If you need just a short break from the baseball, this New York Times Magazine story about a building in Russia full of state-sponsored trolls is just tremendous...
– via FanGraphs and Matthew Kory, here's the single best full-length treatment of the Pat Venditte Phenomenon that I've seen. Here's hoping for many more, though!
– Ah, those good ol' days, when baseball and drinking went together like Apple Pie and Chevrolet. Punch's Sarah Baird offers just a few of the gory details, which should remind us to avoid glorifying the past too terribly much.
– What's that? You want a crazy-detailed explanation of the difference between traditional ash bats and (relatively) newfangled maple bats? There you go! (h/t Dr. Alan Nathan)
– Monday was the fifth anniversary of Strasmas, when Stephen Strasburg made one of the all-time great debuts. Things haven't worked out exactly as planned, since then, and Adam Kilgore's got a comprehensive look at the current state of things in the 'burg.
– Commisserioner Emeritus Bud is writing a book, and he's going to get at least a million bucks for it, and he's looking for a ghostwriter. I hope he knows I've got a different phone number than the last time he called...
