Beer is on Rizzo
Misiorowski an All-Star? Bellinger haunts ex-team. Red Sox hot, Dodgers not. Blues shakeup broadcast booth
Good Morning, all! I hope your weekend is off to a terrific start.
After the Boston Red Sox completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals on Sunday, the team announced it was firing its general manager and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo and its manager Dave Martinez. Rizzo had been with the organization since 2007 and was the architect behind the franchise winning its only World Series in 2019.
Rather than cry in his beer, Rizzo is buying everybody beer on Monday night at two Washington area watering holes.
Rizzo wrote on an Instagram post this gesture was a way for him to say “thank you to the fans…” From 5-7 p.m., as a prelude to MLB’s Home Run Derby competition, fans can drop by and have a beer with the first one on Rizzo. Here’s the social media post:
All in all a nice move by Rizzo. The event is being dubbed “Round on Riz.” In this case, I’d like to think when it comes to gratitude toward the fans: “nobody beats the Riz.” (Ugh!)
Here are some links to other DAN ON SPORTS top stories for Saturday, July 12, 2025:
MLB has announced that Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski has been added to the National League All-Star team, replacing Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd. This is not a joke. Misiorowski has the makings to be an outstanding pitcher and has been a feel-good story, but an All-Star already? The 23-year-old right-hander’s MLB career consists of 25 2/3 innings with a 4-1 record and a 2.81 ERA. This is baseball’s continuing move to appeal to a younger demographic, fearing its All-Star TV ratings may go even lower than what they have been in recent years. Unfortunately, Misiorowski is nothing more than a pawn in yet another brazen attempt to turn what was once dubbed baseball’s Mid-Summer Classic into nothing more than a made-for-TV glorified exhibition. MLB’s social media announcement on Misiorowski is posted below this newsletter.
You have to hand it to Cody Bellinger. The former NL MVP with the Dodgers, who later went on to play for the Cubs, did his ex-team in big time Friday night, cranking three home runs in the Yankees thrashing of Chicago, 11-0, before a sellout crowd of 46,327 at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time Bellinger has hit three home runs in a game. He came within a whisker of hitting four homers, but was robbed on a leaping catch by Kyle Tucker in front of the right field wall in the seventh inning. Bellinger also knocked in six runs.
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Dodgers lose seventh straight. Fall to Giants
Add the Yankees Jazz Chisholm Jr. to Monday night’s Home Run Derby competition. Chisholm has started to heat it up for the Yankees and is back at his regular position at second base, now that the Yanks have released DJ LeMahieu. So call me a skeptic. Many a player has had a good or even great season ruined by competing in a competition, that IMAO, has run its course. Why do you think so many sluggers have opted out in recent seasons? So if we hear Chisholm is sidelined with an oblique in the next week or two, just say I won’t be surprised.
Speaking of HR Derby, the Mariners Julio Rodriguez has pulled out to be replaced by Randy Arozarena
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Why did Turner ditch the Pacers for the Bucks?
Dodgers staging Kobe Bryant bobblehead giveaway
St. Louis Blues shakeup broadcast crew. The headline to the story: “Blues, FanDuel Sports Network, 101 ESPN unveil reimagined game coverage,” is a fancy way of saying the team is reducing costs. The club did not renew the contract of television voice John Kelly. In its release, the Blues were laudatory of Kelly, saying he will always be “part of the family.” Their “reimagined game coverage” is to simulcast the radio and TV broadcasts with radio voice Chris Kerber and analyst Joey Vitale. This is the reverse of what the Carolina Hurricanes did a few years back to their great radio voice Chuck Kaiton, giving him the shaft and going to a TV/radio simulcast. Except in that case, the Hurricanes owner was more blunt, saying very few people were listening to the hockey broadcasts on radio. The reality is in these days of streaming and social media, teams in all sports are cutting corners, their fans be damned. Since Covid, the Los Angeles Angels broadcasters no longer travel with the team, broadcasting road games off of a monitor from a studio in southern California. Expect more of this and more of radio/TV simulcasts of your favorite teams.
Thank you for subscribing and enjoy your Saturday!
DAN
