MLB Daily: Rainy Night in SoCal; Everyone Has an Opinion on the Rumored Pillbox All Star Game Hats

Welcome to a Friday edition of MLB Daily. Sadly you’ll have to wait until Monday for the next one. Try to contain your disappointment…

Wet night: It rained yesterday in Southern California, causing delays at both Petco Park and Dodger Stadium. For the Padres it was the fifth weather delay since the stadium opened in 2004 and first since 2011. There have only been 17 rainouts at Dodger Stadium since 1962. This is where we remind ourselves the park in Chavez Ravine is the third-oldest stadium, behind Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.

Both games ended up being played. The Padres beat the Nationals, while the Dodgers lost to the Rockies.

One groundskeeper in San Diego enjoyed the rain:

Do the ground’s crews at both parks train themselves to unfurl the tarp? Even if it’s such a rarity? How do you simulate it if it’s dry? Questions, questions, questions ….

Fashion: The purported custom, team-by-team hats for the 2015 All Star game leaked Thursday night. They’re in a pillbox design, a nod to the Cincinnati Reds mascot. Do they look good? Beats me. If you’re going to spend $30+ on a hat, who am I to tell you what is or isn’t fashionable? I wouldn’t waste my money on one — who really needs All Star Game-branded gear in the first place? At the very least it’s a unique look.

Apparently they will not be worn during the game itself, so they are just another way for baseball to try to get you to part with some money. As the consumer you hold the power. If you like it, buy it. If not, forget about it until you see them on the discount racks six months from now.

We now to live to Kent Tekulve for comment:

This concludes my take on baseball caps for the day.

What a wonderful world we live in: The Cubs swept the Mets in a four-game set at Wrigley. One Cubs fan showed up to the game in a costume that was supposed to look like the stadium’s ivy in centerfield. At least he got about six seconds of television time.

Despite the sweep the Mets are still five games over .500, but only lead the Nationals by 1.5 games now.

Time keeps on slipping: Miguel Cabrera hit a pair of homers Thursday afternoon vs. the Twins, giving him 398 for his career — one away from tying Andres Galarraga for most by a Venezuelan player in Major League Baseball history. I enjoyed this philosophical quote from Cabrera, via Bless You Boys:

"“Time goes quick,” Cabrera reflected. “I feel like my first year was last year. Sometimes I’m scared because I don’t want to stop playing baseball, you know? I just want to stop (aging) right here. I’m 32. Stop! And keep playing. Time goes too fast, man.”"

Indeed it does.

This & That: Colorado snapped its 10-game losing streak last night, but the Troy Tulowitzki rumors aren’t going to die down anytime soon, regardless of his denials of asking for a trade. … Trevor Bauer struck out 10, but the Cardinals edged Cleveland 2-1. … Shin-Soo Choo has an OPS of 1.127 in May — up from sub .500 in April. … A-Rod homered again but the Yankees lost to the Rays 6-1 with starter Chase Whitley leaving in the second inning. Four of Rodriguez’s nine home runs have come at Tropicana Field, where he is slugging close to .850. The Yankees don’t go back to the Trop until September. … The Phillies called up third baseman Maikel Franco and the highly-touted prospect is expected to play immediately.

Weekend Watch: Pirates-Cubs is a big one this week in the National League Wild Card sweepstakes. The Yankees come to Kansas City, a matchup of first-place teams. Royals attendance is up over 10,000 per game on average, so this figures to be a hot ticket. Tonight it’s 6-foot-7 Michael Pineda vs. 6-foot-10 Chris Young. Detroit goes to St. Louis in a rematch of the 2006 World Series, a fact that will probably be brought up 100 times on Sunday night baseball and make your humble author want to vomit.

[Workin’ For the Weekend]