Cup of Coffee: July 15, 2024

Good morning!

It was my birthday yesterday, and three of the first few emailed birthday wishes I received yesterday morning were from (a) a bourbon distillery; (b) the weed dispensary; and (c) my therapist's office. Just in case you wanna know how 51 is going so far.

Anyway, did anything of note happen over the weekend? I was far too busy going around town getting free ice cream sundaes and stuff to check the news. I assume it was slow, though. Mid-July ruts and people on vacation and whatnot.

*opens the news*

Oh . . oh dear. Oh my. Well, I suppose we can talk about that stuff, eh?

And That Happened 

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Orioles 6, Yankees 5: Ben Rice hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to put the Yankees up by two but the O’s came back in the bottom half. They had help in the form of an Anthony Volpe's error which allowed a run to score and which kept the inning alive followed by a Cedric Mullins’ two-run double which was aided by Alex Verdugo playing some bad left field. The O’s avoid a three-game sweep and enter the break one game ahead of New York in the AL East.

Red Sox 5, Royals 4: Rafael Devers and Dominic Smith each hit two-run homers. Devers’ broke a seat, though, so that makes his cooler. Boston takes two of three.

Athletics 18, Phillies 3: The A’s hit eight damn home runs. Three of them came from Lawrence Butler, two each came from Brent Rooker and Seth Brown, and the last one — a grand slam — came from Zack Gelof. Butler drove in six on the day, Rooker five, and Brown three to along from the four from Gelof.

Rockies 8, Mets 5: Homers were coming in bunches yesterday I suppose, as the Rockies hit six. Michael Toglia hit three homers, Ezequiel Tovar homered twice, and Brenton Doyle went deep as well. Colorado snaps the Mets’ five-game winning streak and avoids the three-game sweep.

Rays 2, Guardians 0: Ryan Pepiot (6 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 4K) and three relievers toss a four-hitter. José Siri and Brandon Lowe each hit solo homers. The Rays take two of three.

Tigers 4, Dodgers 3: The Tigers had a big comeback in Saturday’s game and they came back late once again here. In this one it was a function of Dodgers pitcher Yohan Ramírez giving up a leadoff triple to Zach McKinstry and a single to score him to kick off the inning. He then committed errors on two consecutive plays to throw the Tigers a walkoff win. Detroit enters the break winners of eight of their last ten. Five of those wins came against the division leading Guardians and Dodgers.

Marlins 3, Reds 2: Jonah Bride hit a two-run single to give the Marlins the lead in the fifth and Trevor Rogers held the Reds scoreless into the sixth before an Elly De La Cruz two-run homer tied it up. Jake Burger doubled to left with two outs in the eighth, however, and then was singled in by Xavier Edwards to put Miami over. The Marlins end a five-game losing streak and avoid a sweep.

Pirates 9, White Sox 4: Joey Bart hit a three-run homer, Bryan Reynolds also went deep, and Nick Gonzales tripled and drove in two. That’s a three-game sweep and four in a row overall for the Pirates. That’s four straight losses for the White Sox and seven of eight overall.

Rangers 4, Astros 2: Josh Smith was a one-man gang, hitting two two-run homers to take care of all the Rangers offense. Texas has won seven of nine heading into the break.

Brewers 9, Nationals 3: Willy Adames singled in a run, doubled in a run, and hit a two-run homer and Garrett Mitchell hit a two-run shot. The Brewers avoid a four-game losing streak and enter the break 4.5 games ahead of second-place St. Louis.

Cubs 8, Cardinals 3: More home run clusters as Pete Crow-Armstrong and Christopher Morel each homered twice and Tomas Nido and Ian Happ each went deep themselves. The Cubs enter the break winners of six of eight.

Giants 3, Twins 2: San Francisco held a two-run lead for much of the game before Manuel Margo tied things up in the top of the ninth with a two-run double. The Giants won it with an unusual walkoff in the bottom half. That came when Mike Yastrzemski led off the inning with a triple and then advanced home with the winning run when Brooks Lee threw the ball away. The Giants take two of three.

Angels 3, Mariners 2: The M’s scored their two runs in the sixth and seventh but then Jo Adell hit a three-run homer in the eighth to put the Halos ahead for good. A tough luck no-decision for Logan Gilbert who tossed seven shutout innings while allowing only two hits and striking out nine.

Atlanta 6, Padres 3: Travis d’Arnaud had two home runs and drove in four and Chris Sale picked up his MLB-leading 13th win after allowing one run over four. Atlanta takes two of three from the Padres but enters the break eight and a half back of Philly.

Blue Jays 8, Diamondbacks 7: Toronto had a 7-0 lead by the fourth, blew it by giving up a seven-run fifth, but got their back bacon saved thanks to a Vlad Guerrero Jr. solo homer in the seventh. The Jays avoid the sweep and, mercifully, make it to the break.

The Daily Briefing

The Royals picked up a reliever

The Kansas City Royals acquired reliever Hunter Harvey from the Washington Nationals on Saturday. In return Washington received the 39th pick in yesterday’s draft — it’s a competitive balance pick and those are tradable — and third baseman Cayden Wallace.

Harvey, 29, has pitched in 43 games for the Nats this season. He has a 2-4 record with a 4.20 ERA (95 ERA+) and has struck out 50 and walked 12 in 45 innings. He’s been much better than that the past several seasons, however, and it would appear he’s been hit-unlucky in 2024. A change of scenery and infield defense could do wonders for him. Either way, a pretty solid pickup for a Royals team which is hoping to shore up its bullpen as it contends for a Wild-Card.

Wallace, who will turn 23 in a couple of weeks, was a second-round pick of the Royals in the 2022 draft out of the University of Arkansas. He’s a corner guy with experience at third base and left and right field. He seems . . . fine? I dunno. He was hitting .282/.350/.427 at Double-A this season before straining an oblique. Some plate patience and a little pop but not a ton. You never know with guys like that. Sometimes they develop, oftentimes they don’t.

Dustin May out for the season after undergoing an unexpected surgery

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May has not pitched since May 2023 because of flexor tendon surgery in his pitching arm. He was expected to begin a minor-league rehab assignment soon and pitch in games at some point in the second half but that’s all over now. Why? Because holy crap, that’s why. From the Dodgers statement:

"While at dinner on Wednesday, Dodger right-hander Dustin May experienced sudden pain in his esophagus and stomach that continued after he returned home. He contacted the medical staff and ultimately underwent successful surgery on his esophagus. May will not return to pitch for the Dodgers this season."  

May was once one of the top pitching prospects in baseball, but injuries have limited him to 191.2 big league innings going back to 2019 and only 122 innings between 2021 and 2023 across both the majors and minors. He can become a free agent after the 2025 campaign so, assuming he is healthy enough to go next year, he still has a chance to contribute to the Dodgers and to his future financial well being next season.

Nike tells teams they can’t wear Negro Leagues tribute uniforms

On Saturday the Detroit Tigers held their annual Negro Leagues Tribute game event. For every single one of them before this year the Tigers took the field on that day wearing the uniforms of the Detroit Stars of the Negro National League. Not this year, however. They wore their normal home whites while playing the Dodgers. This statement was issued around the time the game began:

Statement from the Detroit Tigers

The Detroit Tigers are proud to host the 22nd annual Negro Leagues Weekend at Comerica Park. We believe it’s one of the most impactful events at the ballpark each year, recognizing the incredible contributions of Negro Leagues players, coaches, and executives. We have many activations at the ballpark this weekend, including the Negro Leagues Legacy Luncheon, both the Passing of the Bat and the Willie Horton African American Legacy Award ceremonies, and a Detroit Stars hat giveaway for fans. One change from the past years is that we are unable to wear Detroit Stars uniforms due to changes in league regulations, which also applies to Fiesta Tigres and other special event uniforms. We have been thrilled with the ways Major League Baseball has celebrated the Negro Leagues this season, and the Tigers look forward to continuing this tradition of honoring the legacy of the great Negro Leagues and African American ballplayers each season.

“League regulations” presumably refers to memos sent to every team that Nike and Fanatics could barely produce the regular game uniforms this year so they put the kibosh on all the special uniforms. Well, except for the City Connects. They had to make room for those because they sell those babies for full retail with no diversion of charity money or whatever. Priorities matter, after all. If you wanna celebrate baseball and American history, pick up a book, nerd.

The miseducation of the Calcaterra boys

Found this photo over the weekend. I’m thinking it was 1982-ish. I suppose it could’ve been 1983 but I can’t remember. Either way, we took an RV trip from Michigan through Ontario across to Niagara Falls, then on to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame with a few other random stops.

My pushing-80 years old great uncle Harry and great aunt Ruth came along with us too, so the RV was crowded. Trips back then were just different, man. A couple of years before this the four of us and another couple drove all the way from Flint, Michigan to Key Largo, Florida, with the six of us in a green, mid-70s Buick Electra with a cooler full of sandwiches and sodas and stuff crammed in. For most of America the 1970s lasted until about 1984 or so, and these were the most 1970s-style trips you could imagine.

As for the sign in the photo: people sometimes ask me about why I’m wired the way I am politically. I think I’m going to start telling them that it all started when authorities began lying to me about the institutions I hold dear.

Other Stuff

The Trump shooting

Whatever the ultimate motivation for the attempt on Trump’s life turns out to be, it’s pretty easy to do the math when it comes to the aggravating factors which made such an act of violence more likely to happen:

• As I’m writing this, there is no known motive for the shooting yet, but the explanation is likely to be either political in nature, a function of the perpetrator’s mental health, or some combination of the two;
• As to the former possibility: we’re a country which has become extraordinarily polarized and which has turned what once were mere policy disagreements into Us vs. Them absolutism;
• Meanwhile, extremists have worked hard to normalize political violence over the past several years, encouraging that violence and calling those people who would murder public officials “heroes” who do not deserve punishment. We are likewise awash with political rhetoric that speaks of carnage, bloodbaths, retribution, and the dehumanization of one’s opponents;
• As to the latter possibility: we’re also a country which makes obtaining proper mental health treatment damn nigh impossible to access for vast swaths of the populace, particularly young adults, which makes it far more likely that sick people will become alienated and isolated people and that alienated and isolated people will become dangerous, to themselves or to others; finally
• We’re a country awash in guns and gun culture which has gone comically out of its way to ensure that anyone who wants to purchase and use high-powered weapons for any reason or no reason whatsoever can do so and no one can say shit about it. We have a long, bloody chronicle of what that hath wrought.

It’s not hard to guess what kind of soup you’re going to end up with when you throw those ingredients into the pot.

Finally, however much I would like Donald Trump to not become president again, no good can come from or could have possibly come from such an act of violence, successfully carried our or otherwise.

Hopefully that’s obvious to everyone morally and ethically speaking. But it’s also the case strategically.

Violence is ugly in practice and unpredictable as a tool. It leads to vicious cycles of recrimination, demonization, and guilt by association. All the while competing claims of righteousness, victimization, and even martyrdom are deployed to muddy the waters. Political violence is a weapon over which its wielder has far, far less control than he or she could possibly imagine, it almost uniformly fails to achieve the ends its wielder predicted, and it always — always — creates side effects and unintended consequences which hurt far more people and far different people than the wielder of the weapon ever envisioned.

Whatever else one can say about this, democracy is hanging by a goddamn thread in this country right now. Injecting even more violence into the system than it is already experiencing weakens it even more. We must beat our opponents in the court of public opinion and at fair and free ballot boxes and we must punish wrongdoers via the good faith use of the criminal justice system. Those are the only legitimate options. In all else lies madness.

To that end . . .

People magazine? Who knew?

It's truly astounding that the most straightforward, no-nonsense analysis of Project 2025 — the right's Christian nationalist/fascist vision for America if Trump wins the election — has come from People magazine:

A sweeping proposal for how Donald Trump should handle a second term in office has sparked concern for its implications on the role of federal government and its calls to eliminate a number of basic human rights.

The 2025 Presidential Transition Project, more commonly known as Project 2025, released a 900-page manifesto last year titled "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise." The policy guidebook — compiled by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation in partnership with more than 100 other conservative organizations — lays out a far-right, Christian nationalist vision for America that would corrode the separation of church and state, replace nonpartisan government employees with Trump loyalists and bolster the president's authority over independent agencies.

While the allegedly respectable political press talked about nothing other than the horse race until those shots rang out on Saturday, People is doing the important thing and is explaining the stakes. People is telling its readers, without softening it or both-sidesing it, that there is an organized movement of Trump-connected Christian nationalists who have written the blueprint Trump will use to usher in an anti-democratic, fascist/authoritarian government during which he and they will do everything possible to immunize from future electoral control. And not only that, it’s clearly explaining how and why Trump is lying about it and how you know he is lying about it:

While Project 2025 is not formally a part of Trump's campaign platform, it has been led and supported by several influential people in his orbit. The project's top leaders all worked in Trump's White House and a number of the manifesto's contributors also served in the Trump administration, including but not limited to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and imprisoned former trade adviser Peter Navarro . . . Equally damaging to Trump's claim that he is unfamiliar with Project 2025 is that he worked closely with the Heritage Foundation when he was first elected president. He was provided a similar "Mandate for Leadership" back in 2016, and enacted nearly two-thirds of the group's proposals within his first year in office.

It’s insane to me that neither the New York Times, Washington Post, nor any other part of the mainline political press will explain things like this. That they treat discussion of the truly frightening stakes of this election as tacky or beneath them somehow. They act as if the truly important thing is assuming a knowing, insider stance which treats this election like sports rather than the critically and direly important matter that it is.

Bravo, People.

By the way . . .

I wrote the previous section before the shooting on Saturday. But I see absolutely no reason to see the shooting as some sort of mandate to stand down and stop talking about this campaign and the stakes involved.

While I appreciate that Democratic leaders have spent the past two days condemning political violence — someone has to — Republican leaders wasted no time in politicizing this act of violence, cynically and disingenuously blaming President Biden and Democrats in general for it.

Donald Trump remains the Republican nominee for president. He also remains a dangerous threat to Democracy and he must be defeated. The shooting doesn’t change that in any way whatsoever.

RIP to, well, a lot of ‘em. 

It was not a good weekend to be a 1980s/early 90s icon, and I suppose you could include Trump in that. Anyway:

• Dr. Ruth Westheimer died on Saturday. You probably don’t need me to explain Dr. Ruth’s legacy to any of you. I will say, however, that her radio show was syndicated on WWCK 105 FM in Flint, Michigan in the early-to-mid 80s and it sure as hell opened the eyes of 10-11 year old Craig;
• Richard Simmons also died on Saturday. You likewise don’t need me to talk too much about Simmons, I figure. My strongest feeling about him right now: He spent many years being the butt of jokes, but looking back at his heyday as a public figure with older eyes, the most striking thing about Simmons was the genuine care, love, and empathy he had for the people he was trying to reach with his message of health, fitness, and positivity. I don’t know much about him personally, but I bet he was happy to take whatever people wanted to dish out about him if it meant reaching and helping more people. That’s just the stuff of being a good person; and
• Finally, Shannen Doherty died. More of a 1990s figure than an 80s figure, but someone many of us first encountered when we were on the younger side of things. She did some stuff I liked — “Heathers,” and early “90210” — and did some stuff I didn’t care for or which wasn’t really aimed at me. She also got a lot of press for being “difficult” and what have you. I have no idea if she was or she wasn’t but I know a lot of women in entertainment get cast as villains for doing things no says boo about when men do it, so I tend to give so-called “difficult” actors the benefit of the doubt until I learn otherwise in something approaching a definitive manner.

Death came for Dr. Ruth at a ripe old age. It came for Simmons at a less-old age but one where it’s not necessarily uncommon to see it. It came for Doherty far too young.

It comes for us all eventually, of course. Appreciate one another while everyone has life and you’ll leave nothing to regret.

Have a great day everyone.

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