Day 137

• Welcome to Manfred-Ball!!!

Here's how the Royals beat the Indians 3-2 in 10 yesterday.

They get the Manfred Runner On Second.
Sac bunt.
Sac fly.
Walk.
Thrown Out Stealing.

NO official at-bats in the entire sequence!

• An update from MaxPreps, including a quite good map on the situation, indicates the following for high school football this Fall:

1. Hawaii still has all interscholastic activities on the suspended list.
2. Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, Vermont, DC, and Southern California will not play football until 2021.
3. Oregon, Arizona, Wisconsin, New York, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, the two largest public school divisions in Texas, and Texas' private schools will operate on delayed schedules of some form in 2020, as of last Friday.  (A delay is also asserted for Alaska, but nothing is official there yet.)
4. Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire have not determined anything yet.
5. All other states, plus the four smallest public school divisions in Texas and schools in Northern California, plan to try to have their seasons as normal, though many states will not have state championships this year.

So 5 states, southern California and DC are going to 2021.

9 states plus parts of Texas will delay.

9 states haven't announced a thing yet.

Which leaves 25 states, northern California, and parts of Texas demanding a regular start.

• Early major injury:  Justin Verlander is done for the year two weeks (earlier reports had him out the year) with an elbow injury.
• Mike Ditka has told all anthem protesters to leave his fucking country.  Some of us would LIKE TO, but can't, you fat fuck...    
• Today was the last day of the English Premier League, and the big-money teams win again as Manchester United pips Leicester City out to the Europa League and takes their Champions' League spot.
• And now we've lost Olivia de Havilland this weekend.  What the fuck, world???     
• And here's MLB Uh-Oh Number Two:  FOUR members of the Miami Marlins, including Jose Urena, who was supposed to starting-pitch today's game, have tested positive for the coronavirus.  This isn't going to work, people!    
• Through the first three-game series with Seattle:  Houston Bean Count:  3.  Two Saturday, one today.  (Houston won 2 of 3)
• Two championships in American pro sports today:  The Boston Cannons won the one-week Major League LaCrosse championship for the season.
• And the Houston Dash won the women's soccer tournament of the NWSL.  That was the NWSL season for this year. 
• Olbermann did get tonight's Thurbercast out, and also talks of the Marlins and their outbreak: 

#Thurbercast No. 83 includes his epic medicine cabinet disaster story “Nine Needles,” why the Miami Marlins’ COVID outbreak could be the beginning of the end of the baseball season, and my saga of when fabled WNEW morning man Ted Brown wanted to kill me.https://t.co/T4CuYJMMcQ

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) July 27, 2020

• Part of the NFL's protocol is that players will forfeit all their pay if they take part in any "high-risk" activities away from team facilities.
• Six NFL players, including two veterans, have been placed on a new COVID-19 reserve list for exposure to the virus.  Teams can't say they tested positive, and can put players on the list if it is believed they have been exposed. 
• The Marlins have delayed their return to Florida for their home opener. 
• Rio de Janeiro has already cancelled it's world-famous New Year's Eve Carnival due to the virus. 
• Ah, baseball in 2020...  Where a balls and strikes ejection requires an argument at social distancing plus masks for both manager and umpire. 
• The Atlantic has quoted two infectious disease experts to state that there already appears to be an outbreak of the virus on the Florida Marlins.  Ship's sinking fast!    
• Hoo boy.