Shorebird of the Week – August 7, 2008
Last Saturday night I was part of a Shorebirds Fan Club trip down to Norfolk to see the Tides play. Part of their game program was a reprint of a pre-season Baseball America article recounting the Orioles’ top 10 prospects. While none of them are playing for Delmarva this season, I think there’s a good possibilty my SotW pick this week will be on that list in 2009. Yes, Zach Britton is pitching that well.
Consider, for example, that of nine second-half starts Britton’s had a “quality” start (defined as 3 or fewer earned runs allowed in 6 or more innings) on seven of those occasions. In those nine starts batters are hitting an anemic .175 against the lefty, and his WHIP is a sick 0.95 for the second half (1.08 for the full season – outstanding.)
Then again, much was expected from the slender California native as he was picked in the 3rd round by the Orioles two years ago. If anything, he’s improved on his Aberdeen numbers from last season (6-4, 3.68 ERA in 15 starts covering 63 2/3 innings) and for this season ranks among the SAL leaders in innings pitched (5th with 123 2/3 entering tonight’s start against Lake County), wins (tied for fourth with 10, he’s lost 5), ERA (7th with a 2.77 mark), and WHIP (the 1.08 mark is 8th.) Certainly the 20 year old has shown enough stuff to advance to the next level in 2009.
So if the rotation holds true to form, you’ll only have 3 more chances to see Britton work his voodoo on opposition hitters before the season comes to a close and Zach likely packs up for Frederick next spring.
The 30 second war begins
Striking the airwaves first, First District Congressional hopeful Andy Harris went for the obvious issue on everyone’s minds: energy independence.
While I wholeheartedly support the idea of more domestic oil production, I’m slightly more hesitant about the alternative energy angle. As Harris puts it in his “Prescription for the Pain at the Pump”:
Provide incentives for technological innovations in alternative forms of energy like nuclear, cellulosic ethanol, solar, geothermal, and hydrogen cell.
I guess I think the opportunity to come up with an ingenious solution to the problem and make a fortune isn’t incentive enough? To me, it’s not the federal government’s place to reward or retard a particular solution, it’s the free market’s job. The reason that ethanol, solar, geothermal, and hydrogen cell aren’t already ingrained in the energy market is the expense necessary to use them, at least compared to oil. That’s not to say the situation will last forever, but I don’t believe the solution lies inside the Beltway. If anything, get them out of the way!
Opponent Frank Kratovil was certainly licking his chops and something tells me that his first commercial out of the gate is going to slam Harris on his General Assembly energy record – that is, if he continues with the script already laid out in his campaign’s response to the Harris TV spot. Personally, I happen to think Andy was correct in voting against most, if not all, of these market-bending, job-killing, expense-increasing garbage bills that eminated from Annapolis over the last four years. Descriptions of several of these and how I would have voted myself can be found on my General Assembly voting record pages. (Remember, Frank Kratovil has no voting record, so we’re led to assume he would have voted the opposite way on the measures.)
And while Frank Kratovil may suggest that Andy Harris is for dirty water, the water’s not bad enough in Chesapeake Bay to keep Andy’s supporters from hosting a Chesapeake Bay Cruise fundraiser on Friday, September 26th, a cruise that will originate in Crisfield. Dustin Mills is the guy with the full details on the cruise, and he can be reached via e-mail – dustin@andyharris08.com. (Bummer, I have a conflict that evening. Too bad it’s not that Saturday evening instead.) There’s not a lot of tickets available as I found out last night, so time is of the essence.
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