Cup of Coffee: July 23, 2026

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

As this hits your inbox I'm already on a hella early flight heading to Laguardia where I will catch a second flight to Burlington, Vermont later this morning. As I may have mentioned, I'm helping my daughter Anna move out of her apartment after which we'll be driving back with her stuff to Ohio. I mention that because if anyone is lookin' for me in the comments or on Bluesky or via email to tell me about the hilarious and/or stupid typos I made in today's newsletter I won't see it for a long time so just suck it up, please.

That aside, today's newsletter is a normal one. At least as normal as one can be in this mad and fallen age.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Red Sox 6, Orioles 3; Orioles 5, Red Sox 1: Boston won its 15th straight game in the opener of this twin bill, tying the franchise record set back in their pennant-winning season in 1946. Jarren Duran had a two-run triple and a sacrifice fly, and Caleb Durbin, the hero of win 14 of the streak, hit a two-run single. Ceddanne Rafaela hit a solo home run. Saldy the streak ended in the nightcap, as the O's jumped all over Eduardo Rivera – who was taking the place of Ranger Suárez – lighting him up for four runs in just two-thirds of an inning. The first run scored when he loaded up the bases and uncorked a wild pitch after which Dylan Beavers singled in two more and Jonathan Rodríguez doubled in Beavers. Kyle Bradish allowed just one over six. Fifteen straight wins is a lot, but all good things must come to an end.

Pirates 5, Yankees 3; Yankees 2, Pirates 0: In the opener Pittsburgh built an early 3-0 lead thanks to two Gonsales(z) home runs. One from Nick with an s and one from Jacob with a z. Ben Rice tied it up at three with a three-run jack in the seventh to send it to extras. The Pirates didn't fold, though, and went ahead with a couple of RBI singles in the top of the tenth which held up. Max Fried made his return to active duty in the nightcap and it was a good night for him indeed: five scoreless innings, one hit, seven strikeouts. Not bad for a guy who hasn't pitched for over two months. The pen finished the three-hit shutout. RBI hits by Jasson Domínguez and Anthony Volpe in the seventh were the game's only runs.

Royals 5, Giants 4: The Giants blew a 3-0 lead when Kansas City put up a five-run seventh inning, featuring a two-run homer from Sal Perez and RBI singles from Nick Loftin and Lane Thomas. Perez's homer was his 317th, which ties the Royals franchise record which he now, temporarily, holds alongside the great George Brett. The Royals complete the three-game sweep. San Francisco has lost five straight.

Brewers 4, Mets 3: Joey Ortiz went 3-for-3 and tripled in two – it was really just a fly ball that Brett Baty misjudged, but it's still a triple – and Christian Yelich tripled in one and singled in another. Logan Henderson struck out nine in five innings of work. Marcus Semien and Baty homered for the Mets but they still dropped two of three to Milwaukee.

Nationals 8, Rockies 0: Cade Cavalli tossed six shutout innings and struck out eight and two relievers finished off the six-hit shutout. Luis García Jr. hit a two-run homer. Two of the Nats' runs were unearned. Washington takes two of three.

Reds 5, Mariners 3: Sal Stewart hit a three-run homer in the seventh that turned a 3-2 game into a 5-3 game and that's where things ended. JJ Bleday homered earlier. Brady Singer worked into the seventh. Cincinnati takes two of three.

Diamondbacks 15, Athletics 5: The A's pitchers did OK in the first third of the game and basically OK in the last third of the game but Arizona scored 14 runs between the fourth and the sixth and that kind of thing tends to bite you in the ass. The Snakes hit five dingers during that unfortunate tertile: one each from Corbin Carroll, Gabriel Moreno, Nolan Arenado, James McCann, and Ryan Waldschmidt. McCann's was a two-run shot and he also singled in a run. Waldschmidt also knocked in three by adding a sac fly to his two-run homer. Tim Tawa doubled in two. The Dbacks take two of three.

Cardinals 1, Angels 0: A JJ Wetherholt solo shot in the sixth was all the offense in this one. It gave Hunter Dobbins, who tossed six scoreless innings, the win and it made the otherwise sharp Reid Detmers (5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER) the loser. St. Louis salvages one and ends their four-game skid.

Dodgers 9, Phillies 5: A pretty close one until the eighth when L.A. put up four runs with a Kyle Tucker sac fly and a bases loaded triple from Tommy Edman. Max Muncy homered earlier in the proceedings and Dalton Rushing homered and hit a two-run double. Dodgers take two of three. Now they're going to vist Trump today when they totally coulda just not.

Twins 10, Guardians 6: Cleveland had an early 3-1 lead as Bailey Ober was a tad on the shaky side in this one, but the lumber bailed him out. Brooks Lee hit a three-run homer and knocked in four and Trevor Larnach went 2-for-4, homered, and drove in three. Josh Bell had two RBI with a groundout and a single and Alex Jackson singled in one of his own. Minnesota snaps a four-game slide. Good news for Cleveland, though: José Ramírez is back. He had a couple of hits and drove in a couple of runs. Good to see ya back, José.

Rays 4, Blue Jays 2: Griffin Jax was solid, allowing one run on three hits over six. A three-run sixth inning gave the Rays some breathing room en route to the completion of a three-game sweep.

Atlanta 7, Padres 6: Almost nothing happened in this one until pretty dang late, with Atlanta getting one run in the first while no more runs scored until the seventh. That's when Jackson Merrill homered to tie things up. An six-run eighth inning by Atlanta, powered by two RBI doubles and four RBI singles, seemed to put things well out of reach. But the Padres made a game of it in the ninth, with Gavin Sheets singling in a run, Fernando Tatis hitting a two-run triple, and Luís Rengifo smacking a two-run homer to make it 7-6, but Raisel Iglesias bore down and escaped, if barely.

Tigers 5, Cubs 1: Keider Montero and four relievers combined on a four-hitter, with Montero surrendering a solo shot to Seiya Suzuki and nothing more. Hao-Yu Lee hit a tie-breaking three-run homer for Detroit and Spencer Torkelson also went deep. Tigers take two of three.

White Sox 4, Rangers 2:  Chase Meidroth went 4-for-4 with two RBI singles and Andrew Benintendi had a pair of run-scoring singles himself. Braden Montgomery reached base three times and scored all three times he did so. This win and Cleveland's loss puts the Chisox back in first place.

Astros 5, Marlins 2: It was tied at two in the bottom of the eighth when Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes hit back-to-back homers, with Alvarez's being a two-run shot. Jeremy Peña had homered back in the third. It's a three-game sweep for Houston.

The Daily Briefing

Not really much off-the-field baseball news of note yesterday. MLB seems to be cracking down on José Caballero for doing that wait-for-the-pitch-clock-to-wind-down thing, so that's kinda funny. And Bobby Witt Jr. hit the injured list for the first time in his career. But otherwise a slow news day. So let's just go back in time for a bit, shall we?

Today in Baseball History

1890 - Harry Stovey becomes the first major leaguer to reach 100 career home runs. He needed three actual major leagues to do it, as he started in the National League, moved on to the American Association, hit number 100 here with the Player's League, and then returned to the NL before retiring after the 1893 campaign. He finished with 122 dingers, though he had been the All-Time leader since he hit number 46 way back in 1885. Roger Connor would pass him as Home Run King in 1895. Stovey currently finds himself in a ten-way tie for 806th on the all-time list with, among others, Jeff Blauser, Brad Wilkerson, and Nick Esasky. The game changes over time.

1956 - Joe Cronin and Hank Greenberg are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Greenberg had to wait nine years after retirement. Cronin had to wait 11. I'm guessing there were a lot of angry blog posts about in the early 50s.

1962 - Jackie Robinson is inducted into the Hall of Fame. He didn't have to wait any longer than the minimum five-year period, which had been established back in the early 50s.

1964 - Bert Campaneris makes his big league debut, hitting two home runs as the Kansas City Athletics beat the Twins 4-3. Campy becomes only the second player to hit two bombs in his major league debut to that point. The only one before him was Bob Nieman of the Orioles back in 1951. Since then several more have done it, including two just this season: José Fernández of the Dbacks and Chase DeLauter of the Guardians. DeLauter actually played two games in the 2025 postseason, but this year was his regular season debut so I'll allow it. The others: Trevor Story (2016), J.P. Arencibia (2010), and Mark Quinn (1999). Google and Wikipedia tell me that a guy named Charlie Riley of the 1889 Columbus Solons of the American Association did it too, but Baseball-Reference does not have game logs for him so I can't confirm it.

Bonus: whether or not Riley hit two home runs in his first game, he did so for a team that played in a facility that was called Recreation Park, which sat on a site that is just a couple of blocks from my house and by which I walk several times a week. That grocery store where Allison and I had those wedding photos taken holding the cereal boxes was on that site until a few years ago. Now it's a new apartment complex where the people on Season 10 of "Love is Blind" were put up. It's a hell of a plot of land, you guys.

1976 - Sadaharu Oh of the Yomiuri Giants hits his 700th career home run. He ends up with 868 before he's all done. This one comes almost three years to the day after Henry Aaron became the second player to join the 700 home run. Babe Ruth did it on July 13, 1934. Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols each hit their 700th in September, so they totally ruined the pattern. I expect that from Bonds but Albert, you have disappointed me.

1978 - The Yankees beat the White Sox 3-1, making it five wins in a row. After the game, while waiting to catch a flight to Kansas City, manager Billy Martin, speaking of Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner, famously says, "The two deserve each other. One's a born liar. The other's convicted." Martin is fired before the next day's game against the Royals, with Dick Howser serving as interim manager for one game and Bob Lemon taking over for the rest of the season. Martin would be back in 1979. And 1983. And 1985. And 1988. And if he didn't kill himself driving drunk – and he probably was driving even if it was really murky – he was very likely to have been back once again in 1990. RIP.

1991 - Rob Dibble is ejected for throwing at and hitting Cubs baserunner Doug Dascenzo in the back as he ran the bases. Earlier that same year Dibble threw a baseball into the center-field seats at Cincinnati and hit a woman. He had just completed a three-game suspension for getting into a brawl with Eric Yelding of the Astros the day before he hit Dascenzo. The next year he got into a shoving match with his manager, Lou Piniella, in front of reporters. The dude is a piece of work.

2009 - Mark Buehrle of the White Sox tosses the 18th perfect game in big league history. This is Buehrle's second no-hitter. The highlight of the game comes when center fielder DeWayne Wise makes a fantastic catch, robbing Gabe Kapler of a home run over the left-center-field wall to save the perfecto in the ninth inning.

2012 - The Mariners trade Ichiro to the Yankees. He has a decent 67-game run with New York to finish the year and remains good, though no longer great, in 2013, but this pretty much marks the end of Ichiro being a star and the beginning of the multi-year journeyman phase of his career. He'd go on to have a stop in Miami before returning to Seattle prior to his retirement early in the 2019 season. Or before it, really, as he played in two games in Japan which took place while the rest of the league was still in spring training but which counted all the same.

2021 - The Cleveland Baseball Club announces that it will be called the Cleveland Guardians beginning in 2022. There are still a lot of people crying about it. Let 'em fucking cry.

Other Stuff

Nigel the Lonely Gannet

Yesterday one of you sent me this piece from last year in which the writer begins with a story about a sea bird from New Zealand, who was named Nigel by the press, which somehow bonded with a concrete decoy bird that was meant to lure other such birds to a remote island. Nigel was the only one who stayed, however, and he spent the rest of his life with a slab of concrete in what can only be described as a one-sided relationship. He eventually died beside the decoy.

The story made the writer sad. And reflective about the act of human creation:

This story is so tragic to me that I have to be careful not to think about it too hard as it can really ruin my day. But I do think of Nigel quite often. I think about him every time the question of generative AI art comes up. A common question that is asked now is this: If AI can create music or artwork that is entirely indistinguishable from the real thing, what harm is there in enjoying it? To me, you might as well ask, why does it matter that Nigel loved a concrete decoy? 

The creation and consumption of art is a two way relationship. When an artist creates something they are revealing a part of themselves. To engage with art fully completes a connection between two people. A connection that happens on the canvas, the cinema screen, the phone screen or the air particles between speaker and ear. We take a leap and trust that there is someone there to meet us halfway . . . To listen to, read or look at AI created media - knowingly or not - is to take a leap and be left falling. Perhaps your attention has earned a few pennies of ad/streaming revenue for some piece of shit tech bro. But beyond that it has meant nothing. You are Nigel cooing over concrete.

I don't need to know all about the lives of the people who write the words I read, who paint the pictures I view, and who sing the songs I dance to, but I do need to know that they are people. I do need to feel like the art and expression before me is the product of a person trying to tell me something or to make me feel something. It's something I was able to take for granted for pushing 50 years, but which I sadly can't anymore.

But that connection is the entire point of art and creativity of any kind! We're little bits of carbon living on a rock that is floating in infinite space for less than the blink of an eye, cosmically speaking. Our brief connection to others is the only possible thing that can give such a dire and transitory existence hope or meaning. Seeing others and being seen, hearing others and being heard, and connecting with others are the only acts of agency we possess in the relative nanoseconds we're alive. That so many people can't understand that or refuse to understand it is truly sad. The idea that, because of AI and the direction we're heading, some people might spend most of their lives never really feeling that sort of human connection is tragic.

Historically accurate cyclopses

Late Tuesday night Elon Musk, still furious that there Black actors were allowed to appear in a major motion picture, said that Grok will make a "full-length movie" of The Odyssey that is "historically accurate" by the end of this year. If anyone knows how to make a "historically accurate" movie about a fantastical things like cyclopses, bird-women whose enchanting songs lure sailors to their deaths, terrifying six-headed monsters who snatch sailors from the decks of their ships, and witches who turn them into pigs, please let me know. In the meantime I'm going to just assume that the world's richest white supremacist is gakked out on weapons-grade drugs again and will forget he made this promise before the end of the weekend.

I'm rather annoyed that Musk and a bunch of weirdos whose brains have been melted by right wing social media have served as the most conspicuous critical chorus against Christopher Nolan's version of "The Odyssey," because, per the dumb and overly simplistic rules of Internet discourse, it means that if I offer criticism of the movie there's a good chance someone will think that I'm in agreement with the dumbshits. That I have common cause with those who expect Ancient Greeks to be fair-skinned white people who speak in English accents and that I, too, expect Homeric heroes to be like Russell Crowe in "Gladiator" as opposed to the crazy-flawed and often ridiculous figures they are in Homer's text.

I hope I don't have to tell you that I'm not one of those people. Yet I do have some criticisms of "The Odyssey," even if I think it was a well-made, well-performed movie and generally liked it on its own terms. I don't think I'm spoiling anything here given that I'm being very broad and the source material is thousands of years old, but if you haven't seen the new movie yet and wanna go in fresh, you may want to skip to the next item.

My primary beef is that the story radically changes Odysseus, removing his arrogance and hubris, the punishment of which is the entire point of the story. Instead we get a thoughtful and sorrowful guy whose big arc is learning that, hey, war sucks, man, and maybe we shouldn't be so brutal to our enemies or whatever. Which, to be sure, is also a decent lesson, but we've got countless stories about that in the modern era and to the extent people haven't learned that lesson it's because they don't want to learn it and never will, not because it hasn't been taught. In contrast, I really do feel like our current political and social age makes lessons about hubris and arrogance extraordinarily necessary.

My daughter, meanwhile, has other opinions. As I'm mentioned, she just graduated from college, and while her first major was computer science, her second major was classics. As such, I've been waiting to ask her for her take on the movie, which she saw on Tuesday afternoon.

Anna has a lot of little nitpicks about the type of armor people were wearing and stuff which I won't get into, but her broader take was this:

That bugged me too. Then I remembered how the last few generations of Americans have dealt with political and social problems they've created and, welp, maybe Nolan's "The Odyssey" is on to something.

"Coalfield Wars"

If, in the normal course of things, a legacy Americana act released a new song that is basically just a six-minute Neil Young/Crazy Horse riff during which the singer drones a few lines about Bloody Mingo, Blair Mountain, the Matewan Massacre, the Ludlow Massacre, and the abuses of the working man at the hand of the plutocrats in the coal mines of West Virginia and Colorado, I'd be thrilled. The fact that Son Volt did just that a couple of days before I spend 11+ hours in the car with my daughter who will absolutely hate is makes it absolutely perfect:

There will be some sort of newsletter tomorrow. I'm not yet sure what form it will take because I don't know exactly how my day will be spent in Burlington today, so let's just all agree to be surprised when Friday dawns, eh?

Have a great day everyone.