Flood of posts
Record rain on Friday. Phone lines are still down. Cable is out. Internet access is tenuous.
If I don't post for a day or two, now you know why!
Blogspot
I get alot of random visitors who stumble on my site by using the 'next blog' button that blogspot puts at the top of the page. I sometimes use it myself to visit some blogs that I would otherwise never notice. When I do, I can tell immediately when a blog is going to contain conservative rants. The majority of amateur right wing blogs plaster the American flag up and down the site. So many people rush headlong into a stereotype.
Mac's late game strategy
I don’t think Lloyd McClendon is the best manager in the league, nor do I think he’s the worst. I can’t really speak to his motivational skills, but he leaves much to be desired with regard to his in game strategy.
Case in point, near the end of last night’s game with the Cubs, the Cubs had runners on the corners with 1 out. The man on third base, Derek Lee, has average speed and represented the winning run. At the plate was the Cubs slow footed catcher and prime double play candidate, Michael Barrett.
What strategy did McClendon pursue? He brought the infield in and pitched to Barrett. The result being that Barrett hit a 1 hopper right at Wigginton, who started an inning ending 5-4-3 double play. So why am I complaining? Because despite the result, Big Mac played it all wrong!
In this situation, a manager really has 1 decision to make. That is, he must decide which of the following is the best way to get out of the inning without the runner on third scoring:
A. Take your chances that the current batter hits into a double play or produces an out that does not allow the runner on third to score (pop up, strike out, line drive out.)
B. Intentionally walk the current batter and take your chances that the next hitter will hit into a double play or produce an out that does not allow the runner on third to score.
That’s it. That’s all Mac had to wrap his brain around. Granted, the decision depends on who the batter is, who is on deck, and who is pitching.
So where did Mac go wrong? He chose decision A, then executed the strategy called for by decision B! Why are the 2 strategies inconsistent? Because by bringing the entire infield in, you are conceding that your #1 priority is to cut off the runner at the plate. But if you are committed to coming home on a ground ball, then you should walk the hitter, setting up a force play at the plate. Instead, Mac greatly reduced the Pirates chances of turning a double play while failing to maximize their chances of successfully getting the runner at third base.
As it happened, the Pirates were fortunate that Barrett hit a good DP ball to 3rd base, and then doubly fortunate that Wigginton had the good sense to try for a double play.
Sean Burnett...we hardly knew ya
According to the Pirates official website, Sean Burnett has a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Anyone who has followed baseball over the past ten years knows that the treatment for this injury is "Tommy John" surgery, where they use a ligament from another part of the body to replace the torn or damaged UCL.
I've said it many times...the attrition rate on young pitchers is much too high. Teams with limited resources cannot afford to build with pitching. For teams like the Pirates, the window of opportunity is much too narrow. They can't afford to have any bumps along the road to rebuilding, since all the pieces must come together at the same time. This hasn't been the first Pirate pitcher to go down just as he was ready to establish himself (Benson, Williams) and it won't be the last.
Let's just hope we see a healthy and successful Burnett show up in town sometime in the second half of the 2006 season.
Frank Brooks?
If you are friend or family to Frank Brooks you may want to pay special attention to tonight's game. It quite possibly could be his first and last major league start. It's not that I don't think he has a major league future. I just think it's going to be in the bullpen. Anyway, he's pitched great in his 10 innings so far, so why not give him a start.
Time mag weighs in
Hmmm, maybe the odds are better than 50/50 that the docs are real. According to this Time excerpt:
So far, forensic and typewriter experts consulted by TIME and other major media organizations have not reached a consensus on the authenticity of the memos. Some insist it would have been nearly impossible for a 1970s-era typewriter to produce the memos because of the letter spacing in the documents and the use of a raised and compact th symbol. But Bill Glennon, a technology consultant in New York City who worked for IBM repairing typewriters from 1973 to 1985, says those experts “are full of crap. They just don’t know.” Glennon says there were IBM machines capable of producing the spacing, and a customized key — the likes of which he says were not unusual — could have created the superscript th.
CBS Documents
Having looked at the evidence, I think it's even-money that the documents CBS went to air with about Bush's service in the National Guard are forgeries. If that's the case, then why hasn't the White House said a word to denounce them?
It's simple...they can't denounce them because the underlying story IS TRUE, and they'd have egg on their faces if more evidence came out or if the documents were somehow proven to be real.
The only thing they can do is keep their traps shut and hope it all goes away as quickly as possible. Which might be what Kerry should have done with the swiftholes.
