The 10 Man Rotation
Major League Baseball is soon going to come to a point where each team will schedule two pitchers to pitch in a game. With starting pitchers going fewer and fewer innings, the game is headed to a point where teams will need one pitcher to pitch the first four innings and a second pitcher to pitch the next four innings, leaving the remaining inning for a closer or one of the two pitchers if they are pitching well. The pitchers for a Mets game may be announced as Johan Santana and Tim Redding. Santana will pitch innings 1-4 (maybe 5) and Redding pitches the next 4 innings. Bullpens will still be needed to close games and in case one of the two pitchers can’t even get through 4 innings.
The roster issues will work themselves out, either by expanding or simply rotating the second pitchers to the minors on the days they are not pitching (they wouldn’t actually go to the minors, it would just be a technicality to fit 5 extra pitchers on the rosters).
There are numerous reasons why this type of 10 man rotation seems more and more like a real possibility, and I neither attempt to list or explain the reasons here. Rather I simply mean to observe and speculate about the direction the game of baseball is headed.
Book review: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Many of the movies, tv shows, and music that I consider to be the best were experienced when I was 18 years old or younger. I cannot say the same for the best books I have ever read. With the exception of Dune, the best books I have ever read were all read in the past four years. Add The Pillars of the Earth to that list.
I am aware that Oprah Winfrey picked The Pillars of the Earth as her November 2007 book club selection, but I first heard about this book during the marketing campaign for Ken Follett’s follow-up to The Pillars of the Earth, called World Without End released on October 2007, and bought The Pillars of the Earth at that time. I enjoy reading fiction that uses medieval England as its setting, whether it be historical fiction or through the guise of fantasy, as in A Game of Thrones or The Eye of the World. So based on what I had heard about The Pillars of the Earth I thought it would be the type of book I would enjoy. That thought turned out to be correct.
The setting of The Pillars of the Earth is probably the aspect of the book that distinguishes this book as instantly becoming a favorite of mine. The way the author weaves the important historical events of 12th century England into the story of the fictional town of Kingsbridge is quite ingenious, even if these events play only a small role in the novel. Descriptions of daily life in these times as well as the relevant information about the architectural knowledge of the time add to the flavor and enjoyment of the novel.
The more fiction I read the more amazed I am at the ability of some authors to write long and detailed novels without wasting a single word. The words in the pages of this novel flow as if there were no doubt that they were meant to be. There is never a point in the 980 pages where the book drags, nor is there a point where the reader stops caring about the characters. These characters are yet another reason this book is so special. Even though there are clear antagonists and protagonists in the story, all of the characters have flaws and make what could be seen as bad decisions at some point throughout the story. Over the span of the approximately 40 years that the book covers, the reader sees characters grow up from childhood, others mature in adulthood, and some die.
The only minor aspects that I can find fault with may be the predictability of a small percentage of the plot points, and (without giving too much away) how the inevitable fate of one of the characters comes about.
After reading The Pillars of the Earth I can say it easily stands as one of the top 10 books I have ever read and maybe even near the top 5.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10.
Bank Stress Tests
Here’s what I don’t understand about the recent bank “stress tests” performed by the Federal Reserve: if the Fed believes that banks need to have more capital, why doesn’t the Fed simply raise the reserve requirement? Wikipedia defines the reserve requirement as “the minimum reserves each bank must hold to customer deposits and notes. …As of 2006 the required reserve ratio in the United States was 10%.” This means that for every $100 a bank receives in deposits, it can lend out $90 of that deposit. The Federal Reserve sets the reserve requirement for banks in the Unites States, so if the Fed feels banks don’t have enough reserves on hand to meet future needs, just raise the reserve requirement.
In reality, I do understand the political reasons why the Fed does not raise the reserve requirement (raising the reserve requirement causes a contraction of the money supply), but somehow the current thinking at the Fed these days seems to want banks to have their cake and eat it to. They want to have the economy have as much money supply growth as possible (through historically low interest rates and keeping the reserve requirement stable) but still wants banks to have more excess reserves. You can’t have it both ways.
Book review: The Code by Ross Bernstein
The Code: Baseball’s Unwritten Rules and It’s Ignore-at-Your-Own-Risk Code of Conduct by Ross Bernstein puts in writing the unwritten rules of baseball. Baseball’s unwritten rules, or “code”, is a subject that I find interesting for several reasons. I think that knowing what the unwritten rules of the game gives the ordinary fan a glimpse into the world and mind of the game as experienced by the players, and goes beyond what is experienced from television or from in the stands. Another interesting aspect about unwritten rules is that if they are unwritten how does anyone know what they are and how does anyone agree on them?
The Code could have included more about the history and evolution of these unwritten rules including the changes and debates around which of these are still valid in today’s game. Instead the author chooses to base most of his book on interviews gathered from former players from the 1970s who have a very “old school” attitude towards the code. It ends up making the book seem like various rumblings of grumpy old men complaining about “kids these days” and “in my day, we wouldn’t have let anyone get away with that kind of stuff.”
Much of the code is about retaliation, specifically when and how a pitcher intentionally hits a batter with a pitch. The books makes it seem as if pitchers are constantly beaning hitters and it is just “part of the game.” My opinions regarding much of the code differ from the old school attitudes presented in the book. I think that players should be less concerned about retaliation after being “shown up” and should be more concerned with their own performance. The book also never discusses the limits of retaliation. There has to be unwritten limits on how often retaliation can occur. If every pitcher beaned every batter who had hit a home run off them, those hitter’s on base percentage would be even higher as a result of all those hit by pitches.
Another concept related to the above is that pitchers have to hit batters to “protect their teammates.” How in the world are you protecting your teammates by retaliating? I would argue that pitchers are in fact hurting their teammates by retaliating for perceived violations of the code. If a pitcher beans an opposing hitter as retaliation, then that hitter’s team may feel as if they need to retaliate. If you hit me then I hit you then you hit me back: where does it end? In baseball, it ends when the umpires and the league steps in to eject, fine, and suspend the players involved, which I believe is the correct course of action. Most of the old schoolers disagree with this and think that cowboy justice should be handled by the players themselves and that the league and the umpires shouldn’t get in the way.
I was hoping that The Code would have included more of a debate or dialog about the various interpretations of the unwritten rules as they are in today’s game. But instead the purpose of The Code comes across as the author’s way of meeting and interviewing many of the player’s he admires.
Rating: 4 out of 10.
One space after a period
The punctuation police are out in full force. It is my civic duty to report those of you who type on computers as if they were typewriters. Yes, I learned how to type on a typewriter and was taught that you should put two spaces after a period. That rule no longer applies with fractional width fonts on computers. Typing two spaces after a period on a computer adds too much space after the period. Those two spaces stick out like sore thumbs. There are lots of sources that confirm this, including the Chicago Manual of Style. So break out of your old habit and let go of that itchy trigger thumb on the space bar.
Ronaldo
Not Ronaldo who contributed to 2 World Cup wins for Brazil, but rather Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal, who plays for Manchester United. If you haven’t been paying attention to European soccer over the past two years, you’ve missed some brilliant performances from Cristiano Ronaldo. While he did get off to a slow start this season amidst rumors of his displeasure at United and his desire for a move to Real Madrid, Ronaldo returned to form and has only gotten better as the season progressed. That progression was capped off by tonight’s performance in a 3-1 victory over Arsenal that saw United advance to the Champions League final. Ronaldo was all over the pitch and always in the center of the action in addition to scoring on a rocket of a free kick.
If you haven’t had the chance to see Ronaldo yet, set your DVR to ESPN on May 27 for the final of what has become one of the world’s best sporting events, the Champions League.
Music review: Ghost Reveries by Opeth
When I was 14-15 years old, I listed to Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. When I was 16-17 years old, I listened to Metallica. When I was 18-21, I listened to Pink Floyd. When I was 22-26, I listened to King Crimson. Opeth is the natural progression of all of the above bands. It just took me 10 years to find the next step in that progression.
Ghost Reveries opens with the song “Ghosts of Perdition” starting with a few soft chords then busts in to the guttural vocals similar to how many modern heavy metal bands sound. But Ghost Reveries separates itself from the pack of modern metal by being much more than just heavy metal: it’s progressive metal. For someone who grew up listening to heavy metal and then evolved into listening to prog rock, Opeth combines the best of both worlds. There are four songs on Ghost Reveries that are over 10 minutes long, and the entire album ebbs and flows with contrasts between different rock styles. The overall mood and feel that the album creates is much more complex and interesting anything I’ve listened to in years.
A couple of the (relatively) shorter songs are more prog than metal, such as “Atonement” which sounds like it could be a remake of “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” from Pink Floyd’s Saucerful of Secrets. “Hours of Wealth” could have fit right in between “Book of Saturday” and “Exiles” on King Crimson’s Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. Most of the other songs play the contrast between soft and loud, heavy and light, distorted and clean guitars, and screaming and singing quite well. The album closes on a soft note, with “Isolation Years” showing that there can be much more to heavy metal than simply screaming vocals and distorted guitars.
Rating: 9 out of 10.
