Good Monday to you all. Did I mention that I drafted Zack Greinke in every fantasy league I'm in?
- Zack Greinke threw eight scoreless innings on Sunday to beat the Nationals and extend his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 43⅔ innings, the longest such streak since Orel Hershiser's record 59 innings in 1988. Cliff Corcoran has a breakdown of Greinke's performance.
- Dayn Perry looks ahead to Greinke's next start against the Mets and thinks Greinke has a pretty good chance of continuing the streak.
- In any case, Bryce Harper put on his best McKayla Maroney face and said he wasn't impressed with Greinke's performance on Sunday.
- Other people are though. ESPN.com presents some of the reasons why Greinke has been so dominant. And proper hygiene isn't even listed.
- Bill Baer breaks down some numbers from Greinke's streak.
- Michael Clair looks at each of Greinke's starts during the streak to see how close he's been to having given up a run.
- As impressive as Greinke has been, Mark Saxon reiterates the Dodgers belief that they need someone to pitch well in the starting rotation other than Clayton Kershaw and Greinke.
- "Kershaw and Greinke and pray for rain" not only doesn't rhyme, it's been well-documented that it never rains in Southern California. Wait a minute. The Padres were just rained out at home for the first time since 2006.
- But that's San Diego. The Dodgers are farther north. But the Angels were rained out at home for the first time since 1995. The last time the Angels were rained out, DVDs hadn't even hit the market yet.
- The Angels and Red Sox Twitter accounts had some fun during the delay. Even the Rockies got into the fun.
- The Dodgers were on the road, so they avoided the storm. Except they had a game in DC postponed because of a power outage on Friday. Max Scherzer said it was Taylor Swift's fault.
- On the field, Mike Trout continues to be the best player in baseball.
- The Angels have passed the Houston Astros in the standings. Anthony Castrovince points out that all the drama around the Angels front office is forgotten now that they're winning.
- Despite getting passed in the standing, the Astros are still optimistic.
- Miles Wray points out that last year's "summer of hell" now looks to be far away in the rearview mirror for the Astros.
- The Astros and Padres have discussed a deal that would send pitching to Houston.
- Now that the All-Star Game is over, the Reds have put up an "Everything Must Go" sign up.
- Jeff Sullivan argues that the Reds really should get rid of everyone, and that includes Todd Frazier, who is reportedly "untouchable" in that fire sale.
- Chad Dotson argues though that Frazier has passed Pete Rose in the hearts and souls of Cincinnati baseball fans.
- The Orioles are reportedly looking to add an outfielder and have Justin Upton and Carlos Gomez in their sights.
- Scouts from five teams were on hand to watch Cole Hamels last start, reports Jon Heyman. Although it was actually six, although the Angels are thought to be interested in Ben Revere and not Hamels. And Heyman says the Cubs might have just been there because Hamels' next start will be against the Cubs.
- Ken Rosenthal has a roundup of the current state of the trade market for starting pitching.
- CJ Nitkowski thinks the Indians need to upgrade their defense if they want to be a contender over the next few seasons.
- Ryan P. Morrison asks if the Red Sox should move either Pablo Sandoval or Hanley Ramirez to first base. And if so, which one? Why not both? It could be the next trend in defensive positioning.
- David Schoenfield has ten players he thinks will be key in the second half.
- Ben Lindbergh looks at the sudden decline of Evan Longoria.
- John Smoltz thinks the current Mets rotation is "way better" than the Braves rotation of the 1990s.
- That's probably why Bartolo Colon knows his days in Flushing are numbered. He intends to enjoy every start he has left. Also, many of the Mets young pitchers call Colon a mentor.
- A look at the video session that saved Joc Pederson's career.
- Canada beat the United States for the gold medal in the Pan-Am Games yesterday in a very strange way. You'll need to watch the video yourselves. Congratulations to Cubs farmhands Jasvir Rakkar and Jesse Hodges, I guess.
- A look at the hitting streaks that have come the closest to toppling Joe DiMaggio's record.
- Doug Glanville is full of awe for the young talent that has entered baseball lately.
- William C. Rhoden laments the dropping numbers of minority managers in baseball and says baseball needs to renew and expand efforts to increase minority hiring.
- Berry Tramel explains why Oklahoma City won't get an MLB franchise anytime in the foreseeable future.
- Buster Olney ranks the remaining schedules for all 24 teams that still have postseason hopes. (ESPN Insider Only) Just to tell you want you want to know, Olney ranks the rest of the Cubs schedule as the easiest in the NL.
- Will Leitch interviewed fans at the MLB All-Star Game Fan Fest and asked them why they love baseball. (Video)
- And finally, if you're into baseball detective stories, Benjamin Hochman tries to figure out what happened to the original seat from Mile High Stadium in Denver that was hit by Joey Meyer's 582-foot home run in 1987.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.