Three Up, Three Down: The MLB hot/cold report

It sure seems like Justin Verlander has been around forever, and at the age of 35, he's definitely become one of baseball's graybeards. Despite this, he is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down. In fact, since his arrival in Houston, it seems like he's actually taken his game to another level.

Verlander proved this on Wednesday night as he threw a complete game shutout at the expense of the Los Angeles Angels. This masterful performance included striking out Shohei Ohtani in one of the more interesting at-bats that you will see this year, and it also included him collecting the 2,500th strikeout of his career.

That mark put Verlander in some very esteemed company and confirmed that he's still one of the top pitchers in the game, even at 35. Plus, it appears that his Twitter fastball still has some bite on it as well, evidenced by his reaction to the news concerning Robinson Cano.

Andrew McCutchen goes home again

Speaking of veterans who are currently plying their trade with new teams, Andrew McCutchen finally made his return to Pittsburgh, and the fans at PNC Park made sure to give him a warm welcome. Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli was well aware of the shower of love the fans were going to rain down on the former face of the franchise, so when McCutchen came to the plate for his first at-bat, Cervelli stepped back and let the fans show their support for McCutchen for as long as they desired.

It was one of those moments that baseball is tailor-made for and evidence that when it comes to longtime heroes of certain clubs, you can always come home and receive a hero's welcome. It was very cool to see Pirates fans show this much love for one of their franchise's best players, and it was definitely deserved for McCutchen.

Stephen Piscotty's emotional return

Recently, Stephen Piscotty's mother lost her battle with ALS, and naturally, Piscotty took a break from the game in order to mourn her loss. Upon his return, the baseball world once again proved that there are some things that supersede the game itself and make you wonder if the players are receiving a bit of extra help as well.

Piscotty's first at-bat in his return ended up going as well as it possibly could have, as he launched one over the Green Monster at Fenway Park for a home run. As he crossed home plate, he had his hand on his heart, a tribute to one of the ways his mother communicated with him after she lost the ability to talk.

There are going to be plenty more home runs hit this season, but none will have as much emotion and meaning behind it as the one that Piscotty hit.

Three Down

Robinson Cano's bad week

Good grief, did Robinson Cano have a bad week or what? Things started going downhill for Cano on Mother's Day when he got hit on the hand by a pitch. He ended up breaking a bone in his left hand and was set to miss significant time, which is stunning when you consider that he's averaged 159 games a season over 11 seasons.

Turns out even if he was healthy, he absolutely was not going to reach 159 games this season because only a couple of days after getting injured, news broke that Cano tested positive for PEDs and would be suspended 80 games. The biggest bummer is that if by some miracle the Mariners manage to break their playoff drought, Cano won't be able to participate since players who get caught using PEDs aren't allowed to play in the postseason.

It's a stain on the career of a player who has been consistently great for over a decade now. It probably won't hurt his Hall of Fame chances due to the evolving attitudes of voters on that subject, but it's still a bummer to see one of the game's great active players get caught doing this type of stuff.

MLB cracks down on unique equipment

Meanwhile, Major League Baseball continued to crack down on issues that really do not warrant any sort of crackdown. Over this past week, multiple players received warnings from MLB in regard to their equipment. A few players were chided for their shoe designs: Mike Clevinger and Ben Zobrist both posted the letters that they received from MLB, and Willson Contreras was told to stop wearing his arm sleeve that displayed the Venezuelan flag.

These latest moves go against everything that MLB has been trying to do to make the game "fun" again. Nobody is hurt by players wearing unique cleats and equipment like this. As long as it isn't incredibly garish, it's not the worst thing in the world. However, it appears that this is probably just MLB sending a warning shot toward the MLBPA ahead of future negotiations. This statement from MLB placed the blame squarely at the union's feet. I have a feeling that the next round of labor talks aren't going to be too pleasant if stuff like this keeps up.

Dodgers continue to slide

ESPN's Buster Olney noted a truly staggering tidbit that there are currently six teams who are on pace to lose 100 or more games this season. You see some expected names on there like the White Sox, Royals and Reds. However, there's one team on that list that absolutely nobody expected to see: the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Indeed, the team that was expected to once again cruise into the postseason could be in for a major fight just to make the Wild Card. As of this writing, the Dodgers are 16-26, which has them dead last in the NL West and would actually have them in last place in any of the divisions in the National League. They have lost six straight games, including a four-game sweep at the hands of the aforementioned Reds, and they will try to avoid a three-game sweep from the Miami Marlins, who are also one of those teams on pace to lose 100 or more games.

The Marlins actually have the same record as the Dodgers. That is a statement you only figured you'd make during the first couple of weeks of April, but here we are. The Memorial Day checkpoint is right around the corner, and the Dodgers are now in the gutter, scuffling with the likes of the Reds and the Marlins. Who would have ever thought we'd see this type of slow start from L.A.?