MLB Notebook: John Means business

We saw baseball history Wednesday. The Baltimore Orioles may be in for an uphill battle the rest of the season, but a player quickly emerging as an ace spun a masterpiece in Seattle, and that leads this week’s notebook.

John Means Business

The Orioles had not had a complete-game no-hitter since Jim Palmer threw one way back in 1969. That changed on Wednesday night, when Means faced the minimum of 27 batters and only lost a perfect game due to a third-strike wild pitch.

With the win, Means is now 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA this season. By comparison, no other Oriole starter has an ERA lower than 4.06.

Astros Booed in New York

The Houston Astros made their first trip to New York since topping the Yankees in 2019. Since then, of course, we’ve learned Houston was using a sign-stealing scheme, and Yankee fans have shown long memories.

Jose Altuve, in particular, was jeered as loudly as any visiting player in recent memory, and the Yankees responded to the energy by taking the first two games of the series.

Dodgers Slump to Third Place

The L.A. Dodgers came into 2021 as the defending world champions and started strong. However, the boys in blue have dropped 13 of their last 17 games, and in doing so lost their stranglehold on the NL West.

The Dodgers are now chasing both San Francisco and San Diego, and they’ll look to get back on track in the upcoming Freeway Series against the Angels.

And speaking of the Halos…

Mike Trout Is Very Good

No other headline seems appropriate. Consider this: Trout boasts a .514 on-base percentage through 27 games. That’s not a typo. The Angels center fielder has reached base in more than 51% of his plate appearances through nearly 20% of the season and is now the firm favorite in the AL MVP race.

One would think it’s impossible for someone to keep up this breakneck pace, but if anyone can, it’s the most fearsome offensive weapon in baseball.