Happy Thursday! We’ve got another edition of Flavell’s Five on tap. Lots happened this week in the world of sports and the U.S. Open begins Thursday at Oakmont.
Between that and Aaron Rodgers’ first week in Pittsburgh officially signed as a Steeler, a lot of the sports world’s eyes have been cast Pittsburgh’s way.
So, without further ado, let’s talk about some Pittsburgh sports!
Welcome, Mr. Rodgers
There’s going to be lots of mixed feelings about Rodgers in Pittsburgh until he finally plays a meaningful game for the franchise. One side of the fan base is just starving for above average quarterback play and sees Rodgers for the HOF’er that he soon will be. The other half is certainly against him from the outset because he’s just a different type of dude that’s “too old” for the sport.
I can see both sides of this argument. However, I don’t think you can convince me otherwise than Rodgers isn’t an upgrade over Mason Rudolph.
Rudolph is a good back up. If he started 17 games for the Steelers this season, it wouldn’t be very enjoyable. There’s a chance Rodgers’ age catches up to him and a similar situation happens but it seems to me that there’s a little more potential with Rodgers at the helm than Rudolph. Even if that difference is ever so marginal.
Pump the brakes on a Donny Kelly extension
It’s very exciting watching the Pirates lately and feeling something again. It’s quite sad that the barometer is some .500 baseball which is precisely about what the Pirates have done under Kelly.
But it’s the overall quality of the play that’s got fans excited. The mental errors seem to be diminishing. Suddenly the bats aren’t as cold as they once were and the starting pitching has been top five in the league since Kelly took over.
But this extension talk? Let’s hold the phone there for right now.
I’m as excited as the next guy about this team. They’re not making a run this year to make the playoffs. However, if this year is finished strong and they carry that momentum to next year with a few upgrades in the lineup, anything is possible.
But the last time the Pirates gave a manager an extension after an even better start over a similar sample size, we ended up with a few too many years of Derek Shelton. The guy turned out to be one of the least winning managers in baseball history over such a longer tenured span.
Let’s at the very least see Donnie Kelly over the remaining 95 games before we anoint any sort of sainthood or extension to his name.
How abaht Hamerring Hank?
When you select a guy 1.1 in a draft, you always hope he doesn’t turn out to be a colossal bust. You actually hope he’s franchise altering. It doesn’t always happen that way so a serviceable player at the very least is what you need out of that spot.
Until a few weeks ago, Henry Davis looked like a bust.
The way his situation had been handled up to this point was very much reminiscent of the Kenny Pickett handling in Pittsburgh. They gave him limited reps at his position. Ultimately, they moved him to the outfield and put him in position to not support him as they should’ve. Things weren’t working.
The past three weeks, Davis is batting .238 with three home runs and seven RBI. These aren’t eye popping numbers by any means but he’s been given playing time while the Pirates are banged up behind the dish and he’s ran with it for the best stretch of baseball in his major league career.
That’s an exciting development for the Pirates. If he can’t strike out less and get on base more as well as hit for some pop, that would be a welcomed occurrence for this team. He’s worked incredibly hard to improve defensively and he’s done that tenfold since last year.
We’ll see how things go the rest of the way but it’s a make-or-break season for Davis. He’s an easy guy to root for.
What a Cup Final we’ve got, huh?
Edmonton and Florida part two has been pretty solid to this point. Florida is just so much fun to watch play hockey. They do everything right. It’s a treat.
Edmonton’s duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl makes for an explosive goal potential anytime they’re on the ice. It’s hockey at its purest and that’s why both teams are back in the Finals again.
The line brawl the other night shows just how bad both of these teams want to win and you have to respect that obviously. It makes for a great viewing experience.
I’m going to make the prediction that the Oilers are going to make the comeback, we’re going to get seven games of intensely good hockey and that McDavid finally etches his name into hockey lure.
They have the build of the Pens teams that won back-to-back Cups when you consider the stars and the speed that is on the team. It’s pretty cool.
U.S. Open prediction
A golf major in Pittsburgh is really cool. The eyes of the sports world are on a golf course that’s being touted by a lot of the players as possibly the hardest that they’re ever going to play on as a professional. That’s major props for a city and state that isn’t necessarily known for their golf like South Carolina or California is.
The popular picks this week are Scottie Scheffler for obvious reasons along with Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy. I’m going to go a tad further down the betting ladder with my choice and take two-time major winner Collin Morikawa.
He’s won the Open Championship and the PGA Championship to this point of his career so a U.S. Open would put him a Masters victory away from the Grand Slam and he’s got the game to do it.
Morikawa is one of the best iron players in the world and that’s going to be an underrated part of the winners’ game at Oakmont. Everyone is talking about the thick rough and the fast greens but if someone takes a conservative approach off the tee and keeps their balls in the fairway to have green light looks from the fairways with their irons and wedges, that’s a huge advantage.
Give me Morikawa at 25/1 this weekend. If he wins it, the last 4 majors will have been won by the top-4 players in the Official World Golf Rankings.
(photo courtesy of Sky Sports)