IdahoBert

Right over the border in Washington they grow some wicked good potatoes, just west of Coeur d’Alene, but in the 1950s they never got Marilyn Monroe to advertise for them by wearing an outfit made of potato gunnysacks so Idaho has this reputation for potatoes.

Mormons prefer to be referred to as Latter-day Saints to emphasize their continuity with Christianity, a continuity that Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants see as distantly adjacent. The only reason I know any of this is that parts of Idaho are heavily Mormon although the county I live in where Boise‘s located is only 14% Mormon. If you’ve ever watched “Napoleon Dynamite,” Franklin County in Eastern Idaho where it was filmed is 91.5% Mormon. That area of the state is where all the potatoes are grown. People think that the entire state of Idaho is covered with potatoes, but it’s just one small area. It’s a tribute to the marketing genius of the Idaho Potato Commission to convince the entire world that the whole state is covered with potatoes like one big Victory Garden in World War II.

They don’t like being called Mormons. They prefer being called Latter-Day Saints.

Now now, that’s not very nice, but it is well deserved. 🙃

Salt Lake Saints Salt Lake City Deserets Salt Lake City Rays Salt Lake City Beehives

At a locker room in Nantucket…

I could see Devers wondering “What am I, chopped liver?” But according to the Red Sox MLB beat writer, he and Bregman are the best pals already. They can barely restrain themselves from breaking into song and singing “we are the world…“

Happy Mondays

I saw on mlb.com that Torres is growing a beard and working on his fielding abilities with Cora.

It’s not all quite so innocent. The “Baseball Annie’s“ I saw who hung around outside Hi Corbett Field hoping to meet the players were pretty incredible. They weren’t sleazy or trampy, at least the few I saw. They were smart athletic women who were clearly intellectually superior to the profane tobacco chewing men they sought to ally with, who in marriage with a husband gone half the time could hold the ship and the family together with no problem.

The back fields are kind of cool, at least they were when I lived in Tucson in the ‘70s and ‘80s and the Indians trained there. I’d walk on the warning track of the back fields and balls would roll up there and I remember throwing them back to Bob Feller and he threw one back to me - underhanded so he wouldn’t hurt me - and let me keep it and we chatted briefly. It was honestly kind of magical seeing the young players having picnics under palm trees with their parents. Of course, most of them washed out, but at least they had these moments of walking on cloud nine in paradise. There was something genuinely idyllic and dreamlike about it.

I remember when Pudge showed up to spring training looking thinner than ever, like he lost 30 or 40 pounds, and they asked him why he lost so much weight and he said “I just got tired of eating.“ Thank God it had nothing to do with steroids.

Baez is in the best shape of his life. He is really giving the pitching machine a piece of his mind. LAKELAND, Fla. - The swing was classic Javier Baez, an aggressive approach at a ball and a well-struck line drive that carried out to left. It was Saturday morning batting practice on the back fields, but it was big for the Tigers, and for Báez. "I just started swinging 100 percent a couple weeks ago," he explained earlier. "Been hitting off the machine, and it feels good."

Did the Tigers really believe Spencer Torkelson could play third base when they drafted him? He had never played anything but first base at Arizona State, which could be seen as a vote of no confidence in his versatility and athleticism. But Arizona State is a big deal and they might’ve had a lot of acrobatic whippets to fill other positions so it was great sticking him at first base.

“Brennan Boesches of the world.” It was like during the All-Star break everyone had time to look at the film and see how to pitch to him better, and damn if they didn’t. These guys have to constantly make adjustments and the ones who can’t flame out.

https://www.audacy.com/971theticket/sports/detroit-tigers/detroit-tigers-hinch-explains-spencer-torkelsons-comments

Could you provide a link? EDIT Never mind, I think I found it

Is there something new that happened today?

This is really good, thanks for posting it. I didn’t see this anywhere else until here. EDIT: it just popped up on my MLB app a few minutes ago.

This article seems intended to simply throw red meat to the unwashed huddled masses, yearning for spectacles.

Is that, however, from a baseline that was pretty small to begin with?

This whole Bregman thing was an unsightly illusion. We never really had a chance. It’s like the Tigers were Fredo Corleone pleading his case saying “I’m shmart too!“ We never really had a chance against Chicago and Boston. I think any expectations that Bregman will fail in Boston are hopeful thinking. Some line drives off the monster may play for doubles and sometimes even singles, but this guy is going to make contact and I think he’ll be fine at Fenway.

I wish I hadn’t got caught up in this mania. Against my better judgment I fecklessly began to believe this could work and I’m disappointed in how I departed from my original instincts, which was to see this player and possibility as an unlikely fit. I feel a level of ill will towards the player and the process that makes me uncomfortable.

You are an astute observer of the human condition.