GOP Obstruction and the length of baseball games

 Went golfing for the first time this year. Spent an entire 1 minute talking politics - welcome back America. 

Speaking of politics - I am 100% for Bidens infrastructure deal.  I know I know Trump promised an infrastructure deal,  he also promised to get rid of Obama Care and to build a wall and to create 25 million jobs and to eliminate 19 trillion in debt and to cut the budget by 20% and a promise that border crossings would plummet and gangs will disappear and welfare use will decrease as crime plummets and to quell illegal immigration  and to raise minimum wage to $10 and to not take vacations and to lower corporate tax rate to 15% and to bring down medicine prices by importing drugs from other countries and to triple the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and a few dozen other promises he never intended to keep.  

BUT - instead he ruined the GOP. 

NOW - liberals, BECAUSE of Trump, have a free ride to do whatever the hell they want.  SO - let's tax the wealthy and for the first time in 12 years (how long the GOP has been in charge) can fix America's crumbling infrastructure. 

The GOP had 12 years of running the country they boosted up large corporations and their pocketbooks instead of fixing anything. Citizens United gave corporations a LOT of power to help bring money into the GOP.  

SO - as Biden said - we have a golden opportunity to ACTUALLY fix things.  And who the hell cares what the GOP say.  Remember, they automatically will NOT vote for ANYTHING Biden wants so . . . . why even bother asking them what they want.  

The GOP is the party of obstruction. They came right out and said it.  NO COMPROMISE!  SO - why bother asking them for advice on what they want. 

OH - and NOW?  The GOP is telling corporations to stay out of politics  LOL 

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OK OK - baseball - There is a movement about shortening the time it plays to play an MLB game.  This is stupid.  Do people want to shorten the time they have sex?  NO. It's not the length (that's what she said) it's the actual game that needs fixing.  

Many older people, even announcers, complain that analytics have ruined the game and shifting is killing it.  ummmm  no.   If you look at "shifting" BABIP (Batting Average Balls In Play) the numbers are about the same. You make contact and about .298 you will get a hit.  That number has been pretty steady.  

The issue is strikeouts. They are a little boring.  Watching 3 hours of Ks is not that entertaining.  So maybe it's time for some changes that will ACTUALLY affect a game.   

1. get rid of the home plate umpire and the inconsistent and widening strike zone. We saw last night in the Brewer game the umpire changed his strike zone significantly after the 1st inning. 

2. change the ball. It's a little peppy. 

3. move the pitcher back a few inches.  Almost every pitcher on a squad can now throw a 95mph fastball.  Starting pitchers no longer have to pace themselves for 6 or 7 innings.  5 innings is good. 

4. restrict how many pitchers in the bullpen you can have.  I like the 3 batter rule.  

Some of these things might not work but doing things like putting a clock on the pitcher is silly.  restricting shifts is stupid.  Moving the base back or making it lager is intriguing. 

I LOVE the new extra inning rule where a guy is on 2nd base to begin the 10th inning ALTHOUGH!  In a Strat-o-matic game last night my bad team accidentally tied (I sort of want to lose I'm so bad) a game in the 9th.  

My team did not score in the top of the 10th  but the other team had super speedy Victor Reyes on 2nd base.  I put in a new pitcher and he throws one strike, Reyes tries to steal 3rd and my catcher throws the ball into left field - I lose.  

My pitcher, who threw 1 strike, is credited with the loss.  LOL  Sucks to be him.  

ANYWAY - meandering a bit here - I found out a guy on my SOM team lives down the road from Bill James and Bill is in his other SOM league.  

I went to BillJamesOnline and he has a thing where he rates all starting pitchers, like golf, in a top 100 and updates the list each day with a complicated algorithm.

At the moment for the Brewers

Woodward 21
Burns 43 (new on the list)
Anderson 93
Peralta 70
Houser 105

Also the BEST player defensively in the last 3 years - Brewers have two,  Wong at 2B and Cain at CF are the BEST fielding in the last 3 years. 

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nuff said