Cup of Coffee: June 11, 2026

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

Quickly: everyone who is a Knicks fan who thought they'd win that game last night when they were down by nearly 30 points in the second half please raise your hands.

Lol, liars.

I only bring this up because one of the best parts of writing Rethinking Fandom was not something I specifically wrote about, but something I just sorta learned to accept while writing the book. I figured out that fan pessimism – the whole "GOD my team SUCKS" and "WELP, THIS IS HOPELESS" part of things – usually isn't pessimism as such. It's mostly a defense mechanism. It's about quickly getting to the worst place mentally because if you get there on your own nothing can drag you there and once you've accepted the worst you can no longer be hurt. People do that with actual stressful situations in real life so why wouldn't they do that with sports too?

Anyway, it was that insight that made me more understanding of the tons of New York people in my social media timelines last night simply packing it in and dooming for like 3/4 of the game. There's a tendency within fan spaces to make mild fun of such doomers – that's a big part of those stupid "Cold Takes Exposed"-style accounts – or to gatekeep them out of celebrations when crazy comebacks like last night's happen because they didn't keep the faith or what have you.

Well, don't play that game. We should always welcome the ones who most loudly proclaimed their doom, despair, and disgust early in the event it comes time to celebrate later. They've been through it, man, and we should always have grace for people who have been through it. Of course, with an example of the sort of resilience the Knicks showed last night in our back pockets, those who refused to doom and despair can and should freely tell the doomers to chill the hell out next time things look bleak, but in the meantime just let them recover from the roller coaster they just got off.

Anyway, it's fun when neat things happen in sports even if you don't personally have a rooting interest, and the Knicks winning that game was pretty neat.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Giants 11, Nationals 10: Washington got six innings of one-run ball from their starter and led this one 9-1 after seven and still friggin' lost. Half of the Giants' ten-run rally came in the eighth on the back of homers from Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers, a double from Daniel Susac, a groundout, and then Susac scoring on a wild pitch. The Nats got one more run on a solo homer in the top of the ninth and then San Francisco completed its comeback with five runs more runs in the bottom half. Matt Chapman struck again with an RBI double to make it 10-7 and then the Giants loaded the bases up for Bryce Eldridge, who walked it off with a grand slam just over the arches in right field:

At 21 years-old Eldridge is the youngest player to ever hit a walkoff grand slam. Yeah, that's a fairly narrow statistical category, but since the previous holder of that mark was Roberto Clemente I'm gonna consider it pretty special.

Maybe the best part of this, though, came from the Giants broadcasters, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow.

As Eldridge was preparing to be a hero, the camera caught a group of fans in the stands at Oracle Park doing the tarps off/shirtless thing. Krukow's partner Duane Kuiper begins the exchange by acknowledging the grand slam potential, saying "wouldn't it be something?" Then it proceeds thusly.

Krukow [echoing Kuiper]: "Wouldn't it be something."

Kuiper: "Wouldn't it be something. I mean, it may be more than tarps off if Eldridge knocks one out of here.

Krukow: "Well . . . [chuckles] . . . I'm gonna hold ya to it. Time to drop trow and hog-out."

Then Eldridge hit the salami. No word if either Krukow or Kuiper went hog-out.

Rays 7, Red Sox 5: Tampa Bay built up a 5-0 lead by the sixth inning, with Yandy Díaz singling in two of those runs. The Sox made it a one-run game by plating four in the eighth thanks to a three-run homer from Ceddanne Rafaela and a solo shot from Caleb Durbin, and Durbin hit a second solo shot in the ninth. But Cedric Mullins gave Tampa Bay two runs of insurance with a homer of his own in the bottom of the eighth so the Boston comeback wasn't big enough. The Rays complete a three-game sweep.

Yankees 8, Guardians 4: Jazz Chisholm Jr. tripled in two, knocked in a third run on a grounder, and scored a run on an error. He also scored on an Anthony Volpe RBI double which, hey, big news, Volpe actually got a hit? Crazy. José Caballero drove in a couple with a sac fly and an RBI single. Carlos Rodón went six and wasn't spectacular, but he was good enough to get the win. New York completes a three-game sweep of the Guardians and have won four in a row overall.

Padres 5, Reds 4: Fernando Tatis Jr. waited until a little over a week ago to hit his first homer of the year. His second one was well timed, however, coming in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game to give San Diego a walkoff win. Tatis also singled in a run in this one. The Padres take two of three from the Redlegs.

Marlins 8, Diamondbacks 0: Four Fish pitchers combined on a six-hit, ten-strikeout shutout. A six-run fourth capped by a three-run homer from Kyle Stowers was where things were truly decided. Owen Caissie hit a two-run homer and hit a sac fly to match Stowers in the RBI department. Otto López singled in the other two. Miami goes for the sweep this afternoon.

Orioles 7, Mariners 2: Brandon Young tossed seven shutout innings for Baltimore and he finally got some offense behind him in the sixth when Pete Alonso homered and Leody Tavares and Blaze Alexander each doubled one in. He got four more behind him when Jackson Holliday hit a grand slam in the seventh. The O's will play for a four-game series split this afternoon.

Pirates 9, Dodgers 8: The Dodgers blew a 6-1 lead they held when the seventh inning began. They built that lead largely on the back of a Ryan Ward grand slam but the wheels fell off late. Brandon Lowe was responsible, at least in part, for the first three runs of the rally, doubling in two and then scoring on a fielding error to make it 6-4. Tyler Callihan, who had already hit a solo homer earlier in this one, hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put the Bucs up 7-6. They extended their lead to 9-6 on Spencer Horowitz's two-run shot. Shohei Ohtani, who started and got a no-decision after allowing that rally to begin in the seventh, hit a two-run shot in the top of the ninth but it left L.A. one run short.

Cardinals 9, Mets 2: So much for that "David Peterson pitches better as a bulk guy" conventional wisdom, as he handled the second through most of the fifth here and coughed up six runs on seven hits in the process. Austin Warren gave up the first two runs in the first and got the loss, however, so it really was a team effort. Nelson Velázquez, Jordan Walker, and Alec Burleson went deep for the Cards.

Phillies 7, Blue Jays 4: Good for Max Scherzer: he struck out his 3,500th career batter when he punched out Kyle Schwarber to begin this game. Bad for Max Scherzer: everything else. In his first start since April 24 the future Hall of Famer gave up five runs on five hits while walking three batters in three and a third. That brings his ERA up to 10.23 over six starts. At some point someone probably needs to have a conversation with Scherzer that he doesn't wanna have but which seems like it needs to be had. Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, and Schwarber each homered. Bohm's was a three-run shot. Schwarber's was his 24th on the year, which leads all of baseball. Philly takes two of three.  

White Sox 2, Atlanta 1: Chicago starter Davis Martin shut out Atlanta on six hits over six innings, while striking out six. How very satanic of him. The pen only allowed one run over the final three. Both Sox runs came in the fourth via a Derek Hill single and a Luisangel Acuña groundout. I've recapped more exciting-sounding games.

Rangers 6, Royals 4: Jake Burger was a hero here, coming off the bench to tie the game up twice in the late innings, homering in the seventh and hitting a sacrifice fly in the eighth that pushed the contest to extras. Elias Díaz played the hero later, hitting a go-ahead double in the 10th to make it 5-4 after which Josh Jung drew a bases loaded walk to make it a two-run game. Texas reliever Jacob Latz worked through some trouble in the bottom of the tenth but managed to close it out.  

Twins 6, Tigers 4: This one began with an hour-plus rain delay but that didn't faze Royce Lewis who homered in the second and Byron Buxton who hit a three-run homer in the sixth. Detroit pulled closer later but Josh Bell singled home a run in the seventh and Brooks Lee scored on a wild pitch to give Minnesota some breathing room. Buxton, by the way, is the fourth player in the majors to reach 20 homers this season. He's also just the third in Twins history to hit 20 or more homers through 69 games, joining Harmon Killebrew and Justin Morneau. That's pretty good company. The rubber match in this series goes down this afternoon.

Rockies 3, Cubs 2: Shōta Imanaga held the Rockies scoreless for five and two more relievers kept them off the board until the eighth. But with Michael Lorenzen and three Rockies relievers limiting Chicago to one run through eight themselves this one was extremely tight. Colorado broke through against Jacob Webb in the form of a two-run homer from T. J. Rumfield in the eighth but Ian Happ's solo shot in the top of the ninth tied things up. Colorado rallied in the bottom half, however, with a walk, a single, and a pinch-hit RBI single from Sterlin Thompson to walk things off. The Cubs lose their third straight game. The Rockies go for the sweep today.

Athletics 4, Brewers 3: They must've trucked in some dead balls to Las Vegas for this one. At least for most of it because while the score was not bonkers this time Carlos Cortes and Lawrence Butler did hit a couple of pretty massive bombs in the seventh and Alika Williams hit a solo shot in the sixth. The A's take two of three in their first Vegas series since they decided that, hey, maybe they should move to Vegas.

Angels 3, Astros 2: Mike Trout homered in the third and Logan O'Hoppe went deep in the fifth, but homers from Shay Whitcomb and Cam Smith tied things up by the eighth and it went to extras. Donovan Walton hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the tenth that moved the Angels' Manfred Man from second base to third and then José Siri hit an 0-2 pitch to left field to walk it off.

The Daily Briefing

Ronald Acuña Jr. hits the injured list

As mentioned in the recaps yesterday, Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. strained his left hamstring in Tuesday's night's game. Yesterday the club decided to place him on the 10-day injured list. They called up first baseman Rowdy Tellez to take his place on the active roster. Haven't heard that name in a minute.

This is the second time Acuña’s left hamstring has sent him to the IL this season, as he was there for a little over two weeks in the first part of May. Of course injuries are nothing new for the 2023 MVP. This is his ninth season in the majors and he's only played 100 games or more four times.

Acuña is currently hitting .251/.373/.421, which is below his usual standards, but Atlanta obviously wants him back as soon as they can get him back.

Oneil Cruz has a broken left hand

Bad news for the Pittsburgh Pirates: center fielder Oneil Cruz has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a broken left hand.

Cruz was injured while sliding into home plate in the Pirates game against Atlanta last Saturday. He was available as a pinch-runner on Sunday but hasn't played since then as the Pirates took a wait and see attitude about his condition. Additional tests revealed non-displaced fractures between his ring finger and his pinkie so on the shelf he goes.

Cruz is having a very Cruz season. He's hitting .264/.350/.472 (126 OPS+) with 14 home runs and 44 RBI while also leading the league in strikeouts and playing an adventurous center field. So far the Reds and Cubs have fallen back in the weirdly good NL Central race, and now the Pirates may be sinking down into the .500 or sub-.500 mire themselves. Only the Brewers and Cardinals are currently without sin, it would seem.

Garrett Crochet's lat strain is worse than first feared

Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet told the press yesterday that his lat strain is “a lot worse than we thought” and that he has “no idea” when he’ll be cleared to start a throwing progression. Crochet suffered the lat strain in late May. It was initially diagnosed as a low-grade lat strain, but that's apparently not the case.

The Red Sox are already deeply buried in last place in the AL East so it's not like this is the difference between their season working out OK or not, but if there was even a smidgen of doubt that Boston will be selling at the deadline consider it put to rest.

Johan Rojas' bad year gets worse

Back in March Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas was suspended for 80 games after testing positive for the PED Boldenone, which was originally intended for horses and which is sold to horse folk under the brand name Equipoise. Not a great look!

The good news: Rojas' suspension is just about over. Indeed, it's scheduled to end on June 25! The bad news: Rojas recently suffered a UCL tear in his right elbow while preparing to return to action, he needs surgery, and he will not return this season.

I suppose there are worse 1-2 punches for a player who is already rather marginal in the grand scheme of things, but I'm momentarily hard pressed to think of what they'd be.

Other Stuff

When previews get out of control

From The Athletic's World Cup preview:

Look, I plan on watching a lot of World Cup action, but there is no way I'm gonna be able to tell you the names of even 50 players, so telling me I need to know actual stuff about 200 of them is patently unreasonable. Maybe let's back this up to a team/country level and just give me the basics on that. I feel like that's the most the non-experts can really be expected to track over the course of a month or whatever. Is Cape Verde good? Is Uzbekistan an attacking team or do they play things conservatively? Beyond that you're probably gonna lose me.

God, now that I think about it, I don't know if I could say intelligent things about 200 current baseball players, and I'm at least theoretically a professional baseball writer, so I feel even more strongly about us dialing back the expectations on the World Cup. I'm just gonna root for England and then search for excuses when they exit in ignominy anyway, so it's no big deal.

Enshittification comes for Bluesky

I've rather enjoyed the couple of years I've spent on Bluesky as my social media app of choice. I primarily enjoy the fact that, unlike the more popular and established microblogging platform that was once known as Twitter, it is not run by a literal white supremacist mass murderer who incites racist mob violence and controls what I see and what people can see of what I post regardless of what anyone else involved wants. There are several other benefits of it as well, most of which aren't important for non-social media addicts but which the fellow addicted know well and generally appreciate.

But if there's one rule in the world of tech it's that leaving a generally good thing well enough alone is unthinkable, so we get stuff like this:

See, I thought that that's what me choosing to follow certain people and not follow other people and certain people choosing to follow me or not was all about. I don't follow people who don't care about at least something I care about or who aren't interesting to me in some way and I'd hope that the people who follow me are at least somewhat interested in the sorts of things I have to say. There are also already "lists" on Bluesky which are full of people who are known experts in a given subject area or who at least like to talk a lot about a given subject area and whom you can follow with a single click when you find a list you like.

Which makes "communities" seem rather redundant. And limiting, because these communities will likely be closed off to anyone who doesn't choose to join them. The primary benefit I get from social media is being exposed to new things, interesting stuff, random bits of news and general farting around. Once everyone sorts themselves into their little closed communities that pretty much goes out the window.

I suppose that allowing people to join certain narrower communities does make for more focused conversations on a given topic, but there are already places for that. Particularly Reddit, which has about a one billion-year and ten gabillion-user head start that Bluesky could never, ever hope to match. There's even another microblogging platform, Mastadon, the essential design of which requires people to chose specific "instances" – or little subject matter-based communities – in order to use it. I found that extremely off-putting when I took a look at it a couple of years ago because, again, I'm a generalist looking to have general conversations with interesting people. I'm not interested in limiting what I want to look at or talk about on an a priori basis. In this The Great Daryl Zero is my guide:

Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you're only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you're sure to find some of them.

So the last thing I want is a pre-hoc siloing off of people and topics. Which seems to be what Bluesky is going to now require, because we can apparently never, ever have nice things anymore.

Whatever. At the end of the day it's just social media. If it works out better than I'm worried it will, fine, no harm. And maybe I'll even create a proper Cuppagentsia community for people to chat in. And if it ruins the platform, welp, I lived 35-36 years without such a beast to begin with and I can do it again. Hell, I may even become more productive as a result.

They are AI-i-fying Siri

I use Siri on my iPhone for pretty basic things. For example, I have a recipe I make fairly often that calls for three tablespoons of honey, but my fun little liquid push-up-style measuring cup that is great for sticky things doesn't have tablespoons on it, so I use Siri to tell me that three tablespoons is 1.5 ounces. Every single time, because I can't seem to remember shit anymore. Indeed, I just had to look it up again to wrote those previous sentences. That's on me, obviously, but thankfully Siri is there to serve as a recipe note/conversion chart, which is basically 1920s technology. It handles that sort of thing well!

Siri is less useful for things beyond the basic. Like, when you ask it anything even remotely complicated it usually just defaults to "here's what I found on the web." That aggravates me because, shit dude, I could've just Googled it myself, so what do I need you for? I want you to tell me stuff, Siri, almost always when I'm not sitting in front of my computer and when I'm not able to readily look at my screen, so thanks for nothing. Not that I put it quite like that, because years ago I gave Siri the voice of a polite British woman and I feel weirdly obligated to be polite back to her.

I'm obviously not the only person who finds Siri only occasionally useful. Apple does too, which is why they have finally given her (or him or them if you prefer) a makeover. But because we live in the monkey's paw universe it has done so in the most aggravating way imaginable:

Two years after promising but failing to launch a smarter Siri, Apple unveiled its overhauled AI-powered assistant at its Worldwide Developers Conference, WWDC 2026, on Monday. The Siri AI revamp will be available in beta later this year.

The idea behind the new “Siri AI,” as it’s called, is to turn Siri from a voice-controlled assistant into an AI companion that can do a lot more. The new assistant will launch alongside a dedicated Siri app . . . The tech giant is transforming Siri into a full-fledged conversational AI chatbot to take on popular platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. The update marks a major change for Siri, which has until now been known as a voice assistant.  

I cannot wait to be mid-meal prep when my dumb primate brain forgets, once again, how many ounces three tablespoons is, only to have Siri try to open up a conversation with me about other means of sweetening a dish, offering me articles about how this vaguely Asian recipe I got from the New York Times represents cultural appropriation, and then finally telling me that three tablespoons is the same as six ounces, after which it suggests food delivery options to salvage my ruined dinner plans.

He never misses

Famous British Tampa Bay Rays fan Adrian Chiles has a new column out that may be the platonic ideal of an Adrian Chiles column:

When I wrote about Chiles a couple of weeks ago I obtained like four different possible email addresses for him and sent him a brief, polite note at each of them thanking him for his baseball column, letting him know that he is not alone in being a British baseball fan, and telling him that if he would like I'd happily comp him a Cup of Coffee subscription. Sadly I never received a response, so I dropped the idea. But I am happy to report that someone from this side of the Atlantic got to him: He's a guest on the latest episode of the Effectively Wild podcast where he talks about his baseball fandom with Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley.

He's obviously a busy man preoccupied with important matters, so I'm happy that he took the time.

Have a great day everyone.