MLB Bullets Makes A Call To The Bullpen

Josh is traveling today, so I'm filling in on this edition of MLB Bullets. Be kind to the substitute, please! Let's start with the Evil Empire. You know, the Yankees.

• Lots of folks think the Yankees should divest themselves of some of their relievers. They might, or might not, but as of now Yankees President Randy Levine says the talk is all the media's fault.
• Speaking of the Yankees, they played a game that was delayed more than three hours by rain in the top of the ninth Monday night. Leading 6-5, they wound up blowing the lead and losing 9-6 -- at 2:44 a.m. Eastern time. No one was happy with how the weather conditions were handled.
• A Yankees fan literally wore a tinfoil hat during the long rain delay. No word on whether he picked up any alien transmissions.
• ESPN's Buster Olney says that the way this game was handled should result in MLB hiring a "weather czar" to determine whether games like this should be suspended, rather than leave it to the umpires. (I agree with Olney.) (Insider - $)
• Whither A-Rod? The Yankee slugger turns 41 soon, and hasn't been good in over a year.
• The Yankees are also trying to make up a nickname and hashtag for Nate Eovaldi (#NastyNate), and that's got Steven Goldman all in a kerfuffle. He has other nickname suggestions, most of them much funnier.
• Clayton Kershaw had an uncharacteristically rough outing Sunday against the Pirates. It might have been due to back trouble -- he's been sent back to Los Angeles to be examined by team doctors.
• The Reds gave up five home runs to the Cubs Monday. Beyond that, they are on a pace to set records for doing that. Dave Cameron of Fangraphs has the details.
• Many of you have enjoyed the broadcasts of new White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti. Here's the story of how he got to where he is. Involved are chunks of concrete and cigars. (No, really.)
• Also on the White Sox beat, they expect ticket sales to be slow this summer and to finish around 1.8 million tickets sold -- which would actually be an increase over last year.
• Royals righthander Yordano Ventura is back from his suspension. SI's Ben Reiter talks to scouts and executives on whether Ventura's volatile personality might ruin a promising career.
• MLB players are averaging 2.52 home runs per game in June, which would be the third-highest monthly average in history. Why is this happening? MLB.com's Matt Kelly examines the topic.
• The Marlins and Braves will play a regular-season game at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina this Sunday, carried by ESPN, with the Braves as the home team. Here's a look at the temporary ballpark they're building for this game. It will seat 12,500, and be much easier to get to than SunTrust Park will be for Braves games in 2017.
• Padres outfielder Jon Jay might have been one of the team's best trade chips, but he suffered a broken forearm a week ago and could be out from four to six weeks.
• Cuban star Yulieski Gourriel has brought interest from a lot of teams, but based on these photos, one club in particular might have a leg up.
• Remember when Randy Johnson hit a bird with a pitch during spring training? The Cardinals' Adam Wainwright nearly did that in Monday's game.
• Hey, look! Here's a MLB star from Asia who's actually helped make his team more popular in his home country. (Seriously.)
• Rob Neyer on whether managing is easier or harder than it was decades ago.
• The A's might be in sell mode, but Ken Rosenthal says Billy Beane should keep the band together.
• For those of you who keep track of scoring and scorekeeping, the final score of the Indians/Tigers game from last Friday was changed on Saturday; unfortunately for the Tigers, the result didn't change -- they still lost.
• Scott Ferkovich of Hardball Times writes about the art of keeping a scorecard, something I heartily agree with.
• Matt Imhof, the Phillies' second-round pick in 2014 and a prospect now playing in the Florida State League suffered a freak eye injury, has had surgery and might need more. We wish him a speedy recovery.
• There was a nasty brawl at the Triple-A game between Memphis and New Orleans Monday night. Final score: three ejections for each team.
• A strange pile of dirt on the mound in Colorado caused a five-minute delay during Sunday's Rockies/Diamondbacks game.
• On July 10, you can get a Bob Uecker Alarm Clock if you attend the Brewers/Cardinals game at Miller Park.
• Pitch clocks might not be coming to the major leagues anytime soon, but they worked well in keeping a Triple-A game moving, writes Michael Rand of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Josh will be back on this gig on Friday. Hope you enjoyed my selections!