gehringer_2

voting against appointments from the minority doesn't actually accomplish anything - it's nice symbolism, but does it matter? I'd guess most members make those votes because they are hoping to bank some goodwill capital to get something later that will be worth more than a symbolic no vote that doesn't stop anything. I guess there is a level where more 'symbol' can be good thing but in the end, stuff that doesn't make a difference, doesn't make a difference. OTOH, if any of those votes could have stopped one of those appointments, then I agree with you.

I see little route for them to improve much. None of the players likely to come up from GR have shown much indication any of them are going to be more than younger versions of the same kind of middling players they are going to replace. They might have a goalie in either Augustine or Cossa, but it still looks like a mediocre team with little chance to do any more than get washed out of an early cup round. The D is good, yes, but they need more help on the lines than I see any way for them to generate.

Crikey - SGL and Hanifee combine to give up 11 ER in 5 IP.

6 K's total in this game. Can't remember last time I saw a game with that few Ks.

Kane is toast. This rebuild has already failed, they have to get worse to get better again.

how is he not ejected? NBA officiating is a joke.

tigers with only 4 hits but they took 6 walks. Torkelson with a silly 208/397 BA/OBP

Parker Meadows has surgery on his broken radius. That could mean the fracture was more complex than normal, or just that they decided they could cut down recovery time with in 'internal fixature'. He was moved to the 60day. Hinch said he expects him back this season. https://www.mlb.com/tigers/news/parker-meadows-left-arm-surgery-60-day-il

I get all that, but in general voters in CA aren't that dumb. If it were a presidential year the idea of 'autopilot' voters picking any name they had heard before seems like it could be a more serious risk. Dems splitting the vote is a risk in general, and they have to figure that out with or without Swalwell additional name on the ballot.

The water needs to seek him out and envelop him in its love.

this

correct

I hope you mean the primary. If the general is close in MI the Dems have no chance of taking the Senate.

I don't think this will be a big issue since Swalwell didn't have prior state wide recognition. He's only a household name in one district.

just as an aside, I wouldn't compare going to interview shows run by people you may not like (Like Pete B to Fox) where you have a chance to reach an audience that you can't by other means, to campaigning with someone - it's a whole different order of magnitude of validation.

speaking of the Times. If anyone has the time (it's a very long read or listen) and access, the Ezra Klein inverview with Marc Lynch and Shibley Telhami (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-lynch-telhami.html) is worth the time to slog through - esp the discussion near the end about Netanyahu's desperation to complete his program before he loses Trump and thus probably US support. Especially if you are old enough to have memory of what Israel was in the days of Golda Mier and Abba Eban, reading this will disabuse you any idea that it's the same place it was then or - even 15 yrs ago for that matter. It seems the only thing either side in the Arab/Israeli conflict can do successfully is further radicalize its enemy to hate it even more - and Israel's current course will be no exception.

What Trump does by comparison is meaningless, GOP and Dem voters have different criteria - it is what it is. You have an ongoing complaint about the radical left, I share some of that, but they are most useful as the stalking horse for the right to campaign against no matter who the mainstream Dems run. I mean, honestly, was Hammoud any more help to Harris than he would have been to Biden?

No comment on McMorrow in partcular, but I can't hold a Dem's position on Biden's run against them - I think Dems of good conscience were in a serious quandry about it. It was completely reasonable to believe if Biden had tried to keep campaigning there would soon have been more video flying around of more episodes that looked like the debate. There was no clear right answer there. I was ambivalent myself, and I think it still would have been the right decision if Harris had been able to connect to people better. To me she had this weakness that when you heard her speaking on video, it was always like she was talking to someone else, not to 'you'. Somehow she didn't connect through the camera like Obama or Trump can. Video 'Charisma' is a weird thing, but it's indispensable.

Garth was playing for the Jays when Cale was born...

he's going to be tested with a lot more breaking stuff, but that's not going to be easy either with a guy who takes a walk as well as McGonigle

a game that sort of encapsulates Trout's career. Great individual performance but it still couldn't pull the Angels over the line.

not sure if 2022 was talking about McG or Rainer but either way I agree I never remember Collins being treated as that much of a deal. IIRC Iorg did get a fair amount of early hype but it was pretty short lived because he never lived up to any of it. they kept pushing him up the system but he never really had a year that merited a promotion anywhere. Rainer already has a better year last year than Iorg ever had.

you and I don't have to, but if TPTB in the Democratic party leadership are not doing the party building to prep for '28, we're in trouble. Maybe my biggest knock on Obama was exactly that once he had his win, he didn't put much effort into making sure he left the DNC stronger than where he found it.

that's why you have to win big enough in the quadrennials to be able to take the 'inevitable' mid-term attrition. 😉

not what I'm saying - of course you make it about Trump if people are moving away from Trump and that's going to work for you. That's what I mean about '28 - after anti-trump do you have a story to tell Iowa, Tx, Fla, even Maine - states that should be flippable but that have failed to flip over several cycles, that can win without an unpopular incumbent there to run against?