Here it is, my first baseball post. You knew it was coming didn't you?
Well now that the Cardinals have added Gerald Laird, the team appears to be set for 2011. And what a team it is. Let's break it down shall we?
Cards acquire Ryan Theriot. Pretty decent 2B, looks like a good pickup. Wait, he isn't going to be playing 2B but SS? But, but..........oh wait I forgot, the Cardinals have Skip Schumaker the best non second baseman in the league. You know that guy who is really an outfielder but has been playing second base because.........well that story would take a day and a half and a gallon of coffee to write about. So, Ryan Theriot is going to play SS, that position where we already have another Ryan, Brendan that is, that guy who made all the web gem highlights on ESPN and who the Fielding Bible says is the best defensive SS in the league? What do we do? I know, let's trade him away for a 21 year old A ball pitcher who has control issues and is milleniums away from sniffing the major leagues, if ever. Done. Now we have a better hitting SS but possibly the worst middle infield defensively in the majors. Heck, defense isn't important right? So what if we have a stable of ground ball pitchers? They can adjust. Strike em all out boys. I'm happy, aren't you? Moving on.
Cardinals sign Lance Berkman. Wow, I didn't see that one coming. A good impact bat. Wait, doesn't he play 1B? What about Albert Pujols? Eureka! The answer is staring us right in the face. We will play him in the outfield. So what if he hasn't played the outfield since 2007 and then he was really really bad at it? He can hit that ball, and well there is that knee issue, but I'm sure it is nothing to be concerned about. He should still be able to catch those fly balls that are hit to the exact spot where he is standing. No worries. Besides we have a couple of Gold Glove outfielders already to take up the slack. What? We don't? Oops, must have been thinking of some other team. My bad. Looks like the defense is not looking so good in the outfield either.
Now we come to our final acquisition. Gerald Laird our new backup catcher. We have really been improving that offense so this last acquisition should be our final triumph. Oh no, Laird hit .207 for the Tigers last year? No offense there. But he is great at defense! Threw out 34% of would be basestealers last year! Yes! We finally have that defense we need! Except we already had that at catcher and Laird probably won't play more than 20 games all year. Gee, just when I thought we had the perfect team. But we have the best player in baseball so that solves all our problems. At least for 2011. Maybe.
Well we have that future Hall of Fame manager, Tony LaRussa to lead this gang to the World Series. He can do it. He has the tools he needs. Those guys who make him happy those guys who will do anything for him. Those guys I just mentioned.
Hey did you hear the Phillies signed Cliff Lee?
A blog by a very opinionated woman
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Young and the Clueless
I have been substitute teaching for the past two months in order to earn some additional income. So far I have worked at every level, elementary, middle school and high school. Today I subbed for 8th grade Science. The analysis below is a generalization; there are exceptions that I have observed.
What I have learned so far is this. There are problems at every level, but the problems are different. For the very young kids it is mostly the kinds of things you would expect: too much energy, lack of focus, lack of impulse control. Nothing really surprising to me there. They are the most exhausting however.
Now on to Middle School (or what in my day was called Junior High). The problems with these kids are mostly behavioral and attitudinal. They love to flaunt authority; they don't respect their teachers nor do they care about the consequences of their actions. They are unconcerned that they may be missing the opportunity to learn skills to aid them in making a decent future for themselves. They live only in the present and only for their self gratification. Lack of maturity may be a part of the problem but it is hard to know for sure at that level because maturity is an individual characteristic.
In High School the problems are very similar to those in Middle School. The difference, at least as I see it, is the high schoolers don't have the maturity excuse. These young people (not children) know what the right path is, they just choose not to follow it. Instead, life in high school is just something to get through so they can graduate and then go on to screw up their lives. I know I am painting with a wide brush here, but this is what I am seeing.
At both the Middle School and High School levels I see only a handful of students doing their work diligently, asking intelligent questions, and appearing to care about getting a good education. The rest are just various sizes and shapes of human protoplasm taking up space. I know I sound harsh here. I have only my own experiences growing up to guide me. There were kids in my school that had behavior and attitude problems, but they were by far in the minority. What I saw today and have seen in the last two months has been quite an eye-opener.
What is it that accounts for such a dramatic difference? Is it the parents of these kids? Is it the school system? Is it popular culture influences? Is it all of the above? I don't know. But what I do know is that these kids are the future of this country and I am not liking the future one bit. Something needs to be fixed and fixed yesterday. I am not kidding. These kids are scary.
What I have learned so far is this. There are problems at every level, but the problems are different. For the very young kids it is mostly the kinds of things you would expect: too much energy, lack of focus, lack of impulse control. Nothing really surprising to me there. They are the most exhausting however.
Now on to Middle School (or what in my day was called Junior High). The problems with these kids are mostly behavioral and attitudinal. They love to flaunt authority; they don't respect their teachers nor do they care about the consequences of their actions. They are unconcerned that they may be missing the opportunity to learn skills to aid them in making a decent future for themselves. They live only in the present and only for their self gratification. Lack of maturity may be a part of the problem but it is hard to know for sure at that level because maturity is an individual characteristic.
In High School the problems are very similar to those in Middle School. The difference, at least as I see it, is the high schoolers don't have the maturity excuse. These young people (not children) know what the right path is, they just choose not to follow it. Instead, life in high school is just something to get through so they can graduate and then go on to screw up their lives. I know I am painting with a wide brush here, but this is what I am seeing.
At both the Middle School and High School levels I see only a handful of students doing their work diligently, asking intelligent questions, and appearing to care about getting a good education. The rest are just various sizes and shapes of human protoplasm taking up space. I know I sound harsh here. I have only my own experiences growing up to guide me. There were kids in my school that had behavior and attitude problems, but they were by far in the minority. What I saw today and have seen in the last two months has been quite an eye-opener.
What is it that accounts for such a dramatic difference? Is it the parents of these kids? Is it the school system? Is it popular culture influences? Is it all of the above? I don't know. But what I do know is that these kids are the future of this country and I am not liking the future one bit. Something needs to be fixed and fixed yesterday. I am not kidding. These kids are scary.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tell Me What You Want (what you really, really want).
What do the political parties really want? And I mean REALLY. Not what they say they want, not what the media says they want not what one party says the other wants. I want to know the truth.
The Democrats say they are on the side of the working person, the little guy. They have had the majority in the house for the past two years yet what have they really done for the working person? As far as this currently non-working person thinks, very little. They have made attempts to pass bills to help create jobs and extend unemployment benefits. The Republicans have made their efforts to block those bills and have succeeded for the most part. Why? Because for some reason the Democrats don't seem to want to do it badly enough. They have the power, they just won't use it. So, do they REALLY want to help the working person or just help themselves?
The Republicans on the other hand are a curious bunch. It seems clear, at least to me, that their number one priority is to cause the President to fail so that they can win back the White House. So far they are succeeding. They say want to fix the deficit, yet they support doing things that increase the deficit, such as extending the Bush tax cuts. The tax cuts were never paid for to begin with so how does extending them pay for them? I guess cutting spending would help but they refuse to say what spending they want to cut. It seems to me that if they want to convince the American people that they are serious about cutting the deficit then they would tell us what their plan is. I haven't heard one yet. Again, I question whether the Republicans REALLY want to fix the deficit or just use it as a tool to help themselves.
I am beginning to see a pattern here. Don't you? I think I know what they REALLY want.
The Democrats say they are on the side of the working person, the little guy. They have had the majority in the house for the past two years yet what have they really done for the working person? As far as this currently non-working person thinks, very little. They have made attempts to pass bills to help create jobs and extend unemployment benefits. The Republicans have made their efforts to block those bills and have succeeded for the most part. Why? Because for some reason the Democrats don't seem to want to do it badly enough. They have the power, they just won't use it. So, do they REALLY want to help the working person or just help themselves?
The Republicans on the other hand are a curious bunch. It seems clear, at least to me, that their number one priority is to cause the President to fail so that they can win back the White House. So far they are succeeding. They say want to fix the deficit, yet they support doing things that increase the deficit, such as extending the Bush tax cuts. The tax cuts were never paid for to begin with so how does extending them pay for them? I guess cutting spending would help but they refuse to say what spending they want to cut. It seems to me that if they want to convince the American people that they are serious about cutting the deficit then they would tell us what their plan is. I haven't heard one yet. Again, I question whether the Republicans REALLY want to fix the deficit or just use it as a tool to help themselves.
I am beginning to see a pattern here. Don't you? I think I know what they REALLY want.
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