I Love the Cubs, but, Man, They Do Some Dumb Things

Like sign Jim Edmonds. San Diego's desperate for hitting; if they thought he could provide it, they would have kept him. Plus, his play in the outfield has been ... not good. Among those doing a better job in the field is ... Felix Pie, whaddya know! I fear that the Cubs are on their way to screwing up Pie's development as much as they have Matt Murton's (well, not so much development as screwing around with his playing time -- after posting an OPS+ of 104 in 144 games as a 24-year-old, with average fielding, he only received 235 at-bats last year, and just 14 so far this year). Pie currently leads Edmonds in AVG/OBP/SLG, and, lest you think Edmonds playing in Petco had anything to do with it, Pie also leads him in OPS+. Admittedly, Pie's OPS+ stinks, but if you're willing to dismiss Edmond's due to small sample size (and the possibility that an injury was hampering him), shouldn't you be willing to give Pie more of a chance? In his time in the minors last year, he hit .362/.410/.563, so it doesn't seem like he has a lot to work on down there, he just needs to get used to major league pitching. Plus, the Cubs are 25-16, which is the second-best record in the majors behind the Diamondbacks (who are 25-15 heading into their game tonight). It's not like Pie is holding them back. Now, I agree that teams should always be looking for ways to improve, but it's unclear to me that dropping a developing 23-year-old from the roster in favor of a guy who turns 38 next month, whose career is in a downward spiral, and who was already a below-average player last season, is any improvement.

On to other baseball stuff ...

Random fact: in the Cubs' first twelve games, they had four different pitchers record at least one save.

Carlos Delgado's agent is insane. Or possibly in elementary school. And certainly illiterate.

The Reds batted out of order the other day -- and this isn't the first time this has happened to a Dusty Baker team. I'm really amazed that it happens at all in the majors. I mean, Little League, yeah, you expect an occasional screw-up, but the majors? C'mon.

I was surprised to see that Gagne and Isringhausen both pretty much asked to be removed from the closer role. They've both been bad, but when do you see anyone do that? After pitching a poor eighth inning today, Isringhausen's ERA is an even 8. He also has five losses, which leads the majors among relievers (Chad Qualls of the Diamondbacks has four, along with Joe Thatcher of the Padres), and is tied for second overall in the National League (there's one guy who likes Zito's performance). Gagne, on the other hand, turned around a couple days later and asked for the position back. He got it, and it worked out fine for the first game, but I don't see that lasting. I would've loved seeing Riske (pronounced like risky) as the closer, as it strikes me as a great closer name, right up there with Putz. Gagne and Isringhausen are tied for the major-league lead with five blown saves apiece (technically, Isringhausen was credited with a sixth today, but if there's no intent to let you stick around to get credit for a save, you shouldn't get credit for a blown save, either).

I picked up Brian Wilson in most of my fantasy leagues, not because he's the best closer (by any means), but because, given his team's offense, he should get plenty of save opportunities. I've been exaggerating a bit and saying that he'll get fifty saves, but, at the quarter-season mark, he's on pace for 48, so 50 is certainly possible. I have thought, in non-exaggerating terms, that as long as he stays healthy and keeps his position, he'll get 40 saves with a good shot at 45.

Joe Sheehan shares my thoughts on Bonds. Not just that some team should, from a baseball standpoint, sign him, but that he's not the defensive liability he's made out to be, nor the pr problem, nor clubhouse problem, nor whatever. Don't get me wrong, he is a defensive liability, but he wouldn't be the worst left fielder in either league. As for the clubhouse presence, most of the Bonds naysayers just assume that his entourage will come into the clubhouse with him, without noting that the Giants kept out the entourage last season, and any signing team can do the same. All the Bonds coverage irritates me for two reasons: I hate bad analysis with a burning passion; and, Bonds is being made out as the steroids scapegoat -- or if not the, then at least the primary one. Scapegoating is bad.

Jose Lopez has a higher batting average than on-base percentage (.315/.313). Hard to do. Mariano Duncan was able to do it over the Phillies portion of his 1995 season (.286/.285 in 201 PA (no walks, one HBP, one SH, three SF)) before walking five times in just 29 games with the Reds. Still, that's the only entry of 200 or more plate appearances that I know of where the batting average exceeds the on-base percentage. Lopez currently has 180 PA, and I'll be sure to (at least somewhat) keep an eye on this.

My prediction that Ryan Howard would fall short of 200 strikeouts is in desperate need of some DL time for him. Jack Cust doesn't look like he'll play enough to reach 200. Adam Dunn, while struggling at the plate, is striking out surprisingly little (for him), and is on pace for a career low for a full season. Diamondback players are striking out a lot, with Mark Reynolds second in the majors with 55 (striking out at a higher rate (albeit slightly) than Ryan Howard), Chris Young is fourth with 47, and Justin Upton is tied for tenth with 40 (all totals prior to Thursday night's game).

Unlike Ryan Howard, Alex Rodriguez has gone on the DL, which makes my prediction of him missing the ESPN fantasy predicted stats all the more likely. However, he was on pace to miss even before then, and I say that his 162-game pace will still fall short at season's end.

Zambrano and Owings each have one homer so far, on pace for the minimum of four I predicted for each. Both are behind Matt Cain, however, who has two (which is now half his career total). Perhaps Cain is coming into his own as a major league batter (in terms of being a pitcher, at least). He always struck me as a pitcher likely to put up a few homers.

I'm disappointed to see that there's no longer local broadcast coverage of Diamondbacks games. The only broadcast games are the FOX game of the week. Looks like another reason I should get satellite.

Heathen Ministers, a Robotic Squirrel, and a Redneck Mansion

A minister of the United Church of Canada believes that the church needs to get past the whole Jesus thing. She describes Jesus as a "Middle Eastern peasant with a few charismatic gifts and a great posthumous marketing team." While she believes the church should rid itself of the Bible, the Cross, and the whole of its identity, it's not very clear what she would replace it with. She appears to be a proponent of a One World Religion, which would believe everything, and, therefore, nothing. At that point, why not just bring back the Greek gods, or some such? True, she wouldn't believe in any of them, but she doesn't believe in what is supposedly her own religion now. Under the Greek system, you'd have harvest gods for your farmers, vegetartians, and all; fertility gods for couples, or, as we shouldn't judge, any group of one or more persons, or even for those who want to get it on with temple prostitutes (somehow, temple prostitution seems right up this woman's alley (note: I'm in no way saying that she'd be one, just that she'd be sympathetic with such a thing)); sea gods for seafaring folk; and all the rest. At least then, she'd be honest about her heathen ways. Or, perhaps she could strike up a friendship with the ordained Episcopalian minister who is also a Muslim.

Speaking of Christians that are also Muslim, Daniel Pipes has a roundup of some quotes from those who say Barack Obama was a Muslim as a youth in Indonesia. These aren't namesless individuals whispering it behind the scenes, nor political hacks trying to destroy his chances at being President, but actual people who knew him back then, who have been quoted on the record. Given his age at the time (this was at age four through ten, or six through ten, or some such), I wouldn't hold that he was ever a full-fledged follower of Islam. However, it's dishonest for him to deny the past as he's done, assuming the statements from those quoted are correct. Given the number of statements, I'm inclined to believe there's something to them.

Researchers at Hampshire College are trying to get Rocky the robotic squirrel to interact with real squirrels. I appreciate the references to Caddyshack and Rocky and Bullwinkle in the comments section. Incidentally, I finally saw Caddyshack for the first time earlier this year.

Michael Franc has an article that's a must-read for anyone who thinks that the Democrats are the party of the little man and the Republicans are the party of big, bad business men.

We can improve the real estate market if we make mortgages out of corn.

Orson Scott Card has a few things to say about J.K. Rowling suing the publisher of a companion book to her series.

Someone created a video of an Americentric history of war since World War II (inclusive), with the various nations represented by foodstuffs associated with them.

Ohio's Attorney General Marc Dann is corrupt, and has refused to resign (he's a democrat, naturally). It's unclear if he intends to stand by that refusal or is only delaying a resignation until such date as Ohio's governor (another dem) can appoint a successor for the remainder of his term, rather than merely until this fall's election, which will have an election for the post if the position is vacated soon enough. The Cleveland Free Times has some of the seeider details of the rampant sexual harassment in his office. The story has the state chair for the Dems defending Dann, but he has since called on him to resign, with the call also coming from the governor, four other statewide elected officials, and the Dem leadership in the state legislature.

The Top 10 Things environmentalists need to learn. I'd probably add something about an overreliance on, er, questionable science, but it's not a bad list.

There's a website devoted to truckspills.

Dwarf crime is a growing problem. Yeah, I'm a sucker for the headline.

I've always loved sand sculptures. My own abilities, however, are limited to making sculptures of piles of sand.

Propaganda posters are interesting. Here's a collection of World War I propaganda posters from several countries.

A photo of a "redneck mansion." Given the lack of cars on the lawn, I'm inclined to believe it's a set-up.

Some guy has a massive collection of Star Wars toys.

Scientists caught a seal sexually assaulting a penguin. I really don't have anything to say to that.

The Germans have made a smell-phone. As useless tech gadgets go, this is one of them.

Democrats have been using the argument that it would take ten years to get oil from ANWR in order to argue against drilling for over ten years now. Jay Leno has caught on. I've seen several estimates of less than ten years, but that doesn't change the fact that they've been using the argument for longer than the time period it would take to start retrieving oil.

Stephen King has decided to malign the armed services. Jerk.

The New York Times published an article about all those poor rich people facing foreclosure. It turns out that nearly all of them have avoided being foreclosed on, but still -- those poor, poor people.

Cindy Crawford is pontificating on the environment. They claim that Americans use 50 billion plastic water bottles each year, which produced this money quote from Crawford: “Fifty billion in America and only 50 percent are recycled. So that’s like 38 billion that aren’t recycled.” What a spokesmodel.

Chemistry's Great Failing

A discussion of Avogadro's number (or Avogadro's constant, as some fashion it) yesterday led me to look up what it was, exactly, as I was only able to recall 6.022 x 10²³. Well, I discovered that me not knowing it wasn't a big deal, as even scientists don't know it. Scientists' best expression of it seems to be:

(6.022 141 79 ± 0.000 000 30) x 10²³

When your "constant" involves a plus-or-minus sign, you have a few issues. I hereby declare this to be the great failing of chemistry. I could blame the physicists, or split blame between the groups, but I'll stick with the chemists.

Now, part of the reason they don't have an exact measurement, is because there is no stable measurement for a gram, which is something I already knew if I'd bothered to think about it. A "standardized" kilogram exists in France, which is supposed to be the basis for all metric weights worldwide, but its weight in reality fluctuates, as cleanings remove weight and contamination increases it. Still, you would think that science would be able to do better than merely getting within 30 quadrillion of the true value (a spread of 60 quadrillion).

I'll give chemists three months to get this worked out or disband their discipline.

Links to Assorted Odds and Ends

I'm surprised at how long it took the national media to latch onto the story of the Republican candidate who spoke at a birthday party for Hitler. Tony Zirkle is, well, an idiot. Thankfully, he's only a primary candidate, and reason should prevail and keep him off the November ballot. He's a candidate for the seat formerly held by Chris Chocola, who was my favorite-named member of Congress prior to his 2006 electoral defeat.

Alan Keyes will not be the Constitution Party nominee for president. Instead, the nomination falls to Chuck Baldwin. No information is given on any relationship to more famous Baldwins.

Another CBS newsman demonstrates that he's an asinine moron. He said he was glad to be kidnapped in Iraq rather than taken into custody by Americans in Afghanistan. He mentions the al-Jazeera cameraman in American custody without any apparent comprehension that the man is in American custody because he was working with one of the terror groups (I can't recall which and am too lazy to look it up), not because American troops enjoy throwing random journalists into prison (if that were the case, there would be a few more examples, don't you think?). He also said he's glad he's not being "mortarboarded" at Guantanamo Bay. No unfashionable headgear for him, just a sack over his head.

Child Protective Servies can be, well, stupid. In a move worthy of a Simpsons episode (note to any Simpsons writers reading this: you already did it, look for some other idea), CPS took custody of a boy whose father had accidentally given him a hard lemonade at Comerica Park. The father had never heard of alcoholic lemonade. A security guard noticed the boy with the bottle in his hand, had the boy sent to the ballpark physician, who had an ambulance transport him to the hospital. There, blood tests showed no alcohol. That was not enough for CPS, however, which did not return the boy to his parents for two days, nor did it release him to the custody of his aunts (one of whom is a social worker and licensed foster parent). Along the way, each person said that it was probably an overreaction, but they were just doing their jobs. Bureaucracy in action.

Shoes are bad for you.

A nice writeup of Operation Pastorius -- the Nazis' mini-invasion of Long Island in 1942.

Some researchers claim that humans were on the verge of extinction 70,000 years ago. This dovetails nicely with other researchers claiming that the human species started to split 150,000 years ago, but folded back into itself.

Here's a list of seven abandoned wonders of the former Soviet Union.

I think I linked previously to a story about untapped oil in North Dakota and Montana. Well, here's a report from the U.S. Geological Survey.

A man tunnelling under his house in London gets in trouble with the government -- to the tune of nearly 300,000 pounds.

Some people decided to study the circulation patterns of a chain e-mail.

Another study says that China has passed the U.S. as a "carbon polluter" -- so be sure to tell all those whiny people who say that the U.S. tops the field.

I gotta admit, this is a pretty awesome Spiderman tattoo.

One internet company has apparently made e-cards for notifying people that you have an STD.

A man who was bicycling because he lost his driver's license due to too many drunk-driving arrests was killed by a drunk driver. Not quite sure what to say to that.

Scientists are somewhat baffled by an all-female fish species.

This shouldn't really surprise anyone, but Jeremiah Wright inaccurately quoted the Bible the other day. It was not a matter of saying something that wasn't there, but taking it out of context to drastically skew its meaning.