MLB avoided a major ongoing controversy by having the Mets prevail in the NLDS over the Dodgers.  Yes, SU is talking about Chase Utley.  As we all know, the blown call on the Utley slide would not have guaranteed victory for the Mets in game 2 as it was still in the 7th inning and a 1-run lead.  But if the Dodgers had won last night, that would have been the key play of the series.  Now Utley can serve his suspension at the start of the 2016 season.  SU asks: has a suspension ever been increased upon appeal?  That would be a nice development and appropriate in this instance.

DeGrom was gutsy last night as he was on the brink of being lifted several times.  Syndegaard must have pitched about 14 innings worth of pitches warming up in the bullpen.  SU likes how Terry Collins rolled the dice by going with Famillia for 2 innings and left himself open to be second-guessed.  Clearly, he has been studying the Joe Torre post-season handbook.  Funny how that works.  It’s not a huge story when it works but if Famillia had imploded, this would have had legs right into spring training and could even have cost Collins his job in the off-season.

Lucas Duda did his A-Rod post-season impersonation but really took it to another level of badness.  SU asks this question: when they are over-shifting against you and all you can seem to do is strike out, why not practice bunting in your spare time and surprise them with a bunt double?  Duda has plenty of company across baseball.  They are just giving it to you and if you are successful enough, they will stop shifting.  You do not need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.

SU hates the Jose Bautista bat flip.  I am not so old school that any emotion is a bad thing.  Quite the contrary – the curtain calls in the dugout are fine and it’s just a game – have some fun.  But he flipped it at the Rangers’ dugout.  And this is a dude who goes crazy if you pitch him even a little inside as he stands right on top of the plate.  Of course, everyone admires his late career productivity with the long ball.  Clearly a result of extra time in the weight room.  The Blue Jays are a nice story and it’s great for Canada but he needs to tone it down.

Finally, SU is fired up for Michigan – Michigan State tomorrow.  ESPN Game Day will be in Ann Arbor as will long-time SU subscriber S. Levine and her classmates.  It’s great for the rivalry and the Big Ten.  Jim Harbaugh has made Michigan football watchable again.  I don’t love the QB but they have a great defense and a lot of confidence.  Go Blue!

As you know, SU is a lifelong Yankee fan and in most years, I would not be rooting for the Mets in the post-season.  However, I like this year’s team: young; plays with energy; and to me they are generally a likeable bunch (Matt Harvey excluded).  I happened to be watching late Saturday night when Chase Utley did his thing to Reuben Tejada.  Outrageous.  SU’s take on things:

• To say Utley was within reach of 2nd base when he rolled into Tejada is a joke.  If Tejada was in centerfield, Utley would have been there.  He was nowhere near 2nd base.
• It wasn’t a slide.  It was a rolling block that you would more typically see on a football field.  He started his block either on top of 2nd base or just past it.
• Where were the announcers?  Where was the outrage?  It was nowhere remotely legal in baseball terms.  And who cares if Chase Utley has a reputation of being a hard-nosed player?  As far as SU is concerned, his legacy is now that he was a dirty player.  Hey, he won his team a playoff game.  Congrats.
• The umpires should have called it play over and the runner out at 2nd base for not even attempting to slide into the bag.  That is called many times during the season.  How could they miss that here?  If the Dodgers go on to win this series and ultimately the World Series, their championship will be tainted.  Of course, if the Mets had a reliever who could have ended the inning, we would not be as focused on this.

What will happen tonight?  Joe Torre made a smart move suspending Utley and you know it will be upheld before game time.  It’s great that Matt Harvey is starting tonight as he is the type of guy who takes care of these things.  The Yankees really don’t have a pitcher who does that (paging Roger Clemens).  SU says the easiest way to resolve it is to hit Howie Kendrick – their 2nd baseman or their shortstop.  The problem is that in a 5-game playoff series, you really don’t want to risk that guy scoring.  It’s an interesting dilemma for the Mets but they need to resolve it quickly.

And if that was Derek Jeter having his leg broken, the nature of the conversation would have been totally different.  I still don’t understand how the announcers were not more outraged.  I mean Cal Ripken played shortstop for about 40 years.

The two National League divisional series are so much more interesting than the AL this year.  Must see TV.

No drama, no magic, no energy.  Last night’s Yankee game played out the same way many of their games had since mid-August.  Falling behind early felt like a 10-0 hole.  SU would liken this to game 6 in the 2003 World Series when Josh Beckett shut out the Yankees 2-0 for the Florida Marlins in the final game of the series.  Andy Pettitte kept it close but they just could not score or mount anything.  A few observations:

• Jacoby Ellsbury did not deserve to start.  For all of September, he hit .200 with no homeruns and 3 rbis.  Not bad if you are making $22 million a year.  SU never liked this signing: the guy never plays a full season and for the money and production, you could get someone much cheaper.  But this is not a movable contract – he will be here for the next several years.
• Brett Gardner is worn down from the season.  Can you believe he was an All-Star and was batting .300?  Same for McCann who caught too many games which was too bad as John Ryan Murphy is capable.
• Chase Headley and Stephen Drew: this will be SU’s memory of this season.  Unproductive, unclutch.
• The 3 core relievers also wore down – especially Betances.
• Tanaka was ok and sure, the umpire was terrible but when you can’t score, everything else is magnified

The one positive from the evening for SU were the frank remarks by Brian Cashman after the game.  As he has aged, he has been speaking frankly more and more.  That give me hope he will look to make some moves in the off season although truth be told (and at SU, we seek to tell the truth), they have a number of long term contracts that limit what can be done.  If Texeiria returns as expected, where do you even play Greg Bird with A-Rod at DH?  He has no position.  Ackley and Refsnyder can share 2nd base and they can upgrade from Chris Young and get a right-handed hitting 4th outfielder.  Severino is exciting with a lot of upside.  Maybe you sign David Price?  But those long term deals always end badly (see CC Sabathia and the 2 years left on his deal).

Bottom line: this was a boring team.  SU needs to be entertained and another year with this roster in 2016 won’t cut it.  Time to eat some money and move some people.  Get younger.  I know – I am a broken record – but I am right about this team and have been from the start.

Look forward to those ratings for the Astros – Royals series!

Let’s Go Mets!

Breaking News from long-time SU subscriber T. Potter.  CC Sabathia is checking himself into an alcohol rehab program and is out for the balance of the season.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/3149/cc-sabathia

Well, that’s not good.  He had actually moved up in the pecking order for post-season starts.  Not looking good for the bombers.

OK, the statistics are there: late season momentum apparently has no bearing on playoff success in baseball.  History shows that “hot” teams go cold come October and struggling teams all of a sudden show new life and go on a run.  Many managers believe in resting their regulars and could care less about home field advantage (see Joe Torre and it’s hard to argue with his success with the Yankees).  The reality is that teams can get hot at the right time and adrenaline just takes over as Buck Showalter believes.  So, what will happen in 2015?

SU picked the St. Louis Cardinals to win it all back in April and I don’t believe in changing a preseason pick if it is still in play.  But here is how things will play out:

American League

The Yankees are running on fumes.  They have truly limped into the playoffs.  It’s not Joe Girardi’s fault.  He is dealing with the hand he was dealt by Brian Cashman and let’s face it – their bullpen is really thin.  You have starters that cannot go more than 5-6 innings and that ultimately placed too much pressure on the three relievers who can actually get people out.  You combine that with your $160 million bust of a centerfielder in Jacoby Ellsbury and your over-rated 3rd baseman in Chase Headley and you are in trouble.  Houston will throw a legitimate left-hander on Tuesday in Keuchel albeit on 3 days rest but the reality is that any left-hander can shut the Yankees down.  They have played sub-.500 since the All-Star Game and without Greg Bird, they would have likely missed the playoffs.  One and done and if they get behind early, that will do it with little drama.  SU is accused of being overly negative about the Yankees but they have earned it.  Brian McCann has the worst average in all of baseball since the All-Star Game (.199), Brett Gardner has the 3rd worst and A-Rod is 4th.  No doubt Ellsbury is right in there as well.  Headley just can’t do anything with RISP.  The Astros are playing with house money and their best days are in front of them.

Toronto takes Texas in 4 games, and KC sweeps the Astros.  Then, Toronto over KC for the pennant.

National League

SU would have preferred to see the Mets get home field vs. the Dodgers but so be it.  I actually think the Dodgers will feel the pressure to win this year and that makes the offense struggle just a little more.  This may not be the Mets’ time just yet with their young pitching staff but I think they win the Division Series in 5 games as LA once again comes up short.  The Pirates will beat the Cubs in the wild card game (which is a great match-up).  Cardinals over the Pirates and then they beat the Mets in the LCS in a rematch of 2006.

Finally, St. Louis over Toronto for the World Series with scarily low ratings outside of St. Louis and Toronto.

Anyone disagree?  Anyone feeling like the Yankees have a run in them?  Feel free to weigh in and go on the record.  If you are right, SU will give the appropriate props come early November and you can bask in the glow of being right.

SU is preparing to issue its MLB playoff predictions.  However, the editorial staff felt that the intergalactic subscriber base might first be interested in what SU said back in April for the 2015 season:

In the American League, this feels like a wide open field.  Many of the experts are picking Seattle but SU is not feeling that.  They are still offensively challenged and while Nelson Cruz is a big addition, you know he will immediately go into a funk hitting in spacious SafeCo Field.  The AL East actually has a fair amount of parity.  Many are high on Toronto but they seem to always come up with some unexpected injuries and fade by June.  The Red Sox added offense but their pitching has lots of question marks including a season starting hamstring injury to the world’s most annoying closer (Uehara).  The Rays are truly bad and the Yankees, well, we will get to them in a second.  The Orioles lost some guys but get others back from injury.  SU sees them taking the division.

Watch out for the White Sox in the Central with the pick-ups of David Robertson and Melky Cabrera (long-time SU fave).  Out West, the A’s are worse and Texas is terrible which helps to have a Wild Card come out of that division.  SU will go with the Angels.  Wild cards will be Seattle and Detroit.  Look for the Tigers to add some pieces come trade deadline and make it to the World Series this year.

As for the Yankees, Tanaka is already saying his velocity will be down this year.  Not a good sign.  By his 2^nd start, that will go out the window and he will be throwing full throttles which will then lead to injury.  There is just no way he is finishing the season.  CC was rocked all spring, Pineda never makes all of his starts and SU believes the bullpen without Robertson is not a sure thing.  Offensively, blecch.  A-Rod is the most interesting aspect of the line-up.  By the way, he will win the Comeback Player of the Year Award (or MLB’s newest award: “Best Season by a Former PED User”).  Look for an 82-80 record and tons of empty seats by July.

In the National League, SU is intrigued by the Mets.  Many say they are still a year away and have lots of holes offensively and in the bullpen.  But those can be plugged as the season unfolds and if Granderson can go back to his AL hitting ways, this team can win some low scoring games with strong starting pitching.  SU sees an 88-74 season and more importantly, a Wild Card in their future as they finish behind everyone’s favorites, the Washington Nationals.  And yes, the Mets take over the town and the back pages.  This is the year as the Yankees are truly, truly uninteresting.

The Giants win in the even years and it’s St. Louis in the odd ones.  Cardinals take the Central and the Dodgers win the West.  The Pirates will grab the other wild card spot.  St. Louis over Detroit in the World Series.  OK, enough of that – too exhausting.  SU has never liked doing the preseason stuff but feels obligated to help the intergalactic fan base.

OK, my American League predictions were a shambles – plain and simple.  But certainly respectable for the National League.  The analytics staff is already busy running models for this year’s playoffs.  Tune back in Sunday for that.

So, the question some may ask of Yankee fans is the following: Is making the playoffs as a Wild Card this year a successful season?  SU would say it’s not a successful season.  Did they surpass my expectations?  Yes, because the roster that Cashman gave Girardi was old and overly left-handed.  Think about it.  If not for unexpectedly strong years by Texeira and A-Rod, they would likely be a sub-.500 team.  Can anything happen in the playoffs for a wild card team?  Of course, and we have seen that time and time again of late.  But without Tex’s right-handed bat in the middle of the line-up, they are really vulnerable to left-handed pitching as we have seen in August and September.

What is more troubling is that the Yankees face the same pitchers over and over again and are unable to make an adjustment to improve their performance.  David Price, RA Dickey, Rodriguez on the Red Sox, the list goes on and on.  SU believes that whoever the Yankees face in the wild card game, that team will throw out any left-handed pitcher – even a 4th or 5th starter.  Tanaka will keep the game close but in the end, it will be another frustrating loss.  The good news is that we got a glimpse of some youngsters this year and hopefully there will be more of a commitment to play them next season.  There is a reason that the Yankees are not selling out these last home games – the team is uninspiring.  Stay tuned for SU’s fearless baseball playoff predictions as well as a comparison with our preseason picks.  Always interesting especially if we were reasonably close.

SU has had some time in the car of late and flipped back and forth between Michael Kay and the Imperious One, Mike Francesa.  I have always been a Michael Kay fan but now that he shares time with Don Lagrecca and Dave Rothenberg, they just babble on about non-sports related things.  They have become unlistenable and that’s too bad.  It’s too bad because I am forced to listen to “Miked Up” and him talking in triplicate.  Truth be told, the way he repeats everything is actually entertaining and I am starting to think he may be doing this on purpose for people like me.  Definitely hitting rock bottom.

SU is excited about the Michigan football resurgence as they have once again cracked the top 25.  I am still not thrilled with the QB, Jake Rudock, as he is a poor man’s Ryan Fitzpatrick at best, but the defense is solid and Jim Harbaugh has brought back the enthusiasm from the fan base.  It’s shaping up to be an exciting college football season as no team is that dominant and the SEC is not quite the sure thing of years past.

SU congratulates the Mets on wrapping up the Eastern Division in fine style.  Clearly, there was no reason to be nervous about another late season collapse.  The offense is once again clicking (games against the Reds and Phillies are very good for that) and they should now look to get home field advantage in that first round series with the Dodgers.  SU says that is huge.  Having the extra game at Citifield could be the difference in winning the first round of the playoffs.  They should not adopt the Joe Torre approach of resting half your regulars every game but rather keep the foot on the gas and get the better record.

Meanwhile, SU was was very, very disappointed to learn that the reason Stephen Drew was being held out of the line-up the last 2 weeks was because he’s been feeling dizzy, not because he was benched.  Now, Girardi/Cashman may still put him on the post-season roster.  How can this be?  I was positive they had finally seen the light and at a minimum would play Ackley ahead of him and maybe even Refsnyder over Brendan Ryan.  It’s time to sacrifice a little defense to get some more offense.  How can they not see that?

SU subscriber Mark N. is wating for more NFL commentary.  The Jets fell back to earth against a very pedestrian Eagles team yesterday.  Chip Kelly may think he is the smartest guy in the room but last time I looked, his play calling is not a whole lot different from any other team.  I like the Jets’ new coach – guy keeps it cool and has a plan.  But 6-10 still feels about right for them this year.

SU asks: how do the so-called NFL experts feel when their preseason predictions are so wrong after just 3 games?  SI’s choice to win the Super Bowl, Baltimore, is 0-3.  It just goes to show that the average fan is not that far behind the people that do this for a living.

Interesting article in the New York Times yesterday about DraftKings:

They advertise so much today on many sports events. Somehow this is not considered to be gambling.  But an interesting read on how the experts play it and make money.

Finally, this headline on espn.com should make all Knick fans nervous:

Carmelo Anthony offers to be ‘big brother’ to Kristaps Porzingis

Met fans are nervous but SU has seen this before.  Think back to the Yankees in 2000.  They had a big lead and Joe Torre took his foot off the gas pedal.  He started resting guys, putting out the Clay Bellinger line-up and getting his starting pitchers lined up for the playoffs.  A huge lead got down to as little as 1.5 games before they made it to the finish line.  However, the playoffs were tough in that first series against Oakland before they got rolling to win yet another world championship.

Terry Collins has not done that with the Mets but the Matt Harvey innings limit has produced the same situation.  Harvey has become a distraction and going to the 6-man rotation is not helping anyone as of yet.  The offense had been smoking hot but in baseball, those things come and go.  They are now limping home but the Nationals just aren’t good enough to mount a challenge.  They will ease in just fine and be ready  for a spirited first round with the Dodgers.  SU says no way is Washington making a charge here.

The Yankees lost the season series to Toronto 13-6 and that is the difference in the Eastern Division race.  The Blue Jays are a better offensive team plain and simple.  SU says you can’t blame the Texeiria injury – Greg Bird has put up more than comparable offensive numbers and is good in the field as well.  The killer injury for the Yankees was having to shut down Eovoldi and putting Warren in the rotation.  That has left the Yankees one reliever short in the bullpen to pitch the 6th inning and now Girardi has been forced to pitch many of the youngsters in high pressure situations.  And to be honest, none of the youngsters has stepped up and differentiated themselves.  No doubt great experience for future years but they are not ready for prime time as of now.  To cap it off, you had to rely on Andrew Bailey last night in a key situation.  None of the relievers that pitched last night would have even appeared in a game in August.

Wild card games are a crapshoot.  SU would not be overly confident but I suppose it’s better to make that game than not.  As long as Stephen Drew is left off the playoff roster.

The Yankees surprised SU by taking 2 of 3 from the Mets and all of a sudden, there is real nervousness in Flushing.  SU can understand it as there is a recent history of blowing late season leads but come on, 6 game lead with 16 to go?  SU says in the bag and get ready for October.

Finally, Stephen Drew is out of the line up.  How is that possible?  Thank goodness for Dustin Ackley.  It’s about time that Drew has to earn his at bats.  His comments all year about just putting his work in and doing his thing as if on-field performance is irrelevant.  Well, now you can be a 9th inning replacement and we will see if he even makes the post-season roster.  CC is all of a sudden the go-to ace on the staff.  Apparently, the new knee brace lets him pitch inside to righties on the follow through.  Hey, whatever it takes.  On the other hand, SU has been down this road before only to see the Yankees revert to their non-offensive ways.  But with Bird and Ackley, at least there is some new blood in the line up.  Now if they can just find a way to replace Chase Headley…

The NY Giants are just too painful to watch right now.  At best, they are a mediocre team in a terrible division.  What makes it worse is that 9-7 will probably win the division and they have blown 2 winnable games.  No lead will feel safe now for the rest of the season.

Long-time SU subscriber A. Grossman posted this comment today in response to a blog posting from several weeks ago but we were able to track it down for your enjoyment:

“Distractions can lead to disaster.
Let the Met’s have a good portion of the back page. It’s always fresh for the public to see something fresh… not the same ole news. The manager’s job right now is to keep the team focused on the task at hand. This is new for all of them. The Yanks, however have enough veterans and a very conscious manager to keep things just moving along. The Yanks have already matched what Las Vegas gave them back in April in the win column. It appears they will most likely exceed that number by at least 5 which means they need to play 500 ball the rest of the way. Besides the Toronto series I expect the other opposing teams which are out of the race will experiment now with pitchers coming up from Triple A. Unfortunately we will need to keep our pedal to the metal. This coming series against the Bluejays will determine how far down on the pedal we will need to go.

PS   I do not want to stain this reply so no talk about how the NY Giants set an NFL record by opening up a season with two 10 point leads going into the 4th quarter and losing both games. Congrats “Pale” Blue”

Met fans: care to weigh in?  Are you feeling the pressure or can you acknowledge that it’s just the ways of baseball and that even the hottest teams cool for a few games?