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Not in front of Kirk Gibson

Posted: September 7, 2009 by datechguy in baseball
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I can’t think of anyone who it would be worse idea to dog out a ball in front of.

D-backs right fielder Justin Upton was removed from Sunday’s series finale with the Rockies in the middle of the third inning for not running out a deep drive to center field in the top of the inning.

Upton took starter Jorge De La Rosa to the wall in deep center, but he only got a single out of it, as Carlos Gonzalez fielded it cleanly off the wall and made a strong throw to second to hold Upton at first.

Upton thought he had a home run after making contact, walking out of the box as he watched the deep fly. He trotted down the line and did not run hard until he was around first base and had no time left to make it to second.

True the decision was made by manager but Gibson is the bench coach and I personally would be embarrassed to have done that in front of him.

But it looks like the young man took his benching respectfully as a learning experience. That’s a good sign:

“He did the right thing,” Upton said of Hinch deciding to bench him. “I should have been on second, at least. It’s one of those things that happens, and you’ve got to learn from it.”

I’m sure he won’t be doing it again, but lets look at the other end of the coin as well, if Carlos Gonzalez assumes it’s at least a double and doesn’t hustle to get to the ball into second Upton might have still managed second. So Kudos for Gonzalez on that play as well.

Glenn asks the $64,000 question…

Posted: September 7, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: , ,

…concerning the MSN case:

What other major stories are they missing — or sitting on?

Answer: What ever they damn well can get away with! And by the tone of his post Dan Riehl would agree.

I think the MSM needs a Lombardi to coach them and insist on excellence. I can imagine their Max McGee moment:

Lombardi once opened pre-season camp by holding up a ball and saying, “Gentleman, this is a football.” To which team cut up Max McGee replied, “Can you slow down coach. You are going a little fast.”

Jake Tapper can be Lombardi, he actually does the work, I think Barnicle can play be McGee.

Update: RS McCain demonstrates the crazy uncles are driving the coverage on the left.

Jane Hamsher, Alan Colmes, and Keith Olbermann apparently live inside an echo chamber where a man who was a leader of a Marxist outfit like STORM, and who subsequently signed a 9/11 Truther petition, is not legitimately controversial. (The next time Colmes goes on Fox, somebody needs to ask him, “Hey, Alan, do you think Marxism is a bad thing?”)

That someone like Jones could be appointed as a White House policy “czar,” and that Olbermann can’t see where some people might have a problem with that, tends to disprove the worry-wart concerns of certain centrist Republicans that the GOP is the more “extreme” of the two major parties. Does anyone seriously expect an avowed “Birther” to get a White House job in the next Republican administration?

We need to remember that phrase when power comes our way and our own crazy uncles try to rise.

Update: VDH expands on the left’s indifference to this stuff:

What is strange about all this chic-radicalism is how would-be revolutionaries that wish to dismantle America as we know it and/or emulate failed systems abroad, always do so from comfort, security, affluence, and freedom of choice unique to America and Europe, suggesting that radical politics and those who agitate for them are sort of a fashion statement, aimed to resonate among particular elite leftist audiences and to bring dividends from them, but not to be taken too seriously as guides in their own lives.

Not so strange it’s the gravy train.

That First Season: Amazon Vine Review

Posted: September 7, 2009 by datechguy in amazon reviews
Tags: , ,

that first seasonMy pre-release review of That First Season How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory by John Eisenberg is available at Amazon.com here.

I seemed to like the book a lot less that the other reviews but I’m not much of a football fan, considering my take on the book in the review that is exactly the opposite of what I expected.

It’s amazing how much less important Obama and Jones become…

Posted: September 6, 2009 by datechguy in local stuff
Tags: , , , ,

…when you have another two people killed 5 minutes from your house.

The wild scene unfolded around 4:30 a.m. outside an address on Mechanic Street where a resident said a loud party had been going on Saturday night.

The district attorney’s office identified the dead as Nelson Geraldino, 18, from stab wounds, and Pedro Genoa, 17, whose wounds included a gunshot to his abdomen. Both were from Fitchburg.

You know for all the criticism of tough old fashioned parenting you hear in the popular press, I note that it doesn’t seem to lead to teens being at parties after midnight let alone 4 a.m. The more stories like this I read, the happier I am with the decision to be Catholic parents to our kids and not buddies.

Arrests have already taken place:

Brothers, Orville Carrion, 22, and Jose Carrion, 27, both of 96 Mechanic St., Apartment #3 have been arrested and charged with murder. Mr. Genoa’s brother, Ronny Genoa, 18, of 137 Meadow Brook Lane was arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder and mayhem. The Carrions were booked at the Fitchburg Police Station and are being held without bail. Carrions were treated for injuries at the Leominster hospital and released. The Carrions will be arraigned Tuesday in Fitchburg District Court. Ronny Genoa was admitted to UMass Medical Center with multiple gunshot wounds. He is under guard and also is held without bail.

Off the top of my head that’s 4 murders in town this year including one that took place under 150 yards from my home. Fitchburg has only 39,000 people I’m 46 years old and when I was younger this was almost unheard of.

The timing is ironic considering this story in the paper today: FSC students encouraged to spend time in city’s center.

Residents and business owners have met recently to discuss what to do about downtown problems, such as loitering, drug dealing and prostitution.

Antonucci said one of the best ways to address those problems is to get people, including college students, into the downtown businesses.

That’s what I call bad timing, and speaking of irony from that story again:

But, she said, the Upper Common can have issues with a lack of parking.

“If you can find parking, it’s a great place to walk around,” Wong said.

And if you can’t you’d better duck:

Fitchburg Police responded to multiple 911 calls at about 4:43 a.m. with a reports of gunshots fired near 96 Mechanic St. Police found three victims on the ground with serious injuries and a fourth suffering from serious head and arm wounds. Police report that a disagreement arose about parking arrangements

You know too bad we don’t have those really tough gun laws in Massachusetts to keep stuff like this from happening.

Puts all that Van Jones stuff into perspective doesn’t it?

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