MIDMAY UPDATE

And the Red Sox are not improving

RIVALRY WEEKEND HAS COME AND GONE

Have you gotten over the excitement of rivalry weekend? I’m looking forward to the day when MLB presents us with a sponsored “No Gimmick Weekend” brought to you by WeightWatchers, who have gone bankrupt and can’t afford a gimmick.

THE SWEEPERS AND THE SWEEPEES

• The Reds swept the Guardians, which made Terry Francona happy and sad.

• The Phillies swept the Pirates. I feel bad for Paul Skenes.

• The Angels swept the Dodgers, which made Shohei Ohtani sad and happy. The Dodgers 1st inning ERA in this series against the Angels was 24.00. Eight runs on six hits, six walks, and three homers.

• The Nationals swept the Orioles, and Baltimore swept Brandon Hyde out the door.

• Chicago swept Chicago (and I don’t need to elaborate). I want to start calling the Cubbies’ great centerfielder Petecro Warmstrong.

• The Mariners swept the Padres. Hey, maybe San Diego is not the biggest surprise in the NL West.

• The Giants swept the A’s. Hey, maybe San Francisco is the biggest surprise in the NL West.

TAKING TWO OF THREE

• The Braves took two of three from the Red Sox. I’m really open to hearing why, after you list all the problems with the Sox, the discussion always ends with “but they have a great manager in Alex Cora.”

• The Tigers took two of three from the Blue Jays. I would love a Detroit/Cubs World Series.

• The Twins took two of three from Milwaukee. The Twins winning streak stopped at 13. More on them next.

• The Cardinals took two of three from the Royals. After not acquiring or dealing very much during the offseason, St. Louis will presumably do nothing at the trade deadline in order to continue to be successful.

• The Yankees took two of three from the Mets. These games were actually exciting and fun to watch. Juan Soto went 1-10 over the weekend, collecting just a single, but he stole a base that led to the Mets’ win.

• Arizona took two of three from the Rockies. Yay! The Rockies won a game.

• The Astros took two from the Rangers, and the Rangers took two from the Astros. This only proves that the Texas school system has been decimated (that means messed up) that they can’t accurately count to three.

CODY BELLINGER WAS THE BATTING STAR OF THE WEEKEND

Cody Bellinger

Five batters hit over .600 this weekend: Cody Bellinger (Yankees), Bryce Harper (Phillies), Iván Herrera (Cardinals), Miguel Vargas (White Sox), and Ezequiel Tovar (Rockies).

THE DIVISION RECORDS IN MAY

I DIDN’T MEAN TO FORGET CARLO MAYS

Saturday, May 17th, was Carlos Mays’ birthday. But since I don’t publish on Saturdays, I didn’t get a chance to share his uniform, which is always a reminder of the date to celebrate. Carlos turned 77.