This Week on the Blog

Alright, the Yanks possibly faity tail ending has been erased, the the Giants Plaxed their feet this week, but, the Rangers will start their preseason on Tuesday and the Knicks will finally start camp, while the Giants regroup and the Yanks continue to go out quietly.

Yanks: The dream is over, so I'd just as soon they keep losing late while improving their draft postion.   Yes, I'd love to see Sanchez pass 20, but the other kids are just not getting enough chances to develop real traction, and more and more it doesn't seem like Girardi is the man for this transition.  We'll see what happens there.  Down on the farm, Instructs are starting and most of the top prospects will be playing down there, including, perhaps, Jame Kaprielian who has been throwing BP.  So that would be great.

Giants: the Giants have to regroup after this disaster, and all three of Eli Apple, DRC and OBJ got dinged in this game, and Snacks was also in and out a bit.  So, some physical healing will be required along with the mental healing and education that must take place before they face the Vikings.  Btw, the Vikings always give the Giants, and specifically Eli, trouble.  So McAdoo has his work cut out for him.  This Dan Reeves playcalling is not gonna work.

The Rangers: The Blushirts will start their preseason against the Isles on Tuesday, and it will be our first chance to see Mika Z, Vesey, and Pavel Buchnevich (unless AV scratches him) with their Ranger teammates.  Interestinglt, Jacob Trouba is demanding a trade and is the kind of guy the Rangers can use, but they may not have a match.  I'm still surprised they haven't traded for a puck mover.

Knicks: the Knicks will start training camp this week, and with all the new parts, new coach Jeff Hornacek will have his work cut out for him.   Still, given health, the parts shouldn't have much trouble meshing, since three of the presumptive starting 5 are already selfeless, and both Melo and Rose can be. It will also be a big camp for the young Euro's who will join Kristaps and perhaps give us a sense of the next core.  We'll see.  Should be fun.

So, at least we have the Knicks and Rangers back, if not winning streaks for the Giants and Yanks.  I hope the rest of the week is better than today was for all of you.

Giants Show Relationship Between Converatism and Stupidity and Lose

Today, Coach McAdoo showed himself to be no different than Tuna, Fassel or TC.  He absolutely let one get away that the Giants should have easily won.  First, the Washington team was down two DBs from the first series or so, and Coach McAdoo did not attack. Instead, he channeled Dan Reeves and put the brakes on his own stallions.  What's more, the team kept turning the ball - or the Duke, as he likes to call it, over.  And Eli threw two picks between the hashmarks, where he apparently cold not see defenders waiting to pounce.  He also missed a wide up OBJ who was waiving for an easy TD.  Horrible game for Eli.  And Shepard had his first drop.  Also, the Washington team was awarded a TD when one angle clearly showed the ball touching the ground.  All is all a crapfest.  But the personal fouls, which are all attributably to a lack of poise, and the turnovers killed the Giants, AT HOME, today, and McAdoo is the prime culprit.

Of course, Tuna, Fassel and TC all took the Giants to Superbowls, so this may not be the end of the world, but PF's and Turnovers were never a sustainable model for the Giants, and they won't start to be now.  Thus, they had better clean it up before they play another game.

Giants Today

Under Bill Parcells, Jim Fassel and Tom Coughlin, the Giants would occasionally lose games to teams they should beat.  We'll see what it's like today, but this is a game the Giants really should win, even with Jennings and Newhouse out.  It's time for Eli to use OBJ, Cruz and Shep to crush a team.   As we saw last year, Norman can be beaten.  They need to beat him like a drum today and just humiliate these prestenders who only won the divsion last year because everyone else was injured.  Theit name remains an embarrasment to our nation, let alone a vile insult to this land's rightful owners.   So, c'mon Giants, kick their asses.

Rangers Start Camp

The Rangers will finally open camp later this morning, and it will probably start with a conditioning skate as well as physicals  The big surprise, so far is that the Rangers have not made an overt move to help their D.  Sure, they added Holden, and Skjei will most likely make the team.  But they still have two expensive placeholders in Girardi and Staal, and they've done nothing to add a puck mover, which should have been their first order of business after they passed on Keith Yandle.  Maybe something can still be done, as they have a plethora of Forwards and the need for only 12-15.

Speaking of Forwards,  four of the most interesting players in camp will no doubt be Vesey, Buchnevich, Kovaks and Strollman. They've all shown a lot to get excited about, and while the first pair are most likely to make the team, the Swedes could electrify the AHL while they're there.

At Center, Boo Nieves seems to have really improved.  Not only is he bigger and stronger, but he's still a great and speedy skater.  He may or may not make the team.  Mika Zibanejad will have a chance to make Gorton look like a genius -- or not if the fit's not there.  Beyond that Stepan will be back as the 1 or 1A, while the third C will be Hayes, with Oscar (when he gets back), Jooris, and maybe JT Miller waiting in the wings.  JT still has a C's game, but is probably bound for a wing.  Steven Fogarty is likely to start the season in the AHL, though his solid play in both ends could make him an ideal 4th line stalwart.

The D will probably be McD and Skjei, Klein and McIlrath, Girardi and Staal, unless they want to spread out the risk but pairing each liability with a younger skater, with Holden being the 7th guy.  No one from the farm seems ready, though Graves could become so at some point this year, and John Gilmour, the less celebrated college kid the Rangers signed this offseason, was sharp in the Traverse City Tourney and could make a move.

They'll probably pace Hank through the preseason and have Raanta, Hellberg and Skapski getting most of the work.  Skapski still has upside if he's healthy.  Halverson and Malcolm will also get some work but are further off.

Most of the recent draftpicks will also be on hand and it should be a spirited camp, given how many players have a lot they need to prove.

And I still expect a trade for a puckmoving D.

Yanks Farm Stuff

Last night, the promotion and trade (Ben Gamel) depleted SWB RailRiders won the AAA championship by beating the team from the PCL. Jordan Montgomery got the win, and received sparkling relief from Coke and Gio Gallegos, who has turned himself into a top tier reliever.  The job Al Pedrique and the coaches did was nigh on phenomenal.  They lost Sanchez, Judge, Austin, Green, Cessa and others to promotion and Ben Gamel, the IL MVP to a trade for a couple of kid pitchers. Eventually, they also lost Williams and the only real talent they added was Clint Frazier, who by his own admission, was pressing upon his arrival.  Still he had a couple of hits in the championship game and is heading to instructs for his fuller Yankee indoctrination.

I think the AA playoffs are still going on for Trenton and Justus Sheffield has been promoted to pitch for them.

And Kaprielian threw his second BP yesterday, tossing 30 pitches.  So things are progressing.

One area of coming concern is the fact that neither Dietrich Enns, nor Higgy has been added to the 40 yet and both are MLB ready and deserve the promotions.  It would truly suck to lose that kind of talent in the rule 5, so let's hope they get them squared away soon.  Higgy's really important because as Sanchez establishes himself as a premiere power hitter, they'll need someone to play C, and at this point, Higgy's the best defensive C and his offense finally blossomed this year, now that he's past all the injuries.

Meanwhile, wouldn't it be great if the MLB Yanks had a coaching staff that could help them overachieve?

Giants Move to 2-0

The Giants just beat the Saints 16-13 without scoring on Offense. As preposterous as that sounds, it was even more preposterous to see.  OBJ dropped two TD passes he had to catch.  Cruz was mugged at the goal line: no call.  And they kept trying to run with Vereen down there.   Also, at one point in the first half, the Giants turned the ball over three times in a row on fumbles by Jennings, Cruz and Vereen.   So the big play of the game was made by Janoris Jenkins who scooped and scored a 64 yard TD off a blocked FG.  He also made some plays all over the field.

The defense was impressive for most of the game, though they started to give up chunks toward the end.  They could really turn into something special if they can avoid injuries.

Apple, Shepard and Thompson continued to impress, with Sterling going for 8 and 117.   Cruz did set up the winning FG with an heroic catch he had to battle for at the 2, but was also fouled a lot and had the fumble. OBJ had a bunch of catches, but the two drops and also drew 2 PI's.   He's so much better than that.  Once all three are fully activated, we won't have to worry about scoring and might even start throwing the ball more.

Big win.  Have to be the rascists from Washington next week.

This Week on the Blog

Hope we didn't jinx the Yankees.  And let's hope they can hang on and win today.  A lot is still possible if they do.  This week started out great with the Giant win, we'll know tomorrow if they can keep it going at their home opener.  Some Rangers and Ranger prospects are playing in tournaments.  And the Knicks are working out with Melo in various spots around the globe.

Yankees: the Yanks blew a big one Thursday, and it's easy to second guess Girardi's bullpen decisions in that one, though Betances is going through one of those periods that are the only reasons he even has an ERA.  The Yanks need him back if they're gonna press the issue.  Ellsbury's back in the tank, and they should be willing to move him down the order.  Oh, and Castro hurt his leg hustling out a double.  It appears to be the dreaded hamstring.  These guys really need to learn about hydration.  Anyway, they've been entertaining, and have probably made it impossible to have a protected pick (unless the rules change) so they might as well go balls out for the playoffs or be spoilers.

Giants: Drew Brees has put up historical numbers against the Giants, and their new D is going to get a huge test tomorrow.  Unlike Prescott, they know all about Brees.  Unfortunately both JPP and Vernon are nicked up and just probable, we'll need big games from them.  Also, the Giants will probably need to open up the playbook and throw more than they did last week. Hopefully, they've got a better plan than they did last year, because that was sickening.

Rangers: The Traverse City tournament is in full swing and the Rangers just lost game 2 in OT to the Canes, and Saarela was playing for them.  I believe they won game one 6-0 or something.  It's been hard to get info. Meanwhile, I do know that Jimmy Vesey has scored goals in both games, and I think Robin Kovacs has, too.  In the World Cup,  Stepan had a big goal the other day, though it was in the exhibition phase of the proceedings.   The real games has started and will really have to go some to top the 1996 Tourney which was probably my hockey highlight between the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup and this playoff run they've had. Other Rangers are taking part in optional skates.  Camp will start at some point.

Knicks: I think Melo took them to Puerto Rico or something. They had previously been working out at Melo's gym in NYC.  Like the Rangers, Knicks camp has to start at some point.  There's been some chatter about adding of veteran F.

So there we are.  Everything is must win, even this Yankee game which looks like it's about to be tied.  UGH.  I hope all of you have a great week, even if this one is going out with a whimper.

Yanks Call Up Mason Williams

Because of the injury to Aaron Judge, the Yanks have called up Mason Williams.  I was a little disappointed when he wasn't called up on 9/1, but with Hicks, Gardy and Ells around they can only take so many I guess.  Refs is barely getting AB's and no one great is blocking him.

Anyway, Mason, if he can stay healthy, will have a much better MLB career than MiLB career, which was marred by injuries and some growing up issues.  He started to become the tooled up CF the Yanks believed he'd be two years ago and forced a promotion last year, but then hurt his shoulder and missed much of this year.  He is immediately the best defensive OF on the team, and that include Gardy and Ells, and his offensive upside is still there, and will probably play up in YS and now that he's grown into his talent.  I'm really glad he's getting this chance, though I'm disappointed that it's because Judge got hurt.

Giants Win!

Giants just barely avoided a replay of almost all of last year's games as they held off Dallas 20-19 when Dallas ran out of time before they could take a shot at a field goal.  This was one of those Giant/Dallas games that no one can really feel too good about afterward.  However; the rookies who did dress and play were all impressive, even though Sterling had a botch or two to go along with his TD and big grabs.  Donnell and the resurgent Victor Cruz scored the other two TD's.  The rent-a-kicker missed an extra point, and the Giants got too conservative at times.

Having said that, the OL, which I have gone off on for the past few years, looked good in the 4th quater and it's something they can maybe build on, though they did also have a few penalties and bad plays before that.  The DL looks like it will be able to stop the run, but the LB's sure look susceptible to the short pass and TE's.  Perhaps when Darian Thompson returns as a starter he can get them squared away on those plays.

Still, a HUGE WIN, and a great way for Coach McAdoo to start his tenure.  First Giant coach ever to win in Dallas in his first game.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, it was a great week for the Yanks and they've got to keep it going.   The Giants start today and they've got to get it going.  The Knicks and Rangers are holding informal workouts and they'll be getting there camps going soon.  Let's hope for another week of just wins

Giants: The McAdoo Era really begins in earnest as the Giants have travelled to Dallas to take on the symbols of all that is wrong with America.  Not really sure what the Giants are, yet, because Coach McAdoo seemed to be keeping everything underwraps and too vanilla during the preseason.  I don't think he's paranoid, but he really does seem to want to keep things like tendancies and who'll be calling the plays under wraps.  Does anyone really think we're gonna try to run right in a game that matters?  Meanwhile, the defense should be much, much improved and they're going to have to get off to a hot start.  The Giants have historically made most backups they've faced look like Unitas.   They can't do that today, they need to stop Dak early, or he'll be a legend by halftime.  Btw, I have nothing against that young man and was pissed when he went to Dallas in the 4th round.   We'll see who the playmakers are today.

Yanks:  Yankees just need to keep doing what they are doing.  The AAA and AA teams are all in the playoffs.  Charleston may be, too. So the whole organization has been improved and energized by that was done in July.  I wasn't counting on playoffs this year, but it would be an absolute benefit for the kids.

Rangers:  The Rangers still have to trade for D. Also, the Traverse City Tourney is starting soon, and I guess a few Rangers like Hank are gonna play World Cup.

Knicks: Derrick Rose is sticking by his testimony.  Phil Jackson's latest talks have been cogent.  Can't wait for camp to start.

Have a great week, everyone.  Go Giants! Go Yanks!

This Week on the Blog

Well it's cutdown day for the Giants, so let's hope they are making the right decisions.  Meanwhile the Yanks have suddenly been seeming, to, along with the Knicks and the Rangers have been getting busy.  Let's take a look.

Giants: The Giants have to get down to 53 today, which should be easy enough from what we've seen.  They also have to keep trying to improve, especially on the OL which is the horror movie we've been expecting it to be.  We can talk about the roster as it takes shape over the course of the next few days.  I'm hoping guys like Deayon, Milhouse and Coprich make it to the P-Squad.

Yanks:  The Yankees called up Jonathan Holder, even though he didn't have to be added to the 40 to stay out of the Rule V.  This lead me to start thinking that the Yanks are becoming a meritocracy again, as they were from the 20s to the 50s.  And which lead them to cleaning up.  They also picked up  three more interesting arms and an undersized OF with some pop, in return for Gamel and Nova.  Nice stuff. And it should be a really productive offseason if the recent values hold.

Rangers: The Rangers still haven't made their trade for D, but they did promote Chris Drury to AGM from director of player development. He was apparently instrumental in getting Jimmy Vesey on board.  We'll have to see how he progresses.  Some people have some residual resentment left over from his sudden decline as a Ranger, but he grew up a Ranger fan, so maybe there's some destiny involved.

Knicks: Chad Ford gave them a B- for the offseason. You think Phil cares?  I don't either.  We just need health from the ex-bulls and development from the young bigs and this should be a really fun year.

Have a great week, and a wonderful holiday weekend.