Today: Cotton vs. Ian Kennedy, 1:15 (MLB Network/MLB.tv Free Game of the Day)
Tuesday: Unneeded off day
Wednesday: Triggs vs. ever-popular ex-Athletic Jason Hammel, 5:15 (now on MLB Network/MLB.tv FGotD due to conflict with Sharks playoff game)
Thursday: Hahn vs. Jason Vargas, 5:15
Don’t Get Royally Screwed game thread 294
294 thoughts on “Don’t Get Royally Screwed game thread”
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FKing Vargas? Better win the first two…
Does it matter? I mean, are were expecting to compete this season? Because if not, it really shouldn’t matter.
I expect to compete every season. They can never take that away from me.
Good call.
Tuesday is because it’s their home opener today
Which looks much better in theory than it is in practice. When the White Sox needed the second try at Opening Day last week it looked like there were a ton of empty seats, because how many people can’t take a second day off work.
Also, and with apologies to Jennifer, Kaufmann Stadium is a terrific baseball venue but aside from that Paris of the Plains is the least interesting American city I’ve ever been to. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum takes an hour, I enjoyed the Truman Presidential Library, but aside from those, nothing to do between Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening but gorge yourself on meat.
Posey just took a fastball to the head.
Did Ray just claim Ted Williams encouraged hitters to hit ground balls rather than fly balls?
Bang
Khris Davis is a stud
I’m trying not to get carried away, but…he looks so much better than last year.
It’ll still be frustrating every time an opponent scores on a shallow sac fly to left
Kennedy is not sharp. Let’s get a bunch of runs before he leaves.
Or not.
The rally went Plff.
Plouffe helps him out.
Plouffe will hit a few home runs, but I’ll guess a ratio of 2.5 GIDP/HR on the date of the DFA.
A respectable(?) 10 GIDP / 7 HR.
witches. all of you
Somehow the Royals have dropped to #28 on the fangraphs bullpen power rankings. When did that happen?
Well, that surely was Kennedy’s last inning. I was hoping for some runs after Vogt’s one-out walk…
Teams seem to have identified the high fastball as the way to get Healy.
Cotton is dominating.
Well I don’t blame Plouffe for that. He’s not a 2B.
This kind of review really pisses me off.
Obvious overturns or how long it took to overturn it?
The fact that the existence of review changes the way the rules work. That play would never have been questioned pre-review, and the game would have gone on. I preferred it that way.
There was a recent rule change to eliminate sliding hard into second to break up double plays eliminating the neighborhood play. This one has little to do with review itself.
I never liked the “neighborhood play” for the purpose of stealing a double play, only for the purpose of avoiding injury, and that one was the former. Have a 2B or SS make that play rather than a 3B, it doesn’t happen.
I guess. There’s just something about using replay to decide that a guy’s foot left the bag at the wrong instant that rubs me the wrong way. I feel the same way about those plays where the infielder holds the tag and there is a split second where the sliding player loses contact with the bag before regaining it.
Unless he missed the bag entirely. I wasn’t watching that closely after the first replay.
I thought some players (hello Rickey) used to make those headfirst slides at a higher speed specifically because they knew they wouldn’t be called for that.
I always hated that someone who was out being allowed to impact the play. Whether he was *just* out or not is irrelevant to the fact that he was out at the time he impacted the play.
It might be very good for the Royals long-term if they implode immediately this season. Start trading the free agents in May and they could get quite the boatload of minor league talent.
I have no complaints about Jairo so far.
When Doo has his fastball he is definitely the best of the Proven Closers.
Plates of Arthur Bryant’s ribs and slices of Wonder Bread for all! After 18 straight Opening Night losses or whatever it was it is nice to wreck somebody else’s opener.
Nice win, bitches
And Miss .500 is flashing her gorgeous boobies at me again.
Enjoy the off day, you two crazy kids.
Juliana Zobrist is singing GBA during the pre-game ceremony at the Cubs home opener. This is too much.
“It’s a Long Way to the Top” (If You Wanna Rock and Roll) while the players carry the trophy onto the field is pretty cool.
happy birthday ozz!
Trying to see a lot of teams early in the season, I’m watching the Padres tonight. I wonder how many FKers could name 5 players on the Padres active roster. One of the few easy ones to name is a triple away from the cycle.
Eric Aybar
Wil Myers
uh…….
I looked at the roster. the only others I knew were Maurer, weaver and chacin
THERE IT IS, VINCE!!! I have the privilege of seeing only the second cycle in San Diego Padres history.
That was a no-doubter triple. I was kind of hoping he had to irresponsibly stretch a double.
If JLAFF is still here I am very confident he would win any Padre contest we have.
Oh look, the outside idiots are coming back to Berkeley, and the local idiots are ready.
These ads on ESPN for a drug to treat “opioid induced constipation” are bumming me out.
Well, if you’ve ever had to take opioids, and I think most of us have, I totally understand it.
My opioid days have not yet arrived. But when they do, I will be sure to ask my doctor about…whatever its name was.
Heh. Bumming.
Nice. Jefferies and Shore had good debuts there as well.
Now Hurlbutt is hurling butt.
Life in Canada
Not pictured: Canadian guy apologizing to the deer.
Thanks, and go As.
Smithers
Fangraphs points out that Sean Manaea is looking pretty good this season by every metric except runs allowed: 14 Ks vs 4 BB in 11.1 innings, 64% ground balls, and some excellent swinging strike numbers.
Other than allowing lots of runs and scoring few runs, we’re a great team!
(but, seriously, I found that article encouraging too)
The A’s are bumped off NBCS-CA tomorrow night. They can’t show the A’s, Kings and Sharks simultaneously and the Sharks game had to be added. The game will be on the MLB Network alternate channel, but that’s presumably the Royals telecast and I think the separate A’s telecast has been cancelled (i.e. not streamed on the NBC Sports app). The Kings are done tomorrow night so this is the last snafu of the year.
NBCS-CA is confusing. Do they show Kings games to Bay Area subscribers these days? I thought the network was bifurcated with Kings games only airing in the Sacramento area and east.
Apparently NBCS-CA and NBCS-BA combined only have enough bandwidth to show 4 games simultaneously on cable/satellite. A DirecTV subscriber in the Bay Area will see the Sharks on 698. The Kings game will be on 698-1 but in the Warriors’ exclusive territory the customer gets a blackout message for that. They *could* do a streaming-only broadcast, which is what they did last week, but I think that was because MLB Network already had a couple other games booked that night. Tomorrow’s A’s-Royals game was already scheduled as the alternate MLB Network game.
I hope Kuiper doesn’t get up to too much trouble with all of these off days on the road.
Also, a general comment about TV territories: We’re still waiting to see what the Vegas Golden Knights television arrangements are. Currently northwestern Nevada is a Sharks exclusive territory and northeastern Nevada is shared by the Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche. Not that I watch the NHL much, but I’ll be interested to see if the Golden Knights become a sharing partner in those areas or if the entire state will be carved out as exclusive Golden Knights territory. I wouldn’t be that surprised even though in my case San Jose is around 225 miles away and Vegas is more like 375.
Idea for Kaval’s next office hours: a tarp bonfire
On the field, mid double header. Everyone bring a tarp.
Obviously I remember the controversy when Lew’s tarps went up originally, but where their attendance has been the last couple years I’m not seeing the point of doing this right now. It’s just more stadium for a few thousand people to rattle around in. They’re usually not close to filling the existing $15 seats (upper outfield) as it is.
It’s a gesture of goodwill to the fans. Couple it with the charity angle and you’ve got a nice little PR coup.
The charity part is only during this next homestand though, so the “PR coup” doesn’t amount to much.
I still think it amounts to something. The tarps and the messaging around them told the fanbase that the team didn’t want people in the ballpark who were buying cheap tickets on the day of games. They literally said that those people were more of a burden than they were worth. That may have been true from an accounting perspective, but it was a terrible message to send if the team was going to stay in Oakland.
This is all of a piece with the Kaval led longer term message: welcome back.
Yes, eliminating the remaining Legacy of Lew is probably the biggest impact. The third deck is good for fireworks-viewing too; not so much for baseball-viewing, if you’ve ever sat up there near the bases or beyond, due to horizontal distance from the field.
The giveaways are still generally limited to 15,000. I continue to think increasing that would be a good way to make more customers happy.
Given how much they’re likely to suck this year after last year with little reason to believe they’ll be great next year, the ultimate harm cheap seaters can do from an accounting perspective is minimal compared to the PR upswing and the impact of a bad team will have on attendance. In other words, this is simply a win – win regardless.
It just means more very cheap seats to buy that will result in more free seat upgrades into the abandoned lower bowl.
I want to know how many of the concession stands up there will be open.
none. go down
can we get an on base guy instead?
Also 3rd deck infield is better than 2nd deck in the corner of the outfield (or “plaza reserved” above the bleachers). And in a year when the team on the field is likely to be mediocre, trying to pull in casual fans with a large supply of cheap tickets seems like a smart long-term strategy, even if it doesn’t make much money immediately.
In particular they can now sell up to 12K more tickets for every big draw game, like fireworks. Also very family friendly, as toddler-aged kids do much better with extra room to roam.
Are they opening up all of them? Mount Davis seems like it would be a real waste other than for the already mentioned Upgrade chances.
Mount Davis tarps stay.
Woah.
Thanks, and go As.
Is it normal to throw a change with that wrist movement at the end? It looks a little screwball-ish. Either way it’s nasty.
Yeah he pronates the hell out of it. It would be called a screwball if a LHP threw it, I bet.
Thanks, and go As.
royals broadcast called it a screwball
Royals broadcast referred to it as a screwball.
rtt,e
Royals broadcast referred to YOU as a screwball.
Eno Sarris talked with Jharel about it. It’s a standard changeup grip but he does put more spin on it than most changeups, which makes it like a screwball.
messi realignment:
bauza out (yay), sampaoli in (if you can’t beat the team he leads…).
Do the albiceleste players have it in them (like, mentally) to play that Chile style? If so…….drool.
we’ll see? especially without messi there those first games?
Dybala time!
How is this dude getting worse at this job?
…
Jeebus .. bomb on or near the Borussia Dortmund team bus.
Match postponed.
I know it’s not cricket, but did y’all fans of international sporting see the news about the RWC Sevens?
Baseball bat beer
IPA is an odd choice to put on wood, since the hops are usually so front-and-center and aging is detrimental.
Interesting piece on the impact of aging on a variety woods here.
[braces for cialis rickroll]
Interesting, but too bad the results don’t seem that great.
The best barrel-aged beers I’ve had have generally used old whisky or sherry or port barrels, and pick up a lot of notes from the other booze, not just the wood itself.
Yeah – though I think that may be as much about the brewer as the beer.
I don’t know why but I am thoroughly surprised that they’re launching they’re new stadium already.
Me too. I did not see it coming this year at all.
With the A’s off, the “who the FK is on these teams?” game of the evening is clearly Braves-Marlins, with Bartolo Colon vs. Dan Straily in the Marlins home opener. Neither team is nearly as anonymous as the Padres, though.
Watching the introductions, ah, that’s where Brad Ziegler ended up. And, Frank Menechino!
I succumbed to the temptation a few weeks ago and will be doing the St. Petersburg-Miami all-indoor road trip in June.
I hate to think about what happens to the cat if a Marlin hits a home run in the next half inning.
Common sense reigns in Miami.
Aww, the cat wanted to go for a ride.
He looked so scared when he got to the top and had no place to go.
Attn: Bed
And another team blows a big 9th inning lead against the Angels …
Dyson lowered his ERA.
Already 2, 3, and 6 run ninth inning comebacks for the Angels. Do not like.
At least the Diamondbacks just held on (even if it was Rodney)
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SF lost that game because of an ugly misplay by the center fielder that let in three runs. Their outfield is truly awful.
like the way they won the day before?
Not that ugly.
Also, FtGs
Save the Date: Saturday July 29. A fireworks game with a 605pm start time. Probably the best opportunity this summer for me to host a big tailgate party. And with 3rd deck tix aplenty.
That sounds great.
indeed
i guess i can probably stand one baseball game this season (if it means being able to hang out with everybody). sheesh.
Don’t bring that birria.
I will conduct a feasability study, but I sure would like to give the Grand old lady a visit.
I’ll bring the full 5G keg this time …
Fantastic!
A day or two after hearing your tale of the mini-keg kickstarter scam, I saw an ad on Deadspin for the very same item for I think $150. So someone’s probably making money on it (easier when you don’t pay back your investors).
Yeah – the company has been making out like a bandit.
I’m guessing $150 was for the half-gallon version; the gallon is more like $200.
Did your brother-in-law’s picture of keg and truck get used?
Hasn’t written it yet, I’ll be sure to link it when it drops.
I saw that too
I just found a clone recipe for Pliny the Younger … if it works out, I’ll bring a gallon growler of that too.
Pliny the Younger brew day is Saturday.
I’ll be using hop shots for the first time, to avoid boiling pounds of hops for 90 minutes. Then the fermentation is ridiculous, with pure oxygen bubbled through the wort at regular intervals, and more sugar added to the mix after fermentation has peaked. And then there are 4 rounds of dry-hopping.
i ill be in the east bay, berkeley mostly, i may try to pop by.
i cant help because some guy broke my arm on the prison yard last night though
You’d be very welcome – I promise not to break your other arm.
A lot of Canadian teams in the hockey playoffs. That makes me happy for some reason.
Imagine being simultaneously this powerful and this ignorant and not even having the self-awareness to be embarrassed by how ignorant you are. Also, imagine painting yourself as the world’s greatest negotiator only to completely roll over in every negotiation.
Embarrassing.
“Nobody knew
health carebanning Muslimsborder wallsforeign policy could be so complicated.”so depressing
Now how do we get americans to listen for 10 minutes?
Do it in twenty 30 second intervals and use really really small words, poor grammar and repetition. Also offer free beer.
BIGLY!
Thanks, and go As.
@GM: Five of seven Canadian teams in playoffs this year. Last year it was zero. I wish then all well, except for Edmonton.
Having seen a few 11-pitcher games already this year, and given that Rob Manfred has tossed out various weird-ass rules change ideas, I am going to make a serious proposal for speeding up the game:
Principle: A pitcher who starts an inning should finish that inning.
Rule: A pitcher who is removed before an inning ends, whether due to manager’s decision or injury, is ineligible to participate in the team’s next three games, but must remain on the active roster for those three games.
Effect: None whatsover on starting pitchers, who will sit out the three games anyway. What it eliminates is this business of using three or four relief pitchers to get through an inning. LOOGYs in particular become an endangered species.
I’d be okay with a no pitcher could be used in back-to-back games sans playoff games rule. It’s not quite what you have in mind per se, but the effect would be similar in that there would be more strategic use of pitchers.
But I think his speed up the game ideas are utter bullshit. There’s one way to speed the game up: reduce commercial time. We don’t need more than 30 – 60 seconds between half innings. Nor do we need much more than that time to swap pitchers. Most of the ad time is wasted on commercials for future games and existing programming. Fucking hell, the A’s had an in-studio break where they didn’t bother with commercials. There’s screen space for ad graphics between pitches that could replace it. You can save a longer break for the 7th and nationally televised games if they want. But most games don’t need it.
So much this. My fuzzy memory recalls that the 2+ minute break between each half-inning was postseason only, becoming an every day thing sometime in the 90s maybe. Commercial time almost never gets mentioned in speed-up-the-game articles.
For the record, I am fine with the time of ball games now, and reject the thesis that baseball should be sped up to appeal to the _______(fill in imaginary untapped market).
I like the normal inning breaks now. I miss less when I go grab a Saag’s or do other business in the concourse.
two minutes is not enough time for you to leave the stadium, bart to a store and buy a saag product, take it home, cook it, build your snack, and get back to the stadium and back in before the next inning
Not with that attitude it’s not.
Thanks, and go As.
I get this now.
Agree on that latter point. There’s nothing wrong with the time of game. But if you’re going to fuck with it, be honest about where the leakage is occurring.
Except that is wrong.
Grant compared a recent game to one from 30 years ago, with the same score, number of pitches, number of pitchers, etc. The newer one was more than half an hour longer, which I think is also about the increase in average length.
Commercials accounted for 9 extra minutes, which is exactly what you would expect for one extra 30-second spot per half inning.
These particular games had the same number of pitching changes, by design. But that is something like one extra pitcher per team per game on average, so maybe another 4 or 5 minutes.
Extra dicking around between pitches — batters stepping out more, or pitchers taking more time to get set and throw even with no one on base — accounted for an extra 25 minutes in the games he compared. That’s the primary cause of games being longer.
That’s really interesting. I’d love to see this replicated over a meaningful sample size, but the foundation seems solid. The 9+ minutes of extra commercial time are important but not decisive, seems like.
So anti-dicking around measures could make a meaningful difference.
I think that proves the point though. 9 minutes is a lot of time per game that can be saved easily. And while, yes, the players are moving slower and should be made to speed up, you can save a good 20 minutes or more of game time simply by reducing the commercial break by two 30 second spots per break. 20 minutes is a significant chunk of time. Instead they’re talking about no pitch intentional walks and adding runners to extra innings. Pretty drastic rule changes that offer less than a minute or two of actual time savings. Eliminate the most obvious time suck, the commercial break. If it’s still too long, you can then start nickel and diming rules to speed things up. It’s like trying to increase office productivity by focusing on reducing keystrokes while ignoring the 2+ hour lunch and multiple 30 minute breaks.
I like your idea, except for its snowball’s chance in hell.
The NFL will work with the TV networks to reduce the number of commercial breaks in the upcoming season, but the total number of commercials isn’t changing. I don’t have the exact numbers, but it’s along the lines of: there are 10 minutes of commercials per quarter. Instead of 5 breaks of 2:00 each they will rearrange them as 4 breaks of 2:30 each. One goal is to eliminate the score, commercial break, kickoff, commercial break sequence that drives viewers nuts. OTOH if the network is behind in its commercial pace a break may be called at an unusual time, such as in the middle of a drive when play would previously just be stopped briefly to allow a player with a minor injury to limp off.
Oh, absolutely. Networks will be hard pressed to ever budge on ad space. But biggest thing is to understand where you lose fans. You can completely streamline every aspect of the game, but with the inclusion of the commercials you’ll always have run-time complaints. And it’s one thing when you get actual commercials where someone bought that time. But it’s whole other thing when they’re just pimping future contests and their other shows. But man, you watch a soccer game and you don’t get that kind of shit. They show the full half as-is without break. So it can be done. I just think they need to be more creative with the inclusion of TV ads without the impact on the game.
NASCAR telecasts sometimes put the race in a box in the corner of the screen and run commercials in the majority of the screen space, with the commercial’s audio. If anything significant happens in the race during the two minutes, such as an important pass, a bad pit stop or a wreck, they will come back and replay it in fullscreen at the conclusion of the commercial break.
Very late here, but after watching a little basketball recently allow me to be totally confused about this whole “speed up the game” stuff. The last 1:30 of a basketball game takes roughly 2 hrs and no one seems to complain.
Actually, this is why I hate the NBA.
I complain.
I don’t watch the NBA at all, but in college basketball it’s the time outs, the fouls and the constant replay reviews to put 0.3 second back on the game clock. BOOOOOOO
Time outs I don’t mind because CBB has always been a coaches game. Fouls depend on how horrible the officiating is (often quite horrible). But the fucking replay reviews have become interminable agony.
I separate the excessive commercials problem from what happens between the commercials, and honestly I do think some things could be done to speed up the between-commercials part. You don’t need 6 or 7 pitchers to win a game, and holy crap about what happens with the pitching with the expanded rosters in September.
At the very least, in the wild-card era with 50% or more of teams contending in September, the expanded rosters feel like a needless annoyance.
Seems like they should maintain the 25 man roster throughout September/October. But when two mathematically eliminated teams play, allow the 40 man roster to be used.
Are the Giants to blame for this business of having a banner raising and a ring ceremony on separate days? It’s all very self-indulgent.
That said, when the A’s win it I want a month of ceremonies, including during road games.
I don’t know if they are guilty or not, but FK ’em anyway.
Lucky for you, when the A’s do next win the championship they will immediately trade everyone on the 40-man roster, necessitating ring ceremonies at most ballparks they visit next year.
Excellent catch. Rajai has made a couple of plays lately.
It’s good to see an A’s pitcher actually make a play on a ball hit back to the mound. That has not been an area of strength recently. Watching Mike Leake make a couple very good plays in a game earlier today helped bring this issue back into focus.
There was a non play they he pulled back on while allowing the short stop to handle it right behind him was also smart.
Rajai is +2 runs for the game.
+3
Shorter Fosse: Don’t think. It can only hurt the ballclub.
Moustakas runs like a teenaged elephant.
Lowrie not thrilled with himself.
Rangers/Angels tonight is AJ Griffin against Jesse Chavez.
…and it’s Jesse who gets tagged for 5 ER in 4.1 innings. AJ had a quality start (albeit, the bare minimum) with 3 ER in 6 IP, giving up only one dinger (solo HR by Trout, natch)
Yay, my memory nailed the trivia question immediately as confirmed on B-R. We don’t have the blackout quick-tags so I won’t say.
What was the question?
3 players who have played in at least 100 games each for the Royals, A’s and Cubs.
Nobody fucks with DeJesus!
He’s the one I thought of.
I thought Stairs was the hard one. One season with the Cubs, time with the Royals when they were awful, and both well after his A’s tenure.
I got Stairs but that was all. Didn’t remember Willie Wilson’s time with the Cubs. I was wondering if Billy Williams ever spent time with KC.
Wilson was easy because Roy Steele had some mental block and called him “Willie Nelson”. All.The.Time.
That’s awesome
The other thing about this is, I can name every team every current A’s player has been with prior to coming to Oakland. But I lose track of them after they leave. As noted above, I had no idea Brad Ziegler is a Marlin until I saw that game last night.
Rex Hudler was a boyhood fan of Campy Campenaris, I find that redeeming.
Hooray for Jason Hammel being on the other team.
I think the person who puts together the A’s radio promos isn’t a fan of the team. KK starts a walkoff HR call with “Colume with the pitch…”
Does Rajai know that you are not supposed to make hits on chris young?
huh
O Canada before an NHL playoff game is pretty damn cool.
A’s have outscored the Royals 53-12 in the last 6 at Kauffman Stadium, and are 5-0 with this one pending.
As I was saying about A’s pitchers’ fielding…
Rough start for the Sharks, down 2-0 near 1st intermission. They slumped their way into the playoffs, Thornton’s “lower body injury” not healed enough to play yet,
Couture is just back and looks tentative with his face cage. And Edmonton is red hot. This series could be nasty, brutish and short.
Apparently someone told the Sharks the game didn’t start until the second period. 40 strong minutes later and we’re heading to playoff overtime!
That was quick.
YESSSSSSSS! Fantastic comeback!
The lesson, as always: FSU doesn’t know shit.
{insert playoff = new season trope here}
The silence in a hockey arena when the road team scores an overtime playoff goal is eerie.
3-2-3 double play with the first baseman playing deep. That was unusual.
They will come back to Oakland for a 10-game homestand with at least a .500 record. I expect you Bay Areans to fill all 47,000 seats for at least 5 of those 10 games.
The A’s donated a voucher for four plaza outfield tickets (valid M-Th only) for my kids’ school auction next week. The bids on that thing are going to go through the roof.
they did that the one year I asked. I stopped asking. (put it in the raffle)
You should see the pile of leftover crappy giveaways the Giants donated.
The Warriors’ first playoff game is Sunday at 12:30 at Oracle.
So Game 2 must be Tuesday night. With good weather I’d like to come down there early in the season for a night game-day game overnighter but would rather avoid a head-to-head with the Warriors.
Tough to tell. The NBA sometimes has bizarrely long breaks between games in the same arena during the playoffs because of TV scheduling.
Game 2 officially set for Wednesday night.
The Mariners have put together quite a Team Dynamite this season.
It seems like every year, the Mariners come into the season saying “This is our year!” and next thing you know they are 5-15 and can’t dig themselves out. And Cano and Felix get a year older.
“Not currently habitable.”
It’s so beautiful! I wonder what horrors lurk inside.
I’m imagining that some lady owned it for 50 years and she and her six starved cats were rotting away on the living room floor for months before anybody thought to check.
I’ll let you know after I do the walk through on Sunday!
Nothing like spending nearly $700k for a house you can’t even live in.
what is up with the bullpens at Wrigley? its terrible.
Really? I think the Giants should be forced to do this, if the Cubs could figure it out. (And yes, the A’s too.)
IIRC in the Tokyo Dome the bullpens are right behind the dugouts.
I like them on the field. I think every team should be forced to put them on the field
Nevermoor already beat you to this idea, Denton.
Kraft “pancake syrup”?? I guess I have to smuggle in my own maple juice if I want to eat this garbage properly.
MOAB.
Holy FK.
Thanks, and go As.
The fun part is its unclear whether the President of the United States actually ordered this or just told the military to go hog wild with the toys they have been itching to use and let him know whenever they feel like it. Also, that we are simultaneously threatening a hot war with North Korea.
The really weird part is that it was basically the perfect weapon to use on underground caves in the middle of Afghanistan.
So, naturally, I assume DJT didn’t actually order it and just said “bomb them.”
Thanks, and go As.
[flipping through pictorial arsenal report]
“whoa, what’s this one? it’s yuuge! a lot like my hands, some people are saying.”
“we call that one the mother of all bombs sir.”
“very nice. what can we do with it against iraq? erm, against which one was it? CHOCOLATE CAKE. wait… syria?”
“that’s not the right thing in syria sir. everybody’d get on their russian ubers and clear out in time. underground bunkers in afghanistan tho…”
“we can do that? put this big long compensatory thing down in a hole like that? hmm… and can we put a big goldleaf T on it? right on the tip? do we have time for that?”
“USA? sir?”
“uh, never mind, we don’t have time for touches of class. just go for it. gimme a big button i can press or something. make THAT gold. red i mean, but gold.”
No way it went like that. “Compensatory” is five syllables.
after human review of the FBI tapes, turns out you’re right. voice recognition emended that from “trump penis story.”
that’s what the call the Men anger management course around my parts
Stop snowing, dammit. The slopes are getting a nice freshening for the long weekend.
Dallas Braden has been working on that beard all winter.
Apparently nobody wants to be the 5th starter.
Ain’t you?
Get well soon, Sonny.
I keep rooting for Hahn to turn into something, and I’ll say that was a randomly high-BABIP inning. Moss hit the ball hard but that one went right to Rosie.
We may need to rent Brett Lawrie for this game. I thought Healy overreacted.
Gross overreaction. Hope a vet shut him up in the dugout.
Ah. There’s some history.
Vince: Even if you didn’t notice the “Sept. 2016” graphic, the fact that Yordano Ventura threw the pitch should have given it away. (Now he’s correcting it.)
Just saw the replay, and yeah, not really that far inside, but fk the Royals anyway.
We will never hit Vargas.
Ever.
Clank. E1. Again.
Seemed easily safe
It’s looking like Alcantara will get his chance to pitch his way back into the rotation tonight.
Somehow we’re still in this game. Or would be but for Vargas.
Good job by Vargas getting between Healy’s ears.
Oh good grief Canha.
Canha catch.
I most certainly do not “gotta feel for Canha” because he the “extra outfielder,” Ray.
Is defense just not part of the curriculum at Cal?
Plouffe: 4 GIDP.
Everybody else: 5 GIDP.
Enough to make you wish that he was striking out *more* than 29% of the time.
He’s filling the much-needed void left by the departure of Butler.
Fortunately Danny Valencia is coming to town at the end of the next homestand.
The Blue Jays aren’t doing very well. Maybe they’d be interested in trading that third baseman of theirs?
And he’s a True Athletic! Luckily the Blue Jays have Chris Coghlan in their organization to take his place.
i would like to see a semien here
Rajai!?
I figure they’ve been in Kansas City since Sunday night and they were bored out of their skulls by the time they got to the park today.
huh. rajai run
hell of a tease
Not hitting Alonso or Joyce for Plouffe seems crazy.
(Even given his good prior numbers against Herrera)
Plouffe with his best AB of the year, and it still ends with a GIDP ball except there were 2 out.
15th inning in Miami. The Mets are sending up starting pitchers as pinch hitters.
Both benches are empty; the Mets have 3 more pitchers in the pen and the Marlins 5.
Wow, was not expecting such an emotional Survivor this week.
you don’t have the internet?
The tubes don’t make it up the hill to here.
Actually, I had seen some reference to an outing but didn’t read anything further, so it was pretty surprising to see how it all went down.
Yeah, that was intense.
A royals shout out?
And no Dodgers, Rangers or Phillies. Or D’backs for that matter.
Good ole Dennis Hof.
Mark Davis says sure, as long as he can get all-you-can-eat wings for $12.99 like at Hooters.
Oh my goodness this story is a tearjerker.
Cool article on Baseball Prospectus about how Graveman learned his sinker… which has accounted for 91%(!!) of the pitches he has thrown so far this season.
How did he miss dropping an IBISV though?
Speaking of which, Slugger’s article today included this:
Does that imply Vogt’s calls in the first inning had as much or more to do with the results than Hahn’s pitches? Mind you I’m not saying Hahn was intending to throw Vogt under the bus, just that you could infer that Vogt wasn’t quite prepared for KCs approach from the jump.
They thought they needed a fourth deck in Atlanta? It looks…high. I understand they need to accommodate all the Kurt Suzuki and Jim Johnson fans now, but at some point they will no longer be with the team.
All the restaurant table seating, which is more like counter seating, in right field looks a little odd. There’s a big area of that in the second deck behind home plate too. Otherwise I don’t see anything particularly notable about the park; dimensions look very normal and foul territory is on the tight side but not nonexistent.
Only 41k capacity, weird.
The Royals announcers are still criticizing Healy.