As anyone who follows things which matter would already know -- the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the LA Dodgers in game 1 of the NLCS. Normally, because this is baseball, it might not matter too much. But, as we all know, because it involves the Phillies in particular, it carries a weighted importance.
Good things
As they did throughout the whole Brewers series, The phils won through solid pitching and one explosive inning. I like to compare this to the winning strategy of the Ravens team that won the Super Bowl in the early part of the decade, winning each playoff game with solid defense and one breakout offensive play. When the pitching is on, the pitching is on. Cole Hamels will emerge from this playoffs, regardless of how the team does the rest of the way, as one of the elite pitchers in MLB, if he isn't on some of these lists already. Lidge still has yet to blow a save, and was quite impressive today, only having a one run lead to hold (=no margin for error). And for the offense, well, they capitalize on mistakes. They were dynamic in their totality during the course of the season, but as long as they're scoring more runs than the opposition now, I really can't complain with how it gets done.
Bad things
Manny, while being pitched to well, I thought at least, still went 2-4, an RBI double (which was only a few feet from being a 2RBI homer) being one of the hits. The idiot announcers made a big stink about pitching to him from the full windup (with no runners on base) as opposed to the short stretch. Statistically, they were wrong. Manny went 1-2 in both cases. While that one double was ultimately more devastating with the runner on 2 than the bases empty single doesn't change the fact that he batted .500, regardless of a baserunning presence. I tried to find Kalas on the radio (if you are unfamiliar with the Phillies, you may recognize his voice from various sports highlight reels, specifically NFL Films, or the Puppy Bowl). While I mentioned the runs scored as a positive earlier. Now I shall list them as a downside. The Phillies have had only a handful of scoring innings thus far in the postseason. I want to say the number is 5 from 4 games with the Brewers, and now 1 more from the game with the Dodgers. I think it's a great credit to the baserunning ability of the team that they can explode on an inning like that (even Hamels has a run) they need more consistent bats. Ryan Howard, while impressive so far as long as the pitcher facing him has showed fear, has hardly hit the ball. He has a lot of walks, but he also has a really low batting average. This needs to change. Oddly, one of the most conistent bats I've seen this post-season has been that of defensive cather Carlos Ruiz.
Now to switch gears to politics
I hate spin, especially when it is pushed through in campaigns by the committees of those running themselves.
There is no evidence that Barrack Obama is a terrorist, and to say his middle name (Hussein) has a terrorist tie to it, is simply racist. The man people say is his "terrorist" connection is Bill Ayers. He was part of the radical 60s/70s group "the weathermen." They were a military group, and had arms. However, since then, Ayers has become a supporter of the Chicago community, specifically with education, rather than trying to tear down the government and get after the man. While he would have certainly classified as a terrorist, it is not the Middle Eastern type of terrorist that they are clearly trying to draw ties with by calling Obama's middle name. He would have been more like the Tim McVey/Ted Kasinsky type of terrorist, except in a manner much more like that of the Black Panthers.
This all goes in addition to saying that his association with this man is weak at best. As far as I can tell, they have been honored in the same breath by the mayor of Chicago, little more than that.
Which brings me to another point. If you want to attack him in that sort of manner, attack his political origins. Chicago is the final remaining political machine in America (the Cook County Democratic Party). While it is getting weaker, this machine has been an extremely potent force up until the 70s/80s. It still has an extremely strong presence in Cook County. If you want to be elected to anything needing votes in Chicago, you still have to go through the machine. Why doesn't anyone bring that up.
John McCain has had numerous shady liasons throughout his professional carreer since leaving the military. One of which being Keating, I haven't really heard much about that, but that was also 20 years ago. He also used to be a part of several groups dedicated to aggresively arming people against Communism, regardless of the alternative. With how big of an enemy the Soviet Union was at the time, that in and of itself isn't that alarming, but he seems willing to tackle the enemies of "freedom", most likely "terrorists" with the same fervor he did the Commies. The liason itself here isn't extremely troubling, its the reason he had them that troubles me. Yes, he has foreign policy experience, but there's good experience and bad experience, and I don't think he has enough of the former.
Palin probably has the most dubious of all these connections. In addition to her Priest being probably more radical than Obama's Rev. Wright (he doesn't really like witches, and he still calls himself christian), her family used to be a big player in Alaskan Independence Party. Her husband was an official member for almost a decade, and her speach was characterized by some to echoe the party's founder. The founder, should be noted, was never seen without his magnum pistol, and actually was gunned down by the Feds for treasonous activities. With all of this talk about what is "American" and who is "un-American", I can't help but think there is nothing more un-American than treason. I think it's actually part of the definition.
I'm still unsure about who to vote for in this election, but I can't bring myself to vote for this Republican ticket.
--Knuttel
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