gehringer_2

that wasn't what I was thinking about but if we go into next season (assuming it's played) without Skubal and Mize they are going to be a bad team again.

I don't know about Ivanka, but Melania for sure. Can't leave her behind to start telling tales after he's gone.

This one is moving fast though. Already looking bright in A2

Yes - if the current regime weren't doing everything it can to stop the build-out of renewable energy supply we could be keeping up with such demand. "Energy Crisis" is an oxymoron given today's tech. We are awash in more energy than we would know what to do with if we would stop letting the oil companies and other grifters and luddites persuade us not to go collect it.

heard a pod with an AI expert that studies it on context of how the US is approaching vs what China is doing. In the US the big push is to get there with 'super intelligent' agent. That seems to be where tons of US investment is going - racing for the biggest, baddest model. The Chinese are much less interested in that (to be fair, that's partly because we have made it difficult for them to purchase the processing HW available to play in that space). China is working pushing increasing energy and reduced computing footprint (algorithm efficiency), public domain SW, and manufacturing applications - less interest in the agent direction. Just a data point.

it is ironic that they actually have weathered the pitching injuries in surprising fashion. If they had just hit a little they would have able to stay above water so far.

I think maybe you can turn it around and get more likely statement - which would be that if you are an elite hitter the majors will find a place for you even if you are a poor fielder, but if you are an elite fielder that is a poor hitter, that is much less likely. Ergo, there are probably more elite fielders that can't hit hanging around the minors that teams are hoping will eventually hit, than there are elite hitters stuck there learning to field better. But the fact there are more of one than of the other doesn't mean there are a lot of them in absolute numbers.

Moving Josh Naylor a classic Cleveland move for example.

yeah - I think the wish-cast on Perez was that he would be the Isaac Peredes that didn't get away, a late blooming bat that could stay on the field defensively in a utility role. Well - not so much, esp after he came down with the throwing yips as an infielder.

just in case you wondered why Trump loves Crypto so much.... https://news.umich.edu/cryptocurrency-increases-risk-of-corruption-on-autopilot-says-u-m-expert/

no - the metaphor is midnight struck for them last year in the playoffs - they turned back into pumpkins before the ball was over (didn't get to end of playoffs/World Series win).

This is likely the last shot for Workman - if he doesn't produce he either needs to find a long term AAA gig or head for the real world. Same is probably true for Short, but the quality of his glove may allow him to stick at AAA as some team's emergency depth - which I guess is where he started the season. The disconnect is we have pitchers close to coming back but the pitching fill-ins have preformed betterr than the position fill-ins have. We are in more dire need of bats than arms - though it's probably an easy prediction that the level of pitching we are getting isn't sustainable for long without more of the regulars getting back soon.

In my hard core days, I did TOSRV a few times ( a long while ago now!) which was a double century on Mother's day weekend. Columbus to Portsmouth on Sat and back on Sunday, so I had to have at least 250+ by now, which was a real a challenge given how erratic Spring weather is.

I don't know if the back will hold up but I'll challenge you to a friendly competition. The best I've done in the last 5 or years is 875, last year was only about 650. I'll warn you I'm going to count maybe 10 miles week commuter mileage on a volunteer gig I can ride to beside the time on the road bike. You apparently have a good leg up - as I noted I'm just starting out, for the season -I'm at about 22mi

thank-you Mr Sunshine.

you never really know what a team is going to be. So far it looks like last season was the Cinderella at the ball season for the Tigers but midnight struck a little too soon for them. This year Fairy Godmother is apparently otherwise employed so it's back to tattered dresses and keeping the hearth warm for others ..... unless she should make another appearance.

doesn't really matter much how you pitch if you only score 2 runs over 2 games.

true, but the league average is ~5 runs per game and if you have one guy like Skubal at 2.00 and your #2 is maybe at 3.5, then that is what the end of your staff looks like in a typical year. If we had signed Flaherty to be the 5th starter, we'd only be moderately disappointed - we didn't so his performance level feels even worse.

It looks like Flaherty may never be the guy we want him to be again, but still, you should be able to win a few games if your starter goes 6 and gives up 4. That just normal end of the rotation expectation.

I took some time out to get in some time on the road bike. Between too much going on and crappy weather (and just being pickier about what I will ride in as I get older) I'm way, way behind my summer schedule. So what are we up to now, 1 run in the last 14 innings?

so he can't throw the breaking stuff over the plate and he walks guys and gets in trouble. Today he's throwing the breaking balls for strikes and the Jays crush a few.

he was there, he needs to catch it. he screwed up the little corner but it's his home field, he got to go out there and practice until he can deal with it.

"It's the Same, Old Song....."

Watching Platner talk about his epiphany wrt the US military-industrial complex got me thinking an optimistic thought that I'd never thought about before - it goes something like this: I wonder if a lot of the increase in polarization in US politics is just the last act of the polarization that's always been there inside the boomer generation - where the lefts and rights have hated each other since half of them got drafted and sent to 'Nam and the other half got deferments and went to lit school, graduated and became the dominant force in a liberal US media. Thinking back, GWHB was the last WWII generation President and when he left the scene you were left with Newt and Clinton, the first of the boomer gen to come to power, and I think you can almost date the start in the decay in US politics to that transition. And the thing is, the left was never the majority of my generation, but it was the half that dominated the conversation because they where the arty and erudite part, and the vitriol of the conservative backlash as the conservatives of that gen finally came to economic thus eventually political power and could get their revenge on all those hippies that controlled the conversation all their lives thus has a certain logic to it. The connection with Platner was the contrast with John Kerry. You can take Kerry and McCain as representing the divide in the Boomer gen. McCain a Navy brat vs Kerry the rich kid. The Navy brat served, suffered, came home and stayed on the right. Kerry - who rejected his war in a similar way to the way Platner now rejects his, was a child of privilege and the Ivy league who came back and became one of the faces of the liberal wing of the boomers. But Platner is anything but John Kerry. He was a long term grunt - the kind of boomer who came back from the Veitnam war and stayed on the right side the rest of his life. But that innate division isn't already cooked into Platner's generation the way it is in mine. So maybe that's a cause for optimism that as we boomers die off and take our generational baggage with us, people who haven't stewed in a lifetime of resentment will be less prone to thinking they have to hate the other side so much. another adpect to the divide in addition to geography, religion, etc.

who knows what the effect will be of Ukraine showing these increased capabilities where the Russian public can't help but see them so many months into a war Vladdie has been promising them is going swimmingly. I'd guess more shirtless horseback pics should be released soon.