Things You May Have Missed While You Were Living Your Life

While you were too busy guzzling beers and throwing back some hot dogs in honor of the American workforce, baseball things still happened. This is what you probably missed during your three day bender:

Plenty of writers and analysts have made the jump from writing on the Internet to working for ballclubs. But the Astros, after already grabbing Mike Fast, have taken Kevin Goldstein, he with the impeccable Twitter account, podcast, and sterling work for Baseball Prospectus and ESPN. If you love baseball and baseball writing, you kind of have to become an Astros fan.

The Orioles are one game behind the Yankees. It’s September 3rd. Didn’t the Mayans predict this or something?

It hasn’t rained in Seattle in 43 days. Ichiro was traded 42 days ago. I tells ya, something strange is going on.

Red Sox brass also happened to be in Seattle this weekend suggesting it may be curtains for Bobby Valentine. I guess if you notice an odd smell coming from the fish market this week and Bobby Valentine doesn’t show up, we’ll know what happened.

Washington DC has above .500 baseball for the first time since 1969. And guess what, Stephen Strasburg didn’t pitch in September then, either. Well, I mean, he wasn’t alive yet, but you know, the main point is, well, you know. Oh, yeah, and September 12th is shutdown date, in case you’re curious.

Ricky Romero is 0-12 with 7.98 in last 13 games. If something’s not wrong with his arm, there must be something wrong with his head.

Like every great 1980s sporting club, the A’s shot a music video. For the Bernie Lean. Which is inspired by Weekend at Bernie’s. It’s such a great and terrible thing, I feel like it can’t be real.

Jurickson Profar homered in his first Major League at-bat. Which is becoming something of a trend around these parts.

Braves release Jack Wilson. As a staunch Jack Wilson supporter, and a believer that once having a great glove means you always have a great glove no matter what the stats or scouts say, I am full of sadness.

Now this is a stat I can get behind: Handsome Independent Pitching. It’s HIP to be HIP.

Clay Hensley with the video bomb of the year. Or the month. Or the week. At the very least, it’s the best you’ll see this morning.

If you’re a Cardinal, get ready to do a little light reading: The Cardinal Way is actually a book. Every chapter says “hit more like Stan Musial.”