D. Hocking

Of his NFL tweets, this new one might bug me more than most. He is dismissively telling these players that they do not know what they are outraged about, even though it has been explained and many of them have most likely personally experienced these issues. I hope Omarosa really does have tapes of him saying the slur that see the light of day (although I am not holding my breath), because too much of the media is still too gingerly walking around his racism when discussing him. On another note, do you think he gave Melania's parents a lecture on chain migration before their swearing in ceremony?

It has often been said on this board you are a sensitive soul who cares too much.

Before this season, I would have said 60 to 70 % he would be back. Now, with a new concussion, a new baby coupled with the twins approaching school age, and the Twins being a contender again kicked further down the road again, I am starting to think fitting Mauer on the team might not be an issue. I can see why Mauer's style at the plate might frustrate people. I do disagree with the argument placed that him appearing stoic on the field reflects that he is a black hole in the club house or that he does not care about the team or the game. Watch, Mauer will retire and they will end up signing some 36 year on the back end of his career because he will have a veteran presence in the clubhouse...

I don't think Trump will be quiet or restrained on twitter the rest of this week.

Is it a ten game stand with Kansas City? (fingers crossed).

He finally is commenting on the CA fires. Notice his compassion for the dead residents and firefighters and his empathy for all of the homes completely destroyed. I am guessing his next tweet will bring up climate change and how it has been affecting these things. He must not listen to anyone at all any longer, because there used to be more attempts for him to occasionally have a tweet that showed some signs he was a human being (although they always seemed a bit generic and written by someone else).

I know they are playing the Royals - so it is not a good benchmark of how they are playing - but they have not completely collapsed since the trades. If they could play semi-respectable the rest of the year and not completely mail it in after the clear message of "you don't have it" for the front office at the trade deadlines, it would at least be something to hope for that the team is not quite the negative environment that has been discussed (I have low standards for triggering hope).

It seems like these never end up being that "mild". We can't even have mediocre things at this point.

I was talking to a friend a couple of weeks ago, and she said while her paycheck is a little higher, it is more than offset by increased food and gas prices. My company certainly did not bump our annual raises and it was after the tax law was passed. I am not a great economics mind, but it seems like a number of mistakes that led to the housing crash ten years repeated and they removed many of the safeguards set in place after the bank bailouts. It is not like these events are in the distant past, most of these people were in power when it actually happened.

I heard some clips from his campaign rally tonight (spoiler - he mainly talks about himself and how great he is and is still cannot let go of the election). I am no expert but I don't think he gets through those on just his natural adrenaline - one of the clips he was pretty slurry. He basically does the same bits for every show -- except he gets a little more manic and more disparaging to the people he felt wronged him each time (and further from any semblance of the truth). I am sure once he gets back to the plane he will be focused on how he can help people with the fires out west and the floods in the southeast, and not be watching Fox News to see how great he did. His poll numbers went up again this week, I know the economy is holding up, but it just boggles my mind how that is enough for people to ignore everything else he is doing.

Probably due to your chemistry.

Kirby was obviously a great player for both the tangibles and intangibles, but I remember hearing one of his teammates (Gladden?) when asked about the comment reply that Kirby said that before a lot of games, many of which they lost. I think chemistry can give you a little bump and get people playing about their level when caught in the momentum - especially in the streaky game like baseball, but you need actual talent at the foundation. It is kind of the icing on the cake. Mauer, seemed a bit emotional (for him) when he was interviewed after the Dozier news broke, saying he was one of his closet friends. I am not sure coming back would even be his choice at this point, but if it was, this would have to sour him a bit on the idea. At 35 he would going to be on another team that is rebuilding, most of his friends long gone. Between another rebuild, his growing family, and the return of the concussion symptoms, I have gone from thinking there was a fair chance he could play one or two more eyarst to this is probably his last year. Plus, I am not sure there will even be an offer from the team.

Yes - look at 2007. It should have been a year building on the big 2006 run. When the season ended up being a disappointment, Santana and Torii being lame duck players was dominating story and in every city they visited Torii would give an interview of how he would love to play there. I like Torii, but I was ready for him to shut up by the end of the season.

Yes - I think it is more when you are winning you enjoy coming to work more, you are in a good mood and everyone simply gets a long better and is having fun. Losing -- you are in a bad mood and people get on your nerves easier. Last year Mauer said it was one of the most fun teams he had played for. While there are some new players this year, it had a lot of the same core. I don't think the locker room became less enjoyable because of the mix of players not having the right chemistry, but as has been said throughout the thread, losing makes one less fun to be around and less tolerant of things that irritate them. Those players spend a lot of time together, so when things don't go well, I am guessing certain things grate on you more. Things seemed so promising when they were cheerfully getting on the plane to go to PR all dressed up festively.

Um - he also made them a green farmer version of his MAGA hat (or China possibly made the hat), so you cannot say he is not a thoughtful leader. For some reason I decided to actually check out his page and those hats. Sadly the farmer hats are sold out (they are $45!). Has any other president had merchandise sales be a key part of his webpage? I will give him this, it is not like he is hiding his grifter and mercenary side. Russian investigation aside, if a Democratic president tried to monetize off of the presidency like he has - staying at the resorts, selling items with the presidential seal at the resorts, kids still running the business and still being in political situations, Jared and Ivanka in charge of things which they are no where near qualified etc. how many congressional committee would be set up to investigate the president?

including weaponizing clothing that was popular in the 70's Last night he retweeted his son's tweet showing Jim Acosta being screamed at during his rally. Weren't they all upset about the Democrats not being civil a few weeks ago? At some point he is going to whip them into an anti-media frenzy that one of these reporters is going to be physically attacked. His twitter meltdown makes me wonder if there are more indictments coming in the semi-near future.

I wonder if they will return to the horror roots the original was supposed to have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d781CJX1S98

Vanimal - when are they going to put you in the booth with Bert. They have a lot of people rotate in and out of there as fill-ins and I am sure it is only a matter of time for you to show off your expertise to the Fox North audience. I am assuming they were going to save your for play-off games, but since that is no longer looking like a sure-thing, will you make your TV debut in August (and then hopefully again in the play-offs if we do make the cut)?

I am not anti-Molitor, but I think it would be really beneficial having Ripley on the coaching staff somewhere. I am not sure she knows baseball, but she could put together a winning team. While selling is probably the right thing, I can help but feel bad for the players who are left behind. I am sure at some level they still had hopes of winning, and they are seeing their team get dismantled and basically having their bosses concede that they don't have what it takes and they still have two months left to play.

I did not have quite the animosity towards Drew that a lot of people had ... until he hit that in the park home run... I wonder in 2010, 2011 how many predicted he would still be playing in 2018,

Or we are just really, really good.

Boston is trembling in fear now.

Morrison will save the day with winning RBI (or perhaps already did - not sure how delayed game day is). Should a .192 hitter be batting 5th?

Is Boston playing better than Toronto, Kansas City, and Tampa Bay?

We don't want to catch them too soon - need some drama in September so we are on adrenaline high when we enter the play-off when we pass them on the last day of the regular season (or a game 163).