Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

Note: Because of Baseball’s embrace of BLM and the left combined with the kneeling for the flag I have not watched the sport nor done anything to promote the current game in any way whatsoever. This is why you have no longer seen these updates as I don’t want to promote the sport outside of this computer game

That being said I had run an update on every division except NL Div C at the time and thought it unfair that those teams in my league didn’t get a write-up and that’s not fair to the manager and players who had nothing to do with MLB’s decision so here is what will be the final writeup I do for the teams in the online Dynasty leagues I play in.

National League Division C

2016 Chicago Cubs 81-51 1st place

With 36 games to go the Cubs 13 1/2 game lead seems pretty insurmountable. The only question left seems to be if they can maintain their 1 game lead over the Division B leading 1985 Cardinals and their 2 game lead over the 1975 Big Red Machine of Cincinnati to hold home field advantage.

Heroes: This Cubs team is built on pitching, pitching and more pitching. Jake Arrieta leads the NL in ERA (2.10), Avg against (.174) WHIP 0.95 & is tied for 2nd in wins. Aroldis Chapman’s 30 saves blows away the competition. Meanwhile Pedro Strop 0.90 WHIP 1.30 ERA & Hector Rondon 1.62 ERA 0.87 WHIP have been unstoppable in the pen. Meanwhile Anthony Rizzo .295 avg 28 HR 90 RBI is providing the offense.

Zeroes: Mike Montgomery continues to be one of the few dark spots on the mound both starting and relieving with a 2-7 record an ERA of 5.25 and a 1.51 WHIP. Neither Javier Baez .233 5 HR 47 RBI’s nor Addison Russell .213 8 HR 32 RBI are scaring anyone at the plate.

Wild Cards: The most amazing stat concerning the Cubs is that with 97 HR allowed only the 1924 Washington Senators (93) of the AL have given up fewer HR then them. And while the Senators play in a huge park (440 down the left field line) the Cubs play in Wriggly. That would explain why their team ERA of 3.20 is a full .35 better than their nearest rival.

Coming attractions: The Cubs host the surging 2019 Washington Nationals and then the team that they are chasing the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and then finish their penultimate homestand vs the 2013 Arizona Diamondbacks and 2008 Phillies before hitting the road for the final time this season with a 5 city 15 game trip.

Injury Report: The team is fully fit and ready to go

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1962 San Francisco Giants 65-70 2nd place 17 1/2 games back 2nd wild card 4 GB

During the 1st half of the season the Giants were in a two, sometimes 3 way race for the Division C lead. Now with 33 games left and the odds of a division win long they find themselves two game back for the wild card with three teams on their tail. Can they managed to get into that play in game?

Heroes: If the Giants fall Willie Mays who leads the league In Runs (119) HR (39) and is 2nd in doubles and slugging certainly isn’t to blame. Willie McCovery’s triple crown numbers .345 27 HR 94 RBI are nothing to sneeze at either. Starters Billy Pierce and Juan Marichal are tied for 6th (both 14-8) in wins & Stu Miller’s 21 saves are the 2nd best the NL has to offer.

Zeros: Jose Pagan’s .226 avg with 5 HR & 42 RBI in 129 games isn’t scaring anyone. Meanwhile Bobby Bolin 8.19 ERA .327 avg against Gaylord Perry 7.73 ERA .314 avg against and Mike McCormick 6.41 ERA .327 avg against have kept many an opponent in a game.

Wild Cards: San Francisco’s 11-23 record in one runs games is not only the worst of any team at or near .500 or better but their complete inability to stop left handers (19-30) is the worst in the NL.

Coming Attractions: The Giants finish a homestand with the the 1997 Marlins before taking a quick Jaunt to St. Louis for 3 against the 1985 Cardinals before heading back home for a series vs the 2005 Houston Astros followed by a quick trip to Arizona to try their luck vs the 2013 Diamondbacks.

Injury Report: Pitcher Bobby Bolin is doubtful for for the Marlins series too but given his performance this season that might be an advantage.

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2008 Philadelphia Phillies 57-78 3rd 25.5 GB wild card 12 GB

Was it really only a couple of months ago that the 2008 Phillies were in a three why fight for 1st in Division C? Now they are a long shot for a wild card spot with little time to turn it around? Can it be done?

Heroes: Ryan Howard’s 38 HR is 4th in the league and only two behind leader Paul Goldschmidt. Chase Utley at 31 HR is also in the top 10 at 7. Meanwhile Jimmie Rollins is 5th in doubles (41) & 4th in triples (13)

Zeros: Pitching wins championships and with starters like Joe Blanton (5-9 5.66 ERA) Kyle Kendrick (2-14 8.57 ERA) and Adam Eaton (2-10 9.36 ERA) we won’t be seeing any championships from Philly soon.

Wild Cards: The Phillies (and Astros) are the vampires of the Major leagues losing 2 day games for every one they win. Oddly enough their best record is within their own division only 4 games below .500 in games against fellow C division teams.

Coming Attractions: The Pills get a crack at the 2nd wild card 1957 Milwaukee Braves at home before heading on a road trip to Chicago and Arizona to take on the 2016 Cubs and 2013 Diamondback respectively befor heaing back home for their final home stand.

Injury Report: The injury bug continues to Haunt Philly. Jamie Moyer will miss the next series vs the Braves Gregg Dobbs will miss the Braves and Cubs series and Scott Eyre will not be back until the the team faces San Francisco in the final weeks of the season.

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2005 Houston Astros: 55-80 27 1/2 GB 14 GB on wild card

Houston will likely be the 1st team eliminated for a division in the majors this season needing only two more losses or Cubs wins to leave them with a nearly impossible wild card. This has been par for a team that fell into last place and never really came out of it.

Heroes: Roger Clemens is having a spectacular season. 2nd in ERA (2.54), wins (15), Innings Pitched (237) and WHIP (1.05) and is a serious contender for the NL Cy Young. At the plate Lance Berkman has been both a doubles (42 4th in league) and walks (100 2nd in league) machine which is why he sits 4th in OBP (.415). Morgan Ensberg has shown some pop with 28 Homers.

Zeros: With the exception of the afore mentioned Berkman and Ensberg and perhaps part timer Orlando Palmeiro (.368 in 136 ab) and Jason Lane (22 HR) practically the entire offence from Craig Biggio (.237 12 HR 37 RBI) to Adam Everett (.193 6 HR 29 RBI) could be on here. How bad is it? Roger Clemens in 84 ab is hitting .286. that’s higher than every regular except Bergman. On the mound Brandon Backe with a 2-14 record a 5.95 ERA in 22 starts hits the list hard and Brad Lidge blowing 2 saves for every three made (12 of 20) has a lot to do with the Team’s current state.

Wild cards: What really sad is that the invisible offence (only 477 runs in 135 games a full 47 runs behind the 2nd worst Angles) and bullpen woes (23 saves in 35 changes) have really spoiled some good starting pitching from Andy Petitte 3.79 ERA but 7-16 and Roy Oswalt 3.89 ERA but 10-12. 90 of Houston’s starts have come from pitchers with ERA’s below 4 but those starters only have 32 wins between them.

Coming Attractions: the 2013 Arizona Diamondback will get a chance to eliminate Houston at Houston but if they manage to hold on then the honor may fall on either the 1962 Giants in San Francisco or the 1975 Reds in Cincinnati.

Injury Report: If there is one thing that can’t be blamed for Houston’s record it’s injuries. Houston has only had one player on the DL all year and the team is at full strength going into the final run.

As this will be the last update for those wondering here is where the league stands with 27 games to go

Barring unmitigated disaster the 2010 Rangers (AL Div B) 1985 Cardinals (NL Div B) and 2016 Cubs (NL Div C) are locks to win their divisions. The 2009 Yankees (AL Div C) and 1975 Reds (NL Div A) are near locks but not quite there. Only the AL Division A is still competitive with the 1970 Orioles holding a 4 game lead over the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays)

The wild card races look like this:

• AL Wild Card
• 1993 Toronto 78-54 +9
• 1954 Indians 69-63 —–
• 2015 Royals 63-72 7 1/2 gb
• 1968 Tigers 62-73 8 1/2 gb
• 2005 White Sox 60-72 9 gb

Note: Each of those teams led their divisions at some time in the season.

• NL Wild Card
• 1955 Dodgers 74-61 + 5
• 1957 Braves 69-66 ———-
• 1986 Mets 66-69 3 gb
• 1962 Giants 65-69 4 gb
• 1997 Marlins 64-71 5 gb
• 2019 Nationals 62-73 7 gb

Note: For most of the year the Nationals had the worst record in the league until beginning their surge to put them within striking distance albeit from long range.

Five years with the General allowed Willie to recognize his outrage as he told of Breen’s capture after discovering tomorrow’s planned assault by the rivermen on the French at Demopolus.

“We promised them refuge!” Declared Jackson, his sense of justice offended, “By the eternal this shall not stand!” He turned to Capt Carroll “I want your men & every horse & wagon in Catawba ready to move within the hour!”

Willie Payne sighed with relief. Breen & the French had a chance if they could get there in time though the price was one last battle for the 2nd Kentucky

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Here is what happened next

(Note DTG:) This was the sample piece submitted by “Brian of the North” to sub for Juliette “Baldilocks” as she can’t write here till Jan 1st due to the AB5 restrictions in California till the end of the year. I thought it was good enough to post so here is your introduction to the latest member of our Magnificent Seven. If you like what you see let me know and we will, subject to the limits of AB5 as he is also from California, keep him as a regular after Jan 1st as well!

Chicago removed its last Christopher Columbus statues the other day. The statue had been on display in the City of Big Shoulders for 130 years. At least, in a nod to civilized behavior (remember that?), it was the mayor who ordered the statue removed, not the mob.

The mob, though was behind it, and objected that Columbus mistreated the indigenous people of the Americas, and so was unworthy of admiration. Columbus statues were also recently removed from or vandalized in Sacramento, Richmond, Providence, Pittsburgh, Miami, Boston, and, of course, Columbus. Along with numerous statues or monuments to Confederate soldiers, statues of Ponce de Leon and George Washington were also vandalized by the thoughtless mob.

The mob understands that statues represent a society’s heroes, those individuals the society has deemed worth remembering and literally looking up to. But what those brainless goons fail to understand is why Columbus, Washington, and de Leon are worthy heroes.

Heroes are admired for their accomplishments, not their failings. We understand people are imperfect. But we admire certain people for what they managed to accomplish, despite living in a world filled with the same idiots we all deal with every day. And while we should consider their failings, we should only to the extent those failings exceed the normal failings of humans of that era. Washington held slaves? Understood, but then, humans had owned other humans as slaves in a continuous line from that era back to the time of the caveman, so maybe that failing wasn’t so extraordinary.

As for Washington’s accomplishments? Let’s not turn this article into a listicle.

Likewise, Columbus’s failing of mistreatment of the indigenous people, while worth criticism, certainly was not so extraordinary to the era. And the indigenous peoples were no angels themselves, and mistreated others of different tribes in ways that would make Tarantino blush. But the accomplishment of sailing the Atlantic into the unknown, and finding the Americas, transformed Europe, transformed the Americas, transformed the world.

Society needs heroes – real life heroes, who accomplished big things in real life. By showing people what was possible then, we inspire people to dream what might be possible tomorrow. And by holding these heroes to impossible standards, we blind our own selves to that same inspiration.

You don’t think Columbus still inspires? Did you watch the Space X landing last weekend?

The whole point of Jacksonianism is “You leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. You play fair with me and I’ll play fair with you. But if you fuck with me, I’ll kill you.”

Steven Den Bestie

4th Doctor: Well of course you swore an oath! Now you have to choose. Your personal honour against the safety of the whole of Traken.

Nyssa: Yes, father.

Tremas: I can’t, Doctor.

4th Doctor: Well, that’s fine. That’s fine, Tremas. I mean, when this thing has taken over the entire Source you’ll have the consolation of knowing that you kept your honour intact.

Doctor Who, The Keeper of Traken 1981

The President’s executive order splitting the difference on extending Unemployment benefits and other COVID business is both smart and dangerous.

Mind you I’m not talking about measures in the order itself. The questions of extending federal unemployment bonus, student loan and eviction extentions are all fair ones for debate. Trump’s move splits the difference between both sides. I think the tax holiday for payroll taxes is a bad idea because it will bite a lot of people later (I’ll be increasing my extra withholding to play it safe) all in all it’s a fair compromise on it’s own but again I’m talking the order itself, not what’s in it.

I’m not by nature a fan of executive orders to begin with. I don’t belong to the pen and phone club. While executive orders do have their place the idea that they will be used to break a congressional deadlock (even if the measures are allowed by law as in this case) is a bad, I would say even a dangerous precedent to set. The conservative in me doesn’t like it.

Then the Jacksonian in me speaks up. A tactic that is used by my enemies against me is certainly a tactic that can be used by us against them. Furthermore by playing hardball the President puts the left in a box to either make an actual deal or let him get credit for the unemployment benefit extension. The fact that he did so while detailing the Democrat wish list in the bill makes the point even better and given how critical this election is you have to be willing as his predecessor once said: “Punch back twice as hard.”

But there is also another lesson here. Just as the Democrats (as they were warned) have been made to pay for tossing the filibuster allowing 51 votes for Trump judges and for over-reliance on the executive order to make laws without, you know actually making laws the old fashioned way through congress, if this stands then there is no reason to think that the next Democrat President (and there WILL be one, just not Joe Biden) doing the same

So the problem is this: How do we cut the Gordian knot of Jacksonian battle with the left while preserving the principle of limiting the power of a chief exec to make laws by fiat. The answer actually is pretty simple.

Introduce a bill to remove the underlying laws allowing said orders.

The solution is simple which makes it hard to do. The GOP of course doesn’t want to handcuff this president in the face of Democrat intransigence while Democrats may balk as they will want this power in the future.

President Trump won’t be president forever and it would be a really good idea to get something like this over the hump before his 2nd term ends A push for a repeal of such laws, playing it up as a “Stop Trump” measure to the media/left whose base would likely fall for it.

Would that mean a little less leverage for President Trump in dealing with the left? Sure, but he has proven himself able enough to novel them in other ways. Such a bill would come late enough to allow this President to use this Jacksonian tactic for a while, and still satisfy that Conservative instinct to slow government and restrict its power.

If something like this can be passed during Trump’s 2nd term it would go a long way toward restoring “regular order’ and forcing the congress to do the job is it elected to do. We likely will never get another chance to get something like this done.

Of course the best solution would be a functional congress, but that frankly isn’t possible with the current makeup of the Democrat party but until it happens as Don Surber puts it:

Somehow, the Supreme Court and presidents now write the law but Congress does not. We really should fix that. Democrats can go first by declaring DACA invalid.

Until then, you fight the battle with the weapons you have.

The time to fight that fight will be after we win.