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Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Not enough of you have signed up with Dr. Believe...

...So our comments are getting mega-spammed by good ol' Isiyku Abdulahi, who seems highly motivated to make us good as new again. Unfortunately, Isiyku cannot see that it was not some faithless spouse who broke our hearts, it was Hal. It was always Hal. 


Anyway, I only bring this up because I enabled moderation for posts older than three days, as Isiyku seems to be moving backward in time, like Merlin. So if you comment on the virtual 2020 season, or some of John's Christmas song videos, or Alphonso's gloomy predictions for 2009, you'll get the mod delay. But new posts remain open door (until the next annoying thing happens).



37 comments:

Buhner's Ghost said...

Whenever she comments, I get an email telling me so. No email when anyone else comments. How did this happen and is there any way to stop it?

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HoraceClarke66 said...

And Nitish Kumar?

The Mets just drafted a highly rated prospect named Kumar Rocker.

MOOOOORRRRREEEE than coincidence????

DickAllen said...



I’m still waiting for a sizable inheritance from my distant cousin the Nigerian Prince. I think I have a better shot at that than the Yankees have of reaching the World Series.

But I’m keeping my fingers crossed on both accounts.

ZacharyA said...

let's not be so hasty to dismiss what she has to say

can dr believe cast a spell on stanton so he can play the outfield again?

TheWinWarblist said...

The next annoying thing? That will be when the Yanks resume play on Thursday.


Buhner's Ghost, count yourself among the blessed!

DickAllen said...

You have to ask yourself why the good doctor would give anyone winning lottery numbers.

30,000 million dollar. That a lot of moneys. Even if peso or lira.

TheWinWarblist said...

I'll take mine in Euro please.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Most banal all-star game ever?

First off, Jack Buck is a ass, to quote Shakespeare. What a blaring donkey.

Meanwhile, the insane insistence that Ohtani is better than Babe Ruth continues. Plus all sorts of other insistences on his immortality.

John Smoltz told us that if Ohtani weren't distracted by hitting, "he would be the best pitcher in the American League." An assumption which is based on...what, exactly? Based on his 3.49 ERA in 13 starts?

Buck assured us that not only was Ohtani better than the Babe, but that he might be the greatest athlete in any sport, ever. He even compared Ohtani's "two-way" playing to...Bo Jackson playing baseball and football.

Right. Being a DH most of the week and pitching one day is the same as playing a dynamic centerfield and running into an NFL defensive line. (Of course, they never mention that he IS a DH.)

Having run out of inane claims to make for Ohtani on the field, Buck and Smoltz started gushing about what a great attitude he has, and what a terrific job his father and mother—"a former badminton player!"—did with him.

Yes, he's a 27-year-old, international celebrity, worth a fortune, and near the top of his profession. It must be so hard for him to smile!


HoraceClarke66 said...

And Ohtani went...a whole inning. Striking out nobody. Well, at least he got three outs. But then, Brett Gardner wasn't in the lineup.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Listening to Buck and Smoltz is, of course, like listening to broadcasters for the old Soviet Union. It's not just Happy Ohtani: pretty much ALL the stars are praised as being among the all-time greats.

Nolan Arenado? "You haven't seen a better third baseman."

Really?

I saw Brooks Robinson and Mike Schmidt in their primes. Is he better? I doubt it...

HoraceClarke66 said...

Great to see our Aaron Judge there, of course—but this only led to the usual media tendency to distort with statistics.

"Except for Joe DiMaggio," Buck the Ass told us, "Judge is the first Yankee to get to 500 hits and 100 home runs."

Of course the lie here is, once again, by defining "first" as fewest games.

DiMaggio did get there earlier—in games, and by age. Joe D. was 23—Judge is 29.

The Mick was also 23 when he did it. The Babe, 25—despite pitching his first five seasons. So was Bobby Murcer. Jeter? 27.

You know who was also 29 when he reached 500 hits and 100 homers? Roy White. This is not a knock on White, who was a wonderfully useful player, and who Judge should be glad to be compared to.

Once again, a random stat used to make a very good ballplayer into an immortal. When he's not...

TheWinWarblist said...

I am not watching and I will not be tuning in later.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Ohtani now 0-2, with 2 groundouts to the right field.

Second most inane innovation of this game?

Fox taking the whole "mic on the field" to a new level of banality. Buck the Ass kept asking Xavier Bogaerts what he was looking for—while Bogaerts was at bat. He was reduced to whispering "Fastball inside" before striking out.

When Impaler, Jr., hit a massive home run, Buck actually ordered Fernando Tatis, Jr., to say something as he ran around the bases. O-kay.

Buck and Smoltz keep talking about how baseball's all-star game is the only such game that can still be played close to the regular game...an assertion they undermine at every turn by forcing these guys to talk to them while they're playing.

ranger_lp said...

@Hoss...those ridiculous statements by the Fox Baseball announcers are right up there with Howard Cosell suggesting on a tv broadcast that race car drivers were better than athletes than baseball players. The reason he said that? Car racing was on ABC...

HoraceClarke66 said...

MOST inane innovation of this game?

Forcing both teams to play in special, All-Star Game uniforms for the night.

Gone is the thrill of seeing our guys in pinstripes. Banished are the classic uniforms of the Giants, Dodgers, Red Sox, Braves, Cardinals.

Present and available for a small fortune, no doubt, is more memorabilia.

Once again, MLB fixes what ain't broken, and opts for still more swag.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Sorry, meant to say, "right side" regarding Ohtani.

HoraceClarke66 said...

So...

Nice to see Fox honor All-Star games past.

Ridiculous to see Fox act as if the game started 1970.

DickAllen said...

Oh. Is there a game (sic) tonight? Was there?

DickAllen said...


Now I see!

MLB headline reads: "All-Star power on display."

It's 2-0 in the fifth.

What do they mean?

HoraceClarke66 said...

Nice to see MLB give a nice tribute to the great Henry Aaron before the game, with his widow, Billye Aaron, on hand.

Ridiculous to see MLB present Mrs. Aaron with "gifts" that consist of a replica of the horrible Braves uniform Aaron was wearing in 1974, with surrounding autographs by tonight's players...and a painting of Hammerin' Hank that looks as if it were painted by the most spastic kid in your seventh grade art class.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Fun to see...

Aaron Judge in a commercial for the August 12th, "Field of Dreams" game.

Not fun to see...

That that idiotic idea is still alive.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Fun...

Judge and Stanton doing a commercial for a cellphone service that ends with Giancarlo hitting a home run against a Little League team.

Not fun...

Missing the previous ten takes, when Stanton struck out, five times looking.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Best thing to see? A number of players writing messages in Spanish, on their hats, in support of the people currently risking their lives protesting the Cuban dictatorship.

Loudest silence? Joe Buck—I apologize to his late Dad for accidentally calling him "Jack"—saying nothing about that.

But hey, I'm sure that tomorrow night Tucker Carlson will climb into his Fox bully pulpit and rip Buck a new one for that.

Right?

HoraceClarke66 said...

So Ohtani's night:

1 inning of scoreless pitching. No baserunners, no strikeouts.

0-2 at the plate, two groundouts.

HE IS AS UNTO A GOD!!!!

HoraceClarke66 said...

How is it at all possible that Mike Zunino is an all-star?

The man is hitting .198—and has allowed a run on a passed ball. Which should surprise, as he is leading the AL, with 5. And throws out 27 percent of baserunners.

But beyond being unable to hit, throw, or catch, he is an all-star.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Nice catch by that guy in left. He's an Angel—was it Ohtani?

Um, no. It was Jared Walsh. A guy who's never played left field in the majors.

Huh. Pretty multi-talented. Almost as much as...

HoraceClarke66 said...

Is that guy catching really Zunino? Or somebody off the street who paid Zunino for the chance to go in an catch?

Well, whatever. As they say: "Better to be lucky than good."



HoraceClarke66 said...

Yay, the good guys win.

I tell you, though: a small, sordid part of me—all right, so it isn't so small—was hoping that Kevin Cash would send Chapo in to try to defend that 5-2 lead in the ninth.

But no. And Zunino did pretty well, in the end. And...they gave Ohtani the win. Which is absurd; maybe in the future they'll have the broadcasting network decide who wins important games.

But...8 in a row, baby!

HoraceClarke66 said...

Joe Buck is still a ass.

Anonymous said...

The 4K HDR image quality was just WEIRD. The color balance was off. The image overall looked too dark. The contrast was garish and artificial. It seemed almost like CGI, hyper-real. Back to the drawing board with HDR>

Kevin said...

Horace, your commentary, BRAVO! What gets you through the All-Star game? Weed? Hash? Maybe a great single-malt scotch? Thorazine? A smoothie made from everything mentioned?

Kevin said...

Joe Buck needs to be shot into the core of the sun.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully, The Five, Tucker, Hannity and Laura will drill Joe Buck a new one for ignoring the Spanish/Carib references to freedom.
Maybe each will bring a player on to discuss it. Maybe Mic them up during their next game.

Maybe they can ask GOAT Othani what his opinion of it is .

Maybe I can get me one of those swell uniforms, "game worn" for like 20K; or maybe win at auction the HR ball that Stanton got off that LLer.

Well, one can dream!
The Snarking Archangel

JM said...

A sham of a travesty of a sham. I didn't watch, and had no interest whatsoever.

Hoss's post about the ASG was right on the money. These days, who cares?

HoraceClarke66 said...

Thanks, guys. I love the All-Star Game and always have...and all in all, it was a pretty good game. Monster blast by Impaler, Jr., some nifty fielding by the AL, the younger guys hustling all over.

My main complaints (I know you are dying to hear them):

—So many guys skipping out. Are the Cheatros the worst cheating team since the Black Sox?

—The mostly second-rate pitchers.

—Worst of all, Fox and Joe Buck tarting up the game in unbearable ways. This shows, as usual, how little confidence baseball has in itself.


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