New York 83 67 .553 -
Philadelphia 82 69 .543 1.5
For those of you who like graphical representations, see the Hardball Times.
Of course, the Tigers and Cardinals backed into the playoffs last year and ended up playing each other in the World Series, so who knows.
Jere’s YouTube Pick of the Day: The View discusses flat vs. round earth theories.
I love the Bay Area: Art Car Fest 2007
Michigan fans, meet your masters…
Thursday: The Phillies had just completed a four-game sweep of the Mets, closing the gap in the NL East to two games. Even if the Mets would have won just once in the series, the Phils would have been at least four back going into the final month of the season. The first loss of the series was acceptable, even expected, with retread Brian Lawrence starting for the Metropolitans. However, the next two games were imminently winnable, being lost by a combination of physical and mental errors, with a little bad luck thrown in for good measure. The series finale ranks among the wildest, most heartbreaking losses I can remember. Down 5-0 after three innings, New York battled back to tie the game. The Phillies reclaimed the lead on the “strength” of a walk and a few bloop singles. Once again, the Mets rallied, scoring five runs in the eighth against a potpourri of Philly bullpen jokers to take a 10-8 lead. Manager Willie Randolph called on closer Billy Wagner to come on in the bottom of the eighth to take on the middle of the Phillies order. Immediately, I thought the decision was a good one. Put our best against their best, then bring in Heilman in the ninth to face the bottom of the order. Willie had other plans however. He wanted Wagner to get the 6-out save, something he has not accomplished in years. Pat Burrell continued his Mets-killing ways with a homer in the eighth, and Wagner was largely ineffective in the ninth, giving up two more runs and the game.
Friday: The Mets traveled to Atlanta, who has won each of the series between the clubs this year. Even worse for New York, Oliver Perez, the only starting pitcher to beat the Braves for the Mets this year, was not scheduled to start this weekend. On Friday though, John Maine was up to the task, shutting down the Braves for seven innings. Meanwhile, the Mets offense, that had been sputtering in the games leading upto Thursday’s 10 run outburst, went deep twice against Tim Hudson and added some insurance late for a 7-1 win.
Saturday: Much maligned rookie Mike Pelfrey had the best start of his career, striking out seven over six innings, only allowing one run. Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran, and Lastings Milledge all went yard for the Mets, and Guillermo Mota and Pedro Feliciano combined for three innings of one-hit pitching to close it out. Florida helped the cause by scoring seven runs before recording an out against the Phillies, and Mets lead in the NL East rose to three games.
Sunday: Tom Glavine, who has not fared well against his former team, tossed a solid six innings the Braves. David Wright’s 2-run home run in the fifth put the Mets on top, and Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman handed Billy Wagner a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth. Wags was shaky again, giving up a run on two hits, but managed to finish it off, completing the sweep in the Mets house of horrors. At the same time, the Marlins recovered from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Phillies 7-6.
The Mets now take a four game lead to Cincinnati, where Pedro Martinez will start on Monday. While New York plays the genetically-inferior NL Central, the Phillies and Braves will be beating up on each other. Mets fans everywhere are back off the ledge, heart rates back to normal, and waiting for those fading footsteps to end with thud of the Phillies falling flat on their faces again.
Mr. President, I think you left this one behind.
(Because I’m a good guy, I’ll post her do-over.)
Even before moving here, I learned that Chicago has a very poor reputation when it comes to recycling. The program for recycling household items is to put your recyclables in a designated blue bag, and then throw it away with the rest of the trash. The blue bags are supposed to be separated from the rest of the waste and sent to recycling centers. Not surprisingly, many of the blue bags never make it out of the trash and get sent to the landfill. However, some districts (including ours) recently replaced the blue bag program with the blue cart program. We now have a separate blue trash container along side our regular trash cans in the alley. Items in the blue carts will be collected by trucks separately from the trash. Score one for common sense.
The city is also trying to make progress in collecting recyclables in public spaces, e.g. the lakefront parks. They have put out blue carts similar to the ones for residential collection. Lots of them. In fact, there are more recycling containers than regular trash containers. In a perfect world, this might be the correct course of action. But at this point, it’s a mistake. Chicagoans are so recycling ignorant that they will use the closest trash-can looking thing for recyclables and non-recyclables alike. I’m sure that when these things get filled up, the sanitation department will see the amount of non-recyclables inside and send all of the contents to the landfill. Instead of placing the blue carts so haphazardly, they should be placed right next to a regular trash can. Then, when someone goes to throw something away, they’ll see the two options and hopefully dispose of the item in the correct container. I’m glad the city is making an effort to push recycling, but right now it’s mostly show over substance.
Mary Peters is the Secretary of Transportation in the United States of America. She said the following on PBS’s NewsHour:
Well, there’s about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, as I said earlier, like bike paths or trails.
I was under the impression that bikes were a form of transportation. When I ride my bicycle to work, I definitely feel like I’m being transported. However, Mary Peters has a degree from the University of Phoenix (you may have seen the commercials for their online degree programs) and is the Secretary of Transportation, so I will believe her.
![[The Cuckoo's Egg (Cliff Stoll)]](https://realmofthewombat.com/images/books/cuckoosegg.gif)
It took about a hundred pages, but this turned into a pretty good book. That’s about when the action picked up, but also when I figured out that this was a true story. It’s quite strange to read a book from the mid-1980’s in the eWorld of 2007. The author spends a significant amount of words extolling the virtues of email, the internet, and 1200 baud modems. One theme is timeless though. Government agencies pass the buck and don’t communicate. Not surprisingly, it’s the same agencies that should have been communicating and taking responsibility for the attacks on 9/11 and pre-war intelligence.
![[The Wisdom of Crowds (James Surowiecki)]](https://realmofthewombat.com/images/books/wisdomofcrowds.gif)
This is not an easy premise to buy into, judging by who the president is and what’s played on the radio. What it boils down to however is sample size. Even if it’s from the world’s leading expert, the judgment from a single person is at a disadvantage compared to the collected opinion of many. Surowiecki is a financial journalist, so he spends much of the book discussing the repercussions on markets and the best way to run a company. Google has innovatively applied this principle to the design of their search engine.
Of course, this has implications in politics and government as well. I immediately thought of the differences in how the Lincoln and Bush cabinets were constructed. Lincoln chose people that did not agree with him, i.e., people that thought independently of him. Bush surrounded himself with people that agree with him and suppresses independent thought. One of these presidents was successful in his war; one hasn’t been. Hillary Clinton has said that she will follow the Lincoln model. Whether she is given the opportunity or keeps this promise remains to be seen, but I hope that our next leader considers the wisdom of crowds.
Surowiecki appeared on WNYC’s RadioLab in 2005.
