Meaningless.
Ten gossamer thoughts:
1. The brain trust touted the works of Luis Gil and Cade Winquest, the Rule 5 pickup, but neither managed a scoreless outing against a lineup of farm show tool bits. The bar is low.
2. Nobody pitched lights out. Even Tim Hill gave up two hits, and Brendon Beck, punctuating the loss, was kicked around quite handily.
3. Jose Caballero homered. Go figure. Last year, he slugged five. He turns 30 in August. SS is his for the taking. It's now or never.
4. Finishing at SS was 25-year-old Jonathan Ornelas, who kicked around last year between Texas and Atlanta. In a 32-game MLB career, he's hit .208.
5. Neither Spencer Jones nor The Martian played. No prob. Game didn't matter. Still, we gotta see what they can do. To sit them is to punch their tickets to Scranton.
6. OF Kenedy Corona, 25, is the early front runner for the James P. Dawson Best Rookie in Yankee Camp award, the most overlooked award in the history of sports. In his first game, Corona's diving catch quashed a rally. Yesterday, he homered. He could win a watch.
7. Mets played Benge, Bae, Suero, Arroyo, Reimer, Clifford, Schwartz... who are these people?
8. In early January, John Sterling had a heart attack. It's been at least six weeks. Why was the world not notified? (And best wishes for a full recovery.)
9. Can't help but feel sorry for the Canadian hockey team. The U.S. has alternatives - Super Bowl, pro wrestling, game shows, Hollywood awards... Canada has hockey.
10. Today, under two feet of snow, we are all Canadians.
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17 comments:
I have been led to understand from a reliable source that the Chinese are going to eliminate hockey from Canada.
There's a video making the rounds of George Springer in a Team USA hockey jersey, fists aloft, hollering "Let's Go! We did it, baby!" as he walks into the clubhouse under a big sign that says "Toronto Blue Jays".
I'd rather see a Springer Spaniel than a George Springer.
There's some carping about the hockey finals and the 3-man and 3-woman OT setup, which some say doomed Canada in both instances. I think it's like the short porch at Yankee Stadium: it's the same for both teams, you both get the same rules, and as long as both teams are treated equally, there's no carping allowed.
However, whether or not it's real hockey is another story. Kind of like the Manfred Man, which is not real baseball.
The meaningless games of Spring feel especially meaningless when the entire roster of position players is the same as last year. We know the minor leaguers--and maybe the Martian, too--are going nowhere, the roster and the lineup is set, and this is just to help guys warm up for the season.
Snore.
Canada played "hero ball", "swung for the fences"( choose your own sports cliche) in the OT. A couple of 1 on 3 sprints to the crease, neither of which worked. Both times the US got the puck back in good shape, set themselves up while Canada was trying to catch up, and put quality shots on goal. The first one would have gone in but for a great save. The second one went in. Folks may not like 3 on 3, and Canada may have "outplayed" the US for 60 minutes. But the US out-executed Canada in the OT. It wasnt luck. They had a plan, a plan focused on exploiting the likelihood that Canada's "stars" would try to "hero" their way to the winning goal, and they executed it perfectly. Beautiful win.
Clearest example of one team out-thinking another at the end of a pressure-filled game since Belicheck didn't call a timeout against Seattle at the end of a super bowl a dozen or so years ago. Just great
Canada lost because they didn't pick Matthew Schaefer. They certainly could've used him in the OT.
I wrote a Canadian friend: We have a couple hockey medals. You still have a democracy...
Even if Dominguez & Jones were to homer in every at-bat this spring, they wouldn't be allowed to make the team. Cashman will keep them down in the minors 'til they're old and useless. Because Cashman believes in playing older, experienced rejects from other teams. That's just his style.
I do hate 3-on-3. Also the Manfred Man. Also penalty kicks to settle major soccer matches.
I'm amazed that people are that impatient after following a sport—and a game—for so long. And many of the most epic baseball and hockey games have gone into repeated extra innings, or overtimes.
And now, all of a sudden, it's 'Wrap it up, let's get out of here'?
I suspect this is all about trying to set up TV schedules as precisely as possible. Which is also stupid.
Amen, Hammer. Yes, his tired old, non-strategies are just exhausting already. So rather than see if a couple of promising, if flawed kids can make it, we will get to watch Trent Grisham revert to form.
If you think about it, it's kind of amazing that Aaron Judge got a chance to play in 2017. After the 42 strikeouts in 84 at-bats at the end of 2016, Cashman usually stashes a kid like that in the minors, no? Perhaps Cashman's plan was to give Judge another week or two, then send him down for the rest of his career. I don't think Cashman planned on Judge seeking out outside hitting instruction in the winter of 2016. Had Cashman known about that, maybe he stashes Judge in the minors to prevent him from developing. Cashman has an extreme dislike, absolutely abhors, player development. He'd rather get disemboweled than develop a young player.
I think he wants to build a team around former 1st round draft pick rejects & such from other teams, all around 29-30 yrs of age.
Now pitching is a different story, perhaps because they realize that they simply have to have some young pitching in order to compete and win the wild card. Ergo they bring up young arms like Luis Gil, Warren, Schlittler.
But notice that they've probably already ruined Gil. Guys come up looking good and it only takes a year for the coaches up here to ruin them.
No question about it, Hoss. It's all about the money.
The coaching here must be epically crazy. That kid Lagrange is throwing an effing 103 mph first time out in spring training, during batting practice. Even if the kid wants to let it rip, you'd think the coaches would be wise old hacks and hold him back 'til later on in the year. You can't make this stuff up.
They're saying Spencer Jones did some homework on Ohtani and tweaked his swing a bit, modeling after Ohtani. Judge gave positive reviews. That home run was certainly impressive. Cashman must be shell shocked. Yankee management probably called an emergency meeting on how to prevent Jones from making the team, what to do to derail the guy's progress. Because imagine the flak they'd get from the public if Jones' new swing looks great and they stash him in the minors.
Jones must learn to spoil two strike breaking balls, by laying off the ones out of the zone and fouling off the ones in the zone. If he cuts his Ks by 15%, he's an everyday player.
good point, Hoss. good point...
Here's a better one:
https://x.com/DerrickEvans4WV/status/2025606398025806116?s=20
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