IndianaTwin

As opposed to his former radio partner, who gave us this treat a couple innings ago, after a Kansas City misplay: “We were talking about how well defense a team.”

Skip Caray: “Watching Greg Maddux leg out a triple has just passed the Kentucky Derby as the most exciting two minutes in sports.”

Two, actually.

Kepler doesn’t have 10-and-5 status. His service time was 7.152 heading into the season, so he won’t hit 10 until early 2026.

I think they pay more attention to pitches than innings. It's been a slow progression: Last year, Raya didn't top 54 pitches in a game, so they've allowed him to jump up a bit, but he's also still only 21. FWIW, Festa averaged 57.8 pitches over his first five starts, but 77.8 in his last five. That looks like the pitch count of someone they see as next in line (or next after Varland, particularly with Varland already being on the 40-man). EDIT to add: Last year Raya averaged 45 pitches over 22 starts. I'm guessing that if they get 22 starts and average around 60 pitches (assuming a slight increase as the year goes on), they'd feel pretty good.

Folks on Rays Daily prolly still screaming, "We gave up Joe Ryan for a half season of Nelson Cruz."

Poop jokes aren't my favorite jokes, but they're a solid No. 2.

The Jaws ranking doesn't like his chances:

Perhaps they are checking TD at the game.

oop ho?

Let’s toast this Marshmallow and get s’more runs.

Okay, folks. Carry on without me. Off to the high school graduation of a young man from my church. It’s the first day of the rest of his life. Hope he seizes the day and never gives up, etc.

Or at least like Edwin Diaz in a save situation.

Mrs. IT would be supportive. Being as we live in Indiana.

Every time I tell Mrs. IT one of Chief’s jokes, she rolls her eyes at me. I pick them up and roll them back.

Read an interesting tidbit this morning. Turns out there’s a group of 500 people living just outside Calcutta that will only use IBM products. They are known as the Indian Apple-less 500.

Or at least tipped enough to buy a brat.

Demote Kirilloff!!!!

I'm guessing we're not too far from each other here. And yes, that phrase (which I've most often heard attributed to Teddy Roosevelt, but others are cited as well) has served me well when working with folks of all ages. I work in a consulting situation, and I've quoted it to colleagues a number of times recently. I'm sure my boss would prefer I get to the topic at hand a little more quickly than I sometimes do, but spending a little more time in the getting to know someone process has never been a bad move for me. I've got a natural curiosity and Mrs. IT has taught me a lot about empathy. That's a good combination of traits in about any situation.

Agreed, thanks for the update. One game is about as small of a sample size as one can get, but it's interesting that for Lee, it was at shortstop. I'll be curious to see how that plays itself out as Lewis prepares to return, Miranda playing well and Julien struggling compared to a year ago. It wouldn't be popular, but he seems like one of their biggest trade chips.

Agree with your first paragraph, but not with the second. I've also spent a good number of years coaching (not 25, but 10), all at the college level, and focused on the things you talked about. But I also remember a night when we got back from a meet after seriously underperforming. We sat in the bus for a while and had a chat that was a little out of character for me. I'm not a yeller, but I was definitely more direct with them than usual on some things. I also focused on the fact that we were a good team with a lot of potential, but hadn't come together yet. Thirty years later, I still remember the statement from one of my senior leaders, "If coach thinks we can do this, I think we should go for it." I went to clean uniforms (small college, so you do everything), and they continued to talk amongst themselves. I found out later that they spent some time together over the weekend. Turned the season around, and we ended up winning the conference championship. I can't say it was all from that night's meeting (after all, they had an outstanding coach, right? 🤣), but it was a key moment. A few years ago, I asked one of the athletes whether she remembered the night, and she did. Point being, sometimes even a fun team needs a bit of a reset. None of us are privy to what happened Monday, but I'm impressed that they seem to have the right set of personalities on the team (in my opinion) for such a meeting to be significant. The bottom line, however, is that a meeting only lasts a short time, particularly in a long-season sport like baseball. They still need to build on any momentum it generated.

Yikes. I guess...

"Zack Weiss, who has yet to pitch for Minnesota and is on the 60-day injured list, is throwing up to 100 feet." That's serious projectile vomiting!

So you're saying a 9.7 bWAR is worth noting? 😀 "Some" overstates his Cy Young support. Somehow he only got one vote! Guess he didn't look good enough in underwear.

This isn't quite that, but I've always been amazed at the similarity between Eddie Murray's first two years: Other than drawing a bunch more walks his second year, which created much of the difference in OBP, which leads to OPS, which leads to OPS+, these numbers are virtually identical. They speak to the incredible consistency he had. Can you imagine what it was like as a manager to have seven years of writing Ripken and Murray in the 3 and 4 hole, nearly every day. It's hard to think of a guy with 3255 hits and 502 HRs as underrated, but wow.