In response to the massive influx of reader inquiries (1), I thought I'd provide some follow-up info regarding illegal bats.

The very short answer is that we play under NSA rules, and the bat must be on the NSA list of approved bats before it can be used.

The longer answer is that our opponents were using a composite bat. Composite bats are either made of a graphite-fiber composite material or have an aluminum core with graphite lining. They are lighter than aluminum and have larger barrels and bigger sweet spots.

Wednesday pre-game, our opponents conferred with us to find out if a certain bat was legal. It was.

Then they never used it. Apparently, they thought they were being slick. All 10 batters were using the same bat (always a tip-off), and it wasn't the one they asked about. And the balls jumped hard off the bat no matter how ugly the swings.

I'm familiar with how much those bats can improve bad swings because we can use them at St. Helen's and the difference is obvious. I've split outfielders on line-drives with a composite bat with the same swing that usually results in a looping liner over the infield.

I've also played enough to recognize it when a batter is getting results that are much better than his form.

The umpires do not carry an approved bat list, though they should. They don't know it by heart because there are hundreds of bats on it. As a result, they just okay anything that doesn't say 'composite' on it. That's a problem because bat manufacturers know they sell more if it doesn't say it.

I'm going to print an approved bat list and keep it in my bag from now on.

Another win Tuesday, and our first loss on Wednesday-against a group of young, hard hitters who were using an illegal bat. We griped, but the umpire was clueless. Down 12-1 early, we lost 14-12 (the last out coming with 2 men on in the bottom of the 7th.

I think we'll handle them next time. We were caught off-guard.

As promised (5 weeks ago)...

...my softball schedule for Mom and Dad.

Tuesdays:
5/26= 6:15
6/2 = 8:05
6/9 = 7:10
6/16= 7:10
6/23= 8:05
6/30= 9:00
7/7 = 6:15 and 7:10
7/14= 6:15 and 8:05
7/21= 9:00

Wednesdays:
5/27- 8:15
6/3 - 8:15
6/10- 6:15
6/17- 7:15
6/24- 9:15
7/1 - 9:15
7/8 - 6:15
7/15- 8:15
7/22- 6:15

Gosh, I hope no burglars read this blog and know where I live.

Memorial Day Weekend This and That

Just to catch up...

I like Memorial Day. I'm moved by the commemorations. A 3-day weekend is always nice, but the holiday itself seems important to me.
Of course, I also like Labor Day, and for the same reasons. Sorry if that confuses my Republican readers.
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I PAID to go to the Bats' game tonight. I wish I knew someone important who worked there.
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Softball: We won 16-3 Wednesday. From what I've observed, we are the by far the best team in both leagues. I hope that's accurate, because as one of the 3 board members responsible for the lineup, I've just about decided we can be quite free with playing time and still be successful. And that would make my job a lot easier.

I'm happy with the lineup tinkering our all-new board had done so far. The batting order has been easy. Everybody but me is hitting great.
Defensively, we've moved two or three people around. They are all performing well and seem happy. I think those two facts are not unrelated. They seem to like being where they are on the field.

That all makes me less upset about my own hitting, too.

A couple of years ago I reviewed approximately three years' worth of stats and noted that I basically hit better when the rest of the team was hitting poorly. My batting average was noticeably higher when we scored fewer than 10 runs. So I sincerely hope I have very few reasons to hit well this year.
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I don't think *God wants me to fix my golf swing. 99% of today was beautiful and sunny. Around 3:30 I decided to hit some balls. I left home at 3:40 and caught a downpour that lasted about 20 minutes- exactly as long as it took for me to get involved in something else.
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Two weeks ago I finished a book 2 hours before bed-time. When I went to bed I wanted to read something for 20 minutes or so before I turned out the light. That wasn't enough time to get involved in something new, so I picked up the first Harry Potter book. I've now zoomed through the first 4 again and just started the 5th.

I'm sure I'll finish all seven before I start something new. And then I'm storing the Potter series in a closet so I'm not tempted again.

I'm not a huge fan of Rowling's craftsmanship. Every quote comes with an adverb. Hermione 'beams' way too often, and all the action is entirely too dependent upon vague adjectives (astounding, wonderful, incredible, and such). The story, however, is astoundingly (oops) good. I extend hearty, jealous kudos to Ms. Rowling for that.



*Brian, I haven't abandoned my atheism. I'm still an athiestic zealot, if that isn't a contradiction. Feel free to substitute "Ben Hogan" for "God" if it makes you more comfortable.

Preakness Prediction

*1st- this week's softball for my entourage: 7:10 Tuesday, 9:15 Wednesday.

And on to the racing..

After a fun family meal at the Comeback Inn, and with my belly full of puttanesca, I have just enough energy to sit in the recliner and make a Preakness pick.

My top pick is Pioneerof the Nile.

I'm going to do what I should have done in the Derby: Pioneerof the Nile across the board, and in an exacta box with 'all'.

Rachel Alexandra looks like a great horse, but she has a lot to prove at her likely odds of less than 2-1. Winning by 20 sloppy lengths in the Oaks doesn't mean she's the female Secretariat, but I think she'll be bet like she is.

Mine That Bird will probably run a good race. I expect a top-5 finish.
I don't care for Friesan Fire.
Musket Man looks pretty good, but not as good as my pick.

So I'll make my bet, hope Bob Baffert is right about his horse, and hope that if Rachel Alexandra really is a superhorse, maybe mine will at least run 2nd.

As an apartment dweller I receive more than my fair share of misdirected mail. At my current address I have received junk mail addressed to at least six different names. My box has received greeting cards and invitations ( I think they were invitations based on the shape) addressed to former residents, and until yesterday I would never dream of opening any of it. I just left the mail and a 'wrong address' note for the postal carrier.

I once received mail from the chaplain at a state prison. It was addressed to a woman. I was very, very curious, but I just wrote 'not at this address' and put it back in the box.

Yesterday, though, I received a letter for "The Love Club" at my address. I couldn't resist. After all, if The Love Club is going on right under my nose while I am watching Seinfeld reruns, I think I should know about it.

Drat it all, though, the missive was from a collection agency. And I'll be darned if I'm going to pay The Love Club's bills if I'm not having any of the fun.

Pakistani Truck Art

While reading the Courier-Journal today I noticed a photograph of Pakistani soldiers being transported into battle against the Taliban. They were in the back of a very well-decorated truck.
I thought it looked odd, but neat. I began a painstaking investigation that consisted of googling 'Pakistan, truck.'

It's apparently common there. I like it.

I was reading about the Queensland, Australia 'dream job' that has been in the news when I came across this little story:

Heavy rains have caused Eastern tarantulas, also knows as 'bird-eating spiders,' 'whistling spiders,' and 'barking spiders,' to leave their normal, more secluded environs and appear in the Queensland town of Bowen in substantial numbers.

Cool.

Has anyone besides me ever seen Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss?
He's a horse player on a serious losing streak until he finds a sure-fire way to pick winners: he asks every tout at the track who they like. The last horse left, the one nobody has named, is the one he bets on.

I was thinking about that just now as I reread all the expert predictions in Saturday's newspaper, and on the racing sites. Mine That Bird is the ONLY horse I could find that nobody picked. I even found one prediction each for Nowhere To Hide and Atomic Rain.

Last night I recalled that for about 10 minutes Saturday afternoon I had decided upon what would have been a winning exacta: Box Pioneerof The Nile and All. Driving home from work I thought that's what I would probably do, but I changed my mind by the time I got my computer turned on. Darn. I wish I'd stuck with it. Barring that, I wish I never thought it or forgot I ever thought it.

I couldn't wait to check out the comments on some of the racing forums. I knew they'd be entertaining. It didn't take long to find a funny one.

Comment One:

Originally Posted by Turfday
Chew on this about Derby winning trainer Bennie Woolley Jr
1) Has won ONE race this year with a thoroughbred...a maiden on Mar. 6 at Sunland Park...the ONLY race he has won this year with a thoroughbred.

2) Previous training win was back on DEC. 27 at Sunland Park.....with a $5,000 CLAIMER and previous win to that was NOV. 29 at Zia Park !

3) Has NOT won a race with a thoroughbred going TWO TURNS since April 13, 2008 (at Sunland Park). That's more than ONE YEAR since winning a route race.

4) Has won only two route races since Feb., 2007.

First response: "Damn. I wish I knew before the race that he was that overdue"

Why oh why is my horse dead? Couldn't that Chrysler have hit me instead?

What a beating I took today. I was holding my own until the Derby, but that race sure put a dent in my gambling bankroll.


Oh, now I see what went wrong! I loaded the picture upside down the first time! Here is my actual Derby selection.


Actually, my horse getting scratched really screwed me up. I handicapped the whole race by picking an order at each quarter mile, and when I Want Revenge scratched I knew I was in trouble. I recognized it would change the whole race, and I didn't have time to redo it. But I still wouldn't have picked Mine That Bird. There were at least 6 races on the card today in which I would not have picked him.

Oh well. I'll keep using the same strategy. It's the third year I've done it and I've been reasonably accurate predicting the race stages, and over the last three years I'm still not down too much on the Derby, even with a zero today.

An Official Pick, Now With Money On It and Everything: I Want Revenge

I have placed my Derby wagers, plus the first four races. Hopefully, four is enough to definitely cover what I might miss while at work.

As usual I don't have the cash to make the good, big bet I'd like. Or maybe I have the cash, but not the willingness to part with it.

I didn't mind leaving out Friesan Fire at his current low odds, though he seems quite capable. Leaving out Dunkirk scares me, but I did it anyway. I didn't like the way Quality Road shrugged him off in the Florida Derby, and the blog chatter includes a lot of talk about how he's lost weight since that race and looks tired. But it still scares me because he looked impressive on youtube.

Omitting Papa Clem and Regal Ransom was also not easy.

I wish twinspires offered the 10 cent superfecta for Churchill. That would make it a lot easier.

For my superfecta wager I ended up throwing all my eggs into one basket with I Want Revenge on top of a complicated variety of others. I didn't have the (willingness to part with) funds for anything else.

I skippped the trifecta.

For my exacta I boxed Hold Me Back, I Want Revenge, Pioneerof The Nile, and Desert Party. Hold Me Back was a late addition. I think he was the best horse in the Bluegrass Stakes, and I felt like I had to include the top horse in that race.

Win bets on I Want Revenge and Desert Party.
There. Now it's recorded for posterity so when I win everyone will believe me.