Author: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY

“It’s always nice to prove people wrong,” Giants SS Brandon Crawford said. “I thought we were going to surprise teams.”

It’s the mock holiday that Mets’ fans love to hate: Bobby Bonilla Day. And instead of hiding from the contract albatross, the Mets embrace it.

“Everybody and their brother were using steroids, but not everyone was breaking the home-run record,” David Segui says.

While there were no fireworks related to Trevor Bauer and foreign substances, the Padres swept the Dodgers for the first time since April 15-17, 2013.

Yu Darvish struck out 11 in 6 innings on Monday, becoming the first player ever to reach 1,500 career strikeouts in less than 200 games.

Alvin Toles, the father of Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles, prays for his son who is mentally ill.

Every starting pitcher will be checked at least twice a game for foreign substances, and relief pitchers at least once by the umpiring crew.

Price, who retired as the Phillies pithing coach in Oct. 2020, has no regrets about his decision. He says he no longer was in love with the game.

Now that teams are starting to chat about potential trades, here are the biggest names in the game who could be moved at the July 30 trade deadline.

MLB is engaged in the next phase of league-directed enforcement banning the use of foreign substances, which would include 10-day suspensions.