Left Coast Sports Babe

San Francisco Giants today were 1-13 with RISP. And 4-25 with RISP so far on the road tri where they are 3-2.

Well, silver lining as a political SF Giants baseball fan, not looking like I’ll have a lot of distraction from the election this October.

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Meanwhile we’re down to the last four days of the France Olymipcs. Four days until Parisians get their city back. And until Americans no longer need to pretend to care about sports they only watch for a couple weeks – often only in highlights – every four years.

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Not only did Tim Walz make an A+ Dad joke about J.D. Vance and couches. But he added to his cool Dad cred with the underreported follow-up aside “See what I did there?

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And how many Americans today googled “JD Vance” and “couch?”

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Minnesota has an embarrassment of riches in the comedy dept

Amy Klobuchar is smart and funny Tina Smith is smart and funny. And there was that Senator named Al Franken.

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“Mind your own damn business” is gonna be a best seller on t-shirts.

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GOP will throw everything they can at Tim Walz. But when you have Bernie Sanders and Joe Manchin united in support of someone, that’s, to use Dark Brandon’s words, a BFD.

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Tim Walz is what J.D. Vance pretends to be.

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Trump does not seem happy. His fundraising email today. “TIM WALZ WILL BE THE WORST VICE PRESIDENT IN HISTORY!” – He got part of it right “Tim Walz will be Vice President.”

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Fox News actually trying to make big deal out of Tim Walz’s arrest for DUI 29 years ago. (He has since quit drinking alcohol.) Understand Fox & GOP now, because of his daughter Liz, is disowning Dick Cheney, who had two DUI’s. But have they forgotten George W. Bush had one too?

GOP pretends Tim Walz is “controversial” as a Governor. Uh, Walz won re-election by 52.27% to 44.61% So maybe not quite Amy Klobuchar numbers in Minnesota but these days 7.5% in anything but the bluest or reddest states is a landslide.

Heavily favored Simone Biles won her 11th Olympic medal , silver in the floor exercise. Then in a lovely moment of sportsmanship, Simone bowed on the podium with bronze medalist Jordan Chiles to gold medalist Rebeca Andrade. Gracious losing is underrated. Especially now in USA.

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Returned to US Sunday from being in England for a week and took only about 30 minutes of TV to start REALLY missing BBC Olympic coverage.

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Although in England, awful story last week of three young girls stabbed to death by 17-yr old born in Wales.

Far-right has been using social media to spread disinformation, including lies that he was a Muslim immigrant, to incite violence in the country. Sounds too sadly familiar.

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Has Donald Trump attacked all Team USA Olympic silver and bronze winners as “suckers and losers” yet?

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From NY Times “Why Josh Shapiro Would Make Such a Difference for Kamala Harris” Mark Penn

Yes, the same Mark Penn who completely FUBARed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign and didn’t even know California primary did proportional delegates and not winner take all.

Rachel Maddow and Marc Elias reminded us Monday,. Donald Trump doesn’t seem that concerned about actually winning the election in November. DonOld is trying to make sure he has election officials in place to steal the election for him.

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Not getting why RJK Jr. coming forward now with the bear cub story. Is he planning to run again in 2028 with Kristi Noem?

Sherrod Brown is taking heat from some Democrats because he is skipping the Democratic Naitonal Convention.

Sherrod is a very good Democratic Senator, none of Joe Manchin’s games. . But Ohio is now red state. and friends there say he’s only Dem who can win statewide. Heard a Trump supporter at RNC say she’d vote for him.

Have no problem with Brown’s decision. Or if he doesn’t campaign with Harris. What matters is winning in November and keeping the seat blue.

The Blake Snell SF Giants last minute experiment might have had the most bizarre results of any single season yet.

And maybe it just means Snell gets the really big bucks from the Dodgers next year, who can defer a contract and ignore a bad start.

Or is it too soon to talk about Snelll resigning with SF Giants in part due to his bromance with Patrick Bailey?

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Snell threw his no-hitter a day after Logan Webb won with a 1-0 shutout.. So SF Giants fans might be forgiven for asking “did he win?”

(and yes, Giants did win, 1-0.)

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Been in England for the first week of Olympics. Will be good to be home but damn will I miss BBC coverage. Actual sporting event focus instead of on interview and holding the best events until so late at night that most people either already know who won or went to bed or both

Just in case anyone was thinking they had an excuse for not voting this year….

Former President Jimmy Carter has told his family he’s trying to stay alive long enough so that he can vote for Kamala Harris.

George Santos was trending on Twitter.. Does he think he’s going to replace J.D. Vance?

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Listening now to Josh Shapiro, Tim Walz and Andy Beshear on top of Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Gretchen Whitmer, reminded again that Democrats have a VERY deep bench.

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Hey GOP. If you really believe Americans don’t agree with Democratic policies and goals, stop fighting and cheating so hard and let Dems win the White House, Senate and House. Then after 4 years you can see what the country thinks of the results.

You’re welcome.

Meanwhile, Has Trump decided who he is blaming for JD Vance yet?

Some people think Kamala Harris’s husband’s alleged affair during his first marriage is a BFD? While they are voting for a man who cheated on all three of his wives. Make it make sense.

Been watching BBC feed on Olympics. Even the British announcers are in awe of Simone Biles.

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Sometime we see new sports on the Olympics and think “That looks like fun.”

Watching canoe slalom in Kayaks is not one of those times.

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McCovey Chronicles line sort of sums up the SF Giants offense for most of this year. “Forever Giants Brandon Belt & Darin Ruf were at Oracle Park Wed night & Belt even sat in on hitters meeting. Fired up, offense delivered four hits, and & walk. But their timing was excellent.”

(SF Giants won 1-0 behind Logan Webb shutout.)

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Another Dark Brandon win and great news ! Russia agrees to free Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan in multi-country prisoner swap.

Has even Putin decided Trump is too unstable?

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Donald Trump Jr. says people in New York City are giving him secret thumbs up signs for his father so others can’t see.

Uh, Jr, I don’t think the thumb is the finger that New Yorkers are showing you to indicate how they feel about your dad.

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What’s next on the stupid/dementia meter? Is Trump going to try to accuse Kamala Harris of deciding to become a woman?

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SNL is on hiatus until September, but some of this summer’s insanity from the mouths of people like Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and Laura Loomer would be rejected in the writer’s room as too much of a stretch.

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If we’re discussing Presidential candidates’ origins, should we perhaps be questioning whether Donald Trump was born or hatched?

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For those of my friends/readers on Twitter,

If you just started following Tim Walz, Make sure you also follow 4 strong smart women from Minnesota.

@AmyKlobuchar

@TinaSmithMN

@LtGovFlanagan

@Morrison4MN

Amy and Tina are pretty well known, and both have underrated senses of humor.

But Lt. Governor, Peggy Flanagan MIGHT be moving up in the world & Kelly Morrison should win DropoutDean Phillips’ seat

Traveling so getting to see BBC Olympic coverage. Absolutely glorious to see coverage focused on EVENTS. Instead of nonstop interviews and commentary and little US-centric clips of performances.

And besides cheering for UK, they cheer for top performances from athletes of all nations, not just their own.

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Has Trump said which Olympic event he would have won yet?

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Not sure all the nuances of the trade deadline but gather the Dodgers picked up a handful of players whose salaries total roughly the total payroll.of the Oakland As, and deferred all their salaries unti 2050?

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NC Governor Roy Cooper declined to be vetted for VP. Had he run, per the state constituton, Mark Robinson, NC Lt. Gov, would have performed governor’s duties if Cooper were out of state campaigning. Robinson almost makes J.D Vance look reasonable.

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Senate Minority Whip John Thune on CNN defended Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments “most people understand what he was trying to say.” Oh, I think most people, especially women, understand EXACTLY what he was trying to say.

Donald Trump is trying so hard to divorce himself from Project 2025 you’d think he used to be married to it.

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Agenda 47 is Trump MAGA red lipstick on the Project 2025 pig.

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As much as big media has been in the bag for Trump, do NOT trust polls now/ Especiially positive polls.

Biden bashing no longer works. But emember, Republicans always vote. So getting Democrats and Independents complacent enough to stay home helps Donald.

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Investigation is ongoing & Secret Secret director was forced to resign, but Josh Hawley is demanding more firings NOW over shooting at Trump’s rally – “a good man is dead.” Wonder why Josh wasn’t upset over attempted killing of a VP & death of good man Brian Sicknick on Jan 6?

Aaron Rodgers, who will turn 41 on Dec 2, was apparently “visibly” upset for what he decided was a “sloppy” New York Jets practice.

Did he tell them to “get off his lawn?”

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-Congratulations to Great Britain for their gold medal in equestrian eventing competition – Laura Collett, Tom McEwen and Rosalind Canter.

Yes, that’s two WOMEN on the team. Equestrian events at the Olympics have long been gender neutral. Have Trump or MAGA attacked them yet?

Tulsi Gabbard fundraising now w/h GOP Rep. Steve Scaliise says “I left the Democrat (sic)t Party; because I could no longer associate myself with the elitist cabal…”

Democrats are an “Elitist cabal?” Uh, Dear Leader has his own planes & resorts, while Donald’s VP choice is a hedge fundmillionaire.

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Trump is going to do a “victim” interview with the FBI. Wait, aren’t ALL his interviews “victim interviews”

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Leave it to a Minnesota nice politician to come up with an adjective that really got under Trump’s skin.

If Tim Walz ends up as Kamala Harris’s VP and Amy Klobuchar ends up succeeding Schumer as Majority Leader, could be a very good thing for our country.

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Per complaints from some in Trump world that it’s too feminine to describe Donald etc as weird,

so here’s a way to describe Trump and his cult members with a distinctly male British noun:

We can call them Weird Wankers.

So have we all becoe experts in judging diving yet?

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Synchronized diving is a two-fer though.

First, most of us realize we will never have the bravery to attempt a dive off the platform. Let alone one with twists and flips.

Second, could most of us do even a synchroniied cannonball drive?

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Has anyone told Camilo Doval that it IS possible to throw a 1.2.3 inning?

Asking for a lot of exhausted SF Giants friends…

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Donald boasts about firing people firom his administration but what we really need to remind everyone, as illustrated now by his running mate JD Vance, Trump is REALLY bad at hiring people in the first place.

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Maybe part of the outrage against a beheaded Marie Antoinette from today’s GOP is that the French are again attacking their heroine. Republican attitude to Americans with food insecurity is very much “let them eat cake.”

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You know things are going well for Democrats in the United States when the biggest GOP outrage seems now directed at… the Paris Olympics opening ceremony?!

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Sme MAGA Americans who are clutching their pearls over a beheaded Marie Antoinette in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony had no problem with a noose fot VP Pence on January 6

So how long is it until at one of his rallies Trump confuses Elvis with Hannibal Lecter?

The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony, which happens tomorrow night, will be during the day in the US.

Making it part of about 10-20% of the games that will happen while many Americans, especially on the West Coast, are awake.

(and NBC will hold the marquis events for the end of primetime anyway.)

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What a difference a division makes.

Mariners are getting Randy Arozarena from the Tampa Bay Rays.

In the AL West, Seattle 53-51, is one game behind the Astros. The Rays, at 52-51 are 4th in the AL East.

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GOP may be about to find out. The only thing worse than pissing off women is pissing off women who love cats

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On top of everything else, how furious is Donald Trump that Kamala Harris is getting what he feels are HIS headlines.

The media may be all in for Donald but what they mostly want is entertainment they can package for clicks and ratings. And Velveeta Voldemort has become BORING.

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Secessionist Daniel Miller, who leads Texas Nationalist Movement, says Kamala Harris victory would ‘fuel’ his group’s goal— withdrawal of Texas from US or ‘Texit.’ If you needed another reason to vote blue. (Don’t worry, US would give amnesty to Austin, Houston & San Antonio.)

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Maybe Republicans should have repealed the 14th and 19th amendment before they launched a war on people of color and women?

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Wait, in 2020 he PROMISED.

Now Donald is returning to Minnesota for second time in 2024 Why? I’d say he wants some of that yummy State Fair fried food but the fair doesn’t start until late August.

In 2020 campaign. “I lose Minnesota, I’m never coming back”

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Usha Vance, before her husband was picked as Turmp’s running mate: “Im not raring to change anything about our lives right now, but I believe in J.D., & I really love him, & so we’ll just sort of see what happens with our life.” Sounds like Usha is smarter than her husband

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So for any MAGA or media amplifying GOP lies about President Biden violating the Hatch Act with his Oval Office speech…. Where were you at RNC convention in 2020 when Trump used White House lawn for his speech?

Remember this tweet?

@amyklobuchar

Get off our lawn.

8:26 PM · Aug 27, 2020

Meanwhile in baseball, Shohei Ohtani hit a ball 473 feet today. It was the SECOND longest home run of the day. Jorge Soler hit one 478 feet.

President Biden loves our country. Donald Trump loves himself. Period.

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Got an election to win, but meanwhile I have a mental list of pundits I change the channel on – David Axelrod, Van Jones, Katy Tur, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd…

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Just saying. If GOP really felt that Kamala Harris was going to be easy to beat in November, they’d have taken a higher road today, for at least an hour or two.

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Bakari Sellers just pointed this out. The Republican nominee for President is almost 80 years old. Is he capable if elected of serving 4 years

I don’t think “Laughing Kamala” is the insult Trump thinks it is. These are serious times and we went through hell during the worst of COVID. But laughter makes us human, and helps us survive.

Is it just possible President Biden played Trump beautifullly after the debate.?

Think about the timing. Too late to go back on his VP pick, too late to undo all the convention speeches… etc. The political rope-a-dope for our time #DopeDonald

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Amy Klobuchar. “We don’t have time to go back & look in the rear view mirror for who said what or who wrote an oped. We don’t have time for bitterness. We’ve got to unite behind this ticket with Kamala Harris at the helm & move forward

Amy. Is. Right.

Again, how cool is it that the top headline story tonight on ESPN is — about a WNBA basketball game.

(In this case, the Indiana Fever beating the Phoenix Mercury

Wondering before this year how many casual sports fans could name more than one or two WNBA teams

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If the Dark Brandon plan was to have a bad debate night so President Joe Biden would FINALLY get some media coverage for the public events he has been doing regularly, it succeeded admirably.

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If the Press had been covering President Biden’s public appearances in the last year even half as much as they’ve been covering Trump’s appearances, one bad night wouldn’t have so affected many people’s perceptions of Joe.

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Biden isn’t great at nicknames for his opponents, maybe in part because he’s too nice a man.

But “Putin’s Puppy” is impressive.

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ICYMI,

J.D Vance actually is co-sponsoring legislation in the United States to outlaw birthright citizenship.

So the venture capitalist Senator who survived being born poor and desperate in Appalachia wants to make sure other children don’t get that lucky.

Very “Christian” of him.

Four days after Hurricane Beryl hit over a million people in Texas still don’t have power. And may not have it until next week with triple digit temperatures. It’s a good thing at least we’re at the end of hurricane season… Oh wait, never mind.

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Forget the really hard questions, who else wants some reporter on camera just to ask Donald Trump what NATO stands for?

·Susan Collins is the Susan Collins of Susan Collins’s

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who makes over $60 million a year, said the league is committed to “following the litigation all the way” after an LA jury ordered the NFL to pay over $5 billion in a class action lawsuit that accused the league of violating antitrust law with their Sunday Ticket subscription service.

All the way to the Supreme Court I assume.

Wonder if they’ll offer the justics box seats etc. not like this SCOTUS has shown itself susceptible to bribes from billionaires or anything…

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Rookie Pittsburgh Pirates pitching star Paul Skenes threw seven no-hit innings today but was pulled after 99 pitches.

Trying to imagine if a manager tried to pull Bob Gibson during a no-hitter. Or more recently, Madison Bumgarner in game 7 of the World Series after 60 pitches on one day’s rest. …

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Washington Post with a headline indicating they actually get it. “Biden shows foreign policy depth in news conference with few stumbles.”

Must have been written by a night editor.

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Lawrence O’Donnell, reminding us 2024 election is not reality TV show but rather choosing the leader of the free world. “You have never seen a more masterful televised Presidential press conference on foreign policy than President Biden gave tonight. Never.”

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Thinking Lawrence O’Donnell now is the closest man many Americans will ever get to watching Walter Cronkite.

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Convicted felon Trump is fundraising selling black MAGA hat Donald said he would have worn if he were sentenced today.

Thinking Trump is UNHAPPY he didn’t get sentenced. Because he would’ve appealed, all the way to SCOTUS, but could have used sentence to get more money from his cult.

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Been writing jokes for a hobby for about 30 years. Sometimes taking advantage of low hangingi fruit. Joe Biden has been a foot in mouth gaffe machine as long as I can remember. Meanwhile the world is full of articulate idiots who can read a speech.

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CNN reports: US and Germany foiled Russian plot to assassinate CEO of arms manufacturer sending weapons to Ukraine.

Imagine if “Russia, do whatever the hell you want” was in the White House.

Nancy Pelosi today, pushing back about interpretation of her morning interview: “I don’t know what’s happened to the NY Times, but they make up news.” As always, Madam Speaker Emeritus is bad-ass.

Not that it will happen but for all the talk about age and looking young, I’d love someone to challenge Donald Trump to appear without on camera without makeup.

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Meanwhile Elon Musk wants to sue advertisers who boycott Twitter. Who’s gonna explain “capitalist free market” to him?