a day ago
Outside The Confines: Making history
Good morning.
On Saturday, Jen Pawol became the first woman to umpire a regular-season major league game. Elizabeth Muratore reports on her experience on her first day.
And on Sunday, Pawol became the first woman to call balls and strikes in a regular season major league game. She got generally good marks from the players and coaches on both side. I thought her best feature was the way she made her calls 'big' so we could see what she was calling without going Enrico Pallazzo on us. Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru with the story.
Pawol did have to rebound from a poor first strike call. Call it first-pitch jitters. I missed the first pitch, but I watched most of the rest of the game and I only saw one more egregious bad call behind the plate.
Overall, if you go by this metric, Pawol was pretty average, which is impressive for your first major league game behind the plate.
Charles Odum has more reaction from baseball about Pawol's debut.
David O'Brien gets the recap of the three games Pawol called and her reaction and the reaction of her crew chief, Chris Guccione. (The Athletic sub. req.)
David Schoenfield puts teams in tiers as to how likely they are to make the playoffs. The Cubs are still a 'lock' in his view.
The two New York teams are reeling at the moment, with both teams just barely holding on to the final Wild Card spot in their respective leagues. Mike Axisa looks at what's gone wrong with the Yankees.
Chris Kirchner reports that the Yankees firmly believe they can turn things around (The Athletic sub. req.).
Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera tore his Achilles tendon in the Yankees Old-Timers Game. So Rivera is out for the rest of the year and part of next season, which would be a real concern for the Yankees were it still the year 2000.
The Mets have lost seven in a row. Will Sammon writes that the Mets should be worried (The Athletic sub. req.) and that their starting pitching is the biggest concern.
First baseman Pete Alonso tied the Mets' franchise record for home runs, matching Darryl Strawberry's total of 252. Anthony DiComo and Ryan Herrera write of how Alonso has come to personify power for the Mets.
Martin Gallegos reports on how Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz is becoming a superstar in his rookie season.
Jake Mintz traces how first baseman Andrew Vaughn went from one of the worst players in the majors with the White Sox to a slugging star with the Brewers.
Michael Baumann investigates the adjustments that Vaughn has made since joining the Brewers.
Baumann also looks at how Blue Jays infielder Bo Bichette is having a great comeback season, just in time for free agency.
Giants right-hander Justin Verlander became just the tenth player to strike out 3500 batters.
The Mariners retired Ichiro Suzuki's number 51. Ichiro thanked Randy Johnson for giving his blessing to wear 51. Josh Kirshenbaum reports.
Jayson Stark has his semi-regular piece on the 'Weird and Wild' in baseball. (The Athletic sub. req.)
Athletics outfielder Carlos Cortes throws left-handed in right field, but he moved to the infield yesterday to play an inning at third base right-handed. Martin Gallegos with the story.
More on that Garcia catch.
More on Profar's home run robbery.
Padres third baseman Manny Machado tried the hidden-ball trick and ended up balking in a run.
All the teams in the Little League World Series.
Davy Andrews examines why ground ball rates are dropping, and it's not entirely because of the hitters.
Gabe Lacques looks at how the cry of 'Sell the team!' has spread throughout fans of around a dozen teams this year.
Regulators in Ohio are considering banning prop bets like the ones that allegedly got Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz suspended. I love how the gaming industry breaks out the cry 'If you ban them, they'll just go to illegal offshore bookmakers' and the offshore bookies say, paraphrasing, 'We don't take those bets. They're too easy to fix.'
Theo DeRosa does some investigative reporting and asks catchers how they deal with the agony of getting hit by foul tips.
Rustin Dodd talks to retired outfielder and current broadcaster Jeff Francoeur about what makes a good teammate. (The Athletic sub. req.) Francoeur had that 'great teammate' designation when he played.
And finally, Astros pitcher Jason Alexander took the mound to face the Yankees this weekend. Did the YES crew make some Seinfeld jokes? Of course they did.
