MLB Bullets Is Falling Out Of The Race

The Giants have lost six in a row. Now will you have a happy Friday?

• The 2015 World Series Champion Washington Nationals are in trouble lately after blowing two key games late while leaving closer Jonathan Papelbon in the bullpen both times, waiting for a save situation that never came. Barry Svrluga breaks down how manager Matt Williams (mis-)used his bullpen in the two games that Svrluga said the Nationals had to win.
• Craig Calcaterra thinks Williams has earned a good firing.
• And notes that Williams defended his actions by simply saying Papelbon is the closer.
• Williams' boss, GM Mike Rizzo, defended Williams' use of the bullpen and thought he did everything right. Or at least that's what he said publicly. At least Nats fans should hope he's just saying that for the press.
• Rob Neyer says the Nationals shouldn't fire Williams just for the way he handles the bullpen unless they really have someone in mind who would do things differently, since most modern managers would do the exact same thing. But not most managers from Hazelton, Pennsylvania, thank goodness.
• C.J. Nitkowski thinks the next wave of managers will be younger and with more diverse experiences and he has a list of candidates.
• In any case, Dayn Perry thinks the Nationals are poised to make a run in September. He admits they might be too far back of the Mets and Cubs to make up the ground, but he does think they have a shot.
• Cliff Corcoran assess the playoff chances of the Nationals and the Giants. It's looking good for the Cubs and Mets.
• Bryce Harper managed to go 0-for-0 with four walks and an RBI last night and scored four runs. That's never happened before.
• OK, I'm re-listing this link because last time I said I hadn't read it yet. I've now read it and it's terrific. The story of the Boston punk rockers who made a fortune selling "Yankees Suck" T-Shirts. It's a combination of punk rock, Red Sox baseball and the movie Goodfellas. Except no one gets murdered. One guy does get shot in the face, however, so it's pretty much pure luck no one gets murdered. And they do mention Layla playing in the background.
• This will make many of you happy, whether you agree with the reasons for it or not. Curt Schilling was removed from ESPN baseball broadcasts for the rest of the season.
• Tim Lincecum underwent hip surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Which probably means the end of his time with the Giants.
• Jorge L. Ortiz says Giants fans will never forget the "Freak" show.
• David Schoenfield says that Lincecum was the key to the rise of the Giants dynasty.
• Clayton Kershaw is back, except that as Catherine Slonksnis points out, Kershaw never really left.
• David Schoenfield looks at the recent struggles of Royals pitcher Johnny Cueto and wonders if there's a problem there for KC.
• Rany Jazayerli traces how GM Dayton Moore built the Royals and answers whether he was wrong to dismiss Moore as a bad GM. (Spoiler alert: His answer is no and yes.)
• The Marlins are reportedly looking to shake up the whole organization and fire a whole bunch of people. (Although as Craig Calcaterra points out, one of the few things the Marlins have done well recently is develop good young ballplayers from their system, and those are the guys likely to get canned.)
• Reportedly one of the top choices to be the new Marlins manager is Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, but Mattingly says he's perfectly happy managing the Dodgers. No way is Mattingly that stupid to leave the Dodgers for the Marlins.
• We've ripped Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. a lot this season, but at least one rival scout is very impressed by the job Amaro has done this season in rebuilding the Phils.
• Anthony Castrovince says that despite the Nats disappointing season, Bryce Harper is the heavy favorite to win the NL MVP.
• Matt Snyder rejects the idea that "value" only comes from players on winning teams and touts Joey Votto and Miguel Cabrera's case for the MVP.
• There's been a lot of debate this season for the NL Rookie of the Year award, although one guy has pretty clearly separated himself from the field recently. But David Schoenfield notes that there are three terrific candidates for the AL Rookie of the Year.
• Wil Myers is hoping to end a frustrating season on a high note.
• A look at the medical advances (and just pure hard work and determination) allowed Marcus Stroman to return from tearing his ACL so quickly.
• Jayson Stark looks at the Blue Jays midseason moves and the claim that David Price and Troy Tulowitzki brought an "aura" along with them.
• Ben Reiter thinks the Diamondbacks have positioned themselves this season to become an elite team in future seasons.
• An all-too-early evaluation of major mid-season trades made this year.
• After doing the same for the AL, Grant Brisbee examines what NL teams would do differently if the trade deadline was at the end of August instead.
• Andrew Marchand thinks rookie pitcher Luis Severino has displayed what it takes to make a playoff start for the Yankees this October.
• Andrew Keh writes about how bat-flipping isn't a big deal in Korea. Although he does note that players hoping to move to MLB make an active effort to cut it down or out.
• Do you ever wonder what a major league player keeps in his locker? Hunter Pence's girlfriend goes through his locker and shows you what he keeps there. It's kind of a disappointment though. Not what's in Pence's locker, but rather his girlfriend. She seems pretty normal. I was kind of expecting Pence to be dating a blue-skinned alien from Alpha Centauri.
• And finally, have you ever wondered why minor league teams are named the Iron Pigs or Flying Squirrels? Alan Siegel looks at a marketing firm that is responsible for a lot of these crazy names and logos.

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