This Week in Baseball – Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Miguel Cabrera, Pizza Rats, Anibal Sanchez
The Fans Have Spoken…
In the first round of Major League Baseball All-Star balloting updates, it wasn’t Mike Trout or José Altuve or Aaron Judge who led the way in voting. It was Boston Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts. Betts has received 748,872 votes early on. That gave him a slight edge on Altuve, and a nice lead on Trout—who trails Betts by more than 100,000 votes. It’s still early in the voting and it will still come down to what the Electoral College does.
To Tommy John or Not to Tommy John…
Despite rumors to the contrary, the Los Angeles Angels insist Tommy John surgery is not yet a consideration for two-way star Shohei Ohtani. “I have not heard that,” said manager Mike Scioscia. “The doctors are obviously very confident that he’s going to get back out there. We’re going to be very conservative with Shohei. But we’re very hopeful that he’s going to be pitching for us again this season.” If you aren’t fluent in Manager Speak that translates to: “Yes, he is definitely getting Tommy John surgery.”
What’s in a Name…
The Staten Island Yankees announced Monday that they were honoring a 2016 fan vote to change their name, and will be selling merchandise promoting the new one. “Pizza Rats” emerged as the winning moniker in the Name the Team contest, when fans voted overwhelmingly for the infamous pizza-slice-carrying subway rodent seen in a viral video that was popular at the time. Runner up names were “Double Rainbow,” “Grumpy Cat” and “Leave Britney Alone!”
Arm and Dangerous…
Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire announced that Miguel Cabrera’s season is over. During a loss to the Twins on Tuesday night Cabrera suffered a ruptured left biceps tendon while swinging at a pitch in the third inning. Cabrera immediately dropped his bat and motioned to the dugout that something was wrong. Teammates knew that something was wrong with the heavyset Cabrera who has played through pain repeatedly over the years. It’s worth noting that “pain” is French for “bread.”
He Was Robbed…
Braves pitcher Anibal Sanchez turned in a strong outing in Saturday’s game against the Dodgers, leading to a 5-3 win. But that was the “good” part of the day for him. Sanchez returned to the hotel where the team was staying and came to find out his room had been burglarized. It was estimated that roughly $100,000 worth of items had been stolen. So, basically just the contents of the mini bar.
Get these weekly stories in the comfort of your own inbox by signing up for our newsletter The Box Score.
