Is a good sports section of a newspaper in the mind of the reader? I suppose any newspaper section is. But we’re dealing with sports here, specifically baseball, so let’s stick to that.

From readers’ e-mail, I get the idea that many are or were readers of The New York Times sports section but who have become disappointed or disenchanted with it. That’s easy to do these days when baseball has virtually disappeared from the Times. In my view, if you want solid, consistent baseball coverage you have to read Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic website.

The Times? Its Yankees and Mets beat writers do a good job when they’re allowed, but the Times has taken to covering some of the teams’ games, even home games, with Associated Press accounts.

That practice demonstrates a fundamental failure to …

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On a shelf somewhere in my house is a can of pine tar. What on earth am I doing with a can of pine tar?

I can explain that more easily than I can explain why, 35 years later, I still have the pine tar. I guess I have kept the can all these years because I tend to keep things. My wife calls it hoarding, but I just don’t like throwing things away. I mean, in this instance, for example, how do I know I won’t wake up tomorrow and discover I need a glob of pine tar?

I have the pine tar because Ken Nigro gave it to me and other baseball reporters who covered the Pine Tar game between the Yankees and the Royals 35 years ago July 24.

The month of July is filled with anniversaries of momentous events in recent Yankees history. For example …

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In an unprecedented wave of dismissals, three managers who led their teams to the post-season last year were excused from further duty with their teams: John Farrell in American League East champion Boston, Joe Girardi in New York with the A.L. wild-card Yankees and Dusty Baker in National League East champion Washington.

Now that the season has resumed following the All-Star break, this is a good time to see where those teams and their new managers are.

The Red Sox, under rookie Alex Cora, are exactly where they finished with Farrell, leading the A.L. East. The Yankees, also with a rookie, Aaron Boone, managing them, are in second place and have the best wild-card record.

So much for consistency. It ends with …

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