Game of the Day (6/30/91)

Giants 8, Padres 7 (10). San Diego started promising youngster Andy Benes, who at age 23 had been in the big leagues for two years an dwas on his way to probably his best MLB season. San Francisco countered with a player who was two years older, but had made his MLB debut earlier in the month, and would return to the minors after less than 50 innings. It would be six more years before Mike Remlinger fully established himself in the majors, but he would still go on to a productive career, most of it spent in relief.

Game of the Day (6/29/91)

Rangers 7, Angels 4 (13). California's Chuck Finley was making the 111th start of his distinguished career (or eleventy-first, if you're a hobbit), one which would eventually include 467 starts. Texas responded with Gerald Alexander, who was making start number seven and had four more to go.

Game of the Day (6/28/91)

Braves 3, Dodges 2 (10). Atlanta's Steve Avery was a good young lefty who would get worse with age. LA's Bob Ojeda was a significantly older lefty who had gotten better with age. Which means both of them were good at the time this game took place.

Game of the Day (6/27/91)

Rangers 9, A's 6. We occasionally run into pitchers who are at opposite ends of their careers, but rarely to this extent. Texas's Terry Mathews was making the first start of his big league career (which sounds less impressive when you realize he only ended up making five starts in his career, but it was his fourth appearance overall and he would pitch in over 300 games). Oakland's Andy Hawkins, meanwhile, had less than 10 starts remaining in his decade-long career.

Melog rankings: Pre-Wimbledon 2016

Wimbledon is coming! It's arguably the biggest two weeks of the year in tennis; it's technically no more important than the other three Slams, but there's a certain cachet to Wimbledon that makes it seem weightier, even if it is played on a surface that has practically vanished from the tennis calendar apart from the tournaments they throw in for a few weeks before Wimbledon to give players a chance to remember how to play on grass again after ignoring its existence for eleven months a year.

(Normally, that persistent unfamiliarity also makes it a tournament prone to upsets. But given that the top three seeds in this year's men's draw have a combined 11 Wimbledon titles, plus gold and silver medals won there four years ago, it may be a bit more stable this time around.)

This Wimbledon is a big one. (I mean, they all are. But still.) Novak Djokovic will be going for a third straight title on the turf, and a fifth straight Slam overall. Roger Federer will be facing questions of whether he can still contend for another Slam title, and Wimbledon, as always, represents his best shot. And it may also be Andy Murray's best chance to dethrone the uncontested world #1.

Beyond those three players (and Rafael Nadal, who's sitting out Wimbledon with a wrist injury), there's a ton of movement in the rankings (both Melog and otherwise) for the year so far, and that makes it difficult to pick out other candidates for the title. But big serves have been known to play well on grass in the past, and both Milos Raonic and Nick Kyrgios have had success at Wimbledon before, so they're at least worth watching for the next couple of weeks.

There's a great deal to talk about as Wimbledon begins, so let's spend a bit of time on... things that are not Wimbledon. Namely, the effect of the rest of grass season on the Melog ratings.

Game of the Day (6/26/91)

Tigers 8, Brewers 7 (13). Milwaukee's Jaime Navarro had a very long career as a back-of-the-rotation starter; he was below-average most of the time, but better than anyone you could easily find to replace him. Which doesn't sound that impressive until you compare him to Detroit's Dan Gakeler, who lasted less than 100 innings in the majors, and appears to have deserved it.

Game of the Day (6/25/91)

Orioles 5, Indians 3 (12). Baltimore's Jeff Robinson, who would throw just over 700 innings in his career with an ERA+ of 83, faced Cleveland's Rod Nichols, who would narrowly exceed 400 innings and post a 92 ERA+ in the majors.

Sometimes, I have something interesting to say about a pitching matchup. This is not one of those times.