Just another unique day to get married with the other 327,846 couples across the country. Just another day to see Barry Lamar Bonds go 0 for 2 at the plate and watch those lovable loser Cardinals squander another winnable game.
But who is to blame? Is it ownership's tight reins on the finances? Is it management's poor distribution of said finances (I am looking at you Walter Jockety and your signing of replacement level players for more than replacement level wages like Jim Edmonds, So Taguchi, Preston Wilson, and Aaron Miles)? Is it Anthony LaRussa's highly questionable defensive lineups which only complement the utterly anemic offensive abilities of the personnel?
No.
I submit to you that a series of unconnected, but mutually disabling, events coincided in the top of the 7th inning that ultimately led to the demise of the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals on 7/7/07. At the beginning of the inning, the game was tied. By the end, the Giants were up four runs. During the first at bat (Ben Molina AB), Section 132, in blatant and criminal disregard for baseball etiquette, began begging the surrounding sections to engage in The Wave. Yes, The Wave. By the time Rich Aurilia singled Molina to 2nd, The Wave was well on its way to making it fully around the stadium and its heinous effects were clearly visible and growing.
As an avid fan at Dodger Blues articulately fantasizes: "If only the drunk idiots in the bleachers would run back and forth down the aisle stabbing themselves, maybe that could catch on, and true baseball fans could be left to watch the game in peace."
At about this time, Bruce Bochy did all he could to help the Cardinals out by having his number 8 hitter (a professional baseball player, mind you, and 2-2 in the game off Braden Looper who, beyond all logic, was still in the game) sacrifice to advance the runners and bring Mark Patrick Sweeney and his stunning 79 OPS+ to the plate. What does Anthony LaRussa Jr. do at this point? Why he brings in his favorite LOOGy and WPA (Win Probability Added) nightmare, Randy Flores. As Erik at Gas House Graphs astutely points out, "La Russa continued to show his reckless trust in former LOOGy turned pumpkin Randy Flores and it nearly cost the team the game. Flores has an average leverage index of .95, good for third overall (on the team) and yet has a -0.83 (WPA) to show for it, and even worse, a -10.79 BRAA. His strand rate is a terrible 63.3%. Why La Russa continues to call on him during crunch time is beyond me, he needs to be reduced to the swingman role or DFA'd. His continual misguided reliance with him is reminiscent of Ray King, '06."
Yes, Randy Flores has been the worst reliever based on leveraged performance in the first half, but he consistently gets called in in close and late situations against left-handed hitters. Why? Because he is, in fact, left-handed, and this miraculous happenstance is enough to convince LaRussa the he will perform better in a situation than a right-hander who has proved himself otherwise based on actual performance.
I know there are people out there that want me to put at least some of the blame on Aaron Miles and his record-breaking defensive performance of three (3) errors in one (1) inning. I cannot, however, because again as Erik points out, "Getting back to Miles, they need leave him at 2nd if at all possible. His .768 zone rating is 3rd worst out of NL shortstops with 250 more innings. He hasn't been much better at 2nd, but at least he'd be less damaging at that position." Yes folks, placing a poor second baseman at a position that sees 25% more balls hit into its zone will, in fact, damage the defensive integrity of your team. Aaron Miles has DFA written all over him. He is no better than replacement level at hitting, fielding or running and yet Walt Jockety in his infinite wisdom saw fit to give him more money than a replacement level player (Brendan Ryan anyone?). Do not be fooled people, the Cardinals have one of the worst Farm Systems in Major League Baseball. The only reason Brendan Ryan and Ryan Ludwick (and Chris Duncan last year) look good at all is because of the bench players and starters (Edmonds, Eckstein, Molina and Rolen) that the Cardinals have displayed this year. Yes, indeed, only Pujols, Duncan and the hallowed Juan Enc have positive WPA or Batting Runs Above Average on the year out of the assumed starting 8.
In summation, thanks for the loss, Section 132. I hope you got some great pictures of your Wave and can tell all your friends how you duped thousands of strangers into a cult-like ritual all for your perverse pleasure.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Another genius quoted
From a Yahoo News story yesterday about actor Tom Sizemore getting 16 months in jail:
Sizemore was convicted in 2003 of domestic violence involving his ex-girlfriend, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. He remained free pending an appeal.
In October 2004, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of a controlled substance identified as methamphetamine and was placed on probation. The probation was revoked in 2005 when Sizemore was caught using a prosthetic device during a drug test.
His probation was later reinstated, but he tested positive for drug use last year and was given another three years' probation, authorities said.
Martin Sheen, who starred on TV's "The West Wing," attended the hearing in support of Sizemore.
"I don't think prison is appropriate for anyone who is in the grip of drug and alcohol abuse," he said outside court. Even so, Sheen said Sizemore could be successful in a prison drug rehab program.
Martin Sheen, television star and drug abuse recovery expert. When I want to know answers to the human condition, I turn to Martin Sheen (not God). Yet another socialist celebrity given the pulpit of American identity by the media. How does he arrive at such illuminated conclusions? Because drug abusers are victims, not criminals, in the secular-progressive worldview. Society should pity and not condemn victims.
Why do we even bother telling children not to do drugs? The drugs will probably be legal by the time they are old enough to try them.
Sizemore was convicted in 2003 of domestic violence involving his ex-girlfriend, former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss. He remained free pending an appeal.
In October 2004, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of a controlled substance identified as methamphetamine and was placed on probation. The probation was revoked in 2005 when Sizemore was caught using a prosthetic device during a drug test.
His probation was later reinstated, but he tested positive for drug use last year and was given another three years' probation, authorities said.
Martin Sheen, who starred on TV's "The West Wing," attended the hearing in support of Sizemore.
"I don't think prison is appropriate for anyone who is in the grip of drug and alcohol abuse," he said outside court. Even so, Sheen said Sizemore could be successful in a prison drug rehab program.
Martin Sheen, television star and drug abuse recovery expert. When I want to know answers to the human condition, I turn to Martin Sheen (not God). Yet another socialist celebrity given the pulpit of American identity by the media. How does he arrive at such illuminated conclusions? Because drug abusers are victims, not criminals, in the secular-progressive worldview. Society should pity and not condemn victims.
Why do we even bother telling children not to do drugs? The drugs will probably be legal by the time they are old enough to try them.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Remembering why I detest John Edwards
For those of you who are not as actively obsessed with the future of our country, I submit to you John Edwards, savior and hero.
John Edwards likes to proclaim the existence of "Two Americas." In one section of his speech he will tell you how unfair America is and that those born poor will never be able to rise out of the cycle of poverty. Then in another section he will brag to you about how poor he was as a child and how his hard work has gotten him to where he is. He literally sees no contradiction in these two scenarios. Johnny is affectionately known as the "Breck Girl of politics" and for those of us under 40, this should demonstrate why.
His championing for the impoverished has led him to build a 28,200 square-foot home and spend $400 on hair cuts:
"The issue is back in the news because of revelations that Edwards got two $400 haircuts paid for by his campaign. (Edwards is reimbursing his campaign $800 to cover the cost of the cuts.) At the same time, we're talking about a $400 haircut, paid for by the campaign, for a candidate who champions himself as an advocate for America's poor."
While redistributing wealth and land in a pseudo-socialist manner from his mansion seems like a tall order in itself, I beg you to remember John Edwards' campaign promise to make the lame walk.
From a 2004 column by Charles Krauthammer, himself a paralytic, and worth reading in its entirety to get an "insider's" view on spinal cord research:
"This is John Edwards on Monday at a rally in Newton, Iowa: 'If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.'
In my 25 years in Washington, I have never seen a more loathsome display of demagoguery. Hope is good. False hope is bad. Deliberately, for personal gain, raising false hope in the catastrophically afflicted is despicable."
I myself do not doubt his ability to heal the lame since he has already channeled the spirits of dead children in order to win large settlements from obstetricians whose only crime was not endangering the lives of mothers through dangerous Caesarean sections:
"She speaks to you through me and I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you."
Read the whole disgusting truth of how this "son of a mill worker" gained a net worth north of $50 million by pulling up his own bootstraps.
In summation, John Edwards may be the biggest slime ball in this election cycle and that is saying something in a field boasting such masters of megalomaniacal malfeasance as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but hey, he's come so far despite the disadvantages of poverty, he might just pull it off.
John Edwards likes to proclaim the existence of "Two Americas." In one section of his speech he will tell you how unfair America is and that those born poor will never be able to rise out of the cycle of poverty. Then in another section he will brag to you about how poor he was as a child and how his hard work has gotten him to where he is. He literally sees no contradiction in these two scenarios. Johnny is affectionately known as the "Breck Girl of politics" and for those of us under 40, this should demonstrate why.
His championing for the impoverished has led him to build a 28,200 square-foot home and spend $400 on hair cuts:
"The issue is back in the news because of revelations that Edwards got two $400 haircuts paid for by his campaign. (Edwards is reimbursing his campaign $800 to cover the cost of the cuts.) At the same time, we're talking about a $400 haircut, paid for by the campaign, for a candidate who champions himself as an advocate for America's poor."
While redistributing wealth and land in a pseudo-socialist manner from his mansion seems like a tall order in itself, I beg you to remember John Edwards' campaign promise to make the lame walk.
From a 2004 column by Charles Krauthammer, himself a paralytic, and worth reading in its entirety to get an "insider's" view on spinal cord research:
"This is John Edwards on Monday at a rally in Newton, Iowa: 'If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going to walk, get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.'
In my 25 years in Washington, I have never seen a more loathsome display of demagoguery. Hope is good. False hope is bad. Deliberately, for personal gain, raising false hope in the catastrophically afflicted is despicable."
I myself do not doubt his ability to heal the lame since he has already channeled the spirits of dead children in order to win large settlements from obstetricians whose only crime was not endangering the lives of mothers through dangerous Caesarean sections:
"She speaks to you through me and I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you."
Read the whole disgusting truth of how this "son of a mill worker" gained a net worth north of $50 million by pulling up his own bootstraps.
In summation, John Edwards may be the biggest slime ball in this election cycle and that is saying something in a field boasting such masters of megalomaniacal malfeasance as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but hey, he's come so far despite the disadvantages of poverty, he might just pull it off.
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