They didn't get swept

The Red Sox lost today meaning they lost their series against the Rays.

Despite that loss, the Red Sox still clinched a playoff slot because the Astros lost to the Braves this afternoon.

They are off tomorrow so no baseball for me.

In other sports news, the Patriots beat the Steelers 20-3 this afternoon.

In still more sports news, I'm currently watching a Bruins / Capitals pre-season game.

And now that I've said all that, I have to say that I was not able to watch any of the Red Sox game or any of the Patriots game because we went to Boston to hang out with our son, our daughter-in-law and our grandaughter. I was able to listen to a few innings of the Red Sox on the radio while sitting in a significant traffic jam on the pike somewhere near Worcester.

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I spent some time yesterday working on my lawn tractor and eventualy came to the conclusion that whatever was wrong was either beyond my ability to diagnose or it was a going to require a complete engine rebuild.

Since I have no intention of rebuilding a 15 year old v-twin engine, we went and bought a new lawn tractor. Trust me, pickings are slim so I didn't have many choices in the matter. I ended up finding a decent mid-range John Deere.

Hopefully it lasts as long as my Husqvarna did because at my age, this will probably be the last lawn tractor I buy.

Now I just need to figure out what to do with the old one.

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Here are some links:

• Everything this guy does is a "matter of national security!"
  Also, everything this guy does is a tacky piece of shit that looks like something a 3^rd world dictator would build.



• Ladies and gentlemen, presenting John Barrasso, Constitutional Scholar.



• Things aren't going well for Psycho Vlad and his special military operation.

They didn't get swept

The Red Sox won last night, beating the Rangers 4-3 and avoiding the sweep.

Their "magic number" to clinch a playoff slot is currently calculated at 3 which means they need to win at least 3 of their 9 remaining games.

Fangraphs currently has them at a 100% chance of getting into the playoffs.

Tonight they start a 3-game series against the Rays.

The other day I said, "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."

I was wrong about the Rangers series and I'm thinking I'm probably not all that correct about the Rays series. Let's face it, I really have no idea what I'm talking about...

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Here are some links:

• Mitch "Weekend at Bernies" McConnell had to be told how to vote.
  Man, we really need age limits and term limits.



• Much like Fox news, they aren't really news, they're opinion spewers.



• I wonder when he's going to change the name of the city to "Trump D.C.".



• Key lie in this story that is probably a lie itself: "There will be NO COST to the United States!"

Darn It to heck

The Red Sox lost 4-2 last night and they are now 6 games behind the Judges.

Fortunately, they are still 5½ games ahead of the Guardians and 7 games ahead of the Rangers.

Bennett has the start for tonight's game. First pitch is at 8:05.

They really need to win tonight.

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Traditionally, Mexico has been the United States biggest trading partner. Canada has been our second biggest trading partner.

Thanks to Dementia Donny and his ill-conceived trade war, I suspect that will will soon change as Canada increases its trade with Europe and decreases its trade with the US.

As the world pulls back from the United States, our country will become less powerful and our allies will become fewer. It's already manifested itself with the total lack of world involvement in Trump's Iran war.

20 years ago, if the US President said to our allies, "We need to form a coalition and use military force to take care of this problem" the majority of them would have stood up and marched alongside of us. Now, they all look at us and say, "No, you go right ahead. We'll just be over here minding our own business."

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This is funny if you are old enough to remember Columbia House.

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In keeping with my "Trump is an Idiot" theme, here is some trutheee things about how great everything he does is:

I'm betting it's called "The Donald J. Trump Helipad". Also, in keeping with his strong desire to be a king, he's now calling the White House a "Palace!"...

Speaking of putting his name on everything...

He is, by all normal measure, crazy as a loon...

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Here are some links:

• You know what? Let's just take the next month and a half off...



• This seems like a very San Francisco kind of thing.



• Oh Canada.

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.