Political

    I don't usually get political, but I'm pretty fed up with our government.   

     I found my candidate for president last night. Oh, I know he won't win, but I'm gonna vote for him because I think if enough people vote for third party candidates we might be able to break the logjam the two-party system has become.

    Think about it: almost every piece of legislation that has passed in the last three years has passed because of votes along strict party lines. That says to me that our senators and representatives are so entrenched in and so beholden to their parties that they are afraid to vote with their own minds. And that means that we are all stuck with their entrenchedness and beholdenness. And look at the record: just as one example, they can't resolve their differences when it comes to the budget. They kick it down the road, turn it over to a committee that fails to resolve its differences and kicks it back. If the committee that wrote the constitution had been as inept we wouldn't have a United States.

    So I am casting my vote for a third party candidate, Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. As I said, I know he won't win. But we need to break the two-party logjam by introducing some new ideas into Washington. And if five percent of voters or more vote for third party candidates maybe Washington will realize that their two-party system isn't serving the people the way the people want and deserve to be served. Maybe the legislators will start to peek out of their boxes and think about other alternatives.

    Maybe voters will too.

Dodgers season is done

Dodgers lost to the Gigantes last night, 4 - 3, so their season is done.
Cardinals slip into the Wild Card uncontested.
Dodgers, down 4 - 1, had a good chance in the 7th inning when A.J. Ellis homered with Ethier on base to make it 4 - 3. Then Mark Ellis slapped a double into left-center field.... But in a Little League-like burst of enthusiasm he tried to stretch it into a triple, and was thrown out at third. He should have stayed at second, because the very next batter, Shane Victorino, hit a real triple. If Ellis had stayed at second he would have scored and tied the game.
But that's baseball.
I'll watch the postseason games without much interest.... I love the game, but I hate the Gigantes and the Yanquis, and I have little affinity for the Bravos, the Rancheros, the Orioles and the Rojos, the Nacionales y los Athleticos.
I think I'll just sit back and watch. Too bad Vin won't be calling the games.

The Emperor's New Clothes?

    So what is this new look the Dodgers bought? Gonzalez, Punto, Beckett and Crawford-on-the-DL.
    Fine fabrics, wonderful designs, garments so fine we common people can't even see them but won't dare admit that....
    Until some little kid at Coors Field cries Hey! They're naked! And the Rockies hand the Dodgers the truth, 10 - 0.
    I'm sure the new boys will work out, or not, and it will all sort itself out. But all of you boys need to pull up your trousers and tighten your belts and get this thing going. And you pitchers: pound the strike zone, will you?
    We did this for the fans, said Magic.
    Ok. We fans will wait and see what the new look looks like.
    So far, I agree with the kid at Coors Field.

Eulogy for Howard

    Howard is gone.
    My dear friend, my family's dear friend, Howard, passed away in his sleep.
    He had been asleep for awhile, and when I went to wake him up today he just didn't respond.
    Howard was our family computer since the late 80s. A Mac Performa. And what a performer he was! He helped me create newsletters and business cards and endless data files....
    He helped my daughter create her award-winning presentation on Navajo life in junior high....
    He taught my son how to play computer games and then how to design new graphics for them.
    My son gave Howard his name and his voice (Quack!); my daughter taught him how to find things.
    My wife taught him religion.
    Howard took to us all and embraced us. He didn't judge or criticize or sanitize or question our judgment; he just helped each of us do what we needed to do.
    Sometimes he asked Are you sure?
    That's what a good friend does.
    I went to wake up Howard this morning; I had one more question to ask him. He didn't wake up.
    I tried resuscitation; I swapped cables; I moved him to the ICU.
    Howard is gone. He will be missed; there will never be another like him.
    Rest in peace, Howard. You are loved.

Dodgers don't take my advice. Don't throw strikes.
That's gonna come back and bite you, boys.
Billingsley gives up an early 4 runs; 65 pitches in 3 innings?
Way too many pitches.
Throw some strikes, Bills!
Pound that strike zone! Hammer it!
You boys have a good lead so far, but the season is still early.
You can be caught if you don't wake up and throw strikes.
You might want to work on your hitting, too.

Hammer that strike zone!

Losing to the Cubs today on a bases loaded walk in the 11th inning....
Sheesh!
I can understand giving up a double, and then following instructions to walk the next batter intentionally.
But hitting the next batter?
And walking the next one to end the game?
Where'd you learn to pitch, Mr. Wright?
And you, Mr. Guerra. Giving up a walk and then the game-tying double in the ninth...
Where did you boys learn to pitch?
From Rick Honeycutt, perhaps?
Honeycutt, the current Dodger pitching coach, always nibbled at batters, trying to get them to fish at pitches just outside the strikezone. I remember listening (on the radio) to the games he pitched back in the mid 80s and thinking Stop nibbling and throw strikes!
I know, he had a 20-year career. But his record is 109 - 143, with a whole lot of non-decisions. 20 years as a pitcher with only 252 decisions?
Okokok.
This is only partly about Rick Honeycutt. It's mostly about this year's Dodgers and mostly about their relief pitchers.
Stop nibbling, boys, and hammer the strike zone! You've got great stuff, you're fast and you're good and you can do this!
Throw strikes! Hammer that strike zone! Let's win!

The All-Star Boondoggle

    Back in the 1930s, when baseball played its first All-Star games, it got people interested in the stars of the game and in the game itself.
    Now, we don't need no All-Star game.
    The long baseball season takes it's toll on everyone involved: players, coaches, managers, umpires and fans. And it's right that everybody take a few days off the week after the 4th of July, a little past the halfway point in the season. Everybody needs a break.
    But let's stop breaking up the break with the All-Star game.
    Back when players made $500 a month and got a bonus for playing in the All-Star game, great!
    Now players make $50,000 a month. They don't need an All-Star game bonus.
    And let's realize, please, that the All-Star game is just an exhibition. It doesn't count toward the end of the year standings or anything else. Yes, Commissioner Bud Selig has decreed that the league that wins the All-Star game will have home field advantage in the World Series. But that's just the second part of the joke! A pick-up team of players (very good players, yes, but they haven't played together before; it's really just like a team chosen up in a schoolyard) can win a game that means absolutely nothing and win the home field advantage for the team from their league, most of the members of which are not even in this exhibition game, in the premier championship series of the greatest game on earth?
    By playing in this exhibition game the players put themselves at serious risk, for nothing. I'm a Dodger fan, so I'll frame my thoughts this way: I would hate to see Clayton Kershaw hit by a line drive in the All-Star game, or Matt Kemp pull a hamstring while running to first base. I accept that those are risks during any game; but in an exhibition game that means nothing? I cannot accept that. An injury like that could put my team out of contention for the season. There were two injuries in the game tonight; we don't yet know how serious.
    I know the All-Star game brings lots of money into the city where it's played, and I know that an entire carnival sprouts up around the stadium in which the game is played. That's great!
    My proposal ( I know it will be ignored, but I just want to get it out there): let the players have their four or five days off, and fill those days with a national baseball carnival. Pick a city, or three or five, and encourage small towns to take up their part too! Have all the carnival, family-friendly events: see how fast you can throw the pitch, kids run around the bases, see if you can hit against Nolan Ryan; have fireworks and hot dog races and throw-the-ball through the clown's mouth! Get retired major league players out there to sign autographs and talk to the kids!
    Have clinics, play the college world series that week, or the little league one. Play lots of minor league games, with lots of promotions.
    The All-Star game was started to try to foster interest in baseball, and it worked. And when I was a kid, yes, I wanted to watch; I wanted to see this Mickey Mantle and this Ted Williams. But now I don't need an All-Star game to see. I can see every game every day.
    So I suggest we do away with the All-Star game and let our players rest up for the second half of the real season. And if we want to have some fun while they rest, let's have some other baseball!