Play Ball! (Finally)

Ladies and gentlemen, we have baseball back. Play Ball! Six teams played exhibition games over the weekend in three, two-game series. Let’s start with the other games and then finish with the battle of New York.

The Phillies routed the Nationals 7-2 with…. wait for it…… Max Scherzer on the mound. Maybe Max is losing his touch. He gave up a first-inning homer to Didi Gregorius, a sac fly and another homer to Bryce Harper. Aaron Nola proved again to be one of the top pitchers in the NL East, behind DeGrom, and he could have dethroned Scherzer as the second best. As Phil Jackson said (coach of the “Last Dance” Bulls), “You’re only good as your last season,” (or game in this case). I’m bursting with excitement to see how the sweaty, competitive, intense, and many more adjectives NL East Race evolves. The Braves, Mets, Nationals and Phillies all have the same chance to win and it’s just going to be so great to watch. The Marlins are just bad.

The Indians beat the Pirates 5-3 and I have to give it up to the Pirates, they’re going to be competitive. Zach Plesac went five innings before breaking and allowing a two-run single. The Indians bullpen was superb but the Pirates bullpen was the opposite. Kyle Crick blew the game, so it’s really only Crick to blame but the Pirates don’t really have anyone flashy. The Indians are exactly like the NBA Nuggets, amazing in the regular season and then beaten to a pulp in the playoffs, but now, with their great young depth, the Indians may very well make a run deep into the playoffs, like in 2016. The most important thing in this game I think is that Francisco Lindor… made an error. Lindor is the smoothest player in baseball, nothing gets past him, but, he booted the ball yesterday, yikes.

Now, the battle of New York. The Mets and the Yankees had a very competitive game until the Yankees blew away – for some reason. The Yankees jumped out to a hot start, 1-0, then Clint Frazier went deep with a mask on and a bizarre batting stance. Rick Porcello was responsible for both runs, I always liked Michael Wacha more, but Porcello is OK. Then, the two hottest hitters on the Metsies last year, JD Davis and Pete Alonso drove in two runs. Then Jeurys Familia, gave up a run which made the score 4-2. In the 9^th inning, Daniel Zamora, who I thought was a lockdown pitcher, let me down – big time. He gave up three straight liners which translated into four runs. Then, salt into the open wound, a sac fly to make it 9-2. Newly acquired Eduardo Nunez tried to make it a little more respectable – but failed. Final score, 9-3.

JD Davis and Pete Alonso continue to hold down the fort with their consistent hitting. Yoenis Cespedes, my third favorite player in my 13 years as a Met fan (David Wright and Pete Alonso are the first two in that order), failed me, 0-4, but I think that he’ll bounce back and have 7 homers, 41 RBIs and a .267 batting average in our short season. Errors were in abundance yesterday. Atrocious Max Moroff swung through countless pitches and can’t make a normal throw to Pete Alonso, who can’t scoop everything in the world. I’m really happy with what I saw, a little glimpse of speed, Brandon Nimmo stole a base. There was a dilemma on the pregame show today, on who should be batting leadoff for the Mets this year, Brandon Nimmo or Jeff McNeil, I trust Luis Rojas’ judgment, but I think that Brandon Nimmo should leadoff and McNeil should be second, with Alonso third and Cano or Cespedes in the cleanup spot. Amed Rosario should bat 9^th as the universal DH is implied for the short season.

The Metsies continue their pretty bad “start” to the season. Even though it’s only exhibition games, they got their faces again rammed into the gravel by the Bronx Bombers. The Mets experiments down in the minor leagues didn’t do well at all. Drew Smith came back from a major injury which cost him all of last year and he went out and threw darts until he met Aaron Judge who took him 440-feet deep left and Luke Voit took him into dead center. Yeesh. Corey Oswalt, the starter yesterday, was never supposed to be a white Pedro Martinez, but he was supposed to be solid. He wasn’t too solid, giving up two homers, to Aaron Judge in the first and Gary Sanchez in the fourth. I have nothing to be happy about, no offensive production, luckily Max Moroff didn’t play or else they’d be in the negatives at this point. Our usual studs didn’t do much, this whole game was pretty much a disappointment. It was Yanks all the way with 6:0. Let’s see what awaits us on Friday.

Who knows how the 2020 season will play out, whether ballplayers will fall out with coronavirus, but I think that this season should have an asterisk next to it, and the playoffs and World Series should take place. If last year’s season was only 60 games, then the Nats wouldn’t have made it to the playoffs. I think it’s going to be interesting to see who’ll be lucky this season and who’s just consistently good. 

Some Thoughts on the Gridiron

Indianapolis Colts: Yeesh, why would they pick up Philip Rivers in free agency, that’s probably the worst player they could’ve picked up? Tom Brady? I understand, but Philip Rivers. He can’t run, doesn’t have an arm and they were developing Jacoby Brissett. Brissett didn’t have a bad year, almost 3,000 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and only 6 picks, that’s good for a guy that didn’t see the field for most of his career and probably wasn’t going to if Andrew Luck didn’t disappear into the night leaving the Colts desperate. Rivers on the other hand had a good season, actually. 4,600 yards and 23 touchdowns, but, 20 picks. But, Rivers is old and can’t run, Brissett is just starting out his starting career. Rivers is good now and will probably fall to average.

Chiefs: Patrick Mahomes is going to be the greatest QB ever in a few years, historic years back to back, an MVP, a Super Bowl, a Madden Cover and just recently, a 10 year, $503 million extension. Add it all together plus a few more great season and possibly more Super Bowls and/or MVPs and he’s the GOAT, not comparison, no nothing, Mahomes is the best. He could scramble, throw accurately and his arm is classified as a lethal weapon and America is planning to sign this guy to the army, not as a soldier, but rather as a missile launcher. Mahomes is the best in the league now and will definitely be the GOAT by the end of his career.

Los Angeles Chargers: Justin Herbert is really underrated. Herbert is the future of this franchise, and I applaud the Chargers GM for this. I don’t know if this is by chance or if this was planned. They didn’t re-sign their running back so now the Chargers are an all passing team, so Herbert could evolve. Justin is going to have a great season and the Rookie of the Year race is going to be legendary. Herbert has a great arm and he can even scramble a bit. The Chargers stole Herbert in my opinion. Herbert is average right now and he will probably be great.

Los Angeles Rams: Jared Goff is a BUST. The number one pick that is underperforming so badly. He’s a pocket passer for life, if he scrambles then he turns into Mitchell Trubisky standing, Goff overthrows or underthrows the receiver by 8 feet. Goff has an OK arm and that’s about all I see that would prompt the Rams to draft NUMBER ONE. Also, all of this “talent” is definitely not worth $33.5 million, maybe $3.35 million. Goff is average now and will maybe top out his career at good.

Miami Dolphins: Tua Tagovailoa was going to be the number one pick no matter what, even with the injury, if Joe Burrow hadn’t gone into a phone booth and turned into Super Man minus the flying near the end of the season. Tua has it all, accuracy, arm strength, scrambling, height, and IQ. He is literally the guy that all aspiring QBs should be looking at or Lamar Jackson. Tua is going to lead a legendary Rookie of the Year race and is hopefully going to win it. The Dolphins are a hurting unit in general so Tua isn’t exactly the savior but he’s really close. Tua is average now and will probably be elite when he’s at his peak.