October 2, 2006 Posts
02:43 Twins' Magical Season Gets More Magical 16:16 Boot Murtha Rally Exposes Murtha's Weaknesses 17:38 Murtha's Dirty Politics? 20:53 Democratic Culture of Corruption Exposed Again
Twins' Magical Season Gets More Magical
I've been a Twins fan since attending my first game at Metropolitan Stadium in August, 1966. I've seen the Twins win the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Both were magical, once-in-a-lifetime seasons, with 1987 being the most dramatic season of the two. The 2006 Twins team has earned the right to be thought of in the same way. The Twins' improbable...forget that...impossible...season just got more magical.
The Twins entered their series with the White Sox in need of winning one game more than Detroit won against Kansas City to win the division. Considering the fact that Detroit held a 14-1 edge in their season series with KC, things didn't look too good. They looked worse after losing Friday night and they looked even worse after they lost to Chicago Saturday morning. I expected to wake up Sunday morning to hear that the Tigers clinched the division with a win Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were still in it.
The Twins sent Carlos Silva to the mound to get them that win to give them a chance at winning the division title. It didn't look good after the White Sox first two hitters got hits and first baseman Ross Gload grounded into a forceout for the game's first run. It turned out to be Chicago's only run of the day. Silva settled down after that before tiring out in the sixth. Dennys Reyes, who started the season at AAA Rochester, coaxed Alex Cintron into a double play to end that threat.
It was looking like a special day when Joe Mauer got 2 hits in his first 3 at bats to essentially clinch the AL batting title. Mauer's fourth inning double ignited the game-winning rally. Justin Morneau followed with a double of his own to plate Mauer. That was Morneau's 130th RBI of the season, tying him with Larry Walker for the most RBI's in a season for a Canadian-born player. Torii Hunter, the Twins' unofficial captain, hit his 31st homer right after that, giving the Twins a 3-1 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.
The Twins added two more runs to make it a 5-1 lead. The bullpen again was masterful, not giving up a run in 3 2/3 innings. Closer Joe Nathan got the final outs in the 9th to put the game on ice. The players offered their usual on-field congratulations before retiring to the clubhouse. They weren't there long. They soon returned to the dugout to watch the game with their fans on the Metrodome's Jumbotron screens. Twins players emerged from the dugout to get the fans to cheer "Let's go Royals". The fans enthusiastically obliged. Often.
There was a cosmic moment when the Royals scored twice in the top of the 12th, where the crowd and team interacted as one. When releiver Jimmy Gobble, a tough, tough southpaw, got Sean Casey to ground a one-hopper to first for the game's final out, the powerswitch was tripped for another magical celebration at the Metrodome.
You've probably figured out that I pour myself into everything in life. Twins baseball is no different. It's impossible not to love this team. Even the White Sox, who berated the Twins each offseason after the Twins won the AL Central, have a new respect for the way the Twins play. In fact, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen created the nickname Piranhas for Jason Tyner, Jason Bartlett, Luis Castillo and Nick Punto, saying
"They can beat you in so many different ways," he said in the visitor's dugout at the Metrodome. "You wake up and say they're like little piranhas. Chk, chk, chk. You wake up and you don't have no meat, just bones. All those piranhas, blooper here, blooper here, beat out a ground ball, hit a home run, they're up by four. They get up by four with that bullpen? See you at the national anthem tomorrow."At first, I didn't see this as a special team in April. No one could've seen that. They showed signs of showing signs in May but things still weren't clicking. That changed in a hurry when the Twins jettisoned Batista and Ruben Sierra, traded Castro, moved Francisco Liriano into the rotation, brought up Dennys Reyes to be the lefty out of the bullpen. And they put Nick Punto in at third and Jason Bartlett at shortstop. Another key change was benching Jason Kubel because of his knees and putting Michael Cuddyer in right field defensively and into the cleanup spot in the batting order. Cuddy soon took off in that role, hitting .284 with 24 homeruns, 109 RBI's. Suddenly, the batting order didn't have an easy out in it.
With Liriano and Santana at the top of the rotation, the Twins' rotation instantly looked better; with Castillo, Bartlett and Punto now in the infield daily, the infield defense tightened up; with Mauer, Cuddyer, Morneau and Torii hitting the ball hard night after night, the offense took off.
The constants through all this were: the bullpen, Joe Mauer hitting and Johan Santana pitching. The moves changed peoples' attitudes, though we weren't convinced that they'd make the playoffs much less win the division. People on KFAN's message boards joined with Twin Cities' sportswriters in saying "So what? It's like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Things look different but they aren't going anywhere." I came close to having that attitude but I'm an optimist so I kept telling people that I just couldn't write this team off...yet.
When the Twins ripped through their intraleague schedule while only gaining a game and a half on Detroit, fans were enjoying the team but they were getting frustrated that the Twins weren't gaining ground on Detroit and Chicago. By then, though, I had joined a group of Twins' fans that said things like "Who cares? Just enjoy the way this team is playing."
The streak continued but they weren't gaining ground on Detroit and Chicago until they started playing them head-to-head right after the All Star break. Suddenly, fans caught a glimpse of what might be. Liriano was pitching like the Cy Young favorite, Mauer was hitting the daylights out of the ball. In fact, Mauer owned the LA Dodgers, going 11 for 13 in that series. He started the series with a .368 batting average and finished with a .392 batting average. That's a dominant series.
With Mauer rightfully getting all the attention while he flirted with hitting .400, Justin Morneau suddenly became a force in the lineup. Justin hit .364 for June and .410 in July when the Twins started their winning. By the time August arrived, Justin was getting national writers' attentions with his hitting too. By the time the Twins arrived in Detroit in August, Justin was hitting .322 and closing in on becoming the first Twin to hit 30 homers in a season since the 1987 team had Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Tom Brunansky all hit 30. Justin reached that milestone on August 9, when he hit a 99 mph fastball in his eyes from the Tigers' flamethrowing Joel Zumaya deep into the seats to give Johan Santana his 13th win of the season. How he got around on that ball, I still don't know. It was power vs. power and Justin won the matchup in dramatic fashion.
By rights, this team shouldn't have had a shot at making the playoffs, much less winning the division. They had to win 71 of their final 104 games to win their fourth division title in five years. That's a winning percentage of .682 for the final four months of the year. They shouldn't have had a chance of winning that many games because, in one weekend, the Twins lost Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart. Brad Radke pitched some of the best ball of his career with a torn labrum in his pitching arm and a fractured shoulder socket, too. They lost Francisco Liriano twice with an elbow injury.
As I said earlier, the Twins infield defense tightened up with the arrival of Jason Bartlett at short and Nick Punto at third. During the Twins last road trip, a 10 game trip, Jason Bartlett took no less than 20 hits away from the other teams' hitters. Nick Punto consistently made the routine plays but he also made impossible plays, too. Lots of them. He's got the best hand/eye coordination of the Twins infielders and that's saying alot.
Should this Twins team has a shot at winning it all? Not a chance. Will they? This team is battle-tested. They've got the deepest bullpen in the majors. They don't beat themselves. They make spectacular plays in the field. Roy Smalley, the Twins' postgame studio analyst says that, because the Twins make all the routine plays, their opponent only gets 3 outs an inning and because they make so many spectacular plays, it sometimes feels like they only give the other team 2 outs that inning.
Personally, I think they'll win it, despite all the holes in the starting staff. Torii's been hitting the stuffings out of the ball. Justin and Joe have been hitting at a high level seemingly all season. Johan Santana has been lights out this season as usual. Boof Bonser is pitching well and is scheduled to pitch in the second slot in the rotation with Radke in the third slot. The bullpen has been lights out all season, with Jesse Crain, Pat Neshek, Dennys Reyes, Matt Guerrier and Juan Rincon all able to pitch 2 innings before handing the ball off to Joe Nathan. Add Matt Garza to that mix for the offseason, too, and it's a daunting task to win a game against the bullpen.
There's an old saying that pitching, defense and timely hitting wins championships. That's been proven right too often for me to argue with it. This team pitches too well, fields the ball too consistently and bunches their hits together too often to ignore them this postseason. They've also overcome three seasons worth of adversity this season and they're still standing. I wouldn't want to bet against a team like that.
After all, these Twins have more recuperative powers than a busload of cats.
Posted Monday, October 2, 2006 2:54 AM
August 2006 Posts
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Boot Murtha Rally Exposes Murtha's Weaknesses
With the Boot Murtha rally now behind us, it's time that people admit that Murtha has some serious weaknesses to overcome. Let's start with this quote:
As 22 anti-war protesters held up signs across the street from the War Memorial, Democrat Bob Fiffick, a retired steelworker, was wearing a button on behalf of Murtha's Republican opponent this fall, Diana Irey, a Washington County commissioner, as he waited for the "Boot Murtha" rally to start. "I've been a Democrat for 35 years. I was a big union man. This past year they [Democrats] lost touch with me."There's alot of that going around lately. In fact, Diana Irey's focus has been on how Murtha's lost touch with PA-12 values. Can voters picture John Murtha tolerating Code Pink's endorsement in 1990? He not only tolerates it now; he revels in it.
Albion Wilde of Takoma Park, MD, who works with the wounded as a volunteer at Walter Reed Hospital and who was wearing an Army windbreaker given to her by a veteran, said of Murtha, "I think he has been disloyal to the United States, the military." She said the nation has been under attack by terrorists for the past 20 years, a fact that Murtha ignores.It'll be difficult for Murtha to defend a number his statements, starting with his accusations of the Haditha Marines. Here's a quote from the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat:
Terry Pennington's son, Rob, is being housed in a Marines Corps brig in Camp Pendleton, Calif., for alleged war crimes. Rob Pennington is among those being investigated in the deaths of Iraqi civilians in Haditha in the spring. "I got a phone call," Pennington said. "My son was calling from the brig, telling me he was being charged with war crimes. My son and others are in jail because of the comments of John Murtha, and the overreaction by the U.S. government."John Murtha's purely political ploy will backfire because it's touched a nerve with people because they know it's unfair to convict a soldier without evidence, without first having been briefed on the subject, without a hint of due process rights. That's what Murtha is about.
Michael L. Young, a retired public affairs professor from Penn State University, Harrisburg, who now runs an opinion research firm, has said there is no indication Murtha will lose his seat.Mr. Young should consider how Murtha's accusations are playing with military families. Mr. Young should consider that Murtha's voting against reauthorization of the Patriot Act won't fly in military communities. If he considered those things, he'd realize that issues matter and that Mr. Murtha is on the wrong side of every big issue.
Posted Monday, October 2, 2006 4:16 PM
August 2006 Posts
Comment 1 by chancuff at 04-Oct-06 12:14 PM
As most who attended the rally know, I was there. After the dust had cleared created by some moonbat among the bootmurtha crowd who called in a fake police report that a fight had broken out, Larry Bailey came out to speak with me.
I complimented him from the bottom of my heart for the contributions he has made to our country's national security while he was serving active duty in the US Navy.
He made it clear my request to speak would not happen. He then proceeded to suggest he has no memory of the email he wrote me on 8/20/2006 2:59:30 P.M. Eastern Standard Time stating that our current Commander in Chief made stupid mistakes in Iraq.
Larry then proceeded to illustrate stupid mistakes made in passed wars. After he mentioned 3 or 4 examples I interjected that there is a difference between those wars and this one.
In the past it took weeks, months, sometimes years for mistakes to be discovered and reported. Today is the information age where mistakes are reported within hours of their occurrence. I reminded him this war was still going on. I also reminded him of the glaring mistakes he had acknowledged President Bush had made in Iraq, and our respective use of the Internet to support our respective views and that is where our conversation ended.
I waited outside the Arena with a Johnstown police officer who had stayed behind after the bootmurtha hysterics caused 3 squad cars and a sergeant to arrive with sirens blaring. I was debating Steeler football with him when a motorcycle officer stopped by, who had been inside. When I asked how many were inside he said, "not many at all" When I asked "500?", he responded, "na ... well maybe 500, at most."
At the end of the event when Larry Bailey came out for a photo op next to the bootmurtha.com sign on the sidewalk outside the War Memorial Arena. I handed Larry the speech I had waited to deliver. He put it in his outside left coat pocket.
This is my speech Larry Bailey has in his coat pocket ... the words he was not man enough to let me say:
"Please join me in Prayer.
Heavily father we pray today for you to continue to protect the men and women of the armed forces of the United States and other countries who are in harms way in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries throughout the world. We thank them and their families for their sacrifices.
We pray for the souls of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in all wars. We pray for strength and courage for the POWs and MIAs and those held hostage.
We pray for protection and safety of relief workers helping those in need.
We pray for the protection of children and innocent civilians. Lord we especially pray for our nation and our leaders."
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Below you will find the press release that went out on October 29th of this year.
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LARRY BAILEY (BOOTMURTHA.COM) OCTOBER 1ST RALLY IN JOHNSTOWN, PA.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Cliff Hancuff
September 29, 2006 (202) 247-1418
Journalismisflat@aol.com
"American troops could be home now, except for critical mistakes made by our current Commander in Chief," charges Cliff Hancuff, Director of The World of Journalism Is Flat, Too.
"Media and right-wing bloggers are ignoring this fact. For weeks I have been challenging political activists and journalists to act with a minimum of ethical standards," continued Hancuff.
"I became involved when the Sun-Sentinel in Florida reported that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) said the U.S. poses the top threat to world peace. I watched in dismay as the media and bloggers worldwide reported on this misquote."
"My involvement continued when I discovered Diana Irey, John Murtha's political opponent, had attacked Murtha using a fictional quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln."
"Larry Bailey of bootmurtha.com is continuing his three year blind support of our current Commander in Chief's incompetence in war. President Bush declared war in Iraq without the 4th Infantry, our most lethal, modern, and deployable heavy division in the world," added Hancuff.
This mistake lead to the atrocity of Al Qaqaa. Iraqi insurgents stole hundreds of tons of high explosives to be used as weaponry.
"These are the explosives being used by Iraqi insurgents and al Qaeda to perpetuate the war in Iraq."
"I am distressed that the same issues ignored by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 are being ignored again in 2006," said Hancuff adding, "Americans, American soldiers, and their families deserve better."
"Without these critical mistakes made by our current Commander in Chief, our American troops would be home with their loved ones, with honor, right now."
On October 1, 2006 Hancuff be at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena located in Johnstown Pennsylvania for Larry Bailey's Swiftboating of John Murtha rally. It is there Hancuff will continue his wait for Mr. Bailey to recall the values of honor and integrity taught him by our US Navy.
There is a youtube.com video online at:
YouTube - Rovian Architecture Unplugged
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5jcyHokFyE
The World of Journalism Is Flat, Too
(202) 247-1418
-30-
Murtha's Dirty Politics?
If Mr. Murtha isn't involved in political dirty tricks, then he'd better issue Rob Simmons a public apology for this dispute.
U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is the ranking minority-party member on the powerful House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee, has accused U.S. Rep. Robert R. Simmons, R-2nd District, of making false claims about securing funds for construction of two new nuclear attack submarines. But Simmons' chief of staff, Todd Mitchell, says his boss has done no such thing, adding that Murtha has backed away from the assertions contained in an e-mail sent out under Murtha's name last week to Connecticut newspapers. Mitchell today called the dust-up "one of the most bizarre incidents I've ever had to deal with."Here's what's causing this dispute to linger:
"It has come to my attention that Mr. Simmons has publicly stated that he has, or is in the process of, securing funds to guarantee the procurement of two Virginia-class submarines during the coming fiscal year," [Murtha] wrote. "Regrettably, these claims are untrue."It's widely known that Rob Simmons is one of three Connecticut politicians involved in a tight reelection race. It's also widely known that John Murtha desparately wants to be House Majority Leader. Putting those factors together, it isn't unreasonable to conclude that John Murtha is telling Mr. Simmons one thing face-to-face while not retracting the public accusation.
Murtha said that the fiscal 2007 Department of Defense Appropriations Act covering the federal fiscal year that will begin next Oct. 1 contains no funding for such a program. As such the Pentagon "will not spend any money on such a program over the next 12 months," added Murtha, whose criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq has become a rallying point for many Democratic congressional candidates this fall.
"I understand how important the submarine industry is to southeastern Connecticut," the e-mail continued. "I hope that in future years the Congress will be able to provide funding for the construction of multiple Virginia-class submarines. However, any claims that this will occur in the coming fiscal year are simply false."
Mitchell said that when Simmons confronted Murtha about the e-mail Friday on the floor of the House, the Democrat "said he never saw the letter and never OK'd it and that he didn't agree with the letter." But Mitchell also said that when Murtha's spokeswoman was later asked about the matter by a reporter, she said the Pennsylvania lawmaker was standing by the letter. Simmons then confronted Murtha again, he added, with Murtha repeating that he "didn't agree with the letter." "It became clear as the day went on that somebody had got their foot stuck in their mouth here," he said.
Isn't it time that John Murtha set the record straight both in Pennsylvania and Connecticut? Isn't it time that Pennsylvanians elected someone whose integrity isn't an issue?
Posted Monday, October 2, 2006 5:44 PM
August 2006 Posts
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Democratic Culture of Corruption Exposed Again
MDE's Michael Broadkorb has exposed many a liberal dirty trick but none more revealing than this one:
Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization's roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters' chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock's personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over opposition research for Senator John Edwards' unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign."Katie Barge's name raised some red flags because I remember her getting caught with illegally accessing Michael Steele's credit report after she illegally found out Steele's Social Security number. Let's establish a timeline on this:
Barge first worked for John Edwards' failed presidential campaign. When that tanked, she joined Media Matters as Director of Research. From there, she went to work for Chuck Schumer at the DSCC, where she first found out Michael Steele's social security number, then used that information to get a copy of Steele's confidential credit report. According to this Captains Quarters' post, she was instantly suspended "with pay" after admitting gaining access to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's confidential credit report. According to this SourceWatch article, Ms. Barge resigned from her position at the DSCC in November, 2005.
Captain Ed's post also mentions this noteworthy item:
In April of this year, Schumer introduced legislation to create an entire new bureaucracy for "data merchants", the Schumer-Nelson ID Theft Prevention Bill. What penalties does the Schumer-Nelson bill prescribe for violations? A thousand dollars per violation, for starters, and repeated violations probably would get escalated.A thousand dollar fine for a first time offender? That isn't much of a deterrant for a crime with such dangerous consequences. Here's the specifics about Lauren Weiner's plea agreement:
Lauren Weiner, who was a researcher for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) last year when she accessed the credit data, will plead guilty to the misdemeanor offense in coming weeks, said her attorney, Whitney C. Ellerman.It should be noted that Ms. Barge was Ms. Weiner's boss at the DSCC. Part of the plea agreement was for no jail time, no fine and, after a year of probation, her criminal conviction will be wiped from her record. Everyone who takes identity theft seriously should be infuriated that paid political hacks can access a candidate's confidential credit history without paying a fine, without serving a minute of jail time, be on probation for a year, at which time the conviction will be wiped from her criminal history. One last thing:
She will likely be sentenced to 150 hours of community service with no jail time or fines, and her criminal record will be erased after one year of probation.
DSCC spokesman Phil Singer yesterday said the committee has paid the legal fees for Miss Weiner and Katie Barge, who was the committee's research director and supervised Miss Weiner at the time she obtained the credit report.Voters would be well-advised to remember that Democrats know firsthand what a culture of corruption is because it's part of their playbook.
Is that the type of representation you want in Washington?
Posted Monday, October 2, 2006 9:03 PM
August 2006 Posts
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