Daily Archives: October 6, 2004

Stros cruise by Braves

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The Stros glided into Atlanta and easily took the first game of their National League Divisional Series with the Braves 9-3 behind Lance Berkman, Carlos Beltran, Jason Lane, and Brad Ausmus‘ yaks and the gutty pitching performance of Roger Clemens.
The Stros won this one with a solid hitting display as they cranked out nine hits in addition to the four above-mentioned taters, including run scoring doubles by Bags and JK. A four run uprising in the third and then three more runs in the fifth put this one away.
Unfortunately, the Stros’ strong hitting display prompted Braves reliever Juan Cruz to nail Beltran in the ribs with a pitch in the seventh, and Lane replaced Beltran in the field for the final two innings. Post-game x-rays on Beltran’s ribs were negative, but the contusion restricted the his arm’s range of motion, so it is unclear whether he will be able to play in today’s game. If Beltran cannot play today, Lane would replace him in the lineup.
Inasmuch as Cruz clearly was throwing at Beltran on purpose (although the umps did not issue any warnings), the bottom half of the frame provided one of the comic moments of the season. With two outs and nobody on, the Braves’ centerfielder Andruw Jones came to the plate against Clemens, who is notorious for being “old school” with regard to retribution for one of his teammates being hit by a pitch on purpose. Inasmuch as Jones is the Braves’ centerfielder and Beltran is the Stros’ centerfield, there is logic in a baseball sense for Clemens to throw at Jones in response to Cruz throwing at Beltran.
At any rate, Clemens worked the count to two strikes against a very antsy Jones. Clemens then started a two strike curveball at Jones that broke over the plate but in the dirt. Jones took the worst swing at the pitch that I’ve seen since I coached my last T-Ball game in striking out, and looked like the most relieved person in the ballpark as he tossed his bat, grabbed his glove and retreated to the relative safety of centerfield.
According to the ESPN reporter near the Stros’ dugout, Clemens’ directive to his teammates as he left the dugout for the clubhouse after finishing seven innings: “Keep kickin’ their ass.”
Clemens showed the effects of the stomach virus that knocked him out of the final game of the regular season. He walked six, which is the most he has given up in a game in over five years. However, Clemens was the quintessential gamer, stranding nine Braves runners in the first four innings. The Rocket lasted seven innings, throwing 117 pitches while giving up two earned runs and striking out seven.
The Stros now hand the ball to Roy O in Game 2 against former Stro Mike Hampton, who has been an average National League pitcher this season. However, Hampton is a gamer just like Clemens and Oswalt, so do not expect another easy game like today’s. But it sure would be nice to steal two games in Atlanta before the series returns to the Juice Box on Saturday afternoon.

More trouble in one of John Moores’ California investments

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The Justice Department announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury has indicted eight former Peregrine Systems Inc. executives with taking part in a massive conspiracy that inflated the company’s revenue by more than $500 million over several years. Peregrine is in the business of developing software to track corporate assets.
Former Houstonian John Moores — who founded Houston-based BMC Software, has been a major philanthrapist for the University of Houston and is currently the owner of the San Diego Padres Baseball Club — is the former chairman of the board of Peregrine. Dozens of shareholder lawsuits filed over the past several years allege that Mr. Moores and his entities sold over 14 million Peregrine shares worth $630 million from 1999 to 2001 during a time in which Peregrine’s financial reports were being falsified. Mr. Moores denies any knowledge of the falsity of Peregrine’s financial statements and has never been charged criminally in regard to Peregrine or any other venture.
The indictment charged former Peregrine CEO Stephen Gardner and former President and COO Gary Lenz, and other executives involved in sales, finance and accounting at the company. The indictment also charged a former Arthur Andersen LLP audit partner, who oversaw Peregrine’s bookkeeping. Messrs. Gardner and Lenz, and four other executives also face related civil fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Peregrine filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002 after announcing an internal probe of its accounting. It later restated financial results for 11 quarters from 2000 through 2002 in which it reduced its previously reported revenue of $1.3 billion by over a half a billion dollars. Peregrine had reported 17 consecutive quarters of rising earnings from 1997 through 2002, and its stock price reached nearly $80 in March, 2002. The plaintiffs in the civil lawsuits against Mr. Moores and others — and now the Justice Department — are taking the position that those results were the result of the Peregrine executives’ cooking of the company’s books.
In the meantime, a former Peregrine sales executive on Wednesday agreed to plead guilty to charges of obstructing justice and will join several others who are cooperating in the government’s ongoing investigation of the company. Moreover, Peregrine’s former chief financial officer previously pled guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud charges, and two other former Peregrine executives also pled guilty to conspiracy charges.

Akin, Gump sued for Pizza Inn golden parachutes

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Colony, Texas-based Pizza Inn Inc. has sued Dallas-based Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP — the company’s former law firm — for $7.4 million in damages alleging that the firm breached its duties to the company when it wrote “golden parachute” severance package agreements for four senior Pizza Inn executives. The lawsuit alleges that the potential payout under the golden parachute agreements was more than twice Pizza Inn’s 2003 net income of $3.1 million and that the firm’s legal services benefited the executives, but not Pizza Inn.
The lawsuit is the latest crossfire in a fight for control of Pizza Inn, of which Dallas-based Newcastle Partners LP owns 32.5 percent. In February, company shareholders approved a plan that gave Pizza Inn board control to Newcastle, including replacing the Pizza Inn chairman with Newcastle’s sole general partner and adding the Newcastle president and two other Newcastle backed members to the board. That development coincided with a Thompson & Knight LLP opinion to the board that that adding the Newcastle-backed board members to the Pizza Inn board did not constitute a change in control. A month later, one of the Pizza Inn executives resigned and sought a $605,882 severance payment under his golden parachute agreement. The other three other Pizza Inn executives with similar severance deals still work at the firm.

DuPont Photomask acquired

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Japanese technology and printing company Toppan Printing Co. announced on Tuesday that it will acquire Round Rock, Texas-based DuPont Photomasks Inc. for about $650 million. The deal will create the world’s largest maker of photomasks, which are like stencils that are used to etch circuits onto silicon and, thus, are key components in semiconductor production. The transaction is expected to close in early 2005.
Under the deal, DuPont Photomasks shareholders will receive $27 a share. After the completion of the deal, the U.S. company will become a wholly owned Toppan unit named Toppan Photomasks Inc. DuPont Co., which is DuPont Photomasks’ largest shareholder with about a 20% stake, has agreed to the deal.