Jets Get next "Franchise QB" in Zach Wilson, Giants Puzzle Many with WR Pick

 The Jets have their man ... again ... at least they think. 

Like the rite of spring the Jets once again have convinced themselves that a 21-year old college kid will be their franchise savior at quarterback, this time in the form of BYU quarterback Zach Wilson. 

There was really no suspense with this. It was obvious for weeks that the Jets were going Wilson rather than more experienced, higher rated quarterbacks like Justin Fields and Mac Jones, when Joe Douglas and company were seen in full force at Wilson's Pro Day. 

Wilson is small in stature, about 6-2, 210 lbs, but he has a big arm. He completed 73 percent of his passes and threw 33 touchdowns to just three picks last year. He can make all the throws, and people love his fit in an offense that focuses on play action and RPOs. However, the knock on him, the lack of a competitive schedule; injuries in 2019, and his propensity to gamble with his arm are all concerns. We'll see how it plays out. 

Many have compared Wilson's arm talent to that of Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers, but he looks more like a Baker Mayfield-type. At the very least the Jets got Wilson some much needed protection with the selection of USC guard Alijah Vera-Tucker. The Jets traded with the Vikings in order to jump up from 23 to 14 to get Vera-Tucker. Perhaps the Jets were worried a team like the Giants, who traded down with the Bears to the 20th selection, would have taken him. Vera-Tucker is a solid choice, an excellent run blocker and pass protector, who slots right next to Mekhi Becton on the left side of the Jets rebuilding offensive line. 

Overall Grade on night one: B+  

Verdict: We have to see what Wilson becomes. He is a bit of a project at the quarterback position. If he works out, Joe Douglas is a genius. If he doesn't, well ... you know. 

Giants Trade with Bears: 

The Giants made some noise trading with the Chicago Bears to move down from 11 to 20. 

The Bears used the selection to nab former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. Fields was once considered the second best quarterback in the draft behind Trevor Lawrence, but slipped as hype excelled for Zach Wilson and Trey Lance. Fields is a tough guy, has a big arm, and makes plays with both his arm and legs. His 6-touchdown performance against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl was one of the best efforts of an excellent college career. His size and versatility makes him a very intriguing pick for a Bears franchise that has been looking for that franchise quarterback for decades.  

Bears Grade on night one: A

Verdict:  The Bears might have gotten the best quarterback of the draft.

As for the Giants, they used the 20th selection to take wide receiver Kardarius Toney. This was a bit of a downer, considering the Giants could have addressed bigger needs like offensive line and edge rusher and chose not to. 

Things just didn't go the Giants way on Thursday. They lost out on Jaylen Waddle to the Dolphins with the 6th overall pick, and watched the Eagles make a deal with the Cowboys just to jump Big Blue in order to take DeVonta Smith, the dynamic playmaker from Alabama. Then the Jets traded up to get AVT. David Gettleman took a lot of L's; at least he got a lot of picks in return from Chicago. 

Giants overall grade night one: C. 

Verdict: The Giants really could have done better. Seriously. 

Patriots get a quarterback. 

Yes, Bill Belichick selected a quarterback in the first round in former Alabama quarterback Mac Jones. Jones had a great year in 2020, completing 70 percent of his passes, and winning a national title. He is used to the Patriot Way, having played under Nick Saban, a long time Belichick disciple. Jones is the first quarterback taken in the first round by the Patriots since Drew Bledsoe in 1993. Will Jones be the true heir to the Tom Brady thrown in Foxboro? That remains to be seen, but never count out Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. 

Overall grade for the Patriots: B. 

Verdict: It's hard to replace greatness, Patriots are hoping they struck lightning rather quickly. We'll see.

Aaron Rodgers unhappy. Perhaps the biggest news of the night was the story that leaked out Thursday that the Packers MVP wants out of Green Bay. The Packers fielded a trade request from San Francisco for Rodgers, and quickly rejected it. Rodgers is unhappiness with the Packers dates back to last spring when the Packers drafted quarterback Jordan Love instead of getting some offensive weapons to help the team. Rumors are the Broncos, 49ers and Raiders are on Rodgers' wish list, so stay tuned. 

Jets Closing In on Next Savior as Draft Approaches

 The New York Jets have a tortured history when it comes to the quarterback position. Since Joe Namath left the Jets in 1976, New York has started 34 different quarterbacks; 20 since 1997. They have even drafted quarterbacks in the first round as recently as 2009 and 2018, and neither worked out. What will change this time as BYU's Zach Wilson appears destined for Green and White? 

Oh, and the Jets rivals, the New England Patriots appear linked to Justin Fields, the guy the Jets will pass on in order to get Fields. Check out the vlog! 

Yankees problems get worse with another series loss to Rays

 RAYS 6 - YANKEES 3

Even a closed door meeting between Manager Aaron Boone and the Yankees wasn't enough to get things turned around -- at least right away -- as the Yanks suffered another loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, dropping the last place Bombers to 5-9 on the year. 

Saturday's 6-3 loss was a microcosm of all the things that ail this team right now. They still can't hit in the clutch, they were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position; and they unless Gerrit Cole is pitching, they have no chance to begin with. 

And this followed a game on Friday where the Yankees were trounced 8-2, and the fans were tossing baseballs onto the field. 

Jordan Montgomery got the ball Saturday, and struggled for the most part, as he was more of victim of the long ball than anything else. Francisco Mejia's solo shot in the second gave the Rays an early 1-0 lead. Tampa would tack onto that advantage when Manuel Margot crushed a Montgomery fastball over the center field wall for a two-run shot that gave the Rays a 3-1 lead. 

Montgomery lasted into the seventh inning, before a walk to Mike Brousseau forced Boone to go to the bullpen to bring in Jonathan Loaisiga, who proceeded to give up a two-run shot to Joey Wendle that pushed the Tampa lead to 5-1.

Even though the Yankees did chip away with a Rougned Odor solo shot and an Aaron Judge RBI double to cut into the Rays lead at 5-3, it wasn't nearly enough as the Rays bullpen shut the door in the late stages. 

Of course this game couldn't go by without some health issues after Gary Sanchez left the game after taking a foul tip off his hand; Kyle Higashioka caught the rest of the day. Sanchez's status is day to day.

At 5-9, the Yankees need answers. They hope to get it from Cole tomorrow.

Peterson, McCann Power Mets to Series Win Over Phillies

METS 5 - PHILLIES 1 

Behind a stellar outing for second year starting pitcher David Peterson, and a breakout performance at the dish by catcher James McCann, the Mets earned their first series win of the year with a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. 

The Mets turn to Jacob deGrom tomorrow afternoon at noon with a chance to sweep the series. Maybe they'll score some runs for him this time? 

As for the lefty Peterson, he was every bit as good as deGrom would be on most nights. He carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and would have had a perfect game going were it not for Dom Smith dropping a fly ball by J.T. Realmuto in the third inning. 

Peterson overpowered the Phillies lineup by mixing his stuff, and striking out 10 in the process. It was a heck of a response from the 25-year old out of Denver, Colorado, who just a week ago was shelled by this same Phillies lineup for six runs over four innings in a frustrating 8-2 Mets loss. 

It was a totally different story tonight. 

Outside of Jean Segura, who hit a solo homer off of Peterson in the fifth, the Phillies had no answer. Only one other player got a hit the entire night for Philadelphia and that was Rhys Hoskins. 

Meanwhile, the Mets didn't make things easy for Peterson, who had to tip-toe with a 2-1 lead for his entire outing. The Mets left 10 men on base and were 1-for-6 with RISP. 

Even with that, Brandon Nimmo (3-for-5, run scored) and Dom Smith (3-for-5, RBI) remain hot. Smith even drove in Nimmo with the games first run on a single in the bottom of the first to make it 1-0. 

The one positive you can take from the Mets victory was that both Francisco Lindor and James McCann showed signs of life with the bat. Lindor had a pair of hits and scored two runs, while McCann was 3-for-4, including a mammoth two-run homer in the eighth that broke the game wide open. 

The Mets bullpen? Phenomenal. The combination of Jeurys Familia, Aaron Loup and Edwin Diaz combined to hold the Philles to just two base runners in the final three innings of the game. Diaz even pitched a quick and quiet ninth inning to solidify the victory. 

At 5-3, the Mets -- believe it or not -- find themselves in first in the NL East. 

Did I mention, they need to score for deGrom on Thursday? 

Yankees Struggles Continue as Bichette Walks It Off for Jays

 BLUE JAYS 5 - YANKEES 4 

Another series in the division, another loss. Yeah, it's only 12 games into the season, and you don't want to hit the panic button when there are 150 games to go, but at 5-7 there are too many red flags now not to be concerned. 

The Yankees lost to the Blue Jays 5-4 in Dunedin, Wednesday after Bo Bichette connected on a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to send the Jays to their second straight victory against the Bombers, and their second consecutive series win against the Bombers this season. 

After 12 games the Yankees have lost three series combined, with two of those coming against the Jays, and the other against Tampa Bay. The Yankees squeaked by Baltimore in between this for their lone series victory. The Jays and Rays were expected to be really good this year, both were expected to challenge the Yankees all year. 

However out of the blue have come the Boston Red Sox, who have stunned everyone in baseball rallying off nine straight victories to start off 9-3 on the year. Right now the Yanks find themselves in last place at 5-7. 

Again the big problem for the Yankees Wednesday afternoon, the same problem they have had so far this year, is they couldn't get enough out of their starting pitcher. Corey Kluber was again average, touched up for three runs on six hits, including home runs by Bichette and Alejandro Kirk. 

Through three starts, Kluber is 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA. He is one of four others who have struggled in this rotation. The only guy who has held up his end of the bargain, of course, is Gerrit Cole. But he can't pitch every night; and when he does the Yankees have to find ways to score runs for him. They can't afford to lose games Cole pitches. 

And that leads to the next big problem for New York in this early season, they aren't hitting, and certainly have struggled with runners in scoring position. 

Yes, Aaron Judge homered twice on Wednesday, and Gio Urshela drove in a pair in the fourth that gave the Yanks a 4-3 lead, but it's not enough. Not when the Yankees as a group are hitting .231, ranked 16th in Major League Baseball, and a paltry .229 with RISP. 

On Wednesday the Yankees were 1-for-3 with RISP, and outside of Judge's 3-hit day, the Yankees managed only one extra base hit all afternoon by Gleyber Torres -- who has struggled himself both at the plate (.220) and defensively. 

What makes this even more troubling, is the fact the Yankees lost 4 out of 6 to a Blue Jays team that still doesn't have George Springer back in the lineup yet. Imagine how tougher the Jays will be when he comes off the injury list. 

With the Rays coming to the Bronx on Friday, the Yankees need to get things going. This is a team that is talented enough, but the lingering questions will remain. Certainly the concerns about pitching are the most glaring issue for this team moving forward. 

Rougned Odor Helps Yankees Avoid Sweep at Hands of Rays

 YANKEES 8 - RAYS 4 

For the better part of three-plus hours it was looking pretty ugly for the New York Yankees. They were down 4-3 heading into the eighth inning, starring at an uncertain future. Could the Yankees actually get swept away by the Rays and fall to 3-6 in the cellar of the AL East? 

It look entirely possible. Nothing had been going the Yankees way in this series. They were shutout Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday Jordan Montgomery got smacked around by the Rays, continuing the disturbing fact that the Yankees do not have enough starting pitching behind Gerrit Cole. 

Yet somehow the Yankees hung around long enough for struggling shortstop Gleyber Torres to break out of his early season slump when he lined a RBI single to center, scoring Aaron Judge to tie the game at four. 

Finally, some life from a lifeless offense. 

After a stellar job by Chad Green and Darren O'Day to work a scoreless eighth inning, Aroldis Chapman worked around a Mike Zunino double to strikeout Kevin Padio swinging to get out of the jam and force extra innings. 

In extras the Yanks finally cashed in on the international rule. With Aaron Judge leading off on second base, Aaron Hicks was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. A sacrifice by Mike Tauchmann was followed by a Fielder's Choice for Torres, when shortstop Will Adames threw Judge out at home for the first out. 

With runners on first and third, Odor blooped a single to center, scoring Hicks to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead.

Odor's story is a miracle in itself. He was acquired by the Yankees from the Texas Rangers for virtually nothing, and hadn't played in a game until today's finale in Tampa. With the Yankees scuffling offensively coming into the game, any kind of help, anywhere would have been appreciated. Odor even shaved off his trademark beard that became so synonymous with him during his time in Texas. He looked like a different guy. On Sunday he was. 

 Gary Sanchez followed that up with a RBI single of his own, scoring Torres to make it 6-4. Finally, Gio Urshela, who had a big day with a two-run homer to straight-away center field earlier in the game, doubled to drive in Odor; Sanchez scored on a fielding error. 

Just like that the Yanks were up 8-4. 

Albert Abreu settled down the Rays quietly in the bottom of the 10th with a pair of strikeouts to end the losing streak and get the Yankees back on track at 4-5 on the year. 

The Bombers visit the Blue Jays in Dunedin Florida on Monday night.

A-Rod in Partnership to Buy NBA's Minnesota T-Wolves for $1.5 Bil

 After striking out in his pursuit of the New York Mets, former Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez appears safe at home with the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. 

Rodriguez and billionare business partner Marc Lore are closing in on a deal to buy the T-Wolves and the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx for $1.5 billion. According to ESPN, when the deal is finalized, A-Rod and Lore won't take over until 2023. 

Lore, who is a New Jersey native, was the former CEO and President of Walmart. 

It will be fascinating to see how A-Rod will be as an owner, and what kind of influence his on-again, off-again, on-again fiance, Jennifer Lopez will have. When they were bidding for the Mets, it was assumed that J-Lo would have had a lot of say on the ownership side of things, while A-Rod would have had say in the baseball office. The NBA would be a different kettle of fish for A-Rod. 

Also would A-Rod/J-Lo be looked upon as minority owners to Lore, whose billions surely played a very large role in locking up this deal? Or are they equal partners? 

ESPN also wonders what the long term viability will be for the T-Wolves in Minnesota. Outside of the Kevin Garnett days in the late 90s/early 00's the T-Wolves have struggled. This year the T-Wolves are one of the worst teams in the NBA. 

ESPN poses the question that the franchise could be a candidate to move to Seattle and become the new SuperSonics due to A-Rod's connection to the area. We shall see. 

Regardless, A-Rod just doesn't want to let go of the ownership dream, and now it appears he's finally going to lock it up.

Mets, Again, Can't Support Stellar deGrom Effort

 MARLINS 3 - METS 0 

It has been an epidemic for the Mets for years. Jacob deGrom toes the rubber and the Mets can't score for him. Since 2018, the Mets are 36-42 in games deGrom pitches. Considering the "ace" of the Mets staff, and arguably the best pitcher in the sport has an ERA just above two, and owns a pair of Cy Young Awards in that span speaks to how embarrassing it is that his teammates never have his back. 

Saturday was another case study in the Mets total ineptitude when it comes to helping him. deGrom tossed eight brilliant innings, allowing only a solo homerun, scattered five hits overall, and struck out 14 batters. And yet when he left the game, he was down 1-0. 

This is not to take anything away from Miami's Trevor Rogers who was up to the task holding the Mets scoreless on three hits over six innings, and recording 10 strikeouts of his own.  But, really?

 Really, New York Mets?

 What does it take for deGrom to get a win around here? 

The Mets had only one extra base hit Saturday, a double by Brandon Nimmo in the first inning, and were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. 

Francisco Lindor, the man the Mets paid $341 million to to was 0-for-3 with a sac bunt, and is hitting a paltry .176 this season. 

Michael Conforto was 0-for-4, and is hitting .143. The free agent-to-be was booed heavily by the Citi Field faithful. 

Pete Alonso? He was invisible. 0-for-4; he is batting .211.

 Saturday's 3-0 loss was an embarrassment on so many levels for the Mets, but at the same time, it was par for the course. 

Heck, we even saw Edwin Diaz surrender a pair of runs in the ninth inning just to lock it down for Miami, as if there was any doubt in the outcome. 

After two starts this season, deGrom owns a 0.64 ERA, a WHIP of 0.71 and has 21 strikeouts.  And his record is 0-0. He should be 2-0. He should be a lot of things, but as per usual the Mets can't help this man win games when he gives them so much. deGrom deserves so much better than this.

New Year, Same Ole Mets in Deflating Opening Loss

 PHILLIES 5 - METS 2 

If Monday night's 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies is going to be a microcosm of things to come for the 2021 Mets, it's going to be a long season. 

Because on Monday, Mets fans were treated to a familiar script. 

- Jacob deGrom pitches brilliantly. 

- The Mets fail to get him much run support, as he clings to a 2-0 lead, before exiting the ball game after just 77 piches.   

- 77 pitches? Really Luis Rojas. 

- The bullpen implodes. 

- The Mets rally late, but fall short. 

Yep, same story as we've become accustomed to from the Metropolitans. 

deGrom was indeed brilliant. In fact he was virtually unhittable. At one point he was hitting 100 mph on his heater in the sixth inning, and had Bryce Harper and the rest of the Phillies lineup completely flabbergasted. 

deGrom even helped his own cause with a pair of singles, including an RBI single in the fifth that gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. James McCann was the only other Met to produce a run, an RBI single in the fourth in his Mets debut. 

Other than that, the Mets had no answer offensively. They left 10 men on base, and were 4-for-11 with RISP.  

The $341 million man, Francisco Lindor? He made some snazzy plays defensively, but was quiet with the bat until his single through hole at second in the top of the ninth during a potential Mets rally. 

The real culprit of course was the bullpen. Former Minnesota Twins reliever Trevor May had nothing on his fastball which was completely flat, and the Phillies knew it. After giving up a 1-out single to Brad Miller, May lost Andrew McCutchen to a walk after an eight pitch battle. Then Rhys Hoskins slapped a base hit to right after a six pitch duel. 

Finally Rojas went back to the pen to bring in lefty Aaron Loup, who just didn't have it. Loup hit Harper in the rear end with the bases loaded to drive in a run to make it 2-1, and J.T. Realmuto slapped a single through the hole at third to tie it. 

Finally the Mets got sloppy defensively when Luis Guillorme threw away a grounder by Alec Brohm that drove in two run more Phillies runs to make it 4-2. 

It was  the ultimate disaster, and the Mets seemed powerless to stop the mudslide. 

The Mets tried to rally in the ninth.  Kevin Pillar and Lindor singled, before Michael Conforto reached on a RBI base hit that Harper couldn't handle in right. Finally, Pete Alonzo skied one to deep right that he barely missed hitting out of the park. Instead of changing the narrative, Alonzo's fly ball was emblematic of the night. So close, yet so far. 

The Mets (0-1) send Marcus Stroman to the hill tomorrow against the 4-0 Phillies.

Judge and Stanton Power Yanks over O's

 YANKEES 7 - ORIOLES 0 

After struggling for three days against the Toronto Blue Jays, the heart of the Yankees order was alive and well against the Baltimore Orioles, as both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton broke out of their early season malaise to power the Bronx Bombers to a 7-0 victory over the previously undefeated Orioles. 

 

It all started in the bottom of the fourth when Judge took a 2-0 fastball from Jorge Lopez and deposited it over the right field wall to hand the Yankees a 1-0 lead.  Judge who was hitting .214 coming into the game, had two hits Monday night to push his average back to .294. 

As for Stanton, the Designated Hitter who hadn't gotten one hit in two games against Toronto, saved his best for fifth inning, Monday, when he crushed the second pitch he saw to straight away center field at 471 feet for a grand slam homer to blow the game wide open at 6-0. 

On the mound, Jordan Montgomery was excellent for the Bombers. He tossed six shutout innings for New York, allowing only four hits, while striking out seven. The combination of Luis Cesa and Aroldis Chapman combined to blank the O's in the later innings. 

The win puts the Yanks back at 2-2 on the young season.

Jets Trade Sam Darnold to Panthers as Zach Wilson Decision Looms

 It appears more and more likely that the Jets are going to go all in on Zach Wilson come the NFL Draft in 3-weeks, after the team traded away their former franchise quarterback Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers for a sxith round pick in 2021, and a second and fourth round pick in 2022. 

 

The Darnold era ends sooner than anyone thought it would when the Jets traded up to draft him in 2018. Darnold never had a chance to succeed in New York. The Jets let him down at every step of the way with instability in the front office, buffoonery on the sideline in the form of ex-head coach Adam Gase, and talent that precipitously worse as the years went on. 

Sure Darnold didn't play well. He suffered a number of bizarre injuries, i.e. mono.  But it was a teamwide effort when it came to failing Darnold. Even Douglas has to take a brunt of the responsibility. He didn't give Darnold an offensive line that could protect him, and as a result he was under center for the leagues' worst team in 2020. 

Now Darnold is off to Carolina to resurrect a career with a talented Panthers team that has ex-Jets receiver Robby Anderson, and head coach Matt Rhule who was a candidate for the Jets job before the Jets opted for Adam Gase. Joe Brady, the much ballyhooed offensive coordinator is down there too. Darnold has a shot now that he never got in New York. We wish him well. He deserves better. 

 Now the pressure is exclusively on Douglas to get this right.  

 

A lot of people have sold their souls into the belief that Zach Wilson will be a stud in the NFL. That remains to be seen for a quarterback who played a week schedule for little seen BYU. Justin Fields is probably the safer pick at quarterback at this point, but it appears the Jets are all in on Wilson if you read the tea leaves. 

Wilson better be good. He better live up to the hype. He better be a vast improvement over Darnold, or Douglas and Robert Saleh will never hear the end of it.

Mets-Nats Series Postponed Due to COVID-19

 COVID-19 has wiped out the entire Mets-Nationals series this weekend.  

 

Both teams were scheduled the open the season on Thursday night, but three Nationals players were tested positive for the virus forced the postponement of Thursday's game. Now the entire series is off after the Nationals fear there could be another player who has it -- it  all depends on how contact tracing is conducted. 

As a result the Mets will now open the season at Philadelphia on Monday night. It won't be a typical opener for the Mets since the Phillies will already be three games into their season.  As for the Nationals it is anyone's guess at this point when they will play. The face the Braves starting on Monday, but until contact tracing is completed, and the spread of COVID is contained, they won't play ball. 

The news is sobering as the sport is trying to comeback from a 60-game, fanless season in 2020. Fans were in full force yesterday in most parks, and a lot of people were not taking COVID precautions with no masks and little social distancing. 

Is baseball facing a recipe for disaster? If things don't improve, it could be.

Blue Jays Use International Rule to Down Yankees in Opener

 BLUE JAYS 3 - YANKEES 2 - 10 Innings

Rob Manfred 1, Yankees 0. That was basically the final Thursday afternoon in the Bronx as the Major League Baseball's horrendous runner-on-second rule bit the Yankees in the behind on Opening Day, as New York fell to the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2. 

The second base rule was implemented last season by Major League Baseball, with the commissioner using the Coronavirus as a excuse to implement a rule the sport had been toying with down in the minors for years. 

The result is one of the most archaic and childish finishes to any baseball game. Beginning in the 10th inning the last person to bat in the ninth inning takes his base at second before a pitch is ever thrown. It puts the pitcher and everyone in the field under tremendous pressure. Baseball has stated it implemented this rule to speed up the game, but all they did was create an unmitigated disaster. 

Sure enough with Jonathan Davis starting the 10th inning at second base, Randal Grichuk took the second pitch he saw from reliever Nick Nelson, and deposited it in right field for an RBI double to give Toronto the lead for good. 

Granted the Blue Jays had to face a similar fate in the bottom half of the 10th inning -- with Aaron Judge at second base, and the heart of the Yankee order coming up -- but closer Julian Merryweather struck out Aaron Hicks, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres in succession to end it. 

Still though you can certainly understand why fans are upset. No ball game should have such a archaic ending where teams are basically rewarded runs, especially in an era where offense dominates the sport. 

On the mound, Gerrit Cole pitched well for the Bombers, scattering two runs on five hits over 5.1 innings of work. He was matched pitch-for-pitch by Blue Jays ace Hyun-Jin Ryu, who held the Yanks to a couple runs on four hits over 5.1 himself. 

Offensively, the Yankees were completely stymied. Outside of Gary Sanchez's two-run homer in the bottom of the second, the Yankees didn't record a single extra base hit. The combination of DJ LeMahieu, Judge, Stanton, Hicks, Torres, and Gio Urshela were 2-for-26 on the afternoon. There were even boos for Stanton from the 10,000 plus fans in attendance. 

The Yankees (0-1) now look to their shaky rotation to try to get a 'W' when both teams return on Saturday. 

Fans Maskless in the ballpark. Let's just say the first game back for fans didn't exactly go without a hitch. In fact many were spotted without masks, and were not social distancing. There was even a video of two maskless women screaming at each other on Twitter. 

Not to mention fans were too close to the field throughout. Whatever happened to tarpping the first five rows of the stadium to keep fans away from the players? What a nightmare. If New Yorkers want to return to normal, this isn't going to do it. In fact it might cause New York's government to rescind the 20 percent fan capacity limit back down to zero.

Mets sign Francisco Lindor to 10-year $341 million deal

 It's official! Francisco Lindor is a member of the New York Mets not only in the present, but in the future. The Mets and the All Star short stop agreed to terms on a 10-year $341 million deal just hours before Lindor's self-impossed deadline struck on Opening Day. 

The agreement comes after it appeared negotiations were dead when the Mets made a final offer of $325 million, while Lindor's camp wanted a deal around $385 million over 12 years. Both sides wound up in the middle. 

The deal is the third richest in MLB history according to both Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Joel Sherman of the New York Post, trailing only Anaheim's Mike Trout ($426.5 million) and the Dodgers' Mookie Betts ($365 million) in total value. It is $1 million more than the deal Fernando Tatis Jr. signed with the Padres this winter. 

The deal includes upwards of $50 million in deferrals according to Sherman, and a limited no trade clause, and no opt-outs. 

The Mets and Lindor had to get this done. Had they not, they risked creating a distraction, and angering an already perturbed fan base even more. Now the focus can be primarily, and exclusively on baseball.