The score could easily have doubled for both teams

The first inning served as a pretty good sampler of what this game would look like. The Royals managed a pair of weak hits off of Detroit starter Mike Fiers but ultimately couldn’t bring any runners home. In the bottom of the inning Detroit managed a hard-hit double from Leonys Martin and 4 weak-hit groundballs that led to a run when one of them turned into a single and took a one-run lead. The Royals never led in this game, though they did consistently come back to keep themselves in the contest in the first half.

Duffy ultimately pitched 4.2 innings using 101 pitches. Duffy is either the Royals best trade chip or their best hope to lead their next winning rotation, depending on your perspective. Still, he was allowed to throw 101 pitches in an obvious lost cause that saw him give up 6 runs before his line was complete.

The bullpen did not improve matters. Tim Hill was called upon to escape the jam Duffy left in the fifth inning but allowed a bunt single to load the bases and than walked home Duffy’s 2 remaining baserunners. Finally, Kevin McCarthy was tagged and managed to end the inning; he was the only reliever who didn’t see any runs scored during his watch. Blaine Boyer was given the sixth inning and allowed only a single run, a solo shot to Jacoby Jones, and lowered his ERA to 22.50.

Justin Grimm was granted the seventh inning and walked the first two batters he faced on 9 pitches. He flung his eleventh pitch past Drew Butera to send runners to second and third. Miguel Cabrera brought them both home with a single to left. Nicholas Castellanos hit a ground-rule double to left and Ned mercifully pulled the unfortunate gas can who has been masquerading as a right-handed reliever. Justin Grimm now has 9 walks in 7 innings pitched across 9 games; he has allowed 17 runs for a 21.86 ERA.

Burch Smith was asked to clean up Grimm’s mess but allowed a sacrifice fly to Victor Martinez before escaping the inning. He promptly gave up a pair of runs of his own in the eighth inning. It sure looks like the magical bullpen dust that Dayton Moore was using on all of his reliever acquisitions has worn out. Or perhaps it was stolen by Detroit GM Al Avila; the famously terrible Detroit bullpen went 3.2 scoreless innings while allowing only a single hit.

Mike Moustakas and Jorge Soler both extended their hitting streaks. Abraham Almonte got hits in his first three at-bats, today, which gave him four in a row going back to last night. Alcides Escobar had a pair of hits that raised his batting average to .197. The Royals and Tigers combined for 27 hits; the Royals stranded 19 runners while the Tigers stranded an astonishing 23. Every Tigers hitter got a hit and they collected 8 walks as a team. The Royals will try to salvage a split tomorrow when they’ll send Eric Skoglund to the mound to face off against Francisco Liriano.

It’s not every day that a felony charge against a sitting governor counts as small-potatoes political news. But compared to the alleged sexual assault and blackmail attempt that led prosecutors to charge Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) with a felony earlier this year, a second charge filed Friday over campaign finance maneuvers seems piddling.

Greitens built his campaign donor list in part by transferring a membership list from a veterans’ charity he started, his attorney acknowledged Friday. The transfer violated Missouri law, according to prosecutor Kim Gardner. The governor’s lawyer called the case “absurd,” saying Greitens had built the Mission Continues charity list from his personal network and did nothing wrong in ordering staffers there to hand it over to his campaign team.

The new, milquetoast felony charge may smooth the road for Missouri lawmakers to finally chuck Greitens out of office, as it offers a safe-for-work narrative rationale for why the governor must go.

But the real pressure on him continues to come from the allegation that he lured a hairdresser into his home, tied her up, struck her, and sexually assaulted her. Greitens took a photo of the woman during the encounter and, she says, threatened to send it to others if she told anyone what had happened. He has been charged with felony invasion of privacy over the photo, but not with any crimes of violence.

An investigation by state lawmakers found the woman’s accusations credible, and some in the legislature hope to impeach him in a special session later this year. Greitens maintains he had a consensual affair, while the investigation’s final report quotes the woman saying she felt coerced into performing oral sex on the governor.

But if the salacious and ugly sexual assault allegations haven’t pushed Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) off the public stage, the new charges filed against him Friday almost certainly won’t either.

“Now he’s being accused of stealing an email list from an organization he built?” attorney Ed Dowd said to CNN on Friday. “Give me a break.”

Greitens has sought to portray himself as a rising star in his party since well before his successful 2016 gubernatorial campaign. On paper, he fit the profile: A Rhodes scholar and Navy SEAL who ran a veterans’ charity, Greitens framed himself as a one-time liberal who’d wised up to the deficiencies of the Democratic Party.

He followed through on that zeal-of-the-convert ideological narrative once in office, signing a law pre-empting local minimum wage hikes and another seeking to gut labor unions in his state.

A couple years ago, even a carefully groomed square-jawed conservative pol like Greitens could have expected to get summarily dumped by his party over allegations of sexual assault. But the Missouri GOP has rallied to Greitens’ aid, telling the public the sex abuse case is somehow a George Soros plot and allegedly pressuring elected officials in the state to back the governor or lose access to donors.

Between that local embrace and the state of the national Republican Party — led by one man who’s on record bragging about abusing women and another who took a wishy-washy approach to the prospect of an accused pedophile being elected to the U.S. Senate — Greitens may have reason to think his career is still on track.

The losing streak is halted before it reaches double digits.

The bottom of the lineup came up in the ninth inning, and the losing streak being extended to double-digits seemed inevitable. Then, somehow, just this once, things were different for the Kansas City Royals.

THEY FINALLY WON A GAME WHEN THE OPPONENT SCORED A RUN!

The Royals beat the Tigers, 3-2, behind a ninth-inning rally that ended a nine-game losing streak. It just goes to show that even the worst of Royals teams still can’t be held down by the joy that is the Detroit Tigers bullpen.

Earlier in the day, Jason Hammel was screwed once again by a terrible offensive performance, throwing nine innings and giving up just two runs yet not getting a win. The Royals lost in extra innings after going 0-for with runners in scoring position.

Entering the ninth inning tonight, the Royals had 22 baserunners in the two games and it only produced three total runs. Then the light switch came on.

Ryan Goins, Alcides Escobar, and Abraham Almonte had three straight hits in a row. Do you have any idea how the hell rare that is? It was impossible to fathom entering the inning, and now that I’ve actually seen it happen, I’m still skeptical that it happened. Almonte’s at bat was actually really good, as he hung in there for a long battle before blooping a single right in front of the right fielder. It tied the contest, 2-2.

Right after that, Jon Jay, who was way beyond due after struggling all night, hit a slow-roller to first base, but the play was botched by Niko Goodrum. He bobbled the ball and then fired it over the head of the pitcher covering first, which allowed Escobar to fly around third and score. 3-2, Royals.

Jakob Junis was so so so good, too. In a season-high 8 innings, he allowed just four hits and two runs. He struck out four Tigers. Through four starts, his ERA is a sterling 2.03. Thanks to the offense’s big rally, he is 3-1 on the year. It’s kind of amazing that the team is 4-14 and Junis has three wins.

Something to think about: Royals starting pitchers threw 17 innings in two games today. Hammel and Junis were both spectacular, but only one of them is getting the marginal run support this offense is capable of providing.

Kelvin Herrera, because he is the team’s biggest badass, continued his electric start to the season by blowing away the Tigers in the ninth inning. He showed off 98 and 99 mph heat with ease while working around a pinch-hit single by Kelvin Herrera. It is his third save of the year in as many chances.

Here are the other scoring plays:

In the third, Jose Iglesias hit an RBI single to give Detroit a 1-0 lead. Whit Merrifield tied the contest with a homer to left in the fifth. And then in the seventh, Detroit broke the tie when JaCoby Jones hit a sacrifice fly.

The bottom of the lineup is seriously so damn bad that I don’t think words can do it justice. Paulo Orlando, Alcides Escobar, Abraham Almonte, Drew Butera, and whoever the hell else makes up the 6-7-8-9 in most of the team’s games are all hitting .209 or worse. The first five hitters are usually pretty competent, but once you get to the No. 6 spot, everything just falls apart. It was such a struggle to watch all game long. And so of course, when it mattered most, they flipped a switch and made it all count.

Another note that I can’t put elsewhere: Jorge Soler didn’t start earlier in the day because... you just have to get Abraham Almonte’s bat in the lineup, I guess. In the nightcap, he had a double and two walks. It is inexcusable for him not to be playing every single day. Whether your goal is to win now or to win later, Soler needs to be playing. Luckily, when Alex Gordon comes back next week, I’d think Almonte would be the one to get DFA’d to make room.

Salvador Perez should come back next week and give this lineup a big jolt. It’ll give Mike Moustakas some legitimate protection in the batting order, and it’ll eliminate the backup catchers from hitting, which is one of your 6-7-8-9 “black holes.” Alex Gordon will return too, which honestly might negate the backup catcher back hole clearing by inserting himself back into the lineup. But hey, reports have said that he’s “hitting the ball well” in Omaha.

Up next: the series continues tomorrow. It’s Danny Duffy’s turn to take the mound. He will oppose Mike Fiers. First pitch is at 12:10 CDT. The Royals will try to win their first series of the season, but they’ll have to win the next two games to do so. Get hyped.

This has been a labour of love for the past year or more. I remember starting it at New Years 2017, and waffling about my plans before settling into this particular pattern. Sometimes these large projects are 20% hard work and 80% a leap of faith that they are going to work out in the end! Or at least, that’s how it feels to me! I knew I didn’t want a white blanket hanging around on the couches or beds due to the dogs. The amount of dirt and dust that is tracked in gets a bit out of hand, particularly in the Spring. The hair alone is enough to send me to the Funny Farm sometimes – it’s hard to stay on top of it and sometimes, I just throw in the towel and give up trying to vacuum it at all!

The idea for this blanket came from an idea on Instagram. There’ve been an increasing number of weavers posting about their tapestry weavings, which many sell. I would love to delve into that world one day but in the meantime, I am definitely more focused on my spinning and knitting. In the end, I began making the squares and blocking them as I went, hoping that the colours would work out in the end. I love the texture of the handspun centres but the cream-white of the background that grounds it all. There are a few things I would do differently next time, which I will list below, but the overall effect is quite something. I took out several squares I had made out of some neon orange handspun that were just too bright and I added the red ones instead. Many of these yarns were from the Wool n’ Spinning Fibre Club that I had done back in the 2016-2017. It was short lived for a variety of reasons but regardless, I’m happy to have been able to showcase many of those yarns. They were all mostly spun as sport weight default yarns so they worked surprisingly well due to their similar gauge. All were 2-ply yarns.

Pattern: POP Blanket by TinCanKnits (website)

In no particular order, here are the handspun yarns:

  

Hand-dyed (by me) & carded Romney, Wool n’ Spinning 07/16 Sweater Purple battlings, Hello Yarn Rambouillet Combo Spin

  

Wool n’ Spinning 09/116 Interior Beauty, Wool n’ Spinning 10/16 Deep Blue Ice, Punis of Merino, Corriedale & Camel – support spindle spun

  

Punis of Merino, Corriedale & Sparkle, Wool n’ Spinning 12/16 Silver Fox, Wool n’ Spinning 01/17 Sailor’s Delight

There are a couple more yarns that I never added to my project pages like the red which was a club colourway in sweet rolls as she calls them from The Wooly Witch called The China Road. Also, I included a hand-carded green that was my first carded yarn that I made with my friend Diana. Overall, the colours are reminiscent of a rainbow but because I didn’t order them that way, they have a certain flow to them that creates movement and depth. I like the lighter, brighter colours, as well as the darker, moody tones. It’s a nice mix that is interesting to look at – I’ve noticed in the week that it’s been on the wall that the kids stare at it quite a bit, which is a win in my book!

I chose to add a fringe to balance the weight of the ‘stick’ (ie. branch). It also added a little bit of actual weight to the hanging to keep it straight. I haven’t trimmed it with my rotary cutter yet because I’m deciding if I like the slight unevenness or want it to look ‘cleaner’. I’ll make a decision soon but in the meantime, it’s hanging.

For securement to the branch, I looped 2 strands of yarn around the branch and tied it in the back. I’m not sure this will be enough long term or if I’ll have to reinforce it with more durable yarn or string. I’m wondering if a heavier duty rope would be better – or adding more tie points along the top. I’m wondering if it’ll eventually need 4 per square instead of 2. Time will tell. In the meantime, it’s hanging nicely and there’ve been no mishaps yet. But it’s only been a week.

Lastly, because Mother Nature does not grow her branches straight, I decided not to tie this on completely straight. I wanted a more organic feel instead. A piece of doweling would have done the trick to keep it perfectly straight but then the effect would have been significantly different. Some of the ties ended up having to be slightly longer or shorter depending on the branch. The branch itself is over 56 inches long. The finished measurements of the piece (knitted blanket itself) is 28 inches X 56 inches. It’s quite substantial and takes up the length of a 3-seat couch.

I wanted to take a picture of the couch below  the hanging but Norah had piled it high with her treasures and it looked so terribly messy. I’ll try again later …

In the meantime, thank you for reading!

(Reuters) - Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, already facing an invasion-of-privacy trial next month stemming from an extramarital affair, was charged separately on Friday with felony computer data tampering, prosecutors said.

Until late last year, actress Allison Mack was best known as Smallville’s Chloe Sullivan, not to mention a regular presence on FX’s Wilfred and any number of children’s films. Back in November, however, reports began circulating about her connection to an alleged cult leader, Keith Raniere, who was reportedly involved in sex trafficking and other heinous crimes. His group, NXIVM, presented itself as a female empowerment organization, but a New York Times exposé published last October drew attention to its abusive practices, which included sexual extortion and the branding of Raniere’s initials into the skin of members.

Mack’s involvement was revealed shortly after the Times piece, with reports alleging she was “second in command” of Nxivm. There, she reportedly oversaw a “small group of slaves” who were forced to recruit more members lest they face corporeal punishment.

Today, according the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Mack was arrested and charged with sex trafficking, sex trafficking conspiracy, and forced labor conspiracy. These are the same charges faced by Raniere, who was arrested in Mexico last month. They both face a minimum sentence of 15 years.

“As alleged in the indictment, Allison Mack recruited women to join what was purported to be a female mentorship group that was, in fact, created and led by Keith Raniere,” United States Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said in a statement. “The victims were then exploited, both sexually and for their labor, to the defendants’ benefit.”

As Buzzfeed reports, court documents reveal that Mack “made her slaves have sex and engage in sexual activity with Rainere and threatened them by saying she would release the damaging collateral that they were required to submit in order to join NXIVM.” Mack apparently “benefited financially or received another form of value from Raniere” for her services.

In a statement, FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney added, “As this pyramid scheme continues to unravel, we ask anyone who might have been a victim to reach out to us with information that may further our investigation.”

Below, watch a weird, fawning conversation between Mack and Raniere as they “explore the nature of the self and insecurity.”