Outside The Confines: Manic Monday

Happy Monday, friends. No pre-amble today, plenty of good baseball ahead this week, but for the moment, let’s revisit some of the best links from over the weekend.

• Joe Girardi might not have been the problem, but Tom Verducci explains why the Phillies had no choice but to fire him.
• Interim manager Rob Thomson talks about the bittersweet day he took up the mantle after Joe Girardi was fired. Story by Sam Blum. (The Athletic subscription required.)

• This might be the ugliest triple play in history.
• When Derek Jeter launched his Twitter account, he used an old fan tweet to do it. Joon Lee spoke to the fan about how surreal his week has been as a result.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt looks at the summer Mike Trout became a superstar. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ben Clemens assesses which good hitters have the worst luck with secondary pitches.
• Max Scherzer got bitten on his pitching hand while walking with one of his dogs, but was quick to dismiss it as anything serious. Story by Zach Koons.
• Zachary Silver looks at how the hottest pitching prospect in baseball might be done for the season.
• And how about a weird minor league walk-off.

• Dan Szymborski looks ahead to the trade deadline.
• Jim Bowden is also thinking of trades, and of the eight teams likely to be sellers. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Miguel Andujar would like to spend a little more time playing, so he has requested a trade from the Yankees. Story by Madison Williams.
• The Angels can’t seem to shake their losing streak, and Rhett Bollinger looks at their ongoing struggle.
• Speaking of the latest Angels loss, it was a Phillies win, and Bryce Harper called the walk-off, according to Todd Zolecki.
• I’m going to be totally honest, I didn’t know this was the rule either.

• Tim Britton and Fabian Ardaya have a little more on that position player pitching snafu. (The Athletic subscription required.)

And tomorrow will be a better day, Buster. Make it so.