Well, suddenly the USS Yankees ship is cruising to the playoffs with a chance to be almost fully healthy.  From SU’s standpoint, a few key things have happened:

• The starting pitchers are finally giving them some length on a consistent basis.  Rookie Devi Garcia has been key as he has stepped into Paxton’s spot in the rotation nicely.  That makes Happ the 5th starter and takes the pressure off of him to actually perform.  He has been much better of late as well.  Right now, all five starters are doing well and Boone can avoid the “opener” pitcher which just burns out the bullpen.
• The bullpen is no longer a strength for the Yankees.  There is no way that Boone can have faith in Ottavino and Green runs hot and cold.  The key is to limit their innings and get a big enough lead.
• The offense has come alive.  Voit is a legit MVP candidate and LeMahieu is back to his normal hit machine ways.  Gleyber Torres started to hit but there is concern with his legs as he continues to sit now.
• Boone is smartly alternating between Judge and Stanton on their returns.  As we all know, they will strike out 65% of the time and you may as well minimize those at bats.  SU has major doubts about them in the playoffs.  Note to Boone: Clint Frazier needs to play every day.  Including in the playoffs.  Find a spot for him.  Bring Brett Gardner in for late inning defense if you need to.
• And Gary Sanchez?  After Higashioka’s 3-home run outburst last night, SU says you have to play the hot hand.  They let Austin Romine go last off season to free agency but Higashioka is a better defensive catcher than Sanchez and he can hit a bit.  Sanchez is a lost cause.  SU would let him go this off-season or else sit him until he starts hitting to right field.  Boone has to make it clear that pulling the ball is no longer acceptable.  SU knows he will now go on a hot streak but really, you do not need a superstar at every position.  You need some guys who are paid less and quietly go about their business.

SU is excited about Big Ten football starting in late October.  It’s the right move.  Give it a shot and if there is an outbreak, then you shut it down.

SU is not understanding why MLB is holding playoffs in a bubble in Southern California with the fires blazing out west right now.  Do they know for sure that the fires will subside in the next 2 weeks?  Come to New York.  There are 2 great fields and the coronavirus numbers are weigh down here.

Men’s tennis returns in Europe on clay for a few weeks.  I must say that watching best of 5 set tennis on clay is torture.  The points are way too long.  SU will be watching to see if long-time fave Djokovic can get his head together to compete now.  I would not be surprised to see him upset in the early rounds of the next few tournaments.

Finally, while NFL week #1 was not kind to both the Jets and Giants, SU says the first week is not an indicator of things to come for any team.  There were no exhibition games and history says the 2nd week looks very different.  No time to abandon ship.

Oh, and finally, finally, please vote.  No excuses.  Too much on the line this year.

It’s times like these that we roll out the classic quote from former Knick and Net basketball player, Michael Ray Richardson.  The Yankees’ boat is taking on water at an alarming rate these days and if you check the standings this morning, the Baltimore Orioles are only a half game behind for the last, final spot in MLB’s NHL style playoff format for 2020.  And even in the loss column.  Look a little more closely and the Detroit Tigers are 1 game behind and also even in the loss column.

Last time SU checked, both the Orioles and Tigers are in major rebuild modes.  The Yankees were the odds on favorites to win the World Series this year.  So, what went wrong?

• Injuries: so yes, they have had a lot of them – but just like last season and they still won over 100 games in 2019.  Both Judge and Stanton missed major parts of the season – just like this year.  The difference is others stepped up big-ly vs. this year when it’s been very small-ly.
• They miss Didi.  SU mentioned this during the winter.   Miss his left-handed bat, presence in the clubhouse, skill at shortstop.  Gleyber Torres has been equally bad at the plate and in the field.  Maybe the expectations were too high for a youngster to move to short and continue to hit?  Maybe Didi was a keeper?  SU says this was a big miss by Cashman.
• Gary Sanchez: perhaps you have seen Sanchez’s video on his approach to hitting?  Actually, it’s just a pamphlet.  Ignore the shift, ignore that you will get 80% low and away sliders and swing for the fences no matter the situation.  Sometimes the Austin Romines of the world are just fine on a stacked team.
• Bullpen: look, Tommy Kahnle’s injury was a loss but come on – lots of guys to step up.  A collective failure in 2020.
• Aaron Boone: SU gives him a pass.  Not his fault.  Who do you suggest he put out there?  Makes no difference.
• Hitting Coaches: Long-time subscriber, A. Grossman, has always preached about the importance of the batting coaches and he did again yesterday in his comment.  SU says the hitters are professionals and it’s up to them to be accountable.  But clearly a new voice is needed in 2021 it seems.
• Brian Cashman: SU has felt that the all right-handed line up is a problem for a few years now.  Hated the Stanton trade from the beginning.  Cole has been mediocre but SU is OK as it’s not my money.  He will be better and could be a difference maker in a 2 out of 3 game series in the first round.  But if anyone, this season is on Cashman as it’s his roster and farm system.

Can they turn it around?  SU says unlikely.  Success will be making the 8th seed and losing in the first round given where they are right now and with all of the injuries.  Missing the playoffs completely will be the ultimate embarrassment.  Stay tuned.

SU is a long-time Novak Djokovic fan – going all the way back to 2011.  He has arguably been the best men’s player for the last 10 years if you look at his record.  He has a career head-to-head winning record over both Federer and Nadal.  But on Sunday, he was correctly disqualified at the Open.  He should have known better – he certainly does now.  The rule is clear – you can’t hit an umpire, lines person, ball kid/person, fan, camera person, etc.  Even if unintentional which this was, the rule is clear.  SU was surprised at how long the discussion went before the (correct) decision was made.

It won’t help his reputation and he will get even more boos at every tournament for the foreseeable future.  Federer actually had an anger management issue on the court as a youngster but he managed it and now rarely shows anything on the court.  SU is bummed but so it goes and hopefully the lineswoman can come back at the Open for some of the later matches.

Speaking of bummers, what is going on with the Yankees?  SU raised the alarm bells weeks ago and here we are.  One game over .500 and clinging to the 8th seed for the MLB playoffs.  Sure, there have been injuries, but few have stepped up to take advantage of their chances.  The talk is just make the playoffs and hope your stars come back healthy like Judge and Stanton.  SU says, ok, maybe that happens but don’t they need a whole lot of at bats to get comfortable?  There are no minor league games this season.  Lots of shade being thrown at Aaron Boone but SU says there is not much he can really do.  He could pull the names out of a hat for the line up each game.  But look at the averages: so many guys below .200 and Gary Sanchez at .130 leading the pack.  Brian Cashman is now traveling with the team.  The 8th seed gets you the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round.  As Joe Girardi says, “It’s not what you want.”

SU was glad to see Michael Kay, finally, finally, finally actually being critical of the Yankee players.  Do we ever see stats about RISP?  Nope.  And why do they show OPS in addition to batting average?  I mean who cares about that?  Show On Base percentage.

Last night, through 6 innings, the game took over 3 hours.  The bottom of the 6th took almost 50 minutes.  Unwatchable.  Boone said that with the lighting in a minor league park in Buffalo, the pitchers couldn’t see the signs from the catchers.  Ridiculous.  Put in the pitch clock and let’s get moving.  Baseball needs to get into the 21st century.

Wow.  That announcement caught SU off guard for sure.  He has no head coaching experience.  Apparently Nash worked as a consultant to the Golden State Warriors and has a good relationship with Kevin Durant.  He is also a former point guard and maybe, just maybe, can connect with Kyrie Irving.

Jason Kidd made the leap and had some short term success with the Nets and the Bucks.  Nash gets a 4-year deal and they will keep former head coach Jacques Vaughan as the “lead coach” at a high salary.

Is this a good move for what will be one of the hot teams in the NBA this coming season?

Finally, we have some bad blood in baseball.  Enough of the big hugs all around and yukking it up at 1st base.  The Rays have been pitching the Yankee hitters up and in for a few years now.  CC Sabathia ensured order was maintained but he is gone now.  SU was surprised to read that the Yankees have actually hit more Rays’ hitters over the past few seasons by something like 17-14.  But if you watch the games, the Rays’ pitchers come up and in to the Yankee right-handed hitters a lot – especially against LeMaihieu  and Judge.

Now, was Champan trying to hit that guy in the 9th inning with a 2-run lead?  SU says that he is so wild and has no command of the strike zone, can’t be sure.  He hasn’t been able to hit his spots with his fastball for at least 2 years now.  That’s why he throws so many sliders.  But his pitch last night went just behind the hitter’s head and could have really caused some damage.  Tanaka clearly hit a guy in the 1st inning with 2 outs and no one on base.

Baseball is a sport that is all about tradition, slights and “you just don’t do that” rules.  For example, you don’t swing on a 3-0 pitch with an 8-run lead in the 7th inning and the bases loaded and hit a grand slam.  You don’t steal 3rd base with an 8-run lead in the 8th inning.  It’s like in football: do you pass the ball in the 4th quarter up 49-0 and the 2nd string QB in?  SU says just play the game and do what you want.  Now, you may risk pissing off the other team for the next game but that’s what you consider before doing something.

It’s hard to hate the Rays.  They have almost no high priced players and play hard every game.  SU did not like how their manager mouthed off after the game as he knows that they pitch the Yankees up and in – he has said that is how they need to play.  The Yankees can dish it back at them but of course, you don’t throw at a player’s head.  Very dangerous.

The good news is that they hate each other now.  Finally, the players have the passion that the fans do against the opponent.  Tonight could get interesting and if they meet in the playoffs, that would be fun.

As always, SU has its finger on the pulse of the sports world.  No sooner had SU brought this up earlier this morning, than USA Today is now all over the story:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/09/01/yankees-gerrit-cole-tipping-pitches-hrs-flying-out-high-rates/3453883001/

Something to watch in Cole’s next start.  No doubt the Yankees will add some complexity into the sequence for calling his pitches so this will be translate into a 4-hour+ game.  Combine that with knocking a few guys off the plate and problem solved.

Last night, SU had its choice between the Yankees – Rays game, Miami vs. Milwaukee in the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs, and Djokovic’s first round match at the US Open.  Good times.  It was almost shocking to have choices for live sports viewing.

SU watched a fair share of the tennis last week for the Southern and Western Open held at the NTC in NY.  OK, no crowd noise so that’s weird.  But the electronic line calling is great and it comes with a voice to call the ball out – they rotate between a man and a woman’s voice.  The funniest thing was the players using their challenges if they disagreed with a line call when the ruling would be based on the same technology used to make the original call.  Uh, duh.  Not winning those.  No reason to ever use lines people again with this technology – even if it’s only 99% accurate or whatever it is.  I mean is a lines person going to make the right call on a 140 mph serve down to a millimeter?

So, last night, because the players aren’t allowed to have the ball kids handle their towels, they have to go over the corner to towel off.  They are using a clock now for the servers in between points and it starts when the umpire calls the score.  At the Open, they are calling the score earlier than they did last week in that tournament, and with only 20 seconds, it’s hard to get to your corner to towel off and then hustle back to serve.  Odd that they are using different rules from last week to this week.  SU says baseball should take note: keep the hitters in the box, the pitchers on the mound and get the catchers to just call the pitches faster.  The players will adapt.

The Yankees broke out number 89 for the first time ever last night for their latest pitching call-up.  And how about the Rays?  They have had about 9 pitchers go on the IL and are still in 1st place.  They are the team to beat in the AL I think.  The Yankees will limp in to the playoffs.  Truth be told on the Yankees: even if they get healthy by October, their all or nothing hitters won’t play well in the post-season.  They must be in last place with RISP (of course, the YES Network never shows those stats or even on base percentage).  And Kay and company never talk about it.  This team is terrible in the clutch but you have to go to MLB.com to figure that out on your own.  The Yankee announcers are very uncritical.  SU assumes they are under orders to tone it down.

The NHL continues its perfect record with COVID tests.  MLB should do the playoffs in a bubble.  With no fans in the stands, what’s the difference?

SU agreed with Cashman not making any moves at the trade deadline.  This season is too uncertain – not worth mortgaging the future for this year.  Devi Garcia was electric in his debut on Sunday.  Put him in the rotation.  SU is convinced that Gerret Cole is tipping his pitches.  The Rays were not missing his fastball last night and he has given up a lot of home runs this year.  No one is talking about it but his stuff is too good to be belted around like this.

SU knows that many of you have written off the NBA and no longer tune in.  You are making a big mistake – especially in a COVID-19 world.   Look, I am the first person to say that I can’t stand watching James Harden play.  It physically pains me.  But there is a whole crop of young players who are lighting it up now in the playoffs.  Consider:

• Luka Doncic, playing on a sprained ankle, had a triple double yesterday and the game winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in OT for Dallas.  SU faves Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway, Jr. also had great games and the action was up and down the court all game long.  The 4th quarter and OT were great.
• If you stayed up last night, Utah outlasted Denver with Donovan Mitchell netting 51 and Jamal Murray 50 for the Nuggets.   SU caught the 4th quarter – really great stuff.
• The NBA has done an amazing job of piping in the crowd noise which makes it feel like the stands are full – it’s just that you never see them.  SU says the crowd noise is key as the announcers get excited to be heard over the crowd.
• Now, not all of the series have been close.  But for the series that are now tied at 2-2, in a normal playoff year, the home team has the advantage as 2 of the next 3 games are in their arena.  Not this year.  It makes for a whole new dynamic as there is no true home court – at least not that I can make out as I can’t tell if the home team crowd is louder than the opposing team’s.
• The games are in the 120s and the 130s – so much better than the 1990s Knick-Heat games in the 70s.  The Pat Riley of the 1990s would not be happy coaching now I don’t think.  Sure, there is little defense and no big men in the post anymore.  But when you have 7-footers like Doncic operating, who cares?
• Btw, Jeff Van Gundy made an excellent point yesterday that SU was thinking about also.  There is no reason that every kid cannot learn  how to use his or her feet the same way that Doncic does.  American born players can also learn and use the Euro step and it’s a huge advantage.  He finishes at the hoop with those long strides and it’s legal.  Dunking gets you on the highlight shows but learning the footwork will separate you from the pack.

SU stumbled across the Shut Up and Dribble series on Showtime last night.  Very interesting and well done.  It traces social activism and racism in sports going back 60 years.  Worth a look.

Tennis has started at the Western & Southern tournament at the National Tennis Center in NY and ESPN should pipe in the same crowd noise that they do for basketball but for tennis matches.  The quiet is not good.  SU says it’s easy enough to make some noise on a great shot.  We need to think outside of the box now.  The low TV camera angles are bad enough on some of the courts.

Finally, SU is happy to report that the Yankees have not placed any more players on the IL this morning as they had no games over the weekend.  Gleyber Torres, Paxton and one of the relievers all joined on Saturday.  As long-time SU subscriber, Jeff, commented over the weekend, it may be good to get the injuries out of the way now, but we all know the preliminary time estimates are always wrong.  Tight hamstrings and calf muscles are always susceptible for re-injury.  Not a good situation.

SU is back in the saddle after some enjoyable convention viewing.  I will buckle up now for American Carnage starting next week.  What is going on with the Yankees’ injuries?  They cleaned house last off-season with the training and conditioning staff but this season, as short as it is, has almost been worse than past years.  They lost Severino for the year in spring training, and then in the span of just a few weeks, down goes Kahnle, Stanton, Judge and LeMahieu.  Zach Britten goes on the IL with a hamstring issue and now Gleyber Torres has a tight hammy and Paxton has forearm tightness.

We know some of these guys are just injury-prone.  Clearly, the Generational One is although he tried to slim down this off-season but to no avail.  Judge also can’t stay healthy – injuries every year.  All of a sudden, the Yankees are in 2nd place and can’t beat the Rays who are a no-star, make contact team.  What a concept.  As a long-time Yankee fan, my reaction is that they roll out a lot of players with numbers in the 60s, 70s and 80s.  This is not a playoff contender.  You can easily absorb a sweep early in the season in a 162-game schedule but we are in a sprint this year and this counts for a lot more.  If the starters can’t go more than 6 innings, and you are down Kahnle, Britten and maybe Green (not available yesterday after 4 off days??) in your bullpen, this does not look good.  They are not winning games by a lot of runs so they need to pitch the top guys a lot.

The Yankees actually caught a break by having the Mets with some positive tests and at least one game canceled this weekend.  The reality is that a .500 record probably gets you into the playoffs this year so it’s no time to panic.  But for $250 million, you know Hal Steinbrenner must be scratching his head.

As always, it’s a great time for Tyler Wade to step up and take advantage of the opportunity but he just never does.  Clint Frazier has done that.

Four NBA playoff games yesterday.  The winning teams scored 111, 111, 111 and 109 points.  Just caught my attention.  NBA playoff games are outstanding.  They are really fun to watch and the networks have done a great job with the sound, lights and Zoom pictures of fans on the sidelines.  I will be interested to see how the NFL does this starting in September.

SU is sure that you all recognize that line from the move, Gladiator, where Russell Crowe asked the fans just that after carving up a bunch of opponents.  I have been asking myself this question after watching a few Yankee games this weekend.  The answer is “No!”  Not even close.  Let me tell you why:

• Sports is more than wins and losses.  As a fan, I want to be entertained and inspired, and I want to enjoy how the game is played.  Rolling out a bunch of big dudes who are only thinking about hitting home runs no matter what the situation is not fun or inspiring.  Guys on base, have a plan.   Watch where the shift is.  Make contact.  Move a runner over.  Some on this blog are happy with the record and if you extrapolate out, you have 100 wins in a full season.  Maybe.  But now the Yankees are 10-6 and face the truth: Tampa Bay is not a good match-up for the Yankees.  They roll out reliever after reliever who is over 6 ft. 7 inches tall and throws 97 mph.  And of course, they are all right-handed.  They can’t hit at all but aside from home runs, neither can the Yankees.
• SU will not get on Stanton.  He tried to lose weight and some muscle mass.  But clearly playing 7-inning games as the DH in a doubleheader was too much.  He pulled his hamstring running to 2nd base on a wild pitch.  The solution is to only hit home runs.  And take your time walking around the bases.  But they can slot in plenty of guys (Frazier, Ford) who might actually hit the other way.
• I don’t mind no fans – I have become used to it.  Michael Kay, Cone and O’Neill keep me entertained enough.  But every game must have 25 strikeouts and a ton of foul balls.  Just not interesting.
• The season just passed the quarter mark.  Judge, Urshela and LeMahieu are carrying the team.  But they can’t do it forever.  As the standings tighten up, we will see who rises to the occasion.

Looking like college football will be canceled without even trying to play any games.  SU says at least give it a shot.  The NFL is full steam ahead.  I get that once students return, there is no enforceable bubble.  It just seems like they should have tried.  But the major conferences are going to announce tomorrow apparently.  Bummer.

SU did watch the final round of the PGA in almost its entirety.  That was great.  So many players in contention.  Older guys, younger guys.  Brooks Koepka made the mistake of dissing Dustin Johnson on Saturday and came up very small Sunday.  Not a good move – and hey, this is golf.  You guys don’t talk smack like that.  He didn’t back it up.