Three Up, Three Down: An infamous umpire calls out MLB

I've dedicated plenty of space in this column to players getting the best of fans who try to come at them, whether it's on the Internet or at the ballpark. In the case of Steven Souza Jr., he decided to take time out of his busy schedule to discuss things with a fan who wasn't a fan of his plate approach.

Apparently, the fan figured that Souza was swinging at too many pitches, and Souza responded by basically telling him, "Don't tell me how to do my job." Taking a quick glance at Souza's stats at the time of publication, the man is hitting .268/.367/.495 with 16 home runs and one of the highest walk rates among qualified hitters in the American League. I'd say that Souza's doing just fine with his plate approach.

Down: The Yankees have hit the valley of a slump

Wednesday was a good day for Aaron Judge, who hit his 29th homer of the season and tied the Yankees franchise record for home runs by a rookie. That's an amazing achievement when you take into consideration this franchise's legendary history and the fact that Joe DiMaggio held the record. Oh yes, he's done it all before the All-Star break. However, the team itself is probably not trying to lean on past achievements right now. That's because the Yankees as a team have hit a bit of a slump.

They were flying high alone atop the AL East as recently as June 21, but after losing to Toronto on Wednesday afternoon, they had lost 16 of 22 and were a few games back of the Boston Red Sox, who have gone on the exact opposite run of what the Yankees have done. New York is still solidly in wild card contention so it's not all doom and gloom. Still, it looks like the Baby Bombers (with the exception of Aaron Judge) are going through some growing pains right now.

Up: Mookie Betts had a grand time

Mookie Betts has had himself a very nice week. For starters, he had a huge day against the Blue Jays in which he collected a whopping eight RBI from the leadoff spot. That's a huge day for any batter, but getting eight RBI while hitting in the leadoff spot is a pretty big achievement and also an indication that the Red Sox had their way with the Blue Jays on that day. Either way, that was very impressive.

The dynamic outfielder received Player of the Week honors for his all-around performance on the field last week, and he also received an even higher honor awhen he got his second career All-Star bid. Additionally, he'll be one of the starters in Miami after Mike Trout had to bow out due to injury. When you take into account Boston's surge to the top of the AL East, you have to figure that Mookie Betts is absolutely loving life right now.

Down: Kenley Jansen isn't happy with Dodgers fans

The Dodgers are sending at least four players to Los Angeles for the All-Star Game this year. They could have five if Justin Turner wins the Final Vote and maybe even six if Alex Wood can finagle his way in as a replacement if other pitchers are unable to pitch. However, one player who will be heading to Miami thinks that this should've never been in doubt. Kenley Jansen pulled no punches when he told the local media that he blames the fans for not voting enough for their players.

While he may have a point — the Dodgers are the best team in the National League and somehow have no starters on the NL All-Star squad — it's still tough to blame a fan base that's leading all of baseball in attendance when it comes to this sort of thing. Plus it's very tough to actually catch a Dodgers game on TV locally. I'd send my ire toward the players, coaches and managers who ignored Turner's stats and Wood's performances, but that's just me.

Up: Happy Bobby Bonilla Day!

Another July 1 has come and gone, which means that one of Bobby Bonilla's favorite days of the year has passed by. Of course, I'm talking about the lovely contract that Bonilla signed with the New York Mets in which the Mets decided to defer paying Bonilla $5.9 million for the 2000 season. He was released in January and did not even come close to suiting up for them that year. However, Bonilla has now become an infamous name in Mets history because ever since 2011, the payments have kicked in, and he's rolling in the money.

Thanks to an 8 percent annual interest rate, Bonilla receives a check of $1.19 million from the Mets every year on July 1. ESPN noted that Bonilla also receives even more deferred money from the Mets and the Orioles as part of a deal in the mid-'90s, and the retired slugger has made $15.3 million in deferred money with another $27 million left to collect in the future. Bobby Bonilla's agent deserves a medal, and with the money that he's making, Bonilla himself can easily afford to have a gold medal made for his agent.

Down: Angel Hernandez may be bad, but he isn't wrong

It's very easy to say that Angel Hernandez is not a good umpire. He's had plenty of high-profile mishaps during his long tenure as an ump in MLB, and he's more than likely been at the center of some missed calls that probably cost your team some games every now and then. Umpires will always receive plenty of criticism for the job that they do, but most of the criticism that Hernandez gets is warranted. With that being said, you can be a bad umpire and also be discriminated against.

That's what Hernandez is claiming after he filed suit against MLB for alleged racial discrimination. Hernandez hasn't been given high-profile opportunities (such as World Series games), among other things, and he believes that race is playing too big of a factor in that decision. When you consider the lack of minorities in high places across the rest of baseball, the bad umpire may have a good point here when it comes to that being a problem in the world of umpiring as well. He's not a good or popular umpire, but that shouldn't be a reason why you shake this off as just sour grapes.