gehringer_2

Short takes a walk on a long AB

Because this is Trump's idea of 'beautification' Most of the rest of us prefer this (same place, Long Beach CA)

I'm pretty much dropping from watching the games to listening on the radio or gameday while doing something else. If one turns out to be good it's on the DVR. I assume the Tigers get ratings credit for DVR recording so they are still getting my reduced-supporting support.

My guess is that if ABS if producing the increase in walks, they will come back down - at least part of the way, because pitchers with poor command exposed by ABS will either adjust or be replaced by guys that have better command but maybe give up a little more contact. Either way, whether via walks or contact, there are going to be more guys on base, which should lead to some increase in run scoring. The other effect I would speculate about is the top of zone change. Now every player has a fixed top to his strike zone which is going to be the same no matter who the umpire. That gives the player the chance to learn his zone to greater accuracy than before ABS. That has to be a second aid to hitters on top of not having to cope as much with the outside breaking ball that fools both players and umps and so often gets called a strike.

My kids are millennials, neither has ever done social media. One is a gamer and has a long-standing online connection to a stable community (not unlike this one I suppose).

the key is you have to enjoy watching a baseball game in an of itself, not only as a piece of a standings race or WS quest. Ernie did. This also goes to the root of why some people say they don’t care if the team is bad for 10 yrs if they can win 1 WS per decade and others don’t care so much about championships but don’t want to watch a bad baseball team yr to yr. Baseball is both a team competition and a pastime.

doubly true if ABS increases average scoring.

There is/was maybe also a bit of over-simplicification going on with the application of the run probabilities. The average run probability applies to the average hitter(s) coming up next in the line-up. Half of hitters are below average. Logic would argue that there is some cross-over point where the you are still better of bunting if the hitter(s) to follow at the plate has a lower than average probability of doing anything productive (e.g. high K rate) but can be taught to put down a bunt with decent reliability.

Click bait.. Lot of pitchers - lot of athletes - have bone chips removed from elbows etc., and it really is no big deal. Of course they could have found something worse when they went in and looked (a la Zumaya) but it that were true then the Skubal camp was putting out outright lies, which seems improbable since it will be perfectly obvious when he has trouble coming back. If they were shading on the time line the only audience for that that matters would be the Tiger FO and I'm sure the FO is not taking any action on anything other than an actual surgical report, not some tweet.

Appeals Court rules against Trumps 10% replacement tariff. Admin is conflicted because if it appeals to Scotus for expedited hearing and loses there it has to start paying them back along with the others that were already ruled illegal. 🎻🎻🎻 https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/07/us/trump-news

"Two Weeks"

WaPo story to the effect that the CIA says Iran can hold out longer than Trump can, still has much more than half of its missile and drone capability remaining. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/05/07/cia-intelligence-iran-trump-blockade-missiles/

that's the thing - some folks are mad at DJT, but are 100% still with the program, so they aren't particularly useful allies for the other side.

Tigers' window closing before we even got the shades up?

she definitely was threatened, but if her safety was her concern is quitting any better a strategy than running around dissing Trump in public appearances? You can make that argument, I'm not sure how sound it is.

choosing not to run I get, but why give up the seat and your power to vote for 8 mos? I suppose the GOP caucus could have made life very unpleasant for her in DC, but working through that is just the measure of her seriousness IMV.

TBF, 2 ER is not a disaster of a start, but the 3rd and 4th were the Jack we don't want to see.

wow. when the last time the Saudis were the good guys? Of course they may have blocked Trump more out of pique than principle, but I'll take it either way.

Starting staff is a total mess. Put Flaherty in the pen and stretch out Holton?

well, maybe the pistons can play deep into June and by then the Tigers will be watchable again.

another out on the bases.

so tonight's contribution about broadcast timing. For the 1st time in a long time I'm listening to the game on the WTKA OTA broadcast. I have gameday open, and gameday is just about 7 second *ahead* of the OTA radio at the end of the last inning, but almost 17 ahead on the 1st pitch of the next inning, but again by the end of the inning the difference was back down to ~8sec. These are fairly rough approximations since gameday is not completely consistent, but on average it appears that they are overextended the inning break on the radio by 10sec. Doesn't seem to be consistent from inning to inning though.

Andy Dufresne-Boyd Redding dichotomy.

true. Do you suppose player agent/lawyers take 30% of the net for the representation in a successful suspension reduction?

This is true, but I think whether as a matter of justice, the hammer finally lands on some of these guys is a separate issue to whether it continues, increases or decreases its importance as a political liability for Trump and/or his political enablers. From that perspective I'm not even in the loop. We were just hosting a friend with conservative siblings and she was telling us that even now, her brother, to whom she will not talk about politics, quite literally doesn't understand what she doesn't like about Trump. I mean, even if you support him, how can you not even understand the sources of other people's doubts/opposition to him? That seems inconceivable to me, but I met her brother years ago, he's just an ordinary Indiana guy. So at this point I try to remind myself not to bother weighing what I think MAGA may do against my own sensibilities.