Cup of Coffee: April 27, 2023

A rookie is sent down, an ace is shelved, a reporter gets canned, a stadium scam, Dylan, Sam Shepherd, Malachi Constant, The Mouse roars, and we take a bullet train to Vegas

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Thanks, all. Now let’s get to it, shall we?

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And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Reds 5, Rangers 3: Nick Senzel hit a walkoff two-run homer to give the Reds the series sweep. The Reds had gone 79 innings without a home run until then. It was the longest they had gone without a longball in 32 years, in fact. Which in my mind made me think of Ted Kluszewski or Lee May or someone until I remembered that 32 years ago was 1991, the year I graduated from high school. Time is total bullshit, man.

Pirates 8, Dodgers 1: Roansy Contreras no-hit the L.A. bats into the sixth. Ji Hwan Bae and Jason Delay had three hits each, and Bae added three stolen bases to the mix. A five-run seventh eventually broke the game open for the Buccos, who have won eight of nine. Highlight of the game, though: 33 year old rookie Drew Maggi making his debut after 1,155 minor league games across 13 seasons. He appeared as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning, striking out in his lone at bat, but he’ll remember that for the rest of his life. One of the strikes in that punchout came on a pitch clock violation called by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson. I know there’s no umpire judgment in these situations and that if we start making clock exceptions for “big moments” that eventually the exceptions will eat up the whole rule, but Christ dudes, let a guy in Maggi’s situation soak it in a bit, will ya?

Orioles 6, Red Sox 2: Death by a thousand cuts as the Orioles scratched six runs across via three sac flies, two sac bunts, and 10 singles in a pear tree. If your exhausting uncle who talks about “small ball” all the time was watching this he probably needed to go do some pushups or something to make his woody go away. Anyway, Ramón Urías went 4-for-4 and scored three times and Anthony Santander had two RBI, both of which came on sacrifice flies.

Blue Jays 8, White Sox 0: Bo Bichette went 3-for-4 with a homer and three driven in, Vlad Guerrero doubled in two, and Whit Merrifield singled in a couple. Meanwhile, Yusei Kikuchi pitched shutout ball into the sixth and three relievers completed the four-hitter. Man the White Sox stink on ice this year. They were shut out for the second straight game, they’ve lost nine of 10 and 15 of 19, and now they have to play the Rays in a four-game series. Somewhere Tony La Russa is nodding to himself and saying “wouldn’t have happened on my watch.” Although, honestly, it very easily could’ve. These guys just aren’t that good.

Guardians 4, Rockies 1: Tanner Bibee made his major league debut as the Guardians’ starter and pitched five and two-thirds innings of one-run ball, struck out eight, didn’t walk a soul, and got the win. Not too shabby. Much, much more shabby: Rockies starter Germán Márquez, making his first start since April 10 because of right forearm inflammation, was removed in the fourth due to obvious arm pain. He’ll have an MRI in Denver on Thursday.

Yankees 12, Twins 6: The Twins last swept the Yankees in a three-game series in September 1991. That streak will continue into 2024 as the Yankees break out the boomsticks to salvage one here. Aaron Judge had three hits and three RBI, Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer, and Anthony Volpe and Anthony Rizzo each had two-run doubles. Even worse for the Twins than the loss was that starter Kenta Maeda, who gave up 10 runs on 11 hits, left the mound with a trainer due to right elbow soreness. Like Márquez, Maeda will have an MRI.

Brewers 6, Tigers 2: Victor Caratini and Joey Wiemer homered while Freddy Peralta allowed two unearned runs on four hits over six innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. Peralta after the game:

“Today, I got some different results and I’m happy about it. I went home last night thinking about it, like, I need to do my best tomorrow to bring a win after two losses. And finally, we got it.”

Personally I would’ve simply decided to win every time I pitched rather than just this one time, but I’m not gonna tell someone else what to do.

Diamondbacks 2, Royals 0: Zac Gallen struck out 12 while shutting out the Royals through six and a third. He now has a 28-inning scoreless streak, which is not even half a Hershiser, but it’s still pretty good. And it’s not like this is new to him. Last year he broke off a scoreless innings streak of 44 and a third. The fella can pitch is what I’m sayin’.

Astros 1, Rays 0: Hunter Brown shut out the Rays on two hits for seven and those would be the only two hits Tampa Bay would get in the game. Not that Houston was some sort of offensive juggernaut. They scored the game’s lone run on a single, a wild pitch, and then a Wander Franco error in the first. The game took only two hours and seven minutes. Houston went 5-1 on this six-game road trip that included a three-game sweep at Atlanta and two of three from the Rays. Not too shabby.

Phillies 6, Mariners 5: The Phillies were down 5-2 early but rallied nicely. Nick Castellanos had three hits and three RBI, Alec Bohm hit a go-ahead single in the eighth, and J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber also drove in runs. Bad news for Philly: starter Taijuan Walker left the game with right forearm tightness. The severity of his injury is unclear at the moment, but an MRI and a trip to the injured list appears likely. For the Mariners, J.P. Crawford hit a grand slam, doubled and singled and Julio Rodríguez also went deep. Logan Gilbert almost got his head knocked off but he saved himself. It was a rough night all around.

Nationals 4, Mets 1: MacKenzie Gore allowed one run over six while striking out 10, Jeimer Candelario homered, Lane Thomas and C.J. Abrams hit consecutive RBI singles in the second, and Alex Call added a run-scoring single in the eighth. The Nats have won four of five against a couple of good teams and have gotten good starting pitching to boot. New York, meanwhile, has lost four in a row. The Mets have been outscored 21-9 and are hitting just .205 with seven walks and 47 strikeouts in 141 plate appearances in those four games.

Atlanta 6, Marlins 4: The Fish were up 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth but Atlanta cut that lead in half when Ronald Acuña Jr. homered and Vaughn Grissom singled in a run. They’d complete the comeback and then some in the eighth via a Matt Olson homer, an RBI triple from Eddie Rosario, and Grissom singling him in for the go-ahead run. A fielder’s choice/error dealio added an insurance run. Miami has lost four straight games.

Padres 5, Cubs 3: Fernando Tatis Jr. had a pair of singles and drove in three, with the first single, in the seventh, plating two and giving the Padres a lead they’d not relinquish. Jacob Cronenworth tripled in two for the Padres. Xander Bogaerts singled in the fourth to extend his on-base streak to 26 games this season and 28 if you include the final two games of 2022. The Padres are back to .500.

Angels 11, Athletics 3: Brandon Drury homered, doubled, and drove in three while Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run homer, singled in another run, and hit a single that, with the aid of an error, plated one more. Hunter Renfroe also homered for the Halos who have won four of six. Oakland lost their 20th game. They are just the fifth team in major league history to lose 20 games in April. They say it’s the cruelest month, but honestly, this is on the A’s, not April.

Giants 7, Cardinals 3: I went to bed early last night. Last baseball thing I saw before doing so was that Paul Goldschmidt had hit two homers by the third inning. Made me think of Hard Hittin’ Mark Whitten and the glory and wonder of four-homer games. Sadly for the Cards, while Goldschmidt would get two more hits on the night, he would homer no more and the lead he gave them would be gone for good by the fifth. The Giants’ go-ahead run scored thanks to a dropped fly ball by Laars Nootbar which put a runner on third followed by a wild pitch. Things just aren’t coming up Cardinal lately, eh? LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores homered for San Francisco, which has won five straight.

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The Daily Briefing

Cardinals send Jordan Walker down to Triple-A

The St. Louis Cardinals’ high-profile rookie Jordan Walker has been benched in three of the Cardinals' last four games, suggesting that he had lost favor with Oli Marmol and the Cards. Yesterday that became more than a suggestion as the club optioned Walker to Triple-A Memphis.

He hasn’t been terrible — he’s batting .274/.321/.397 with two homers, 11 RBI and two stolen bases across 78 plate appearances — but he’s declined as the young season has gone on, his defense has been pretty terrible, and the team no doubt thinks he needs more seasoning. As Derek Goold writes in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch the club is particularly concerned with Walker’s high groundball rate.

It’s also worth noting that the Cards have been juggling Walker along with Lars Nootbaar, Tyler O'Neill, Dylan Carlson, and Alec Burleson in the outfield, and when you have so dang many outfielders who are, to put if as neutrally as possible, difficult to differentiate, someone’s gotta go.

Robbie Ray is out for the rest of the season

Mariners starter Robbie Ray has made exactly one start this year, back on March 31, which he left in the fourth inning with what was termed a Grade 1 flexor strain. Yesterday it was announced that he will have surgery on it and will miss the rest of the regular season.

Ray, the 2021 AL Cy Young Award winner, has three years left on a five-year, $115 million deal that he signed with Seattle prior to the 2022 campaign. Tough break for both sides.

ESPN’s Marley Rivera fired

Andrew Marchand of The New York Post reported yesterday that ESPN baseball reporter Marly Rivera has been fired for calling another reporter a See You Next Tuesday at Yankee Stadium last week. And, actually, it happened last Tuesday:

Before the Yankees-Angels game, Rivera and fellow reporter Ivón Gaete had a disagreement when Gaete arrived in an attempt to also interview Judge. Rivera said she set up time with the Yankees captain and when she repeatedly tried to tell Gaete of the appointment, Gaete ignored it.

During the heat of the disagreement, Rivera said the words, “f–king c—t,” which was caught on video.

After the recording of the incident, Rivera tried to apologize, but was rebuffed by Gaete.

I realize that there are a number of British subscribers to this newsletter and that, to them, this may not seem like a big deal given how low-level a word that is in their country. Well, at least most of the time. The word just seems to have the epithetical weight of “knucklehead” or “jerk” in the UK. But I assure my mates from across the pond that, in the United States, there is probably no worse word you can use this side of a malicious racial slur than the old c-word. Particularly if you direct it toward a woman. It’s the nuclear option here. It’s like, I dunno, telling your mum that her Sunday roast sucked, but even worse.

So, yeah . . . you can’t really do that. I mean, you can. This is not the Soviet Union. We have free speech and stuff. But if you do, you’re totally getting fired. And that’s before you even take into account the fact that Gaete is the wife of MLB vice president of communications, John Blundell, so some people who could theoretically make ESPN’s life miserable had reason to take this whole incident rather personally. Not saying Rivera wouldn’t have been fired for calling some rando with no connections the Big C-word — she may very well have been — but she definitely dropped that bomb in a way that ensured maximum fallout.

As for Rivera, she seems sorta sorry but not sorry. Her statement to the Post:

“I fully accept responsibility for what I said, which I should not have. There were extenuating circumstances but that in no way is an excuse for my actions. I am a professional with a sterling reputation across baseball and I do believe that I am being singled out by a group of individuals with whom I have a long history of professional disagreements.”

I dunno. Sounds like there’s a lot of backstory there. But even if there is, and even if Rivera was, cosmically, 100x more in the right with that Aaron Judge interview logistics than Gaete was and even if there was all kinds of toxic interactions that we’ll never know about, it sorta doesn’t matter. Because when you’re talking about that word, not even truth is a defense.

The Titans get their massive subsidy

On Tuesday night Nashville’s metro council approved the multi-billion Tennessee Titans stadium deal, which will result in the State of Tennessee paying $500 million and the city paying $760 million for the new domed NFL playground. Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the deal is a “huge win for Nashville taxpayers,” in case you wondered if words meant anything anymore. The deal was passed, by the way, despite the fact that recent polling showed that a majority of Nashville residents opposed it. Such things don’t matter when there’s corporate welfare to dole out.

This is now the biggest stadium subsidy in history. And the Titans got it not because they threatened to move to another city or made a case that their financial future was in question without it. They simply wanted it, said they wanted, and asked some politicians to give it to them. Which they obligingly did, with very few questions asked. Indeed, there have been small library branches and honorary street re-namings which have faced a tougher path through the municipal government appropriations process than this obscenely gratuitous handout to a billionaire.

Just in case you wondered who your representatives are really working for and whose interests it is that they will work hard to pursue.

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Other Stuff

Sam Shepherd and The Rolling Thunder Revue

Our friend Jon Weisman gave me the heads up of an excerpt of a new biography on the great Sam Shepherd printed at Hollywood Reporter. It’s about how Shepherd first met Bob Dylan, when the latter asked him to make a movie out of the famous, infamous Rolling Thunder Revue tour in late 1975. The sub-hed to the piece characterizes it as a story about “bottomless booze, copious cocaine, a fling with Joni Mitchell, and a collision with an enigmatic superstar.” And yeah, that’s about right, so only read it if AMAZINGLY cool stuff like that — and a drunk-on-brandy Dylan basically ruining the opening night of one of Shepherd’s plays — is up your alley.

I read all of that, laughing and cringing all the way through it. And then I wondered why in the world Shepherd ever agreed to write with Dylan again in the 1980s. Given that that collaboration resulted in one of my very favorite Dylan songs, “Brownsville Girl,” I’m very, very glad that he did. But man, I wouldn’t have bet on it happening if all I knew about was what went down during Rolling Thunder.

Get a load of Malachi Constant over here

One of my favorite novels of all time is Kurt Vonnegut’s Sirens of Titan. Its main character, Malachi Constant, begins the story as the richest man in the world. He built his wealth by virtue of his extraordinary luck which he attributes to divine favor. Of course it helped that he started out rich due to his father’s fortune.

One day Constant meets another wealthy man, Winston Niles Rumfoord, who had become trapped in a phenomenon called a Chrono-Synclastic Infundibulum, which allowed Rumfoord to see the future. He tells Constant that he would embark on adventure where he would go to Mars, then Mercury, then return to Earth, and then would go to Saturn’s moon, Titan. Rumfoord revealed that while Constant was on this journey, he would have a child with Rumfoord's wife. All of this sounded horrible to Constant who, despite his wealth and fame, was no actual visionary, just a selfish charlatan, and so he tried to prevent this all from happening by driving his life into a ditch, blowing his entire fortune and becoming unemployed. Unfortunately for him he was not the master of his fate and he would thus walk, willingly, onto a flying saucer with a couple of Martians after which the entire, horrible prophecy of Winston Niles Romfoord would, eventually, come to pass.

I offer all of that because, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, Elon Musk has officially lost the most amount of money of anyone in history: roughly $200 billion of his personal fortune since November 2021. To be sure, Musk's net worth is still something like $187 billion so he’s still doing alright, but it’s still a hell of a thing to lose $200 billion, even if most of that “wealth” was never realized because it was a function of an irrational equities market which, for a time anyway, thought of Musk as something other than a very lucky dunderhead.

Which is to say, Rumfoord’s prophecy is going just fine. And, unlike Malachi Constant, Musk need not even befriend Martian agents in order to find himself onboard a spaceship, blasting toward his horrible destiny. Musk owns spaceships and can thus make a phone call and simply make that happen.

Just throwin’ that out there, fates. Just throwin’ it out there.

Mess with The Mouse, you get the . . . um, ears

Disney has filed a lawsuit against Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida, alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” in violation of Disney’s constitutional rights in response to the company engaging in free speech. It likewise raised claims that DeSantis has violated the Constitution’s Contracts Clause, the Takings Clause, and its Due Process rights.

The background: last year Disney's former CEO said he'd work to overturn a new Florida law banning discussion in schools of sexual orientation and gender identity, known by many as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The very notion that someone would publicly oppose it irked DeSantis and has inspired him to spend months on end going after Disney.

Most notably he moved to take over the special jurisdiction — known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District — which has long allowed Disney to exercise self-government. DeSantis made no secret of the fact that the move was made in retaliation. What’s more, the DeSantis stooge in the Florida statehouse who introduced the bill altering the District said it was targeting Disney specifically during an open committee meeting. DeSantis has further suggested that he’d use his newly-installed puppet regime to raise taxes and impose new regulations on Disney and Disney alone, put up toll roads as a means of annoying Disney visitors and Disney area residents, and has suggested even building a prison or a competing park next to The Magic Kingdom.

Before DeSantis could install his own board there, however, Disney and the old board headed ‘em off at the pass, entering into an agreement which basically stripped the board of its powers and gave them to Disney. Yesterday, as he threatened, DeSantis’ hand-picked board voted to void the agreement which, as I argued a couple of weeks ago and Disney alleges in its suit, is a violation of Constitution. Per Article 10, Section 1, “No state shall pass any Law impairing the obligation of contracts.” It’s pretty easy to read!

Normally I’d say that battles between corporations, the state government, and quasi-governmental bodies are not the sort of thing courts might care about and that we, in turn, should not care much about, but DeSantis’ high-profile campaign against Disney makes it pretty clear that the company is being singled out in a malicious manner, giving Disney at least something of a leg to stand on in a lawsuit.

But no: I don’t know if this is a winning suit. It may be it may not be. But I do know that even the most blithering of idiots could’ve anticipated that a company with more money than God Almighty and the sort of public support that Disney has would have the complaint ready to fire the moment DeSantis tried to undo that Reedy Creek thing. And now here we are.

DeSantis is supposed to be bright — he has two Ivy League degrees — but he’s been a complete dumbass in all of this. He’s been getting high on his own culture war supply and the comedown is gonna be pretty bad.

Sean McElwee gambled and lost

If you’re super into the insidery side of politics, and if you’re familiar with the online political world, you’ve likely encountered (mostly) Democratic pollster Sean McElwee in the past. He turned a pretty online political voice into a political polling/consultancy outfit and, over the course of a couple of years, made quite the name for himself.

And then, as this Washington Post profile details, he crashed and burned, partially for sucking, partially for betraying people, and partially because he cared way more about gambling on political races than winning them.

Even if you’re not into that super insidery side of politics it’s a pretty good read. Mostly because it provides a good reminder that you should live your life in such a way that no one ever writes a deeply unflattering portrait of you in a major daily newspaper which reveals how, actually, you have no real principles and which follows the “he had it all, but then it all crashed and burned” pattern of the most cliched documentaries you’ve ever seen.

Bullet train to Vegas

We had been in our hotel room at Circus Circus for several hours, thanks to the bullet train, when the drugs began to take hold:

A bipartisan congressional group from Nevada and California asked the Biden administration Monday to fast-track federal funds for a private company to build a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.

All six of Nevada’s elected federal lawmakers and four House members from California sent the letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. They said they’re on board with a proposal from Brightline West to spend more than $10 billion to lay tracks along the Interstate 15 corridor.

Among all the usual boosterism and transportation policy reasons in favor of the train, the article notes that “traffic jams on the interstate often stretch for 15 miles near the Nevada-California line as motorists head home after weekend or holiday travel to Las Vegas.” Which, yeah, that has to suck, but that’s bat country out there, so you have to expect it, whether you’re in a car or a train.

Oh well, at least trains are good if you feel a bit lightheaded and think that maybe someone else should should drive. No point mentioning those bats. The poor bastards will see them soon enough.

Have a great day, everyone.