+1 And time to renew my annual prayer that the Yankees lose every game.

For me, it only takes the first sip!

...and the Rockies have been eliminated.

Angels have the two best players of the last 20 years and they'll still be eliminated by the all-star break.

Yes, and those two players are the three best players in baseball. Go Angels! Make Gene proud.

One of Tom Boswell's books uses this title for one of his books: Why Time Begins on Opening Day. It does.

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Spring hopes are eternal.

Play Ball!!

Lets - go - red - sox - clap - clap - clap clap clap

This could be the year i catch Ricky Henderson stealing 2nd to end the inning. Fingers crossed.

I am digging the new baseball rules. As a traditionalist I wasn't sure I would. I love watching these guys just get it and throw it. Nobody needs to see some douchebag hitter adjust his wristbands for 30 seconds between every pitch or some nervous pitcher shake off 4 pitches and then stall. The bigger bases and limited pickoff attempts should revive the lost art of the stolen base. The shift I am still on the fence about. While I don't like the shift I think guys should be able to take advantage of it rather than just keep pounding groundballs into it.

From my limited viewing so far I think the pitch clock is a huge advantage for pitchers. At least the good ones. It will be more of a detriment for the shakier ones. We'll see this weekend as we get further down the rotations. Depending on the kind of groove a guy gets into good or bad it is likely to snowball from there making both stellar performances and epic blowups.

Square.

Pitch clock causing catchers everywhere to rejoice, im sure. they're probably practicing pick offs right now. Holding a ready squat with runners on base while the pitcher is looking around at the runners is hard, particularly in the later innings.

Catcher and middle infielders defensive skills in particular will be on display more often. Catching runners stealing has always been a priority for these positions and is now more important than ever. They say ricky Henderson stole most of his bases from the pitcher, as a matter of reading the pitchers timing. Now the rules have caused more responsibility to be placed on the catcher and whichever infielder is covering 2nd.

I might actually be able to sit through an entire yanks sox game now. Just need a tv.

No matter how much they tweak the rules the Yankees will always be the Evil Empire.

i find Shohei to be the most enthralling figure in sports these days.
wholesome combination of supertalents and humble personality.

I'm wondering if the pitch clock will help hitters. I guess will see by midway through the season.

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My guess is good starting pitchers will be even better and shaky relievers will be even worse. But it all depends on what kind of rhythm and groove the pitcher gets into. I think the inherent advantage is to pitching but like all things, it depends?

It didn't seem to have changed a whole lot in AAA last year outside of stolen base numbers and of course game duration. From this article:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...urs-38-minutes

Straining on the toilet
we learn how
the lightning bug feels.

-
Either Jim Harrison or Ted Kooser

Not sure if you guys knew him, but longtime 2+2er Thay3r has passed away. There is a thread on NVG if you're interested.

RIP

I've been living in Middletown, RI, for two and a half years, and I have a couple good friends in the area. I live less than a mile from Newport. I've only seen one friend by chance one time. I saw another acquaintance last night for the first time. We all live within walking distance of each other. Newport and Middletown are not exactly hopping during the winter, and it's not like New York City with nine million people.

Reminds me of a line in a play: We live close together but far apart.

An old friend had a brother who lived in San Francisco. He lived in RI. By chance they ran into each other in a bathroom at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

How do we explain these things?

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Weird coincidence, that's all. Can't count the number of times I've been off on an adventure (sometimes the other side of the planet), get to talking with someone, and it's, "oh, you grew up, up north?" or "Wow, you used to live in the neighborhood I do now?"

Yeah, my wife is from Maine and we meet people from the local area she grew up in all the time.

Yeah, but there's like 100 people in Maine total.

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Rowing across the lake

all the dragonflies are screwing.

Stop it. It’s Sunday.

-either Kooser or Harrison

also:

A bumblebee,

a straggly rosebush

staining the air with her scent.

A blue and black butterfly—

too many Bs but life is like that