Month: June 2018

The Mets need some kind of a spark. Something. Anything.

Todd Frazier hopes it comes from whooping on the Yankees, his former team, this weekend.

I played with both teams now and I know how exciting it can be for both sides, Frazier said before Friday’s Subway Series game at Citi Field on Friday. Hopefully it kind of renews us here and we get that excitement back and the crowd brings it.

The Mets have lost their last six games. They started the day 27-32 7 1/2 games back of the first-place Nationals and in fourth place in the National League East.

Said Sharpe, voted in during his third year of eligibility: I don’t care if it’s first ballot, secret ballot or absentee ballot, I’m in.

And proud of it.

The Jets have Bilal Powell and Isaiah Crowell ahead of McGuire on the depth chart, so he probably will have to settle for being a third-down back.

On the surface, the Tomlinson-McGuire comparison seems absurd, but Mitchell does see more of his running backs than anybody else does. Still, this is quite a bit of pressure on Mitchell.

We understand the Yankees can’t use a designated hitter for this road interleague series, and thus will sit one of their four outfielders every game, but this Friday benching is surprising only because it’s two in a row for Hicks, who also didn’t start Wednesday night in Toronto.

Hicks, who is hitting.253 with six homers and 26 RBIs in 44 games, didn’t start Game 2 of the Yankees’ day-night doubleheader in Detroit on Monday, either. Counting two rainouts last week in Baltimore and Thursday’s day off, he had just four starts in nine days through Friday.

The other day in Toronto, it was another tough call, said Boone, who that night sat Hicks while starting Giancarlo Stanton in left, Brett Gardner in center and Gary Sanchez at DH. But in the three out of four, one of those the doubleheader, so he was going to sit (a game there).

I think it’s just a spot in the schedule that it kind of got caught like that. He’s fine. It’s a really good player sitting over there (Friday night) for us. After this series when we get back to the DH, he’ll probably be in the next 10 in a row.

The stadium for motor racing would be an incredibly loud, disruptive, traffic-jam causing land use that is totally at odds with the peaceful, passive nature of the park, Remaud said.

Top receiver Michael Thomas made it after catching 104 passes for 1,245 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore second-round pick, while running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara also did so after combining for 3,094 scrimmage yards and 25 touchdowns. 

No reason to think any of those guys will be less effective in 2018, and a four-game early-season suspension for Ingram shouldn’t be enough to drastically slow down an offense that also got a 787-yard, age-32 season from speedy veteran Ted Ginn Jr. (who somehow caught 76 percent of the passes thrown his way while averaging nearly 15 yards per reception). 

But the Saints also went out in the offseason and added receiver Cameron Meredith, who is coming off a knee injury but had 888 receiving yards and strong rate-based numbers with the Bears two years ago.

And would anyone be surprised if rookie third-round pick Tre’Quan Smith put together a big season in that friendly offense after averaging 16.4 yards per catch at UCF? 

Of course, it’s easy to find those wideouts when you’ve got Devonta Freeman and/or Tevin Coleman in the backfield. And while those two weren’t as effective in 2017 as they were in 2016, that probably had to do with the offense experiencing growing pains while transitioning to Steve Sarkisian’s system. 

If both of those guys can pick up where they left off in support of Evans (a four-year vet with four 1,000-yard seasons under his belt and the second-highest paid wideout in the NFL) and Jackson (a three-time Pro Bowler a year removed from a 1,000-yard season in Washington), Winston will be in damn good shape in 2018. 

Of course, that’s no guarantee. Sophomore slumps happen, and the Bucs also need to hope that Evans and Jackson can improve their reception rates (they combined to catch just 54 percent of the passes thrown their way in 2017). The 31-year-old Jackson is also trying to fight off Father Time, and they’re holding auditions for a starting running back role.

Davis is the wild card here. The 2017 No. 5 overall pick caught just 34 passes and failed to score a touchdown during an injury-derailed rookie season. And while he has impressed this offseason, you can’t call him a strong supporting cast member until he delivers consistently in actual games. 

Things could change quickly if Davis emerges, but for now Mariota’s arsenal is below average because of a lack of established weapons out wide.

On Friday, rumors became rampant of a potential trade that would have sent Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski to the 49ers or the Titans or, really, anywhere but New England. On Tuesday, to the extent that the widely-debunked rumor needed another coat of debunking, the man who reportedly blocked the deal went on the record.

When you’re team is good, people are looking for things, team owner Robert Kraft said Tuesday at the annual Myra Kraft Community MVP. I’ll just tell you it’s a bunch of hogwash that I vetoed some trade [involving Gronkowski]. That was never in the works. It’s just completely made up . . . and I think we have to be careful in society, people just can’t come out and say things. This bit about us trading Gronk to the 49ers or Tennessee, there’s no basis to it and it gets a life of its own. I just want to go on record to make sure you all understand there’s no truth to that.

If it was up to Quincy Enunwa, he would be practicing fully this week. Instead, he will have to settle for a small step in the right direction.

For the first time this spring, Enunwa took part in positional drills, progress for the wide receiver who missed all of last season after undergoing surgery to repair herniated disks in his neck.

My baseball career started when I was 4 years old at Wellswood Youth Baseball in Tampa, Fla. Ever since I was a youngin’ I’ve had a huge passion for baseball. But 4 was the youngest I could start. So, when I was 3, my dad signed me up to play baseball for the first time. I was a bigger kid so I could pass as a 4-year-old. When it was time to go play, my dad leaned down and told me that I was 4.

Why? I asked him. I’m 3.

Of course, 3-year-old me didn’t understand what was going on. My dad responded, Do you want to play? Of course I wanted to play. After I said yes, he responded, OK, then you’re 4.

Growing up, I was super spoiled because Yankees spring training was 10 minutes from my house, the Tampa Bay Rays are 35 minutes away, and there was a huge baseball culture in Tampa. People ask all the time who I rooted for as a kid. The answer: no one. I had no true loyalty to a specific team. I just loved baseball. I loved watching it just as much as I did playing it. I guess you could call me a baseball junky.

Visits to team headquarters are part of the norm before the regular NFL Draft. When they happen before the supplemental draft, it’s more unique. Also, it’s June.

According to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander will meet with seven teams after his pro day tomorrow, and will then visit at least one team. A reported 26 teams will attend his pro day.

There’s no mention of the team in question, which makes this perhaps the first ever appearance of free agency favorite #MysteryTeam in conjunction with the supplemental draft.

Knox Sr., whose quarterback at Florida State was ex-Knick Charlie Ward, said he spoke to Perry for about 20 minutes.

You never know, but I was thinking why would management call again to chat it up for 20 minutes about a potential client? Knox Sr. said. We talked about the roster and what a perfect fit he could be. That’s what Scott and I talked out. Scott said he seems mature for his age.

The Lions announced McGrath’s signing on Thursday. They waived Wes Saxton, who joined the team 10 days ago and obviously didn’t make much of an impression in that brief run.

McGrath comes to Detroit after spending the last two seasons with the Chargers. He played 31 games, started 11 times and caught six passes for 71 yards. McGrath had 26 catches for 302 yards in 16 games for the Chiefs in 2013 and also spent time with the Seahawks.

The Lions will have a new look at tight end this year with Eric Ebron off the roster. McGrath joins Michael Roberts, Luke Willson and Levine Toilolo as competitors for playing time.

During the 2014-2015 NFL season, ­Erica Wilkins had a banner rookie year as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader [DCC]. Then 22, the Friendswood, Texas, native was one of just 16 women to make the team’s show group, an elite squad made up of the best technical dancers on the team. She appeared solo on the cover of the group’s swimsuit calendar, was deemed a star on a reality show about the team, and performed onstage with Blake Shelton and Usher.

Her total annual earnings? About $4,700 after taxes.

The Lions have made significant changes at tight end this offseason, and added some depth Monday.

The team announced the addition of free agent tight end Wes Saxton.

If the Giants don’t have one of the most-improved offenses in the NFL this season, you can’t blame the general manager or the supporting cast or anything else. It’ll be the quarterback.

I think it is a good crew of guys, Manning said. Now it just comes down to how hard can we work and how committed can be in putting this all together and finding ways to win together.

But the New Jersey Racing Commission put the state’s three racetracks on notice that they need to wait for the governor’s approval.

Participation in sports wagering, or in services related to sports wagering, on the grounds of the racetrack without first obtaining the necessary license will result in the commission taking disciplinary action against that person or entity, the letter from the commission’s executive director, Frank Zanzuccki, reads.

To Michael Kay Show in August 2017 : Anybody that thinks that there’s been any conversations going on among teams about Colin Kaepernick is crazy. That just is not the case. I saw a quote, I think it was (Dolphins owner) Steve Ross recently that said, ‘Teams want to win so badly that if they believe a player can help them win, they’re going to bring him on.’ I think there are certain issues obviously that go along with Colin Kaepernick and that may have scared some teams away, but there is absolutely no blackball going on here. I just don’t see that at all.

The Raiders would then draft another offensive tackle, Brandon Parker, in the third round. So it’s clear that they want to get younger at the position. But Gruden appears to have placated Penn by persuading him that the Raiders’ draft picks were about keeping a good offensive line in front of Derek Carr for many years to come, not about any sign that they’re losing confidence in Penn this year. Penn now says he’s working on taking the young tackles under his wing and hoping that some day, they’ll protect Carr as well as he does. Just not quite yet.

In other words, the commission put racetracks on notice that they’re all required to have a vendor license and that any racetrack that accepts bets before the bill is signed into law will have to have those bets reviewed — which would delay their licenses.

Cowboys Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin was a consummate competitor, to the point where he was willing to violate a personal code to get rid of teammates who didn’t have the passion for winning that he had.

Swaim, in the final year of his rookie deal, faces a big season. But he sees it as an opportunity, not added pressure.

The Philadelphia Eagles are getting away with paying Jalen Mills $604,214 a year and Jordan Hicks $748,183 per season, but running back Jay Ajayi’s contract represents an even bigger bargain because the 2015 fifth-round pick was a bigger difference-maker than Mills or Hicks in 2017.

Quessenberry’s experience makes him an obvious person for Hal to consult with and lean on as he goes through the treatment process and the offensive lineman said on Friday that he’s willing to do anything he can to help Hal.

It’s a shock and a terrible thing to go through, but he’s a fighter, Quessenberry said, via John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. He’s tough. He’s going to give it hell, beat it and come back to play the game he loves. I’m going to be there for him any way I can, and he knows that. It can be beat. He’s going to beat it, come back and accomplish his goal. Andre’s energetic. He’s got passion. He’s a leader. He’s going to need all of that to beat this.

No amount of advice is going to change the task that lies ahead for Hal, but having someone close by who has been through a similar experience provide a shoulder should be beneficial as Hal keeps up the fight.