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I've played outfield all through my adulthood—not that I'm a professional or anything—but I would say that as a result of my experience I can judge a high fly ball hit right to me almost perfectly, meaning I can tell almost right away whether I have to go in or back. The second most fun I have in the outfield—aside from busting after a ball and making an acrobatic catch—is when I judge a fly ball so perfectly I don't have move more than a single step from my starting position. Makes me feel like a genius for a few seconds. What's super hard is a line drive hit right to me, especially in hardball (and especially after having played softball exclusively for a couple decades before taking up hardball again). Many were the times a line drive was hit to me, I instinctively froze trying to figure out whether it's shallow or deep, and it flies way way over my head to the wall for a triple. And I'm a guy who plays deep already, to the ongoing consternation of the captains of my various teams. (You know, guys who think being a team captain makes them a coach you're supposed to listen to about how to play your position that he knows practically nothing about.) Anyhow, nothing makes an outfielder feel stupider than having to chase a ball he misjudged that went over his head. That's why I hate Eddie Vedder.

If you look at the video frame by frame (by dragging the progress bar), you can see the ball changes trajectory after hitting the board between where it says "TOR" and "KC", which has got to be some nine or so feet up, then the ball rides the top of Meadows' glove coming down for a few frames before separating and hitting the ground. It was not an easy play any left fielder could have gotten, is my point. I don't blame Meadows at all for not coming up with it.

I don't know, looking at replays again, the ball hit really high up on the wall, ten or so feet up. I'm not exactly sure whether he got his glove on it, but it looks like it might have bounced off the wall first and hit the back of his outstretched glove and fell. I think someone would have had to read the ball right, take a direct route, camp under the ball, and leap up to snag it before it hit the wall. A plus left fielder could probably do that more often than not. Average fielders or less, I'm thinking maybe not so much. https://www.mlb.com/video/jose-abreu-double-ties-the-game

They’re not going to give him or the red hats the perverse maso satisfaction of an aggressive perp walk. But yeah, this makes sense. He’s not going to physically run away so they don’t need to cuff him. He’s one of the most recognizable men in the world so they don’t need a mug shot. As for flight risk, we joke about him fleeing to Russia, but that would be off brand for anyone who is adored by a hundred million people, believes they are Teflon, and for whom historically everything has always come up roses for him. Besides, we definitely don’t want to Mein Kampf the guy.

Most apps allow you to fix that in Settings.

He has definitely earned another start tonight against no matter who.

Hill gets a save and Wingenter gets the win. Who had that on their bingo card?

Jesus, Hill went pecker high in on Alvarez twice in a row and almost got a double play out of it.

Gulp Garrett Hill

Obviously not.

Nice to get two runs here. We have some life after all.

I think it would have taken a plus defender in left to reliably catch that ball.

The other part of the problem was that TORK! rushed the throw. He had a ton of time where he could have almost leisurely taken a step to the left and fired to Baez to the left of the bag. Instead he got excited and hurried the throw. Rookie mistake. He will replay that in his mind over and over and then develop a strategy for the next time that happens.

I just got home in time to see Lange. He was brilliant up to the 0-2 double. He got a boatload of swings and misses on stuff way outside the zone from some of the game’s best hitters. Just the two fly outs from Peña and Abreu they missed on, but also, no walks. Run notwithstanding, good outing.

Oh, holy shit on a stick ...

I think the honeymoon for A.J. Hinch ended a long, long time ago for a lot of fans, many of whom want to see him fired, like, now.

Who is Greg Eno and why should I care what he has to say about the Tigers?

I wonder whether any of this might be a case of any combination of not following the team closely, not understanding how leadership dynamics work, and perhaps not a little wishful thinking maybe even connected to wistfulness over Leyland's exile.

Thanks. Shows you how much I follow cabinet politics.

What do we expect? For-profit news goes where the eyeballs want.

Well, Secret Service is part of the IRS, so that definitely tracks.

In a country that fethisizes cutthroat competition and frontier-like self-reliance? Not a chance. Doctors would take fee payments in chickens first.

I think the only way Harris fires Hinch is if Hinch goes off book and starts doing things that go against Harris's plans. Once that verifiably starts happening, I'll come around to your way of thinking on this. If, for example, one of Harris's plans is to micromanage the lineup and have Hinch run the same eight guys out there night after night, but Hinch continues to mix and match anyway against Harris's will, then I see your point. But if Harris is giving Hinch free rein to run the team on the field as Hinch sees fit, then I just don't see Harris firing Hinch over something as low impact as failed mixing and matching—as though Hinch is losing scads of winnable games this talented team is playing.

It's nice to be in the top half of the league in something positive for a change!

I don't believe this is true at all. Assuming there's no personal fallout between him and Harris, Hinch's honeymoon won't be over until he is given the players that he is expected to contend with and then fails to do so. Until that happens, Hinch won't get fired even if the team ends up losing 105 games this year. What would be the point of firing him over that? It's not as though they could give this exact same team to, for example, Jim Leyland and expect him to win with them in a way Hinch can't.