Cup of Coffee: July 2, 2026

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

First up, a word from Our President:

Be sure to consume a large quantity of cherries and iced milk immediately afterward, Mr. President! Show us you're a stronger man than president Zachary Taylor ever was!

OK, on with the day.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Chicago Cubs 23, Padres 3: The best part of this shellacking was this:

Gotta love dudes who earn a save in a 20-run game. But the rules say you get a save for finishing the final three innings, so if you don't like it take it up with the shop steward.

There was too much blood on this box score for me to really wanna even try to get my head around it so we'll just note that Dansby Swanson homered three times and drove in eight. He got the grand slam, the three-run shot, and the solo dinger, but he fell a two-run shot short of the home run cycle. Pity. As for the pitching, Walker Buehler gave up nine, Kyle Hart gave up six, and Rodolfo Dúran gave up eight so at least Craig Stammen got multiple dudes to wear it. Of course, Dúran is a catcher and was throwing lollipops, including on Swanson's salami, so he's off the hook as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure he didn't feel great being out there for all that carnage, but one day, years from now, he'll be telling his friends and family about his big pitching outing over beers and everyone will be laughing their heads off about it.

Orioles 6, White Sox 1: Dean Kremer allowed a run and four hits over six innings in his first action since April 18. Tyler O'Neill and Leody Taveras went deep. The AP game story had this in it:

Former Oriole Bobby Bonilla attended the game, which was fitting since some baseball fans refer to July 1 as “Bobby Bonilla Day” in honor of the deferred money he's been owed on that day, most famously by the Mets.

Always good to see Bonilla, I suppose, but the "Bobby Bonilla Day" stuff, which is almost always deployed as a slam of the Mets, is tiresome. As one of you noted in the comments yesterday, by doing the deferred money deal with Bonilla, the Mets were able to get Mike Hampton who led them to the World Series. When Hampton walked for the excellent schools of the Greater Denver area the Mets used the compensation pick they got to draft David Wright, who became the best position player in team history and a beloved franchise icon. So it worked! But of course the owners wanna ban such deals now. Everything's dumb.

Guardians 9, Rangers 4: Austin Hedges, one of the weakest-hitting players who nonetheless managed to stick in the bigs in my lifetime, hit a two-run homer and drove in three. Love it when guys like him do that. David Fry hit a three-run homer and one of the guys who scored on it was Hedges. What are the odds?!

[Editor: As there are nine hitters in a lineup, the odds of any one of them being on base for a home run is about 11.1%. Of course, that's before weighting the sample, as one should, as better hitters have higher odds of reaching base. Then of course we could adjust for lineup slot and, for that matter, who made the last out in the previous inning, which would REALLY narrow things down. So . .]

Are you done?

[Editor: I'm just saying that your question need not have been rhetorical. The odds of Hedges being on base for Fry's home run are eminently calculable]

Tigers 6, Yankees 2: Amed Rosario homered and Jazz Chisholm Jr. singled stole second, stole third, and then sprinted home to score on a wild pitch to tie the game up at two in the bottom of the ninth. It was some of the first life the Yankees have shown in a good long while! Then they blew the game in the 11th when an intentional walk and a conventional walk by Yankees reliever Camilio Doval loaded up the bases. Then Doval walked Spencer Torkleson which scored the Manfred Man. A Zach McKinstry single then scored the runners on second and third while a throwing error by catcher Alí Sánchez on the same play allowed the dude from first to score as well. Pure silliness, made possible by a questionable decision (the intentional walk) and bad fundamental baseball. That's seven losses in a row for the Bombers. In other news, Aaron Boone is apparently the Yankees Manager for Life.

Nationals 10, Red Sox 2: James Wood hit a three-run homer and Andrés Chaparro and Nasim Nuñez each went deep as well. There was apparently nothing in the way of carryover or reprisals after Tuesday night's scuffle that was kicked off by Cade Cavalli's horseshit, but as I write down below, he at least sorta kinda tried to apologize before the game.

Blue Jays 9, Mets 3: A Canada Day win for the league's only Canadian team.  Sean Keys hit his first career home run, Myles Straw hit a pinch-hit dong, and Kazuma Okamoto, Ernie Clement and Daulton Varsho each knocked in a run. The Jays take two of three.

Atlanta 5, Cardinals 1: Ozzie Albies doubled in a run and homered and Atlanta picked up three more runs in the eighth. Reynaldo López allowed one over five and four relievers each turned in a scoreless inning. Atlanta snaps a three-game skid.

Rays 4, Royals 0: Shane McClanahan tossed six shutout innings and three relievers finished the six-hitter. Junior Caminero homered for the sixth straight dang game in a row, the longest-such streak from anyone this year – the record is eight – while Cedric Mullins homered and singled in a run. The Rays have won seven straight.

Phillies 10, Pirates 6: The Phillies beat up Paul Skenes for eight runs – seven earned – in four innings. That was his worst outing ever as a big leaguer I'm petty sure. The damage: Trea Turner hit a three-run homer in the second that made it 5-0 Philly. Brandon Marsh also homered off of Skenes and Alec Bohm homered later in the game. They just out-bashed Pittsburgh with the Bucs' best man on the bump.

Brewers 4, Reds 2: Garrett Mitchell hit an RBI triple in the seventh to break a 2-2 tie and then came home on a wild pitch for an insurance run. He had four hits on the night. Aaron Ashby won his major league-leading 12th game with an inning and a third of well-timed relief work. No relief pitcher has ever led the league in wins going back to at least 1901. Roy Face almost did when he won 18 in 1959. I'd sorta like to see Ashby get 20 despite having something like 76 appearances or whatever. Viva chaos.

Twins 8, Astros 3: Kody Clemens hit a three-run homer, Josh Bell hit a two-run homer, and Luke Keaschall hit a solo shot. Taj Bradley went five and struck out 11 Astros batters. At one point he recorded 10 consecutive outs by strikeout. There were hits and walks and things sprinkled in between, but all of the outs from the final out of the first inning through the final out of the fourth were Ks. Neat.

Rockies 6, Marlins 3: Mickey Moniak homered in the first to kick off the scoring then tripled in two more in the fifth to give Colorado a 3-2 lead. Hunter Goodman followed with a two-run homer and Kyle Karros hit a solo shot later in the game. Goodman's homer was his 27th on the year. That ties Larry Walker's team record for most home runs before the All-Star break, and we still have close to a couple of weeks to go before the All-Star break.

Athletics 7, Dodgers 1: Shea Langeliers, Jonah Heim and Alika Williams each homered and J.T. Ginn allowed one run on three hits in six innings in a game that wasn't close. The A's snap a four-game skid.

Giants 6, Diamondbacks 4: Giants starter Trevor McDonald tossed six shutout frames, allowing just one hit as his lineup built up a 6-0 lead behind a two-run homer from Victor Bericoto, a solo homer and an RBI triple from Heliot Ramos. They needed most of that lead given the Diamondbacks' late attempt at a comeback, but San Francisco held on.

The Daily Briefing

Oh, really ESPN?

This caption over the photo/video of the Nationals-Sox brawl went up on ESPN's site on Tuesday night and it was still there as of 1pm yesterday:

Was it the helmet throw that started all of that, ESPN? Nothing happened well before that? Jesus.

For what it's worth, Cavalli apologized yesterday. It was a fairly stupid one in that, as is almost always the case with these sorts of things, he apologized for what people perceived of his actions rather than the actions themselves. Real apologies that mean something don't usually start with "you were wrong, actually." Whatever. I don't expect much of ballplayers when it comes to this stuff, even if I'd really love to see it.

Still crickets from Rob Manfred. Is he truly considering setting a precedent that would give a free pass to players who engage in racist taunting on the field? Guess we'll see!

David Stearns gets a vote of confidence

It's not been a good year for the Mets and a lot of people are chalking that up to the team-building decisions made by president of baseball operations David Stearns. His job, unlike former manager Carlos Mendoza's, is safe, however. That's the word from the top, as Mets owner Steve Cohen went on the New York Post’s podcast, “The Show” and said that Stearns will “live out” his five-year contract that runs through the 2028 season. Cohen:

“I’m going forward with David as our leader. There’s no guarantees in anything. I’m going to evaluate this as we go along. David knows that it hasn’t worked out the way he thought it would work out, the way I thought it would work out. He’d be the first one to admit that he’s made some mistakes. We’ll figure out what changes need to be made. But the change that’s not going to be made is moving David out at this point. I’m just not going to do it.”

That should cause the fans to all say "well, OK then" and then stop being upset.

'Arry Kane

As you all probably know due to my ridiculous Anglophilia, I am rooting for England in the World Cup. It's Coming Home!

[Editor: But is it though?]

Eh, probably not, because you can't mail in most of a match and expect to win as the competition gets tougher, but it's fun to say that. Especially when you only have five years, not 50 years, worth of rooting for the England in international competitions under your belt meaning that, if they get beat, it's not something that's gonna stick with you very long.

That was on my mind yesterday as I watched England take on DR Congo in their first knockout round match. It didn't go well for about three-quarters of it, as DR Congo got a way-too-easy goal in the eighth minute of the game, England passed the ball like they were Rusty Lisch on the 1984 Chicago Bears, and Congo's keeper, Lionel Mpasi was making the sort of saves that inspires a person think he was in an "Angels in the Outfield" situaish.

Then, just when I started deploying gallows humor to insulate myself from the (brief and fairly minor) pain of an England loss, Harry Kane took over and scored one good goal and one great goal in the space of about 11 minutes:

First goal is seven seconds into that video, the second is at around 1:40 or so.

Being honest: I'm not the biggest Harry Kane fan in the world. Every time I look at him I feel like he's a lost Manning brother who was kidnapped by cockney child traffickers back in 1993. Or, perhaps, that he's Peyton Manning's actual illegitimate child after some shenanigans with a British exchange student or something. I realize that's my hangup though. It's nothing personal. He plays club football in Germany these days so I rarely have to see him.

But he definitely staved England's streaky rashers yesterday, eh?

Other Stuff

The right's birthright decision reaction

Republicans are not taking their loss in the birthright decision case very well. I guess they don't read Cup of Coffee and have temporarily forgotten how they've won most of their culture war battles by playing the long game. Oh well, not my problem! If they want to be mad I'm not gonna stop them.

They also want to be weird, sick, and cruel, however. Such as yesterday when Fox News talking head Brian Kilmeade suggested to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin that, in light of the decision, the government should ban pregnant women from traveling to the United States (a bill to this effect has also been proposed). Mullin nodded heartily in agreement. Given that I've seen that talking point in a couple of places since Tuesday afternoon I presume that will be the new obsession of the racists and dipshits who run the government.

Here's a question I'd like to see someone ask these guys the next time they're at a Congressional oversight hearing or dare to avail themselves to the press: are women who travel to the U.S going to be forced to pee in a cup at the airport before boarding, or are we going to order customs and/or airline personnel to look at women and decide who, in their no doubt expert opinion, they believe to be pregnant?

I suppose the real answer is that they're just going to keep saying outlandish shit on talk shows because that riles up the people who donate to them while the real work – attempting to stack the courts with lawless judges who will one day illegally overturn the 14th Amendment – operates in the background. That's worked for them in the past.

🎶 Hey that's . . . no way . . . to say. . . "Corruption"🎶

From the New York Times:

The President of the United States using the power and influence of his office to enrich himself at the expense of individuals, foreign governments, and corporations both foreign and domestic is not "moneymaking" and is not something that “defies long-held tradition.” It's illegal corruption that is expressly prohibited by both statute, precedent, and the plain text of the United States Constitution.

It'd be amazing if the New York Times would actually say such things plainly instead of mischaracterizing and thereby excusing it.

Damnatio Memoriae

David Perry, a historian and author who writes regular guest columns for the Minnesota Star-Tribune, has a new one this week that I found pretty interesting and pretty satisfying from a "how can we deal with all of this crap" point of view.

It starts with Doge Marino Faliero of Venice who, in the year 1355, decided to organize a coup against his own government and name himself king. Or prince. Or something that was not in keeping with what was, at that time, a Venetian Republic. It didn't go well for him as his plot failed and he got his head chopped off. And so it goes.

It's what happened after that, however, that Perry cares most about:

A few years later, the rulers of Venice finished rebuilding and decorating the Ducal Palace, including a new chamber for the Great Council to meet. They decorated it with scenes from Venice’s history and a series of portraits for each of Venice’s leaders.

But over Faliero they just hung a black curtain. And when in the 16th century the room was redecorated after a fire, Faliero’s portrait was replaced by a painting of that black curtain, along with the words, “Here is the place of Marino Faliero, decapitated for his crimes.” Thus, the rulers of Venice pulled off a peculiar trick, both publicly erasing Faliero’s memory and solidifying the memory of the preservation of the republic.

It’s a trick, if things go well, that Americans are going to have to learn as well.

Perry explains how this is one of the more notable historical examples of the concept of "damnatio memoriae" — a term that literally translates to "damnation of memory" – which historians use to describe the ways in which societies have, for over 3,000 years, worked to erase or shape the memory of tyrannical or otherwise disgraced rulers. It's obviously symbolic on one level, but it's a concept that is more than just a balm for the people who suffered under bad leadership. It works into the future by basically causing later generations to be introduced to the ruler in question first and foremost through the lens of his or her disgrace. By doing so, it makes rehabilitation or revisionism that much harder.

These days we're highly unlikely to paint a black curtain over Trump's official portraits, but we can employ damnatio memoriae to Trump by making sure to erase and destroy his most conspicuous and narcissistic works and to thoroughly document their destruction. That includes easy things like tearing down those cult of personality-style banners he's placed on government buildings and throwing away all of the garish gold he has shat all over the White House. But it also includes things that may be difficult to justify in the moment such as bulldozing the ballroom he's building and deconstructing that horrifying arch he's planning to erect on the Virginia side of the Memorial Bridge.

But we have to do that kind of stuff. We tried the "let's just forget him and look forward" thing after the 2020 election and it backfired spectacularly. Let's not make the same mistake again. And let's be sure that future generations know, when they first encounter the history of Donald Trump, that it leads with damnation of his memory.

Grocery store stuff

Supermarket news of relevance to people in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and parts of Indiana:

Kroger said on Wednesday it would buy regional ⁠supermarket chain Giant Eagle in a $1.65 billion deal, strengthening its presence in the Midwest and the ​Mid-Atlantic region amid intensifying ​competition.

The transaction, the ​first under CEO Greg Foran, is also the company’s first major acquisition since its $25 billion merger with Albertsons fell apart in 2024.

This may, strictly speaking, be a local or regional story that affect me and just a small percentage of you, but given Kroger's size – it's the second largest grocer in the country after Wal-Mart – and its history of acquiring local and regional chains, it's a story with which I'm sure many of you are familiar.

Giant Eagle, which is a family owned chain out of Pittsburgh, moved into the Columbus Market a little over 25 years ago, basically displacing the venerable local Columbus grocer Big Bear and eventually taking over some of its locations (Big Bear, may it rest in peace, was kinda dying anyway due to its parent company taking on tons of debt to. acquire it). Since then I get the sense that Giant Eagle has done generally well here, though it probably hasn't truly thrived, as some locations have closed and they never seem anywhere near as busy as Kroger, Meijer, or Wal-Mart stores are.

The thing about Giant Eagle is that it's more expensive to shop there than its competitors. This is especially true at its Market District stores, which are more upscale, carry more premium foods, and have little beer/wine bars and stuff. Neither it nor its regular stores are on Whole Foods level of expensive or anything, but item-per-item you're usually – not always, but usually – gonna pay a bit more for stuff there. The tradeoff, though, is that Giant Eagle has way better produce – Kroger's is laughably bad most of the time – and better meat, because it employs actually trained butchers at every location where Kroger often has randos working there who can't do even the most simple kind of speciality butchering.

As a result of that – and as a result of the fact that the three Kroger stores closest to us are all kinda crappy in their own unique ways – we tend to shop at Giant Eagle more than Kroger. Given this purchase, however, I suspect that they'll either close many of the Giant Eagle locations or transform them into Kroger stores, making my grocery shopping life more annoying.

What we really need is for H-E-B to arm itself, launch a full frontal assault on Kroger headquarters down in Cincinnati, and spread its Truth, Justice, and Delicious Fresh-Made Tortillas And Outstanding Produce to people everywhere. Until that day I guess I'm joining The Great Aldi resistance.

Have a great day everyone.