Cup of Coffee: July 11, 2024

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

Let’s get to it!

And That Happened 

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Tigers 5, Guardians 4: I watched the first few innings of this one at a place in my neighborhood called Club 185, where I drank cold beer and got the Wednesday night chili dog special. So I saw Matt Vierling hit a sac fly and then a two-run homer and Reese Olson be generally solid once again. I had left the bar and returned to the blackout land that is my home before things got super dicey in the ninth. That’s when the Guardians got bases full of runners, a lengthy rundown between third and home, and pressure like that, but Detroit eeked it out. The chili dogs and beer were excellent.

Athletics 5, Red Sox 2: JP Sears allowed one run while pitching into the sixth, Lawrence Butler hit a two-run double, JJ Bleday also doubled in a run, and Shea Langeliers drew a bases-loaded walk. Fun stat in a losing cause: Nick Pivetta struck out eight consecutive batters at one point. That ties a team record that had been held by two other pitchers. One being Roger Clemens who did it in his 20-strikeout game back in 1986. The other was . . . Nick Pivetta, who did it just over a month ago.

Royals 6, Cardinals 4; Royals 8, Cardinals 5: Salvador Perez drove in two runs with a homer and a single in the first half of the twinbill, while Garrett Hampson hit a two-run double, and Hunter Renfroe added two hits and a run scored. All of that overcame an early 3-0 Cards lead that came via homers from Nolan Arenado and Alec Burleson. Paul Goldschmidt added a homer late. Sal Perez homered again In the nightcap, as did MJ Melendez to give Kansas City both games.

White Sox 3, Twins 1; Twins 3, White Sox 2: In the makeup game Luis Robert Jr. hit a two-run homer and starter Erick Fedde tossed five scoreless innings. Most fun: reliever Michael Kopech closed the game out with an immaculate inning — nine-pitches, three-strikeouts. He’s the first White Sox pitcher to do it since Sloppy Thurston did back in 1923. Imagine if we had guys named Sloppy Thurston Now. And I say that even though Sloppy's real name was Hollis. In the nightcap — well, more like the late afternoon-cap — Brooks Lee and Carlos Correa homered to help Minnesota earn the split. Correa went 3-for-4 in the first game, so he had a nice afternoon.

Cubs 4, Orioles 0: Shōta Imanaga scattered six hits over six shutout frames and three relievers completed the combined nine-hit shutout. Christopher Morel homered, and Seiya Suzuki, Nico Hoerner, and Michael Busch all had RBI singles.

Mariners 2, Padres 0: Bryce Miller and three relievers combined on a six-hit shutout - take that Cubs, pitchers! — while Cal Raleigh stole second and then scored on an error in the second and Jorge Polanco singled in a run in the fourth. How cool is it that the M’s got a guy out there named “Big Dumper” who’s manufacturing runs, Whiteyball-style.

Yankees 2, Rays 1: Marcus Stroman was solid into the fifth but had to leave before he qualified for the win. The Yankees pen stepped up, though, and pitched four and two-thirds innings of shutout ball while striking out six. Trent Grisham drove in both Yankees runs with a double in the second and a sac fly in the fourth.

Phillies 4, Dodgers 3: Kyle Schwarber hit a leadoff homer and Trea Turner and Bryson Stott singled in runs. The key point of the game, though, came when the Dodgers threatened in the seventh but Matt Strahm fanned Shohei Ohtani with the tying runners on base. to put out the fire. The Dodgers have lost three in a row. Philly goes for the sweep today.

Rockies 6, Reds 5: Sam Hilliard homered twice — a two-run home run in the third and a solo shot in the fifth — and Jake Cave doubled in a run. Kyle Freeland struck out nine over six and two-thirds, allowing just two runs. It’s the first time the Rockies have beaten the Reds in their last nine meetings.

Mets 6, Nationals 2: Jose Iglesias had a two-run single in the Mets’ four-run sixth, en route to a three-hit night. Brandon Nimmo homered for the third game in a row, which obligates me to share this:

Relatable, man.

Astros 9, Marlins 1: Framber Valdez allowed one run over seven strong innings in which he struck out ten. Joey Loperfido, who I literally never heard of before, hit a two-run homer and tripled. Everything else scored on singles doubles and groundouts and stuff like that.

Brewers 9, Pirates 0: Anytime you see a 9-0 score, remember: if the losing team had just stayed at the hotel and forfeited, it’d be the same final score. But nah, the Buccos showed up, got shut out by Tobias Myers for eight innings, watched Rhys Hoskins and Willy Adames hit home runs, and watched William Contreras hit a two-run double as the Brewers romped. Personally, I would’ve just stayed back at the hotel and ordered room service.

Angels 7, Rangers 2: Mickey Moniak’s three-run homer in the second sent the Angels on their way while Zach Neto’s RBI double in third and two-run homer in the eighth added a good deal of insurance. Four and two-thirds innings of shutout relief sealed it.

Diamondbacks 7, Atlanta 5: A two-run homer from Marcell Ozuna tied things up at five in the top of the eighth but Atlanta reliever Joe Jiménez came in for the bottom half, gave up a double, a single, and hit a batter to load the bases, after which Christian Walker drew a bases-loaded walk to give Arizona the lead. A couple of batters later a Geraldo Perdomo sac fly made it 7-5 and that was that. Earlier, Eugenio Suárez hit a two-run homer and doubled in a run.

Blue Jays 10, Giants 6: Toronto’s three-run fifth — all via Ernie Clement’s three-run homer — and six-run sixth, with all runs scoring on four RBI singles and a two-run double from George Springer, decided this one in the middle innings. The rubber match of the series comes this afternoon.

The Daily Briefing

Wander Franco’s status has changed

Yesterday I passed along word that Rays shortstop Wander Franco had been criminally charged in connection with his alleged sexual exploitation of a 14 year old girl. After I posted that we learned that, in addition to those charges, Franco has been charged with human trafficking. Then, later in the day those charges led to his status on the roster being changed: he is no longer on administrative leave. Rather, the Rays have requested, and MLB has approved, his being shifted to the restricted list due to his being formally charged.

The implication: he will no longer get paid or accrue service time unless and until he clears the criminal charges and any discipline leveled by MLB is completed.

To date, Franco has been collecting his salary. Which, despite the fact he signed an 11-year, $182 million deal last year, is still low, as the deal is backloaded. For 2023 and 2024 he was making only $2 million. In 2025 he is scheduled to make $8 million, in 2026 $15 million, and it goes up to $22 million by 2027. His deal tops out at $25 million per year between 2028 and 2032.

Not that Franco’s money is the important thing here, of course. But it is worth noting that, even if he is convicted, it’s possible that he will be able to collect a great deal of that $182 million contract if his prison sentence is shorter than the contract’s terms.

A big baseball card heist

Back in the 1980s, when baseball cards were skyrocketing in value, my brother and I — barely in our teens — were at a card show, staffed by one or two sleepy rent-a-cops, and talked about how someone could come in rob the place and get away with zillions of dollars in cards. Then, a few years later, after the card market totally cratered, we laughed at how lame it would be for someone to try to do a baseball card heist.

It’s been several years since the card market rebounded in a major way, so I suppose this was inevitable:

You can see the video here. It’s hard to follow without context, but in the thread below it the victim of the crime explained what was going on. It was pretty sophisticated as far as these kinds of things go, complete with someone posing as hotel worker pretending to move folding chairs and things.

Just to be clear, though, my brother and I both have alibis.

God I hate New Era caps

Thing is, I actually love New Era caps, at least usually. I sort of have to, because they’re the only baseball caps I can really wear. I have giant head and caps that aren’t specifically sized simply do not fit. So-called one-sized caps, stretchy caps, or caps sized S/M/L/XL are always — always — too small. Same with snapbacks. Even the largest size on the last snap is too tight.

So I’ve rode with New Eras for years out of necessity. The problem, though, is that New Era cap sizing is all over the goddamn place. They have the worst quality control I’ve ever seen in a product.

Once upon a time I could wear a 7 5/8. Then, for no discernible reason, they became too small, so I ordered 7 3/4. That worked for a while but then those became too small as well. So several months ago I ordered a 7 7/8. I was dubious when I did that, and when it arrived it was decidedly on the loose side, but I sucked it up and it ended up working. I’d have to hold on to it if it got windy or if I was doing something particularly vigorous lest it fly off, but at least it was comfortable and looked alright.

That last cap came to the end of its useful life recently, so I ordered an identical 7 7/8 model. It arrived yesterday morning, I put it on, and it’s tight as hell. Rubbing against my forehead right out of the box. Given that they all shrink a little once you start wearing them and sweating in them, it will be useless for me within a week or two.

The kicker here is that in most cases I cannot try them on beforehand to compare sizes. That’s because, once you get to a certain size in New Era caps, the crown becomes absolutely — comically — large. They’re just ridiculous looking. To account for that, I buy New Era’s Low Profile caps, which keeps the proportions reasonable even in large sizes. Except you can’t buy Low Profiles anywhere except large team stores in or adjacent to MLB stadiums. Lids doesn’t carry them. Sporting good stores don’t carry them. I’m partial to Tigers and Dodgers caps for a number of reasons and I’m not making a special trip to Detroit or Los Angeles just to get one, so mail order from either MLB’s site or New Era directly it is.

It’s amazing that the only real solution here is to spend 3-4 times the price of a cap — knowing from experience that anywhere from 7 5/8 to 8 may be the one that fits this time! — and then boxing up those that don’t fit just to get a goddamn baseball cap. Such a wonderful customer experience.

If anyone associated with New Era is reading this know this much: I am not complaining here in order to get a free cap or anything. I just wanna understand. I just wanna know why, several thousand years after the invention of millinery, you cannot make hats of a consistent size.

But I think I hate this more

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw that was this:

Tough but fair.

Other Stuff

More good news

From Scientific American:

If what I’ve read in the Facebook posts of people with whom I went to high school are any guide, we can definitively say that “drinking from the hose” and “being latchkey kids” is a leading cause of cancer. Which is so sad. Especially since so many of my friends have cited those things as reasons for why our generational cohort is different and special and whatever.

Why are you mad?

Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe died the other day. Inhofe is most famous — particularly outside of Oklahoma — for advancing the interests of the oil and gas industry and obstructing legislation and regulations aimed at combatting climate change. This stance culminated with one of the dumber stunts in the recent history of the United States Congress when, on February 26, 2015, he brought a snowball to the Senate floor and tossed it while arguing that global warming can’t be real because it was cold outside that day.

With a record like that, it is not surprising that many news reports of Inhofe’s death mentioned his climate change denialism. Things like the Washington Post’s “James Inhofe, Oklahoma senator and climate-change denier, dies at 89.” Or the Associated Press’ “Former US Sen. Jim Inhofe, defense hawk who called human-caused climate change a ‘hoax,’ dies at 89.”

These sorts of headlines have pissed off conservatives, who consider them to be disrespectful to Inhofe’s legacy. To wit:

This Darin Miller fellow is not alone. Indeed, there appears to be a fairly organized backlash, fueled by coordinated talking points, about how the press is unfair and disrespectful to Republicans when they die for mentioning things like, you know, their actual positions and record and stuff.

Here’s my problem, though: the people who are angry about these headlines, themselves, believe climate change to be a hoax. Indeed, this Darin Miller guy worked for the Trump administration, which openly denied the existence of climate change and rolled back measures aimed at combatting it. He now works for Senator Ted Cruz who has long been on record to the same effect.

I'm not sure how to process people who think that climate change is a hoax and expend considerable effort to get the government to treat it as such getting angry that the press is referring to Inhofe as someone who thought climate change is a hoax. Rather than being angry, shouldn't they be happy that Inhofe is being identified as a visionary?

The latest on King Lear

This, from a Business Insider story from yesterday, gets to the heart of the trouble:

Again: I am fully in support of sticking with Biden if he can actually be an effective candidate. But if his staying in requires him being “limited” — requires that he not hold campaign events, or not do anything other than make scripted appearances in controlled situations — how can he be an effective candidate?

This is a tight race! To beat Trump will require energy and focus and face time and reaching as many people as possible! How on Earth can that be done under these circumstances?

We have to have a candidate who can effectively campaign. If Joe Biden can effectively campaign, he’s the best candidate. But if he can’t, he’s going to lose, and that will be disastrous for the country.

“Horizon” update

The other day I shared a bad review of the first installment of Kevin Costner’s planned four-film western epic, “Horizon: An American Saga.” Part 2 of which is in the can and was scheduled for an August release. Emphasis on the “was”:

They put a “we are happy with how the movie is doing and just want to give even more time for people to find it!” spin on it, but it’s 100% because it bombed.

I will bet anything that this just turns into a streaming product. Which, given the demographics of Kevin Costner’s audience and the audience for epic westerns in general, is probably for the best, frankly.

We haven’t talked about Marvel stuff for a minute 

I was once The World’s Biggest Marvel Mark.™ Then I cooled to some degree, because the product began to fall off. I don’t think I’ll ever get back into the Marvel movies the way I used to be because once you lose that connection you don’t quite get it back, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be excited about some of the movies.

Like, I’m totally excited for “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which will come out in a couple of weeks. Partially because I liked the first two “Deadpool” movies. Partially because, by definition, a “Deadpool” movie can’t be all angsty and self-serious, and formulaic which has been the downfall of a lot of the more recent Marvel properties. My expectations for a “Deadpool” movie are to laugh and to be surprised a few times and to not have to think too hard about things or remember 18 things from past movies and shows and end-credit sequences and whatnot. And I’m pretty sure that will continue to apply here, even if they’re introducing Wolverine to the proceedings and even if it’s now all, officially, part of the MCU for the first time.

The press stuff for “Deadpool and Wolverine” has begun in earnest, and with that comes an interview with Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, and co-writer/director Shawn Levy in Variety. There’s a lot of joking in the interview, but this bit about how doing the movie under the MCU banner, as opposed to Fox, made me hopeful that there will be some unexpectedly fun things in the movie:

Lest you think he’s joking, if you read that book about the history of the MCU that came out last year, you know that’s EXACTLY how Kevin Feige and the decision makers at Marvel work, so there probably is stuff in this movie that has no business being in it. Viva chaos, I say. It certainly beats the MCU’s increasingly calculation of late.

Netherlands 1, England 2

I haven’t written about the Euros, but I have been watching them. And like the pathetic, dead end Anglophile I am, I’m rooting for England.

Sorry, I know that’s not a popular choice. It’s like being a Yankees fan or something. Except if the Yankees hadn’t won a World Series since 1966 yet their fans were STILL insufferable and acted all entitled and stuff. Whaddaya gonna do? The heart wants what it wants.

If it helps, it’s not been super easy to root for England given that the team’s manager, Gareth Southgate, seems to have adopted his coaching strategy from modern Iowa Hawkeyes football or, perhaps, Ohio State football during the Jim Tressel Era. There aren’t punts in international football but, dammit, if there were, Southgate would find a way to play for a strategic punt. It’s positively dispiriting.

Yet, here they are! Winners of yesterday’s semifinal against the Netherlands and now poised to face Spain in the final on Sunday afternoon.

A big reason for them advancing seemed to be because England was more aggressive and attacking yesterday. Whether that was Southgate pulling a crazy Ivan or his players just saying “screw it, we’ll do what we need to do” is above my pay grade, but it was easily the most enjoyable match they’ve played in this tournament. The most obvious reason for their advancing, of course, was that stone cold killer of a goal from Ollie Watkins at the 90 minute mark, just after he was subbed in:

Former Brentford product, Watkins. Not that I ever saw him play for them given that he had moved on to Aston Villa before I began watching the Premier League. I’m gonna claim him, though, just like I claimed Kirk Gibson as a Tiger when he hit that homer for the Dodgers in the 1988 World Series. Again: the heart. It does its own thing.

Anyway, I am looking forward to Sunday’s final. Based on how they’ve looked in this tournament, I figure Spain will wipe the pitch with England, but if they do, that’s OK. It’s just a game. And both teams now have better governments than we have, so I won’t have as many weird political hangups about it like I always do when it comes to international athletics.

[Editor: I know you’ve read a shitload of English history and no small amount of Spanish history in your life, Craig. There are few if any countries one can and should have more political hangups about than England and Spain]

Sorry, you seem to be cutting out. Can’t make out a word. Talk later, OK?

Yeah, I know there’s an official England 2024 Euro song, but it’s horrible, so let’s go with Fat Les instead. Always a banger.

Have a great day everyone.