Dan Gould

Fine: Interpret it as Trump as hero - that's a political statement as well. Does the constructed juxtaposition have a point of view? Obviously. You say it can be interpreted as ripping Trump or celebrating him. Either way its political. Support or opposition or both at the same time. A desert topping and a floor wax! Except that anyway you look at it, it's political. Again let's get a call from the grand pooh-ba.

Give me a fucking break. Nobody thinks its not political except you. Nobody thinks its not explicitly anti-Trump immigration policy but you. But you're a mod and don't think you crossed a line, and are lashing out when challenged by multiple people. So why don't we just ask Jim Alfredson as the owner to make the call?

Everybody is denying that Severino was rushed. I know they don't want to admit it but if its true that he warms up quickly then Darling may have invented something there. Anyway I just studied CC's game logs since August 7 http://www.rotoworld.com/player/mlb/3149/cc-sabathia Take away September 15 vs Toronto and September 3 at Oakland, and you pretty much have CC pitching 5 to 6 innings and giving up 2 or fewer runs (one game in there he gave up 3 in six innings). That's why I say make him work hard so Boone gives the hook early and everybody has to pitch longer than usual to piece it together. I wonder what Angel's spray chart looks like. Does he squeeze pitchers or give terrible calls off the plate? If the latter, it will help CC minimize his pitch count.

I feel like either team is cannon fodder against the Astros. If not for their blip during the rash of injuries, they'd be the top seed, IMO. I have to admit I completely blanked on CC Sabathia as the 4th starter and was wondering how Happ would do on three days rest in an elimination game. The important pieces of the Yankee bullpen is rested but I think the Red Sox have to stretch that out just by making CC work. He's got to be on a short leash and they can't let him pitch into the 5th (the Sox I mean). Comes down to the bats and Porcello changing his luck at Yankee Stadium, methinks. Oh and the contemptible Angel Hernandez is behind the plate. Barf. When I saw all those replay reviews my immediate thought was what the hell is that guy even doing in a playoff game? Isn't it supposed to be merit? If he has to serve on a crew put him in the outfield only. Bad ump, worse ego. And he calls balls and strikes.

So the bottom line to me (right now) is whether Jim gets a pass because of "composition". Multiple people have objected to this posting. Do you really have two separate rules, for mods and for everybody else? I think Jim needs to ask himself, before posting a well-composed graphic image, whether this graphic image contains a political message and then decide if it should be posted.

I vote for more puppies, few to zero politicians, well constructed photos or not. Or maybe the mods aren't very aggressive about these things. They rely on the report post function and yes, I've used it myself for egregious posts here. They do the best they can; I think anyone would recognize Trump assaulting the lady with the scales is straight up politics and does not belong under the existing rules.

If I quoted a famous Supreme Court dictum, would that be political?

I don't know what the message is of Rosenstein, or of Trump peering thru blinds. "Pecker leaking" is obviously scatological over political, IMHO. Jim's posting of the Time cover, which was a constructed photo and had a clear political message, should not have been allowed. With all due respect and affection, the Brits who post in this thread seem to have an ongoing problem following the no politics rule.

I was going to point that out too but I think Brad is referencing Milwaukee as the best record in the NL so they have home field until the Series.

Houston is the overwhelming favorite and my ace in the hole that there will be no NY celebration.

MRI on still-balky knee. Not off roster yet but almost certain to be. Knee-cartilage replacement may replace labrum surgery as the hardest-to-recover-from injury for ballplayers. And Wright was my one hope for a bullpen arm, going a couple of innings to get to Kimbrel or one of the slightly better late-inning options, a la Andrew Miller. When he didn't come out last night I wondered, now we know.

Your long-run concern about Tanaka might need to be his performance against Houston, which amounts to an ERA of nearly 9 across five starts that only lasted 23 1/3 total innings,

I don't think Price is due for anything but a whooping. The Yankees go in tonight thinking "we need a win bad and this is just the guy we want to face." If they put a hurting on Tanaka (true they have a collective OPS+ of 111 in more starts than most teams he's faced - though Baltimore actually hits him worse but in six fewer career appearances) maybe they hang in there. But as was just seen, the bullpen differences are huge. And with Wright apparently done, so are their chances, whether now or later in October. Can anyone pitch 8 innings to get to Kimbrel? Can Kimbrel keep up multi-inning saves? Every f-ing arm coming out of that bullpen scares the crap out of me, which is why I shut the TV when it was 5-2 and went to bed. They won a battle. The war is something else.

3/4 of a century ... gets you my standard

Must not be selling on discogs. All from Europe now, discogs and one copy on eBay. I'll keep watching though.

10-9 on the season. 98 wins built up against a lot of also-rans and a few contenders. Sale looks terrible since his injury. Price is always terrible against the Yankees. There is no reason to think Happ's dominance magically changes. More likely he keeps the damage minimal and once any team reaches the jelly donut-soft bullpen its Katie-Bar-The-Door. Yankees in four unless the bats are unstoppable. That's the only way they convert all those wins to something truly memorable - if they bash like the '78 Sox, regardless of who is on the bump. Unlikely in this day and age of dominating bullpen arms.

The Yankees have to be favorites. Happ going twice, no idea what you get from Sale and a POS bullpen following. Unless Sale is SALE tomorrow, this is 0-2 heading to NY (anyone think Price keeps them in the yard Saturday?) and over in 3 or 4.

It sounds like the source tape was closely held for a long time then rescued from a dumpster. If no radio broadcast happened this would be it, truly new Monk.

Yeah but you know how I mean, other major soloist on a pure bop record. John Lewis had serious skills across the music. I remember hearing a big band recording, Benny Carter tunes and arrangements - Central City Sketches maybe? Was in the 90s or so. At the time I didn't expect Lewis to sound so great in that style, too. Woh that looks like a good 'un to find. LP only apparently.

Reall Really? Can't speak to the sound quality I have it on a fine domestic CD but I like Sonny a lot here and especially enjoy John Lewis in this style. Not sure where else he ever did the bebop thing, certainly not over an entire album (?).

I don't think you're one to put much into advanced metrics Brad but this makes a pretty compelling case why Severino matches up better than Happ and Tanaka. https://www.mlb.com/news/luis-severino-has-advantages-against-athletics/c-296915032 and it doesn't even mention the strategic advantage of saving Happ for the Red Sox, if they can win at home behind Severino.

That track Myers posted at the end of the blog is pretty strong, I must say.

Pretty aggravated - glad though that at 84 Mom doesn't take the failures as hard as I do - yet this felt like it was going to happen after they failed to hold off the Brewers, then lost at home in the tie-breaker game. Their offense was MIA too often in the second half and when you get to the playoffs against strong pitchers it will bite you in the ass. As for tonight its Severino getting the nod, and MLB.com has an interesting article about why his high fastball could be kryptonite to the A's hitters. They basically suck against good fastball pitchers. And if the Yanks win, I give them a serious advantage over the Sox with Happ available twice. Who knows, Paul may decide Boone ain't that bad a manager. (what am I thinking he could win it all and it will be despite his moves ...)