FBI and Justice Dept. investigated the St. Louis Cardinals for hacking the Houston Astros system. Crazy story made crazier that its St. Louis that are the perpetrators. There goes their pristine reputation. It will be interesting to see how far up this goes. You have to imagine the GM and company were all in the know, but did they keep themselves isolated/protected or are they exposed?

Adding to the craziness, the Astros caught that there was a breach of their security because some of the hacked information had been posted, anonymously, online last year. Why would anyone bring attention to those actions? Shouldn't they want to keep everything a secret so they could continue hacking and not to get caught?

It is crazy. Apparently the Cardinals did it in retaliation because the Astros hired away Jeff Luhnow as their GM in 2012. But in a way it kind of makes sense since the Cardinals are getting a reputation that they out-work everyone else in the game, so this would seem a bit of a cutting-edge ploy on their part? Kind of like the Patriots are becoming known as in the NFL. If anything like this actually happened, then whoever cleared it in the Cards org is a complete idiot, who should have any supervisory capability stripped from them. I mean seriously, WTF?

Hitting Seattle tomorrow for Bumgarner vs. Felix. Pretty stoked, but not stoked on how this season has worked out in Seattle. Fucking hell, how could have this team regressed as much as it has this year, adding in Nelson Cruz and his 41 RBI, 18 HR and .318 AVG? We're fucked!

Having read Sports Illustrated's preview issue this year, Seattle sure ain't the only ones not performing up to expectations. It's early, but it's tough in a division with the Astros who got red hot really quick. Maybe you can send them back to the National League or something.

Mets about to call up pitching prospect, Steven Matz.

Interesting move. Only a couple weeks ago they were going with a 6 man rotation because they felt they had an abundance of SP. That idea has, naturally, since been shelved but that still leaves them with a full 5 man rotation....unless there has been an injury I am not familiar with. This has me thinking the Mets are positioning themselves to make a trade, which I am guessing will be for a SS or 3B. Ben Zobrist's name has kept popping up in connection with the Mets as of late, which probably wouldn't be a bad thing.

its too late for zobist. they either need zobrist and segura or todd fazier

I want the Cubs to just keep playing the Mets....forever.

I'm glad MLB broke up "Royals-Gate" and we didn't end up with eight KC starters in the All-Star Game. Having Gordon start in the OF, or even being on the team is a bit of a farce, but you Perez, Escobar and Cain pretty much deserved their spots.

I was hoping the M's could make up some ground against the Miggy-less, floundering Detroit team, but they got throttled tonight. A completely hapless team. Robinson Cano admitted to having some kind of lingering stomach problems today. Great! Just on the hook for another 8.5 years there!

Pretty cool clip on public funded stadiums from John Oliver.

Tough spot for the fan though because by fighting their team owner and publicly funding their stadium, they then risk the chance of that team bolting. I'd have to imagine if a smaller market team (say Milwaukee or St. Louis) was required to invest in the stadium they'd probably rather do it in a larger market (say Seattle or Los Angeles) if allowed.

Mets continue to prove to be the most inept organization at handling injuries on the face of the planet. Steven Matz gets injured and sent to the DL because......the Mets allowed him to pitch injured. Every other organization likes to overly coddle their SP to ensure maximum health, the Mets on the other hand.....

John Oliver is great. Even as a pretty hardcore sports fan, I have to agree with him. The taxpayers in Miami just got completely FUCKED though. One of the worst deals for the public in pro sports.

I saw on ESPN that the Cubs start out the second half with five series against losing teams. With the way St. Louis has played and Pittsburgh recently, that's gonna be a great race to watch. I wouldn't be surprised if both Wild Cards come out of that division.

i'm not convinced the cubs get a wildcard.
sure they've played above my expectations, but i just don't think they're playoff good.
Perhaps if Lester wasn't the 3rd best pitcher on the staff right now, or their SS would learn to play defense (or even better, play for another team.) Next year I think they can be a legitimate competitor.

I agree with the point.....these owners should be paying for their stadiums. Especially when they are the ones benefiting from the naming rights, parking income, etc. But teams in smaller markets can have the city/fans by the balls in these situations. From a business perspective, why would an owner choose to continue running a team in a smaller city when a bigger, more marketable city might be available to them. I get there will always be those special owners, who are probably from the small city they own their team in, that might stay loyal. But the transplant owner? If I was an owner and I was required to commit hundreds of millions to billions of dollars to a new stadium and I had the option of doing so in LA or Buffalo, I am going to LA with my money. So I think it then becomes an evil necessity to find ways to incentive the owner to stay, which seems providing public funding is the way to do so.

Miami got screwed, absolutely, but I think that is because no one in Miami ever cared about the Marlins. I went to 1 Marlins game back when they were in Dolphins Stadium and it was the smallest turnout for a baseball game I have ever seen. Probably less than 1,000 people in attendance that day.

Also, heading up to Cincinnati tomorrow to catch a Reds game. Weather report started to predict thunderstorms in the evening, so hoping I don't have to stay over a 2nd night to catch the Tuesday game instead....but at least I have that option available to me if needed.t I unfortunately miss all the good pitching by 1 game...Cueto is going today for Cincy, Arrieta for CHC. I get Lorenzon for Cincy (never heard of him) and Clayton Richard for CHC.

adam the mets are a fucking joke. they could easily set up a trade and get a player like yasiel puig or todd frazier but the front office refuses to do anything. what happens when all of these young guys reach their innings limit and they still cant score runs. its like mets fans are waiting for their savior david wright to come save them but hes been robbing the team for years now.

I expect Mets to end up with Aramis Ramirez because they are the freakin Mets. When talking with Milwaukee they should be targerting a Carlos Gomez/Jean Segura package.

Todd Frazier makes sense too.

...and while I thought health would be the main issue, that ill-conceved Cuddyer contract only looks worse today than it did at the time of the signing. Mansfeld needs to find a way to force the Wilpons to sell the team to an ownership group willing to run the Mets like a big market team..

trading jon neise and a top flight pitcher for segura and gomez would do wonders for that team.

Man, put a fork in Seattle. I've conceded. They can't even get over on the Miggy-less Tigers (who are also hapless). How lucky were they to get both of their series against Detroit without Cabrera and then they just piss it away! Definitely the most disappointing season I can remember. The house of cards fell in 2007, but I wasn't completely sold on that team then (the year they signed Chone Figgins as their big free agent and traded for Cliff Lee to win with "small-ball"). They definitely had me fooled this time. You'd think that adding Cruz and his 40 HR to a 86 win team would do it, but Cano, Seager, Zunino and the bullpen all fucked the dog this year. At least Cruz has lived up to his end of the bargain so far, but it's a small consolation when you have the worst record in the AL in late July and were widely picked to make it to the World Series. Who do they sell? They don't have a lot of marketable assets at this point?

NL Wild Card will come down to four teams; Pitt, Chicago, Mets and SF. And I'll tell ya, it is NOT going to be the Mets. I watched them strand 25 runners on base yesterday. Their offense is just brutal and if there is any team in need of a big trade, it's those guys. Milwaukee just swept Pitt and SF has been extremely streaky this season. I do think Sabean will find the right player to plug a hole for the Giants, like he seemingly does every year, but it might not be enough. I think the Cubs have as good a shot as getting a Wild Card spot as anyone.

that Cano contract was a bad idea before last season, and is only going to be worse from here on out.

Cubs have a nice group of young hitters in Rizzo, Bryant, and Shwarber. If Soler and Russell develop into the players they are hyped up to be, that could be a dangerous lineup. But based on what I saw of them the past couple games I agree with Neutron that they aren't any lock for a WC spot. They seem to be going in the right direction, and with the 2nd WC you can't rule them out, but they just didn't have the look of one of NL's best 7 teams.

Then again.....if their competition is the Mets....

If the Mets could hit... their staff is all sorts of scary. I think in 7 games vs the Cubs, they scored 10 runs (5 were in 1 game.) That team needs bats in the worst way.

As for the Cubs, Rizzo has become a solid hitter, a couple years back I said he'd never be above a .270 guy... Glad I've been wrong.
Bryant looks to be the real deal, and should only get better as he gets a few years older.
Schwarber killed it against the Reds, but that's just one series... we'll see what happens when he gets through the league a time or two.
Russell is the guy they need to live up to his potential, Castro has absolutely no consistency, and is a defensive disaster (.960 fielding%)

It should be interesting to see if any moves are made at the deadline; the Cubs need another starter if they have any hope of making the post-season.

I was at the game where Shwarber single handledly won it for Chicago, which I am sure affected my thoughts. But he looked really comfortable at the plate both games.

Go Twins!

The Cubs are supposed to be in the mix for Hamels. They'll want to see what he does in Chicago tomorrow (of all places) before moving because he last two starts have been disasterous. The Phillies are saying it's because of nerves from all the trade talk. He can probably be had for Castro (which I agree would be addition through subtraction for the Cubs) and another prospect.

Mets trade for Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson. Should help, but probably won't be enough to move the needle for that offense. Both of those guys have surpressed HR totals in that ballpark and power is pretty much Uribe's whole game at this point. Johnson has been really hot both average and power-wise though lately. I picked him up in my main fantasy team and it's really paid off for me. I'm waiting for inevitable cool-down though, because that's the way it always runs with that guy. It's shocking to see him with a .275 average this deep into the season.

The next week should be fun. It's actually a buyer's market for good starting pitching this deadline.

If Castro is major piece to a Hamels deal....I'd want to give up if I was a Phillies fan.

As for the Mets....they still need to make another, bigger move. Personally, I want them to go after Carlos Gonzalez, who has finally found his stroke recently.

edit: he just threw a no-hitter.

Yeah, I have Hamels on my fantasy team and sat him because of the last couple outings. Yeesh.

Anyway, I will back-pedal from my Cubs-in-the-playoffs predictions a bit. I see SF has gone 9-1 in their last ten games and are 1.5 games ahead of Chicago in the Wild Card standings. I thought the records were the other way around, but after going 9-1, that kind of switchero will happen. I'd defintely give the Giants the leg up on the #2 Wild Card spot now. The division is just so much weaker with Colorado, San Diego and Arizona. Pittsburgh will once again get another Wild Card spot and flame out, but they'll get there again.

KC apparently traded for Johnny Cueto today, just to have one of their secondary players in the trade fail their physical, which nixed the trade. I always wonder if one of the teams plants a player like this into trades just to drum-up/excite interest from other clubs. I guess we will see when Cueto does land in another city. KC is apparently going for it though. Their starting rotation is garbage and it's a miracle they have the best record in the AL, in my opinion.