gehringer_2

Another aspect Carlos hit is that pitchers know the paradigm is to try and run pitch counts to chase pitchers, so since they know hitters have a predisposition to take the first pitch, they take more chances throwing hittable strikes- ergo pitch one is now often the best pitch of an AB. Hitters can’t just let pitchers have that free ride, they have to make them work finer on pitch one, which means they will miss more and the hitter can get ahead more. The bottom line is you can’t be so committed to any approach that you become predictable, even if the approach has a sound basis because to be predictable is to be dead. this all reminds me a game early in JVs career when he was really cruising through his starts, always ahead in the count, and then in Baltimore one day they swung at every 1st pitch strike and beat him up pretty good because he had gotten habituated to guys taking 1st pitches and stopped throwing them with enough conviction

not unexpected but still a big deal as the Dems can move legislation in the House again.

So in the end they scored 38 more and gave up only 5 fewer - so in the end virtually no improvement in the D + goal tending at all. OTOH, if they can improve as much from this year to next as from last yr to this, they are a solid playoff team.

Sites I've seen say the Wings have $28M going into next season. By your figures, If Seider an Raymond take $14.5 (they are already taking ~$2M so the raise would be $14.5), they have ~$13.5M to work with. I wouldn't spend the money on Kane if I could get a center, but I don't know if we can - and Stamkos is old - don't see Yzerman going that way. Anyway - it's still a pretty good chunk of change - they should be able to do something helpful.

It's been interesting to hear Carlos be so critical of Tiger hitter approaches - in particular wrt taking pitches. I have to wonder if the booth is going to get push back from the staff at some point. Of course Carlos wasn't a great all around hitter either, but he was good at two of the things the Tigers want, which was walks and HRs, so he knows something about accomplishing that. The situation with the hitters will resolve one way or the other because hitters will eventually tune out advice that isn't working for them, it just needs to happen more quickly than it's happening. That is *if* these guys are actually better than they are showing and that's what is happening.

For all the constant talk about it with Hinch for three years, the Tigers are not anything you would describe as a running team. As long as a guy can go 1st to 3rd he can hit anywhere in the Tigers lineup and his speed isn't going to matter.

philly blew it. Caps up by one.

they don't have the speed, skill to close on guys in the D zone.

Flyers have tied it up with the Caps

It's not even up to the player. Bat behind any great OBP player(s) and you are going to rack up GiDP.

the tragedy of CTE.

and we got a non-self-destructing inning from Lange as a bonus.

they put a graphic up today that showed the Tigers rank near the bottom swinging at the 1st pitch. When you are a bad offense, you should think about what being an outlier in any offensive category is telling you.

Tigers won't be below 500 at 20 games out!

I have to assume a lot of the biographical chatter will fade as everyone gets to know one another and it's all been said once.

and if you look at the logic, once Iran sent Hamas into such an outright act of war against them, what practical difference does it make to Israel to do something that does nothing more than put them into state of war with Iran they are already in by virtue of Oct 6? I think we tend make more distinction between Hamas and Iran than does Israel, who sees Hamas as a direct extension of Iran. As the ineffective missile attack showed, Iran doesn't have capabilities to strike Israel directly that are more effective that what they already have unleashed in the form of Hamas so the idea that a more outright state of war between Israel and Iran would be any 'wider' than it already is more a Western Media concept than a reality on the ground.

and if you want to go take a nod to Constitutional originalism, I'm sure the founders never supposed that in the rural and small town continental communities of their new nation, you would be particularly likely to find jurors who didn't know or had never heard of the defendents they would have to sit in judgement of. That should never be a criteria for a fair jury.

and TBF, Manny Gonzales is terrible behind the plate today. Strike zone like the Grand Canyon. Have to totally disagree with Benetti thinking the automated zone will help pitchers. I would expect a discernible jump in BA across the league. Hitters know the zone. Take away their doubt about ball being called strikes on a day like today and hitter success rates absolutely go up.

Zach having a very interesting day. Every which way but loose but he makes that catch.

Carpenter only hitting greased baseballs today.

Tork Ks looking for another perfect pitch.

Israel has always said that if you kill our people, there is nothing we care about you hiding behind that will stop us from coming after you. This is a basic premise of the position they take in a hostile neighborhood. It's a piece of their deterrence posture, just like a Trident submarine is for us. We can express our own scruples about it but we shouldn't be surprised by it or think it represents any change in long standing Israeli policy.

I think the the guys in the booth have decided they'd just rather not cover this game.

Meadows with better ABs today but no cigar.

Casey still fights it with men on base. Doesn't like pitching from the stretch?