Standings as of end of play June 30, 2014, three months into the season and almost exactly half-way.  Most teams have played 81 to 82 games.

The Monarchs lead remains solid at 306.50.  There are some really tight bunches throughout.  Less than 100 points separate teams nine through twelve.  Looks like the Blues will be battling with the Bears, Senators and Skipjacks for supremacy of the bottom quarter, all season long.

Top Ten Batters

The first place Monarchs also have numbers twelve and thirteen, Michael Brantly and Jose Altruve; so Monarchs have four of the top thirteen hitters.

The Blues have to go all the way to the 39th batter to find a member on the list.   Do we need any further explanation as to the season of the Blues?

I have had the opportunity to draft McCutcheon the last two years in the first round and for reasons I cannot possibly explain, I have passed.  What a moron.

Top Ten Pitchers

Scott Kazmir?  Really?  The Tigers are flourishing with last year’s Blue staff, Hernandez and Darvish.

Soccer

As I write this I am watching the World Cup, U.S. v. Belgium.  Hey, Drews I am trying.  Still not sure I get it.  It is okay, some occasional excitement/tension.  I admire the athleticism of the players.  Can’t stand the flopping.  I have watched all or part of six or seven World Cup matches.  I would rank it ahead of watching tennis.  Not sure why this younger generation is so captivated by the sport; probably because they actually played it, even if it was in third grade.  Bottom line, I spend too much time watching sports.  I really do not need to spend more of my time watching sports on TV.  Especially a game that may end 0 – 0.

McBlunder’s Summer Reading List

1.     The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson.  

The third of the Liberation Trilogy, a fabulous history of World War II.  This one is about the European campaign.  The first two volumes covered the African and Italian campaigns, portions of the war I knew very little about.  The history is fascinating, the strategy, the U.S. war machine, the heroism.  But what continues to impress me is the numbers; the numbers of dead men.  Page after page, battle after battle, the numbers are both staggering and mind-numbing.  A thousand here, 5,000 there.  Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of young men who will never grow old.  Something to always keep in mind.

2.      Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz

An Ernst recommendation.  Very good and eye-opening how the Civil War has never really ended in the South.

3.      Feast of Crows by George R.R. Martin

Volume four of the Game of Thrones series.  Love the HBO show.  Love the books more.  Long as hell though.  The story has to end sometime.  No end in sight, though.

What is in a Name?

The Blues are now the proud owner of starting pitcher Odrisomer Despaigne.  What were his parents thinking?

Also on my reading list this summer are Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dabner.  Interesting studies of unique issues in society and economics from a very left field sort of way.  A must read for all.  (You probably have already.)

In Freakonomics, there is a chapter:  “Would a Roshonda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?”, a study of the impact on life success for people with various names, including the New York brothers named Winner and Loser by their parents (Winner did not succeed, but Loser did), and a study of the success of the top “whitest” names (Molly, Amy, Claire, Jake, Connor, Tanner, etc.), and the top “blackest” names (Imani, Ebony, Shanice, DeShawn, DeAndre, Marquis, etc.) of the 1990’s. 

A fascinating read, which ultimately concludes that an overwhelming number of parents use a name to signal the parents’ own expectations of how successful their child will be, but the name isn’t likely to make any real difference.

But we can hope that Odrisomer Despaigne can make a difference for the Blues.

Brilliant Managing Moves.

I enjoyed Itchie’s recent post on the message board concerning the excitement of seeing your player up for a double header; then the joy of seeing him go 0 for 9.  I recently had a similar experience, with Matt Joyce.  Doubleheader: Big O-f’er.  So I then demoted him to the bench.  The next day he proceeded to have a career day, 5-6, 2 homers 6 driven in for a whopping 25 points on the bench.  I am last in the league in transactions for similar reasons; it seems every time I try to out think things, it back-fires.  My brilliant managing moves always result in points for the bench.  On the same day I demoted Joyce, I decided that I was bumping up against innings, so I decided to leave one of my starters on the bench. I decided to go with Colon over Gibson.  (It is truly amazing how good a season the old fat boy is having.)  Sure enough Colon gets hit a little, resulting in zero points, but Gibson pitches a gem for 28 points on the bench. Oh well, that’s the joy of the game.

Okay, that’s it for now.  Very little brilliance imparted and not nearly the hilarity of the Curbside Chronicle.  Mitch, that was a gut buster.

All is right in McBlunder’s world.  Married life: grand.  Danielle coming off the time of her life traveling Europe during her semester studying in Italy.  Deb and I truly enjoyed our two weeks meeting up with her in Tuscany, Corsica and Paris.  A.J. finished his Master’s in Accounting at K.U. and is studying for and taking the CPA exams this summer with a scheduled career start at Grant Thornton in mid-August.  Almost off the payroll.

Hope all is well with you all amidst another season of competition and fellowship.  I enjoy it so much and know you do as well.  Where have all the years gone?

Hope to see you all soon.  Making contact with Tee for some deep sea fishing leaving from Tampa, summer of 2015.  Who’s in?

McBlunder