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There is no stopping the Tork at this moment.

Why are Benetti and Dirks talking to some guy named Zach Vraa from A to Z Creamery in Hopkins, MN? What's the relevance here?

The Dodgers have scored 72 runs and given up 70. They are 11-5. The White Sox have scored 49 runs and give up 50. They are 4-10.

Yup. https://www.axios.com/2025/04/13/trump-redefines-fraud-corruption 1 big thing: Trump redefines fraud Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Bruised by years of civil suits, criminal charges and a historic felony fraud conviction, President Trump is using his second term to delegitimize the very concept of white-collar crime, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: Trump's belief that he was a victim of "lawfare" has tainted his view of the justice system. Paired with his crusade to crush the "Deep State" regulatory complex, Trump could enable a golden age of financial fraud, ethics watchdogs fear. 🔭 The big picture: At an institutional level, Trump's administration has moved swiftly in its first 80 days to narrow the government's mandate for enforcing fraud. In early February, Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE team effectively shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the post-recession agency created to protect Americans from predatory financial practices. Trump then paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, claiming the 1977 anti-bribery statute had been "stretched beyond proper bounds" and was hurting U.S. companies' ability to compete overseas. In March, Trump fired two Democrats from the Federal Trade Commission, taking aim at one of the government's top watchdogs for corporate fraud, consumer deception and antitrust violations. 🧮 By the numbers: The administration has paused, dropped or withdrawn enforcement actions against at least 100 corporations accused of misconduct, according to the progressive watchdog group Public Citizen. Zoom in: On an individual level, Trump has used his clemency powers and influence to rehabilitate disgraced businessmen and politicians — turning fraud convictions and indictments into badges of loyalty. Eric Adams: The Justice Department dropped its corruption charges against the New York City mayor, claiming the case would interfere with his ability to cooperate with Trump's deportation agenda. Trevor Milton: Trump issued a full pardon to the Nikola electric vehicle founder, who was convicted of defrauding investors and later donated $1.8 million to help Trump's campaign. Carlos Watson: Trump commuted the Ozy Media founder's nearly 10-year prison sentence, which he was set to begin after his conviction for deceiving investors about his company's financials. Bitmex: The three co-founders and a former employee of the crypto exchange were granted pardons after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act. Devon Archer and Jason Galanis: The two former Hunter Biden associates — who were convicted of defrauding a Native American tribe — received clemency after cooperating in GOP investigations into the former president's son. Rod Blagojevich: After commuting his sentence in 2020, Trump granted a full pardon to the former Illinois governor, who was convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama's former Senate seat. What they're saying: "President Trump will always stand for law and order, ending the weaponization of the legal system, and rooting out fraud in the federal government," White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said. "Every action he has taken in his second term reflects these priorities and is authorized by the Constitution," Fields added. "Ethics watchdogs that ignored the previous administration's egregious legal abuses against President Trump have no credibility today." 👀 The bottom line: For Trump, the concept of "fraud" has become less a legal violation than a political label — one he applies freely to his enemies and erases for his allies. This past week, Trump ordered an investigation into former U.S. cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs for stating the 2020 election was secure. "He's the fraud," Trump declared. "He's a disgrace." Keep reading.

Yes, but on two separate devices, though: phone for the audio, some other device for the video.

Early returns indicate that position player coaching is starting to work, especially the baserunning.

I think it might be 35 in the last 50 now, since we are 2-1 since the tweet posted.

Especially considering three key position pieces are still out.

Sorry to hear. Radio feed can be paused on the MLB app.

That's exactly why they wouldn't fire him. The appearance of instability when a franchise fires people all over the place reduces the sale price. Plus, if they were to fire Baldelli, hire someone else, then sell the team, the new manager would probably get fired, too, and no decent replacement manager worth anything would take a job he knew would put him on the chopping block right out of the gate.

One way around it, kind of, is this: turn on the Twins feed on an mlb.tv app connected or cast to your TV, like a Samsung app or Apple TV box; then bring up Dan and Dan on Tigers radio on the MLB app on another device, like your phone. It's a two step process after that: (1) sync them up; (2) enjoy. I did that yesterday when Dan and Dan kept dropping out on the audio feed of the Apple TV+ app—I pulled up the guys on the MLB app on my phone and just listened to that.

We could well be 11-3 right now if only we'd won game 3 of the Yankees series that Colt booted with errors, obviating our comeback; and game 2 of the Dodgers series that Beau blew in the 10th.

When you watch your local team on mlb.tv, the opponent's TV crew are blacked out.

Yeah, I'm sorry, but cellies suck. There, I said it. But you all were thinking it.

Doesn't break my heart. 😁

Man, we just carved them up like nobody’s business today, didn’t we?

Right, well, never mind that Bregman was never coming here anyway. The thing does make a handy cudgel to hammer the front office with.

Yes, but also, a mental whiff by the runner Miranda, which pulled Colt’s ass out of the jackpot.

Makes sense—if a country willingly limits its ability to source products from outside its borders, that creates scarcity, which is great in the short term when it manifests in the higher prices and greater wealth transfer from plebes to oligarchs they seek. But at some point, when things evolve beyond that to widespread shortages and the resulting civil unrest, the problem of too many people for too few resources may well be addressed.

Well put. Not only do intellectuals go against the regime's best interests, but an educated people in general goes against their interests. That’s why people who are publicly lippy in general may well find themselves in hot water before long.

The strikeouts will come.

We have done a really good job putting pressure on the defense to make the play and we’ve gotten away with that so far. It’s gonna backfire from time to time but a good team that makes good decision, like ours appears to be, should experience a net gain from that.

Pretty good swing by Colt on that third out, though. Good sign.

Those were not good swing decisions by Riley on either that 1-0 or 1-1 pitch. He could be sitting 3-0 instead, and took a walk on that fourth pitch below the zone, and he might not have struck out on the breaker in the dirt. He’s off at the moment, and the shake of his head going back to the dugout tells the rest of us that he knows it.