:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59810159/usa_today_10847475.0.jpg)
Good morning.
First off, read this story from Levi Weaver on Brandon Mann and the extra significance of his long-awaited debut coming on Mother’s Day.
Now that you’re all dewy with tears we can move on to T.R. Sullivan’s recap of the Yankees beating the Rangers by five runs to really open the floodgates.
Jeff Wilson reacts to the Rangers’ loss, and the barrage of home runs, but wonders if Rougned Odor hitting his first of the season was the most important dong of the night.
Weaver’s game story focuses on, you guessed it, dingers! The Yankees hit five of ‘em while the Rangers could muster only three measly tape-measure blasts.
Sullivan writes that GM Jon Daniels is mostly interested in the development of the young players on the Rangers at this point.
JD is not, as Wilson notes, interested in pointing fingers or making a scapegoat of his coaching staff despite a 100-loss pace through the season’s first eight weeks.
Sullivan writes that Daniels had to at least be pleased that it was youngsters Joey Gallo, Ronald Guzman, and Odor who hit the long bombs last evening.
Righty Tyler Phillips made Mike Rosenbaum’s top prospect performers list from Monday’s action as Phillips tossed another in a recent string of gems for Low-A Hickory.
We joke about Bartolo Colon being old (and make no mistake, he’s baseball-ancient) but how about Rafael Palmeiro swatting a HR in Indy League action while being nearly nine years older than Colon? The swing is still sweet.
And, lastly, a new segment to the morning links that I like to call, “Things I saw on my Twitter timeline right before I went to bed that led to a sorrowful battle against depression instead of sleep”:
Remember Miles Mikolas? Former Ranger? Lizard King? Went to Japan and shoved? He’s back and the Rangers tried to sign him but ended as a runner-up to the Cardinals. How’s he doing?
Is there a finer free-agent signing this past winter_outside Shohei Ohtani_ than #STLCards starter Miles Mikolas? He pitches a 4-hit shutout. striking out 9, and retiring 15 of the last 16 batters he faced. He is 6-0 with a 2.24 ERA, and making only making $7.5 million this year
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 22, 2018
Oh.
Remember Jeremy Jeffress? Former Ranger? Peed himself (literally) while drunk driving? Added to the already enormous prospect cost of the terrible Jonathan Lucroy trade by virtue of supposedly being good and having multiple controllable years only to pitch so horribly last season that the Rangers basically begged the Brewers to take him back? How’s he doing?
Jeremy Jeffress' ERA is so low it only dropped one point, from 0.36 to 0.35, with another scoreless inning. He has not allowed a run in 21 consecutive outings and in 24 of 25 for the season. Absolutely remarkable.
— Tom (@Haudricourt) May 22, 2018
Oh, no.
Have a nice day!