35thstreetswarm

I was surprised that they were uncharacteristically critical of TLR on the postgame show for not allowing Kopech to get the win. (My reaction was — *that’s* what you criticize him for? Something that actually made some sense?)

Fuck the Cubs always and forever.

I might print and frame that one.

I'd give them a D since they have series wins over two solid clubs and the recent split against the Angels, but I'm a softy.

Hell, sacrifice all of Texas outside Austin as far as I'm concerned. Oh wait, Keuchel? yeah him too

With Frank Schwindel hitting cleanup. You can’t make this stuff up ?

A win in the City Connects! Finally!

Freeze this thread in amber.

We should have gotten Benintendi instead of Moncada ?. My God, my 10U player son could have made a better throw

Why not Abreu? Grandal? I mean, if we just totally untether ourselves from reality we can get a lot *more* flexible than that -- don't stop now, boys!

RR was a poor manager and I wanted him gone asap. But it's truly crazy to me that the things he was -- pretty publicly -- fired over have not only been repeated by TLR, they have been his hallmarks. Throwing late season games with weirdo lineups and bullpen decisions? Check. Embarrassing himself on "unwritten rules" nonsense (e.g. throwing at the Cubs after Contreras bat flip)? Um, big check. I was not thrilled with the TLR hire but I foolishly believed "hey, at least those things will be gone -- I mean, they have to be." Obviously not, and based on the RR example we know it must be absolutely triggering for Hahn.

If this brutal early losing streak leads to Tony getting his wings clipped early in the season then it was worth it. I'll believe it when I see it though.

Yeah, this makes sense. I actually think that this is one of those "normal-bad" 3-4 type stretches that a few bad decisions (fielding a AAA lineup to punt a doubleheader, pitching to Buxton, etc.) and bad ball-luck turned into a "really bad" 0-7 slide. Unfortunate, but it will soon be forgotten and we'll be back on track.

Hmm...can't recall this ever happening before for just a few degrees Fahrenheit. Rain I can understand but this seems extreme just to have the game played in the high 40s instead of low 40s.

Back home. Time to get this thing back on track.

Yes, as Bernstein put it, it's not that he's failing to make the 55%/45% calls that distinguish great managers from the rest. It's that he's failing to make 100%/0% calls. He's doing things that are indefensible, have no justification, and would not be done by *any other manager*. The only saving grace, sad as it is, is that there's a limit to the amount of damage a manager can do, so we still have pretty significant hope of compiling a good record. Now come playoff time I'm not so sure.

Is he really? I confess that I haven't checked into his past statements on the topic or anything. He really, really sounds like a Cub fan/Sox skeptic to my ear. Very true. Hell -- you don't need 35 years on earth to know that's true, you only need 35 minutes on this board.

I suspect this is supposed to be sarcasm, but they're not really, at least outside this board. I mean, I guess people who follow baseball day-to-day may be mocking them in the way one mocks a team with a weeklong losing streak in April, which is to say, a negligible amount.

Agreed -- not to mention the fact that we won the first three series of the season and are 6-9. Not really all that "desperate" yet in real-world terms. I still think we'll be able to win despite TLR in the long-term but it's just sad that we're stuck with him. He's a bigger anchor on this team than I'd ever imagined, and I never liked the hire.

David Haugh can barely contain his joy btw. I think he hates the Sox.

In my experience “casual fans” often have a more realistic — and accurate — conception of the team’s performance than diehards, especially in baseball’s marathon season. They check in on the team in 10-20-game chunks and get a good sense of long term trends rather than living and dying by every game, which is not really even helpful in a 162-game season. It’s what makes die-hards capable of viciously debating “blowing things up” after an injured team wins *only* 3 of its first 4 series of the season. Casual fans look at a spectacle like that and think — “wow, this seems kind of crazy.” And they’re right.

Removing the Defensive Capabilities of the Guardians, Thereby Rendering Them Useless as Guardians

Are these the margaritas the vendors walk around with? Or are they served in a concession stand?

VV looks like he’s pretty comfortable after that first inning. Got a couple tough breaks there.

Super happy Burger’s hard work paid off for him and excited to see what he can bring back in a trade.