When Field of Dreams turns into Field of Nightmares

Sadly, this news report and I'm sure the police report sounds like some of the ejection reports I write after baseball / softball / basketball games. Many times they include the phrase "this guy is going to get your league / school in the papers, in a way you don't want".

It's been getting worse over the past couple of years, especially in this area, which is disheartening. Some of it, I attribute to the devastating economic downturn. You could see it coming.

But a place that for some -- especially kids -- should be a sanctuary from lifes daily frustrations, has become a place where man-kicks-dog and frustrations built elsewhere (on the job, in school), boil over.

The Field of Dreams turns into a Field of Nightmares and while I don't pretend to have all the answers one thing I do know is this cannot continue.

from the Daily Herald:
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20121029/news/710299720/

After his daughter was benched at a regional match, a Lisle man threatened to kill a high school volleyball coach and rape the man’s family members, prosecutors said Monday.

John Kasik, 61, also is accused of battering Lisle High School Athletic Director Dan Dillard during a confrontation at school offices.

 Authorities said Kasik’s temper flared after his daughter was pulled from a volleyball match that her team lost on Thursday. Afterward, he followed Dillard’s vehicle, pulled up next to him and began shouting about the game, said DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin.

Dillard invited Kasik to discuss the issue at school the following day. But Kasik went home and left numerous text messages and voice mails threatening Varsity Volleyball Coach Matt Hrubesky, Berlin said. The messages continued for about five hours, from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., according to police.

“He left voice-mail messages telling the coach he’s going to rape his wife and daughter and kill him,” Berlin said.

Kasik arrived at the high school the following morning for a meeting that quickly turned hostile, according to the charges. At one point, Berlin said, Dillard tried to end the discussion but Kasik blocked the athletic director’s path out of the office and “bumped” him repeatedly.

 Kasik could face up to three years in prison if convicted of felony harassment. Berlin said the case was charged as a felony rather than a misdemeanor because it involved a death threat.

“It’s unfortunate when parents react this way and take their frustrations out on school personnel,” he said. “We will protect these people so they can do their jobs and not have to worry about these kinds of threats.”

Kasik has no prior criminal history in DuPage, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear Nov. 19 before Judge John Kinsella.

WORLD SERIES NOTES: Romo comes up with a new trick; Scutaro sums it up | Giants Extra

I have been meaning to get to the Driveline Baseball article on pitch sequences and the use of data to optimize pitch selection, but the WS ender (and I can't get enough of this one) illustrates the "old-school" way (gut feeling) of doing same.

The Hardball Times article is the basis for Kyle Boddy's work at Driveline. I highlighted some of the areas I founf most helpful. I especially liked his point about telling pitcher that rather than focusing so much on "first-pitch strike" it was more important to string more 1-2 counts than 2-1. That way a miss on the first-pitch doesn't make them press later in the count to make up for the initial miss. More 2-2's than 3-2's are pretty important as well.

This is the battlefield where the war is fought in the pitcher-batter confrontation. The count. When the count is in the pitchers favor, good things happen. Sometimes, great things.


from Mercurynews.com:
WORLD SERIES NOTES: Romo comes up with a new trick; Scutaro sums it up | Giants Extra:

Miguel Cabrera, possibly the most dangerous hitter in the game (*non-Scutaro division), was sitting on a slider. The Sergio Romo slider — of which there are different variations — is as good as it gets, and Cabrera was waiting for it. He took the first one for a called strike and swung through the third one. With a 2-2 count, Cabrera fouled off another slider.

Five in a row, in the season’s biggest moment. Romo was protecting a one-run lead in the World Series, and he was doing what he does. Slider, slider, slider, slider, slider.

Then: Fastball. Right down the middle at 89 mph.

Cabrera was stunned as Buster Posey roared past him, both arms in the air. Posey had called for the slider and Romo shook his head. In the biggest moment of his career, Romo wasn’t going to throw his best pitch. It was a ballsy moment in a season full of them.

 It’s a pitch that will be played over and over again for years to come. There’s the fastball and then there’s Romo, fists pumping, chest heaving, words screaming out of his mouth. In the background, there’s Cabrera, trying to figure out what the hell happened to that slider that he was sitting on.

“From the first pitch to the last pitch,” Cabrera said. “I was looking slider.”

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from drivelinebaseball.com
http://www.drivelinebaseball.com/2012/05/28/choosing-the-correct-pitch-sequences-data-driven-decisions/

All pitchers (and parents of pitchers):

My fellow author at The Hardball Times wrote an awesome article 2+ years ago about pitch types, and updated it in 2011. It’s pretty data-intensive:

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/updated-benchmarks-for-pitch-types/

Large-scale data mining of MLB pitches using my database as well as Harry’s work has formed the backbone of why I teach the pitches I do, and the sequencing of them. Though I don’t get too in-depth into this when I work with you guys one-on-one, I figure it’s good to get this information out there for those who are really interested.

For the younger guys, we always recommend training as a starter first, which means commanding two fastballs (four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball/sinker), a curve ball (12-6 or 1-7, preferably the former), a slider/cutter (depending on arm angle and comfort level – how we teach the cutter is basically a slider anyway), and a change-up (can just be the sinker if four-seam velo is < 80 MPH).

Reproducing the relevant chart:

Aside from splitters (not a pitch we generally teach for a variety of reasons), sliders (SL) have the best Whiff Rate, while curveballs (CU) have the best Watch Rate. Fastballs (FA) are the easiest to throw for strikes and generate a lot of foul balls, but the primary reason to throw fastballs is to set up the other pitches. Change-Ups (CH) and Sinkers (SI) have very good GB% rates.

Everything works together. It’s important to realize the role of each pitch:

-Fastballs set the hitters’ expectations for velocity, location, and allow you to easily get ahead in/back into strikeout counts (at the risk of being the easiest pitch to hit)
-Curveballs should be thrown early in counts to tough hitters to disrupt timing and late in counts (2 strikes) to weak hitters who are likely to take strike 3 (at the risk of being a pitch most brutally punished when the spot is missed)
-Sliders should almost always be thrown late in counts to strike hitters out; giving hitters an early look at your left-right breaking ball is generally a huge mistake (at the risk of being a very hard pitch to throw for reliable strikes)
-Change-Ups should be saved for the 2nd and 3rd time through the lineup for a secondary “breaking ball” to get hitters out with; can be used for GIDP situations (at the risk of being a high-contact high-average pitch)
-Sinkers/two-seam fastballs should be used against opposite-hand hitters as you would use your fastball; lean on it heavily to neutralize the platoon advantage and minimize the # of four-seam fastballs thrown to opposite-side hitters (at the risk of being a high-contact high-average pitch)
–Use sinkers/two-seam fastballs for GIDPs, though I recommend against this for pitchers not playing for elite college/select teams (how many GIDPs does the average youth team turn anyway?)

A same-handed hitter perceives a pitch thrown up-and-in to be up to 10% harder than a pitch thrown low-and-away. Watch/take rates go up the bigger the difference between pitch n and pitch n+1 become – this means you should use fastballs in to setup curveballs which setup sliders. Be economical with your pitches and don’t be afraid to experiment. While you don’t need to throw your cutter/slider for strikes reliably, you need to get into as many 1-2 or better counts as possible.

First pitch strikes are important, but the first three pitches together matter the most. The difference between 1-2 and 2-1 is incredibly huge, which is why pitchers should be able to throw all pitches for a combined strike rate of 66%+.

Hope this isn’t too much data!

End Game: Brain Trauma And The Future Of Youth Football In America | ThePostGame

One of the most frightening sports articles I have read in quite some time. The big question: "What if the risk can't be managed?"

from ThePostGame.com
End Game: Brain Trauma And The Future Of Youth Football In America | ThePostGame:

Football has a problem. The game harms the human brain. The danger is acute at the professional level, where large men smash each other for large sums of money; the hazard is less publicized, but greater still, at the high school and youth level, where an estimated 4.8 million children -- sons, nephews and little brothers, most between the ages of 6 and 13 -- batter each other's heads for fun, for the sheer giddy sake of sport.

Once upon a time, we called football-induced brain damage getting your bell rung. We treated it with smelling salts. We kept on playing, kept on loving our Friday nights. Times change. The deaths are real. The damage no longer can be ignored. We are starting -- at long last -- to get a clue. Ours is an era of enlightenment, of concussion awareness, which is another way of saying risk management. Stories like Rickerson's -- and other stories that are much, much worse -- have spurred reform. A collective effort to make football safer. We pass laws. Change the rules. Better identify and treat the victims. Lower the odds of catastrophe. We still love Friday nights. Only looming beneath the well-meaning correctives is a darker, more troubling question, one with grave implications for the sport and the children who play it, for every parent looking on from a grandstand: What if awareness isn't enough?

What if the risk can't be managed?

Rickerson's story is hardly unique. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, between 4 percent and 20 percent of college and high school football players will sustain a brain injury during the course of one season; a report cited by CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta estimates that about one in 10 high school players suffers a concussion. The Boston Globe recently reported that emergency room visits for youth sports-related traumatic brain injuries went up 62 percent from 2001 to 2009. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has labeled sports concussions "an epidemic," reported last year that roughly 122,000 youths between the ages of 10 and 19 went to emergency rooms for nonfatal brain injuries. For boys, the top cause of injury was playing football.Disturbing as they are, Chicago-area sports medicine expert Krystian Bigosinski believes current statistics may understate the problem.
"A number of studies have compared the number of concussions athletic trainers report versus anonymous self-reported studies by players," says Bigosinski, who works at the Rush University Medical Center and is a team doctor for the Chicago White Sox, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and DePaul University athletics. "It's 5-10 percent by trainers, but self-reporting by players went up to like 40-70 percent had a concussion in the past season. That means you are missing nine out of 10 concussions sometimes. Someone didn't recognize the injury, or the player didn't tell anybody. That is a huge issue."

A concussion is not a bruise. It is a temporary interruption of brain function that typically occurs when rapid acceleration causes the brain to slam against the inside of the skull, often from a violent blow to the head. It may or may not accompany a loss of consciousness. Symptoms can be physical (headaches, light sensitivity), cognitive (confusion, lack of focus) and emotional (irritability, loss of interest in favorite activities). While the exact nature of the injury is not understood -- scientists know more about deep space than the workings of the brain -- some things are clear:

(a) With rest and a gradual return to regular activity, athletes who suffer a single concussion generally experience no permanent ill effects;
(b) Some athletes suffer post-concussion syndrome, in which symptoms persist for months and years, sometimes permanently;
(c) Having one concussion significantly increases the risk of suffering another;
(d) Multiple concussions are associated with an increased risk of post-concussion syndrome, as well as developing mental health problems such as depression, memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.

Because their brains are still developing, youth football players are particularly vulnerable: According to the CDC, Ayounger persons are at increased risk for [Traumatic Brain Injuries] with increased severity and prolonged recovery." Again, multiple concussions are worse than one. Studies have found that athletes who have suffered two or more concussions experience a higher rate of mental problems -- including headaches, dizziness and memory problems -- and also are likely to suffer in the classroom. A history of concussions also is associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have suffered brain trauma, including a number of deceased football players. Symptoms include mood swings, erratic behavior and memory lapses, followed by dementia. CTE was found in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers lineman Terry Long, who slid into depression before killing himself by drinking antifreeze. The disease also was found in the brain of Owen Thomas, a 21-year-old University of Pennsylvania football captain who hanged himself, and in the brain of Nathan Stiles, a deceased 17-year-old high school football player from Kansas.A more immediate reason for alarm is second-impact syndrome, in which an athlete suffers a second concussion while still recovering from a previous one. Though the precise physiological cause is uncertain, the outcome is not: the brain swells rapidly and catastrophically, causing severe disability or death. Case in point? Jaquan Waller, a high school running back from Greenville, North Carolina, who in 2008 suffered a concussion in practice, played in a subsequent game and died after enduring a second hit. A year later, a national survey of high school trainers found that more than 40 percent of concussed athletes return to play too quickly, and that 16 percent of players who lost consciousness after being hit returned to the field the same day.

The first time Drew Rickerson heard of second-impact syndrome, he was in his neurologist's office. He thought back to the night of his concussion, the foggy conditions and the mental haze, the fact that he took nine additional snaps – snaps he could barely remember, nearly a dozen violent plays in which he somehow went untouched.

"I really dodged something," he says. "That scared the [expletive] out of me."
Protect our national pastime. Protect our children's brains. The hope is that we can do both. Biology and physics suggest otherwise. Safer does not mean safe. In locker rooms and school board meetings, quiet funerals and noisy grandstands, the future of youth football may not be matter of risk management. It may be a matter of risk acceptance. Roll the dice.

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The Cobden Centre - Money printing is the only thing keeping the system afloat

A rather sober, but coherent look at where we are and where we are going, regardless of who wins the Presidency. Whoever wins is still going to be saddled with the "mad money printer".


from the cobdencentre.org
http://www.cobdencentre.org/2012/10/money-printing-is-the-only-thing-keeping-the-system-afloat/

Posted: 15 Oct 2012 12:15 AM PDT Last Monday GoldMoney published my article showing the frightening growth in money-quantities for the US dollar. In that article I stated that the hyperbolic rate of increase, if the established trend is maintained, is now running at over $300bn monthly, while the Federal Reserve is officially expanding money at only $85bn. The first thing to note is that the Fed issues money because it deems it necessary. The hyperbolic trend increase in the quantity of money is a reflection of this necessity, implying that if the Fed's money issuance is at a slower rate than required, then strains will appear in the financial system. There are a number of reasons behind this monetary acceleration, not least the need to perpetuate bubbles in securities markets, but there are three major underlying problems. Government spending Federal government spending is accelerating, due to rapidly escalating welfare commitments, not all of which are reflected in the budget. Demographics, particularly the retirement of baby-boomers, government-sponsored healthcare, and unemployment benefits are increasing all the time; yet the tax base is contracting because of poor economic performance and tax avoidance. Furthermore, state and municipal finances are dire. Economy The US economy is overloaded with debt to the point that it no longer reacts positively to monetary stimulus, and successive government interventions have led misallocation of economic resources to accumulate towards crisis levels. The private sector is now teetering on the edge of an abyss, overloaded by both debt and government intervention. Commercial banks The banks are cautious about lending to indebted borrowers, and they have failed to adequately devalue collateral against existing loans. The result is that with no bank credit being made available to support renewed buying of assets, asset valuations are constantly on the verge of collapse. Put another way, banks have backed off from creating ever-increasing levels of debt to perpetuate the pre-crisis asset bubble. One should not take comfort in attempts to improve asset ratios. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the ratio of total assets to risk-adjusted Tier 1 level capital is currently 11.25; but this does not adequately reflect off-balance sheet activities and non-banking business such as derivatives. The inclusion of derivatives on US bank balance sheets as a net as opposed to gross exposure seriously misstates actual risk. Banks therefore face two different problems. An on-paper write-down of collateral assets of less than 9% wipes out the entire banking system, with a far lower threshold for many banks. Changes in GAAP accounting rules over asset valuations in the wake of the Lehman crisis have allowed them to hide losses, a situation that is still unresolved and suggests the banking system is already close to the edge. Furthermore, any failure in the derivative counterparty-chain threatens to trigger a collapse of the larger banks where derivative exposure is concentrated. Conclusion We are in the eye of a financial storm, for which the only solution – other than mass default – is an accelerating supply of money. Deteriorating financial conditions in either government, banks, private sector or securities markets are almost certain to trigger a run on the others. And that is why a far larger figure than QE3's $85bn per month may be required to keep the system afloat. ---- IMO, until this ratio turns around, the economy in general and unemployment in particular will not improve. If business small and mid-sized cannot access capital from the commercial banks, it will be a long, slow period ahead for the consumer. And all indications are that they will not be able to as this number is still trending badly, even for those banks consider "healthy" by this ratio. This partly explains why the money that has been previously been "printed" via the previous QE programs has not made it's way into the economy. It's trapped on banks balance sheets. from investinganswers.com http://www.investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/ratio-analysis/texas-ratio-2619

What It Is:

The Texas ratio was developed by RBC Capital Markets' banking analyst Gerard Cassidy as a way to predict bank failures during the state's 1980s recession. The ratio is still widely-used throughout the banking industry.

How It Works/Example:

Cassidy's original Texas ratio formula is:

Texas Ratio = (Non-Performing Loans + Real Estate Owned) / (Tangible Common Equity +Loan Loss Reserves)

The Texas ratio is determined by dividing the bank's nonperforming assets (nonperforming loans and the real estate now owned by the bank because it foreclosed on the property) by its tangible common equity and loan loss reserves. Tangible common equity is equity capital less goodwill and intangibles. As the ratio approaches 1.0, the bank's risk of failure rises. And relatively speaking, the higher the ratio, the more precarious the bank's financial situation.

Some analysts consider it appropriate to use a modified version of Cassidy's formula in order to account for any government-secured loans that a bank may hold. For example, if a bank owns anonperforming loan that is guaranteed by a federal loan program (VA, FHA, etc), the bank is not exposed to losses on that loan because the federal government will compensate them for any losses. Therefore, in most cases, it is appropriate to adjust the Texas ratio by subtracting the dollar amount of government-sponsored loans from the numerator:

Modified Texas Ratio = (Non-Performing Loans - Government-Sponsored Non-Performing Loans + Real Estate Owned) / (Tangible Common Equity + Loan Loss Reserves)

All of the inputs needed for the Texas ratio are reported to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation(FDIC) by member banks on a quarterly basis. Every quarter, the FDIC discloses the number of banks on its "problem banks list." The FDIC doesn't release the names on its list, it only says how many banks are on it. But it's widely believed that some version of the Texas ratio forms the basis for the FDIC's list. 

Click here to see InvestingAnswers' list of The 359 Safest Banks in America. 

Or to learn how to use the Texas ratio to see if your bank is in trouble.

Why It Matters:

The Texas ratio takes into account two important factors in a bank's health: the number of bad loans it's made and the cushion the bank's owners have provided to cover those bad loans (i.e. common equity).

If too many of the bank's loans are nonperforming (as described by the Texas ratio's numerator), the bad loans will erode the bank's equity cushion, which could cause the bank to fail. 

Likewise, if there is not enough equity in a bank (as described by the Texas ratio's denominator), the bank will not be able to absorb very many bad loans and the bank will fail. 

Giants Notes: Huff, Scutaro, Pagan, Affeldt: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

You would think they could wait to announce some of these roster moves until AFTER the parade, but I guess there is some procedural requirement that they announce the contract options immediately in order to benefit the player.

The fans seem to be enjoying themselves and generally staying busy anyway. Perhaps SF should schedule the parade ASAP before some of these guys kills themselves or tear down the city. Stay classy, SF.

from MLBTradeRumors.com
Giants Notes: Huff, Scutaro, Pagan, Affeldt: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com:

Giants general manager Brian Sabean has the makings of a dynasty centered around strong pitching and affordable young position players such as Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt, writes Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. Here are some links surrounding the team that captured its second World Series title in three years last night...

• The Giants will decline their $10MM club option on Aubrey Huff, tweets Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area. The news isn't much of a surprise given Huff's injuries and struggles at the plate since 2010. Huff's contract contains a $2MM buyout.

• MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez spoke to several members of the Giants organization about the impact that Marco Scutaro had on the team following his acquisition from the Rockies.

• Gonzalez's colleague, Chris Haft, writes that the Giants and Scutaro will "likely forge a deal" this offseason, as the 37-year-old is too valuable both on and off the field to let go.

• Haft also writes that Angel Pagan is expected to receive a multi-year contract with an average annual value perhaps in the $10MM range in a thin free agent market. Sabean will need to determine if Pagan is worth that to his team.

• Haft goes on to say that Jeremy Affeldt could be in line for a multi-year deal on the free agent market. That, along with the presence of Jose Mijares could mean that Affeldt will find himself wearing a new uniform come 2013.

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Nightengale: Giants' title should make others green with envy

I like the comparison to the Yankees as far as results as well as overall approach. A lot of organizations are making strides with the old-school Scout, draft, sign and develop approach. Some take the Moneyball / Stats approach, but most are employing a mixed or hybrid approach.

The Giants now move in behind the Cardinals in the NL in terms of productivity in the 2000-2012 era.

The Cardinals have 9 Play-off appearances, 3 League Championships and 2 World Championships for a (9-3-2) score.

The Giants now slide in right behind with a (5-3-2). Atlanta has an (8-0-0) record and then Philadelphia at (5-2-1) and Arizona (4-1-1) round out the NL elite.

The Dodgers (4-0-) Houston (3-1-0) and the Cubs (3-0-0) are next followed by Colorado (2-1-0) and the Mets (2-1-0).

You have to slide the Marlins in here somewhere at (1-1-1) because the one World Championship has to count for something. However, after taking the new-stadium / open check-book approach, they are still searching for an  approach that works. They are good at the scout, draft, sign, develop part, it's hanging on to the fruits of their labor that have gotten them in trouble.

Rounding out the NL is MIL (2-0-0), SD (2-0-0) CIN (2-0-0) and Washington (1-0-0). Pittsburgh still needs to crack the post-season.

from USAToday.com
Nightengale: Giants' title should make others green with envy:

"Giants GM Brian Sabean, the former Yankees' scouting director, was Quinn's first hire. Dick Tidrow, vice president of player personnel, was a former scout and pitcher for the Yankees. Dave Righetti, the pitching coach, is a former Yankees star. Hitting coaches Hensley Muelens and Joe Lefebvre and first-base coach Roberto Kelly are former Yankees. So is advance scout Steve Balboni.

"If you pin Brian down," Quinn sai, "he'll tell you the Yankee way ain't all that bad. Brian is old school. That's the way we did things in New York. He's taking the same motto we used in New York. SDSD. Scout, draft, sign and develop."

It might have been the New York dictum, but the Giants have perfected it. The Giants' legacy will be forever remembered, with a flair of New York style."

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On the AL side, the Yankees are the standard-bearer at (12-4-2). Their seemingly limitless check-book balance gives them potent ammunition to take an "all of the above" approach that makes them the envy (hated) of MLB.

Boston -- still licking their wounds from the Bobby V. experiment -- are successful at (6-2-2).

BOBBY V. GUILTY OF IMPERSONATING A MANAGER ONCE BEFORE 

The Angels are making noise at (6-1-1). The A's continue their "make the play-offs, no title belts" with the Moneyball approach at (6-0-0) and the Twins -- with an SDSD approach also come in at (6-0-0).

After that level, the Rangers (3-2-0) and Tigers (3-2-0) lead the WhiteSox (3-1-1) and the Rays (3-1-0). Cleveland (2-0-0) and Seattle (2-0-0) lead the promising, upstart Orioles -- who break though this year under Uncle Buck -- at (1-0-0).

Kansas City and Toronto are still pitching a shut-out for the century.


Post-Season Awards:
COTY: Showalter and Davey Johnson (Bochy if post-season is considered)
ROTY: Trout and Harper
MVP: Cabrera / Trout / Cano and Posey / McCutchen / Braun
Cy Young: Verlander / Price / Sale and Kershaw / Ceuto / Dickey

GIANTS WIN!!!

Just to make sure I didn't wake up from a dream.  The two iconic moments of the series. How fitting a memory of the series is the most unlikely Giants pitcher -- a 28th rounder turned closer -- freezes the Tigers best hitter, a Triple Crown winner, and dances in the rain once again.

A dream come true for Romo and Giants fans. 2012 World Series Champions.

ROMO CELEBRATES GIANTS NLCS VICTORY OVER CARDINALS

ROMO CELEBRATES NLDS VICTORY OVER REDS

ROMO DOING THE ROMO DANCE

Giants share credit for offense's emergence | SFGiants.com: News

The shared credit is so pronounced that IF the Giants hold on and win this series, I would love to see them just award a team MVP. Who do you single out? Sandoval I suppose would be the early favorite, but everyone has chipped in at one time or another. The bullpen as a group has been stellar. The starting staff, individually and as a group has been great.

Such great unity amongst all the diversity, the total ends up being greater than the sum of the parts.

We'll see how it goes, but I can't single anyone out for MVP.

from SFGiants.com:
Giants share credit for offense's emergence | SFGiants.com: News:

"The Giants have relied on each other, to a large extent. As many observers have come to understand, the primary influence among players has been Marco Scutaro, who many strive to emulate. Scutaro swung and missed on exactly 15 pitches in his 61 regular-season games with the Giants. No wonder the team finished with the NL's second-lowest strikeout total.

"I've always believed that your lineup can feed off certain hitters and their style of hitting, and I think Marco helped us when he came over here, just like a Buster Posey, who is patient," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Then we have a mix with [Pablo] Sandoval and Pence. They're a little bit more aggressive. But I think they all help each other in their different styles of hitting."

The Giants' styles may differ, but their objective is the same: Strive to hit pitches on a line drive down. That's the mantra preached by hitting coaches Hensley Meulens and Joe Lefebvre.

Meulens used layman's terms to explain the meaning of "line drive down," which has remained a fundamental hitting concept for decades."

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World Series title awaits Giants after historic dominance of Tigers - Yahoo! Sports

Prince Fielder walks back to the dugout after striking out. (AP photo)

From a probability standpoint, the Giants have simply improved their odds of winning about an 80/20 chance
to 97/3 chance, based on past history of teams coming back from down 2-0 versus down 3-0.

However, they know better than most this post-season that it can be done. The Tigers can, if they choose, decide to be the first WS team to come back from a 3-0 deficit. The Red Sox did it to the Yankees some years back in the league playoffs.

The mind-set has to change from viewing it as an unconquerable mountain of winning the next four games to simply winning one game at a time, three times in a row -- and forcing a Game Seven -- where momentum swings to their side.

Psychologically, momentum probably shifts to their side somewhere around the middle to end of Game Six, if they are ahead. And a come-from-behind victory in a Game Six would provide unbelievable momentum entering Game Seven and bring up the spectre of an epic, historic choke.

Sometimes, the mountain isn't as large as it is perceived.

I'm with Marco Scutaro (quote below), we ain't done nothing yet.

from Yahoo Sports:
World Series title awaits Giants after historic dominance of Tigers - Yahoo! Sports:

DETROIT – The World Series ended Saturday night. They will play a Game 4 because they have to, and they may play a Game 5 if the Detroit Tigers find some semblance of competence. Anything beyond that is not happening if we're to believe history, and we're inclined to, even if the San Francisco Giants have reminded us all this postseason that history isn't always the sage it's cracked up to be.

History, for example, told us that the Giants weren't supposed to claw back and win three straight games on the road in the division series. No team ever had done that until San Francisco. And history, remember, gave the Giants a flyweight's chance against a heavyweight facing a 3-1 series deficit to St. Louis until they went jab-jab-uppercut.

Most of the Giants took the lead of Marco Scutaro, their fireplug second baseman, who declared: "We haven't done [expletive]."

"I think I'm spoiled a little bit," Giants catcher Buster Posey said, and he certainly is: To be behind the plate for a run of this magnitude – four shutouts in their last six games, 52 scoreless innings in their last 55 – is to crouch 60 feet, 6 inches from history.

"You ask your pitchers to give you a chance to win, and they're actually winning the games," Giants utilityman Ryan Theriot said. "They're as advertised. They're amazing. Look at Timmy. What a weapon."

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Gregor Blanco's catch near the wall in the ninth inning helped the Giants close out Game 3. (AP)

from Yahoo Sports:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/smallest-giant-becomes-world-series--unlikeliest-hero-27221909.html

Every once in a while a story like this appears in the World Series. A player comes from nowhere to be a star. Blanco was not supposed to be a big part of this Giants team. He was a fringe major leaguer, someone who played a bit in Atlanta and Kansas City before injuring his hand last year and spending most of the 2011 season in the outfield of Washington's top minor league team – the Syracuse Chiefs.The only reason the Giants signed him to a contract and brought him to spring training is because their hitting coach Hensley Meulens said they should. Meulens was managing the Bravos de Margarita in the Venezuelan winter league last year when he saw something new from the player who had been drifting through various big-league clubhouses for a few seasons. He saw strength. Blanco was hitting line drives. His hits were getting into gaps for doubles and triples. The Giants' stadium, AT&T Park, has a big outfield, Meulens thought. He needed hitters who could get the ball in the gap for doubles and triples.

Meulens understands hitting, obviously, but years in the Venezuelan leagues taught him to understand something else. Hunger. He knows when a player is desperate to make the major leagues. He is sure Blanco was humbled by playing for the Syracuse Chiefs and he could see how much Blanco wanted to make it back to the big time.

And how Blanco worked. He came to spring training talking about making the Giants' roster. He arrived to the ballpark early. He lifted weights. He ran. He had coaches hit fly balls. He took lots of batting practice. Tons of batting practice. And it worked. He made the team. He started the year in right field and was playing decently until he suddenly went into a horrible slump. Suddenly he couldn't hit anything.

MLB looks to protect pitchers from line drives - Yahoo! Sports

It's probably well past time for "pitcher's helmets" or some other form of protection. There was initial reluctance to batting helmets in the beginning and now you really can't imaging going up to hit with just a regulation baseball cap on.

Plus they give you something to toss after a strikeout.

Seriously, I'm not sure how badly a pitcher needs to get hurt at the ML level before something gives.

Some of the more recent instances illustrate the seriousness of the injuries pitchers face.

from Fox News report
MLB studying headgear for pitchers
FoxSports.comSeptember 18, 2012:

Nicasio, struck in the left temple by a line drive on Aug. 5, 2011, suffered a fractured skull that produced bleeding on the brain — and a broken neck on his subsequent fall.

McCarthy, after getting hit by a line drive on Sept. 5, required two hours of brain surgery after suffering an epidural hemorrhage, skull fracture and brain contusion.

A fatality occurred from a similar incident involving a minor-league coach — Mike Coolbaugh, coaching first base for Colorado’s Double-A affiliate, was killed when a line drive struck him in the neck on July 22, 2007.

Major league general managers decided the following offseason to require first- and third-base coaches to wear batting helmets. Coaches, though, are not players. Pitchers likely would resist anything but the most gradual change.

Players, fans and media teased Mets third baseman David Wright when he wore a large protective helmet in 2009 upon returning from a concussion.

Wright ditched the “Gazoo” helmet after only two days, saying it was uncomfortable.

Seems rather silly to opt for "comfort" and avoidance of a little "teasing" over safety. I don't imaging a brain contusion is very comfortable at all.

I was at a game once where one of our pitchers was hit in a similar fashion to Fister and McCarthy. The ball ricocheted off his head and landed in short LF. The sound of ball hitting head is a very sickening sound. I'm surprised Fister continued, he had to have been operating on pure adrenaline.

If the bigs implement, the lower level youth and HS leagues will follow. That would be a good thing.

I am very glad to see MLB fast-tracking this issue.

from Yahoo Sports.com
MLB looks to protect pitchers from line drives - Yahoo! Sports:

DETROIT (AP) -- Major League Baseball is looking at ways to protect pitchers from being injured by batted balls such as the one that struck Doug Fister in the head, and says hat liners are a possibility in the minors next year.

The safety issue is on a ''fast track,'' MLB senior vice president Dan Halem said Friday night.

MLB medical director Dr. Gary Green has been talking to companies about protective headgear for pitchers, Halem said. A report is on the agenda at baseball's winter meetings in December.
A cap liner with Kevlar, the high-impact material used by military, law enforcement and NFL players for body armor, is among the ideas under consideration.

Halem said baseball already was exploring options when Oakland pitcher Brandon McCarthy was hit in the head by a line drive last month, causing a skull fracture and brain contusion.

''We think it's possible for 2013 in the minor leagues,'' he said.

'via Blog this'

Baseball Hitting and Strength and Conditioning for Baseball | Dr. Michael Yessis

Good stuff on baseball mechanics and strength and conditioning relevant to baseball from one of the Leading authorities in the field.

from Dryessis.com
Baseball Hitting:

"Baseball Hitting

Dr Michael Yessis

When I show this picture to baseball players and ask what is wrong or should be corrected they invariably focus on positioning of the bat and cocking of the wrists. However, positioning of the bat is relatively unimportant in the initial stages. How the bat is brought through to contact the ball is the key element to be considered.



What the picture shows is that he is keeping his weight back on the rear leg and stepping out with the lead leg. This is a common fault of many hitters and to a good extent, many pitchers and other athletes. When striding it is important to drive the hips forward and then step out in order to maintain balance. In other words, stepping with the leg should occur after the hips already in motion. The leg should not be in action before the hips as seen in this picture."

'via Blog this'

PODCAST: Specialized Strength Training in Baseball:

"PODCAST: Specialized Strength Training in Baseball

Doctor Michael Yessis

 Doctor Yessis and Yosef Johson tackle go on to tackle the role of specialized Strength Training in Baseball. Doctor Yessis brings great insight and clears up much of the mystery and falsehoods in Baseball Training.

'via Blog this'

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PODCAST: Specialized Strength Training in Baseball Part 2:

"PODCAST: Specialized Strength Training in Baseball Part 2

Dr. Michael Yessis

 Doctor Yessis and Yosef Johnson are back continue their discussion of the need for and the role of Specialized Exercise in Baseball. However, Yessis takes a deeper look at the issue and discusses the role of pitching and hitting coaches."

'via Blog this'

Short Video: Why the U.S. Government Will Default on Its Debt

I hope not, but I fear we will one day soon. In one way or another.

From GaryNorth.com
Short Video: Why the U.S. Government Will Default on Its Debt:

Short Video: Why the U.S. Government Will Default on Its Debt

Gary North

Sept. 17, 2012

The deficit of the U.S. government cannot be sustained. The general public does not understand this. Congress seems not to understand this. There is going to be a political crisis when the government begins cutting of the special-interest group most responsible for this deficit: retired people.

This 6-minute video proves that it is oldsters who are breaking the federal government's bank. It presents the official government numbers in a clear fashion. It shows what a well-designed screencast video can do. It has been seen by 2.6 million people. If you are impressed, forward this page to a friend.

What we see here is the tip of the famous iceberg. The video deals with the so-called on-budget debt. It does not assess the impact of the off-budget deficit: the unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare. Prof. Lawrence Kotlikoff of Boston University has estimated the annual deficit of this budget -- the real deficit -- is rising by at least $11 trillion a year. Worse: this is the present value of the annual increase in unfunded liabilities -- what we must set aside today to invest in the world economy, and which will earn 5% or so for the next 75 years. The total deficit is now over $222 trillion: present value, not future red ink. The story is here.

So huge is this real deficit that it dwarfs the official deficit discussed in the video. But that's all right. The video still gets across the story: the deficit is larger than the total cost of the federal government, minus the welfare programs and interest payments.

The video ends with a warning: if this issue is not dealt with, we will go down on the government's sinking ship.

It will not be dealt with. You know this. I know this. To deal with it, the Congress must immediately cease all payments on Social Security and Medicare. This is politically impossible. All candidates know this. So, they will not deal with it. They will kick the can down the road. So, the ship will go down, and voters will at some be left with this question: What to do with granny?

If you are on a sinking ship, and there are not enough lifeboats to hold the passengers, it is wise to start moving toward the lifeboats. You want to be first in line. Most people will not be able to get off the ship. 

'via Blog this'

The Liberal Myth of Republican Obstructionism

Gotta love 'em. Every excuse in the book for failure. Except personal responsibility. Gotta love that.

from Political Outcast:
The Liberal Myth of Republican Obstructionism:

Does Dionne forget that when Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress in January 1995, President Clinton moderated himself accordingly, bringing himself back towards the center in order get things done and be, at least compared to Obama, a successful president? Does Dionne forget that when Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress in January 2007, President Bush moderated himself accordingly, bringing himself back towards the center in order to get things done and be, at least compared to Obama, a successful president? (I note here that the Democrats’ takeover of Congress in 2007 coincides with when the economy started to tank. Make of that what you will.)

In order to believe that Republicans are preventing President Obama from being a successful president, Dionne must be writing under the pretense that Obama is already a centrist who cannot further moderate himself. (I’ll say it again: confused.) But, following the progression of logic, to say that Obama has been prevented from being successful is necessarily to say that he has been a failure. So I’ll concede this point to Dionne: Obama has failed.

But in what way were Republicans obstructing President Obama’s dreams for his “fundamental transformation” of America when, for his first two years, Democrats controlled the House, Democrats controlled the Senate, and Democrats had a fair stack-up in the Supreme Court? Obama could have lobbied for and signed virtually anything he wanted to for his entire first two years. And now that Republicans currently control one-half of one-third of the government, Democrats blame Republicans for blocking progress. While the House is busy passing bills, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D) doesn’t even allow those bills to be brought up for a vote in his side of the chamber.

What do we call this if not obstruction? Methinks the Democrats give Republicans too much credit. Either that or Republicans are just that astonishingly and unprecedentedly effective.

'via Blog this'

TaxProf Blog: President Obama and Tax Fairness

Presented as public service message.

from TaxProf Blog:
TaxProf Blog: President Obama and Tax Fairness:

President Obama and Tax Fairness

Wall Street Journal op-ed:  The Latest News on Tax Fairness, by Ari Fleischer:

A new CBO report shows the share of taxes paid by the top 20% has gone up over the last 30 years, while the share of taxes paid by everyone else has gone down.

If fairness in paying taxes means the amount you pay is based on the amount you make, then the only group in America paying at least a "fair share" is the top 20% -- people who make more than $74,000. For everyone else, the tax code is a bargain."

You wouldn't know this from President Obama's rhetoric, but our tax system, according to a recent report by the CBO, is incredibly progressive. Consider: The top 1% of income earners pay an average federal tax rate of 28.9%. (See the nearby table.) The average federal tax rate on the top 20% is 23.2%. The 20% of taxpayers earning between $50,100 and $73,999 pay an average 15.1%, and so on down the line. The CBO report includes payroll as well as income taxes paid.

There's also another way of looking at fairness, and that's the tax burden. Here, consider the top 20% of income earners (over $74,000). They make 50% of the nation's income but pay nearly 70% of all federal taxes.

The remaining 30% of the tax burden is borne by 80% of the taxpayers, those who make less than $74,000. In short, this group's share of taxes paid, 30%, is lower than the share of income they earn, 50%.

One reason our country is so divided is because the president keeps dividing us. If taxes need to be raised to fight a war or fund a cause, the president should ask everyone to pitch in. If the need is national, the solution should be national—and that includes all of us.

But that's not how Mr. Obama governs. We learned during the 2008 campaign that he believes in spreading the wealth around. And recently we learned he doesn't believe that successful people made it on their own. Without the government, the president tells us, job creators and entrepreneurs would not be able to make it in America.

It's really the other way around. Without job creators and the successful, the government wouldn't have any money. So next time Mr. Obama meets someone in the top 1% or even the top 20%, instead of saying they're not paying their fair share, he should simply say thank you.

'via Blog this'


from the Tax Policy Center:
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/2012-candidates-tax-plans.cfm

Major Tax Proposals by President Obama and Governor Romney

View this page as a PDF                                                                                 Return to previous page

Major Federal     Tax Issues

President Barack Obama

Governor Mitt Romney

Individual Income and Payroll Tax Provisions
Expiring Tax Cuts
2001-2008 Cuts1	Extend except for high-income    households2	Extend all
2009-2010 Cuts3	Make remaining 2009 income tax cuts permanent3	Allow to expire
Tax Rates and Brackets	Allow top two tax rates to revert to pre-2001 levels: 10%   15%   25%   28% 33%4   36%   39.6%	Make 2001 rate cuts permanent and reduce all rates by 20%: 8%   12%   20%  22.4%   26.4%   28%
Tax Rates on Capital Gains and Dividends	Up to 20% tax on long-term capital gains; up to 39.6% tax on dividends	Exempt capital gains, dividends, and interest for households with AGI below $200,0005; 15% maxiumum rate for others
Taxes on Investment Income Under the Afforable Care Act 2010	Additional 3.8% tax on capital gains and dividends for high-income households6,7	Repeal8
Exemptions, Deductions, Credits, and Other Tax Preferences	Limit the value of income exclusions and itemized deductions to 28%9	Reduce or eliminate unspecified tax preferences to replace revenue lost due to rate cuts while also maintaining current progressivity of federal taxes. Romney has suggested capping itemized deductions and other tax preferences and possibly denying them entirely for high-income taxpayers.
Alternative Minimum Tax	Index all parameters	Repeal
Refundable Credits	Maintain current refundable tax credits	Allow Obama expansion of refundable credits to expire3 and consider further reductions as part of base-broadening
Other	Impose a “Buffett Rule” tax to ensure that “No household making more than $1 million [pays] a smaller share of their income in   taxes than middle-class families pay.”
Payroll Tax
Temporary Cut in FICA Tax Rate	Allow temporary cut to expire after 2012	Allow temporary cut to expire after 2012
Medicare Tax Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010	0.9% tax on earnings for high-income households6	Repeal8
Business Tax Provisions
Top Corporate Tax Rate	35%   28%10	25%
Tax Preferences	1) Increase tax incentives for domestic manufacturing 2) Reduce fossil fuel preferences 3) Impose additional fees on financial and insurance industries	1) Extend for one year of the expensing of capital expenditures and enact a temporary investment tax credit 2) Expand the R&E credit
International Taxation	Reform international tax rules to limit benefit of deferral and discourage income shifting	1) Territorial tax system 2) Immediate Repatriation holiday
Other	Revenue neutral reduction in corporate rate to 28%; unspecified base broadening10	Broaden the base (unspecified provisions) in exchange for further corporate rate reductions
Estate Tax Provisions
Estate tax	Index starting from 2009 law11	Repeal

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/upload/tax-plan-comparison-v7.pdf


From the Tax Foundation:
http://taxfoundation.org/article/quick-guide-obama-and-romney-tax-plans