Extra damned hot today

Damn, it was toasty today.

Yes, I put my air conditioners in. I'm not designed to deal with this kind of heat this early in the year.

I'm surprised the "reporters" on the local news stations didn't do the old "You could cook an egg on the [insert hot, flat surface here]" skit they used to do a few years ago.

Then again, eggs were a lot cheaper a few years ago...

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When I look at the MLB standings to see how badly the Red Sox are doing, I never really look at the rest of the teams. I don't care where the Rangers or the Twins are in the standings.

Well, the Red Sox won last night so I wanted to how that affected them in the standings.

Then I decided to look at the entire standings.

When I looked at the total American League standings, I noticed something weird. Of the 15 teams in that league, only 4 of them have a winning record at or above .500.

By contrast, in the National League 10 of 15 teams have a winning record.

I'm not sure if the scheduling changed when the NL adopted the designated hitter rule and now the AL & NL are playing more games against each other or if there is a clear problem with the way the AL teams are built.

Whatever it is, it's weird.

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As mentioned above, the Red Sox beat the Royals 3-1 last night.

Gray had a fantastic outing, facing 24 batters over 6 innings, giving up 1 earned run and 1 walk while striking out 9.

There is still a major problems with the offense. They left 9 runners on the bases last night, including Masataka who ran like a maniac to get himself a triple and then walked back into the dugout at the end of the inning when the next two batters struck out.

Thankfully, Gasper hit a single and then Contreras hit a 2-run homer to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead in the 6^th inning.

Then, in the 7^th inning, Wong hit a double and then Soggard hit a single that moved Wong over to 3^rd base. Then Duran hit a sacrifice fly that sent Wong home, making it 3-1.

Game 2 in the series is tonight at 7:40. Suarez has the start and I'm hoping his hamstring doesn't act up on him.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "While Trump has repeatedly threatened military action during the ceasefire without following through..."



• AI: Is there anything it can do?



• Attention home owners: If you add additional living space for additional people, you need to add additional utilities like maybe a sewer hookup.



• Things I wish I never learned about.

Damned hot

I did not look at my thermostat today because I was busy running errands and then mowing my lawn but I'm betting it went above 90°

And tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.

I think I'm going to be glad I mowed my lawn today...

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The Red Sox are in Kansas City Missouri to play game 1 of a 3-game series against the Royals

First pitch was at 7:10 and Gray has the start. It is currently 0-0 in the top of the 3^rd.

The Royals aren't having a great season but they are playing better than the Red Sox. All things considered, I'll be happy if the Red Sox win at least one of the three games.

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The Steelers offered Aaron Rodgers a one year contract to come back and play football.

When I found out about it, I had the following text conversation with my cousin out in Pittsburgh:

I'm beginning to suspect that the guys running the Steelers are as crazy as the guys running the Red Sox.

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Here are some links:

• Looks like Dementia Donny is buying his cult's loyalty using our money.



• He's being played like a cheap violin. They aren't going to negotiate anything.



• Isn't this how the mob operates?

A win and a loss.

The Red Sox managed to hold off the Braves last night and win the game.

Tolle pitched a pretty good game, facing 28 batters over 8 inings, giving up 2 earned runs, walking 1 and striking out 3

In the 8^th inning, with 2 outs and the Braves up 2-1, Abreu smacked a line-drive double. Then, with 2 strikes against him, Contrares hit a 2-run home run. That made the score 3-2 in favor of the Red Sox.

In the 9^th inning, with the Red Sox up 3-2, Chapman, in very uncharacteristic fashion, managed to let the Braves load the bases with 2 outs. A Braves batter smacked a sharp grounder right back at Chapman and it hit him in the leg, knocking him down. Chapman scrambled to his feet, chased the ball down and flipped it to first for the final out of the game but man, it was close.

Very close...

"Close" as in it wasn't really clear that the ball beat the runner and the Braves might actually have a successful challenge of the out call.

But they didn't challenge and the Red Sox walked away with the win.

Why the Braves did not challenge the final out of the game is beyond me. A challenge of a close base-running call on the final out is a no-brainer because they had nothing to lose.

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As for today's game, first pitch was at 1:35 and Bello had the start.

He kinda sucked.

Like a lot.

The game ended with the Braves beating the Red Sox 8-1.

During the offseason, Breslow went out and got a bunch of pitchers even though the Red Sox needed hitters. I understand his thinking and the pitching (with the exception of Bello) has been great. The problem is great pitching doesn't score runs.

Pitchers do not step on home plate, hitters step on home plate and there is no one on the Red Sox that I look at and think to myself, "Oh good, so-and-so is up. He's gonna hit the ball".

I'm thinking they might have fired the wrong guy...

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And so it goes...

I checked the prices because I have two cars that are below half a tank and a 5 gallon gas can that is empty.

I'm gonna have to take out a loan...

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Here are some links:

• The Ukrainian's are still responding to Psycho Vlad's "special military operation".



• Just another case of car-violence followed by knife-violence.



• If you are stupid enough to contaminate the french fries by putting them in your mouth before serving them, you deserve to go to jail.



• Miami is 175 miles from Cuba, Fort Lauderdale is 200 miles from Cuba and Mar-a-Lago is 250 miles from Cuba...

And another loss

It took them 10 innings to lose but lose they did. The Red Sox got beat 3-2 byt the Braves last night and I stayed up for the entire game.

It really looked like they had a chance but thanks to Carl Yastrzemski's grandson, Mike, the Braves pulled it off in the 10th inning.

The Red Sox have decided that Story has a bad groin so they put him on the IL for 10 days and called up Sogard.

I'm not entirely sure that is a bad thing because Story has been in a defensive slump for the last few weeks.

They are back at it again tonight with Tolle on the mound. First pitch was at 7:15. It is currently 1-0 Braves after 3 innings.

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Our porch is semi-open.

By semi, I mean we have set up the large dining table and its chairs but have not taken out the side chairs and small tables. There is a load of pollen yet to come and it's a bitch to get off the exposed furniture. The dining table has a tablecloth that can be taken outside and shaken out.

No matter to me because I enjoy sitting at the big table with my laptop in front of me watching bad videos. I'm seriously considering getting a small television and hanging it on the wall so I can watch baseball out there.

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Masslive has the Patriots winning 10 of their 17 games.

I disagree.

I have the patriots winning 12 of their 17 games.

Here are the MassLive predictions.

I think the Patriots will beat the Chief's and the Bronco's while MassLive has them losing. As a matter of fact, I think the Patriots, with their improved offensive line, will probably beat the Seahawks as well.

Then again, what the hell do I know.

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If this keeps going the way it's going, I'm gonna have to start up my sprinklers...

I don't want to start up my sprinklers...

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Here are some links:

• Get ready Foxboro, the soccer hooligans are coming your way.



• Add this to the list of things that are not newsworthy.



• Check your shrubbery.

They lost...

Once again, the Red Sox batters were unable to step on home plate and the Phillies won 3-1 last night.

It's getting more and more frustrating but as is always the case, I will continue to watch them play baseball.

Tonight they are in Atlanta to start a 3-game series against the Braves.

Early has the start and first pitch is at 7:15

By the way, the Braves have the best record in all of MLB so my hopes are not high for the Red Sox...

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Here are some links:

• I'm not sure what they will accomplish by bringing charges against a 94 year old guy.



• Our society has gone to hell. People get upset at the dumbest shit.



• I understand why they are doing it but I don't understand how they expect to regulate peoples opinions and ideas.



• As I said the other day, "These things aren't working out very well."



• More proof that there are stupid people everywhere.