Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 3:30 a.m. in "The City."

Well, my apple pie was an epic failure. It looked great, but somehow, I put cayenne pepper into the apple filling and I got spicy apple pie. Some in the book club liked it, while others, Mary among them, couldn't wait to put their piece into the wastebasket. Not a good way to end my dessert run before we take our summer hiatus next month. Sigh.

We followed my failure and our meeting with a stop at our favorite watering hole for brews and bean burritos. We were joined by Barb and Larry from our book club and had a great time. Phew!

Otherwise, John is making steady progress on the painting. I like the look of the downstairs bathroom more each day. Now he is on to the kitchen. Similar color scheme, actually lanyard, not golden gate as I said in yesterday's blog, for the kitchen and the mudroom.

Baseball news yesterday was once again half and half.

My beloved, 14 - 17, 4th place in the AL East Red Sox, took another game from the 14 - 19 last place in the AL West Oakland As, 7 - 3. Veteran RHP Marcus Walden, 4 - 0, out-dueled the As RHP Mike Fiers, 2 - 3 for the win. The Sox got a home run from Mitch Moreland en route to the victory. The Sox are now off to Chicago to meet that other, 13 - 15, 3rd place in the AL Central team @ 8:10 p.m. tonight, as LHP David Price, 1 - 2 faces RHP Lucas Giolito, 2 - 1, for that other team.

The 16 - 12, 2nd place in the NL Central Cubs, have the day off as they return to the field on Friday @ Wrigley to face the front-running, 20 - 10 Cardinals @ 2:20 p.m. EDT. Last night in Seattle, the Cubs shellacked the 18 - 15, 2nd place in the AL West Mariners, 11 - 0. Three Cubs hit home runs, including Javier Baez, Anthony Rizzo, and Willson Contreras. In fact, the Cubs pounded out enough hits in the top of the 2nd inning to allow Baez to come to bat twice and get a double to go with his home run in that inning.

LHP Jon Lester, 2 - 1, was on cruise-control as he fanned 8 over his 7 innings of work. Jason Heyward also sparkled at the plate and flashed his Gold Glove fielding with a terrific sliding catch in right field. Now it is up to the Cubs and RHP Kyle Hendricks, 1 - 4 to cool off the red hot Cardinals and RHP Jack Flaherty, 3 - 1.

The 13 - 15, 4th place in the AL Central Tigers couldn't get it going yesterday as they fell to the 17 - 15, 1st place in the NL East Phillies, 3 - 7. Tigers' LHP Daniel Norris was lifted for a pinch-hitter by Tigers' manager, Ron Gardenhire, but the pinch-hitter grounded out weakly to end the inning and the Tigers threat as they fell to the Phillies. RHP Buck Farmer took the loss for the Tigers. The Tigers welcome the 11 - 20, last place in the AL Central Royals to Comerica Park tonight @ 7:10 p.m. as LHP Matthew Boyd, 2 - 2, faces RHP Jorge Lopez, 0 - 2.

The 11 - 13, 6th place in the MWL East West Michigan WhiteCaps got shellacked themselves yesterday, as the 13 - 11, 4th place in the MWL West Clinton, IA Lumberkings beat the Caps, 13 - 2. Since the Caps are a Tigers farm team, that loss does not bode well for any help for the Tigers from their A level team. The Tigers and the Lumberkings play tonight @ 7:30 p.m.

I saw both ends of the train run on the RSTL yesterday. At 8:56 a.m. I watched as MMRR locomotives 2019 and 2025 rolled past heading south, towing 11 DBTCs and one DWTC. Later, @ 1:35 p.m., I saw those same locomotives pass by heading north, towing five CHCs, 17 DBTCs, and three DWTCs, all fully loaded, judging by the shaking of the manse as they passed.

As previously noted, we had a good book club meeting yesterday in spite of my epic failure and that was about the extent of our energy expenditure. The fur-children were out and in due to the rain and they showed no desire to extend their outdoor activities.

Today, I will read more, solve another crossword puzzle and go to the chiropractor with Mary in the afternoon.

Oops, I almost forgot. We have a current temperature of 40° under mostly-clear skies. Today's high will reach only 52°, but there is no rain in the forecast from the NWS. We will reach the 60s on Saturday and Sunday, but then we'll see temps in the 50s for many more days. The sun will rise today @ 6:37 a.m. ans set later @ 8:46 p.m. Ciao.