Seriously, I know there have been a few series that went the distance – maybe it’s 2 series that went the distance – but the playoffs have not been entertaining this year.  You have two ultra-dominant teams that will no doubt have a great Finals but is that enough?  Jeff Van Gundy said last night that they should make the finals best of 11 games.  He was probably only half-joking.  The NBA has a problem – for the moment.  An off-season of free agent moves plus a strong draft may start to rebalance things but for now, not good and not FAN-TASTIC!

Speaking of not fantastic, the Yankees are starting to show some signs of what David Cone likes to call “regression to the mean.”  Tanaka is out of sorts and SU suspects there is an injury in play here.  Back in April, his fastball was touching 97 and 98 mph which was very unusual for him.  But lately, we are down in the low 90s.  Long-time SU subscriber S. Goldman believes Gary Sanchez is not a great catcher and that may actually impact all of the starters which could be a factor as well.  But Tanaka is enough of a veteran to call his own game and he is just off.  Brett Gardner was on fire for 2 weeks but throughout his career, he is either hitting .450 or .125.  He has always been hot and cold and we are now approaching the winter weeks for him.  SU believes that they are too right-handed without a productive Greg Bird in the line up.

It is certainly no time to panic.  After all, for SU, this was a transition year where you wanted to play the youngsters.  I did not think they would win 90-95 games and as certain pitchers go down (see Chapman), it shortens what is not a deep bullpen.  SU says bring up some more youngsters and get them the experience.

The bean balls are starting up again.  In sports, it’s all about “respect” and “dis-respect.”  In yesterday’s Yankee game, Matt Holliday gets hit by an off speed pitch with a runner on first base.  No way that was intentional.  Then, Yankee reliever Tommy Layne who is bad on his best days hits Dickerson on the numbers after he had hit 2 home runs.  It was unnecessary and you could see the pain on Girardi’s face in the dugout.  Of course, the Rays retaliate and hit Aaron Judge.  SU says Layne will be released by Monday as who needs a bad pitcher making trouble?  Dodgers and Marlins had a major incident and of course, the Red Sox and Orioles had theirs.  I know it’s tradition but if you lose a top player in one of these beanball incidents, how stupid is that?  It needs to stop.  Find a better way.  Post some inappropriate pictures on the internet – be creative.

Finally, as shown on Tennis Channel yesterday and viewed by SU along with at least 9 others globally, Novak Djokovic showed some chops – finally – and annihilated Dominick Thiem, one of the up and coming youngsters who beat Nadal on clay on Friday, by 6-1, 6-0 playing flawless tennis.  Maybe, just maybe, he is finally coming out of his funk and regaining some of the fire.  With the French Open on the horizon, the timing is good.

Long-time SU subscriber E. Alper passed along this short clip on Aaron Judge of the Yankees.  Cool dude.  The next big thing in NY.

Nice comment today by long-time SU subscriber, S. Goldman, which is shown below in its entirety.  SU is a strong proponent of sharing the space here with those of you who would like to thoughtfully comment which thankfully is virtually everyone.  Check out other blogs and by the third comment, it’s reduced to “you’re an idiot.”

SU’s quick take on last night’s ceremony:

• I must admit that the parade of ex-Yankee players is impressive.  It just is.  We were really privileged to watch some great, great athletes in their prime as Yankees.
• Jeter’s speech was fine.  No notes, no tears, no errors.  I suspect it was more difficult when he retired vs. having his number retired.  He seemed to enjoy himself throughout and was joking around quite a bit.
• The absence of A-Rod is wrong, it’s just wrong.  He sent him a congratulatory tweet but was not invited to attend.  The reason was to spend Mother’s Day in Florida with his mom but you know that was to avoid any controversy.  SU heard that there was a recent interview with Jeter where somehow A-Rod was part of the interview (maybe as a questioner?).  Anyway, Jeter got pissed.  SU says: grow up Derek and move on.  Throw A-Rod a bone and make nice.  It’s unnecessary and he should have been part of things last night.  Perhaps once Jeter is a co-owner of the Marlins, his Yankee ties will not be quite as intense.  And don’t forget: SU predicts A-Rod is the next manager of the Yankees.

As promised, check out S. Goldman’s comments from earlier today:

“With the Jeter ceremony yesterday, it was nice to be reminded of the teams from 96+ (a nice diversion from the weaker performance of the 17 Yankees in 4 games against a good Astros team). Surprised not to read any SU reflections on Jeter given than everybody seems to need to weigh in on it. Here are mine:

You remember the 1996 season.  New manager, nice mix of veterans (Chili Davis, Paul O’Neil, Daryl Strawberry, etc) and the up and coming youngsters (Jeter, Pettitte, Bernie).  Well, SU is getting that feeling again with a team that I felt was a year away from really contending.  Last night’s game cemented it for me.  Chapman implodes in the 9th inning although only one hard hit ball in the inning.  SU was growing tired of Aaron Boone’s strategy comments and saying it was a no-brainer to walk Bryant to pitch to Rizzo with the bases loaded.  For the record, SU called the HBP there (naturally, only my chair and the adjacent couch can confirm that).  But here’s the thing.  In years past, you bring in Paul Quantrill with the game tied and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th to end the game quickly.  No one did that better than Quantrill – wild pitch, quick single – get the jet warmed up as it’s time to get out of there.  Girardi summoned Tyler Clippard and lo and behold, he escapes.  SU watched through the 11th but did wake up in the middle of the night to confirm that they lost.  Surprise: 5-4 win in 18 innings.

This year is different and this team is really balanced.  When healthy and able to keep Chris Carter on the bench (he is worse than I thought; Greg Bird: please stop sucking), you have a true circular line-up where everyone can make contact and even run the bases.  SU cannot express enough gratitude to Mark Texeiria for retiring and for Brian McCann moving on.  There is ball contact this year!  Soon they can bat Chase Headley 9th in the order and really take off.

Meanwhile over in Flushing, the Dark Knight was exposed for the lazy dude he is.  Think about being a starter for a major league team.  You pitch every 5th day, you walk to your position, you walk back to the dugout.  All they ask of you is to show up on days that you’re not pitching, shag some balls in the outfield during batting practice and then sit on the bench and pretend you’re not chewing and spitting tobacco.  Not that hard right?  So, it seems he played golf on Saturday, called in that he had a migraine and then claimed mis-communication.  You can see it as there really aren’t enough ways to communicate with your boss these days.  Perhaps the wind direction was not conducive to using smoke signals.  It’s not like he over-worked during the off season to shed a few pounds either.  There may be a better explanation but for now, SU sides with management.  No doubt this was an accumulation of things over some period of time.

So, how good is LeBron James?  Another 4-game sweep and scored 35+ points each game.  It’s hard to see either the Celtics or Wizards making them sweat on their way to the finals.  Golden State vs. Cleveland is worth watching although we will need to slog our way along another month to get there.

Finally, interesting to see that Brian Cashman was willing to give Girardi an out on his contract in 2013 to go to the Cubs to be their manager.  And have you seen that former Yankee utility man Clay Bellinger has a son playing for the Dodgers who is tearing it up as a rookie?  Not bad – good for him.

SU has been following the Boston – Baltimore series this week up in Fenway and it’s great to see teams that really hate each other.  First, you have the Manny Machado beanball stuff and the Red Sox pitchers’ inability to actually hit him.  SU knows this is baseball tradition – you have to protect your players.  But I say in this case, as Machado is the one who started the whole mess although obviously unintentionally when he overslid the bag and hit Pedroia in the leg, why not just stage a pre-game ceremony.  Instead of having someone throw out the first pitch, have Machado stand in the batter’s box and allow a Red Sox pitcher to hit him in the side.  Case closed, game on.

As mentioned earlier, SU says the Red Sox, of all teams, should not be complaining here given their history of throwing at Yankees hitters for years without retaliation.  Naturally, Pedro had to weigh in on the MLB Network and say that he would have drilled Machado.  Duh.  Once a head hunter, always a head hunter.  SU says great pitcher but no respect for him here.

The racist taunts towards Adam Jones were quite frankly pretty appalling as well as how other players including CC Sabathia weighed in that they had experienced the same thing over the years up in Boston.  Anyone who has gone to a game is used to the drunken fans feeling free to say whatever they want as they paid for their ticket.  SU has observed this over the years and quite frankly it’s why I will not sit in the cheap seats anymore.  It’s uncomfortable.  But no matter how vile and vicious the comments that you hear, I have never heard anything racist.  No doubt last year’s presidential political campaign has empowered some to feel they can say anything.  While the Boston fan base is mostly white, SU believes what’s happened here is just some stupid, drunken fans and is not representative of the typical crowd.  Credit to the team President for being proactive here.

Speaking of bad blood, SU says check out the Celtics – Wizards series.  These teams hate each other.  Again, that’s how it should be.  Back in the late 60s and early 70s, the Knicks and Celtics were bitter rivals.  You would never see any of the players talking to each other on the court.  The big money contracts, Dream Teams and common endorsements of sneakers has changed all that.  SU says nothing wrong with players being as passionate as the fans when it comes to rivalries.

Yankees sitting at 17 – 9 with a +45 run differential, best in the American League.  Gary Sanchez is back this weekend.  If and when Greg Bird returns to his spring training form, that means 3 young guys in the thick of the line up.  I know it’s early but this team has shown the ability to come from behind and play with passion.  Of course, you need to have starting pitching to sustain it and that remains to be seen.  Enjoy it while it lasts.

So much for the Syndegaard bulking up in the off season and not throwing program.  That was an injury waiting to happen.  As active commenter S. Goldman says, your rotation on paper never seems to translate on the field no matter how good it may look in the spring.

SU is back from a quick swing through Chicago and had the chance to visit both Wrigley Field and the United Center and their brand new offices for the teams.  The Wrigley Field area has really developed from what I recall back in the late 70s – crazy development and for the better.  New hotel going up – this will be a real must see destination in Chicago.

Thoughts for the day:

• Much was made after Manny Machado over-slid 2nd base and banged into Dustin Predoia who had to leave the game with an injured leg.  SU must say that the long-time baseball tradition of “protecting your best player” gets a little tiring.  Machado over-slid – he wasn’t trying to take him out and put him into left field.  But, of course, the Red Sox players were all up in arms.  SU note to Red Sox fans: where were you all those years when Pedro and Company were hitting Yankee hitters?  The Yankee pitchers never retaliated because of course you couldn’t hit “Big Hugs” Papi.  That was always outrageous.  SU says the Red Sox have gotten the better of this statistic for about 20 years.  I guess that’s why they were so upset with this incident – not used to it.  Anyway, their reliever over-reacted and got the suspension he deserved.  If the Red Sox are smart, they will realize that Machado is a free agent in a couple of years.  Maybe you don’t want to piss him off so he might consider the Red Sox?
• SU just read that Larry Bird has stepped down at Indiana.  Can Phil be far behind?  Another example of a great player who struggled to live up to his high playing level as a sports executive.  But his teams generally made the playoffs and were competitive.  Truth is as we all know, it’s not that easy to find guys who will actually pass the ball willingly for the betterment of the team.  I guess we will see how good Derek Jeter is soon enough once they complete the sale for the Marlins.  That will be interesting to watch.
• SU loved this quote in Harvey Araton’s column today about the Knicks in the New York Times.  He was writing about Porzingis and why he might not want to stick around NY when he becomes a free agent: “The worst thing is, he knows he didn’t get better this year,” the person said. “How could he when they bring in Derrick Rose, a point guard who doesn’t pass the ball? With Kristaps, I’m afraid they’ve gotten themselves in a very difficult situation, and I don’t know how they get out of it.”  So true about Rose; dude did not even look to pass.  All about resurrecting his career as a free agent.
• The Mets are in free fall and while it’s still early, they are already 7+ games behind the Nationals and having injury issues all over the place.  It gets late pretty early doesn’t it?  Still a long way to go but lots of bodies are breaking down.

Meanwhile, the Yankees all of a sudden have a legit looking starting rotation.  Severino has been lights out and even Pineda is keeping it together.  They are right up there in runs scored for the season but not really hitting on all cylinders and without Didi and Sanchez.  This could be good – really good.  SU needs Greg Bird to get untracked or else they should send him down to regain his confidence.  It’s actually hard to watch right now.  And Matt Holliday even got a big hit last night.  SU is still not sold on him but I am prepared to be won over.

SU knows the Yankees will not win the next 145 games in a row so I am going to enjoy this winning streak while it lasts.  A few things to keep in mind:

• As pointed out by Jeff, Chase Headley will not hit .400 this year.  I must admit it’s shocking to see him get any hits after the last few seasons.  In the past, it was jolting to ever see Headley or Brian McCann ever get a hit through the shifts.
• It’s important that Chris Carter be bad.  I do not want Girardi to platoon him with Bird at 1st base.  I know there are some Bird skeptics on the this blog but SU believes he is the real deal and will be a solid contributor who should play full-time.  So far, Carter is cooperating.
• I know Matt Holliday hit a 458-foot home run last night but he is one wild swinger.   He is a guess hitter.  SU does not like him batting 3rd — too much feast or famine.  Once Sanchez and Didi return, you can almost pick the players out of a hat to make the line-up – really won’t matter that much.
• Most importantly, unlike the last several seasons, this is a likeable team.  The players seem to enjoy one another and the youngsters make a huge difference energy wise.  Plus, the more I read about the kids down in Trenton, this could just be the beginning.  I know the Yankees over-hype their prospects but the way I look at it, most of the good ones were obtained last year in trades so they are not home grown per se.  Maybe that will be the difference and will allow them to avoid the Jesus Montero effect.

Carmelo Anthony and La La are separating:

https://hollywoodlife.com/2017/04/17/carmelo-la-la-anthony-break-up-separated-marriage-living-apart/

This means that Melo should be more open to possible trade destinations says long-time SU subscriber J. Levine.  However, SU says he may still use the “NY schools” excuse to want to stay in NY for his 10-year old son.  In the meantime, Porzingis is upset about the chaos in the organization.  SU says get over that.  He will stand to make a lot more money through endorsements in NY and hey, it can’t get any worse once they move Melo unless they bring in in Demarcus Cousins or Rajon Rondo.  The fans will love you here and they are prepared to build around you.  Man up.

Finally, a warning to Yankee YES Network viewers this week.  Al Leiter is doing the color this series.  Prepare to mute.

SU knows it’s early but the Yankees’ 7-game winning streak with both Sanchez and Didi on the DL is impressive.  I agree that in baseball, a lot of winning and losing comes down to when you play certain teams.  Look at Toronto: 2-10 and you know they are much better than that.  The Cardinals are off to a slow start and the Yankees have played 6 games vs. Tampa Bay.  But… their bullpen is airtight, they are actually getting timely hitting and the starters are showing that there are no weak links as of now in the rotation.

SU was relieved that Greg Bird got off the schnide last night with a long home run – that should get him going and keep Chris Carter chained to the bench.  What’s really more amazing is that Chase Headley is actually hitting .400 and going to the opposite field.  SU attributes that to the retirement of Mark Texeiria who had to be a bad influence on everyone with his pull at all costs mentality.  With Judge and Hicks now finding the range, the Yankees and their youngsters are becoming quite entertaining.  Hicks’ improvement this year was certainly unexpected and he is showing that he should be getting regular at bats.  Quite frankly, SU predicts that the guy who may be the least productive is going to be Matt Holliday.  And that will create a problem for Joe Girardi as he will want to play the hot hands.

The Mets blew three games over the weekend as their bullpen was exposed without Famillia.  Their rotation is still lights out but they were exposed a bit down in Miami.  It would be great to have both teams in the mix come September.

SU has to comment on the umpiring in last night’s Yankee game.  First, Judge’s home run was clearly a home run.  Did MLB not have anyone working the replay room last night?  The decision took over 5 minutes and then they awarded a triple to Judge for fan interference?  Second, there was a force play at 2nd base where the infielder clearly just dropped the ball but the umpire said he was taking the ball out of his glove.  Is that not reviewable?  Again, not even close to what happened there.  Finally, there was a fan interference call down in the right field corner where the umpires ruled that the Cardinals’ right fielder would have caught the ball.  Again, not even close as the outfielder made no attempt to catch it – pulled up.  SU says we are not that far away from electronic umpiring for balls and strikes and everything else.  And I have always maintained that umpires get the close plays wrong more than 50% of the time.

Long-time SU subscriber B. Levine commented that the Golden State Warriors should not be rewarded for stacking the roster with Durant.  Thoughts?  SU says they are fun to watch and I generally root for them.  But apparently many do not.

Finally, Phil Jackson appears to have made up his mind to deal Carmelo.  Of course, he had no leverage now and will not get good trade value from the handful of teams that Melo will even consider.  Who is at fault here?  Melo or Phil?  And is Jackson the one that should go?

OK, so SU is not totally enthused about this year’s playoffs.  I have shared my lack of interest in this year’s NBA season and several of you have weighed in to show why I should be more jazzed.  I am prepared to get involved and stick with the long slog over the next 2 and a half months til the season ends in mid-June.  As we know, the 1st round takes about 2 weeks as teams play every 3-4 days.  SU’s thoughts on what you should keep an eye on as well as our fearless predictions:

• Golden State vs. Portland: these teams do not like each other and Portland is very cocky.  This is a good series to watch in the first round.  True rivals with bad blood.  No Big Papi big hugs here.
• Houston vs OKC: a mano a mano match up of Harden and Westbrook should be entertaining.  This could be the all-time battle of ball control players.  Definitely worth a look.
• Milwaukee vs. Toronto: this is the SU special for a possible upset.  Jason Kidd has the Bucks playing well.  They are a threat.

I don’t see anyone beating Golden State out west.  They will advance to the finals without any stress.  I don’t think Cleveland makes it to the finals this year – keep an eye out for the Wizards.  And the Cleveland loss opens the door for the Carmelo trade in the off season.  SU is feeling strongly about this and I don’t care if the move makes sense.  This is about playing with your friends and superstars calling the shots.  But Golden State will win it all in the end come summer.  Just not sure my interest level can hang in there for the long journey.

Big admission of the day: SU watched the last half period of the Rangers opening playoff game the other night.  End to end action; few stoppages in play.  Good stuff.  SU also did a comparison of regular season records between the NHL and the NBA.  Did you see that the Islanders at 41-29 did not make the playoffs?  Neither did Tampa Bay at 42-30.  Compare that to the NBA where .500 record teams are in the mix.  Very odd.

Yankees have righted the ship with 4 straight wins as a variety of players are contributing.  Greg Bird is torturing me – he just needs to get untracked.  Love the way Aaron Hicks has taken advantage of his chance to play and SU hopes he can light a fire under Ellsbury or at least threaten some of his playing time.  There is nothing better than a little competition to make guys uncomfortable and play a little harder.  SU has even watched some Met games of late and they are hitting now with Cespedes in the middle of one of his torrid streaks.  I must say his home runs are not cheapies.  I am still struggling staying awake for a full Yankee game but I am down to 1 brief nap per game now which is an improvement over my early season average of 2 per game.  Yankee games are soooooo long and slow moving.

OK, any thoughts about NBA playoff champs?  Anyone ready to go with an upset?  And NHL fans: rather than always complain that SU ignores hockey, here is your chance.  Plenty of room to comment.

SU doesn’t want to jinx him but you might want to check this out this afternoon.