A’s starter J.T. Ginn took a no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth against the Angels, with the A’s up 1-0. Ginn gave up a single to the first batter he faced, to lose the no-hitter, then a home run to the next batter, to lose the game. 
Milwaukee beat the Cubs, 5-2, this evening, to take over first place in the NL Central. The Brewers are on a hot streak, winning ten of their last twelve.
Milwaukee starter Jacob Misiorowski had another great game: 6 IP (and the win), 3 hits, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk, no earned runs. Miz has now gone four straight starts without giving up a run; his ERA for the season is down to 1.89, his WHIP is 0.877, and he’s leading the NL with 88 Ks.
Ryan Jeffers broke his left hamate bone. Probably out about 2 months. As a free agent next season he was probably being dangled as trade bait. Now if he is back before the deadline he might not be so attractive as a rental.
He was hitting really well also: .295 with a .408 OBP.
Tough one for the Twins. They are still in the Wildcard Hunt.
I recently signed up for Boxscore - it sends me an email each morning with the boxscore, just like from the morning paper. It is DELIGHTFUL. I know - yet another email being sent to your inbox - but I love it (for now).
Dodgers and Padres have split their series so far with two nail-biters. Both teams are playing well and battling for first place. Tonight should be quite the battle as well. Go Dodgers!
With the Cardinals and Cubs only a half-game behind.
The Cardinals continue to surprise fans during their tank and rebuild season. The youngsters are playing well enough to make up for their thin pitching staff. A third of the way through the season they’re nine games over .500, and the fans are starting to come back to the ballpark.
I still don’t think they can maintain this pace all season, but at least the team is fun to watch.
I was very impressed watching the Cards play the Dodgers a week or two ago. I thought they looked really good.
After tonight, the Dodgers play Milwaukee next. Looks like things aren’t going to get any easier for us.
Brewers complete the sweep of the Cubs, holding Chicago to just two hits in a 5-0 shutout. Starter Kyle Harrison went seven innings, and now both he and Jacob Misiorowski have ERAs below 2.
I learned today that one of my bosses at an old job played baseball collegiately at Notre Dame: not only was his coach Pat Murphy (now manager of the Brewers), but one of his teammates was Craig Counsell (former manager of the Brewers, now manager of the Cubs).
and now we have a “tarp-free” area in the bleachers to encourage them
Hopefully, the Cubs can break out of their funk. They’ve lost 6 in a row (right after two 10 game winning streaks), and 8 of their last 10.
They’re just not playing with any fire right now.
The Brewers now have a 2.5-game lead over the Cubs and Cardinals. Milwaukee has gone 12-2 since May 6th, but even with the Cubs’ recent swoon, the entire NL Central is still over .500.
Yanks have played below .500 since Judge went into his slump. They fell 5.5 games behind Tampa.
This weekend’s games were postpone vs. Tampa. Lots of steady rain both days.
I wouldn’t have predicted the Nats’ pitching staff would hold Atlanta to one hit, and win 2-0.
So, we are almost one-third of the way into the season. Are the A’s the biggest surprise so far? Only one game over .500 but leading their division.
That’s certainly an eye-opener, but I would also note that the Rays and Braves have the two best records in baseball right now.
And as of this morning the entire NL Central is above .500. If I were a betting man. . . it wouldn’t matter because no one would give me odds on that happening.
The A’s being a game over .500 isn’t very surprising. The entire division sucking ass is suprising.
With only 5 teams over 500 the entire American League is surprising.
The Braves being good isn’t surprising. How good they are is surprising.
How good the entire NL Central is doing is surprising.