SU made its 2nd Citifield appearance last night for the year with long-time SU subscriber E. Steele.  Note this is 2 more appearances than I have made at Yankee Stadium in 2016 which is a reflection of how boring the Yankees are and that Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury are everyday players.  And I am not even mentioning that Brian McCann is a human pop up machine to right field and that the retiring Mark Texeiria’s at bats have created a brown patch in short right field where all of his ground balls to the 2nd baseman go.  But I digress.  SU is not a true Met fan but I find myself rooting them more the last few years.  A few comments:

• We sat 11 rows behind the Phillies’ dugout for $46 on StubHub (plus service fee).  At Yankee Stadium, you are talking about $200 tickets for seats that border the moat section also known as the Legends seats.  I don’t think I have sat this close to the field for a game in the last 20 years.  So many foul balls in that section.
• Excellent food selection in the outfield food court area and nice wide walking concourses.
• Citifield has a nice feel to it – more like a ballpark than Yankee Stadium where the stands are well back from the playing field creating a dead atmosphere for most of the time (of course, much of that is due to the product on the field and the fact that Chase Headley and Jacoby Ellsbury are regular players – have I mentioned that lately?).
• The Mets had TJ Rivera, 2nd baseman, batting clean-up.  Hmm.  Not exactly scaring the other team offensively.
• Full disclosure, SU left in the 8th inning and missed the game tying Reyes homerun in the bottom of the 9th (but I did hear it on the radio) and the game winner by Cabrera in the 11th.  The crowd was into it with their hopes rising and falling in a see-saw type game in a pennant race.  And 36,000 for a Thursday night was impressive.
• SU is certainly not abandoning the Yankees and becoming a Met fan but I was very impressed with the customer experience.  Props to the Mets.

Meanwhile, back in the Bronx, there is a steady drumbeat of support for Gary Sanchez to be considered for AL Rookie of the Year.  Long-time SU subscriber P. Friedman is on the case and it’s compelling.  I have not done the research to see if there are other more worthy candidates who have been doing it all year which to be honest would be my preference for the award.  But what Sanchez is doing has never been done before.  My hope is that he is able to pass Chase Headley for rbis before the end of the season (I think it’s 38 vs. 51 at the moment).

SU is very excited about the Yankees youth movement and the prospects for fielding a really young team in 2017.  I am still a little concerned that Cashman will feel the need to sprinkle in more veterans but we have been down that road the last 4-5 seasons.

The Yankees had defied the odds and made a race for both the wild card and the division title as they began a 4-game series with Boston last Thursday.  They had a 5-1 lead late and then Dellin Betances had a complete meltdown in the 9th inning as the Yankees went down 7-5 to start a 4-game sweep in Beantown.  They led in 3 of the 4 games.  Long-time Yankee fans will recall when Dave Righetti closed for the Yankees in the 1980s.  Whenever that team went on a mini-roll, Righetti would come in late and blow a seemingly safe lead that inevitably led to a 4- or 5-game losing streak.  Those teams had lots of scoring power but limited pitching.  Rags had so many bad blown saves – the team could never get over the hump.

This is what Thursday’s blown save reminded me of – the team took a major body blow and just doesn’t have the offense to overcome a leaky bullpen.  SU has no problem with the sweep or the effort.  Girardi had mixed and matched his corps of young relievers as best he could but there was so little margin for error.  His starters only go 5-6 innings and this is what happens.  SU can live with this – help is on the way in the minors.  The team made a great run fueled by Gary Sanchez and of course, Chase Headley hitting the 50-rbi milestone over the weekend.  Many say I am hard on Headley but honestly, he plays every day at a power hitting position and 50 rbis is an embarrassment.  Now that they are out of it, SU says play Austin and the others every day and roll Texeiria out for his retirement day the last week of the season so he can ground to 2nd base in short right field one more time.

Meanwhile, the Mets are down to one of their ace pitchers – boy, that happened in a hurry.  But you have to get them a lot of credit for gaining a lock on a wild card slot despite a depleted roster.  The Cubs are looking very pretty in the National League as other than the Nationals, most other teams are limping in to the playoffs.  In the AL, the Red Sox are peaking at the right time – that is some offensive line up.  SU will be glad to see Big Papi go – I have had enough of the styling homeruns.

The Giants are 2-0 and are winning close games – what a change from years past.  It’s still too early to get excited but 2-0 is 2-0.  The Jets are putting points on the board but their defense needs to show up soon.

College football is wide open this year and you have to love how the games are so high scoring.  SU cannot get enough of it.  No lead is safe.

Busy sports weekend.  Here is what’s top-of-mind for SU:

• You can’t win ’em all.  The Yankees took 3 of 4 from Tampa Bay and you would have signed up for that at the start of the series.  Sure, would have been great to sweep but remember, the Yankees still play to a negative runs differential for the whole season.  Their margin for error has always been small.  Girardi deserves a tremendous amount of credit for mixing and matching his line-up.  He has created competition for playing time which has been the key to this run.
• The next week will tell the story for the Yankees.  3 with the 1st place Dodgers and then 4 with first-place Boston up at Fenway.  Tyler Austin needs to play and Aaron Judge should be platooned.  His confidence level must be slipping by now.
• The Mets are taking care of business with an easy, easy schedule.  They will be dangerous once again come October.  Credit to Terry Collins for keeping his team steady as she goes.
• The Jets blew an opportunity to start out well this year at home – especially with New England’s surprising win in Arizona who many are predicting will win the Super Bowl.
• Conversely, SU was shocked that the Giants won in Dallas facing a rookie QB.  That is just the type of game that they always lose.  That has to be a positive sign as they have lost just this type of game for about the last 5 years.  The defense is clearly a work-in-progress but the offense should just get better.
• SU watched the whole US Open finals yesterday.  Very good match with some interesting twists and turns.  I think Djokovic is losing a little bit of his nerve now.  When he was trying to break through Nadal and Federer, he would often take some risks in big moments.  Now that he is on top, he’s a bit more defensive.  It’s subtle but you wonder if he will become like Federer who once he hit 30, started to lose that nerve a bit in the finals matches.  Djokovic has had some stuff going on which we don’t know fully both personally and physically.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out in 2017.  Wawrinka is a good guy who had paid his dues and has an amazing records in finals.  However, he doesn’t get to that many and can be streaky.  But he is fun to watch and does not get cheated on his swing.
• SU has been surprised at how many of the early season college football match-ups against the lesser teams have been close or have ended in upsets.  Central Michigan beating Oklahoma State is huge and Nichols State almost beat Georgia.  It’s good for the sport.  SU would still prefer to see better match-ups early in the season but understands that most powerhouses will shy away from that.  No team wants to be out there on its own playing a tougher schedule which will haunt them come Bowl time if they lose one.

So, Met fans: are you feeling confident?  And Yankee fans: are there moral victories for just playing meaningful games in September?

OK, it doesn’t always have to be about the Yankees.  SU has been following the US Open pretty closely – more so on the men’s side.  A few observations:

• Andy Murray is a great player and is on a roll having won Wimbledon and the Olympics.  However, if you watch him, he is constantly chatting with his coaches and family in the players’ box and is always yelling at them to “get up!” and cheer for him.  SU finds this to be very strange.  It shows a bit of insecurity for such a great player.  The funniest is Ivan Lendl who looks like he was carted out of a museum and shows no movement facially at all.
• My man Djokovic has had 3 opponents either default before the match or during the match in this tournament.  Crazy.  But he is not healthy and does not like playing on the really hot days.  I can only imagine that Ashe Stadium will be suffocating tomorrow in 95 degree heat – not good conditions for the Djoker.  I am a little worried about this semi-final.
• Nishikori played great yesterday vs. Murray but is not a big dude and will be hurting tomorrow vs. Wawrinka.  I think Stan the Man will take him.

I will go with Djokovic over Wawrinka in the finals on Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, the Yankees and Mets are on fire.  As predicted by SU, the Mets had one final run in them and are taking advantage of an easy schedule to finally catch the Cardinals for the 2nd wild card spot.  Given how the Giants are slumping, they probably have a shot at the 1st wild card.  You have to give Terry Collins credit for staying calm during that down period.

SU noted Seth’s comment from earlier in the week that the Yankees would be in a better position now if they had held on to Andrew Miller.  I get that but I am much more interested in what the future may hold with the prospects than if they make the wild card this year or not.  I want a new “core 4” to root for and the youngsters are so much more interesting than the Headleys, Ellsburys, etc.  You had to like Severino touching 99 mph last night as he is channeling his inner Phil Hughes in the bullpen.  It’s amazing how starters can throw that much faster in a relief role.  SU is paying attention and is excited – playoffs or no playoffs.

You have to give the Mets a lot of credit: still right in the wild card mix despite the rash of injuries to their starting pitchers.  Colon has been a rock despite throwing 86 mph and mostly fastballs.  It shows that you can be effective without throwing 95 mph.  Greg Maddox made a career of this by changing speeds and moving the ball in and out and up and down.

The Yankees are hanging around but their chances according to the folks that track probabilities for making the playoffs seem to hover around 5%.  But at least their youngsters are playing in meaningful games in September.  Aaron Judge is putting up scary strikeout numbers – he strikes out 50% of his at bats.  Over a 600 at bat season, that is 300 strikeouts.  But SU says it’s good that they keep running him out there.  They may want to platoon him against lefties until he gets his confidence back.  Give Refsnyder some at bats as he is a hot hitter.  Tyler Austin is coming along – had 2 doubles yesterday.  I have low expectations for this team – just want to see the young guys out there.

Jacoby Ellsbury actually hit a homerun yesterday – shocking.  Gardner has a low average but his on base percentage is close to .350.  Chase Headley is sprinting towards 50 rbis.  SU suspects they will throw the ball out of play when he hits that milestone.

Uneven US Open so far.  On the men’s side, there is still a large gap between the Big Four players and the next generation.  Murray killed Dimitrov last night – it was actually embarrassing to watch.  But this young Frenchman, Pouille, was electric in beating Nadal – great points in the last set.  He could be the real deal.  The Americans even have some teenagers who are starting to show potential – that would be nice although SU just does not focus on the US when it comes to tennis.  I am a big time Djokovic fan.  He is ailing physically but a final with Murray would be good stuff.  The men’s quarterfinals are all great matches.  SU is not as interested on the women’s side.  It’s kind of Serena and everyone else and I don’t really like her.

Finally, great start to the college football season.  Big upsets for Wisconsin over LSU, Texas over Notre Dame not to mention Oklahoma going down to Houston.  SU much prefers the higher quality match ups in September vs. some of the cupcake U teams that we usually see.  High scoring games and many plays that you will never see in the NFL.

SU’s fearless NFL predictions to come later this week.  The research team is running various predictive models as we speak.

SU has noted the very positive comments from the last posting from Yankee fans.  Taking 2 out of 3 from both the Orioles and Royals is cause for optimism.  SU has been accused of being overly negative with this team all year.  Is a wild card spot in reach?

I must admit I have been impressed by the team’s fortitude these last few games.  They are still anemic with RISP but the bullpen has come through the last couple of games.  I will stick with my assessment but must say that I stayed up until 12:30 am last night to watch the end of the game.  I also look forward to the at bats of Sanchez, Judge, Austin and Didi.  On the other hand, I do not understand why Texeiria is the clean-up hitter and would prefer that he never play again this season.  Slugger Headley even hit the ball hard last night.

The offense has perked up.  Can the pitching hold together?  I still don’t see it happening but these games matter and that’s all you can ask for.

Meanwhile, over in Flushing, Neil Walker is going to (apparently) need season-ending back surgery.  That is a huge blow to the Mets as he has been solid all year.  Sometimes the injuries are too much to overcome and that may be the case this year.  On the other hand, no one is running away with the wild card – at least not yet.  It’s not Terry Collins’ fault.

SU is off to the US Open today to check out the roof.  The noise level in Ashe Stadium at night is very loud as the roof, even when open, seems to keep the sound in.  It will be interesting to see how the players adapt and also how loud it gets when we reach the semis and finals.  It could get pretty raucous depending on who’s playing.  I don’t have a problem with the noise – sports shouldn’t be played in a library.

SU has been struck by the high level of optimism among Yankee fans during the Gary Sanchez homerun fest and the sudden explosion of offense in August.  The Yankees actually have the 3rd best record in baseball this month.  SU is also excited – love to watch the youngsters get a shot.  But Yankee fans, please.  Keep a few things in mind here:

• the bullpen outside of Betances is just not very good or reliable.  They have a lot of rookies pitching important innings and they are just not ready for prime time.  Adam Warren is a nice pitcher but is not your lock down 8th inning guy.  Tyler Clippard is  on again, off again.  The last 2 games are examples of what will happen.
• SU liked the way the offense showed signs of life in the 8th inning last night and got the tying run to the plate.  Of course, Girardi felt compelled to go with slugger Texeiria as a pinch hitter for Tyler Austin as if he was going to pull a 98 mph outside fastball into the seats.  David Cone mentioned how you need to go with that pitch to left field but after 8 years of this, did anyone really think that would happen?  SU says he cannot retire fast enough for me.  I know he is hitting better now – up to .205!  But I am tired of him hitting into shifts over and over again as if something new will happen.  Stick with the rookies.
• Did you see Chase Headley complain publicly last week that he should be playing every day over Torreyes who is red hot?  After all, he does have 42 rbis for the season having played every day and must get a $20 million bonus if he gets to 50 by year-end.  The word “chutzpah” comes to mind here.  At least Ellsbury and his .262 average for $22 million a year stays quiet when he sits.

SU is thrilled that they are still in the mix and playing meaningful games.  But I also believe the young guys should be in there every day.  The whole team is playing better offensively because there is now competition for playing time.  Plain and simple.  Sanchez has put McCann in the DH role which displaces someone else.  This is the way it should be.  Earn your at bats.  The games are much more interesting and I actually look forward to seeing guys come up to bat again.

Ivan Nova is 4-0 with a 2.85 ERA since being traded to the Pirates.  Carlos Beltran has been slumping badly.

The Mets are running on fumes but can take advantage of an easier schedule.  SU says they are still dangerous but they really need their starters to stay off the DL.  They are more likely to get a wild card vs the Yankees.

The US Open is underway and SU is worried about Djokovic.  He has a bad wrist but last night he also seems to have a tight forearm.  He played pretty listlessly but got the W.  However, I wouldn’t count him out.  He tends to play better with each successive round but ultimately it will come down to his health here.  Andy Murray is playing the best tennis of his life and per usual seems to have a more favorable draw.  SU says watch out for Del Potro as a wild card entry – this guy hits hard.

SU caught a few innings of the Little League World Series.  It’s amazing those kids can hit anything as homeplate must be 3 feet wide.  What are those umpires looking at?

Finally, can you believe college football is starting this weekend with a slew of interesting, competitive games?  As sports fans, we enter the best time of the year with the start of pro and college football overlapping with the MLB penant races and post-season.  Come February when you are left with the NBA (and college hoops) you will look back fondly to this time of the year.

After 3 years of extreme boredom, SU is finally getting excited about the Yankees 2.0 edition coming to a theater near you in 2017.  Picture this line-up:

• Greg Bird – First Base
• Starlin Castro – Second Base
• Didi – Shortstop
• Ronald Torreyes – 3rd base (or Rob Refsnyder)
• Aaron Judge – right field
• Jacoby Ellsbury – center field (only because he could be the most untradeable player in MLB).  Maybe Hicks will become something in his 2nd year and can be slotted there
• Tyler Austin – left field (Brett Gardner is tradeable)
• Gary Sanchez – catcher

OK, so they don’t have any starting pitching and the bullpen is lacking.  But SU is willing to endure a couple of 75-win seasons to see these young guys develop.  Torreyes is only 23 years old.  Surely the braintrust sees that Chase Headley and his  annual 50-rbis output is so bad.  A young roster is much more fun to root for than the over-the-hill gang of the past three seasons.

SU is concerned that the Yankees may feel obligated to retire the numbers of A-Rod and Mark Texeiria in order to sell out the stadium for a couple of dates in 2017.  Note to management: they are not worthy.  If you feel the urge, just average A-Rod’s #13 and Tex’s #25 and retire #19.  You save a number in the long run that way.

I thought the Mets might have a run in them but their players are dropping like flies.  Now, Jay Bruce is injured.  Some people are saying now that the deep playoff run last season took its toll on their young arms.  Maybe the teams with the innings limits know something?  The bottom line is that pitching is an unnatural motion and no matter how hard you throw, injuries are part of the game.

SU is back in action with some thoughts about the Rio Olympics:

• Ryan Lochte: a lesson learned for any athlete caught in the act.  Today there are video cameras everywhere.  Best to come clean and avoid throwing your teammates under the bus.  The meter is still running on how many millions of dollars in endorsements he has lost.  However, Americans are always willing to forgive and you just don’t know where the final story is going to land here.  I mean even A-Rod is a sympathetic character these days – at least in NY.  What is especially disturbing is that at 32 years of age, he should have been the sage, wiser member of that group in terms of what to do.  Instead, it appears that he put his teammates in jeopardy by acting out.
• US Women’s Basketball Team: that was some roster.  SU only saw the finals game but they played so unselfishly.  SU loved that they had 5 UConn players on the team and 4 of the 5 started the championship game.  I have always said that the WNBA should take all of the UConn players and put them on one team.  Now that would be fun to watch.  Diana Taurasi summed it up well that all of the players had to sacrifice for the good of the team.
• US Men’s Basketball Team: you know, they were only missing a couple of star players in LeBron and Curry.  The roster was good enough to blow away any team if they played team ball.  But this group was not capable of that.  There was one sequence yesterday where the ball really whizzed around the court resulting in a Thompson 3-pointer from the corner.  But that didn’t happen enough – if at all.  SU thinks part of the problem was that Kyrie Irving was the point guard.  He is a shoot first point guard and that just plays into one-on-one ball.  Team USA would have been well-served by having a true point guard on the roster.  Carmelo announced his retirement from the Olympic team and was surprisingly ineffective in the gold medal game.  You wonder if his skills are starting to diminish.
• Michael Phelps: great champion, etc.  I must say that I didn’t like the self-promotion in the pool after each victory.  I mean we get it right?  SU has always been a proponent of “act like you’ve been there before.”  Now that would be cool.
• Juan Martin Del Potro: most of you didn’t see any of the tennis.  In fact, SU only saw the finals as I finally figured out that NBC was televising this on the Bravo Network (who knew?).  But that guy had some run beating Djokovic and Nadal before falling to Murray in the gold medal match in 4 tough sets.  He will be a wild card in the US Open and some top seed is going to have to play him in the early rounds.  Where he is placed in the draw is going to be huge.  Good guy coming back from multiple wrist injuries.   Great for the sport to have him back.
• Women’s Gymnastics: US team was the best ever.  An easy team to root for.
• Men’s Soccer: SU caught the end of the gold medal game between Germany and Brazil.  Of course, it came down to penalty kicks.  It’s so ridiculous.

SU watched more than I thought I would.  Good stuff.  The Americans won a ton of medals although the absence of Russia in track and field no doubt had a little to do with that.

The Mets won 2 huge games in SF this weekend and that might give them a little momentum now as they head into the home stretch.  Joe Girardi put out the Clay Bellinger line up yesterday by starting Texeiria and resting the youngsters and paid the price.  It’s time to give Texeiria the Posada treatment in his last year and bat him 8th with little playing time.  He still can’t get over .200.  SU says keep the youngsters out there every game and no rest days please.  They are 24 years old.

Finally, SU is starting pay attention to football – both college and pro.  We will make the transition by moving resources internally.

The good wishes from A-Rod’s former teammates and managers are pouring in.  They are all written all so carefully except for Mariano’s I think.  I thought you would find them interesting in how people characterize A-Rod:

“Alex was a hard worker, a genuine fan of the game and possessed great ability.  In our time together, I always knew that the game mattered to him.  Baseball teaches all of us at some point, and I think he should be proud of the way he carried himself these last two years.  I wish Alex and his family all the best in the future.”

“I’ve spent 22 years playing against, playing with and watching Alex from afar, and there are two things that stand out to me the most: the conversations we had when we were young — hoping for the opportunity to play at the Major League level and then somehow finding a way to stick around — and the championship we won together in 2009.  That was a season everyone on that team can cherish.

“What people don’t realize is how much time, effort and work that Alex put in on a daily basis.  He lives and breathes baseball.  I know it will be difficult for him to not be on the field, but I’m sure he will continue to give back to the game.  Congrats, Alex.”

“I had a chance to see Alex as a young player in the league, and I knew immediately he was going to be special.  It was always fun competing against Alex, but I really enjoyed having the opportunity to play side-by-side with him in New York.  He was a big reason we were able to win the 2009 World Series.  I wish Alex and his family nothing but the best moving forward.”

“Alex was not only one of the best players in the world, he was also one of the smartest players on the field.  It was such a great combination.  Please go have fun and enjoy your family — you are an awesome dad.  I’m very proud of you.”

“It was a privilege to play with Alex. Through his preparation and work ethic, you saw how much he cared about this game and about helping this team win. I love him — as a friend and as a teammate. He was all you could ask for in both.”

“He’s one of the best players who ever played.  He’s a guy who worked hard.  I’ve never seen a guy who worked harder than him.

“There’s three things that I can say.  He loves baseball, he’s a guy who works hard and a guy who loved to win.  He was a great teammate.  For me, he was one of the best teammates I’ve had and a guy who helped me when I first came up and I appreciate all of the things he’s done for me.”

Not exactly what you read for Jeter and Mariano when they hung up their spikes.