LouisEly

And just like that, Perez has an OPS >.900 on the season and his OBP is .080 higher than his BA.

that whole team is hitting over .300 more or less. hard to say what's real and what's Colorado Springs. Woodruff has a 1.61 ERA with three of his four starts in Colorado Springs, so one of those two things is for real.

Bellinger's present may be in LF, but his future is at 1B, and with 35-year-old Gonzalez declining and a FA after next season it may be 1B sooner rather than later.

The average age of World Series winning teams this decade has consistently been around 29 years old for position players, with the Cubs last year by far the youngest at 27.2. Every World Series winning team this decade except for the 2010 Giants had a pitching staff with an average age over 30. The Cubs last year - 30.3 (and only had one starter under the age of 30). You don't win World Series with teams full of 26 year olds.

Runner at 3rd because of an error with nobody out and he gets two strikeouts and a ground out. Kind of hard to go deep into games with three errors behind you in the first four innings.

Really nice outings by Burnes and Lopez too.

To which I say, so what? Being a year or two older means that the Brewers could control him for more of his prime before losing him to free agency or trading him. Assuming 3.5 years before reaching the majors, he'll be 22/23 during his rookie/low-A half year, 23/24 during his low-A/high-A year, 24/25 during his high-A/AA year and 25/26 during his AA/AAA year. They'll have six years of control until/through age 32. Perfect.

Several teams, including the Angels, Blue Jays, Cubs, D-backs, Dodgers, Rays, Red Sox, Royals and Yankees, cannot sign a player for more than $300K this singing period, so they are out. I would also not put it past the commissioner to throw the book at someone who egregiously goes over the pool allotment, a la the Red Sox, and ban them from signing anyone at all next year, much less under $300K. What the Brewers can do is trade this newly acquired bonus pool allotment to one of said teams above if the Brewers aren't in the hunt. A team can acquire cap room for players who haven't signed yet, so if a team is close to signing him then that $880K allotment could be very valuable to keep them out of a penalty, or more severe penalty.

During the first game they said that Maker had been working with Kevin Garnett, and Garnett said that "(Maker) will win a MVP some day" and that "in a couple years (Maker) will be the best 7-footer in the game". Pretty high praise from someone who never put on a Bucks uniform.

While not the worst thing that was ever said, this, IMO, does cross the line. Not by much, but it does. Disagree by citing statistics or objective evidence, but not by calling someone a "politician" and saying what they are doing is "spinning".

The Gyroko store called. They said they're running out of Cardinals.

You're a player or two away when you're starting a Yuni B and don't have a LHRP, yet still win 96 games.

The only WR on the roster over the age of 26 is Nelson. He's 31, but put up over 1200 yards last year and led the league in TDs. He's not going to drop off a cliff. Cobb is 26, Janis 25, Adams 24, and Allison and Davis are 23. I wouldn't call that group "pretty old".

Taylor Williams gave up his first run of the year, but struck out 6 in 3 innings.

[sarcasm]And it's not like the Cubs are defending World Series Champions or anything, with that pathetic offense they have.[/sarcasm]

And with that, when the series is over, the Cubs cannot be ahead of the Brewers in the standings.

I bought my vehicle through CarMax - granted, it was five years ago, and it was still under manufacturer warranty (Lincoln - 50K miles bumper to bumper) but I didn't feel any of that. That being said I think they sold my info to a warranty company as at one point it felt like I was getting those solicitations by mail on a monthly basis. (Now I get those telemarketing calls on just about a daily basis.) Their no-haggle price is really that - there is no haggling. Tip - check a wide radius (500 miles) of the local dealership because if they don't have the exact vehicle you are looking for they will ship it to your dealership from another one for a fee. I think I paid somewhere around $400 for them to ship my vehicle from a CarMax dealership in Ohio to the dealership in Waukesha. Overall it was a good experience. They took their label off the back of the vehicle no questions asked too. Some other tips for buying cars: - If you can, go during the last week of the calendar quarter. They are under pressure to make numbers and won't risk losing a sale to give you what you want. I was with my brother-in-law when he went into a Lexus dealership, lied his arse off about what a dealer in another city would give him, and they gave him a lease with the terms he asked for without any pushback. It was June 28th. - Find a similar car at another dealership, bring the web price with you as a bargaining chip, and don't be afraid to walk away. - If you're going to finance, tell them you're paying cash until you are at the bargaining table ready to sign papers. Then ask about financing. Do the opposite if you plan on paying cash. Get a price before you agree to terms.

How many guys have you seen throw out attempted steals on pitches in the dirt?

I thought that Anderson gave up his cutter, but I think I've seen him throw it at least twice this inning.

I was going to say this the other day after watching highlights of the Reds series, and it is apparent after that double, that he has an incredibly quick bat. I thought he was going to take that pitch by Lester... and he got around on it to pull a double to the RF corner. I don't know that I've ever seen a pitch get that deep on a batter and the batter still pulls it to the corner. He can sit back and wait on a pitch for a long time and get a good read on it. That's an impressive skill to have.

After three starts Hader has given up more walks (11) than hits (7). What's going on in Biloxi? They're struggling to get hits, much less runs.

He was traded to the Rangers for IF Frandy de la Rosa.

In the game today Jason Heyward made a throw to the plate on a routine fly, about 2/3rds of the way between the infield and the wall, and threw it at good 18-20' up the 3rd base line. The runner aborted when Heyward threw it, but it got by the catcher and the runner scored. This is not the first time I've seen this from Heyward. I do not understand where this "elite defensive OF" label comes from, because his throwing accuracy is average at best if not below-average.

Peralta a little wild early on, but 79 pitches through 6 innings is pretty darned good. Somewhat surprised, with the bottom of the order coming up, that he wasn't given the chance to go 7.

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