LEADING OFF: All-Star rosters, London finale, UMPS CARE
A look at what's happening around the majors today:
STARRY NIGHT
Pitchers and reserves for the All-Star Game on July 9 in Cleveland will be announced beginning at 5:30 p.m. EDT. Houston ace Justin Verlander and Dodgers lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu are probably among the locks to make it, but as always there will surely be a few players who get snubbed. It will be interesting to see if Indians fan favorite Francisco Lindor gets an American League roster spot with the game in his home ballpark. And somebody needs to represent last-place Miami on the NL squad. The elected starters at each position were revealed Thursday.
IS IT ALWAYS LIKE THIS?
One day after the first Major League Baseball game in Europe was a long and wild slugfest, the Yankees and Red Sox conclude their two-game series in London with a 10:10 a.m. EDT start. New York outlasted its rival 17-13 on Saturday in a game that took 4 hours, 42 minutes — 3 minutes shy of the record for a nine-inning game. "Well, cricket takes like all weekend to play, right? So, I'm sure a lot of people are used to it," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "We should remind them there's not 30 runs every game."
HEY BLUE, GREAT CALL!
Major league umpire Chris Guccione invited a teenage ump who was involved in a game that ended in an adult brawl to attend the Dodgers-Rockies series finale at Coors Field.
Guccione and his crew just wanted to show their support for 13-year-old Josh Cordova, who found himself in the middle of a recent fight in Lakewood, Colorado. Authorities said the skirmish at a game between teams of 7-year-olds began when parents and coaches disagreed with the teen's decisions. The video of the conflict went viral.
"It is an extremely hard job to be an umpire and keep the peace and to make the calls," said Guccione, who is from Colorado and in his 20th season as a big league ump. "I just want Josh and his family to have a great time at the ballpark."
The family was brought in through UMPS CARE Charities, which is the official philanthropy of MLB umpires.
"The support has been amazing," said Jennifer Carriera, Josh's mother. "We are really looking forward to this experience."
DOWN UNDER
Left-hander Lewis Thorpe makes his major league debut for the Minnesota Twins in Chicago against the White Sox. Even better, he'll have his family watching after they arrived from Australia. Thorpe didn't realize his parents were making the trip, so he got a nice surprise after Saturday's game. Twins director of team travel Mike Herman told him to put on some shorts and follow him out of the clubhouse. "I've never seen my dad cry like that," Thorpe said. "It was just a surreal feeling." Lucas Giolito (10-2, 2.87 ERA) pitches for Chicago.
TOUGH STRETCH
Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell (4-7, 5.01 ERA) looks to get back on track when Tampa Bay hosts the Texas Rangers. Snell allowed seven runs and 11 hits over 3 1/3 innings Tuesday in a loss at Minnesota and has an 11.94 ERA over his last five starts. Right-hander Jesse Chavez (3-2) will pitch for the Rangers.
