Andrew Bailey = Houston Street?

Last year I would have said Bailey = Eckersley, who is the gold standard by which all A's closers are judged. Street is more like the aluminum standard. Last year Bailey was Eck-like in the way he just got batters out and let few runners get on base. After his rookie of the year performance, he seems to be a little off. He has two blown saves and lately his saves have approached Streetian, i.e. he comes in with a multiple run lead and gets a one run save or gets out of the inning, but puts the issue in doubt by allowing base runners. Maybe it is a sophomore slump and I hope he gets back to Eckersley like pitching.

Volcker Receives Honor from Stanford

Former Federal Reserve Chief, Paul Volcker, received an honor from the Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research last Tuesday for his efforts to stamp out inflation in the 1980's. He chided Americans for their consumption and lack of investment that creates good jobs. Frankly, Volcker has no one to blame but himself. The Fed's actions under his reign put the economy into a tailspin from which it has not recovered. The good jobs kept leaving since then to be replaced by poorly paying service jobs at the low end and financial services jobs at the high end. Volcker blamed those who took the latter jobs for the current mess. Although inflation was tough, it was the banks who were really under its yoke. Where there was about twelve percent inflation, many homeowners had six percent loans. While their wages probably did not keep up with inflation, the home payments became less and less of a monthly burden. The banks saw this as paying negative interest and this was the reason Volcker was tasked to stamp out inflation and destroy many small businesses and put many out of their homes through the loss of jobs.

Paul Volcker is an adviser to the Obama administration and along with Timothy Geithner, former head of the New York Fed, we now have a bunch of foxes patrolling the hen house.

Coco County: Beware the Falahat.

Recently commercials for Elle Falahat, who is running for District Attorney for Contra Costa County, show on cable TV. Mark Klass appears and supports Falahat as a member of the prosecution team of Richard Allen Davis, murderer of his daughter, Polly. I still have questions about this prosecution, although Davis is where he belongs on Death Row. I suspect that others should be there with him and the prosecution settles for the traditional, “Lone nut gunman.” In his 1995 book, WHO KILLED POLLY?, Frank Spiering reports that on the night of Polly's kidnapping there is another man talking to Davis on her back porch. Davis confesses to the crime and does not implicate anyone else. Some question why he takes the rap by himself. This may have been a prison gang operation where no snitching rules apply and if the prosecution decides that one person is taking the rap and offers no deal to Davis, he admits to another crime, conspiracy, by volunteering this information.

Spiering also discusses a possible motive for this and other kidnappings of young girls. Some are made sex slaves and sent to Saudi Arabia, where young, white virgins are in demand. In 2008 Liam Neeson makes a film, TAKEN, which tells the story of a former intelligence operative whose daughter and friend are the victims of such a kidnapping. Neeson's character finds the friend dead of an overdose. It happens that she is not a virgin and the kidnappers can not sell her. The daughter maintains her virtue and is sold to a wealthy Saudi. As in many movies, Neeson arrives in the nick of time to kill the rich Saudi and rescue his daughter after shooting up Paris. A thoroughly entertaining film. I suspect that Polly may be cast as the friend, not a virgin and not of use to the kidnappers.

The Forces of Darkness use the Polly Klass murder and conviction of Richard Allen Davis as a manipulation to help pass the, “Three Strikes Law.” Contra Costa County voters must carefully think about Elle Falahat and the depths to which she sinks in order to satisfy her ambition.

And the DH?

Late in yesterday's 7-6 win over Texas, Oakland Athletics Manager Bob Geren made an interesting move. He pinch hit for his left fielder and then pinch ran for designated hitter, Eric Chavez. When the team took the field in the bottom of the inning, Gabe Gross, who had pinch run for Chavez, entered in left field. This terminated the A's use of the DH for the remainder of the game. This was an interesting fine point to the game and I was looking forward to San Francisco Chronicle writer Susan Slusser's analysis of the situation and Geren's thinking. She barely mentioned the move and the strategy remained a mystery to me. Once again, I was disappointed by the efforts of the local media.

Gangs in Oakland?

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Oakland yesterday and toured a youth center. Holder said that it was important to be smart in the fight against crime and referred to an injunction in North Oakland against gang activity. Holder here acknowledged gang activity in Oakland. The local media have rarely mentioned any gangs by name. They told us about shootings and muggings and a variety of other crimes. We have not heard of the exact gang connections. Were there any prison gang connections? It looked as though there was no affiliation if the media were to be believed.

The History Channel presents the series GANGLAND, which shows many cities and the gangs extant. It is difficult to believe that organized crime does not operate in Oakland and the rest of the East Bay. The media must be more diligent and forth coming in their investigations and reporting.

Howard Stern vs. Amanda Peet

This week Howard Stern criticizes Amanda Peet for her lack of enthusiasm while promoting her new film on David Letterman's show. Howard feels that a producer takes an enormous financial risk and deserves better than what Amanda gives. Although, this may be true, not everyone is as comfortable with sales and promotion as is Howard, who says that he would sell gas to the Nazis if that is his business. I have not seen the movie nor any reviews, but it could be that this is not a good movie and Amanda Peet knows it. She takes an artistic risk by accepting the role. Maybe the film does not turn out as well as she thinks and she may be reticent to show too much enthusiasm, because she wants to maintain some level of credibility and integrity. I am not certain Howard understands this.

Who Sold Short?

That is the question regarding last week's precipitous, half hour loss in value of Dow Jones Index stocks. The media do not ask and it appears as though authorities are not considering it. There is evidence, in the past, of stock manipulations relating to events like the assassination of President Kennedy and the September 11th attacks. The securities of United and American Airlines sell short leading up to the assault on the twin towers. This gets some media attention, but not much follow up. There is also evidence of price manipulation of agricultural commodities on the day of JFK's death. The subsequent short selling nets hundreds of millions for unknown gangsters. It is obvious that some with wealth and power have advance knowledge of these events and profit. Authorities must investigate situations such as last week's and bring those responsible to justice.

Times Square Bomber

Some question the motivation of Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square Bomber. Today we learn that his home is in foreclosure. I guess that puts him in the same boat with millions of other Americans. I have to wonder if this is not part of his motive. An American citizen goes “Postal” over his financial situation. In any case, if he goes over the edge due to financial considerations or is a committed jihadist, I do not understand why he attacks the American people, because then ASS MUST BE KICKED. Would not it be better if these kooks attack the leadership? I do not mean members of the congressional and executive branches, they are just pawns. Why not attack the Corporate Scumbags who are behind all this misery. I do not mean kill them. That would be letting them off easy. They suffer more if they lose their ill gotten gains. With an MBA and BS in Computer Science, Mr. Shahzad certainly has the knowledge to do this and potentially become a hero ala John Dillinger. Instead, he departs from his expertise and endangers innocent people with the only outcome being dealing more misery around the world.

Lew Wolf Sucks

Yes, he does! In today's San Francisco Chronicle, John Shea's front page article details the Oakland Athletics attendance woes. Shea cites several reasons. First, is the team's managing general partner's public disparagement of its stadium. Second, there are those silly tarps on the third deck which limit attendance. In addition, A's President, Mike Crowley, says the economy and the A's recent performance do take their toll. Some suspect the team is sabotaging attendance in order to facilitate its move from Oakland. Lew Wolf whines that this is“...A bunch of crap.” Well, Boob Wolf, if you are not deliberately planning this, then you are incompetent, because your marketing approach is abysmal. I think the later is more of a condemnation than the former.

The tarping of the third deck is particularly galling. Some of the seats are pretty good and a reasonable price. The lack of these seats keeps me from some games. With the A's doing well a few years ago, I am certain they loose at least 200,000 in attendance due to the tarps. They can sell 50,000 against the Yankees, Red Sox and Giants and probably additional sales against the Angels with the former capacity.

Either Lew “Boob” Wolf is a grand conspirator or a lousy businessman. You decide.

Oakland Athletics and Injuries

The Oakland Athletics have been plagued with injuries for the past several years. I have had an intuitive sense that this is the case. It seems as though they have more players suffering injury than in the past. I have not been able to find historical data yet, but I was able to peruse the MLB.com injury (not disabled ) list for May 3. The A's lead all of baseball for players on this list. They have 11 on the list and the average for all teams is 4.2, with a standard deviation of 2.38. This puts Oakland at almost 3 standard deviations from the mean. I am trying to learn how to use my spreadsheet, so this is why I derived these figures.

Why are the Athletics so oft injured? Several reasons come to mind. They have signed some older players for cheap because they are returning from injury, too much head first sliding and poor conditioning. The older players I can see as they may be worth a shot. Coco Crisp is out with a broken finger from sliding. I think players would do better to slide the old fashioned way and minimize the threat to their hands, although Rickey Henderson knew how to slide this way and was not hurt too often. Sometimes, I see these fools trying a headfirst slide into home with the catcher blocking the plate. They are an injury waiting to happen. Conditioning is the main culprit. In the old days, players got and stayed in condition by throwing and running. Today, the emphasis is on other activities, like weight lifting and riding the stationary bike. I suspect they are still using as yet unknown steroids. A high school coach told our team not to lift weights because it makes one too tight. Maybe some weight lifting is OK, but I think the Athletics need to get back to the old school and keep their team healthy.