Detroit Tigers
On July 30 after trading away four veteran players the Tigers were 8 games under 500 and according to Fan Graph had a 0.1% chance at making the playoffs. Today, September 23, the Tigers are tied with the Kansas City Royals for the second wildcard playoff spot, and they have a 70% chance of making the playoffs.
The six games left for the Tigers are all at home with three against Tampa Bay and three against the White Sox.
To make the playoffs the Tigers must finish ahead of both the Twins and the Royals because both of those teams hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers.
Meaningful baseball games in late September are energizing and also nerve wracking. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The most exciting and nerve wracking half hour in a very long time
For an avid Michigan fan and Tiger fan like me, the 30 minutes between 6:30 and 7:00 PM Saturday couldn’t have been more exciting as Michigan executed a 80 yard drive in the final four minutes of its game to defeat USC, while at the very same time, the Tigers blew a 2 run lead going into the ninth inning against Baltimore, but then miraculously stopped the Orioles from winning the game when they had runners on second and third with nobody out. As Michigan was scoring its game winning touchdown on a fourth and goal from the two yard-line, the Tigers scored two runs in the top of the tenth and then held off the Orioles in the bottom of the tenth to beat the Orioles.
I was flipping channels so fast during those 30 minutes I thought I was going to break the remote. When the games were finished, I took a deep breath and sat back in the chair and exhaled.
Definition of Moral Compass-You Decide
Last week as part of my blog, I wrote that J.D. Vance is dangerous and has no moral compass. One of the readers challenged me on my opinion so
I decided to verify the term, “moral compass” which means “used in reference to a person’s ability to judge what is right and wrong and act accordingly.”
Here are excerpts from my post last week about Vance.
Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, said Sunday that he stood by the debunked claims he and former President Donald J. Trump have spread suggesting Haitian migrants were eating pets, saying that he was willing “to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention.”
And Mr. Vance responded indignantly when asked about the bomb threats that have upended life in Springfield, Ohio, the city where he and Mr. Trump falsely claimed that the pets were being eaten.
“I’ve been trying to talk about the problems in Springfield for months,” Mr. Vance said on CNN, referring to strains he said that a large influx of Haitian migrants had placed on the city’s public services. He went on: “The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
When the CNN host, Dana Bash, noted that he had used the word “creating,” Mr. Vance replied, “I say that we’re creating a story, meaning we’re creating the American media focusing on it.”
Since Vance knew the story was incorrect, but he went about spreading the lie without regard to what it did to the people in Springfield just so Vance could make a point, I stand by my assessment. Vance has no morale compass.
Still No Transparency
Here it is September and there is still no progress by the Governor and the legislature on keeping their campaign promises of making the governor’s office and the legislature more transparent on how our state government operates and who is funding what. I am so proud to be a citizen of a state that is 49 of 50 when it comes to the transparency of our state government.
Warmonger or War Criminal?
Warmonger: a politician or other leader who often encourages a country to go to war.
War Criminal: an action carried out during the conduct of a war that violates accepted international rules of war.
The Former President on Women
Excerpts from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse on September 22 titled Trump’s Happy Vision for Women.
Trump thinks women can be told that they are less confident about the future than they were four years ago and they will simply accept it. Donald Trump to women: If you will just listen to Donald Trump, the national nightmare you are enduring will be over.
Trump says in one breath that there are “powerful exceptions” to his abortion bans while also saying that the status of a woman’s right to an abortion is up to her state. Many of those states don’t have exceptions for the mother’s health or have passed laws criminalizing abortion so doctors are afraid to provide care to women until it’s too late. In some of those states, attorneys general are threatening to prevent women from leaving the state to obtain abortion care or to prosecute them for doing so.
“I will protect women at a level never seen before,” Trump concludes. “They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe, and secure. Their lives will be happy, beautiful, and great again.” He writes it with all the fervor of a man envisioning a future that is part “Stepford Wives” and part “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Trump: You will be happy. Your life will be beautiful. It will be that way because I say so. It is not up to you.
That’s the future Donald Trump has in store for American women.
Here’s some better advice for women:
- It’s okay to vote for Kamala Harris, even if you’re a lifelong Republican voter.
- If you don’t want to, you don’t have to tell anyone the truth about who you voted for.
- Women should be able to make their own choices about their healthcare, and they shouldn’t have to watch their daughters suffer and even die because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans. Woman and their families should have access to IVF. Try telling men they can’t get lifesaving medical care, or even a prescription for Viagra, and see how far that gets you. Don’t vote for someone who treats you like a second-class citizen.
Orchid of the Day: Shohei Ohtani has the greatest offensive day in MLB history.
Since RBI became official in 1920, only one MLB player has had, over the course of his entire career (same game or not),
a game with 10+ RBI
a game with 6+ hits
a game with 5+ extra base hits
a game with 3+ homeruns
a game with 2+ stolen bases
That one player is Shohei Ohtani. He did all of it last Thursday September 19. His three home runs brought his season total to fifty-one.
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Quote of the Day: “As a practicing (not in name only) Christian, I’m trying to be what Christ would have me to be.. humble, thankful and appreciative of all the good in the world. The divisive destructive rhetoric that continues to threaten the nations of the world can only succeed when the people are willfully uninformed or just don’t understand the ramifications of practicing hate.” A subscriber in response to last week’s blog.
Second Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Tigers and University of Michigan Football team for making my Saturday evening so exciting.
Onion of the Day: Netanyahu.
Question of the Day: Is Netanyahu a warmonger, war criminal, or both?
Video of the Day: This goes out to my good friend Richard Kerns. Parker Meadows on Saturday against the Orioles. Is this just another routing catch by a major leaguer?
Parker Meadows doing his thing.