An Angels blog from Germany. Cool.

(I'm sure Sean and Rev will find his "Top-10 Angels Blogs" interesting.)

Hey, remember when the Angels bullpen used to be good? Oh boy, those were the days.

After Donnelly's outing today (BTW, am I alone in thinking that Donnelly is a strictly one-inning reliever these days?), the 'pen has an ERA of 5.25 over the past week. Without Bootcheck's four shutout innings in custodial duty on Saturday, that number goes up to 7.87. Frankie is being activated not a day too soon.

And judging by who he's just appointed prime minister, I'd say he's betting that vicious anti-Americanism and a twisted obsession with crazed dictators are just the things to unite the French people. He is correct, no doubt.

Has "Deep Throat" been exposed? With all the lies that have been circulating over the past year, I'm not inclined to believe anything until we see Woodward's notes.

UPDATE (18:00): The WaPo confirms. I guess this is the real deal. And thus one of the great mysteries of our time ends.

SUPER IMPORTANT UPDATE (21:40): Weaver signs - 40 minutes after I make a big deal about him not signing.

I'm going to break rule #1 of blogging and delete the old post, because it makes me look like an ass. If you want to know what I said, I suppose you can e-mail me.

ANOTHER UPDATE (22:10): If there's a way to bitch, I will find it! Or Joe will find it:

"...too bad he'll be helping you down the stretch run of '06, rather than '05 (which is totally the fault of Moreno/Stoneman)."

He's right, you know.

AGAIN WITH THE UPDATES... (09:50, TUESDAY): I actually mentioned this Rich Lederer post on Jered Weaver and the problems with MLB's draft system, but obviously I deleted to cover my own tracks. Now Rob weighs in on Lederer's suggestions.

For my part, I don't see how making guys like Weaver de-facto free agents helps anyone but Scott Boras. And assigning multiple teams negotiating rights with each first round draft pick would be incredibly unfair (at least as I picture it in my mind, because I have no clue how such a system could possibly be implemented). The only one of Lederer's suggestions that I find tenable is allowing teams to trade draft picks, though that wouldn't solve the "holdout problem" without other major changes, such as a NFL style bonus scale - something that seems a bit hysterical, as I don't believe the draft system is fully "broken".

Out of nowhere, Casey Kotchman has been recalled to the big club. Two thoughts:

1. I wouldn't expect the Angels to call-up Kotchman unless he's going to get at-bats. Is there something in the works involving Darin Erstad? Possibly a move back to center, or (please God) a trade?
   
   
2. How in the hell could Curtis Pride have injured himself?

The French have rejected the EU Charter today. It is apparent that they wanted to see the weapons of war rolling into their country before they surrendered, ending a 65 year run of giving up before shots were fired. Meanwhile, the EU is considering its options on how to deal with members that have not ratified the charter. In the case of France, they are considering holding votes until the French either get tired or forget how to vote "No," while a slightly more drastic option is to place German tanks on the Franco-German border.

Overall Record: 30-20 Games Ahead 0.5 Week Record: 5-2 Pace: 97-65
Record after 50 games:
2002: 29-21 2003: 24-26 2004: 30-20

Opponents: at vs. Chicago May 23-26 (2-2), vs. Kansas City May 27-29 (3-0)

Hot: Dallas McPherson, who hit three home runs in three games, including consecutive game winners (one of which was a walk-off). The offense, which scored 30 runs in three games against the Royals (over their previous 9 games they had scored 31 runs). They also scored 21 runs in an 8 inning span on Friday and Saturday. Chris Bootcheck picked up a save for pitching the last four innings of a game he entered when it was 14-1.

Not: Esteban Yan, who gave up 4 runs in a close game on Friday night, which took some pretty piss poor play by the Royals to lose the game. Brendan Donnelly allowed two inherited runners to score in tonight’s game, those being the 5th and 6th inherited runners to score on the bullpen all season (out of 49). Scot Shields almost blew the save today, giving up two runs on a three run lead. Of course, Shields and Donnelly have been great besides that.

Coming up: The Angels start a 2-week, 12-game road trip tomorrow. They play the White Sox, then the Red ones, then the Braves and the Mets. This is a pretty key trip for the team. They should have Frankie K back soon, but Vlad won’t be back until the second week of the trip, at the earliest. Also, the Big Hurt is expected to play for the White Sox (just off the DL), which could energize the team that has lost 3 in a row (including being swept by Texas in a rain-shortened series).

Opponents coming up: at Chicago May 30-June 1, at Boston June 3-June 5

Probable Starters: Washburn vs. Buehrle, Lackey vs. Garcia, Byrd vs. Contreras, Escobar vs. Wells, Colon vs. Arroyo, Washburn vs. Miller

Best headline ever.

UPDATE: Major League cojones on that one - Helling intends to make his next start.

This is one of the best reviews I have ever read, period. First of all, it is absolutely dead on the mark. Secondly, he never gives away anything that isn't already known. And finally, you can feel Card's pain in the terrible writing, especially if you have read any of Card's books (he is a terrific dialogue writer).

The face of the new White Flag!

UPDATE: Well, Angel Berroa and the Angels bats temporarily saved Yan's hide. Although, if he had not given up 4 runs, they would be going to bed winners right now instead of extra innings (of course, that assumes the Angels half inning would have remained identical).

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: I think Dallas McPherson has finally earned the nickname Run Producing DMc.

RICHARD:


That may well have been the ugliest game of baseball I've seen since... well, since the last time I saw the Royals. That club always seems to find the most creative ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Good luck to whoever gets stuck with that job.

Japanese WWII stragglers, living in the jungles of the Philippines among Islamic rebels for the past 60 years, continuing the fight in the name of Emperor Hirohito?

I bet they just loooooove America. Even more so once they hear about this.

I have to say that this movie reminded me of Ice Age. I had high hopes for it and I was disappointed when it turned out merely good. Basically, it had a story that I was only mildly interested in and minor characters that were way better than the main ones. I would recommend watching it on video.

Yeah, well, With Teeth is only, like, my third or fourth favorite album of the year. So there.*

World's Largest Brat Fest is a Madison tradition every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend. Be there or be square!

The MLB now has a blog network in place. However, they are actually requiring you to pay a monthly or yearly fee in order to blog. Do they not realize that anyone can blog for free?

With Jarrod Washburn's loss last night, he now holds the all-time record for road-to-home winning percentage differential. His road winning percentage is .657, while his home winning percentage is .473, for a differntial of .184. The next guy on the list is Gil Heredia, who played from 1991-2001 and had road and home winning percentages of .607 and .442, respectively, for a difference of .165. In 3rd is Jack Pfiester, who played from 1903-1911 and had road and home winning percentages of .684 and .559, respectively, for a difference of .125. This should be a huge Boras selling point when Wash hits the market in the offseason (the fact that he does so well away from Anaheim).

You know that some in the media will point to the absence of Vladimir Guerrero when excusing the Angels' offensive output in games like this.

But we know better.

Scientists outline the potential devastation of an earthquake along the Puente Hills fault - which runs directly under urban Los Angeles:

A similar earthquake there today could cause 3,000 to 18,000 deaths, 60,000 to 260,000 injuries and $250 billion in total damages, according to Tom Jordan, director of the SCEC and co-author of a study on the fault published in the May issue of Earthquake Spectra.

...

The Puente Hills fault largely runs in an east-west direction. On the western end, it is a couple miles underground, almost directly under USC, said Jordan.

We all knew it would take an act of God to knock the Trojans off the top of the PAC-10...

I can't think of any other league that provides high-quality, live streaming video of games - for free. Building a happy and hard-core fan base - it's that kind of stuff that will ultimately lead to success for the league and the game.

AN should make for particularly good reading tonight...

A commenter over at Crank's place points out that one of the seven Democratic signatories of the filibuster deal failed to live up to his end of the bargain by not voting for cloture on the Priscilla Owen nomination. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) abstained - the only Senator to do so.

That doesn't do much to encourage the "trust" Senator McCain spoke of yesterday.

Steve Bischeff reports that the sides are $750,000 apart. This is because Weaver and Boras have dropped their price to $6 million. Stoneman should close the deal here. He beat Boras by forcing him to drop $4 million from his initial asking price and $6 million is what they gave to Kendry Morales.

Esteban Yan, huh?

I'm going to point you to my earlier comments on Kevin Gregg, which are fully applicable here.

By the way, in case you were wondering, this series is a prime example of what happens when the effortlessly resistible force (the Angels' offense) meets the highly movable object (the Sox offense). The pitching has been good on both sides, yes. But mainly we're just seeing a lot of bad baseball.

UPDATE: Halofan's nightly anecdote sums it up nicely.

That means no surgery. Vlad says he's confident he'll be swinging in four days.

Sean reports that Gregg has been optioned to Triple A and Bootcheck has been called up. The Angels bullpen ERA this year is about 2.92...without Gregg it would be about 2.41. Without Gregg and Yan it would be 1.91. It is obvious where the weak links are and this move has been a very long time coming.

Tuesday, May 17:

I suspect we can chalk-up Santana's struggles to the jitters. He was hurt again and again on hanging sliders left fat in the zone, something I've never known him to do.

Santana is currently tossing a gem against the ChiSox, mainly on the strength of a terrific snapping slider. I can't tell if it's Ervin or Johan out there...

UPDATE: Complete game, 4-hit 5-hit shutout. Wow.

JOSH: Not to mention he is the first man to beat Jon Garland this year. Santana may just stick. If he does, expect the Angels to trade Washburn or Lackey for a bat. Wait, this is Stoneman...ok, don't expect it, but assume it is the most likely scenario for a trade.

RICHARD: Headline on ESPN.com: "Garland falls to 8-1". Yeah, because that's the big story...

What happened here? It's clear his injury is more serious than the Angels have been letting on. The question is how much more serious.

Joel Peralta up, with Chris Prieto DFA'd to clear space on the 40-man. I like the idea of giving Peralta a look, but it strikes me as odd to ditch Prieto - who was with the Angels only a week ago - to do so. Though I don't have any suggestions as to who else to move. (This is where that "trade" word comes into play.)

UPDATE: Here's what the Register had to say about Frankie this morning:

The Angels had hoped to have closer Francisco Rodriguez available Sunday, but opted instead to have him throw another bullpen session to further test his strained right forearm.

Rodriguez emerged with no problems and should be available as early as tonight or Tuesday against the visiting Chicago White Sox, Scioscia said.

I wonder what's changed since yesterday? It could be as simple as a little inflammation this morning, or it could be (God forbid) a setback of some sort.

So says Sen. Ben Nelson...

UPDATE: From what I gathered from McCain's ramblings, three nominees are as good as through (Owen and Brown included), two more are as good as dead. Not nearly good enough.

UPDATE: Every time a Democrat references the framers in the judicial filibuster debate Thomas Jefferson does a 360.

UPDATE: Everyone pays their respects to Robert Byrd, former member of the KKK. How lovely.

UPDATE: So these seven Democrats agree to allow the three nominees their party has relentlessly branded as being too "too conservative" and "out of the mainstream", while blocking two others. That's as good as an admission that their agenda has been nothing but blind obstruction, with no principled objection to any of these nominees. Now make them wear it around their fucking necks.

UPDATE: I don't know what to say about the seven Republicans who have allowed the Democrats to get away with this. It's a fucking disgrace.

UPDATE: Cpatain Ed says the Republicans have "traded their hard-won majority for de facto minority status." Damn right. Bill Frist: you're as good as dead.

Overall Record: 25-18 Games Ahead 1.5 Week Record: 4-2 Pace: 94-68
Record after 43 games:
2002: 26-17 2003: 22-21 2004: 28-15

Opponents: at Cleveland May 16-18 (2-1), at Los Angeles May 20-22 (2-1)

Hot: The pitching staff minus Kevin Gregg. Juan Rivera. Chone Figgins on the basepaths.

Not: Kevin Gregg. Vlad’s shoulder. The offense.

Coming up: Frankie K should be back this week. Washburn appears fine after a scare. Vlad is gone until a week into June. Meanwhile, the team faces the Chicago White Sox…the best team in baseball. Thankfully, the Sox are doing it on pitching and not hitting, which means the Angels actually stand a chance in the series.

Opponents coming up: vs. Chicago May 23-26, vs. Kansas City May 27-29

Probable Starters: Garland vs. Santana, Buehrle vs. Colon, Garcia vs. Washburn, Contreras vs. Lackey, Jensen vs. Byrd, Hernandez vs. Santana, Greinke vs. Colon

I can't tell you how depressing it is to have two actors vying for the office of Governor of our great state - a position presently held by yet another actor. Can we find no one who is even remotely qualified for the position?

I, for one, am hopping on the "anyone but Beatty" bandwagon after his comments regarding the state's fiscal crisis, delivered during a commencement address at (where else?) Berkeley.

Saw it this afternoon. Here are a few disjointed thoughts:

• Better than episodes I & II, but that 'aint saying much.
  
  
• I have to echo Josh's comments about the acting and Lucas' dialogue. Portions of the movie were cringe inducing (prime example: upon learning of Padme's death, Vader pulls out the most hackneyed move in the history of film. "Noooooooooooooooo!" C'mon George!).
  
  
• I was disappointed to find that Hayden Christensen continued to play the dark lord of Sith as a whiney little bitch. Though he did stretch himself as an actor and added "brooding" to his list of adjectives this time around. How very emo of him...
  
  
• The movie was about 15 minutes too long. When the only people still alive are Vader, Sidious, Obi-Wan, and Yoda (all characters in episode IV and beyond), the audience becomes well-aware of how the final battles end.

JOSH COMMENTS: I think one of the most disappointing things about how these three movies have been done is that even though it is a great overall story, the details are pretty crappy. This is especially evidenced if you have played any recent Star Wars video games (I have played Jedi Knight 2 and both Knights of the Old Republics), read any of the books (I have only read the book version of Episode 1...still way better than the movie), read any of the comic books (I have read several of the Clone Wars comics, or watched the cartoon series. Everyone seems to understand how to have characters act and develop in the Star Wars universe besides Lucas. In several instances these things can even make you question performing "light side" actions on a small scale (a la Qui-Gon Jinn) or if it is better to ignore small issues and only deal with the large ones. In other words, they have philosophized about the Force more and better than Lucas ever has or tried to. (The rest may be spoilerish...although I have tried to keep things vague). They have also had stronger evidence of a light side-dark side conflict than Anakin has. Anakin always seemed to be selfish and arrogant, but never particularly dark side until the moment he changed, which really was jarring the way it was done.

RICHARD ADDS: I think you're right about that. Throughout the movie I found myself thinking that I had seen it all, only done better elsewhere.

Oh, and the opera thing that Palpatine was watching? Total rip-off of FFX's Blitzball.

Inserting Kevin Gregg into a one-run game is the equivalent of waving a white flag. Sure enough, one pitch, one homerun. Sigh...

3-5 with 3 RBI as Rancho sneaks past Visalia, 8-6. Talk about leading with your best foot forward.

The Angels have officially hit Worst Case Scenario on offense. No one is remotely close to hitting well consistently except for Vlad (who hadn't been doing well lately, anyways), and now he is on the DL. The Angels offense has not had three regulars hitting well at the same time for a week since early April. Many of the players have not had anything that could be called a "hot streak" (warm maybe). Meanwhile, their pitching (both starting and relieving has basically been phenomenal). Of course, Escobar (the team's theoretical ace) is on the DL, Washburn (the team's ace when they won the World Series) left last night's game with a possible injury, and Frankie Rodriguez (by far the best pitcher on the team) hasn't pitched in a week. Meanwhile, the Angels are somehow 25-17, 2.5 games ahead of Texas, 8 games ahead of Oakland, and 8.5 games ahead of Seattle. This almost reminds me of the Angels last May, where they jumped out to a 29-15 record and then started collapsing under the weight of injuries. I would say this is a time to panic, but they are still in good shape somehow. It's all about bubblegum and duct tape.

I saw Episode 3 today. I have to say...pretty good. It was definitely the saddest of all the movies, but it also had a lot of little humorous things in it. Other than the fact that Lucas wrote and directed it (he is a terrible dialogue writer and can only seem to direct digital objects well), it was pretty good.

Here's a satellite image of Bakersfield's Sam Lynn Ballpark (home of the Bakersfield Blaze, California League affiliate of the Texas Rangers). What is wrong with this ballpark?


The park was built backwards. It faces west, meaning batters face the setting sun. To assuage the problem, night games begin at 7:30 and a large wall was constructed behind the outfield. Neither helps one lick.
(Highlight above for the answer.)

15-day disabled list with a separated shoulder. Curtis Pride comes up.

Oh no.

Today's Matchup: John Lackey (4-2, 4.40) vs. Brad Penny (2-2, 4.40)

So, the Angels are playing on FOX as part of their Saturday nationwide gameset. Of course, they are playing the Cubs-White Sox game here...you know, can't see them everyday on WGN. Of course, if they decided not to show Cubs-White Sox they would probably show the Brewers game (which is actually late for an afternoon timeslot) or the Yankees-Mets game.

RICHARD: No Vlad in the starting lineup.

He will start for the Quakes tomorrow - his first professional game.

An anonymous commenter says that's what's being reported on Baseball Tonight. I didn't see it, and there's no confirmation online as of yet, so it's just hearsay at this point.

UPDATE: No mention of what, if anything, is wrong with Washburn. He left after seven, but he did take the mound for the eighth before being lifted.

Rob passes along two Jered Weaver-related notes today. First being that he has signed with the Camden Riversharks of the independent Atlantic League. There he joins fellow Boras-represented draft holdout Stephen Drew.

More interestingly, Baseball America says the buzz around front offices is that both Weaver and Drew will sign rather than re-enter the draft. The reason being that refusing to accept the deals the Angels and DiamondBacks have tabled will have a negative effect the draft status of this year's crop of Boras clients. That's the first time I've seen anyone make that consideration, but it makes a whole lotta sense. Though I still say the Angel's offer is ridiculously low, and a deal doesn't get done in time.

Today's Matchup: Jarrod Washburn (2-2, 4.04) vs. Scott Erickson (1-3, 6.57)

I really think (and have thought) that interleague is the most pointless, stupid gimmick that Major League Baseball has tried to regain fan interest since the last strike. My problems stem from the same problems that the Chronicler has (link is not currently working). These essentially amount to the fact that it takes away from the All Star Game and World Series and it ruins the schedule. Before the last strike, the AL and NL operated as essentially separate leagues, with different rules and records. MLB was a blanket outfit that basically connected them for the purposes of the All-Star Game, the World Series and combined records. Interleague has begun to change that (and actually Selig has tried to change it in more ways, such as having MLB umpires instead of AL and NL umpires), and I do not think it is a good change. The other major issue is the one of scheduling. I believe that scheduling should always be unbalanced towards more games against divisional opponents. When interleague play started, they changed it to a balanced schedule so that teams in the same division would have the exact same schedule, while teams in the same league would have nearly identical schedules except for interleague games. There was also a plan to rotate which division each division played (like the NFL does, where West meets West one year, then East next, etc.), which they did not do for a few years. The reason why they did not do that is because the only games that drew significantly more attendance were the geographical rival games, and if you switched the divisions every year, they would only play every third. So at some point, they switched teams to unbalanced schedules (so teams face divisional opponents more) as well as interleague rotations except for the geographical rivals (this all happened in some order I don't remember). This has made an absolute mockery of the schedule. Now teams in the same division play each other roughly the same number of times and a lot, but they play other teams in the same league a vastly different number of times (one team in a division may play the Yankees 6 times, while another 12 or something like that) and they end up playing completely different interleague teams. All of this can severely skew the division races in such a way that a team with a significantly easier schedule can win the division. Anyways, enough ranting.

RICHARD: Wow. Walking an American League pitcher. That's got to be one of the seven deadly sins...

RICHARD: We scored 3 runs on the Figgins gapper, and that's great. But please Ron, let's never send the pitcher to score from first when there's a chance - no matter how remote - that we're going to see a play at the plate. It's just not worth the injury, or even the effort from the pitcher.

RICHARD: Jarrod Washburn home/road splits:

      ERA   BAA
HOME  8.10  .403
AWAY  2.52  .277

Odd, considering that Angel Stadium is a fairly neutral ballpark.

RICHARD: The report on Vlad is "jammed shoulder", though he's going for x-rays as we speak. It didn't look that bad when it happened, and he walked off on his own, so hopefully it's not too serious.

RICHARD: Washburn has been lifted with an injury. When it rains...

RICHARD: Coincidence?

Jeff DaVanon's OBP during Maya's hiatus: .278
Jeff DaVanon's OBP since Maya's return (March 11th): .466

RICHARD: Rivera makes it a rout with a grand-slam in the ninth. Angels take it in a walk, 9-0.

So I downloaded the newest version of Firefox (1.0.4), and now I'm having major issues with the flash and media player plugins. Hyperlinks within flash are now dead. Media player doesn't show up half the time, and the other half it cuts-out half way through whatever I happen to be listening to/watching. I'm telling you, as far as "upgrades" go, I'm not loving this one. Is anyone else experiencing anything like this, or is it on my end?

I may have picked the wrong week to ask for computer help...

UPDATE: Now I'm getting ActiveX errors left and right.

UPDATE: And no Quicktime, either.

UPDATE: Problem solved, thanks to this thread about embedded media.

I'm not sure Google Maps' world view is entirely healthy:


Read into it what you will.

The box is the most interesting DVD box I have ever seen.

REPORT: Athletes more likely to win if they are wearing red:

If winning is everything, British anthropologists have some advice: Wear red.

Their survey of four sports at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens shows competitors were more likely to win their contests if they wore red uniforms or red body armor.

"Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning," report Russell A. Hill and Robert A. Barton of the University of Durham in England. Their findings are in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.

Today's Matchup: Bartolo Colon (4-3, 2.91) vs. Jake Westbrook (1-6, 6.53)

RICHARD: Surely a sign of the coming apocalypse - Rob has some kind words for Bartolo.

I'm sure you've seen it by now, but you must read the Blogfather's smackdown of Andrew Sullivan. It's an instant blogosphere classic.

Today's Matchup: Ervin Santana (0-0, 0.00) vs. Scott Elarton (0-2, 7.47)

RICHARD: Sean has some interesting thoughts on Santana today. I think he's right in guessing that there's no way Santana displaces anyone of the five arms in the rotation at the moment, no matter how well he pitches in this audition. The only effect a strong showing may have on the Angels is an increased likelihood to trade an arm (Lackey) for a bat at the deadline, knowing they have a viable replacement in the minors.

JOSH: I actually think that if anyone is going to get traded it is Washburn. He is almost guaranteed to be gone after the season. The problem is, they can probably only trade him to a contending team, which means they will not get the immediate hitting help they appear to need. I suppose trading Lackey could bring that in from a non-contending team (someone like Mike Sweeney, if he is still doing ok, maybe), but I just don't see the Angels trading him.

JOSH: Well, looks like Santana has had a rough start. It can be as important to see how he responds to aversity as seeing if he can dominate. The rest of the game is certainly more important for him than the first inning.

RICHARD: I suspect we can chalk-up Santana's struggles to the jitters. He was hurt again and again on hanging sliders left fat in the zone, something I've never known him to do. He did at times show the nasty breaking pitch that will make him a front-line starter, but unfortunately it appears the day got the best him, and it wasn't there with any consistency.

It's hard to find the bright side of a 4 IP, 6 ER, 3 BB, 2 HR performance, but there it is.

Oh, those informed Europeans:

The dark underside of the United States has taken center stage in several films at Cannes this year, capped on Monday with a scathing attack of past and present racism in America by Danish director Lars von Trier.

"Manderlay," about a fictional Alabama plantation where people are living in 1933 as if slavery were never abolished, staggered festival-goers with a disturbing portrayal of America that fails, even today, to come to terms with its racist past.

And two paragraphs below:

Von Trier, whose fear of flying has prevented him from visiting the United States...

Meanwhile, back in reality, racism and anti-Semitism continue to be disturbingly pervasive among our enlightened European brethren. But for whatever reason, filmmakers remain uninspired on the subject.

Overall Record: 21-16 Week Record: 3-3 Pace: 92-70
Record after 37 games:
2002: 21-16 2003: 18-19 2004: 25-12

Opponents: vs. Cleveland May 9-11 (1-2), at Detroit May 13-15 (2-1)

Hot: No idea

Not: No idea.

Coming up: Frankie is apparently hurting, but not badly (only expected to miss a couple of games at most) and Ervin Santana has been called up to fill in for Escobar in the rotation.

Opponents coming up: at Cleveland May 16-18, at Los Angeles May 20-22

Probable Starters: No idea.

Here is what happened on my trip (it's a little long, so I won't be hurt if you skip it):

Wednesday: This was my plan to get to my conference: Leave for the airport around 8:20 AM, get there at 8:45 AM, fly out of Madison at 9:55 AM, reaching Chicago at 10:54 AM by United. Fly from Chicago to La Guardia is at noon CDT and get to La Guardia at 3:11 PM EDT, and then take a shuttle for about an hour to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, check in to my room, come back in time to eat dinner and watch the first talks.

Oh, but wait…my flight is cancelled. So they transfer me to a Delta flight at 9:27 AM to Cincinnati, which will then have a flight at 12:50 PM to La Guardia and actually get me there earlier (at 2:30 PM EDT). So I get into the security line at approximately 9:05 AM. Now, the airport in Madison is not large by any definition. It contains about 10 gates and rarely has more than two planes on the ground at one time. Well, that doesn’t stop the security people from being slow. At about 9:20 AM, I was almost to the end of the line and (which really only had about 30 people in it to begin with, unfortunately they only had one security terminal open) and they call my name over the loudspeaker saying that I need to be escorted to the plane so that it can leave, so I go up to the security guy that is more or less in charge of watching people put stuff in there tubs and say that my name was called and whether or not I should just go through the security ahead of some people (who were being ridiculously slow). He said that they could only do that if someone came to get me…of course, they didn’t know where the hell I was. Most airports when they see you are on a flight leaving soon will just send you through as fast as possible. So, I waited and did the security stuff as needed, and what do you know, I was “randomly” selected to be wanded. Which is actually what happened to everyone with cancelled flights (I know this because everyone in my group had their flights cancelled…although we were not traveling together, so it was all different flights). Apparently, changing your airline at the airport is a terrorism flag…but of course they don’t look to see if it was because of a cancelled flight or because you chose to. Meanwhile, a little old lady that must have been on a cancelled flight as well was wanded. Let me tell you, I am willing to take the risk that she is a terrorist just so they don’t have to waste their time and resources flagging little old ladies as potential terrorists. So, my wanding was done at about 9:30 AM, they had held the plane up, I was the last one in and we basically were on the runway once I finished buckling up.

The flight to Cincinnati was fairly peaceful. When we were flying in, I saw this enormous house on a ridge overlooking a river. The house was not the most amazing thing though…there was a fountain in front of it that was even bigger than the house. So, also on the flight was one of the people in my group and we landed at the airport at around 11:15 AM CDT. Our next flight was to leave at 12:50. So, we went to go get lunch (we were famished). When we came back, though, everyone was gone. It turns out that Cincinnati is in the Eastern Time Zone…what the hell?!?!?! Who would ever imagine Ohio as a part of the Eastern United States? Of course, airports do not really have clocks that you can check without going out of your way, but it was still our own stupidity for not checking that out. Delta was very nice about it and we got a flight out to La Guardia at 3 EDT and would reach New York at 4:50 EDT. Interestingly, another person in our group came in on the next plane from Madison and was on our flight to LGA.

We were able to make it there fine, got our luggage and called the shuttle service at 5:20 PM. I also got my first sight of New York. Let me tell you, those buildings are tall. Downtown LA has a few skyscrapers, but all of New York seemed to have 10 story buildings or taller. Chicago doesn’t even come close. I was also able to see Yankee Stadium and Ground Zero from the plane, but really not a whole lot was exciting. They said that it would take about 20 minutes. Of course, we waited outside for an hour before the shuttle came. From outside the airport, we had a good view of Shea Stadium, Flushing Meadows, and the World’s Fair UFOs (that were in Men in Black). We picked up five more people, including another one from our group and then drove through Long Island to Cold Spring Harbor.

Once at the CSH Laboratories (this is the place where Watson and Crick posited the structure of the DNA double helix that turned biology into a molecular science), I had dinner (it was 7:30 and the dining room closed at 8, so I had to hurry). They were doing a buffet with a bunch of random foods I typically don’t like (salad with dressing other than ranch, for instance), but I was able to find enough to fill my stomach. This included duck, which I had never had before. It tastes like chicken, but is a bit tougher. They also had Haagen Daz ice cream, so my belly was filled pleasantly. After dinner we went to go check out the talks, but the auditorium was basically full, so we watched the talks on the TVs outside the auditorium. Of course, it is a lot harder to pay attention like that, and none of the talks were particularly interesting to me (I am, after all, a chemist at a biology meeting…there is a reason I am chemist with an interest in biology and not actually a biologist).

The room I was to stay in was in the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception, which I thought would be interesting. They had busses running to and from it every 45 minutes, so I took the 10:15 bus and headed over there with my stuff. The bus trip took 15 minutes (we were staying several miles from the labs) and the seminary itself was eye-opening. Walking into the room, the first thing you notice is how Spartan everything is (which is not surprising, since it is a seminary). The second thing you notice is the lack of phone or alarm clock. Thankfully, I had my cell phone, which could operate as both, but it would have been for them to tell us ahead of time that we might be staying in a room without such amenities.

Thursday: Much less happened the rest of the days, so the rest is shorter. Most of the stuff in the Thursday morning talks was way over my head, but then came lunch, where I had a hamburger off the grill. The other lunch possibilities were more eclectic catered crap (I think I dislike most catered food because of that). Then the poster session where I had a poster up came, and I think that went well…except for the whole standing up for 3 hours. Then there was a Wine and Cheese party, where they were giving out free shirts, so I picked one of those up. The evening talks were again well over my head and I basically felt completely out of place at this point. I also took a shower that morning in the seminary (there was a bathroom with shower in each room), and quickly discovered that it was designed for someone of Manute Bol proportions…Yao Ming might be too thick.

Friday: This day was quite a bit less eventful. The evening session of talks was the first where I didn’t feel like everything was way over my head, and after it was done, I even asked one of the speakers a question and the next day I provided a possible insight that she wrote down and is going to look into. Go me!

Saturday: The rest of the sessions I understood reasonably well, I think that I just needed to get into the half of the seminar I was actually interested in. There was a really great talk on some people that are sequencing the genome of the cave bear (an extinct bear) so that they can then apply that knowledge to sequencing Neanderthal man. I learned from that talk that in order to reduce contamination during cave bear sequencing, you need to make sure not to employ bears to work in your lab. That night also had the lobster banquet and a party afterwards. This was the first time I have had full lobster and I have to say, I was unimpressed. It was decent lobster, but the effort it takes to get to all of it is kind of ridiculous. Give me a cleaned lobster tail anytime and I will be happy. Afterwards, at the party I met a guy who is a relative of Joe Harris who was one of the great hitters in his day. They had a live band, but there was no one in the room with the band.

Sunday: They had told us that if we were at the Seminary, the last bus leaving the place was at 9:15 AM (with one each hour before). I decided to take the 8:15 bus just to be safe. When I got outside there were a bunch of people standing there and no bus. It turns out the 7:15 bus never came and the 8:15 was dubiously not there. By the time I was outside, they had already called the Lab, but it still took 15 minutes for those busses to show up and was particularly nerve racking (especially since breakfast ends at 9). We made it back in barely enough time for food and that was basically it of the conference. I made it to the airport at about 1:30 for my 4 PM flight (that was the time the shuttle was operating). United then put me on standby for the 3 PM flight because the 4 PM flight “might be delayed”. I made it to Chicago fine at around 4:30 and had to basically wait 3 hours for my Madison flight, which was pointless to try and change since my luggage was on it. Well, it turns out that my luggage was actually on the earlier Madison flight (I found this out because I waited for all of the luggage from our flight be collected and did not find mine anywhere). It turns out it was in their luggage storage room, so it was all good.

I just read that Frankie got hurt Saturday, but it appears to be minor and he should be back by the end of the week.

According to Rob. It looks like I finally got one right.

UPDATE: Chronicles has the statistical analysis that Halofan promised was coming.

The Angels managed their best offensive output since April 23 with nine runs in a victory over Detroit. Though before we go too crazy over this bounty, I feel it should be noted that all nine were scored in the first four frames, after which point the Angels' bats were once again humbled.

Did the Angels snap out of it, or did Nate Robertson just have one of those days?

Newsweek has retracted the assertion that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet - an report that led to the death of 15 during protests in Afghanistan and caused irreparable harm to America's image in the middle east. Their "unnamed source" (supposedly a government official) is now unsure of what he saw.

Last Friday, a top Pentagon spokesman told us that a review of the probe cited in our story showed that it was never meant to look into charges of Qur'an desecration. The spokesman also said the Pentagon had investigated other desecration charges by detainees and found them "not credible." Our original source later said he couldn't be certain about reading of the alleged Qur'an incident in the report we cited, and said it might have been in other investigative documents or drafts. Top administration officials have promised to continue looking into the charges, and so will we. But we regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst.

So in the rush subvert the war effort and damage the Bush administration, Newsweek published dubious claims from an anonymous source, without any attempt to authenticate with Pentagon sources. They are now culpable in the ending of at least 15 human lives. And their only response: "regret" and "sympathy".

What media bias?

UPDATE: Goddamn I hate Andrew Sullivan.

Let's face facts: If the flushed Koran story had turned out to be accurate as reported, it would be an act of cultural and religious insensitivity, and nothing more. Cultural and religious insensitivities - or any other acts involving word "sensitivity" for that matter - do not represent torture. And while such acts are bad policy, suggesting they are, or are tantamount to, torture is ludicrous.

Sullivan's comment that such events are a "terrible gift from this administration to Osama bin Laden," just goes to show how he has completely lost perspective on this war. The idea that we should go out of way to avoid causing offense for fear that it will give bin Laden more ammunition makes little sense when you consider that this is a group that is offended by the very act of others exercising their free will. If appeasment were a valid stratigy, shouldn't we round up all our women and force them to wear burqas?

UPDATE: I'd say that this, while funny, is wishful thinking from Cox & Forkum. In all likelihood, this allegation will be accepted as an article of faith, much like the Lancet survey and the plastic Thanksgiving turkey. And in all the same quarters, too.

Have you ever struck up a nice, long conversation with someone in a doctor's waiting room (or wherever)? Things start out perfectly friendly and stimulating, but after 10-15 minutes the guy reveals that he was abducted by aliens the night before, and now the government is after him? At this point you realize the man you've been talking to is completely insane, and you think to yourself "oh, I'm sorry - I thought you were normal."

Yeah, well that's how I feel about Jim Lampley right now. (Via Crank)

David Eckstein is now 0-19 career on Fridays the 13th.

Don't believe me? Here are the boxes:

Friday, July 13, 2001
Friday, September 13, 2002
Friday, June 13, 2003
Friday, August 13, 2004
Friday, May 13, 2005

First rain delay of the season! Wooo! High-five!

UPDATE: No baseball for the second straight day. Bummer.

Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine

Andrew Lack is a dickbag.

Or

Why change Fiona? Change "pop"!

or

Better than When the Pawn...

We're boned.

"Bone spurs," they're saying. I have no idea what the prognosis would be. In the meantime, Chris Prieto gets the call-up. I can't imagine he'll see any real playing time before being sent back down when BeMo gets activated.

UPDATE: Rotoworld on Escobar:

Escobar will probably see how he feels in a week to determine if he can come back and pitch. Surgery would likely cost him a couple of months, but at least it would probably take care of his problems for good. If he tries to pitch through it, he should have his usual stuff and be effective, but there will likely be times when he's too sore to take the mound.

UPDATE: The Register says that Matranga has been optioned to AAA Salt Lake in preparation for calling Molina up before Friday's game in Detroit. But it hasn't yet shown up on any of the transaction lists.

So that means Prieto is here to stay, which makes the move all the more puzzling. Why not a pitcher? And if you really needed an outfielder, why not Curtis Pride (who's crushing the PCL at a .344/.433/.656 clip)?

It's your worst nightmare ManU fans!


We're going to rename the club "Metrostars East". The best that MLS has to offer!

We knew this was coming:

A US Senate report says two senior politicians from the UK and France were granted potentially lucrative oil allocations by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

It says British MP George Galloway and former French minister Charles Pasqua were given the right to buy oil under the UN's oil-for-food scheme.

Something to add to the list of George Galloway's defining character traits: anti-Semite, anti-American, pro-Saddam, terrorist sympathizer, and now, traitor to the crown. Oh, and he's modest to:

"I have never traded in a barrel of oil," said Mr Galloway, formerly a Labour member of parliament but re-elected as an independent MP last week after campaigning against the Iraq war.

"This is a lickspittle Republican committee, acting on the wishes of George W Bush."

My, don't we have an awfully high opinion of ourselves. It takes a special kind of egotism to convince a person that the most powerful man in the world gives a shit about his unhinged rantings.

Step two: kiss your ass goodbye.

Or you should if the discomfort Kelvim Escobar experienced in his right elbow today shelves the staff's undisputed ace:

Right-hander Kelvim Escobar said his elbow was "very sore" after giving up four runs and six hits in five innings and somehow striking out nine despite "not being even 80% of the guy I know," he said.

...

But Escobar also said his discomfort is very similar to the feeling he experienced when he had bone chips in his elbow, a condition with which he has pitched parts of three seasons. He had surgery to remove bone chips in 1997 and was sidelined for six weeks.

Escobar, whose fastball dipped from its normal 94 mph to about 89 mph Wednesday, is expected to undergo X-rays and an MRI test, and it's possible he'll go on the disabled list or be forced to skip a start. If he continues to pitch, he will use anti-inflammatory medication and get elbow treatments.

The fact that Kevin Gregg (the likely beneficiary of playing time if Kelvim lands on the DL) has been torched this season opens up something of a silver lining. One of the young arms could get a shot. Maybe Jake Woods? Dustin Moseley? Might we even see Ervin Santana?

Good luck starting an X-Box Live account with the word "Halo" anywhere near your screen name.

All I wanted to do was play a little MVP Baseball...

Five runs!? What god did we please?

Paul Byrd managed to keep runs off the board tonight, but he's still allowing far too many hits - 8 more today, 60 all told in only 45 IP. However, when you don't walk anybody and stay away from homeruns (for the most part, anyway) you're going to be able to get away with the .300+ BAA on occasion. In fact, Byrd ranks third to the bottom in BAA among qualified starters, and yet, he's managed to keep his ERA somewhat respectable:

             BAA  W/9  HR/9 ERA
-------------|----|----|----|---
Oliver Perez .315 6.08 2.43 8.03
Jamey Wright .315 4.18 1.67 5.85
Paul Byrd    .313 1.00 0.60 4.80
Aaron Sele   .310 4.54 1.01 6.31
Eric Milton  .303 1.60 2.97 6.18

As you can see, he's the only one of these guys who's anywhere near his league's ERA. All thanks to his tremendous rate stats.

Well, the Angels got their "offense" back, in time for an effective game from Paul Byrd. The offense consisted essentially of a GA 2-run home run in the first (after Vlad singled), a Josh Paul 2-run home run in the 5th (inexplicable), and an AK single with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 8th. The team just does not seem capable of stringing together multiple hits in a row right now. This makes sense as the only people that have been particularly useful on offense are Vlad (all year until the last few days), GA (who goes through hot and cold spells), Figgins (who started cold, turned scalding, and is cold again), Erstad (who started hot and is now living in Antarctica), OC (who had about a 2 week period of hotness), and Bengie Molina (who has been on the DL for about 3 weeks. This means that only 6 batters have even been hitting well for a single week, and making them all lineup for a single inning has proven next to impossible.

As the Chronicler mentions, this must be seen as temporary because the only person currently living up to their normal standards is Vlad. Is it possible for a completely healthy team underperform to a man for a whole season? Maybe for a young team, where they had a single good year and several players drop off with more time in the majors, or an old team, where everybody breaks down at once a la the 2004 Mariners, but certainly not a relatively young veteran team. It is certainly possible that the team will remain in its offensive doldrums all season, but the pitching will not be able to contain the flood of opponent runs forever. I think it is quite reasonable to expect every single player to pull themselves off of their asses and start hitting. If each player ends the season at their career averages, the Angels offense will be fantastic for the last 4 and a half months of the season. We can only hope this actually happens.

On another note, this is going to be my last post until Sunday or Monday, while I schmooze with scientists in New York. Have a great week!

So Blogger goes down for "routine maintenance" - rendering millions of alternative media sources voiceless - just as information regarding a possible presidential assassination attempt is coming to light. Hmmm...

Early results from the game of "musical shortstops" played by the Angels, BoSox, and Cards this offseason:

             BA   OBP  SLG  EQA  VORP
-------------|----|----|----|----|---
D. Eckstein  .283 .362 .345 .247 7.1 
O. Cabrera   .233 .299 .388 .248 4.5 
E. Renteria  .237 .298 .342 .228 2.3 

It looks like everyone has been left without a place to sit.

UPDATE: Joe is right, of course. If you had to take any of these guys it'd be Eckstein, hands-down. That's not to say he's been terribly productive - he just so happens to have the least ridiculous price-tag among the three:

             VORP Salary $/VORP
-------------|----|------|-----
D. Eckstein  7.1  $2.5m  $0.35m
O. Cabrera   4.5  $5.0m  $1.11m
E. Renteria  2.3  $11.0m $4.78m

They may hate us back in "old Europe", but that's ok. I'll take "new Europe" any day.

UPDATE: Here's a few pictures (and of the moving variety, too!) of Bush's speech.

I have joined the TIVO revolution. It’s been less than 24 hours, but I’ve already discovered the main weakness of the TIVO system: once you start editing out commercials on a recorded program, you’re pretty much ruined for any live television experience. I found myself trying to fast-forward through last night's game, trying to get to ninth inning, which had not yet been played.

The cable guy was completely clueless. When he left my new box worked just fine, sure, but the wires leading to my DVD and VCR were just dangling out the back of the entertainment unit. So I basically had to hook up everything myself. Good thing there was no service charge.

Tom Brady signed a 6 year contract extension with the New England Patriots over the weekend, putting him on the team through 2010. This contarct guarantees the Patriots several more Super Bowls through the end of the decade and guarantees Brady's status as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Despite making significantly less money than stat-heavy, win-light Peyton Manning, this deal is a very intelligent one for Brady, arguably the best quarterback in the game today, as well as the most important single player on 3-time Super Bowl champion Patriots. Brady certainly guarantees his team's competitiveness by keeping his cap value relatively low for several years. This, in turn, will lead to more teams that have a chance at a Super Bowl, which can lead to more success for Brady, which will lead to immortality. He is already spoken about as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, despite being in the league just 5 years and playing in only 4, and this is largely because of his unblemished playoff record. The way that he can guarantee status as the "best quarterback of all time" is to simply win 2-3 more championships over his lifetime, especially if he does it with the same team. This is why money in sports does not matter (who cares if you get $18 million vs. $10 million) to the fans...they want to see people willing to sacrifice their own gain for the gain of the team. And if you can win championships while you are at it, you will get that money back in spades simply through the fame and endorsement deals you pick up. Kudos to Tom Brady.

US forces killed 100 terrorists today in an attack near the Syrian border. Now remember, nearly all of the "insurgents" are non-Iraqi Muslims trying to impose a fundamentalist dictatorship on the democratic Iraqis. Good riddance to them all.

Overall Record: 18-13 Week Record: 4-2 Pace: 94-68
Record after 31 games:
2002: 15-16 2003: 14-17 2004: 21-10

Opponents: at Seattle May 2-4 (3-0), vs. Detroit May 6-8 (1-2)

Hot: Pitching, except for Washburn’s performance yesterday. Finley has made some big hits.

Not: Hitting. Just about all of it.

Coming up: The Angels face the Indians (who they swept in a two game series) before going back to Detroit to face the team that beat them up this weekend. The Angels have lost 4 series this season, all coming on a weekend, all being lost 1 game to 2, and all but 1 against AL Central opponents (KC, Minnesota, and Detroit). This makes the upcoming Detroit series important for their own psyche…they need to pull themselves out of their weekend doldrums against Midwest teams.

Opponents coming up: vs. Cleveland May 9-11, at Detroit May 13-15

Probable Starters: Lackey vs. Millwood, Byrd vs. Sabathia, Escobar vs. Lee, Colon vs. Bonderman, Washburn vs. Maroth, Lackey vs. Robertson.

One of the two bloggers at Pearly Gates Blog, Josh, will be traveling to New York on Wednesday. He claims that he is doing this to go to a scientific conference of some persuasion or another, but it is believed he actually wants to see some sights. This will be the farthest east he has ever traveled (Nashville, Tennessee holding the previous mark), and he is interested in seeing an ocean for the first time since January. His absence (through Sunday) will likely detain him from being able to watch Lost, which saddens him to no end. He will also miss the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise, which is not so saddening. He reports that his girlfriend will tape these for his viewing pleasure when he returns.

Today's Matchup: Mike Maroth (2-2, 4.46) vs. Jarrod Washburn (2-0, 2.72)

Kelvim Escobar won the team's Kentucky Derby pool by picking 50-1 longshot Giacomo.

RICHARD (10:15 AM PDT): This will be the last time I miss a sporting event because I am attending another sporting event. My digital video recorder arrives tomorrow.

JOSH (4:10 CDT): Well, that's embarrassing.

Today's Matchup Jeremy Bonderman (4-2, 3.92) vs. Bartolo Colon (4-2, 3.03)

Colon is looking for his 4th good start in 5 games. Meanwhile, the Angels have more or less pounded Bonderman whenever they face him (although the Tigers have done the same to Colon).

UPDATE: Dallas hit his first hr of the season in the third inning. It is also currently the only run of the game through 5.

RICHARD (9:00 PDT): Bud Black should be watching all of Bartolo's starts with a stop-watch in hand, waiting for the moment when Bart takes over 15 seconds between pitches. That's the surest sign that he's about to give it up.

JOSH (11:31 CDT): Troy Percival has picked up his first save ever against the Angels, ending their win streak at 5. Colon pitched a mostly fine game, with a comnplete game loss, giving up just two runs. Unfortunately, the Angels were only able to score on the aforementioned Dallas blast.

RICHARD (9:35 PDT): So Bart's first complete game in an Angels uniform is a loss. Who woulda thunk it?

Box

Angels, Weaver reopen negotiations

And in news from the future: "Weaver talks breakdown amidst finger-pointing":

Negotiations between the Angels and 2004 first-round pick Jered Weaver, which broke off in early March with the sides about $3 million apart, have perked up again, with Angel General Manager Bill Stoneman and Scott Boras, Weaver's agent, meeting in Angel Stadium before Friday night's game against the Detroit Tigers.

Weaver, the former Cal State Long Beach pitcher who was the 12th overall selection last year, will re-enter the June 7 draft if he doesn't agree to terms with the Angels by May 30.

I don't see any way this gets done, unless the Angels are simply playing a game of chicken and intend to cave on the 29th. They have to know that their 5 year, $5m offer is ridiculously low-balling Weaver. I can't imagine they drafted Weaver expecting to sign him at that price. So, for the most part, the ball is in the Angels' court. Boras has at least shown a willingness to move, so it's time for Stoneman and Moreno to do the same - or stop yanking our chains.

Angels: Average = bad!

Article about Steve Finley's "production" in today's Times:

Finley has only 19 hits this season but has driven in 19 runs, ranking him third on the team behind Garret Anderson (24) and Vladimir Guerrero (22) and 27th in the major leagues. Six of Finley's hits have been home runs, and he has scored 12 runs.

"We've been talking about that all week — we look at Fin, see his average and wonder how a guy could be hitting so low but be so productive," Manager Mike Scioscia said. "From runs to big hits to RBIs to home runs, every other number he has is terrific.

"That probably highlights the fact that batting average is way down the scale of how you evaluate a player."

I'm listening...

"You look at runs scored and runs knocked in. Not only has he been knocking them in, but at key moments."

Ah, they bring you up, just to knock you back down to Earth.

Today's Matchup: Wil Ledezma (1-2, 6.55) vs. Kelvim Escobar (0-1, 2.77)

The big story of this series is the return of Troy Percival to Anaheim. The Angels have some sort of a mid-inning tribute to him, which is very classy and should be appreciated by all the fans. That is also quite a bit better than what Disney would do, which would be to pretend the player never existed. Percy was easily the best closers in franchise history and is arguably one of the top 2 over the last 10 years (the other being Mariano Rivera). Like many others, I do hope that the fans get to see him pitch this weekend, although I hope it is for something other than a save situation. Also, I think he should throw out the first pitch in one of the games this weekend (I don't know if he is scheduled to or what, but it just seems appropriate).

UPDATE: Well, the Angels won a close one. Escobar pitched effectively and seems to be about a start away from his true midseason form. The Angels bats were able to provide him some runs, as well. Shields, meanwhile, allowed an inherited runner to score. That marks just the 2nd inherited runner to score on Angel relievers all season (out of about 33).

RICHARD: Here's the box.

Just a week after being benched in favor of Roy Carroll, Tim Howard gets a vote of confidence from Manchester United in the form of a four-year contract extension. Huh?

This must be the sport equivalent of battered wife syndrome.

The media's "best-kept secret" as Ace describes it. The fact that the US economy has added 3.3 million jobs over more than two years of consistent job growth is almost never reported. And, on the rare occasion it is mentioned on the evening news, it will invariably be cast it in the gloomiest light possible, with the media often finding some way to make an asinine comparison to the Great Depression.

It's hardly breaking news that the media distorts leading economic indicators to hurt Republican administrations (especially this one). But now they've got someone to call them on it. That can only be a good thing.

When questioned by Mike Wallace about his anti-democratic reforms in Russia, President Vladimir Putin quickly changed the subject to percived short-commings of the American political process:

The Russian leader then points to what he believes are drawbacks to America's own brand of democracy, including the Electoral College system. "In the United States, you first elect the electors and then they vote for the presidential candidates. In Russia, the president is elected through the direct vote of the whole population. That might be even more democratic," Putin says. "And you have other problems in your elections," he tells Wallace. "Four years ago your presidential election was decided by the court. The judicial system was brought into it. But we're not going to poke our noses into your democratic system because that's up to the American people."

Putin also believes the U.S. democratic system does not travel well and that is precisely why he was against the war in Iraq from the beginning. "Democracy cannot be exported to some other place. [Democracy] must be a product of internal domestic development in a society," says the Russian president.

He's right about one thing - the American political system is incredibly dangerous and does not export well. No one knows that better than us. That's why anyone who's paying attention to what's taking place in Iraq knows that the new Iraqi political process is nothing like ours. From the top (Presidential vs. Parliamentary) to the bottom (the US uses a single-member district plurality voting system, whereas Iraq uses proportional representation), the two systems could not be any more different.

And he's completely wrong about being unable to push democracy on another nation from the outside, because a) you absolutely can, and b) there has been a call for democracy from inside Iraq for years. The fact that most of the western world was (is) willing to ignore that call tells you a lot about our supposed allies' devotion to the democratic system and the freedom it can provide to all peoples.

UPDATE: This isn't the first time Putin has shown a questionable understanding of American democracy. And this is the man with his finger on the world's second largest nuclear arsenal. *shudder*

Yes Virginia, there is such a thing as clutch hitting? (via Rob)

I'm going to have to know what his "overwhelming evidence" is before I accept this guy's conclusion.

I've decided to take Pearly Gates to Blogger's commenting system. This way comments will no longer be deleted because we've reached Haloscan's limits and will be displayed at the bottom of each post's archive page. Also, to make the transition as seamless as possible, I've taken the liberty of importing the last few comments left with Haloscan.

Question: Which is preferable: the pop-up comment window, or the fullscreen system (used over at Rob's place)?

An LA-based Spanish-language television station has put up 75 billboards around Southern California that display the message "Los Angeles, CA", with "CA" crossed out and replaced with "Mexico" (so as to read "Los Angeles, Mexico"). The station claims it meant no harm, saying "Our intent with the ad was to instill pride in L.A.-area Hispanics and to promote a newscast - not to make a political statement."

But that's not how many have viewed the ad. It's been the catalyst for much angry ranting on local talk radio and in the Register letters page over the past few days. On Monday, anti-illegal immigration protesters scaled the billboard outside Fullerton College to place a large American flag over the word "Mexico". Fullerton's mayor, Mr. Shawn Nelson, said of the protest "If the intent of the ad was to encourage those who have come to L.A. from Mexico to keep the fires of patriotism burning, I think it's natural to expect that there will be somebody just as aggressive on the other side."


I view this not as a slap in the face, nor as wound to American pride, nor as a promotion of illegal immigration. In fact, the ad itself doesn't bother me at all. It's sort of funny, not to mention highly effective. What floors me is the stunning hypocrisy on the part of the Mexican immigrant community.

I can't help but wonder, what would the Mexican community think if the shoe was on the other foot:


Would there be cries of racism? Almost certainly.

The OC Register reports that Josh Paul bruised a thumb, leaving him day-to-day. With Bengie already on the DL and not ready to come back yeat, the Angels may end up calling superprospect Jeff Mathis. Also, Lou Merloni may be out for the season.

in Lost. This is not really spoilerish (of course if you have not seen tonight's episode and think that any information is a spoiler then don't read on), but some terrorists in waiting were playing the original Half Life (and it appeared that they were playing it in the year 2004). Now, that is a great game, and I actually did play it in 2004 (hadn't played it and wanted to before the 2nd came out), but it did seem a little old for the time. Of course, if they wanted something from the Half Life universe they basically had to use that one since the 2nd did not come out until after the plane crashed. I have to think at least one of the writers loves the game properly as they made sure to reference the crowbar. Another interesting minor aside in this episode mentioned that one of the characters was on their way to Irvine to meet someone. That makes three characters in Lost with connections to Orange County in the show (the other two connected with Tustin).

Today's Matchup: Paul Byrd (1-3, 5.29) vs. Aaron Sele 2-2, 4.71)

The Angels are on their first 3 game winning streak of the season, while Finley has not seemed to find his batting average, but has found his slugging percentage. This is also a rematch of the April 18th game between these teams where the Angels won 6-1, which was more notable as Dallas McPherson's 2005 major league debut. Of course, that was Byrd's only good start, but he has typically pitched very well against the Mariners over his career.

UPDATE: The Angels won 5-2 on another bend-but-don't-break performance by Byrd. That gives the Angels their first 3 game sweep of a series this season, as well as their first 4 game winning streak. This also completes their first round of games against AL West teams, against whom they went a collective 11-6.

Surely you jest.

Today's Matchup: John Lackey (2-1, 5.61) vs. Gil Meche (2-1, 5.27)

I am feeling mildly better today, so I may liveblog this one. As it stands, this could be Lackey's third good start in a row (it would be really nice if it was). Finley had a good night yesterday, going 2-3 with a double and a home run, which may indicate he is exiting his April doldrums. Amazingly, other than batting average, his offense has actually been pretty good. He only has 15 hits in 90 at bats, but 9 of those are for extra bases, he has 8 walks (tied for highest on the team), 10 strikeouts (tied for lowest among everyday players) and has 4 steals, only being caught once. Obviously, this means he isn't as bad as he has been and when he gets a good hit on the ball, he gets a really good hit on it. Let's hope he can go on a tear soon.

RICHARD: Figgins at DH? Oh, boy. I know it's hard to keep his bat out of the lineup at the moment (he's hitting .478/.500/.565 over the past week), but on a team with so little power from the infield, DH must be a spot that produces extra bases. Figgins cannot be an everyday option in this respect. As a stop-gap until the Angels go out and get somebody like Aubrey Huff? Fine. But the Angels aren't going anywhere with 2/3 of their lineup made up of slap hitters.

Today's Matchup: Jarrod Washburn (1-0, 3.38) vs. Ryan Franklin (1-3, 4.09)

I am not going to be live blogging again (still sick).

Liefeld is pushing 40, and despite the incalculable number of human beings he must have encountered over that span, he still doesn't know what a properly proportioned male chest looks like.

Overall Record: 14-11 Week Record: 3-3 Pace: 91-71
Record after 19 games:
2002: 11-14 2003: 11-14 2004: 15-10

Opponents: at New York April 24-26 (2-1), at Minnesota April 27-May 1 (1-2)

Hot: Figgins was 11-23 on the week with 3 steals. Bartolo Colon vs. any player not named Alex Rodriguez. The bullpen has inherited 26 baserunners on the season and only allowed 1 to score. Lackey and Washbunr both pitched well in their starts against the Yankees.

Not: Finley had one hit last week, although it was a home run. Jose Molina only had 2 hits, although one was a home run yesterday which proved the winning run. OC only had 4 hits. Yan gave up 2 runs in his only appearance. Bartolo Colon vs. Alex Rodriguez.

Coming up: Adam Kennedy is back, with Lou Merloni going on the DL. Where does this leave Figgins/DaVanon/Rivera? Well, Figgins will likely get time at DH as well as spelling the infielders, while DaVanon and Rivera will likely continue their own platoon of DH and reserve OF. This is their second series against the Mariners and their first against the Tigers.

Opponents coming up: at Seattle May 2-4, vs. Detroit May 6-8

Probable Starters: Washburn vs. Franklin, Lackey vs. Meche, Byrd vs. Sele, Escobar vs. Ledezma, Colon vs. Bonderman, Washburn vs. Maroth.

Today's Matchup: Bartolo Colon (3-2, 3.73) vs. Johan Santana (4-0, 3.55)

I am not feeling well, so I probably won't live blog this sucker. The Angels face last season's Cy Young winner for the first time this year. In other words, their offense's goal should be about 3 runs (especially after the last two games). This means that Colon has to throw up one of his stellar performances, which may he may be close to reaching that stage of the season considering most of the runs he gave up against the Yankees came on Alex Rodriguez home runs, and the Twins do not have any Alex Rodriguez'.

UPDATE: Well, the Angels won 2-1. They had 5 baserunners (2 hits, 2 walks and reached on an error), with 2 being caught stealing. Fortunately, two of the three that weren't caught stealing were home runs. Meanwhile, Colon pitched a gem, going 7.1 innings with 7 Ks, 2 hits allowed and throwing only 85 pitches. He absolutely should not have been taken out with a man on first and one out in the 8th (Shields replaced him). He had been so dominating, you need to give him a chance to finish the game. However, I do agree with the decision to remove Shields as soon as he loaded the bases that same inning, which Frankie promptly turned into a double play. The only run given up was also a solo home run, allowed by Frankie on the first at bat in the 9th. Also, Merloni, Quinlan, and Rivera started, with Merloni getting hurt in the 4th.