Got back earlier this week from a 5-day work trip to Hamburg, Germany. The trip was perfectly timed between a brutal heat wave (it was the hottest day in the city's history when we arrived, cresting 40C/104F) and a Lufthansa strike yesterday that crippled air travel.
The strong dollar made it feel like an incredibly affordable place to visit. Meals were cheap: at plenty of places we could get a good meal and a beer or two for ~$15 per person. We tried a couple more explensive places--at a Spanish joint we were swimming in tapas and sangria for ~$30 per person. And good lord is alcohol cheap out there: I was browsing beer at the grocery store and singles of various beers were typically 70 cents to 1.30. 6 packs were usually €3-6 for decent beer. I didn't find anything great, but I didn't have anything unpleasant. Liquor is also astonishingly cheap. Once in a while I like a bit of absinthe. The same bottle that would cost about $70-80 locally was €20. Naturally, I picked one up as a souvenir.
Thankfully cf-98 managed the time-change reasonably well. She was pretty cranky for a bit on the first day and she was unusually whiny when we were in restaurants (except at the tapas place where she decided to eat an entire plate of calamari herself), but she enjoyed the impressive array of parks and gardens all over the city. And she turned 2 on our final day out there!
A German friend of mine told that in Germany, food is taxed at different levels based on how essential it is. So like a candy bar is taxed at a high rate and a loaf of bread at a low rate. He said that beer is taxed at the lowest rate. Though that was 20 years ago now, at a rando hostel In Heidelberg. Could be different now!
Ryan Air's twitter account goes after Prince William. If you don't get it, the gossip is that Prince W likes pegging but Kate's not into it, so she tolerates him going outside the marriage to get his rocks off so long as it doesn't get personal - which he apparently did with her close girlfriend Rose Hanbury. Baseless rumours, I'm sure...
Currently in Lake Tahoe. Saw Yes We Cannon on Monday night. Lots of the lakeside motels/hotels have No Vacancy signs out. Was at Gar-Woods last night and it was packed.
I'll be at Camp Richardson the weekend after this weekend. Looking forward to doing some mountain biking and some lakeside hanging with friends and family.
I recently smoked an eye of round and then reverse seared it, and it completely transformed it. Not only did it give pleasant crust to the edge, but it really intensified the seasoning in the rub. Fantastic. Now I want to reverse sear everything.
I found an oven temp thermometer kinda meh but a good meat thermometer was really useful at getting the hang of the process. Also the latter was very useful when doing the from-frozen method, which is kind of related.
Low-and-slow for an initial cooking to bring the central temperature close to where you want it, but not quite. And then you quickly put meat on a ripping hot pan/grill for maximum Maillard reaction.
I've done the Serious Eats version of reverse searing (including a drying session in the fridge) a few times and it turned out great, but I had to be flexible on meal times because it's hard to anticipate how long it will take for the steaks to come to temperature. Later, I got an Anova Precision Oven and got good results with its bagless sous vide mode (60-90 minutes to target temperature, but then it can hold until I'm ready to serve), but it's hard to dry off the surface of the steak and I don't get nearly as good a sear.
More recently, I realized that the sous vide mode works just fine if I turn the steam setting from 100% to 0%. It seems to take a bit longer to get the meat to temperature, but I don't need a dozen paper towels to get the surface dry afterwards. Once I get my hands on another batch of good steaks (somewhat hard to come by in Portugal) I plan to combine this approach with the overnight drying to see if I can completely match the results of the original reverse sear.
Basically the same idea, except you don't need a sous-vide setup and the corresponding plastic waste. Reverse sear also dries up the surface fairly consistently, which can enhance the searing process.
It's tricky. When I attempted it, my thermometer stated that I cooked my steak to very very well done. But when I cut into it, it was cooked to a perfect medium rare.
Great new soup last night, with potatoes (grape size, cut in half) onions & garlic sauteed first, crunchy green beans, with pasta that you add separately so it doesn't get mushy - a little parmesan grated on top - yum.
I can kind of see how he got from someone telling him about forest / fire management to 'rake the forests' . . . kind of. Like if this was the dumbest thing he did, it wouldn't be that bad overall.
Yeah, at least for homeowners in fire prone areas, it is actually a good idea to rake up leaves and pine needles so that there is not a bunch of kindling ready to catch fire when the burning embers float by. He just had a unique way of twisting and rephrasing things in a way that made even reasonable propositions into idiotic sounding ones. And yet he is supposedly the political genius of our time! Lol
The vast majority of acreage that burns in CA is on federal land. The federal government is the agency that needs to "rake the forest," not the State of California. The real idiocy of this statement lies in the fact that Trump is ignorant of this fact.
Anyone interested should look up Zeke Lunder who is a wildfire mapping and intel expert who has spent time on wildfires and has been substantially involved in subscribed burns. He has a YouTube channel where he does analysis and mapping of current fires. He is extremely insightful and a great resource for anyone interested in this and the politics of fire prevention and suppression.
If ever there was evidence that he really is the idiot he appears to be, as opposed to a secret genius playing 3D chess while pretending to be an idiot, it was in this. Creating an existential threat to Western security for no reason doesn’t even have an upside in the alternate MAGA universe. It was super dumb in every iteration of the multiverse
USA offers a first round pick, a merchant of death, and a player to be named later in exchange for Phoenix Mercury center Britney Griner and another citizen.
IMHO, this just creates an incentive for state sanction kidnapping - which the Russians have proved that they'll do by the hundreds of thousands. I had thought that one day I would visit Russia, but I guess that will never happen now.
Long term question is what happens when Putin dies. He’s 69 now. Average life expectancy of a Russian male is 73, though I don’t think he is a big hooch hound and he no doubt has skitz medical care so my guess is he makes it to like 90 unless someone ices him. So barring assassination you can pencil in a nice trip to St Petersburg in 2043
Trump files suit in DC citing that he has "absolute immunity" from civil cases because inciting an insurgency was part of his official duties. Good luck with that argument, you orange slug.
When your adversary starts getting up in court making ridiculous arguments, generally making an ass of himself, you just kind of lean back in your chair and let the guy keep going
Johnny Cochran: Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, Chef's attorney would certainly want you to believe that his client wrote "Stinky Britches" ten years ago. And they make a good case. Hell, I almost felt pity myself! But, ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a wookie from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about that; that does not make sense!
All these stupid sub groups are worrying, but I am also entertained by the continual splintering and fighting until every group is just one person, trying to mace the other 70 million.
Lol to the idea that GOP is the party of limited govt. Roe’s reversal is the biggest intrusion of govt regulation into ppl’s private lives that I can remember.
I think the Pod Save America guys are right that D’s should be messenging around “freedom”: freedom from gun violence, govt intrusion into personal healthcare decisions, govt regulation of what bathroom you can take a shit in, govt manipulation of voting process thru gerrymandering, and so on
Florida now allowing people to teach in schools for five years with just a high-school diploma if they are... [checks notes]... military veterans. This, my friends, is how Florida Man is created.
The rip for these creeps wasn't the characters involved (although it wasn't a good start to begin with), it was the suggestion that Elon Musk would be a good fit.
Any party that has anythng to do with Elon Musk is fucking radioactive.
Howard Dean (D) and Michael Steele (R) both argue that primary elections should change to open primaries in which the top 5 candidates advance to the general election. If this boosts turnout among more moderate voters, it would ensure that the fringes of the Dems and the GOP would be watered down in their power to advance polarizing candidates to the general election. It could have the effect of boosting overall turnout at both points in the electoral calendar. And it may result in more moderate candidates from outside the two major parties actually have a chance at winning office without being beholden to the extremists in either party.
I think that is Yang’s main point as well - have open primaries. He is 100% correct about that, would incentivize pols to go for the middle, where voters actually are. I think limiting final round to 2 seems better than 5, but details details
The A’s collected their first sweep of the season, taking down the Houston Astros in three games at the Coliseum capped by today’s 4-2 victory.
Of all the teams to get their first sweep against, it’s extra sweet to get it against the division rival. On top of that, this was the first time they were swept this year, too!
Led by a great starting pitching performance, Oakland played a clean game all around, hitting home runs, stringing together hits to add on insurance, and made all the plays on defense today. The bullpen had two perfect innings to end it, so a great team win from everyone.
There are some airplanes I would like to be on. I’d take a flight to Montenegro right now, if you’re offering. An airplane headed to the Bahamas? Sure, why not. Want to send me a ticket to New York City? I’ll check it out.
There’s one plane I very much don’t want to be on: the one the San Francisco Giants are flying on from Phoenix to the Bay Area. It’s a short flight, so that’s nice. It’s chartered, so I imagine it’s cushy, and I’ve never experienced that. The food is probably rather fantastic.
It's also that guys like Crawford and Belt and Longoria had unexpectedly good seasons rather than continuing age-related decline. Maybe a consequence of having a shortened season the year before.
Bullpen/defense was also a lot better, and I'm not sure how to explain that change. Those things can be pretty variable from year to year.
Maybe the shortened 2020 season made a big difference in SF's favor. And Crawford, Belt, and Longoria had better than average seasons. But leadership isn't totally dependent on how well you play. It's about keeping yourself up front, encouraging your teammates, and helping *them* become better.
Something's not quite right this year and it seems to me it's more than just the veterans having a bad year.
I don't remember if they have the same bullpen pieces or not. Did they let some bullpen pieces go in the offseason (McGee was DFAed a few weeks ago I think) and get some that are underperforming?
A lot of the same guys, yeah. McGee and Tyler Rogers (last year's closer and setup guy) turned back into pumpkins. Though I think Rogers has been screwed a lot by bad infield defense.
On a great afternoon for baseball in Dodgers Stadium, the Dodgers and Nationals played just like the Dodgers Nationals. That statement doesn’t seem like much, but following back-to-back losses to the last-place Nats, the Dodgers needed some normality before heading on a road trip.
The Dodgers entered today’s game looking to avoid a sweep that seemed like a distant possibility before this series began, and it didn’t take very long to do so with a crooked spot in the first, and the rest of the game in cruise control en route to a 7-1 win.
The bats that were dormant through the first two games against Nationals pitching came alive in this one and did so early in the ball game.
The 2021 football team had the second best losing season in Cal football history (beating Furd and U$C, impressive wins over OSU and Colorado). The best losing season was 1941 when the Bears beat Furd, U$C and UC, Los Angeles (the only season in which they've done that and not gone to the Rose Bowl). The Bears were 4-5 that year also beating St. Mary's on Oski's debut. The Big Game win (16-0) was a huge upset.
JimmyChitwood is in town and we're meeting up in front of Henry's around 5:40 PM tonight.
I’m game to do something Thursday? I head back South Fri a.m. I actually need to pick up uncooked Top Dogs so if anyone wants to meet at Henry’s Thurs eve I’m game….
Who is going to tell Saudi Arabia's MBS that his planned 105-mile long linear city that costs $1 trillion is a dumb idea.
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/watch-what-saudi-arabias-105-mile-long-linear-city-the-line-looks-like
FWIW, I had heard a scientific talk about building a couple of these long skyscraper long "cities" in the US to prevent the formation of tornadoes.
DBD Travel
Got back earlier this week from a 5-day work trip to Hamburg, Germany. The trip was perfectly timed between a brutal heat wave (it was the hottest day in the city's history when we arrived, cresting 40C/104F) and a Lufthansa strike yesterday that crippled air travel.
The strong dollar made it feel like an incredibly affordable place to visit. Meals were cheap: at plenty of places we could get a good meal and a beer or two for ~$15 per person. We tried a couple more explensive places--at a Spanish joint we were swimming in tapas and sangria for ~$30 per person. And good lord is alcohol cheap out there: I was browsing beer at the grocery store and singles of various beers were typically 70 cents to 1.30. 6 packs were usually €3-6 for decent beer. I didn't find anything great, but I didn't have anything unpleasant. Liquor is also astonishingly cheap. Once in a while I like a bit of absinthe. The same bottle that would cost about $70-80 locally was €20. Naturally, I picked one up as a souvenir.
Carspotting was fun. Wagons galore: diesel wagons, vintage wagons, fast wagons (AMG/M/RS) and lots of electric cars (including many we don't get in the states like the charming Honda e https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Honda_Urban_EV%2C_IAA_2017_%281Y7A2471%29_%282%29.jpg/1920px-Honda_Urban_EV%2C_IAA_2017_%281Y7A2471%29_%282%29.jpg).
Thankfully cf-98 managed the time-change reasonably well. She was pretty cranky for a bit on the first day and she was unusually whiny when we were in restaurants (except at the tapas place where she decided to eat an entire plate of calamari herself), but she enjoyed the impressive array of parks and gardens all over the city. And she turned 2 on our final day out there!
I'm saddened by the near complete lack of wagons available in the US as well as a mostly lackluster hatchback selection.
I remember beer was so cheap in Germany. I attended a trade show and vendors were handing out beer just like they would a coffee or water.
A German friend of mine told that in Germany, food is taxed at different levels based on how essential it is. So like a candy bar is taxed at a high rate and a loaf of bread at a low rate. He said that beer is taxed at the lowest rate. Though that was 20 years ago now, at a rando hostel In Heidelberg. Could be different now!
Sounds like a great trip
I miss seeing station wagons and hatchbacks. It only solidifies my feeling that SUVs are a self-inflicted pox upon America.
That sounds like a good trip!
Europe definitely has more hot hatches than we get in the US.
Sounds like a good trip with a toddler.
Ryan Air's twitter account goes after Prince William. If you don't get it, the gossip is that Prince W likes pegging but Kate's not into it, so she tolerates him going outside the marriage to get his rocks off so long as it doesn't get personal - which he apparently did with her close girlfriend Rose Hanbury. Baseless rumours, I'm sure...
https://twitter.com/Ryanair/status/1552604254996766720
Currently in Lake Tahoe. Saw Yes We Cannon on Monday night. Lots of the lakeside motels/hotels have No Vacancy signs out. Was at Gar-Woods last night and it was packed.
I'll be at Camp Richardson the weekend after this weekend. Looking forward to doing some mountain biking and some lakeside hanging with friends and family.
More than half the lakeside hotels/motels had their No Vacancy signs lit up. Drove around the lake today - Stateline/South Lake Tahoe was PACKED.
DBD Cooking Academy
I want to try reverse searing. I think I'm going to have to buy a better thermometer to measure my actual oven temperatures.
I recently smoked an eye of round and then reverse seared it, and it completely transformed it. Not only did it give pleasant crust to the edge, but it really intensified the seasoning in the rub. Fantastic. Now I want to reverse sear everything.
Just get a digital probe thermo - insert into steak and then the hardware goes on the outside.
I found an oven temp thermometer kinda meh but a good meat thermometer was really useful at getting the hang of the process. Also the latter was very useful when doing the from-frozen method, which is kind of related.
Reverse searing? Searing the inside?
Low-and-slow for an initial cooking to bring the central temperature close to where you want it, but not quite. And then you quickly put meat on a ripping hot pan/grill for maximum Maillard reaction.
https://www.seriouseats.com/reverse-seared-steak-recipe
How is it different than sous-vide? Other than the method of warming I suppose.
I've done the Serious Eats version of reverse searing (including a drying session in the fridge) a few times and it turned out great, but I had to be flexible on meal times because it's hard to anticipate how long it will take for the steaks to come to temperature. Later, I got an Anova Precision Oven and got good results with its bagless sous vide mode (60-90 minutes to target temperature, but then it can hold until I'm ready to serve), but it's hard to dry off the surface of the steak and I don't get nearly as good a sear.
More recently, I realized that the sous vide mode works just fine if I turn the steam setting from 100% to 0%. It seems to take a bit longer to get the meat to temperature, but I don't need a dozen paper towels to get the surface dry afterwards. Once I get my hands on another batch of good steaks (somewhat hard to come by in Portugal) I plan to combine this approach with the overnight drying to see if I can completely match the results of the original reverse sear.
doesn't take 8 hrs
Basically the same idea, except you don't need a sous-vide setup and the corresponding plastic waste. Reverse sear also dries up the surface fairly consistently, which can enhance the searing process.
oh good point.
It's tricky. When I attempted it, my thermometer stated that I cooked my steak to very very well done. But when I cut into it, it was cooked to a perfect medium rare.
Great new soup last night, with potatoes (grape size, cut in half) onions & garlic sauteed first, crunchy green beans, with pasta that you add separately so it doesn't get mushy - a little parmesan grated on top - yum.
Following the week at "The Ranch" at Malibu, trying my hand at vegan recipes. My cholesterol dropped to really healthy levels that week.
Something dumb TFG did
Rake the forests
I can kind of see how he got from someone telling him about forest / fire management to 'rake the forests' . . . kind of. Like if this was the dumbest thing he did, it wouldn't be that bad overall.
Yeah, at least for homeowners in fire prone areas, it is actually a good idea to rake up leaves and pine needles so that there is not a bunch of kindling ready to catch fire when the burning embers float by. He just had a unique way of twisting and rephrasing things in a way that made even reasonable propositions into idiotic sounding ones. And yet he is supposedly the political genius of our time! Lol
The vast majority of acreage that burns in CA is on federal land. The federal government is the agency that needs to "rake the forest," not the State of California. The real idiocy of this statement lies in the fact that Trump is ignorant of this fact.
I remember Newsom pointed this out directly to Trump during a joint press conference and Trump just kind of sat there like an idiot.
Good point!
Anyone interested should look up Zeke Lunder who is a wildfire mapping and intel expert who has spent time on wildfires and has been substantially involved in subscribed burns. He has a YouTube channel where he does analysis and mapping of current fires. He is extremely insightful and a great resource for anyone interested in this and the politics of fire prevention and suppression.
The Sharpied addition to the hurricane map
Imposed tariffs thinking that China would be paying for them
Tried to buy Greenland and then punished Denmark when they refused to negotiate
Easily the worst thing he did was so publicly criticize and weaken NATO
If ever there was evidence that he really is the idiot he appears to be, as opposed to a secret genius playing 3D chess while pretending to be an idiot, it was in this. Creating an existential threat to Western security for no reason doesn’t even have an upside in the alternate MAGA universe. It was super dumb in every iteration of the multiverse
"Nobody knew healthcare could be this complicated"
Every toilet and shower speech
Telling the Boy Scouts about his yacht parties with all the sex
DO NOT CONGRAULATE
There are way too many to list - but nuke bomb a hurricane to stop it?
Such a moron.
Pretty much everything he's ever done.
DBD AV CLUB
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
Big Ten evaluating Cal, Oregon, Stanford and Washington from Pac-12 as further expansion considered.
Who knows in two years we might be in the catbird's seat.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/big-ten-evaluating-cal-oregon-stanford-and-washington-from-pac-12-as-further-expansion-considered/
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
USA offers a first round pick, a merchant of death, and a player to be named later in exchange for Phoenix Mercury center Britney Griner and another citizen.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/politics/griner-whelan-biden-offer-viktor-bout-exchange-russia-arms-dealer/index.html
IMHO, this just creates an incentive for state sanction kidnapping - which the Russians have proved that they'll do by the hundreds of thousands. I had thought that one day I would visit Russia, but I guess that will never happen now.
Long term question is what happens when Putin dies. He’s 69 now. Average life expectancy of a Russian male is 73, though I don’t think he is a big hooch hound and he no doubt has skitz medical care so my guess is he makes it to like 90 unless someone ices him. So barring assassination you can pencil in a nice trip to St Petersburg in 2043
I thought he was 72?
Wikipedia says his DOB is 10/7/52
So even Britney Griner will get traded before Jimmy Garoppolo?
Surprise! Jimmy is penciled in to be the new starter for the Moscow Patriots of the Eastern European American Football League.
The arms dealer is interesting - if that is all he is, why would Russia want him?
I thought he was the son of some well connected Russian.
Ah ok, makes more sense then
Trump files suit in DC citing that he has "absolute immunity" from civil cases because inciting an insurgency was part of his official duties. Good luck with that argument, you orange slug.
https://twitter.com/joshgerstein/status/1552506547263213568
https://casetext.com/case/clinton-v-jones
When your adversary starts getting up in court making ridiculous arguments, generally making an ass of himself, you just kind of lean back in your chair and let the guy keep going
Johnny Cochran: Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, Chef's attorney would certainly want you to believe that his client wrote "Stinky Britches" ten years ago. And they make a good case. Hell, I almost felt pity myself! But, ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a wookie from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about that; that does not make sense!
[Let Them Fight . gif]
https://twitter.com/ZTPetrizzo/status/1552532766947942403
All these stupid sub groups are worrying, but I am also entertained by the continual splintering and fighting until every group is just one person, trying to mace the other 70 million.
So... death panels?
https://twitter.com/mjs_DC/status/1552382683002675206
Lol to the idea that GOP is the party of limited govt. Roe’s reversal is the biggest intrusion of govt regulation into ppl’s private lives that I can remember.
I think the Pod Save America guys are right that D’s should be messenging around “freedom”: freedom from gun violence, govt intrusion into personal healthcare decisions, govt regulation of what bathroom you can take a shit in, govt manipulation of voting process thru gerrymandering, and so on
Florida now allowing people to teach in schools for five years with just a high-school diploma if they are... [checks notes]... military veterans. This, my friends, is how Florida Man is created.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2022/07/21/florida-education-program-military-veterans-teach/10117107002/
Words have meaning. Someone is going to get killed. Or more accurately, more people will get killed.
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-man-felony-stalking-expletives-us-rep-pramila-jayapal/281-c4e65eb3-ebc8-4095-afa0-4b85053bb997
The GQP is now demonizing... [spins wheel]... anti-depressants
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republicans-depression-study_n_62e153b2e4b03dbb991ff961
If you don't know why having Viktor Orban speak at CPAC is a bad thing, here is exhibit #2,305,123
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-26/viktor-orban-will-speak-at-cpac-in-texas-despite-nazi-speech-backlash
[DOJ] "We want your phone records, John Eastman"
[JE] "No."
[DOJ] "Ok. We just want the call/text logs, not the contents"
[JE] "Ok. Here's my phone"
[DOJ] "Well, looky here. Look what just showed up... a warrant to search your phone's contents"
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/1552379692342181890
If you scroll down that thread, you soon come upon the Pyramid of Guilt. Ginni Thomas appears in two places, she's so special.
That's gonna be a no from me, dawg
https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-former-republicans-democrats-form-223654665.html
Man, fuck Andrew Yang. What an empty suit egomaniac. How many times you gotta be told no?
Ya, no.
The rip for these creeps wasn't the characters involved (although it wasn't a good start to begin with), it was the suggestion that Elon Musk would be a good fit.
Any party that has anythng to do with Elon Musk is fucking radioactive.
Hard Rec!
If they run a former Republican that would be kind of great
Only if it splits the G(Q)P vote!
Howard Dean (D) and Michael Steele (R) both argue that primary elections should change to open primaries in which the top 5 candidates advance to the general election. If this boosts turnout among more moderate voters, it would ensure that the fringes of the Dems and the GOP would be watered down in their power to advance polarizing candidates to the general election. It could have the effect of boosting overall turnout at both points in the electoral calendar. And it may result in more moderate candidates from outside the two major parties actually have a chance at winning office without being beholden to the extremists in either party.
Either way,
I think that is Yang’s main point as well - have open primaries. He is 100% correct about that, would incentivize pols to go for the middle, where voters actually are. I think limiting final round to 2 seems better than 5, but details details
Opinion | Unsolicited Advice for the Pouty Republicans Who Stiff Reporters
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/07/28/republican-candidates-ice-out-the-press-00048345
PRO
Hiromi Itoh threw the most beautiful rainbow eephus
https://twitter.com/JomboyMedia/status/1552294023678902272
pqtm
Hey, if the pitch traveled through the strike zone, it's a strike.
Sacramento defeats KC on PKs to advance to finals, helped in part by this panenka.
https://twitter.com/opencup/status/1552538687828856833
49ers cut Dee Ford. I guess his injuries were too much. That's too bad.
https://www.49ers.com/news/49ers-release-dl-dee-ford
Mike Trout has a permanent back condition, perhaps from carrying the Angels for over a decade
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34303098/mike-trout-dealing-pretty-rare-back-condition-according-los-angeles-angels-trainer
$37 million per year through 2030! I think Ohtani will be traded or leave and they will be a wasteland
Vettel to retire from F1 at the end of this season
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-four-time-champion-sebastian-vettel-to-retire-from-formula-1-at-the.65j625XK4FPq6qf2Qn5gb5.html
Game #101: Sweep! A’s get first of 2022 over Astros
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2022/7/27/23281209/game-101-sweep-as-first-sweep-astros
The A’s collected their first sweep of the season, taking down the Houston Astros in three games at the Coliseum capped by today’s 4-2 victory.
Of all the teams to get their first sweep against, it’s extra sweet to get it against the division rival. On top of that, this was the first time they were swept this year, too!
Led by a great starting pitching performance, Oakland played a clean game all around, hitting home runs, stringing together hits to add on insurance, and made all the plays on defense today. The bullpen had two perfect innings to end it, so a great team win from everyone.
Extra sweet division rival? FUCKING CHEATERS!
I see a 20-game win streak coming up. Can we make the wildcard game?
Oakland Roots ties Phoenix at Laney field. Frustrating game, watched most of it.
Sacramento Republic FC beats Sporting KC (MLS!) to make the US Open Cup Final in Orlando! NorCalNick can have a successful franchise to root for!
More wasted opportunities and unforced errors as Giants wrap up 0-7 road trip
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2022/7/27/23281405/giants-diamondbacks-recap-logan-webb-thairo-estrada-winless-road-trip
There are some airplanes I would like to be on. I’d take a flight to Montenegro right now, if you’re offering. An airplane headed to the Bahamas? Sure, why not. Want to send me a ticket to New York City? I’ll check it out.
There’s one plane I very much don’t want to be on: the one the San Francisco Giants are flying on from Phoenix to the Bay Area. It’s a short flight, so that’s nice. It’s chartered, so I imagine it’s cushy, and I’ve never experienced that. The food is probably rather fantastic.
But it’s not a plane ride I want to be on.
The Giants have fallen off so badly from 2021, that Buster looks like the glue holding together the franchise last year. And providing leadership.
I knew that Buster was a big piece of the team and a leader. I just didn't know how big.
It's also that guys like Crawford and Belt and Longoria had unexpectedly good seasons rather than continuing age-related decline. Maybe a consequence of having a shortened season the year before.
Bullpen/defense was also a lot better, and I'm not sure how to explain that change. Those things can be pretty variable from year to year.
Maybe the shortened 2020 season made a big difference in SF's favor. And Crawford, Belt, and Longoria had better than average seasons. But leadership isn't totally dependent on how well you play. It's about keeping yourself up front, encouraging your teammates, and helping *them* become better.
Something's not quite right this year and it seems to me it's more than just the veterans having a bad year.
I don't remember if they have the same bullpen pieces or not. Did they let some bullpen pieces go in the offseason (McGee was DFAed a few weeks ago I think) and get some that are underperforming?
A lot of the same guys, yeah. McGee and Tyler Rogers (last year's closer and setup guy) turned back into pumpkins. Though I think Rogers has been screwed a lot by bad infield defense.
And the soon to be outlawed shift. Cobb & Rogers get so much soft contact that formerly routine weak ground balls now go for IF hits.
Dodgers take care of business early to wrap up the homestand
https://www.truebluela.com/2022/7/27/23281358/los-angeles-dodgers-washington-nationals-game-recap
On a great afternoon for baseball in Dodgers Stadium, the Dodgers and Nationals played just like the Dodgers Nationals. That statement doesn’t seem like much, but following back-to-back losses to the last-place Nats, the Dodgers needed some normality before heading on a road trip.
The Dodgers entered today’s game looking to avoid a sweep that seemed like a distant possibility before this series began, and it didn’t take very long to do so with a crooked spot in the first, and the rest of the game in cruise control en route to a 7-1 win.
The bats that were dormant through the first two games against Nationals pitching came alive in this one and did so early in the ball game.
GBBR
GBBR
Sorry for the multiple posts. Substack required me to login again so I didn't think that the original post succeeded.
CAL
The 2021 football team had the second best losing season in Cal football history (beating Furd and U$C, impressive wins over OSU and Colorado). The best losing season was 1941 when the Bears beat Furd, U$C and UC, Los Angeles (the only season in which they've done that and not gone to the Rose Bowl). The Bears were 4-5 that year also beating St. Mary's on Oski's debut. The Big Game win (16-0) was a huge upset.
Guess I should have posted this on a Cal football blog.
Heh, I could agree, it was a very weird season, the AZ loss was an all-time bizarre one.
Go Bears!!!
DBD HH
JimmyChitwood is in town and we're meeting up in front of Henry's around 5:40 PM tonight.
I’m game to do something Thursday? I head back South Fri a.m. I actually need to pick up uncooked Top Dogs so if anyone wants to meet at Henry’s Thurs eve I’m game….
Damn it I'd love to meet JImmy C and have a Golden Bear but I have dinner plans in the city that preclude such a momentous event.
Sorry to miss you Scootie!
Next visit!
Come to the ND game! Lots of us will be there.
Have fun!
See you all there!