Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be. It is just past 3:00 a.m. in "The City."

A current temperature of 67° will fall to 61° under clear skies as the morning inexorably leads to the sunrise @ 6:15 a.m. and long before it sets @ 9:24 p.m. In between, the day will see a high of 85° under sunny skies. In both instances, the relative humidity will stay in the 40% to 50% range, much more comfortable. However, that will not preclude my need to water the vast gardens and lawns of the PE, likely everyday.

Yesterday in baseball was mostly good. It took the 52 - 37, 2nd in the NL Central by 1.5 games Cubs, until late at night in San Francisco or early morning here, to defeat the 48 - 46, 3rd in the NL West Giants, 2 - 0 behind starting and winning pitcher, Jose Quintana. Good news, if all goes according to plan, Kris Bryant will come off the DL and return to the starting lineup on Friday night @ 9:10 p.m.
EDT against the last place in the NL West Padres. The Cubs close out their series against the Giants today @ 3:45 p.m. EDT.

My beloved, 64 - 29, 1st place in the AL East by 3.5 games over the 2nd place Yankees, defeated the woeful, last place in the AL West, 40 - 53 TX Rangers, 8 - 4 yesterday, for their 8th win in a row! The Sox relied on relief pitcher, Hector Velazquez, to throw 49 pitches and then hand the game over to the bull pen to finish up. Velazquez was pressed into service by a shortage of starting pitching, but I can't find out who was scratched from the start. The Sox and the Rangers play again tonight @ 7:10 p.m. EDT.

The 40 - 54, 3rd place in the AL Central, not very good Tigers, dropped another game to the 47 - 44, 3rd place in the AL East, Tampa Bay Rays, 2 - 5. The Tigers are a Triple-A team charging Major League™ money for minor-league play. The Tigers continue to be overpaid against the Rays @ 12:10 p.m. EDT today.

Yes, the Tigers are rebuilding, but the they are still charging too much for mediocre play. Several teams in both leagues are doing the same, teams such as the Orioles, that other team from Chicago, the Royals, the Rangers, the Mets, the Rays, the Pirates, the Reds, and the Padres. Sure, those teams sometimes beat better teams, but as a rule, their level of play is sub-Major League™. I only listed the teams that are way below .500, but too many teams are hovering around the .500 mark too. Just saying.

The Caps were off yesterday before they open their home series against the Wisconsin Timer Rattlers tonight @ 7:05 p.m. EDT.

Ginger and I spotted two train-runs yesterday. The southbound run was @ 8:25 a.m. and we saw MMRR locomotive #2025 heading towing three CHCs, and three GTCs. Later yesterday morning, we espied that same locomotive heading north @ 11:43 a.m. towing two CHCs, four DBTCs, and one DWTC, this one with a green anti-corrosive stripe around its mid-section.

I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday, making a recipe I'd found on the internet, for spicy-garlic tofu. It didn't require much chopping, as I prefer, but I did have to make a sauce and some rice. I liked it as did Mary, so it looks like a keeper.

We'll be finishing the index today and staying inside out of the heat. I'll walk the fur-children, but only for short distances. Ginger can go longer, but STWD and I can't. John will continue to wash the manse in preparation for some painting. Ciao.