Dynasty 1973 League Wild Card Preview Indians vs Twins, Cubs vs Braves

Posted: July 10, 2025 by datechguy in baseball, fun, gaming, online gaming
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Well it’s playoff time again in our Dynasty 1973 league and we begin with the best of 3 series Wild card games

Indians 80-82 vs Twins 80-82 (Twins won season series 7-5)

For a while it wasn’t sure that the Indians would make the playoffs, the Yankees, Senators and A’s all made runs but they finished strong to secure a playoff spot.

As always they are led by their bash brothers Tony Perez (23 HR 114 RBI’s) and Sal Bando (28 HR 93 RBI’s) but they had a lot of help from Catcher George Mitterwald and Dave May who who both managed to add over 20 HR each (25 & 20) to be part of the power supply hit not to mention Mitterwald’s glove behind the plate and May’s 14 outfield assists to help things out. Their strength isn’t just the long ball. The team’s .261 avg lead the junior circuit. With Mark Belanger and Dave McAuliffe up the middle the defense is pretty solid. Of playoff teams only Cincinnati and Pittsburgh have better fielding stats than Cleveland.

On the Mound Jon Matlack has been the leader (22-11) but after that it becomes very ordinary with Mickey Lolich (10-15 5.17) , Bob Moose (6-12 4.83) and Steve Busby acquired from Cincy (4-8 4.89) all being very average. Only Alan Foster has an ERA below 4 and didn’t manage a winning record (9-11 3.82) On the plus side no AL team gave up less Home runs (102)

Secret Weapon: Dick McAuliffe who hit .556 with 17 RBI with the bases loaded

The Job is for Matlack to win his game and for the bats to come through for someone else can they do that vs the Twins?

Minnesota Twins 80-82

The Twins have one great bat in Al Oliver .300 27 HR 108 RBI and one very good bat in Richie Hebner (.282 21 HR 91 RBI) who have spent a lot of time driving in Bob Watson (91 Runs scored 90 walks). Oliver has also provided great defense with Bobby Grich taking plenty of hits away from left handed batters and Catcher Ray Fosse throwing out 14 of 21 trying to steal.

But the real strength of the Twins comes from their killer closer Sparky Lyle (7-1 0.86 ERA with 33 saves in 39 chances. Their starting rotation Ross Grimsley (11-10 3.63) , Dave McNally (15-15 3.92 ) and Doyle Alexander (11-9 4,28) have been very average but if they can get the ball to Lyle it’s pretty much all over. He has gotten some help from Cecil Upshaw who spent a fair time on the DL has come back to hold batters to a .214 avg with a WHIP of 0.94

Secret Weapon Lou Pinella who batted .314 with 6 HR and 21 RBI vs LHP

Peter’s Pick On paper the Indians offense outdoes the Twins particularly when facing avg pitching, They hit 50% more homers but Because Matlock pitched game 162 we’re not likely to see him for the opener and that means the twins get a shot against the tribe’s B team. Their pitching overall is practically equal other than the tribe being HR adverse. Logic and the overall stats says Cleveland takes the day but my gut tells me the Twins are able to get leads which means Sparky Lyle ends the discussion, if however they get to a game 3 then the Indians ace gives them an advantage but their closer Ray Corbin is 18 of 24 but I suspect the twins won’t let it get that far and their park doesn’t favor the long ball. Again all logic says otherwise but I’m going with my gut.

Twins in 2

Chicago Cubs 79-83 at Atlanta Bravos (Braves) (86-76) Season Series Even at 5-5

Chicago Cubs

Jeff Buroghes has come in to his own and Rusty Staub put up the best numbers of his career last season Danny Cater managed to hit .356 in 100 games. Meanwhile Steve Garvey put up solid numbers at the plate but exceptional numbers in the field (.994) but however good Garvey and Patek did in the field it pales before Tito Fuentes who has only committed a single error in over 1400 innings and 700+ chances. Everyone knows Freddie Patek is best known for his glove and only hit .210 but he also managed 10 triples to make his a danger to any pitcher and stole 11 bases in 13 chances.

On the mound Burt Hooton (14-10 3.10) and Rich Reuschel (13-10 3,13) have put up pretty good numbers for playing half the season in a hitter’s park and left Jerry Koosman’s 10-11 3.57 has been more than adequate but the bottom pair in the rotation Dick Tidrow (3-15) & Milt Pappas (6-10) have been horrible. Closer John Hiller has managed 26 saves in 34 chances holding hitters to a .199 avg. have combined fore a 9-25 record.

As for their fielding, the less said about the Cubs defense the better, the bad news is they were the 2nd worst fielding team in the majors, the good news is Atlanta was the worst.

Secret Weapon: Long ball averse. Desipte playing in one of the ultimate HR parks and playing all day games Cubs pitchers gave up only 108 HR this season. Only 3 teams gave up fewer

It’s a short series so the Cubs can keep Tidrow & Pappas for garbage time, will that be enough to win?

Atlanta Bravos (Braves)

Last season Atlanta was favored to go to the series but was eliminated early. While they weren’t able to repeat the division they had a strong season despite Dick Allen spending most of it on the DL or on KC. Caesar Cedeno picked up the slack with a triple crown quality line .324 39 HR 110 RBI but after him while many players had respectable number from Al Kaline: (.275 12 HR 58 RBI) to Dusty Baker (.254 19 HR 87 RBI) nobody else brought star power at the bat although Paul Schaal hit .294 and scored 94 runs

The stars were on the mount with Catfish Hunter (16-11 3.25) & Fergie Jenkins (21-16 3.45) giving a powerful 1-2 punch with Rollie Fingers picking up 18 saves and 8 wins with an ERA of 2.80 (along with starting two games). Despite blowing 5 of 7 save chances workhorse reliever Tom HIlgendorf went 11-5 and put in over 100 innings on the mound.

In the field the Bravos were the single worst fielding team in all the majors which makes the performances of Hunter and Jenkins even more impressive.

Secret weapon: Norm Cash hit .294 with runners in scoring position and two outs alas he now plays for KC.

Peter’s pick. At first glance the Braves would seem to have the advantage based on their overall record and their 1-2 punch on the mound but the Cubs top 3 are almost as good and managed to give up over 50 fewer HR’s as a team. Combine this with Dick Allen not expected to be back until late in the next series and it seems to me we’re going to have at least one more day playoff game once this series is over.

Cubs in 3.

Hermit of Loreto 2 Planned Parenthood 0

Posted: July 4, 2025 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, catholic, catholic devotions
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Ok let me start this post with the following declaration that I made on twitter yesterday:

I don’t regret my support for either @tedcruz in 2016 or @RonDeSantis in 2024 both of who would have been fine @POTUS But @realDonaldTrump has by any measure been the best president of my lifetime & one of the most successful presidents of all time. I think today he passed TR

Donald Trump by the passage of his “big beautiful bill” has defied all the odds and all the media predictions that it would fail, which in itself is a lot of fun but for me the big beautiful chocolate on top (I don’t like cherries) is the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Coupled with the repeal of Roe vs Wade with Dobbs vs Jackson during the Biden years by a count with three Trump appointees on it this is a stake through the heart for the Abortion industry in America, the single most evil practice that this country has ever embraced.

That being the case this is an excellent time to remind you of the prophecy of the Hermit of Loreto

The Hermit of Loreto was a man by the name of Tom Zimmer who lived a pious life of prayer in in Loreto. He was one of the co-authors of the famous Pieta Prayer Book one of the most popular collections of Catholic Prayers available out there. He was a person who went to multiple masses each day. I posted about this after Roe was overturned:

Capoverdi asked him in English if he was Thomas [Zimmer], and the two had a delightful conversation. When Trump was elected, Dr. Curran called and told him that, back in the 1980s, Tom Zimmer said he had received a “premonition” and that “a certain man would lead America back to God”—and that man would be none other than Donald J. Trump.

“The millionaire playboy from New York?” the incredulous doctor is said to have asked Zimmer.

“Yes,” the Hermit of Loreto responded, adding he was so sure Donald Trump would become a great spiritual leader of America that he wrote his name on a brick and had it placed in the reconstruction of St. Peter’s Holy Door after the Jubilee so Trump would receive blessings from the many Masses that would be said in the Vatican.

The Youtube video is here:

At the time this came out this was evaluated:

After investigating Zimmer, Thomas wrote, “I have no reason to doubt Capoverdi’s statements that Thomas Zimmer communicated to his friend that he received a ‘premonition’ that Donald Trump would ‘lead America back to God.’” He explained that discerning the validity of a prophecy involves evaluating three elements: the prophet’s character, the prophecy’s alignment with Scripture and church teachings, and its ultimate fulfillment.

To the first point, Thomas observed, “Was the prophet a good and virtuous person? Zimmer was.” For the second, he noted, “There is nothing scriptural or in church teachings that would suggest that a political leader cannot lead people to God; on the contrary, Scripture indicates it as a duty.”

Lastly, Thomas acknowledged the importance of whether a prophecy comes true. He added that evidence of Zimmer’s faith in his prophecy could lie in searching for the brick bearing Trump’s name at St. Peter’s door. Thomas concluded, “Here we must wait and see if that happens, but I’m sure whether or not Trump leads America back to God will be open to dispute and interpretation.”

Now I have met people of extraordinary faith and devotion and Mr. Zimmer certainly qualifies. If someone like HE had told me that twenty years ago I would have filed it away in my head and watched because if there is one thing that you can say about God is that he routinely uses that last person you would ever expect from David the young shepherd to Saul of Tarsus the proud Pharisee to bring about extraordinary things. (Trump of course would be more Saul – Paul then David.)

But let’s be blunt I’m VERY catholic so when a person of deep faith says something like this I take it seriously but for most people if someone told them twenty years ago that Donald Trump (whose wife IS a devout Catholic but he is NOT catholic at all) would be responsible for:

  1. The overturning of Roe vs Wade
  2. The Defunding of Planned Parenthood

They would have been thought of him as some kind of nut and if you were a leftist supporter of Planned Parenthood and was told this you would have taken one look at Trump’s history as fell down on the floor laughing

The “kill the babies” left isn’t laughing now, but I suspect Mr. Zimmer, the Hermit of Loreto is smiling and nodding.

I’ll give the last word to the Babylon Bee:

Wail Of Agony Heard From Satan’s Office As Planned Parenthood Defunded

Update: I know this has nothing to do with this post but this is now my favorite audio file: the Catholic version of the famous: “What is best in life?” clip:

With apologies to Arnold and Johnathan

July Indulgence Calendar and hope you have a priest like this one at your parish

Posted: July 1, 2025 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me.

If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life.

Ezekiel 3:17-19

It’s the 1st of the month so that means it’s indulgence calendar time. Feel free to download and share with your friends.

indulgence calendar July 2025Download

Oh and while we’re in ordinary time celebrate when you have an extraordinary priest who loves you like this one.

The MP in question complained online not realizing that the priest was doing an act of love for him.

Remember a faith or a morality that only exists when convenient isn’t much of one. To quote C.S. Lewis Pilate wanted to show mercy, until it became risky.

Assorted Thoughts Under the Fedora: Press Conference Nostalgia, Not just Jeff’s Fault, The Media Anti-Anti’s out in Full Force, Economy Still Rolling and Getting What you vote for

Posted: June 28, 2025 by datechguy in economy, politics, under the fedora
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Watching Trump’s hour long press conference yesterday made me nostalgic for the two press conferences that I attended as credentialed press and was able to ask questions at. Both times the questions were pertinent to the coverage I was reporting and were non hostile and elicited complements to then candidate Trump.

It is the closest I’ve come to missing journalism since I closed the business, however I still hold to historical distinctions that can never be taken away from me.

  1. The first new media reporter to question candidate Donald Trump at a press conference.
  2. The only person ever to question Donald Trump in a fedora and a Doctor Who scarf.

Yeah I suppose it’s vanity but hey I’m an old man at retirement age got to have something to crow about.

Speaking of those old days as a regular journalist one of the primary reasons why I finally gave it up was the crash in my traffic and thus my revenue, which I’ve always presumed was primaraly due to my reporting on the Jeffrey Epstein story before other people were touching it and while the Clintons still held power.

Now we discover that specific efforts were being made to choke off revenue from sites that supported Donald Trump (thus my being banned from Youtube when I was within 5 followers of being able to monetize my videos.

I imagine there might be a class action suit to be joined someday and perhaps I might do so when the time comes but the wiser move is likely to just pray for those affected and those involved. At my age you generally can’t go wrong with prayer.

A long time ago Jay Nordlinger wrote about the anti-anti’s basically people who hated Reagan and his supporters so much that they defended communism against his attacks against it. The were essentially anti anti-communist.

We saw this return with Trump and never was it better illustrated this week when you had media openly defending Iran and attacking the raid that destroyed their nuclear capability. Trump being less kindly than Reagan and more of a counter-puncher simply destroyed them over it and members of his administration jumped right into the beatdown.

They’re also out in full force over the NY Democrat primary as well with the media going all out to defend the “defund the police, empty the jails, pro-illegal immigrant anti-semite Islamist who the Democrats nominated.

In the end it’s like a variation of the old Golda Mier saying about the arabs.

We will only have peace with [them] when they love their children more than they hate us.

The left hates us more than they love their country or even themselves.

Wages keep outpacing inflation which has dropped to almost nothing despite the media insisting otherwise. To quote Don Surber (who you should read daily):

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal income increased 0.8 percent in April. Inflation rose 0.1 percent. That’s a net gain of more than 500 bucks. A year’s worth of April 2025s is worth $6,000 as inflation would fall to that 1.4% rate Trump bequeathed to the auto pen of FJB on January 20, 2021.

It is too early to declare victory for Trumponomics, but America seems to be rid of the covid era and is back in business. Tariffs and ICE are doing the trick.

The Wall Street Journal reported, “The U.S. trade deficit collapsed in April, as tariffs took a huge bite out of imports.

Add to that record stock markets numbers (which the MSM aren’t all that interested in) and you have the makings of a very strong record for the GOP to run on for years.

That’s why the left is so desperate to stop the Trump Tax Bill, if those get enshrined into law it will be tough to get the GOP out of office.

Nothing succeeds like success.

As you’ve likely heard Democrats in NYC has decided to nominate a Socialist, Marxist, antisemite who wants to defund the police.

Some people are surprised, I don’t see why. You’ve been chasing out producers and job creators for a decade why wouldn’t the socialists who remain vote for one of their own.

The main problem is that as Margaret Thatcher noted eventually you run out of other people’s money and this is a time where people can do a lot of the financial work that generates dollars in NY remotely and elsewhere.

As a rule you get the government you deserve

Ironically this is like what you have in Iran in the sense that a lot of people in 1978 didn’t like the Shah and decided they’d give the Ayatollah a go.

Let’s hope Mamdani doesn’t do the same for NYC but if he does, it’s on the voters.

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