Centerfield

And because I wanted to share the following with the basball fans among us:

When I read that Kerry Wood had a sore shoulder again, I started thinking, OK, we can finally give up on that "next Roger Clemens" stuff, so I checked to see what was the most wins he'd had in a season. 14, not too many. Someone pointed out that given that he pitched many years for weak Cubs teams, so I pointed out that other great pitchers had managed to do well on weak teams.

This cast my mind back to Steve Carlton, so I looked him up. Listen to this. In 1972, Steve Carlton went 27-10, pitching 346 inninngs, giving up 76 earned runs for an era of 1.97. In 41 starts, he had 30 complete games and pitched 8 shutouts. And struck out 310 guys. That's not even the truly the amazing part. The truly amazing part is that the '72 Phillies were so bad that they won...wait for it...only 59 games. That's right. Carlton went 27-10 for a team that was 59-97.

At least Carlton won the 1972 NL Cy Young. The AL winner was Gaylord Perry, who won the first of his 2, on the way to 314 career wins, including 4 while he started 10 games for the 1980 Yankees. I wonder if a Gaylord Perry rookie card is worth as much as an autographed nail file?

From Tradesports:

John Roberts Confirmation 88.7

John Bolton Confirmation 15.5

Karl Rove resigns by 9/30/05 17.4

Gitmo closes by 12/31/05 6.0

Passage of US law allowing taxpayers to divert Social Security taxes to private accounts by 6/30/06 13.5

Republican Nomination

George Allen 19.4
John McCain 18.4
Rudy Giuliani 12.2
Bill Frist 11.1
Mitt Romney 8.7
Jeb Bush 6.4
Chuck Hagel 5.4
Condi Rice 5.2
All others below 5.0

Democratic Nomination

Hillary Clinton 48.3
Mark Warner 10.9
Joe Biden 10.7
Evan Bayh 6.0
Al Gore 5.9

Dem 51.3
Repub 47.4
Field 1.3
John Edwards 5.2
All others below 5.0

In case you missed it, the backers of H.R. 2642 (the redistricting reform act sponsored by Rep. John Tanner and others) held a birthday party for Elbridge Gerry yesterday, complete with a gerrymandered birthday cake. I posted on the event here last night, complete with some photos. This bill continues to gather steam and support; it got some good press in Roll Call today (no link, obnoxiously) as well.

Enjoy the course, Brian. I'm taking the day off and will be hitting the links as well. Of course, I'm scheduled for the afternoon, and I've gotten rained out the last three weeks. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

What, you don't want to stand out in thunderstorms waving graphite rods around? ;-)

I don't buy into the "secret rulers of the world" stuff, but I've still got to say that if you're one of the poorest countries in the world it's a REALLY EXPLETIVE DELETED STUPID idea to rough up Alan Greenspan's wife....

Tully;
REad that too! How do you "work" with a country like that. Sounds more like a "gang".

Hey I'm wondering if we in Phx are getting any "national play" regarding our heat related deaths. Over the past week have had 20 folks die (mostly homeless) due to very high heat (REMEMBER: "very high" for Phoenix means something!)

Along the same lines do the multiple (in the 100's) of immigrant deaths in the Arizona desert each summer get much national play?

Hey I'm wondering if we in Phx are getting any "national play" regarding our heat related deaths. Over the past week have had 20 folks die (mostly homeless) due to very high heat (REMEMBER: "very high" for Phoenix means something!)

Along the same lines do the multiple (in the 100's) of immigrant deaths in the Arizona desert each summer get much national play?

What, you don't want to stand out in thunderstorms waving graphite rods around? ;-)

Lol. Might have shot a little better with a jolt in me.

Chris,

Sorry to tell you, but I've barely seen anything in the news about the troubles it sounds like you guys are having. Sorry to hear about all of it.

Seen the reports, Chris, but I do kinda watch for those things. Looks like you folks are due for a long spell. The SoCal/SoAZ heat trough is just hanging there. The one moving over the plains right now is supposed to dissipate early next week.

Chris,

I did see it on ABC GMA this morning. We've had crazy weather here, including the new tropical storm that just appeared off the coast from nowhere yesterday afternoon, but it hasn't caused anywhere near the human toll that you guys have taken.

Stay safe.

I'm still struggling with names. We just adopted two sibling kittens - which are currently hissing at our 16 month old cat - and we have no idea what to call them. Nor do I have any idea what to call my blog, which is fast approaching launch date. Thatnks to pat and...Err..IIRC, Tully for great suggestions, butI'm not sold...yet. ;)

The electric storm that blew through the midwest last night destroyed probably approaching $10,000-worth of my employer's network infrastructure, and we've been busy fixing it, hence the absence today.

Simon,

What gender? "Under" and "foot" are two non-gender specific names that serve as behavior identifiers for young kittens. Let me know if you are looking for another one...lol. I recently acquired one--it was a compromise with my son who wanted a puppy--and I'm ready to pass him along. He has managed to annoy the hell out of me.

Simon, I always like it when someone names their pet in homage to someone they admire, especially if its someone you really admire who you don't think is well known enough. Like Hendrix, or Gauss, or Escher.

When you have two to name at the same time, I think its fun to give them related names, like Yin and Yang, or Scalia and Thomas. Or Bork and Kennedy.

Chris I heard about the heat deaths, and had in fact meant to ask you. It's awful that many illegal immigrants die in the Arizona desert. It makes sens to me to highlight immigration outposts that have water. That way, if illegal immigrants fell themselves fading, they can give up and turn themselves in, get a drink, and get sent back to their own country with an application for legal admittance.

The kids have named the last few pets (resulting in some odd names, including a fish named "Little Porkchop") but the last two cats I named were Tanya and Groucho. Tanya was named after Patty Hearst, because she (the cat) was a terrorist. And Groucho was a black and white with a white face, crooked moustache and black eyebrows. That one was just too obvious.

Oh yeah--don't let the gender tie you down. Groucho was a she, and Tanya's sister. Not much odds when they're fixed.

We've got a sick cat - hasn't been eating in several days.

Jon, that's vet visit time, especially if it's an older cat. There's a number of reasons a cat can quit eating (stress, bowel obstruction, bad teeth) but if they get stuck in "anorexia" mode they won't always just snap out of it. And there's always Feline Fatty Liver Syndrome, which means that the liver can literally clog up with fat from "dieting," regardless of why they have a lack of appetite.

A quickie article here with a few suggestions on how to "wake up" their appetite, if possible.

We have a little boy and a little girl, siblings - they're about 8 weeks old.

Brian - I think that if I suggested "Clarence and Nino", my wife would throw something large and likely painful at me. ;) I agree with you, though, about names being better when related. I briefly looked to mythology, only to find that there aren't many siblings therein, and none with applicable names. I'm not calling a cat "Artimis"! ;)

"Underfoot" would be a perfect nickname for the cat we have already, who has an absolutely unnerving ability to get, well, underfoot, and thus trod on. He is currently engaged in hissing at - and, hilariously, making growls frighteningly reminiscent of marge simpson - the kittens, who are by-and-large ignoring him. Maybe we should therefore rename him "Teddy" for Sen. Kennedy. ;)

How about "Lilo" and "Stitch?" I only ask because I just watched the movie for the 57th time...lol.

Pixie and Dixie?