Baseball CrankThe Baseball Crank: Baseball, War, Politics, Law, and More!BLOG: 62908 Quick Links- June 29, 2008 Maybe when you hurt yourself moving pillows on your bed, it's a sign you're not really cut out to be a professional athlete. Price fixing does not sound like a useful solution to the hazards of maple bats. (HT). Does anyone really think Major League ballplayers are currently using cheap knockoff bats George Carlin on Kiner's Korner. And a few of his one-liners from the later stage of his career (i.e., when he wasn't high). Some of those were only funny because of Carlin's delivery, and...http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/blog_62908_quic.php BASEBALL: He Chose Poorly- June 29, 2008 I really am at my wits' end, and the Mets' management must be as well, about Jose Reyes' baserunning. I mean, first and second, two outs, down 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth with Wright up, he gets picked off second base. No reason why a guy with his wheels should be that far off second - he'll be running on the play and will score on pretty much anything. Wright then hits a solo homer to lead off the next inning instead of what might have been a 2-out 3-run shot, and the Mets lose 3-2. I...http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/baseball_he_cho.php LAWPOLITICS: Full Disclosure- June 28, 2008 The full en banc 8th Circuit Court of Appeals handed a victory Friday to GOP Gov. Mike Rounds and the people of South Dakota, lifting an injunction sought by Planned Parenthood against a South Dakota statute that mandates disclosures to women seeking abortions about the consequences of their decisions, including disclosure of the fact that an "abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." In no other area of the law is the Left so dedicated to preventing...http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/lawpolitics_ful.php POLITICSLAW: News Flash: Liberal Judging Not Popular- June 28, 2008 TIME Magazine's Massimo Calabresi thinks that Barack Obama is being savvy in "moving to the center" by announcing that he sides with the conservative bloc of the Supreme Court (and at least to some extent against his own prior positions) in supporting the individual Second Amendment right to own guns and the death penalty for child rapists. Plainly, Obama is hoping for gullible reactions like that of Jay Newton-Small, who tells us: Of course, there's little Obama would be able to do to about..http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/politicslaw_new.php WAR: The Wrong War, The Wrong Place, The Wrong Strategy- June 28, 2008 Is being stretched thin, bled dry, demoralized and defeated in the war for hearts and minds of the Muslim world by the war in Iraq a recipe for losing the war on terror Strategy Page says that for Al Qaeda, it is. Via Vodkapundit. I must say I'm a little skeptical of the statistic that only 4% of the jihadists in Iraq have been foreign, however.http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/war_the_wrong_w.php BASEBALL: Root, Root, Root For The Road Team- June 28, 2008 Tonight's day-night doubleheader was nothing if not frustratingly inconclusive, with the Mets and Yankees both getting humiliated in front of the home crowd. One lesson, clearly, is that it's not a good idea to take home runs away from Carlos Delgado; he remembers. Pedro's stuff actually looked pretty good tonight, but somehow didn't translate well. I'm one more bad outing from actually starting to worry about him rather than making excuses.http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/baseball_root_r.php BASEBALL: Things Joe Morgan Used To Know- June 27, 2008 Joe Posnanski, who's been working on a book on the 1975 Reds, notes that Joe Morgan's Luddite tendencies seem to represent a curdled cynicism left over from his playing days, when he was far more enlightened: I cannot tell you how many stories I have read where Morgan is trying to explain to some reporter why on-base percentage is the most important statistic, why slugging percentage is so telling, why it isn't important how MANY stolen bases you have but how often you are successful. Really..http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/baseball_things_1.php LAW: In Print- June 27, 2008 I get quoted by Reuters on one of my cases. It was a busy day, yesterday.http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/law_in_print.php BASEBALL: The Man- June 27, 2008 Like him or not, it's pretty clear that the revival of the previously floundering Yankees coincided almost perfectly with the return of Alex Rodriguez; the Yanks dropped to 20-25 and 7.5 games back on May 20, A-Rod's first day back from injury, and have been rebounding ever since, going 22-11. A-Rod hasn't done it alone; while he's batted .352.443.672 since his return, Giambi has hit like the 2000-2001 Giambi (.346.447.663), Damon has hit .413.464.524, and Matsui and Posada have been tearing...http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/baseball_the_ma_2.php POLITICS: "I didn't go around wielding a bunch of clout."- June 27, 2008 ...and the entire city of Chicago goes under the bus, along with the whole Illinois Democratic Party. Barack Obama never really knew you: "You will recall that for my entire political career here, I was not the the endorsed candidate of any political organization here," the Democratic presidential hopeful said at the Westin Hotel downtown. "I didn't go around wielding a bunch of clout. My reputation in Springfield was as an independent. There is no doubt I had friends and continue to have...http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2008/06/politics_i_didn.php |