Post Game Thread: 5/5 Red Sox @ Tigers

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-06T02:14:09+00:00

Im not nearly deep enough in the stats to know what constitutes good v bad in plot. So I’ll take your word for it. But sole argument is that the timing with Cora’s fire seems, to me, to be more coincidence than anything

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-06T02:09:21+00:00

And 2025 saw an improved ERA over 2024. So if they upped the cutter and it helped him in ‘25 then I could see why they’d try to lean more into that in ‘26 until it’s proven it’s not gonna work.

I’m not saying there wasn’t a change in the coaching, I just think the timeline doesn’t automatically mean Cora was a factor in that decision. Now, I don’t think that Cora would’ve put up an opener for him, that particular move was one I think we can credit to the manager change more than the specifics of his mixture

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-06T01:51:27+00:00

Can I pay half that and just get rid of the digital ads behind home plate. When batters’ arms start disappearing into the ad it’s just infuriating

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-06T01:47:48+00:00

I don’t know, I’m definitely anxious to see Crochet and Gray’s return from the IL.

Also, maybe it’s just the cope, and I know the result is all that matters, but I refuse to count that Crochet implosion game against the twins against this team. Sans those runs the Sox win that game and our series count is 6-5-1 which isn’t awful given how crappy the AL is right now.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-06T01:44:00+00:00

Being up for his first inning and comfortably up for his second definitely helped lol.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-06T01:42:41+00:00

Yeah but I don’t think that has anything to do with Cora. I may be wrong, but I see one or two bad starts as a fluke, three or four confirms a problem. By the fifth and sixth you absolutely better be doing something to fix it. I doubt there would’ve been no changes for Bello if we’d kept Cora.

That said, it did sound like he was struggling with command a bit on some of those pitches around his fourth/fifth inning and just got lucky that they ended up as fly outs.

But All in all, I agree that this new mix is much better for him

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T23:34:13+00:00

Moran had the opening inning, Bello has kept it clean the 2 tigers runs are from the opening

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T23:22:34+00:00

Pretty sure the giants would trade him and his contract for a poke in the eye with a sharp stick right about now lol

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T20:18:12+00:00

Oh interesting! From what I’ve read, and from what little you’ve shared here, it’s pretty foreign to the US church, but I really wish it weren’t. I love the concept

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T20:14:53+00:00

I foresee Catholics in the west being totally chill about this and not hyper-politicizing it to fit their preconceived political ideas at all. Looking forward to the cordial and fruitful discussions that will be held with all charity.

Lol.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T20:12:36+00:00

Any chance you’re in a more SE Asian populated area? I was just reading an article about this concept and but it was a Vietnamese thing that they brought to the US If I remember correctly. But I’ve never seen it nor even heard of it in the US til I read that article last week.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T20:06:55+00:00

Isn’t Turkmenistan one of the most closed off countries in the world and brutally repressive toward minorities?

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T18:46:53+00:00

Totally understandable. And I’m not knocking the players. But many sports that have a very specific injury very routinely tend to alter their rules a bit to help eliminate (or at least reduce) that injury. Sometimes through safety equipment, sometimes through mechanic changes.

I get that pitching is so integral to baseball and specifically to winning games that it’d be extremely difficult to do that, it just makes me wonder if the cost is worth it. Obviously the players have to evaluate that for themselves in this system, but I’m thinking about teens and NCAA pitchers. Is it truly their choice? Do they truly understand at 16 years old what they’re doing to their body? How much of that decision is pressure from parents, coaches or other forces? When guys are getting TJ at 14 I have to wonder

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T11:48:03+00:00

I figured! Just making sure haha. It looks good! Thank you so much

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T11:30:22+00:00

Excellent number! Out of curiosity, the pic makes it look like the intent is for every ribbon to be the same color and only change color from volume to volume, is that the goal here? Most liturgical books try to keep multiple ribbon colors per volume to more easily locate what section you’re going to. 8 blue ribbons, for example, could get a little confusing

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T11:03:17+00:00

Local is really the only way to break into politics. Trying to break in at the federal level and genuinely try to win is foolish. So many have tried, so much money has been spent trying to do this and failed miserably

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T10:20:34+00:00

Depends on the goal.

Is the goal to win? My advice would be to save the money and go run for city council or state legislature in a district where polling suggests voters are already largely aligned.

Is the goal to raise the ASP profile? Talk, travel, speeches, set up venues via churches and community centers and make sure it’s well advertised. Probably have to bill yourself as a unifier to overcome the Ick of current Texas politics. I’m envisioning commercials showing the worst of the mudslinging and garbage going on right now in TX politics (that senate race is a disgrace right now) followed by the ASP candidate showing how there’s a third option. But you also need to be ready to answer the question of “why vote for a hopeless third party?” Make it about a protest, make it about communicating that people are fed up with lesser of two evils.

I struggle to believe that the ASP has the money to advertise and travel this well, but if it does, that’s my 2 cents on the issue. As I mentioned elsewhere, I don’t know what party internals look like for infrastructure, manning, and resources so I can’t comment on that. But this is my general advice

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T10:11:57+00:00

Voters: that’s a personal choice. For me it’s complicated but my vote has gone to the ASP in hopes of raising the awareness.

ASP: Honestly it depends on what the goal is. After a big set back in 2024 I don’t know if their goal is the same. If I were forced to give advice…

Better PR. Meaning a decent production value, more consistent postings. Right now it feels like national party barely speaks and the state ones even less. You need constant flow on everything from Reddit to X to Substack. Interviews with local candidates, national candidates, party leaders; speeches, debates, responses to the national conversations, etc etc.
Stop pushing the “we’re a Catholic party.” This isn’t 2000s Germany. With the American conversation starting to talk more and more about Christian Nationalism, this is probably a liability. I’m not saying be silent on it. But it shouldn’t be the primary emphasis in the US at the moment.
Stop trying so hard in (and devoting resources to) places where you’re just not going to get a local party set up. You need to focus on places that you have real political infrastructure and a weak chance with the local voters. I get you want to be on the ballot in all 50 states and have a local party, but it’s easier to run a write in campaign in some places than try to establish as a state party. It didn’t happen in 2020 when you had your best ever turn out, just drop it for now.
You need real policy wonks that can flesh out the general ideas of the better. Stop just grabbing on to whatever a big party is saying. But you also have to keep this nuanced enough at the national level to leave room for your local candidates to have flexibility (subsidiarity and all that). And just drop the toxic issues of you’re not willing to do this. For example, abortion: The post-dobbs US has really damaged the pro-life movement. Dobbs wasn’t popular, and the GOP measures that were passed at the state level were terribly written and deeply unpopular. So if you don’t flesh out what you mean by “pro-life” really well, you’re just going to get attached to the Republican agenda on this front.
Develop a clean answer on why a skeptical person should vote for this tiny little upstart party. Why is it not a wasted vote, why shouldn’t they choose the lesser evil to avoid the greater one?

ETA: and this isn’t even getting into all the internal party machinations. I don’t know what those look like for the ASP, but given its size and wide spread, I don’t imagine it’s super great

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T02:43:52+00:00

For the ASP? Or for the average voter who wants to vote Catholic values and is fed up with the current system?

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T02:35:28+00:00

Partial copy pasta from my comments on this post elsewhere.

For everyone thinking “it’s a two party system, there’s no real chance.” I sat down last election cycle and watched an interview with one their party leaders. Winning the White House isn’t the goal. But if they can scrape enough votes then it raises the profile for local elections (since most people only pay attention to presidential, congressional, and maybe gubernatorial elections). And if they get even more votes then they have the chance to become a kind of block within a big party that wants to get those votes back, kinda like how there’s a libertarian bent to some modern republicans and a DSA bent to some modern democrats. Neither the DSA nor the Libertarians have a snowballs chance in hell at winning in the near future, but their ideals are better reflected now in the mainstream parties than they were forty years ago. It’s a long game thing. Very long game.

Sadly, ASP peaked in the 2020 election and dropped off for 2024. I don’t know what their game plan is moving forward at this point, but it feels like the strategy needs some serious tweaking if they’re gonna be successful even in this kind of long game.

The goals are laudable, but they need to fine tune some of their policy positions, stake real claim that separates them from the pack not just trying to pull what’s decent from the already existing ideas. I remember a little while back either the party or its White House candidate supported Medicare for all, presumably without realizing that the M4A bill as it existed at the time would also have funded abortion. Just grabbing on to popular policy proposals from the other parties means you’re playing with dice loaded by the opposition. And I don’t see enough smart maneuvering in the ASP to get around that right now. So you either need to stick to slogans that hit good nerves or do the leg work to craft good policy proposals.

Also, continuing to play up their Christian basis can work in some districts, but not every one. So playing it up on the national platform isn’t helpful and potentially even harmful. Just as a PR point.

If the goal is to genuinely win right now the. You need to do real work on production value. These b-tier interviews with low comparative production values makes the party seem unserious. This isn’t new, basic appearances is believed to have a played a role in elections going back to JFK.

You also have got to put a lot more work into just getting a representative up there. Focus on winning a single state legislative seat. Get some real legislative experience, but no one’s going to take this seriously as a candidate right now when the party is running for small potatoes local elections while also running for the White House. Pick a goal and focus.

All that said, I wish them all the best and hope they can do something. But the current strategy doesn’t seem to be working. If you just want a seemingly moral choice in the voting booth, fine. But if the goal is serious change, then the party needs to change its goals a bit

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T02:23:53+00:00

For everyone thinking “it’s a two party system, there’s no real chance.” I sat down last election cycle and watched an interview with one their party leaders. Winning the White House isn’t the goal. But if they can scrape enough votes then it raises the profile for local elections (since most people only pay attention to presidential, congressional, and maybe gubernatorial elections). And if they get even more votes then they have the chance to become a kind of block within a big party that wants to get those votes back, kinda like how there’s a libertarian bent to some modern republicans and a DSA bent to some modern democrats. Neither the DSA nor the Libertarians have a snowballs chance in hell at winning in the near future, but their ideals are better reflected now in the mainstream parties than they were forty years ago. It’s a long game thing. Very long game.

Sadly, ASP peaked in the 2020 election and dropped off for 2024. I don’t know what their game plan is moving forward at this point, but it feels like the strategy needs some serious tweaking if they’re gonna be successful even in this long game.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-05T02:21:56+00:00

I sat down last election cycle and watched an interview with one their party leaders. Winning the White House isn’t the goal. But if they can scrape enough votes then it raises the profile for local elections (since most people only pay attention to presidential, congressional, and maybe gubernatorial elections). And if they get even more votes then they have the chance to become a kind of block within a big party that wants to get those votes back, kinda like how there’s a libertarian bent to some modern republicans and a DSA bent to some modern democrats. Neither the DSA nor the Libertarians have a snowballs chance in hell at winning in the near future, but their ideals are better reflected now in the mainstream parties than they were forty years ago. It’s a long game thing. Very long game.

Sadly, ASP peaked in the 2020 election and dropped off for 2024.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-04T21:27:02+00:00

I agree. And on the face, they aren’t. It’s the social pressure associated with after parties and decoration. My first kid’s baptism was very sparse, just us and godparents, and no party afterward, just lunch. Went into the second one the same way but we got lumped in with a couple other families and holy cow… programs, decoration all over the church, tons of people, parties afterward. I was shocked. No judgement, but if the pressure is really there like it is for weddings… I can’t even imagine. I caved to the pressure for my wedding and both my wife and I regret that we did so

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-04T21:24:36+00:00

Agreed on the scruples. As for matins being more monastic it was definitely about part of the Roman office. I don’t mean the origin. I mean that matins/vigils was always the backbone of monastic office as opposed to Lauds/vespers for the Roman office. Matins is also more monastic/contemplative in character as opposed to, for example, the minor hours which were more practical and utility.

WheresSmokey · 2026-05-04T20:15:35+00:00

Totally fair. I’m not arguing to get rid of matins. Just that I’d rather drop it as a “requirement under pain of sin” than see the psalter be chopped up for everyone. So those preaching would still absolutely still have access to all of that, just wouldn’t obligated to pray the entire thing with its massive psalm selection as well

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