Friday | Team USA | New York Baseball | YouTube Rabbithole
What’s up @YouTheReader,
This just feels like the right time for a bit of EDM on a Summer Friday. The lyrics to this song aren’t all that deep but that’s okay, it’s meant to be played in the background of a night while you’re out on the town.
So this song Friday is actually just a sample of “Push The Feeling On” by Nightcrawlers which came out in 1992. Apparently, this remix blew up on Tik Tok during COVID because of the feel-good energy to it. As one of the brave few left who has not sold their soul to TikTok, I must’ve missed out on this trend just like how I have no idea what the hell a Pinkydoll is.
I’ll admit, I do like this song and I’ll probably use it again for another summer Friday at some point. Saturdays tomorrow followed by Sunday Funday.
Enough about this weekend’s songs, on to the sports…
Team USA
Portugal vs. USA | Tuesday 3 AM ET | FOX
In the wee hours of this Tuesday morning, Team USA will take on Portugal with the opportunity to advance out of the group stage of the World Cup. While the American women currently are at the top of the Group E table with 4 points and a goal differential of 3, they will need at least a draw against Portugal or they’ll face elimination with a Netherlands victory over Vietnam. After beating Vietnam 3 to nil last Friday, the American ladies were able to squeak out a tie against the Dutch.
Down early after allowing a goal at the 17-minute mark, Team USA was playing fairly sheepish until their captain, Lindsey Horan, was woken up. Netherlands star, Danielle van de Donk, came in with a hard-body tackle and before you know it a bit of a shoving match ensued. Our pissed-off co-cap responded in the best possible way by putting the ball into the back of the net on the next corner off the foot of Rose Lavelle. Horan and van de Donk are actually teammates for the French club team Olympique Lyonnais so things might be a bit awkward unless the two break baguette with chardonnay. The Portuguese played the Netherlands tough in a 1-0 defeat and then eliminated Vietnam 2-0. With this being Portugal’s very first Women’s World Cup, the last match became their first World Cup victory. The US will look to squander any momentum the Portuguese gals may have. The tough match draw against the Netherlands may serve the US side well in that Lindsey Horan after the match mentioned, “We learned a few lessons from this game.”
Half-ass Opposition Research
Okay so I gotta admit, there really aren’t too many bad things to report on about Portugal. Their borders were defined in 1139, making them one of the oldest nations in the world. Portugal’s capital and largest city, Lisbon is actually 4 centuries older than Rome (ooof that’s going to piss off some Italians). It was first inhabited by the Phoenicians in 1200 BC. It is considered to be one of the most peaceful countries in the world, the one blemish I saw was that they were ruled under a fascist dictatorship for over 40 years but even that ended in a peaceful military coup on April 25, 1974 in what they call the “Carnation Revolution.” The Portuguese decriminalized all drugs in ‘01, the first country in the world to do so and they have some of the lowest drug usage rates in the EU. In terms of more laws that stuck out, the maximum prison sentence in Portugal is 25 years - that’s even if you have multiple crimes such as homicides and there isn’t even a death penalty. (Source: Portugal)
This of course prompted me to Google “Portugal serial killers” which led me to Diogo Alves. From 1836 to 1840, the Portuguese serial killer and robber killed 70 people and he earned the title of “Aqueduct Murderer.” He was sentenced to hanging and his head was separated from his body so they threw it in a flask to preserve it for science and now it’s a tourist attraction at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Medicine. Sorry for going full True Crime on you like this, but then again some of you sickos are into this sorta stuff. Portugal sounds very well and dandy but I might have to set my alarm clock Tuesday morning in hopes that the American ladies destroy this peaceful nation on the pitch.
New York Baseball Weekend
Yankees @ Orioles
The CY Young buzz around Gerrit Cole is real and it should be. The last-place-little-engine that-could-Yankees could really use another gem out of Crew Cut Cole against the first-place Big Bad Baltimore Orioles. Grayson Rodriguez was the 11th overall pick of the ‘18 MLB Draft and this is his rookie season in the bigs. Rodriguez has been very up and down this year but is coming off a nice performance against the Tampa Rays where he went 5.2 innings with 6 Ks while allowing only 2 earned runs. The Baltimore rookie can hit the upper 90s on the radar gun with a nasty low 80s curveball in his back pocket.
Baltimore has done a good job developing Tyler Wells into a very solid starting pitcher. He made his MLB debut with the O’s as a relief pitcher at the age of 26 in ‘21. Last year, Wells made 23 starts and pitched to a 4.25 ERA. This season he has brought that ERA down a bit and has become much more of a strikeout pitcher. Basically what Wells has developed into with the Orioles is almost best case scenario of what the Yanks want with Clarke Schmidt. Schmidt didn’t really break the big league team until he was 26 last year, where he came out of the pen a bunch. For the Yanks’ sake this Saturday, let’s hope Schmidt can make up the year difference with Tyler Wells in development.
Sevy’s fastball last Sunday was up a tick at 97.1 mph. He has been averaging 96.5 mph this year and hey every tenth of a second matters between the lines. The Orioles got to Severino earlier this month when he allowed 7 earned runs in 2.2 innings. He’ll be looking for revenge but he and the Yankees will have some help as Aaron Judge is set to come back tonight. I just buried the lede, great. Anyway, DJ LeMahieu hits Dean Kremer well. Le Machine has a career batting average of .381 against the Kremer in 21 at-bats. Kremer shut down the Yanks on July 6th, going 7 innings, striking out 10, and allowing only 1 run. After winning 4 out of their last 5, the Yankees really need to take at least 2 in Baltimore.
Nationals @ Mets
MacKenzie Gore is a 24-year-old, 2nd year starting pitcher who was a centerpiece in the Juan Soto trade last year. The lefty has a 95+ mph fastball with a curveball and a slider. Like most young starters, Gore is a bit inconsistent but the Mets may be a good matchup for him. He is a strikeout pitcher with 122 Ks in 101 innings and over the past month the Mets have struck out to lefty pitchers at a 24.7% rate while batting .202 at the dish. Mad Max has been pitching like a shell of himself and will be facing his former team which is also a shell of themselves.
Patrick Corbin is from Upstate New York so he might have some friends and family coming down this weekend to support him. The winning pitcher of Game 7 of the ‘19 World Series hasn’t been the same pitcher since. Carlos Carrasco couldn’t make it out of the 3rd inning while getting lit up by the Red Sox last weekend. Now I have a feeling we’ll be set for a pitchers’ duel.
The former Met, Trevor Williams, actually made 40 appearances with the team in the past two seasons and I had no idea that was the case. Williams will for sure be somebody that the Nats will look to package in a deal before the trade deadline this Tuesday evening. Will the Mets listen to offers about Kate Upton’s husband?