News

Leave a comment Posted on MLB, Sports

Madison Bumgarner, Giants hold off Royals to win World Series

(AP) October 29, 2014

http://es.pn/1sIby5E

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants succeeded where no team had in 3½ decades, winning Game 7 on the road for their third World Series title in five years.

Punctuating one of the finest October performances in baseball history, Bumgarner came out of the bullpen to pitch five scoreless innings on two days’ rest, and the Giants held off the Kansas City Royals 3-2 Wednesday night in a championship pushed to the limit.

A two-out misplay in the ninth almost wrecked it for Bumgarner and the Giants. He had retired 14 in a row when Alex Gordon’s single fell in front of center fielder Gregor Blanco, who let the ball get past him for an error that allowed Gordon to reach third.

Bumgarner, however, retired Salvador Perez on a foulout to third baseman Pedro Sandoval. The big left-hander was immediately embraced by catcher Buster Posey, and the rest of the Giants rushed to the mound to join the victory party. Most of the San Francisco players tossed their gloves high in the air as they ran to the center of the diamond.

Three days after throwing 117 pitches in a four-hit shutout to win Game 5, Bumgarner threw 68 more and dropped his record-low career Series ERA to a barely visible 0.25.

Michael Morse hit a go-ahead single in the fourth that stood up, and the Giants eked out a battle of the bullpens on a night when both starting pitchers made unusually quick exits.

The Giants were dubbed a “Band of Misfits” in 2010 when they beat Texas to win the franchise’s first title since 1954 in New York. Two years later, they swept Detroit for another championship.

And this time, they became the second NL team with three titles in a five-year span, matching Stan Musial’s St. Louis Cardinals of 1942-46.

Every other year. It’s the closest thing to a dynasty baseball has seen in the 21st century.

Home teams had won nine straight Game 7s in the Series since Pittsburgh’s victory at Baltimore in 1979, including the Royals’ 11-0 rout of St. Louis in 1985. Teams hosting the first two games had won 23 of the last 28 titles, including five in a row. And the Giants had lost all four of their previous World Series pushed to the limit.

But before a pumped-up, blue-and-white-clad crowd of 40,535 that hoped noise and passion could lift the small-market Royals to a title that seemed improbable when Kansas City was languishing two games under .500 in mid-July, the Giants won the second all-wild card World Series, 12 years after losing Game 7 to the Angels in the first.

Both managers promised quick hooks if their starters showed the slightest signs of faltering, and both managers delivered as Tim Hudson and Jeremy Guthrie combined for 15 outs — matching the fewest by Game 7 starters. Hudson, at 39 the oldest Game 7 starter, allowed two runs in 1 2-3 innings. The 35-year-old Guthrie took the loss, giving up three runs in 3 1-3 innings

Jeremy Affeldt followed Hudson with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief in his longest outing since July 2012, getting help from the first successful replay challenge in World Series history.

With his shaggy hair making him look every bit a gunslinger, Bumgarner entered to boos in the bottom of the fifth, coated his long arms with rosin and groomed the pocked-up mound with his spikes.

He gave up an opposite-field single to his first batter, Omar Infante, who advanced on a sacrifice. Bumgarner retired Nori Aoki on a liner near the left-field line that was grabbed by Juan Perez, starting over Travis Ishikawa because of his defense. Bumgarner then struck out Lorenzo Cain.

He retired the side in order in the sixth, seven and eighth, increasing his pitch count to 52. With loud chants of “Let’s Go Royals!” echoing through Kauffman Stadium, he struck out Eric Hosmer to open the ninth, then retired Billy Butler on a foulout to bring up Gordon.

The 25-year-old Bumgarner allowed two hits, struck out four and walked none. He pitched 52 2/3 postseason innings, 4 1/3 more than the previous mark set by Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2001, and finished with 270 innings combined, including the regular season.

Voted the Series MVP, MadBum became king of SoMa, and from Nob Hill to North Beach, from The Marina to The Mission, San Francisco celebrated another title won by Kung Fu Panda and Hunter Pence.

Pence batted .444 in the Series and Sandoval, a free-agent-to-be playing perhaps his last game for the Giants, finished at .429 following a three-hit night. In an era when pitching and computer-aided defense has supplanted steroids-saturated sluggers, baseball’s dominant team established itself in the tech-fueled, boomtown by the Bay.

The Giants, a 20-1 longshot when 2014 odds were first posted a year ago, won their eighth title and third since moving from New York to San Francisco after the 1957 season. They also have won 10 straight postseason rounds, one shy of the record set by the New York Yankees from 1998-01.

After finishing tied with Pittsburgh in the wild-card race at 88-74, the Giants advanced when Bumgarner pitched a four-hit shutout and then beat Washington and St. Louis in the NL playoffs.

Bruce Bochy became the 10th manager to win three World Series titles — the other nine are all in the Hall of Fame.

Sandoval was hit just above the right elbow leading off the second, Pence reached out and pulled an 0-2 changeup into left for a single and Brandon Belt poked a single into right, loading the bases.

Consecutive sacrifice flies by Morse and Brandon Crawford put the Giants ahead 2-0.

But Hudson gave the lead right back and was chased after 28 pitches, walking off the mound with a stunned look when Bochy removed him after just four outs — the shortest Game 7 start since the Yankees’ Bob Turley was pulled after a leadoff single in the second in 1960.

Kansas City pressured Hudson in a three-pitch span when Billy Butler singled leading off, Gordon lined the next pitch to right-center for an RBI double and Perez was hit by a pitch.

Gordon scored on Infante’s sacrifice fly for a 2-all tie.

THE CORE

Eight players have been on all three Series rosters for the Giants in the past five years: Affeldt, Bumgarner, Santiago Casilla, Tim Lincecum, Javier Lopez, Posey, Sergio Romo and Sandoval. Matt Cain, a member of the first two title teams, was hurt this October. Before this run, manager John McGraw (1905, `21-22) was the only Giant with three titles.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Leave a comment Posted on Crime, News, Odd News, U.S. News

Son Beheads Mother… Kills Self in Murder-Suicide

Seriously?


Cops investigate woman’s beheading, son’s train death as a murder-suicide
by Susan Candiotti and Ray Sanchez, CNN

New York (CNN) — A New York college professor was beheaded and her body dumped outside an apartment building by her son, who later killed himself by stepping in front of a commuter train, police said.

The woman has been tentatively identified as Patricia Ward, a 66-year-old assistant professor at Farmingdale State College on Long Island, Detective Lt. John Azzata of the Nassau County Police told reporters Wednesday.

She was decapitated shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday by Derek Ward, 35, with a kitchen knife in the second-floor apartment they shared, Azzata said. Patricia Ward had multiple stab wounds and broken ribs, police said.

The son either carried or dragged his mother’s body down the stairs, through the lobby and left it on the street, Azzata said. Her head was found about five feet from the body, leaving some neighbors to think the gruesome scene was a Halloween stunt.

“I literally thought it was a prank,” one resident said, according to CNN affiliate WCBS. “We saw the body on one side and saw the head on the other side. I thought everything was a prank.”

Less than a half hour after his mother’s body was found, Derek Ward apparently jumped in front of a Long Island Rail Road train heading east from Penn Station in Manhattan, police said.

“It appears that this is a murder-suicide,” Azzata said.

Patricia Ward was an assistant professor of language arts at the college’s Long Island Educational Opportunity Center, which helps high school students prepare for college.

“Patricia Ward was a member of the campus for 28 years,” Patrick Calabria, the college vice president for institutional advancement and enrollment, said in a statement. “She was well-known, well-liked and well-respected. The campus is a very sad place today.”

Derek Ward, who was unemployed, had a history of psychiatric problems dating back 10 years, his condition exacerbated in the last years after the death of his maternal grandfather, according to Azzata.

Police said there were no reported domestic incidents at the Ward home.

Derek Ward had a 2003 arrest for criminal mischief and received a fine and probation, Azzata said.

In 2006, Derek Ward was arrested for criminal possession of a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun as well as a drug charge, Azzata said. He received a 45-day sentence and three years’ probation.

“It’s insane,” a Farmingdale resident said of the murder-suicide, according to WCBS. “You never think something like that’s going to happen right outside your doorstep.”

The motive is under investigation.

“We did not know anything about her family life,” Calabria told CNN. “We are all in shock.”

Leave a comment Posted on NFL, Sports

Tony Romo Really Does Suck

By John M. Ricci
Octerber 29, 2014

Romo - Another Interception

Romo – Another Interception

Tony Romo is an awful quarterback. For some reason, he has fooled so many… even those that are considered to be experts. It really is a shame because Dallas fans, most of them anyway, are under the delusion that Tony Romo is their franchise quarterback. How very sad.

I hate to break it to you, but Tony Romo is the re-incarnation of Drew Bledsoe – another QB that accomplished nothing other than win a few meaningless games. His number one characteristic, like Romo’s, was choking, in any situation where a game mattered. Jerry Jones, perhaps the most delusional owner of all-time (he has said he would fire himself if he could) just gave $55 million to Romo, just in time to repair his broken back.

Drew Bledsoe - Dallas Cowboy QB!

Drew Bledsoe – Dallas Cowboy QB!

This season is going to be the biggest heartbreak of all for Dallas Cowboy fans, unless Tony Romo is injured (I’m not hoping for that) and out for the season. With the pathetic New England Patriots under Bledsoe’s nightmare period, I predicted that if Tom Brady (or anybody else) played in place of Bledsoe, not only would the Patriots go to the Superbowl, they’d win it – in the same year. Now, I’ll make another prediction: if Tony Romo is replaced by the backup QB, Brandon Weeden, the Dallas Cowboys will win the Superbowl – this year!

Otherwise, it is going to be another sad, pathetic showing by Tony Romo in a playoff game. The only question will be just how much he’ll tease the Cowboy fans with hope of winning it all.

The good news? Tony Romo is not the worst quarterback of the 2014-2015 season, thanks to a young man named Geno Smith, who threw three (3) interceptions in the first ten minutes of the week 8 game against the Buffalo Bills… at home.

Leave a comment Posted on News

Whitey Bulger: Boston’s Scumbag – Finally Caught

Whitey in Alcatraz

Whitey in Alcatraz

Boston, well South Boston’s number one scumbag, Whitey Bulger, is caught! Whitey had $822,000 in cash along with numerous weapons and his girlfriend… just living the life in California.

If you’re even remotely familiar with Boston’s Southie neighborhood and the Irish gangs that once dominated it, you know who James “Whitey” Bulger is.
Bulger eluded federal authorities for more than 16 years before his arrest in June 2011. Now 85, Bulger is a convicted murderer, serving the rest of his life in prison for a litany of crimes, including his role in 11 murders, although he’s appealing his conviction.
His crimes were thoroughly detailed throughout his high-profile murder trial, but here are some things you might not know about this infamous Boston gang leader:

Already in prison for armed robbery, Bulger was sent to the now-defunct federal prison on Alcatraz Island off San Francisco’s shoreline in November 1959 after allegedly planning a prison escape in Atlanta. He spent three years in Alcatraz before his eventual release in 1965.
Shortly after Bulger’s 2011 capture, Alcatraz historian and author Michael Esslinger wrote to the imprisoned Bulger asking for details about his time in the notorious federal penitentiary.
Much to Esslinger’s surprise, Bulger wrote back extensively about his fond memories of his time in Alcatraz. Esslinger told CBS’ Bill Whitaker that Bulger wrote, “‘If I could choose my epitaph on my tombstone, it would be ‘I’d rather be in Alcatraz.’ ‘”
Bulger apparently liked Alcatraz so much that he went back there as a tourist. There’s even a photo of a smiling Bulger with his then-girlfriend Teresa Stanley dressed in mock prison garb.
While imprisoned in Atlanta for the bank robbery conviction in 1957, Bulger volunteered to be a drug test subject in an effort to reduce his prison sentence.
Bulger was injected with LSD — a not-so-well-known drug at the time — for what he thought was an effort to find a cure for schizophrenia, according to Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy, authors of “Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster And The Manhunt That Brought Him To Justice.”
Bulger said he suffered from lifelong insomnia and nightmares as a result of the experiment.
He later learned that the experiments were actually part of the CIA’s so-called MKULTRA program to develop a mind-control weapon carried out at dozens of universities and institutions from 1953 to 1967, according to T.J. English, author of “Whitey’s Payback,” citing two of Bulger’s associates.
“(Bulger) was enraged to learn how the covert program had destroyed so many lives,” English wrote in The Daily Beast.
“According to (Bulger’s associate Kevin) Weeks, Bulger had even taken preliminary steps to track down the overseer of the program, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer … and assassinate him,” English wrote.
Bulger and girlfriend Lindsey Cyr had been dating only a few months in 1966 when Cyr became pregnant. Bulger wasn’t pleased, so when the baby was born in May 1967, Cyr listed her ex-boyfriend as the boy’s father on the birth certificate. Speaking publicly for the first time in 2010, Cyr told The Boston Globe that Bulger also kept his son’s identity a secret to protect him from his father’s numerous enemies.
Despite his initial reluctance toward fatherhood, Cyr said Bulger doted on the boy. “He helped pay for child care and showered Douglas with toys,” wrote the Globe’s Cullen and Murphy.
As Bulger rose through the ranks of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang in 1973, 6-year-old Douglas fell ill and was hospitalized with Reye’s Syndrome, a severe reaction to aspirin. Bulger sat by his side for three days, wrote Cullen and Murphy. “When he died, Jimmy (Bulger) was out of his mind,” Cyr is quoted as saying in Cullen and Murphy’s book.
Bulger served nearly four years in the U.S. Air Force, working as an aircraft mechanic and earning his high school diploma. Yet the future gang leader never strayed far from trouble. During his military service, the young Bulger was arrested for going AWOL and, in a separate incident, police arrested him on rape charges.
He was never convicted or sentenced on either charge and received an honorable discharge in 1952.
Nearly every mobster has a colorful nickname, but family and associates say Bulger hated “Whitey,” a reference to his white-blond hair as a child. He preferred his real name, Jim, and reportedly he was also OK with the moniker “Boots,” which referred to his fondness for cowboy boots.

During the time that Bulger spent eluding authorities, he and girlfriend Catherine Greig lived as Charlie and Carol Gasko in a seaside apartment in Santa Monica, California. In his letters to Esslinger, Bulger described that time as “a 16-year honeymoon.”
A neighbor described the couple as a quiet and polite, who sometimes helped carry her groceries.
Three months ago, the seaside apartment was put up for rent, according to several media reports.
The “unassuming two bedroom apartment” can be yours “for $2,950 a month — far more than Bulger himself had paid during his rent-controlled stint there,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It’s the same apartment where federal agents found more than $822,000 in cash hidden inside the walls after his capture.

5 Comments Posted on Sports

Pray for Kansas City

By John M. Ricci
October 27, 2014

Let’s All Pray for the Kansas City Royals!

I’m hoping anyone who reads this will take a moment and pray for the Kansas City Royals in their bid to become World Champions in 2014, by defeating the San Francisco Giants. The Giants took a 3 games to 2 lead Sunday evening, October 26. This means Kansas City needs to win the remaining two games when they return home and play Tuesday and, hopefully, Wednesday nights.
San Francisco has won plenty of times in the last few years. They have won the World Series twice since 2010. Enough already!
Pray for KC! And I’d like to think my lovely wife, Sarah, is watching from above and doing what she can to lobby for her favorite team.

Leave a comment Posted on Odd News

New York City Confirms First Case of Ebola

I think it’s important to keep in mind that 1.5 MILLION PEOPLE DIED from AIDS in 2012.
Why is it that this astronomical number is virtually unknown to most people? Let me know what you think!

Boston John

New York City has its first confirmed case of Ebola in a doctor who had recently been traveling in West Africa to treat patients suffering from the deadly disease. Craig Spencer, 33, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan earlier today after experiencing a 103 degree fever and other symptoms, reports The New York Times. An initial test has since confirmed that Spencer contracted the disease, which has killed 4,877 people and infected nearly 10,000 across Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Spencer’s now in isolation, though was reportedly bowling and taking Uber for transportation on Wednesday night, raising questions about whether others may have been in close contact.

In a statement, Bellevue Hospital said it “designated for the isolation, identification and treatment of potential Ebola patients by the City and State,” and that New York City was taking “all necessary precautions” to keep others from getting the disease.

This is…

View original post 105 more words