July 26, 2021
1. Twins fans booed their own pitcher for walking Shohei Ohtani
The man is approaching Barry Bonds levels of stardom, on a city-to-city tour of fans coming out just to watch his greatness, admire his aura, root for his home runs and boo his walks.
“How about that? On the road, their fans are booing — they wanna see Shohei Ohtani swing the bat!”
And in the same game, he went deep to right field for home run #35:
2. The descent of Trevor Bauer continues
No major updates to report on the impending court hearing and MLB’s forthcoming decision, but the odds of him returning in a Dodger uniform are becoming more and more unlikely:
And earlier today, some clips of Bauer’s album/mixtape from 2011 surfaced, which might just be the most cringeworthy recording in human history.
Note: He wasn’t an immature, wayward 13-year-old at the time who didn’t know any better — he was 20, in the Diamondbacks farm system, and this is what he came up with.
3. Team USA softball hits a walk-off homer to beat Japan
Beating Japan, in Japan, and heading for the gold medal game (where they’ll play Japan again, tomorrow night).
It’s a shame these athletes aren’t playing in front of fans, the atmosphere there would be awesome.
4. The Red Sox put the dagger into the Yankees at Fenway
They win three out of four, and the Sunday game was absolute cruelty. Domingo German had a no-hitter into the eighth inning, a 4–0 lead, and just like that: no-hitter gone, shutout gone, lead gone, game gone.
Here was Aaron Boone after the game, with very “inspiring” and “substantial” quotes. Really though, what’s with this guy?
Nice person. Great home run in '03. But robotically bland.
5. Fernando Tatis Jr. hits home run #30
Walloped.
6. Eloy Jimenez is healthy and fully back with the White Sox
From the Heaven League All-Star Team, back down to earth to help bring the Southside of Chicago its first division title since 2008.
7. The Padres pick up All-Star 2B Adam Frazier in a trade
There’s a very good chance you’ve never heard of him, but he’s been one of the best hitters in the National League this year, rumored to be a trade target of the Yankees, and out of nowhere the Padres swooped right in.
8. Ji-Man Choi had the best game of his career
The most lovable player in baseball, and any argument to the contrary will simply not be entertained on this newsletter.
A home run, after another the night prior. Two doubles. An RBI single. And his status as a cult hero among the tiny Rays fanbase continues to grow.
Get on the Ji-Man Choi bandwagon, dear reader. There’s still time.
9. Mike Trout caught a huge fish in Minnesota
And this newsletter missed the baseball dad joke opportunity of the year.
“Pike Trout” was sitting there in plain sight, and what came out was “Mike Pike”. Forgive me, O baseball world.
10. An umpire won “Player of the Game” honors
Not for good umpiring, that is, but for his lasting legacy and impact on the San Diego Padres, in a one-run loss in Miami.
PS: If you don’t follow @umpjob yet, get on it — a side account I’ve started, posting everything awful-umpiring-related.
11. The solution to sign-stealing: Bone conduction?
The end result of the Astros scandal, without punishment, trophy seizure, putting things right in baseball — might just be having pitchers send signals to each other through vibrating bones.
The ship to Bizarro-world is leaving soon, get your tickets:
12. Lastly, the feel-good moments of the weekend
And lastly, beloved Giants’ broadcaster Duane Kuiper returned from chemotherapy treatment to surprise his longtime friend and TV partner, Mike Krukow:
