caulfield12

Dunning picked a baserunner off 1B...good to see little fundamental stuff like that. Rose almost hit another out, base of wall double, coming out of 2/23 stretch.

https://www.blessyouboys.com/2018/5/2/17311276/mlb-draft-2018-nick-madrigal-scouting-report-oregon-state-university-detroit-tigers

Joking about McCain’s (impending) death is the “new normal” The issue with all of this is that it bastardized a very legitimate issue -- the growing income (and everything else) gap between the rich and the poor -- for Trump's own political purposes. He drove the divide for political reasons and, in his language, made it totally OK to say whatever you wanted about people you disagreed with because they had been out to get you for years. This was just payback. And man did they deserve it. Nuance went out the window. Speaking hard truths that the country needed to hear -- as McCain has done throughout his career -- became indistinguishable from calling Sen. Ted Cruz's wife ugly or suggesting that we need to ban Muslims from entering the country. Political incorrectness became a crutch to justify racist and xenophobic views. And in the middle of it all was Trump. When he wasn't engaging in these behaviors, he was refusing to condemn them -- an example of his abdication of the idea of the President as moral leader. Who am I to say who is right and who is wrong in the Charlottesville violence, Trump asked. Who am I to judge who is telling the truth -- Roy Moore or the multiple women who said he had pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers? That view has trickled down. When CNN's Chris Cuomo asked State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Friday to comment on the "joke" about McCain's death, Nauert responded: "I'm not familiar with what you're familiar with." Really? Nauert hadn't heard about the story? I find that very, very hard to believe. That collective shrug from the President of the United States and his allies coupled with the extant factors of our internal divisions and the sort of campaign he ran in 2016 created the toxic stew from which comments like the one Thursday by Sadler grow. No one is standing up and saying "We can't treat people like this." And sadly, that vacuum in moral leadership means that the better angels of our nature are being drowned out by our demons. https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/11/politics/donald-trump-john-mccain-death/index.html

Ghost of Keon Barnum lives..homers in two consecutive games.

Pirates’ fans would concur. Just have to take your shots...weak AL Central future should make things a bit easier, avoiding the wild card situations like Pittsburgh had to face.

Murray might still be willing to sign and play partial seasons until his football career has concluded...then he would have to make a decision. Top of first round talent.

Collins k on 3-2 count Jimenez was up 3-0, swung away on a pitcher’s pitch and eventually flew out to CF

Miguel Ascensio...was at that game in KC.

Big problems at the VA as Jared-backed health-care project gets ‘devastating’ review ARTHUR ALLEN SCOOP -- “Kushner-backed health care project gets ‘devastating’ review”: “The first stage of a multibillion-dollar military-VA digital health program championed by Jared Kushner has been riddled with problems so severe they could have led to patient deaths, according to a report obtained by POLITICO. “The April 30 report expands upon the findings of a March POLITICO story [https://politi.co/2G8MJOV] in which doctors and IT specialists expressed alarm about the software system, describing how clinicians at one of four pilot centers, Naval Station Bremerton, quit because they were terrified they might hurt patients, or even kill them. Experts who saw the Pentagon evaluation — it lists 156 ‘critical’ or ‘severe’ incident reports with the potential to result in patient deaths — characterized it as ‘devastating.’ “‘Traditionally, if you have more than five [incident reports] at that high a level, the program has significant issues,’ a member of the testing team told POLITICO. “The project’s price tag and political sensitivity — it was designed to address nagging problems with military and veteran health care at a cost of about $20 billion over the next decade — means it is ‘just another ‘too big to fail’ program,’ the tester said. ‘The end result everyone is familiar with — years and years of delays and many billions spent trying to fix the mess.’” https://politi.co/2jOZs0m

Why? They draft Madrigal or Bohm, everything is set but 1b...and still control Sanchez through 2021, too. Plus Davidson, 2022.

http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2017/03/nick_madrigal_strives_for_grea.html This article encapsulates why Madrigal is the perfect choice...

If the Reds beat the Dodgers and Orioles hold on...#1.

If they weren’t dumping both Robertson and Frazier salaries...they would gotten a better deal. Otoh, Kahnle, Eaton and Q are worth a LOT less as of today. So there’s that.

Too bad for Trump the Iran situation is only going to exacerbate the potential for world petrol spikes...of course, this admin doesn’t realize that also affects jet fuel rates.

Now we’re officially in crazy land ... there’s no reason to cut Avi Garcia. Palka is likely just a better Coats.

Time to make Dave Duncan earn his consulting salary...

It’s 50% related to Cubs, lol...

This is all Lilian’s fault for saying we weren’t going to need pitching from outside the organization...

Casali grand slam just the second homer allowed by Kopech all season long. Alvarez can’t corral a chopper up the middle. Fourth hit of the inning. Bullpen up, Danish. Stolen base. Ironic that it’s Coats tonight, Bourjos was big part of last night’s game.

Jason Coats making life hard on Kopech. 2 rbi’s now, first homer allowed on the year to Coats as well. Almost had him for strike three. Still not out of it. 3 walks (total), bases loaded with just one out. 4 walks last time out. Having a much harder time second time through the lineup. Grand slam. Officially a complete disaster today for all aspects of the White Sox.

Two more hits, a flare to LF and seeing eye single up the middle through his legs and between the middle infielders. Out of the game for Kubat. 9 hits surrendered in 2 ip.

Two more hits, a flare to LF and seeing eye single up the middle through his legs and between the middle infielders. Out of the game for Kubat. 9 hits surrendered in 2 ip.

That’s a really good offense Cease is facing...not a huge number of xb hits, but all strung together. Wild pitches/passed ball, walks, seems a bit rattled. ERA blows up to 3.41, ouch. 6 er. 7 hits, 2 walks, no K’s. Still in, 49 pitches through 2. Rutherford in CF, Basabe in RF.

There’s now clear evidence that anti-poverty programs like welfare and Social Security work Surprise, surprise. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/theres-now-clear-evidence-anti-poverty-programs-like-welfare-social-security-work-194733608.html The research found that all programs except for the EITC “sharply” reduces deep poverty, which is defined as 50% below the poverty line, which is an income of $12,140 for an individual and $20,780 for a family of three. The EITC has a bigger impact for families around 150% of the poverty line, an income level often described as “working poor.” The researchers called the tax credit, along with SNAP, the “most effective” of the means-tested programs. For the elderly, Wu said the research found that Social Security benefits “single-handedly slashes poverty by 75%.” Social Security’s overall effect on all poverty is also enormous, responsible for by far the largest poverty reduction among all these programs, the study said. When it comes to alleviating deep poverty, Wu said, “many of the means-tested transfers (like SSI, SNAP, and housing assistance) play a substantially larger role than Social Security, which pays out more for those who put more in. Asked what he would emphasize for politicians and policymakers, given what the study has found, Wu pointed to the study’s bottom line. “Many of these government programs do have pronounced effects on poverty, especially if you look at groups that the programs are designed to target,” said Wu.

The Pirates with those three playoff flameouts and teardown are one cautionary tale...