Rise and Phight: 8/6/2021

I was down in Washington yesterday. My son and I decided to just drive down, get tickets off of Stubhub and go to the game. Arriving at Nationals Park, I forgot how nice it actually is, maybe because we were able to get closer to the field this time than I’d been before. But it really is nice. Two things really stuck out though. First, it’s a little weird how much that team is still hanging on to their World Series championship from 2019. All of the bags, lanyards, merchandise and things hanging on the facades still echo back to that championship. It was two years ago; time to move on. Second, the vitriol for Bryce Harper is palpable. I word my Harper shirsey and no one really said anything, but we were right behind the dugout and the stuff they were saying was....a lot. All about his hair, his belt, his wearing of a wedding ring (?), his zero championship rings. It was getting intense and it was really getting to the team. Several players were turned around staring quite often. And when they got those two run scoring doubles, J.T. Realmuto and Harper knew exactly where to look.

Even still, a really nice day.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• This sure is a take: it’s time to rename the Phillies (no it’s not).
• The hope is that Andrew McCutchen will return to the team next week.
• Spencer Howard’s debut should look very familiar to anyone who has followed him this year and last.

MLB news:

• I don’t usually care too much about uniforms, but would it have killed Nike and New Era to skip their prominent logo placement for these Field of Dreams uniforms?
• Trevor Bauer’s leave has been extended yet again. Maybe it’s time to make it permanent?
• Here is a new top 50 prospect list available for your eyeballs.
• The Indians will be staying at Progressive Field for the next 15 years at least, undergoing a name change and renovations during that time.