Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Here, There, and Everywhere

Only in Massachusetts - the inevitable change in the law to allow the governor to appoint an interim Senate appointee will be the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award with the likely appointment of former Governor and presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis.

The Boston Globe has led the cheerleading for former Governor Dukakis, endorsing his candidacy to be appointed to Ted Kennedy's seat. And the Globe wonders why they are losing subscribers by the thousands.

With very little fanfare, the stock market is approaching 10,000 again. Is it due to companies being overvalued or to the supposed end of the recession?

The recession has ended? Tell that to the people of Michigan where unemployment is a shocking 15.2% or those living in Nevada where unemployment is 13.2%.

Considering Nevada's unemployment rate, I guess that blow the theory out of the water that casinos bring good jobs to states.

Never mind the harm President Barack Obama is doing to the country domestically with trillion dollar budget deficits and a potentially disastrous health care bill, what about the incredible damage he's doing in terms of the war on terror?

Intelligence and spycraft is dirty work. Let the CIA do its job and keep the Justice Department out of the way.

What is the purpose of removing some of the prison rules on shoe bomber Richard Reid, who had ambitions on blowing up an airplane?

Since the House and Senate voted to stop funding ACORN, will President Obama have the temerity to veto the bill?

It wouldn't surprise me if he vetoed it. Since April, the Obama Administration has done nothing but continually prove themselves to be amateurs who have no clue how to govern or realize when they are going in the wrong direction.

In the real world, Sox reliever Manny Delcarmen would be arrested and held without bail for arsony. He has been brutal lately.

The Houston Astros fired former Red Sox and Brewers slugger Cecil Cooper yesterday as their manager. Poor Coop didn't have a chance. Astros owner Drayton MacLane is one of the five worst owners in baseball and every season never looks to seriously upgrade his team.

Can you teach a soft team to be tough? That's the quandary the New England Patriots find themselves in two games into the season.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day

Yesterday's trade of Richard Seymour by the Patriots certainly caught me off guard. However, considering the salary cap and the contracts of players that expire after this year, the move makes sense. The Patriots will received a first round pick from the Raiders, and it will likely be a high pick. Seymour, while good, has not been a dominant player for a few years now. When was the last time he took over a game and terrorized an opponent's backfield?

The wheels are quickly coming off the Jason Varitek bandwagon. The Captain's batting average has dropped from .233 to .217 since the Victor Martinez acquisition and pitchers such as Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have had some great starts with Martinez behind the plate. Making matters worse is the success John Smoltz and Brad Penny have had during their brief tenure in the NL this season after being released by the Red Sox. Both were primarily caught by Varitek. Smoltz was said to be tipping his pitches and Penny praised Giants catcher Eli Whitside for his pitch selection after Penny tossed 8 scoreless innings in his first outing with the Giants. Toss in Daisuke Matsuzaka's struggles this year and Varitek's reputation as a stellar handler of pitchers has taken a big hit. What exactly is his value to the Red Sox at this point?

Victor Martinez batting third for the Red Sox has really given the lineup the depth it needed. J.D. Drew bats 8th when Martinez plays and Mike Lowell has been scorching the ball at the plate. Considering Tim Wakefield's balky lower back, the Red Sox need to ratchet up the offense, because the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation is in bad shape.

The Red Sox are going to have to throw Daisuke Matsuzaka out there and see what happens. This season has been a wash out for Dice K, but what other choice do they have? Junichi Tazawa has proven he isn't ready to be a full time major leaguer, Tim Wakefield has a bad lower back and has a history of being a lousy postseason pitcher. Paul Byrd is not the answer. The key to the Sox playoff hopes rests on Dice K bouncing back.

I like the way Terry Francona lined up his bullpen in last Thursday night's game vs. the Rays. Billy Wagner in the 7th, Daniel Bard in the 8th, and Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th. Those three can certainly bring the heat and it really shortens the game for the Red Sox. Relievers who can strike hitters out are always preferable to the sinkerball type.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Across the Landscape

Curt Schilling floated the idea yesterday that he'd like to run for Ted Kennedy's seat in the U.S. Senate. Despite chuckling when I read it, I'd vote for Curt over any of the Democrats who will be running.

I hate being redundant, but why do the Red Sox continue to pitch to Evan Longoria in close games?

As a member of the Red Sox, Brad Penny spent 3/4 of the season pitching erratically and not once did he make it through 7 innings. How does he join the San Francisco Giants and pitch 8 shutout innings in his first outing with them? The NL is a joke.

There is no bigger piece of misinformation regarding exercise than the notion that walking is the answer to shedding weight and better fitness. If you want to lose weight and be fit, you need to get your heart rate up, you need to be breathing hard, and you need to bring some intensity to a workout. Doing two 15 minute circuits a day of jumping jacks, karate punches and kicks, running in place, weightless squats and lunges, pushups, and ab exercises is far more beneficial than a 45 minute walk.

A routine like this also squashes the notion of people saying, "I don't have any time." Of course you have time. Perform one circuit first thing in the morning, and then perform the other when you get home from work.

I don't blame Rep. Michael Rodrigues, Democrat of Fall River, for stocking up on booze in New Hampshire at their tax free liquor stores. I will do the same thing next time I am in NH. However, considering he did vote to raise the sales tax on alcohol and then foolishly used his car with the House issued license plate, he deserves the heat he's getting in the paper. Rep. Rodrigues isn't the smoothest operator around.

Barney Frank says critics are distorting his record. No one distorts his own record more than Barney. He's not responsible for anything that went wrong in the banking industry. Just ask him.

RIP former Patriots running back John Stephens who was killed in a car accident in Louisiana yesterday. Stephens was the NFL Rookie of the Year as a member of the Patriots in 1988.