gehringer_2

If the prosecution let a true believer slip onto the jury, all bets are off of course - as they will be unassailable by logic. OTOH, it's actually a pretty good case as far as I have followed it. They is no question the payment was made, given his history with his wives and women in general it's hard to credit that he paid Daniels off for Melania, there is no question Cohen denies it was for legal services, there is no question Trump's side claims it was - but no witness who could (i.e. Trump) has testified to rebut the 1st person testimony of Cohen about what transpired between he and Trump. The black and white evidence dovetails with the story as Cohen tells it. Oddly enough the defense's big show that Cohen illicitly skimmed from Trump in another case only adds to the argument that he didn't think he was getting enough in commission for the 'legal work.' He would not have been as unhappy if that's what those 11 checks were for. It will depend a lot on the leadership dynamic on the jury. It is always the defense strategy in hard cases to raise as many red herrings as possible - confusion is how to generate doubt when the facts are against you, which is basically how this case has gone. From my one criminal jury experience I would suggest that it ends up falling to the clear thinkers on the jury to keep explaining to the soft headed ones why those red herrings are immaterial to the facts of the case. If that dynamic is in play - the prosecution wins. If the jury has no leadership, you won't move holdouts.

Numbers don't always track logically. Close to home, from April to May Torkelson has raised is OPS by 134 points but his OPS actually fell by 15.

So the defense has rested after only two witnesses. Trump will not testify. the jury gets a week off to mull things over before summations. I think that's a horrible idea - but it is what it is.....

talking about 'staffs', James Rowson, now the hitting coach for the #1 offense Yankees was with the Tigers in an assistant's role when they hired him last off season. I'd love to know if the program he runs there is any resemblance to the one the Tigers use, or not.

A competitive game is not necessarily a non-boring one!

IIRC on top of that the opposition had mostly walked Torkelson in his last full season so there wasn't as much to see there either as might have been.

I've thought for a while now that 'control the zone' is actually a pretty useless focal point for hitters. It's an attempt to draw a parallel to what is successful in pitching but is basically inapplicable to hitting. Show me the hitter that swings at balls deliberately - I'm sure there are a few but not many. The real key to all hitting is pitch recognition and being quick enough to the ball to act on what you see in time. I can't really see any sense in which a hitter 'controls the zone'. You guess as well you can that it's a good pitch but there is no procedure or technique in the world you can do in the box to increase your certainty of it; you either pick up something in the pitchers release or the spin or you don't, and once you decide to swing, the zone goes out the window and you just have to get the bat on the ball wherever it ends up. And guys who do have recognition skill but will wait on only perfect pitches will never be competitive against good pitching.

there is actually a lot of it in the NT - they called it 'demons'. So maybe on second thought it's better if they don't recognize it - they'd be subjecting all those poor folks to exorcisms. That wouldn't be fun, especially now that there'd be no chance of at least meeting Max Von Sydow for your trouble.

He probably also couldn't cope with the fact that from Detroit MI, it's closer to drive to Montreal QC than to Ironwood MI.

I think Andy is spot on. Wentz' success does track his FB and he didn't have a good one tonight. His best FBs against Houston and Cleveland when he effective were 96+, his best in this game was 94 and as low as 92. On average his FB is better this season than last, but not tonight.

I don't know if I can take another year. This team is already boring me to tears.

OK 2 strikes now. just keep the line moving...no hero swings. EDIT: well he didn't pull it but it didn't work.

Keith is now hitting 429 in his last 7 games. Kid's gonna need a raise.

Royals can afford a run for an out.

I guess it not unusual for them but a pretty inept looking 1st period for Vancouver. But they didn't give anything up.

so maybe you want a more reliable hitter behind Keith. Haha - like the Tigers have one...

Well, if you are going to lose, you might as well lose big. Vancouver - Edmonton should be a good game.

Riley really off his feed - that's a catch he should make 9 of 10 and the last AB he seemed totally out of it.

They told Wentz to stay out there and burn some innings and Wentz said, "screw that, I'm giving it up until you take me out"

I never remember whether Sparky was more excited about Lovullo or Pittaro.

Tigers will be fine if the team that showed up against the DBacks shows up the rest of the way rather than that team that came out to play the Fish.

Manning's stuff can be pretty good, but he can't seem to pitch at his best level with any consistency. Some guys see their consistency improve with more innings and with all his injuries, the lost yr etc., Manning is still under 700 IP for his total pro career and he was not a college guy, so I wouldn't necessarily be in a hurry to sell low, but he's a good fit for doing what he's doing and building his innings for this season.

The plain truth is that the police cannot exist in a society prone to violence *and* and an armed population. It just can't work. The police cannot, will not, and can't reasonably be expected to give a presumption of their own safety in this society when facing an armed citizen - the infamous trope "shoot first and ask questions later" is always going to apply. That's the ultimate fly in the ointment. The Swiss may be armed, but the US isn't Switzerland, the cops there don't have reasonable fear of shots coming through the door when they knock that they do here. We can dream that every cop has the training of a ninja, the reflexes of a cat, and the sagacity of Buddha that enable him to assess every situation with perfect equanimity and skill, but a dream is all that will ever be. We just saw mashalls killed on their way to the door trying to serve a warrant the other day. Argue the fine points of law any way you want, that won't change that we have created a situation where tragedy is always the most likely outcome. And the only way out of it is fewer guns. A lot fewer guns. So many fewer guns that the police can stop seeing mortal threat level in every citizen.

Chopper flying in the fog in the mountains? Sounds like the Kobe Bryant crash part Duex, though In that part of the world you never know.

Have no idea what Hinch was talking about with Manning after the game. Sort of rambled around without ever getting to, 'his command wasn't great' which was what ruined his day.