The Natural

In the wake of the unsurprising yet still disappointing news that Roy Halladay is headed to the DL with a shoulder ailment - and the no answers to the questions as to why if it was apparent that something was wrong with Halladay from spring training, why no one bothered to look any closer or at least perform an MRI earlier in the season - a friend writes:

My best guess on how the decisions were made to keep starting Halladay, in my make-believe exchange as it went all spring:

 

Charlie Manuel: You know my mama wanted me to be a farmer.
Roy Halladay: My dad wanted me to be a baseball player.
Charlie: Well you're better than any player I ever had. And you're the best God damn pitcher I ever saw. Suit up. 

What the 1% Doesn't Get

See the two blurbs from Politico's Morning Money email today. The real issue isn't what MorganStanley did wrong with the Facebook IPO. The problem isn't what was illegal about all of this, but the crime is what is legal - and how the general investor gets screwed and the 1% take care of themselves..

 FACEBOOK LAWSUIT MIND-MELD: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING? - A top corporate lawyer forwarded a WSJ commentary (excerpted below) that makes the argument that despite its poor early stock market performance, there is nothing to suggest that there was anything wrong with Facebook's investors prospectus nor illegal about communications between the company's bankers and big investors. ... From the lawyer: "The WSJ piece really makes it clear that the Facebook IPO was done 'by the book' and the issue - if there is one at all - is what the current law provides. I suspect Congressional interest in this deal is likely to shift elsewhere soon - either to changes in the law going forward, or back to Nasdaq and the very odd technology glitches it faced. We may see more on that topic next week when Nasdaq's Chief Information Officer testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in a previously scheduled cyber-security hearing."
FROM THE WSJ PIECE by Ronald Barusch: "[A]t least so far, there is no indication that anything is wrong with that prospectus. ... If you bought Facebook in the IPO at $38 per share, presumably you realized that you were buying shares based on a market capitalization of the company of around $100 billion. And for that you were getting a company that has less than $14 billion of total assets ... And that last year your company had just $3.7 billion of revenue and during the last five years ... "But what about those research analysts changing their estimates? It probably could not have worked any other way under our current regulatory scheme. Analysts who work for underwriters are prohibited from publishing their research prior to an IPO. They are permitted to talk to their clients and give their views" http://on.wsj.com/MLPAPn

Hamels appreciation

A friend writes:

Setting aside that Hamels is now 7-1 with a 2.17 (or 2.18) ERA, he has literally saved the 1st 1/3 of the season. His performances in DC and then tonight in Philly, slapping down the Nats as if they're his bitches after they dominated the Phils 2 straight nights, holy shit.
If we lose tonight's game, we're 6.5 games out and just got bitch-swept by them. Instead, we're 4.5 games back, 1 game below .500, allowing ourselves to think about how/when things will turn around.
Give him whatever $$$ that he wants.

HBP?

It sure didn't look like Jake Diekman hit that Cubs' batter in the 9th inning last night. Not even ticking his loose jersey. It was telling that the Cubs announcers on WGN quickly shut up while watching the replays.

The Gay Greek Police

This photo of Athens police dealing with protesters which appeared in the NYTimes is rife with comedy, since it looks like the law enforcers captured here are a modernized version of the fashion police what with their berets, boots and sunglasses. 

Beat Boston

Watched the tail end of the Sixers-Celtics game last night, mainly cause my middle son likes to play basketball and is really getting into Philadelphia sports. ( I didn't have the heart to tell him the Sixers are low man on the family Philly sports totem pole).

 

Anyway, two thoughts jumped out: 1 – incredible officiating in the 4^th Q. Kevin Garnett was called for a travel while shuffling his feet to set for a jumper, a couple possessions later Evan Turner was NOT called for traveling when he took 5 steps and also may have committed a self-pass, and then on the Celtics' decisive offensive possession, they called Garnett for an offensive foul on a moving pick. Wow. In Boston

 

2 – it's the first time the Sixers have beaten the Celtics in Boston since game 7 of the 82 Eastern Conference finals, a game the Sixers won 120-106, and the game I believe was most memorable and incredibly cool for a kid growing up at that time for the Boston fans chanting "Beat L.A." to the Sixers as the clock wound down. Neat.

Hamels and Harper

On the Hamels thing:

 I don't understand why Hamels said he tried to hit Harper.

But I really don't understand everyone coming out criticizing Hamels and how ripped the Nats are. Just watched the espn guys all say that Pence better watch out vs. the Nats.

3)      Why isn't anyone mentioning that Hamels got hit later in the same game. According to the Nats' view, it's gutless to throw at their guy but not our guy?

Why hasn't anyone asked Zimmerman if he tried to hit Hamels? If Nats' GM Mike Rizzo expects the same rule his team goes by, if Pence gets hit by Strasburg than Strasburg should expect to get hit later in the same game.

Halladay

A friend writes about tonight's game:

He simply doesn't have any stamina anymore. He can't go deep into games. This is the 3rd straight game that he's melted down in the 5th or 6th inning, after great starts. He got to 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 6th inning -- after having retired 13 straight batters -- and then he simply fell apart. 

I would add that thought Halladay looked tired and laboring in the 4^th inning! After only throwing 44 pitches. He was cruising but looked spent, but I wasn't sure if that just wasn't the normal Halladay look.

 

And crap, now Papelbon just gave up a 3 run HR to blow the tie.

 

Bad loss