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Religion is a personal thing, and a social thing, for some, but for too many people, religion has become a political thing, a way to create an air of exclusivity for only a certain type of Christian, and exclusion for everyone else who will not comply.

Galarraga has

True as so much of this is, I do think we've seen some evidence of trump backing down on certain fronts, such as the DC pick just the other day, and Maine last week pushing back on education freezes, and we may see him back down on Harvard yet. Either way, one thing is true: if Trump pushes and you don't push back, he will destroy you. So, might as well push back, because nothing to lose.

I say horrible location and reduced velocity.

That was brilliant. I don't think a slow motion replay was shown on the broadcast. I suspect Torres felt the runners hit hit the bag before the ball hit his palm and that's why he continued the play. And everybody else on the field followed suit. The rundown was set up, even Skubal charging towards the plate. Such a heads up play by all involved. How often does that situation arise? There was no delay on the Tigers.

It’s almost as though they are basically Tracy Ullman in a bathrobe coming out to the TV audience shouting “GO HOME! GO HOME!”

Having been very badly bullied growing up in school, I do think Trump is a Nelson Muntz like character and a bully. A guy who gets off on deriding and degrading others, but also isn't terribly smart. That said, my experience isn't that bullies will backdown if you tell them no and/or fight back against them. Sure, some will do that. But in my experience, many bullies will just get twice as mad and become more lethal the next time you cross them. They'll torture you until you hit a breaking point and cannot function anymore. Trump isn't a smart person in-terms of book smarts or general intellect. He's a complete dolt in that regard. He does however have a certain people smarts and understands marketing and selling to some degree, though not in a way he could articulate coherently. Many of the people around Trump are not that smart either, but they understand bullying and submission strategy to a point. They are using him and manipulating him to do bad things and creating lasting damage to our country's democracy and democratic institutions. They are the bullies that come back twice as strong, twice as vengeful, and twice as determined to get revenge on you for standing up to them. It's partly why we see Trump himself and those around him acting so aggressive towards people they view as hostile to their agenda, i.e. the fake new media, academia, scientists, Democrats, etc. It's also why you see them throwing so many different things at the wall in hopes that something will stick and that you can't possibly stay caught up with all the chaos, craziness, and rapid fire changes they are enacting. They are torturing democracy, our institutions, and decent people until we hit our breaking point. Much like many bullies out there.

Mcgonigle is in the Lakeland lineup tonight.

The bottle.

Maybe I’m in a bad mood, but I find what’s his face and Todd Jones unwatchable.

Exactly. I have a great example of this...several years ago, I recorded the UM-MSU football game. I was just about caught up to the very end of the game, a sure UM win. The phone rang, my (ex) mother-in-law. She says. "Can you believe Michigan State blocked that kick and won the game?" Ugh....UM was just about to punt. The rest is....history.

My brother likes doing that with Lions games, too. I don't like that because then I can talk about the game with people, or follow up on something I see online, because spoilers.

Desperately need this to get to .667

You are being kind by only referring to it as “fluff.“

I got the win. That's all that matters.

They all “stayed within themselves“ and “pitched to the score“ so they were able to log more innings and start more games. There’s no way to compare the different eras.

I was introduced to religion and some of the rituals, but was never indoctrinated. I used to try to become more faithful because I thought it was a good thing, but now I'm not sure it is good or bad thing. Religion is a personal thing that helps some people, but it never worked for me. There is too much uncertanty and things which don't make sense to me.

Lopsided loses can drive run differential to where the Pythagorean loses meaning. Cleveland has had some bullpen guys get really lit up - given up 10+ runs 4 times.

Now wasn't that a lot more interesting that those double digit wins? Tigers have the best record in baseball now. When The Athletic does their power rankings, Tigs should be #1. But... what a division. The top 4 teams in the division are on a winning streak. Over the last 5 games for each of the top 4, there was only 1 loss. That's a combined 19-1 record, a .950 winning percentage. The top 3 teams have been playing a combined .800 ball over the last 10 games, going 24 - 6. Here's the weirdest anomaly. Guardians have a -14 run differential and should have a 17-20 record. The Tigers have a +84 differential and per the theory should be 28-11. The Guardians should be 10 games behind but they are only 3.

Speedy CF bats leadoff, scrappy 2b that can "handle the bat" bats 2nd and the slugging 1B/DH/RF occupy the middle of the order. Bottom of the order is light hitting SS and Catcher that calls a good game.

Good luck breaking out of a slump against Skubal, Kahnle and Vest.

WOOP WOOP! good to see they can win tight, low-scoring games, too.

WIN

For sure. It's a problem that's not getting better. I drifted from the Church for a good 15 years because Mass wasn't doing anything for me (well that plus a family friend, a Vatican-based monsignor, was convicted of heinous child sex abuse). Of course I know the heart of the Catholic Mass is the Eucharist. But really, the only three things to look forward to when I was a kid and still as an adult were: a) music; b) homily; and c) food/social afterwards. For the homily, many priests put a lot of time into every week but lack public speaking skills. Simple Toastmaster things like telling the congregation at the beginning the 4 points he's going to make and how long it's going to take, so we can pace ourselves, rather than have him just drone on and on. Maybe a bullet point outline could be put in the bulletin or up on the screens that are sometimes used now. This has become an even more pressing issue as accents of foreign priests may be hard to understand and they tend to have longer sermons. 7-10 minutes should be plenty. Foreign priests often were trained in regions where "clericalism" still is too strong and the priest calls the shots with little input from the people in the pews. I know many long-time Catholics who get more out of online podcasts by "popular" priests like Bishop Robert Barron or Father Mike Schmitz than they do from anything they've heard in their own church. Incidentally, I've been married to a non-religious wife for 33 years and I didn't come back to Catholicism until my father's funeral 12 years ago. It was the rituals that first drew me back - the faith would eventually follow and then later my interest in theology.

Exactly. Torres knew. What a heads up defensive play!

Was first and second

I sure don't miss the days when we would argue about who belongs at #2 vs #3 vs #4 vs whatever.

The mayor's black, so red hats dig it.

Pure fascism

Nailed it, Tater.

Mize placed on the IL with a mild hamstring strain…Chase Lee recalled. Montero will fill his rotation spot. A.J. Hinch on Casey Mize: "In his last inning in Colorado, he felt a little sensation, a tweak. Everybody initially thought it was dehydration or something minor, but it turns out it's a mild strain. "In May, we're certainly going to be careful with that, but we expect it to be fine in a short period of time."