Daily Archives: August 6, 2004

Everett hurt in Stros win

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Stros shortstop Adam Everett suffered a broken bone in his left wrist as the Stros beat the Expos 4-0 Friday night behind Roy O’s nifty five-hitter.
Everett was hit by a pitch from Claudio Vargas in the fourth inning that broke the ulnar bone. He will be sidelined for at least a month and, if he needs surgery, will be lost for the rest of season.
After having -13 RCAA/.700 OPS in 2003 (RCAA explained here), his first year as a starter, Everett is off to a .385 SLG, .317 OBA, .703 OPS, -13 RCAA start in his first 102 games. He has a .681 career OPS, compared to his league average of .774, and -34 RCAA in 279 games.
Consequently, although you will hear wailing from the Stros management and the mainstream media about what a huge loss Everett is to the club, the reality is much less dramatic. Everett is an above-average fielder and a below average fielder whose production can be replaced rather easily. Indeed, even though Viz does not field as well as Everett, he has hit much better than Everett this season, so playing him instead of Everett is about a wash in the big scheme of things.
Oswalt (12-8) struck out eight and walked one in hurling his second shutout of the season and the third of his career. Oswalt has now won four straight decisions overall and improved to a rather incredible 9-0 against the Expos in 13 career starts. Oswalt’s complete game was a timely tonic for the Stros’ bullpen, which sorely needed some rest after virtually every relief pitcher in sight was used during yesterday’s game against the Braves.
Bags and JK drove in two runs each for Houston, and Bags hit a solo homer in the second inning that tied him with Frank Thomas for 30th on the career home run list at 436. Lance Berkman made it a short night for Expos starter Rocky Biddle by nailing him with a vicious line drive that careened all the way back across the first-base line. Biddle left the game with a bruised ankle and relatively good fortune that his injury was not much worse. In other statistical news, Bidg was hit by a pitch for the 13th time this season and raised his career total to 255, the most by far among active National League players.
Andy Pettitte tries to coax a few innings out of his sore left elbow in the Saturday game of the series, and the Stros are preparing for a big crowd on Sunday as the Rocket goes for win number 13.

Excellent 2004 Election website

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I have been meaning to pass along the Electoral Vote Predictor 2004, which has one of the best interfaces that I have seen in analyzing the upcoming Presidential election. Check it out.

Houston’s charms

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Charles Kuffner over at Off the Kuff points us to an interesting website that allows people to write and read what they enjoy about Houston. Check it out.
My favorite: “Ridiculous to sublime. Rothko to Airline.”

More on tax simplification

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Bob Formaini is a Senior Economist and Public Policy Advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In this TCS Central column, Mr. Formaini addresses a fundamental absurdity of the income tax system in the United States:

You might be wondering why, this year, my return has become something that, as I gaze on its small novel length, reads as if it were written in some foreign language. It’s simple. My wife and I are dealing with the death of her mom and an inheritance that involves two trusts, dozens of stocks, and three limited partnerships. I can understand the W2s okay. But the heart of my return is completely alien to me. I have no idea what it says or whether it is accurate. We have placed our fate in the hands of a very competent tax accountant, but even though his name is on the return along with ours, I remain somewhat uneasy signing a document that I can’t understand.

Then, Mr. Formaini addresses the real heart of the matter:

There is something wrong with a tax code that requires so much paperwork, so many hours of preparation, so much frustration with the endless record keeping that the law demands. And that’s just for individuals. The burdens on business are staggering. Even so, our return no doubt is, for our accountant, a baby sort of thing. I doubt that he even worked up a mild sweat. Compared with the returns he does for a living — a living created by Congress and their inability to have a simple tax code and for which I certainly do not begrudge him — our return is probably a laugher. And yet, to a guy like me with four college degrees including a PhD, it might as well be written in Klingonese. I have become, along with most of my fellow citizens, just another helpless dunce who can’t deal with the complexities that our wonderful politicians yearly serve up.

Which leads Mr. Formaini to a very provocative thought regarding this ludricrous situation that we have allowed our leaders to place us in:

The upside, assuming there is one, of being a helpless dunce is that one can no longer be held responsible. Unless Congress, “simplifying the tax laws” once more, decides that the old legal doctrine of mens rea is no longer the standard for criminal behavior. If that happens, were all potentially in some very serious trouble.

Amen.

Braves down Stros

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The Stros ran out of relief pitchers as the Braves came back from a four run deficit to win the rubber game of the clubs? series, 6-5 at the Juice Box on Thursday evening.
Stros’ starter Darren Oliver was the latest Stro pitcher to get a hitch in this giddyup as he left after an inning with the seemingly ubiquitous ?stiff shoulder.? That prompted a parade of Stro relief pitchers, who actually pitched reasonably well with the exception of Gallo, who looked like he was throwing grapefruit to the appreciative Braves hitters. After Gallo gave up two runs and put another runner aboard, Weathers relieved him, Marrero cranked the longest yak he will ever hit on the first pitch, and Presto! The Braves had comeback from a 5-1 deficit and all Stros? fans had that old ?Uh, oh, here come the Braves? feeling again. The Braves pushed a run across in the top of the ninth against Miceli to nab the win.
Although the Stros scored five runs ? a monstrous total for them against the Braves ? most of the production was courtesy of the Braves ? they walked nine Stros? hitters. The Stros had just two extra base hits, including Beltran?s solo yak, and after the fifth inning when the Stros staked their 5-1 lead, the Stros managed just one hit off of four Braves relievers.
On a club that struggles to score runs as much as the Stros, it is inexplicable how management allowed Jimy Williams and now allows Phil Garner for the past two games to continue not to play Mike Lamb, the club?s fourth best hitter this season behind only Berkman, Beltran, and Bidg. Simply astounding.
Roy O takes his turn tonight in the first game of the weekend series against the Expos? Rocky Biddle, who has almost a 7.00 ERA. The Stros embark on a nine game roadie after the Expos series against the Mets, Expos, and Phillies.