MLB Bullets Hates Odd Numbers

Baseball been very, very good to me.

• Baseball has also been very, very good to Bruce Bochy. But maybe not this year because as Jorge L. Ortiz points out, the Giants are off to a "brutal" start to the season.
• Jayson Stark looks into some of the numbers that explain why the Giants can't win this season.
• Jonah Keri asks "Are the Giants really this bad?" Short answer: No, but don't expect their fourth World Series title either.
• The team the Giants beat, the Royals, got into a brouhaha over the weekend with the Giants' Bay Area neighbors, the Athletics. They had bench clearing incidents in all three games they played over the weekend which culminated in Sunday's game where five Royals, including manager Ned Yost, were all ejected.
• There was some bad blood over an incident on Friday that left shortstop Alcides Escobar injured. The A's Brett Lawrie said he texted an apology to Escobar, but Escobar says he never got it.
• The Orioles Ubaldo Jimenez was also ejected in the fourth inning Friday after hitting the Red Sox's Pablo Sandoval. Jimenez was throwing a no-hitter at the time.
• The Mets are red-hot right now, winning eight straight. But their fortunes suffered a blow on Sunday when both catcher Travis d'Arnaud and reliever Jerry Blevins suffered broken bones. d'Arnaud was hit in the hand with a pitch and Blevins took a comebacker off his left pitching forearm.
• Mets reliever Alex Torres got his first career save while wearing a new protective cap. This one puts the padding on the outside.
• One of the teams the Mets have gotten fat off of is the Marlins. Off to a poor start, Giancarlo Stanton says that "the fire's not there" for the Marlins yet.
• Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been benched for rookie J.T. Realmuto and he's not at all happy about it.
• And the Josh Hamilton saga continues. While Hamilton remains on the disabled list, several of his Angels teammates met with him and says he looks to be fully recovered and in great shape.
• Craig Calcaterra says that from looking at it from the outside, the Angels and owner Arte Moreno are being unreasonable.
• Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress, who has been suspended twice for marijuana use and has battled his own issues with addiction, says that Hamilton needs the Angels compassion. He says that the way the Brewers welcomed him back with open arms helped his recovery.
• The Angels and Hamilton have been discussing scenarios to resolve this standoff. It's hard to see there being any resolution other than they put him back on the active roster or they cut him. I suppose they could trade him if they're willing to eat about 80% of his contract.
• If Hamilton does come back to the Angels, it won't be to his Newport Beach mansion which he has put up for sale.
• While you might think that's a sign he's not returning to Anaheim, it's much more likely a by-product of his upcoming divorce.
• More legal news. The Justice Department is reportedly leaning against approving Comcast's purchase of Time-Warner. Why is this baseball news? It has been widely speculated that a Comcast merger with Time-Warner would break the standoff over Time-Warner's Dodgers channel that is unavailable in most of Southern California. So yeah, bad news for Dodgers fans.
• Jayson Stark looks at how soaring payrolls are changing the way teams compete. It's funny. Instead of separating the rich clubs from the small ones, the soaring payrolls are actually having a leveling effect.
• A lot of veterans, including David Ortiz, are unhappy with the new "pace-of-play" rules. But as Craig Calcaterra points out, the rules are aimed at changing the habits of young players, not veterans like Ortiz.
• Rob Neyer says that Craig is right, but that Ortiz needs to play by the rules if he's going to keep cashing the checks.
• Pete Rose will be an analyst on FOX pre-game shows. He'll be providing gambling advice, no doubt. Oh, I'm being told he won't be doing that. Then why the hell is he on? What could a guy who's been banned from baseball for the past 25 years know about today's game? Why wouldn't FOX want someone more in touch? Oh yeah. So that people like me will give free publicity to their pre-game shows. Bravo, FOX.
• The White Sox are promoting Carlos Rodon.
• A look at Aroldis Chapman and his changeup, the most unfair pitch in baseball.
• Collin McHugh has used his slider to turn his career around.
• The Orioles not-so-secret weapon is their bullpen.
• It won't be Jonathan Scoop, since the Orioles second baseman is out with a PCL tear and an MCL sprain in his right knee. The Birds are hoping he's not out for the season.
• The Phillies asking price for Cole Hamels has not dropped at all.
• Albert Chen profiles Chris Archer and his cerebral approach to both pitching and the non-baseball parts of his life.
• Fans, don't mess with Bryce Harper.
• Joe Posnanski has an interesting idea for the Museum of Nice Players.
• A list of craft beers available at every MLB ballpark. I've read elsewhere that this list is not comprehensive. Still, it's a good start.
• How Peter O'Malley and others brought Dodgertown in Vero Beach, FL back to life.
• Richard Justice looks back on the 50th anniversary of "The Eighth Wonder Of The World," the Astrodome.
• What happened to the Astrodome's Time Capsule?
• And finally, here's an amusing story about Terry Francona, his dad Tito and former Tigers and Expos GM John McHale. (h/t Hardball Talk)

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