Category: Baseball

The Yankees faced a decently big test earlier this week as they took on the Cleveland Guardians — who are near the top of the AL Central — in a series without Aaron Judge. Capped off by a big win on Wednesday, the Yankees passed that test, sweeping all three games against Cleveland. Next up is another challenge, and one that could have an even greater impact on the playoff races this season.

Starting tonight, the Yankees will be making their first trip north of the border. While the Blue Jays aren’t currently in the AL East race, and are even below .500, you’d still expect them to get back into things at some point. They’ve also had the Yankees’ number somewhat recently, including knocking the Bombers out in the ALDS last year. However, they’ve not been not been especially great recently, going 4-7 over their last 11.

Before the action gets going later tonight, here’s a look at the expected pitching matchups over the next couple days.

Friday: Ryan Weathers vs. TBD (7:37 pm ET)

After a decent hot run in May and early June, Weathers has struggled in his most of his recent outings. His ERA has gone from 3.00 to 3.86 over his last four starts, and that included seven scoreless against the Rays during that run. One of his iffy recent performances came against the Blue Jays back on May 18th. He got knocked out after five runs and 5.1 innings.

At least at time of writing, the Blue Jays haven’t officially announced their rotation for this weekend’s series, but they’ll have regular starters on regular rest for the set, so Friday seems likely to be Trey Yesavage. That’s unfortunate for the Yankees, as they still have yet to figure out the Toronto youngster. He has had some iffy outings lately, but that doesn’t include the six innings he shutout the Yankees on May 20th.

Saturday: Cam Schlittler vs. TBD (3:07 pm ET)

The Yankees’ own young ace will go in the second game of the series. Following a couple starts that had some iffy signs, Schlittler fully bounced back against the Red Sox last weekend. He gave up just one run on four in 5.2 innings, helping the Yankees down Boston.

Again, nothing confirmed for this game, but it’s most likely that Kevin Gausman will go for Toronto in game two. The Yankees missed Gausman in the two teams’ earlier meeting this season. Last season, the Yankees got to him in their initial meeting, but then Gausman get the better of them in the following three. That included one in the ALDS, holding them to one run in 5.2 innings.

Sunday: Will Warren vs. TBD (1:37 pm ET)

Warren has his foibles, but he’s still been pretty impressive on the whole. He’s only allowed more than three runs in a start just once this season, and that was over a month ago at this point. In the first meeting between these two teams, Warren picked up a victory over the Jays, having held Toronto to three runs in five innings.

Finally, the most likely starter for Toronto in the finale is Patrick Corbin. After several years of being the worst starter in baseball, Corbin has somewhat bounced back this season, although he’s been worse of late. He had a 3.60 ERA through May 6th, but he has a 5.60 ERA since. He was okay but not great against the Yankees during that stretch, but the Yankees probably should’ve done better than they did.

We step outside the lab to look at a situation that is becoming more and more dire. However. we have to constantly remain guarded against the hyperbolic. People are often drawn to the extremes on managers. It was Whitey Herzog that said he was two players away from the pennant when he managed the Kansas City Royals: Babe Ruth and Cy Young. The clear implication is that players drive championships.

I don’t know if there has ever been a comprehensive study of how many games a good manager is worth or how many games a bad manager can cost a team. I can promise you it isn’s as much as most people think. For instance, on Monday night, Joe Espada made the same move as on Wednesday night. It worked once and backfired the second time. Therefore, it would be fair to assert that he is batting .500. However, I would argue that he was wrong on both nights, but that is besides the point.

I’ve already made this argument before and regular readers will be well aware of that. The difference is that the team is playing better baseball over the last month. They were nearly .500 in May and seem to be on the same trajectory in June. That means that every blunder is actually magnified that much more. A bad baseball team doesn’t need a good manager. A mediocre one could use a good manager if the rest of the league is mediocre.

Two teams have already made managerial changes and they were arguably in the same boat as the Astros. They were bigger payroll teams that came into the season with some level of expectations. The differences between how they have performed are as different as their situations. Suffice it to say that interim managers can sometimes work out, but much of the time it is more of the same. Obviously, it depends on whether they were fired for specific malpractice or just generic underperformance. Let’s look at those two situations.

Boston Red Sox

Alex Cora: 10-17
Chad Tracy: 17-22

It is just one man’s opinion, but this one is on Craig Breslow the general manager. He has the most similar situation in baseball to Dana Brown and the Astros. The two were dancing most the winter, but they were dancing to two different songs. I suppose in some sense the winning percentage under Tracy has improved, but I would call this spinning their wheels.

Philadelphia Phillies

Rob Thomson: 9-19
Don Mattingly: 28-12

This was clearly a situation of a team underperforming. I can guarantee that the Phillies were not as bad as they were under Thomson and they aren’t as good as they have been under Mattingly. However, results are results. The Phillies are now right back in the wild card race where they likely would have been to begin with.

Obviously, I’m not comparing the Astros situation to either situation. Every team is in their own soup so to speak. However, there are a few reasons why I think now is the right time to move on from Espada. It is more specific to what he is actually doing than how the team is playing.

He regularly gets outmanaged

This doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to when pitchers hit, but the end of games is a chess match between managers. Managers choose when and if to pinch hit for certain regulars or bring in defensive replacements. They choose when to bring in certain relievers based on matchups against the other team. Espada regularly gets outmaneuvered by more experienced and more intelligent managers. In some cases he just overthinks things and makes moves for the sake of making moves.

The example I can think of was the Friday night game against Milwaukee. He broughtin Brice Mathews as a defensive replacement for some reason and then he had to hit with the bases loaded and one out. Pat Murphy manuevered right into that situation. He was thinking a couple of moves ahead. Espada was throwing darts at a board. That move likely cost the Astros that game.

He mismanages the pitching staff

I have come to call Espada Joe “One inning too long” Espada. He is constantly trying to get an extra inning out of relievers and starters. I get it on a certain level. This is epsecially true early in the year when the starters were trash. However, even now he is leaning way too often on multiple inning relief outings and there have been numerous occasions where the relievers throw a scoreless frame and then give up runs in the subsequent inning. It is to the point where they should be charged as managerial runs.

I mentioned Monday and Wednesday night. Why is Hader coming into a tie game in the ninth? Why is Abreu the guy taking the ball in the 10th. Heck, why is Abreu within 300 miles of a close game at this point? Just because a gamble works doesn’t mean it is a good gamble. Managers are generally more successful when they play the percentages. Espada doesn’t do that nearly often enough.

Sunday Fun Day

In all fairness, Espada is not the only manager to do this. Jimy Williams used to do it all the time. I called the “YMCA Everyone gets to play” Day. You empty out your bench and sub for as many regulars as you can. That waves a white flag. Obviously, it happens a lot on Snnday but Sunday is not the only day of the week Espada raises the white flag. Smarter managers stagger their load management. The rest one guy at a time.

This doesn’t even mention the fact that with all of the injuries you are hampering yourself when you give guys days off. I get that an occasional breather helps keep guys fresh but when you are starting your backup catcher (who was hitting under .100), that is probably not the best time to start both backup infielders and a backup outfielders.

Putting it all together

This is a simple math problem. If you want to get into the playoffs you need to get to between 83 and 87 wins. If you are doing that then you need to finish 11-15 games above .500 the remainder of the season. This can be a good baseball team but it is not a great one. The good news is that every team is in the same board. However, it means that you cannot afford to give away close games through routine managerial blunders. The sooner you make the change the better.

Shohei Ohtani has set the baseball world on fire on the mound despite his most recent start on Wednesday, and he’s been picking up the pace with the lumber as well since May 12.

Ohtani capped off the three-game set in Pittsburgh with his second home run in as many games while reaching base four times in the Dodgers 8-6 win, but the two-way superstar was an early exit on Thursday due to left knee inflammation. It wasn’t that long ago that on May 26 against the Colorado Rockies, Ohtani also exited early after getting plunked on the wrist.

Dave Roberts spoke with Kirsten Watson about Ohtani’s exit, noting that he acknowledged the discomfort around the sixth inning on Thursday. Roberts doesn’t expect him to miss Friday’s opener against the Chicago White Sox.

I feel good about him being in there tomorrow, but obviously with the travel tonight, we just gotta see how he comes in… I don’t know if it was when he tried to steal second base, but I didn’t hear about it last night, didn’t hear about it today until about the sixth inning.

Justin Wrobleski was also an early exit on Thursday, as after a collision with Bryan Reynolds on a play at first, the left-hander came up limping and was removed with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Wrobleski left with a left hamstring contusion, but when speaking with the media postgame, he’s not worried about his injury and noted that his poor performance on the mound resulted in his departure.

“I didn’t throw the ball very well today just as a whole… It was just one of those outings for me where I just wasn’t synced up perfect, but felt good. Thank God I’m okay, Reynolds is okay, so thankfully for that situation, everyone’s good.”

The Dodgers bullpen struggled over the final two games of the three-game set in Pittsburgh, with Kyle Hurt and Jack Dreyer allowing the lead to slip on Tuesday while the bullpen accounted for eight runs allowed in the series.

Tanner Scott managed to bounce back over what has been a worrisome past two weeks, getting a four-out save while striking out a trio of hitters that managed to account for four home runs against the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth inning. Scott spoke with Watson after recording his seventh save of the season about the bullpen’s ability to quickly turn the page after a rough outing.

“Confidence is huge. We have a great bullpen and we have a lot of special arms. One game happens, you just gotta flush it and move on to the next one.”

Old friends in new places

Outfielder James Outman has found a new home in the AL Central, as the Detroit Tigers announced on Thursday that they claimed him off waivers from the Minnesota Twins.

Since departing from the Dodgers in the Brock Stewart deal last year, Outman struggled to find any significant playing time with the big league level with Minnesota. He slashed just .151/.224/.302 with four home runs and 10 RBI, posting a -0.6 fWAR across 86 combined games before being designated for assignment on June 6.

The big news yesterday was the Kyle Isbel injury. Anne Rogers reported it:

On Thursday, he was diagnosed with a Grade 3 tear of a portion of his left plantar fascia, which is a severe tear and will take some time to heal before he gets back to baseball activity. The Royals are hoping to have a better understanding of a timeline for his return after Isbel is further evaluated in the coming days.

Jaylon Thompson also wrote on it for The Star:

Isbel began limping as he got aboard with a single. He knelt on the base before walking slowly toward the Royals’ dugout.

“I think it was like my first step past the base,” Isbel said. “Kind of tried to turn it on and get a double and felt it in my foot.”

The Royals placed Isbel on the 10-day injured list Wednesday. Now, he will begin the long road to recovery.

It sounds like this recovery is going to be measured in weeks or months, not days.

The team got better news about Seth Lugo and his scary injury. Again, per Anne:

Lugo went through the necessary testing and protocol Wednesday night, and his CT scan came back clear, which is an even better sign. With the welt that has formed on his head, Lugo said he feels the throbbing when he bends over but hasn’t had any headaches. His left elbow is cut up and actually hurts the most from falling on it.

Thompson also wrote about him:

Lugo received a lot of support from his teammates. Multiple players came up to check on him as he got ready for Thursday’s game.

“It’s family in here,” Lugo said. “When something like that happens, it’s scary. You know, it’s one of the dangers of baseball. And as a pitcher, you know, you can’t think of that before it happens. You would never throw a strike. We all feel for each other when something bad happens out there, but you know, it’s part of the game.”

The Royals haven’t determined Lugo’s next steps. It’s still too early to tell how his symptoms will progress in coming days. He had a large bump on his forehead and a few scratches on his arm.

How about three stories from The Athletic ($) about the Royals?

Caleb Mezzy wrote about Bobby Witt Jr.’s new cleats from Under Armor:

On June 18, Under Armour will drop a player-exclusive cleat and turf shoe for Bobby Witt Jr., a move that, on the surface, reads as a standard brand decision for one of baseball’s best young players. But for Witt, it’s the ultimate “Dream Pull.”

…“Dream Pull” is inspired by the thrill of ripping a pack of baseball cards and chasing a big hit. It’s that collector’s high that has driven recent growth in the hobby and prompted pro players like Witt to collect.

…Collectors and fans have multiple ways to get the new footwear. Starting on June 18, limited quantities of the Dream Pull will be available in both cleat and turf versions on Under Armour’s website and mobile app, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Academy.com. Anyone who purchases through Dick’s Sporting Goods or Under Armour receives an exclusive Panini card in the box. But on June 20, the Under Armour Factory House in Kansas City will stock pairs with some boxes containing randomly placed autographed Witt Jr. cards. (The Dream Pull PE will be playable in MLB The Show 2026’s “Road to the Show” game mode.)

This is my second or third shoe story in the last couple of months. I’m currently working on a shoe-related OT, but it’s not ready yet. Can you do a little better on your timing, guys?

In an article by Ken Rosenthal about the trade deadline, he mentions “Royals’ Wacha, Lugo likely not in play”:

When the Kansas City Royals traded catcher Freddy Fermin to the San Diego Padres at last year’s deadline, they were happy to acquire right-handers Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert. They also knew Carter Jensen was nearly ready for the majors, making them deep enough at catcher to pull off such a move.

The Royals lack the pitching equivalents of what Jensen was, potential candidates for next year’s rotation in the upper minors. So, even if they fall out of contention, they likely will not be as comfortable moving starters such as right-handers Seth Lugo (under club control through 2027) and Michael Wacha (through 2027).

Left-hander Kris Bubic, a potential free agent, would be more likely to go, along with others on expiring contracts — outfielder Lane Thomas, lefty reliever Matt Strahm and righty reliever John Schreiber, among them.

The Royals, like all teams, are open to anything. If they could trade Wacha and/or Lugo for quality pitchers under longer club control, they would need to consider it. Any form of teardown, though, is likely not an option. The Royals want to win with shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and third baseman Maikel Garcia, both of whom are under contract through at least 2030.

Keith Law released his Mock Draft 2.0 yesterday and had the Royals taking “Jacob Lombard”.

Blog time!

At Royals Keep, Philip Ruo makes “The Case For Michael Massey To Lead Off Against Right-Handed Pitchers”:

Over the past few weeks, the manager Matt Quatraro has been shuffling around his lineup. Maikel Garcia has not led off for the Royals since May 27, partially to place him in the heart of the batting order, and partially due to a hamstring injury. Since May 27, Quatraro has favored Carter Jensen to lead off against right-handed pitchers and Lane Thomas against left-handed pitchers. However, Jensen has been slumping lately, and it could be time to shake up the order yet again.

…Massey is far from the perfect leadoff hitter. His current on-base percentage of .283 is less ideal. His baserunning does not stand out in particular. His sprint speed is below average in the 37th percentile. He has only one stolen base attempt this season and has been thrown out more often than he advances when trying to take the extra base on the basepaths. If Massey can‘t improve his baserunning, he could be a frustrating fixture on the bases with stars like Bobby Witt Jr. at the plate.

Also at Royals Keep, Matt Crossland writes about one of my… do I say “favorite” topics(?)… in “The Tragic Tale of Gil Meche”:

In a memorable game against the Diamondbacks, Meche pitched a complete game shutout, only giving up four hits and striking out six. At the time, it was seen as Meche’s masterpiece, but there was only one stat that stuck out like a sore thumb: his pitch count. Meche threw 132 pitches, which is too many pitches to throw for a shutout, and it would eventually take a toll on him. Manager Trey Hillman again gave Meche too long a leash in his next two starts as he threw 121 and 114 pitches in back-to-back starts. He would finish 2009 with a record of 6–10 and an ERA of 5.09 while giving up almost 8 earned runs per game over his last nine starts. He would not be the same pitcher after that.

And this is the perfect time to link to Poz’s article from the time. The “how would you wash a unicorn” analogy has stuck with me to this day:

I don’t know. Maybe at some point, when you’re SO FAR down the wrong road, you just go: “What the hell, might as well keep going and hope we run into something good.” Maybe it would have been more damaging to have Meche throw 117 pitches and then pull him before the inning was done. I don’t know. I really don’t know. We are in such la-la land here, there can be no logical questions … these are like “How would you wash a unicorn?” questions. I do know that Meche threw four more pitches and did get Morneau to fly out to right.

We have a couple of blogs that don’t post very often.

Actually, that’s unfair to Jeff Wayman at The Diamond Chronicles. He posts mostly on Mondays. But I never get to link to his stuff because, well, it wouldn’t be very timely for “Friday Rumblings”. Still, I’ll do it this week to remind you to check him out on Mondays.

Patrick Glancy is mostly posting to his new blog, Powder Blue Pulp. But he did some baseball writing this week, too: “Back to Baseball”. He wrote about what has happened with the team this season so far.

I’m writing this on my birthday, the day before I actually publish it on Substack, and it feels a little strange to be back in baseball mode again. As most of you know, I’ve been hard at work on my debut crime novel, Shivering in Hell, which I announced in my most recent post. I’ve also been publishing short fiction through my other newsletter, Powder Blue Pulp, and I haven’t actually written about baseball since I made my preseason predictions back in March.*

Blog Roundup:

• Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History–1976 Edition: June 11 – A second straight shutout win for the Royals over the Orioles
• Caleb Moody at KOK: MLB.com’s top Royals trade chip seems like one name KC can’t afford to lose at deadline
• Also, Caleb Moody at KOK: 2 reasons Royals fans should be excited about Kameron Misner, 1 reason they should be wary

A few weeks ago, over on another blog, we were talking about dinosaurs and the idea of paleontology came up. I was also in Chicago over the past weekend and we were at the Field Museum.

We joke all the time about civilizations from the future that dig up our current time and make bad assumptions. You know, the jokes about how future archeologists will dig up Memphis and assume large swaths of the population worshipped a god-king named Elvis. Better authors than I have come up with great angles on this idea.

But I was having fun noodling around with the (literally) mind-boggling concept of time and had a little fun.

I’m not a great student of history so we’re going to fall down a wiki rabbit hole. I know Wikipedia is imperfect, but it’s good for general knowledge like this.

* * * * *

We’re going to start with this concept: Events from 50 years ago seem old to an individual human. We only get, at best, maybe 100 years on this earth. 300 years ago is another civilization entirely. It seems like a good “block” to measure time in this exercise.

. <- You are here (2026)

300 years ago (1726), the world was a very different place. Humans hadn’t achieved space flight, automobiles, or flight. But there were crude trains and civilization had sailed the seas for much longer. There was no United States, but there were a lot of other modern countries you could name. How many people could you name that were alive in 1726? Benjamin Franklin? Isaac Newton? Johan Sebastian Bach? Voltaire? Maybe you couldn’t have told me with certainty they were alive then, but you know who they were and that we were in the ballpark. It’s history, but it’s nowhere near ancient history. And this is where our journey starts.

We’re going to use a quick little “o” to represent each 300-year block. A graphic designer, I am not.

.o <- You are here (1726)

Another 300 years before that (1426) is the late Middle Ages and the start of the Renaissance. I could probably give you a few bits off the top of my head. I’d be wrong about some of it, but I’d be right about quite a bit. Joan of Arc, Vlad the Impaler, Johannes Gutenberg? We know those names. Gotta be honest, I only know of Donatello because of TMNT. But anyone with a real appreciation of art would know him. FYI: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael don’t come along until later in the century.

Suffice to say, I feel like we have a “decent” grasp of these first two sets of “300-year” blocks. There are many major events logged in many parts of the world. There’s just a lot of written history from these times. Modern history is aware of so much happening at these times that Wiki’s editors have to spend a significant amount of energy to limit pages to “important” things.

.oo <- You are here (1426)

Map courtesy of https://www.worldhistorymaps.info/medieval/1100-ad/

I think this is our first major jump. Could you even tell me anything about 1126? Maybe a couple of things, but it wouldn’t be many. Dark Ages, Indeed. How much do people even know about that time? I asked Gemini who are the most famous people alive at that time and didn’t recognize any names. Anyone here a big fan of Peter Abelard, Henry I, Imad al-Din Zengi, or Emperor Huizong of Song? I’m not saying they aren’t famous – Gemini assures me that Huizong is one of China’s most famous rulers – I just don’t know who they are. Looking at the map, there’s a few countries that have their modern name, even if they’re in different shapes (England, Scotland, Denmark, Norway, France, Poland, Hungary, Ethiopia, Oman, Yemen, Japan, etc). But there’s no Spain, no Germany, no Turkey, no Greece, no China, no India, no Russia.

.ooo <- You are here (1126)

Our information is becoming sparse very quickly. Know anything about 826? 526? Each of those years barely has a page worth of stuff on Wikipedia. We just don’t know much. How about that 500 AD map above? I don’t think there’s a single country there that has the same name. Maybe Nepal? Ghana and Albania exist, but not where they are today. 226 has an artifact in modernity: Saint Valentine! He was born in 226 and died in 269.

.oooooo <- You are here (226)

* * * * *

Now we’ve crossed over into BC. 74 BC and 374 BC have a couple of entries of known events. 674 BC only has one. Just think about that for a second. This is less than 3000 years ago. It’s in a time when there was paper and civilization. Various estimates have the world population between 50M and 150M, so let’s split the difference. There were 100M people wandering around and we know of exactly one thing that happened in the entire world. 100,000,000 people! That’s more than France, the UK, Germany, Turkey, or Iran. That’s Italy plus Canada put together. That’s California, Texas, New York, and Illinois combined (using 2022 estimates).

And we know next to nothing. If you’re curious:

Esarhaddon puts down a revolt in Ascalon supported by Taharqa, king of Kush and Egypt. In response, the Assyrians invade Egypt, but Taharqa is able to hold them off.

.ooooooooo <- You are here (674 BC)

Here’s our next big gap. When I search Wikipedia for 974 BC, it redirects me to the page for 970s BC. We can’t even tell you anything that happened in 974. But we know that Egyptian pharaoh Shoshenq I was born and King Zhao of the Chinese Zhou dynasty ascended to the throne during that decade. In Israel, King Solomon may have had his coronation and King David might have been born – but it’s listed as “possible”.

.oooooooooo <- You are here (974 BC)

The 1270s BC were surprisingly busy. While 1274 doesn’t get its own page, there are a number of events on the 1270 page listed as happening in 1274. For instance, the Battle of Kadesh is noted as being “the largest (5,000–6,000) chariot vs. chariot battle in antiquity”. The 1570s BC page is starting to look like the pages for 826 and 526 AD. Only instead of knowing of only a couple of events those years, it’s only a couple of events from that decade.

Did you know that the Bronze Age isn’t a specific set of years for the world? It’s different for different parts of the world? I guess that makes sense, but I didn’t know that until I started looking this up.

.oooooooooooo <- You are here (1574 BC)

* * * * *

So, after 12 hops of 300 years, we get another major jump in Wikipedia chronology. Our 13th jump gets us to 1874 BC. It doesn’t even redirect me to a decade. Now it’s just a century. None of the dates are exact, and there are only about 20 major events. Kansas City gets a mention(!): “1836 BC-1818 BC: Head of Senusret III is made. Twelfth dynasty of Egypt. It is now kept at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.”

.ooooooooooooo <- You are here (1874 BC)

This is both fascinating and boring at the same time. For each entry I run across, the picture gets fuzzier and fuzzier. I’m not going to keep stretching this out one by one.

We’re going to skip a few to 20 jumps of 300 years. A nice, round 6000 years. This is the last page Wikipedia has for a single century: 40th century BC. There are no entries on the page that can point to a single year. There are things like “approximate time of the construction of the Merheleva Ridge complex”, “the Linear Pottery culture gives way to the Funnelbeaker culture in the north”, and “plough in use”. That’s it. That’s all we’ve got.

Also, here’s a sobering thought for anyone trying to make a name for themselves across history. Population estimates have the world at anywhere between 7M and 50M people. And you know what? There isn’t a single name of a single person known from that century. Or for the next century. Or even a few more. Seriously.

Writing doesn’t come about until about 3300BC and do you know our best bet at who is the oldest name in history? A guy named “Kushim the Accountant” who signed his name to a number of stone tablets counting barley shipments. Eat your heart out, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. The first person in recorded history? Kushim, a late Stone Age Excel guy.

I’m hesitant to add this because of the sensitive nature of the topic. But we’re all adults here, so we can talk about it. Biblically, this is about how old the Earth is. That is, if you add up your begats, take your ages literally, and claim the Earth was created in six literal 24-hour days. It assumes fastidious record-keeping with very limited corroborating evidence, documents people who are hundreds of years old (969-year-old Methuselah, 950-year-old Noah, and 930-year-old Adam come to mind), and even whistles past some minor genealogical conflicts in different books of the Bible. Personally, I could also argue that it misses the main message, claiming it as literal and perfect records rather than trying to point towards the idea of God keeping his covenant.

.oooooooooooooooooooo <- You are here (3974 BC)

* * * * *

After that, Wiki skips to millennia. Not just our individual years, but our whole 300-year blocks aren’t good enough to have their own page – we have to lump them in with a couple of others. But I don’t even see the point anymore. We don’t know years, we don’t know people, we’re making best guesses at places, and we’re often heavily speculating on events. We’re well past “they worshipped Elvis” territory if you’re trying to study history.

As I was writing, I needed a pause here. That’s a lot to take in. We’ve gone back 6000 years and the picture is very fuzzy. This is more-or-less what is considered “recorded history”.

On the one hand, that’s after “only” 20 of these 300-year blocks. Or 60 of 100-year lifespans. If you want to call 20 years a generation, that means 300 generations. That sounds a lot longer. It really depends on how you want to chop this up. In short, for an individual human, it’s a long time. For humanity, it’s the blink of an eye. For the history of the Earth, it’s imperceptible.

* * * * *

Humans, as in homo sapiens, have been around for 300K years, give or take.

We barely know anything after 6K years or 20 blocks.

“Modern” humans have been around for 1000 blocks.

At this point, my simple visualization starts to break down. This probably will look pretty bad, but we’ll see how it goes.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo <- You are here

We were just at 20 blocks and that seemed an almost unfathomable time ago. And this is 50x that. Humans, as we understand them, have been around that long. But we’re really in the “making best guesses” territory now. So little is around from 6000 years ago, much less 300K years ago.

If you want to take the whole “Homo” genus, that’s roughly 3M years. It was probably closer to 4M years that we evolved from Australopithecus. But let’s just roll with the 3M number to keep it an even 10,000 blocks.

Before you start thinking “well, 10K blocks, that’s not very many”. I mean, we just jumped from “we know very little about the world from 20 blocks ago” to “10K is pretty similar”? I mean, it’s just 3 more 0’s 20 -> 10000. Yeah, the logarithmic scale is rough. No, I’m not going to take that block of 1000 o’s above and draw 10 of them here. Use your imagination.

I considered taking that 6K span of time, that time we have gone from knowing nothing about it to modernity and making a block to represent that. But, really, when we’re getting into these numbers, does it even help? I think we’re just too abstracted at this point.

Besides, how different could Australopithecus be?

The brains of most species of Australopithecus were roughly 35% of the size of a modern human brain with an endocranial volume average of 466 cc (28.4 cu in). Although this is more than the average endocranial volume of chimpanzee brains at 360 cc (22 cu in) the earliest australopiths (A. anamensis) appear to have been within the chimpanzee range, whereas some later australopith specimens have a larger endocranial volume than that of some early Homo fossils.

Jokes about your friend who uses only a third of his brain aside, it kind of feels like we’re talking more monkey than man at this point. So in the time it takes to get from monkey to modern man, it’s 3M years.

…

At this point, I think our exercise has broken down and we’re just having funsies.

Want to walk back to the age of dinosaurs? That’s the Mesozoic Era. I think most of us know about the 65M years ago number. So, if we use 3M year blocks to go from monkey to man. You have to jump through 20 of those just to get to the end of dinosaurs. And dinosaurs were around for 60 of those. So, in short: the time after dinosaurs is one giant honking block. Dinosaurs lived for three of those.

Do you know how hard it is to find a timeline to scale using search? I just can’t find a good one to link here. We’re so egocentric that everyone wants to make the Paleozoic (252-539 Ma, Mesozoic (66-252 Ma), and Cenozoic (now-66 Ma) the same sized blocks. Since we lived in that later period, we want to make it as big as other periods that are much longer. Never mind that humans are only a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the Cenozoic.

How tiny (using round-ish numbers)?

The genus Homo is around 1/20th of the Cenozoic

Homo sapiens only 1/200th

Recorded history is only about 1/10000th

And, your entire life, if you’re lucky and get to 100, are only 1/660,000th

One more? There are about 70 of those periods (from now to 65M years ago) between the start of the Earth and now.

Homo has been around for 1/1500th of that

Homo sapiens for 1/15,0000th

Recorded history for 1/750,000th

And, you, maybe 1/45,000,000th

How’s your little corner of existence feel right now?

* * * * *

This whole conversation came up because of Tyrannosaurus Rex. T-Rex was around 69-66 Ma, though it could have been around as early as maybe 80 Ma. So it was around at least as long as the Homo genus. Want a rough estimate of how many ever existed: “Over the span of the genus’ existence, it is estimated that there were about 127,000 generations and that this added up to a total of roughly 2.5 billion animals until their extinction”. Add this up with “Lastly, the study suggests that in most cases, only one in 80 million Tyrannosaurus would become fossilized, while the chances were likely as high as one in every 16,000 of an individual becoming fossilized in areas that had more dense populations.”

Obviously, there are huge error bars for something like thi- wait, what did that say? Roughly 2.5 billion (with a “B”) T-Rexes existed in history. No kidding? Wow!

Sadly, we’ve only found about 60 specimens. It’s hard for things to survive 100 years, much less millions

FYI: The estimated number of humans who have ever lived is a little over 100 billion. There’s a cool graphic at the top of the wiki page about that.

* * * * *

Finally, as I went back further, I ran across the name Rodinia. Most people have heard of Pangaea, but there are other supercontinents (theoretically) before that. It was from roughly 1130-750 Mya.

How was it?

Unlike later supercontinents, Rodinia was entirely barren. It existed before complex life colonized on dry land. Based on sedimentary rock analysis, Rodinia’s formation happened when the ozone layer was not as extensive as it is now. Ultraviolet light discouraged organisms from inhabiting its interior. Nevertheless, its existence significantly influenced the marine life of its time.

Yikes.

That page also had a link to something called the Snowball Earth hypothesis.

Then again, supercontinent theory gets really theoretical really fast.

Growing up, I loved the book “An Incomplete Education” (which is probably a bit outdated now). An entertaining reference book? Catnip for adolescent me.

In the science chapter, there’s a section on different types of numbers: integers, rationals, reals, etc. Then it starts getting a little out of control, with things like transfinite numbers and ending with quaternions. This is its explanation of them:

The feeling that, once having learned to walk, one can run. Also fly. The lesson here is that when you extend numbers beyond the complex stage, you do so at the expense of something called permanence; one by one, properties you took for granted fall away. For instance, with quaternions, you have to give up either the role 0 plays or multiplicative commutativity (i.e., x times y no longer equals y times x). Say good night, Gracie.

Yup, I think it’s bedtime.

* * * * *

This seems like the perfect opportunity to revisit Chrono Trigger.

Today’s song plays with the idea in the previously linked to Canticle for Leibowitz.

“Corridors of Time” is the overworld theme for the Kingdom of Zeal. The game starts in the present (modern-ish) times. Shortly after, you’re thrown into a dystopian future and the assumption is that civilization had peaked before the Lavos cataclysm. It’s not until late in the game that you come to find out that a much more advanced civilization existed long before, in 12000 BC. However, their hubris set in motion the events that doomed Zeal and would doom the future. But no one in the present even knew, because nothing of their civilization remained.

Good morning, baseball fans!

The San Francisco Giants are home this weekend, so let’s take a look at what Oracle Park has on deck for fans who are thinking about taking in a game.

First up, tonight is Pride Night at Oracle Park. The special event tickets are sold out, but if you happened to get your hands on those there’s a pretty great jersey giveaway. Everyone else can look forward to some Pride Night fireworks after the game!

As with all Saturday home games this season, Saturday will feature a Fiesta Gigantes celebration throughout the park. Additionally, soccer fans will want to get there early, because the first 20,000 fans in attendance will receive a Giants themed soccer jersey, just in time for the World Cup!

Sunday is Hello Kitty Day! The special event tickets for this are sold out as well, but fans who got them will be getting a pretty cool jacket. Everyone else can still get their hands on a Giants themed Hello Kitty plush keychain, if they’re one of the first 25,000 fans in attendance that is. So get there early!

If you’re headed to the park this weekend, have fun and make sure to share pictures in the comments!

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants welcome the Chicago Cubs to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series starting at 7:15 p.m. PT.

Max Scherzer might be in the last years of his career, but what a career it has been. Without a doubt, he will be headed to the Hall of Fame, but now he’s gunning to make it to the top 10 strikeout leaders of all time, and he doesn’t have far to go. This week, Scherzer notched his 3,500th career strikeout, and he only needs seven more to take the tenth overall spot away from Walter Johnson. There is only one active MLB pitcher on the board ahead of Scherzer, and that is Justin Verlander, who currently sits at 3,554 strikeouts. Verlander has been on the IL this year for the Tigers, but is poised to return to the majors soon, so he and Scherzer can continue to deck it out to see who can get the most Ks before they wrap up their respective Hall of Fame careers.

We’ve got that and more in today’s links roundup, so let’s just dive in and get to the news.

• Davy Andrews wonders if there’s a correlation between catchers who frame well and those who have success with ABS challenges.
• Tarik Skubal is set to return to the Tigers on Saturday after being gone fewer than 40 days. (ESPN)
• Max Scherzer has notched his 3500th career strikeout, shares Keegan Matheson.
• Jake Rill reports that Tommy Pham will opt out of his minor league contract with the Orioles, as he has not been called up to the majors in a month.
• Is it time for the Yankees to give up on Anthony Volpe? Karl Rasmussen weighs in.
• Tom Verducci thinks the Pirates might have one of the hardest-throwing groups of pitchers in all of baseball.
• Ken Rosenthal looks at Trey Mancini’s return to the majors with the Angels. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Gosh, I love a weird, random stat.

• Tom Dierberger has more insight into that wild Giants comeback.
• Jay Jaffe looks at how things are finally turning around for Dustin May.
• Rockies’ Brenton Doyle has an interesting and delicious side hustle. Story by Max Ralph.
• Is the AL Cy Young Cam Schlittler’s to lose? Tim Capurso looks at the other potential contenders.
• Aroldis Chapman will likely get traded ahead of the deadline, but if the Yankees want him back, he wants an apology. Story by Enrique Rojas.
• Tyler Kepner spotlights Rick Sweet, the manager of the Nashville Sounds. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Gotta love it when baseball is fun. (Here’s a direct link to the Bluesky post for those reading on Apple News.)

• Ben Clemens assesses how Taylor Ward has suddenly started taking so many walks.
• Jay Jaffe spotlights a series of challenges for Matt McLain.
• Jonathan Mayo offers up the latest mock draft as the real deal draws closer.
• The White Sox have traded Derek Hill to the Phillies. Story by Karl Rasmussen.
• Tim Capurso looks at Freddie Freeman’s 2500 hit milestone and how such feats are getting more and more rare.
• Despite a rough season for the Red Sox, Craig Breslow isn’t going anywhere. (ESPN)
• Yes, I would like season tickets with my rent, thank you.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

Triple-A: Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals) 7, Norfolk Tides 0 – Game 1 F/7

The Redbirds outhit the Tides 13-3 in a lopsided seven-inning result. Nestor German started Game 1 and failed to complete two innings. German allowed five earned runs on six hits, two walks and two strikeouts.

Despite the result, Baltimore fans should be happy to know that Ryan Helsley looked sharp in his first rehab appearance. The closer struck out three batters and allowed a single in a scoreless inning. The Baltimore Sun’s Jacob Calvin Meyer reported that Helsley averaged 97.7 MPH and topped out at 99.7 MPH with his fastball.

Triple-A: Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals) 6, Norfolk Tides 2 – Game 2 F/7

The Tides managed to get on the scoreboard in this one, but Memphis completed the Thursday sweep. Former Oriole Bruce Zimmermann allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits over 5.2 innings.

Dietrich Enns started a bullpen game for Norfolk and failed to complete the first. Enns allowed five runs after issuing four walks and surrendering a two-run homer.

Tommy Pham went deep in what was likely his last game in a Tides uniform. The Sun’s Josh Tolentino reported yesterday evening that Pham plans to opt out of his minor league deal.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. finished 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts. Johnathan Rodríguez tallied Norfolk’s other two hits.

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 4, Altoona Curve (Pirates) 0

The Baysox took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but the Curve managed a two-out single. Luis De León tossed five hitless innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. Alex Pham, Keagan Gillies and Micah Ashman completed the shutout for Chesapeake.

Aron Estrada gave Chesapeake an early lead with a solo shot in the first inning, and Fernando Peguero doubled the advantage with an RBI-single in the second. Estrada manufactured two more runs with a pair of ground outs in the fifth and ninth innings. Six of Chesapeake’s ten hits came from the seven, eight and nine hitters. Carter Young went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double, and two runs scored.

High-A: Frederick Keys 3, Brooklyn Cyclones (Mets) 2

Frederick scored in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings to squeak out a 3-2 win. Elis Cuevas got the Keys on the board with a solo homer in the fifth inning. Cuevas evened the score at two with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Victor Figueroa drove in the go-ahead run with a sac fly in the eighth.

Leandro Arias finished 2-for-4 from the leadoff spot. Ike Irish went hitless in four trips, and Wehiwa Aloy managed a hit and a run in four at bats.

Vance Honeycutt left the game with left quad tightness.

The Tides scored the tying run off of former Orioles prospect Justin Armbruester. Armbruester found his way to High-A on a rehab assignment.

Low-A: Columbia Fireflies (Royals) 9, Delmarva Shorebirds 8

Delmarva led this game 8-0 and still found a way to lose. Eat your heart out, San Antonio Spurs.

Brendan Parks and Eccel Correa allowed nine runs (eight earned) in the seventh and eighth innings. Delmarva starter Stephen Still did his part with four scoreless frames. Still limited Columbia to two hits and two walks. He struck out seven.

Edwin Amparo extended the lead to eight with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Amparo, Braylon Whitaker, Stiven Martinez, and Raylin Ramos all recorded multiple hits. Jose Perez doubled and scored a run.

Box scores

Friday’s Schedule

Norfolk: vs Memphis, 6:35 pm. Starter: TBD

Chesapeake: at Altoona, 6:00 pm. Starter: Juaron Watts-Brown (0-4, 8.39 ERA)

Frederick: at Brooklyn, 6:40 pm. Starter: Yeiber Cartaya (0-0, 1.42 ERA)

Delmarva: at Columbia, 7:05 pm. Starter: Christian Rodriguez (2-3, 3.51 ERA)

There’s no doubt that the Colorado Rockies are improved from 2025. 

They’ve got a better record than they had at this point in the season last year, and in some areas, they’ve made clear improvement.

However, the Rockies still rank dead last in runs allowed at 397, which has the basement rankings sealed at 32 more than the No. 29 Nationals. That averages out to 5.75 runs per game.

While it’s not ideal, it might be manageable if Colorado had a powerful offense that could put up the runs in the counterattack. But the Rockies don’t.

The Rockies are tied at No. 15 with 297 runs scored, for an average of 4.30 runs per game. Considering the perennial challenges of pitching at Coors Field and adjusting on the road, the Rockies have a better chance of fielding a hard-hitting lineup than a knockout pitching staff.

There are several reasons for the Rockies lack of offensive prowess and run production, including Ezequiel Tovar’s strikeout problems and injuries. But one of the most peculiar things about Colorado’s struggles is the challenges to take advantage of the thin air and spacious outfield at Coors Field.

In 34 games, the Rockies offense is tied at No. 11 at home with 157 runs. That’s 4.62 per game, just above Colorado’s 140 for an average of four runs per game on the road. Considering that opponents are averaging 6.41 runs per game at 20th and Blake, other teams seem able to hit at Coors Field just fine.

The problems are evident in Colorado’s 14-20 record at home (.412), which is just slightly better than the team’s 12-23 road record (.343). Only the San Francisco Giants (13) and Boston Red Sox (10) have fewer wins at home. Massive crowds of opposing fans in Denver don’t help.

The 14-20 includes a 2-4 performance when the Rockies were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers and took a series 2-1 against the Chicago Cubs in the most recent homestand, which wrapped up Thursday. Colorado was outscored 42-25 over the six-game stretch, including being outscored 28-12 against Milwaukee. 

The Rockies were out-homered 11-8 over the homestand, but mostly due to the Brewers, who hit six while the Rockies hit two. The Rockies did out-homer Chicago 6-5. Of course, the Brewers (41-25) are better than the Cubs (35-34), which explains the split, but it also could mean the Rockies are improving. 

After Thursday’s 9-3 loss, when the Rockies actually out-hit the Cubs 12-10, Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer was impressed by the Rockies at-bats and contact, which included putting 19 balls in play that were over 90 mph.

“A lot of hard outs. Some days it just goes like that. Some days you hit it right at people,” Schaeffer said.

“We had an opportunity in the sixth inning with the bases loaded to flip the script of the game, and got no runs out of it. We’d like to put better at-bats together right there to push something forward, but then the momentum shifts right there. But overall, I thought we swung the bats pretty well.”

One example of that potential improvement is Hunter Goodman. The 2025 All-Star catcher has hit much better away from Coors Field this season. 

In the first five games against the Brewers and Cubs, Goodman hit three homers, drove in six runs, totaled five hits, stole a base and drew five walks. A 0-for-5 performance with three strikeouts on Thursday didn’t help, but Goodman could be figuring things out at Coors. Considering that Goodman had four homers at Coors Field entering the homestand, his three over the last six games, which moved him to 18 on the season, was a big deal.

Hopefully, Mickey Moniak and Tyler Freeman will be back from injuries to add power and hits to the lineup the next time the Rockies return to Coors Field June 19-24 to host the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox. Combined with the bats of impressive rookies like TJ Rumfield and Cole Carrigg, perhaps the Rockies offense is trending up at Coors Field.

In the meantime, the Rockies are headed to a hitters’ paradise to play The Athletics at Las Vegas Ballpark, home to the Triple-A Aviators, this weekend. In a three-game series there Monday-Wednesday, the A’s and Brewers combined to hit 22 homers and score 48 runs. With right field and left field foul poles each at 340 feet, plus highs expected around 106-107 degrees this weekend, the Rockies could use the weekend to turn on the offense — as long as they stay hydrated.

On the Farm

Triple-A: Tacoma Rainiers 9, Albuquerque Isotopes 5

Zac Veen hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Charlie Condon hit a two-run home run in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough for Albuquerque on Thursday night. Condon’s shot put the Istopes up 5-3, but Tacoma put up a five-spot in the sixth to earn a lead it never lost. Veen also added a double and Condon drove in three runs.

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 5, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 3

Jack Mahoney struck out 10 batters in five scoreless innings, giving up only one run to improve to 3-0 on the season and lead the Yard Goats to a victory on Thursday. The game got off to a good start when Dyan Jorge led off the first inning with a double, then stole third and then stole home to score, despite the Yard Goats striking out three times in the frame. Zach Kokoska hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give Hardford a 3-0 lead. Roc Riggio added an RBI double in the fifth and Cole Messina hit an RBI single in the eighth for an insurance run. Jorge recorded three hits and scored two runs, Bryant Betancourt, Messina and Kokosa each added two hits.

High-A: Spokane Indians 7, Eugene Emeralds 6

Max Belyeu hit two solo homers, including one in the top of the ninth, to help Spokane overcome a 6-3 deficit for a late win. Tommy Hopfe and Kelvin Hidalgo each added a solo homer. Belyeu finished with three hits and drove in three runs, Hidalgo had two hits and scored two runs and Jack O’Dowd doubled and scored a run. Hunter Mann threw three scoreless innings with three strikeouts to close out the game and earn the win.

Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 7, Visalia Rawhide 5

Fresno scored four runs in the sixth inning to go up 7-4 after Yeiker Reyes hit an RBI single, Ashly Andujar followed with a two-run single and Roldy Brito finished out the inning with another run-scoring single. Carlos Renzullo hit an RBI single and drove in another on a sac grounder and Brito hit a run-scoring single to help the Grizzlies score their first three runs by the fifth inning. Along with Brito, Reyes and Andujar both recorded two hits. Manuel Olivares threw two solid innings, giving up one run to earn the win.

Gold Glover dishes up dessert for fans at stadium stand — in full uniform! | MLB.com

Even though he’s on the IL with a left oblique contusion, Brenton Doyle still managed to impress fans at Coors Field on Thursday. Turns out, he’s got talent at serving up chocolate-covered strawberries, in addition to his baseball skills.

Jordan Romano isn’t chasing the past. He’s building it back with the Rockies | Purple Row

Eli Whitney checks in with former All-Star reliever Jordan Romano, whose promising career was derailed by an elbow injury. He’s now playing for Triple-A Albuquerque after the Rockies signed him to a minor league deal on May 6. Romano also talks about why he picked the Rockies for his comeback bid.

How Cubs fans turn Coors Field into Wrigley Field West, much to the displeasure of the Rockies | Denver Post ($)

I hate the term “Wrigley Field West.” Coors Field is basically a home away from home for almost every MLB team. Patrick Saunders dives into the multiple reasons why opposing fans outnumber Rockies fans, which can be seen and heard in the stands. It’s no surprise that the Rockies staff and players don’t like it.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (34-32)

BUFFALO 3, SYRACUSE 1 (BOX)

Tobias Myers started this game and went two-and-two-thirds innings before reliever Matt Turner finished the third inning. And then Jack Wenninger pitched the remainder of the game, giving up all three of Buffalo’s runs in his five innings of work. The Syracuse lineup didn’t get much going.

• RF Ji Hwan Bae: 1-4, 2B
• 2B Yonny Hernández: 0-3, BB
• CF Nick Morabito: 1-4, SB
• 1B Ryan Clifford: 0-4, 2 K
• 3B Andy Ibáñez: 2-4, R, HR, RBI
• SS Jackson Cluff: 0-4, 2 K
• DH Grae Kessinger: 0-4, K
• LF Matt Rudick: 1-4, 2B, 2 K
• C Kevin Parada: 2-3, BB, K
• P Tobias Myers: 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• P Matt Turner: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• P Jack Wenninger: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (23-37)

SOMERSET 3, BINGHAMTON 1 (BOX)

Kodai Senga’s rehab start was his best one thus far during this rehab assignment, as he went six innings, gave up just one run on one hit, struck out five, and walked one. Unfortunately, Binghamton’s bats didn’t do much, and the two runs that the bullpen allowed were all Somerset needed to beat them.

• C Chris Suero: 1-3, R, HR, RBI, BB, K
• 3B Jacob Reimer: 1-4, 2B, SB
• RF Eli Serrano III: 1-4, K
• CF Jose Ramos: 0-3, BB, 3 K
• 1B JT Schwartz: 1-4
• LF Jaylen Palmer: 0-3, 2 K
• 2B Wyatt Young: 0-2, BB
• DH TT Bowens: 0-3, 2 K
• SS Kevin Villavicencio: 1-3
• REHAB ALERT: P Kodai Senga: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
• P Felipe De La Cruz: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• P Saul Garcia: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (23-36)

FREDERICK 3, BROOKLYN 2 (BOX)

The Cyclones led 1-0 and 2-1 in this one, but a pair of late runs allowed by the bullpen turned the game in Frederick’s favor. Cyclones starter Nicolas Carreno struck out nine and walked two, allowing just one run in six innings of work.

• SS Yonatan Henriquez: 1-5, R, 2 K, SB, E
• C Ronald Hernandez: 2-2, R, 2 BB, SB
• 1B Corey Collins: 1-3, RBI, BB, K
• DH Daiverson Gutierrez: 0-4
• RF JT Benson: 0-3, RBI, K
• LF Trace Willhoite: 0-3, BB, 2 K
• CF Sam Biller: 1-4, 3B, 3 K
• 3B Nick Roselli: 0-4, 3 K
• 2B Diego Mosquera: 2-4, K
• P Nicolas Carreno: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
• P Justin Armbruester: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• P Parker Carlson: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• P Bryce Jenkins: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (27-33)

ST. LUCIE 2, PALM BEACH 0 (BOX)

Thanks to an excellent night from the St. Lucie pitching staff, a two-run fifth inning was all the team needed for a win.

• SS Elian Peña: 0-5, 2 K
• 3B Antonio Jimenez: 0-2, 2 BB, K
• DH Yohairo Cuevas: 2-3, 2 2B, BB
• C Julio Zayas: 0-4, RBI, BB, K
• 1B Jack Scanlon: 0-3, 3 K
• CF Branny De Oleo: 1-4, 2B, K
• RF Simon Juan: 0-4
• LF Jackson Hauge: 1-3, R, BB, K
• 2B Jeremy Rodriguez: 0-3, R, BB, 2 K
• P Emilio Obispo: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K
• P Josh Blum: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• P Miguel Mejias: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• P Joe Scarborough: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Rookie: FCL Mets (11-15)

NO GAME (SCHEDULE)

DSL Mets

DSL METS BLUE 6, DSL METS ORANGE 3 (BOX)

DSL METS ORANGE

• SS Cleiner Ramirez: 1-4, R
• DH Cesar Acosta: 0-2, RBI, BB
• 3B Sebastian Toro: 0-3, K, E
• RF Jhonael Cuello: 0-3
• 1B Anthony Delgado: 0-1, R, 2 BB, K
• CF Aiberson Blanco: 0-1, BB, K, SB
• LF Elvis Teran: 0-3, 2 K
• C Yadier Fuentes: 0-1, R, 2 BB, K
• 2B Jose Padilla: 1-3, RBI
• P Angel Montero: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
• P Cristian Dudamel: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• P Derlin Rojas: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
• P Alvaro Carrillo: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Kodai Senga

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Elian Peña

The Guardians have demoted Codi Heuer and promoted Daniel Espino. They also traded Nolan Jones to the White Sox for $250K in international free agency.

It’s quite exciting to think of Espino finally making the big leagues. Zack Meisel has a story out about his arduous journey.

Nolan Jones is not good, but if he is somehow miraculously good with the White Sox, it’ll be time o fire the hitting coaches here.

Meisel has an article on the hitting issues for the Guardians.

The Tigers will start Jack Flaherty vs. Tanner Bibee tonight at 7:10PM, Tarik Skubal vs. Joey Cantillo on Saturday at 4:10PM and probably Casey Mize vs. Gavin Williams on Sunday at 1:40PM. Feels like a very important series right now. The Guardians are on a four-game losing streak.

AROUND MLB:

The Tigers destroyed the Twins and the Royals lost to the Rangers.

The Atlanta Braves were unable to seek a win on Thursday evening, as the series finale against the Chicago White Sox was a washout. The game will be made up on August 20th at 2:10 ET. 

The road trip has continued to New York, where the Braves face the Mets in a three-game series. First pitch is set for Friday night at 7:15 ET.

More Braves News:

MLB Pipeline’s latest mock draft has new names connected to the Braves.

Isaiah Drake logged two homers and a double in Rome’s win on Wednesday. More in the minor league recap. 

MLB News:

The Philadelphia Phillies have acquired outfielder Derek Hill and international bonus pool finds from the Chicago White Sox. In exchange, the Sox received two prospects. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed Will Smith on the 10-day injured list due to neck inflammation. 

Kansas City Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel has been placed on the 10-day injured list with plantar fasciitis. An MRI revealed a Grade 3 Plantar Fascia tear. 

Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. The Brewers had another slightly underwhelming week, as they swept the Rockies in Colorado and won an extra-innings slugfest on Monday night in Las Vegas but ultimately dropped their series with the A’s. Elsewhere in the division, the bottom three teams (Pirates, Cubs, and Reds) struggled, but the Cardinals continue to surprise, as they’ve closed the gap in the division. The Brewers are now back home as they’ll welcome the Phillies and Guardians over the next week.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread:

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Damon Buford, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1939 – In front of a record crowd of 23,864 fans at Ruppert Stadium in Newark, NJ, Lou Gehrig plays his last game in a Yankee uniform when he participates in an exhibition contest against the Kansas City Blues, the team’s American Association farm club. The “Iron Horse”, playing only three innings and batting eighth, grounds out weakly to second base in his only at-bat, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1880 Worcester Ruby Legs pitcher Lee Richmond throws the first perfect game in MLB history in a 1-0 win over the Cleveland Blues at the Agricultural County Fair Grounds in Worcester
• 1928 – Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees collects 14 total bases with two triples and two home runs in a 15-7 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
• 1970 – Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis no-hits the San Diego Padres, 2-0. Ellis receives all his support on two home runs by Willie Stargell. Ellis will later claim that he was suffering from the after-effects of his previous night’s LSD trip while pitching this gem.
• 1975 – Oakland Athletics outfielder Billy Williams hits his 400th career home run.
• 1990 MLB Oakland A’s outfielder Rickey Henderson becomes the second to steal 900 bases.
• 1990 Orioles Cal Ripken plays in his 1,308th consecutive game to move past Everett Scott into second place on the all-time list.
• 2010 – Derek Jeter homers twice and Jorge Posada hits a grand slam in New York’s 9-3 win over Houston. 

Cubs Birthdays:Hunter Bigge, Aaron Civale, Sean Newcomb, Dallas Beeler, Damon Buford*, Bob Thorpe, Jack Cusick, Otto Knabe, John Stedronsky. Also notable: Bill Foster HOF.

Today in history:

• 1923 – Harry Houdini frees himself from a straight jacket while suspended upside down, 40 feet (12 m) above ground in NYC.
• 1930 – German boxer Max Schmeling beats Jack Sharkey by disqualification in 4 rounds in NYC for vacant NBA, NYSAC, The Ring and lineal heavyweight titles; first time title won on a foul.
• 1931 – Al Capone is indicted on 5,000 counts of prohibition violations and perjury.
• 1979 – Kevin St Onge throws a playing card a record 185 ft-1 inch; record broken in 1992.
• 1981 – Larry Holmes TKOs Leon Spinks in 3 for WBC heavyweight boxing title.
• 1987 – US President Ronald Reagan challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin wall.
• 2008 – Patrick Kane receives the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year.

Today in music history:

• 1909 – “Shine On, Harvest Moon” by Ada Jones & Billy Murray hits #1.
• 1965 – Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honours List names The Beatles as MBEs (Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire); dozens of past winners return medals in protest.
• 1966 – Dave Clark Five sets record as they appear for 12th time on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
• 1970 – Rocker and blues singer Janis Joplin debuts in Kentucky.
• 1990 – Mariah Carey‘s self-titled debut album is released.
• 1993 – “Three Little Pigs” by Green Jelly hits #17.
• 2008 – Coldplay release their 4th studio album ” Viva la Vida or Death” (winner of 3 Grammys).

*pictured.

The Phillies now head to Wisco for a set against the Brewers. I’ve heard that actual Wisconsinites never say “Wisco”. Is that true? As you can tell (or maybe not?) from my use of the term, I am not from Wisconsin.

Onto the links.

Phillies news

The Phillies are going to have some All-Stars for the hometown All-Star Game. But how many?

Look! Who’s over there, cresting that Hill? Why, it’s the newest Phillie.

Jhoan Duran has done a lot of work for the Phillies. Here’s how he keeps himself ready to do it. ($)

Cristopher Sánchez followed in the footsteps of Grover Cleveland Alexander, then surpassed him. ($)

MLB news

Shohei Ohtani left last night’s contest early with an injury…

…and so did Justin Wrobleski.

Tarik Skubal is returning to the Tigers on Saturday.

Aroldis Chapman wants an apology from Yankees GM Brian Cashman.

It’s mock draft season!