Two losses

The Red Sox scored 4 runs in the first inning last night and I was hopeful. But since the Red Sox don't want me to have hope, they decided to shit the bed and ended up losing 8-6 to the Twins.

So much for being tied for 3^rd place in the ALEast...

Today was no better. The opener, Morán, gave up 2 runs in the 1^st inning and Bello came in to give up 2 more runs over the next 5 innings. They ended up losing 4-2 to the Twins.

At least they didn't give me hope.

They are now tied with the Orioles for last place in the ALEast.

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The farm has been planted.

She has peppers, squash, cucumbers and those nasty, evil tomato things.

I'm hoping the peppers do well because I like bell peppers. They are great in an omelette or fried up with some onions on a hamburger.

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I started the sprinkler system schedule last night and I can already sense my water bill going up...

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Here are some links:

• Mafia? Never heard of it. We're a social club. Ain't no one here like that...



• I bet a dollar that Trump caved on the nuclear issue and the Strait of Hormuz is going to become Iran's personal piggy bank.



• Key line in this story: "...the director was not on vacation."

Another lawn mowing...

I sometimes think my fertilizer guy might be doing too good of a job.

I have a fertilizer guy simply because I have no idea what chemicals to put down and when to put them down. I figured hiring some guy who knew what to do and when to do it would be a good idea. Also, he is a friend of one of my drinking buddies and he used to join us at the "after work" getherings. He talked me into it in a bar one night after several adult beverages

Turns out that knowing what to do and when to do it makes for a lawn that grows really, really fast.

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Over the course of my career, I worked under several easily-identified "management styles".

There is the "Set goals and let the people do the work" style where a manager says "We need to accomplish XYZ. How long will it take you to do that?" You tell them how long it will take, establish some benchmarks and the only thing they want from you during the duration of the project are progress updates and to let them know if they need to step in to help out. They do not tell you how to do your job and they do not micromanage the project. The only time they get involved is when the team of people working on the project need to be refocused. With very few exceptions, people work well in that environment. The exceptions are the screw-offs who spend all their "work" time messing around or surfing the internet for porn while everyone else is busting their ass.

There is the "I'm the boss and your going to do it my way" style where the manager says "We need to accomplish XYZ and this is how we're going to do it." They tell you what tools to use, how long it's going to take for you to do it and they are standing behind you telling you what to do every step of the way. They are micromanaging down to a level where the project team is merely an extra set of hands for the manager. Most people do not work well in that environment. The ones who work well in that environment are the ones that should have never been hired in the first place because they don't know what they are doing and they think they are accomplishing something.

There is the "Go do XYZ and don't bother me. I have important manger things to do" style where the manager fails to provide support for the team if it is skidding out of control and is about to slam into a deadline at 100mph. They are oblivious to the problem and when it happens, they blame a few members of the team for the missed deadlines. If the team is successful in meeting the deadlines, the manager take full credit for delivering the project on-time.

The absolute worst management style is "Chaos" where the manager identifies the goal and imposes a few guidelines. They then wait in the background until the project is underway and the team is focused. That is when they introduce some new requirements and impose new guidelines without changing the goal. They have introduced chaos into the system because they think it will help them identify which team members will rise to the top and perform at a high-level for them. I actually had a vice president once say to me, "You need to be able to thrive in ambiguity and adapt with agility" which is the dumbest line I think I've ever heard and I'm almost positive he was quoting it directly from some manager trade journal or maybe the latest self-help book.

Guess which management style Dementia Donny uses...

If you said chaos, you would be correct. If you said micromanager, you would be correct. If you said oblivious blamer, you would be correct.

I have no idea how anyone can show fealty to him, never mind work for him.

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The Red Sox and Twins play at 7:10 this evening and Tolle has the start.

Since the Yankees lost to the Blue Jays last night, the Red Sox are no longer tied for third place in the ALEast.

For the record, my concern with the Red Sox pitching situation is that when Crochet returns from the IL, the Red Sox will send Tolle back down to Worcester and keep Bello.

Tolle has been great and Bello has been unstable as hell. Keeping Bello in the rotation would be a significant mistake on the part of the Red Sox.

Oh, and Story is out for 6-10 weeks. Also, it's looking like Anthony might not be back as quick as they hoped.

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Here are some links:

• Key line in this story: "I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone..."
  She was never my favorite person but her decision has raised my respect level for her up a few notches.



• Dementia Donny finally got control of the independent Federal Reserve Bank. I can't wait to see what kind of damage he does to the dollar.



• Craig "Heart Attack" Kimbrel may have thrown his last pitch.



• I don't think the name The Hammond Bears is as intimidating...



• If this passes, I will be happy.

First sweep of the year!

The Red Sox managed to win last night and that means they swept the Royals. It is their first sweep of the 2026 season.

Again, I did not stay awake long enough to see the end of the game but I did manage to see them score the winning runs in the 7^th inning. When I woke up this morning, I found that the Red Sox had won the game 4-3.

With the sweep of that series, the Red Sox have moved into a tie for third place in the ALEast.

They are off today to travel home to Boston. Tomorrow they will start a 3-game series against the Twins.

As for what I will watch this evening, NESN is carrying the Worcester Red Sox so I'll be able to fill my baseball needs.

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Here are some links:

• So if I understand this correctly, if I can point to some incident where I was bein' repressed by the federal government, I can get money?



• Dementia Donny's fellow dictators are not happy that he is going after a fellow dictator.



• If you are wondering why the ebola outbreak is spreading, this is why.

First heat wave of 2026

Turns out we had an official heat wave. That means it was over 90° for three days in row. Actually, we had four days of 90°+ but I wasn't paying attention and I missed Sunday.

Today was the last day of high heat and things look cooler starting tomorrow. As a matter of fact, the next 5 days are all suppossed to be 70° or below.

My kind of temps.

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Despite my falling asleep in the 7th inning and not being there to coach them along, the Red Sox managed to win last night.

They beat the Royals 7-1 even though Suarez only made it through 4⅓ innings. The bullpen saved the game and Whitlock got the win.

They play the third and final game tonight. First pitch is at 7:40 and Early has the start.

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Here are some links:

• All of us should sue him over this.



• Apparently we can issue arrest warrants for foreigners.



• I never liked Sonnenfeld because he always came across as a pompous ass. But every once-in-awhile, he makes clear and sensible statements.



• I guess Dementia Donny failed in China.

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.