Daily Archives: September 29, 2004

Stros take Wild Card playoff lead

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Bags singled in the go ahead run and Berkman doubled in Bags with the insurance run in the seventh inning as the Stros beat the Cards 6-4 on Wednesday night at a rollicking Juice Box. The win completed an unlikely Stros sweep of the Cards, who sport the best record in Major League Baseball. The Stros have now won a record 15 straight at the Juice Box and are 33-10 over the past month and a half. What a ride it’s been!
With the Cubs blowing another one on Wednesday afternoon to the Reds and the Giants losing to the Padres late Wednesday, the Stros have now moved into sole possession of the lead for the Wild Card playoff berth, a half game ahead of both the Cubs and the Giants. The Cubs play the Reds and the Giants play the Pads again on Thursday, which is an off day for the Stros, so the worst shape that the Stros will begin play on Friday is that they will be tied for the Wild Card lead.
The Rocket gave yet another remarkable performance, going six innings and giving up 4 runs on 4 hits while striking out 8 and walking only one. The big blow was Scott Rolen‘s two out, two run yak in the sixth after Clemens thought that he had struck out the hitter before Rolen (that hitter eventually walked). Clemens had some choice words for the home plate umpire as he walked off the field at the end of the sixth.
Qualls, Miceli, and Lidge were again money for the Stros in relief, although the entire Juice Box crowd audibly gasped when Mabry toyed with a game tying yak while flying out deep to right with one on to end the game. When Berkman caught Mabry’s fly, I couldn’t tell whether the resulting Juice Box roar was one of joy or relief. The Stros hitters also battled gamely against tought Cards starter Suppan and managed 9 hits, including a two run Ensberg yak and Kent‘s solo shot.
The Stros have a well deserved day off on Thursday before the Rockies come in for the final weekend series of the season. Pete Munro and the rest of the bullpen pitches in the Friday game, Roy O comes back for the Saturday game, and then I would not be surprised if Clemens comes back on three days rest to pitch on Sunday if the Stros still have a chance. The upcoming weekend is shaping up to be a wild one, something that I had discounted as recently as a few days ago. I am thoroughly enjoying being wrong on that one!

Enron prosecutors pursue extradition of English bankers under U.K. terrorism law

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Three former Natwest Bank bankers appeared in a London court yesterday to fight extradition to the United States, where they are facing fraud charges in connection with a deal with Enron Corp.
Natwest bankers David Bermingham, Giles Darby and Gary Mulgrew, are accused of conspiring with Enron’s former CFO, Andrew Fastow and his colleague Michael Kopper, to fleece their employer, Natwest Bank, of around 4 million pounds, which equates to about $7.3 million. The three face extradition to stand trial in Houston on seven counts of wire fraud and illegally gaining money via international banking systems. Messrs. Fastow and Kopper have already admitted involvement in the alleged scheme as part of a plea bargain.
Interestingly, none of the British bankers have have ever been charged with a criminal offense in England. In fact, Natwest Bank is still lending the defendants money to cover their legal defense costs. The defendants contend that they will not receive a fair trail in Texas in the aftermath of the Enron scandal, which is likely true given the adverse publicity regarding Enron that the Government has promoted throughout the Enron investigation.
The Government claims that the bankers conspired with Messrs. Fastow, Kopper and other senior Enron executives in 2000 to sell a stake in a Cayman Island company for $1 million when the true value was much higher. A month later, the company was re-sold and the trio each made a large profit while Messrs. Fastow and Kopper pocketed $12 million each.
Remarkably, if the three are extradited, they could face an extended period of time in a U.S. federal penitentiary before their case gets to court because, as foreign citizens, they could be held without bail until trial. The controversial three-day extradition hearing in London is the first under the new British Extradition Act, which was promoted by British politician David Blunkett to trap suspected terrorists.
Meanwhile, as the Government continues prosecution of its flimsy case in the Nigerian Barge case in Houston federal court, this Wall Street Journal ($) article reports that the Enron Task Force has elected not to pursue criminal charges against Citigroup executives in regard to an Enron-Citigroup transaction that was much larger and strikingly similar to the Nigerian Barge transaction that prompted the Government to indict four former Merrill Lynch executives and two mid-level former Enron executives.
The lack of any meaningful prosecutorial discretion of the Bush Administration’s Justice Department in regard to the prosecution of alleged business crimes continues to be highly troubling. Is this what the Republican Party suggests is a “business-friendly” administration?