text:
I got tied up in meetings yesterday afternoon and then I was involved in the salute to Jaime Jarrin, who was honored yesterday for 50 years in the Dodger broadcast booth. It's hard to even fathom that and he quite obviously belongs in any conversation about the most significant people in the history of the Dodgers. He oozes class, he epitomizes dignity and he deserves all the honors that come his way.
In case somehow you missed it, Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times wrote a very nice feature about Jaime and for those of you Spanish speakers, Hoy had a great piece, too, that you can see here:
Needless to say, it was a very special night for Jaime and if you've never had a chance to hear him, do yourself a favor and tune into 930 AM during a game sometime when you're driving. Even if you don't understand Spanish, you'll understand why he's been so successful at his trade. He's helped me learn the language and he's truly a legend in Los Angeles.
Of course, by the time there was a chance to post a lineup last night, the game was over. That's Mark Buehrle, I guess. But, the Snakes lost again so we're still four games back. Hard to imagine how far ahead we could be if we were playing up to our potential, but the silver lining is that we remain in the race and there's plenty of room for improvement.
154 Comments
I'm first again???
Reposted from last one:
Bravo on those letters to TJ Simmers! Maybe this is the kick-in-the-b*** that's needed to affect the changes that NEED to be made! Lord knows that nothing worthwhile is happening now…
enchanted – thank you 🙂
max_power Thank you for showing that my Ethier at the top of that list pitches per AB 🙂 He's getting the shaft big time because of the incessant parading of Pierre out in left field. 🙂
I'd like to congratulate Jaime on his anniversary. The Dodgers were very lucky to have caught lightning in a bottle twice.
It's been said many, many times that we've been blessed here in LA with Vin, Jaime, Chick Hearn and Bob Miller with the Kings. I'd also add that the Rams had a great one for a while in Dick Enberg. All here at the same time.
Again, congrats Jaime!
Congratulations Jaime!!!!
congrats Jaime! eric, you are right that LA has been very blessed with these announcers!
Speaking of announcers, I'd just like to say I CAN'T STAND CHARLIE STEINER!!!
More of Torre and Ned throwing the young guys under the bus in the Simers' column while praising the AB's of Pierre and Kent and "sometimes" Martin.
and anyone else who can't see past the front of their nose.
I don't have the luxury of listening to LA announcers as often as I would like. Unfortunately, I have to listen to gnat announcers, which to be honest, they can be funny, but then again, they are gnat announcers. LOL!!
Add me to the "I CANT STAND CHARLIE I WON"T TELL YOU THE SCORE STEINER" list as well.
sung to Rag Doll by The Four Seasons.
When he plays the outfield it drags the Dodgers down.
He always leads us off cause JoJo is his clown.
He's a Rag Arm, little Rag Arm.
Taking Andre's place, playing Phew's a disgrace.
I'd bench his tired act and play Andre if I could.
Management won't hear it, say the ring still makes him good.
He's a rag arm, such a rag arm.
Though his OBP's low, and he can't throw.
Rag Arm, you're a rag arm.
Rag Arm, JoJo can't see you for what you really are.
Congrats to Jaime!!
eric – the song you did for me "The Letter" is on the radio – I really love that song (and the others you and jhall have dont) – thanks! Makes me miss school, and that's a good thing 🙂
Congratulations to Jaime as the Dodgers troubles are not his fault.
His son Jorge does the traffic in LA as well on 790.
I wish that I could say that Charlie not telling the score is my biggest problem with him; it's not. He is just, plain and simple, a lousy excuse of an announcer. He thinks he's funny when he's not. He doesn't know how to call a game. No, if I could only pick ONE thing that I don't like about him (and you know that there is a lot more than one for me) is that he doesn't pay attention to the game in front of him and when he sees a fly ball, he (1) thinks it's a HR when it's a short pop-up to left or (2) because he knows he's scr**** it up before, he calls it nonchalantly and once it does go out, he screams HR like he knew it was when the ball left the bat! He is just so bad that I cringe when the Dodgers go on the road and they're not playing the NL West or the Angels. At least I'll know that I'll be listening to Vinny!
We're so sorry, Uncle JoJo
We're so sorry that you came out to L.A.
We're so sorry, Uncle JoJo
But we want the kids at home
And we wish you'd go away.
We're so sorry but we're tired of your BS all the day
We're so sorry, Uncle JoJo,
But is clear you're not the man we need
And yes we know about your rings
Yeah, yeah,
We're so sorry, Uncle JoJo
But Phew hasn't done a bloody thing all year
We're so sorry, Uncle JoJo,
But its time you hit the road
Because our kids we hold so dear
Can the old man Torre (Torre)
Can Colletti too
Can the old man Torre (Torre)
Can Colletti too
Manager Torre notified me
He had to have a vet or he would start to weep
I had another look at the old scrap heap and what a guy
I found me A. Berroa but Lord knows why
Can the old man Torre (Torre)
Can Colletti too
Can the old man Torre (Torre)
Can Colletti too
Live a little, play a young gun, hit around (hit around)
Get the team up off the ground
Play the kids be upward bound
Live a little, play a young gun, hit around (hit around)
Get the team up off the ground
Play the kids be upward bound
Can the old man Torre (Torre)Can Colletti too
Can the old man Torre (Torre)
Can Colletti too
Guess we know where my sentiments lie.
E's gettin' upset!!!
Hey all you teachers out there, do you think that Ned and Joe are living the "Emperor's New Clothes" story?
great song enchanted!
They're not-so-artful Dodgers when it comes to a deal
From trades to free-agent signings, a look back is far from a good thing but one major front-office voice disagrees.
June 25, 2008
You might want to hold your nose.
Angel Berroa. Mark Sweeney. Scott Proctor. Thomas Perez. Brady Clark. Marlon Anderson. Julio Lugo. Greg Maddux. Wilson Betemit. Elmer Dessens. B.J. LaMura. Mark Hendrickson. Toby Hall. Ben Kozlowski. Danys Baez. Jae Sao. Tim Hamulack. Lance Carter. And Andre Ethier for Milton Bradley — Bradley tied with Alex Rodriguez early Tuesday for the best batting average in the American League.
And now comes word Ned Colletti will be in meetings all afternoon, maybe the scariest news a Dodgers fan can hear these days if he's in there working on another trade before the July 31 deadline.
typo – should be "done" not don't – ugh!!
I wonder if Andre (and the rest of our future young gun dynasty) knows how often his name is mentioned in our songs. He seems to be the only one that is benefiting from our craziness. I mean, we do mention the others, but because of his circumstances, he becomes just as important to some of the songs than the ones we are trying to criticize. In some ways we are killing two birds with one stone. We are giving our management and Pierre the what-for-all for being idiots, and for Andre (and the rest of the young gun dynasty) we our giving our loyalty and continuous support for a job well done from day one.
jhall and enchanted at it again – Fabulous boys!!!!
ITD Bloggers Don't Cry©
sung to Big Girls Don't Cry by The Four Seasons.
ITD Bloggers, don't cry-yi-yi.
(They don't cry).
ITD Bloggers, do-on't cry.
(They b*tch, but don't cry).
Our teams, in a sli-yi-yide.
(Ned is why).
ITD Bloggers, didn't cry.
(They want Ned to fry).
(Silly Joe), Told Pierre he had to sit out.
(Silly Joe), Thought that he would merely pout.
(Silly Joe), But Mama called to Ned's surprise.
ITD Bloggers, almost cried.
ITD Bloggers, don't cry-yi-yi.
(They don't cry).
ITD Bloggers, do-on't cry.
(They b*tch, but don't cry).
Mama Phew, Joe was cruel.
(He was cruel).
Mama Phew, Ned's a fool.
(He has no tools).
(Silly Joe), Shame on you, Phew's mama said.
(Silly Joe), Shame on you, I'm calling Ned.
(Silly Joe), Shame on you, I'll go over your head.
ITD Bloggers, began to cry.
ITD Bloggers, they don't cry-yi-yi.
ITD Bloggers, they don't cry.
actually, I'm trying to think of a song where I can do just that; kill two birds with one stone. Maybe I'll just try something uplifting just for our young gun dynasty! I don't know; it'll come out eventually… 🙂
Yeah, Steiner stinks big time, but I was trying to keep my complaint to less than 500 words! lol!
BTW, Poor old Rick Monday only sounds good next to Steiner and Jerry Ruess only sounds good next to Monday. When Vinny is not on those road games I practically drive off the freeway on my way home from work listening to those bozos.
jhall, that was great too! Boy, if I could only spew out songs the way y'all do! 🙂
I know it's tough to do, but just keep your eyes on the road!!! And yes, I know I can get a little long with words… 🙂
Great songs jhall!!! LMAO – ITD bloggers don't cry – classic!!
max – thanks for the heads up on Dodger Thoughts – it's amazing how we all really think the same, but our management refuses to even think – period 🙂
Steiner example:
"Here's Juan Pierre"
"Back when I was working for the Yankees…"
"Ball four to Matt Kemp"
Why even have announcers when Vinny is out?
jhall had his rest last – can you tell? Nice one again 🙂
cp – keep working on it, you'll get there 🙂
"song writing in progess" shhhhhh!!! LOL!!!
i am having serious typing issues today – should say "jhall had his rest last night" maybe this is a precursor for getting kicked off – LOL
BTW – emperor's new clothes – for sure LOL!!!!
Not sure. He is just so bad.
I know we've been longing for changes to our FO, and I hate to think of the day that Vinny stops announcing, but someone REALLY needs to get a young kid (hmmm, doesn't that ring a bell?) and let him learn from Vinny, the way Vinny learned from the great Red Barber!
Way to go, everybody! Nice songs! I'm a bit too busy to write any right now, but I'm managing to check in and read once in a while.
And cpompe, "spew" is just about right…………
hey eric, maybe I can use the word "spew" to describe one of our lovely PVLs!
Spew rhymes with…………..
I've gotta have my eyes checked; they're getting too tired much faster than before! I'll catch up with y'all later…
Yeah, I know eric — Phew!!!
Ryan (LA, CA): Where on the moron sclae (1-10) would Frank McCourt rate if he lets Logan White leave to be the GM somewhere else while Ned Colletti stays on in LA?
SportsNation Jim Callis: (2:02 PM ET ) That would be a disastrous decision. Still can't believe the Astros hired Ed Wade over White, reportedly because Wade's experience would allow them to contend quicker.
Ryan (LA, CA): Where on the moron sclae (1-10) would Frank McCourt rate if he lets Logan White leave to be the GM somewhere else while Ned Colletti stays on in LA?
SportsNation Jim Callis: (2:02 PM ET ) That would be a disastrous decision. Still can't believe the Astros hired Ed Wade over White, reportedly because Wade's experience would allow them to contend quicker.
The scale doesn't go high enough Max. It would be an 11 or higher.
Thanks, Max!
Typical expert opinion of the Dodgers. We'd be better off giving Ned a Wilson Volleyball and dropping him off on a deserted island somewhere.
There would have to be a new measurement created to even come close to to measuring the stupidity that that type of decision would create. It would be the equivalent of a billion atomic bombs going off at the same time. Thats how high it would rank of the McCourt O'Meter
more Logan White praise from the same chat…
Jack (Toronto): Would Logan White be a good fit in Toronto assuming JP is gone at the end of the year?
SportsNation Jim Callis: (2:22 PM ET ) I'm not sure who Ricciardi has pictures of in Toronto, but he seems to have overstayed his effectiveness. Logan White would be a good fit anywhere.
I guess he's not a good fit in LA.
Max – thanks for those posts. Like I said – why doesn't management see it from this perspective – oh! I keep forgetting – they are frickin' idiots – ughhhh!!
i agree about all the comments on charley steinner. i think my disdain towards him begun on his first day, during his pregame spot when he said: "it's a beautiful day here in the bronx.. oh wait.. oops, i mean los angeles.." what an idiot~
some of the readers on tony jackson's blog were commenting on lazy reporting and how everyone is following the false young players angle because they're too lazy to check out the numbers.. here are some stats they used to back themselves up:
Rafael Furcal: 1.045
Russell Martin .856
James Loney: .836
Matt Kemp: .780
Andre Ethier: .764
Blake Dewitt: .726
Jeff Kent: .706
Juan Pierre: .655
Andruw Jones: .583
Pitches per plate appearance, 2008
4.13 Ethier
4.06 Martin
3.90 Loney
3.86 DeWitt
3.79 Pierre
3.68 Kemp
3.37 Kent
i'm not sure if someone else posted them.. but i figured i would anyway because it's interesting and dead on.. it just shows that our love for the young players are not just on our gut feelings, but also backed up by the truth.
oh and if we ever lose logan white.. *SIGH*
it would be a sad, sad day 😦
Thanks Sara!!
also, i've been MIA for a couple days, so i'm not sure if anyone else brought this up.. i'm sure someone must have.. but HOW CAN RUSSELL MARTIN NOT BE IN THE TOP 5 AMONG CATCHERS FOR ALL STAR BALLOTING?? we have some pathetic fans.. i know he'll be a coaches selection as back-up catcher, but the fact that he doesn't even show up on the list, is just plain sad. he deserves better! in a large market like this, i can't even begin to understand how smaller market teams can vote their players in, and we can't even vote in the best player on our team..
from the TJ Simers article:
"Some of those are minor league deals and I had nothing to do with them," Colletti protests when I mention his trading track record, and while I find it odd the Dodgers' GM doesn't have final approval of all deals, he adds, "The player development people made five or six of those."
is he blaming the people who work for him?? ie. Logan White?
Even a cursory look at the most basic stats – AB/R/H/HR/RBI would give you a clue that its not the kids who aren't performing. Any in depth analysis would tell you exactly who isn't performing. But far be it from beat writers to actually work or fact find for their story.
However when its your job, I can't for the life of me figure out why management doesn't crunch the numbers and instead comes out with drivel about being patient with Sweeney, and how great AB's Kent and Phew take. Phew – c'mon, even Torre said he was 4th outfielder once upon a time. And what happened to his defensive replacement in the 7th inning? Has he all of a sudden learned to throw as well as hit?? Unbelieveable™.
Thank you, thank you, thank you sara!! You mean they should be playing because they can actually play the game of baseball damn well and not just because they are cuties – LOL!!! Get over it Joe – Play the kids!!!!!!!!
p.s. nice to see Andre at the top of that list – Max posted that list earlier – thanks!! 🙂
Yes Sara, that was PR Colletti throwing White & Co. under the wheels to deflect the heat off of himself. PATHETIC™. Just another symptom of the bigger disease – no one will accept responsibility. Kudos to Simers though for asking the question.
We need others like Tony Jackson to do the same though. Didn't TJ finally come around to thinking that Pierre was worthless? Where's TJ now, now that JP's in the line-up night after night stinking it up? It's no coincidence that we're 13 games under .500 with JP leading off.
Like you said enchanted – there's got to be pictures. It's the only thing that makes any sense what so ever. How can he be riding pine one day and playing everyday the next. And to be honest Andre sitting started before Furcal went on DL. I know that didn't help but Andre had his share of sitting before. Furcal on DL just made it more noticeable. And whats worse is that when Andruw comes back, there will only be one outfielder that will be able to hit the ball out into the outfield on a regular basis. And to think that those are supposed to be your power positions. If Andruw comes back healthy, then that's fine, but I seriously don't see that happening.
I too wrote a letter to T.J. Simers in response to this column: http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/dodgers/la-sp-simers25-2008jun25,0,6692891.column?page=2
With apologies for its length and the fact that it repeats some of the information already provided by other ITD posters – and let's face it, facts an industrious 9-year-old could chase down – here's my letter:
How can you buy into Joe Torre's Kool-Aid? His constant refrain is that the Dodgers youngsters "approach" is poor. His constant practice is to put veterans in key positions in the lineup with Pierre hitting leadoff and Kent third or fourth.
But both his attitude and his practice are both so demonstrably wrong it would be laughable if it wasn't killing the team and the fans.
Here are a some FACTS that I wish you and the others in the media would bother investigating (apparently you guys haven't or it would show in both your interviewing of the powers-that-be and your reporting/commentary).
James Loney: Season: .311 BA, .368 OBP, 3.9 pitches/PA June: .411 BA, .482 OBP
Matt Kemp: Season: .289 BA, .332 OBP, 3.68 pitches/PA
Juan Pierre: Season: .280 BA, .332 OBP, 3.79 pitches/PA June: .289 BA, .312 OBP
Jeff Kent: Season: ..255 BA, .293 OBP, 3.37 pitches/PA
Russell Martin: Season: .314 BA, .410 OBP, 4.06 pitches/PA
If any of the above group is failing to take sufficient pitches it's Old Man Kent.
More importantly, though, is that Juan Pierre far more than any other (non-injured) Dodger is failing to get his job done. Juan has only one strength as we all know — or should know — speed. And that strength is only useful if he gets on base. His OBP since he took over the leadoff spot is .298, which is pathetic and is killing the team. His ultimate job is to score runs which he has done just 29 times this year. Since May 6 when Juan became the leadoff hitter, the team is 17-27. Simple question: if Russell Martin had been leading off that whole time, what is a reasonable estimate of the Dodgers record?
Joe Torre talks about the need for consistency from the youth, yet he treats them with extreme inconsistency. Matt Kemp, admittedly the least consistent of the youngsters, has been shuffled all over the lineup and, before Jones went down, in and out of it too. How does Torre expect for Kemp to gain consistency while he Torre is treating him so inconsistently? It flies in the face of common sense.
Instead of taking care of the younger, theoretically less mature players like Loney, Kemp, and Ethier, Torre coddles the allegedly mature players like Kent and Pierre. This is a completely bassackwards approach. It defies both the needs of the lineup and the development of talent.
There is such an obvious change in "approach" that needs to be taken that it is driving many Dodgers fans crazy with frustration: Just use the best hitters and put the very best in the top third of the lineup. Duh.
Something like this EVERY DAY (rest Martin once every ten days or so) would obviously be a MUCH more productive lineup:
Delwyn Young/Pierre
Shortstop (May I suggest a trade for Jack Wilson?)
Please, T.J., use your voice to help lead the Dodgers out of darkness.
P.S. Feel free to use the "James Loney Song" written by myself and my brother Lee Fink. It's in my Yahoo! Signature.
sara, Max_Power posted the pitches stats at the end of the last thread, but thanks for doing it again for those who won't be running out to the last of that long thread.
I watched "The Longest Day" over the Memorial Day weekend for the umpteeth time. There is a scene where a couple of Hitler's generals are frustrated because they want to move their panzers to where the invasion is happening, but they can't do it because Hitler is sleeping and no one wants to wake him up. I don't know if that is fact, but it's funny.
I bring that up because it is one of the two solutions as to why Torre keeps bringing up this "vets know how to work the count" nonsense. Either:
1 – No one is showing him the statistics that all of us can get off the internet, (which is actually possible in light of the Conte/Kiroda story), or
2 – He's living the "Emperor's New Clothes" storyline or
3 – He's living the "That's My Story And I'm Sticking To It" song (like the husband whose wife found a bra in his glove compartment and now he has to wear one every day), or
4 – Ned hypnotized him, or
5 – Joe is like Zero in "Holes". There's nothing going on in that stupid little head.
The voting may commence.
Yep, that article proves Ned is an even bigger louse than we ever thought. He doesn't give a crap about anything or anyone but himself and preserving his job. I disliked him immensely before but now I absolutely detest the baffoon.
Joe is wearing a Manzear.
"We're still looking to make the pitcher work. We need to do a better job of making the pitcher work," Joe Torre said. "Go up with a plan. You know he throws a breaking ball, you know he throws a lot of change ups and he cuts the fastball in. You can't be looking for all of them at the same time, so you have to make a plan. You go up to the plate, and you have an idea of what you want to hit off him. Sometimes if you just look for the ball, that's not enough. You have to have an idea of which one of his pitches you want to hit."
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~ as long as kent and pierre recognize the pitch they are being throw, torre doesn't care they miss it, more often than they crush it.. the main point is that they recognized it.. that's nonsense.. if they recognize pitches so much better, their numbers should be so much better.. and yet, they're not. i'm not saying that pitch recognition isn't important, i'm just saying that it's not translating into results for kent and pierre. so shutup.
OK, while I was typing I thought of more reasons………
martinloneykemp, is leefink really your brother? i did not know that~ cool 🙂
typo: throw(n)
Seven pornographic words you can't utter in Dodgerland:
"Ned and Joe messed up big time."
Steve Garvey advises patience with young players
Former Dodgers star says he hopes current young Dodgers get the opportunities that players such as he, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russell were granted in the 1970s.
By Dylan Hernandez
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
9:56 PM PDT, June 24, 2008
Seeing the multitude of young faces in the clubhouse, former first baseman Steve Garvey said he hoped these Dodgers had the opportunities that players such as he, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russell were granted in the 1970s.
"I would love for these guys to be compared to our guys," Garvey said.
"I would love for them to stay together for a long time, getting to All-Star games, getting to the World Series, winning a championship."
Garvey said that the shortage of veterans in this Dodgers lineup reminded him of the situation he and other young Dodgers experienced in 1973.
"Very similar," Garvey said.
But the similarities end there, Garvey said.
"They're probably bigger, stronger, faster," Garvey said of the current group of young Dodgers. "We were probably drilled longer in the fundamentals."
Garvey's group reached the World Series in 1974.
The former NL MVP warned that it could take time for the current group to find its footing.
"My feeling is that it takes five years to really understand the major leagues," he said.
OK JoJo, here are the 7 words you can't use in a lineup.
Schmidt, Phew, Kent, Proctor, No-Mar, Swee-ney, Jones.
Not to bring Mr. JP again, but realize he gets to the ballpark 8-10 hours before a frickin' game. That obviously is not helping his batting and it certainly isn't helping his weak-assed arm. What in the hell is he working on for 5-7 hours before the rest of the team shows up – does he run? does he bat? does he throw? What the hell does he do there – obvioulsy he needs to change the routine because THE ROUTINE IS NOT WORKING!!!!!!
Yep. Lee really is my brother.
Sara – thanks for that – I remember those days pretty well, and they were great. Let's hope Frank/Ned and Joe see it that way. It would be fantastic to see this young group of talented ball players to become a new dynasty for this Dodger Organization – a dream come true is what it would be 🙂
mlk, good to know. nice to see you guys are both passionate and knowledgable about the same team. MY brother just likes all the teams i hate, so he can piss me off =P
MLK – how's the studying going? – posted your James Loney Song the last few games when James got his hits 🙂
BTW – great letter!
Dreamimng of that glorious day when Frank promotes Logan…
"We're walkin' down that long, lonesome road, Ned
Where we're bound, we can't tell
But goodbye's too good a word, Ned
So we'll just say fare thee well
We ain't sayin' you treated the team unkind
You could have done better but your vision was blind
You just kinda wasted the team's precious time
But don't think twice, White's all right."
Yeah Nelly, what IS JP doing for all those hours?
Here's the TOP 10 things JP is doing 8 hours before each game:
10. Practicing wobble walking.
9. Watching old tapes of Joe Morgan batting to get that arm slap just right.
8. Hitting grounders to first base.
7. Hitting grounders to second base.
6. Hitting pop ups to third.
5. Practice looking at perfect strikes go by.
4. Detail Mr. Colletti's car.
3. Call momma and complain about playing time.
2. Practice bunting the ball right back to the pitcher's mound.
1. Trying different crooked hat positions in front of mirror.
I had to keep it clean…
First of all,
FELICIDADES Jaime!!! y ENHORABUENA!! Te mereces todos los acocolades que estas recibiendo. You along with Vin rock!! Tu tambien Pepe!
JOSH: I am going to test you with all that Spanish you said you learned from Jaime. I love that the Jaime's ceremony was accompanied by Ecuadorian music. Oh! I forgot to say this earlier. I love the Dodger magazine! I read them from cover to cover. I always buy it at the stadium. I love the article on Sweet Lou in the May issue. He is very sweet. I had that magazine signed by the guys that were at the 60's celebration. I do have the June issue that features the 70's but not sure If I should take it. Last month we had copies of the 60's magazines at each table. Might as well carry it just to be sure.
Sara: congratulations on being in 1st place in your Fantasy Baseball team! I am also in 1st place in the Inside Dodgers league, right guys? :-). I know, is how you finish that counts. This is the first time I play in two different leagues. The other league I am in is Lady Diamonds from a Ladies baseball forum I frequent called Diamondsforwomen.net.
Little story about Lee's birth as a Dodgers fan. In October of 1981, Lee was 5 years old and a huge fan of "The Greatest American Hero". I was 18 and a long-time Dodgers fan. The kids in our family had one television to share, and a World Series game was scheduled to air at the same time as "The Greatest American Hero". Conflict ensued, with Lee (the little brat) gaining via our mom T.V. rights. Actually, as it turned out ABC was the '81 home of both the World Series and "Greatest American Hero" and, of course, the WS preempted regular programming and I got to watch the game. But it was then that I realized it was high time for my younger brother to become a Dodgers fan, and the following year I took him to a few games. By the end of '82 Lee had become a big enough Dodger fan that he … well I don't want to embarrass him … let's suffice it to say he was very upset when Steve Garvey signed with the Padres.
P.S. Steve Garvey remains Lee's all-time favorite Dodger.
LMAO!!!! The top ten list needs to be posted before everygame with eric's "I've got you babe" song LMAO!!
Too bad David Letterman is in NY – LMAO!!!!
nice job scott!!!
Studying is going good. Just gotta keep at it.
Thanks for representing Loney!
I am not completely up to date on all your son's baseball exploits, but it sounds like he's doing well so Congrats! to him.
I haven't been able to read every post/thread, but I see the creativity continues to abound and the frustration continues to mount.
Thanks to dodgereric for collecting all the songs!
I am not completely up to date on all your son's baseball exploits, but it sounds like he's doing well so Congrats! to him.
Did cpompe come up with a song yet?
Congratulations to Jamie Jarrin who, by all accounts, is one class act and a fine gentleman.
There is an interview with him here (Dodger Thoughts readers have seen this already) with A LOT of Sr. Jarrin in his own words:
My brother met Steve Garvey when his son played on a 8 and under travel team with my nephew. This was in Palm Springs a couple of years ago,and my brother was the coach ( very intimidating, but cool at the same time). I never got to meet him, but my brother said he was a very nice guy. He thinks he took his son to a travel team in the LA area.
yes, MLK she did – "Pierre Got Run Over By a Reindeer" – it was very funny and cool.
mlk – here's cpompe's song:
Okay, here is my song-writing debut… Promise me, you won't laugh!!! Well, you can laugh with me, just don't laugh at me. Thx for the inspiration from all other songwriters on this blog. Sung to that lovable novelty Christmas song, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. Maybe sung better if Ned is the one singing this song.
Juan Pierre got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from my house Christmas Eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa
But as for me an' Torre, we believe.
Juan was drinking too much eggnog
All night we laughed and caroused around
But he forgot he has no arm strength
As he tried to pull a weed from the ground
When we found him Christmas morning
We only saw his little head
That was sticking up from the snow
With deer droppings all around him like a bed
Juan Pierre got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from my house Christmas Eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me an' Torre, we believe.
Now we're all so proud of Torre
He's been taking this so well
Mumbling, "PVLs, who'd of thought?"
Playing young kids like he's under a spell
It's not Christmas without Slappy
All the family's dressed in blue
And with his unmatched 5" hat size
Who do we give his extra hats to?
Juan Pierre got run over by a reindeer
Walking home from my house Christmas Eve.
You can say there's no such thing as Santa,
But as for me an' Torre, we believe
Oh, and a note: I didn't know but I was just guessing on JP's hat size!!!
By firstname.lastname@example.com on June 20, 2008 11:04 AM
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dodgereric – way to run with the suggestion! Only about 150 more copy-and-pastes and you'll have the whole songbook! That'll be a great reference to run back to.
This will really mess up eric by reposting songs – sorry! Once he gets all the songs entered, we will be able to find all of them in one location – totally awesome if you haven't seen it yet. link is below ~
nellie, don't worry about reposting songs. My memory is photographic, so no worries Jim.
BTW, Steve Garvey for Manager
Thank you 🙂 I am still wondering how "Blogging Party" got posted 3 times. LOL!!!
I think you should add scott's top ten even though it's not a song – too funny and I can see us wanting to see that again. 🙂
If this was HBO, that top ten could've been a little better…but thanks!
Scioscia is such a rock of a manager with the Angels. Too bad stupid Murdoch let him get away.
Inspired by jhall, to The Hollies He Ain't Heavy:
She throws all wro-o-ong
With many a hopping too
And lobs in the air to where?
Here and there.
But she's strong
Strong enough to call on Ned
Its for you Ned, it's Juan's mama
So on she goes
Juan's play time is her concern
Though burdening the team, who cares
JoJo's there
Though he blows
Mom taught him everything he knows
Phones for you Ned, It's Juan's mama
If we're losin' at all
We'll start blamin' the kids
Cause everybody knows
Her little Juanpy's a good boy
And hard, oh he's a hard worker
It's a long long wait
From 6:00 until game time comes
Why Juan will be there, I swear
No one cares
Though we frown,
'cuz his OBP is down
It's for you Ned, it's Juan's mama
It's Juan's mama
It's for Neddy, It's Juans mama
Regarding Garvey's mention of the '73 team: look at the veterans on that team and compare to now:
Willie Davis, CF, 33-years old (.285 .320 .444 – OBPs were lower overall then so that's like JP with power) – traded for "Iron" Mike Marshall who won the Cy Young in '74 (yeah, and gave up that homer to Joe Rudi – oh well.)
The leadoff hitter was 28-yr old Davey Lopes. (not JP)
Ken McMullen, 31, veteran corner IF on the bench, hit .316 .381 .737 as a PH (Sweeney?)
Claude Osteen, 33, 33 starts at a little better than league-average ERA, 16-11 traded for VERY USEFUL VETERAN CF Jimmy Wynn. (Jason Schmidt?)
Jim Brewer, 35, useful LH bullpen guy w/ 20 saves. (Scott Proctor?)
Tommy John, 30. (Derek Lowe?)
"Gentleman" Al Downing, 33 – a leader. Same ERA as Osteen, much better WHIP but only 9-9, never blamed "the kids" despite having young, sub-average, middle infield conversion projects (Russell and Lopes) behing him. (compare to dour Jeff Kent and his comments on kids not understanding how to approach hitting)
Manny Mota, 35, part-time LF about to become PH extrordinaire. (uh, um, Sweeney again, sorta?)
So what's the point. In the 70s, management eventually figured out which kids to keep, what was the right cast of veterans to surround their core kids with, and how to obtain the final key components. The results: 85 wins in '72, 95 in '73, NL pennants in '74, '77, '78.
Nice one cpome!!
enchanted – everytime you said "E" is angry, pissed, etc. etc. etc, I kept thinking of this song, and how I wouldn't want to mess with you either. So, this song is done for you because you did start this whole craziness. You are admired dearly by this Dodger fan as I know many others are as well, and most of us will gladly join you in the deep end. Thank you jhall and eric for latching on to this creative genious, known as enchantedsunset and starting, what I would have to call, a blogging phenomenon. Just look at eric's website/blog – INCREDIBLE!!!
Song: "Don't Mess Around With "E"
Original song: "Don't Mess Around with Jim"
by Jim Croce
Neddy's got his hustlers
JoJo's got his bums
And ITD bloggers got our big "E" enchantedsunset
He's a straight shootin' son of a gun
Ya' he's ingenious as any man can be
And smarter than our Dodger's boss
And when we bloggin' folks
All get together at night
You know we all call big "E" boss
Just because
And we say
You don't shrug off our young guns game
You don't swing at first pitch
You don't pull this crap on ITDodgers
And you don't mess around with "E", da do, da do
Well out of Torreville comes a country boy
He said "I'm looking for a man named "E".
I'm a Dodger player, my name is Juan Pierre
But down hom they call me Juanpy
And I'm looking for the boss of ITD bloggers
He's making fun of what I lack
Last week he, jhall,eric and nelly wrote songs not so funny
But I've come to get Flat Stanley back" and
Everybody said, Juan don't you know..
You don't shrug off our young guns game
You don't swing at first pitch
You don't pull this crap on ITDodgers
And you don't mess around with "E", da do, da do
You don't shrug off our young guns game
You don't swing at first pitch
You don't pull this crap on ITDodgers
And you don't mess around with "E", da do, da do
Wow Nells INCREDIBLE – THANK YOU!! LMAO!!!
Another great one enchanted!
OK, here's another one, with all due apologies for desecrating John Lennon's (yeah, yeah, yeah, Lennon/McCartney, but this one was clearly all John) "Glass Onion":
"Young Talent"
I told you about Chavez Ravine;
It is the place the lineup's obscene.
Well, there's another place you can go;
here, the PVLs blow.
Looking through the AL standings
To see how Tampa Bay wins;
Playing all the young talent.
I told you about the walrus and Torre.
Ned's free agents are making him sorry.
I told you about Chavez Ravine;
It is the place the lineup's obscene.
Well, there's another place you can go;
The PVLs blow.
Looking through the AL standings
To see how Tampa Bay wins;
Playing all the young talent.
I told you about the walrus and Torre.
Ned's free agents are making him sorry.
Well, here's another clue for you, Holmes,
The walrus was Jones.
Vets stay on the disabled list.
ITD commenters shaking their fists,
"Please play all the young talent.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Please play all the young talent."
I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you man he's GMing still.
Well there's another place he can be,
Listen to me.
Fixing a hole in his depth chart,
Trying to get a PVL back,
Working back in San 'Frisco..***
Vets stay on the disabled lists.
ITD commenters shaking their fists,
"Please play all the young talent.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Please play all the young talent."
I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you, man, he's GMing still.
Well there's another place he can be,
Listen to me.
Fixing a hole in his depth chart,
Trying to get a PVL back,
Working back in San 'Frisco.
*** or:
Well, here's another clue for all you,
The walrus was 'Druw.
Nice one Miss Debbie! Somehow, I got your copy-and-paste disease! Here's how that song of mine is supposed to look:
"Young Talent"
I told you about Chavez Ravine;
It is the place the lineup's obscene.
Well, there's another place you can go;
Here, the PVLs blow.
Looking through the AL standings
To see how Tampa Bay wins;
Playing all the young talent.
I told you about the walrus and Torre.
Ned's free agents are making him sorry.
Well, here's another clue for you, Holmes,
The walrus was Jones.+++
Vets stay on the disabled list.
ITD commenters shaking their fists,
"Please play all the young talent.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Please play all the young talent."
I told you about the fool on the hill,
I tell you man he's GMing still.
Well there's another place he can be,
Listen to me.
Fixing a hole in his depth chart,
Trying to get a PVL back,
Working back in San 'Frisco.
+++ or:
Well, here's another clue for all you,
The walrus was 'Druw.
WOW!!! WESTERNMOST – VERY IMPRESSIVE !!- I love that original song – one of my favorites!!!
enchanted – you are very welcome!! 🙂 I'm working on songs for the other two members of your posse too – LOL!!
Outta Sight!!® Nelly, E, and Fogey!!!!! LMAO!!
Thanks. Notice how perfect the unchanged line is "I told you about the fool on the hill"….
Thanks westernmost 🙂
I have been having typing issues all day – posting nightmare day – hmmmm!!
Bitchin'!!®, Groovy!!®, Far Out!!®!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'O dos-a bad mens E and Jhall wrota songs bouta me!
westernmost – it's amazing how some songs just write themselves – don't even have to change the lyrics too much
Thanks jhall – it is just too much fun!! This is like a summer writing course but a whole hell of a lot more fun. I take a lot of writing workshops because it's the hardest subject for me to teach, but I have a feeling next year will be much different just based perspective and experience in working with lyrics and professional things such as letters, comments, experiences, etc. Then again – it's just plain fun!!!
Yes Mrs. Juanpy… Yes Mrs. Juanpy… Yes. Yes.
ERAs of the recent and upcoming starters that the Dodgers faced/will face:
Lee – 2.45
Sabathia – 4.06 (but 2.14 after his first four starts)
Byrd – 5.21
Buehrle – 4.04 (3.50 w/out Opening Day, 1.89 his last five starts)
Floyd – 3.19
Danks – 2.80
Saunders – 3.03
Weaver – 4.56
Lackey – 1.65
Outside of the Byrd (who allowed zero runs in 6 of his 7 innings), that is a pretty tough looking homestand.
LOL!!!! I can see Mama Phew chasing E with a spatula.
LMAO!!!!!! jhall – I'm crying!!! LMAO!!!!! another visual that is just hilarious!!!!!! LMAO!!!!
Old news (from Sunday) but this still boggles my mind:
"Injured 3B Nomar Garciaparra, who was told by his physical therapist in Boston last week to wait 10 days before doing anything, has decided to speed things up. Garciaparra swung in the cage on Sunday and will resume baseball activities on Tuesday or Wednesday, about five days ahead of schedule. "He decided," Manager Joe Torre said. "That was his decision. The whole thing was his call." "
Why the heck does Nomar fly all the way to Boston to consult with his hand-picked PT only to NOT take the advice? I predict another setback Friday during an infield drill.
That's right doc. She chased me around and around the couch wielding a spatula and screaming, "My Juanpy isa gouda boy! Helpa me Ned! Helpa me!!!" Next thing I know…
It was a million to one shot doc. A million to one…
At least Nomar isn't listening to Stan "Kivorkian" Conte any more!
Crying again!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!! LMAO!!!!!!
enchanted – can we put that on our list of miracles for a non-pierre-in-the-lineup day? – LMAO!!!!! LMAO!!!!! still crying!!! LMAO!!!!
Another day of funny songs and more time away from what I should be doing. You guys (and gals) crack me up.
Garvey is one my all time favorite Dodgers and my son's too. We try not to think much about his off the field behavior and I have had the opportunity to meet him at Dodger Fantasy Camp some years ago. I asked him how a batter could look so bad on one pitch and then cream the ball on the next pitch and he said sometimes you just get fooled. I did not find him to be the most personable guy there and his hair does not move. However, he was a great player for the Dodgers and I share your pain at seeing him in that awful Padre uniform.
Is there anyway we could get a campaign to get Logan White for GM?…I cannot bear watching these Dodgers anymore..It's really painful….and I see that Coletti STILL doesn't get it after reading T J's article…just maddening…
Year after year of mediocre or sub mediocre teams…this is just not good enough…and the reason he deserves this blame is because he NEVER signs the right players…..Coletti is a joke when he says it wasn't all on him…EVERYTHING IS ON HIM..HE'S THE GM..!!!…..and his stay in Dodgerland has been a disgrace….I never thought it could get worse than what we had before him, but he is by far the worst thing to happen to the Dodgers…
Please let's find a way to put Logan White in as GM..!
Any ideas?
What Dodger fans can do .(1) write letters to Frank telling him to fire Ned .(2)Write letters to Ned telling him to resign for the good of the franchise. (3) Write letters to Joe telling him to shut up about how the vets get it and the kids don't, provide him with stats. (4) Don't waste our hard earned money to go to the stadium and watch management ruin this once proud franchise. Simers is right , there's nothing scarier than Ned being behind closed doors plotting the Dodgers future!
"We try not to think much about his [Garvey's] off the field behavior…"
There is a Dodgers blog called "Sons of Steve Garvey" that some of you may have seen.
Yeah, Ned's strictly a CYA kinda guy. I didn't do it, he did. I'm not gonna block the way of White or Ng getting a GM job. Not, "White and Ng are key assets to our organization and it sure would be a shame to lose them." Translation: Come and get 'em 'cause it saves my ***.
Ned behind closed doors also means Torre's telling him, "with a FEW key veterans Ned, we can win the west. I think we can afford to trade Ethier, Kemp, and LaRoche – they just don't get it."
Apparently the honeymoon is over between Ned Colletti and the mainstream L.A. press. T. J. Simers (who I cannot stand) has gone from advocating trading the likes of Loney and Kemp at last year's deadline for Teixeira, to questioning openly the talent evaluation skills of the GM, and paints Ned as badly as he can in today's column.
It wasn't too challenging for T. J., because Ned really fed him some quotes that he probably should never have said, the worst example being the disavowing of responsibilty for some the trades made, " "Some of those are minor league deals and I had nothing to do with them," Colletti protests when I mention his trading track record, and while I find it odd the Dodgers' GM doesn't have final approval of all deals, he adds, "The player development people made five or six of those." " Colletti is an executive, the General Manager, and the head of Baseball Operations. "The player development people are HIS people, and as GM he shouldn't be claiming he has "nothing to do with [their transactions]".
Then Colletti goes further and comments on on-field play, specifically batting approaches. He is clearly NOT the expert in this field and should leave this commentary to the manager and coaching staff.
Bottom line: Simers went fishing, Colletti took the bait, and Simers reeled in an article that will likely get play as it circulates.
If Colletti isn't gone soon, our hope for the future will be. The guy is a complete and utter moron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
M0R0N Ned later… LOL
The day I saw the Giants runner up ring was the day I knew we were toast.
Required reading from Jon Weisman's column today… but this is from response #144… Eric Enders… who basically puts this into CLARITY BEYOND BELIEF.
Management (Colletti, Torre, et. al)… are you PAYING ATTENTION???
Class is in session:
"144. Eric Enders
The following is long and rambling and may not have much of a point.
One thing about the Simers column is that it aptly illustrates the two main problems with the Colletti-era Dodgers.
1. They refuse to acknowledge — and often refuse to repair — even the most obvious mistakes.
"You're looking in hindsight, so your vision is perfect," says Colletti, who apparently works with blinders on, the only logical explanation for some of these deals. "Who has come back to haunt us?"
A better question, I said, "is who did you acquire who really improved the team?"
"Ethier helped us," he says. "Maddux helped us, Lugo gave us some support, Anderson certainly helped us in September of '06, and Hendrickson pitched. You do have to have players who pitch and play in the games."
– – – – –
First of all, when you're asked what good deals you've made and the third one that comes to mind is Julio Lugo, that's bad. What's worse is that Colletti insists that the trade helped the team. This is a guy who was allowed to bat 164 times and posted a 41 OPS+. This is a guy whose acquisition was an unmitigated disaster.
This is a guy who was almost completely redundant in terms of the Dodgers' needs: He started two games at his natural position of shortstop, 13 at his secondary position of second base, and every other game he played was at a position where he was in over his head offense-wise (3B, LF, RF).
Even allowing for the fact that Colletti was being harassed by a buffoon of a columnist, the fact that he could make such a quote is pretty damning of his qualifications to be a general manager. It indicates that either (1) He is clueless beyond the pale where player evaluation is concerned, or (2) He resolutely refuses to acknowledge even the most egregious and obvious mistakes.
You could say that he's trying to avoid becoming a Ricciardi, trying to avoid running down a player in public. But he's the one who brought up the subject of Lugo. He could have simply said nothing. He has no reason to want to placate Lugo. This is not a player who's under contract to the Dodgers, or who conceivably could be in the future. This is a guy who is in the process of playing his way out of the majors, and whose defining moment in the major leagues was the time he smashed his wife's head into the hood of her car. The point is, there's no reason for Colletti to avoid the truth just to spare Lugo's feelings.
One could reasonably argue that the Lugo trade benefited the Dodgers not because of Lugo himself, but because of the draft picks they reaped when he departed. I myself would make this argument, actually. But Colletti specifically avoids this interpretation, and given the indifference he's shown toward the draft with both the Dodgers and Giants, it's not plausible that Withrow and Adkins were the reasons he made the trade, or the reasons he thinks it's successful.
On to the next problem raised by the Simers column….
2. The Dodgers' player evaluation is so incompetent that they have shown a near-complete inability to distinguish the players who help them win from those who don't.
If you give the Dodgers a choice between two baseball players, a good one and a bad one, there's at least a 50/50 chance they'll pick the bad one.
Moreover, the things management says publicly are often provably false, even comically false. The main failing of the Dodgers' beat writers, who I think generally do a good job, is their complete refusal to question the hokum the Dodgers spew forth. Even when the Dodgers say something about player performance that's provably false, the writers will unquestioningly regurgitate it as fact. Perhaps this is because they are in awe of Torre, or afraid of incurring his wrath. But then again, it was the same way under Grady Little.
"Torre says he likes the approach Juan Pierre and Jeff Kent take, and Russell Martin does well at times, but the rest of the Dodgers' lineup is too impatient and swings at too many bad pitches."
Perhaps Torre is engaging in motivational psychology here that's specifically directed toward Matt Kemp, in which case you can ignore the following. But if we take the statement at face value, it's hard to believe a person who's been around baseball for 50 years could actually believe it's true. Perhaps it's simply a case of being too close to the situation — not being able to see the forest for the trees.
Here are the players on the current roster, ranked by pitches per plate appearance (50 or more ABs):
1. Andre Ethier
2. Russell Martin
3. Delwyn Young
4. James Loney
5. Blake DeWitt
6. Mark Sweeney
7. Juan Pierre
8. Matt Kemp
9. Jeff Kent
So the five most disciplined hitters on the team are young players. Moreover, the guys whose approach Torre goes out of his way to praise are two of the worst three hitters on the team in terms of plate discipline. Torre's comment, with all due respect to his experience, is completely, laughably false. It shows either (a) a complete disregard for whether the things he says are actually true, or (b) a fundamental inability to analyze the game of baseball. Neither option reflects well on him.
This inability to accurately evaluate players is the main thing that's plagued the Dodgers under Torre. I'm not saying this would be a great team if Torre had deployed his players in a manner that made sense. But it would be somewhat better, and I think it's reasonable of fans to expect the team to field the best lineup at its disposal.
Instead, Torre seems to have picked his favorites and not wavered from those favorites, even when the player is a washed-up relic hitting .100.
We're less than halfway through the season, but Torre and Colletti have already, at various points during the year, made the following misallocations of playing time:
Sweeney over Young
Proctor over Kuo
Proctor over Wade
Loaiza over Kuo
Pierre over Kemp
Pierre over Ethier
Pierre over Young
Bennett over LaRoche
Maza over Hu
Maza over Young/DeWitt
Tiffee over LaRoche
Garciaparra over LaRoche
Garciaparra over DeWitt
It's hard to win when you don't know who your best players are. "
While I think T.J. Simers can be a great writer, I have a problem with a guy who admits his sole purpose in what he does is to get a rise out of the subject of his columns. He can be funny but his sarcasm and downright meaness is sometimes just too much. However, he is not afraid to ask tough questions and doesn't care what anyone thinks about him or what he writes. I agree that Ned did not handle this interview well at all and should seek Jeff Kents's advice on how to handle T.J.
Dead Horse List:
1. Colletti
2. Torre
3. Sweeney
5. Nomore
6. Proctor
7. Kant
8. Berroa
9. Jones
I don't think we can count the likes of Bennett and Schidt.
Interestingly enough, what do all the players above but Kant have in common? – #1.
BTW… if someone could teach me how to properly seperate paragraphs on this cripled post-it thingy… I'd greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
crippled… two "p's"… got it… just like my spelling…
Proctor has been optioned to AAA, Falkenborgh has been called up. Halleluyah! (From the Press Enterprise)
ThunderBolt… Best news I've heard all month!!! Thank you!!
3 spaces in between paragraphs works for most, but not all.
Fabulous post by the way 🙂
Did he take Sweeney with him??? LOL!!
Three spaces for one…
I see…
Thunderbolt – Well that is the best news in many,many days – thank you!!!
Another piano falls 🙂
At least Proctor had the guts to admit he stinks.
Yeah, just a matter of time for Sweeny to follow.
enchanted – Ned gets the credit/blame for Jeff Kent being here NOW. DePodesta signed Kent originally, but it was Ned who gave him the contract for '07 with the vesting player's option for '08. Colletti did have the choice to let Kent walk (but Kent swung at the first pitch instead!?).
Ha now they are saying he has an elbow injury and they are DLing him. Didn't he just say he wasn't hurt? Good to know the dodgers consider being COMPLETELY USELESS an injury now!
Now if only we can get Sweeiner and JP on the Useless DL.
Proctor is a good start.. Sweeney should be next. However, it is just throwing out the babies. They need to throw out the filthy bathwater, NED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so reliever that I can watch the game tonight and not have the fear of JoJo bringing Proctor in to F*ck everything up!
Falkenborg has a 1.17 WHIP and a 5:1 K ratio with 13 saves in Vegas. Should be a definite improvement over Procto, but who DFA'd or moved to the 60-Day DL to make room on the 40 man roster?
It's true hindsight is 100%, but what foresight has Ned shown that has actually improved this team? Okay maybe getting Furcal improved the team at that moment, but what since then? It is completely true everything that Ned has done has made this team worse, and it won't get any better until Ned and some of his fabulous acquisitions are gone. Are you listening Frank?
Also from the P-E: "To make room for Falkenborg on the 40-man roster, catcher Gary Bennett (plantar fasciitis) has been transferred to the 60-day disabled list."
Also good news, this pushes back a Bennett decision until (about) July 20, at the earliest since he went on the DL 5/20. Danny Ardoin may or may not be able to hit, but my eye says decent defensive catcher, and, bonus, he can make a normal throw back to the pitcher.
I don't think Proctor really admitted he stinks. Instead of taking his promotion he probably bitched and complained to Ned and Joe and they put him on the DL with an "elbow injury" to pad his ego a little.
It's probably worth listening to Jaime Jarrin even if you don't speak Spanish–it reminds me of a George Carlin routine, who of course just passed away, and he mentioned listening to the games in Spanish, because in baseball, all you needed to know was how to count to three (uno, dos, tres), and you could listen to the broadcaster's excitment and understand what was going on.
If completely useless is a reason for a player to be on DL, then there's hope for JP afterall – LOL!!! yeh right! Who am I kidding? The man just isn't going away – FOR 3 MORE YEARS!!! Who would have thought that it would take an enormous piano, reindeer, etc to take out such a little man. LOL!!! I can't help but laugh about it now ( LOL!!!) because that's how ridiculous this whole situation is. We shouldn't have to be hoping for pianos and reindeers – JUST PLAY THE BEST – THE KIDS!!!!
Thanks fogey. I think Bennett's official diagnosis though was playerstinkitis.
Can we put Ned on the 60-Day DL and bring up White?
Somone on Tony Jackson's blog commented:
"Proctor's injury: Broken spirit" – lol, hillarious
It's almost July, why is Ned still GM? He'd be happier than a pig in s*!t if Ng or White left to Seattle… then we'd have no choice as loyal Dodger fans but to abide by his longing to have all the successful components of the 1997 All-Star team.
"WOW!!! Mike Mussina!!! That guy works wonders for the Orioles! And all I have to do is give up Looney, Del Witt and… what's his name?… Peyton Kershaw? WHERE DO I SIGN?!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Hey Ned, I'll give you 4 shiny nickels for that measley quarter you're holding"
"I'LL TAKE IT!!! heh heh heh, sucker."
Why couldn't they just release Procto? Is it just another case of Ned can't admit a mistake? "Well he's hurt. Yeah that's it. He's hurt and… and… that's why he can't pitch. Yeah, that's the ticket." "Andruw's hurt too. And Nomore. And Bennett. And Schidt. And Fercal. And Kuroda. And Penney. And.. and.. what's that?, I think I hear JP's mom calling… be right there Mrs. P."
More about batting and "patience". I think patience means not swinging at pitcher's pitches (balls, corner strikes) and swinging at hitter's pitches (fat strikes – fastball down the middle, hanging breaking balls). So among the regulars, who swings at the most balls? Only 20% of Martin's swing are at balls. Not surprising that Kemp is at 1/3; he is raw and fooled a lot. But check out where the veterans stand. It always looked to me that JP made a lot of weak contact on bad pitches to hit; here's some evidence.
Stolen from the Dodger Thoughts comments:
21. StolenMonkey86 2008-06-25 16:34:26
To be fair, "Swinging at Bad Pitches" may be better measured by out-of-zone swing percentage than with P/PA.
O-Swing% from Fangraphs, 2008
Martin: 20.26%
Furcal: 23.78%
Loney: 25.87%
Ethier: 26.28%
Kent: 27.74%
DeWitt: 27.87%
Pierre: 29.19%
Kemp: 33.65%
new thread!!!
Good Morning Dodger Blue Fans!!
It's always nice to wake up in the morning and know your beloved Dodgers won last night. Eric Stults was incredible last night(he's a keeper Joe), and thank you to all the players that contributed to his run support and a shut out ~ (Pierre,Ethier,Martin,Loney,Kemp,DeWitt and Stults, himself). This song very much wrote itself after all the talk about kids vs. vets yesterday, and the treatment that our young players are receiving due to ridiculous claims from all facets of this management team. .
Song: "Head Games"
Original Song: "Head Games"
by Foreigner
Game day, alright
Fans won't know,
They won't know if it's real
Been a long night and
Something ain't right
Joe don't know,
He don't know how we feel
No line-up ever seems right
Won't talk about the reasons
Why you don't play 'Dre everynight
It's high time to draw the line
Put an end to this game
Before it's too late
Head games, it's you and the vets
Head games, we can't take it anymore
Head games, we don't wanna play the…
Head games
We daydream for hours it seems
We keep thinking of youth, thinking of youth
These daydreams, what do they mean
They keep haunting us, are the warning us
Daylight turns into night
We try to find the answer
But it's nowhere in sight
It's always the same and
You know who's to blame
You know what we're sayin,
Still you keep on playin'
Head games, that's all we get from you
Head games, we can't take it anymore
Head games, we don't wanna play the…
Head games
So near, so far away
We try to figure the cause
We don't know what to say
It's so clear, We're sorry to say
But if you wanna win
You gotta learn and stop playin'
Head games, it's you and the vets
Head games, we can't take it anymore
Head games, we don't wanna play the…
Head games
Head games, that's all we get from you
Head games, we can't take it anymore
Head games, we don't wanna play the…
Head games
Head games, it's you and the vets
Head games, we can't take it anymore
Head games, we don't wanna play the…
Head games


text:
Purpose: as a quick diagnostic tool, sometimes it's nice to know exactly how fast two machines can (theoretically) be connected. I was having some slow downs on my NAS and using these command line tools, was able to determine that it was my NIC (and not my hard drives) that was causing the slow down. I learned this from a thread at slashdot.
How To: Automated Encrypted Incremental Backups on Amazon S3 with Duplicity (OS X or Ubuntu)
Purpose: setup an automatic encrypted off-site backup system that utilizes Amazon S3 with incremental backups by duplicity on the Mac (Leopard) or Ubuntu. Currently, I do have my own on-site backup system in place (nightly backups via rsync to external hard drive), but I am wary that some day my house may explode and I'll have nothing left. Enter my new friend: the encrypted off-site backup.
Bash Script: Incremental Encrypted Backups with Duplicity (Amazon S3)
Update (5/6/12): I have not been actively developing this script lately. Zertrin has stepped up to take over the reins and offers a up-to-date and modified version with even more capabilities. Check it out over at github.
This bash script was designed to automate and simplify the remote backup process of duplicity on Amazon S3. After your script is configured, you can easily backup, restore, verify and clean (either via cron or manually) your data without having to remember lots of different command options and passphrases.
Most importantly, you can easily backup the script and your gpg key in a convenient passphrase-encrypted file. This comes in in handy if/when your machine ever does go belly up. Code is hosted at github.
How To: Network Trash on Ubuntu File Server (NAS) with SFTP (SSH + Fuse) and AFP (netatalk)
Purpose: create a Network Trash functionality for a Ubuntu Linux file server (NAS). Reason being: by default, files deleted from the command line on file server go away permanently. If I am connected to my file server from my Mac via AFP (through netatalk) or SSH (SFTP through Fuse) and delete a file, that file is gone forever! This is a problem, because often I find I want them back. Enter: libtrash!
How to: Install Netatalk (AFP) on Ubuntu with Encrypted Authentication
Purpose: Install Netatalk (AFP) on Ubuntu with encrypted authentication (using OpenSSL), which is not enabled by default with the Ubuntu netatalk package. By default, the package installed from the Ubuntu universal repositories will transmit your password via clear text (you'll know this because Mac OS X Tiger will throw a warning and Leopard won't do anything useful at all).
How to: Mount a SFTP Folder (SSH + FTP) on Ubuntu Linux using SSHFS & Fuse
Purpose: to mount a remote directory on my local Ubuntu Linux Desktop system using SFTP (which is SSH in an FTP-like fashion). The goal is to easily gain access to a remote system's files through another folder on my desktop. Debina/Ubuntu allows you to easily mount SSH folders via the GUI, however, these mounts won't show up in the terminal (and in some programs). I used sshfs to accomplish this.
How to: Redirect Apache's Default
www or
public_html Folder to a Directory in Your Home Folder
Purpose: The default installation of Apache (from a Ubuntu-Server installation) sets the base directory for the web documents as
/var/www (on Ubuntu's installation — this may be different if you are running Apache on another machine); this may not be where you want it, in the end, and certainly isn't as easily accessible from a remote machine. One option is to change where it is Apache searches for its web documents folder in Apache's configuration file; another way, which I chose, is to create a symbolic link in the default location's place and have it point to a directory in my user's home folder.

subset: commoncrawl


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There are 3 kinds of chrysanthemum: standard, spray and santini; with many colors as well as flower shapes (single, decorative, spider, spoon and pompon). Chrysanthemum are planted and supplied year-round by advanced technology and strict production schedule based on the sales plan.
Chrysanthemum are classified as A, B according to the weight of stems and packed in Dalat Hasfarm's sleeve. There are 5 stems per bunch for spray chrysanthemum and 10 stems per bunch for standard chrysanthemum.
Vase life: about 2-3 weeks.
Major markets: Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Japan, Russia and Taiwan.


text: Piper Connect Information for Students Wouldn't it be great to ask specific questions about where your major can lead you or what it's like to work in a particular career field from someone who actually knows the answer? With Piper Connect you can! We understand that for most undergraduates, one thing standing in the way between uncertainty and success is a lack of information. Piper Connect is a database comprised of Hamline alumni and employers who have agreed to be contacted by current students with questions or requests for informational interviews. Piper Connect provides an opportunity for you to connect with professionals about their educational and career experiences. We currently have over 600 members! How Do I Utilize Piper Connect? Piper Connect is only available through Hamline Career Link. If you do not have a Hamline Career Link account, just register for one to gain access to the database. Once registered, you may begin contacting members. The short video below walks you through how to navigate the database, conduct searches and contact members. We also recommend reviewing the Networking and Informational Interviewing handout which provides information and tips on how to conduct an informational interview, as well as sample questions you can use when reaching out to members. When Utilizing Piper Connect, I agree that I will: Ask for advice and/or information regarding a particular field or industry, not ask for a job or internship. Not ask a contact to mass distribute my resume. Not share a networking contact's information without permission. Not spam a contact with multiple emails or stalk with multiple phone calls. Follow-up with a brief thank-you letter after networking with an individual.


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The new installer installs despite its name to 9r3-13. The keyboard issue reported elsewhere in this forum is still present. But additionally in this build, despite maintaining default settings for keyboard, and in spite of the online instructions for enabling a chosen Hebrew keyboard, BW keeps switching me automatically to the Unicode Hex Input layout immediately when I press the spacebar or get far enough for a list to start showing below the command window.
That would not be a problem except that so far BW interprets and displays the wildcard "*" (Shift-8, or any combination of modifiers with 8) not as an asterisk, but as an 8. It also interprets and displays the colon as a semi-colon. The Unicode Hex layout works perfectly in my other Mac programs. But the result in BW is that one must use the drop down menu to get the asterisk. And when using, say, "John 6;10" to display a passage, what comes up is a continuous chapter text in browse mode, and it takes two taps on the Browse toggle (the little feet) to get to John 6:1 -- the first tap separates the continuous text into paragraphs each one verse long; the next tap displays the multi-version single-verse comparison mode.
I have all my language settings working in Mellel, NisusWriterPro for multiple languages with preferred keyboard layouts. The present behavior which I did not notice before in BW-Mac is puzzling.


text:
Decision on Jameis Winston case to come Thursday
- The investigation into the case is complete
- State Attorney Willie Meggs will make the announcement
- No. 1-ranked Florida State faces Duke in the ACC title game on Saturday
Florida State star quarterback Jameis Winston will learn today whether he will be charged with sexual battery in the alleged rape of a fellow student.
State Attorney Willie Meggs, whose office took over the investigation last month from Tallahassee police, said he plans to make the announcement at 2 p.m. at his office in the Leon County Courthouse.
The decision will end more than three weeks of intense, national scrutiny of the case involving the leader of FSU's No. 1-ranked football team, which has prompted sharp criticism of how the Tallahassee Police Department handled the on-again, off-again investigation. It also comes nearly a year to the day after the woman first reported to police on Dec. 7, 2012, that she was raped at an off-campus apartment.
A probable cause statement signed Jan. 16, first made public Thursday, describes in detail police officers' version of the complainant's initial account.
Later in January, the complainant identified Winston as the suspect. He is not named in the search warrant request seeking the woman's text messages from that night.
The search warrant was signed by a Leon County judge.
In the probable-cause statement attached to a search-warrant request, Tallahassee Police Department Investigator Laura Gereg said the woman told police she and her friends were drinking at Potbelly's bar earlier that night and had about five or six shots. The woman said after her friends left the bar, she began to feel the effects of the alcohol and her memory became "very broken."
Police said the woman recalled getting into a taxi with a "non-descript" black male and entering a ground-floor apartment, at which point the man took off her clothes and raped her as she tried to fight him off.
The search-warrant request said at some point the woman told police a black man with dreadlocks came into the room and told the man to stop, but the suspect led her into a bathroom where he "completed the act."
"Her next memory is the suspect dressing her then putting her on a black scooter," the affidavit for the search warrant said. "She told him where she lived and he dropped her off at the intersection of Call and Stadium. The victim has no idea where the incident occurred."
Evidence gathered by investigators the day of the incident matched Winston's DNA collected by police last month. Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen of Tallahassee, has dismissed the connection, insisting sex between his client and the accuser was consensual, a contention the woman's family has vehemently denied.
If charged with a felony, FSU's code of conduct mandates Winston to be immediately suspended from the team until the case is resolved. Only a finding of "extraordinary circumstances" by the administration would allow him to play.
Jansen said Wednesday evening he had not been contacted by Meggs or his office regarding Thursday's announcement and did not speculate on what the state attorney would decide.
"In 20 years of practice I never try to guess what Mr. Meggs is going to do. I've seen him go both ways," Jansen said. "I am hoping that Mr. Meggs or someone from his office will contact me prior to the 2 p.m. meeting. Hopefully, they'll inform me of what their decision is."
Patricia Carroll, the Dade City attorney of the 19-year-old complainant in the case, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The Tallahassee Democrat generally does not identify sexual assault victims.
If a suspect is to be charged, Jansen said it is customary for the State Attorney's Office to contact the suspect's attorney before an arrest is made.
"If they are going to charge your client they would give you the heads up, you'd be able to turn your client in. Hopefully that's not going to happen because he's trying to get to the ACC game," Jansen said. "But I'll wait to hear from Mr. Meggs's office and see what they have to tell us before the 2 p.m. meeting and we'll take all the appropriate actions we have to on behalf of Mr. Winston."
Jansen said he plans to hold a news conference with Winston following Meggs' announcement, probably at about 3:30 ET. The team leaves for the ACC Championship game at about 7:45 p.m.
"Our goal and Mr. Winston's goal is to address the media once the case is closed," Jansen said. "He's not going to go into great details about it, but he would like to put closure to this so he can move forward for the ACC game and a potential national championship."
Jansen said he had not yet talked to Winston about Meggs' planned announcement, but did reach FSU Coach Jimbo Fisher Wednesday evening and talked to the quarterback's parents in Alabama. He said Winston has been focusing on football and school amid the media maelstrom.
"We are glad it is hopefully going to come to a conclusion tomorrow. We thank Mr. Meggs for conducting a thorough investigation and, whatever his decision, that the public will accept his decision and will move forward either way," Jansen said. "Either we are going to gear up for a trial or the cloud is going to be lifted and people can move on to their everyday lives."
Legal observers said Meggs's planned announcement points to charges not being filed against Winston.
"I don't think they would hold a press conference to announce an arrest," said Tallahassee defense attorney John Leace, who helped to successfully defend former FSU player Travis Johnson against a rape allegation in 2003.
Chuck Hobbs, another defense attorney who has represented FSU athletes and is a one-time prosecutor in Meggs' office, agreed. He said he expects Meggs will use the news conference to "discuss the thorough investigation his office has undertaken and why they arrived at the decision they did."
If no charges are brought and the case is closed, details of the incident and its initial investigation by Tallahassee police will become available for scrutiny. The complainant's family said a police investigator warned her attorney that pursuing the allegation against Winston would subject her to public scorn. The family has condemned TPD for what it characterizes as multiple lapses in the investigation, including failure to collect DNA evidence early and prematurely categorizing the case as inactive.
The woman called the Florida State University Police Department shortly before 3:30 a.m. Dec. 7, 2012, to report the crime. The case was quickly handed over to TPD because the incident occurred at an off-campus apartment.
The woman didn't identify Winston as her attacker until Jan. 10, according to a timeline of the investigation released last week by TPD. The police department said it placed the case on inactive status Feb. 11 after the victim declined to pursue charges at the time, a contention her family has denied.
The case languished for about nine months before TPD handed it off to Meggs last month following media inquires for the initial police report.


text:
I'm interested in general heuristics where, for specific algebraic structures, we introduce new maps that are "almost" homomorphisms (or "almost" isomorphisms) but not quite so. Here are some that I have encountered in group theory (and may also be used in ring theory and commutative/noncommutative algebra):
- A "pseudo-homomorphism" (sometimes also called "quasi-homomorphism") which is a set map for groups whose restriction to any abelian subgroup is a homomorphism. In other words, if two elements commute, then the image of the product is the product of the images. General idea: require the composition with certain kinds of injective maps to be homomorphisms.
- A "1-homomorphism" which is a set map for groups whose restriction to any cyclic subgroup is a homomorphism. General idea: require that the restriction to any subalgebra generated by at most $k$ elements is a homomorphism. Note that for algebras defined using at most 2-ary operations, the only interesting case is $k = 1$.
- An element map that sends subgroups to subgroups. The induced map on the lattice of subgroups is termed a "projectivity". General idea: Require the map to induce a map on some derivative structure (e.g., the lattice of subalgebras) that looks like it could have come from a homomorphism.
My main interest is from a group theory perspective but I'd also be interested in constructions for other algebraic structures.
ADDED LATER: There have been a lot of interesting examples here. My original focus was to look at properties of maps that could be considered, at least in principle, between two arbitrary objects. Preferably something that could be composed to give a new category-of-sorts. But there've been some interesting examples of maps that go to fixed target groups and whose definition uses additional information about the structure of those target groups. These could also be of potential interest, so please feel free to give such examples too.


text:
Rick Perry has served as the governor of Texas for nearly eleven years—and in that time, he has deliberately and systematically bankrupted state-provided healthcare for low income and uninsured women. In this week's installment of Nation Conversations, associate editor Liliana Segura and Austin Chronicle staff writer Jordan Smith discuss Perry's perverse alliance with anti-abortion activists, and explain how a political war against Planned Parenthood has compelled Perry's administration to divert $31 million in federal money from preventative services, including HIV testing and cervical cancer exams. You can read Jordan's recent expose on Perry's "war on women" here.
Subscribe to Nation Conversations on iTunes for exclusive audio of Nation editors and writers digging into the topics and issues that shape the magazine. Check back each Thursday for a new episode each week.
—Teresa Cotsirilos


text:
At the end of September 2010 I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak to the Portuguese Secretary of State for Justice and his colleagues from prisons, probation, the police, the Bar and the judiciary in Lisbon, Portugal. The event was organised by the Associação Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento das Comunicações.
The text of my keynote address is reproduced below, and I hope may be helpful in framing some of the higher-level discussion about the value of innovation in the justice sector.
'The case for justice innovation' – key note speech by Anton Shelupanov given to APDC Conference in Lisbon on 29 September 2010
Dear Colleagues,
I am grateful and honoured to be speaking in front of such a distinguished, professional and knowledgeable audience today. I am especially grateful to the chairman of APDC, Mr Diogo Vasconcelos for the invitation to work with you. I apologise that I am not speaking Portuguese, but I understand that our interpreters are working very hard to make sure we understand each other.
I represent the Young Foundation, which is a centre for social innovation based in East London, in England. The area where our office is situated is a deprived area, with many challenges, but it is also very vibrant and home to some very inspiring people. We work in the UK and internationally.
The Young Foundation is named after Michael Young who for over 50 years created many innovative organisations to address unmet social needs, including such internationally renowned ones as the Open University and the peace-building charity International Alert. He passed away some years ago and today we follow his tradition of identifying unmet social needs through research and creating practical innovative solutions to address them.
I work specifically on the criminal justice programme, which is why it is my honour to speak with you today. My own background is in prison management, which is an area in which I worked for nearly 10 years prior to joining the Young Foundation. In that time have worked with a number prison systems, from England to China and have visited, and worked with, many prisons. I am glad that I have an international perspective, because from an international penal reform point of view Portugal presents a special interest.
At the beginning of this millennium, Portugal had one of the highest rates of imprisonment in Western Europe. It shared this unfortunate "honour" with England and Spain.
Those two countries continued to send more and more people to prison, with no visible improvement on reoffending rates, high rates of addiction and all the problems of ill health and suicide associated with overcrowding. They continue to do this, even though there are many voices – including some senior government ministers – saying that this is not a healthy way – in any sense – to address the questions of crime and justice.
Portugal did not choose this route. While those two countries locked more and more people up, Portugal's prison population rate began to decline, with the benefits to society which come with this. This was not an accident.
It was Nelson Mandela who said that you could judge the level of civilization in society not by how it treats its most prominent citizens, but those at the bottom. And Portugal demonstrated its commitment to this by pursuing a drugs policy which is held in high regard by reformers around the world, and by seeking to apply problem solving principles to the issue of drugs. Indeed, Portugal has a fine tradition of problem-solving justice.
It is not a coincidence that the EMCDDA – one of the most respected European institutions speaking out on drugs is based here in Lisbon. It has plenty of good practice to draw on.
Moreover, it is very reassuring that at this gathering today all branches of the criminal justice system are represented. In the UK, where I work, this would be a rarity – most branches of the criminal justice system are stuck in their own silos and as such a gathering like this, where all agencies come together to find a way forward, would not happen often.
So I believe this country's justice system to be fertile ground for embracing innovation and recognising that it is a necessity, not just a pleasant add-on which you could do if desired during the good times.
An innovation- based justice system is not an impossibility, but our sector overall is regarded as a low innovation one. Other sectors like health or education are supposed to be great at harnessing and implementing innovation, so what about us in the justice sector?
In part this is to do with our sector's quasi-military history. In part it is because we are often too busy fire-fighting – dealing with escapes, suicides, security breaches – and even actual fires when a prisoner sets fire to their cell – to be thinking strategically about what we want our part of this sector to achieve in the future.
I firmly believe that there is no lack of innovative capacity – in England alone there are 900 NGOs working with the criminal justice system – but an issue of coherent support, evaluation, dissemination and scaling.
We have recently proposed the creation of a UK Centre for Justice Innovation, not dissimilar to the successful New York Center for Court Innovation, which runs experimental projects to address offending and helps scale them when they work well. During its lifetime both crime and the use of custody in New York have dropped significantly, resulting in improved public safety and savings to public funds. The centre should be independent from government, so as to allow it to be experimental without the government having to take on that risk.
The inventor Dyson – a great technological innovator – recently proudly said that he created several thousand prototypes of his revolutionary vacuum cleaner before creating the successful model. For him the many experiments were a source of pride and a mark of the quality of his work. Can you imagine a prison governor, police chief, probation officer, judge or politician proudly making a similar claim about their caseload?
As well as creating a safe space to fail – something most practitioners fear because of public opinion considerations, such a centre would provide a strong base of independent research. It would evaluate demonstration projects and understand the lessons from developing them – aiding their scaling and / or replication. Because one thing that is missing in most European criminal justice systems is a strong and independent research, development and evaluation capacity. I do not need to tell you that in Europe we are not very strong on evidence-based policy making in the criminal justice field, although the drugs policy in Portugal is a rare example which goes against the trend. And of course it would unlock the great entrepreneurial potential which the many talented grassroots professionals and volunteers who work with offenders have.
I have a question for you, dear colleagues. Might there be a space for such a centre in Portugal?
Another idea I'd like you to consider is one about financing innovative responses to preventing, reducing and addressing crime and re-offending. In most European criminal justice systems, right now there is no more money. So the argument goes, we can't afford reform any more, but we can't afford the system as it is either. It's not about investing to save any more. It's about saving to save. And even in countries like Portugal who have worked hard to reduce their prison population, the prison system remains a costly and not the most effective intervention.
So I'd like to propose the idea of Social Impact Bonds. This would involve local government generating a hybrid of charitable funding and private sector investment to run innovative schemes which result in a reduction of demand on the justice system – less reoffending, fewer court appearances, less use of custody. The savings by the system are then repaid to the implementing organisation, with a return on the initial investment. This could become a powerful tool for ensuring the local solutions are not left to monolithic national agencies.
My organization, the Young Foundation, has recently published this book – Turning the Corner: beyond incarceration and re-offending. Unfortunately it is currently only available in English. The ideas I described can be found in there, and are discussed in greater detail. It is available electronically on the Young Foundation website, and I have a hard copy here.
Finally I'd like to talk about the role of technology in supporting innovation in our sector. I think its key role should be enabling people to be more innovative. For example, the use of remote courts can sometimes de-humanise the system. Or it could support a network of robust alternatives to custody, where an individual appears before a judge when arrested and then a judge, via a video link can recommend that that person is taken into the care of a representative of a community organization who is waiting for them at the police station and then works with them on their issues. They do this in the Bronx, and this stops thousands of people going to prison every year where they would have done before. Or, on a much more basic level, helping young people on probation keep their appointments via SMS or social networks. Or using video to inspire young offenders in creating visual CVs and getting jobs as Media for Development do, or inspiring young people to condemn violence as the impressive Cure Violence project does. It's not all about electronic tagging and CCTV, and reducing human contact. It can be about enhancing the quality and meaningfulness of human contact.
Albert Einstein once said that the definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time. I agree with him, and I think there is a strong appetite in this room for not doing the same thing over and over again.
So I would like to leave you, dear colleagues, with a question and a challenge. How can Portugal's criminal justice system become a world leader on embracing, implementing, scaling and disseminating both social and systemic innovation?
I hope that some of the suggestions I have put forward may stimulate this discussion, even if colleagues do not agree with all of them. Thank you so much for your time and attention.


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Nothing seemed amiss aboard Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Seoul, South Korea, as it approached San Francisco International Airport just before noon Saturday: the plane was on time, the sky was clear, and everyone, including the crew, was getting ready to land.
Benjamin Levy, a businessman seated in the Boeing 777 jetliner's 32nd row, watched through the window. A world traveler, he'd flown into the airport many times. He knew what to expect. So, as the plane approached a runway along the San Francisco Bay, he saw right away that it was too low. It didn't look like the plane was going to make the runway.
The pilot must have seen the same thing, because the plane suddenly lurched upward with a sudden jolt of power, Levy said.
"When he realized that, he put more gas to try to correct the plane again and it was too late," Levy recalled in a phone interview with NBC Bay Area. "So we hit the runway pretty bad and then we starting going back up in the air again. And then we landed again pretty hard."
Levy added: "It felt like the guy missed the runway quite completely. He tried to correct, which probably helped. We would have hit the rocks."
Now the plane was on the ground, but panic was just starting to set in.
"It was surreal," Levy said. "A lot of people screaming and not really believing what was happening to them. I wasn't believing it either."
Many of the 291 passengers were hurt, but Levy wasn't in bad shape. He looked out the window again. A piece of a wing was gone. There was debris all over the place. He got up, helped to open an emergency exit and started ushering people through the opening.
"People were pushing each other out," Levy said. "The hostess was trying to help as well. There was a lot of commotion going on."
- RAW VIDEO: Plane Crash Press Conference | Plane Crash at SFO | Eyewitness Description
Firefighters were climbing aboard. Smoke was starting to appear. Soon the plane would catch fire.
Someone told Levy to get out of there. So he did, making it into one of the first ambulances to San Francisco General Hospital. He was pretty lucky: some cuts and bruises and maybe a broken rib.
"I am (in pain), but not too bad compared to other people," Levy said.
Officials confirmed two people were found dead outside the wreckage, female Chinese teenagers who were seated at the back of the plane. 182 people were taken to one of nine Bay Area hospitals, including 49 with serious injuries including burns and fractures.
The NTSB arrived on the scene Saturday to lead the investigation into the crash.
Levy said he felt terrible for the people injured worse than he was. But "it could have been a lot, lot worse," he said.
Waiting for CT scan & diagnosis. Thx for all the following. My thought are with fellow passenger and their families. pic.twitter.com/RwqCQgFLcZ — Ben Levy (@BenLevy74) July 7, 2013


text:
- Painting an Expressive Color Study
- [Part 2 of 3]
- [Part 3 of 3]
Excerpted from Chapter 3 of The Painter 6 Wow! Book, by Cher Threinen-Pendarvis
This article is provided courtesy of Peachpit Press.
Overview Open a new file and sketch using the Pens; add color washes with Water Color brushes; finish the study with the Round Camelhair and Palette Knife brushes.
SATISFYING TO USE WHEN CREATING expressive color studies, Painter 6's new brushes encourage spontaneity and quick gestural drawing because they make smoother, more continuous strokes and thus make possible a more tactile painting experience. For this color study of Agave Shawii (a threatened native in the California Maritime Succulent Scrub habitat) we sketched using Pens and Water Color variants. Then we painted with the Round Camelhair and Palette Knife variants of the Brushes, tools that can mix paint by dragging through existing pools of color on the image canvas.
1 Making a sketch. Open a new file (our file measured 1180 x 1741 pixels). Before you begin your sketch, open the Art Materials palette (Window, Art Materials).
We drew the loose sketch with the Fine Point and the Scratchboard Tool variants of the Pens.
Open the Papers palette by clicking the left arrow on the Papers section bar, and click the push bar to open the paper drawer. Click on a paper texture to choose it. We chose Regular Fine from the default Paper Textures library. Click the left arrow on the Colors section bar to open the Colors section, and select a dark color to make your sketch. Open the Brushes palette (Window, Show Brushes), click on the Pens icon and from the variant menu choose the Scratchboard Tool variant. We chose the Scratchboard Tool because of the sensitivity of this tool when used with a stylus-with it you can make expressive, thick and thin strokes. Begin sketching. As you sketch, develop the darks and lights in your image.