Monthly Archives: May 2005

Baseball

Week 5 Roster Review

Team report for Rocky Coloradans
Owned by Jack Heneghan

Hitters Team HR R RBI AVG SB

————————–
Javy Lopez Bal C1 FS-AS: 6 19 19 .324 0
WK: 2 4 7 .333 0
————————–
Josh Bard Cle C2 FS-AS: 1 1 2 .200 0
WK: 1 1 2 .429 0
————————–
Tino Martinez NYY 1B FS-AS: 6 15 14 .256 1
WK: 4 6 7 .333 0
————————–
Joe Crede CWS 3B FS-AS: 3 14 12 .273 0
WK: 1 2 2 .176 0
————————–
Ken Harvey KC CI AS: 0 1 1 .136 0
WK: 0 1 1 .136 0
FS: 1 3 5 .225 0
————————–
Juan Uribe CWS 2B FS-AS: 3 12 16 .277 1
WK: 2 3 4 .250 0
————————–
Derek Jeter NYY SS FS-AS: 2 24 13 .306 4
WK: 0 4 2 .200 1
————————–
Julio Lugo TB MI FS-AS: 0 13 14 .278 9
WK: 0 5 3 .308 1
————————–
Manny Ramirez Bos OF1 FS-AS: 7 20 27 .250 1
WK: 0 2 2 .118 0
————————–
Gary Sheffield NYY OF2 FS-AS: 4 20 24 .328 4
WK: 1 5 6 .296 2
————————–
Aaron Rowand CWS OF3 FS-AS: 3 18 9 .245 4
WK: 2 5 2 .294 1
————————–
Torii Hunter Min OF4 FS-AS: 4 18 17 .255 11
WK: 0 2 0 .333 0
————————–
Shannon Stewart Min OF5 FS-AS: 2 17 12 .273 3
WK: 0 4 3 .280 2
————————–
Frank Catalanotto Tor DH FS-AS: 1 12 9 .286 0
WK: 0 3 0 .308 0

TOTALS 42 214 198 .2781 39
OFF PTS 7.0 10.0 10.0 9.0 9.0

————————–
*Travis Lee TB CI AS: 0 10 9 .299 1

Pitchers Team W SV SO ERA WHIP
—————————-
Randy Johnson NYY P1 FS-AS: 2 0 43 3.74 0.992
WK: 0 0 0 0.00 0.000
—————————-
Bartolo Colon LAA P2 FS-AS: 4 0 36 2.83 1.070
WK: 0 0 6 2.00 0.889
—————————-
Kevin Millwood Cle P3 FS-AS: 0 0 28 4.10 1.446
WK: 0 0 6 5.40 2.400
—————————-
Kenny Rogers Tex P4 FS-AS: 3 0 20 1.79 1.301
WK: 2 0 9 0.00 1.067
—————————-
Kyle Lohse Min P5 FS-AS: 2 0 17 5.74 1.387
WK: 1 0 4 1.80 1.400
—————————-
Gil Meche Sea P6 FS-AS: 2 0 19 5.35 1.358
WK: 0 0 5 5.63 1.000
—————————-
Dustin Hermanson CWS P7 AS: 0 3 4 0.00 0.857
WK: 0 2 3 0.00 0.300
FS: 0 5 11 0.00 0.886
—————————-
Damaso Marte CWS P8 FS-AS: 2 2 15 2.02 1.425
WK: 0 1 1 0.00 1.286
—————————-
Gustavo Chacin Tor P9 FS-AS: 4 0 25 3.13 1.239
WK: 0 0 7 4.73 1.725

TOTALS 19 5 211 3.55 1.243
OFF PTS 7.5 3.0 10.0 8.0 8.0

—————————-
Justin Speier Tor P7 AS: 0 0 4 7.04 1.435

For the week my OF and Cs seem to be producing. The Infield had an off week, except for Tino. 4HR, that’s a lot.

For Pitching, Millwood and Chacin seemed to have off weeks. Unfortunately, Meche’s week wasn’t too off for him. Kenny Rogers had a very good week, with 2 wins and a 0.00 ERA. Not too shabby on the Ks and the WHIP either. And, of course, my Chicago Relief committee got 3 Saves with a 0.00 ERA.

Baseball

Week 5

An interesting week. I ended up with 81.5 points, even after losing a point in the SB race. I really didn’t think anyone would catch me, but with 13 SB in a week, the Rangers did. They have a total of 40 to my 39.

HR 13; LA 8.5; PTS 7:
R 47; LA 33.6; PTS 10:
RBI 41; LA 33; PTS 10:
AVG .264; LAA .252; PTS 9:
SB 7; LA 3.9; PTS 9:
W 3 LA 3.6 PTS 7.5:
S 3;LA 2.5; PTS 3:
K 41 LA 38.4 PTS 10:
ERA 2.66; LAA 3.53; PTS 8:
WHIP 1.28; LAA 1.22; PTS 8:

Pitching surprised me this week. 3 wins in 8 starts and 3 SAVES. I certainly wasn’t expecting the saves. For week 6, I have 10 projected starts with 9 possible Win situations. It is very rare that all my pitchers win all their starts in a given week, but when they start against each other I don’t plan on it at all.

General, Politics

Health-Care Costs Expected to Soar Over Next Decade

Health-Care Costs Expected to Soar Over Next Decade

This article discusses some of the pending healthcare cost rises. From an est. $1.9 Trillion in 2005 to $3.6 Trillion in 2014.

I want to look at the per person costs for healthcare. For 2005, I will figure on a Population of 290 Million. For 2014, I will use 310 Million.

Using the numbers above, our health care costs average $6,552 per person in 2005, rising to $11,613 in 2014.

If we consider insurance as a shared risk pool, it would seem to me that for a $6552 a year everyone should should get into a health insurance plan. I will even give up $552 a year for as a deductible and say $6000 a year. For Elaine and myself, a mere $12,000 a year will cover us for healthcare; rising to $22000 a year in 2014. (I am going to a $613 deductible in 2014) .

Of course, this insurance pool needs to include EVERYONE, from newborn babe to deathbed pensioner. If we allow opt-in/opt-out options, then many sub-30 people will opt-out because “We are in the Pink of Health!” And a family with 8 kids and 2 parents will face an annual insurance bill of $60,000 with a $5520 deductible. Somehow, I don’t think that will be economically viable from the family’s point of view.

My numbers are a bit higher than the article’s. I think I am assuming a lower population number, but our costs per person are close. The upshot would appear to be that while a wage-earning individual faces a reasonable average payment, the gross family payments account equal or exceed the poverty level for a family of 3, or greater. (The single Poverty rate is greater than the $6,552 for a single healthcare share. The family of 2 Poverty rate is just just less than the $13,104 healthcare rate for two.) Something seems askew when the poverty rate doesn’t include health insurance costs.

General, Politics

National Identity

I see that there are a lot of comments going on about a National ID card. Evidently, some in the Congress are trying to mandate that state driver’s licenses should contain a common set of information, that that information will be shared across a common database system between all 50 states and that a driver needs to prove their citizenship to get a license.

I don’t have any problem with Congress mandating that state’s DLs have common information. It makes sense that IDs should include a name, picture and DOB. And I think that some states don’t include all that information on a DL.

What I strenuously object to is the idea of sharing information between states. I am a citizen/resident of Colorado. I don’t need for any Californian browsing through my record, whether with good intentions, no intentions or bad intentions. It is not anyone’s business, outside of Colorado, what my DL says.

As a secondary objection, the idea of mandating that states verify US citizenship before issuing a license is stupid. The Feds aren’t going to put any money into the time and effort to handle validation. What I would suggest is that the Feds define what constitutes proof of citizenship and then ask the state to note on the driver’s license that “Proof of US Citizenship Presented” or something like that if the citizen presents proof. If someone wants a license but doesn’t want to gather the necessary documents then the field can be left blank or filled in with “No Proof of Citizenship Presented”. If someone comes in for a license and presents proof of Japanese citizenship then that can be noted on the license. I don’t see any reason to stop someone from getting a Driver License just because they aren’t a citizen. As long as they are residing in the state, I think it would behoove us to know that they know the rules of the road.

One of the on-going problems with the whole Driver License National ID is that there are a number of people who don’t drive. I know of a few non-drivers. I expect in 20-30 years I will be a non-driver. Some states, maybe all, offer a non-driver license ID so non-drivers can have the checking cashing ID form so many stores require. This could be included with the ‘National ID’ card as well.

I know some tellers get freaked out when you show them your US Passport as an ID.

PS > No Social Security Number on your Driver License. < The odds of someone hacking the DL database and getting critical ID information are pretty high. They only need to do it once. And if the state Databases are networked, then everyone loses their Identity.

Baseball

Baseball is all about the stats

This report looks almost Legible. I still need to find a way to copy formated text into Word Press and keep the tabs in place.

The first line for each player list the Full Season-Active Status Stats. the second Line lists the Stats for the Week so far. Players that I have dropped, like Lee and Speier, are listed at the bottom of their respective catagories with a record of what they contributed while on my roster.

As you can see Ken Harvey’s stats separate the FS stats from the AS stats since he had a few at bats before I reactivated him last Monday, and those stats don’t count toward the teams cumulative totals. (Although looking at Ken’s numbers makes me wonder why I was in such a rush to bring him back.)

Team report for Rocky Coloradans
Owned by Jack Heneghan

Hitters Team HR R RBI AVG SB
————————–
Shannon Stewart Min OF5 FS-AS: 2 14 11 .284 3
WK: 0 1 2 .385 2
————————–
Frank Catalanotto Tor DH FS-AS: 1 10 9 .293 0
WK: 0 1 0 .500 0
————————–
Javy Lopez Bal C1 FS-AS: 5 17 16 .326 0
WK: 1 2 4 .364 0
————————–
Josh Bard Cle C2 FS-AS: 1 1 1 .176 0
WK: 1 1 1 .500 0
————————–
Tino Martinez NYY 1B FS-AS: 4 13 10 .257 1
WK: 2 4 3 .429 0
————————–
Joe Crede CWS 3B FS-AS: 3 13 11 .278 0
WK: 1 1 1 .125 0
————————–
Ken Harvey KC CI AS: 0 0 0 .167 0
WK: 0 0 0 .167 0
FS: 1 2 4 .267 0
————————–
Juan Uribe CWS 2B FS-AS: 1 10 13 .268 1
WK: 0 1 1 .125 0
————————–
Derek Jeter NYY SS FS-AS: 2 22 13 .315 3
WK: 0 2 2 .176 0
————————–
Julio Lugo TB MI FS-AS: 0 12 13 .278 9
WK: 0 4 2 .333 1
————————–
Manny Ramirez Bos OF1 FS-AS: 7 18 27 .265 1
WK: 0 0 2 .182 0
————————–
Gary Sheffield NYY OF2 FS-AS: 4 18 22 .339 3
WK: 1 3 4 .353 1
————————–
Aaron Rowand CWS OF3 FS-AS: 2 15 8 .235 4
WK: 1 2 1 .222 1
————————–
Torii Hunter Min OF4 FS-AS: 4 17 17 .250 11
WK: 0 1 0 .357 0

TOTALS 36 190 180 .2823 37
OFF PTS 6.0 10.0 10.0 10.0 10.0

————————–
*Travis Lee TB CI AS: 0 10 9 .299 1

Pitchers Team W SV SO ERA WHIP
—————————-
Randy Johnson NYY P1 FS-AS: 2 0 43 3.74 0.992
WK: 0 0 0 0.00 0.000
—————————-
Bartolo Colon LAA P2 FS-AS: 4 0 30 3.03 1.112
WK: 0 0 0 0.00 0.000
—————————-
Kevin Millwood Cle P3 FS-AS: 0 0 28 4.10 1.446
WK: 0 0 6 5.40 2.400
—————————-
Kenny Rogers Tex P4 FS-AS: 2 0 16 2.11 1.278
WK: 1 0 5 0.00 0.750
—————————-
Kyle Lohse Min P5 FS-AS: 1 0 13 6.65 1.385
WK: 0 0 0 0.00 0.000
—————————-
Gil Meche Sea P6 FS-AS: 2 0 19 5.35 1.358
WK: 0 0 5 5.63 1.000
—————————-
Dustin Hermanson CWS P7 AS: 0 2 2 0.00 0.937
WK: 0 1 1 0.00 0.000
FS: 0 4 9 0.00 0.923
—————————-
Damaso Marte CWS P8 FS-AS: 2 1 15 2.38 1.500
WK: 0 0 1 0.00 3.000
—————————-
Gustavo Chacin Tor P9 FS-AS: 4 0 20 2.48 1.150
WK: 0 0 2 2.45 1.636

TOTALS 17 3 190 3.68 1.240
OFF PTS 8.5 2.5 9.0 7.0 8.0

—————————-
Justin Speier Tor P7 AS: 0 0 4 7.04 1.435

Baseball

81

Just looked at the projected pitchers. Lohse is projected for Saturday, but not for any starts in the following week. I wonder what that means?

I see Johnson is scheduled for a Monday and Sunday start. That seems like a bit of a gap between starts. I have two other pitchers projected to start on Monday (one going against Johnson) that also repeat on Sunday. Must be the way the schedule sets up.

Baseball

Uh-Oh

Daily notes on your players from rototimes.com: 05.03: The Yankees announced that Randy Johnson will miss his scheduled start against the Devil Rays on Wednesday night because of stiffness in his left groin, according to the AP. GM Brian Cashman indicated that the injury might actually land Johnson on the DL

We shall see if we remember this as our high water mark- 81.5 points out of 100.

Baseball

Another look

Here is another perspective of the stats. This one actually has all the info I’ve been tracking this season, it’s just so un-understandable that I can’t figure it out. It does look a lot better aligned.

STANDINGS For The Unnamed Baseball League
Through games of 05.01.05
TOTAL LAST HITTING PITCHING
PTS WEEK HR p R p RBI p AVG p SB p W p SV p SO p ERA p WHIP p
—– —– —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/- —– +/-
Rocky Colo 80.5 77.5 29 5.0 167 10.0 157 10.0 .2817 9.0 32 10.0 16 9.0 2 2.5 170 10.0 3.76 7.0 1.235 8.0
last week: 5 0.5 34 0.0 23 0.0 .2798 -1.0 6 0.0 4 0.5 1 0.0 42 0.0 2.73 2.0 1.146 1.0

Budchugger 69.0 66.5 38 10.0 164 9.0 155 9.0 .2768 8.0 12 2.0 12 4.0 9 7.0 153 7.0 3.45 8.0 1.297 5.0
last week: 10 1.0 40 0.0 26 0.0 .2684 -1.0 3 -1.0 3 -1.0 2 0.5 36 1.0 2.81 2.0 1.208 1.0

GANYFs 61.5 60.5 21 1.0 132 1.5 148 8.0 .2830 10.0 19 7.5 17 10.0 15 10.0 151 5.5 4.03 6.0 1.430 2.0
last week: 5 0.0 33 -1.0 40 2.0 .2969 2.0 5 1.0 4 0.0 6 1.5 28 -3.5 5.37 -1.0 1.528 0.0

Dingleberr 60.0 62.5 37 8.5 141 5.0 142 7.0 .2607 4.0 17 5.0 6 1.0 14 8.5 98 1.0 2.76 10.0 1.150 10.0
last week: 8 -1.5 26 -3.0 29 -0.5 .2410 -1.0 10 3.5 1 0.0 3 -1.5 18 -0.5 2.05 1.0 1.091 1.0

Rangers 53.5 44 31 6.0 143 7.5 122 2.0 .2706 7.0 27 9.0 10 2.0 5 5.0 112 2.0 4.23 4.0 1.221 9.0
last week: 6 0.0 26 2.5 31 1.0 .3087 5.0 5 0.0 3 -0.5 0 0.0 32 0.5 4.76 0.0 1.324 1.0

Pork Pirat 53.5 51 24 2.0 143 7.5 131 3.0 .2647 5.0 17 5.0 14 8.0 4 4.0 160 8.0 4.04 5.0 1.265 6.0
last week: 6 0.0 37 3.5 40 1.0 .2751 2.0 7 1.0 3 1.0 1 0.0 40 1.0 5.68 -3.0 1.600 -4.0

Homestead 47.5 59 27 3.0 142 6.0 137 4.0 .2576 3.0 16 3.0 11 3.0 14 8.5 134 4.0 3.38 9.0 1.298 4.0
last week: 3 -1.5 31 0.0 24 -3.5 .2259 -3.0 5 -2.0 4 0.5 5 0.0 43 0.0 4.14 -1.0 1.270 -1.0

Boston Bal 46.0 41 37 8.5 136 3.5 139 5.5 .2665 6.0 11 1.0 13 6.0 1 1.0 151 5.5 4.51 2.0 1.254 7.0
last week: 11 1.5 39 2.5 32 0.5 .2531 -1.0 4 -0.5 5 2.0 0 -1.5 35 0.5 3.48 0.0 1.161 1.0

Indians 41.5 50 28 4.0 136 3.5 116 1.0 .2484 1.0 17 5.0 13 6.0 7 6.0 165 9.0 4.38 3.0 1.313 3.0
last week: 5 1.0 22 -3.5 22 -2.0 .2000 -3.0 3 -1.5 3 0.0 0 -0.5 43 1.0 4.76 0.0 1.235 0.0

Shamu Whal 37.0 38 36 7.0 132 1.5 139 5.5 .2531 2.0 19 7.5 13 6.0 2 2.5 117 3.0 5.42 1.0 1.604 1.0
last week: 9 -1.0 33 -1.0 36 1.5 .2932 1.0 4 -0.5 1 -2.5 2 1.5 27 0.0 5.80 0.0 1.711 0.0

Baseball

week 4

Let me see how this Cut and Paste Works

STANDINGS For The Unnamed Baseball League
Through games of 05.01.05

Team HR R RBI AVG SB W
Rocky Coloradans 5.0 10.0 10.0 9.0 10.0 9.0
Budchuggers 10.0 9.0 9.0 8.0 2.0 4.0
GANYFs 1.0 1.5 8.0 10.0 7.5 10.0
Dingleberries 8.5 5.0 7.0 4.0 5.0 1.0
Rangers 6.0 7.5 2.0 7.0 9.0 2.0
Pork Pirates 2.0 7.5 3.0 5.0 5.0 8.0
Homestead Grays 3.0 6.0 4.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
Boston Ballbusters 8.5 3.5 5.5 6.0 1.0 6.0
Indians 4.0 3.5 1.0 1.0 5.0 6.0
Shamu Whales 7.0 1.5 5.5 2.0 7.5 6.0

Team SV SO ERA WHIP TOT +/-
Rocky Coloradans 2.5 10.0 7.0 8.0 80.5 3.0
Budchuggers 7.0 7.0 8.0 5.0 69.0 2.5
GANYFs 10.0 5.5 6.0 2.0 61.5 1.0
Dingleberries 8.5 1.0 10.0 10.0 60.0 -2.5
Rangers 5.0 2.0 4.0 9.0 53.5 9.5
Pork Pirates 4.0 8.0 5.0 6.0 53.5 2.5
Homestead Grays 8.5 4.0 9.0 4.0 47.5 -11.
Boston Ballbusters 1.0 5.5 2.0 7.0 46.0 5.0
Indians 6.0 9.0 3.0 3.0 41.5 -8.5
Shamu Whales 2.5 3.0 1.0 1.0 37.0 -1.0

Doesn’t quite capture the neatly aligned columns of a properly formated page, but I don’t know how to keep that format in WordPress. I found this info on our Stat Site. Makes it easier to copy the standings. As may be seen, I am in first place, at least this week. (The +/- number is the variation in total points since last Monday. )

I had 4 Wins in 8 starts last week. That seems to be the average for my team. This week I will have 8 starts with 6 pitchers. Looks like Lohse has a sore shoulder and is day-to-day. Another way of saying “We would put him on the Disabled List, but we think he will be OK in less than 15 days.” So, they leave me hanging with a pitcher that won’t pitch and no chance to replace him.

Not that there is a pitcher in the Free Agent Pool to replace him with. (except maybe Speier?) The Player Notes say that he will practice light pitching today and if it goes OK he may start next Saturday and, if not, then he goes on DL tomorrow. Of course, our league only replaces players on Mondays, before noon, so I can wait a whole week to get a new player. Some teams are just so inconsiderate of the Fantasy League owners.

A quick run through the numbers:

HR 5; LA 6.8; Pts 5:
R 34; LA 32.1; Pts 10 :
RBI 23; LA 30.3;Pts 10:
AVG 0.280; LAA .264; Pts 9:
SB 6; LA 5.2; Pts 10:
W 4; LA 3.1; Pts 9:
S 1; LA 2.0; Pts 2.5:
K 42; LA 43.4; Pts 10:
ERA 2.73; LAA 4.16; Pts 7:
WHIP 1.15; LAA 1.33; Pts 8: