— The best baseball announcers make you feel like you’re eavesdropping on a conversation between friends who are watching the game.
In my opinion, the best baseball play-by-play guys:
Jon Sciambi, Cubs
Dan Shulman, Blue Jays
Don Orsillo, Padres
Gary Cohen, Mets
The best analysts:
Ron Darling, Mets
Mark Gubicza, Angels
Jim Palmer, Orioles
Steve Stone, White Sox
— Before last season, no one was touting Cubs’ P Shota Imanaga, who they brought over from Japan; 1.5 years later, the Cubs are 30-9 in Imanaga’s starts. Pretty impressive.
— Cleveland Guardians were at Wrigley Field this week; OF Angel Martinez plays for the Guardians. His dad Sandy Martinez was the Cubs’ catcher in a 1998 game where Kerry Wood struck out 20 Houston Astros.
— Divisional leads in MLB
NL East:
Phillies leads the Mets by half a game.
NL Central:
Cubs lead Milwaukee by four games, St Louis by 6.5, Cincinnati by seven games.
NL West:
Dodgers lead San Diego by eight games, Giants by nine games.
AL East:
Blue Jays lead New York/Tampa Bay by two games.
AL Central:
Tigers have a 12.5-game lead over their nearest rival.
AL West:
Astros lead Seattle by seven games, Angels by 9.5 games.
— I have Jesus Luzardo on my fantasy team; he is an all-or-nothing pitcher:
Good starts:
April 4th- 7 IP, no runs allowed vs Dodgers
June 11th- 6 IP, one run allowed vs Cubs
June 22nd- 6.2 IP, no runs allowed vs Mets
Ugly starts:
May 31st: 3.1 IP, 12 runs vs Milwaukee
June 5th: 2.1 IP, 8 runs allowed at Toronto
July 4th: 2 IP, 6 runs allowed vs Cincinnato
Hard to predict, but very few mediocre starts.
— Notes on the Atlanta Falcons:
They’ve spent the most $$$ of any team in the NFL on their offense this year; backup QB Kirk Cousins makes a lot of that money.
Falcons are #22 in $$$ spent on defense, defensive line is #27.
Atlanta was minus-6 in turnovers last year, with only 18 takeaways; they were 8-9, 6-6 in games decided by 8 or fewer points, 2-1 in games decided by 3 or fewer points.
Last two years, Falcons are 11-23 ATS, 8-14 when favored, 3-9 as an underdog, 6-11 at home. Under is 11-6 in their last 17 home games.
— Famous birthdays, July 5th:
Gary Matthews, 75
Rich Gossage, 74
Johnny Rodgers, 74
James Lofton, 69
Edie Falco, 62
Kathryn Erbe, 60
Donnie Jones, 45
Been Udrih, 43
Ish Smith, 37
Jorge Polanco, 32
Shohei Ohtani, 31
Austin Hays, 30
— Mets 6, Bronx 5
Juan Soto went 3-4 with two runs scored, two RBI
Mets won their third game in a row; Bronx has lost five in a row.
— Cubs 11, Cardinals 3
Cubs hit eight home runs; Michael Busch hit three of them.
Colin Rea gave up one hit in 6.2 IP.
— Blue Jays 4, Angels 3 (10)
Toronto wins its sixth game in a row.
Blue Jays scored game-winning run on a throwing error.
— Twins 4, Rays 3
Tampa Bay led 3-1 in the 7th inning.
Harrison Bader homered twice, including a walk-off blast in 9th inning.
— Padres 3, Rangers 2 (10)
Jake Cronenworth got his 5th walk-off RBI for the Padres.
Texas has played in extra innings in six of its last nine games (2-4).
— Tigers 2, Guardians 1
Wenceel Perez, Zach McKinstry homered for Detroit.
Cleveland has now lost eight games in a row.
— A’s 11, Giants 2
Denzel Clarke, homered, tripled, made another great catch in centerfield.
JP Sears tossed six shutout IP for the green-and-gold.
— If the playoffs started today (they don’t):
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Mets, Brewers, Padres
AL: Blue Jays, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: New York, Rays, Mariners
