Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 2:30 a.m. in "The City."

I think the best place to start is with the weather, since it has a great impact on the news from the world of baseball.

We have a current temperature of 59° with a 17 mph wind blowing. I cannot give a Wind Chill Factor, because those are only available for outdoor temperatures below 50°. However, I can report that there is a light rain falling right now and that will continue until later this morning.

In addition, that 17 mph wind has caused another Small Craft Advisory for the "Big Lake" from now until 8:00 p.m. tonight. Small boats, boats without instruments, and inexperienced mariners are advised to stay off the lake. The overnight low is expected to fall to 45° before we recover to today's high temperature of 51°, quite a drop from the high temperature earlier today of nearly 80°! I liked being able to wear a T-shirt for one day. Sigh.

Let me get back to the world of Major-League Baseball. As you may recall, the 10 - 10, 4th place in the NL Central Cubs had the day off yesterday as they awaited the arrival of the 15 - 9, 1st place in the AL West Dodgers for tonight's game @ 8:05 p.m. EDT.  LHP Jose Quintana, currently with a record of 2 - 1, takes the ball and goes for his third win against that one loss.

Cubs' third-baseman, Kris Bryant, is still struggling at the plate, but he is reportedly healthy, so... However, unlike teammate, 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo, who is also off to a slow start, Bryant is traditionally a fast starter, whereas Rizzo has always been a slow-starter who comes around about May 1, so...

The 10 - 10. 3rd place in the AL Central Tigers were postponed by rain in their game against my beloved, 9 - 13, 4th place in the AL East, Red Sox. That game in Boston will be made up as part of a split schedule today, with the 1st game starting @ 1:10 p.m. as 1 - 1, LHP Matthew Boyd, goes against Red Sox "Ace", 0 - 4 LHP Chris Sale.

Later, the Tigers and the Sox play the second and regularly scheduled game of the day/night  @ 7:10 p.m., as the Sox send RHP Hector Velasquez to the mound to face the Tigers RHP, 0 - 2, Spencer Turnbull. Velasquez is filling the spot in the Sox' pitching rotation that has been vacated by RHP Nathan Eovaldi, who will be on the DL for four to six weeks as his pitching elbow recovers from surgery to remove "Floating Bodies" in his elbow.

The 7 - 9, 6th place in the MWL East Caps, took one from the 7 - 10, 7th place in the MWL East Great Lakes Loons last night, 5 - 1. The Caps and the Loons play again tonight @ 6:05 p.m.

I did some light yard-work in the vast PE yesterday, but I didn't overdo. I planted some grass seeds, watered them and now that light rain is giving an assist to my efforts. However, with the high temperatures once again dropping into the 50s, germination will be delayed.

In the afternoon while Mary went to the grocery store. apparently, that went well, I was reading my latest novel, Calico Joe, by novelist John Grisham, written in 2013. Grisham is best known for his legal thrillers, but this book is the story of Joe Castle, a rookie 1st baseman for the Cubs in the summer of 1973, who is called up from the Cubs' AA team to play 1st base, mid-season. I love it because the story is heavily sprinkled with references to Cub legends like Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santa, Ferguson Jenkins, Don Kessinger, etc. What more could a baseball fan want?

Castle hits the ball for power from both sides, runs the bases with abandon and plays the field with great aplomb. He takes the National League by storm until his short-lived Major-League™ career is ended by a bean-ball from Mets' pitcher Warren Tracey, a notorious head-hunter. His estranged son, Paul, now an adult, is trying to get Warren together with Joe to make amends over the bean-ball before Warren dies.

Once Mary returned home, we were off to the Social Security Administration in Muskegon to sort out what had gone wrong over the tax years 2016 and 2017. We had a very pleasant experience, as Tiffany punched keys on her computer and hopefully sorted out the problem. We'll know more in a few days.

We stopped @ Stan's in Spring Lake on the way home, where the nearly 80° temperatures had brought out the motorcyclists. Then it was time for home and a tasty dinner of leftover sauces that Mary pulled from the refrigerator and served over spaghetti noodles with a side of baked garlic bread.

I came up to the media room shortly thereafter and promptly fell asleep. I awoke @ 10:00 p.m. and then went to bed until around 1:00 a.m. When I awoke again, I went downstairs to find Mary asleep in the Lazy Boy. According to her emails, the fur-children had been out around 11:00 p.m. last night, but STWD is currently hiding in the upstairs bathroom to ward off the danger from the storm that the light rain is representing. She may be right, because the thunder is rumbling outside the WW right now.

Today, a haircut for me followed by P/T and then nothing. More reading, more art, more whatever. Ciao.