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NORTH SMITHFIELD — There shouldn't be any tricks left, no alarms and no surprises when Central Falls ventures to North Smithfield for a game that will decide one-half of the Super Bowl field.
The two Division IV schools, less than 13 miles apart, met up a mere 2 ½ weeks ago with the host Northmen grounding the high-octane Warriors by a 27-6 score. Tuesday's 7 p.m. kickoff will see the sides converge on a much bigger stage, meeting in the semifinals at the Northmen Athletic Complex.
CUMBERLAND — If the old adage "defense wins championships" is indeed true, then Cumberland and Chariho should be in prime shape to win their next two playoff games and take home the coveted Division II championship next Sunday.
Both teams finished 1-2 in the 16-team league with the fewest points allowed in division play (the Chargers yielded 73, the Clippers 77), and thanks to their exceptional defenses, either squad hasn't lost a game since September.
PROVIDENCE — Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, visited Olneyville Monday to tour four tenement houses refurbished under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and to tout a proposed successor program, Project Rebuild, that is part of President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act.
Lauretta Barriere
PAWTUCKET – Lauretta Barriere, 91, of Pawtucket, died Sunday at Oakhill Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. She was the wife of the late Sylva Barriere. Born in Central Falls, she was a daughter of the late David and Eva (Sabourin) Nantais.
Mrs. Barriere had been employed as a heat sealer for the former Red Farm Studios until her retirement.
She was a devout Catholic.
Leona Mikula
CUMBERLAND - Leona Mikula, 89, of Maybury Street, passed away Saturday at home. She was the beloved wife of Andrew Matthew Mikula. They had been married for 63 years.
Born in Providence, she was the daughter of the late Zygmund and Marion (Gawryc)Nawrocki. She was a Cumberland Resident for over 59 years.
She was a quality control inspector for the Robco Manufacturing Company for many years until her retirement.
She was a communicant of St. Aidan Church.
She was the sister of the late Helen Baron, Joseph Nawrocki, Henry Nawrocki, and Stanley Nawrocki.
Joseph J.Day
NARRAGANSETT - Joseph J. Day, 78, of Narragansett and formerly of Pawtucket died Saturday, November 26, 2011 surrounded by his loving family. He was the long time companion of Ginny Szymkowicz.
Mr. Day was born in Pawtucket, the son of the late Joseph and Irene (Garrity) Day.
He was a United States Army Veteran of the Korean War.
Mr. Day served two terms as the Exalted Ruler of the Pawtucket Lodge of Elks #920 and was a member of the East Greenwich Fireman's Club.
Elizabeth Pacheco
EAST PROVIDENCE - Elizabeth Pacheco, of Merrill Street, passed into eternal life on Saturday after an illness. She was the beloved wife of Timothy Pacheco Jr.
She was born in East Providence a daughter of the late Manuel and Annie Mae (Boler) Pike and was a lifelong resident of the city. Elizabeth had been employed for more that 30 years at the former Allendale Insurance Co. and also had been a volunteer at RI Hospital for more than 10 years.


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The "American Idol" producers REALLY want a girl to win this season, telling viewers over and over that Season 12 has the best female contestants ever.
And they may have found her in Angela Miller. The 18-year-old wowed Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban with her original song during the solo round.
She tops our list of the cant-miss performances from Hollywood Week.
1. Angela Miller
The judges have all but anointed Angela as "The One," which they called Season 10's runner-up Lauren Alaina. Angela is even more poised than Lauren, writes her own song and plays the piano. If anyone can go all the way, it's her. This is one of the best Hollywood Week performances in the show's history. A star is born:
2. Candice Glover and Janelle Arthur
Two other contestants that have been getting the big push are soulful Candice and country songbird Janelle. Both auditioned before, and their experience helped secure them spots in the top 20 girls.
3. Shubha Vedula and Juliana Chahayed
These talented teens also secured spots in the top 20 with strong performances. Shuba took a big risk by singing Mariah's hit "When You Believe" (a duet with the late Whitney Houston), but it paid off. Juliana hasn't gotten a ton of screen time, but she has one of the purest voices we've heard on "Idol."
4. Melinda Ademi
The judges really like Melinda, and so do we. Whereas most of the other girls sang ballads, Melinda did an upbeat Jessie J song, and killed it.
5. Zoanette Johnson
Zoanette's solo effort was billed as "the most shocking," and it was definitely the most strange. She took the drums, stripped down, and proceed to surprise (and scare) the judges with an ad-libbed performance. She may be too unpredictable for the live shows, but she's one of a kind:
Do you think one of these girls will win "Idol"? Tell toofab in the comments below!
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Freeflys offers some of the best free samples out there. They WILL NOT make you do offers in order to get your samples, but you will need to sign up to them. Here are their current samples:
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text:
More than $50,000 raised for lagoon research at Harbor Branch
ST. LUCIE COUNTY - The Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation raised more than $50,000 at the second annual "Love Your Lagoon" dinner benefiting FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute's Indian River Lagoon Observatory research and outreach efforts.
More than 230 people attended the dinner that celebrated lagoon research and this year's guest of honor, Alto "Bud" Adams Jr. He was selected by the foundation's board of directors for his leadership in using best practices in agriculture, which greatly benefit the lagoon.
Event proceeds helped underwrite a symposium and forum on the lagoon, and will help fund the first-ever national workshops regarding estuarine observatories to be at Harbor Branch this fall and winter 2014.
Subscribe to TCPalm.com and our Treasure Coast Newspapers
Need Help? Call us at 1-877-710-6180.
Monday-Friday: 6am-3pm / Saturday: 6:30am-10:30am / Sunday: 7am-11am


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All-Tournament Teams
Class 6A
MVP: Shaquille Morris, Edmond Memorial
All-Tournament Teams
Class 6A
MVP: Shaquille Morris, Edmond Memorial
Morris was a force on both ends of the floor for the Bulldogs in the tournament and never so much as he was against Midwest City in the finals. He helped the Bulldogs build up a big lead early, then played a huge part in their late comeback that ended on Jordan Woodard's heroics.
The team
Player, school, points per game
Jaylen Lowe, Owasso, 25.0
Shake Milton, Owasso, 19.5
Shaquille Morris, Edmond Memorial, 19.3
Torey Noel, Midwest City, 15.3
Jordan Woodard, Edmond Memorial, 9.7
Class 5A
MVP: Devin Perez, Tulsa Memorial
After taking a year away from basketball to concentrate on baseball, Perez helped lift the Chargers to the title over McGuinness. In the championship game, he hit 7 of 9 from the floor and finished with 18 rebounds.
The team
Demari Edwards, Tulsa Memorial, 10.0
Will Lienhard, Bishop McGuinness, 7.7
David Love, Bishop McGuinness, 14.0
Devin Perez, Tulsa Memorial, 16.0
Joey Sylvester, Chickasha, 17.0
Class 4A
MVP: Stephen Clark, Douglass
Averaged 30.7 points for the three days, but dropped 51, including nine 3-pointers in the 82-80 win over Roland in the finals. The 51-point game tied him for the fourth-most points scored in a state tournament game. He added six steals and five assists, winning the fourth championship of his career.
The team
Glenn Banks, Douglass, 11.7
Stephen Clark, Douglass, 30.7
Chris Crawford, Victory Christian, 24.5
Brooks Robertson, Roland 16.0
Seth Youngblood, Roland, 27.3
Class 3A
MVP: Ashford Golden, Millwood
Golden led the Falcons in scoring for the week, but that hardly encapsulates his performance. He tipped in the game-winning shot in the second overtime against Centennial in the semifinals, and had 17 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks — one in the final minute of the third OT — in the championship game.
The team
Terry Davis, Centennial, 17.5
Ashford Golden, Millwood, 13.7
Austin Guinn, Okemah, 14.7
Mike Mays, Millwood, 13.3
Continue reading this story on the...


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Bonneville Environmental Foundation
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) is a non-profit organization that markets green power products to public utilities, businesses, government agencies and individuals. It was founded in 1998 to support watershed restoration programs and develop new sources of renewable energy. What began as a partnership with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has expanded to include other suppliers and markets.
History and Mission[edit]
The Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization, believes that climate change and degradation of world freshwater resources are two of the primary threats facing communities around the globe. These are complex and interrelated issues that require innovative solutions. BEF addresses these issues with coordinated watershed and renewable energy programs. BEF believes that solutions to energy, climate, and water resource challenges require sustained efforts to reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based energy sources and to restore degraded watershed ecosystems. To this end, BEF sponsors programs that aim to simultaneously a) restore watershed ecosystems, b) educate students about renewable energy and conservation, and c) expand the generation of clean renewable energy. By integrating these three program areas, BEF is proactively addressing the fundamental ecological challenges of this century.[1]
Green Tags / BEF Carbon Offsets[edit]
During 2000, BEF developed its Green Tags product (later renamed 'BEF Carbon Offsets'), in recognition of the demand for renewable energy in places where utilities do not offer that choice. The purchase of BEF Carbon Offsets allows businesses and consumers to offset the environmental impacts of their carbon (dioxide) output; and represents the environmental benefits that occur when clean, new renewable energy is substituted for power produced by burning fossil fuel. Revenues that are generated selling Green Tags are reinvested in new forms of renewable energy. In particular, these revenues support new renewable energy from solar, wind and biomass and restore damaged watersheds.
Over 1.5 million dollars of BEF Carbon Offsets have sold through 2007.[2]
Renewable Energy Group[edit]
The Renewable Energy Group (REG), formerly the Project Management Group (PMG), collaborates with utilities and other funding partners to foster knowledge and excitement about renewable energy technology by delivering hands-on experience with solar electricity to students and communities throughout the United States.
REG manages BEF's renewable energy demonstration projects and renewable energy educational outreach under the Solar 4R Schools program (S4RS). Solar 4R Schools provides solar-electric system installations, in-class activities, science kits, teacher training and event management to schools, libraries and museums, and other community centers.
REG currently manages more than 100 photovoltaic systems at schools and community centers in 15 states, representing an investment of more than $1.5M. Most projects are 1.1 kW demonstration systems at schools and community centers, but a few are larger, including: White Bluffs/Hanford (39 kW), Ellensburg Community Solar Project (36 kW), Sequential Biofuel Station in Eugene (33 kW), Portland Brewery Blocks (22.4 kW), Chelan PUD Solar (20 kW) and Washington State School for the Blind (13.5 KW) are the largest. A 64 kW community-funded solar project is under construction in Ashland, Ore.[3]
BEF implements a 10-year Model Watershed restoration funding strategy. It commits long-term resources and support to achieve meaningful and lasting improvements to river and stream ecosystems. Its support allows local groups to measure results and adapt and improve strategies over time, ensuring that its programs produce lasting ecological changes that will benefit humans and native species for centuries. To date, BEF has funded 36 watershed grants worth a total of $1 million. It has made five 10-year Model Watershed commitments.


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Logging, Bingham, ca. 1930
Click on the image to zoom. Click and drag your mouse over the image to move it left or right. Use the small navigation window to select the area you wish to zoom on.
A film clip shows winter logging operations, probably in Bingham.
The film was shot by Forrest Colby, Maine Forest Commissioner from 1917-1921, and a state senator in the early 1900s.


text: stampd [ Stampd L.A. Releasing Twill and Lambskin Leather East / West Snapbacks By Trent Fitzgerald September 26, 2013 Los Angeles-based streetwear company Stampd, which was recently crowned the "coolest L.A. brand" by Complex, is releasing two new snapbacks that is definitely a must-cop for those who wear baseball caps on the daily. Read More Category: Style Tags: Stampd Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


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Apple cider vinegar is a product created by the fermentation of apples. Here are the top ten reason why you should try apple cider vinegar. It is touted as a cure all for all its wonderful healing properties. It's main ingredient, acetic acid, is used to treat infections of the outer ear canal, bacterial vaginosis, head lice and ear wax impaction, but that's not all the uses for this vinegar. Enjoy the slideshow and discover for yourself the benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar.
Slide Show Article on the top 10 Reasons Why You Should Try Apple Cider Vinegar.
If you are interested in developing your own apple cider vinegar or a completely custom liquid supplement, contact us at 888-866-5755 or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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i haven't seen a game. i'm still pissed at management from the last few years of ignoring the obvious (that they weren't good enough to compete for a title) and putting old bandaids over glaring weaknesses. Maybe Drayton will finally admit we're not going to be gunning for a title, but i won't hold my breath. Atleast the Rox can play (and plan!) for the future and the Texans appear to have a plan. The stros are gonna be bad for awhile
unless everything really goes right & they get a lot smarter.
I'm not speechless. Why should I be? Or anyone, for that matter? Didn't we all agree that this was going to happen at the beginning of the year? We all knew the Astros would suck. They can't hit. Pitching's disappointing. Big deal. Don't act surprised. You and I both knew this was going to happen.
Well – just when you think the Astros are the worst team ever – I stumble across the following article on ESPN.go.com about the Mets.
Yes – after a 2-5 start – it has been determined that the Mets (wait for it)…… are not talented enought to compete in the NL East. They are talking about the Mets of Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, David Wright,(and if he ever gets well – Carlos Beltran), Johann Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, John Maine (who apparently is hopeless after one start), etc.
Now if the premise was they couldn't win the NL East because of the Phils being in their way – I could buy it … but the article makes it sound like they have no chance and Jerry Manuel is all but out as manager.
So – as Devin just wrote – it is probably better when ESPN ignores your team.
Bill Holmes, I'd like to see more PT for CJ as well, but can't fault Mills for playing Feliz and Kepp to this point. They're two of our top three offensive players right now. I can fault him for playing Geoff Blum though.
Charles Hamilton – you gave me an idea. Why don't the Astros invest heavily in the visiting team's pre-game and post-game spread when they come to Houston. There is no shortage of outstanding restaurants in Houston. Give the visiting team the biggest spread of authentic BBQ they have ever seen with as many kegs of Shiner Bock as are necessary. Top it off with an ice chest full of Yoo-hoo for dessert. Then go back and make sure any loose fruit and vegetable products are removed from the clubhouse.
On a side note, I've always complained the ESPN ignores the Astros. I hate watching an hour of SC with 8 minutes devoted to Yankees-Red Sox analysis and only getting the token box score with fantasy impact notes for the Astros game. However, should I be excited or upset that Bristol is finally paying attention now that they're losing and not scoring runs?
Amen, Bill Holmes – There certainly is no way that playing Chris Johnson worsens our chances or our power output (the 2 HR in one inning to date). I'm wondering – is there a fear that if he plays well that the powers that be will have a hard time justifying sending him down when Berkman returns (which I assume is the plan)? But if so – why did they keep him with the big team to begin with?
Anyways – he is only rusting away on the bench – take some action 'Stros.
10-40 after 50 games. watch this train wreck
oswalt and berkman should be traded.
It's way too early to panic, and even the most sarcastic among us know that Lee and Pence aren't going to be season-long feeble .100 hitters. And even when they do rebound and Berkman returns, I don't expect them to be a great club and make the playoffs.
But what I don't understand is why Chris Johnson is sitting on the bench when we are having issues scoring runs.
Mills said he was going to play the hot hand – his reasoning for Keppinger starting more often than expected. So did Johnson's spring mean nothing? This makes less sense than Cory Sullivan in the 3-hole.
(Kris, you want to send Johnson down for Shelton for "more pop"? It's not like Johnson has been blowing an opportunity; dud has barely played. And he clearly outplayed Shelton this Spring.)
Charles Hamilton – you rock – very enjoyable post.
Chip – I noticed that your previous post idea (How the 1983 team dug itself out of the hole) has miraculously been appropriated by the Chronicle feature riter and appeared on the front page of the Sports section. Not sure whether to give you congratulations or condolences. He could at least link to your previous blog.
I still cant believe people thought they were go to be good. But people but the blame on Cooper last year. There right where i thought they would be.
I am all about rebuilding. Trying to rebuild and compete at the same rarely works, and makes rebuilding take longer. I try and trade Roy, Puma, and Carlos. Hopefully the Astros can send them to a competitive team, they're too good to waste away on the Astros. I'd like to see them all stay, but I think this team is a couple of years away from being truly good.
Hey Chip,
"Let's get this party started!"….unfortunately there is no hot tub time machine to take us back to 1986 or 1983 or whatever comparison u were trying to make.
They can't be this bad? No, they are that bad
The Padres scored 17 runs yesterday and the Astros have only scored 13 runs in seven games.
Still think things aren't bad? We've been shut out like 4 times already?
I was watching baseball tonight and Tim Kirchans talked to a scout who said the Astros are using an infield of super subs. Ouch!
I wonder how long it will take before the Astros front office goes into panic mode? The early attendance numbers can't be that great and they probably do not want to repeat last years attendance numbers.
It's either time to make a small trade for some offense that we do not have or let's start thinking about next year.
Charles Hamilton…..you can our new best friend
on Chip's blog!! Very funny!! Keep this up, and
you and Flash will be cult heros! Thanks for the
good laugh…..we needed that! Becky:)
I read somewhere recently that "failure is temporary".
I like that axiom. It's perfect for baseball. After all, great hitters fail around 70% of the time; great pitchers usually 30% of the time (if you look at their W-L records or ERAs).
This post is for you, Chip, and Dan P and all the other hopeful, hopeless Astros fans:
We're gonna win Wednesday. Brett Myers is gonna pull one out of his you-know-what, pitch into the 7th or longer, and deliver the Astros' first win of the season. I think he'll even get a hit or an RBI (or two). Baseball can be that way, as you know.
Our team is overmatched. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. And every dog has his day.
Baseball is a game of percentages. When I was a kid watching an Astros game on TV or at the Dome with my dad, he would say "Wynn is due" or "Morgan is due" or "Menke is due" with a slight nod of the head and weird kind of knowing frown, as they saunterd up to the plate. (He did that alot with those Astros, by the way.)
Our team will win this game.
Wild Thing
I'm gonna go with the grounds keepers on this one…………."They're Shi%%%%ty
I'm not ready to throw in the towel. But, I would make a few changes. Send J.R. down and bring up Castro – it's time to see what Castro can do. Send Chris Johnson down and bring up Chris Shelton, to add some more pop off the bench and a backup to Berkman. Send Cory Sullivan down and bring up Brian Bogusevic – you get a younger player with more upside on the roster. We'll be ok – I predict we'll still win 80-85 games.
Dear Cardinals players and management,
I need to ask you a big favor:
Please let the Astros win tomorrow.
We know the two teams like each other. We see how excited Lance gets when Albert hits a single and Lance has someone to talk to. Maybe it's our mutual hatred of the Cubs (and subsequent joy when the Cubs come up with inventive and hilarious ways of tanking yet another season). Maybe it's being generally ignored and disfavored by MLB (compared to the Red sox, Yankees and Cubs).
Unfortunately, you can't just forfeit the game. We need to make it look like the Astros actually won. In that spirit here are some subtle changes you can make to let the Astros win that the Astros probably won't notice:
1. Have Pujols try out hitting lefty (wait, don't do that. He'll probably discover he's just as good hitting lefty and then we're really screwed)
2. Institute under-hand pitch for odd innings
3. Have Matt Holliday play Center… ohh and make him use a catcher's mit… ohhh and shine a spotlight in his eyes (and yes, I'm talking about the NLDS)
4. Cut Ryan Franklin's beard… which is the source of all his power
5. Replace Yadier Molina with Jose
6. Change Skip Schumaker's nickname to something more silly. How about Scrappy?
7. Secretly replace Pence's bat with one of Sammy Sosa's old ones (what? Too obscure? Remember when Sosa got busted with a corked bat in '03? Yeah, me neither.)
8. Convince Michael Bourn to quickly run around earth with his super speed after every poor Astros play. This will reverse the earth's spin effectively turning back time giving the Astros another chance. Or, we can institute a "do-over" policy.
9. Replace Gatorade with Yoo-hoo. What? The Brewers are already doing that? That explains Prince Fielder.
10. Institute lucky seat closer, where a lucky fan is randomly selected and given a chance to be Cardinals closer for the night. If they close out the game, they are given 3 free hotdogs!!!
So please, please, please, let the Astros win. We'll make a deal. The next time you start the season 0-7, we'll let you win one.
In 7 games, they have 1 HR.
Posted by: ericgirard at April 13, 2010 04:16
Not that it makes much difference, but they have 2 HR's (Pence and Michaels) and they were both in the same inning of the same game (Saturday against Jamie Moyer).
************ *******************
"How about Alyson Footer for Rene Russo's spot?"
See 12:35pm.
Gary above – no Chip didn't see this train wreck coming – remember just before the season began we got Chip's predictions here and he predicted these losers capturing the wild card.
Dan P. & Wild Thing:
How about Alyson Footer for Rene Russo's spot? Uh…maybe not since she would have to hang with Lance Berkman (aka Jake Taylor). However, I do think it's funny.
Becky…love your comment. Keep up the Good Fight!
I wouldn't have guessed 0-7, but they are a team that seems destined to hover around 70 wins, give or take a few either way. And that's in an overall weak division. As long as they keep building up the farm system, and don't just take on money/block any upcoming guys, its just part of the process that was forced on the team by many decisions in the last several years.
I'm not speechless!!
This team is not constructed to win. It's some kind of perverted tax write-off.
You keep Oswalt and Berkman around to make the fans think you're serious while you construct dog manure around them.
5 Walks in 7 games.
Blow the team up. It's been a good 16 year run.
Absolutely not speechless!
Compare last year's middle of the lineup to this year so far: Berkman, Lee, Tejada, Pence. This year: No Berkman; a Carlos Lee who has 0 HRs and 0 RBI and has struck out 9 times in 27 ABs; Tejada's gone to the Orioles and Pence has two hits (one an infield single).
How the hell can a major league team expect to ever win a game with that middle of the lineup ineptitude?
I've said it many times. If the Astros don't hit home runs, they generally do not win. They rarely bunch hits and seem to lose focus with runners in scoring position.
In 7 games, they have 1 HR.
Speaking of Chip's son, how is he ?
[Diane, Josh is recovering from TJ and will start throwing in the middle of May. Destin, the 12-year-old lefty, is ready to take on all comers. CB]
Welcome to the NL Kyle. Unfortunatly, inter-league play is a week or two long. The Astros have to play over 140 games against the NL. The way things are going, I think Chips son could mow through our lineup and probably flirt with a no-no.
Devin – I know. My second post got lost in cyber space, but it talked about Pence never having carried the offensive load in his career and Lee benefitting from always being in the top 10 in TPA with RISP. Both are good hitters, neither are elite (Berkman, Utley, Pujols, H Ramirez (FLA), Jeter) type players that can "de-slump" their team.
But I feel the break out coming…
jason11 – correct on the "distractions"
JD Martinez hitting .476/.560/.667 for Lexington (should be playing 1B in Lancaster instead of OF in Lex, but I won't argue with Ricky B).
Goebbert (OF) hitting .444 with RISP (8 RBI) for Lex, hitting .261 over all (clutch!)
Lexington has scored second most runs in the SAL so far this season.
Cartwright (2B) hitting .400/.500/.800 for Lancaster (with a bomb – not at home!)
Lancaster is 0-4 with a 12-19 run differencial, losing by 1, 1, 3, and 2 (home opener).
Shuck (OF) hitting .381/.458/.524 for CC.
CC has the most RS in the TxL so far and they have 6 pitchers with WHIP of 1.00 or less.
Interesting for Daigle and Corcoran (RR) – both have ERA's over 6.00 and WHIP's under 1.00 – being a relief pitcher early in the year can look really bad.
Oh – and now we are being written off by the national press – see link below to column by Joe Lemire at SI.
Why are you speechless? You should have seen this train wreck coming.
Bill H – Yes, I was being a little bit facetious about this year's pitchers and their hitting ability. Hampton was probably the greatest all around baseball athlete (pitching, hitting, fielding, and speed) that we've seen around here. It's too bad his pitching failed him first.
West Side – No harm – no foul my friend.
I'm not really speechless — any objective look at these Astros prior to the season would have told you this was going to be a rough year. Without Berkman, we may have the worst hitting infield MLB has seen in the last 25+ years; our offense will still be way below average when Berkman returns.
The unfortunate part is that there is no quick fix. It took several years of poor decisions to get us into this mess, and it will take us at least a few years to get out of it. Keep building the farm system; trade Oswalt, Lee, and Berkman for prospects if possible; don't overpay for any more free agents until the nucleus is in place to compete for the playoffs.
Yeah, the Astros are not as bad as they have played thus far. But they are a poor baseball team. I'd be surprised if more than four NL teams had worse records than the Astros when the year is over; and I wouldn't be completely surprised if we finished behind the Pirates.
Drayton needs to come clean and start a "Championship 2013″ campaign whereby all moves are geared toward putting the Astros in championship contention by then. The patient has been bleeding to death and we've been applying band aids. Time to start making responsible, big-boy decisions in the front office.
Tim – good comments.
NAF and H – I have no doubt by the end of the season we'll see some good looking numbers from Pence and Lee. The problem occurs when they are driving in runs when we win by 10 and not driving in runs when we lose by 2.
Dan P.,
Sorry about the misunderstanding. And, yes, it is impressively bad that they add up to close to the Mendoza line. LOL
"So early in the season and pitch count being such an issue why are we allowing pitchers to complete an inning with less than ten pitches thrown? Not one batter should have their at bat ended before the third pitch."
At our current success rate with hitting, that's only nine pitches.
"Love the Major League comparison – have not run into our version of Rene Russo yet."
Alyson Footer = Lynne Wells
Dan, I don't think any of these pitchers can hit like Hampton. He would have been our best bat off the bench last year, and I'll bet he could have played the field in an emergency.
I can understand worrying that a pitcher batting unneccesarily might risk having him accidentally get hit with a fastball. But hell, he's in more danger of that every time he completes his windup and a guy is swinging the bat.
Not using his obvious hitting skills last year – especially considering how lousy we were – was enough to convince me Coop was clueless. (And yes, if Mills does the same thing with a bonafide good-hitting pitcher, I'm calling him out, too.)
The minor league season has kicked off. So we all have something to be excited about. There are quality players to follow at all 4 levels this year, I think its been awhile since that was actually true.
"After 7 games last year, we were 1-6, Lee was hitting .192″
Great news old friend Jayne — El Burrito's .111 BA and .143 OBP to start this year [along with zero RBIs, 0 EBH's and 9 Ks in 21 ABs] looks much better now!
No one has ever accused me of being speechless…
Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was 0-7.
This has been coming on for, at least, the last 3 seasons.
It's time for our 7 game winning streak. Which will probably happen sometime in July.
I don't know if this will make anyone feel better or not, but I thought that I remembered Lee having a slow start last year so I looked it up.
After 7 games last year, we were 1-6, Lee was hitting .192 (and Berkman was hitting .167).
In the first month of the season, Lee hit .253, but hit .349 in May.
Can't help but chuckle a little (maybe because I'm insane??).
(1) You cannot make conclusions about a 162 game season based on 7 games (that's a fact, not my opinion).
(2) I, too am speechless (or really just as speechless as I ever get – lol).
I think this is a good time to talk about leadership (now I'm really laughing – since that's straight out of the Consultants Guide to Bilking the masses).
But seriously, Bourn and who ever is in the 2 spot (mostly Kep if your looking at who's pulling their weight, but also T-Man and Kaz) have done a decent job of setting the table. Feliz has played his role at about the level that could be expected, maybe a little shy of it, but he wasn't (or shouldn't have been) expected to bare a significant amount of the offensive weight. The start of the offensive plague for these 7 games is Pence and Lee. Hitting is contagious, or actually more correctly, producing is contegious. But – and we've seen this in this weeks worth of games – your lead-off guy isn't the "carrier" for this disease (its a good disease). That has to come from the core of the line up. Pence-Lee-Blum-Feliz, since Puma is out. What I had hoped would happen is that since Berkman was going to miss the start of the season, that the good (at least decent) springs that these guys had would carry them into the start of 2010. Unfortunately, what has occurred – probably due to facing some very good pitching – is a reversion to who they are. Which is NOT bad ballplayers, not by any means. None of them are exceptional though. For instance, Chase Utley is exceptional, J Wurth and J Rollins and S Victorino are not (R Howard is, but not all the time). Utley can, by himself, prevent or reverse, a team slump. Bagwell could do it, Biggio did it for a season, Jeter can do it (A-Rod hasn't done it consistently) and of course Pujols can do it. Like we didn't know, Berkman can do it. I know his 2009 numbers where down – but in 2006 he was the offense and in 2008 he carried the team almost to the post season with Lee out.
Mills is doing the right thing – shake some things up – but not too much and keep throwing them out there. I think I'm seeing the starting pitchers (including Oswalt) pressing as much as the hitters – wanting to be the guy that delivers a shut out so the first W goes on the board. Other than Arnsberg counciling them against this feeling – which isn't likely to have an impact – the manager and coaches can't really effect the "pressing". I think they are trying to keep the players loose.
No one "knows" how to "fix" this – they just have to play their way out of it. Sitting guys for a day – that has to be part of the little shake ups – including Lee and Pence.
But, Drayton, EW, Mills, and the Astros have to expect their fans to be "speechless", up in arms, alarmist, certain of a wholesale disaster of a season, and eventually bending towards comedic anxiety as a result of all the losses and the manner in which a few of them have occurred.
I guess I'm not really speechless – but then again, you knew I wouldn't be!
Next post coming in a few minutes…
Welcome to the new Astros 'dead ball' era. This is what life after Lance Berkman looks like. Fans have had it pretty good since the early-90's. This should give management a little incentive to blow up this team and take what prospects they can before the trade deadline.
So you saved your April Fool's joke for the 13th.
Pretty good.
Kept thinking something was wrong with my
computer, because there usually is (its operator).
After backing up, finally scrolled down far
enough to get it.
It's not enough I have to feel bad about the
Stros, you want to make me feel bad about this
too ?
Shattered glass everywhere.
Larry Dierker said that (paraphrasing) "Every team will win 54 games and lose 54 games. It's what they do with the other 54 games that counts."
Dierker may have been too optimistic. The Astros will eventually win some games … but how often?
I like Brad Mills but I was wondering if his approach is part of the problem. Is he using A.L. game planning when he should adjust to a N.L. mentallity?
Great posts everyone!
West Side –
I was trying to say, tongue in cheek and probably not clearly, that Lee and Pence BA's added together barely get over the Mendoza line.
Wild Thing –
Love the Major League comparison – have not run into our version of Rene Russo yet.
Becky – you keep on being not speechless.
Chip – I have noticed along with your original blog that you have kept up the word control through all of our postings.
Bill Holmes – Like last year when we did not use Hampton as a pinch hitter (and maddeningly would pinch hit for him when he was coming out of the game with someone hitting .150 below him) should we be bringing some of our pitchers off the bench to hit? I wonder if any of our terrible hitters can pitch?
Anyways – lots of crazy thoughts today.
Believing the Drayton-hype can make you speechless.
Towles is bad. Don't know why folks believed he would change.
Mills is inexperienced and a flop. With these unproven managers, you don't know till they get in the manager's seat. Everybody told us Cooper would be great if he got a chance, but he wasn't. Looks like Drayton will have to fire Mills, cuz you can't let the team go 0-20 without doing something.
Worst fears were that Berkman and Oswalt may be well past prime. That appears to be a possibility.
Not trying to solicit a response, just took off the rose-colored glasses –
– 100 losses is likely
– rotation is horrible
– new third baseman stinks
– infield is bad
– wasted a ton of money on bad bullpen
– no help in the minors
Hey Chip,
This is a pretty epic post. I love it!
I can't say I'm all that surprised though. This is a very poorly constructed team. Alot of other people have said it already but I'll put it another way. This is a team that was bad enough to earn the eighth pick in the draft last year, and they lost their best hitter (batting average) and their top-two relievers. In the best case scenario, Lyons and Lindstrom will match the production of Valverde and Hawkis. I don't think anyone expects them to improve on the high level of production established by the back-end of the bullpen last year. Basically, the eighth-worst team in baseball is back with a large hole in the lineup and a slightly worse bullpen. Lance Berkman being hurt is another huge hole, so going up against all of the aces we've seen kind of lends itself to an 0-7 start.
All offseason long we've talked about what if's and how this team could be good. What if we're still this bad (I don't mean winless but think Nationals and Pirates bad)? What will Ed Wade do? What will Drayton let him do? If the Astros are on pace for a top-five pick in next years draft, I don't see how they can't become sellers at the trade deadline. Our history of comebacks is starting to hurt us. The management continues to believe the ship will right itself but this team is not anywhere close to the 04-06 teams. Oswalt seems like he could be the most likely to go. For one, if the season turns sour he'll probably want out. He's also probably our biggest trade chip (he could probably land us one or two of the Top 100 prospects).
It's weird to think about and alot will happen between now and the trade deadline, but this could be the year that the Astros get back on track in player development. They have some interesting prospects throughout the minors and should add three great players in this years draft (three picks in the top two rounds). If someone like Oswalt is traded for 2-3 legitimate prospects, the future in Houston could be very soon. This season will be the ultimate test for Ed Wade and we should really be able to understand his philosophy on building up a team before this season is done.
Tim Hansen
We'll see if all the old adages about baseball hold true … players stats will always end up very close to their lifetime performances, it's a long season and there are ups and downs for everyone. Is this just an ill timed down or is this a trend. We all knew they were going to be challenged w/o one of their better hitters, but I didn't expect them to be defenseless w/o Berkman. I suppose that it's been a long time since Lee and Pence have had to carry a team alone.
I'm NOT speechless, ask my husband! Becky:(
the problem isnt the 0-7 record, but myers,paulino and wandy have better batting avg than our 3,4,5 (pence,lee,blum) i just cant believe it, and they face the same pitchers…..
Dan P.
Probably just a typo, but the Mendoza line is actually .200. So Pence and Lee are almost 100 points below the Mendoza line.
I knew the Astro were going to be bad, but I never expected last place!!
Hopefully Nolan and the Texas Rangers can offer a competitive baseball team this season………
Posters have already made some fantastic points. If I can be so bold as to sum it up, as soon as the Astros start facing AAA level pitching we'll see some good results.
When they return home maybe someone can put up a sign counting up the wins until we pass the Cleveland Spiders. 21 to go!
I'm hoping Ed Wade will be forced to make some changes due to a fan revolt.
I'm not sure how they can honestly fix this mess. Who would we trade for? A SS like Jason Bartlett? Dan Ugla to play 2B?
Let's face it we need a lot more than a little bump in offense to fix this train wreck.
I just don't see any of that happening. I hope someone from Union Station reads these posts. Congrats! You have killed any attempt at drawing people to the park this year. I'm guessing that we will see some bogus article about how the economy is still affecting people coming to the games and how the Astros poor numbers are a result of that.
Well, this was a bad team that was brought back largely intact except for Miguel Tejada and their best two relievers. So no, I'm not shocked they've been this bad early in the season. Even the so called improved defense has let them down as Paulino got tagged for four earned runs on Saturday when none of them should have scored. I did think they could win at least one game without Berkman, but now I'm not so sure.
I'm still perplexed Chris Johnson didn't start once again yesterday. Berkman's absence has created an opportunity to play and develop Johnson. I say this as someone who didn't even think of Chris Johnson as a legitimate prospect. However, his monster spring gave me pause to reconsider. The Astros thought so too and and it's why Johnson made the team instead of Chris Shelton. Yet, Johnson has had just two starts with the last one being on Saturday. In that game, he had two hits and hit the ball hard three times. Sunday, he gets a pinch hit off Roy Halladay. Nevertheless, he's back on the bench on a team that is offensively challenged. It's amazing a team with no power in the lineup can't find playing time for a guy that had 8 homers in Spring Training. If Johnson isn't going to play everyday until Berkman comes back, then he is better off in Round Rock. Do we need to start a free Chris Johnson campaign?
"We all hoped though that we would have a season like in the movie "Major League"."
Hmmmn. Don't forget management's plan in the movie — in our case, it just might work.
Charlie Donovan = Ed Wade.
Willie Mays Hayes = Michael Bourn.
Pedro Cerrano = Carlos Lee
[Please, somebody, get the man some voodoo dolls!]
Jake Taylor [Mr. creaky knees] = Lance Berkman
Roger Dorn = Geoff Blum
Washed-up Eddie Harris = Brian Moehler [close understudy = Brett Myers]
Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn = Felipe Paulino
[Hey, has anybody tried specs on this guy?]
Hopefully they will simply stink all year long to where McLane can't be delusional into thinking they are in contention and will consider trading the guys that can bring a return. Wandy would be the first top tier guy I would look to trade but would also consider Oswalt if there is a better return with him. Honestly, if the return was strong I would consider trading both of them.
All of the contract year guys should be moved for whatever we can get. Hopefully, Feliz and Matsui performe well enough to bring something back but if saving the money allows the team to draft the best players regardless of their signing bonus demands then it is worth it.
We can probably forget about trading Carlos Lee until the offseason. I don't think he cares whether the team wins or loses to where living close to his ranch is much more important.
Someone mentioned that Lee and the Astros would each get to pick 5 teams to which he could not be traded to; however, I believe there are NO restrictions in trading him this offseason but, if he is not traded in the offseason, the 10 teams issue will take effect for the final two years of his contract. In other words, this offseason will be the time he has to be traded or else it will be nearly impossible to do so.
If I am off base please correct me but I believe that is the deal with him.
Not speechless because 2-5 or 1-6 looked probably on paper before the season started. I think everyone honestly knew this wasnt going to be a good team so there isnt much reason to be suprised. I dont know of anyone who thought this team would be good, maybe some thought average(.500 team) but most baseball people saw what this team was. McLane probably didnt but thats because he isnt a baseball person. They will still probably win 70 to 75 games which is where they should be with their lack of talent.
Cheer up, everyone. One thing about it, it can't get much worse than 0 for the season, can it? We have no place to go but up. It will be a long, slow painful climb, and I doubt any of us will get nosebleed from a rapid change in elevation, but eventually someone on this team [other than Bourn, Keppinger, Oswalt and Sampson, who actually look like baseball players] will probably wind up doing something good sometime this season.
Meanwhile, the Express got a nice win last night, and several of the Hooks got big hits in a high-scoring loss. BTW, Koby Clemens already has 5 RBIs, and Brian Bogusevich is hitting close to .500. And don't look now, but Wladamir Sutil is hitting .381.
This start should be frustrating,but it is really funny.MMP should look like a ghost town this year.Let Drayton buy the 8 dollar beers.
Unfortunately this team looked horrible on paper before the season started. We all hoped though that we would have a season like in the movie "Major League". That ain't happening though.
It's a long season, can't let one game or one week get you down. Now if they are 0-14 next week, I'll have to modify that statement to half a month.
I am not surprised, I love baseball, I love this team but unfortunately our team is no that good. It wasn't good last year, minus Tejada and bullpen it is worse.
All I can say is that in 7 games this year we have faced 5 of the 11 starting pitchers in the majors that had sub 3.0 ERAs last year. We have been very bad but that has to be some sort of record to play pitching of that caliber in the first 7 games.
"Cheer up guys – three of our players are batting .500 or better with OPS over a thousand!
Yeah, Bill, thanks for the encouragement! Myers, Paulino and Wandy are "hitting" .500. Paulino actually has a 1.500 OPS and THREE guys are at 1.000 (Myers, Wandy, Michaels)! Oh, those guys have 15 at bats between them (Michaels has 7 of them).
Release Lee? Nay, don't want to pay him 60 mil over the next 3 years to watch the Yankees pay him league minimum to have 30 HR and 100 RBI and get two world series ring. That is the worst idea I've heard on here in a while.
You want to get him to waive his no trade clause, start benching him. If he posts an Ofer and makes a bad play in the field, set an example by letting him watch Michaels get two games in his spot. If that doesn't wake him then he will get frustrated and ASK out, then you win either way, he either starts playing better or he waives his NTC.
Now if we could find someone WILLING to pay that whopping 20 mil for good albeit non MVP type numbers is another adventure to be taken. I personally wouldn't be in for paying any thing more than 5 mil of his salary a year considering you will have to pay his replacement at least a decent salary (even Luke Scott, a perennial favorite of Chipland would cost 5 mil).
You put the 10 mil that would be half of his salary with the new guys 5 mil and your still paying LF 15 mil. And the new guy probably won't hit like Lee unless we were willing to go after someone that makes a LOT more then 5 mil. Now you end up with, say, Josh Willingham. All to save yourself a whopping 5 mil. Sounds, um, not to well thought out.
And we haven't even explored Lee's durability, which, given his obvious dislike for conditioning, you would think would be bad. But then you look at the stats and you see a guy that plays and plays a lot. What about Scott? Um, not so much. Ditto Willingham, or any other 5 mil possibility.
Perfectly stated!
Cheer up guys – three of our players are batting .500 or better with OPS over a thousand!
I keep trying to tell you all, this is a marketing vehicle, not a baseball team. We've had "Root for the Good Guys", "Return of the Good Guys" (and, seemingly, the return of the slogan), the "3,000 hit season", the "300 HR season", the "200 hit season", and my personal favorite, "Enron Field, Texas… Everyone Loves to Play at Home".
This year they are celebrating 45 years with 45 wins, "45 in 45″.
Seriously people, did any of you expect the Astros to be good this season??
I don't really understand the hysterics. We all knew this team would be challenged. Unfortunately we've seen a worst case scenario over the first seven games. Our weak lineup has been really weak. It'll get better if only because Pence and Lee will hit and Berkman will come back. I can't say the same about Towles and Q though. And I expect Manzella to correct downwards. The rotation is a bigger question mark. I'm not convinced Wandy will repeat last years numbers, and the jury is still out on Paulino and Norris. We've had too too small a sampling from either guy to know what to expect long term. There will be missed starts at some point too. And if the starters continue to struggle, the pen will too. Goes hand in hand.
One thing for certain. The arm chair experts are already questioning the wisdom of our new manager.
Hey just like the Astros' offense!
Top ten classic post – Chip. The only thing to make me smile after 0-7.
Coming into the season (from the off-season) we were counting on the offense being carried by Berkman, Lee and Pence with Bourn as the table setter.
– Lee and Pence combined are barely over the Mendoza line with a .111 and .120 BA each. In 57 total plate appearances they have gotten on base 7 more times than Berkman, who has yet to play.
– Bourn is setting the table – but is the only one hitting over .300.
– Manzella and Feliz are actually hitting be it with no power.
– Out of 13 position players on the roster – 7 are hitting below .200 and amazingly 5 are hitting .120 or lower. This is like blindfolded pinata baseball.
– 8 of the 13 position players have exactly the same BA as OBP (why would anyone walk any of these guys at this point – maybe they just need to hit it off of a tee).
– While Byrdak, Sampson and Oswalt have good to respectable ERA's – the other 10 pitchers have ERA's over 6.00, 5 of them at 9.00 or higher.
The good news?
– The pitchers are hitting 4 for 11 for a .363 average (wow – we are so bad that the pitchers have only batted 11 times in 7 games – that may be a record.)
– In 2009 – only one of the top 14 pitchers (Paulino) ended up with an ERA higher than the current staff ERA of 5.95.
– In 2009 only one of the top 15 position players (Coste) ended up with an OPS lower tha the current team OPS .539.
So unless the Astros have a season long slump of bibilical proportions – by the law of averages – things have to get better some time.
GHF Guy says:
(Uh…wait a minute. I can't find him.)
yeah the no hitting Manzella is hitting 278, better than Lee and Pence.
The sound of one hand clapping?
Should be the sound of bats slapping…
I believe the inevitable house cleaning will start soon and it should begin with Carlos Lee. I don't care what we get for him nor how much of his salary we have to still pay – be rid of this anchor around our necks. He does not care and hasn't for a while. Why should we. No trade clause you say? Then release him, waive him, designate him – whatever – just get rid of him. He is the epitome of most things wrong with the club. Do we want him rubbing off on the youngsters we have and the ones soon to be arriving? Someone in this organization needs to take a stand – like now – and show the rest of the players (as well as us fans) that the crap we've been watching for the first seven games is unacceptable. No better place to start than with this deadbeat.
I wish I was speechless. This Astros are not this bad though so I will continue to defend them. Well ok, they have looked awful.
Where is Sean Berry right now, what is he doing? Even Brad Mills, what is he doing? They are the coaches right?
So early in the season and pitch count being such an issue why are we allowing pitchers to complete an inning with less than ten pitches thrown? Not one batter should have their at bat ended before the third pitch. PERIOD! The more pitches we see the greater chances we have at making something happen. Yet, for some reason these professional hitters like to swing at the crap in the dirt and hit the first pitch straight up or weekly around the field. This attitude will not win many games. Yes, the pitchers we have faced haven't been the best guys to face, especially at the start of the season. The lineup shuffle that Mills is playing is not helping the offense either. It takes time for, yes even the best of hitters to adjust to pitchers going 100 percent versus the 75 or 80 percent they saw in spring training. I don't understand it. Hunter hits a homerun and the next day he is riding pine. Sullivan hitting third and Manzella in the two hole. It just doesn't make sense. Those aren't moves that will help spark a struggling offense.
Our pitchers haven't pitched well at all. And before anyone defends the pitchers with the crap well it's just one inning lets just remember everyone seems to hate Moehler as a number five pitcher for us and that was when his ERA was under 5. Wandy's one bad inning after his first game had his ERA at 4.75…I have higher expectations for a 2 hole pitcher. Bottom line when a pitcher goes 6 innings, gives up 3+ runs you can not expect to win many games.
What we need to do is simple, we need to address the fundamentals of the game. We need to take pitches and gather walks. We need hit and runs put on, we need steals to be tried. We need our pitchers to work in and out on the plate, even climb the ladder. We need to challenge more hitters with off-speed pitches in the fastball counts. Bottom line, our coaches need to be coaches.
love the post. made me laugh out loud. Thanks for the comic relief after the 0-7 frustration.
::crickets chirping::
I believe the problem is that most of the people employed by the organization do not play baseball very well. I'd go into more detail, but where do you start? And how could you stop?
The problem isn't performance so far this year, it's the absence of any real indication that anyone on the roster save about five players have ever had much talent.
The Astros opened the season facing the three best teams in the NL. Of the seven starters they've faced there are three Cy Young winners including the 2008 & 2009 winner, one 2009 All-Star, one 2009 NL Most Outstanding Pitcher, and one phenom who the Phils refused to include in the Roy Halladay trade. And Jamie Moyer who throws every kind of junk imaginable.Those matchups are not good ones for any team, much less a team as offensively challenged as the Astros. I think the Astros will be more competitive after St. Louis through the end of April. In any event, best not to form conclusions until a couple of months pass.Having said that, if this season does hold many losses for the 'Stros: 1) There is less reason not to go all-in on playing and developing younger players (even if pricy veteran infielders sit the bench), and 2) It might persuade certain overpaid veterans to waive their no-trade clauses or renegotiate their contract.


text:
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text:
Contrary to expectation, the trial of the five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor for capital crimes in a Libyan court did not conclude yesterday but was continued until November 4 to allow the prosecutors to answer arguments by the defense that Libyan authorities have framed the Tripoli Six. Meanwhile in a significant development over one hundred Nobel Laureates have sent a letter to Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya protesting the exclusion of scientific evidence potentially exonerating the defendants. From Declan Butler's blog:
In the letter, to be published online this week by Nature, 114 laureates affirm the need to ensure a fair trial, and for the appropriate authorities to permit evidence from internationally recognized AIDS experts to be used in this case. It notes that: "Strong scientific evidence is needed to establish the cause of this infection. However, independent science-based evidence from international experts has so far not been permitted in court." (Declan Butler)
The postponement was said to be granted to allow the prosecutors to answer arguments by the defense that Libyan authorities have framed the Tripoli Six.
The Libyan defence lawyer of the five Bulgarian nurses Osman Bizanti branded as fake all the documents that state the five Bulgarian nurses are guilty with deliberately infecting some 400 Libyan children with HIV.
The fact the Libyan officers who terrorised the medics in prison had been proved innocent does not mean the nurses and doctor had not suffered from moral and psychological violence, Bizanti added.
Poor hygiene and neglect led to the infection of hundreds of Libyan children with the HIV virus, a defence lawyer said on Tuesday at the retrial of six foreign medics accused of deliberating infecting the children.
"I remind you that international scientists found that the epidemic was not through injections but through the re-use of syringes," said Touhami Toumi, a lawyer for one of the six, Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj.
Luc Montagnier, a French doctor who first detected the HIV virus, has said it emerged in the Benghazi hospital in 1997, a year before the medics arrived. He said in testimony at their first trial the children were most probably infected through negligence and poor hygiene. (Novinite)
Confessions were extracted from the nurses under torture, a reminder that coercion is not a source of reliable information. This case has developed into a cause celebre for the international scientific community (see posts here, here, here and here). The statement of the Nobel Laureates is the latest manifestation of this worldwide concern in interational science and surely one of the most significant.
Exactly what the postponement means for the case is unknown, although there are no obvious reasons for optimism. The only good news seems to be the strong reaction of the world of science.


text:
Richard Rickey Berns
Position: RB
Height: 6-2 Weight: 205 lbs.
Born: February 5, 1956 in Kadena AFB, Okinawa
High School: Wichita Falls
College: Nebraska (school history) (Berns college stats)
Drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 3rd round (80th overall) of the 1979 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 2 (11379th overall since 1950)
Other SR Links: College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Let people know you like this site. Sponsor this page for $5. Your message will replace this ad.
Output includes all games from 1920 to 2015.


text:
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Monthly Archives: June 2012
Move Over Google Docs, Googe Drive is Taking Over
Many online users utilize Google docs because of its great features and ability to share spreadsheets, documents, videos, etc with other Google users. Within Google docs you can upload, categorize, and even edit files from any computer/browser. Furthermore, you and … Continue reading
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Become a Google Trusted Store for More Conversions!
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Is Removing Bad Links Worth It?
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text:
Bill Johnston
Against Color
November 09, 2011
Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Rózewicz By Tadeusz Rozewicz Translated by Joanna Trzeciak (W.W. Norton, 364 pp., $32.95) New Poems By Tadeusz Rozewicz Translated by Bill Johnston (Archipelago Books, 259 pp., $16) They Came To See A Poet: Selected Poems By Tadeusz Rozewicz Translated by Adam Czerniawski (Anvil Press, 268 pp., $22.95) "The Survivor" And Other Poems By Tadeusz Rozewicz Translated by Magnus J. Krynski and Robert Maguire (Princeton University Press, 160 pp., $30.95) In retrospect, all revolutions seem inevitable.
February 16, 2004
The Noonday Cemetery and Other Stories By Gustaw Herling Translated by Bill Johnston (New Directions, 281 pp., $25.95) IN 1953, WITOLD GOMBROWICZ, the great punk of Polish literature, began publishing a diary in the émigré journal Kultura, hoping that it would make him rich and famous. The diary, written in desperation, was to become perhaps Gombrowicz's most celebrated work.


text:
TY MEIGHAN: Geithner fails in TARP effort
During his much-ballyhooed first prime time news conference last week, President Barack Obama sidestepped a question about the next phase of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. Obama said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner would announce details the next day and "I don't want to steal his thunder."
Turns out, there was no thunder. Instead, Geithner made a detail-starved announcement that hit with a resounding thud, sending the stock market spiraling downward. Investors were anticipating a major announcement but didn't get it - and responded in a negative way.
This was a mammoth missed opportunity for Obama and Geithner to show us that they have a solid plan to restore taxpayers' faith in the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Public confidence is vital to our economic recovery, but the lack of accountability and transparency of the bank bailout has rightfully spurred more skepticism among Americans.
Of the $700 billion in TARP funds, $387.5 billion has been committed since Congress and then-President Bush approved it last year. This is separate from the recently approved $787 billion stimulus bill, which Obama is expected to sign today.
Taxpayers should have been leery of TARP from the start, when then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged Congress to approve it based on a scant three-page document. Do it or else, Paulson said. Or else what?
Many members of Congress, those we sent to Washington to represent us, fell into the Paulson trap and approved the funds out of fear of an economic collapse. Why? Perhaps because the financial institutions that received funds doled out millions of dollars of campaign cash to members of Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In fact, House Financial Services Committee members, who recently questioned eight CEOs whose companies received TARP funds, received $1.8 million from these financial institutions in the 2008 election cycle.
"America doesn't trust you anymore," Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Michael Capuano told the eight bank CEOs when they appeared before the House panel. No kidding, and many don't trust elected officials, either.
Andrew Moylan, government affairs manager for the National Taxpayers Union, fired off a letter to Congress on Jan. 13 urging members not to approve the remaining $350 billion or TARP funds.
"In the span of a few months, the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and Congress have pursued policies that, by fault or design, laid waste to traditional American notions of government," Moylan wrote. "We have partially nationalized entire industries, rewarded many of the bad actors that precipitated this debacle in the first place, and immeasurably worsened both our short- and long-term budgetary shortfalls. The time has come to put an end to the madness and limit taxpayer exposure."
Before Congress approved using the additional $350 billion in the fund, a CNN/ Opinion Research Corporation survey found that most Americans believe the Wall Street bailout hasn't worked and don't want to spend more money on it. Congress approved it anyway, and Obama has promised more accountability and transparency for the remaining funds.
The only thing that matters in any stimulus or bailout plan is whether it will work. Amazingly, some investors and economists say the Wall Street bailout could plunge the nation further into debt because it is designed by the same folks who were blind-sided by the crisis.
Even a congressional oversight panel assigned to monitor the $700 billion bailout is uncertain. "It is possible that the value of the investments made by Treasury may someday be worth more than the amount Treasury paid," the panel's Feb. 6 report states. "It is also possible that they may be worth much less."
In other words, we have no clue. Geithner recently told the Senate Budget Committee that he could not rule out further bailout requests.
"So you have no clue," concluded Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.
Despite the uncertainty, most people believe we must do something to stimulate the economy. For now, we are throwing billions of dollars at the problem with the only guarantee being that future generations will be saddled with massive debt.
Many economists say another stimulus will be needed this year to continue fueling the U.S. economy. Where does it stop? We should all hope our leaders are taking us in the right direction. Otherwise, we're headed for a lot more pain.
Ty Meighan is editorial page editor of the Standard-Times. Contact him at (325) 659-8227 or email@example.com. To comment on this column, visit gosanangelo.com.
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We have just moved to Hamburg this last year. My daughter is not vaccinated at all, she is 2 and a half now. She will be starting kindergarten when she turns 3 which is when I vaccinated my son for Diptheria, tetanus and polio. Thus far that's all he had. My new ped is okay but is encouraging me to do the MMR and MeneC vaccine for him and the 5 plus 1 vaccine for my daughter. The one for my daughter has Hib and pertussis as well. I think she's too old for both of these vaccines but according to the ped there are no other options for her other than doing them individually.
I have already decided not to do any for my son but I'm conflicted about my daughter. What should I do, one with two extra vaccines that I feel are unnecessary or 3 individual ones? What would you do?
I'd do the five-in-one, but it's because I dont think she is too old for the pertussis. Is it just the fact that it's not life-threatening at her age, or some other reason?
Holly and David
Adaline (3/20/10), and Charlie (1/26/12- 4/10/12) and our identical twins Callie and Wendy (01/04/13)
SIDS happens.
Which vaccines would you prefer for your daughter? Are you comfortable with the 5+1? Why not chose the combo of 4 (tet, diph, polio +pert.) eg. Tetravac if you don't want to have Hib and Hep B? I believe that there are more options to you than your doctor stated. I would inquire about that again.
"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
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Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
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Drummer and bandleader Brian Blade brings his group, The Fellowship Band, to perform selections from their just-released recording, Landmarks (Blue Note). Blade, a Blue Note Records artist and Louisiana native, is joined by pianist Jon Cowherd, saxophonist Myron Walden, saxophonist Melvin Butler, and bassist Chris Thomas. Part of Blue Note at 75.


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- 800.878.7323
This title in other editions
Lost in a Good Book: A Thursday Next Novelby Jasper Fforde
"Admittedly, this is pretty silly stuff, but somehow just what the doctor ordered now, in a world under the shadow of war, at the tail end of a long, cold winter. (There's publishing genius in bringing out Fforde's books in late February)....I'm not sure whether I've glimpsed it or not, but something tells me the core of Lost in a Good Book resembles whipped cream ? as sweet and light as the promise of spring." Laura Miller, Salon.com (read the entire Salon review)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
If Thursday thought she could avoid the spotlight after her heroic escapades in the pages of Jane Eyre, she was sorely mistaken. The unforgettable literary detective whom Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times calls "part Bridget Jones, part Nancy Drew and part Dirty Harry" had another think coming. The love of her life has been eradicated by Goliath, everyone's favorite corrupt multinational. To rescue him Thursday must retrieve a supposedly vanquished enemy from the pages of "The Raven." But Poe is off-limits to even the most seasoned literary interloper. Enter a professional: the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations. As her new apprentice, Thursday keeps her motives secret as she learns the ropes of Jurisfiction, where she moonlights as a Prose Resource Operative inside books. As if jumping into the likes of Kafka, Austen, and Beatrix Potter's Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies weren't enough, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth.
The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with Fforde's magnificent new adventure, the second installment in what is sure to become a classic series of literary fantasy.
"Time flies — and leaps and zigzags — while reading this wickedly funny and clever fantasy. Would-be wordsmiths and mystery fans will find the surreal genre-buster irresistible." Publishers Weekly
"A lively, pun-packed sequel....Fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels should check out Fforde's engagingly skewed comic utopia. As one of his characters predicts: the likely result will be 'paroxysms of litjoy.'" Kirkus Reviews
Literary detective heroine Thursday Next returns in this follow-up to the acclaimed The Eyre Affair. To rescue the love of her life, Thursday must retrieve a supposedly vanquished enemy from the pages of Poe's "The Raven." Soon, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences.
The second installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series follows literary detective Thursday Next on another adventure in her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England
The inventive, exuberant, and totally original literary fun that began with The Eyre Affair continues with New York Times bestselling author Jasper Fforde's magnificent second adventure starring the resourceful, fearless literary sleuth Thursday Next. When Landen, the love of her life, is eradicated by the corrupt multinational Goliath Corporation, Thursday must moonlight as a Prose Resource Operative of Jurisfiction—the police force inside the BookWorld. She is apprenticed to the man-hating Miss Havisham from Dickens's Great Expectations, who grudgingly shows Thursday the ropes. And she gains just enough skill to get herself in a real mess entering the pages of Poe's "The Raven." What she really wants is to get Landen back. But this latest mission is not without further complications. Along with jumping into the works of Kafka and Austen, and even Beatrix Potter's The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, Thursday finds herself the target of a series of potentially lethal coincidences, the authenticator of a newly discovered play by the Bard himself, and the only one who can prevent an unidentifiable pink sludge from engulfing all life on Earth. It's another genre-bending blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and top-drawer literary entertainment for fans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse. Thursday's zany investigations continue with The Well of Lost Plots. Look for the five other bestselling Thursday Next novels, including One of Our Thursdays is Missing and Jasper Fforde's latest bestseller, The Woman Who Died A Lot. Visit jasperfforde.com for a ffull window into the Ffordian world!
About the Author
After a varied career in the film industry, Jasper Fforde turned his hand to fiction writing-with stunning results.
Table of Contents
Lost in a Good Book 1. The Adrian Lush Show
2. The Speical Operations Network
3. Cardenio Unbound
4. Five Coincidences, Seven Irma Cohens and One Confused Neanderthal
5. Vanishing Hitchhikers
4a. Five Coincidences, Seven Irma Cohens and One Confused Thursday Next
6. Family
7. White Horse, Uffington, Picnics, for the Use of
8. Mr. Stiggins and SO-1
9. The More Things Stay the Same
10. A Lack of Differences
11. Granny Next
12. At Home with My Memories
13. Mount Pleasant
14. The Gravitube™
15. Curiouser and Curiouser in Osaka
16. Interview with the Cat
17. Miss Havisham
18. The Trial of Fräulein N
19. Bargain Books
20. Yorrick Kaine
21. Les Artes Modernes de Swindon '85
22. Travels with My Father
23. Fun with Spike
24. Performance-Related Pay, Miles Hawke and Norland Park
25. Roll Call at Jurisfiction
26. Assignment One: Bloophole Filled in Great Expectations
27. Landen and Joffy Again
28. "The Raven"
29. Rescued
30. Cardenio Rebound
31. Dream Topping
32. The End of Life As We Know It
33. The Dawn of Life as We Know It
34. The Well of Lost Plots
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Product Details
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Addictions: Assessment and Treatment - Lecturer Application Pool
Social Work Department
College of Education, Health and Human Services
California State University San Marcos' Social Work Department accepts applications on an on-going basis for our pool of part-time lecturers. The Department seeks part-time lecturers to teach Addictions: Assessment and Treatment (MSW 667) in 2015/16 academic year (Summer, Fall and Spring). The course schedules are to be determined. The candidate should have experience in teaching classes and instructional methodology. Specifically, applicants should have at least two years of applicable training in substance abuse (and the treatment of substance abuse) and/or experience working with a substance abuse treatment facility or agency.
Minimum Requirements for the position include: a Masters of Social Work or at least two years of post-Masters research related experience.
Preferred Requirements for the position include: a doctoral degree in Social Work or in a closely related field.
Preference will be given to applicants with demonstrated commitment to diversity and/or intercultural competence with diverse groups in relation to teaching.
Please submit a completed Faculty Application, a curriculum vita with three current references, and a letter of interest to firstname.lastname@example.com
Timeline: The position will remain open until filled.
Please be aware that all applications two years or older will be purged each year on the first business day in March. You will need to reapply after that date if you want to be considered for the following academic year.
The university is particularly interested in applicants who have experience working with students from diverse backgrounds and a demonstrated commitment to improving access to higher education for under-represented groups.
CSUSM has been designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI) and was recently named one of the top 32 Colleges most friendly to junior faculty by the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education. Visit www.csusm.edu/facultyopportunities for more information.
California State University San Marcos is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, medical condition, disability, marital status, or protected veteran status.
Successful hires must have degree information verified through official transcripts or degree-verification services.
An offer of employment may be contingent upon successful completion of background checks. Should the results of the background checks not be successful, any offer will be withdrawn and/or employment terminated. Falsification of information may also be cause for termination of employment, corrective action, or withdraw of offer of employment. The person holding this position is considered a mandated reporter under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in the CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment. An offer of employment is contingent upon execution of an Acknowledgement of Mandated Reporter Status and Legal Duty to Report Child Abuse and Neglect form. Signing the form is a prerequisite to employment and failure to sign will result in any offer of employment being withdrawn.


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Hi everyone!
Yes, it's really me, I'm back!
Sorry I've been gone so long, but life sort of took over and before I knew it, it was 2014! Crazy stuff.
To start my blogging adventure off, I figured I'd get together some pictures of what's been going on in the past year.


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Drexel vs. Villanova
April 30, 2008
|Colin Ambler
|(3, 2)
|Jon Van Houten
|(1, 2)
|Greg Casey
|(2, 1)
|Kevin Stockel
|(0, 2)
|Adam Dennis
|(1, 1)
|Andrew Chapman
|(1, 0)
|Steve Grossi
|(1, 0)
|Scott Perri
|(1, 0)
|Joe Wojciechowski
|(1, 0)
|Bruce Bickford
|7 (0.583)
|Current Record
|go to Drexel page
|Tim Atkins
|(1, 2)
|Mike Brennan
|(1, 1)
|Tim Driscoll
|(1, 0)
|Tommy Nolan
|(1, 0)
|Dan Liva
|(0, 1)
|Paul Webber
|(1, 0)
|Andrew Diloreto
|9 (0.450)
|Current Record
|go to Villanova page
|The Game Story:
|Philadelphia � In a fashion reminiscent of the teams� last meeting just four days before, Drexel pulled out to a sizeable lead and held on for the victory over Villanova in the semifinals of the CAA Championship. Drexel led 7-1 at halftime after outshooting Villanova 21-12 in the first 30 minutes of play. Colin Ambler led the Dragons� attack with three goals and two assists. The Dragons (13-3) capitalized on all three of their extra-man opportunities in the game and the team�s stifling defense allowed the Wildcats (5-10) just one goal when the teams were at even strength. Bruce Bickford made seven saves between the posts for Drexel.
Eight players tallied for Drexel, who outshot the Wildcats 39-26 in the game. Jon Van Houten assisted on two goals and scored one of his own and Greg Casey put in two goals for Drexel as well. Tim Atkins assisted on two Villanova goals and also scored one for the �Cats.
Drexel jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first quarter, capitalizing on two man-up opportunities in the final six minutes of the period and outshot the Wildcats 11-3 to open the game. The Dragons broke through with the first score of the game with 5:44 in the period when Jon Van Houten fed a cutting Colin Ambler on a man-up opportunity. Andrew Chapman made it a 2-0 game when he cleaned up a shovel pass from Kevin Stockel off a rebound for his 39th goal of the season. Stockel also assisted on the Dragons� third goal with Greg Casey coming out as the beneficiary of the feed with 23 seconds left in the quarter.
After getting off to a slow start in the first period it took the Dragons just under a minute and a half to put in their fourth tally. Long stickman Steve Grossi flung in his second goal of the season off a pass from Adam Dennis from behind the net. Greg Casey converted the team�s third man-up opportunity of the game at the 9:25 mark to make it 5-0 Drexel. The Dragons dispersed two man-down situations without allowing the �Cats to score. But Villanova finally found the net with 6:35 left while holding a man advantage. The Wildcats� leading scorer Tim Driscoll converted the chance on a pass from Chris Ficke.
Drexel closed out scoring in the second quarter with a pair of goals in the final two minutes. Van Houten scooped up a ground ball in the Dragons� defensive half and sprinted into the attack zone before blasting a shot past Andrew DiLoreto to give Drexel a 6-1 lead. Ambler notched his second of the game with 1:10 remaining to give the Dragons a 7-1 lead going into the locker room. In a statement play in the waning seconds of the half the Dragons� defense stymied attackman Paul Webber in front of the net, dislodging the ball as he turned to take a shot, time expired as the ball harmlessly rolled away.
The Dragons outshot Villanova 21-12 in the half but the Wildcats outbattled the Dragons on faceoffs, winning 6-of-10 duels in the X. Both goalies made four saves in the half for their respective squads.
Villanova made good on both of its man-up opportunities in the third quarter, scoring at the 11:32 mark and with one second remaining to make it an 8-3 game heading into the final stanza. Drexel�s lone goal of the period came off the stick of Scott Perri off a feed in traffic from Colin Ambler at the 2:39 mark in the quarter.
Ambler took advantage of an accurate outlet pass by Bruce Bickford to score a quick transition goal just under three minutes into the final period, making it a 9-3 Drexel game. The teams went six minutes without a goal before a flurry of scoring erupted after the 6:04 mark, started by a slashing drive across the crease by Joe Wojciechowski. The teams exchanged goals over the next 30 seconds with Mike Brennan scoring for the �Cats and Dennis matching the tally for the Dragons. Paul Webber converted Villanova�s fourth man-up goal of the evening to make it 11-5 with 3:35 remaining. It would be the last goal of the game as Drexel maintained possession and in a display of good team discipline, bled the clock until expiration.
The victory sends Drexel to the CAA Championship finals for the first time ever. The Dragons will meet Hofstra in the championship in a reprise of a thrilling double-overtime Drexel victory on March 29 at Vidas Field. After advancing for the first time ever in CAA postseason play, Drexel will host the championship game at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 3.


text:
Tevje Needed to Know
by Joel Belz
An eery discomfort links the two famous questions.
Tevje, in Fiddler on the Roof, bluntly asks his wife: "Do you love me?"
How can it not remind you of Jesus, in John 21, using the very same words to put Peter on the spot: "Do you love me?"
It's easy to identify with both Tevje's wife Golde and with Peter. Golde memorably — and self-righteously — responds: "For twentyfive years I've washed your clothes, cooked your meals, cleaned your house, given you children, milked the cow. After twenty-five years, why talk about love right now?"
Peter also wants to dodge what seems to be an overly intrusive question. He stalls and bounces the ball back to Jesus. "Lord, you know I do," he says, joining Golde in clever avoidance mode.
What links the two contexts is the call to go beyond the external structure of things and to probe deeply, getting intensely personal. Apart from all appearances, both Tevje and Jesus are asking, what's going on in your heart? Jesus, we should note for the record, had considerably more standing to ask such a question than Tevje did.
All of us need to keep hearing Jesus asking His penetrating question. Especially those of us who have been blessed to grow up and spend most of our lives in a secure setting of sound theology, sound doctrine, sound preaching, sound teaching, and sound worldview need to hear Jesus asking us: "Apart from all that, do you love Me?"
I've spent my whole life in publishing and educational enterprises committed to developing and propagating the truth that, as Abraham Kuyper observed, every square inch of reality belongs to the Lord our God. For almost seventy years now, that has been a robust and invigorating basis for living life to the fullest.
But it also has the potential to prompt me to avoid Jesus's great question. For I must report to you that it is altogether possible to be consumed with such "truthfulness" for a lifetime and still walk on the margins of that more personal love for Jesus that He intends His children to have. It is not just possible, but common, to have a God-centered worldview and still not be personally absorbed with the God who is at the focus of that view.
Too easily, we can substitute an idea for a person. Too easily, we can get more excited about a systematic theology than we do about the God at the core of that theology. Too easily, we can spend more time articulating the logic of our biblical worldview than we do talking to and adoring the person at the core of that worldview. Too easily, we can come to identify all those things — and they're all very good things — with the essence of our relationship to our Lord. But it does not overstate the case to say that when we're more consumed with ideas about God than we are with God Himself, we've headed down a dangerous path toward idolatry. We've started worshiping a false God.
This is precisely where the picture of marriage — and the hints from Fiddler — are so apt. Just as the answer for Golde wasn't to quit milking the cows and doing the laundry, the answer for us is never in forfeiting the externals or in discarding all those true abstractions we've been blessed to know about our great God. The answer is not in becoming pietists who disdain God's creation and know-nothings who scorn sound thinking.
The answer instead is the perpetual reminder that any successful relationship between a man and a woman depends on that mystical balance between romance on the one hand and mundane action on the other. The man is a dolt who supposes he need do nothing more than bring home a paycheck and faithfully take out the garbage on Wednesday mornings. A nd the woman who never kisses her husband unexpectedly behind the ear should fully expect that he is muttering under his breath, "Do you love me?"
All this is not a forced illustration. It was God Himself who invented the idea that marriage is a picture of His own relationship to us. And it's a two-way picture; what we learn on either side helps us understand the other that much better.
Do you love me? Tevje needed to know. I have a hunch that Golde, after those twenty-five years, must have had the same question. Almost all of us can identify with both of them.
Jesus already knew the answer that was in Peter's heart. But even Jesus wanted to hear Peter say it. And no matter how busy we've been in His kingdom, or how consumed we've been with knowing or teaching His truth, He wants to hear us say it as well.
© Tabletalk magazine
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Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com. Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.


text:
Referring a friend is easy. Just fill out our referral form and when they become a customer, you'll receive a referral bonus! Receive $50 for residential referrals and $150 for commercial/agricultural referrals respectively. Learn more today by clicking the link below and start telling your friends.
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Regardless of the type of energy you use, safety is extremely important. With propane—as with electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, gasoline, or any other energy form—you need to understand how your delivery system and appliances work, and what to do in case of a leak or other safety related emergency.


text:
Photo by Lara Ferroni
Editor's Note: This recipe is part of Gourmet's Modern Menu for Fiery Fare. Menu also includes Spicy Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce and Chile-Ginger-Mint Jellies.
YIELD: Makes 6 servings
ACTIVE TIME: 45 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 1 hour 50 minutes
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons tomato paste (from a 6-ounce can)
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup distilled white vinegar
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup minced onion (about 1 medium)
- 1/3 cup minced serrano or jalapeño chiles with seeds
- 1/4 cup minced garlic (about 9 large cloves)
- 6 large chicken drumsticks (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 6 large chicken thighs (about 2 pounds), trimmed of any excess fat and skin
- Lime wedges for serving
- Special equipment: Instant-read thermometer
Stir together water and tomato paste in a 2 1/2- to 3-quart heavy saucepan until smooth, then stir in remaining sauce ingredients. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring, then reduce heat and briskly simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is reduced to 2 1/4 cups, 50 to 60 minutes. Stir frequently toward end of cooking to prevent sticking. Reserve 1 cup sauce for serving.
Prepare grill for indirect-heat grilling over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas grills; see Grilling Procedure ).
Pat chicken dry (do not season with salt and pepper). Lightly oil grill rack and place chicken, skin side down, on area with no coals underneath (over turned-off burner if using gas). Grill, covered, turning once, until chicken registers 165°F, 22 to 25 minutes. (Chicken may appear pale; no cause for worry.)
Brush generously all over with some of sauce, then move chicken directly over coals (turned-on burners if using gas). Grill chicken, covered, turning and moving to area with no coals or heat underneath if flare-ups occur, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes more. (Add more charcoal during grilling if necessary to maintain heat.)
Serve chicken with reserved sauce.
Cooks' note: Sauce can be made 3 days ahead and kept refrigerated once cooled. Reheat before using.
my notes
Nutritional Info
- Calories761
- Carbohydrates39 g (13%)
- Fat41 g (63%)
- Protein56 g (113%)
- Saturated Fat11 g (56%)
- Sodium2,918 mg (122%)
- Polyunsaturated Fat9 g
- Fiber3 g (10%)
- Monounsaturated Fat17 g
- Cholesterol283 mg (94%)


text:
Taking the Edge off E-Ville
May 5, 2010 chefs, Illinois, restaurants
It's not my style to alert you to all deals because some deals are at places I wouldn't want you to eat at in the first place. With a definite amount of bias, however, I'd like to point out that although Kevin Willmann has moved on to great new things at Farmhaus, Edwardsville's Erato on Main is still chugging along. With the same great wine and beer list they've always had (and really that was part of the reason many of you drove to E-Ville anyway), the restaurant is still worth the trek. Doubly so because you'll get to sample Jonathan Olson's evolving menus as he finds his personal cooking style. Triply so because if you're on the fence about the visit, today only you can turn $10 into $22 with the new Hot Sauce Deals of the Day website.
As an added bonus, 10% of all Hot Sauce proceeds will be donated to help fund important programs and services at Children's Hospital.
For a taste of what's in store, check out the new Erato on Main website. Menus are updated each Friday so you'll have a pretty good idea of what you're in store for.
Full disclosure: As always, please keep in mind that while I believe my opinion to be correct, there are some establishments where my opinion is personally biased. This is one. Jonny "Style" Olson and other members of the Erato staff have become friends of mine because of my regularity in the restaurant. Heck, Jon even guest-blogged once.
Tags: Edwardsville, Erato on Main, Jonathan Olson


text:
Light Pollution came back to town and played another song for us. Racing the setting sun, this time we all crammed into their tour van and they played an acoustic version of "Oh, Ivory!" from their newly released album, 'Apparitions.'
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Looking Good, Feeling Good!
Hey, it's Peter Tork.
posted by Tim at
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Of Course...
The New Monkees? You Bet!
Stand Up! Understand!
What Do You Expect? He's from Canada.
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The Magic of Reviews
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Viva Los Reviews!
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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Becoming an instant NFL star was only the beginning for Robert Griffin III. Griffin will, in large part, be judged on how the Redskins fare against NFC East opponents throughout his career. He's off to a heartbreaking start.
Despite his two turnovers, Griffin was mostly spectacular again Sunday while leading the Redskins to a late rally that put them in position for a road victory in their first division game. But the Redskins' defense collapsed again as Eli Manning led the New York Giants to a 27-23 win.


text:
Boris wrote a mob drama named 'Alexander the Great in 1998.
No one has discussed Boris Krutonog yet.
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