— RIP to the great ballplayer Dave Parker, who passed away this weekend at age 74.
Parker is getting inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame later this summer; he played 19 years in the majors, had an .810 OPS, won two World Series rings, two batting titles and was an All-Star seven times.
RIP, sir.
— Pirates 9, Mets 2
Mets have lost 12 of their last 15 games.
There was an 89-minute rain delay in the second inning.
Game was 3-2 in 8th inning; Pirates broke it open with six runs in bottom of 8th.
— Marlins 8, Diamondbacks 7 (10)
Arizona led 7-3 after seven innings.
Ketel Marte homered, had four RBI.
Marlins have won six games in a row.
— Rangers 3, Mariners 2 (10)
Marcus Semien had a walk-off single for the Rangers.
Third extra-inning game for Texas in their last four games.
Seattle P Bryan Woo has thrown 6+ IP in all 16 of his starts.
— A’s 7, New York 0
Nick Kurtz hit a 3-run homer, his 11th HR in his last 22 games.
JP Sears got the first 17 outs; rookie Jack Perkins got the last ten
Brent Rooker also homered for the A’s.
— White Sox 1, Giants 0
Andrew Benintendi’s homer was the game’s only run.
Under is 7-0 in Adrian Houser’s starts.
Giants are 4-11 in their last 15 games; they’ve lost four 1-0 games this year.
— Braves 6, Phillies 1
Spencer Schwellenbach struck out 12 hitters in his 7 IP.
Sean Murphy hit a grand slam in 7th inning.
Matt Olson has reached base in his last 29 games.
— Angels manager Ron Washington will stay on medical leave for the rest of the season; we wish him well in getting better very soon.
— Famous birthdays, June 29th:
John Boccabella, 85
Gary Busey, 81
Dan Dierdorf, 76
Rick Honeycutt, 71
Tom Skladany, 70
Pedro Guerrero, 69
Sharon Lawrence, 64
Troy Drayton, 55
Joe Johnson, 44
Kawhi Leonard, 34
Tanner Houck, 29
Gunnar Henderson, 24
— NBA Summer League in Las Vegas starts July 10th; it is fun/affordable, a good chance to see really good basketball at close range. I’ve been there several times; it is fun, and after the games are over, you’re still in Las Vegas.
— There were 59 draft picks in this year’s NBA Draft; 49 of those 59 picks were traded at one point, either before, during or after the draft.
— These players have become very good NBA players, but they were never drafted:
Alex Caruso
Lu Dort
TJ McConnell
Fred VanVleet
VanVleet and Houston Rockets just agreed on a 2-year, $50M contract extension.
— In the NHL Draft Saturday, there were 32 players drafted in the 4th round; those 32 players came from 13 different countries.
— This time next year, college sports will look at lot different, as another round of shuffling conference happens- the Pac-12 will be back in business.
Texas State and Arkansas-Little Rock going to join the league, even though they’re nowhere near the Pacific Ocean, much like Cal/Stanford are nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean, but they’re both in the ACC. Go figure.
— Kicker Justin Tucker was suspended 10 weeks by the NFL because he violated the league’s personal conduct policy; he is eligible to return November 11.
— Minnesota at Detroit is the Sunday night baseball game on ESPN, the first time since 2017 that the Tigers have hosted a Sunday night game.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
AL: New York, Tigers, Astros. Wild Cards: Rays, Blue Jays, Mariners
NL: Phillies, Cubs, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Mets, Brewers, Padres
