Friday, April 28, 2017

5 Things on a Friday: Move Over, Babe Ruth!

The Yankees are on a roll, the Giants took a pass-catching tight end, and the Bluefish open tonight at Harbor Yards.  
We’ve got a lot to talk about, folks.  Let’s get to it.

1. No Longer a Dream: Silicon Valley Takes On the Flying Car (NY Times)
Kitty Hawk’s flying car, if you insisted on calling it a “car,” looked like something Luke Skywalker would have built out of spare parts. It was an open-seated, 220-pound contraption with room for one person, powered by eight battery-powered propellers that howled as loudly as a speedboat.
Yeah.  It looks more like a flying moped, but it’s definitely an interesting idea.  
I’m not convinced that battery technology has quite advanced enough to make this and a lot of related bulk electric storage ideas as feasible as people seem to want to believe they are.  However, this is an interesting piece of engineering, as are some of the battery storage concepts that Elon Musk has planned through automaker Tesla and its various affiliates.  Saying this does not mean that all of these ideas are necessarily going to work, but if and when battery technology improves, I expect the world will change rather dramatically.  However, I also think this battery problem is substantially more complicated than a lot of the investors betting on the sector currently conceive.
2. How fallen teammate’s motto is guiding Army star to NFL (NY Post)
“Scared money don’t make no money.” — Brandon Jackson
When Andrew King gets hesitant, he thinks back to that quote. When he doubts his path, he remembers what his late teammate would often say before a game. When he questions his abilities, he recalls the opportunities Jackson sadly lost.
“It just means be loose,” the former Army linebacker and NFL draft hopeful said in a phone interview. “Be loose, be confident. You prepared for this moment.”
Good article.  I don’t know if King is going to be drafted, and part of me wishes that he’d just head off to the Infantry Officer Basic Course and pursue what would very likely be a promising career in the U.S. Army, but I suppose there’s no denying the guy a shot at his dream.
3. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
That is exactly the movie I need this summer, but it’s not coming out until some time in September.
4. How the Giants will approach this year's draft (ESPN)
The Giants pick 23rd overall in the first round. They don't have any eye-popping needs but can use an upgrade at linebacker, offensive line, running back, tight end, defensive tackle, cornerback depth and a quarterback of the future. They can also likely survive if they don't add any specific position. They can always fill out their roster with another veteran free agent and be OK at pretty much any position.
It doesn't mean the Giants don't want to leave this draft with at least one or two new offensive linemen. That would be preferable, especially since they're admittedly going to "experiment" on the line this spring. The plan is to throw as many competent offensive linemen into the mix, try them at different positions and see what the best combination is.
As I write this, the first round still lies in our future.  Given all the Mock Drafts I’ve seen, I expect the Giants will have their pick of Offensive Tackles, and if they don’t get a good one this time around, I’ll be both surprised and disappointed.  
GM Jerry Reese has been very good at finding talent early in skill position players, and he made quite a few good free agent signings last year.  Now it’s time to—finally—fix the O-Line.
EDIT: The Giants took Evan Engram, TE, Ole Miss.  I don’t love it, but I get why they did it and expect he’ll be a solid contributor on an offense that should be explosive, assuming QB Eli Manning has time to throw.  However, Reese and company still need to address their woes at tackle.  For better or worse, Manning is not the kind of quarterback who can succeed without solid protection.

5. Tim Tebow boosts average to .246 with three hits, including triple (ESPN)
Tim Tebow extended his Class A ascent for the Columbia Fireflies on Wednesday, going 3-for-4 with his first career triple -- on a headfirst slide -- to raise his batting average to .246.
The 5-0 win for the Mets' South Carolina affiliate over the visiting Asheville Tourists featured Tebow's third multihit game since Friday, as the 29-year-old followed up on his best week in the minors with more consistency at the plate. In his past six games, Tebow is batting .450 (9-for-20).
I love that Tebow’s actually playing reasonably well.  I’ve no idea what his ceiling is as a baseball player, nor do I have a whole Hell of a lot of interest.  However, it’s great to see when hard work is rewarded.  Assuming that things continue along the current trend, the question is when not if he’ll be called up to play AA ball.  Well, High-A, anyway.
Considering the guy hasn’t played since high school, that’s outstanding work.
* * *
Your Bridgeport Bluefish won their opening seven-game series against the Sugarland Skeeters four games to three.  Wednesday’s rubber match turned largely on the play of Pitcher Cory Riordan, who allowed one run in seven innings and at one point retired eleven batters out of thirteen through the end of inning five.  Riordan also had three RBIs!
To say the least, the Bluefish’s Twitter account got pretty fired up.





The ‘Fish were off last night, but they have their home opener tonight.  First pitch is at 4:05 pm at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard.  As of this writing, you can get tickets to the Harbor Club for $10 or out on the first base line with me and my friends and family for a bit less than that.
I’m not sure who’s pitching tonight, but given the way the series with the Skeeters played out, I’ve become cautiously optimistic about the team’s bullpen.  Save last Saturday’s 10-13 slugfest, the Bluefish kept every game in the last series tight, making the Skeeters earn every run they got.  Even Wednesday the pitching was good, though the final score was 6-4.  Riordan gave up one run through seven innings.  That’s excellent.
#GameOn!
* * *
The Yankees won last night.  I'll assume you were too busy watching the draft to catch the game, but it was a good one.  Tanaka pitched a three-hit complete-game shutout against the Red Sox's ace Chris Sale.  With that, New York was able to get just enough offense to carry a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning.  Sale tired first, and that allowed the Yankees to put two more runs on the board, which in turn put the game out of reach.

Folks are starting to wonder just how good this Yankees team is.  I don't know, but they're fun to watch.

 That’s all I’ve got, folks.  Enjoy the weekend.
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