Here is the headline of a July 1 press release from the Dodgers Media department:
“DODGERS FINISH FIRST HALF WITH LONGEST HOMESTAND OF THE SEASON”
Here is the headline from a July 10 column in the Baltimore Banner:
The Orioles need someone to play the hero in the second half
Here’s a note from the Cleveland Guardians’ Game Notes of July 11:
FINISHING THE FIRST HALF » Bibee currently owns a 2-9 record with a 4.06 ERA (48ER/106.1IP) as he enters his final start of the first half of the season…if he does not receive a winning decision today, he will become the first Cleveland pitcher to record 9-or-more losses and 2-or-fewer wins in the first half of the season since David Huff did so in the 2010 season (2-9)
You know what’s going on, right? I’m getting really pissed off! The Dodgers reached the first half of the season on June 24th, when they played their 81st game. Same with the Guardians. The Orioles played their 81st game on June 23.
The Guardians, for example, will play their 97th game on Sunday. That is basically the 60 percent mark in the season. I’m no genius, but I’m pretty sure that a “half” doesn’t equal 60%.
This is the All-Star break. The games played to this point should be regarded as “pre-All-Star break” or “prior to the mid-Summer Classic,” or some such phraseology. I don’t care what fans or the media end up calling it; just don’t refer to it as the “first-half.” It’s lazy, it’s wrong, and it’s irritating.
The Dodgers have inexplicably accepted an invitation to the White House. As Bill Plaschke queried so articulately in the LA Times, “Are the Dodgers tone deaf? White House visit is an insult to their fans.” As they prepare for a July 23 visit, Plaschke wrote regarding the Dodgers’ visit last year, “Some, including Dodgers officials, argued this was a visit about tradition, not politics.” He then added, “Understood. But what happened two months after that first visit altered even that flimsy bit of logic, as the man inhabiting the office rained terror on Los Angeles with the midsummer ICE raids that changed the lives of thousands.”
Last night, they lost to Arizona 9-2, marking their first back-to-back losses since June 21-22.
They also lost their first series since that date.
It is now the first time the Dodgers have allowed nine or more runs in back-to-back games since July 2024.
They have committed 7 errors over this homestand, and considering they have only erred 33 times all season, that’s a lot.
Yoshonobo Yamamoto was wracked for six runs last night, the most he has allowed since last August.
And perhaps the strongest evidence that everything Trump touches turns into an anagram of “hits” is that Shohei Ohtani, the baseball god playing against mere mortals, has an inflammation of his left knee. Trump damaged Ohtani!
Ohtani will have his knee drained very soon after today’s game. As Billy-Ball reader Ken Wray pointed out to me, they should harvest whatever fluid they remove from Ohtani. It might cure illness in humans.
You know, I really admire the work and the folks who are talented enough to work at The Athletic. They are creative and thorough in the wide expanse of stories they cover, particularly in baseball. I also find them trustworthy and unbiased. They are the Rolling Stone magazine of sports.
Having said that, I also want to tell you that I have two very talented children. Jen Chuck is a very funny television writer and is a screenwriter for the animated feature “Steps,” scheduled to premiere on Netflix on November 20, and starring Amanda Seyfried, Nikki Glaser, and Bette Midler, among others. You will be hearing a lot more about it, particularly on these pages.
Their older sister is Elizabeth Chuck, an award-winning journalist for NBCNews.com. I listen and learn about each of their fields. Recently, Elizabeth told me about “pegs,” or “news pegs.” These are the current event, trending topic, or timely hook that justifies why a story is being published at that exact moment.
With all that background, let me add that I don’t hide my late-in-my-work-life ambition to contribute to The Athletic. The one area of their great baseball coverage that is often lacking is a deeper dive into some history.
And that brings me to a great story by Sam Blum in The Athletic about Codey Gauff.
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