Braves 8 Mets 0 (57-46, 1st place, 4.5 games ahead of Phillies)

The Braves have won four in a row for the third time in July (also the third time all year)! If the Braves can complete a sweep of the New York Mets tomorrow, the Braves will have finally won five in a row for the first time all season. The Braves finished July 20-6 with a .280 batting average and 2.42 ERA for 143 runs scored and only 72 scored against us -- nearly two to one!

Hits: Johnny Estrada was 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBI, raising his batting average to .330 and extending his hitting streak to six games, during which he is hitting .480 (12-for-25). JD Drew and pitcher Jaret Wright each had two hits and scored two runs. Wright was also brilliant on the mound, allowing only three hits over seven innings while striking out six and lowering his ERA to 3.05. Wright's ninth win of the season makes the trio of Wright, Russ Ortiz, and Mike Hampton 14-0 for the month of July!

Misses: The Braves 6-7-8 hitters (Adam LaRoche, Andruw Jones, and Charles Thomas) were a combined 0-for-12, but at least they put the ball in play ten times (Thomas struck out twice).

Line of the Day: Jaret Wright in July: 6 GS (4-0), 38 IP, 25 H, 10 BB, 6 R, 32 K, 1.42 ERA. The combination of Wright, Ortiz, and Hampton make for a good bonus line of the day: 17 GS (14-0), 115.1 IP, 85 H, 37 BB, 24 ER, 1.87 ERA! How can the NL East keep up if those three keep pitching like that? Overall, the Braves were 16-1 in games one of those three started; they lost 4-3 on July 20 (the game I was at!) when Wright pitched seven innings and allowed only one run; the Phillies scored two off Reitsma in the eighth to tie the game, and they won in the tenth.

NL East: The Mets dropped to eight games back with tonight's loss to Atlanta. Kevin Millwood and the Phillies beat the Cubs 4-3 today to stay within 4.5 games of Atlanta; maybe Nomar Garciaparra will lead the Cubs to victory on Sunday! Florida jumped to an early lead against Montreal, but the Expos did it again, beating the Marlins 8-5 and dropping them to 5.5 games behind Atlanta. The Expos are now 5-0 against the Marlins since the All-Star break; they were 1-5 against them in April, so a Florida win tomorrow would even up the season series at six apiece.

Other: If the Dodgers beat the Padres tonight, the Braves will have the third-best record in the NL behind the division-leading Cardinals and Dodgers.

I wonder how many others have noticed this. During Al Sharpton's speech to the Democratic National Convention last week, he made quite a few mistakes. The most glaring mistake that I noticed immediately, near the beginning of the speech, was when he spoke of the American Revolution of 282 years ago (which CNN changed to say 228! -- Democracy Now's transcript is accurate), but last I checked there wasn't much happening in America in 1722. Georgia didn't even exist yet!

(Does Winston Smith work at CNN? Correcting Sharpton's mistake without any indication of making the correction is bad journalism, because they're rewriting history without alerting their readers to the change. Down the memory hole with what actually happened, and replace it with what you want it to say! That's the easiest way to make political gains...)

Another part near the end of his speech that fascinated me was his "justification" for why blacks vote for Democrats: "We got the Civil Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the Voting Rights Act under a Democrat. We got the right to organize under Democrats." Fair enough, but in 1962 is was a Democrat (Governor Ross Barnett) who defied the law and refused to allow a student (James Meredith) to enroll at the University of Mississippi despite filing and winning a lawsuit against the school for attempting to block his application. And when Alabama's governor George Wallace, another Democrat, tried the same thing at the University of Alabama in 1963, President Kennedy was compelled to act on behalf of civil rights' activists. Kennedy had not supported civil rights legislation up to that point, but the popular fervor in the South as a result of those two high-profile cases (and other events) forced him to take popular action.

Democrats have always been the thorn in the side of civil rights legislation. In the 1960s they were plainly outspoken about it; since then, they have disguised their quest to keep minorities oppressed by offering handouts and free passes -- not education -- which will guarantee that minorities will (1) continue to vote for Democrats and (2) never realize the truth behind the Democrats' plan in great enough number to evolve politically.

I'm not offering Republicans a free pass, but I figure they're insulted without substance so often that I would at least point out that Democrats are just as guilty, if not moreso, than Republicans when it comes to buffering the effects of the civil rights movement.

Another trade deadline has come and gone. A couple of big deals were made (including the blockbuster that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs -- Bob should be thrilled!), but most trades were typical -- either a team making room on their payroll, or two teams trying to fill gaps for a pennant run.

As you can see below, the NL East was the most active division in the deadline deals race, with all five teams making at least one trade and gaining and losing a total of 34 players (17 each way). Who made the biggest gains? The focus was pitching, and the Marlins, Mets, and Phillies all made deals that could potentially help them significantly down the stretch. I'll put more thought into this after/if I analyze the impact on each team's lineup and pitching staff.

This list is not a list of trades. Rather, it is a list of players gained and lost by each team without consideration of where they came from, since that's what's most important to each individual team.

What have I been listening to lately? When I post to my LiveJournal, I usually also post the music I'm listening to at the moment if any is playing. Looking over the last couple of months, I see that I still pay homage to the rock music I used to love so much, but I've also listend to indie pop/rock this summer much more than I used to. For instance, I still listen to the more popular rock acts like Sevendust, Tool, Coldplay, Cake, Radiohead, Live, Pink Floyd, and Creed (among others), but I also listen to the likes of the Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie, Mew, the Dandy Warhols, and the Shins (among others). I guess you could say I've gone through a transformation since this time last year, when I only picked out an occasional Modest Mouse song or something rather than an entire album. But I haven't changed completely; the band I've been listening to over and over for the last couple of weeks, Breaking Benjamin, is the same brand of hard rock I've been listening to for years!

But for some reason, I started this post wanting to talk about the band and artist formerly known as Creed and what they're doing now... So maybe Creed was never a Christian band; that doesn't mean Scott Stapp wasn't a Christian lead singer of a rock band. His new album, The Passion of the Christ: Songs almost gives the old band away, but I suppose there's still a chance for Alter Bridge to push the idea that they were just rockers with meaning, and not necessarily Christian meaning at that. Faith is independent of how you use it, after all.

Why do I follow Creed at all? People have criticized my musical tastes for a few years now, telling its only significant flaw was that it made room for me to enjoy listening to Creed. I never necessarily liked or disliked Stapp's vocals, but the implied meanings of his lyrics, the uniqueness of his sound, the anthemic style of the music, and the power of Mark Tremonti's guitar kept me hooked. Say what you want about Creed (I'll occasionally join in), but Mark Tremonti is still one of my favorite rock guitarists ever, even if he's only worked on three Creed albums and the upcoming Alter Bridge album.

Braves 3 Mets 1 (56-46, 1st place, 4.5 games ahead of Phillies and Marlins)

Hits: Mike Hampton joined Russ Ortiz in the Braves' "5-0 in July" club, earning both pitchers a spot on the Pitcher of the Month ballot. Hamptom was masterful in seven innings of work, allowing only one run on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts to earn his seventh win. And because the Mets only scored on run, the Braves took over first place in MLB with a 3.69 team ERA (Cubs fell to #2 at 3.71). Charles Thomas extended a modest hitting streak to seven games and raised his average to .364, but Marcus Giles was the offensive player of the game with two singles, a double, a stolen base, two runs scored, and an RBI. Andruw Jones also recorded two hits to raise his batting average for the month above .300. Chris Reitsma earned his 18th hold and hasn't allowed a run in his last six appearances. John Smoltz, who hasn't allowed a run in 12 appearances (15 innings), earned his 24th save and lowered his ERA to 1.87. Perhaps most importantly, the Braves defense was flawless tonight!

Misses: Chipper Jones was 0-for-4 again to lower his batting average to .221. Is there a reason why he's struggling so badly?

Line of the Day: Russ Ortiz and Mike Hampton (combined) in July: 10-0 in 11 games, 77.1 IP, 60 H, 27 BB, 18 ER, 2.09 ERA. I don't know what's gotten into those two, but I hope it keeps up for both of them and catches on with the rest of the team!

NL East: The Cubs beat the Phillies 10-7 and the Expos pounded the Marlins again this time 9-0, to help deepen the gaping hole in the NL East between the first-place Braves and the nearest competition to 4.5 games. The Mets fell to seven games back.

At the end of Kerry's speech last night, everyone at Boston's Fleet Center was in a celebratory mood except Don Mischer, who was urging workers to release more ballons. Despite the goofy faces and balloon slapping frenzy many of us saw, Mischer wanted more and more and couldn't understand why they all weren't coming down. Millions of viewers across the country and worldwide could hear his voice:

No confetti. No confetti yet. Go balloons. Go balloons. More balloons. All balloons. All balloons. Come on guys, let's move it. [pause] Jesus, we need more balloons. I want all balloons to go, goddamn. No confetti. No confetti. No confetti. I want more balloons. What's happening to the balloons? We need more balloons. We need all of them coming down. Balloons. [pause] Go balloons, balloons! What's happening? Balloons. There's not enough coming down. All balloons -- where the hell? -- there's nothing falling! What the fuck are you guys doing up there?

If you were watching CNN, you heard it there first!

Braves 3 Pirates 2 (55-46, 1st Place, 3.5 games ahead of Phillies and Marlins)

Hits: This is how to play baseball: A swift come-from-behind victory capped by a ninth-inning rally followed by a 1-2-3 incursion between the Pirates' heart of the order and our closer, John Smoltz (who notched his 23rd save)! Nick Green was impressive, going 3-for-3 until a botched bunt attempt ruined his perfect day in the ninth. Johnny Estrada was also 2-for-4 and may have scored the tying run in the ninth if Derosa hadn't pinch run for him. Great pitching was the story today, though; John Thomson only allowed five hits, one walk, and one earned run (two runs) in six innings, striking out five batters. The Braves bullpen (Alfonseca, Cruz, and Smoltz with one inning apiece) pitched three innings and allowed only a hit.

Misses: JD Drew's on-base streak ends at 39 games; he was 0-for-5. Rafael Furcal threw the ball away in the second to allow Chris Stynes to reach, but a double play followed to erase the baserunner. Furcal booted a ground ball in the third allowing Wilson to reach first, a wild pitch by John Thomson moved him to second, and a single by Rob Mackowiak scored Wilson when he should have been the third out of the inning. The Braves' error streak is up to six games! Wilson made up for it by throwing the ball away in the ninth, allowing Mark Derosa to reach third; he would score on the next play.

Line of the Day: Jose Mesa: 1 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 K, 2 R, 1 ER. The Pirates closer only allowed one run, but his shortstop contributed to another scoring in the ninth, allowing the Braves to sting the Pirates with another tough loss. Mesa isn't off the hook though: in a one-run game, the one earned run would still be enough to charge Mesa with a blown save, and the Braves still could have scored another run under different circumstances.

NL East: The Marlins were 3.5 games behind the Braves in third place going into today's game against the Phillies, who were 2.5 games back. After a 10-1 trouncing, the Marlins climbed to a tie with the Phillies for second place; both teams are 52-50. Philadelphia has a tough series against the Cubs this weekend, while the Marlins should have an easier time with the Expos (although the Expos swept the Marlins just last weekend!). The Braves are headed back to Atlanta to host the Mets, who are 6.5 games back, for a quick three-game home stand before hitting the road again.

The Election 2004 page is inconsistently updated on a schedule completely detached from my weblog-posting schedule, so check it at random intervals for new and/or useful information. For instance, a couple days ago I added the full results of the General Primary and the complete list of matchups for the General Primary Runoff election to be held August 10. The runoff page will soon be updated again with links to each individual's campaign web site, and I will eventually have a web site up for the November election... that will be a task and a half.

Braves 1 Pirates 0 (54-46, 1st Place, 2.5 games ahead of the Phillies)

Hits: The Braves only had five hits, so this will be brief. Chipper Jones' solo home run in the fourth was all the Braves needed thanks to Russ Ortiz's brilliant pitching performance. Chipper was 2-for-2 with 2 walks for a perfect night at the plate. Eli Marrero hit a hit a triple that didn't lead to anything, and Mark Derosa and Charles Thomas each had hits. But Russ Ortiz pitched seven innings and, despie allowing 9 hits, didn't walk anyone and didn't allow any runs to score! His earned his 12th win of the year and lowered his ERA to 3.19. John Smoltz earned his 22nd save in a perfect inning-and-a-third of work.

Misses: There was a lot of missing last night. Marcus Giles, Julio Franco, and Andruw Jones were each 0-for-3 with at least one strikeout (Marcus had two), and Andruw's 10-game hitting streak was snapped (though he still reached base on a walk). Eddie Perez did what he does best: he was 0-for-4 with a strike out and 5 left-on-base to lower his average to .179. The young, lefty fireballer for the Pirates, Oliver Perez, also pitched a brilliant game, but he took a tough loss in a 1-0 game while lowering his ERA to 3.03. Chipper Jones made only his third error of the year since moving back to third base on an easy grounder in the fourth that should have been a double play and instead loaded the bases for the Pirates with one out. A foul out and a ground out ended the Pirates only threat to score.

Line of the Day: Russ Ortiz: 7 IP, 9 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 R -- Oliver Perez: 8.3 IP, 5 H, 5 BB, 10 K, 1 R. Chris Reitsma allowed two more hits in the eighth, but John Smoltz came in and shut the Pirates offense down. Oliver Perez took a very tough loss.

Not that I've ever left my phone on during a movie, let alone answered it, but this should serve as a strong reminder to everyone that talking on your cell phone while the movie is playing is slightly south of acceptable. Don't do it, especially in Florida.

Brandon sent this to me at work; it's a very well done dramatization of a phone call between a man trying to order a pizza and the clerk on the other end who is "tapped into the system". The idea is that pushing efforts to guarantee national security too far will completely destroy the concept of privacy in America -- ever read 1984? Moral of the story: a unified, omni-referential federal database of the nation's citizenry would guarantee that the government knew more about you than you did.

It's a bit over done, and I disagree with blaming it all on the Bush administration, but over done and well done are not mutually exclusive. I certainly agree with the implied notion that the government should have more faith in its citizens, since -- after all -- this is supposed to be a government by and for the people.

Braves 4 Pirates 8 (53-46, 1st place, 1.5 games ahead of the Phillies)

Hits: Andruw Jones extended his hitting streak to 10 games with an RBI triple in the 4th, scoring Johnny Estrada who was 3-for-5 with a double and a home run and raisign his batting average back up to .323. Charles Thomas also had three hits, raising his career batting average (all this season) to .372.

Misses: Estrada was strong with the bat, but he made two errors on one play that may have cost the Braves the game. Others will say Kevin Gryboski is to blame for the Pirates' five-run burst in the seventh. Either way, the Braves made three errors (two by Estrada) on consecutive plays that inning which resulted in all five of those runs, so the loss cannot entirely be blamed on Gryboski. The bad news is that the Braves failed to win five straight games, so their longest winning streak of the year is still stuck at first. Worst of all tonight, JD Drew and Chipper Jones combined to hit 0-for-8, snapping Drew's hitting streak at 22 games, although two walks kept his on-base streak alive at 39 games.

Line of the Day: JD Drew: 0-for-3, 2 BB -- hitting streak snapped at 22 games, but on-base streak still intact at 39 games.

If one party is better than the other, then why doesn't everybody vote for it? It's the same reason why no religion is better than any other, or no way of breaking your eggs is better than any other. People have different methods to achieve similar ends. Inasmuch as morality may enter the debate, no one really knows the true basis of morality, since no one can definitively define our own origin.

So I'll maintain on a philosophical level that neither party is better than the other, both are immoral in that they both oppress minorities, and the oppressed minorities (third parties and such) should have more say in the governing processes.

That is all.

Braves 4 Pirates 2 (53-45, 1st place, 1.5 games ahead of the Phillies)

Hits: JD Drew extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a single in the fifth, contributing to a rally that would score two runs. Andruw Jones had already extended his hitting streak to nine games with an RBI double in the second that scored Johnny Estrada, who had gotten on base with a bases-empty single. Andruw is 12-for-32 (.375) and Drew is 33-for-86 (.384) during their respective streaks. John Smoltz picked up his 21st save and lowered his ERA to 1.99 as the Braves attained their largest lead in the NL East of 2004, 1.5 games ahead of the Phillies! The team also matched its season-high by winning its fourth straight game. Give credit to Jaret Wright for lasting five innings to earn his eighth win despite a one-hour rain delay in the first inning.

Misses: Rafael Furcal went 0-for-5 to end his hitting streak at seven games; he was 11-for-27 (.407) during the streak. Let's also get onto Adam LaRoche for booting Rob Mackoviak's grounder in the third. Luckily, he goofed on the next play and was doubled up on a fly-ball out to left.

Line of the Day: Braves bullpen: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 6 K. They're getting better and better! To be fair, two Pirates relievers pitched three innings and allowed only one hit while striking out three, so the bullpens combined for an impressive performance tonight. Maybe both teams were eager to get off the wet field.

Jimmy Carter:

I will be doing everything I can to put John Kerry in the White House with John Edwards right there beside him. Twenty-eight years ago I was running for president, and I said then, "I want a government as good and as honest and as decent and as competent and as compassionate as are the American people." I say this again tonight, and that is exactly what we will have next January with John Kerry as president of the United States.

In other words, elect the Johns to prove that we are not as good, not as honest, not as decent, not as competent, and not as compassionate as we think we are.

Bill Clinton:

Democrats and Republicans have very different ideas on what choices we should make, rooted in fundamentally different views of how we should meet our common challenges at home and how we should play our roll in the world. Democrats want to build an America of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities... Republicans believe in an America run by the right people, their people.

You're leaving out two things, Willie: (1) Republicans want to build an America of shared responsibilities and shared opportunities too, just not the same way Democrats do; (2) Democrats don't want Republicans to run the country either -- that works both ways.

And just before introducing Bill, Hillary said, "I'm optimistic we will because I know a great leader when I see one. And so does America." If America is so sure, then why does everyone keep talking about how close it's going to be in November? This race won't be over until the wee hours of the morning on November 3.

I don't like to report speculative news, but it seems the Montreal Expos will be moving to the DC or Northern Virginia area for the 2005 season. The Baltimore Orioles management are worried that competition in the area, which has never been rich for baseball, might spell financial troubles in their future. The decision is said to be imminent, but at the beginning of the month they said an announcement would be made before the All-Star break -- although, of course, many commentators cleverly acknowledged that MLB never said which All-Star break.

No, this land is their land! If you haven't seen this yet, it's hilarious. If you have, it's even better when it takes up the whole browser window, so click the link and watch again! (3.75 megabytes, requires free Shockwave player for whichever browser you're using)

At the behest of the Kerry campaign, the Boston Zoo has welcomed Swifty the Democratic Donkey, and has extended a welcome for the Bush team to bring on an elephant. So... it's come to this. I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or ask how much it costs for a ride.

This is taken from today's Best of the Web by James Taranto. FYI, download the report, in full or in parts, here.

Update: The anti-Clinton Legacy title is no longer on the list; it has been replaced by The 9/11 Investigations (edited by Steven Strasser), which asks why Bush hasn't cooperated... blah blah blah. So the top five books purchased by purchases of The 9/11 Commission Report are between tacit and explicit left-wing propaganda.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe has reportedly told his staffers at the Democratic National Convention, "We are not Michael Moore. Let's tell the voters what we stand for, not only what we stand against." Apparently, some Democrats are concerned that excessive Bush-bashing could backfire, while others may not be able to control themselves. I suppose it can't be any worse than the Wellstone Memorial Pep Rally of October 2002, mainly because Republicans are allowed at this one and this one officially carries the unofficial Bush-bashing label.

This is probably the worst answer to the objectification of women in advertising, so it deserves public scrutiny. Scrutinize away! My favorite of the 85 is number two: "Women prefer bigger penises more than men prefer bigger breasts." I believe it, because I think huge breasts are obnoxious, but generally only when they're augmented. Natural beauty is the most beautiful; man just isn't as talented as God. That said, augmented breasts that aren't ghastly huge aren't ghastly; there is much to be said for maintaining healthy proportions.

Leave it to a man to talk about boobs under a penis subject heading.

It's official: Star Wars: Episode III is titled "Revenge of the Sith". Some people are already complaining about how cheesy it sounds, but most acknowledge that it is at least better than "Attack of the Clones" for Episode II, which focused on neither the "attack" nor the "clones", although the movie did at least mention them. I suppose that was better than "Send in the Clones" or something to do with "Love and Hate". Actually, though, we should be used to the cheesy titles by now, because that's exactly what George Lucas wants. After all, what else could be expected from a movie franchise simply and goofily known as "Star Wars"?!

My only potential problem with Episode III's title is that the suggested "revenge" is not setup at all in Episodes I and II. One would think that the trilogy should stand on its own, but with a title like "Revenge of the Sith", George Lucas and the Star Wars franchise is relying too much on information that can only be gathered by looking past The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. The revenge story is best illustrated, actually, in the novels that Lucas himself has continuously stated are not necessarily a part of the Star Wars universe.

But those criticisms aside, I like it. It's not the worst Star Wars film title (The Phantom Menace deserves that distinction), and it actually isn't bad. Besides, now the three film titles from each trilogy loosely resemble each other. Come to think of it though, perhaps Episode III's title should resemble Episode VI's Return of the Jedi a bit more closely, i.e. "Rise of the Sith" or even "Return of the Sith", since information is provided in Episode I that the Sith had been off the Jedi's radar for many generations.

Of course, there are dozens of better alternate titles for Episodes I and II. My favorites: "The Chosen One" or something indicating the child of prophecy for Episode I, and "Birth of the Empire" for Episode II. After all, Chancellor Palpatines enlistment of Jango Fett's clone army marks the birth of what is to become Palpatine's empire for the next twenty years... which then crumbles because two of the greatest Jedi in history survive the Jedi Purge (as I call it).

And I have now spent too much time talking about Star Wars.

Or, at least, how to prove Moore is wrong about the Bush/Taliban/Iraq/Binladen connection stuff:

I saw F9/11 a couple of weeks ago, and one of the conspiracy theories fascinated me. The movie establishes a connection between President Bush and the Taliban, because representatives of the Taliban happened to visit Texas once while President Bush was the governor of the state. There was not an allegation that Bush met with, talked to, or even knew the Taliban reps were in the state. But somehow showing President Bush's picture and a picture of some of the Taliban one right after another in a movie is all the proof we need to show that President Bush and the Taliban were in cahoots.

. . .

Don't you think if any of the wacko theories from the Moore movie had a shred of credibility that Democratic leadership in Congress would be screaming to launch an investigation?

That's what I thought.

Oops, I missed it. Gennie posted to her blog for 24 hours straight yesterday (minus the mandatory breaks, of course -- the human body has its limits), even allowing guests to login and post something during one of her mandatory absences. It's amazing how creative one can be when forced to be, posting 40-something posts in a single 24-hour period. I think the most I've ever done is twelve, and I don't think anyone even read all of those; I bet dozens of people read all 40-something of Gen's.

The blog-a-thon was for a good cause; she didn't just up-and-decide to sit at her computer for a day for no reason, like I probably would have had I decided to post for 24-hours. Of course, I'm also obsessed enough with my few internet obsessions that I probably could have cracked 40 posts within a single hour. I suppose she chose quality over quantity, though. Great job!

Braves 4 Mets 3 (52-45, 1st place, 0.5 games ahead of the Phillies)

Hits: JD Drew extended his hitting streak to 21 games with a solo home run, his 24th home run and 100th hit of the season, against the wind in the the seventh; he extended his on-base streak to 39 games. Drew had also walked and scored earlier in the game. Andruw Jones was on base three times with two walks and a hit in four plate appearances (the other at-bat resulted, quite naturally, in a strikeout), extending his hitting streak to eight games. Rafael Furcal is 10-for-22 during his current six-game hitting streak, which he extended with an RBI double in the second. John Smoltz earned his 20th save of the season in a dominant 20-pitch performance, lowering his ERA from 2.09 to 2.03. The Braves remain a half game ahead of the Phillies for the NL East division lead.

Misses: Charles Thomas dropped a fly ball in the fourth, allowing Todd Zeile to second base with no outs; three straight ground outs ended the threat. Marcus Giles booted a low popup to short right field in the ninth to allow the Mets a shot at tying the game, but nothing came of it. Braves batters struck out a discouraging 10 times, but otherwise it was a good day.

Line of the Day: Gryboski (H), Reitsma (H), and Smoltz (Sv): 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 0 R. If only the bullpen would never allow any runs!

Braves 5 Mets 2 (51-45, 1st place, 0.5 games ahead of the Phillies)

Hits: The Braves rallied for four in the eighth to come from behind and beat the Mets 5-2, and JD Drew extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a single in the third. Ten different braves batters reached safely on base hits, including every batter in the starting lineup, even pitcher John Thomson, and Charles Thomas who had come into the game as a pinch runner. Seven of eight starters (not including Thomson) also reached base on walks!

Misses: Drew's single in the third left the bases loaded with one out, but Chipper Jones and Julio Franco hit into consecutive fielder's choices to end the threat without a run scoring. The Mets threatened big in the first when Johnny Estrada's throwing error left a runner on third, and after two consecutive walks the bases were loaded, but Estrada made up for it by participating in a third-to-catcher-to-first double play to douse the Mets' spark.

Line of the Day: Al Leiter: 5 IP, 4 H, 5 BB, 1 R -- He lowered his major-league-best ERA to 2.22 and his bullpen lost it for him. Too bad, so sad!

After a day of fun in the sun, rafting (well, floating) down the Ocmulgee River and throwing a baseball around a faux infield, Jim and I had just enough time to get cleaned up and zoom out to the theatre and catch the 10:00pm showing of The Bourne Supremacy -- we actually walked in just as the theatre was playing it's "and now, our featured presentation!" promo, so we scrambled our way up a few steps to the first open aisle seats we spotted.

What can I say? The movie was unpredictably unpredictable, making it a much better movie than I had predicted, and I had expected brilliance since seeing the first one two summers ago (see June 2002 review: "A Movie Franchise is 'Bourne'"). Once again, Matt Damon kicking ass kicks ass, and John Powell's score is absolutely perfect for the film (I'm glad Powell brought back parts of the "Treadstone Assasins" theme from the first film -- great stuff!).

But now I'm curious. This movie ends in such a way that a third movie is not guaranteed. Then again, so did the book (unless what I'm told is incorrect). Robert Ludlum wrote a third installment, The Bourne Ultimatum, but so far there are no hints about a third film, only an interview with Matt Damon suggesting that it isn't part of his plans -- yet: "I'd like to do a third one, but I don't want to do it if it can't be as good as, now, the second one." He alludes to the fact that, about two years ago, he emphatically stated that he would not do a sequel to The Bourne Identity unless it would be better than the first and would not be a money-grab by the studio. Money-grab or not, I think The Bourne Supremacy is a very worthy sequel and probably my favorite movie of the summer. And Matt Damon is certainly pleased with it. But will there be an Ultimatum?

...to go and do a third one, we really have to get a great script. And it's hard because the characters at this point -- I personally don't know where to go with it. I don't know how to draw him back into that world at this point.... But who knows, maybe there's a rocket scientist out here who can figure it out.

Time will tell, and I'll be waiting.

Do you want to know why I'm an independent? It's because you conservatives and liberals are a stupid and silly people. You bicker and posture as if we have all the time in the world to defeat international terrorism. You say we're at war and things need to be done right now when it's politically convenient for you to do so, but you carry-on as if we're still at peace....

For you, this isn't a real war with real consequences, this is just another phoney war of opinion. You aren't conservatives and liberals, you're Phobos and Deimos: Fear and Panic. One of you uses the fear of external threats to win elections, the other tries to frighten you with internal threats. You both serve the same Master and that is why your supposed differences are as illusory as the fears you try to frighten us with. You're more concerned with winning the next election than you are the real war. It's a farce.

Read more (and more).

The Associated Press reports via the Denver Channel:

Adding Friday night's record-shattering $75,000, Jennings has now won 38 straight games and more than $1.32 million. He could have shattered the single-game money record ($52,000) on several occasions, but he intentionally wagered only enough to tie the record or, when he did risk enough to break it, he didn't know the Final Jeopardy question! But Jennings finally toppled the one record that Alex Trebek was eager to see fall in his last game, and perhaps his best performance, of the season.

Unless he voluntarily retires, Jennings will be back in September to kick off the new season of "Jeopardy!" and defend his unbeaten streak. Somewhere, somehow, someway... that man will eventually lose to someone! But I don't mind him winning a few dozen more games first...

Jesse Jackson criticized Bush afterward, but the president made good points and raised good questions in his speech to the 2004 National Urban League Conference in Detroit on Friday. An excerpt:

I believe you've got to earn the vote and seek it. I think you've got to go to people and say, this is my heart, this is what I believe, and I'd like your help. And as I do, I'm going to ask African American voters to consider some questions.

Does the Democrat party take African American voters for granted? It's a fair question. I know plenty of politicians assume they have your vote. But do they earn it and do they deserve it? Is it a good thing for the African American community to be represented mainly by one political party? That's a legitimate question. How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete? Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat party truly served the African American community?

Erick Erickson "paraphrases": "You've been voting Democrat for so long. Are your schools any better? Are your neighborhoods any safer? Do the higher taxes help your businesses?" As Bush would say, these are all legitimate questions.

Bush was not directly calling anyone out; it would have been a tough crowd for that. Rather, he was merely raising some questions that, depending on your point of view, could be answered in his favor or not. On the "not" side, I am not surprised at all that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (article linked at top) focused more on Jesse Jackson's criticism of the Bush administration than the message of the speech.

If there is ever a security risk, you can count on the media to report it publicly before the at-risk event takes place, giving would-be troublemakers plenty of time to plan for gaping windows of opportunity. This time, the concern regards wireless internet security at the Democratic National Convention taking place next week. Sometimes I wonder whose side the media is really on.

Braves 2 Pirates 1 (50-45, 1st place, tied with the Phillies)

Hits: JD Drew extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a single in the first inning, Andruw Jones upped his streak to six games with a single in the sixth, and Eddie Perez got a base hit -- a double! But all the magic happened in the tenth inning when the Braves played small ball to perfection. First, Eli Marrero took advantage of a ground ball error by Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson. Marcus Giles then walked, Rafael Furcal bunted a single to load the bases, and Johnny Estrada came through with a sacrifice fly to end the game. A stellar pitching performance by Russ Ortiz allows the Braves back into a tie for first with a 2-1, 10-inning win over the Pirates.

Misses: The Braves should have won the game in the ninth after Chipper Jones walked and Adam LaRoche singled to put runners on first and second with one out. But Andruw Jones and Charles Thomas followed up with strikeouts to send the game into extra innings. Thomas unfortunately suffered his first-ever 0-for-4 performance at the major league level, but I suppose it was better than his 0-for-5 day in the Braves 11-4 win on July 5.

Line of the Day: Russ Ortiz: 1 run, 6 hits, 4 walks in 8 innings. Vintage.

Pirates 4 Braves 3 (49-45, 2nd place, 1 game behind the Phillies)

Hits: JD Drew upped his hitting streak to 18 games with a solo home run in the ninth, Andruw Jones has quietly put together a solid week and a modest five-game hitting streak, and Rafael Furcal pushed his batting average up to .275 with two more hits -- he also contributed his ninth stolen base.

Misses: But it wasn't enough to overcome the streaking Pittsburgh Pirates, who pushed the Braves back into second place, a game behind the Phillies. More shoddy defense and a general inability to move baserunners contributed to another game in the "L" column, but it's only the fifth loss of July, so the Braves are still having their best month of the year! I'm still confident that Chipper will break out of his first-half slump and have a hot streak to the goal line, but I doubt it will be enough to reach 100 RBI for the ninth straight season.

Line of the Day: Johnny Estrada: 0-4, 0 RBI, 0 LOB. If we don't give him any baserunners, he can't hit!

I wish I had seen this back in April or early May: apparently, bunnies were banned within Warner Robins city limits! The 27-year-old ban may have originated due to some people raising rabbits for meat, rather than the stereotypically accepted idea that allowing them would result in their overpopulation. The following week, it was announced that the bunny ban was lifted, and any bunny complaints would be "handled on a case-by-case basis." Sheesh.

Cynthia McKinney's donors during the 2003-04 cycle follow a similar demographic pattern as they did last time: 202 of the 214 were not from the 4th District, 180 of the 214 individuals were not even from Georgia, and 150 of the 214 names were Arab. None of this is illegal, of course, but it is "indicative" according to PhotoDude -- aka Reid Scott -- who took a look at donors to McKinney's campaign according to the latest FEC campaign finance report and reported his findings on his web site:

[T]he most stunning numbers: In 2002, 113,356 citizens of the 4th District went to the polls. Over 40,000 of them voted for Cynthia McKinney. This year, only a dozen of them were willing to give money to Cynthia McKinney's campaign to return to Congress.

The article was inspired by a comment by Steve Barton, in which he claimed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution handled the subject very gently, "pushing it to the last paragraphs at the bottom of the jump page. The AJC only mentioned a couple of Arab-American organizations' donations and said nothing about the amazing 17 pages of mostly (way mostly) Arab names of her donors.

Scott then went through the list of 214 donors to see what he could find. His finale was linking to a few similar posts he made about McKinney's money in 2002.

Not surprisingly, a quick Google News search on the subject revealed that the right-wing FrontPage magazine had already analyzed this list for an article titled "Radical Islam's First Member of Congress," with a list of some particular donors and who they are. A day later, FrontPage magazine and the New York Post both ran the article titled "Georgia's Hatemonger Returns," an obvious attack on the candidate.

A Jewish Telegraphic Agency article acknowledges McKinney's victory and discusses how Jewish donors ran an overwhelmingly effective campaign against McKinney in 2002; however, McKinney's tone and her perceived inability to win outright in 2004 allowed less vehement opposition in this primary. From that article:

Some Jewish leaders hope McKinney’s changed demeanor on the campaign trail will carry through to Washington if she wins in November. If not, analysts said, there’s always the chance to target her again -- in 2006.

Whatever the consensus opinion, McKinney has earned a bid for her old seat in Congress, and the consensus there is that she will win 4th District -- whose voters are roughly 70% Democratic -- over Republican challenger Catherine Davis in November.

(This article appears in its entirety at the Political State Report. View it and comment on it here.)

Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times writes that the Libertarian vote could hurt Bush in November, similarly to how others suggest Nader and the Green vote could hurt Kerry. It's an interesting point to make, and if Badnarik actually comes across as a reasonable Libertarian candidate (he'll have to completely ignore the drug-legalization issue at the very least), I might vote for him. Otherwise, my vote will almost certainly go to Bush -- not for any partisan reason, but because I don't like John Kerry. John Edwards is fine. Richard Gephardt is fine. But Kerry? Nope, not happening for me.

By my count, there will be 28 runoffs among the federal, statewide, and state legislative races. By the first week of August, I hope to have looked at all of them -- or at least linked to every candidate's campaign web site if they have one -- in hopes that anyone coming to this web site will know where to go to inform themselves of a particular race.

Here are those runoffs, assuming the incomplete results are accurate (links to official vote counts):

US Senate, Democrat: Majette/Oxford
US House, District 6, Republican: Price/Lamutt
US House, District 8, Republican: Westmoreland/Glenn

GA Appeals Court Judge to replace Frank Eldridge: Bernes/Sheffield?

GA Senate, District 3, Republican: Chapman/McVeigh
GA Senate, District 5, Democrat: Thompson/Bush?
GA Senate, District 10, Democrat: Maddox/Jones
GA Senate, District 16, Republican: Bonner/Chance
GA Senate, District 17, Republican: Douglas/Waters
GA Senate, District 31, Republican: Rountree/Heath?
GA Senate, District 32, Republican: Kaye/Hill
GA Senate, District 37, Republican: Cooper/Wiles
GA Senate, District 40, Republican: Ladd/Weber
GA Senate, District 43, Democrat: Davis/Miles
GA Senate, District 50, Republican: Schaefer/Caudell

GA House, District 20, Republican: Carr/Byrd
GA House, District 22, Republican: Scheid/Wilhite
GA House, District 35, Republican: Setzler/Kidd?
GA House, District 44, Democrat: Noel/Jones
GA House, District 54, Republican: Lindsey/King
GA House, District 68, Republican: Bearden/Pope
GA House, District 72, Republican: Lakly/Chambers
GA House, District 74, Democrat: Abdul-Salaam/Jeburk
GA House, District 87, Democrat: Henson/Gaines
GA House, District 95, Republican: Mumford/Milton?
GA House, District 98, Republican: Reese/Muntean
GA House, District 111, Republican: May/Guhl?
GA House, District 151, Democrat: Roberts/Sims

Please report any errors here.

In recent weeks, the security measures in Athens leading up to the Summer Olympics have been questioned quite a bit, and the two blackouts were not encouraging. As a result or perhaps this was planned all along, US troops will be on patrol at the Olympics, and I bet the stupid media is going to focus their cameras on them at least enough to take some of the spotlight away from the world's greatest athletes who have worked since they were children to earn the attention.

Below are the (unofficial!) results of the contested races for Georgia's statewide and state legislative positions (including judicial positions). All uncontested and local races are ignored, because whoever's name was on the ballot is the nominee to run for the seat in November. Results for all state races are available at the Secretary of State's web site (links straight to primary election results) -- check county and municipal boards of elections for local results.

How to use these results:

And now, without further introduction, the as yet uncertified results of Georgia's General Primary held July 20:

US Senate, Democrat: Majette/Oxford runoff
US Senate, Republican: Isakson

US House, District 4, Democrat: McKinney
US House, District 6, Republican: Price/Lamutt runoff
US House, District 8, Republican: Westmoreland/Glenn runoff
US House, District 12, Democrat: Barrow
US House, District 13, Democrat: Scott

GA Supreme Court Justice: Sears
GA Appeals Court Judge to replace Frank Eldridge: Bernes/? runoff

GA Senate, District 26, Republican: Washburn

(This article appears in its entirety at the Political State Report. View it and comment on it here.)

The Braves lost to the Phillies 4-3 in ten innings to sink back into a tie for first place, but that's good enough for me. Now let's look at the unofficial results of Georgia's general primary:

US Senate, Democrat: Majette and Oxford runoff!

US Senate, Republican: Isakson victory?

US Congress, District 4, Democrat: McKinney victory?

US Congress, District 6, Republican: Price and Lamutt runoff

US Congress, District 8, Republican: Westmoreland and Glenn runoff!

US Congress, District 12, Democrat: Barrow victory?

US Congress, District 13, Democrat: Scott victory!

The question marks are in place because the results are not official, not all precincts have reported, and the margin of majority is too small to be guaranteed. But I'm at least bold enough to suggest victory with a question mark! Runoff elections will be held August 10, which gives me three weeks to determine the better candidate of Denise Majette and Cliff Oxford.

Where I'll be: I'm leaving for Atlanta for tonight's Braves game against the Phillies -- it's the first game all year that the Braves have gone into holding first place, so talk about excellent timing! Jim (brother, USMC, ten days leave), Lara (Jim's girlfriend), Megan (long, long, long time friend!), and I will be in the left-center field seats just behind the wall. I am a tall, skinny white boy with brown hair and I'll be wearing a bright blue t-shirt and tan shorts. I look sorta like this guy. Catch the game on Turner South if you've got it. Watch for highlights, too. I caught a home run ball off Moises Alou's bat two summers ago...

What I'll miss: The election results as they are slowly reported. Not to worry, though. I'll be back to inform myself and my web site (as if it needs to know) about two or three hours after the game ends. In the interim, I suggest Georgia's official election results web site, where the results should be viewable as soon as they start pouring in. I also suspect that one of my good friends at the Political State Report will be chiming in as soon as they have something substantive to report. Checking the Georgia blogs on the right side of my page might be a good idea too.

I hope you got out and rocked the vote today. If you haven't yet and you're a Bibb County voter, go vote in the Democratic primary for Sheriff Jerry Modena!

After carefully scrutinizing some races and casually glancing at others, I drove over to North Macon Park this morning and voted for the Democrats that made the most sense to me at the time. All the choices on my Bibb County Democratic Primary ballot are listed below, with my votes in bold. (The Bibb County Republican Primary ballot is also available, but I had to choose which races were more important, and it is much more important that my vote counts for Sheriff Jerry Modena!) The uncontested seats are not listed here:

So as you can see, there weren't many tough choices. I was in and out of there in five minutes, which is about how long it took to research most of the options beforehand. The only choice I wasn't ready to make was for Public Service Commissioner, so I voted Barber because I had heard the name mentioned favorably within the family circle... and I figured one of my fellow Political State Report contributors might be related! The other races I at least looked at gingerly, and I looked at the Senate race entirely too much! Now we wait to see who wins them all...

I'll have something to say about it by early Wednesday morning (like 1:00am). See you then!

For the first time all season, the Braves have taken sole possession of first place -- and not a moment too soon, as I will be at tomorrow night's game! But because I was celebrating my birthday with friends who don't have cable (and the antenna doesn't receive Turner South), I unfortunately was unable to view the game in real time. However, I caught the ESPN highlights, and -- wow -- that was impressive!

The game was marked great pitching performances from Mike Hampton and John Smoltz (two-inning save) and an even greater defensive performance by Charles Thomas, Andruw Jones (diving catch to end the eighth), and Rafael Furcal (leaping catch to end the game), and a very suspenseful ninth inning that almost cost the Braves the lead.

Bobby Abreu led off the ninth with a single, then Jim Thome struck out. Pat Burrell then hit a double-play ball to shortstop, but Marcus Giles threw the ball away, allowing Burrell to first base. Ricky Ledee then struck out, but he reached first on a passed ball that allowed Burrell to move over to third. Then David Bell ripped the ball into left field, but Furcal's amazing leaping catch kept it from hitting the ground, ending the game before the Phillies got a chance to tie the game.

As Mac said over at Braves Journal, bad things usually happen when you allow a first-place team five outs in an inning, but Smoltz managed to pitch through it and the Braves emerged victorious, taking first place for the first time all year.

It looks like the Braves have finally put all their pieces together. Even without Horacio Ramirez, four of the five Braves starters are getting the job done well of late, and the bats have finally come around. As a team (including pitchers!) in the month of July, the Braves are batting about .300 with an OPS over .900, and the pitching staff's ERA is a good bit below 3.00. The Braves have outscored opponents 99 to 43 this month. To put it simply, they have found the consistency they need to win. Now if only they can hold on to it, the Braves can run away with the NL East.

For the next 30 hours or so, most of my waking hours will be spent informing people (in various ways) of the candidates for whom the state of Georgia will be voting on Tuesday. I have a good bit of info on many of the candidates already available, and I will have much more as Sunday and Monday progress. Unless something major happens that compels my commentary, you won't hear from me until Tuesday morning or Wednesday (except for the candidate updates I make on the Election 2004 page), because I will be at the Atlanta Braves game with my brother, his girlfriend Lara, and a mystery guest. We will be in LEFT-CENTER FIELD NEAR THE FRONT ROW.

I think that's the best birthday gift of all, this year. I get to spend the afternoon at a baseball game with my brother! Thanks a million for the tickets, Andy! One day you'll have to come out with us for a game!

Let me reiterate one last thing before wrapping this up: MY ELECTION 2004 PAGE will be updated continuously until around midday Tuesday. Keep checking back for more info and updates, and even bookmark that page for the November election run to come!

I feel so, so... 22. Buy me stuff.

According to the latest federal campaign disclosure reports, the final campaign disclosures to be made public before Tuesday's primaries as reported by the AJC, fund-raising among Senate candidates has been dominated by Republicans. All three hopefuls for the Republican nomination had raised more than the leading contenders in the race for the Democrats' nomination as of June 30. Perhaps Democrats in Georgia are merely holding their donations until they know who their candidate will be.

Cliff Oxford's total is notable because the "multimillionaire entrepreneur [has financed] much of his own campaign... all but $32,590 has come from the candidate himself in the form of loans and contributions."

The Political Money Line allows you to view campaign fund-raising numbers for candidates throughout the country. You can arrange a custom list of candidates by office and/or by type of funds, or you can list all the candidates from a single state (among other options).

Listing all the candidates from Georgia reveals the following fund-raising information among Georgia's 14 Congressional races. All data are through June 30.

(This article also appears at the Political State Report. View it and comment on it here.)

First there were the underblogs, the blogs that were worthy of receiving far more attention that they actually get. Mine might be worthy if I only let you comment on my posts, but I'm not interested in that. This is a blog, not a community. It's my journal (sort of), not your forum. This is a penis potato boat, and I'm the penis potato. (Figure it out. Punny puns die hard!)

But now there are overblogs, the blogs that receive entirely too much attention and don't exactly deserve it. Only months ago I could have named dozens of them; a year ago I linked to dozens of them. Now I only link to the ones that I find useful, and they are nearly always niche blogs that cover something I can appreciate from an angle I can't manage. Those are underblogs, in my view, and they deserve more attention. The overblogs -- perhaps like my site -- are excessively popular for what they are and don't need the attention they get.

So visit the sites and nominate your own, if you care!

Mark your calendars and postmark your gift certificates and nakey pictures. I especially love gift certificates to places like Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Circuit City, Books-a-Million... catching a theme here?

If you really feel like you must get me something, I could tolerate any of the first three seasons of "South Park" on DVD, either the third or fourth season of "The Simpsons" on DVD, or any of a number of DVD movies on my list of favorites that are too numerous to name here. Jackie Brown, Good Will Hunting, the Indiana Jones trilogy, or even the Looney Toons Golden Collection. There are many, many more that I want that I don't have.

Or if you must get me a book, as I wrote last time, either of Bill James' baseball books published in 2004 (the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, or the 2004 Bill James Handbook) would be cool, or that big huge Baseball Encyclopedia they have at Barnes & Noble for only $25, or -- one I just thought of last night that I really want at some point -- The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination With Statistics by Alan Schwarz.

This is really all I can think of, and I thought for a very long time before I finally settled on these things. The truth is that I don't care to have too much "stuff", because not only do I have only a limited amount of space in which to put it, but I only have so much time to spend using it... and I'm usually busy with other things. I have hundreds of books that I've never read, but I have seen all my DVDs, except Major League, which has yet to be opened, but I've seen it enough times (censored on TV) to know the gist of it.

So there. I'll be 22 in the morning, and the commercial-material environment of the US economy compells you to buy me everything I want.

The Braves have won 9 of 12 games so far in July, easily their best stretch of the year, which landed them in a tie for first with the Phillies for a single day before losing to the Expos last night and dropping back to a game out. Marcus Giles and DeWayne Wise are healthy again, but unfortunately for Wise getting injured was a bad career move, because Charles Thomas is performing so well that he’s keeping the roster spot, and Wise was sent to AAA Richmond. Jesse Garcia was also optioned to the minors when Giles returned.

Now that it seems the Braves are finally over .500 to stay and will put in a good run for the division title, it's time to figure out just how they've done it so far and what needs to happen for the Braves to stay in the hunt after so much has gone wrong. I can think of a few things.

1. JD Drew is now batting .313 with 21 homers, and he is among league leaders with a 1.050 OPS and about 75 runs created in only 79 games. He is definitely the Braves' MVP of the first half, picking up the offensive slack where injuries and slumps to Giles and the Jones boys slowed us down.

2. I still can't help talking about Johnny Estrada. The Braves' only All-Star (though Drew was more deserving than at least a couple of the NL's outfielders) has kept his batting average around the .330 mark, and he continues to drive singles and doubles past the opposition when runners get on base. His .448 average with runners on base and .452 with runners in scoring position still lead all MLB hitters.

3. What happened to Eli Marrero?! Injuries nagged him for the first two months of the season and held him to a .115 batting average, but he's batted .411 in June and July to bring his average over .340. The other Braves left fielder, Charles Thomas, has done an excellent job as well, batting .385 in his first 18 games as a major leaguer. Since May 31, the combination of Marrero and Thomas is batting .401 (57 for 142) with 14 doubles, 2 triples, and 7 homers (.676 SLG). Add 11 walks and 2 HBP, and they’ve got a .452 OBP, which helps translate to a 1.128 OPS. Their 39 runs created in only 155 plate appearances is at superstar level; Braves fans would have been satisfied with half that number from these two!

4. Braves pitching has seen its ups and downs, but at least four of the Braves' six starters are showing signs of finding their groove for the home stretch. Russ Ortiz had allowed one run or fewer in three straight starts until giving up four to the high-octane offense of the Phillies just before the All-Star break, and he still won that game. Jaret Wright has become our #2 guy, with a 1.42 ERA in three starts in July, winning two of three starts while allowing only 13 hits and 3 runs in 19 innings. Paul Byrd has been very impressive -- since coming back less than a year after Tommy John surgery, he has pitched very well, allowing only 11 runs and 3 walks in 28.1 innings, but unfortunately has split his record at 2-2 in five starts. Mike Hampton and John Thomson, on the other hand, both had a horrendous June with ERAs over 6.00 and a combined 3-7 record. Only Travis Smith, now safely back in the minors, had a worse time on the mound, although Braves fans recognize that the worst time off the mound is probably spent by Horacio Ramirez, whose 2.28 ERA has been sorely missed since his last start at the end of May. There is still no telling when Ramirez might return; the tendinitis keeps coming back.

5. The last key ingredient to the Braves' success to this point is the bullpen. John Smoltz, Kevin Gryboski, Antonio Alfonseca, and Juan Cruz have been especially impressive, and Tim Drew and Sam McConnell look very good in limited time on the mound.

If the bullpen can continue to slam the door as it has been doing most of the year (which might mean keeping the ball away from Chris Reitsma in game-crticial situations), the Braves will be in good shape. If Ramirez, Hampton, and Thomson come back strong and pitch consistently well in August and September, the Braves will be in great shape. If the lineup remains consistent and Chipper and Andruw start producing as we all know they are capable, the Braves will be unstoppable.

(This article also appears at Tomahawk. View it and comment on it here.)

A 154-game schedule? Six playoff teams in each league? First-round byes? A US-versus-World All-Star game? Change is afoot, but I'm sure someone's priority at this point is just to figure out the format of and all strings attached to next seasons's All-Star Game.

Miss Georgia Sex Offenders Pageant 2004!

The 2003 Tigers won their 43rd game in their 162nd and final game of the season, one loss away from the all-time record for most losses in the history of Major League Baseball. The 2004 Tigers won their 43rd game in their 89th game of the season, leaving them on a pace to win about 35 more before the season is finished. Pitcher Mike Maroth earned the win tonight, stunningly limiting the New York Yankees lineup to a single hit. Yes, that's the same Mike Maroth that became the first pitcher to lose 20 games (he lost 21) since Brian Kingman of the 1980 Oakland Athletics.

Here's to the Tigers! I hope they break .500 this year and win 81+ games.

I am so surprised by this headline that I have not yet oganized a coherent and cohesive expression of my opposition to this. The Wall Street Journal reported it first, but here it is from the New York Times:

A new policy handed down by the Department of Health and Human Services removes the phrase "obesity itself cannot be considered an illness" from the Medicare Coverage Issues Manual, allowing scientists, clinicians and companies to submit proposals recommending that certain treatments be covered.

Further into the article, I am somewhat relieved that drug treatments for obesity "were ruled out for coverage under Medicare with the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003", but the executive director of the American Obesity Association says that's not the kind of coverage they were after: "From an insurance point of view, you would look at covering things that are more expensive", he said.

The most expensive treatment for obesity is bariatric surgery, a $30,000 procedure that involves closing off much of the stomach and shortening the small intestine to make less room for food, creating the sensation of fullness more easily for an obese patient. Medicare does cover bariatric surgery but not for obesity itself. Hypertension, stroke and congestive heart failure, which often result from obesity, can justify treatments covered under Medicare.

The purpose of the legislation extends from the Bush administration's emphasis on improving public health. My opinion is that the problem isn't the result; it's the cause. Don't treat the result by offering drugs and treatments for people who throw their lives away. I would prefer that the government puts more effort into educating the public while still allowing us the freedom to choose a less healthy lifestyle -- that's our choice!

Improve our education concerning these matters, and we'll make better decisions. Simply offer handouts to help make it feel better instead of fixing the cause of the problem, and it will only get worse.

Bad move.

Did you hear about this? An Oregon earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale was centered about 33 miles off the coast, and a 5.7 quake was reported on Vancouver Island (baby steps away for a tectonic plate). Disaster alarmists have been warning of a massive quake that will hit the NW-US and SW-Canada regions in the not-too-distant future. So were these tremors warning shots? Or were they it for a while?

Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Pat Roberts doesn't think so:

Roberts said he was "not too sure" that the administration would have invaded if it had known how flimsy the intelligence was on Iraq and illicit weapons. Instead, the senator said, Mr. Bush might well have advocated efforts to maintain sanctions against Iraq and to continue to try to unearth the truth through the work of United Nations inspectors. "I don't think the president would have said that military action is justified right now," Mr. Roberts said. If the administration had been given "accurate intelligence," he said, Mr. Bush "might have said, 'Saddam's a bad guy, and we've got to continue with the no-fly zones and with inspections.' "

. . .

Mr. Roberts said he was speaking solely on the basis of his own inference, not on any conversations with the president or White House officials. But the comments followed those of other senators, including Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, who have said they would have voted against a war resolution had they known that intelligence assessments about Iraq and illicit weapons were not solid.

Would we have gone to war with Iraq? It's hard to say. None of us really knows what specific information the administration or the intelligence agencies had; we only hear it from the media who takes it out of the context of the intelligence reports that are taken out of context of the real thing. By the time it gets to us, it's all hearsay and gossip that may contain only hints of truth. Of course, even those hints could not be construed to justify a war if there was zero justification, so I'm convinced that no administration in today's world would be stupid enough to force an unpopular war if the given intelligence didn't support the cause.

I still believe the whole mess could have been avoided had the Clinton administration in the mid-1990s and helped Iraq rebuild its economy with the understanding that their military would be heavily constrained and they would be under careful watch. It would have been easy and the world would have loved us (and Clinton) for it, and the oil crisis we see now would not have hit. And -- who knows? -- maybe the Middle East would actually like America for doing the unthinkable: helping Saddam Hussein do the right thing. But none of that happened.

I finally watched Fahrenheit 9/11 for the first time -- without paying for it, of course; I told you I refuse to pay for it. I was greatly surprised by this film. On one hand, some brilliant points were made (though not very well, at times) and I even agreed that Moore nailed the truth on a couple items. On the other hand, the second half of the film was so badly put together that I wonder how any judge at Cannes could honestly say Fahrenheit received the festival's highest award on its merits as a film!

Putting aside the partisan argument (since by no means do I oppose everything in the film), the film doesn't hold up as well as Quentin Tarantino and the other judges at the Cannes film festival thought. The first 45 minutes or so were great -- coherent and powerful, even if completely one-sided. The last 75 minutes were patches of thought glued together to stage a weak argument for a much stronger cause. Each of the last several scenes were obviously spliced in just to take one more cheap shot at the leaders in Washington (mostly Bush).

One scene in particular was particulary disturbing. I remembered covering the September 11 attack as it happened on this web site. I was knee-deep in news articles covering every angle as the story broke. And I was apalled by Moore's failure to accurately recollect the details of the first few minutes after the first plane hit. My distinct recollection of those minutes contrasted with Moore's depiction of them was enough to prove that his chief goal was to disguise the truth without "lying" in order to make Bush look as bad as possible.

I have my own problems with Bush, but how he handled September 11 is not one of them. Michael Moore is a demagogue and a film-making hack who receives attention solely because he refuses to shut up. And I can't blame him -- he's making millions off that mouth of his.

Legendary pitcher Bob Feller has issues with Muhammad Ali's role in Tuesday night's All-Star game. The Boston Herald reported that Feller said, "I object very strongly to Muhammad Ali being here to throw out the first pitch, and you can print that... This is a man who changed his name and changed his religion so he wouldn't have to serve his country, and, to me, that's disgusting."

I actually agree to a limited extent, except that I don't know enough about Ali's motivations for his lifestyle adjustments, and I would never recommend fighting in a(n) (unnecessary) war anyway. Also, my objection to Ali being there would focus on Ali's career having nothing to do with baseball. A more suitable man for throwing out the first pitch at an All-Star game celebrating the 500 Home Run club would be Nolan Ryan, who served up more home runs over his 27-year career than he cares to remember.

He's all clean: "This person exposed themself in a public area, a clear violation of the law, and we needed to take some action on that, otherwise everybody would be dropping their pants."

Yeah, right, like people are so eager to run around naked in public. Many people have issues leaving the light on in intimate situations, and very few among us are comfortable exposing our nethers to anyone other than a (potential) sexual partner or a medical professional. I wonder if there's more to this screening than meets the press...

Some Democrats are outraged that Senator Hillary Clinton was "not offered a prominent speaking role at the Democratic National Convention". Judith Hope, the former chairwoman of the New York State Democratic Party and a major fund-raiser for Kerry's campaign, is very upset:

It's a slap in the face, not personally for Hillary Clinton, but for every woman in the Democratic Party and every woman in America.... To include the wife of the governor of Iowa, who I'm sure is a wonderful woman, and to not include Hillary Clinton is just such a glaring injustice.... It is, frankly, very stupid.... Hillary Clinton has been a team player for this ticket from Day One.

Hope fails to realize that sometimes being a team player requires doing what's best for the team, not the individual. Or maybe Clinton didn't want to speak at the convention. Or maybe she is planning a surprise speech. Or maybe, just maybe, it's actually better for the Kerry campaign that he separates himself from other prominent Democrats in order to promote the Kerry campaign rather than the Democratic Party campaign.

One thing I love about all of this, though, is that Democrats continue to do what they do best: fight for power! They are proving that they're not interested in serving you and me, but instead they wish to secure their time in the spotlight and in power. Even better: they're putting the spotlight on everything but Kerry, even bickering among themselves. If things continue at this rate, this won't be a race by November -- it will be a joke.

It's never good when the starting All-Star pitcher allows six runs in the first inning, and it's even worse when his team never recovers. It was never close, so while I sat and watched the entire game, I wasn't emotionally involved or anything. The AL won 9-4, but if Roger Clemens hadn't started this game, the NL wins 4-3. So while Alfonso Soriano won the game's MVP award, I would give it to Clemens, since he contributed most to the AL's win.

Joe Torre is now 5-0-1 as a manager and 8-1 as a player in All-Star games. Um, that's good.

Who is Joe Wilson? I didn't know or care myself until this afternoon, although his name has been in the news for quite some time now. You probably recognize the story: the man whose wife's CIA identity was compromised, so he retaliated with a vendetta against the Bush administration, attempting to discredit the President and "the lies that led to war". Well, as it turns out The Politics of Truth, Wilson's bestselling book, isn't so truthful. As National Review Online reports (in the article linked), the book is riddled with factual errors and outright lies, as the Senate 9/11 Commission has proven.

Even worse than Wilson's indiscretions is the response the media has given him since he went public. The anti-Bush wing of the media has praised him as a whistleblower and a "victim of [the] vast right-wing conspiracy", though no one ever thought to check the man's facts -- or if they did, they opted instead to cover them up when they found that Wilson was lying. And now that Wilson is caught, so are they!

But watch, this story will blow over and very few publications will reveal Wilson as a fake, people will continue to use his testimony against the Bush administration, and the media will pretend like he doesn't exist. A nifty Shakespearean line describes Joe Wilson's story (as well as just about anything Michael Moore has ever done) well: "It [was] a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

Re: Election Disruption Fears post of two days ago

The Newsweek article has inspired dozens of articles on the topic, ranging from mild ambivalence to wild paranoia. But I should clarify my opinion on the matter. After receiving an email from Dave Stroup on the topic (and subsequently hearing the same thing from Rush Limbaugh when I got in my car -- the same station broadcasts Braves games, I swear!), I agreed with him that, while a contingency plan is worth the time, effort, and cost, it should not be our best-case scenario in case of an attack! Our primary goal should be to buffer ourselves from being forced to postpone the greatest symbol of our liberty (the free election).

That is, the Election Assistance Commission and the Department of Homeland Security should focus their efforts on ensuring that our election is run smoothly (well, as smoothly as would be normal) whether we are attacked or not. Even better, paranoid media alarmists should not upset the public consciousness with pessimistic fears of terrorist attacks.

USA Today finds Kerry/Edwards down by 15 percentage points in Edwards' home state; Bush/Cheney led 56% to 41% in a poll of North Carolina's "likely voters" that ran July 9-11. Will Republicans take North Carolina? But I already knew this would be the case.

MLB is reporting that the Expos could leave Montreal before the 2005 season; that would be quick construction work for the Expos' potential new home to build a new stadium! Leading contending locations to land the Expos are the Northern Virginia and Washington DC area, where the Expos would play at the Washington Senators' old RFK Stadium and a new park would be built for the 2007 or 2008 season. Other cities bidding for the Expos including Las Vegas; Portland, Oregon; Norfolk, Virginia; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Monterrey, Mexico.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig also says that "the Florida Marlins and Oakland Athletics need new ballparks to survive in their areas".

I told you I hoped Berkman would win, and he came close, but he ran out of steam in the final against Miguel Tejada. Tejada was definitely the surprise of the night, setting a record for the most home runs in any single round of a Home Run Derby with 15 in the second round, during which Berkman and Tejada eliminatated Bonds and Palmeiro.

It was a good derby, and I'm now I'm ready for the game! I hope Tejada doesn't follow the Garrett Anderson pattern by matching his Home Run Derby crown with the All-Star MVP award, because I'm really hoping the National League wins big tomorrow! I'm rooting hard for Johnny Estrada, the lone Brave...

The Home Run Derby participants and All-Star starting lineups have been announced. Ken Griffey Jr was scheduled to be a part of each, but a hamstring injury has spoiled the first (maybe only) chance in MLB history for four active 500-homer hitters to participate in the Home Run Derby. Even better, though, was that Griffey (with 501 home runs) was set to join Sammy Sosa (555) and Barry Bonds (681) in the NL outfield to form the first-ever outfield of nothing but 500-homer hitters. But, Griffey's out. Jason Giambi was also going to participate in the derby (though he shouldn't even be an All-Star this year), but he decided to rest Monday due to a minor illness. Griffey's and Giambi's replacements are listed fourth for their respective leagues:

I'll jump on the Barry Bonds bandwagon early. The man is the best baseball player on the planet, and if someone is throwing him pitches to hit, they'll be reaching the seats. It won't be fair for the other players, though I expect one or two players to surprise us and challenge him -- maybe Sammy Sosa, but I'm hoping Lance Berkman can energize the home crowd.

The sports media has overblown the Clemens/Piazza rivalry long enough. Tomorrow night we realize that Clemens and Piazza have been speaking the truth all along and that there is no rivalry; they're both just spirited players who let emotions ride a little high in a couple of tough situations.

Also, this is the second straight year Marcus Giles has missed a chance to start the All-Star game due to injury, and I think that hurts the NL team. Giles has earned the nickname "Spark Plug" for a reason; he ignites whatever lineup he's in. My prediction: barring injury, Giles starts the All-Star game next year, and the Braves announcers won't stop talking about how excited Giles is about it until the end of the year.

And by the way, I'm hoping the National League can win tomorrow night, but the potential of any All-Star game is much too volatile for any serious prediction. I just hope Johnny Estrada hits a double with a runner on second base!

House Majority Leader Tom Delay may be in trouble for potentially illegal and ethnically questionable finance maneuvers that may mean Republicans bought their legislative majority in Texas -- from Enron, even. It seems to be an extension of the Enron investigation that took a different turn when someone connected it to electoral politics. Delay is not currently a target of the investigation, although:

The prosecutor...is focused on the activities of political action committees linked to DeLay and the redistricting effort. But officials in the prosecutor's office say anyone involved in raising, collecting or spending the corporate money, who also knew of its intended use in Texas elections, is vulnerable.

Michaek Isikoff writes for the July 19 issue of Newsweek that the November election could be postponed if a badly timed terror attack became a reality. Antiterrorism officials cite "alarming" intelligence about al-Qaeda planning an attack on the US this fall. The Department of Homeland Security has accordingly asked the Department of Justice to consider the plausibility and legal issues of postponing the election should it be necessary. From the article:

DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission, ...noted that, while a primary election in New York on September 11, 2001, was quickly suspended by that state's Board of Elections after the attacks that morning, "the federal government has no agency that has the statutory authority to cancel and reschedule a federal election." Soaries...wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call.

Drastic as it may sound, I think it makes good sense to have the necessary legislation in place should such measures become necessary, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is taking the matter seriously.

Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man by David Hardy and Jason Clarke, The Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy by Mark Smith, and Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth. I just looked at them and I laughed, but then I figured they might actually be useful books.

A documentary on the bias of the Fox News Channel is scheduled for release very soon. But Drudge reports that Fox News is ready to fight back with "enough ammunition to nail both MSNBC and CNN" if either network "self-servingly hype[s] the film". It should be fun to watch this develop.

Significant news for the blogosphere: Dozens of bloggers have been accredited to cover the Democratic National Convention at the end of July. Accordingly, several bloggers will also be invited to cover the Republican National Convention at the end of August. It seems that the primary criteria for being awarded press credentials for either event is that your blog is updated frequently, covers national issues, and receives tons of visitors -- so I won't be going! In four years, maybe.

Tom Daschle claims he did not embrace Michael Moore at the premiere of Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 on July 23. "I know we senators all tend to look alike. But I arrived late, and I had to leave early for Senate votes. I didn't meet Mr. Moore," Daschle said. For once, I believe him, because as movie premieres and high-ranking Senators rarely mix, there would be pictorial proof of the embrace if it had happened. I don't believe Daschle is dumb enough to lie about something this simple.

I do, however, believe Moore is dumb enough not to know which Senators he's met despite the privilege that would be. The man's just slandering his way through life, and one day it will catch up to him...

Kerry says he would be a better president than Bush for fighting the war on terror, but he told Larry King that he doesn't have the time for it. Apparently Bush-bashing is a higher priority, because he has plenty of time for that. Kerry is proving to me that he isn't interested in being a good president; he's only interested in winning a popularity contest. He's doing it for himself, not you or me.

James Taranto says