No words do justice

Ramona Shelburne of the Daily News has the sad story of the death of Max Limonick, a San Fernando Valley-raised minor leaguer who was killed by a suspected drunk diver.

T.J. Simers' column today in The Times focuses on Joe Torre's efforts with the Safe at Home Foundation to fight the domestic abuse that enveloped his childhood years.

Comments

[MFC521]

I find it quite refreshing when Simers uses his powers for good, rather than evil.

[nsxtasy]

In a previous topic, I just posted statistics on the drop in alcohol-related automotive fatalities, from over 30,000 in 1980, the year Mothers Against Drunk Driving was founded, to 11,773 last year. While the drop is good news, deaths due to drunk driving continue to occur. Every such death is a tragedy, with the loss of life as well as its effect on all those who knew and loved the victim. Here's hoping they continue to decline. And condolences to the Limonick family.

LAT'ed...

>> I'm curious, are highway fatalities from impaired drivers any less now per capita than 30 or 40 years ago, before MADD?

Yes. In fact, the number of such fatalities today (not per capita, but absolute number) is about one third what it was before MADD was founded in 1980. That year, over 30,000 people died in alcohol-related fatalities. Source: http://tinyurl.com/MADDstats

During the period from 1993 to 2007, the absolute number of highway fatalities from impaired drivers was relatively constant, between 12,000 and 14,000 per year. However, the rate of such fatalities per 100 million vehicle-miles went steadily downward during that period. In other words, the reason fatalities wasn't going downward was because more people were driving more miles in more cars. Source: Page 22 of http://tinyurl.com/NHTSADUI

The number of such fatalities dropped from 13,041 in 2008 to 11,773 in 2009. Source: Page 3 of http://tinyurl.com/NHTSADUI08 This is fewer impaired fatalities than in any of the years 1993-2007 (see reference above).

Total traffic fatalities and the fatality rate are both down significantly in the first half of 2009, but the statistics on NHTSA's website (at http://tinyurl.com/NHTSA2009 ) are not broken out for alcohol-related fatalities.

[WBB]

While I'm no prohibitionist, I think Tim Lincecum's arrest should be seen in this context.

[underdog]

Just off topic for a sec, in case this wasn't posted earlier (was just posted on MLBTR):

The Twins acquired shortstop J.J. Hardy for center fielder Carlos Gomez, according to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

[Jack]

I could understand Frank firing Jaime's driver - the homewrecker.

But to fire all these other people doesnt seem right.

Does Camille Johnston still work for the Dodgers?
I remember when the McCourts hired her to just do PR.
I wonder what her take is on everything..

[Jack]

I like that Twins deal.

Dealing JJ Hardy for Johan Santana is more easy to take than Gomez.
Why would the Brewers want Gomez?
Unless they are just trying to cut salary..

[Michael Green]

I have had little faith in the McCourts as intelligent and thoughtful human beings since their mishandling of Ross Porter's departure. If I am correct, Ross still has not set foot in Dodger Stadium since that happened, and I don't blame him.

My emotions on that, though, seem ridiculous when compared with the story about Joe Torre, one of those times that we realize how textured and layered all of us actually are--and that T.J. Simers can be a wonderful writer when he puts his mind to it. It also makes me ponder Peter Gammons spouting on ESPN about how Torre would quit after this year because the McCourts were so crazy to work for. Maybe Peter will read this article.

[regfairfield]

Gomez can become an incredibly valuable player if he just learned to hit even a little. The best outfielder in baseball this year wasn't Matt Holliday, Jason Bay, Kemp, or anyone else you can think of, it was Franklin Gutierrez. Gomez is only 24 and if he can just hit .260, he's a three win player. If he ever learns patience or power, watch out.

[Hollywood Joe]

When the king or queen is disposed, those loyal to the booted monarch often lose their heads

I see it in corporations all the time, management changes and you clean house. I had the good fortune of being acquired once and within 6 months of being acquired, I was the only exec left - all the others were whacked and as one went, others loyal to them went along as well. I am still not sure how I survived that Stalinist purging...

I don't think the practice is always very nice or justified, but this is not unique and in some cases even a lovely parting gift in the form of a fat severance is offered

I find this whole fiasco gross and sickening, but also find the clearing out of Jaime's hires reasonably understandable (even if they were otherwise doing fine jobs)

[Jack]

I'll never agree with defensive statistics when they make it seem like Franklin Gutierrez is the best OF in baseball.

There's no way that he got to so many more balls that another right fielder couldnt get to which would propel a guy that hit .283/.339/.425 to be labeled as the best Of'er in the baseball.

If the Dodgers RF'er hit that...that'd be considered a hole in the lineup.

[Jack]

Carlos Gomez in the majors:

Age 21 - .232/.288/.304 (125 Abs)
Age 22 - .258/.296/.360 (577 Abs)
Age 23 - .229/.287/.337 (315 Abs)

This guy really did nothing to warrant top prospect status in the minors, and has done little at the major league level. I cant believe the Mets were able to sucker the Twins into taking him as the centerpiece to the Santana deal.

[regfairfield]

Gutierrez is center fielder.

Think of it this way, if a fielder turns a single into an out, it's worth ~.75 runs (if you want to know why, look up linear weights). If I had to guess, a center fielder has more power to stop extra base hits, which are worth over a run each, than any other position. If your center fielder can get to one ball every four games that the average center fielder couldn't, that's 25-35 runs right there.

[regfairfield]

Also remember that the Brewers pitching staff is terrible, and the easiest way to fill out a staff is with AAAA guys that can get the ball over the plate. If you can build up your defense to stop the inevitable crushing line drives, you can make people start saying "the Brewers are set in their rotation for the post season, they've got Gallardo, Parra, and Wade LeBlanc."

[Horace Andy]

I saw a bunch of Mariners games in Seattle this year and Guttierez is the real deal, defensively.

[Jack]

I thought Franklin played RF.
If he plays CF, I could see him having some value.

Still, I'd take Kemp over him in CF no matter what.

[Horace Andy]

reg, if they sign Ben Sheets and he pitches without injuries, (big ifs I guess), they might look pretty good in a weak division. As you say though, OF defense will definitely help them out quite a bit the way it did Seattle this year.

[Horace Andy]

Actually I guess it's not a weak division, but still.

[kinbote]

"Why would the Brewers want Gomez?"
He might be the fastest player I've ever seen. He can absolutely fly on the bases. For a while, it looked like the Mets would feature a Reyes/Gomez #1/#2 punch that would strike terror in opposing pitchers.

As for Gutierrez, all you need to do is read USSMariner. They call him "Death to Flying Things" and he appears to be seriously legit with the glove.

[Craig88USC]

LAT'd

Dr. Steinberg and his staff want Frank & Jamie to play
Tammy Wynette's classic in the 8th inning to
replace Journey's Don't Stop Believin'...

With the crowd spelling out the words to -

"Our D.I.V.O.R.C.E becomes final today
Me and little J.O.E will be goin' away
I love you both and it will be pure H.E double L for me
Oh, I wish that we could stop this D.I.V.O.R.C.E."

[Jon Weisman]

New post up top.

[blue22]

They won't get the same upgrade that Seattle got, since Cameron-to-Gomez is basically a push defensively, and Hart and Braun will continue to flank him (Braun, I think, is below average. Hart I'm not so sure of). The M's got rid of 2 dreadful OFer's (Ibanez and a couple of stiffs), and replaced them with some excellent ones (Gutierrez and Langerhans/Saunders/Chavez). It does get them cheaper and allows Escobar to play. Still, they couldn't find a pitcher for Hardy?