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The Yankees may be leaking oil as the club approached the All-Star break but the club will be well-represented at the Midsummer Classic with a trio of position players and the presumptive favorite for the AL Cy Young Award playing for the Junior Circuit this summer.

The fans voted injured slugger Aaron Judge into the contest, as he was one of the top three among outfielders in Phase 2 of the voting. As an aside, I can’t even imagine what his last five seasons would look like statistically if not for Dodger Stadium and a fractured rib. Ah well. He isn’t the first all-timer to have fans saying “what if” (heck, he’s joined in the voted-in outfield by another, Mike Trout, and to a lesser extent Byron Buxton). Meanwhile, Cam Schlittler headlines the group of Yankees selected by the players and league, along with Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger.

Aaron Judge – 59 G, 17 HR, 38 RBI, 43 R, .248/.375/.533, 150 wRC+, 2.1 fWAR

Aaron Judge has been healthy for three of the past five seasons. Aaron Judge has been the AL MVP for three of the past five seasons. Put simply, he is one of the greatest hitters baseball fans have ever seen. It tracks that fans are sending him to the ASG, though there is zero chance he will play in the contest.

Even when he was healthy, this has been a down year for Judge — neaning he was merely one of the best, most terrifying hitters in all of baseball instead of a superhuman force of nature. After hitting .331 and winning his first career batting title in ’25, Judge’s average did not reach north of .250 until April 27th. Coming off three 50-home run seasons in the past four, he hit one long ball in his last 18 games before hitting the IL. And still. The Captain is 50 percent better than league average at the dish in ’26 and is eminently deserving of another All-Star nod. Despite missing all that time, he remains one of the best AL outfielders by fWAR (even though it’s a counting stat).

Cam Schlittler – 18 GS, 104 IP, 8-5, 2.08 ERA, 123 K, 3.2 fWAR

If you told me 12 months ago that Schlittler, an unheralded prospect and seventh-round draft pick, would have this kind of first calendar year in the majors, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed. But I am not going to complain. It’s hard to describe how amazing it has been to watch Cam develop into a stone-cold ace, especially after the heartbreak over the year of the Killer B’s, and Joba, IPK, and Phil Franchise, Deivi García, and even an award-winner like Luis Gil. TINSTAAPP is a cruel law of nature.

An awful recent start “inflated” Schlittler’s ERA, obscuring to some extent how dominant he’s been. Opponents are hitting .206/.251/.336 against him this season. That .587 OPS is pretty darn close to Zack Greinke’s career OPS (.598). Cam has rendered the best hitters in the world helpless at the plate. If you prefer visual evidence over the written word, watch his June 19^th start against Cincinnati.

Ben Rice – 82 G, 24 HR, 56 RBI, 58 R, .270/.362/.569, 155 wRC+, 2.4 fWAR

Speaking of unheralded, you’d be forgiven for never imagining this career arc for Ben Rice, considering that he was a 12th-round pick out of an Ivy League school and due to the pandemic, he hadn’t actually played college ball in 16 months prior to being drafted in July 2021. But here we are with the lefty slugger manning first base and, for a great deal of the first half, carrying the offense on his back. Impressive as the back of his baseball card looks this year, as recently as June 21^st, his slash line was a Judgian .293/.388/.616.

Rice has been everything the Yankees could have hoped for, especially with Judge and Giancarlo Stanton out, Trent Grisham missing a chunk of time, and inconsistent, sometimes awful, stretches at the plate from other Yankee hitters. Dominant against right-handed pitching (1.026 OPS), Rice has even held his own against southpaws, with a .755 OPS when facing lefties.

Cody Bellinger – 85 G, 11 HR, 49 RBI, 46 R, .252/.351/.429, 120 wRC+, 2.6 fWAR

It is important in life to admit when you are wrong. I wanted nothing to do with a Cody Bellinger reunion in the offseason. I was on the King Tuck hype train. I was wrong. Belli has been fantastic. Baseball-Reference, which likes his defense more than FanGraphs, has him at a lofty 3.6 rWAR already, a number that would be higher if not for a prolonged cold spell at the dish (at the end of the day on June 17^th, that OPS was .860 instead of .780).

Meanwhile, he’s been elite patrolling the outfield. In the 91^st percentile with 5 Outs Above Average, Bellinger also boasts one of the strongest outfield arms in the game, with an arm strength in the 94^th percentile.

If Bellinger ever figures out how to hit away from Yankee Stadium this season, watch out.

It’s possible we could see more Yankees join the aforementioned due to injuries and/or players withdrawing from the All-Star Game. In an ideal world, I’d love to see Paul Goldschmidt get another All-Star nod, considering what Goldy is doing for the Yanks at the age of 38, with the lineup ravaged by injury around him. But it might be a long shot.

Congrats to the four Yankees All-Stars, and we’ll look forward to watching some of them in Philadelphia on July 14th.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I think of Independence Day, I think about Independence Day, the 1996 film. And I always first remember President Whitmore’s grand speech ahead of the climactic battle against the aliens.

What a speech. We used to be a gorram country with gorram movies.

Anyway. The other thing I always remember from that – let’s face it, excellent – film is Will Smith’s first encounter with an alien

It’s the latter clip I hope to see the Royals replicate against the Philadelphia Phillies this evening. “Welcome to Kansas City, please enjoy this jab to the jaw.”

The Royals will, much like Will Smith and the rest of Earth in this movie, be the underdogs in today’s contest. They simply don’t have the firepower that their opponents can boast. They don’t have the speed, and they don’t have the technology. But maybe with some grit they can pull off a win.

OK, now that I’ve gone on about that for way too long, let’s talk about the matchups.

Jesús Luzardo, a very tough left-hander, is going for the Phillies today. The Royals have had their problems against lefties this year. They’ve beaten a few in recent weeks, including torching Shane McClanahan in Tampa Bay just last week. But Luzardo would be a challenge even if they were consistently good against lefties. He was a 5.3 fWAR pitcher last year, and he’s been almost exactly the same guy this year after signing a nice, long extension with Philadelphia.

Luzardo is a true four-pitch pitcher; he throws none of them more often than 36.2% or less than 17.5%. His sweeper leads the way, and it’s an absolutely filthy pitch. He gets chase and whiffs on his three best pitches, but uses his sinker to try to keep lefties honest to mixed effect. Honestly, that might be his one weakness this year. It’s not much of a weakness, though, as he’s still significantly better against lefties overall than righties.

The Royals will counter with Michael Wacha. Wacha has been fantastic for KC this year, a true anchor in the stormy seas of their lost season. He’s also probably their most valuable trade chip as the deadline looms in less than a month. It’s unclear if the Royals will trade him, but either way, it would be nice to see him have more success, if only because it’s more fun to watch the Royals in competitive games than otherwise.

Lineups

Interestingly, after years of being the leadoff guy for the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber has spent most of his time batting second this year. He’ll be there again, even though that makes the Phillies’ middle of the order potentially vulnerable to a left-handed reliever. I guess Matt Strahm and Daniel Lynch IV are the only ones the Royals have, and they’re not particularly frightening.

Despite the lefty on the mound, Carter Jensen will still lead off tonight. Jac Caglianone has been demoted to the four spot, though, as he’s been a bit cold since the two-home run game against the Rays last week. Salvador Perez is still out of the lineup and Tyler Tolbert gets another start in right field over Kameron Misner, who had a couple of adventures out there last time.

The St. Louis Cardinals will continue a very enjoyable stay in the Windy City so far as they’ll do battle with the Chicago Cubs Saturday night. The Cardinals will send Kyle Leahy to the mound for a 4th of July national broadcast while the Cubs give Shota Imanaga the ball. First pitch is set for 7:08 central time as this will be a TV broadcast handled by Fox.

It’s time for some holiday baseball, with the San Francisco Giants playing another game in Home Run Derby Park, as they visit the Colorado Rockies for Game 2 of their three-game series.

Taking the mound for the Giants is lefty Robbie Ray, who makes his 18th appearance of the year. The former Cy Young Award winner is 7-6 on the year, with a 3.39 ERA, a 4.65 FIP, and 82 strikeouts to 43 walks in 95.2 innings. He’s been spectacular lately, with back-to-back starts in which he pitched eight innings and gave up just one unearned run.

On the other side is righty Tomoyuki Sugano, a 36-year old in his second Major League season and first with the Rockies. In 16 starts this year, Sugano is 8-4 with a 4.80 ERA, a 5.33 FIP, and just 48 strikeouts to 23 walks in 84.1 innings. He got rocked in his last start, giving up seven runs to the Minnesota Twins in five innings.

Enjoy the baseball, everyone.

Game #88

Who: San Francisco Giants Colorado Rockies

Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado

When: 5:10 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

Jays 0 Mariners 11

The trouble with signing a pitcher coming off of Tommy John Surgery is that they might not be the same pitcher they were before the surgery.

Today, at least, Shane Bieber was not the pitcher he used to be. He pitched a nice first inning and go the first two outs of the second and then? Well…double, single, single, walk, grand slam, walk and finally the third out. we were down 5-0

Shane threw a scoreless third and forth innings but the fifth started off walk, home run and that was the end of his day. 4.0, 6 hits, 7 earned, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.

Adam Macko gave up 3 more runs in his 1.2 innings. Tommy Nance gave up 1 more getting just 1 out. Braydon Fisher struck out the side in his inning and Myles Straw “pitched” a 1, 2, 3 ninth.

And on offense, we had 1 hit. Yohendrick Piñango had a single. Logan Gilbert looked terrific. He came out after 7.1 innings and looked bemused to be taken out. He struck out 7.

Yesterday it looked that we had finally started hitting. Maybe things were turning around. Today? Nah, yesterday was a one-off.

Being far….I did fall asleep at one point, which I highly recommend when watching your team get blown out. And, it is Stampede here and it sounded like the church close by was having a Stampede breakfast, or at least a band, because at seven this morning there was a loud drum beat and bass that woke me up.

Tomorrow we have a 5:00 Eastern start time. Trey Yesavage (4-3, 3.34) vs. Emerson Hancock (5-4, 3.47). Good news is that it should be our turn to hand them a crushing defeat.

No JoD’s today. The Other Award goes to Bieber (-0.34 WPA). And let’s give one to the starting lineup, for their inability to, you know, hit.

Happy 250th birthday, America! What better way to celebrate than with the San Diego Padres (hopefully) breaking their losing streak tonight. The Friars had a heartbreaking continuation to their losing streak last night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. After Michael King had dominated for six innings, he was taken out in the seventh inning after allowing the first two batters to reach base.

High-leverage left-hander Adrian Morejon came in to pitch relief and induced a tailor-made double-play ball from Kyle Tucker. Unfortunately, Jake Cronenworth dropped the ball, and everyone was safe. Now, with the bases load, Teoscar Hernández lifted a fly ball to left center field and the game was over. All the momentum that had been built ended with one error and one swing. Over the final two innings, the Friars would put zero men on base in a dismal attempt to come back.

It can’t be said any other way: the Padres need a win. It’s been said every day for the last week (which is already ridiculous), and it needs to end now. San Diego is now below .500 for the first time since early April. The turnaround needs to happen now, or it may never happen.

Taking the mound

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (LAD) v. Griffin Canning (SD)

Yamamoto has been fantastic for L.A., posting a 2.67 ERA on the season with 90 strikeouts. He’s looked electric lately, with only six runs allowed in his last three starts (20.1 IP). The Padres will need to tag him for enough runs to give Canning a cushion.

San Diego definitely has its hardest pitching matchup of this series in Yamamoto. He dominated the Friars last week, pitching six innings of two-run ball against San Diego. That game was the first loss in the current losing streak. Hopefully, it can be ended against Yamamoto as well.

Wandy Peralta will be used as an opener for Canning despite the fact that the latter pitched pretty well against the Chicago Cubs earlier this week. He only went 4 1/3 innings, but that’s more of a byproduct of his short leash than his performance that day. He allowed just two runs and had been relatively efficient (by his standards), throwing 75 pitches in that time.

The problem is that Canning has been ridiculously inconsistent. There’s been times that he’s shown promise and times that he looks downright awful. It’s impossible to tell which version we’ll get tonight until he steps out on the mound.

Batter up!

The lineup has looked pretty good this series. It’s hard to say positive things when the losing streak is this bad, but the offense has put up 10 runs in the last two games. Jackson Merrill homered in back-to-back contests, which is fantastic. His breakout has been much anticipated by the Friar Faithful.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Gavin Sheets, DH
5. Ty France, 1B
6. Jackson Merrill, CF
7. Xander Bogaerts, SS
8. Luis Campusano, C
9. Samad Taylor, LF

Campusano will likely make his return to the lineup in today’s game. He’s been on the IL for a few months after fracturing his toe and has been long-awaited to return after breaking out at the beginning of the season. Campusano was activated after Freddy Fermin returned to the IL on concussion protocol. Hopefully, he can continue to flash the offensive prowess he displayed at the start of the year.

Relief corps

The relievers have been taxed lately. Last night was the first time a San Diego starter has gone five innings in exactly one week. It’s been rough for the rotation lately, and it’s shown in the current slump the club can’t get out of.

Thankfully, King’s gem last night allowed the bullpen to get some rest. Only Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez needed to be used to finish out the game. That leaves plenty available for San Diego. Kyle Hart, Alek Jacob, Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui and Mason Miller will all be available in relief after Canning departs.

The Colorado Rockies kicked off the month of July with a three-game winning streak. They look to make it four on the Fourth.

After a pair of stellar games against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday night saw 15 runs on 18 hits with three dingers from the Rockies offense, a stellar quality start from Ryan Feltner, and a scoreless Gabriel Hughes MLB debut in a series opening 15-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

The Rockies scored 14+ runs in their last two games, becoming only the third team since 2020 to hit that mark in back-to-back games. They’ll look to carry that momentum (and hopefully some of those offensive fireworks) into the Independence Day matchup.

Tomoyuki Sugano was projected to get the start for the Rockies but was scratched from the lineup early in the day with back spasms. Instead, Sean Sullivan will take the mound.

Sullivan’s last start was Monday to kick off the Marlins series. He went 4.2 innings, giving up five runs on six hits with a home run and five strikeouts in a 10-7 loss. On the year, he’s 0-2 across his four MLB starts with an 8.64 ERA and 12 strikeouts.

On the other end of the career playing time spectrum, 13-year veteran Robbie Ray gets the nod for the Giants. This year, Ray is 7-6 with a 3.39 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 16 starts. He managed a win in his last game, going eight innings in a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. Ray has already faced the Rockies this season. While he didn’t get the decision, he gave up three runs (one earned) in four innings as the Giants beat the Rockies 19-6 back on May 31st.

In the Battle of the Basement, the two squads are now neck and neck with Colorado at 36-53 and San Francisco at 36-51. The Rockies have the Giants’ number head-to-head so far, notching three wins in four tries. With the team’s confidence hitting a new peak, the Rockies will try to extend their lead against the division foe on Saturday night.

First Pitch: 6:10 pm MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Giants SB Nation Site: McCovey Chronicles

Lineups:

Giants

Rockies

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Mets lineup

1. Francisco Lindor – SS
2. Juan Soto – LF
3. Bo Bichette – 3B
4. Mark Vientos – 1B
5. Eric Wagaman – DH
6. Francisco Alvarez – C
7. Carson Benge – RF
8. Tyrone Taylor – CF
9. Brett Baty – 2B

SP: Sean Manaea – LHP

Braves lineup

1. Mauricio Dubon – LF
2. Drake Baldwin – DH
3. Ozzie Albies – 2B
4. Matt Olson – 1B
5. Austin Riley – 3B
6. Michael Harris – CF
7. Eli White – RF
8. Joey Bart – C
9. Jorge Mateo – SS

SP: Chris Sale – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 8:08 PM EDT
TV: FOX
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

Backed by three homers, Jesus Luzardo is a sweeping success in win over KC originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

KANSAS CITY – Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the sweeper is still a relatively new pitch for Jesus Luzardo.

He did not start throwing it until joining the Phillies in 2025.

In less than two full seasons, the pitch has become a major weapon for him.

Luzardo pitched six innings of one-run ball and was backed by three home runs in a 6-1 win over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on the nation’s 250th birthday Saturday night.

The 28-year-old left-hander gave up just four hits and walked none. He struck out nine batters, six on sweepers. Seventy of his 125 strikeouts this season have come on sweepers.

In all, Luzardo threw 95 pitches and generated 19 swings and misses, including a career-high 15 on the sweeper. The pitch averaged 87.1 mph. His four-seam fastball topped out at 98.7 mph.

“Early in the year, I lost some feel for it,” Luzardo said of his sweeper. “I almost feel I threw it so much I lost the feel for it. But lately, the last five or six starts, it’s felt like it’s back and maybe even can get better.”

Luzardo credited pitching coaches Caleb Cotham and Mark Lowy for suggesting a tweak in the positioning of his wrist to get the pitch back on track.

Luzardo continued to shine away from Citizens Bank Park. He is 5-0 with a 1.54 ERA in 10 road starts this season as opposed to 2-4 with a 6.60 ERA in eight starts at home.

The victory gave the Phils an all-time record of 107-107 on Independence Day.

“Zeus set the tone,” manager Don Mattingly said. “He was on the attack early. That’s what you want when you come into a series.”

After Luzardo’s exit, Jonathan Bowlan, Orion Kerkering and Tim Mayza combined on three scoreless innings to seal the win. Bowlan, who was traded from the Royals to the Phillies last winter, struck out three in the seventh. In all, Phillies pitching racked up 15 strikeouts and did not walk a batter while the offense out-hit Kansas City, 12-5.

“When you punch out 15 and don’t walk anyone, it’s kind of a nice little recipe for success,” Mattingly said.

Luzardo and the Phillies got all the offense they needed in the top of the fourth inning when the bottom half of the lineup came through against Kansas City starter Michael Wacha. Bryson Stott stroked a one-out single and J.T. Realmuto followed with a two-run homer on a line drive to left. Two pitches later, Gabriel Rincones Jr. cracked a solo homer to right to make it 3-0.

The Royals got one back against Luzardo in the bottom of the inning before Alec Bohm went deep to center in the sixth to put the Phils back on top by three runs. The Phils tacked on with runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Before the game, it was announced that Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Jhoan Duran and Cristopher Sanchez all made the National League All-Star team. Mattingly will be part of the coaching staff.

But the biggest offensive contributions in the win came from players who will not be in the All-Star Game.

“I’ve said it before, I feel like if we’re going to be any good, we need contributions up and down the lineup,” Mattingly said. “It can’t always be Harp and Schwarber hitting home runs and driving in a bunch of runs. It’s got to be the whole roster. Obviously, Marsh has been huge behind Harper and he’s swinging it well. Stott is driving in runs, Bohm is driving in runs. J.T. with a big homer. (Justin) Crawford’s been swinging well. If Gabe gets going, that’s another part of our lineup no one thinks about. If that 7, 8, 9 part of the lineup starts putting runs on the board, it starts to put pressure all the way through the lineup and that’s really what you’re looking for.”

The Phillies are 41-20 under Mattingly, who took over for Rob Thomson when the team was 9-19.

Aaron Nola pitches Sunday afternoon against right-hander Luinder Avila.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one fan base to dissolve the contractual bands which have connected them with their bullpen, and to assume, among the powers of baseball, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s commissioner entitle them — first place in the AL Central, in this case — a decent respect to the opinions of Sox Fandom requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Thomas Jefferson was enough of a contrarian at heart that I could plausibly see him being a White Sox fan. I imagine that’s how he might have chosen to frame the complaint that’s being directed as a chorus to GM Chris Getz and the front office brain trust by much of the fanbase at the moment.

This is a good team, that could really make the playoffs. It seems to say. And their bullpen STINKS!Fix it NOW!

We’re far enough along now that we don’t have to pretend that Seranthony Domínguez is a good high-leverage addition to tout. We don’t have to pretend that another year with a league-worst bullpen is acceptable because it’s the last part of a rebuild you worry about. The last two days’ worth of extra-inning losses seem to have all but fractured any trust that was left between Sox fans, analysts, and the current group of relievers churning through their bullpen.

Holding down dedicated, continuous spots for replacement-level veterans like Trevor Richards and Chris Murphy while six kids who could actually have a real future in this bullpen play musical chairs with the last two seats in the bullpen? Not going to cut it for a team that’s locked in a battle for a division more than halfway through the year.

There are better relievers out there. The Sox simply need to go and find them. That’s a truth that I’d like to think is self-evident.

Sean Burke is going to try and make sure it won’t be necessary. He’s been on a mini-tear as of late, throwing 19 innings of four-run ball with a sterling 22-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his last three starts. He’ll also need to play stopper today against a Cleveland “A” lineup that’ll be out for blood.

The lineup that Will Venable responds with demonstrates again the offensive part of the roster’s biggest weakness, an inability to consistently field competitive lineups against certain kinds of lefties. Messick shut the Sox down for 7 2/3 innings the last time he saw them, we can only hope the Good Guys will have some adjustments this time around.

First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. CT at Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. If you want to join us, broadcasts are available on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio), like always!

Here’s the White Sox lineup:

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Mets interim manager Andy Green updated the injury statuses of right-hander Clay Holmes, first baseman Jorge Polanco and center fielder Luis Robert Jr. before Saturday's game at the Atlanta Braves.

Another bullpen for Holmes

Holmes (right fibula fracture) is set to throw a bullpen Monday in Atlanta where the Mets complete their four-game series at the Braves with the 7:15 p.m. finale on SNY.

"He's doing well," Green said of Holmes, whose first session was scheduled for later this week. "... Progressing well. Just going to take a little bit more time."

Holmes (4-4, 2.39 ERA), whom the Mets placed on the 15-day injured list May 16 before transferring him to the 60-day injured list three days later, remains ahead of schedule.

"Yeah, I think he is, a little bit," Green said when asked if Holmes is ahead of schedule, "but there's a lot of steps between now and actually taking the mound in a game. So, we're excited with how quickly he's moving along, but still some time."

Polanco, Robert 'doing well'

Rehab assignments with Triple-A Syracuse continue for Polanco (Achilles bursitis) and Robert (lumbar spine disc herniation).

As Syracuse's game against the Worcester Red Sox started Saturday evening with Polanco off and Robert starting in center field while batting second, Green gave optimistic updates on the two.

"Polanco -- really positive yesterday," Green said of Polanco's walk and run scored in Friday's 8-7 win. "He's down today, scheduled off day, but was running well yesterday, taking some big steps forward, which is exciting. Luis Robert should be in the lineup tonight in Syracuse, Polanco back in there tomorrow for a Monday off day.

"Both those guys are doing well. Both those guys still have more minor league games in front of them."

Polanco has played in four games with Syracuse since last Saturday and will return to the Mets' Triple-A lineup for Sunday's 1:05 p.m. start against Worcester.

"No, he's done well," Green said when asked if Polanco had any Achilles setbacks.

However, Green called the idea of a return date for Polanco "premature."

"I think it's premature to start to call a return date for him," Green said of Polanco. "He's going to play tomorrow, he'll play again on Tuesday and we'll see where we're at at that point in time."

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Royals.

Let’s talks about it.