Day 476

• I almost forgot:  HAPPY BOBBY BONILLA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!
• And hey, the new owners of the Mets seem to want to embrace it!  The plan was actually put forward to allow Bonilla, every July 1st or thereabouts, to be able to throw out the first pitch at Citi Field, be given an oversized check for his contracted amount of over $1,000,000 every July 1st, and be taken for a lap around the field!!  But rats, the two parties could not come to arrangements to do it this year.  DAMMIT...  Bonilla has lauded the new ownership, and will probably eventually do more to celebrate the Ultimate Moment of LOLMets. 
• What they HAVE DONE, however, is decided to turn Citi Field into an AirBnB, ostensibly hosted by Bonilla, where a group of 4 could actually sleep over in the field, use the gym and shower facilities, get tickets to a game in late July, and throw out the first pitch!
• Thank God.  The NCAA, foiled again.  Mississippi State had the kryptonite and won 9-0 in the third and final game to win the college baseball championship over Vanderbilt.
• And the NBA, foiled as well.  We appear to be heading for an Atlanta-Phoenix Finals.  Let THAT process.  Phoenix advanced last night -- it is not believed The Greek Freak will return for Milwaukee, down 3-2 to Atlanta in their series... Talk about throwing in the towel on your season.   
• Benoit Paire is in a lot of trouble with officials at Wimbledon.  After dropping the first two sets of his first-round match, Paire loses interest in the match completely, eventually drawing a foul call for lack of effort down 5-0 30-0 in the third.  He then goes over to the umpire, goes off that he has no interest in performing for these fans (including at least one who yelled at Paire that he was wasting everybody's time), and then waves off the umpire in disgust as he retakes the court.
• Paire is apparently only ranked due to a ratings freeze for COVID-19 purposes, and is actually, according to one tennis fan's research, 2-17 in competitive matches this season on the ATP Tour.
• No current word yet on any further sanctions for the Frenchman.
• My anonymous friend, as a baseball historian, makes a very good point.  Though the Sticky Stuff enforcement appears to be playing a role in the increases in offense, it appears the juiced balls are back out as well...  Some might've thought the balls would be juiced after the All-Star Break, but MLB couldn't wait any longer.
• Evidence?  Just from last night's scoreboard:

15 games last night.

• 10 had double-digit run totals.  Seven had at least 15!!! 
• Three others had eight, one had seven.
• The Cubs scored seven in the top of the first in Milwaukee.  By the end of the fourth, they had given up a five run inning and an eight run inning on the way to losing 15-7.
• The Angels got seven in the ninth to win 11-8 over the reeling Yankees.
• Trea Turner hit for the cycle (tying the MLB record with doing so for the third time) in a 15-8 win over the Rays.
• The White Sox hit 6 home runs to blast the Twins 13-3.
• But nothing topped what Atlanta did to the Mets -- 20-2!!  Fourth time in franchise history the Mets gave up 20.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...  

• The New York Times, today, completed a nearly-six-month investigation into the Capitol insurgency riot on January 6th, unveiling a 40-minute video on the entire incident.
• La Liga and UEFA officials are officially blocking a new Barcelona deal for Leo Messi due to Financial Fair Play concerns.
• The accuser for Trevor Bauer has reported to The Atlantic that her charges include being choked unconscious and a concussion.  Deactivate him...  NOW.   
• And now, word from Dave Roberts that Major League Baseball has instructed him to let Trevor Bauer pitch going forward.  This is probably getting it's own post once I get cogent enough to actually do one.   
• I reported several days ago on the California incident regarding a Hispanic boys' basketball team having tortillas thrown at them during a regional championship game.  The CIF, the sanctioning body for high school sports in California, has stripped and vacated the regional championship of the offending team, Coronado High School.  Coronado is largely White.  Their opponents, Orange Glen, largely Latino.