Writing at Sweet Spot, Michael Baumann describes in detail what has prevented the Royals from becoming a .500 team, let alone a playoff contender.

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Umpire Jim Joyce, best known for the 2010 blown call at first base that ended a perfect-game bid, was a hero on Monday afternoon after saving the life of a Diamondbacks food service employee who had suddenly collapsed in front of him.

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In “NL West: A Shift in the Balance of Power,” Steve Treder of the Hardball Times is positively brutal yet accurate in describing the Rockies’ season:

Consider this dreary trend: in the month of May, 2012, the Colorado Rockies achieved a Pythagorean record of 13–15 but underperformed against it to yield an actual won–ost performance of 10–18. In June, their run differential declined and their Pythag mark was 10–17, and they slightly underperformed against that by slogging in at 9–18. And in July, the Rockies’ Pythagorean record sagged all the way to 7–17, a run differential so dismal that they couldn’t manage to underperform it, putting up an actual record of 7–17 for the month.
It seemed to be a team playing down to its misfortune, as though saying, “You might not think we’re really this bad, so we’ll prove to you that we are.”
At any rate, it adds up to a three-month span of 26–53 baseball, otherwise known as a season-wrecker. It scarcely matters how well the Rockies might do the rest of the way: 2012 has proven to be an irretrievable disaster for them.

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Via the Associated Press: Roger Clemens, 52, is sporting an 88-mph fastball and plans to throw it in live action on Saturday for the Sugar Land (Texas) Skeeters, a team in the independent Atlantic League.

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David Cameron of Fangraphs looks into what Nick Swisher may be worth when he hits the free agent market this fall. In the process, he disputes an analysis suggesting that Swisher may get a contract that seriously rivals the $126 million, seven-year deal dished out to Jayson Werth after the 2010 season.