Clinchers

The Rays and the Judges have punched their ticket to the playoffs. They have both clinched, which is baseball's way of saying that even if they lost all of their remaining games, they would still be in the playoffs.

There are 12 games left in the regular season. The Red Sox are in the 2^nd wildcard slot with a 6½ game lead over the Guardians and a7½ game lead over the Blue Jays. That means that if the Red Sox lose 8 of their remaining 12 games, the Guardians win 7 of their remaining 12 games and the Blue Jays win 8 of their remaining 12 games, the Red Sox will be bumped from the wildcard race.

Do I think that is possible? Yes, it is mathematically possible that the Red Sox can be eliminated from the playoffs. Their remaining 12 games are against four pretty solid opponents, the Rangers (.493), the Rays (.604), the Guardians (.503) and the Cubs (.556) which means not only is it possible, it is slightly more than a little possible.

They should win the series against the Rangers, win at least 1 game against the Rays, win the series against the Guardians and win the series against the Cubs.

Is that a guarantee? No, it is not.

Baseball is a funny sport. All it takes is for a pitcher to have a bad inning and the game can go to hell quickly. If one baserunner makes a mistake, a game-winning rally can be cut short. If one fielder makes an error, the opponent can feed off that and come from behind to take the lead. If the manager makes a bad in-game decision to substitute a batter or a pitcher, everything can fall apart. Hell, an umpire having a bad day and making some terrible calls can mean that all bets are off on who will win that kind of game.

Baseball is a funny game and that, my friends, is why I enjoy it so much.

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They basically propped this guy up in a chair and wheeled him onto the floor of the senate.

This is a perfect example of why we need both term limits and age limits.

Personally, I think the term limit should be 4 terms for congress and 2 terms for senate. I think the age limit should 80 for all elected offices.

It's not only insane, it's also kinda dangerous that McConnell, a guy who is having more medical issues than my crippled grandmother had before she died and has fewer functioning brain cells than my dog did, is able to make decisions that impact all of us.

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I may be in the throes of lawn tractor failure...

I had to replace my walk-behind mower this spring and now it appears my lawn tractor is experiencing some significant issues with the engine.

There is a major power loss when under load and it's popping/backfiring a lot.

It could be a bad valve, it could be a dirty carburetor, it could be bad spark plugs, it could be timing/ignition issues. The bottom line is I have no idea what the problem is and to be honest with you, I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time trying to fix a 16 year old lawn tractor that could require an engine rebuild.

I'm going to shop around a bit while I'm buying some new plugs, oil filter and air filter. I figure I can replace the easy-to-replace stuff to see if that helps any and if I run across a good deal on a lawn tractor, maybe I'll just bite the bullet and replace this one.

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Here are some links:

• Sounds to me like Dementia Donny is gearing up to rant about the "election being stolen!" like has does whenever he doesn't get his way.



• Key line in this "Only In Florida" story: "...she pooped in a bucket to throw it in the victim’s face..."



• This Mace chick sounds like a psycho.



• Key line in this story: "The utilities, for their part, pin blame on state policies that in some cases add costs to energy bills for customers to accelerate decarbonization."

Excellent win

The Red Sox beat the Royals 4-1 last night. That gave them the series win.

They are off today while they travel to Arlington, TX where tomorrow they will start a 3-game series against the Rangers.

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Dementia Donny is claiming that the reason oil and gasoline prices are high is because of Goofy Joe.

The man believes everything he says. He is convinced that everything that is wrong with our world is the fault of anyone other than him.

Trump has been in office for 1½ years and I'm positive that the price of a gallon of gasoline was $2.84 about 9 months ago. I'm also positive that there were no issues with any ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

All of these issues started when Donny Boy decided to launch an attack on Iran and then half-ass it when he realized they weren't going to roll-over and capitulate.

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Here are some links:

• Hopefully we get one in two years.



• If this keeps up, HairBall Hegseth is gonna run out of ammo pretty soon.



• Looks like Canada is on the brink of telling the US to go piss into the wind.
  Good job there Donny Boy...



• The Red Sox have tough schedule for the rest of the season.

Delayed game

Today's baseball game was scheduled for 1:05 but ended up starting at 4:55 because of rain.

Right now it is the top of the 4^th inning and the score is 1-0 in favor of the Red Sox.

In one of the rarest feats in baseball, Tolle threw an immaculate first inning. For those of you that are not baseball people, that is 9 pitches, 9 strikes and 3 outs.

Now if the hitters can start touching home plate, they stand a chance of winning.

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I'm gonna watch baseball.

Here are some links:

• I'm thinking there may have been a better way to say the "price of a childrens ticket".



• No, this is not in Alabama.



• I can asure you that I am not afraid to spend.

They lost last night

But they won this afternoon...

Last night, the Red Sox just couldn't overcome and they lost 3-2. Grey took the loss but I thought he pitched pretty good. It was the hitters that just couldn't turn their hit's into runs.

As for today, the hitters remembered that they need to step on home plate to win and they beat the Royals 5-1.

They need the wins.

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Getting closer to $5.00 a gallon...

Dementia Donny is claiming the prices will drop "right after the mid-terms".

I think he's having pre-dementia. That's where he remembers something that is never going to happen

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story about Trump causing problems: I don’t want ⁠to cause any problems, but ‌I will ‌tell you, I’d love ‌to see it unified.



• BrainWorm Bobby says no more diarrhea for us.



• Those were either some pretty big koi fish or he has a little johnson.

Doesn't seem like 25 years

I was working at an office, my wife was working at a college. I was standing in a room with a few hundred of my fellow co-workers watching a TV set showing live images of the World Trade Center in New York City. One tower was on fire after being hit by a plane and, while we watched, a second plane hit the second tower.

That was when it became clear to all of us that this was no tragic accident.

I tried to call my wife but she was teaching a class and had her phone off. I left her a message and when she called me back, I told her what was happening and she should to go to the nearest ATM, withdraw as much money as the machine would allow and go home. I told her to be ready to pick up the kids from school.

We had no idea what we were seeing or who was attacking us but I wanted to be sure we could be together as a family and have cash available in case the banking system had a problem.

Within a day we had an understanding of who attacked us and our government seemed to be functioning in a sane manner. People were not only frightened, they were pissed off and we all wanted to kick someones ass.

Things haven't been the same since then but they are what they are. We seem to have accepted that the world is no longer the trusting place it once was. We also seem to have accepted that we may never get back to that world.

Like all of you, I'm just making way through this world, trying to be nice to people and trying to understand when things change.

Hell, I'm just glad I no longer have to take my shoes off to get on a plane...

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Last night we went to dinner with our neighbors and it took way longer than usual.

Don't get me wrong, it was an enjoyable evening but the restaurant seemed out of sorts. Like it wasn't running at it's normal clip and as a result, things seemed to take a lot longer than they usually did.

Today was lunch with the boys and once again, we have solved all of the worlds problems.

We should run for office or something.

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The Red Sox start a 3-game series against the Royals this evening. First pitch is at 7:10 and Grey has the starts.

They lost their series against the Angels, which is something that should not have happened, and as a result, they are once again 4½ games behind the Judges and 7½ games behind the Rays.

We have reached the point in the season where MLB has added the elimination column to the standings. This represents the number of games they would have to lose to be eliminated from the playoffs.

With 15 games left in the season, I really hope the Red Sox don't lose 8 of them...

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Here are some links:

• Breast Tooth would be a great name for a 1970s disco band.



• I have no idea why I find this website fascinating.



• Only in Florida.