mtutiger

This newscycle comes up every so often. But at the end of the day, Joe Manchin voted for impeachment twice and has been incredibly defensive of Obamacare throughout the Trump years. He isn't gonna become a Republican... as much as more lefty folks complain about him, his ideology still aligns more with the Dems than the Rs. And he really hates McConnell.

For sure. And to be fair, Texas has an identity that is more unique and less connected to the vestiges of the Confederacy.

I found it amusing that there was a discussion during the Braves-Dodgers TBS broadcast about the diminished utility of the starting pitcher.... Like, the ALCS game that preceded that is a textbook example of how useful a good starting pitching performance still can be, particularly given how slammed the Astros pen was after those three games. And now you look at that series, setting aside the advantage the Astros have with the lead in the series, it's now the Red Sox who are in a hole because of how they have had to leverage their pitching. That was unthinkable when people were writing the Astros off after Game 3.

lol

The start by Framber today was massive... gave the bullpen a huge rest after getting taxed in Games 2-4.

After nine years of living in Texas (ie. an actual Confederate state), it never ceases to amaze me that I see less stars and bars here than I did back home

Amazing how different the Astros-Sox series looks 24 hours later...

Different controversy, but I've kinda felt that TBS has had a slight pro-Braves bent all postseason.... right down to putting Frenchy in the booth for both of their series. They've been a superior broadcast over FOX regardless, but just calling it like I see it.

My thing is that there was a ball off the plate four ball widths to Aledmys Diaz (one batter prior to Castro) that went the Red Sox way as well that was pretty critical in terms of how that AB played out as well. Had the the inning ended tied, would the Astros have had reason to be pissed at that too? That's my only point.... Diaz wasn't picking on the Red Sox or anything like that, he's just not good at his job. And the only reason we are talking about that particular call is because of what came after.

The crying by Red Sox fans just seems a bit over the top to me. They had ample opportunities to score more runs yesterday or prevent more runs from scoring once Jason Castro got that base hit and they didn't avail themselves of them. Just don't have a lot of sympathy.

This is definitely a concern... he needs more time to kinda prove it. Which he is not gonna get anytime soon. In the meantime, IDK if rolling into next season with Haase/Garneau and hoping Dingler moves fast next year is a great move if you desire to make improvements on next year (as the Tigers brass says they do). It's a lot to ask of Haase who easily could regress next season and whose defense is touch and go. They don't need best available, just serviceable. The asking price may be reasonable depending on who it is and what the circumstances are. Mentioned it a while ago, but someone like Pedro Severino from the Orioles might be a fit... with Adley Rutschman likely to be elevated to Baltimore, one imagines he's not going to get as much playing time next year. And I doubt the asking price would be high.

Of course, Diaz called one of those pitches that was four ball widths off the plate a strike to the previous batter. Laz Diaz sucks, but let's not pretend they didn't benefit as well at times.

Red Sox 9th Inning:

Alex Cora pulls a Dave Roberts lol

And this, folks, is why you hit Fangraphs first lol

Feels like a whole new series in LA! Baseball man

And like that, Dodgers lead... baseball

Reagan was philosophically different in ways as well. Not that I like the guy much, but I still marvel at how, when you go back and listen to Reagan speeches, how much more optimistic Reagan sounded compared to Trump... just completely different personalities.

Lol, so much for that

Astros gonna need vintage Grienke tonight lol

To their credit. Doesn't really change my view though.

This postseason seems kinda easy to figure out at the moment... Houston and LA may be better teams in the grand scheme, but a combination of pitching injuries and fatigue are a really bad fit for the lineups Boston and Atlanta are featuring. There's just no let up in either lineup... and they've cashed in on their opportunities. Particularly the Sawx

I am amused at how the Trump tax cuts that added trillions to the debt and are seen as virtuous while social spending on things like child care or health care or free community college are seen as extravagant. The time for lectures and pearl clutching from Republicans and conservatives about the debt is long passed... it just is. President Trump pissed away whatever remained of that credibility.

It didn't amount to much for me. Situations can be different. In any event, the tax cuts, in my experience, don't cover for the failures that I see of his administration. Nor the embarrassment of his leadership, particularly during COVID and the post election period. If anything, my views are reinforced with every passing day.

Re. Trump's tax cuts: I got the equivalent of a Costco membership back in terms of benefit. Forgive me if I'm not in awe. I'm guessing the people who benefited more from the tax cuts have more zeros in their annual salary than I do lol.