Timmy flirts with a No-No....Belt to Fresno when Ross returns?

San Francisco's Tim Lincecum delivers against the Colorado Rockies on Monday. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)



San Francisco Giants - Team Report - MLB - Yahoo! Sports:

By The Numbers:
28—Double-digit strikeout games for Tim Lincecum, tying legendary Christy Mathewson for the most in Giants history.

Quote To Note:
'Having watched him last year, he was 89 to 91 (mph). Now he's gained more weight. He's 95 (mph) with that devastating slider and change-up. He's making it look effortless out there.'
—Aubrey Huff, on Tim Lincecum."

Tim Lincecum has no-hit stuff. How many times have we heard that?

Monday night, he flirted with a no-no by throwing six hitless innings in Denver of all places, where hits can come by the dozen.

Lincecum gave up his first hit in the seventh inning, when Carlos Gonzalez lined a one-out single to right field. Lincecum lasted 7 2/3 innings, surrendered three hits and got credit for the Giants' 8-1 victory over the NL West's hottest team.

The 6 1/3 hitless innings marked the closest Lincecum has ever come to a no-no. Previously, he went six hitless innings on July 9, 2009, against San Diego -- the very next night, Sanchez did no-hit the Padres.

Did Lincecum have a no-hitter on his mind before it ended?

"I wasn't really thinking about it. Up until that inning, I was more worried about just trying to throw strikes," said Lincecum, adding he was more concerned about his strike-to-walk ratio in the early innings, which he said "wasn't very good."

1B Brandon Belt, hitting .196 with 12 strikeouts despite showing nice plate discipline, could be close to returning to Class AAA Fresno. So much for that Belt-Aubrey Huff flip-flop? Indeed. Manager Bruce Bochy had said for days he was considering moving Belt to right and Huff to first. But Belt was out of the lineup Monday, and now it seems he could be shipped to Fresno when OF Cody Ross is activated, as early as Tuesday. "It wouldn't be the worst thing," Bochy said.

Standard & Poor’s Puts ‘Negative’ Outlook on U.S. AAA (1) - Bloomberg.com

Of course, the boot-licking, acolytes of this administration like Lies-man and Goolsbee are out there trying to somehow paint this "negative" into a "positive". Or as VP Biden would say "No BFD".

"We can't default, we print our own money" seems to be the defense theme.

Doesn't that sound like the deadbeats and ne'er-do-wells we all know and love who say, "I can't be broke, I still have a credit card"?

Good Luck with that Champ. Denial is not just a river in Egypt. I just wonder what has taken these credit rating agencies so long to come to these conclusions. The Chinese came to this conclusion long ago and the hold the keys to the credit limit.


Standard & Poor’s Puts ‘Negative’ Outlook on U.S. AAA (1) - Bloomberg.com:

"April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Standard & Poor’s put a “negative” outlook on the U.S. AAA credit rating, citing rising budget deficits and debt.

“We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policy makers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium-and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013,” New York-based S&P said in a report today. “If an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation does not begin by then, this would in our view render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer ‘AAA’ sovereigns.”

Under President Barack Obama’s fiscal year 2012 budget, released in February, the total debt subject to the ceiling would be $20.8 trillion in 2016. The plan House Republicans approved April 15, written by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, would need a debt ceiling of at least $19.5 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Government."

April 14, 2011

Obama Admits 2006 Vote on Debt Ceiling "Political"

President Obama, in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos admitted that his 2006 against the debt ceiling was politically motivated, even as he tells Congress to vote for the debt limit. How can anyone believe what he says?

“I think that it’s important to understand the vantage point of a Senator versus the vantage point of a . . . President. When you’re a Senator . . . nobody likes to be tagged as having increased the debt limit for the United States by a trillion dollars . . . As President, you start realizing, ‘You know what? We can’t play around with this stuff. This is the full faith and credit of the United States.’ And so that was just an example of a new Senator, you know, making what is a political vote as opposed to doing what was important for the country. And I’m the first one to acknowledge it.”

He's from Chicago and this kid is special, INDEED!!!

WOW!!! What a game!!! Something about playoff basketball....If they are all like this, we're going to be worn out by the Finals.

Psycho-T just abused and out-worked Carlos Boozer all game long.

The Pacers revealed the strategy designed to slow down Derrick and the Bulls. Hard fouls, playoff fouls bordering on head-hunting.

Good for Luol Deng to step in and defend his guy. He took a "T" and the commentators questioned the timing, but it fired up the crowd. Deng did what he had to do, the Pacers appeared to take liberties, bringing back memories of the Bad-Boys Pistons.

Is there a harder worker in the NBA than Joakim Noah? He fires up the crowd late as well. Maybe Tyler Hansbrough matches Noah in the hard work department. Both are fun to watch.

Carlos Boozer might have to figure out a way to guard this guy. Carlos is a Dukie, so he should be able to figure it out.

Hansbrough may have definitively answered anyone who ever questioned whether he would be a big-time NBA player. HE IS!!

Not sure why there was ever any question about it. Must be tied to the whole White Men Can't Jump thing.

Then again, maybe not.

Anyway, Rose leads and the other Bulls follow. He has to -- and likely will -- do better than 0-9 from three-point distance, or the Pacers will be able to contain him.

For now, all is well in Chicago.

NY Giants - 2011 NFL Draft

Whether or not the NFL plays a full or abbreviated season next year, the NFL Draft will be held.

If the Giants end up with two or three of these names, I would be happy.

The Giants seem determined to upgrade the offensive line, figuring that will help both the running and passing game.

The names I've heard the most mentioned along the line are:

OG Mike Pouncey Florida 6-4, 310 5.29
OT Anthony Castanzo Boston College 6-7, 305 5.06
C Stefen Wisniewski Penn State 6-3, 306 5.16

If they decide to upgrade the offense via the RB position, I hope Mark Ingram falls to them. He looks the part of the second coming of Emmitt Smith.

RB Mark Ingram Alabama 5-10, 215 4.48
RB Mikel Leshoure Illinois 6-0, 230 4.53
RB Ryan Williams Va Tech 5-10, 205 4.46

In the later rounds a Noel Devine (West Virginia) or Anthony Sherman (U Conn) would be solid contributors.

QB is not a need position as long as Eli Manning is around, however I would like:

Jake Locker Washington 6-2, 228 4.53
Ryan Mallett Arkansas 6-6, 238 5.12
Andy Dalton TCU 6-2, 213 4.94

Dalton can be a steal. Don't know enough about Gabbert, not sure about Ponder and what I know of Cam Newton, I don't like.

TE Kyle Rudolph Notre Dame 6-6, 265 4.64 has Giants written all over him. Or maybe I'm looking for the second coming of Mark Bavaro.

TE Lance Kendricks Wisconsin 6-3, 240 4.69 is a dark horse pick as well.

On the defensive side, the G-Men probably look LB, not sure when though.

Casey Matthews Oregon has the speed and the bloodlines.
LB Akeen Ayers UCLA 6-4, 255 4.68 could fall to them early and fits the mold for OLB's.

Martez Wilson Illinois 6-4, 250 4.59 makes the most sense at ILB.

CB's as S's would be third to fourth round options, if picked.

Of course, a punter is a need spot. I doubt they waste a pick on one.

Lenny Dykstra, former New York Mets, Philadelphia Philles OF, charged with embezzling from bankruptcy estate - ESPN

LENNY DYKSTRA WITH THE 1986 METS - BETTER DAYS

A sad decline for a former player that I really liked a lot. The Lenny Dykstra we saw with the Mets was a pleasure to watch. The bloated Phillies version, not as much. Dude's life has been so messed up since he left the game. Interesting that he was mixed up with the noted pump-and-dump chump Jim Cramer. I guess bird-brains of a feather flock together.



Lenny Dykstra, former New York Mets, Philadelphia Philles OF, charged with embezzling from bankruptcy estate - ESPN:

"Dykstra spent 12 years in the big leagues and helped the Mets to the World Series championship in 1986. He was a three-time All-Star in the 1990s while with the Phillies. He had the nickname 'Nails' and was known for his rowdy behavior on and off the field.

In 2007, the Mitchell Report on steroid use in pro baseball mentioned allegations that Dykstra had used steroids. Dykstra has denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

After retiring, Dykstra had a number of business ventures, including owning a car wash, and wrote a stock-picking column on TheStreet.com, a financial website founded by TV host Jim Cramer."

I love this story about Lenny told by Billy Beane of Moneyball fame.

Dykstra soon emerged as one of the Mets' prized prospects, and while playing in AA in 1984, he befriended fellow outfielder and teammate Billy Beane. Beane would later say that Dykstra was "perfectly designed, emotionally" to play baseball and that he had "no concept of failure." According to Beane, his first comments upon seeing Steve Carlton warming up on the mound were, "Shit, I'll stick him."

LENNY DYKSTRA - PHILLIES VERSION

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed." -- Mark Twain

Phil Angelides Discusses America's Dual Justice System: One For Wall Street And One For Everyone Else | zero hedge

Not much different than the Dodd - Frank debacle. Angelides was part of the problem, therfore it's silly to put him in position to be part of the solution.

You don't call the arsonist to put out the fire, you call a fireman.

Funny, Barney Frank and Beans was on the air yesterday defending Dodd - Frank (duh) and saying the regulators didn't have the resources to fight the last crisis, but now they do.

You can sleep easier America, Barney Fife, er Barney Frank is on the case.

My problem with that argument is:

The evidence is clear they had sufficient resources, they spent too much time being distracted by surfing porn and cozying up with the folks they were supposed to be regulating in order to position themselves for their next (more lucrative) job after government (non)-service.

As the Madoff debacle illustrated, the regulators couldn't smell out criminality when it was right under their noses. More resources does not cure ineptitude, it just provides a veneer of competence. The results will be the same.

Angelides quotes may be rather pithy, but did it really take this debacle and ad nauseum public hearing for him to come to this basic conclusion regarding human nature and behavior.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? This seems like basic garden variety "NO DUH" stuff to me. But what do I know?



Phil Angelides Discusses America's Dual Justice System: One For Wall Street And One For Everyone Else | zero hedge:

"Lisa Murphy of Bloomberg interviewed the chairman of the now defunct FCIC, Phil Angelides to discuss the findings presented yesterday by Carl Levin. The topic was the 'greased pig' that is Wall Street. The conclusion is that America now has a dual justice system: 'One for ordinary people and then one for people with money and enormous wealth and power.' As for crime deterrents, considering that to this day not one person has gone to prison, even an idiot can foresee what Angelides has to say on this issue: 'To the extent laws were broken, we need deterrents. If someone robs a 7-11, they took $500 and they were able to settle the next day for $50 and no admission of wrongdoing, they'd knock over that 7-11 again. And we've seen time after time where people and firms have made tens, one hundreds, billions of dollars. They've settled charges for pennies on the dollar. At Citigroup for example they represented that they had $13 billion of subprime mortgage exposure when they really had $55 billion. The penalty to the chief financial officer who made $19 million that year, 2007, was $100,000. Goldman was fined $500 million but the date they settled their stock moved up $2 billion. There's been no real consequence.'"

Insolvent and Going Deeper | FINANCIAL SENSE

Some good, practical advice from an expert that IMO has a pretty good read on the situation.
ENJOY.



Insolvent and Going Deeper | FINANCIAL SENSE:

Fiscal and currency crises lie ahead

BY CHRIS MARTENSON PHD

The US is on a fiscally unsustainable path and has almost entirely wasted the opportunity the crisis represented to get its house in order.

Obama, and whoever sits in the oval office next, has an enormously difficult task of explaining to ordinary people why the belt tightening that is to come applies to them and not to the banks that created the mess and are feverishly handing out record bonuses as a result.

Given this constraint, and the general paralysis of logic that now grips DC, we can almost certainly expect that the resolution to the multi-decade game of kick-the-can will be a crisis of sorts. The IMF has weighed in with its very measured and dry, if not boring, recitation of the risks involved."

I admit to some affinity to their assessment, at the risk of letting my guard down, because they have finally conformed to the views I have been writing about for years. Debt-based money is in a bind. It's damned if we do and damned if we don't.

The only way out is to accept the idea that living standards have to fall to match the prior excesses, an admission that 'experts' agree is politically impossible in the US at this time.

Yet the conditions and risks remain, regardless of what experts think is doable.

The job of any primary bear market, and we are in the mother of them all, is to destroy wealth.

Your job is to preserve wealth. But buckle up, it's going to be a rough ride.

My overall advice for what's to come remains: convert your fiat money to useful things. True, gold doesn't earn any interest but neither does money in the bank these days, and gold can't be devlaued away by reckless monetary policy. So holding precious metals for purchasing power preservation should be a fundamental part of your plans. And while there is real risk of a short-term deflationary downdraft in commodities as the Fed jawbones about ending quantitative easing, my general advice is anything that you expect to buy over the next year you should just buy now. What the heck, you'll use it anyways and you just might buy it for a lot cheaper than later on.

Enjoy life, love your family, note that the sun still rises and the birds still sing, and all of our human foibles will resolve themselves eventually. We've arrived at a peculiar point in history where attitude is a tangible element of your future wealth and paper money has become like fog on a warm morning.

Make of it what you will. My wish is that you enjoy the ride.

Goldman Sachs Chief Blankfein Could Face Criminal Prosecution For Role In Financial Crisis

MAYBE BLANKFEIN CAN DO GOD'S WORK IN PRISON



Goldman Sachs Chief Blankfein Could Face Criminal Prosecution For Role In Financial Crisis:

"WASHINGTON -- Goldman Sachs executives deceived clients in order to profit off the brewing financial crisis and then misled Congress when asked to explain their actions, concluded a top lawmaker who led a two-year investigation into Wall Street's role in the meltdown.

Carl Levin, chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, will recommend that Goldman executives who testified before his panel, including chairman and chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, be referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution, the Michigan Democrat announced Wednesday. Members of the subcommittee will now deliberate Levin's proposal.

A Goldman spokesman said its executives were truthful in their testimony, adding that the firm disagreed with many of the panel's conclusions."

The investigation found a "financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest, and wrongdoing," Levin said.

For aspiring major league umpires, the road is long and hard - ESPN

A sportswriter finds out that life behind the mask is not as easy as it looks from the press box or the stands.


For aspiring major league umpires, the road is long and hard - ESPN:
"DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- I admit it. I've abused umpires.

I've maniacally yelled at umpires as if I was an angry combination of Lou Piniella, Bobby Cox and Earl Weaver ('Are you kidding me!?!?! I was SAFE!!!! I swear to God I'm going to take that &*#%@ base and shove it down your %^#*@ throat!!!'). I've screamed at them from the upper deck, certain I had a better read on the play than they did ('He tagged him on the back of the calf!!!!'). I've ripped them in newsprint and in cyberspace, ridiculing their skills, their sight, their ego and, of course, their high body-fat percentage."

Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure - Yahoo! Finance

YoY Changes in Price Index Categories (+/- 5%)

Interesting that the things going up the strongest are those that we buy routinely, while those we purchase irregularly are going down.

Goes to Santelli's argument. (once again a TKO over Lies-man, this is not even a contest of intellectual equals anymore).

The match was stopped when Santelli counter-punched Liesman with this line about CPI and PPI.

"it's called factual avoidance. it's called how do we get to where we want to be by tinkering with the numbers."

"Factual avoidance", I love it. It's like when someone says you're being disingenuous because they don't want to call you a LIAR. Reminds me of the old accountants joke that ends "What's 2 + 2? Whatever you want it to be."



These exchanges would actually be comedic if, as we've seen over the course of the last few years, the implications didn't end up being so tragic.

More truth from John Williams and Shadow Government Statistics, echoing you what you're lying eyes already told you.
---



Inflation Actually Near 10% Using Older Measure - Yahoo! Finance:

"After former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker was appointed in 1979, the consumer price index surged into the double digits, causing the now revered Fed Chief to double the benchmark interest rate in order to break the back of inflation. Using the methodology in place at that time puts the CPI back near those levels.

Inflation, using the reporting methodologies in place before 1980, hit an annual rate of 9.6 percent in February, according to the Shadow Government Statistics newsletter.

Since 1980, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has changed the way it calculates the CPI in order to account for the substitution of products, improvements in quality (i.e. iPad 2 costing the same as original iPad) and other things. Backing out more methods implemented in 1990 by the BLS still puts inflation at a 5.5 percent rate and getting worse, according to the calculations by the newsletter's web site, Shadowstats.com."