OK, Home Run Derby is not the real thing and is just part of the annual All-Star Game festivities.  All the players are having a grand old time yukking it up with their fellow stars and enjoying the moment.  But the light was shining extra brightly on Aaron Judge yesterday from start to finish and he handled it like a 10-year veteran.

I mean think about it.  All the media interviews to start the day and then going up against Giancarlo Stanton on his home turf.  And then, needing 23 home runs to advance to the next round: no problem.  For SU, it was striking how effortless his swing is.  All of the other sluggers were spending maximum energy out there while Judge really uses his lower body and legs to maximum effect.  SU asks this question: why don’t other players copy his batting stance?  Of course, he’s a big dude but even someone smaller would benefit by hitting that way.  We have watched Brett Gardner hit with only his upper body for years until this season.  It makes a lot of sense.

Bottom line: the moment was not too big for Judge.  He is the new face of baseball.  Mike Trout is up there and there is Bryce Harper but he is always scowling and saying the wrong things.  SU is proud to have him as a Yankee and it also means they do not, and I repeat, do not need to sign a Harper or a Trout.  Note to Brian Cashman: focus on pitching please.

Lucky for Tanaka, he pitched on Sunday and wasn’t available to pitch batting practice for the Home Run Derby.  No doubt he fielded a few calls to do that down in Miami.  Mark Texeiria made his ESPN debut in a major prime time role.  SU says they should not have given him 17 cups of coffee yesterday.  Did he ever stop talking?  SU was uncomfortable having him talk too much to Judge.  We don’t want him giving advice about how to deal with the shift.

The Yankees start the 2nd half with 4 games in Boston followed by 7 more on the road out West.  That is the season right there.  They will get Matt Holliday back as well as Castro which are both huge.  They really need Hicks back in order to put Ellsbury on the bench or at least to platoon with Gardner.  Chase Headley is secure at 3rd base and the over/under for rbis will be 52 for the season.  Impressive.  10 home runs seems out of reach now.  SU says they will be buyers come the trade deadline either way this goes but should not under any circumstances part with any top prospect.  We are aiming for 2018.

Interesting scheduling at Wimbledon yesterday.  Nadal match on Court 1 ran late as they (foolishly) have no tiebreaker in the 5th set.  Federer ended early in Center Court and they could have put Djokovic match on right after as there is a roof and lights (along with the silly 11 pm curfew).  But the officials were afraid of a stampede from fans on the grounds and instead put the Djokovic match off until today.  SU has never seen something like that.  They waited too long to decide and it cost them.  They also put the #1 women’s seed on Court 2 which was odd.  The women’s game right now is not as entertaining but not all of the men’s matches needed to be on a prime time court.

Let me be clear: SU is not talking about the fact that the Milwaukee Brewers are in town this weekend.  No, this relates to the Greg Bird injury.  Check out this column from NBC Sports about some Yankee anonymous “brass” member hinting that Bird just doesn’t want to be out there:

Yankees brass criticizes Greg Bird for being injured

“The New York Yankees season began as a wonderful surprise but, for the past several weeks, it’s been a nightmare. Poor play and injuries to multiple key players have derailed the season and now they sit three and a half back of Boston in the East, trending in the wrong direction.

The poor play — particularly from the bullpen — has been hard to stomach, but injuries just happen, right? No one to blame for injuries. Unless, of course, you’re an anonymous member of the Yankees brass, who believes that there is something wrong with one young injured player for, you know, being injured. This comes from Bill Madden’s latest column at the Daily News:

Much as the Torres and Fowler injuries were downright heartbreaking, the Bird mystery ankle bruise has become merely annoying. Despite numerous tests that have turned up nothing, Bird continues to insist the ankle is still sore — too sore to allow him to play. The Yankee brass has become exasperated with Bird, who’s never been able to stay healthy, and it has gotten to the point where if he doesn’t get back on the field after the All-Star break, they are prepared to move him over the winter.

“You really have to wonder what’s with this guy,” a Yankee insider complained to me earlier this week. “You’d think with Judge and Sanchez, the guys he came up through the system with, doing so well up here he’d want to be a part of this. Apparently not.”

Sure, because a guy spends twenty four years devoting his life to baseball, working his tail off for six years in the minors to transform himself from a fifth round selection to a top prospect and the Yankees first baseman of the future, comes back from serious shoulder surgery and then, suddenly, simply decides that he doesn’t “want to be a part of this.” Clearly he must be lying about his ankle. There’s no WAY he could actually be in pain.

What crap. What utter disdain this cowardly, anonymous Yankees executive has for one of the players expected to be a key part of the Yankees future. How pathetic it is that he so easily dismisses something he likely has no experience with whatsoever, going so far as to question the drive, motivation and character of a 24-year-old athlete.

And how cowardly of the column’s author to not even attempt to push back on this crap narrative. He makes no effort to talk to trainers or coaches or Bird himself to characterize Bird’s injury in anything approaching a balanced way. Rather, he simply allows this Yankees executive to malign Bird with not even a hint of pushback. Maybe he’d be owed a bit of the benefit of the doubt in the normal course, but given how comically and shamelessly wrong he has been in the past by virtue of his work as a mouthpiece for Yankees brass, I suspect it’s too much to ask for him to be even remotely critical.

How about this: when a player says he’s hurt, believe him. And if you don’t believe him, talk to him in private, don’t slander him in the tabloids. That’s low rent garbage.”

SU would have to agree.  Clearly, there is something wrong with his ankle.  SU says stop sending him to the Mets’ doctors and let’s get the top specialists on the case.  No doubt there is a Mark Texeiria-like hairline fracture in there.  It would be great if Bird could return after the All-Star break and provide some stability at 1st base.  But no guarantees.

So, what do you make of the Tim Hardaway Jr. offer sheet by your New York Knicks?  Of course, you had the guy as a rookie and no doubt are now paying premium dollars to get him back.  Par for the course.  While SU loves having an ex-Michigan player on the roster who is fun to watch, let it be said here that he will not thrive unless Carmelo is moved.  If you are not going to either buy him out or trade him, then don’t bother with these moves.  It’s bad enough he stunts the development of KP; do we need to have another victim?  But wait!  Help is potentially on the way with Rajon Rondo to mentor the youngsters.  Surely you jest.  SU says get some players strong on character, who share the basketball and have no record of team imposed suspensions.  Is that too much to ask for?

The Yankees are running on fumes now in their bullpen.  It’s a bad formula when your starters can’t do beyond 6 innings and Betances is totally out of whack with his form.  He needs to not worry about the stolen bases and just get guys out.  He has lost 3 games in a week.  These are Tyler Clippard numbers.  SU believes once the injured players return, they will stabilize but the pitching is a problem both front end and the bullpen.

As mentioned here many times, SU likes that the Yankees are bringing up and playing the youngsters.  It’s refreshing, new, fun and gives you hope for the future.  True, not everyone will make it here.  Rob Refsnyder has proven he is a AAA+ player but not major league ready – at least here in NY with the media focus and fans that care if you win or lose – a lot.

But here is what SU does not understand.  You bring up Miguel Andujar from Scranton on Wednesday.  Truth be told, I have never heard of him.  The dude goes 3 for 4 and knocks in 4 runs.  He DH’d that night.  But the crack SU research staff looked it up and he plays 3rd base.  Interesting.  Tyler Austin then pulls his hamstring (btw, when did the Yankees switch to the Mets’ doctors?) and all of a sudden, they have to send Andujar back down as there is no place to play him – that was the word from Girardi.  Last time I checked, Holliday, Hicks and Castro are on the DL, Ellsbury is just coming back from his latest injury and Austin Romine is playing 1st base.  To top it off, they DFA Chris Carter last Friday, then bring him back and assign him to Scranton as no one will claim him on waivers.  He doesn’t play a game but now he is back on the major league roster and Andjuar is back in Scranton.

I mean if he went 4 for 4 with 4 home runs would they still have done that?  Isn’t the point to catch lightning in a bottle with a hot bat and put him in the line up?  Dexter Fowler finally got a call up last night but had a tragic injury crashing into the wall and had season ending knee surgery.  He joins Gleybar Torres in that category.  Tough break for both of those kids.

Look: ideally, Greg Bird miraculously comes back and plays 1st base.  Short of that, why not keep Andjuar around to play everyday?  All of a sudden Girardi feels the need to rest guys in the DH slot after playing Judge, Castro, Holliday, etc. every day for weeks.  SU says a hot bat is a hot bat and while Chase Headley is finally squeezing a few singles through the infield for a sizzling .250 batting average, Andjuar is a better option somewhere in the line up.  And is better than Chris Carter.  Thoughts anyone?

John Calipari wants to be considered for the Knicks’ President job opening to replace Phil Jackson.  Surely they would not consider this.  SU says get a professional in that job who knows what they are doing and at least uses a 21st century offensive scheme.  I still say it’s going to be Isiah Thomas.

We learn this morning that Phil Jackson and the Knicks will be parting ways.  Many in the SU intergalactic subscriber base will be smiling today as they have been calling for his departure for many months now.  The preliminary reports make it sound like the tipping point was management not wanting to buy out Carmelo’s contract and the treatment of Porzingis.  SU agrees with the Porzingis criticism; that is not how you treat the future of the franchise and you don’t look to move him after two years.  Even if Porzingis doesn’t turn out to be the savior of the franchise, he is still someone to build around and refreshingly new in New York.

The buyout of Melo’s contract is the only solution to this problem.  As pointed out by several in their comments, he has become untradeable and the Knicks really need to swallow some dollars and move on.  Apparently, ownership did not agree and here we are.  But Knick fans, do not fret.  Derrick Rose is interested in returning to go another season or two without passing to anyone.  What is wrong with this team?  How do they not get it?  It’s not a problem for SU as I abandoned the Knicks a long time ago thanks to Isiah Thomas and Stephan Marbury.  Still have my eye on the Nets and can save you a seat on the bandwagon.  Just let me know.

Older Yankee fans may recall Dave Righetti’s tenure as the closer in the 1980s.  Back then, the Yankees had great hitting with Mattingly, Ricky Henderson and Dave Winfield but pitching was an ongoing challenge.  They were pretender contenders back then.  And just when they would finally go on a run and be poised to get into the thick of things, Dave Righetti would blow a save in such painful fashion that it caused a 5-game losing streak.  It happened so many times.  Well, last night, Betances was this year’s Righetti.  The team battled back as it always does and survived Tyler Clippard’s painful to watch 8th inning to carry a 1-run lead into the bottom of the 9th.  But Betances was out of rhythm or whatever and allowed the walk-off hit after loading the bases with no hits.  SU invested 3 and a half hours into that game.  Just can’t do that again.  They are down Holliday, Castro, Bird and Hicks now and the line up is not very threatening.  That is why you need to win games like last night’s.  However, SU was excited to see Tyler Wade make his major league debut and Refsnyder is likely a day away from being designated for assignment now to clear another spot for a youngster.  They need to stay the course with youth.

So, Knick fans, you need a new GM/Team President.  SU says Isiah Thomas may be about to return to a theatre near you.  Watch this one.

SU is behind – sorry for the radio silence.  A lot to comment on.  First, the NBA Draft:

• SU watches a lot of college basketball – especially the Big Ten and virtually all of the Michigan games.  The problem is that even after consuming a lot of games, I must admit that I still don’t know most of the players drafted in the 1st round of the NBA draft due to the “one and done” scenario.  Let’s be honest: this really is not a good system.  How can fans get attached to these players?
• SU had read about the Knicks #1 pick from France before the draft.  Sounds like he has long arms, actually would like to play in the triangle offense (joining a group of 2 if you count Phil Jackson) and is 18 years old.  Point guard of the future?  Perhaps but this will likely take a while.  Assuming they keep Porzingis which SU is sure they will, they could be fun to watch and grow over time.  SU believes that Phil Jackson was sending a message to KP letting him know who the boss was but will not trade him.  Fact: KP will be here longer than Phil Jackson who will be run out of town a  year from now.  Dolan had good intentions but Jackson is a dinosaur at this point and not every coach is a good executive (except for Greg Popovich).
• SU does not have a problem with this pick even though the Kentucky kid was still on the board.  Of course, time will tell but I like the international players – they actually have an interest in passing the ball.
• The D’Angelo Russell trade to the Nets has me concerned about Jeremy Lin’s future.  I think they can play together in the backcourt but it would be a shame if that’s not the plan.  The NBA is a business – bottom line – and there are no guarantees – unless you are Carmelo Anthony.

Speaking of Melo, there are more and more stories percolating out there about a contract buyout.  SU says GO FOR IT!  This is addition by subtraction.  It’s unimportant that you get anything for him.  Just move him and move on.  It’s only money.

As for the Yankees, the wheels are officially coming off the bus.  The ineffectiveness of the starters has put Adam Warren on the DL.  The injury to Chapman made Tyler Clippard an important piece and he has been really bad.  He needs a fresh start somewhere else.  The Hicks injury won’t be fatal assuming Ellsbury can come back now.  Gardner has cooled as expected.  Pineda has always been a riddle wrapped in an enigma and is oh so frustrating.  CC is starting to throw but the holes are showing.

SU says you can’t project this team’s record out – too many question  marks.  But this season is playing with house money and they should continue to bring up the youngsters.  The waiving of Chris Carter was a mercy move – only Cashman was blind to that decision.  They really need a left-handed bat which Bird should provide if he can stay healthy for 4 days in a row.  SU continues to hang in with them and you should as well.

The Mets are an interesting story.  No need to rush into breaking up the team.  SU is ok with waiting until mid-July before pulling the plug.

Question for the intergalactic subscriber base: how do you explain the up-tick in the number of home runs and the number of 95 mph+ relievers?  Is juicing back?  SU says no but some believe it is.  Thoughts?

SU has been made aware of this interesting tidbit regarding your New York Knicks and Phil Jackson’s interest in possibly moving Porzingis.  Check it out in Yahoo Sports:

https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-phil-jackson-weighing-possibility-trading-kristaps-porzingis-155029676.html

So, let me get this straight.  You get lucky with drafting a guy like Porzingis but because he skips the end-of-year meeting with senior management, it’s time to move him?  And you will do this because you believe you have identified another player like him who also has those skills in this year’s draft?  SU says it’s time to get on the Jeremy Lin bandwagon in Brooklyn.  I mean, who needs this?  Porzingis is the only player on the roster of interest.  What is going on there?  SAD!

Congrats to those of you who guessed the answer to yesterday’s trivia question: Ben Gamel of the Seattle Mariners.

The Yankees are reporting that Yankees’ top prospect, Gleyber Torres, has torn a ligament in his non-throwing elbow and will require Tommy John surgery.  The Yankees expect him to be ready for spring training in 2018 (along with Greg Bird perhaps!).  Bird is seeing a specialist tomorrow.

SU says that this is clearly the curse of Chase Headley.  Out of fear of losing his starting spot in the line-up, he has placed a curse on Torres and this is the result.  Too bad as it would have been exciting to see Torres up here this summer and Headley having to compete for playing time.  Now he can relax and know that his .240 batting average is better than anyone else in the system and that a season stat line of 8 home runs and 50 rbis will be seen as satisfactory.

SU refuses to go to the dark side and will continue to root the Yankees on.  But the road continues to get harder with no Bird, Headley in there everyday and even worse, Chris Carter in there everyday.  As I speak, Carter just swung and missed on his day off.

Here is a trivia question from long-time subscriber J. Levine and actually one that the Google answering subscribers may even have trouble getting right (by the way, this is why SU rarely puts out trivia questions as too many people take the easy way out).  Here you go:

“Which former Yankee player is soon going to be leading the American League in batting once he has the minimum number of at bats to show up in the League leaders?”

Hint: the answer is not Jesus Montero.  Another hint: it’s not obvious.

The first person to answer correctly will win his choice of the SU fleece or the SU windbreaker.  2nd place is a 2-year fully paid SU subscription.  Ready?  Go!

SU is back from Houston and hosting a variety of pro sports teams representatives at Minute Maid Park.  Great venue, cool roof and a smoking hot team.  I even got to listen to the end of last night’s Yankee game after flying into 3rd world country  LaGuardia Airport and getting stuck in grid lock traffic at 1 am outside the terminal.  John Sterling was in rare form calling the game.  SU says he must actually close his eyes and describe the game based on crowd noise.  It’s hard to say if the grid lock traffic was worse or listening to him and his delayed calls on the action.  The Yankees lost another painful game after coming from behind several times and even taking the lead.  SU’s observations on the Yankees:

• First of all, I preface all comments on the fact that they are ahead of schedule this year and it’s all been gravy so far.  I will not get down on this team.
• Tyler Clippard needs to go.  There is a reason he has been on so many teams in his career.  He is the 2nd coming of Paul Quantrill – trying to lose every game he pitches now.
• The injury to CC’s hamstring is huuugggeeeee.  SAD!  This will linger as he is older, out of shape and over-weight.  Four weeks is conservative and he has been oh so consistent all year.  Now Gary Sanchez has tweaked his hammy as well.
• SU just read that Greg Bird has stopped his rehab and is seeing Dr. Ahmad.  Not good.  You just know something is broken in that leg and he will miss the rest of the season.
• Pineda is starting to come back to earth after a strong start and Tanaka is still feeling his way.  The bullpen features a number of youngsters – none of whom are taking advantage of the opportunity (see Rob Refsnyder and his book on not taking advantage of your opportunities).

SU is a firm believer in that you are not as good as you look when you are red hot and you are not as bad as you look when you lose 3 in a row.  But these have all been winnable games.  Gardner and Hicks are cooling and this is probably a good time for Ellsbury to get back in action.  But if they really want to do something here, start moving up some more youngsters and make some moves with players who are not on the 40-man roster.  They are limiting themselves right now and it’s time for some reinforcements – especially to play first base.

Meanwhile, it’s time for the Mets to become sellers in July.  Harvey is the latest pitcher to go down.  They have some chips to move for young talent.  Start the fire sale.

Question: if Golden State had not picked up Kevin Durant, would they have beaten the Cavs?  I am not so sure.  And does Cleveland look to move Kevin Love?  He really couldn’t cover anyone in the finals.  Note to long-time SU subscriber D. Green: I will not suggest that Cleveland is going to acquire Carmelo Anthony now but I do think they could use his offense.  Kyrie is terrific but if Love is a non-factor in this match-up, you do not want to have to rely on JR Smith for offense.  Just sayin.

Unreal.  He is the man.

Quiz: What do Gardner, Sanchez, Judge, Gregorius, Holliday, Castro and even Chase Headley (occasionally) have in common?  Hint: they do something that Mark Teixeira never did – at least batting left-handed.  Answer: they hit to the opposite field.  If you’ve been watching a lot of Yankee games of late, you see this year how teams are not shifting as much and when they do, the Yankee hitters are adjusting.  Even Aaron Judge with all his power goes to right field time and time again.  Teixeira and McCann in large part both were strictly pull hitters and as team leaders, the rest of the players seemed to fall in line.  This year, the best hitters go to all fields and that is contagious.  We rarely hear the announcers talk about the shifts this year for that reason.  SU says: “Mark Teixeira: we salute you.  Thank you for retiring and allowing the team to once again prosper.”  For the record, he hit .292 in his first year with the Yankees in 2009, and his highest season batting average for the rest of his career in the Bronx was .256.  That’s what happens when you blindly hit into the shift every at bat.

Greg Bird is hitting .300 in his minor league rehab games with no power.  SU says leave him down there until he starts to get some extra base hits.  They need  him to be productive from day #1 in order not to lose more confidence.  Someone will need to go when Ellsbury returns as well as Bird.  Carter figures to be the odd man out.

SU has been thinking about the player development differences between MLB and the NBA.  Why is it that even the best young players in baseball really need several years in the minor leagues to figure things out while the NBA is anxious to take 19-year olds and throw them out there right away at the pro level?  A guy like Judge needed several years at different levels in the minor leagues to finally make it to the Bronx in late 2016.  Starlin Castro made it up to the Cubs at 19 or 20 but that was the exception.  Same with Jeter.  And why aren’t there multiple levels of the D-League in basketball as there are in baseball’s minor leagues?  I guess you could say that the European League or China is another form of minor leagues for the NBA.  Thoughts?

SU checked out the composite box scores for the NBA Finals.  The Warriors have 130+ assists so far to the Cavs’ 82 on only 9 more field goals.  Kyrie Irving, for all his greatness and he is a truly great offensive player, is all 1-on-1.  The key question is whether he can do that on the road in this series.  SU believes that if Cleveland can steal game 5 tomorrow night, this is going to 7 games.  After last season, the Warriors will have that little bit of doubt especially if there is an injury to a key guy or if Draymon Green loses his mind which is always possible.  However, if Kyrie can’t have that type of game, it will be blowout city Monday night for Golden State which is the better team.

Finally, SU fave Djokovic basically tanked the last half of his quarterfinal match in Paris.  Bad job and time to take a sabbatical.  He is lost out there mentally and has lost the fire to compete through adversity.  We have seen this over the years with players like Borg or even Agassi who needed an extensive timeout but not lately and not with the Big Four players.  It’s very striking and perhaps a lesson for the younger, up and coming stars on how they manage their careers.  And hard to watch for SU.