It's Rough Playing Catch With Your Neighbor's Daughter

  On a day when I cleaned my garage for Spring and bruised my hand trying to catch barehand an eight year old girl’s fastball thrown with a junior baseball (they hurt), I am heartened by the 80 degree weather in North Jersey. After all, we are three weeks from Memorial Day, the unofficial start to the summer season. 

Baseball is in full swing. Hockey and the NBA are holding their playoffs. Which leaves plenty to watch on TV. 

Except that I tend to turn my attention away from the set when the New York Yankees are playing. For without their sluggers and with a undermanned pitching staff, the team simply is unwatchable. 

The past road trip to St. Petersburg was an abomination. Especially on Sunday, when the Bombers squandered a 6-2 lead on the division leaders with ace Gerrit Cole on the mound. Pitching guys I had never heard of until this season, the Yankees vaunted bullpen isn’t so unhittable anymore. 

This team had a chance to get into the Rays’ minds, a team which has started out on fire. Taking two out of three while treading water until Aaron Judge returns (Tuesday against AL West cellar dwellers Oakland) would have given the team some inspiration. Instead, the gloom and doom is starting to cloud the picture. 

Outfielder Harrison Bader has finally begun his season, and has smacked a pair of meaningful home runs. It’s like he has picked up where he left off in the 2002 playoffs. 

Anthony Volpe has raised his batting average above .200. In the leadoff position in the lineup, he generates excitement at bat and on the base paths. Anthony Rizzo is clubbing the ball in the absence of Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. D.J. LeMahieu is showing signs of his valuable presence with timely base hits. 

But the team needs much more. Who would have thought that back-to-back home series with Oakland and then Tampa Bay could become so meaningful? Being in last place is not a clear path to the playoffs, as the three teams not wearing a jersey with the Tampa Bay logo on it are playing good ball. Baltimore, Toronto and Boston, everyone’s pick for the AL East basement, are much better than the New York Yankees as they set foot on the field. 

As I said, it is not time to panic. Just don’t let children watch too many games involving the Yankees right now. They might begin playing lacrosse or soccer. 

The same may be said in St. Louis, where the once-proud Cardinals are 11-24 and trending downward. But not to worry—the Pirates, in first place for so long, have lost seven straight while playing tough AL East opponents and are destined to resume their normal position of looking up at the other AL Central teams. 

A week ago, Rangers fans were excited about the prospect of taking the Devils down in Game 7 of their series. Instead, that high-priced group has begun their vacation and Gerard Gallant, a good NHL coach, is now unemployed, his firing an immediate by-product of the Rangers failure to win. 

Meanwhile, New Jersey played like it had a hangover from playing the Rangers. A very good Carolina team beat up on the youthful Devils. Until the team returned to Newark and blew the doors off the building with an astounding 8-4 triumph on Sunday afternoon. 

Devils fans should not necessarily look at this as a turnaround—at least not yet. The Hurricanes converted on three short-handed chances, which means the Devils are not polished with their power play offense. Sure, Jack Hughes, his brother Luke, Timo Meier and Nico Hishier have awoken. 

It is  defense which wins hockey games and I see that New Jersey has allowed too many goals in the first three contests. Bring defense to the forefront and then this might become a winnable series for New Jersey. 

Drug testing needs to be in order for the Florida Panthers. Winners of three straight to eliminate the President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, the team has now won three more in a row against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They looked awfully good against a fine Toronto team—Panthers players delivered the hits and controlled the ice. 

I feel for the Leafs fans. Another frustrating year since the last Stanley Cup win in 1967.

Those who follow hockey know Connor McDavid of Edmonton, widely praised as the best player in the sport. Carrying the Oilers in their two series is forward Leo Draisatil. All year long he was among the top goal scorers. With 13 goals thus far, Draisatil is dominating the playoff goal scoring, too. Whether the Vegas Golden Knights can control McDavid and Draisatil will determine who emerges to play the winner of the Dallas-Seattle series. 

Underdog Seattle is ahead of Dallas heading into Game 4 in the Great Northwest. There is plenty of enthusiasm in their arena and this team’s ability to make it to the next round should not be underestimated.

Basketball continues its second round. The Knicks and Miami Heat are slugging it out, as are the Sixers and Celtics in the East. Seemingly the stars are carrying the teams—Miami’s Jimmy Butler; New York’s Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle; Boston’s Jayson Tatum and  Jaylen Brown and Philadelphia’s the two-headed monster: M.V.P. Joel Embiid and James Harden power Philadelphia.

Out West, the Lakers go as Anthony Davis and Lebron James go; they have out the hurt on the Warriors and have a 2-1 series lead entering Monday night’s action. Two-time M.V.P. Nikola Jokic, fined $25,000 for an incident involving the Phoenix Suns owner in Sunday’s game, is as dazzling as always, abetted by Jamal Murray. 

Yet those two Nuggets players are being outshined by Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. Booker is shooting at a clip that leads all playoff shooters in average and shooting percentage. Durant is making up for the loss of point guard Chris Paul, he of State Farm commercials fame. 

If Golden State can get its act together and win two games on the road while winning at home, then maybe they make the next round. Just like in the Sacramento series, one is never sure which Warriors squad will show up on any given night. The team simply cannot rely on Steph Curry going off for big games all of the time. 

Finally, I want to pay tribute to the Franklin and Marshall baseball team. My wife and I went to Lancaster on Thursday to watch the opening round game between the Diplomats and Dickinson College. It was a highly-charged game with multiple lead changes. 

Second-seeded F&M triumphed and earned the right to play Johns Hopkins, the top team in the county. Alas, the Diplomats lost to the Blue Jays and their season ended in Baltimore with a 8-0 loss to Dickinson—the Red Devils actually beat Hopkins before losing the final. 

I have felt a connection to this team, beginning with the season-opener in February at Kean University. I wore my team jersey with my number 25 under my jackets, and I proudly sported a blue team cap, courtesy of Coach Ryan Horning, at that game in February, and again in March at Montclair State University, in April at Muhlenberg College then in May for the Dickinson game—my first Division III baseball playoff game ever.  

I hope the team takes solace in the fact that they were damn good. Losing should not diminish the kind of season they had. This comes from a guy who was on a team that won a mere four games in 1970 and who had a career .209 batting average on the varsity level. 

Sorry, but I have to go ice my hand again and check in on the action for Monday night. It’s rough playing catch with your neighbor’s daughter.