Musings

I was sort of....amused, perhaps... by the reaction to the Dodgers last night.  OK, I think sending out Kelly for another inning was a bad idea, but I am not really sure you can fault the move to leave Kershaw in.  This could be me, but -- accounting for his issues in the postseason -- don't you want your best guy out there?

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/9/24/20872558/california-north-dakota-public-bank

 I first came across this in college, and two things struck me about it... one was that it was a good idea, and two, it was a good idea in that it was used in conjunction with the private sector -- and not a replacement for -- to achieve a goal.  Basically, the bank subsidizes the state's main industry (farming) by ensuring that farmers have access to capital...it's a little incestuous, but the thing is also run like... a bank, so it sort of works.

Back to baseball, I got a kick out of the Gabe Kapler firing... as I told one of my coworkers, in comparison to the Callawa axing -- that you really shouldn't fire a manager if the guy did about what you would have expected.  For Mickey, I think 86 wins is about what you would have expected; maybe not the way in which they got there (bad defense, crappy bullpen, a rapid but unsuccessful close) but given the Braves, the Nationals' rotation, the supposed talent of Philly... well, you get the drift.  Kapler, of course, going .500, and kookily, to boot...