And the haze cleared from your eyes on a Sunday

Good morning! If you played softbaLL yesterday, you probably feel like garbage right now. Right there with you, friend. If you didn’t, take stock and appreciation in feeling not sore and bruised, hopefully. Here are some links.

In Mariners news

• Incoming international prospects!

• Nelson Cruz banged his knee running the bases in last night’s loss, which is a pretty shitty birthday present. He’s day to day and as yet unsure if he’ll play tomorrow, but Boog Powell was removed from the Rainiers game last night in the third inning.
• Larry Stone says the Mariners need to buy pitching at the deadline if they want a shot at the playoffs. In other news, water remains wet.

In Mariners minors news

• Feel like I can just lead off this section of the links every time by copy-pasting this sentence: The Rainiers lost to [uninspiring team], but Tyler O’Neill [did this good thing]. Today it was this sweet batting practice getup honoring his home country and his time playing for Team Canada.

• Also, feel the need to include a good Curto roast:

• Copy-pasting also works for reporting on Ian Miller:

• Miller went 2-4 with a SB and Chuck Taylor was 3-4. Dylan Unsworth pitched another gem, going 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and the Travs collected a win, 6-0.
• The Clinton LumberKings won, 2-1, on a walkoff home run from Yojhan Quevedo.
• The copy-paste trick also works for Modesto, who rebounded from a rare loss last night to lay an 8-2 licking on San Jose. The Modesto lineup is incredibly fun because 1-9, everyone in it can just flat-out mash. They’re the Astros of the California League. Braden Bishop was 4-5, Arturo Nieto and Rayder Ascanio both homered, and the only player who didn’t have a hit was Chris Mariscal, who collected an RBI on a sac fly. Newly drafted shortstop Kevin Santa went 2-3 with a BB.
• It wasn’t just the hitters performing for Modesto: Nick Neidert turned in another strong outing, going 6 IP and allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, while striking out 3. Spencer Herrmann struck out two in just one inning of relief.
• First-round pick Evan White hit his first home run as part of the Mariners organization.

The AquaSox would go on to lose, but man that ball was CRUSHED. Greifer Andrade has also been turning in a strong performance for the AquaSox, as he is working on an eight-game hitting streak.

• Also:

Around the league

• The MLB All Star Game starting lineups will be revealed today at 4 PM PDT on ESPN.
• This seems a bit harsh:

• Hey you guys remember Chris Taylor, right?

• In response to the mounting research and evidence in support of the “juiced balls” theories, MLB says the glove does not fit, therefore the balls are just fine thank you very much.

Eric’s pick!

• Gratuitous softbaLL pics