oblong

well we are getting that at Comerica Park next year. "Home Plate Club". A friend of mine had his companies seats relocated. He used to be right next to the on deck circles, on both sides, two sets of 4 tickets. They pushed him back and out and he responded by going from 8 to 4 tickets. Those home plate seats will be crazy expensive. It does create bad optics but the only way it makes sense to use as a business tool is to be up in the club eating and drinking and schmoozing... plus as my friend told me, that way of doing business is going out of style, at least in his business. It's more about presence and making yourself known in an industry. His company doesn't have that problem. I just hope he never gives up his suite at LCA... or retires.

yep. There's a playbook. In the 90's we did have a priest with, probably, some mental health issues, who would ramble and ramble and eventually he was sent away to the home. At one point someone said "Father, you've been talking now for 45 minutes..." And it wasn't a logical homily. It was in the spirit of this thread.

that reminds me of some uncomfortable moments in church as a kid....

I don't think Rogan is the tough guy he pretends to be. She'd mop him up and he'd save. She's tough. If she doesn't do it then it will be for other reasons.

Here's an article on it: https://woub.org/2023/10/24/explore-the-cultural-movement-that-gave-rise-to-disco-and-the-backlash-that-tried-to-destroy-it-the-war-on-disco-on-american-experience-oct-30-at-9/

I saw a documentary on disco, maybe it was on The Bee Gees, and never realized that a lot of the anti disco stuff had anti gay insinuations behind it, along with corporate music ruining the genre by over saturating it.

Yeah when I read the text those aren’t the numbers I expected to see. Unless I am missing some context.

This is amazing. It's equivalent to the stepping stones the Gemini program accomplished in the bridge between the Mercury and Apollo lunar missions. You had to prove you could stay in space a long time (eating, sleeping, drinking, etc - many doctors thought humans wouldn't be able to do that), that you could go outside the capsule, that you could rendezvous with another vehicle, that you could dock, that you could change trajectories, control your reentry.... this is a stepping stone like that. Being able to control the descent of a booster like that and catch it provides a foundation for building blocks to an eventual mars mission and perhaps moon stations. NOt just about being able to quickly turn around a booster for another flight but to provide the precision needed. This was a big deal.

I'll add that I don't think it's fair to judge drafts yet because Harris was only here for 2 drafts, and one of them was 4 months ago. Avila had 7 years so it's fair to assign a D grade. My analysis is more towards how much credit do you give him for what the team is doing today? I can't say that it's zero. Does he get a "good" grade? No because you don't get good marks for doing what you are supposed to do. I'd argue he brought the org, at best, up to the minimum standard an org should be at in terms of foundation and infrastructure. And probably a lot of people could have done that. But he did so he gets the credit. You hire people who've been around who tell you what tools and systems are out there, then you hire people to build them. He hired Hinch, Fetter, and Garko. That should mean something.

Did you describe Lou Whitaker?

Regarding Avila vs Harris I am willing to concede that Al helped build a foundation that allowed Harris to get a jump start to implement his plan. I recall when Ausmus left he talked about them finally putting in systems that other orgs had but it would still take time to see results. Referring to data lakes and that kind or technology. That’s not done overnight. Of course you have to take the next step and execute and get the right people to do that. Harris didn’t, in fact couldn’t, turn this around in the 2 years he’s been here without players and systems Avila brought in. It doesn’t mean Avila shouldn’t have been let go. There wasnt a need for him. You don’t bring in a new POBO yet keep the previous guy around. Two things can be true. Avila wasn’t as horrible as he is portrayed sometimes but Harris made a big difference.

Let’s not forget that this game was NOT over after the GS. I assumed it would be when it happened. But the Tigers continued to threaten. That changeup to Tork up in the zone with runners on… Jesus. I really thought he was going to do something there. He looked confident. But that pitch. Several times during the rest of the game I thought they’d come back to tie it. That’s why this team and year was special. They didn’t give up. The score didn’t tell the story.

One team wins. One team loses. That’s the way it has to be. The Tigers beat a division winner twice on the road. They beat their own division winner twice. If you team loses so you want them to get blown out or lose a close game? The Tigers lost twice this postseason in close games. That’s a positive. They also won 4 games when the score was close. That’s playoff baseball. It’s what we asked for in mid September.

I think they will for certain players but it won’t be automatic. For comparison sake someone like VMart wouldn’t be extended. I think if looking at Chris Ilitch for guidance the Red Wings signed Seider and Raymond long term and that team is on a hard cap. They will try harder with Skubal than they did with Scherzer. The Keith signing too can be an indication. A cheap org could have just been “whatever” but they took on a but of a risk with that.

My prediction. A solid game from Skubal with one mistake. A 2-0 game, Cleveland adds another against our bullpen, the Tigers rally in the 9th but come up short 3-1 with tying runs on base. I am at peace with what might end up being the most enjoyable season I’ve experienced. 1984 was better and I was around for it but let’s be honest… we follow the games differently today. I was 10. I went to maybe 4 games that year, not every game was on TV, and I was outside playing a lot. It wasn’t a day to day thing like now. Even when this team was at its low points the games were still competitive. I said that repeatedly this year. What it tells me is what the org is doing is working. It’s the players as much as the system. They finally figured out how to identify and grow just league average players which is what good teams need. This organization has turned the corner. It’s not a Lions situation where there’s a core that is going to grow. The Tigers will remain competitive by plugging in guys year to year that can compete for the playoffs and enter the crapshoot and hopefully fall into a title at some point.

I am wondering how that will play for people who don’t the story? Is it too much inside baseball? I think it could have made an interesting miniseries if you go back to its inception of a concept… with Johnny demanding they quit showing reruns. Are they squeezing too much into one movie that I read is played out in real time. I can’t wait to see it.

They do but for injuries, to prevent malfeasance, in order to replace a player you need permissioin from the commissioner's office, and that player can't play in the subsequent round. It's to stop people from monkeying around with poor performance or matchup issues or overworked bullpens. Nagging injuries are part of the game and if Kerry is truly hurt then in the regular season he'd go on the 15 day, which is what this is the equivalent to. If it's not that serious then deal with it like a grown up ballclub 🙂

We go to Yates. For 20 years we went to a new place every year. We finally settled on that one. It's far enough away from us to feel like a road trip and we love the trail along the Clinton River that you can walk on.

Damn... that's too early. I wanted 4 or 6 pm. We promised our son a trip to the cider mill....

I'm more disappointed than I thought I would be with a loss.... But they lost the way they've been winning... by a base hit here or there or a key HR. Seriously.... when was the last time you were bummed out they lost? It wasn't game 1 because we had Skubal in game 2, plus 2 games at home. The Chicago games on Saturday/Sunday? No because they already cinched a playoff spot. I think for me it was the Thursday Colorado game a month ago with Skubal starting where they had a chance to sweep. That's when playoff talk started on my radar a little bit. AJ's moves will work until they won't and then people who hardly watched this team will blame the moves. Doesn't work like that. He's maximized their value but at some point it will run out and.... that's ok. I just want another round.

You could but then I believe Carp wouldn't be available in the ALCS.

It was popular with people who haven't been in the city of Detroit since 1987.

I don't think it's wrong to consider your own experiences with people you talk about this with in your own lives. I know people who did vote for Trump who are not going to now. And I strongly suspect there's a group of people who didn't vote at all in 2020 who are now voting for Harris. That makes it hard to reconcile that this election will be as close as 2020. But I'm also not someone who claims to be an expert. I know it's anecdotal.

I thought it was a story about someone who dressed as PAWS killed someone or someone who killed one of the people who played PAWS.

The Kennedy women suffered greatly...