Wednesday, April 15, 2009

GENIUS AT WORK

Cardinal fan always seems to want to minimize or criticize the role of Tony LaRussa in the team's recent successes.

I don't know how many games' difference a manager makes over a 162 game season but, whatever that difference is, LaRussa gives his teams all the edge there is. Compare him to your generic Ken Macha or Dusty Baker and it doesn't take long to grasp the difference. Or just listen to the guy talk. He's always got a clear concept of what he wants to do for the next six minutes, six games, six weeks and probably six years.

The only manager in the Bigs I actually pay to watch manage.

10 Comments:

At 6:39 AM, April 15, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

all you lawyers stick together... :)

 
At 8:03 AM, April 15, 2009, Anonymous jrg said...

Then why in the !@#$%^&*(*&^%^&**&!
didn't Ludwick pinch hit last night?

What the Hell does that guy have to do to play every day?

 
At 11:10 AM, April 15, 2009, Blogger UMRBlog said...

TLR talked about this on the radio pregrame show with Mike S. RL was going to play 6 games in a row after last night and he wanted to give him a complete day off.

Now, I'll give you that PH'ing isn't too strenuous, but that was his mindset going in.

TYFCB

 
At 12:32 PM, April 16, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

certain lawyers just stick together when that is most profitable for "them" ... ethics, laws be dammed ... forgeries and fraud, no problem ... just my two cents :)

Managers/coaches can make ALL the difference. But I don't know baseball well enough to rank Tony. St. Louis seems to also be good at bringing up young talent.

 
At 3:11 PM, April 16, 2009, Blogger UMRBlog said...

1232,

How many other professions are there where the member has an affirmative duty, indeed can be disciplined for failure to do so, to report their colleagues when the member has reasonable knowledge the colleague is engaging in dishonesty or conduct involving moral turptitude?

That would none, because there are no others.

TYFCB

 
At 5:32 AM, April 17, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would consider it a moral duty in many professions, but I would guess the ability to do harm is so great for attorneys, that the affirmative duty is correlated to the importance of pure trust.

Just because there is the affirmative duty does not mean the duty is fulfilled, just that the reprisal would be greater if caught. But that "pure trust" affords opportunity.

So if you take the risk, you make sure it is worth it, and leave yourself with "plausible deniability", which is made easier if you have helpful friends. And of course, in for a penny, in for a pound ... a very real problem as I see it.

Once a little "co-backscratching" starts, how does one get out of "the circle"? "Hey, I helped you on that, we're all in this together now".

So does the attorney general take up cases of fraud and forgery, or the FBI?

Sorry to stray from your topic, I was just responding to comment #1 ... I don't find the situation the least bit humorous, but our political world clearly exhibits it only gets worse as you get in deeper. Do you really think our political lawyer leaders are concerned about reporting the moral turpitude they are engulfed in?

 
At 9:02 AM, April 17, 2009, Blogger UMRBlog said...

0532

The difference is lawyers are disciplined for the failure to report conduct of the type I discussed above.

It's a little tedious but is explained pretty well at:

http://www.law.msu.edu/king/2008/Sapp.pdf

As to back-scratching and settlement swapping, I've never seen it happen here in the basin in the decades I've practiced here.

And believe me when I tell you that lawyers take their so-called "Himmel" obligation VERY seriously.

You will, however, not get me to stand up for Gonzo and his torture-worshippers.

TYFCB

 
At 12:37 PM, April 18, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Someone that does charitable work probably doesn't pass the entry level questions to get in the inner "circle of corruption", or perhaps it is less formal than that.

If you had experienced deliberate forgeries and deliberate evidence destruction by the fraudster's cohort, that benefited them, and not their client ... you might understand my concern.

And several I talked to, including professionals, seem to feel there is a very real problem. I would hope we wouldn't have Chicago style corruption, but I have had my mind changed toward the negative on that count.

From what I read of the "Himmel obligation", my opinion is that it is also ignored, maybe just when they feel they can get away with it, or need to. I'm not really prepared to go to war over the issue right now.

I don't know of any torture worshippers, but if aggressive techniques on known villains can save lives, I'm for that.

And I sure don't get why we want to run foreign terrorists, enemy combatants, or high seas pirates through our own court system.

There should be some good Cubs-Cardinals series this year. Pretty good game yesterday ... I hope Carpenter makes it back soon.

 
At 1:55 PM, April 18, 2009, Blogger UMRBlog said...

1237,

Sounds like the early chapters of Grisham's "The Associate", probing for a useful, larcenous streak.

Unfortunately, I have to concede that we don't maintain a "Client Security Fund" because no lawyer ever rips off a client, so your underlying premise is correct. All I'm saying is no profession does more to police itself. Because the attorney-client relationship is, by its very definition, so confidential and personal, it does sometimes happen undetected.

Carpenters injury is a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that it's not at any of his surgical sites. The bad news is, with soft tissue injuries in the rib cage, he can't throw at all. Thus, if his healing is four weeks, his first start is probably 6 and that'll be about 85 pitches.

I love to watch Carpenter pitch for two reasons, his craftsmanship as a pitcher and then to watch him get over and try to cover first on groundballs to the right side. I believe he is the slowest runner in the national league. He has to be fundamentally perfect and off with the ball being hit or he can't beat even a mediocre runner to the bag. He should be used as a training file "See, kids, if you do it right, it doesn't matter how slow you are. You can still cover first."

TYFCB

 
At 4:17 AM, April 23, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Cardinals' pitching faltered a little against the Cubs, but has picked up against the Mets, and they are scoring a lot of runs. Maybe having Carpenter full speed for September/October will be all they need.

The Himmel obligation may be taken seriously only to the extent of being a little careful. I saw no one has been prosecuted solely for neglecting that duty for 20 years or so ... and I'm quite certain there are breaches all the time. With no fear of prosecution, offenders are emboldened, and looking the other way has no bad consequence.

Self policing doesn't work, there is a strong inherent bias. The derivative market was not policed, yet now we the people are spending trillions to bailout wealthy investors.

Many feel this self dealing between congress and certain financial giants (Goldman Sachs being chief) is the biggest scam in American history. Yet we are only now getting hints that maybe there are some investigations ... and already a suicide or two.

At least George Soros says the crisis has been profitable for him, and Rahm Emanuel says to never let a crisis go to waste.

Corruption has become the order of the day, and I believe it is not just national, but local. Does the FBI really have time to deal with Quincy when they are understaffed for a national crisis?

Corruption has become the standard .. but I fully believe "what goes around, comes around", one way or another.

When justice breaks down, I think armed rebellion has been the historical response. Maybe that is why the Bobama administration has been quick to label their political "enemies" as potential terrorists. They smell outrage, as the outrageous Bush spending has been quadrupled.

Some treat baseball as "warfare", and others treat life as just a game, with fraud and theft just something you try to get away with ... no big deal. I want to see prosecution, so those attitudes change. Otherwise, cutthroat actions may move beyond the figurative for the victim that finds no other recourse.

 

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