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This series is over. Looking like the Dodgers and Yankees. 🤮

Johnson and Biden both read the tea leaves and stepped aside. They do have one thing in common.

Is that why Biden was forced out by his own party? Odd.

Isn’t it reassuring that we live in a country where the top two candidates for the presidency, to begin with, were Biden and Trump. And isn’t it really wonderful that the powers that be of both parties would have preferred their candidates stay out of the limelight so that they wouldn’t harm their chances of being elected by being seen or heard.

For the sake of accuracy, the Yankees minor league affiliate in Tampa are now the Tampa Tarpons. The name change occurred a couple of years back.

Of all the criticism you hear of his rough inning, you never hear the following inning mentioned. Odd how that works.

True. The conversation earlier was about who the actual policy holders were.

Good question. On a temporary basis as is discussed in this piece, yes. There is enough parking for the current ballpark seating capacity. If someday a MLB were a full time occupant in this location, the seating expansion may be a bigger issue for parking. I would guess that would require more parking resources than currently exist. I think Charlotte would get a team before Durham. The Charlotte park is within a short walk to the Panther’s park so I believe that problem is, for the most part, resolved. There is ample parking for the NFL team there. I’m sure there would be some additional work needed there but nothing like Durham.

This is a good piece on the Tampa Bay Rays and all the what-ifs of their current predicament, and there are many. St. Pete has an insurance policy on the Trop. I know that question was raised here a while back. https://www.tampabay.com/hurricane/2024/10/15/where-rays-will-play-2025-one-many-questions-after-trop-damage/

In addressing the Casey Mize situation Harris stressed the offseason has to be a commitment from him in a number of areas. It would be huge if he could regain his stuff and be back in the rotation at some point. Spring Training is going to be a big test for some of these guys regarding their future in Detroit.

In my humble opinion, the biggest difference in Avila and Harris as POBO is the implementation and oversight of player development. Under Harris it appears they have a realistic understanding of what they have in the minors now and how to proceed with that. I don’t think Avila’s regime ever had a realistic grasp on that and the results showed.

I remember Hurricanes Camille and Agnus. I was surprised at how many years ago they were! The Ford Maverick, that’s a true flashback. Way back in the day I almost bought a Pinto. I settled on a second hand Vega. The picture above tells a story for sure. I never knew the guy that owned the Maverick but I even feel sorry for him looking at that picture. Brutal!

The needle is moving. US troops will be involved: WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is sending an advanced antimissile system to Israel along with American troops to operate it, moving to bolster its top Middle East ally’s defenses against an Iranian attack, the Pentagon said Sunday. The deployment of the Thaad system, a ground-based interceptor designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, marks a significant step in American efforts to directly protect Israel against an enemy attack by putting U.S. soldiers on the ground. WSJ 10/13/2024

I would think China before any other adversary. The impression I get here is that there could be a serious security issue that no one has answers for. More from the attached article above: continued… Over 17 days, the drones arrived at dusk, flew off and circled back. Some shone small lights, making them look like a constellation moving in the night sky—or a science-fiction movie, Kelly said, “‘Close Encounters at Langley.’” They also were nearly impossible to track, vanishing each night despite a wealth of resources deployed to catch them. Gen. Glen VanHerck, at the time commander of the U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said drones had for years been spotted flying around defense installations. But the nightly drone swarms over Langley, he said, were unlike any past incursion. Gen. Glen VanHerck arriving for a closed-door briefing for lawmakers about the suspected Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 9 last year in Washington. PHOTO: DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES VanHerck, who led the military response to the Chinese balloon, ordered jet fighters and other aircraft to fly close enough to glean clues from the drones. He recommended that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorize a full menu of electronic eavesdropping and spycraft to learn more, though the Pentagon is limited in what it can do on U.S. soil. “If there are unknown objects within North America,” VanHerck said, the job is “to go out and identify them.” Solving that mystery, even for the world’s pre-eminent superpower, proved easier said than done. Local police were among the first to try. For two nights, starting on Dec. 6, Hampton, Va., officers chased the drones, by patrol car and on foot, relaying momentary sightings along with information from Langley over police radios: One was seen in the area of Marshall Street or Gosnold’s Hope Park.

We’re at Oak Island for a week or so. Having reserved a condo months in advance, we consider ourselves fortunate to have avoided all the bad weather. We’re in a stretch of gorgeous weather here with temperatures in the mid 70’s. CMRivdogs, Does Hurricane Hazel of 1955 ring a bell for you? I was newly born at the time it landed at Oak Island. It pretty much destroyed everything here when it hit. There is a historical marker as you cross the bridge coming in noting the historical storm’s presence here nearly 70 years ago. I heard about all my younger years growing up in the piedmont area of N.C. Hazel moved through our hometown in 1955 after landing here.

Gritty is the ticket.

After the GS I thought that the team would relax a bit as a result of being assumed out of it at that point. Most all of these guys were under more pressure than they had probably ever experienced in professional baseball. They did continue to battle but the pitching finally gave out of gas. I’m looking forward to see what the direction of the front office will be.

I’m hoping your baseball intuition proves correct here.

I hadn’t seen this before. Thoughts? Mystery Drones Swarmed a U.S. Military Base for 17 Days. The Pentagon Is Stumped. U.S. officials don’t know who is behind the drones that have flown unhindered over sensitive national-security sites—or how to stop them A view of Langley Air Force Base at dusk from Gosnold’s Hope Park in Hampton, Va. KRISTEN ZEIS FOR WSJ Oct. 12, 2024 at 9:00 pm U.S. Air Force Gen. Mark Kelly wasn’t sure what to make of reports that a suspicious fleet of unidentified aircraft had been flying over Langley Air Force Base on Virginia’s shoreline. Kelly, a decorated senior commander at the base, got on a squadron rooftop to see for himself. He joined a handful of other officers responsible for a clutch of the nation’s most advanced jet fighters, including F-22 Raptors. For several nights, military personnel had reported a mysterious breach of restricted airspace over a stretch of land that has one of the largest concentrations of national-security facilities in the U.S. The show usually starts 45 minutes to an hour after sunset, another senior leader told Kelly. The first drone arrived shortly. Kelly, a career fighter pilot, estimated it was roughly 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 miles an hour, at an altitude of roughly 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Other drones followed, one by one, sounding in the distance like a parade of lawn mowers. The drones headed south, across Chesapeake Bay, toward Norfolk, Va., and over an area that includes the home base for the Navy’s SEAL Team Six and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval port. A view of the Langley base in Virginia. PHOTO: KRISTEN ZEIS FOR WSJ Officials didn’t know if the drone fleet, which numbered as many as a dozen or more over the following nights, belonged to clever hobbyists or hostile forces. Some suspected that Russia or China deployed them to test the response of American forces. Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones near military bases in the U.S. unless they pose an imminent threat. Aerial snooping doesn’t qualify, though some lawmakers hope to give the military greater leeway. Reports of the drones reached President Biden and set off two weeks of White House meetings after they first appeared in December last year. Officials from agencies including the Defense Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pentagon’s UFO office joined outside experts to throw out possible explanations as well as ideas about how to respond.

Yeah, that was a weak take on Skubal. We’d never be here without him.

Well…Spring Training is just a few short months away. 🌞

One out to go.

Vierling was invisible today.

Well…not good.

I expect RM to check in soon.