gehringer_2

but some of what he is doing is going to play well. Outside hard liberal circles - which is to say maybe 70% of the population - no-one is going to miss the department of education - people sense it's not a core function in a federal system and objectively the country's K-12 education has not done any better for its existence. This is the kind of thing where it's fine for the Dems to say they disagree but going into end-of-the-world histrionics about it when most of the public either doesn't care or disagrees isn't the best way to show the public you care about what they do.

yup

LOL - My parents ended up eloping because of friction between the two local sects of the Armenian Orthodox Church. When it comes to religion, every sect with two or more members is ripe for schism. Most recently in the US you have friction within the RCC from people who want to go back to the Latin mass, divisions inside the Baptist church over politics, the Methodist Church in the US just split itself up over LGBTQ rights and for a long time the Lutherans have had various synods in the US that don't agree on things. Judaism is thoroughly subdivided. Sunni and Shia cheer each other's deaths thoughout the ME. Within about ten minutes of any religious group deciding to form a new community, someone decides they have to start making rules for everyone else - and the same wheel turns 'round again.

Holland looks like he has the physical tools to be a great defender if he's willing.

lets hope once bitten twice shy.

hard to argue the signing have been the downfall, but even if the players on their way up through the system will improve them, they will still have trouble winning long term if the FO doesn't do a better job in the trade and FA areas. It's a three legged stool, draft/FA/Trades. The better you do at all three the better overall.

Powell did come out and say Tariffs were inflationary - though with a lot of hedging. So that much is on the record. What he didn't say is whether the FED will go ahead with cuts and allow Tariff inflation, or try to counter act Tariff inflation by tightening, increasing the likelihood of a slowdown/recession. What they decide is going to have a big impact on whether Trump-o-nomics is regarded as a success or failure, and no-one knows what they are going to decide.

Mize threw well again today - I don't know how he doesn't make the rotation. Javy with two hard hit balls, Tork on base 3 times, Jake with a hit and a walk, Torres still punishing the ball. The lineup is looking a lot better from the batters box on the left side. Sweeney is a guy who needs to get going though. Defensively I like the idea of he and Baez on the left side.

About all you can say about hitting well in ST is that it's better than hitting badly in ST. Seriously though, as much as ST results are denigrated, even if the outcomes don't much batter, they are directing his AB - what's he swinging at, what is he taking, who is he facing etc - so I think there is still useful info being gained there.

My thought also - another thing to get people all riled up where they can come back and say "see you were wrong, we didn't change anything." Still, there is a certain level of symbolism to leaving stuff like that in place - it's still an erasure of history in a way.

Hinch said afterward that pulling him because of the dive was a jest - he was coming out anyway, but sure - there was barb even in the joke.

Agree this was an issue. - I guess he was trying to use a gravelier "announcing voice" in the TV both because when he was on the radio it wasn't nearly as bad.

so we've mostly been traveling - and I don't watch much TV anyway - but what's with the story I'm hearing that CBS helped put together a concert by minority candidates and retirees from the Marine Corp band after Trump spiked the program that had recruited them to give a concert with USMC band? Do we have one network left that isn't rolling over for Trump? NBC and ABC have been pretty useless.

exactly. The first thing to understand when dealing with an unprincipled opponent is that you are dealing with an unprincipled opponent. You wouldn't think that would be a hard understanding to achieve at this point, would you?

whichever way he went, he should not have changed course. I think the right thing to have done was make no *public* commitment at all while the CR was in the House. All Jeffries needed was the threat/uncertainty to get whatever he was going to get (which in the end was nothing) - I really doubt Schumer making the public commitment made any difference in the House at all. That was the real tactical error. He could have done all the under the table/cloak room signalling he wanted to help Jeffries, then once the CR got to the Senate announced that a shutdown only served Trump and I think he's fine. But you don't get the troops all lined up just to retreat. That fact that he didn't game those scenarios out to the obviously necessary course of action doesn't say much for his ability to be a tactically effective leader. If he can't see around the 1st corner he's going to lose every time.

If Javy doesn't work out there, I wouldn't be surprised if things move in that direction - of course assuming Tork is actually fixed. And I suppose that's probably the key. They aren't going to approach Torres until they are sure about Tork and Gleyber can see the advantage to the team himself (much like they weren't going to bother asking Tork to practice in RF until they saw if he had accomplished something on the hitting side). From what I read about the episode with the Yankees, it may not even have been the idea of playing third as much as they wanted him to do it with zero notice and no prep/practice - so we'll see.

Indeed - Maybe he was fine with it, but I don't think it was working as game coverage. Sort of TMI

You will always be important to us

Not to mention that Benetti + Gibson wasn't working for some reason. Gibby constantly needled him and Jason would end up not knowing where to go with it or having to avoid the direction Gibson was pushing (i.e talking about Jason's own disabilities) I thought it was getting pretty strained sometimes.

The Caps are always a tough matchup for the Wings, but stay in it for 40 min then lose it is still disheartening.

I've lost who you are referring to here(?) But who-ever it is I agree he's dead wrong. The old GOP took it's cyanide capsule a long time ago as they swallowed hard on it and took the short term win while destroying the system by refusing to impeach Trump the first time. Everything since has just been one long denouement for any remnant of the 'old guard.'

I would emphasize the point though, that attendance revenue is not the same as trying to serve the most fans in person. The teams have learned that you can generate more revenue by restricting the availability of tickets (small parks) and loading up on lux box sales. So to me the distinction matters that maximizing ticket revenue should not be understood to mean wanting to get the most participation of the public in person at the games.

Javy throwing to Keith is going to be scary for sure. Obviously it's way early on the learning curve, but at best, it would be hard to say he looks like a natural there, much more a work in progress and we have to hope the progress part comes fast enough it doesn't cost games.

I have no particular sympathy for Shep. As a broadcaster he made a very conscious decision about how to do his broadcast and it was the wrong one and he never adjusted - his fate was in his own hands to get better/fix what was wrong - and he never moved off his initial stance/style. People don't want the PBP to act like a sycophant with the player - they like the idea of the player as a regular guy, and the PBP needs to stand in for the listeners as a regular guy having a regular back and forth with the player, just like you would want to do yourself if you were there. Shep never went there, and to to me that's what was always wrong with his work. His approach was "nobody wants to hear what I think when there is a ball player next to me" but that is exactly wrong. Look at all the popular sports broadcasting/podcasting etc. Your job is to be an interesting equal - not just lap up whatever the other guy says. If you aren't bringing anything yourself, there is no reason for you to be there - get someone who believes he knows something about the game and is willing express himself and maybe go back and forth with the player - etc. It was especially dumb when Shep would ask the player some question that was so trivially basic that any baseball fan could answer it but he still refused to speak for himself. Those kinds or interchanges were always too obsequious and stagey to be any kind of good game coverage. The idea that you had to have played the game to know the game is nonsense - had he never heard of Patrick, Ernie, Vin, Red, Dickerson, even Costas? Do dumb ****, get bad results.

Two things have to happen and they will be OK: Sweeney has to hit as well as last season, and Javy needs to play 3b and hit as well as '22. The first one is fairly likely, the second is as much hope as anything else, but as long as the possibility is still in play, the lineup can work. If it ends up 3B (or worse SS) by committee it will be a lot more ugly. I don't see a problem on the other side with Tork, Keith, and Torres. There are enough AB to go around if they all hit and if someone doesn't it's that much simpler. Well, the other thing that needs to happen is Meadows has to get back. I guess that's more ordinary injury issue than line-up issue but it's still a hole they can't adequately fill as it stands.