gehringer_2

well, that's one way for Trump to get his interest rate cut.

well, to practice a bit of tea leaf reading, it's seems unlikely they would have started Montero yesterday knowing the Tigers would probably have to play two today unless Olson was ready to go. Unless they go with Enns and give Olson one more off day. All about the optionality!

because the ones that get elected aren't the fail, it's the ones who aren't getting elected! Other than Manchin, the Dems problem has not been lack of unity among the elected, it's lack of unity to get more people elected.

That's not what I'm getting at though. The problem with just being against Trump is that it still allows too many segments of the party to remain against each other. Sure Hogg will tell you everything Trump does is terrible -- and then go campaign against another Dem. Sure we've heard all the stuff about how messy the Dem coalition is etc., etc., but there until there is a set of places that Dems can agree they are all going to, or stated the other way - that if you are going that way you are a Dem, the party will remain a mess, the mess that was unable to articulate a coherent enough narrative to have defeated Trump in '24 when the Dems did run as "we're not Trump" and everyone already knew all the reasons to be against him and he won anyway. Of course if Trump messes up even more it should get easier, but in a sane world the Dems shouldn't have needed any more help than he'd already given them by 2020 to bury MAGA.

what so sad is that it isn't even going to work. They are absolutely trying to be so cruel that they think it will stop people from trying to come - but it won't. The only thing that will stop that is going after employers and they absolutely won't do that. So it's is going be like illicit drugs. You can do all the interdiction you want and make sentences as draconian as you want, and as long as there is demand, the drugs will keep coming. This is exactly the same. As long as you can sneak across the border and someone will hire you, all the cruelty on the side isn't going to change a thing. It's just encouragement of moral rot in the nation's soul.

Part of the reason Beasley had a career year was playing with Cade - both because Cade is a great facilitator and also because he was playing against a D that was constantly overcommitting on Cade. I would expect Robinson to have a better than average year (for him) if he steps into the same situation.

Winning 20 in the era of 5 starters is equivalent of something between 25 and 30 in the 4 starter era. McLain started 41 games to win 31 (75.6%) . JV started 34 to win 24 (70.6%). Skubal might get to 33 if he doesn't miss any but 31-32 is more likely. To get to 20 he'd need a ~60 winning %. To win 20 in the era of 40 starts meant your won half your starts, and that still tends to hold. 16 wins today is about the equivalent of 20 back in the day. The other big difference is that McLain completed 28 of his starts. JV had 4 CG and averaged 7 1/3 per start the year he won 24. If you are leaving at the end of 5 or 6 it's inevitable the pen is going blow a couple of your leads and/or you team takes the lead after you've left the game. Skubal is averaging 6 1/3 this season, so that's one more inning in each game when he is not the pitcher of record compared to JV in 2011. (2 more compared to McLain in 68)

Alex was solid. Did everything for the Wings except wash the dishes over the years, and maybe even that.

yeah, If only

you would think it a sane world, the GOP house members from blue states - of which there are there are still plenty more than are needed to stop this kind of thing, wouldn't stand for it. But that's the measure of the cult - they care more about DJT than about their constituents.

that's the irony though. For the right being against the Dems is a positive position - it reflects an actual set of policy actions - immigration enforcement, DEI roll back, environmental regulation rollback and upper income tax cuts (though the lower income continue to believe they are included -that delusion is another story) that people on the right think are going to change their lives for the better. For left, just being anti-Trump is not a prescription for how to make progress on any of the cost of living issues that the supposed target audience cares about. Health care is about it and even there the Dems conversation is only about defending Medicaid, which is important but still doesn't resonate with enough of the electorate that may not like healthcare in the US but are not medicaid recipients - i.e. most voters.

always double down, I guess.

did he show up under the influence? That was my guess for what was happening on the old board.

McGonigle and Clark reached base 8 times. Both with OBP's above 400 and more BB than Ks.

What strikes me when I watch them on the field and on the bases is the fearlessness. Like Tork's DP. After the ball hit the ground most guys are just taking it to 1st, but he still choose the tougher play with zero hesitation - and it was only the zero hesitation the allowed the execution to be successful. You have a bunch of guys `that play that way - Tork, McKinstry, Greene, Baez, Meadows, and it's infected any that maybe on a different team, wouldn't. And Hinch apparently has them drilled to where it works because they mostly DO execute. And of course Harris - and to his credit Avila, both upped the stress on putting guys on the field who could play the game outside the batter's box over previous FOs.

it was also his 20th and 21st point.

Three 100mph+ EVs tonight plus the very pretty DP. How many 1Bs just pick up that ball, trot to 1B and think they made the play?

yeah - the pitch probability thing was quite irritating - blocking almost a 1/4 of the screen.

it is what it is, they are out of power. Maybe the thing is good Dem candidates can win easily in a lot of places, but the party as a nationwide recruiting org (one of its most important functions) is failing to bring enough quality people to the races. Whatever it is, you are just kidding yourself if you think midterm gains mean much when you still can't get actually get into power. But if they pull a Congressional sweep in '26 then I'll be glad to agree with you that things have gotten peachy.

To me the problem is they’re soliciting money without giving any reason to support them. I don’t see that as good politics. It comes across more like entitlement. The question is whether the dems are doing politics effectively. A party with zero branches of national government is not, no matter how much special election over performance handwaving gets done.

Not sure Langford isn’t a part time player on this team.

if you are talking about NYC that paradox is part of what they were talking about. Coumo won the working class. But Mamdani ran the 'modern' media campaign that ended up reaching enough people to overcome Coumo's money and media advantage. One interesting thing in the discussion was not he details of political positions but evolution in how to use media to win an election in today's environment where saturation TV advertising is showing itself ineffective more and more often. The other aspect is whether the party knows how to find the candidates that will function well with newer media systems. The complaint is that the standard party approach is see who can raise the most money early and assume that is your most viable candidate. But that is exactly what gets you a Coumo. I really see that now in the emailing I get constantly since I'm on a bunch of Dem mailing lists. They all go to trash but it's still interesting to see the only thing they are after is money - there is almost no appeal to why anyone should care if they are elected, But every candidate is hustling to prove they can raise more money a year and a half out because they know that's what gets them labeled as 'viable', whether they actually have high level campaign skills or appeal or not.

Hogg has to be a MAGA mole.

that Chris Hayes plus 9 more years around the block.

IDK if NYT podcasts are paywalled, but Ezra Klein had a long talk with Chris Hayes this week that covered a lot of ground regarding new vs old campaign paradigms and how they intersect traditional campaign fundraising vs candidate talent, a lot of it revolving around Mamdani vs Coumo and whether the Dems are learning anything.