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What About Joe
You probably know lots of Joe's. Lots of guys named Joe have been born, played ball, gone to war, done both, done neither, lived and then died. Baseball Research lists 750 guys named Joe who played in the Big Leagues including 46 All-Stars
Eleven Joes enshrined in the Hall of Fame and one who was good enough to, but was left out.
Thats what I write about here. The Joes of the world.
E
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Monday, February 13 2012 @ 06:32 PM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 137
 The Light Turns On
It dawned on me, that just because I am content to waste the day looking up previous posts, that folks with finite time are not. It also dawned on me that a Table of Contents might help.
Stupid Blog
Thats the one thing about blog layouts. They're stupid. If I knew when something was written I wouldn't be looking stuff up by month in reverse order of finish or start or whatever the hell else some java-script nitwit came up with to make his life easier when it comes to cataloging content. Maybe its just me. No. Actually there's no maybe about it. I know it isn't just me that finds blog archiving, cataloging or whatever the heck else you have to do find topics or subjects or stories stupefyingly annoying.
I Want To Kick Tires, Not Fill In Search Boxes
Yeah. I know there's a search feature. But how about maybe I just want to stroll through the used car lot and kick some tires at random. There's a nice little box feature for "Title". So I give it some thought, fill in the box and give my stories or posts a Title. Except the titles aren't listed anywhere, except in the back end that nobody sees except me. Why? Maybe the jerky that designed this thing learned to read on an etch-a-sketch. Or maybe its because the mutts who program this stuff must never have read a book that had a table of contents.
The Solution - A Table of Contents
A table of contents was something, I was introduced to around kindergarten. Books such as, "The Adventures of Dick And Jane. Chapter One-Meet Dick and Jane. Chapter Two-Watch Dick trip Jane. Chapter Three. Watch The Cops Arrest Dick for Domestic Violence. Chapter Four. Watch the rerun on "Law And Order - SVU" And So on.
Some of The Stories Are Time Sensitive. Most Are Not
Since I wrote this stuff as a series of snapshots of life as viewed in the Funhouse Mirror as the mood swing occurred, the contents following appears pretty much in the order it was written, starting with "I Never Went Away" on July 10, 2010. So, from now on, not only will the new scribblings appear at the top, the table of contents will be updated too.
Oh. One More Thing
The ballplayer waving his cap. You know what I like about that? You can't tell if he's waving hello or waving goodbye or just waving to the adoring throngs of racoons in the backyard. Kind of like Aloha. Thats kind of the way I am I've been told. Never know if I am coming or going, or just kind of waving as life's trains come barreling through the station. Anyway, my old man, the old bomber pilot, reads these and he's been on a long glide path on final approach, out of fuel, ammo and just about out of time. He's had a good life and, an eventful life, and at times tumultuous life. We're just trying to get him over the threshold here with whatever time he has left before he goes to that big-ass hangar in the sky with the rest of his old pals.
See, the thing is that after you grow up and move away, your folks don't really know what goes on between your ears after that. We got off on different paths for a few years, so this is kind of like him catching up on what goes on without me having to sit down and do one of those goddamned "Terms of Endearment" bullshit melodramas.
But before anybody goes all dewy-eyed, just remember, because he says this himself, he's just about outlived anybody he has ever known. So good times it has been. And good times it will be until it isn't anymore.
Contents Below
Monday, February 20 2012 @ 11:55 AM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 104
 When Opportunity Knocks - Don't Answer the Door.
When last we left off, Brian Sabean had just been dusted off in the California baseball market by new Angels GM Jerry Dipoto. Dipoto had just hustled Albert Pujols and CJ Wilson into Baja Orange County with lucrative multimillion dollar contracts, though not as lucrative as the ones Barry Zito and Aubrey Huff conned out of Brian Sabean for 2012.
Closed Window
Lincecum and Cain are nearing the end of their contracts before freedom. Madison Bumgarner is about ready to hit his arbitration years. All three big-time post-season pitchers. The 2011-12 offseason was an unprecedented year of opportunity for the Giants if their front office had the will, commitment, and desire to win and dominate like no other time in their history, to fill three immense, long standing holes in the outfield and infield.
They had Carlos Beltran (their best hitter from last season with an OPS+ of 156 in a little under 200 plate appearances) in the outfield, who decided to sign with St.Louis instead. The empty pits at shortstop and first base had two, not one, but two premier free-agents and potential legacy players each in Jimmy Rollins and Jose Reyes at SS and Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols at first base as well as Beltran in the outfield, available to them.
That was five impact, perennial-all star offensive players available to fill the three biggest holes that have kept the Giants a one dimensional team for the last SEVEN YEARS. The three biggest holes on their roster would have been filled had the first priority been winning. And had the management had any credibility with any of these players.
But no. Let Beltran go. Trade the kid who saved your World Series season for a fat guy released by Atlanta, insert Zito back into the rotation in spite of not even having minor league velocity, movement or command, continue with the often-released has-been and self-admitted slacker Aubrey Huff, and pencil in a guy who can't even hit AA pitching at shortstop.
This is called closing the window and slamming the door on opportunity. The Giants are not an "all-in" team. That's the pattern folks. At least ever since Baker left. You might also want to look around and count African American faces since that time too. Don't worry, you have more than enough fingers to count them all up.
A Who's Who of Has Been's, Never Was' and Yet To Be's
For years, the Giants have been desperately shorthanded at shortstop and first-base, two of the leading causes of 7years of bringing up the offensive rear of the Major Leagues. Not even going to mention the black holes in the outfield since Bonds blew out his knee. In case you forgot the opening day shortstops since 2005 have been: Omar Vizquel, Brian Bococh, Edgar Renteria, and Miguel Tejada. The first basemen: JT Snow, Lance Niekro, Rich Aurilia, Travis Ishikawa, Aubrey Huff, and a short-lived Brandon Belt.
Going into 2012, the Giants have Brandon Crawford, a slick fielder with a linguine bat (but a face all the girlie ticket-buyers love) penciled into SS and Aubrey Huff who worked off half of his $20 Million contract with an OPS of 676. This was less than Diamondback pitcher Daniel Hudson's .678 and $0.42 Million contract. With mismatches like this, it is no wonder the Giants finished 8 games back of the Diamondbacks. Which was even further behind then the 7 games they finished behind the Padres in 2005, a watershed year in Giants futility with Bonds missing most of the season.
Zito in 2007
And for all the fairy-freeking-godmother aficionados who think Barry Zito's continued presence in a uniform is anything other than the front office trying vainly to save face, just a reminder. In Zito's first year in San Francisco the Giants finished in last place, 19 games behind the Diamondbacks and 11 games behind the fourth place Dodgers.
Zito in 2010-11
Zito you may recall, despite being in the top 1percent of payroll in MLB was such a disaster in 2010, the Giants were willing to take the humiliation of leaving their highest paid player off the post-season roster. Unprecedented in the history of Major League Baseball. He was worse in 2011 than 2010, but because management got pissed at Jonathan Sanchez, Barry Zito went straight back into the rotation. Truly a winning move.
Media Smog And Smokescreen
Glenn Dickey and Peter Magowan have been adamant for years, that the Zito contract and signing was Brian Sabean. As a matter of record, both have gone on to state emphatically that the only player acquisition initiated by Magowan was the Barry Bonds signing and that was in 1992 when Bob Lurie still technically owned the Giants. The guys who work for Comcast Sports Network (who are partially owned by the Giants) and KNBR and KTVU who are principal partners in San Francisco Baseball Associates, and the beat writers for BANG and SFGate all pretty much line-up in the "blame Zito on Magowan".Their rationale as best I can tell is that since Magowan was the MGP, he had to sign off on the deal. Here's my take. The media are apologists, and there is nothing in it for them to create a problem for themselves with Larry Baer and the rest of his elves.
Hear No Evil. Speak No Evil. See No Evil
To clarify. Since Dusty Baker was forced out, the official baseball voice of the San Francisco Giants has been exclusively Brian Sabean. And for the most part, the Bay Area media, with rare exception is willing to act as Axis Sally on his (and Larry Baer's) behalf. Some surmise that the 15-year-tenured Sabean is in place simply because he understands the complexity of the Giants ownership/partnership. He has kept the team interesting enough to help the marketing people achieve their goals while keeping the owner-moneychangers relatively happy. He has also demonstrated an incredible ability to keep baffling the media wolves with bullshit when the team inevitably falls short as all one-dimensional teams must.
On those rare occasions that the media grouses, the responsibility is seldom assigned to the front office, but rather at whoever Sabean happens to be pointing a finger at, including the crappy pitching Giants prospects are facing in AAA. Which is what happened when Posey was buried in Fresno in 2009 and early in 2010.
So while for many, Sabean and his crony Bochy have long since been passed by their management competition, the ownership is happy as a pig in slop with attendance, merchandise sales, cable royalties, and a msm that is content to hear no, see no, and speak no evil of the front office. As they say in the broadcast booth and the press box, "the beer is cold, the pizza hot. Money for nothing and the parking's free.
What Winners Do
What they do is recognize those opportunities. And they commit to go all in. To risk the so-called "future". They go out and get the players they need to win. Now. As if there were any guarantees in professional sports to begin with. Are you nuts? The term "mortgaging the future" is a socially acceptable phrase to hide socially unacceptable miserliness and non-commitment. In professional sports there is only the here and now. If you don't have what you need now, you go out and get it now when that window is open.
Its like the "power couple" who spend a thousand times more money and effort and thought on a pre-nuptial agreement or how they are going to cope with their failures than they do on their vows which how they are going have a successful committed relationship. Its called planning and organizing future failure as contractually spelled out by lawyers and accountants. Its planning to lose. Its not mortgaging the future.
The pitching window is already closing. The most insane move of the offseason (besides not getting rid of Zito if for no other reason than to remove the corpse from the family room) was kicking out a recalcitrant Jonathan Sanchez. This is just what they did to Joe Nathan. Accusing him of jaking when he had a legitimate injury. The Giants got back the most despised Giants in San Francisco history in the deal; AJ Pierzynski.
And in return for Jon Sanchez? The Latin version of Aubrey Huff, Melky Cabrera, an all-around failure save for last year in Kansas City of all places. Thats one good year out of seven by the way. That after being released by Atlanta after the 2010 season, a team that hit almost as poorly as the Giants. So one year with Kansas City and despite everything, they showed no interest. But you'll never hear that from any of the mouthpieces.
What people who are dead set on winning do, is they risk the future for the present, when they think they have the horses. Like the 49ers. Like the Yankees. Like the Cardinals. Like the Angels. Like the Phillies. Like the Rangers. And if a guy fails to work off his contract adequately, they cut him loose. They don't hang onto him for 5 years and keep running him out there to remind everybody what a joke his contract was.
Tired Old Act
The Giants love to tell everybody how great their pitching is and it is to a point. But when you can only win a little over half your games when you hold opponents to 2 runs or less, (when the MLB average is closer to 80 percent) you do not have a good baseball team. And folks who are paying even the slightest bit of attention will think you are full of shit.
As a matter of fact, you do not even have a competitive baseball team (sixth place overall in the NL last year and 8 games behind the Diamondbacks). You have a pitching staff and double digit millions of dollars in wasted payroll to has-beens, cronies and scrubinis. You are doing things by half-measures. And then you make half-ass excuses that are dutifully regurgitated half-heartedly by fanboy-blogs wanting to be discovered by somebody with a checkbook.
And yet there are no shortage of apologists. Counting on Buster Posey (who has less than a full season of games in MLB by the way) and the often-crippled Freddy Sanchez and Melky Cabrera to add another 100 runs of offense is nothing more than a hallucinogenic energy drink. But I do understand those willing to partake. I get it. I understand. I was 11 once too.
What Winners Don't Do
Winners do not hang on to Aaron Rowand or Barry Zito or Aubrey Huff or Edgar Renteria or Rich Aurilia or Dave Roberts or any other number of has-beens and consider that to be their Plan A. Winners do not have guys like Eli Whitesides and Brandon Crawford, Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia, Miguel Tejada, Freddy Sanchez starting games on a regular basis because they are too stupid or too cheap or too both to have a plan B when plan A goes south like it always does.
Winners do not go into the season with Plan A predicated upon "IF". Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Houston, San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, consider "IF" their Plan A. Plan A for the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Rangers, Phillies includes how many post-season tickets are they going to sell, and what kind of bullpen help can they pickup for October.
Their Plan A is not: "We hope to be competitive, pray that the Dodgers and Diamondbacks charter flights get lost over the Polar Ice Cap" and then maybe win a coin-flip and consider a hit man to take out our likely opponents' 1 through 4 starters.
Do Not Kid Yourself
San Francisco Baseball Associates has squandered a golden opportunity to be a dominant franchise. And they have done it willfully and deliberately. They are in the asset-building business. They run the Giants like a business, not a baseball team. They once again walked right past impact and legacy players like they didn't exist, like Aesop's fox past the grapes hanging out of his reach. And if your goal is to maximize your return on investment with as little risk as possible, you run your baseball operations like you are a small market team in a big market. Everybody is happy except those who are not satisfied with an amusement park and one or two matinee idols.
I don't think anybody will confuse Giants management with the Yankees, Braves, Cardinals, Red Sox, Rangers, Angels, Phils, or even the Nationals and Marlins at this point.
And that is just pathetic.
Monday, January 30 2012 @ 10:28 AM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 241
 Angels And Giants
Okay. Everybody knows Angels owner, Arte Moreno's GM, Jerry Dipoto signed CJ Wilson to a $77 Million contract. The Angels, within days of the Wilson signing, inked Albert Pujols to a 10 year, $240 Million contract. The Angels, like the Giants, and a lot of other clubs have some bad contracts. Vernon Wells (OPS+ 83) $24.6 Million for the next 3 season, Tori Hunter (OPS+ 115) $18.5 Million for the rest of this season. Gary Mathews $11.4 Million abomination came off the books at the end of last year. But Angels owner Arte Moreno gave the new GM a mandate when he hired him in October. "Do whatever it takes to win". Not: "We need to build a rainy day fund."
Treating the Cause, Not the Symptom
After the fiasco that 2011 turned into for the Angels as a result of the Vernon Wells and Gary Mathews acquisitions, Moreno could see that 20 year Angel employee and 4 year GM Tony Reagins was not what the Angels needed in the lightning fast wheeler-dealer environment that the acquisition of impact, legacy-building players has become.
Winners Will Tolerate Only So Much Losing
Two consecutive years of missing the post-season and counting on A's owner-miser-frat-bro-of-Bud Lew Wolff's continued water-boarding of his franchise to get them back there was not enough. The continued Texas Ranger front-office turn-around out of bankruptcy by Nolan Ryan, and a Texas Ranger roster which got a huge boost from traded Angels catcher Mike Napoli was about the limit of Moreno's patience. Reagins was allowed to resign and accept a new position within the organization as a consultant.
General Managing To Win
Enter Jerry Dipoto. Jerry Dipoto was the temporary GM in Arizona for 14 months, until he was replaced by Kevin Towers, the hero who pawned Bruce Bochy off on Brian Sabean 4 months after he got rid of Vinny Castilla. Bochy's refusal to bench 68 year-old 3b Vinny Castilla in San Diego was the final straw for Kevin Towers. He called Bochy's bluff to get rid of Castilla and in fact, did just that in July of 2006. The Padres, to nobody's surprise except Bochy's managed to hang on for the rest of the season, only to lose to the Cards in the LDS.
Jerry Dipoto, Angels GM
Jerry Dipoto came up to the majors in 1993 and underwent successful thyroid cancer surgery in 1994 at age 26. He finished his 8 year MLB career in 2000 with 49 saves and an ERA+ of 120. Dipoto's the guy who set up much of the worst-to-first Diamondbacks during the period between the time Josh Byrnes was fired, and Kevin Towers was hired.
Giants fans need no reminding that Dipoto's D'backs humiliated the Giants in the last week of the season sweeping them badly at home, while taking 5 out of 6 games in September. They won the NL West easily by 8 games. Sabean's masterpiece finished sixth out of sixteen teams in the NL overall. Dipoto shipped out Dan Haren to the Angels' Tony Reagins for Joe Saunders and No.1 pitching prospect Tyler Skaggs. Dipoto also picked up Daniel Hudson and a milb for Edwin Jackson prior to the 2011 season.
Hudson, since he came over in 2010 has an era+ of 133 and a K/BB ratio of 3.70 to 1. And to top it off, he won the National League Silver Slugger Award for pitchers with an OPS of .678 last season. In contrast, the Giants 1b Aubrey Huff, hit .676. Daniel Hudson is 24 and was paid $419,000.
Meanwhile Back at The Ranch - North California
And by now Giants fans know that the Giants signed Tim Lincecum to a 2-year, $41.5 Million contract, and Zito is still running out the last few years of his $126 Million legalized welfare fraud. Giants followers also know there have been no real impact moves since Barry Zito in 2007; unless one considers the trade for a sub-100 OPS+ castoff like Melky Cabrera an impact signing.
Oh Really?
What Giants fans may or may not know, is that the two highest paid offensive players coming into this season will be Aaron Rowand at $13.6 Million and Aubrey Huff at $10 Million. (Even if Rowand gets picked up by another ML club, the new club only pays the minimum.) That's a total of $23.6 Million for this year. Which is almost as much as what the Angels are paying Vernon Wells for similar production. At least Wells can play defense.
Brian Sabean has also gone out and thrown $11.5 Million at Javier Lopez and Jeremy Afeldt. I love both Afeldt and Lopez and I think they're worth that kind of money if they continue to pitch well. If they pitched on contending teams with balanced rosters.
Fifty Dollar Saddle - Ten Dollar Horse
I only bring that up, because thats kind of like putting $50.00 saddles on $10.00 horses. What the Giants have had for the most part under Sabean, is a $50.00 pitching staff, (with some a smattering of good position players in the last couple of years) provided by Dick Tidrows minor league system and scouts, and $10.00 horses in the Major League hitters Sabean has acquired over the years. Not to mention the three horrible MLB pitchers Sabean has signed to multi-year contracts: Armando Benitez, Matt Morris and Barry Zito.
Now Here Is The Kicker
Giants First Baseman Aubrey Huff and Starting Pitcher Barry Zito will be paid a combined $29 Million in 2012. Angels First Baseman and Starting Pitcher CJ Wilson will be paid a combined $22 Million.Thats right. Zito and Huff will make more than Pujols and Wilson will for their new club.
If one throws in Aaron Rowand's $13.6 Million this season, the Giants will be paying out $42.6 Million for the services of Barry Zito and Aubrey Huff, and the cut-loose Rowand. The Angels are not scheduled to pay out that much to Albert Pujols and CJ. Wilson until the 2016 season when they will be paid a combined $45 Million. That's five seasons from now folks.
How is that possible?
The contracts are amortized over many years of course. Same way a guy earning $50k a year can buy a $350,000 house. Arte Moreno bought the Angels for $184 Million in 2003. Forbes valued the Angels at $554 Million in March of 2011. The Giants were valued a month later at $553 Million. The personal assets of the partners making up San Francisco Baseball Associates is in double digit $Billions. So its not just a matter of money that dictates where free-agent stars end up.
Dipoto negotiated the deals for both Angels players only two months into the job. Arte Moreno never met face to face with Pujols. He didn't need to. It wasn't necessary He made one call to Albert, offered to fly out to see him and Pujols declined, and told him he took him at his word. You see. Moreno put his money where his mouth was with 20 years of personal commitment including 10 years of personal services from Albert after the 10 year playing contract ran its course. (not unlike Bonds with the Giants) That was all that Pujols needed to know.
Its About the GM and the Manager
Mike Sciosia has a reputation for being the strongest baseball voice in the Angels organization. And rightfully so. He has the pedigree as a player and the track record as a manager, as well as the leadership characteristics that a high-powered winning team requires. As was Dusty Baker in his years with the Giants. Here's the thing. Whoever replaced Reagins was going to have to earn the respect (and rightfully so) of Mike Sciosia, if the GM-MGR partnership was to work. Well, who better than a former closer who fought his way through cancer as a 26 year old, helped build the 2004 Red Sox as a scout for Theo Epstein, turn around a laughingstock Diamondback franchise and a guy with less than 10 weeks on the job sign away one of his rivals front-line starters as well as the best hitter in Major League Baseball?
The Questions You Have To Ask Yourself If You're Feeling Lucky.
Now if you're a free agent, and know for sure you will get your money someplace, where are you going to sign? With a GM who lashes out at young players under control and if they speak up, ships them out? With a club who is managed by a guy who is more interested in clubhouse peace with his clubhouse cronies and pets, than bringing along younger players with upside? With an organization who is serious about winning? With a franchise that will cut front-office bait if the guy in the suit is provably over-matched? If you're an impact free-agent do you really want to cast in with Brian Sabean and Bruce Bochy and Barry Zito and a couple of promising minimum wagers in the field and a faceless ownership group that is forever whining about money and rainy day funds; just like Stoneham and Lurie?
Well, Do You?
Or do you want to go someplace where the ownerships demonstrates every off-season, that this year is their year to win, not maintain the status quo, hope to compete, get lucky once every 20 years and fill the seats while the longest tenured bureaucrat continues to call out and insult young players, play favorites with has-beens, and generally act and behave like Boss Tweed? Carlos Beltran, Vlad Guerrero, Jeff Kent, said no way; and those are the ones we know about. So. Do you feel lucky? Well, do you?
Friday, January 27 2012 @ 03:33 PM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 195
 Types of Pitchers
Just for grins, I googled the title of this post. Eight million websites each with a different opinion about Drop and Drive, Tall and Fall. Each blurb followed by a "BUY MY BOOK OMG!". If not a book, than a cd rom, magazine, dvds, lessons or a Jobu doll to make you, your kid, your girlfriend, or your ham sandwich a can't-miss first-round prospect. And with that, I am not using those terms.
To avoid confusion I'm just going to break deliveries into two types that will suit the purposes of most fans. Power pitchers like Seaver, Martinez, Lincecum, Nomo, who develop(ed) most of their power from the waist down. And second, taller, upper body driven pitchers from the hips up. Robb Nen, Justin Verlander, Mark Prior. Keep in mind, the two guys at left are extremes and its just a general breakdown. Most guys are in the middle and there are different subtype and arm slots and a lot of stuff I could throw out there but for our purposes its not necessary.
Trying To Keep It Simple
I like simple. Simple works for me for two reasons. If its simple and works, then I can understand it. Secondly, if I can understand it, I can pass it along to others. I tend to think people are as smart as they want to be, so less is better. If they want more, they'll ask.
A lot of what kind of a pitcher, a player is, is based on his body type and natural throwing motion. Which is mostly genetic along with something a kid develops as they grow up long before some little league coach gets hold of him. Throwing dirt clods, rocks, spitballs, little brothers etc.
Here's What I Mean
This point was really validated and reinforced for me several years ago by an old Giants scout. He was working out a potential prospect, and he had me hit some easy grounders to the kid at shortstop and make throws to first base. He did this so he could see for himself a quick overview of what the player's "natural throwing motion" looked like. It enabled him to look at balance, natural stride, natural arm slot (angle of the arm in relationship to his shoulder) and the all-important follow through without having the complexities of a pitching delivery interfering.
It is also why a kid like Tim Lincecum who's dad understands these very same principles, can develop a pitcher like Tim, and shock the entire baseball world with his talent and performance. But if you understand the very basic elements of a catapult or sling shot, its no mystery at all. You accept what you have to work with, and go from there.
The Taller Pitcher
The taller a pitcher is, the harder time he has with repeatability of his pitching motion. If you can't repeat it through habit, there is no way to throw good strikes. So coaches try to compact the guy up, shorten his stride a little, tuck his chin into his shoulder or any other number of gimmicks or triggers. Maybe change his arm angle, anything to make the delivery consistent. Sometimes its like trying to piece together Rubic's Cube.
Robb Nen was a classic case. Canon for an arm, tall guy but was all over the place until he shortened his stride up to help him stay balanced and in sync. He even introduced a kind of toe-tapping stutter step to his stride forward, to keep his hips from opening up too fast. And there's a million stories like this but all of it, from the softest tossing pie-thrower to the three-digit flamethrower have to have one thing working for them.
Footwork.
It Is the foundation on which the house is built. I don't care how strong the shoulders, the glutes, or anything else. No footwork, no balance. No balance, no power, no control, no location. If you consider the pitching delivery to be just a bunch of levers and fulcrums that convert potential energy into kinetic energy, than you're half-way there. Classic examples are teeter-totters, catapults, sling-shots. Add a bunch of rubber bands to start the process of energy conversion (muscles, ligaments, tendons) and you probably understand more than 90% of the folks watching at home. Elementary physics. It takes great footwork to convert the inertia of a stationary man standing on mound with a 5 oz sphere into a 95 mph fastball hitting a 4 square inch target on a consistent basis. Think about that for a minute. Thats one of the reasons why great pitchers make so much.
Nuke LaLoosh
A good natural throwing motion enables all the body's levers, fulcrums and rubber bands to work at peak efficiency, whether it is short and compacted or long and extended. If you have all of that working for you, even Nuke LaLoosh can be successful to a point. Thats not to say that good pitchers cannot be manufactured; they can. Hence the plethora of how-to books, clinics, and pitching lesson gurus willing to help you spend your money to see if you or your kid can be one of these. Its extremely rare.
Born To Be Good - Not Every Pitcher Fits The Same Cookie Cutter.
Tim Lincecum's pitching motion is an extension of his natural throwing motion. His first toss during warm ups is about 85 mph. That is a result of his natural throwing motion. Nothing freakish about it at all. He was lucky enough to have a really smart pitching coach for a dad. Chris Lincecum used Tim's natural born talents and incredible quick-twitch muscles work for themselves and he just helped Tim with the finer points of pitching along the way. It is a maximum effort that extends all the levers, starting with the big toe on his back foot, and ending with the tips of his index and middle fingers. And while it may appear wild and out of control it is anything but. It is as repeatable as Greg Maddux's was who looked effortless on the mound and has what is considered a nominal effort delivery.
Maddux and Lincecum - Completely Different But Similar
Maybe not the best examples, but suitable to demonstrate how the legs work and why it is so important. What both have in common is a very long stride that does not cause them to open their hips too fast (unlike Robb Nen), making them drag their arm through the delivery. They use their front cleats on the ball of their foot, to grip the mound, leverage and pull their hips through not completely unlike a pole vaulters pole. Just like Barry Bonds uses his front foot to help pull his hips through the hitting zone. Its all the same in terms of generating power. The feet dictate what the hips are going to do. The hips dictate what the trunk is going to do and so on right up to the release point. Look at a great power-hitter some time. At point of contact, oftentimes the back foot is almost airborne such is the weight transfer generated by the lower body. Just like a pitcher.
The Tall Guys
These are the Verlanders, Nens, et al who are very tall guys and who depend on big shoulders, long legs, and long arms to generate their power. Their problem is not power, but generally command and location of those very long levers. While a six-footer like Lincecum or Martinez can sustain repeatability in a maximum effort, leg driven delivery, the tall guys do not have that kind of natural throwing motion. So they have to take a little bit off, shorten stride a little, maybe go to a half-circle wind-up (Roger Clemens) Think of the difference between Magic Johnson and Wilt Chamberlain. Dominant scorers but completely different shooting styles.
One Last Thought on Tall Pitchers Versus The Shorter, Longer Stride Guys.
Lot of guys are of the opinion that a 95 mph fastball from a tall guy is better than a 95 mph fastball from a short guy because of the "downward plane effect". This means the ball is moving on a different path than the bat. Which if you're a Charlie Lau disciple (swinging slightly down on a pitch to generate backspin) would be true.Ted Williams happened to laugh at this silliness as a crutch to generate power. Williams advocated the slight upper-cut to match the plane of the pitch, which if you look at Barry Bonds swing, thats what you'll see; a slight uppercut. Which in effect negates most of the advantage. But to the point. While a downward plane may present a problem for the Charlie Lau swing, it also gives the hitter better depth perception. It is easier to judge the distance of something moving down and towards you in two planes than it is to judge the distance of something moving directly at you in one plane. Its called depth perception.
And The Point Is?
Remember the objective of pitching is to ruin a hitters timing. Taking away a piece of his depth perception contributes to that by reducing his reaction time. A shorter pitcher with a lower release point can eliminate some of that depth perception, (depending on arm slot and release point of course) which in turn makes timing that much harder. Throw in the additional depth perception issues associated with late breaking off-speed pitches; straight changes, forkballs and cutters, then it is even more difficult. There's a lot of room for guys like Lincecum and Seaver, as the imitators are already beginning to show up in the high schools, colleges and lower ranks of organized ball. The more the merrier and hope this adds to your enjoyment of the pitching game.
Bonus Question - The Common Link
Both Tim Lincecum and Robb Nen pitched for the Giants. The most extreme examples of power pitching mechanics I could ever think of. Both enjoyed enormous success as right-handed power pitchers and pitched themselves into Giants history and fans' hearts with regular and post-season heroics. The common link? Left handed starter and closer and long-time San Francisco Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti who, while fame and fortune came with the Yankees, proudly pitched his last game in the orange and black.
Now you know the rest of the story.
Wednesday, January 25 2012 @ 06:36 PM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 200
 Movie Night With Billy
Billy Calzada, a truly gifted photo-journalist who lives in San Antonio took this extraordinary picture of Tuskegee Airman, John Mills at the San Antonio Texas opening of Red Tails. Just click the picture for the full-size rendition. This is what Billy wrote in his Facebook entry:
John Miles, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen of World War II fame, acknowledges an ovation as he is introduced prior to the screening of the film "Red Tails," in San Antonio on Jan. 12, 2012. The Red Tails were a fighter airplane group made up of African-Americans. The film officially launches in theaters today. I'm eager to see it.
Billy lost his dad (Guillermo Calzada) a couple of weeks ago, himself a veteran of the South Pacific Theater during World War II, so no doubt this Red Tails evoked some recollections of days gone by for Billy; as it has for a lot of folks.
WWII Movies In General
For some reason, the Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Tom Hanks, Ken Burns and Steven Spielberg melodramas are considered the standard in World War II films and documentaries. Don't get me wrong, they have their place. War is the most horrific of human depravities. War gives license to all the cruelties that the evil amongst us can visit upon their fellow human beings.
The monsters of the night, the serial killers, the rapists, the gangsters, the pedophiles, the torturers, thieves, thugs and the worst instincts of mankind are unleashed upon an"enemy". An "enemy" that has to be dehumanized and vilified in order to enable the ordinary citizen soldier to become an ice-hearted killer and allow the truly evil to roam free amongst them.
Changing the Course of Civilization
World War II changed the soul of humanity for a long time to come. Until then, civilians, women and children were off-limits to combatants as a matter of humanitarian policy. There were always exceptions of course. Once a war starts, the insanity commences and it is mostly out of control until somebody surrenders. It all changed when the Japanese raped Nanking, and death-marched 75,000 American soldiers at Bataan.
And it happened when the Nazis declared race war upon the Jews, Slavs, Catholics and Russians. By dehumanizing their enemies as all serial killers and sociopaths do, they gave themselves permission to bomb civilian targets for morale-breaking purposes. Starting with Warsaw, Krakow in Poland. And all of the horror visited upon its victims in the name of some higher calling. Retaliation was inevitable. Tokyo was bombed in retaliation for Pearl Harbor and as a morale booster.
Berlin was bombed in retaliation for the London Blitzkrieg that enabled the RAF to prevail in the Battle of Brittan. It didn't stop, the V-1s and the V-2 terror rockets into London throughout the war however. Hamburg and Dresden Firebombings were the brainchild of Air Chief Marshall Arthur Harris. Twenty-Five Thousand German Civilians were torched in March 1945 when the outcome of the war had already been decided.
You Bomb Me - I Bomb You
They bombed ours. We bombed theirs. All as part of the overall war effort. The American Armed Forces constricted their bombing raids to strategic target bombing as a matter of policy dedicated to "precision bombing of military targets only". which is why their missions were always in daylight. More than one mission was turned around rather than drop bombs over non-threatening non-military targets. That was not always the case of course in the insanity of war, but it was American Army Air Force Policy. The Brits bombed at night, and bombed more indiscriminately. Nighttime area-bombing
The Backdrop
So that's the backdrop for the deployment of the 332nd Fighter Group; The Red Tails. I'm not going to supplement the movie with a bunch of historical sidelights and corrections to aircraft markings, maneuvering capabilities and combat tactics and enemy encounters. There are all kinds of historical inaccuracies with the movie. It is the nature of movies to do so. Movies are about story telling, not an analysis of military operations.
Stories - Not Documentaries
Top Gun, Memphis Belle. These are all adventure stories meant to stimulate thought and curiosity; entertain and evoke emotional responses. The hope is that those in the audience who came into the movie knowing nothing or worse, ill-informed, now know enough to make Red Tails a starting point in discovering a beautiful and noble effort by genuine heroes who too often were despised by the very ones whose lives they were defending and protecting.
If one thinks in the context of a greatly under- rated underdog, then you have the context of the Red Tails. To believe that assembling a handful of the most intelligent, the most courageous, the most physically coordinated and calculating risk takers and marksmen from within an ethnic grouping of millions of Americans, and expect to come up with an inferior fighter pilot at the end of the process defies logic. It is beyond ridicule.
The Necessity for Escorts
Bomber formations of B-24s and B-17s were extremely vulnerable to Luftwaffe Fighter attacks. In the early part of the war, unescorted bomber crews had no statistical chance of surviving beyond ten of the mandated twenty-five missions. Morale as one can expect was horrible. Until the P51 came along, there were no long range escorts. It was enraging to American Fighter pilots to watch in helplessness as the Luftwaffe fighter packs waited outside their fuel range to attack the bomber streams. Every time a B17 or B24 went down, it took 10 men with it. For the most part, the allies achieved air supremacy over Europe in the middle of 1944. But as the allies shrunk the amount of territory controlled by the Nazis, the concentration of aircraft and armed defenses closed ranks making missions even more risky.
Into The Breach
American Fighter Pilots were relentless in their pursuit of Luftwaffe fighters. The Luftwaffe changed tactics when engaging the bomber streams. They used ME 109s to draw off American Fighters and then attack the bomber streams with the canon-armed FW 190s from above to shoot up the slow moving B17s and B24s. If you've ever seen Zebras and wildebeest get attacked by crocodiles when they migrate the Mara river, then you have an idea of what those bomber streams faced.
The 332nd made it their mission to never leave the bomber streams to the mercy of the Luftwaffe. The defense of Berlin was horrific. It was Hitler's last stand and the allies were attacking from the west and the south from Italy. And this is where the Red Tails made their bones. The LW threw everything they had left at the American Bombers including their 600 mph ME 262. who could flash through a formation of bombers flying 400 mph slower before they even knew what hit. The 332nd never lost a bomber. Of the dozens of fighter groups who flew in the European and Mediterranean theaters, only the 332nd Fighter Group can make that claim.
Conspicuous Gallantry
The Redtails ended up the war with a unit citation that included the term "conspicuous gallantry." Think about what that means. Conspicuous Gallantry. Then look around you. How many institutions or groups can you apply that too and keep a straight face?
Ordinary men, performing extraordinary acts of courage and nobility in an ignoble time and place of kill or be killed.
Monday, January 23 2012 @ 08:48 AM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 149
 The End
January 22, 2012 marked the end of Joe Paterno's 85 years in this life. What awaits him in the next one is anybody's guess, which intrigues me not in the least. The last thread of the old regime at Penn State seems to have been broken. New AD. New President. New head of the Board of Trustees. New football coach from the outside. New VP of Finance. Indictments and trials to come. The aftermath of 60 years about to be autopsied and put on display beginning sometime in March.
Mercifully Paterno's passing will spare the denizens of that part of Pennsylvania some of the anger if not speculation about Paterno's role. The folks back there can write their own history about him. We will not be exposed to testimony, and recriminations swirling around an old and sick man. I'm glad its over. Mainly the victims of his football program are free of him.
The Beginning
January 22, 2012 also marked the beginning of a reclaimed NFL dynasty, though it ended on a dreary day, on an off-track with Eli Manning doing his personal and boring impression of a New York Yankee, Boston Red Sox game, stretching the confrontation out to four hours. Nothing was going to match the double-comeback in the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saint from the week before. A more dragged out game would have been hard to come by. Officials, reviews, challenges, extended television time-outs 9,378 incomplete passes, out of bounds, dead-balls, referee timeouts. Not that there wasn't tension. But it was the kind of tension that comes from sitting in a bomb shelter hoping you don't catch a direct hit.
Meatheads Exposed
Lot of folks are all torqued at Kyle Williams, for his two miscues, the fumble on the run-back in OT, and a muffed punt - Hideous call really. Which is simply stupid and demonstrates a childish mentality, when you read some of the comments floating around. But thats what you get when the NFL and the ethically retarded networks have convinced millions of drunks, trailer trashites, posers and other assorted anger-issue loons that every single football game is life and death or worse.
Meatheads, will focus on the last game because of their personal disappointment, and childish need to be a victim by finding somebody to blame for their own unfulfilled expectations. In this case, it is Kyle Williams, an exciting and contributing player. The idiots only want to remember the two muffs. They don't want to remember his key run-back earlier to set up a 49er score. They can't recall the week before when he laid a key block to enable a last minute score against the Saints. And if you get that unwound because you lost a bet, don't gamble. If you get that upset over one lost bet, don't bet.
Risk Taking
The same mindset and skillset that turns these guys into breakaway scoring threats on any kick are the same things that cause them to muff punts and fumble -- they are the ultimate risk-takers on every team. Thats why they're threats to score and why they're threats to muff too. Taking risks. It leads to mistakes inevitably. But its also what makes them good.
The Upcoming Nobody West of Toronto Cares Bowl
The NY Giants and New England Patriots will re-enact a prior Superbowl matchup featuring the NFL's version of a Yankee-Red Sox game. An overly-long, drawn out, meldodramedy featuring obnoxious fans, a drooling media, and a drawn-out over-amplified two weeks of network promotions, exceeded in annoyance only by Flo, campaign ads, and a never-ending presidential election.
Maybe Derek Jeter can represent the Yankees during half-time with 1983 skank of the year during half-time. I'm sure John Lackey, can represent Kentucky Fried Chicken for the Boston fans. Everybody east of the Hudson River and north of the New Jersey Buttabing will be enthralled. For the rest of us, it is baseball season.
The 2013 Season Begins
But mainly Jan 22, 2012 marks the first day of the 2013 49ers Season. It will follow a season that came within a whisker of a Superbowl trip. In 1980, Bill Walsh and Joe Montana led the 49ers to the biggest comeback in their history against the New Orleans Saints. They finished 6-10 that year. The next 20 years would see them establish unmatched superiority in the NFL, including two back-to-back Hall of Fame Quarterbacks whose jocks Eli Manning will never be able to carry. Last week Jim Harbaugh and Alex Smith, brought the 49ers back twice in the most exciting finish to a 49er game in 30 years against those same New Orleans Saints.
I would not bet against the 49ers picking up where they left off 10 years ago. What a great future. What a great organization once again. A new stadium is on the horizon, new players to be brought in. A redeemed Alex Smith, and NFL coach of the year Jim Harbaugh. I just know Bill Walsh is smiling someplace.
Saturday, January 21 2012 @ 05:54 AM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 232
 From Last Week's Update
And then it started raining footballs. The Brees storm was expected, but not to the extent in which his receivers were running amok like one of those electric vibrating football games. What was jaw-dropping and unexpected, except by the 49er coaching staff and players themselves, was the torrent of Joe Montana, Steve Young types of plays not seen since the last century as Alex Smith put the team on his back and brought them back twice from sure defeat.
Even when the Saints went ahead with 1 minute 37 seconds to go. Play after play until finally with 9 seconds left, he connected with former Maryland standout, Vernon Davis at the Goal line who did to Roman Harper what Dwight Clark did to Everson Walls. Beat their teams in their last defensive play of the season.
And so Sunday January 22, 2012 waits for the New York Giants. Just like it waited for them in January 1982. It was a Divisional game then. A conference championship now. We shall see.
Is It Sunday Yet?
So inquired Jerry Rice on Twitter. "I'm trying not to think about the game, the old pre-game jitters come back, my palms start sweating, my hearts starts beating faster, and I can't concentrate on anything else but the game": - That was old 87 talking with old Number 25 on Friday afternoon. That would be Santa Cruz neighbors Dwight Clark and Eric Davis who do pre-game and post games for the local CSN Bay Area. The buildup is not only in my head, my self being victimized by ghosts past.
Random Recall
My dad, who has been under the weather didn't watch the New Orleans game to its conclusion. Not because he didn't care; too much excitement for his physical condition he claims. Literally. He's not your typical buy-a-ticket fan. He was an assistant at Poly High School when George Seifert played. He was in Kezar when it was uncool. He and another guy spent years running the ushers for the 49ers at Kezar. Which meant mostly breaking up fights."The Moribitos were cheapskates" "When the Raiders formed in the old AFL in 1960, they treated us like golden..twice the pay of the 49ers." The Raiders played one or two seasons at the Stick before moving to Frank Youell Field in Oakland. So he goes back to 1946 the year he got home from the War. Not easily impressed.
Poly High
Poly High School. Thats where former 49er Gary Lewis played too. When he was in high school he was OJ before OJ. First guy I ever saw dribble a ball behind his back at Kezar Pavilion in 1959. I was 11 years old when he carried 3 Mission HS defenders 30 yards into the end-zone, hardly missing a stride. 6-4 225 and a sub-11 sec 100 yard dash in high school in 1959. He and Pop always stayed in touch after graduation and of course during his time with the Niners. In those days, the 49ers camped at St. Mary's College before they moved onto UC Santa Barbara when Dick Nolan came in. We used to go out there a lot as kids. I remember an old Kodak instamatic picture of Gary holding my youngest brother at about the age of 10 or so. Tossing him up in the air like a sack of flour during one training camp in the mid-60s. The two of them grinning and laughing from ear to ear like they just won a pizza.
My son was 5years old when Dwight Clark came down with Montana's pass 30 years ago over Cowboy DB Everson Walls. The Niners had handled the NY Giants pretty handily as they had during the regular season the week before in the Divisional Playoff. We watched the final minutes of the Dallas game in a back room with rabbit ears and a static-filled 12 inch black and white. The winter storms had knocked the roof antenna off the chimney so we were stuck. He remembers almost getting crushed by his crazy old man who lost what was left of his mind for an hour or so. I have no independent recollection except almost knocking my father in law into the next county.
Number 22 In Your Program
Vic Washington, Bob Hayes, Eddie Lewis, Dwight Hicks, Tim McKyer, Todd Bowles, Amp Lee, Tyrone Drakeford, Tony Blevins, Terry Jackson, Nate Clements, Carlos Rogers. All the guys who have worn Number 22 since Gary Lewis first pulled it over his pads in 1964.
Gary Lewis died in 1986 of Lou Gehrig disease. Three weeks before the 49ers would suffer their worst playoff defeat in history at the Meadowlands 49-3. Jim Burt crushed Joe Montana just as he let go a pass that was intercepted by Lawrence Taylor for a TD. Gary wasn't the only old Niner to fall victim to ALS. QB Bobby Waters died in 1989, and LB Matt Hazeltine died in 1987 of Lou Gehrig disease.
My youngest brother would die at the age of 50 of lung cancer in another brother's family room on a sunny Saturday morning in August almost twenty years later. Luckier than he deserved, his daughter, my niece and an awesome mom herself, flew across the country and brought him home. She stopped her life for as long as it took, to be with him until he slipped away one last time. A Bill Walsh autographed copy of "Building A Champion" from 1989, that co-author Glenn Dickey had arranged for Coach to sign a couple of months earlier was pretty damn special to him. It was actually Glenn's idea to have Coach sign it as he was visiting Coach on a regular basis as Bill's own battle with a terminal illness was in full swing. "To my good friend Paul, GO NINERS!" - Bill Walsh.
Thats The Thing
When you get older. Along with all those cool memories, comes the recollection of all that was connected to them. A lot of sad. A lot of happiness. As you get older, your future is pretty finite and for the most part has already taken place. So its important to you that those who are behind you on the trail be successful and get their shot at the dream and peace in life.
I see Dwight Clark now, and I see a kid out of Clemson at the age 22. Joe? Multiple surgeries, and injuries and the remnants thereof, in his 50s. He is still the high-school point-guard out of Notre Dame, sicker than a dog leading a comeback against Houston in the Cotton Bowl. I see Eric Davis, (who looked like he was 13 when he was playing alongside Deion Sanders here) on CSN and he still looks like he could play. What a delightful, bright and tough guy too. Talks about his girls all the time. Thats the root of the brotherhood. The very essence of what is important to fellow warriors. I love it when I can look at somebody whose father I am old enough to be and go "Yeah. That guy kicks ass, and is generous with his smarts"
Enter The Ether
And then I see Jed and damn if he doesn't look like his Uncle; Eddie D. The Boss is going to be the honorary captain tomorrow. Family. Friends, Ghosts. Then the cameras will do the pan around the top of the Candlestick rim. The names will evoke memories. And one above all will stand out. Coach Walsh. And then for an instant it is 1981 again. And it flashes to Rice and Taylor and the backfields of Ronnie Lott, Dwight Hicks, Carlton Williamson, Eric Wright . Its 1984, and 88 and 89 and 1995, and its Deion Sanders, Eric Davis, Tim McDonald and Merton Hanks. Now its Donte Whitner, Carlos Rogers, Tarell Brown, and Dashon Goldson. Roger Craig, Jack Reynolds, Freddie Solomon, Fred Dean, Dan Bunz, Archie Reese, Ray Wersching. He never looked up and was as deadly as anybody from 40 yards in.
I am also pretty convinced that Ronnie Lott is the invisible fifth DB when the Niners are faced with elimination. He's not in there all the time, he's in his fifties now you know. And if Charle Young wasn't coming across the middle with Vernon Davis, then some invisible Freddie Solomon must have cracked back on Roman Harper from behind as he went down in a heap.
Dan Bunz takes over Donte Whitner's body and crushes Pierre Thomas like Bunz crushed the Bengals Charles Alexander on the goal line to end the Bengals scoring threat in that first Superbowl. And what has been with linemen in the backfield this year. Shades of Coach Bill and Guy McIntyre. Kickers throwing for critical touchdown passes?
In the last game of the season in St. Louis, everybody in the stadium sees Crabtree out on the flank when the 49ers line up for a chipshot field goal.. On the Rams side of the field no less. Everybody sees him except the Rams. Crabtree skips into the endzone invisible to the Rams for a 14 yard touchdown pass from a 37 year old guy who has never thrown a TD pass. Ever.
The Journey Continues
And so the journey continues - on track again after a long and sometimes bitter delays. Tomorrow will bring a trip to the Superbowl for all or a trip to the Probowl for some. Its easier with baseball. Baseball just flows from one day, one week to the next; even the off-season is just a few weeks of R&R really before the season starts again. Football is different. It is the end of a war. A war fought without weapons, but with plenty of wounded. Broken bones, torn tendons, concussions, internal organ injuries, contusions, lacerations, fatigue, illness. Warfare. There is the weekly buildup-like the buildup to landing on Normandy or Iwo Jima. Only one side prevails. Plans are made, strategy and tactics tested, tuned and finalized.
But like War, once the shooting starts, its out of control until somebody loses.
Or Wins
Sunday, January 15 2012 @ 09:56 AM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 254
 (update) Joe Paterno passed away on January 22nd. As expected, Happy Valley, like Chicago or Philadelphia whenever a Mafia Don passed, is turning the event into a day of canonization. Sorry. Al Capone was still a bad guy. Read this excellent piece by Tom Scocca at Deadspin
Joe Paterno As Victim?
There is an attempt by many to change the Penn State narrative to reflect that Joe Paterno is a victim of Jerry Sandusky; a victim of the Penn State Board of Trustees, and the victim of mob rule by "outsiders". They would have you believe that Joe Paterno, was and is, as worthy of sympathy as any of the sexual assault victims of the criminals and enablers that have been a staple of his football program for more than 30 years.
Uncle Junior
It is perhaps telling, that in his first public interview since November, Joe Paterno sat down with the Washington Post exactly 3 days after the end of the College Football season and coincidental with PSU president's Rodney Erickson's whirlwind alumni tour. The interview took place in his kitchen, where he was flanked by a trial attorney and a public relations guy from one of the firms who help control the narrative of the monied notorious when they get their hands caught in the cookie jar or somebody's panties. Remember, Paterno is the same guy who for more than 50 years has never found a camera he couldn't mug for. Not even Tony Soprano's Uncle Junior (at left) had that much interference being run for him in his great masterpiece performance as a kindly loveable old uncle in his declining years.
Outrageous Circus Act
The recent meet-n-greet town-hall tour of PSU president Rod Erickson embarked upon to enlist Penn State alumni in his rehabilitate the reputation of PSU traveling circus, has been met by outrage. Not outrage at Paterno's football program which has disgraced a multi-billion dollar public university and created unknown numbers of children victims of sexual assault amongst its other victims of PSU football thugs and perverts. No the outrage was directed at outsiders. The media, the Board of Trustees, Sandusky and Erickson himself. Everywhere but at the creator, enabler and perpetrator of the disgraceful Penn State Football team. Dozens and perhaps hundreds of vocal Paterno zealots ranting on and on about the unfairness being visited upon Joe Pa. In spite of blatantly obvious evidence to the contrary.
Washington Post Interview
So much protest and agonizing over Joe in the media and elsewhere. Where two months ago, it seemed like many had come to their senses about the PSU football program, the media has focused its attention challenged interests elsewhere. In the breech, steps the Paterno publicity machine. The Washington Post was the paper that relentlessly pursued Nixon's crooked, but at the time very popular, administration to ground over the fiasco and constitutional crisis of Watergate. Who better to bring gravitas and seriousness to this horrific scandal, criminal activity and ongoing decades long coverup?
Well thats not how the interview went. It was a puff piece if for no other reasons than 1) Paterno claiming he had never heard of forcible sodomizing and 2) Paterno's silence on the critical timeline between the rape of a boy in his football facility by a guy who had been previously banned, and "arranging a meeting" with school bureaucrats days later. And making an alleged deliberate effort to distance himself from the proceedings after researching his criminal and/or professional liability in advance. As expected Joe washed his hands of the crime, opting for the Pontius Pilate/Chico And The Man Its Not My Job, defense
 One Statement Reveals Much
That one incident alone is as revolting as it is revealing. But not a first. Not by a long-shot. And Paterno bald-face lies to Sally Jenkins, Washington Post interviewer when he spoke the following:
“He (asst coach Mike McQueary) was very upset and I said why, and he was very reluctant to get into it,” Paterno said. “He told me what he saw, and I said, what? He said it, well, looked like inappropriate, or fondling, I’m not quite sure exactly how he put it. I said you did what you had to do. It’s my job now to figure out what we want to do. So I sat around. It was a Saturday. Waited till Sunday because I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. And then I called my superiors and I said: ‘Hey, we got a problem, I think. Would you guys look into it?’ Cause I didn’t know, you know. We never had, until that point, 58 years I think, I had never had to deal with something like that. And I didn’t feel adequate.”
Just a Recitation of Random Facts That Are Incomplete and/or Out of Context
"I never had to deal with something like that. And I didn't feel adequate"? What! Paterno thinks nobody in America can read except him? Nowhere in the recent Washington Post interview was there any mention of the two murderers who came out of his football program (one as recently as 2006). In none of the so-called "town-hall meetings" where President Rodney Erickson attempted to have cordial discussions with alumni in his Penn State reputation and rehabilitation campaign was there any mention of the outrageously high number of felonies committed by PSU football players committed year in and year out. "....I never had to deal with something like that.."
No mention of the Sports Illustrated pieces on the criminal elements in football program going back to 1980. No mention of the 2008 ESPN expose on the criminal activities of Penn State Footballers. "....I never had to deal with something like that.."
No mention of Lavon Chisley, who stabbed a non-footballer former PSU student 93 times, in 2006 and tried to blame white racists for the slaughter by scrawling on the walls with his victim's blood. "....I never had to deal with something like that.."
Nowhere in the puff-piece was there mention of Todd Hedne another former player who in 1979 was convicted on a series of sexual assault and rape charges. In 1988 Hedne was convicted of premeditated murder of a woman in New York and given a life sentence. He was denied parole in 2009. "....I never had to deal with something like that.."
In the interview there is no mention of the 46 players arrested and charged with various misdemeanors and felonies in just one seven-year period between 2002 and 2008. "....I never had to deal with something like that.."
No mention of any of that. No mention of the criminal activities exposed by Sports Illustrated in 1980."....I never had to deal with something like that.."
No mention or reference to the beating of Penn State criminal justice student Jack Britt in 2007, by one of Paterno's thugs. Britts father is a 30+ year veteran of Philadelphia PD and supervisor of Homicide Detectives. "....I never had to deal with something like that.."
That is when I was convinced that Joe Paterno is who I thought he was. Another arrogant narcissist, crippled by age, infirmity and disease unwilling to cede even the slightest imperfection in his judgement, personality or character. Accept absolutely zero responsibility, going so far as to admonish the Board of Trustees in his "retirement speech" that since he was going to retire, he was instructing them to not waste time investigating his program.
Let me remind you that there is plenty of documentation to be had. In the public record and mainstream articles in ESPN and Sports Illustrated and Pennsylvania newspapers and magazines. Most are freely available with Google. Or you can click to these two posts that gathered up the links and information through the early part of December. Murder and Mayhem - PSU Football and A Program of Criminals
Paying It Backward
And for three days of Town-hall meetings in New York, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, speaker after speaker came forward to defend Paterno. "When is the university going to honor him?" "The Board of Trustees should resign for their treatment of Paterno". And so much more insanity that I almost had to stop reading. I am inclined to believe that there are people in this country who in spite of their intelligence, their supposed upbringing, their education, and their professed beliefs are of no better mindset than the German townspeople deniers of Dachau, home to the first Nazi death camp in Germany, a mere 10 miles from Munich in the bucolic and civilized mountains of Bavaria. How ironic.
You can get first-hand objective updates by remarkably adept journalists, Brooks of SportsbyBrooks and Sara Ganim the crime reporter for the Harrisburg Patriot News who first broke the Jerry Sandusky Indictment and story.
Wednesday, January 11 2012 @ 09:14 AM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 218
 Note: A lot of folks are really interested in the Baseball Hall of Fame. If that is your won't I guarantee you will not find a more interesting and fun place to visit than Graham Womack's Baseball Past And Present
The Best of The Best
When I was a kid growing up in the fifties, the Baseball Hall of Fame was a pretty big deal. Only the best of the best
would be granted admittance. It was a privilege and an honor and better than being a king, a pope and a president combined. It was probably even better than being canonized, because even non-Catholics would think you're great. And as the 50s evolved into the 1961 season, a bunch of the same people who vote for Hall of Famers, thought Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were going to break Babe Ruth's Homerun record.
They Didn't Like The Idea of Somebody Breaking Ruth's Record
They decided they didn't like that very much. So it was simply a matter of declaring it wouldn't count if it took more than 154 games. And as August rolled into September and September started to wind down, the hysteria got even louder. Roger Maris was daily crucified by the braying writers of the Baseball Writers Association of America. It got so bad, that his hair started coming out in chunks.
Mantle Fell By The Wayside
Mantle's production fell off. He hit only one jack in the last 18 games of the season, missing the last few with injuries, to finish with 54. This suited the writers just fine as Mantle was their golden party boy and they were conflicted with Mantle the same way they were with Ruth. But Maris was this "nobody" who had come over from Kansas City. Maris tied the record against the Orioles in game 158 and broke it in his last game of the season against the Red Sox. And man did they let him have it. Including Commissioner Ford Frick, as history has well noted.
No Yankee Fan, I
I was no Yankees fan. But I loved Babe Ruth, like every other kid who got to watch the affable galoot William Bendix hit a homerun for a sick kid in the movie made not long after Babe's death. As a matter of fact, I hated the Yankees because they got rid of Ruth, and wouldn't let him manage after his career was done. Anyway, the whole thing didn't sound very fair. It seemed like a bunch of guys in suits who made secret decisions but got to write everyday in the newspapers about what people should think
He Was Just A Ballplayer
He was a just a ballplayer and all these people were mad at him for being good. I told my dad that they just sounded like a bunch of jealous old guys. I asked him if Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record, did that mean Babe Ruth didn't get to stay in the Hall of Fame? He laughed and said no. Records are meant to be broken. It doesn't mean Babe's record was any less great. It just meant that another really good ballplayer did something just as special in hitting that many homeruns. Nothing more. Nothing less, and that writers had to find something to write about or they would lose their jobs. I couldn't understand what the big deal was if Maris broke Ruth's record.
I had always been taught that you were supposed to be happy for your teammates when they did something good. Even if it was a younger bratty brother. Which leads me to the Hall of Fame and the arrogance, and ignorance and pettiness and selfishness and spitefulness of the jackasses who make up far too much of the voting base of the BBWAA. Like petty personalities everywhere, too many of them believe that the only way to build themselves or somebody else up, is to tear somebody else down. As if achievement and recognition were a zero-sum game..
Joe Posnanski - About the HOF
Joe Posnanski is a voting member of the BBWAA. He is a smart guy and a fair guy and nice guy. If you don't much follow the meanderings of the admissions process to the Baseball Hall of Fame and wonder why it is so bollixed up and inconsistent, read his post here. The crux:
In many ways, this pattern has repeated ever since. The writers have held to their ridiculous standards in some cases -- passing on Yogi Berra one year, not voting for undeniably great players for uncertain reasons*, passing on Jim Bunning and Ron Santo -- while in other cases just voting in their favorites like Kirby Puckett and Catfish Hunter, despite some serious questions. Number of writers who did not for for: Bob Gibson, 64; Juan Marichal 71; Willie McCovey 79. ......
Often, it seems to me, people will lose their minds when they are given a little area to protect. You will see it best, perhaps, in the parking lots of sporting events, especially the biggest ones. Every single year at events like the Indianapolis 500 or the Super Bowl or the World Series (but also at particularly busy high school football game) you see people in orange vests running around the parking lots -- people who, just the day before, were as friendly and generous as anyone else -- only they have suddenly and temporarily turned into mini-tyrants. Hey, watch it buddy. You can't go there. You've got to turn around. I don't care who you know. You are not allowed in here. That's not my problem. Your parking pass isn't being displayed properly. You are not welcome here. And so on. They say power corrupts -- well, I suspect even a tiny jolt of power can do it.
That, I think, is how some writers get when it comes to the Hall of Fame -- they may not see themselves exactly as part of a fun process to celebrate the greatest players in the history of the game. Instead, they may see themselves as the GUARDIANS of the Hall, the orange vests who make sure that the unworthy and unclean, the players without the proper parking passes, are kept out.
The BBWAA Should Be Mortified. But They Aren't Because That is Not the Nature of their Membership.
You know. Isn't that what it always come down to? Power. Little men and little women with a little bit of power huffing and puffing and waving people around the parking lot? The BBWAA have a lot to say on their voting. So far there are 80 online columns from voters lecturing folks on the eternal righteousness of their Hall of Fame admissions process. But not so much on the moral or ethical turpitude of one of their bigger blowhards, a repugnant personality physically and temperamentally even before he was outed for being a sexual predator and assailant of the small children in his immediate family
Child Molesters In Their Midst - "We Know Nutting Mein Osbert-Fuehrer"
So an organization that has 80 widely distributed self-absorbed rationalizations for their bizarre voting patterns, have only a two sentence statement regarding one of their most "honored members" committing one of mankind's most heinous of crimes against children.
Here is a two sentence statement from the BBWAA concerning Bill Conlin. In case you don't know who Bill Conlin is, he is the HOF honoree and Hall of Fame Voter who quit his job after it was disclosed by nieces and nephews that he had sexually assaulted them when they were little children.
The BBWAA statement said that it would leave the matter to authorities. Except. Guess what? There are no authorities. The Statute of Limitations has expired. In other words they are saying, tough shit, he got away with it, and there is nothing you or anybody can do about it. Let that settle in for a minute. They are telling you as an institution, they do not care about sexual predators and crimes against children. They are more Nixonian than Nixon himself. And if that is not irony, there is no such thing.
And In Conclusion - Bob Costas
Here is more from Joe Posnanski's excellent piece. Disclaimer. I haven't cared much for Costas since he appeared on Ken Burns Baseball some 17 years ago. He tries too hard to impress his audience with his saccharin soul for the game. Guys like that remind me of televangelists couples whose whole schtick revolves around telling people how into each other they are, because they are the only ones who know how to appreciate themselves; but they can teach you for a price. Like when Al Gore jumped up on a stage on National TV to tongue his future estranged wife. That was before he started giving tongue to Prius exhaust pipes.
I get it Costas You and Baseball broadcasts have been together since Jesus was filming the pilot for Deadliest Catch on the Sea Of Galilee. Really I do. You are the Grand Poo-bah of Major League Baseball (even if you do throw like a little girl) and we should all worship the institutions the same way you should, even if we are just slobbering blue-collar cyclops.
.
Joe Posnanski's Take On Bob Costas' Take
Costas' problem with steroids in baseball is not moral, no, it's a baseball problem. He thinks the use of steroids made those players unnaturally strong and made their BASEBALL FEATS inauthentic. I asked him if thinks Mark McGwire would have been a Hall of Fame player without steroids -- and he says that, yes, if McGwire could have stayed healthy he would have had a chance to have a Harmon Killebrew type of career. But Costas doesn't know if he could have stayed healthy and doesn't think he would have had ANY shot to hit 70 homers followed by 65. To him, that's just inauthentic.
My Take On This
So Bob Costas thinks Mark McGwire's accomplishments are inauthentic because his ingestion of certain pharmaceuticals and supplements enabled him to recover from injuries, pain and fatigue. Costas also thinks Barry Bonds accomplishments are inauthentic for the same reason. Bob Costas is also full of shit. Like the BBWAA HOF voters who deign to sit in moral judgement of the players and impute their own warped self-serving envy-ridden sense of values upon the voting process.
Because everything players do off the field has and is designed to help them recover from injuries, pain and fatigue. And its always been that way, even before the BBWAA accepted African American players as being comparable to white players. (Even Jackie Robinson came up well short of unanimity on his HOF vote if you can believe that) MLB players who play deep into the playoffs will play 200 games per year. 1800 innings of Major League Baseball crossing time-zones, hotel and fast food and all manner of conditions and weather and uneven hours. All designed to break a players body down. Millions are at stake, and this little man with a big megaphone has the audacity and arrogance to claim the accomplishments of great athletes who prevail under these conditions are inauthentic?
True Authenticity
Let me tell you something. No matter what you think of performance enhancing surgery, conditioning, nutrition, physical therapy and other 20th and 21st Century advances in medicine, the accomplishments of all those players are more authentic than what appears to be the color of Bob Costas hair. Besides, do you really want your opinions of greatness shaded by a guy who wears makeup for a living?
Thursday, January 05 2012 @ 05:11 PM PST
Contributed by: E
Views: 245
 Sour Grapes And Ass-Clowning
As day follows night, the Giants front office throws yet another quality player away. Now that the Giants best hitter from last season, Carlos Beltran (OPS+ 156) has signed with long time rival St. Louis, the Sabean/Baer/Sour Grapes Spin machine are at it again using their shills at KNBR, SFGate, etc to spread crap about a player that rejected them and their ways.
Taking Shots At Carlos Beltran
This time the player was Beltran and the accusation that a wrist injury that took him out of the lineup, was jaking and malingering -- something ludicrous on its face. Supposedly according to the media lapdogs, the only reason Beltran accepted the trade to begin with, was because Bruce Bochy personally convinced him during the All Star break, the Giants were all in to win again in 2011 and thereafter. Either way, Bochy is either a fool, a liar, or both. I'm sure Beltran has really warm feelings for both Sabean and Bochy as a result.
Freddy Sanchez - Limp Like A Man (Sung To The Frankie Valli Tune)
Remember that Freddy Sanchez literally limped over to the Giants clubhouse at 24 Willie Mays Plaza when traded. Freddy is a nice guy and tries hard. He went on the DL and was immediately useless to them for the rest of the 2009 season. Sanchez was a good soldier; stoic and in need of a contract extension. He kept his mouth shut, and received a big fat multi-year contract in return. He played well in 2010, and broke again in 2011.
He's 3 years older now, hurt more often, yet the crack-addled fairytalers see Freddy as being key to making up a 100 run shortfall in 2012. Baer referred to 2012 Freddy Sanchez as better than signing a free-agent. I cannot make this up. I am ashamed to say I graduated from the same high school as Baer. If I had only known, I would have burnt it to the ground on my way out. (Bridges for sale over there ---->)
Aubrey Huff - Pass the Beer, Chips, Tequila, Wings And Excuses - Skip the Salad, Workouts and Gatorade
You might also want to remember the "discarded by the Rays, O's and Tigers for being a shirker" Aubrey Huff's 2011 efforts. An attempted replay of Babe Ruth's 1925 season. The one where Ruth, beginning in Spring Training, damn near ate and drank himself to death on beer, hot dogs and the night life. The Yankees almost rid themselves of Ruth as a result. Were it not for a rebound in 1926, they would have. Not Brian Sabean though. Sabean had just signed Huff to a $20 Million two-year contract with his masters' money, as a reward for resurgent 2010, so nothing was said until Huff copped to his malfeasance publicly a short time ago. So the phony whitewashing was all for naught anyway. Huff the malingerer is excused, and Beltran the impact player is shown the door.
What they Did To Nathan And Jeff Kent Is What They Did to Jonathan Sanchez
Spread the out-of context factoids out. Write the narrative for the lapdogs: "Bad Attitude. Malingering. Won't Follow Directions. Complaining. Selfish."Same was written about Nathan by Bruce Jenkins of the Chronicle at the time while he praised the heavens for A.J. if you recall. Dusty Baker got similar treatment. The rumors about Jeff Kent being a selfish player? Right. He's going to the Hall of Fame because he didn't get along with Bonds.
Sabean Sit Spin
That was part of Sabean's spin to excuse the disastrous signings of other one and two tool players, that took his place, but were loyal to Sabean and his style of leadership. This year, Sabean went after Jonathan Sanchez, a kid who got in the doghouse under Alou, and never really escaped. The kid that saved their 2010 season and Sabean's ass on the hill and at the plate on the last day of the season, after Sabean-signing, extraordinaire Barry Zito capped a maximum two-month effort to choke out the Giants 2010 chances by humiliating himself and his team on the last Friday night game of the season. Sabean usually reserves his pique for younger guys who don't have any contract or agent leverage and as I recall, nary a word of criticism or scolding in the press about Zito almost single-handedly destroying the season.
Calling Out Young Players To Show Who's Boss
Recall his caustic comments about Lincecum mid-2010 season about his conditioning? Or the forced press-conference in the off-season after he got a ticket in his hometown for some grass? Bumgarner's "lack of maturity and off-season conditioning" during Spring Training 2010. You know the offseason where he got married and had to bury his sister?. Belt is just not that good apparently. Never mind that scouts and other organizations think he is. Posey putting up numbers in PCL? "The pitching is lousy and his stats don't mean anything" while Bengie Molina threw temper tantrums? And Eli Whiteside going in at catcher before Posey? And Sabean defended Molina? Why some folks continue to be blind to his bullishness and his blatant partisanship is beyond me. There's nothing in it for them.
To The Bloggers, Commentators, And Fans of San Francisco Baseball Associates.
Being a fan of SF Baseball Associates does not mean you're a fan of the SF Giants necessarily. The first is a collection of one-percenters personally approved by Bud Selig to launder money; ticket sales, merchandise, TV revenues, real estate, and distribute negotiated sums to players throughout the organization. Ownership groups change about once per generation. The SF Giants on the other hand is an institutional part of the National Culture as defined by the players on the field. People who actually play the game and/or know the culture. Respect the culture. Respect those who understand the culture. Watching Lonesome Dove, and Dances With Wolves does not give you standing in understanding Native American culture. It just means you saw some really well done Hollywood productions. The same for baseball. You may know numbers and been entertained, but that does not mean you understand the culture, it just means you appreciated some baseball games.
The Game Is Defined By The Players
Players define the game. Not stats for your fantasy teams. Not suits who smile at you and you swoon in return. Sabean is not your friend and he and Baer are not going to reward you for being an apologist. They are not fans of players. To them players are disposable commodities. They will continue to sneer at you and laugh harder at your gullibility when you continue to support their cynicism just like the bums who sneer at the "volunteers" who get them elected to office. Baer and Sabean are not much different in their disrespect for the baseball acumen of the average joe, than the typical Congressmen or Senator has for the average citizen's sense of right and wrong. All you are going to get for your brown-nosing is a brown nose.
Pro-Tip - The Niners
If SF Baseball Associates treated their fans half as well and with half as much candor as Jed York (the opposite of his deadbeat father) and his uncle Eddie Debartolo treated 49er fans and players, they would have no need for the services of a career propagandist like Larry Baer. They would not have to try and bully players in the media like Carlos Beltran, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Sanchez, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner. Ever. Only the penis-challenged act on their needs to push people around. Its not the ballpark that keeps the impact players away; its the management. If it were the ballpark, which they built and own, they would simply move the fences in, sell more seats, and proceed with signing impact players. But they haven't changed anything. Watch what they do, not what they say as the saying goes.
Why Bullies Are Bullies In the First Place
Which by the way is why bullies are bullies in the first place. To cover up their own fears, and shortcomings. A look here and here gives the powers that be plenty of reason to want to cover things up and deflect attention from the problems their fans and players want addressed. An examination of your school days, volunteer organizations and/or workplace will call to mind many of these folks at a personal level. To expect that bullies do not exist and thrive in a much bigger stakes environment is to ignore reality and take comfort in the fairy tales of the sports pages and internet.
Good Cop
Larry Baer likes to play the good cop through the media. Carefully phrased and parsed interviews that are fluffy, puffy and mostly unchallenged. They are little more than verbal press releases, that would have made Axis Sally jealous in their silkiness.
Bad Cop
Brian Sabean is the bad cop. He is the face of the Giants on those rare times when fans actually call out ownerships shortcomings. When it comes to player transactions and player performances that quite often result in shortfalls, Sabean is the designated bus driver. Never ever will he take responsibility upon himself or admit a mistake when it comes to player personnel. And because of the thousands of apologists cultivated by the lap dog media, and ever-whirling turnstiles, he never will either.
Some Truth About Injuries
So back to Carlos Beltran. There is a world of difference between playing injured and playing in pain. Playing with an injured wrist is like pitching with index and middle finger blisters. Its like trying to track down line drives in flip-flops. The injury interferes with performance just enough to affect the players competency and render him ineffective and in the process hurts the teams' efforts. It has nothing to do with "gutting it out."
Rule of thumb. Players are trained from adolescence on that if pain stays the same or gets better, keep on playing. If the pain gets worse, stop. Barry Bonds was able to keep playing with a bad wheel because he could still hit better than anybody else on the team. Yes there were many balls he could not track down in the field, but if you look at the Chances a LF gets in a game the odds were still heavily in favor of keeping his bat in the lineup. If Bonds had a similar wrist injury, chances are he would have been just as ineffective and out of the lineup too.
Typical San Francisco Baseball Associates Driven Prevarications
That Beltran jaked is a canard. The Giants, like most organizations that are run old-school, have a reputation for spreading crap about players who don't fit "their Giants way" mold. Yet one more reason that Sabean is left to deal with the dregs in the F/A market when trying to field a team. Steve Finley was the first player to come right out and declare his lack of belief in the Giants commitment to winning. Beltran was the most recent and why he was reluctant to accept the trade to SF in the first place. Only the absence of a compensatory draft pick allowed him to agree to waive his no-trade clause to the Giants.
Another Sabean Miscalculation
In the end, Sabean gave up the Giants top pitching prospect for a two month rental. I guarantee you thats not what he had in mind. The plan was for Beltran to come back and resign if he was convinced the Giants were seriously committed to winning, as was Steve Finley in 2004. Apparently Beltran in signing with rival St. Louis, agrees with me and others who are convinced the Giants are about counting beans, and not winning.
The End Might Just Be Beginning Too
Lincecum and Cain might be on their way out the door. Reportedly there have been made contract demands that Sabean is really upset about. Lincecum wants 8 years or two years, preferring to take it a year at a time until he can walk away as a free-agent to a team that is committed to offensive run support, if the Sabean and the owners doen't fix things. While Cain's demands are not quite as quantified, he is very unhappy as hell. He has watched every single one of Zito's appearances over a 5 year period. He's about at the end of his rope too I would suspect. The lethargic approach to roster repair and recuperation and their apparent contentment to financially maximize the 2010 Series and no more is going to at the very minimum exploring opportunities elsewhere.
And just today, the San Francisco Baseball Associates official MLB website propagandist in chief, Chris Haft dropped a speculation bomb on how the Giants might trade Lincecum and Cain mid-season.
If Cain and Lincecum Are Run Out Of Town It Will Be Because They Got Fed Up With Front Office Weasel-Wording and Lack of Commitment
Cain and Lincecum took the first shots at management. Four and five years respectively of no run support is enough. They are demanding top dollar no holds-barred contracts it seems. Can you blame them? Almost every time Barry Zito takes the hill he embarrasses himself, his team and wastes the bullpen.
One, maybe two seasons in view of his contract, other players will tolerate it. He has started 143 games in 5 seasons in a Giants uniform. He has completed 2 of them. Then when its implied it will be better next year they are told: "Sorry, but because of Sabean's signing Zito and Rowand they will have nothing but rookies and retreads for offensive help" You think Cain and Lincecum are predisposed to cut San Francisco Baseball Associates even more slack this season? Are you out of your mind?
The Big Two Might Have Had Enough It Seems
Cain and Lincecum it seems have apparently had enough. And the Front Office is firing back. Thats how it starts and builds. A drop in a blog frequented almost exclusively by front office followers and apologists by a front office mouthpiece. Once its dropped there, the mainstream is free to pick it up, speculate and spin their own stories. Every time either Lincecum or Cain sneezes, the back story will be about greasing the skids to getting them out of town with as little damage to San Francisco Baseball Associates as possible.
Its Worked Before And Will Work Again Like It Always Has. Its Big Business Against Employees Even if the Employee Is Well Paid
Its how they got rid of Dusty Baker, Jeff Kent, Jonathan Sanchez, why they didn't sign Vlad Gurerrero (who hated Baer's Golden boy Felipe Alou) Joe Nathan, Jonathan Sanchez, Andres Torres and anybody and everybody who dares speak out against Sabean's or Baer's way of doing business.
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