u/lifeinprod

One thing for sure: Diffusing the Devers wave-off situation. I was surprised when Kruk said it was his finest moment, but the more I think about it... The whole incident went away pretty quickly and we've been able to enjoy Devers' rising performance the rest of the year without any lingering negativity. Of all the bad things that happened this year, that one didn't leave any "damage."

Not sure what else I can credit Tony V for but maybe:

More aggressive baserunning in the second half (a small change in tactics for JHL, but the rest might just be calling up the fast rookies which was not Tony V's decision)

Keeping Gilbert in the lineup for good vibes.

Not leaking anything to the press that would assign blame for a bad clubhouse environment to anyone but himself?

The other day I played JAZZ instead of JIZZ even though I would rather have gotten the I out of my rack.

Sometimes if I stumble on an unknown word by rearranging tiles on the board, but I think I'm a better player than my opponent, I'll decide not to pay the word... Both to be nice and so they won't suspect me of beating them with a word finder. (I won't do this against the players so are better than me!)

1. Your basic message was that the queer community should not use the rainbow as a symbol of pride, correct?

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2. There are closeted gay major league baseball players. What would you say to them?

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3. What's your favorite church in San Francisco?

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4. Who's a LGBTQ+ person who inspired or supported you in your career?

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5. Did someone on the Giants staff or management discourage you from doing this demonstration in 2025?

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My turn: 12 tiles left. I don't see a great play so I try to use 4 or 5 tiles so I can exactly empty the bag next play. I find a 4 tile play.

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Opponent's turn, 8 tiles ledt. They use 3.

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My turn, 5 tiles left. I use exactly 5.

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Opponent's last turn.

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Now it's my final turn, I know exactly how many points I need to win, and I have a full rack.

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Well, I lost this game but I felt like paying attention to the tile count gave me an extra chance!

Sometimes I see an opportunity, or I decide to spend time looking for a sweep when it's not my turn. So I keep a notes file on my phone with possible next moves for some games, so I don't forget when it's my turn.

NBCSBA just posted this partial clip of Estes's post game rant.

For those of you who occasionally play longer than 8 letter words, do you plan them ahead of time (you play a word that creates a specific cap that can be filled to create a large word) or are they all crimes of opportunity?

Now that I'm getting a bit better, I've noticed many of the times I've decisively lost come from leaving the 4 squares covering 3W and 3L exposed, and my opponent hits this with a high value tile on the 3L.

I suppose this is a more significant factor than in Scrabble where it's only 2L/3W, and a bingo/sweep is worth more?

1. Save S to either (1) pluralize an existing word while playing a new word or (2) play a sweep.

2. Save blank for the above or (3) U following a Q

3. Look for opportunities my opponent might not notice to extend an existing word by one letter before or after. (latest example BODED -> ABODED)

4. When a 2W or 3W is playable, consider using it immediately so it's no longer playable by my opponent.

5. Create and don't block areas on the board where sweeps can be played (unless I'm ahead by 50+ points)

6. Save Q, J and X for 2L or better

7. Don't alter my play decision just in case I draw a certain tile in the near future

8. Never swap

9. If my intuition says "there must be a sweep possible here", SLOW DOWN and really look for it, visually placing and rearranging tiles on the board to try to find it.

I'm the initiator of most of my games, and I usually constrain my first play to 4 letters because it seems impolite to open up with a 20+ point double-word-score move to a stranger in a game with a first-player advantage. Thoughts?