According to Todd Zolecki, Maikel Franco is probably a 50/50 bet to return this season as Franco is still feeling something in his wrist. He has appeared in 77 games this season batting .277 with 132 homers, 48 RBIs and 43 runs scored.

Marco Gonzales allowed four runs while recording eight outs Monday. His reward? A demotion to the minors. He may not make – duh – another start the rest of the season for the Cardinals. Hope you didn’t drop someone of significance to add him.

This kid has got a friend – a gorilla.

Did you realize that Zack Greinke’s ERA is 1.59 right now? Jake Odorizzi’s ERA is double at 3.18. That’s nuts.

Shelby Miller is 10th in baseball with a 2.56 ERA. He’s won five games this season. The only other man in the top-10 who doesn’t have at least 11 victories is the 7-9 Scott Kazmir who has a 2.45 ERA.

Matt Moore came back from Tommy John surgery with abysmal results. Over six outings this season Moore has a 8.77 ERA, 2.06 WHIP and a pathetic 1.31 K/BB ratio. His reward was a well earned demotion. He’s been recalled and will start Saturday for the Rays against the Yankees. In 30 innings at Triple-A he had success with a 3.30 ERA and one game he struck out 16 batters. Can you trust him mixed leagues based on his success against minor leaguers? I don’t. In a related move, Nate Karns has been demoted to the bullpen as the Rays chose to leave Erasmo Ramirez as a starter. Karns owns a 3.69 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 8.81 strikeouts per nine this season over 26 starts.

Is this finally proof of aliens?

Jesus Montero was demoted to the minors. He will almost surely be back up when Tacoma’s season is over. Montero was hitting a mere .200 with a .577 OPS over 25 games with the Mariners.

Chris Sale has 13 games this season with at least 10 strikeouts. The last hurler to do that was Randy Johnson in 2004. Sale leads baseball with a 12.11 per nine strikeout mark. Two others have at least 11 strikeouts per nine: Clayton Kershaw 11.48, Chris Archer 11.09.

Kyle Schwarber was removed from the Cubs’ lineup due to soreness in his right rib cage area. He has been sent for an MRI. He’s hit 13 homers, driven in 38 and scored 41 times in just 48 games. Alas, over his last 70 plate appearances Kyle is batting .167 with a .271 OBP and a .433 SLG. His production has fallen precipitously.

How is your air guitar?

Drew Smyly had a rough first outing back from his shoulder woes (five runs in four games), but he’s looked much better of late. Over his last three games he’s allowed four runs – three earned – and in his last start against the Orioles he threw seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and zero walks. On the season he has 42 strikeouts and just eight walks leading to a 5.25 K/BB ratio. The only negative, other than his injury of course, is the far too high 1.67 HR/9 mark. Risky the rest of the way cause of his health, but looking sharp.

Michael Wacha will have his start skipped Wednesday. Why? He’s not hurt, the club just wants to manage his injury. Wacha threw 109 innings last season before shoulder woes felled him, and he’s already at 157.1 innings, a career-high. He should be back out there for his next start.

Finally, South Park, and in particular Eric Cartman, is fantastic.