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And yes, I am aware I accidentally put June 20 instead of June 30 when I sent it out. If that's the worst thing I do all day I'll take it.

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Your Nats' recap is testament to the fact that boxscores can't show everything, and this game had enough weird shit to warrant a Stefon from SNL narration, but I'll let Barry Svrluga summarize instead:

"Here are some of the things that happened on a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon at Nationals Park: One Washington Nationals base runner tried to tag up at third base with two outs — and was nearly overtaken at the plate by another base runner, who began the play at second but was thrown out at home. Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Bryan Reynolds hit three homers. The Nats and Pirates turned six double plays — none in the normal 6-4-3 or 4-6-3 fashions.

Oh, and the Nats lost, 8-7, at least in part because the Pirates scored a run on a double play on which the third out was recorded — and the Nationals didn’t take the time to record a fourth out."

The double play in question started with the Pirates having runners on second and third. A soft liner was caught by Josh Bell at first, but both runners broke thinking he hadn't caught it. Bell threw to third, where Ehire Adrianza tagged Hoy Park (who'd come from second) and then stepped on third (doubling off Jack Suwinski) but because the ump didn't see Adrianza step on third and/or because Suwinski crossed the plate before Adrianza tagged Hoy and the Nats left the field without appealing the play, Suwinski's run counted. Had Adrianza stepped on third before or instead of tagging Hoy, Suwinski would've been the third out and the run wouldn't have counted. However, he didn't, and so the Nats didn't get four outs that inning and eventually lost by a run.

And now Nats fans will forever be experts in Rule 5.09(c)(4) I guess

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Lots of Nats fans are getting hung up on the weird play in the top of the fifth where the Pirates scored a run on an inning ending double play because of the “fourth out“ rule, but given that the lead changed twice after that - and the fact that Brian Reynolds hit three home runs off of three different pitchers - all you can do is tip your cap and glare at your pitching coach.

That said, the umpiring crew did itself no favors by taking nearly 10 minutes to rule on the play, leaving broadcasters, both managers and the dozens of fans in the stands at a getaway day game wondering what the hell was going on.

PS I knew you’d love that quantity shart thing. Seems fitting that Patrick Qorbin leads the league since 2016.

PPS I’m sorry, but that “Music Man” revelation sounds like an SNL bit that got left out of the final show after it bombed at dress rehearsal. Simultaneously unsurprising and bizarre.

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I saw that stat about your newsletter doing very well in Marc Stein's newsletter on Tuesday. Congrats on rising to such a vaunted spot. (I highly recommend Stein's substack to roundball fans, especially today).

But I was curious who this Sherwood Strauss is, and it seems he is Craig's opposite, a conservative writer who left the SF Chronicle to write about "the culture wars." I suppose it's not surprising that the top sports newsletter on Substack is right wing crap, though we can take hope from Craig being number two. Maybe.

A thought that never occurred to me: when they take players off the field at Citi Field for medical care, where do they go? The nearest hospital is the one my wife and I have used many times for her emergencies (most of which are related to kidney stones). Are major leaguers taken there, and then triaged and made to wait as long as my wife had most times we've been there? Or are they taken to where I went when I broke my scapula, where the care is actually quicker because no one has to figure what is wrong? One time we were in the ER, it was during the US Open, and there was a player from the tourney there (the daughter of one time pro Tom Gullikson, though I don't know which daughter). But she was not an MVP candidate. So do you go for the closest hospital, or for the one in Manhattan you have the special arrangement with, and hope the ambulances don't get stuck on the Queensboro Bridge?

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Jun 30, 2022Liked by Craig Calcaterra

I'd argue that the best path to the top of the sports charts is to have a robust non-sports presence in your newsletter.

After all, from a social standpoint, sports are just male-coded reality tv/celebrity drama. The most interesting stuff tends to be what happens alongside the game, rather than the game itself.

That's why Jomboy's breakdown of the Mariners-Angels fight both:

1) Takes 15 minutes to explain

2) Remains compelling for the full 15 minutes.

Anyway, congratulations! Thank you for all the sports and non-sports writing that wouldn't (and couldn't) be written by anyone else

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Free newsletter? More like Fire Newsletter today (sorry, I’ll share a cell with Counsell if necessary)

Didn’t read yesterdays newsletter until late last night. Like Craig, I also had a travel day driving home from NE Pennsylvania from my daughter’s college pre-orientation. 36 hours from Tuesday morning till last night, 840 miles (got 30.5 MPG in a 2017 Hyundai Santa Fe 6 cylinder, which is my dad brag for the day today) to get her ID, schedule and iPad the school issues.

That Red Sox bench/bullpen clearing “mill-around-and-jaw” melee seemed like Vlad Jr wanting to start something so he could watch it on Sports Center later, zero chance Pivetta threw at Kirk intentionally.

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Ronald Acuna missed another game but has at least now flown to Philly. He may be available today or he may just want to compare and contrast Pat and Geno’s. Your humble poster’s POV: Geno’s but definitely witout da wizz.

Acuna’s absence meant another game in LF for Ozuna. Wow, he’s bad defensively. The only thing he can grab is his wife’s throat and his best throws are her against the wall. I really with Liberty Media would understand sunk costs (or better yet have a spine about DV) and move on.

Speaking of bad D, the Phils look b-a-d. Atlanta’s first two runs were scored via a catchable ball in LCF that turned into a double, a grounder just outside the limited range of the 2B, a runner going first-to-third because the RF’s arm is a cooked noodle, and finally an attempted 6-4-3 that was turned kinda slowly allowing the ATL batter to beat out the throw. No errors, just C- / D+ skills.

Will Smith got the save. He was Atlanta’s closer in the WS run last year but has been used in the 6/7 innings with Kenley Jansen on the team. A day earlier they used AJ Minter to close. The beat writers are saying the two will split the job until The big guy’s heartbeat returns to normal.

...

Reading the Manfred interview reminds me that everyone is the star of their own internal movie. Dane Dunning may be the only exception out of 7 billion humans.

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On top of the f*caked up nature of sentencing disparities likely to follow the Dobbs decision, we now have the coordinated efforts of “conservative” States’ legislatures to pass criminal laws against other States’ efforts to keep abortion legal and safe. When they do pass, the laws will be written with Texas-style vigilante enforcement.

I can easily picture a bunch of well armed goons setting up “check points” at the border crossing on I-68 between Maryland and West Virginia. Sure we could once say that violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. But with this Supreme Court’s 6 clerics, can we now?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/29/abortion-state-lines/

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The best part of the Quality Shart story is seeing the Washington Post define what a Shart is for its high-brow readers. I can envision the writer holding his monocle while proudly working portmanteau and flatulence into that sentence.

Meanwhile, when I was growing up, my dad always referred to them as “G&L Farts” (standing for “Gambled & Lost”)

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I think the fact that Craig is only #2 is proof that Baseball is Dying, You Guys!

Seriously though, that's awesome.

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I wasn’t shocked to see ESPN run some garbage story about Manfred. I was pretty surprised, however, to see it written by Van Natta. He is not normally a puff piece kind of writer - he’s an actual investigative reporter with a pretty good rep. Would really like to know how that came about because it just seems odd.

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Yesterday, I thought about how, when Trump dies, even if it is (god please be sooner) 15 years from now and in his sleep, his cult followers will claim he was assassinated or he's not really dead or whatever. Then I wondered if that would kick off the actual Civil War or be in the middle of it. Or if we'd already have changed our name to Trumpmerica, be required by law to own guns, and whether or not I'm willing to die for my rights or just seek asylum elsewhere.

Anyway, that was Wednesday. I think we're doing great.

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Any time a day can start out with a mention of Hard Hittin' Mark Whiten, I'll take it.

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The Red Sox - Blue Jays recap states that the Red Sox just barely hung on last night. In fact, they sharted all over Canada, again. That Tanner Houck is a real team guy I tell you. A clubhouse glue kind of guy, willing to put it all on the line for the team.

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