MLB Bullets Uses Bad Language To Good Effect

Happy Earth Day, everyone. I celebrated by running a 5K race at a nature preserve and planting several flowers, herbs and vegetables in my garden.

• The biggest story in baseball over the weekend was Jean Segura's trip to first base. Al already covered the incident in the Cubs recap, but the repercussions go on. First off, Jayson Stark says that Rule 7.01 was misinterpreted and that Segura should have been called out. Rob Neyer (of course, who else?) remembers Germany Schaefer, whose antics caused the rule to be written in the first place. Finally, Colin Wyers over at Baseball Prospectus writes about how this play wrecked all scorekeeping software and no doubt anyone who was keeping a scorecard manually as well. We still don't know how to score to that play. I'm guessing MLB is going to be looking at a clarification or change to Rule 7.01 sometime this off-season.
• David Ortiz rallied a city when he gave an inspirational speech with an expletive. He's also lucky that the head of the FCC is from Boston. Or at least that he's not a jerk.
• Neil Diamond (who's from Brooklyn, by the way) led Fenway Park in a bad performance of "Sweet Caroline." No one cared how it sounded.
• Bill Shaikin of the LA Times writes that people have been saying the Yankees have been too old for years. This time, they're right.
• Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated says while Derek Jeter may keep playing, his days of being an elite player are over. Verducci also notes how shutouts are way up this season so far.
• With Ryan Zimmerman hitting the DL, Anthony Rendon has arrived in Washington.
• Ken Rosenthal at Foxsports.com says that baseball's official policy towards drunk driving arrests needs to change. He does admit that it's a tricky problem and he doesn't have a solution, though.
• I hope that this is the last I have to write about this, but Buck Showalter thinks that Rex Ryan needs to worry about his own sport. Cliff Corcoran says that Ryan doesn't even have the facts right.
• The Orioles are worried about Jake Arrieta and they should be, writes Kevin Cowherd in the Baltimore Sun.
• Matt Snyder of CBSSports.com thinks the Adam Dunn of 2013 is a return to the 2011 version rather than the 2012 version. There should be some kind of Microsoft joke that could go here.
• It doesn't look like the Angels have the pitching to compete for a title, writes Mike DiGiovanna in the LA Times.
• Albert Pujols is playing in a lot of pain. He's limited to DH duties for now.
• Torii Hunter returned to Anaheim as a key member of the Tigers lineup.
• Chad Billingsley is back on the DL and may need Tommy John surgery.
• Dexter Fowler is finally living up to high expectations as he's having a breakout season.
• Christina Kahrl of ESPN.com examines the reasons why the Rockies are so high this season. No, the reason is not Colorado Amendment 64.
• Jeff Franceour and Alex Gordon have put their past struggles behind them as they've led the Royals to first place so far.
• Bruce Bochy had "The Talk" with Brandon Belt. I do not want to know what was said in that conversation.
• Mae Louise Allen Mays has died. She and Willie Mays had been married for 41 years.
• The Padres play like champions against the Dodgers. Against every other team they've been terrible so far this season.
• Chris Johnson will be the everyday third baseman for the Braves when Freddie Freeman returns.
• Finally, last Thursday night the Buffalo Bisons of the International League beat Syracuse 27-9. I am very glad I did not have to report on that game.

The Iowa baseball team lost two of three to Penn State. Big Ten baseball can't be beat. Well, except for the SEC, ACC, Pac 12, Big 12, WCC, Big West, Missouri Valley, Big East, Mountain West and Conference USA.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.