MLB Bullets Is Banned In Boston

Let’s get one thing straight: Adam Jones is the real Captain America. He was the leader of the Team USA team that won the World Baseball Classic. This country, and this sport, is better for having him in it.

Also, please click on the final link today. It’s a great story.

• Unfortunately, the big story today is the racial slurs and peanuts thrown at Adam Jones at Fenway Park on Monday night. Honestly, the real surprise here isn’t that this happened, but rather that Jones chose to speak up about it.
• Tim Brown writes that baseball should be thankful that Jones chose to speak up.
• Ken Rosenthal thinks that the racists at Fenway Park picked on the wrong guy.
• Gabriel Baumgaertner argues that this incident is another indication of baseball’s continuing issues with race.
• Other African-American players spoke up in defense of Jones and C.C. Sabathia says the only place he gets called the “N-word” is Boston.
• Sean Gregory highlights Boston’s long, troubled history with sports and racism.
• However, Michael Baumann wants to emphasize that racism is not just a Boston problem, but a problem everywhere.
• Will Leitch points out that baseball isn’t the only sport that struggles with racism, and says that it is on the fans to help stamp this out.
• Bill Shaikin asks point blank: If you were sitting near a fan shouting racist slurs, what would you do?
• Mike Lupica found a fan sitting in center field on Monday who 1) corroborated Jones’ comments and 2) did nothing about it. He said that “the guy was drunk and angry” and that “no one wanted to start a fight.” He was finally ejected in the seventh inning.
• Scott Lauber tries to look on the bright side and says this incident could start a much-needed conversation about racism in baseball.
• MLB did issue a statement condemning what happened at Fenway to Jones.
• And, at the urging of several Boston players, the Fenway faithful did give Jones a standing ovation on Tuesday.
• Jones said he appreciated the gesture by Boston fans.
• Nancy Armour counters that while apologies are nice, they aren’t enough.
• Unfortunately, that measure of good will in Boston lasted exactly one batter, as Chris Sale immediately threw behind the next batter, Manny Machado. After the game, Machado went on a profane tirade about the Red Sox’s behavior. Sale was not apologetic at all.
• Moving on. Ken Rosenthal takes a look at the injury to Noah Syndergaard and says it is part of a larger problem that baseball has with keeping pitchers healthy. He also has some choice words for the Mets front office about how they have handled this.
• Tyler Kepner argues that baseball’s continuing quest for more velocity means that the Mets should have seen Syndergaard’s injury coming from a hundred miles away. And in one hour.
• David Roth has a “Mets gonna Met” column about this.
• Grant Brisbee declares the Nationals the best team in baseball, even without Adam Eaton.
• A big reason for that is the renaissance of Ryan Zimmerman. Manny Randhawa breaks down how Zimmerman got his bat back on track.
• Mark Simon breaks down the early leaders for the postseason awards and Zimmerman is on there for NL MVP.
• The AL MVP list includes Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, and Travis Sawchik explains why we should have seen Judge’s breakout season coming.
• Perhaps the Yankees should have seen Judge being able to break a TV in one of their new “outfield terraces” during batting practice.
• The 6’7” Judge and the 5’8” infielder Ronald Torreyes switched uniforms for a photoshoot.
• The fans in the Bronx may not have notices as the Yankees played before their smallest home crowd since 2004 on Monday.
• Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is confident that he and Derek Jeter will be able to buy the Marlins.
• There is a report, however, that the group headed by Tagg Romney and Tom Glavine had the higher bid.
• Here’s a sad story. In 2011, high school shortstop Brandon Martin was a first-round, supplemental, pick of the Tampa Bay Rays. In 2017, he’s been charged and is awaiting trial on a triple homicide. Nathan Fenno has how Martin got from there to here.
• Another sad story. Athletics minor leaguer Casey Thomas died at age 24 on Tuesday. There are no further details on this at this time.
• Alex Smolokoff writes that the happy Pablo Sandoval comeback story will probably never be written.
• Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs will miss 10-12 weeks with a strained oblique.
• Even with the White Sox off to a strong start, Grant Brisbee argues that they were right to sell off Chris Sale and Adam Eaton this past winter.
• Cliff Corcoran examines the strategy of moving a pitcher to a defensive position and then later, back to the mound. He generally doesn’t think it’s a very good idea.
• Jack Magruder reports on how Dan Haren is helping the Diamondbacks pitching staff this season. And all this time you just thought he was spending his retirement as the Bob Uecker of Twitter.
• Jeff Passan looks at the wonder that is Athletics pitcher Kendall Graveman: a one-pitch starting pitcher.
• Pirates infielder Gift Ngoepe explains what was going through his mind when he made his major league debut.
• You no doubt heard that Miguel Montero and his wife became American citizens on Monday, but also former Cubs reliever Fernando Rodney became a citizen. Congratulations to all of them.
• If you’re a Beatles fan, you’ll want to check out the Sgt. Pepper-themed jerseys for the Toledo Mud Hens.
• Charlotte Wilder writes “Don’t propose at the ballpark” and if you do, you deserve to get rejected. And your rejection deserves to go viral on the internet. So just don’t propose at the ballpark but if you insist, don’t do it on camera.
• Grant Brisbee found a fan with the proper way to heckle an opposing team from the front row without saying a word.
• Here’s one of the most bizarre stories around. A man is honoring his dear, departed friend by flushing his ashes down the toilets of as many ballparks as possible. He wouldn’t do it at Wrigley though because his Mets fan friend hated the Cubs.
• And finally, you probably have never heard of the documentary “It’s A Long Way To October,” which chronicled the Braves 1982 season. But long before “Hard Knocks” and other “behind-the-scenes” sports shows, Braves owner Ted Turner had the idea to document the team’s entire 1982 year. The Braves also won their first NL West title since 1969 that year, which made the show all that much better. Jason Foster has the story of how that documentary got made. There are also several clips from the show, which is a great way to see how much baseball has and has not changed over the past 35 years. (Fans rushing the field in the 12th game of the season? Really?) Heck, it’s worth it to watch just for the cheesy haircuts and primitive graphics.

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