This Week on the Blog

Alright, this was a pretty frustrating week.  The Yanks now face elimination because they've left the world on base.  The Giants did have a game.  The Rangers finally had two games and lost them both and the Knicks wrapped up their pre-season.  Let's hope for a better week, now let's take a look.

Yankees: First, Paxton was fantastic last night. That's what they got him for, and let's hope that's not the last we see of him this season. For that to happen, the Yanks need to win each of the next two games.  Lose one and they're done.  We might need to talk about Boone at that point, but at this point it would be nice if the guys that can carry the team - Judge, Sanchez and Stanton, started carrying.  It was tough enough for the Yanks to do without each of them for big chunks of the season, but now it's time for them to do their things. That's in.  Win and stay in,

Giants: Saquon Barkley and Evan Engram will be active tomorrow.  That is huge for the Giants, in general, and for Danuel Jones in particular.  Barkley immediately opens up the play action and Engram gives Jones the big, fast target he's been missing.  Even without Sterling Shepard, the Giants should still be able to finally get the offense rolling. The D showed some things against the Pats and if they can build from there, they have some winnable games coming up.

Rangers: The Rangers have been awful   Not only do they have some of their most talented kids trapped in Hartford, but the replalcement level guys they're rolling out, just aren't getting it done. Plus, the lines and defensive pairings have been ponderous.  As impressive as Coach Quinn steering an undermanned squad, they're more "manned" now, and he hasn't been impressive at all.  He's been ponderous. That's too bad, but when a team is as capped out as the Rangers are, they have to win more games.  Right now, they're barely winning periods.  And, yes, they had a weeklong layoff and a 5 day layoff, but didn't they use that time to practice?

Knicks: The Knicks play the Spurs to start their regular season on Wednesday, and if there's anything we learned during the pre-season games, it's that RJ Barrett is good at basketball. As long as this blog has been going, we've talked about basketball players vs athletes.  Barrett is much more a player than athlete.Kevin Knox was must more athlete than player when they got him, This year, Knox looks bigger and stronger, and last night, Barrett hit a streaking Knox withe a long outlet pass from his own key for an easy 2.  Barrett has been playing the 2, but he might be the best 1 on the team.  So far Frank is one dimensional (D), Smith Jr. has been banged up and doesn't look like he fixed his shot, and Elfrid has been out.  Barrett has better court vision than all of them, and he can score (efficiently last night!), rack up assists, grab rebounds and has been contributing blocks and steals, too.   Good player and the sort of guy the Spurs really love.

So there it is, the Yanks are in a horrible position, but still have a chance, the Giants should be better tomorrow, the Rangers need to figure things out, and the Knicks have to play to win, though staying in the lottery would also be good.

Have a great one.