Squirrel

Geeeez, you guys ... you went from not acknowledging Sano's wife was even with him to making it her fault. I'm watching you so watch your steps!

omg ... they are doing a re-boot of Buffy! Hope it's just as good as the original! If it is, that will definitely be something to watch.

Ever had a migraine or a broken toe? I’m not trying to say Buxton gets a pass for his performance as he definitely has things to work on, but migraines are debilitating. It’s not just a headache. And he didn’t miss an entire season due to a broken toe. He was rushed back up too soon after that and the toe wasn’t healed. So he was sent back down. Where he had wrist issues. He was also not really performing at the plate until the very end so there was no rush to bring him back up. That said, I do hope he works hard during the off season. His defense does not make up for his bat as it was.

No offense to you or others suggesting former players with no managerial experience to be managers ... but is there a lesson to be learned in this? Just because they were once great players does not necessarily translate to being good managers. I’d hope for someone with managerial experience and/or MLB coaching experience.

I have no guesses who will be named but my guess is we’ll all being saying ‘WHO?!?!’ or ‘WHAT?!?!’ when they do name a new manager.

I wasn't going to say it, but glad you did. I wasn't going to say it because that subject has made me a one-trick pony.

Depends on how it's handled.

And tears ...

I think you made this comment in the wrong thread?

I just don’t watch a lot of TV. But I may use In Demand to check out the pilots of every new show ... just to do it. I am curious to see how Murphy Brown has ages. I liked the original.

When I went to 'Full version' mode on my phone, that stopped them ... not sure why it would make a difference. But the 'full version' mode on the phone is really ... not the best. However, past instances of this, it affected the full version mode, too. But I'm on my home computer now, so ... not an issue at present.

Getting tons of pop ups/redirects on my phone this morning. Here are two. Surprised I haven’t gotten the Amazon one yet.

I saw that clip when I watched game highlights ... I really wanted it to keep going to see what would happen next ...

Or ... if you have a link from the internet of the image or gif you want to use and are using the full editor on your desktop, click on the 'image of a tree' icon and follow the prompts. Or, as spycake noted above, click on 'More reply options' and follow those directions. Those instructions work for downloaded images and photos.

You mean multiply by the 2 and the 7, not add.

Fort Myers ahead 8-3, top of the 7th tonight ...

Moderator note: To everyone, this is not a Mauer thread. Move it elsewhere as there are plenty other threads out there to discuss Mauer. Or start your own. This is the game wrap up. It was a good game with some much needed good pitching, a pitcher making his MLB debut, ending with a walk-off homerun. If all you can talk about from that is how Mauer wasn’t in the middle of the scrum, post it elsewhere.

He may have been advised by his manager not to talk to anyone until they decide if they will file a grievance. It’s been a tough and disappointing year for all of us but likely more so for him. I don’t blame him for taking some time off and away to be with his family. I also think it better for him to take time and not give out immediate responses in anger or disappointment as that really would be immature. Bottom line, we don’t know if this is a character issue or not so maybe it’s best not to jump to conclusions.

I don’t think that anyone is arguing that his defense cancels out his not hitting, as he has been this year. I think what people are saying that his elite defensive skills can’t be negated as you and many others seem to be saying by only focusing on his hitting. He doesn’t need to be above or well above average as a hitter to provide good value to the team. But he does need to be at least average, which he isn’t right now.

A note or two on the Miracle game. Miranda’s HR was high and deep, landed behind the berm in left field, a no-doubter off the bat. Miranda also made a really nice play at third. And the Whitefield throw was great. That fly out he caught wasn’t deep but it wasn’t short, either. Considering the play before he double/triple bounced a throw to the cut off man, I thought the runner on 3rd was going to score easily. But Whitehead’s throw was a spot on delivery - Rosario couldn’t have done it better. It was a very close play, too. In the 8th, it just seemed to be one miscue after another ... the passed ball on the strike out was the first. And that was the only runner to score. Then the HBP on the first pitch of the next batter. The first out came with runners on first and third when the batter hit a high pop up between home and 3rd. Miranda comes in, he’s under it, and the ball drops right behind him. He quickly picked it up and threw the runner out at 2nd. No harm really, as there were still runners at the corners as before but now with one out; I was starting to get the feeling this might not end well. Then Moran walks the next one to load the bases. Then Moran just seemed to hit a groove and struck out the next two. In the top of the 9th, a high pop up was hit to the 1st baseman. I don’t think he had to move more than a step. He’s under it ... and the ball lands right in front of him. It had the home crowd ‘oh no-ing’ and ‘what the heck-ing’. Then Moran just delivers it. It was petty exciting. But either the Tortuga batters were just over anxious or Moran is a very deceptive pitcher, because there was a lot of swinging at high and in the dirt balls over the 5 strikeouts he got. It also felt like he needed to strike out everyone because the defense didn’t help in a few spots, and neither did Moran himself before he struck out the final two in the 8th. But it was a very good game to be at, and it didn’t rain despite lots of dark clouds all around.

Well, technically, it is, unless you are a DH sitting on the bench the whole game except to bat. A team spends half an inning trying to produce runs, and the other half inning is spent trying to prevent runs. You can argue which is the more important half, and give it a higher percentage of importance to the outcome of the game, but that’s a different discussion. I don’t think Buxton needs to produce as much offensively because of his defense, however, his defense doesn’t make up for where his offense currently sits. He needs to figure that out and there needs to be a positive balance before he provides what this team needs. As for his reckless play in the outfield, I guess I wouldn’t describe it as that, or as haphazard. By definition that implies a lack of care or thought for what he’s doing, that he’s just running randomly into walls. I’d say he cares very much for what he’s doing, maybe too much, that it’s not random at all. You can say his goal to try and catch everything out there is detrimental to his well being and thus to his team, and I might agree, or at least accept, but I’m not so sure it’s either reckless or haphazard. But his injuries this year ... the migraine, the broken toe and the wrist strain ... were not caused by his outfield play. That said ... he does need to work on his hitting. That is undeniable and no question. But how much of a hitter does he ‘need’ to become and does sending him home now help accomplish that? If sending him home accomplishes that, then sending him home was the right thing to do.

Will get to see the Miracle play Friday night after just missing their game on Tuesday! Yay!

Miracles won tonight! Woohoo!

Yes. Even though I can’t say for sure where he’ll end up in the org, I’ve liked the progress I’ve seen so far. It’s very good to see, and against a true, MLB lineup.

I’m fine with letting this experiment run its course to the end of this season, but I just think it’s not ... right ... to all of a sudden make your relievers starters. While I know that all relievers were basically failed starters, they are relievers now. They are accustomed, both physically and mentally, to relieve, not start. Yes, let’s just drop the ‘opener’ name; you are asking these relief pitchers to start. It doesn’t matter if it’s only an inning or two. And doesn’t the ‘need’ for this strategy send a message to your actual starters, that they aren’t good enough to get through Innings like they should? Or, if you need an ‘opener’, shouldn’t that be an indication to you that maybe you need better starting pitching? Or is this baseball evolving to have entire games pitched by relievers? Or maybe this is the strategy trying to compete when you don’t have a Kershaw or a Verlander? Or maybe I just don’t fully grasp the concept? (Which, to be honest, is probably the most likely.) So many questions which is why I am uncomfortably okay with riding out this experiment.