Seven game streak

The Red sox won their 7^th game in a row last night and that moved them to within 1 game of the Judges.

That win was also Sonny Gray's 14^th of the season making him the American League leader in wins.

This Red Sox are doing some amazing things and the only bad thing I can say is, "Why the hell weren't they doing amazing things at the start of the season!!!"

Contreras is not in the lineup tonight. He left the game early last night due to an unspecified illness. I'm really hoping it's not related to the brain-shaking hit he took to the helmet a few days ago.

First pitch is at 7:10 tonight and Suarez has the start.

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So once again, we are all listening to Dementia Donny tell us that "a deal is imminent". What we are also hearing is that the "deal" will involve fees or tolls being collected by Iran and Oman.

Remember when shipping was free to transit the Strait of Hormuz without fear of attack and no tolls? You know, before Trump launched his attack and started making deals?

Good times...

I hope you all like paying $4.00+ for gasoline because those fees are going to drive prices up higher than they are now.

And what do you think Iran is going to do with all the money it collects? You think they're going to use it to improve the lives of their citizens? No way Jose! They are going to use it to build themselves some nuclear weapons, that's what they are going to do with it.

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Yes, my back still hurts.

Yes, Salonpas is doing it's job but you can't leave the patches on all day or they'll start to eat a hole in you.

I can lay down, I can sit and I can stand up, all with no problem. It's the movement between those positions that cause me pain.

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Here are some links:

• Since invoking the fifth amendment to the constitution is a constitutional right guaranteed to all citizens of the United States, how can they hold him in contempt for invoking it?



• I've always said that it's a good bet there is life somewhere else in the universe and some of it might be intelligent. I've also always said that if there is intelligent life out there, it isn't coming to Earth because we are probably considered the Florida Trailer Park of the universe..



• He is very concerned about leakage. Maybe that's why he wears diapers...



• In case you hadn't heard, Psycho Vlad is attacking Germany now.

Six game winning streak

With last nights win over the White Sox, the Red Sox are once again into a lengthy winning streak.

Don't get me wrong, they have a long way to go before they beat that 16-game winning streak last month but a 6-game streak is nothing to sneeze at.

And yes, I was able to watch the entire game.

Hopefully I can do the same thing tonight. First pitch is at 7:10 and Gray has the start.

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The lawn is mowed and thanks to my wife, I didn't have to mow all of it.

Several weeks ago, I bought a new self-propelled lawn mower and it's been a great addition to the collection of stuff I own.

This morning, I did something I've done every week for the last 35+ years - I picked up the back end of my lawn tractor to swing it out of the corner of my garage. Only today was different. Today I felt my back suddenly seize up and I got to experience a significant pain that not only made it hard to walk, it made it hard to just stand up straight.

My wife decided that she would use the new lawn mower to do the trim. She enjoyed herself (she likes yard work) and decided to do the back yard as well.

That meant all I had to do was sit on my tractor and drive around the front and side yard.

I'm still not able to walk around very well but thanks to Salonpas, I can stand comfortably. I'm hoping that sleeping is not going to be a problem.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "...Trump has said a deal (deal #39 or maybe #40) could be announced this week."



• Key headline: "No evidence? No problem."



• Apparently we are littering on the moon.



• Holy shit! They've taken this gambling thing too far.

Red Sox trades

Here is a quick recap of the trades the Red Sox made recently and what I think of them:

PTBNL^* to the Tigers - Jahmai Jones to the Red Sox.
I like this trade. Jones is a good utility guy who has come up clutch for the Red Sox in some recent games.

Connelly Early to the the Nationals - Curtis Mead to the Red Sox.
I don't think this was a good trade. I like Early and I think he's going to be an "ace" in the near future. Also, Mead got hit by a pitch in his second at-bat for the Red Sox and broke his wrist. It looks like he won't be playing for the Red Sox for probably the rest of the season.

Tyler Uberstine to the Braves - Eli White to the Red Sox.
I don't know what to think about this trade. I am uncertain what the Red Sox are going to do with another outfielder but Uberstine is a minor league pitcher and he's kinda stuck in the minors behind a strong Red Sox pitching staff. Ballplayers that are stuck in the minors aren't going to help the team make the playoffs...

Marcelo Mayer to the Giants - Erik Miller and Carlos Gutierrez to the Red Sox.
I don't know what to think about this trade. I've always thought that Mayer was overrated but I also have no idea who either Miller or Gutierrez are. Who knows, maybe they are the best thing to come along since sliced bread. I know Miller is a reliever so maybe he'll help out the bullpen.

Anthony Eyanson, Kyson Witherspoon, Enddy Azocar, Carlos Narváez and PTBNL^* to the Orioles - Adley Rutschman and Jake Rogers to the Red Sox.
I like this trade. Rutschman is currently on the IL but he's a proven hitter and a strong catcher. I do think the Red Sox may have overpaid for him but again, minor league players can't help a team right now and Narváez is struggling to hit the ball.

^{(* Player To Be Named Later)}

Time will tell if Breslow screwed up or was successful. Personally, I'm rooting for him to be successful...

Oh, and the Judges lost last night so the Red Sox are now only 2 games behind them in the ALEast.

Since the Red Sox are back in Boston, tonights game against the White Sox is being played at a normal time. First pitch is at 7:10 and Sandoval has the start.

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For most of his adult life, Brain Worm Bobby has told everyone that would listen to him that the MMR vaccine causes autism. He said this without any scientific or medical evidence.

Now that there is a major measles outbreak in the United States, he says people should get vaccinated.

Let's face it people, the guy that Dementia Donny put in charge of health and human services is a mentally deficient individual who should be locked in a psychiatric hospital so he can begin receiving treatment.

I'm also not sure how safe our food is anymore, what with all the cyclospora, salmonella, E.coli and botulism rolling around out there. And yes, Brain Worm Bobby is in charge of the FDA as well as the CDC.

We are kinda screwed...

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Here are a couple of links:

• I still think she'll get fired in a week or two.



• Looks like someone is unhappy with Trump.

They swept the Dodgers!

The Red Sox won last night, sweeping the Dodgers and winning their 8^th series in a row.

With that win, they are still 2½ games behind the Judges but are now only 5 games behind the Rays.

On a more humorous note, my son sent me this picture this morning:

They are off today while they travel home to Boston. Tomorrow they will start a 3-game series against the ALCentral-leading White Sox.

Since today is the trade deadline, I can tell you that the Red Sox we see play on Tuesday will not be the same Red Sox we saw play on Sunday. It appears that they have traded Carlos Narveaz along with four minor leaguers to the Orioles for a catcher named Adley Rutschman.

Supposedly Rutschman can hit but right now he is on the DL with a bum wrist, so he won't be doing much of anything for the Red Sox.

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So we got some rain last night...

We got enough rain that I had two pretty large puddles in my basement. One was in the usual spot next to a crack in the back wall and the other was one I've rarely seen next to the bulkhead. It looks like the winds blew water up underneath the joint where the doors come together and it ran down the steps into the basement.

My wet/dry vac took care of the majority of the problems and now my dehumidifier is working overtime to take care of the remainder.

Trust me, every home owner should get a wet/dry vac.

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Many errands were run this morning including a trip to Home Depot to pick up 60 feet of cat6 ethernet cable.

My Orbi access point in the far end of my house has been having problems establishing a good wireless backhaul connection and since it's the access point my TV uses to connect, I've finally decided it's time to eliminate the annoyance of slow internet and shitty picture display.

Tomorrow my plan is to drill a hole through the floor in the cabinet where the access point lives and pull the wire from there to the router. Once that is done, all I have to do is crimp on some ends and plug the two devices together.

Hopefully this give my end of the house a good high speed connection.

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Here are some links:

• Talk about the pot calling the kettle black...
  Near as I can tell, Dementia Donny is more duplicitous than the Iranians have ever been.



• Only in New York City.



• Looks like Psycho Vlad is no longer having his minions defenestrated.



• There are four other living ex-presidents and none of them have a no-fly zone over there house. I wonder why he thinks he will need one...

They won the series

With last nights win over the Dodgers, the Red Sox have won 2 of the 3 games in their series and are now only 2½ games behind the Judges in the wildcard race.

And Fangraphs now gives them a 81.5% chance of making the playoffs:

The MLB trade deadline is tomorrow, August 3^rd at 6:00pm so if Breslow is looking to add anyone, he will need to finalize by then. My concern is he might trade away someone that the team should hold on to. He kinda already did that when he traded away Early for Mead and that didn't work out vey well. I would hate to see Bennett or Monasterio playing for some team other than the Red Sox.

Bennett has the start tonight and the first pitch is at 7:20. That means I will hopefully be able to watch all 9 innings.

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The democrats keep saying, "November is coming" like it has meaning. This tells me the democrats don't get it. They are clueless. They think they are better then the republicans and they will win big in November.

They are wrong.

Democrat candidates are, for the most part, elitist snobs who think they are better & smarter than everyone else. They think people are stupid and need to be told how to behave while maintaining their infamous, "Do what I say, not what I do" atitude. And what is even worse is their railing away at the wealthy while making millions of dollars by insider trading.

Hell, even people who are registered democrats don't really trust the democrat candidates.

Voting is the one selfish thing I do. I don't vote for a candidate that spends all of their time telling me what they are going to do for other people, I vote for the candidate who is going to do something for me. My only questions are, "What are you going to do for me and how are you going to do it?"

I'm not saying the republicans are any better, I'm saying the democrats are in disbelief that a lot of people think they are arrogant, self-centered, prissy assholes who honestly believe the rest of us are a "basket of deplorables" or we are all living in a "swamp of crazy"...

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Here are some links:

• Bummer. Big Pussy Bonpensiero died. Not only was he great in The Soprano's, he made the best Pepsi commercial ever.



• Does anyone know how many times Trump has claimed that Iran agreed to something? I think there have been at least 30 times since he started this fiasco but it's probably more.



• Ain't nothin' makes being trapped in a small silver tube more tolerable than a good ol' fashion preachin'...



• There was a time not so long ago in this country where these were called "cults".



• I can't say that I believe her but I can say that she's not very bright.