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It’s really amazing learning about people who made their careers in the sport of baseball, although I’m sad that in today’s case, it was due to a death. I take it as a reminder to be unabashed in having and appreciating Your Guys, who might not necessarily be the marquee names but all bring something to the game. Or maybe I’m just too ignorant of the guys who played back in the wild days of the 70s and 80s, hopefully not too embarrassingly so.
Today’s Headlines
RIP Davey Lopes
The Dodgers mourn the loss of Davey Lopes, who passed away today at age 80. Lopes was a member of the team’s record-setting infield of the 1970s and 1980s and one of the finest basestealers in MLB history. Our condolences go out to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/dJkOk0CWbP
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 8, 2026
Sad news today as we learned of the passing of Davey Lopes, the keystone for what is still known as “The Infield” for the Dodgers along with Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, and Bill Russell. Lopes was drafted by the Dodgers in 1968 and made his debut with the team in 1972, becoming the everyday second basemen the next season. “The Infield” played 833 games together over the next eight seasons, setting a record for games played by the same infield unit, and even getting their own Wiki page, although the title for it isn’t nearly as cool as their more colloquial eponym. Lopes won a World Series with the Dodgers in 1981 before getting traded to Oakland the next season. From there, the A’s traded him to Chicago in 1984, who then traded him to the Astros in 1986. He finished his playing career in Houston and retired following the 1987 season. He finished with 557 career stolen bases, which only puts him at 26th on the all-time list, but what truly made him “one of the finest basestealers in MLB history” was that he had an 83% success rate. For reference, that’s almost three points higher than Rickey Henderson (80.8%) and nearly eight points higher than Lou Brock (75.3%).
Lopes wasn’t done with baseball after his playing days were over, however, as he went on to be a bench coach for the Texas Rangers, and then coached first base for the Orioles and Padres. He managed the Brewers from 2000 until being fired early in the 2002 season.
The Milwaukee Brewers mourn the passing of Davey Lopes pic.twitter.com/wmW7H0j7FP
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 8, 2026
He returned to first base coaching for the Padres and Nationals, moving to the Phillies in 2007. He remained with the Phillies until 2010 and during his tenure the team were absolutely lights out on stolen base efficiency:
Lopes spent four seasons in Philadelphia, and when he left his four Phillies teams were first, second, third, and 12th all-time in stolen base percentage for a 162-game season.
— Michael Baumann (@baumann.bsky.social) 2026-04-08T19:17:58.159Z
After the 2010 season, Chase Utley had the second-highest SB% of the modern era (by 0.02% being Carlos Beltran). Jayson Werth was third, Jimmy Rollins was 22nd and Shane Victorino was 41st
— Michael Baumann (@baumann.bsky.social) 2026-04-08T19:23:29.058Z
(That 2007 team had an 87.9% success rate!)
Davey Lopes was revered by Phillies players for his base-running knowledge. I'll always remember how excited the baseball lifer was in the clubhouse in 2010 after Roy Halladay's perfect game."My first one," Davey said with a huge smile.RIP.
— Matt Gelb (@mattgelb.bsky.social) 2026-04-08T19:03:04.621Z
Lopes returned to the Dodgers (still as first base coach) in 2010 until returning to the Nats in 2015. His contract there ended in 2017 and he retired from the game for good. That’s a 42-year baseball career, may we all be so lucky to do something we enjoy for so long.
Raffy Smashy
It’s been a rough couple of days for the Phillies in their current season, as they have gone 21 innings without scoring a run, putting up zeroes since the seventh inning of their win on Monday. Yesterday they were at least holding the Giants to the same runless fate through five and a third innings until things unraveled. Aaron Nola gave up a flukey hustle double to Willy Adames:
And then walked Luis Arraez. He struck out Matt Chapman and it looked like the game might remain tied until Rafael Devers smashed Nola’s first pitch fastball over the center field fence for his first homer of the season:
Rafi knew 💣 pic.twitter.com/Bzq4XTJxvu
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 8, 2026
I would be remiss if I didn’t let you all know that the booth described this as Raffy “getting both cheeks into it” shortly after the clip ends.
The Giants added two more runs on in the eighth inning, one of which was another Devers RBI, this time off a single to win 5-0. Nola’s final line was 6 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, and only a trio of strikeouts. For the Giants it was a rather good day for Tyler Mahle as he threw 5.2 innings of scoreless ball, with 3 H, 4 BB, and 6 Ks (that’s good enough for an A- on results!)
Twinning
Things looked very bad very early for the Tigers last night in Minneapolis as the Twins hung six runs on Detroit’s starter Framber Valdez in only the first inning.
I certainly was among those who assumed that the Twins were about to force Detroit to burn several bullpen arms to piece together the next eight-and-change innings, but apparently A.J. Hinch was undaunted, and to his credit, Framber did mostly settle down after that quite awful first. He ended up throwing five innings, and although his ledger shows eight earned runs total, the last two were inherited runners that scored off of Enmanuel De Jesus. I mean, they’re still Framber’s runs, but, you know, it seems slightly less on him than those first six.
For the second game in a row, things went much more smoothly for the Twins starting pitcher, as Bailey Ober tossed 5.2 innings of two-run ball. He gave up five hits, walked one, and only struck out two so I wouldn’t say it was a dominant performance, but a win’s a win. His four-seam velo also dropped another tick, averaging 88.1 mph for the night.
Things got very interesting once Ober was out of the game, though, as the Tigers added four more runs in the seventh to make it an 8-6 game. Despite the Framber meltdown, the Twins actually ended up using more arms in Wednesday’s game, needing five relievers to finally end the game with their two-run lead intact (Detroit threw four pitchers total in the end.) Even the final out was a bit of a nail-biter as Luke Keaschall made a fantastic ranging catch:
How Sweep It Is
Do you know who has had a pretty low-stress time this week? The Colorado Rockies! They finished off a sweep of the Astros on Wednesday with an emphatic 9-1 victory, their first sweep of Houston at home since 2012. The bad news for Houston’s rotation keeps coming as Cristian Javier exited the game after only one inning due to shoulder tightness, and the Rockies roughed up reliever AJ Blubaugh to the tune of five runs in the second:
small ball BIG RUNS! pic.twitter.com/608ipRn8rb
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 8, 2026
Colorado would add three more runs, including this majestic homer from Hunter Goodman in the fourth:
For Houston, only Kai-Wei Teng escaped Wednesday unscathed, with Enyel De Los Santos, Christian Roa, and Bryan Abreu each giving up an earned run once Blubaugh finished his single inning. It has been very tough sledding for the Astros bullpen so far in this young season.
Colorado, meanwhile, has won four games in a row, and at 6-6, are tied for second in the NL West!
Soler, López Suspended
Tuesday night brought us one of the silliest fights I have ever seen in baseball, as Jorge Soler charged the mound and Reynaldo López decided to fistfight him while wearing his mitt and still holding the ball in his pitching hand:
FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
And on Wednesday, it was announced that both players would be suspended for seven games and face fines. Both players appealed and Reynaldo’s suspension was lowered to five games, which he will start serving immediately. Soler’s appeal is still in progress, as he played on Wednesday and actually hit a dinger off of Grant Holmes, which had to feel good.
Pirates Extend Griffin
I swear I’m living Groundhog Day here because I feel like I’ve been hearing this has happened for a week plus now, but Pittsburgh made their nine-year, $140 million deal with top prospect Konnor Griffin officially official on Wednesday morning:
OFFICIAL: We have signed INF Konnor Griffin to a nine-year contract extension that runs through the 2034 season.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@pirates.com) 2026-04-08T12:02:44.967Z
A meaningful commitment.
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@pirates.com) 2026-04-08T12:42:18.783Z
With any luck, today will be the last time you have to read somebody breaking this news to you.
By The Numbers
10 years of service time for Sean Manaea on Wednesday, congrats!
43 consecutive games that Shohei Ohtani has reached base, tied for sixth on the Dodgers’ all-time leaderboard
1 career start at shortstop for Ryan McMahon as of last night
Best Moments From Yesterday
Refsnyder, Rob(s)
I guess there’s something in the water in the AL West right now as outfielders just can’t help but rob homers. The latest came courtesy of Rob Refsnyder (who is absolutely one of My Guys), who greatly impressed Bryan Woo by pulling this Josh Smith drive back from the brink:
Texas would go on to win the game 3-0, but at least it took them a little while longer.
I Am The Captain Of My Bullpen
Minnesota is outperforming expectations so far with a 6-6 record and sole possession of second place in the AL Central. Maybe some of that is due to bullpen coach LaTroy Hawkins‘ inspiration for the pitchers:
I like it
If you are unfamiliar with the work, please do yourself a favor and read it now.
Jazzy Jem
The weather in New York has been unpleasant of late, and the Yankees did not follow the Mets’ lead of moving their start times up to avoid the more frigid temps. That didn’t stop Jazz Chisholm Jr. last night, though, as he made a great diving grab to end the sixth inning and maintain the tie:
Smooth Jazz 🤯 pic.twitter.com/CTR2kXp8yV
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 9, 2026
The Yankees’ bats would remain cold, however, and the A’s would take the game by a score of 3-2.
Dudes Rock
You think they were hyped in Denver for that Astros sweep? Thanks to Erica Block, aka @ericablockparty.bsky.social, for capturing this video of what will hopefully become a recurring attraction at Coors that will conclusively answer that question:
There is a growing section of shirtless Rockies fans at Coors Field chanting “Take it off, take it off!”
the group is getting bigger as more topless people join
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ The season is over for Zach Eflin after only a single start, as he underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday.
⚾ Robert Stephenson is also done for the year without having pitched at all for the Angels, requiring elbow surgery to repair a ligament and flexor tendon.
⚾ As noted earlier, Cristian Javier left Wednesday’s game due to shoulder tightness. The Astros also lost Jake Meyers in the same game due to lower back tightness.
⚾ Cleveland’s shortstop Gabriel Arias injured his leg running out a double on Monday, was placed on the IL Tuesday, and it was announced Wednesday that he has a moderate hamstring strain that will sideline him for 4-8 weeks.
⚾ Red Sox righty Johan Oviedo is dealing with a flexor strain. His UCL is apparently fine, although he is still going to be shut down for six weeks before being re-evaluated.
⚾ The White Sox optioned Shane Smith to AAA on Wednesday. He made waves in 2025 as a Rule 5 pick and had a pretty good year for Chicago, but has gotten off to a pretty terrible start to 2026.
Articles You Should Read
A Lukewarm Take On Ice Cold Bats – Ryan Blake, FanGraphs
The Colorado Rockies Embrace Pitch “Suggestions” – Renee Dechert, Purple Row
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
