As I watched the Red Sox edge out the Athletics last night, I noticed, again, the curious necklaces some MLB players wear: The Phiten Titanium Necklaces.  Some time ago, I ran across an article about them on Scienceline, which may or may not be a scientifically accurate commentary on the product.  BTW, in typical Web 2.0 fashion, the comments quickly degenerate into name-calling, verbal abuse, and irrelevant rantings, but you can get the gist of what supporters’ and detractors’ of Phiten’s effectiveness claims have to say about the product.

According to Phiten’s Web site (http://www.phitenusa.com/t-about.aspx):

Through dedicated research, we have developed a number of unique wellness technologies and products. Accordingly, we’ve won the trust of many consumers and increasing numbers of athletes use our products. We are building on this trust to offer new products, adapting and applying our technologies to a wider range of uses to support your health and well-being.

Curiously (riiiiight), there is no mention in the actual product developer’s web site as to what this research actually was, or the results thereof – like the comments in the Scienceline article.  Which gets me to thinking – do the people who use them believe they actually work?  I doubt it.  Because if they believed it really worked, they’d believe it was cheating because it made use of some sort of artificial means to enhance their abilities.  If substances like steroids and HGH are banned partly because of the unfair advantage they give to their users, then a magic necklace should be banned also… the reason why they’re not banned is because they aren’t believed to work.

So, why do so many MLB players wear them?  They cynical part of me attributes it to the marketing deal that Phiten struck with MLB in 2007. I mean, if a company paid me to wear something in order to enhance its exposure, as long as I didn’t have some sort of objection or aversion to it, heck, I’d probably wear it.

Heroes and Zeroes of the 2010 World Cup

Now that the World Cup is over, time to reflect.  I don’t have any huge cohesive commentary on the tournament as a whole, but rather some bite-sized tidbits regarding some positives, negatives, and indifferents about particular notables.  I’ll score these as “+” for positive, “-” for negative, and “0″ for neutral.

• 0: Team USA.  Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Tim Howard and the crew were good, not great.  Everything was just as I expected: one of the top 2 teams in their group and lose in the first knockout round.  Team USA is not an elite side, and it would have taken more than a little luck to get as far as the quarterfinals.
• +: Jabulani. The ball looks better than the previous Cup balls that looked like they were decorated with feminine products. And the flight? Sure, it dips and swerves, but that’s attributable to physics rather than to ball design.  You who complain about the ball dancing around and through the goalkeepers aren’t the same ones who complain about low-scoring games, are you?
• 0: South Africa. Too much was made of “the host country”. Too many 30-second and 30-minute commercials touted the wrong thing: the site and support of the spectacle rather than the teams and players.  I have nothing against South Africa, it’s just that the country is a location, a stage, not an integral part of the event.
• -: People who aren’t soccer fans telling you why they’re not soccer fans. Again. I get it – you don’t have the attention span to appreciate a game in which scoring is rare.  Just because the score doesn’t increase rapidly doesn’t mean there’s no action or intrigue.  Scoring a goal is incredibly difficult for a team to do – doing something hard 0-6 times in 1:45 isn’t any less exciting or interesting than doing something much easier 150-220 times.  I don’t watch basketball and complain about it; you don’t have to watch soccer and complain about it.
• +: Italy and France both going out in the first round.  I don’t hate the French, but their performance and attitude was disgraceful, not to mention the way they got the the tournament in the first place.  Italy was flat, and and kept up their tradition of rolling around on the pitch grabbing their shins at the slightest touch, fortunately for only 3 games this year.
• -: The whole continent turned against Luis Suarez in the 3rd place match, booing his every touch.  His hand ball saved what would have been a goal by Ghana, putting Uruguay rather than the African nation through to the semifinals.  He committed a foul and was red carded for it, giving Ghana a penalty kick.  Many are making it out to be more about “robbing Africa” of a trip to the semifinals than Ghana just not being able to score more goals in the preceding 120 minutes.

Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday some changes that are going to be in place for future All-Star games. Once again, they have missed an opportunity to make baseball better by focusing on this single game rather than the season as a whole.

What I think of the changes:

• The game will always have a Designated Hitter — historically, the DH has only been used in American League parks.  Not a good move.  Not being a big fan of the DH, I would like to see it being used nowhere rather than anywhere.  What?  That means no Big Papi? Unemotionally, I say yes, that means no Big Papi.  In the mid-2000s, he has undeniably contributed (though much less so recently) to the game insofar as he provides that offensive weapon late in the game.  But, one of my main criticisms of American Football is that there is only a small handful of players who have ever played both offense and defense; so to be consistent I can’t count a Major League Baseball player All-Star worthy who doesn’t play the field in a game where his defense is supposed to be one of his key strengths.  If the always-a-DH idea is good enough for the All-Star game, why isn’t it good enough for both leagues, including for the World Series?  It’s not – that’s why both leagues don’t have the DH.  The best way to compromise is to alternate.
  [I can see one merit of the always-a-DH rule, though.  If you're going to concede that pitchers just can't hit and that's OK because they're paid to pitch, then there's some merit to getting him out of the lineup in favor of a star hitter; this also lessens the likelihood of an injury.]
• “No pitcher who competes for his team on the previous Sunday will be allowed to pitch in the game.”  As I read the entire article, it becomes apparent to me that this is a misquote.  It only applies to starting pitchers — good thing.  Even so, this should not be a rule imposed, but rather left up to the players and managers.  If the pitcher himself and his manager and the All-Start team manager all agree that it’s best for him not to play, fine; but if all want to give him an inning or so, that should be fine too.  I hope that team managers and pitching coaches will plan ahead and make sure that their All-Stars have a day off that previous Sunday — shouldn’t be that difficult.
• Each team now has 34 players, up from 33.  Sure, OK, no problem.  At some point it will be too many, but 34 seems fine.
• A player can re-enter the game if he was pulled out earlier, but only if another player’s injury necessitates it.  No problem.  I think it would suck if Albert Pujols played 3 innings and was pulled, then got to go back in to pinch hit in the 9th with a man on 2nd for strategy reasons… but in case of injury or maybe even for other reasons, OK by me.

But the most significant change is absent.  That stupid, ridiculous business about the winning league’s team getting home field advantage in the World Series is just a farce, should never have been put in place, and should be revoked immediately.  Let the game end in a tie.  It’s an exhibition.  There doesn’t have to be a winner.  Sure, it’s exciting to have the prospect of a game-saving catch or a walk-off in the 12th inning, but at some point if the rosters are spent and it’s been a good game, it can just end.  I wasn’t upset in 2002 when the umpires, commissioner, and both managers agreed it was time to be done.

But even if you make them play the game out till one team wins, that victory should have no bearing on who gets home field advantage in the World Series.  If a Diamondbacks pitcher has a bad 7th inning in July and gives up 3 runs on the way to a 6-5 AL victory, that shouldn’t mean that a team with the 4th best record in the AL gets home field advantage over the best team in the NL in October — that’s just stupid.  I usually try to see both sides and refrain from just calling something stupid outright… but in this case, this is just stupid because there’s no way to see the merit of other side’s position.

So, I kind of turn my nose up at Wednesday’s announcement.  A couple changes are OK, a couple aren’t, and the one that would make all the difference was skipped over again this year.

I messed up my knee playing indoor soccer.  By ‘messed up’, I mean that something popped/twisted when I was cutting from one direction to the other, such that it felt like it separated or came out of joint momentarily.  Icing/rehabing/taking it easy for a few weeks before increasing activity didn’t do the trick; I re-injured it more recently.  So now it got to the point where it made sense to get an MRI and see where to go from there.

Last week I had the MRI done and got the results yesterday.  In explaining the brokenness and treatment options, I found it helpful to have a model, or an illustration like this one that shows and labels all the parts – you can click on the image to view it full-size.  Thanks to Ginger for snagging this and labeling the applicable parts!

3 things are “wrong” in there:

• Mild sprain of the MCL.  Will probably heal by taking it easy for a while.
• Torn meniscus.  This will almost for sure not EVER heal.
• Torn ACL.  Again, this will almost for sure not EVER heal.

The meniscus, and more so the ACL, have little or no blood flow, so unlike skin tissue, they don’t ever truly heal.  If the ACL regenerates any new tissue, it will be scar tissue which apparently just isn’t the right stuff for a stable knee.

So the treatment breaks down like this:

• Repairing the meniscus is relatively routine as these things go; basically a surgeon goes in and trims the torn parts off (the doctor likened it to a hangnail) and smooths it out so as to prevent more tearing.  The difference between a hangnail and a meniscus, though, is that fingernails grow back, but meniscus does not.
• There’s no such thing as repairing an ACL.  The only way to fix the problem is to “reconstruct” the knee by removing the ACL and replacing it with something else.  I was given three options:
  • Steal about 1/3 of the patellar tendon which connects the patella (knee cap) to the tibia (shin bone).
  • Steal something from the hamstring area.  Don’t know if this means hamstring, or a ligament or tendon connecting the hamstring, or what.  I think I stopped listening when I heard the word “hamstring”.
  • Use tissue donated by a cadaver.  Well, arranged to be donated by a person before his body became a cadaver.
• In each of the 3 options for the tissue, what happens is this:  the ACL is removed completely, holes are drilled in the top of the tibia and bottom of the femur (thigh bone), then the replacement tissue is weaved through the holes and secured with screws.  It stays like that for life.

For old people who won’t be very active for the rest of their lives, the reconstructive surgery doesn’t make much sense because there are enough ligaments that keep everything stable enough to walk around just fine.

In my case, though, I plan to stay active for decades to come, so the surgery makes the most sense to me.  If my soccer career is over, so be it, but the scope of my activity is far beyond just that.  I’ve been going on mission trips/service project trips once a year since high school, and plan to continue that – this involves construction and other activity that will certainly stress my joints more than normal walking around.  And The Mighty Throckmorton has a good 5 years of activity left in him – he needs someone to run with!

So right now I’m leaning heavily toward having the full reconstruction done with the cadaver tissue.  I don’t have a problem with other peoples’ body parts being in mine — hey, I had cadaver substance fused into my teeth in a periodontal surgical operation a few years ago.  Besides, using tissue that’s not my own reduces the amount of trauma that would be inflicted upon other pars of my body by cutting it away, thereby injuring yet another part that would need to heal.

What about the schedule?  Ginger and I are visiting Florida in October, so it’s probably going to be right after that.  The doctor said the healing process takes about 8 months to be complete – that’s 2 weeks of hobbling around and mostly staying off it; then the PT starts; non-impact exercises like swimming and biking start after a couple months; then after 4 months jogging is allowed.  That messes up end-of-year plans for me: I’m signed up to go on a house building trip to Mexico with a group from church at right after Christmas, but right now I’m leaning toward putting that off till “next time”, which is the Spring.  If it’s late March, that will be 5 full months of recovery, which should be enough time to get it back to almost normal, which would be necessary since the trip involves construction and other strenuous physical activity.

Ginger I got invited to a couple’s (Brian and Karen) house for dinner a few weeks ago, and one serindipity was that Brian had four Rangers tickets and only two other guys lined up to go so far.  He asked if I wanted to go, and of course I said yes.  Well, it turns out that the ticket was for a game against the Red Sox, my favorite AL team.  No, I didn’t jump on the Red Sox Nation bandwagon after they won the World Series in 2003 – I’ve been a fan ever since the 1970s when they had Yastrzemski, Fisk, Lynn, Rice, Tiant, etc.

So… along came Wednesday, July 22, so I left work at about 9 seconds after 5:00 so I could get to the Ballpark early to walk around, take pictures, etc.  Our seats were on the first level, just under the overhang almost directly behind home plate.  The Red Sox didn’t mount much offense, losing 3-1 in this last game of the 3-game sweep in Arlington.  Oh, well, it was a pretty good game, and it’s always great to go, especially for free.  And as an added bonus, it was only 87° at game time, about 10-15° lower than I expected.

Click on the image to view my Facebook photo gallery.  No, I’m not going to repost all the photos here.

I actually voted this year.  In the past, it has been too easy to let time slip by and then complain that the fans selected the wrong Position X player wasn’t in the All-Star game.  Yeah, in recent years, it has been made so easy by the advent of online voting, but still, in the past I meant to vote, and to do it intellegently by researching stats and voting for truly the best player, rather than just my favorites or the ones I’m most familiar with.

So here it goes, my picks for the starters, along with a reserve for each position and some honorable mentions, along with the reasoning for each.  Some picks surprised even me.

American League

First Base: Not just because I’m a Red Sox fan, Kevin Youkilis beat out Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera.  It was close, but the sentiment is that Youk is a better fielder, and he beats out Cabrera in power numbers, extra base hits and OPS.  So Cabrera gets the alternate slot.

Second Base: It pains me, but the Yankees’ Robinson Cano gets the start because his numbers are just better than those of Red Sox Dustin Pedroia’s.  Pedrioa has more walks, doubles, and steals, but  Cano has the edge in Avg, Hits, RBI, and HR.

Shortstop: Jason Bartlett from Tampa Bay.  Hands-down, Bartlett has the best offensive numbers among AL shortstops.  A few fewer runs, hits, & walks than Jeter & Scutaro, but with far fewer at bats; Bartlett leads in doubles & triples, and steals. Alternate: the Yankees’ Derek Jeter edges out Toronto’s Marco Scutaro by a nose; Scutaro has the edge in runs, walks, doubles, & triples, but that’s with 9 more games played – Jeter has a much higher Avg, OBP, SB, and SLG.

Third Base: The Bue Jays’ Scott Rolen leads AL 3rd basemen in AVG; about even with the Rangers’ Michael Young for doubles, walks, SLG, (but with fewer at bats), and Rolen strikes out a lot less than Young.  Alternate: Micheal Young beats our the Rays’ Evan Longoria – Longoria has a big edge in power (RBI & HR) but Young beats him everywhere else.

Catcher: Joe Mauer from the Twins.  How can you bat .392 and not be the starter?  Sure, Cleveland’s Victor Martinez has more doubles, RBI, walks, runs, etc., but that’s with almost 100 more at bats. Alternate: Victor Martinez edges out the White Sox’ AJ Pierzynski, who has good numbers, but not quite good enough.

Outfield: Ichiro Suzuki – not just because he’s always an all-star – he leads AL outfielders in AVG & hits (again), and is near the top in extra-base hits.  RBIs are low because no one gets on in front of him.  Carl Crawford: 2nd to Ichiro in AVG & hits – leading AL OF in runs and stolen bases. Torii Hunter is the most powerful AL outfileder – leading in HR, doubles, OPS, RBI with fewer at bats than Ichiro & Crawford.  For outfiled alternates, I’ll go with Baltimore’s Adam Jones and Nick Markakis, and Chicago’s Jermaine Dye.  It’s hard to beat out the likes of Ellsbury, Abreu, Damon, & Guerrero, but Dye and the Baltimore guys do – when you balance all the numbers like hits, HR, 2B, AVG, RBI, they come out slightly better. Luke Scott would be a choice if he was a real outfielder and not a DH;  Nelson Cruz and Jason Bay have great offensive numbers as far as HR & RBI, but AVG is way down in the .260s

Rounding it out: The rule is that each team has to have at least one representative; I didn’t take the time to compare pitching stats too much, so I’ll lump pitchers in together with the guys from the teams not yet represented:
Kansas City Royals: Zack Greinke leads KC’s surprising pitching staff, and is one of the best in the league.
Oakland Athletics: The A’s don’t have an all-star, but their best player is Dallas Braden, with 7 wins and a good 3.12 ERA.

National League

First Base: This is the biggest no-brainer on the ballot.  Albert Pujols wins by a landslide.  Alternate Prince Fielder is a stud and having a great year, but Albert is in a class by himself.

Second Base: Chase Utley has the 2nd highest Avg of NL second basemen, and his power numbers and BB/OBP shame the others. The Alternate spot goes to the Pirates’ Freddy Sanchez.  He’s the real deal – with 300+ at bats, his .316 AVG and .832 OPS are solid and he’s got as many extra base hits as and fewer strikeouts than Utley.

Shortstop: The Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez – this is the second-biggest no-brainer.  Ramirez is leading NL shortstops  in almost everything offensive: AVG, RBI, HR, SLG, OBP, even walks & total bases.  The Alternate spot goes to the Astros’ Miguel Tejada: he’s tied with Ramirez for hits and doubles, killing everyone but Ramirez in most other offensive categories.

Third Base: San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval edges out David Wright – .006 behind in AVG, but twice as many HR, strikes out half as often, has better SLG and OPS, more extra base hits. Alternate David Wright has the bast AVG of NL 3rd basemen, walks alot, and has 20 steals.  More complete that the two bigger power guys (Ryan Zimmerman of Washington and Mark Reynolds of Arizona).

Catcher: Atlanta’s Brian McCann has the best AVG, OPS, SLG, and most doubles of any NL catcher; 3rd in HR, 2nd in RBI.
Alternate: the Giants’ Bengie Molina.  AVG is slightly off from brother Yadier, and Yadier’s defense is better, but Bengie has more HR, doubles, higher SLG, and lots more RBI.

Outfield: Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun is 4th among NL outfielders in HR and AVG, and 2nd in RBI. Brad Hawpe from Colorado has an  AVG .003 better than Braun and has 1 fewer RBI than Braun; more doubles but fewer HRs. Raul Ibanez of the Phillies is leading NL outfielders with 22 HR and 59 RBI; he’s 4th in AVG excluding Manny (more on Manny later).  My alternates are
the Mets’ Carlos Beltran, Houston’s Hunter Pence, and Arizon’s Justin Upton.  Beltran is on the DL now but he should be back for the all-star game; his  HR number is off this year but AVG is best among NL outfielders excluding Manny.  Gold Glover, speedy in the OF and on the bases with 11 steals. There are several NL outfielders who are hitting over .300 with power and speed – Pence and Upton are my picks. I can’t bring myself to vote for Manny Ramirez because he’s been gone for 50 games, putting himself out of the running of being a real contributor.

Rounding it out:
Washington Nationals: Ryan Zimmerman is just a nose away from getting the Alternate spot at 3rd base, with much better power numbers than even David Wright.
It’s hard to believe that the Cubbies just don’t have a starting- or second-string all-star position player this year… so Ted Lilly should pitch a couple innings.
Cincinnati Reds: closer Francisco Cordero, with 21 saves and a 1.75 ERA will be a good addition.
San Diego Padres: Adrian Gonzalez would almost get in with all his homers, but his batting average is way off – I’ll go with reliever Heath Bell, who has a 3:1 Strikeout-walk ratio, and a better ERA and more saves than Cordero.

So there you have it – my MLB All-Star picks among position players for 2009.

Here’s a miscellaneous collection of knowledge that I accumulated during Calendar year 2008.  I would call them random, but really I have applied some sort of cognitive processing to display only certain ones, so it’s really not a random collection, but rather, miscellaneous. You might have known them already.  Big deal.

• Dogs, especially males, will scratch the ground to leave their scent, which in this case emanates from glands between their toes.
• While logged in to a Windows XP machine using Remote Desktop, ctrl-alt-end (rather than ctrl-alt-del) will invoke the Windows Security dialog, to let you restart, look at task manager, etc.
• Plaxico Burress is a person, not a medication.
• WordPress is cool.
• There’s no such thing as a panther.  Panther is a misnomer for a leopard, cougar or jaguar.
• Fernando Tatis is the only Major League baseball player ever to hit two grand slam home runs in one inning.
• In a group, each dog howls intentionally out of tune with the others so its voice is distinct.
• The movie Fargo wasn’t a portrayal of actual events.  Not even inspired by actual events.  The whole thing was made up.
• The UEFA Champions League is a competition comprised of the best teams (by standings from the previous year) of the “best” leagues of European football (the “best” leagues being determined by a complicated ranking system), with better leagues earning their clubs more spots in the competition than the lesser leagues.