Yankee fans who have long listened to Michael Kay’s daily show know that he is much more up front and honest about the Yankees on his radio show vs. what he ever says on the Yankee broadcasts. However, as they continue their slog over the past many weeks this season, he is starting to crack even on the Yankgee broadcasts on YES.

SU says that Jazz Chishom getting doubled off first base yesterday on a routine pop up to 2nd base caused him to snap. This came on the heels of a runner getting thrown out at home in the 1st inning by about 30 feet. Kay went off about the continued sloppy play in almost every game and lack of discipline by players. SU would agree. Aaron Boone even took Cisholm down the tunnel in the dugout for a chat, and we saw him yelling at the 1st base coach in the dugout on the broadcast. In defense of the 1st base coach: shouldn’t a veteran MLB player know to get back to 1st base on a pop up to 2nd and 1 out? This is not 4th grade rec baseball. SU says not his fault. Austin Wells jogged off the field on Wednesday night thinking there were 3 outs. Again, is that on the 1st base coach? It’s embarassing and BTW, more a reflection of the manager than anything else. There needs to be a culture of attention to detail and this team clearly does not have it. Boone is a good communicator with the media but many question his in-game moves almost every game (see Twitter for his detractors).

Perhaps someo of you caught Ian O’Connor’s recent column on the Athletic where he basically said that there are no excuses for the Yankees now, after the flurry of trade deadline moves, to not only make it to the World Series but basically win it all (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6528920/2025/08/01/yankees-trade-deadline-moves-opinion/).

Now, SU does not hold to that theory (at all!) but it’s interesting that one of the best sports writers around feels this team should now be able to win it all this year. It speaks more to the mediocrity of the American League than anything else. There are no dominant teams out there and if you can get hot and healthy in October, it would not take much to get to the World Series. Cashman took care of some of the major holes (as in recreating the entire bullpen) but a lot is riding on Gil regaining his form of 2024 coming off an extensive rehab from an injury. It also assumes that Judge will return to form and that his shoulder/arm injury is not serious.

The Yankees have worn me down. SU still pays attention and will watch the games but that bad feeling when they lose is gone. For me, it’s a function of so many .230 hitters, no situational hitting, no aggressive base running and a strategy of just waiting for the next home run. Plus the bone headed plays every game and not playing Ben Rice enough. I would be happy with a total overhaul this off season. And please stop over hying the prospects and let’s get some real talent that is developed and not traded on July 31st every year. OK, enough said.

SU knows Met fans will have their issues at times, but they field a team that makes contact and seems to have an idea of how to move runners along. Also, having attended games at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field of late, the Mets have a better in-game experience – although the Whitestone Bridge traffic is a disaster so there is that.

A few random thoughts for today:

1. SU has been paying more attention to the WNBA this year with Paige Bueckers making her debut. She is terrific on a horrible Dallas team. But the games are not watchable, and the refereeing is truly awful. The WNBA needs to upgrade the refs – perhaps sprinkle in some of the NBA refs? So many missed calls and as the games get more physical, players are getting hurt.
2. Men’s tennis has become a 2-man race now with Alcaraz and Sinner. Djokovic can still be competitive with them but not after having to advance through multiple rounds to get there in the semis or finals. His body can’t stand up for the early round long matches and SU suspects he will hang it up in 2026. He will not be motivated enough to be 4th in the world or whatever. I know many have issues with him but his record is pretty amazing and he is a super smart guy and an interesting interview (depsite some off the wall views). He also goes out of his way to mentor the younger players and btw, neither Nadal or Federer ever did much of that. The Djoker will be missed. SU does believe someone else will come along to threaten Alcaraz and Sinner – although hard to say who that is at the moment. I sure do not see it. Maybe Ben Shelton will make the jump in the next year with his big serve?
3. SU is excited about another college football season on the horizon. Interested to see how the NIL investments will pay off this year. Who will stay and who will go after the season. Someone needs to fix this as it’s just too much free agency – especially for college hoops. Too much disruption year to year.

Sorry for the absence of posts this past many months. Too much happening in the world on a daily basis to process. It wears you down but I know: #sticktosports.