Yankees’ bullpen which is already running on fumes. The good news? There is rain in the forecast for Sunday and Monday and maybe the Yankees can steal a rainout for one of those days.
3. Cole can pitch game 3 and then perhaps game 7 on 3 days rest. Not ideal. Will they roll out Frankie Montas for this series? SU says please do not do that. Ride the pitchers that got you here. His acquisition was a mistake. Admit it and move on.
4. What do you do about shortstop? IKF had a rough series in the field but he can actually hit with RISP unlike virtually the rest of the team. If Hicks is out (and by the way, how is he an upgrade for anything?), the choice is IFK or Cabrera at shortstop. SU likes Carbrera but he has bobbled a few in the field at shortstop as well.
5. Aaron Boone is a key guy this series. How he handles the roster and the bullpen might actually be important in this series. This does not give SU the warm fuzzies.
6. Bad things happen to the Yankees in Minute Maid Park. They just do. And the team knows it.

SU said at the start of the season that the goal in 2022 was making it to the World Series. That is still the case. Falling short is a failed season for this roster and payroll. Now, you can give them a pass with all of the injuries to the relievers (King, Green, Marinaccio, Britten, Efross, and there are probably others). The starters rarely go more than 5 innings and there are just too many outs to cover with less than stellar relievers.

The Yankees are still standing unlike the Braves and the Dodgers. But it’s hard to see how this ends well for them. The smart money feels like Houston in 6 games but of course, SU will hold out hope for somehow stealing 2 more wins. Tonight may actually be a chance for one. The Astros might actually be too rested and perhaps the hitters are a bit off on their timing.

Is SU being too pessimistic? Feel free to weigh in with your predictions.

Lots of hate for Aaron Boone on Twitter last night and this morning for the handling of the bullpen in game 3. SU did not see the last 3 innings of the game but was following on line. I get all of the analytics and wanting your best relievers to face the heart of the order in the 7th and 8th innings. But the 9th inning is still the 9th inning and you need your top guys to pitch that inning.

Now, the Yankees’ bullpen is vastly depleted as SU has pointed out for the last few months. No Green, no King (huge), no Chapman (MIA) and Holmes is banged up. The Yankees need big leads to win these games. But… you have to save your top guys for the 8th and 9th innings. You also have to note that if the series goes 5 games, you are playing 4 days in a row. You cannot pitch everyone every game. The bottom line last night is that Boone put Clark Schmidt in for the biggest outs of the season and he did not come through. Holmes said in the post-game interviews that he was available and ready but Boone said he was only an emergency option. Interesting miscommunication there.

The Guardians continue to get a lot of bloop hits “but that’s baseball, Suzyn.” The bigger issue, of course, is that the Yankees don’t hit other than home runs. SU does not like this team – just too many hitters who go up to the plate mindlessly guessing on pitches and not considering where the fielders are or the situation. Do you ever watch Josh Donaldson hit? And so many right-handed hitters who look over matched by the right – handed pitchers on the Guardians. They hit 3 home runs last night and in most games, probably enough to win. But what about tonight? Can they manufacture runs?

Long-time subscriber, J. Levine, wants to see Carpenter in the line up tonight as DH and Stanton in the outfield. And Cabrera at shortstop in place of IKF who has been pretty bad in the field. SU agrees with the moves. SU says roll the dice – and put your better hitters in there. Then you can bring in Hicks in the late innings for defense although truth be told, he has been terrible out there all year.

SU notes this. The Guardians are winning putting the ball in plan and they have had a bunch of bloop hits. The Baseball gods do not let you do that too many games in a row. SU believes this series will go 5 games although not necessarily feeling the Yankees will win it. Boone has run through his top relievers and that is going to cost him as the starters can’t go more than 6 innings. Even Cole throws way too many pitches early and he needs to go 7 innings and 125 pitches tonight for sure.

Long-time subscriber, J. Winston, has told SU that I am not giving the Philadelphia teams enough credit and he is clearly right. The Phillies are a great story after beating the mighty Braves. SU likes manager Rob Thomson and also hitting coach Kevin Long who apparently is in the mix for several managerial openings this off season and good for him. And how about the Eagles? Philadelphia – city of champions??

San Diego took out the Dodgers last night so Met fans can feel a little better about losing to the Padres. Both the Braves and Dodgers out and soon the Yankees may join them. Good for baseball if not World Series ratings.

Is Aaron Boone managing his final game for the Yankees tonight? 2 innings for Loaisiga? Not going to matter as they are blown out by a feisty Guardian team? Thoughts?

SU likes the new MLB playoff format. Having a 2 out of 3 first round for the Wild Card teams seems fairer than the play-in games of years’ past, and giving the team with the better record home field for all 3 games is interesting. Today there are 4 series playing all on the same day. Sweet.

The Mets – Padres series is very interesting as San Diego can put a great staff out there for all 3 games – just as the Mets can. It makes managing a bit more important and doing the little things. SU says you have to give Buck Showalter the edge there as he has emphasized those things all year. Plus the Mets have the lockdown closer in Diaz to help close out a tight game. SU says this series goes to the Mets.

In the AL, Yankee fans will be checking out the Guardians and Rays. SU has watched enough Yankee games in Tampa over the years, and no matter who is on that team, that is a bad match – up for the Yankees. Too many relievers throwing 95 mph+, and then bad things just happen at Tropicana Field. You have to root for Cleveland even though they are probably a better team.

It’s funny. Writing how the Mets do all of the little things, the Yankees pay no attention to that. Crazy shift – should we hit to the opposite field? Say what? No, it’s important to stick to what got you here: go for the home runs and let’s maintain those .220 batting averages. The Yankees’ bullpen is running on fumes with all of the injuries. They will have to slug their way to win the series and hope a 3-4 run cushion can survive Aroldis Chapman or Loaisiga closing the games. SU thinks the Yankees can beat Cleveland but then will go down – easily – to the Astros.

You have to assume the Dodgers are sizable favorites to win it all but they will have to beat both the Mets (likely) and the Braves to get to the World Series. Not an easy road. Keep an eye on the Mets. But the smart money has the Dodgers beating Houston in the World Series.

The Yankees have worn me down the last few months. Of course, I want them to win it all but can’t be too inspired given the injuries to the relievers, position players and the .200 batting averages. Boone will have to decide between Donaldson, Rizzo and LeMahieu. One of them will have to sit each game.

SU looked up Dave Kingman’s stats the other day. For you youngsters, Kingman was a high home run, huge strikeout type of hitter. Typical season would be .217 with 40 home runs and 100+ rbis. By today’s standards, he would be called a “productive” hitter. That is the problem with baseball today. The words “.200 hitter” and “productive” should not be allowed in the same sentence.

Has the NFL become a mediocre league? Did you watch any of the Denver – Indy game last night? All field goals. What happened to Russell Wilson?

SU read that a new HBO documentary is being released next week on SU fave Jeremy Lin. Called “38 at the Garden.” I will definitely check that out. How the Knicks allowed him to walk after the Linsanity season to appease Melo was just wrong. Lin plays in China now and still wants one last shot in the NBA but he knows that ship has sailed. Truth be told, he can’t stay healthy and he can’t cover the quicker guards (never could). Of course, none of today’s guards can cover either but hey.

OK feel free to put out your World Series predictions. Impress your friends with your brilliance.

Yankee fans know that this was a line that Joe Girardi often delivered as manager of the Yankees in his long tenure. No doubt Met fans can relate this morning after getting swept by the Braves over the weekend. They wake up down 2 games with 3 to go and don’t have the tie-breaker with the Braves as a result of losing the season series 10 – 9. You have to feel for the Mets who had held onto 1st place in the NL East for so long this year.

The bigger deal is that they will now (most likely) have to beat the both the Dodgers and Braves to get to the World Series. SU says that while this is obviously not a good thing, in a long baseball season there are twists and turns. You just never know and momentum in the regular season does not always translate directly into the post-season. Play who is on your schedule and let’s see. There are many cases of red hot teams in September who are then exhausted come October and fizzle out.

Which brings us to the Yankees who have an impressive team on the IL at this point. The bullpen is in shambles. Holmes is on the IL and Chapman is up and down. Peralta is trying to come back and would be a key guy if he can stay healthy. Britton is done for the year. Bottom line: the Yankees do not have a closer and Boone will have to feel his way along every game. The team’s strength has been its pitching and this places even more pressure on them. You cannot rely on the offense – we have seen that. It would be great to get Carpenter back – he is apparently close. There is no protection for Judge – can’t imagine any team pitching to him in any game. Not necessary.

SU has been on record that the goal in 2022 had to be to get to the World Series, not necessarily win it. That seems like a tall order now. They should win the divisional round but no sure thing. The hope has to be that Houston stumbles in that first round as the Yankees cannot hang with them – especially in Minute Maid Field.

Who will start at quarterback for the Giants in London against the Packers next Sunday? It’s hard to believe Daniel Jones can recover from a sprained ankle in one week and the back up has a concussion.

Is Judge going to get #62 in Texas? SU says yes. He is clearly showing the strain now trying to do it in New York but he should feel better before a small crowd in Texas. And if he doesn’t? No shame. Great year and get recalibrated for October. And please, no more lead-off hitting in the playoffs. The Yankee line up at the bottom is not a bunch of world beaters and he is only going to come up with the bases empty most times.

Final question for the intergalactic subscriber base. In yesterday’s Arizona – Carolina game, the Cardinals score in the 4th quarter to go up 26 – 10. The analytics should be that you kick the extra point there to go up 3 scores. Instead, the Cardinals went for 2 (and failed). That left the Panthers down 2 scores plus the 2-point conversion. Please explain how that made sense.