Rangers: Morgan Barron Signs

Ending a stalemate that was getting somewhat disconcerting, the Rangers signed Morgan Barron, today. Barron was their 6th round pick back in 2017, who has done nothing but get better and better at Cornell. At last Fall's prospect camp, Barron was one of the most impressive players. But as time marched on and Barron remained unsigned - thoughts began creeping in that he might pull a Hayes or  a Fox move on the Rangers, who have, in the past swooped in when prospects didn't want to sign or finished their college careers without signing. It now appears that Barron is a straight shooter who really did want to chase an NCAA title with Cornell. Good team guy.

The best case scenario for the Rangers is if Chytil has a great playoff, they pass on resigning Strome and then have Barron compete for number 3 C when camp starts. He's a big guy who can skate and has has good hands and feet. He could be future core.

Yanks Win Again!

Yanks just won a bit of a wild one. After going up 5-0 in the top of the first - mostly because of Luke Voit's first career grand slam.  The JA Happ gave back 2 two run jacks before settling down to qualify for a win. Then there was a long rain delay. Then Johnny Lasagna pitched and inning too many and gave up the lead via another two run jack in bottom of the 8th. Seemed grim.  But in the top of the 9th, Aaron Judge, who'd been hit with a pitch in the first and K'd 3 times, hit a 3 run bomb to give the Yanks a 2 run lead, and Britton shut the door. Gleyber Torres was also hit by a pitch in the 5 run first and had to evenutally leave the game. This bears watching.  Home games start tomorrow!

Knicks: Woodson Joins Thibs

As rumored, former Knick, Knick assistance and Knick Head Coach, Mike Woodson is returning to the team as an assistang on Coach Thibodeau's first start. This is a little perpleing given that Woodson originally returned to the Knicks as MDA's "defensive coordinator." You may remember all the switching. The defense that Thibs is famous for doesn't rely on switching. And it doesn't seem like Thibs would hire a guy then defer to his defense, so it's unclear what strategic purpose Woodson would fill. Of course Mike Woodson is a Bobby Knight guy, so he may be there to help install the fundsamentals that have so long been absent from the Knicks.

Yanks Win

Gerrit Cole got his second win, and Lemahiue, Judge, and Hicks all had their first homeruns.  In the top of the 9th, Judge took a fastball to the ribs, and it's pretty amazing that no brawl happened.  Cole was up 7-1 and cruising till he hit pitch 100 then gave up a double and a homer with 2 outs. Left with the Yanks up 7-3. The Yanks loaded the bases after Judge was hit in the top of the 9th and Stanton singled in one to make it 8-3, then the O's changed pitchers - this 3 batter rule is going to be hair raising for teams with shaky pens. The Judge scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-3. In the bottom of the 9th, Kriske walked a man before getting an easy fly, getting a K for his first career K, and then another to end it. He could be valauble. Big win!

Nate Solder Opts Out

After reports circulated earlier today that Nate Solder was not opting out, it turns out that he is. He is of course doing this to, I guess, protect his family and notably his son who has been ill and around whom I put the rings of harmony, if that helps the young fella. Wishing Solder and his family eternal health and love, but this probablty means he's done as a Giant. The Giants drafted Thomas and Peart back in April, and now it looks like we could see both this year.

Thomas is a plug and play Left Tackle and it would have been an interesting test of our new staff to see if he would have been allowed to beat out Solder, which he no doubt could. And it also underscores the intellitgent move the Giants made in bringing in Cam Fleming, who can start at RT while Peart gets ready - unless Peart beats him out.  Or it could keep Gates out of the Center competition and get him back in the Tackle mix. 

The future seems to be now for the Giant OL.  That's said, God bless the Solder family.

Giants Report

                            

                                 

The Giant veterans reported for testing today.  QB Alex Tanney and LB Tae Crowder were placed on the non-football injury (illness) list, so they don't have Covid and do still count against the 90 man roster. David Sills, the big WR they signed out of West Virtginia after the 2019 is on the Covid list, so he either tested positive or has been exposed to someone who has. He has an opportunity to impress thenew coaches - so let's hope it's just a short turnaround.  Sills won't count against the 90 tll he passes the protocols.

They also claimed DB Shakial Taylor off of waivers from Denver after 2020 UDFA DB Malcolm Elmore flunked his physical last year. 

Neither the the rookies who reported last week nor the vets who reported today can get through the various protocols til after this coming weekend.  There were priobably be more roster movement.

What if Thibodeau is Coughlin?

                                 

When Tom Coughlin took over the Giants for the 2004 season, fans were full of the same questions we now ask about Tom Thibodeau. Coughlin was an older coach, who had won a ring as an assistant with the 1990 Giants, but had been close with no cigars during his long tenure in Jacksonville. Now he's a two time Super Bowl champion and a no-doubt Hall of Famer. Thibs is an older coach, who went to the finals as a Knicks assistant and won a ring with Celtics.  In previous stops at Chicago and Minnesota, he's been close but no cigars.  Like Coughlin, Thibs lives his sport 24/7.  

A few weeks ago, the Daily News intevied Rick Pitino and Brian Scalabrine about Thibodeau and they both compared him to Belichick. They mostly did so because of his attention to detail, but another way that Thibodeau is similar to Belichick is the way in which, as an assistant, he could design Chanmpionshp defennses - as Little Bill did for the Giants and Thibs did for the Celtics. 

So, while, I would have preferred Will Hardy or Jamal Mosley, if Thibs is Coughlin, we'll all be thrilled.

Baker Moved to the Exempt List

                             

Troubled CB Deandre Baker was moved to the Exempt list today. This means he won't take up a roster space if and until the Commisioner clears him to rejoin the team. This takes any immediate decision out of the hands of the Giants. The Giants may or may not cut 9 players to get down to 80 to start camp. There's an alternative plan undewhich the Giants would be able to keep 90 players, but split the squad for the first few weeks. We'll see what they choose. The rest of the eligible players are to report tomorrow. 

UPDATE: Andrew Thomas has signed.  The only pick who hasn't signed yet is Xavier McKinney, but he may have and it just hasn't been published yet.

UPDATE 2: The Giants have opted do keep 90 players and do the split squad split practices thing until August 16, when they will get down to 80. Looks like they only have 89 now, so they might add a guy,

UPDATE 3: The Giants have announced that the full draft class has signed.

Yanks Win!

Phew. The Yanks got out of Washington with a game win and a series win. Speaking of the series, it was marked with pretty sloppy play. We'll see how long that last. Yanks couldn't get much going against Corbin until Gleyber homered in 7th to chase Corbin, then Voit homered to tie the game.  Yanks got another run in the 8th and the pen made it stand up. Booned sort of emptied the pen today, so it will be interesting to see what goes on once they get to Philly tomorrow. Huge win,

Giants Sign K Chandler Catanzaro

The Giants, who are moving on from the trouble Aldrick Rosas, have signed retired Jet kicker Chandler Catanzaro. You have to wonder if this is just unresourceful or whether Covid 19 has informed the decision - to wit - he was retired but nearby and wouldn't have to be quarantined. We'll see who else they bring in - or if they're just going to have to keep hiring locally as this nonsense continues.

Westerns Pt. 2: 1939

Last time, we talked about how, after the failure of The Big Trail in 1930 and the rise of the swashbuckling flicks, Westerns had fallen to B movie status. Too big and all-American for Captain Blood or The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, John Wayne spent the 1930's making B westerns, mostly for poverty row studios and in serials like "The 3 Mesquiteers" for Republic Pictures - who figure later in this story. It's unclear what the impetus was for three huge A Westerns to arrive in 1939 - arrive they did.  They were  John Ford's "Stagecoach," George Marshall's "Destry Rides Again," and Michael Curtiz's "Dodge City." All of the flicks are "must see's" if you're interested at all in Westerns or movies. Let's take a look.

Stagecoach

John Ford had spent a lot of the silent era making Westerns, but had spent the talky era making historical dramas like "The Prisonner of Shark Island" and the Best Picture winner, "The Informer," as well as a few Will Rogers flicks and a Shriley Temple jam. But as always, he had idea in his back pocket and one of them was "Stagecoach." In 1937 Ford had bought the rights to "The Stage to Lordsburg" a short story by Ernest Haycox. Ford gave it to his writer of the moment, Dudley Nicholds and developed it into the script for "Stagecoach."

Ford shopped the project to all the major studios, but they turned him down, because big budget Westerns were out of style and because Ford wouldn't back off his demand to make the film with John Wayne. After some turnaround with David O Selznick, Ford turned to independent producer Walter Wanger. Wanger insisted Ford replace John Wayne with Gary Cooper, and case Marlene Dietrich for the female lead, "Dallas." Ford wouldn't budge, but agreed to hire Claire Trevor and to give her top billing over Wayne.  We'll see this again later with another future mega star.  With Trevor and Wayne locke in, Ford proceeded to hire an incredible cast of character actors, like Thomas Mitchelll as Doc Boone,  Donald Meek as Samuel Peacock, the wiskey drummer, Andy Devine as Buck the stage driver and John Carradine as the mysterious gambler, Hatfield and on and on.

This film is historically significant and not just because of its success. As a movie it is structurally perfect, and tight as a drum.

Will try to avoid spoilers. But there were signifcant factors at play in this one that certainly informed the Ford style but also reverberated through the greatest Ford Westerns of all time.  "Stagecoach" was the first Western Ford shot in Monument Valley - where he's shoot all of his Westerns througb "The Searchers." Setting is huge in Westerns and Ford was able to create a whole world with "Stagecoach."  It looked like our shared vision of the old west.

What's more, Ford had Bert Glennon on as his black and white cinematographer and he and Winton Hoch did the vast majority of the heavy light lifting on Ford's Westerns.  In fact, only1946's "My Darling Clementine"  shot by Joe McDonald matches the shot level reached by Glennon and Hoch.  The Stout and Clothier stuff is noticeably lesser in shot quilt, though Ford himself was always "painterly," not everyone could execute it.

Also, the movie has a stirring score, mostly atributed to Richard Hageman, though he, apparently had lots of uncredited help. Also, this is the first iteration of hymn "We Will Gather at the River," that runs through a bunch of Ford's Westerns.

So, "Stagecoach" triumphed because it was tight, perfectly set, beautifully shot, well scored and superbly cast. Not a bad formula, and one that would be used by Ford and others like Hawks and Leone in their Westerns.

Destry Rides Again

Above we intimated that another male mega start would breakt out as second billed, That happened here where Jimmy Stewart was second billed to Marlene Dietrich. Destry contributed to the beginnings of "fix a crooked town" Westerns.  Unlike "Stagecoach" Destry was a studio production from Universal. But like "Stagecoach" it featured a great cast with Brian Donleavy, Charles Winninger, Mischa Auer, Jack Carson, Allen Jenkins, Sam Hindsand Una Merkel,

Destry also deftly mixes comedy from Auer, Winninger and Jenkins in what  is also an interesting mystery with lots of gunplay, and some heartbreaks,

Like "Stagecoach" it's black and white and notably shot by Hal Mohr, who was a two time Academy Award winner and just gives Destry a great feel.

Also, Destry has a great scores, comlete with repeated themes and performances of "Little Joe," and a couple of showgirl songs form Dietrich.

Interestingly, Destry was not the gateway to world of Westerns they way that "Stagecoach" was and Marshall who'd started in the silents would go on to make a bunch of middling stuff, including a depressing remake of this one just called Destry, with Audie Murphy and the more enjoyable "The Sheepman" starring Glenn Ford and a young Shirley Maclaine. He always worked, though, and all of his work across genres is at least competent.

Dodge City

Dodge City was a leap of faith for Michael Curtiz and Warner Brothers.  Curtiz had been shooting swashbucklers like "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Captain Blood" for the Warners.  What possessed them to make a big budget Technicolor Western with Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland (may she rest in eternal peace) is anybody's guess, but they absolutely crushed it,

Like Destry, Dodge City is fix the crooked town flick, that has provable crimes early, but no law to address them.  That's where Errol comes in. Flynn apparently didn't think he'd be believable as a cowpoke, but, man, did it work. Beside the starring lovers, Waners loaded up the cast with estimable contract players like Henry Travers, Alan Hale Sr.,  Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot and Ford stalwarts Ward Bond and Russell Simpson.

There's more - what we would call "air" - in this one than there is in either "Stagecoach" or "Destry Rides Again" but Curtiz was a people pleasing director if ever there was one, and the extra time is admissable.

The cinematographer was Sol Polito, a rock star camera talent, and the catchy score was by the great Max Steiner.

As we go on, we'll talk about all of the Western opportunities the Warner Brother's missed, but when they set their stuido to it, they could produce great ones. That's why they should have locked up Ford, Hawks, Wayne and other Western talents and made many more.

After languishing on poverty row from 1931-1938, the American Western exploded in 1939 with "Stagecoach," "Destry Rides Again." and "Dodge City."  Watch them.

Knicks Hire Thibodeau

Garbage in and garbage out. Well, the phony coaching "search" has ended and it's among the worst possible outcomes. Tom Thibodeau is about to become a 3 time loser, after previously coaching the Bulls and T-wolves. In Minnesota, he allowed a culture where Karl Anthony Towns was reportedly bullied by veteran players. Oh, and by the way, this probably does mean the Knicks will load up with veterans, instead of building through the draft. Rose seemed like he was doing it right, but now it's gone wrong.

This Week on the Blog

The Yanks won their first game, the Giants started testing players, the Rangers kept working towards their restart and the Knicks kept talking to coaches. Let's take a look at what's coming

Yankees: The Yanks will continue their irregular season tonight in Washington - weather permitting. They only have 5 off days left in this oddball season. It was nice to see Judge and Stanton get off to nice starts, between their injuries it's unclear whether or not they've played or been available to play 60 stratight games together. It would be nice if they can stay healthy, Yanks are far more dangerous when they are. Let's hope we see dominant Paxton today.

Giants: Assuming there are no hitches in the testing, the rest of the team will join the rookies and quarterbacks on Tuesday. Most of the rookies have signed, but Andrew Thomas has shown up to be with his teammates even though his deal isn't quite done. You might remember former 3rd round OT Jeff Hatch who refused to participate in rookie camp without signing something. Amazingly he never panned out. This has been a much cooler first action by Andrew Thomas, who seems like he'll pan out. Watched some of his true freshman games at Georgia. He played RT that season, and was already the best player on the OL. He was destroying people. We're going to like this kid.  Matt Peart, the Giants other baby bookend, has already signed and became good friends with Thomas during their predraft training. Back when Justin Tuck and Chris Snee were young players, they used to follow the Yankees togeher - these friendships have team benefits.

Back to Peart, it will be interesting to see how much strength he's been able to add since the draft. He was 317 and "skinny" according to Dave Gettleman after the draft. The sooner he can add strenght, the sooner he can start.  Kyle Murphy, their highest bonus UFDFA OL for URI, might be able to compete at center, but he needed to add strength, too,  We'll see where that goes, but it's exciting to have youg talent on the OL again.

Rangers: the Rangers will start playing next Saturday! First, they'll have an exhibition game against the Islanders. Let's hope that goes off without a hitch. They've already travelled to Toronto with their expanded roster.  It's doesn't include K'Andre Miller who's contract doesn't start till next season. This might be a good time to name a captain, but, on the other hand, it might be betterr to wait till next preseason. A lot of people favor Mika, and he could be a great one, but Kreider should be considered, too.

Knicks: Rose said they'd have a coach by mid or late July. They have 6 days left,  That said, they'd better make a good decision and not have been having show search, which is what it will look like if they hire Tom Thibodeau.  He're hoping Hardy disrupted their search with his interview. This is probably their only chance to get him.

So there it is, real Yankee games, modified Giants training camp, more Ranger games, and the Knicks still searching for a coach. Here's hoping you find whatever you're looking for this week.

Yanks Win Rain Shortened Opener

Cole was sharp, but for a wild pitch and a homer his only hit and he Yanks got to Sherzer early off a Judge single and a Stanton blast. Judge later doubled home Wade from first and Stanton got another RBI to make it 4-1. The Yanks had men on the corners to start the 6th when the rains came.  Thank goodness it was an official game. They play again Saturday,

Giants Camp Delayed

Though the NFL had a ton of lead time, the NFL and NFLPA are still working things out so that camps can start. Meanwhile, the Giants should have all the rookies signed by the start of camp, whenever that is.  Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley have been working out with a bunch of their teammates in Norhtern New Jersey, and that's a good sign.

UPDATE: Giants rookies, QB's and injjured guys can all show up for covid testing tomorrow!  Bit sports day between that and the Yanks starting.

Westerns, Part 1

I don't know how much longer these lockdowns and limits will persist, but I do know with less than our normal diet of watchable sports - we need something to watch while our outdoor options are limited.

For much of the 20th Century, Westerns were the most comprised the most popular and evergreen genre of film. Because they could be shot outdoors, they were cheaper to make, than indoor fare, and because horses and folks who could ride them were still plentiful, there were no shortages of actors and stuntmen.

A lot a great and foundational Westerns were made in the silent era and starred guys like Harry Carey Senior and George O'Brien, both of whom had usaable voices and kept working when the talkies came along.  John Ford, who we'll end up spending a lot of time talking about, made tons of silent Westerns, but only a few, like The Iron Horse (1924), 3 Bad Men (1925) and Hangman's House (1928). All are worth watching if you get the chance (and you'll see young John Wayne as an extra in Hangman's House), but they aren't easy to find, and not everyone has the patience for silents.

In fact, one of the first Western talkies to look at is, The Big Trail, directed by Raoul Walsh, and starring a very young John Wayne. It's a fun, cattle drive flick, but it was originally made for wide screen theaters - but in 1930 there were no few wide screens, and nobody was inclined to spend that kind of money during the depression. This ended up becoming a larger problem for the Western genre, which, once sound came along, starting slipping into b-film production, because big studios had really grown and were able to epic swashbuckling  movies like Curtiz's Captain Blood and The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Ample Deserts gave rise to Henry Hathaway's The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935),  William Wellman's Beau Geste (1939)  and George Stephen's Gunga Din (1939).  Now you'll notice a 4 year lag between Lancer and Din. During this time, some important directors, who had gotten their training in the silents, like John Ford, Michael Curtiz and others turned their estimable talents back to the Western, and in 1939, they turned Westerns, back into A pictures,

We'll talk about 1939 in the next bit, but not only did it ignite a Western Revival, but it was still probably the the greatest overall movie year in history.

Giants Rookies Set to Report Tomorrow

The NFL and the Player's Association have agreed on a daily testing protocol, so the rookies will most likely report tomorrow. That will include the entire draft class as well as the group of UDFA's they signed after the draft. Guys who were injured may also be allowed. In any event, this will be the first time the new coaching staff can get their hands on the rookie class. Clearly, tomorrow will be taken up with testing and physicals and condition tests, as well as showing the kid where their lockers are, and how things are done. This will be ther first time in years that they can but together an all rookie line for camp featuring 3 guys whi will make the team and two more who might. It will be interesting to see if  RI UDFA Kyle Murpy plays C with with the rooks of if they really intend to get Lemieux coached up there. It's pretty exciting.

QB's and some other guys can report Thursday. Here we finally go!

Gumby Returns

After missing the past year and 3/4ths, or whatever it was, Jordan Montgomery returned for game 2 of the Summer Camp Series with the Mets. Holy smokes, did he ever look good.  His fastball was was 95 and his change had some Bugs Bunny to it. His breaking ball was also getting swings and misses. You'll remember that before he got hurt we loved watching him make them miss. He had it working again, and that's a great sign for the Yankees. 6K's 1BB and one groundball single, and a double through 5. Montgomery left after 5, up 2-0, courtesy of homers by Judge and Sanchez. Good night for the farm, so far!

This Week on the Blog

This past week was another drag as my town is unneccesarily locked down again. It aslo saw the Knicks leaning toward a retread, and the Yanks, Giants and Rangers gearing up for games.  Let's take a look.

Yankees: The Yankees start their preseason games later today against the Mets.  Woo hoo. Then they head to Washington on Thursday, unless the game get switched to Yankee Stadium, because of local idiocy. They've only been able to play against themselves so far, and Miguel Andujar seems to own Garrett Cole. Good thing they're teammates,  Should be a fun 60 games, unless injuires happent and they don't make the post season. But they should, and it should be a blast.

Giants: the Giant coaches have returned to Met-Liffe to prepart for trainging camp, which is starts in a little over a week. They could not negotiates a long term deal with Lawrence Williams, so he'll play this year under the franchise tag. Suboptimal and it's sort of hard to believe they didnt have this a deal in hand by the end of last season. They will now live the worst case scenario. Puzzling. Though Gettleman did say that he was no longer opposed to giving out extensions in season. So, we'll see.

Rangers: The Rangers are in the midst of their short camp, and so far, the reoporters have been impressed with Igor Shesterkin and Kaapo Kakko. That's sort of what we'd hoping for. The game will start in Toronto on August 1, and the draft won't occur till October, where the Rangers are still in possesion of two firsts, so it will be ba big event whenever it happens.

Knicks: Press keeps intimating that Thibs is still the top choice for coach, even though they also mention that Will Hardy dazzled the FO during his interview. If they still let CAA run this, they'll end up with Thibs, and probably never have a shot at Hardy again. They're other hires have looked great, so let's hope they don't blow this one.

So there it is, things slowly getting back to normal, and the Knicks still have a chance to blow it.  Again. And that would be normal. Might get back to writing about pop culture again here - should have done it when this nonsense started Will still cover the four teams, though.

Knicks Hire Sean MacLean

Leon Rose has made another frong office hire, adding former Capital One exec Sean MacLean as a VP of Basketball and Stratetic Planning. He will report to Brock Aller. Hopefully, he can pursuade the rest of team fron of the front office that hiring another retread coach would be a strategic blunder.

Yanks Sign Hauver and Way

The Yanks avoided headaches by getting by signing Tevor Hauver and Beck Way, the last two of their 3 draft picks, from June's disastrous MLB draft. It doesn't look like it will be a disaster for the Yanks, as all three of their picks fit profiles with which they've had historical success. Usually they've signed 30 picks by the end of the draft cycle.

The Ranger Retuirn to Camp

The Rangers had their first practice in MONTHS today.  JD spoke to the press afterward and said they looked good and worked for half an hour after the practice had ended. So we know there is pent up energy. It's really going to be interesting to see who they are now. Has Mika really moved to that super elite lever we saw before the pause?  Or was that just a hot streak?  Kaapo finally looked ready to explode with 2 goals in the penultimate game, will reflection lead him to explode?  Will Fox and Tony D control the puck too much for other teams in a short series? And will Panarin prove he's a top 5 player - not top 10 or 20 on a protracted playoff run?  First thing;'s first, they have to beat the Canes - which they are good at.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, this was a week when our 4 teams continued to muddle through the strange conditions of this time. Yanks scrimmaged, the Giants got ready for camp, the Rangers got a start date, and the Knicks continued their coaching search. Let's take a look at what's next.

Yankees: this will be the last complete week without baseball. Thank goodness. One thing that happenned during the first scrimmage was that Clarke Schmidt was filthy and looked like the absolute goods making major leaguers swing and miss at his plus curveball. Wow.  Cole was filthy, too, but Miggy went oppo taco on him - find that kid a spot!  Unfortunately it's hard to see scrimmages, and so it's tough to really examine the changes being implemented in the pitching culture. That could be the big story for the Yanks this year. We've seen other teams' pitching situations revoltionize with new approaches and it will be fascinating to see that happens with the young Yanks and even the more veteran guys like Paxton. Twelve more days.

Giants: The Giants are a little over two weeks away from the start of camp. One thing that has been noticeable is that Andrew Thomas and Xavier McKinney were a lot more impressive in their latest interviews then they were during their draft weekend appearances. That could be a comfort factore, but here's hoping it's enculturation, and the new coaches and teammates have gotten to them. Also, it appears that the Giants will not have to go through state quarantine's to return to play,

Rangers: The Rangers will start back on August 1.  The NHL has really mucked this up, and the draft will now be in October. Thought these guys were a bit tougher and could have used this deadzone to really up interest in the sport. MLB screwed things up, with their short draft, and there was time to learn from that. Both the NHL and MLB are heading to new CBA's but the owners of both sports didn't make a TV opportunity out of this dead zone and they should have. Ranger Camp should restart this week.

Knicks: The Knicks are continuing their coaching search. This is getting scary. They've put together an impressive fron office and that should help the draft, but if they blow it here, it won't matter who they draft. Here's where it's scary: this weekend MSG is marketing Thibs, Kidd, Woodson and Atkinson as the top candidates and each one of them would be the same kind of retread they've been hiring for decades. The Knick need to swing for the fences with this hire, like the Giants, Yanks and Rangers did and not draw again from their losing play book. This is hugely important.

So there it is, three teams getting ready to play and one team still looking for a coach. Wishing all your preferred normalcy this week. Best wishes,

Rangers Promote Gord Murphy

To replace the departeed Lindy Ruff on the Rangers coaching staff, the Ranger are promoting Hartforfd Defensive Coordinator Gord Murphy. Like any Murphy, he may be related to me, as I am 1/4 O'Murchada Murphy. So he's got that going for him, likewise, Hartford was reall performing this season before the lockdown. Hartford, had been prospect laden for years, but it hadn't really turned into a winning culture until Knoblauch and Murphy arrived last summer.  This may be temporary and convenient given the current situation, but it also might be an improvement. We'll see.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, amidst more draconian insanity, our teams are slowly getting ready to rumble. Last week saw a scary scene at Yankee camp, the Giants reshuffle their operations, the Euro Rangers return to town and the Knicks continue their coaching search. Let's take a look at what's next.

Yankees: Masahiro Tanaka took a line shot off of Stanton's bat the other day, but is already walking around. Phew, thanks to the source of that miracle. Otherwise, Yankee camp has been quiet, though DJ LeMaheiu and Luis Cessa have reportedly tested positive for the virus, we'll see what a re-test shows. The big surprise here was that Cessa is still a Yankee. The Yanks are still scheduled to start their regular season July 23, in Washington.

Giants: The Giants hired their first full time female scout. If she's the best person they could get, blessings. There were rumblings that teams might be heading into camp with 75 or 70 players instead of 90. Why? It would terrible if young players lost chances because of this ridiculous situation.  Let's hope cool heads prevail.

Rangers: Though the Ranger Euros have returned, some of them can't skate until they'bve been back for 2 weeks.  Without  postive tests why the 2 week quarantine. This is another pointless overreaction and seemingly more a show of virtue than a triumph of epidemiology.  In the macro, it now looks like Vegas is out at a hub and that Toronto and Edmonton will be the hubs. The tail shakes the dog.  The play-ins may start if 7/13.

Knicks: Amazingly the Knicks, who are routinely our worst run franchise, seem to be the portriat of calm, cool, analysis in these crazy times, which may show just how craxy they are. The only way the Knicks can blow it is by hiring the wrong coach or making bad picks in the eventual draft. Praying for a real turnaround.

So there it is. The teams are trying to get ready, but the various virtue signals from the leagues are slowing them down. I hope nothing is slowing you down and your recoveries are all easily completed.

Spring Training Re-Opens

Play ball? Major Leaugue Teams, inclunding our Yankees have to report today to resume training activities. Apparently the Yanks will be at the Stadium where their temeperartures will be taken and their Covid tests administered. They will also have noremal baseball physcials, though Cashman said, yesterday, Stanton, Hicks andn Judge should be good to go by opening day, which will July 23. In other news, the Yanks back-up game site is PNC Field, where the Rail Riders play and not in Staten Island, which is a bit of a diaappointment.

It will be interesting to see what the Yanks and other teams will do with their prospects given that the minor leagues are in flux.

One thing to keep an eye on during the new camp, is the young pitchers like ClarkeSchmidt and Luis Medina.  The reason that this will be intriguing is the Briend factor and New PC Matt Blake. As we know the new pitching system looks at pitchers differently and they might be able to flick the swich on a Medina or Albert Abreu - huge stuff guys who are both on their expanded 60 man roster.

Let's go, Yanks!