Raging Blog

Strange.

The Yanks got pounded last night, which happens. However, the fact that they let new first basmen Nick Swisher pitch the end of the game (just for shits and giggles?!?) is quite rare.

Updates from Yankees.com:

Catcher Jose Molina expected nothing but four-seam fastballs, so he never bothered to put down a sign.

Nick Swisher went into the stretch, leaning in and looking for the sign. There wasn’t one, but he shook it off anyway.

In all, Swisher threw 22 pitches [12 for strikes], maxing out at 80 mph on the last pitch he threw.

“I’m walking out of my professional career with a 0.00 ERA,” Swisher said.

While many of the Yankees found amusement in Swisher’s outing, not everyone was pleased.

House on a Rock.

Obama gave an above average speech on the economy today. I liked that he spent a a lot of time addressing his critics, and had tougher rhetoric on Wall Street excess.

China wins Pentagon war game.

From Politico:

There were five teams: The United States, Russia, China, East Asia and “all others.” They were overseen by a “White Cell” group that functioned as referees, who decided the impact of the moves made by each team as they struggled for economic dominance.

At the end of the two days, the Chinese team emerged as the victors of the overall game-

Bracken said the Chinese have a middle option between dumping and holding US dollars – they could sell dollars in increments, ratcheting up economic uncertainty in the United States without wiping out their own savings.

Krugman on why positive growth stats are misleading. (Krugman is spending almost all his time explaining that our economic troubles are far from over.)

Imagine a company that produces widgets (companies in these examples always produce widgets), normally selling 100 each month. The company tries to keep one month’s sales, 100 widgets, in inventory. But for some reason sales drop off, to 90 per month. And it takes a month before the company realizes what has happened.

At the end of that month the company, having produced 100 widgets but sold only 90, finds itself with 110 in inventory, but wants to hold only 90. To eliminate the excess inventory quickly, it might slash production to 70 for the next month, then bump production back up to 90. But unless sales increase again, that’s where it ends: production never recovers to its original level.

As go the widget-makers, so goeth the economy. When demand drops, inventories build up, then production drops sharply as businesses work off the overhang. Finally, there’s an “inventory bounce” when the overhang is gone. But the bounce doesn’t necessarily presage a true recovery. To get that, you need increased sales to final buyers.

Also.

Obama needs to get his kids a goddamn dog before he starts to look like an asshole.

Yea!

Just beat a shit talker on Madden. Feels good.

Dave King on famous drum fills:

It’s like if you covered “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins and didn’t do “the fill that brings in the big chorus.” You’d get your ass kicked on the street if word got out that you were the doof that thought you could do better. Phil Collins fans are fucking vicious and they will shank you without thinking twice.

Cano

First home run.

JETER

First Yankee batter at the new stadium hits a double!