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The First Pitch: July 6, 2025
It’s a bad day for the New York Yankees. They lose pitcher Clarke Schmidt (4-4, 3.32 ERA in 14 starts) for the rest of the year and a good chunk of 2026 to Tommy John surgery, Anthony Volpe sends a throw-around, inning-ending toss to an unsuspecting Aaron Judge—hitting him in the side of the head—and they suffer their sixth straight defeat, 12-6 to the crosstown Mets at Citi Field.
Judge, struck by Volpe’s throw at the end of the fourth, suffers a cut near his right eye but continues to play on, going hitless in four at-bats. On the Mets’ side, Pete Alonso (see below) crushes two home runs with five RBIs, while Brandon Nimmo belts his second grand slam in four days.
The Yankees, who’ve lost 16 of their last 22 games, are now tied for second with the Tampa Bay Rays—three games back of Toronto, which has won seven straight.
A day shy of the 20th anniversary of his major league debut, former closer Bobby Jenks loses his fight with stomach cancer in Portugal at the age of 44. The hefty (275 pounds) right-hander quickly emerged during that first campaign with the Chicago White Sox, becoming the team closer by September and saving four postseason games as the Sox won their first world title in 88 years. He would save 40+ games over each of the next two seasons, making the AL All-Star team in both, but a gradual decline and a series of Twitter “debates” between himself, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and his son Oney hastened his exit out of Chicago after 2010; he pitched one more season with the 2011 Red Sox, where he crashed under the weight of numerous injuries.
Jenks is second on the White Sox’ all-time saves list with 173, behind Bobby Thigpen’s 201.
The records—the bad kind—keep piling up for the Colorado Rockies. In suffering a 6-2 defeat to the White Sox, the Rockies ensure their 17th straight home series loss, tying a major league record also held by the 1916-17 Philadelphia Athletics. The Rockies had earlier set the mark for the most consecutive series defeats regardless of location at 21, before sweeping the Marlins at Miami in early June.
Despite the Rockies’ awful showing (they’re now at 20-69) and with the next-worst White Sox (30-59) in town, the series’ first two games at Coors Field have drawn sellout crowds near 50,000. Why? Fireworks, of course.
Just five days after the Minnesota Twins became the 10th major league franchise to lose their 10,000th game, the Boston Red Sox become the 10th to win their 10,000th. The milestone is achieved in Washington, as the Red Sox drub the Nationals, 10-3. Walker Buehler earns the win in his first July start after a miserable June, while Jarren Duran—who led the majors last year with 14 triples—becomes the first MLB player this year to reach 10.
The Red Sox join the Yankees as the only two AL teams with 10,000 lifetime wins. Cleveland, with 9,892, is third on the AL list; they’re expected to reach 10,000 sometime next season, work stoppage notwithstanding.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Hitters Edition)
4-3-2-5—Pete Alonso, New York Mets
It’s the 24th multi-homer game for the Polar Bear, extending his franchise-record total—while his 246 career bombs pull him closer to Darryl Strawberry’s 252 for the most in Mets history. One wonders why it’s going to be Freddie Freeman starting at first base for the NL All-Stars and not Alonso, who’s got twice the homers and a whole bunch more RBIs—not to mention a batting average that’s not far apart (.290, to Freeman’s .308). Between this and the radio silence surrounding Alonso while a free-agent this past winter, the lack of respect is deafening.
Congrats, Your Box Score Line Was the Best (Pitchers Edition)
7-2-0-0-0-8—Luis Castillo, Seattle
That would be Luis Miguel Castillo, not his Seattle teammate Luis Felipe Castillo of earlier this year, recently released by Baltimore. Now that we have that cleared up, the remaining (and must better) Castillo clamped down on the visiting Pirates, earning his first win over his last eight starts with a 1-0 victory. Castillo’s 3.31 season ERA more than suggests that the Mariners’ hitters haven’t been pulling their weight for him when he’s on the mound—and frankly, that’s been a common problem for him going back to his earlier days in Cincinnati. How else does one explain a career 78-81 record and 3.54 ERA?
It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today
1936: In Cleveland, 17-year-old Bob Feller makes a sensational debut for the Indians by striking out eight St. Louis batters in three innings of an exhibition contest against the Cardinals.
1983: After losing 11 straight and 19 of its last 20 All-Star Games, the American League erupts and demolishes the National League, 13-3, at Chicago’s Comiskey Park—exactly 50 years to the day of the very first All-Star Game, also played at Comiskey. The door-slamming moment for the AL comes with a seven-run third inning—the exclamation point of which is a grand slam by Angels outfielder Fred Lynn, making his ninth straight (and last) All-Star appearance. Atlee Hammaker of the San Francisco Giants allows all seven AL runs in the third, but Cincinnati’s Mario Soto, who allowed a run in each of the first two innings, is charged with the loss.
1986: Atlanta power man Bob Horner blasts four home runs against the Montreal Expos to become the 11th player—and the eighth within a nine-inning contest—to accomplish the feat. All this, and the Braves still lose, 11-8. Three of Horner’s blasts are solo shots, the other good for three runs.
2007: Playing in their 125th major league season, the Phillies become the first team to reach 10,000 all-time losses when the Cardinals hammer them at home, 10-2.
You Say It’s Your Birthday
Happy birthday to:
Detroit pitcher Keider Montero (25)
Tampa Bay second baseman Brandon Lowe (31), who’s hit safely in 20 straight games to tie a Rays record; slugger of 145 home runs including 39 in 2021; 2019 All-Star
White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi (31), 2022 All-Star
San Diego third baseman Manny Machado (33), seven-time All-Star, recipient of two Gold Gloves; four-time accumulator of 100+ RBIs
Lance Johnson (62), center fielder of 14 seasons; five-time league leader in triples; 327 career steals
Willie Randolph (71), six-time All-Star second baseman, five of those playing for Yankees
Jason Thompson (71), first baseman of 208 home runs; three-time All-Star
Born on this date:
Steve O’Neill (1891), 17-year catcher with 1,259 career hits; hit .333 for Cleveland in 1920 World Series
Roy Hartzell (1881), Deadball Era utility man; 1,146 career hits
Shameless Link of the Day
As the Rockies threaten to erase the Philadelphia Athletics of the mid-1910s from the record book, you may ask: Just how bad were those A’s? Find out what started it all here.
Join Us on X and BlueSky
Besides our growing and active presence on X, TGG has spread its social media wings to BlueSky for those who’ve found the X culture too toxic. For those who are wondering, we provide the same posts on both platforms, and they’re non-political. We’re just talking baseball.
Meanwhile, we’ve given up our fight trying to reactivate our Facebook page, which was hacked last year. The page remains up but is frozen in time, as we are unable to access it—and Facebook, in all its infinite lack of wisdom, continues to provide absolutely no customer support in the matter as they literally have none. All the more reason to join us on X and BlueSky.
And Now For Something Completely Different From TGG Co-Founder Eric Gouldsberry
From 1975-78, my father, Ray Gouldsberry, took photographs of the original San Jose Earthquakes soccer team, an ingeniously marketed collection of colorful players embraced by a growing, sports-starved community which constantly sold out ancient, cozy Spartan Stadium. Shortly after my father’s passing in 2019, I took the negatives of all the precious, invaluable photos he snapped, scanned them, and put together Our Life & Times with the Earthquakes: Images and Memories from the Glory Days of San Jose’s Original Pro Soccer Team. It’s not only a tribute to the Earthquakes and the North American Soccer League, but to my father for capturing all the wonderful memories we shared during our time as season ticket holders of the team through its entire existence (1974-84).
Much like baseball’s Deadball Era, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes looks at a similar era in soccer history when the game in America was boldly attempting to blaze its own trail clad in flamboyance and imperfection, giving the NASL vivid character. As with those early times of baseball, historical images from the NASL remain scarce and elusive, making Ray Gouldsberry’s photographic collection of the Earthquakes and other star NASL players all the more cherished.
Although the Earthquakes are the primary focus of Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes, the book also spotlights the vibrant and turbulent history of the NASL and its legendary list of stars such as Pelé, Giorgio Chinaglia and George Best (who briefly played for the Earthquakes), all through my father’s photos and the treasure trove of memorabilia I collected during those years.
Formatted at 8.25” x 8.25”, running 200 pages plus cover and containing over 200 photos, 100 images of memorabilia, and a foreword by former Quake and U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Johnny Moore, Our Life and Times with the Earthquakes is available for purchase on Amazon. Read and enjoy!
To Whom It May Concern
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