Double Switch

To placate the NL, the HR tie-breaking derby should be pitchers v. pitchers. . . . . ... whoever gets an actual base hit wins the game.

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I'm pretty certain we'll have two leagues of two divisions and eight teams in each division within three years. I doubt it. They'll (stupidly) go to eight divisions of four teams each rather than four/eight. But the leagues/divisions will all play using the same standard rules just like in the NFL, the NHL, the NBA.

Edgy MD wrote: And the ongoing trend, of course, is for even numbers of leagues/conferences. I'm pretty certain we'll have two leagues of two divisions and eight teams in each division within three years. In keeping with even numbers, within two to four years.

I'll be interested to see how this impacts each team's annual travel mileage burden. West coast teams always spend far more time in the air compared to those east of the Mississippi.

The winged G. I'm thinking they could have opened up a wider fan base by renaming them the Cleveland Valkyries.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It's probably time for you to stop thinking about Derek Jeter. I will when I stop thinking about Walter O'Malley. It's likely a safe bet that Jeter and O'Malley (especially O'Malley) waste no energy thinking about you.

Long ago I had a lawyer buddy who intricately scores baseball games. He doesn't use a form, just a page of notebook paper, and can keep up a running conversation all the while and not miss beat. He even charts the pitches. That's too intimidating for a person like me who keeps forgetting if it's the LF who is 9 or the RF who is 9. Plus, I just like to watch. Don't particularly even like to talk while the game is going on. Be sure I have a libation in hand and don't even think of standing in front of me if you value your life.

I'm delighted to find women who actually understand baseball no matter what they read. Going to a game with a clueless woman (or men, which God help me, has happened to me) is hell on earth. The last baseball book I read was Fairly at Bat: My 50 years in baseball, from the batter's box to the broadcast booth, so if she's read that one, I'm happy to discuss. I doubt I'd walk out on a woman who reads baseball books no matter how egregious they are. At least she's trying.

When I thought Bud Selig was the worst commissioner, I had no idea all this new stuff under Manfred was in the stew. It's nothing to me anymore. Haven't been to a game in about three years (obviously not during our present situation), and have not watched a complete game on tv in far longer than that. Lots of factors not having to do with all the structural fiddling contribute. Playing a game under protest was never a thing I worried about at all. Starting the 10th inning with an unearned runner on 2b may end up being, depending on what happens next, the last straw for me. It's just the epitome of lame. Let's don't make the game too hard for the megamillion-dollar fungible parts. And don't let's burden the ticket buyers with spending too much time in the park.

Van Lingle Mungo --> Tommy Lasorda (one of my all-time favorite Dodger Blue bleeders).

When I read this nugget - GQP lawmakers, including Senators Ted Cruz (Texas) and Mike Lee (Utah) have called for an end to Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption after the league announced it would pull the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta - I wonder how fast those 30 MLB team owners contacted GQP "lawmakers" to remind them of how much money the owners have donated to the GQP over the years. Love of the game, my wrinkled backside. I'd vote to see the ASG played in cruddy RingCentral Coliseum, due for demolition when if/when the A's finally get a new facility. Or Seattle, in a decent stadium and as far from Georgia as it gets.

Fred Rogers kept me sane back in the late 1970s, details unavailable. I don't believe I need to see a movie about him. But I recall his show went dark about 20 years ago and who knows if those reruns are still in PBS scheduling. I should check to see if so and then schedule them to DVR. Had a thing for Lady Aberlin.

As long as I'm here, I have found a reason to need Netflix (but doubt I'll cave). Toototaban!

And there was the "best Hitchcock movie he never made" - Charade. (Directed by Stanley Donen) I wonder what Hitchcock thought of it. Never having seen Charade before, barely recalling it, in fact, except for the Mancini pop tune of the same name, I borrowed it from the public library. I wonder just who thought this was anything like a Hitchcock movie? I surely don't. This is the review I left on the library review blog: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This movie, touted as the best movie Hitchcock never made, is nothing more than a silly '60s caper flick featuring a too-old-to-be a-romantic-leading-man in Cary Grant and a lovely, if lightweight (not just thin) Audrey Hepburn. There is no McGuffin There is no icy blonde to conquer There is no compelling score, only a fluffy, if "hooky," pop-music theme from ubiquitous Henry Mancini The titles are a Saul Bass ripoff There was, however, an obligatory and obvious scene of rear projection of Grant and Hepburn having dinner on a boat traversing the Seine. This was truly distracting. There was no suspense at all as each thug's demise was completely telegraphed in advance, including that Walter Matthau was the actual crook, not Cary Grant. There was some shameful scenery chewing from Coburn, Kennedy, and Glass. Kidnapping the kid was not an homage to the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was just a bit of madcap silliness. Stanley Donen made a lot of pretty good movies. This was a pretty good movie, too, but it's not Hitchcockian by any stretch no matter how far you reach.

4/1/1920 ~ 12/24/1997 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfpagB8wWnghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfpagB8wWng