Donald’s witches opened a new coven in Atlanta this past week. He has more witches after him than were ever burned at the stake. His man crush, Vlade Putin, has his own swirling vortex of misdeeds and deceit. In 2020, Trumpy tried to finesse the Georgia general election result into a victory for him. He is the author of the Art of Deal, so he figured he was just trying to close this deal any way possible. Do not surrender even when you don’t have the votes? Putin has his own sorcerers stirring their cauldron since the Wagner dude went down in his private jet. Yard staff cannot spell his name so we will call him Curly. Curly was the stooge that started the mutiny against the Kremlin. All was seemingly forgiven until they blew up his plane last week. Putin says he had nothing to do with it and the west is to blame. In the immortal words of George Costanza, “Remember, it is not a lie if you believe it.”
Relocating to the PNW for the summer, has been a geospatial magical mystery tour on many levels. While 90% of the US witnessed climate change, on San Juan Island the windows are open, and the Rose is chilled. Yard staff had no idea that Pete Carroll had drafted Zach Carbonnet to play for the Seahawks. Zach is tearing it up as he did the past two seasons at UCLA. The Hawks also signed an undrafted Jake Bobo. Bobo was a downfield warrior in Chip’s offense after transferring from Duke. Seattle still has a daily sports page and Bobo is getting some ink. PNW Little League made it to LLWS Semi Finals which enthralled the region. The Yard was cheering for El Segundo, CA the eventual World Champion. We worked in El Segundo for five years so this was not a bandwagon situation. And not to be left out of the local sports discussion, the Mariners have stormed into the lead in the AL West. These young Mariners vaulted the state of TX to tie for the lead at this moment. Whether they can keep pace with Dusty’s Astros or Bochy’s Rangers will be their sojourn. Houston and Texas were busy at the trade deadline. The Mariners were not sure if they were buying or selling and ended up doing little. September gets interesting. The Padres wealthy starters will get extra rest this fall without the stress of playing for the championship. The Giants and Arizona are keeping their fans marginally interested much like their teams. In the AL race, go Mariners!
The Little League WS launches every summer in Williamsport, PA. It was first televised in 1963. It is one of the Yard’s favorite August events along with the celebration of my birth. ABC/ESPN has done a wonderful job sharing the games and the stories. Cody Bellinger starred in the PSWLL. Michael Conforto played in the Little League WS, College WS and MLB WS between 2004-2015! Harper, Joey Gallo, and Kris Bryant played LL in Las Vegas at the same time but did not make this little dance. George and Ken Brett both started playing baseball in El Segundo The long-haired lefthander from Texas was dynamic in defeat. He will be a rock star when the next school year commences. Louis Lappe could be someone to watch in the next decade. He hit 5 HRs in the LLWS including the walk-off World Championship winner. He lasered it right out on the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the sixth. Few of these youngsters will still be playing baseball a decade from now but this weekend is already beyond their dreams. All hail El Segundo no longer the second but now World Champions, real World Champions.
Extra Innings: Markus Lynn Betts aka Mookie is the MVP this year in the National without question. Mookie was having a pretty good year until the season got real. At a time when the rest of the NL west is fading, Betts is a warrior. Betts was batting .279 on 8/1/23. He is hitting .315 tonight. It is not easy improving your batting average 26 points in August. He does it with speed, power, and a megawatt smile. Everyone stops whatever they are eating or drinking when he comes to bat because he is always exciting even when striking out. Against the Padres this year, when the Padres were still a thing, Mookie threw out a runner at third in the 7th in a flash. It seemed like an optical illusion, but the replay proved out. Then in the 9th with the game in the balance, Mookie was moved to second base and made a brilliant pivot and throw to first base to end the game. He would end the Padres season a few weeks later with a Grand Salami. With Freddie batting .328 right behind him, he has ten leadoff home runs in 2023. They are the best first two hitters in any lineup and boast a +152-run differential. The playoffs will be exciting again for the driven. Mookie has nothing to prove but he plays every day like he has everything to prove.
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