Mon AM BRB (5-3-21)
This Day in Music (5-3-1933)
“The Godfather of Soul,” James Brown is born in Barnwell, South Carolina.
Both the Jets and Giants left fans feeling like their respective teams greatly improved when the 2021 NFL Draft was put to rest. After stealing the show some Thursday night, Joe Douglas and the Jets wasted no time continuing their determined march towards competence on Friday. Though most anticipated the Jets would take the day to orchestrate a trade to recoup some of the assets used to trade up for Alijah Vera-Tucker, the organization had another idea, and no, it wasn’t upgrading the defense. Douglas and Robert Saleh planted a flag in the ground proving these will not be your older brother’s New York Jets, selecting electrifying Ole Miss WR Elijah Moore with the 34th pick. The Jets followed up this steal Saturday afternoon with another, taking North Carolina RB Michael Carter to complete an emphatic run on offense most Jets fans have never seen before. Not to make light of the fact that the Jets received a tremendous value on both playmakers, but it simply cannot be overstated how desperately the Jets needed to move into the 21st century as a football team. The team has wasted the better part of the last decade on a barrage of defensive selections that aren’t even on the team anymore. I know we all tuned the team out for our own sanity somewhere around week four of last year, but let’s not forget this was a team struggling to accumulate 100 yards of total offense a game at times in 2020. This roster is still a work in progress, but when you add up the Jets first four selections, combine them with some interesting swings on defensive players in the later rounds and add all that to Mekhi Becton, Denzel Mims, Quinnen Williams, Marcus Maye, Carl Lawson and Corey Davis, you would be forgiven for saying the Jets may have found a core.
The Giants rounded off their exceptional offseason by capitalizing on value this weekend, particularly on Friday night. In general, you could say the first 48 hours of the draft were something of a masterclass by Dave Gettleman, and no, I can’t believe I’m saying that either. If you want to pick apart the selection of Toney, okay, maybe some of the receivers picked after him end up having better careers. You’re already playing the “what if,” game there, and missing the fact that Toney opens up the Giants offense in a way that not even Saquon Barkley can. I’ve said it hundreds of times, if you want to invest in finding out if Daniel Jones is your man you have to double, triple and quadruple down on supplying your offense with talent. The Giants did just that this offseason and they deserve praise, that’s the bottom line there. Adding to that, if you were one who didn’t feel so warm and fuzzy about the value of Kadarius Toney at 20, how about a little Azeez Ojulari at 50?! Reports are that Ojulari fell a bit due to some injury concerns, and in a year where teams didn’t have the access to players they normally would, most felt as though they weren’t in a position to take the chance. Insert the Giants, who not only had a gaping need for a dynamic, relentless rusher like Ojulari, but were able to trade back eight spots and still secure him. I still have my reservations about Gettleman’s long term security as Giants GM, but you have to give credit where it’s due, that’s how you win the draft. If that wasn’t enough, the move to select UCF CB Aaron Robinson in the third round was basically a bat-flip for the Giants as they take a flier on a player who polarizes some, but most seem to believe has one of the highest upsides of any corner in the draft. Given the offseason the Giants have now (likely) completed, it’s officially time to allow expectations to build.
Now that the deep stuff is over and done, we can get ourselves back to the games at hand. There was baseball in New York City this weekend, and for the first time in 2021, it felt like the baseball Yankees fans are accustomed to seeing. Let’s not make too much of a three game pounding of the Detroit Tigers, but simply put bad teams find ways to lose baseball games to other bad teams. For the better part of April, the Yankees were doing exactly that, but the past three days felt something like the team putting an end to it. Naturally, the tone was set Friday night by Gerrit Cole who was, you guessed it, spectacular once again for the Yankees. Cole improved to 4-1 with a 1.43 ERA this season with another stunning six inning, 12 K/0 BB performance which was followed Saturday by Jameson Taillon and Sunday by Corey Kluber, the latter of whom experienced a scintillating return to form that captured the imagination of every Yankees fan. Kluber found his 2018- Cy Young form yesterday, going eight innings, striking out 10 and allowing just two hits in a 2-0 Yankees win. On top of this brilliance, Kluber walked just one batter, avoiding the trouble he’d been creating for himself with every start to begin his Yankees tenure. The offense also began to click this weekend thanks in large part to Aaron Judge (or Tigers pitching, based on your view of the universe). Judge was brilliant against Detroit, spurring the team’s 10-0 onslaught on Friday with two dingers (one of which a grand slam) and five RBI. Driving in three more runs in Saturday’s 6-4 win, Judge finally looked like the man capable of carrying the Yankees, and the team needs him to continue this run when the despicable Houston Astros come to town this week.
In a rare turn of events, the Mets received a gift from the Baseball Gods Sunday night’s 8-7 cardiac victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. With Edwin Diaz struggling and Rhys Hoskins representing the tying run at the plate, Mets fans were dealt a cruel vision of their own mortality as Hoskins rocketed a deep line drive to right field ruled a home run in real time. To add even more misery to the situation, Diaz left the game immediately after in obvious discomfort, with manager Luis Rojas saying the Mets closer would be evaluated in greater detail Monday. Yet, just when the moment couldn’t feel any lower for the Mets, it was accurately deemed that Hoskins’ moment of glory was not to be. Though replay has been anything but automatic this year, the officiating crew correctly deemed that the would-be dinger hit the railing atop the RF wall before caroming back into play. Thanks to an emergency save by Jeurys Familia, the Mets were able to escape the thrilling Sunday Night Baseball affair with a series win. Though Mets fans have yet to see Francisco Lindor find his stride at the plate, one man who certainly has is Michael Conforto. The Mets OF drove the Mets two victories in Philly, first playing hero on Saturday night with his second HR of the season to break a 4-4 tie in the 9th inning before following that with three more hits and two RBI last night. Despite his early season struggles, Conforto has lifted his average to a very respectable .257 and no longer looks out-of-place in the middle of the Mets order. If Lindor is able to unlock the immense reserves of his talent as the weather warms, this Mets lineup is going to be a lot livelier than some of their fans might have you believe.