Long Day
Long day today. Had an excellent lunch at Buca's for my mother's birthday...then spent the rest of it moving into the apartment. Lots of lifting and cardio...a natural workout.
The Mayor's race in Cleveland this fall might be the most instrumental race for the future of the city. Get a good mayor in office, who knows something about urban beautification and is smart enough to sell what we have (biotech and medical) and not what we had (steel and heavy industry) and maybe we can get the city moving in the right direction. It's probably too much to ask for a solution to the schools and the underlying racial tension, but we can always cross our fingers. If we get another hack who's beholden to the old ways and old interests, then we're pretty well screwed. It seems like every day I read the PD, the city is starting task forces with the same old interests...instead of contacting people from Case or the Clinic, who are on the leading edge of the global, not just local economy.
This segues into one of the little things I've noticed about the world, that may or may not be accurate and may or may not be the grumblings of a bitter man, but I think holds true. Achievement due to intelligence is generally looked down upon. Money earned by outsmarting people, beating them to the discovery, etc. is looked upon as ill-earned. Think about the industries facing heavy criticism today: software, pharmaceuticals, and other leading-edge companies are decried for their ill gains...and while some actions may not have been ethical, I think this is more of the aforementioned prejudice. From their first day of school, smart kids are treated as nerds, social outcasts. Now look at it today, engineers, especially suffer from the same prejudice, while laborers are overrepresented.
Terrible series for the Tribe...a sweep at the hands of the D-Rays is just horrible. They created a lot more work for themselves, but it's not time for the panic button. The fans in this town are crazy...one day really high, next day dead and buried. It's jsut three games, maybe we gave back a couple of games we picked up. But let's face it, this is a team that had won 8 out of 9 going into the weekend. And, since the sweep at the hands of the White Sox coming out of the All-Star Break, the Tribe is still 16-10, not great, but not bad. At that pace, they could pick up 10 games on .500 and finish with 90 wins...that's not too shabby. Unfortunately, I don't think that's enough to get into the playoffs. The important thing here is to ignore this blip and get back on the winning track with 6 games against slumping Texas and Baltimore.
I don't understand why this team is so much worse at home than on the road. I wonder if Jacobs Field doesn't set up really well for the way this team is composed. It seems like they've given up a ton of homers at home lately and haven't hit many out, but that might be just idle speculation. I'm a little concerned about Wickman. I love the guy, and I think he gets a raw deal from most of the fans, but he has given up quite a few homers since the break. He's been worked a lot since the break. They're going to need him down the stretch. I would say it would be nice to see Howry close out a few more games, especially of the "easy" save variety (2 or 3 run lead) or maybe in a tied game like today, but they've been leaning heavily on Bobby too since Rhodes has been out. If I was Wedge, I would use Riske, especially, more often, as well as stretch Sauerbeck or even Betancourt a little bit. Riske has shown in the last few years that he's very reliable in the set-up role. With Rhodes out as an 8th-inning alternative and Miller out to match-up against righties, you have to be a little more creative...and I think Wedge has lacked the creativity to do anything but lean heavily on his two Bobs.
Peace
The Mayor's race in Cleveland this fall might be the most instrumental race for the future of the city. Get a good mayor in office, who knows something about urban beautification and is smart enough to sell what we have (biotech and medical) and not what we had (steel and heavy industry) and maybe we can get the city moving in the right direction. It's probably too much to ask for a solution to the schools and the underlying racial tension, but we can always cross our fingers. If we get another hack who's beholden to the old ways and old interests, then we're pretty well screwed. It seems like every day I read the PD, the city is starting task forces with the same old interests...instead of contacting people from Case or the Clinic, who are on the leading edge of the global, not just local economy.
This segues into one of the little things I've noticed about the world, that may or may not be accurate and may or may not be the grumblings of a bitter man, but I think holds true. Achievement due to intelligence is generally looked down upon. Money earned by outsmarting people, beating them to the discovery, etc. is looked upon as ill-earned. Think about the industries facing heavy criticism today: software, pharmaceuticals, and other leading-edge companies are decried for their ill gains...and while some actions may not have been ethical, I think this is more of the aforementioned prejudice. From their first day of school, smart kids are treated as nerds, social outcasts. Now look at it today, engineers, especially suffer from the same prejudice, while laborers are overrepresented.
Terrible series for the Tribe...a sweep at the hands of the D-Rays is just horrible. They created a lot more work for themselves, but it's not time for the panic button. The fans in this town are crazy...one day really high, next day dead and buried. It's jsut three games, maybe we gave back a couple of games we picked up. But let's face it, this is a team that had won 8 out of 9 going into the weekend. And, since the sweep at the hands of the White Sox coming out of the All-Star Break, the Tribe is still 16-10, not great, but not bad. At that pace, they could pick up 10 games on .500 and finish with 90 wins...that's not too shabby. Unfortunately, I don't think that's enough to get into the playoffs. The important thing here is to ignore this blip and get back on the winning track with 6 games against slumping Texas and Baltimore.
I don't understand why this team is so much worse at home than on the road. I wonder if Jacobs Field doesn't set up really well for the way this team is composed. It seems like they've given up a ton of homers at home lately and haven't hit many out, but that might be just idle speculation. I'm a little concerned about Wickman. I love the guy, and I think he gets a raw deal from most of the fans, but he has given up quite a few homers since the break. He's been worked a lot since the break. They're going to need him down the stretch. I would say it would be nice to see Howry close out a few more games, especially of the "easy" save variety (2 or 3 run lead) or maybe in a tied game like today, but they've been leaning heavily on Bobby too since Rhodes has been out. If I was Wedge, I would use Riske, especially, more often, as well as stretch Sauerbeck or even Betancourt a little bit. Riske has shown in the last few years that he's very reliable in the set-up role. With Rhodes out as an 8th-inning alternative and Miller out to match-up against righties, you have to be a little more creative...and I think Wedge has lacked the creativity to do anything but lean heavily on his two Bobs.
Peace
posted by David Ebersole at 11:22 PM
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