There are evidently two Illinois Rivers out there, and in very related news, Mason Ramsey might now have beef with Yung Gravy, who—condiments—went to Mayo High School. What’s going on?
Seems like a quarrel-starter to me.
Catching up on other things:
Joe Kelly: Still Good
Joe Kelly pitched a clean 7th inning last night. His ERA’s down to 5.64, which is nearly sightly. His FIP’s down to 3.16, which is very good. xERA? 3.34, which is also very good. This guy is a good pitcher. The haters are done for.
Burnley Signed a Guy
Burnley has brought in yet another transfer, this one again from the Belgian league. Forward Manuel Benson is expected to join the squad. No announcement yet, but sounds like that’s coming…tomorrow?
What Have the Sens Been Up To?
Remember these guys? Looks like they haven’t been doing a whole lot. They extended Mathieu Joseph last week. That’s pretty cool. Hopefully he wins them a Stanley Cup. (I’m thinking about saying this about every Senators player every time something happens involving their contract.)
What’s Happening with All These F1 Drivers Fighting Their Teams?
It actually started in IndyCar, where Chip Ganassi Racing said, paraphrased, “Álex Palou is racing for us again next year,” and Álex Palou said, paraphrased, “No I’m not.” That one’s going to trial now, and the same exact thing has played out with F1 team Alpine and their not-driver, Oscar Piastri.
What happened was, Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement. This gave everyone a chance to reminisce about how cool Sebastian Vettel is, but it also opened up a spot at Aston Martin, one Lance Stroll’s dad (this is how it works in F1, lot of team dads) filled with the shock signing of Fernando Alonso. This, in turn, left Alpine in need of a driver for that spot, and they announced that driver would be up-and-comer Oscar Piastri, to which Oscar Piastri said, paraphrased, “No I’m not.”
What happens now? Well, the thought seems to be that Piastri has another ride available, possibly Daniel Ricciardo’s over at McLaren, whose CEO Zak Brown (god, of course McLaren has a CEO named Zak) has been up to all sorts of things, including signing, to bring this full-circle, Álex Palou back in IndyCar (but maybe F1, at least one day).
Meanwhile, NASCAR’s trying to find a corporation to sponsor Kyle Busch, and people are wondering if the sponsorship financial model is finally biting the dust. Would really, really, really change the sport, at least as far as the fan experience goes. Somehow, I don’t think it would be for the better? I kind of like the McDonald’s vs. Gatorade nature of NASCAR.
Oh, also Palou and CGR are going to court.
Wrong Vibes, Guys
My biggest complaint with everyone else’s biggest complaint about the Cubs’ trade deadline action (or lack thereof) is not that it’s dumb, though Joe has me convinced on that front, but that it’s missing a golden-vibed opportunity. People should be as happy as Willson Contreras and Ian Happ are right now, but instead they’re whining about the Cubs going halfway. I don’t like the word “entitled,” because it’s most often used publicly by extremely entitled people, but it’s an entitled move by Cubs fans. It’s a have-it-both-ways move. It’s a bullshit move, and I for one won’t stand for it. The vibes are good, dammit. The team is bad but the vibes are good. Now let’s see if Christopher Morel can hit for the cycle and shoot an enemy warplane out of the sky with a throw to first.
R.I.P. Vin Scully
There’s something special about broadcasters, especially in baseball, especially on the radio. As Cubs fans, we’ve been lucky to experience this with Pat Hughes and his pair of Rons (a Ron for Pat Hughes is like a john for a prostitute, except not like that at all). In the sport most parallel to life, broadcasters become your companions. So to all those lucky enough to have Vin Scully as their companion, our condolences. What a wizard he was.
**
Viewing schedule for the day:
2:10 PM EDT: Royals @ White Sox (MLB TV)
Joe Kelly goes for clean innings two days in a row. Is there any narrative more compelling? Maybe. Maybe the narrative that Joe Kelly’s just three clean innings away from having an ERA under five, or one strikeout-laden inning away from having a FIP under three. Is Joe Kelly the white Pedro Martinez of bullpens? Is Joe Kelly the pitching equivalent of Michelangelo? If Joe Kelly threw enough baseballs at a block of marble, would the Sistine Chapel show up? There’s no way to find out but to wait and to see. And so we shall wait, and so we shall see.
7:45 PM EDT: Cubs @ Cardinals (MLB TV)
The Cubs try to keep the good vibes going. Good, I said. GOOD.
