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November 17, 2007
Major League Baseball 2007 Relegation Report
Now the the 2007 Major League Baseball regular season is over, let's see
how the final standings play out given the promotion/relegation criteria I previously proposed
.
The final standings are shown in the table below.
|
American League 2007 First Division |
| Team |
Record |
GB |
| Boston
Red Sox |
96-66 |
- |
| Los
Angeles Angels |
94-68 |
2 |
| New York Yankees |
94-68 |
2 |
| Detroit Tigers |
88-74 |
8 |
| Toronto Blue Jays |
83-79 |
13 |
| Minnesota
Twins |
79-83 |
17 |
| Oakland
Athletics |
76-86 |
20 |
| Chicago
White Sox |
72-90 |
24 |
| |
|
National League 2007 First Division |
| Team |
Record |
GB |
| Philadelphia
Phillies |
89-73 |
- |
| San
Diego Padres
|
89-73 |
- |
| New York Mets |
88-74 |
1 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers |
82-80 |
7 |
| St. Louis Cardinals |
78-84 |
11 |
| Houston
Astros
|
73-89 |
16 |
| Cincinnati Reds
|
72-90 |
17 |
| San Francisco Giants
|
71-91 |
18 |
| |
|
American League 2007 Second Division |
| Cleveland Indians
|
96-66 |
- |
| Seattle Mariners
|
88-74 |
12 |
| Milwaukee Brewers
|
83-79 |
13 |
| Texas Rangers
|
75-87 |
21 |
| Baltimore Orioles
|
69-93 |
27 |
| Kansas City Royals
|
69-93 |
27 |
| Tampa Bay Devil Rays
|
66-96 |
30 |
| |
|
National League 2007 Second Division |
| Arizona Diamondbacks
|
90-72 |
- |
| Colorado Rockies
|
90-72 |
- |
| Chicago Cubs
|
85-77 |
5 |
| Atlanta Braves
|
84-78 |
6 |
| Washington Nationals
|
73-89 |
17 |
| Florida Marlins
|
71-91 |
19 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates
|
68-94 |
22 |
In the American League, the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox would
be relegated to the second divsion with the Cleveland Indians and Seattle
Mariners
promoted to the first division. The Minnesota Twins would face the
Milwaukee Brewers
in a playoff series for the final first division spot. Since the Twins
and Brewers split their season series 3-3, we'll use aggregate runs to
declar the winner. The Brewers outscored the Twins by the thinnest of
margins, 34-33, in their six games together and thus the Brewers would win
promotion to the American League first division.
The American League championship series would be played between Boston Red
Sox and either the Los Angeles Angels or New York Yankees. The Angels went
6-3 against the Yankees in the regular season and so would have met the Red Sox
in the ALCS.
Since the Red Sox and Angels met in an
actual Division Series, I'll use those results to decide the AL champ.
Boston swept the Angels 3-0, and so would be the American League
represenative in the World Series, as they actually were.
The National League presents a compelling case for reassessing the criteria
for promotion and relegation. Half the teams in the first division had
losing records, while over half in the lower division had winning records. One
can certainly argue that more than three teams from the lower division
could improve enough to deserve promotion in a given year. Thus, the
following amendment is made to the promotion/regulation criteria: Any
team outside of the bottom 3 in the first division with a losing record
will be forced into a playoff with team from the second division, provided
there is corresponding second division team outside of the top 3 with a
winning record. Thus, the St. Louis Cardinals would face the Atlanta Braves
in an additional playoff series with a spot in the 2008 first divison going
to the winner.
The Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants are relegated to the National
League's second division while the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado
Rockies
are promoted to the first division. The Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros
would participate in a playoff for a spot in the first division, as would
the Cardinals and Braves due to the above mentioned amendment. The Cubs
went 8-7 against the Astros, winning promotion to the first division while
forcing the Astros to be relegated to the second division. The Cardinals
were 4-3 against the Braves thus preserving their spot in the first
division and keeping the Braves in the second division for another year.
The National League championship series would be played between the
Philadelphia Phillies
and San Diego Padres. The Phillies went 4-3 against San Diego in the
regular season, and so the Phillies would meet the Red Sox in the World
Series. Since these teams never met in the regular season, records against
common opponents must be used. Against common opponents* Boston was 43-28
while Philadelphia was 29-35. Thus Boston is my hypothetical World Series
Champion, and for the first year my hypothetical champion is the same as
the real champion.**
In summary, the 2008 Major League Baseball First and Second Divisions are
shown below.
American League
2008 1st Division | National League
2008 1st
Division |
Boston Red Sox
Cleveland
Indians
Detroit Tigers
Los Angeles
Milwaukee Brewers
New York Yankees
Seattle Mariners
Toronto Blue Jays | Arizona Diamondbacks
Chicago Cubs
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
San Diego Padres
St. Louis Cardinals |
|
2008 2nd Division | 2008 2nd
Divison |
Baltimore Orioles
Chicago
White Sox
Kansas City
Royals
Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics
Tampa Bay Devil
Rays
Texas Rangers |
Atlanta Braves
Cincinnati Reds
Florida Marlins
Houston Astros
Pittsburgh
Pirates
San Francisco Giants
Washington Nationals |
*Arizona, Atlanta, Chicago(AL), Cleveland, Colorado,
Detroit, Kansas City, San Diego, San Francisco, and Toronto.
**Previous WS Champs: Hypothetical (Real): 2005
Cardinals (White Sox), 2006 Mets (Cardinals), 2007 Red Sox (Red Sox).
May 14, 2007
Find Habeas Corpus
It's been awhile since my last posting as I've been extemely busy with
grad school and all. However, I feel that I must make a post in support of
something I really believe is important for our country's future.
The American Civil Liberties Union has a petition supporting the Restoration of our Constitutional
Rights that I believe any true patriot of our country should sign.
Regardless of your polictical affilation, this issue is something we can
all agree upon. The erosion of civil liberties and violation of human
rights that have occured under the watch of the Bush administration must
be stopped and reversed. Asking Congress to take a stand on this issue is
something we not only should we do, but must do as citizen's of this great
country.
As a side to their campaign, the ACLU has also started a website, findhabeas.com. The
concept is a bit corny, but it does offer the opportunity for debate and
dialogue on this very important topic.
Sign the Restore Our Constitutional Rights petition.
February 14, 2007
Libloggery One Year Anniversary!
One year ago today, I registered the domain name for the Libloggery and
began tinkering with it. The first "official" entry was "The hickory tree. . ." on Feb. 14, 2006, although I
altered the timestamp of the Libloggery's introduction post to be Feb.
12, 2006.
Including that first post, I've made 171 entries to the Libloggery that
include
photographs, political opinion, poetry, prose, game solutions, and science interests.
The diversity of these posts is indicative not only of my interests, but a
struggle I've had in giving the Libloggery an identity. I envision the
Libloggery as being a sort of library of blogs, with each section of the
"Blog Menu" being a separate and somewhat independent blog. I also feel as
though I've "copted out" at times by simply creating entries that are
little more than links to someone else's content. While that's not all bad,
I should be working harder to create my own content and at least add
entertaining or insightful commentary when creating such an entry.
The last few months at the Libloggery have been slow, but that's primarily
due to my day job. The life of a grad student often leaves little time for
extracurricular pursuits. But, with the light at the end of the tunnel
(let's hope it's not a freight train), I should be graduating soon and
moving on to a post-doctoral position at which time I will probably be able to
devote even less time to the Libloggery. :)
It's been a fun first year. I've learned a bit more about html, cascading
style sheets, and minimal perl. Just enough to be dangerous, that is. This
website is probably not the best example of coding on the internet. But it
is mine, and I look forward to another and better year.
February 07, 2007
Defeat of comment spam in pollxn?
Over the last few months or so, I noticed an alarming amount of comment spam being posted here at the Libloggery. Some stories seemed very popular with the
spambots, but I think I've found a way to defeat them in the pollxn comment program. At least for the time being.
I "hacked" my pollxn.cgi script to read the response to a math question a commenter must answer before submitting their comment. So, if you don't answer the question
or answer it wrongly, the comment will not be accepted. This might not be the best way to do it, but I do hope it will reduce my comment spam. If you'd like to see
specifically how I implemented this, feel free to comment or contact me.
February 03, 2007
A Mexican Sunrise: Chapter 6: Gambling woes
Isaac sat thinking, sipping his beer. At a
table in the front corner of the room sat a group of three men playing
poker. Isaac had noticed them when he walked into the salon. Had this been
a pay day for him, he probably would have asked to join in their game. The
group had not been able to hear Issac and Charlie's discussion, but they
did see Charlie give Isaac five dollars.
As Isaac was leaving, one of the men yelled
to him, "Hey, partner. Would you like to join us for a friendly game?"
One of Isaac's weaknesses was gambling. He
knew he should go straight to the tailor and buy a suit, but the offer was
very tempting. "I don't know. I don't think I have time. Thanks, though."
He replied, convincing not even himself.
"Oh, come on now. Just a couple of hands. You
got time for that, don't you?"
"Are you playing for money?"
"Wouldn't be poker if we weren't, now would
it?"
"No, I guess not. What's the ante?"
A smile crept across the man's face. "A
nickel."
"That's too expensive for me." Isaac
recoiled.
"What? I just saw your friend give you five
dollars."
"That's not really money I should use in a
poker game." Isaac put his hand in his pocket and began to unconsciously
pick up the coins and allow them to fall back through his fingers.
"Surely you can spare some of it just for a
couple of hands." He knew he almost had Isaac convinced.
"Well, my friend is expecting me. . ."
"A couple of hands won't take too long."
"Okay. Deal me in." Isaac walked over to the
table and put a nickel on the table. The man that had been speaking was
also the dealer. He dealt the cards to each player.
"Give me three." Isaac said. Two of the
other players also took three, and the last took only two.
"What do you want to do?" The dealer asked
Isaac.
Isaac looked at his cards. He had never
gotten such a good hand in his life. He hoped that he hadn't tipped his
hand by showing excitement. He didn't notice that his hands were also
shaking slightly. With a slight nervousness in his voice he said. "I'll
raise a nickel." Don't want to raise too much just yet. Maybe I can bait
them into a big pot. The others saw his raise, and the dealer raised
him another nickel. Uh oh. I wonder if he has a better hand than I
do. He looked at his cards. A straight flush, jack high. There's no
way he can beat that. Only two hands could beat that.
"Okay, I'll see your nickel and raise you a
dime." The other men showed obvious surprise at this move. Ha, got them
on their heels now. One of the men folded, the other saw his bet, and
the dealer once again raised him a nickel. They must be just trying to
bluff me now since the pot has gotten so big. Well, I'll show them.
"I'll raise another dime."
The other man folded, but the dealer saw his
dime once again and called. "Let's see what you got."
Isaac excitedly put his cards down. "Straight
flush, jack high!"
"Dammit!" The dealer said, putting down a
full house.
"I've never had a hand that good in my
life!" Isaac exclaimed, pulling the pot toward him.
"Must be your lucky day. Alright boys, ante
up again."
To his surprise, his won his next four hands
as well. Must be my lucky day! He lost the sixth hand, but won the
next three. He had won over dollar, and an hour had passed, but he hadn't
noticed the time. He was on a winning streak the likes he had never been
on. Once the tenth hand was dealt out, he had four aces. He once again
started by raising a nickel, then a dime at a time. One of the other men
continued to raise his bet. Once again, Isaac believed that since the pot
had gotten so large he was just trying to bluff him into folding. I'll
try raising a quarter. That should scare him into folding. The man saw
and raised that bet. Dangit. Maybe two quarters will end this. It
did not.
Isaac looked down at his cards. He knew he
was going to win this hand. There was no way the man across from him could
beat four aces. Was there? The doubts crept into his mind. But, he had
already dipped into the money that Charlie had given him, and he had to get
it back. He finally put down his quarter. "I see you and call."
"What do you have?" The man asked, flashing
a quick smile towards the dealer.
Isaac gleefully put down four aces. "Four of
a kind."
"That's a great hand. But, is that better
than a straight flush, seven high?"
Isaac's heart sank. He had just lost over six
dollars, leaving him with seventy-five cents.
"Well gentlemen, that's enough for one day.
We should head back to the ranch."
Isaac protested "Wait, you can't stop now.
Give me a chance to win something back. I can't leave here with only
seventy-five cents. I started with over five dollars."
"Sorry, but we have to go. Maybe we'll see
you around tomorrow."
"Come on, one more hand!" Isaac pleaded.
"Well, since you were such a good sport, here
take this." The dealer gave Isaac a quarter.
"No, I need a chance to win my money back.
More than just a quarter."
"We'll see you around." With that, the men
left.
Isaac felt devastated. He had lost plenty of
money in past poker games, but at least it had been his money. He didn't
know if he could face Charlie. Five dollars was a lot of money. Maybe he
could go to the tailor and get a suit for the dollar he had left. Maybe
even on credit. If I give him a dollar as down payment, surely he'll
extend me enough credit for the rest. Then after we're done with our
robbery I can come back and pay him the rest. Or if that won't work, maybe
there will be a nice fitting suit at the ready-to-wear store. He knew
that wasn't likely, but he held out hope.
He stood up and walked slowly out the door.
At the tailor he asked about credit, but was refused. A suit costs four
dollars, and he couldn't just give anybody with a dollar in their pocket a
suit on credit. Isaac then went to the read-to-wear store, but there wasn't
a complete suit that properly fit him. He dawdled at the store until it
closed, delaying facing Charlie for as long as he could.
As Isaac walked toward his meeting with
Charlie, he thought about what he was going to say and imagined how the
conversation would go.
Hey. He would say jovially. I was just
reminded of another liability that I have.
Oh, what is that?
I have a bad habit of gambling my money away.
Is that so?
Yes.
What reminded you of that?
I lost most of the money you gave me playing
poker today.
What!
Isaac didn't know what would happen after
that. He imagined Charlie exploding in anger, but hoped the light
hearted manner in which he was going to tell him would lessen the blow.
Perhaps they could even have a laugh about it.
Isaac arrived at his door. He opened it and
walked it, finding Charlie reading the newspaper, although it wasn't the
same one that he had bought earlier. He saw a stack of newspapers, one from
each of the stacks he had seen earlier at the general store. Before Isaac
could speak, Charlie looked up. "Hey, when will your suit be ready?"
When will my suit be ready? You mean I
wasn't expected to walk out with it? Maybe I don't have to tell Charlie I
lost his money after all. He nervously responded, "Uh, a couple of
days."
"Really! That's one fast tailor. Are you
sure you aren't returning for a fitting?"
"Oh, maybe that's what he meant. I guess I
misunderstood."
Isaac could see that knowing look in
Charlie's eyes again, the same look he had when he figured out that Charlie
couldn't read. Maybe he saw me playing poker when bought those other
newspapers. He decided to change the subject.
"Anything interesting in the papers?"
"Nah, just the usual stuff. What were your
measurements?"
"My measurements?" What is he talking
about?
"At the tailor. What were your
measurements?"
"Oh, I don't know. He didn't say. Just wrote
them down."
"Oh, okay."
Isaac could tell Charlie wasn't convinced.
I should just tell him the truth right now. No, tomorrow I'll get the
tailor to take my measurements and try to find some way to come up with the
rest of the money.
"Did you happen to get the price of a bowler
hat?"
"A what? Uh, No. Should I have?"
"Why don't you go back tomorrow and get one.
Here's some money for it." Charlie put five dollars on the table. "You'll
look pretty sharp in a suit and hat."
Isaac's heart jumped into his throat when he
saw Charlie put the money on the table. He does know! But, if he doesn't
maybe I can get the hat and suit for what I have now. "I don't know how
I'll ever thank you."
"If we succeed in getting that train robbed,
that's all the thanks I need."
"I hope we do. I know how much you want to
get back to your wife."
"Let's get some sleep. We have a full day of
preparation tomorrow."
"Alright."
Isaac didn't sleep well that night. He felt
bad for trying to deceive Charlie. He also worried that Charlie knew. That
made it even worse. What does he think of me if he knows and I'm not
fessing up to it? A few times he decided to admit his mistake to
Charlie, but every time he looked over Charlie was sound asleep. After much
tossing and turning, he finally fell into a restless sleep.
January 23, 2007
Science Funding for 2007
Anyone who believes that funding scientific research is a worthy and
important goal of our government should be concerned that, to this point,
Congress has done nothing except continue funding at 2006 levels. If
increases are not passed and funding is left at 2006 levels, the following
consequences may arise:
- There will be a significant reduction in operations or a complete
shutdown at some key national user facilities that academic and
industrial researchers from around the country rely on. (See
this DOE analysis
for a more detailed discussion of the DOE situation.)
- Scientific and technical staffing at the national laboratories may
suffer reductions in force, since the FY06 funding levels do not
account for salary-adjusted inflation.
- University grants will be notably reduced
- At NSF, there will be a 10% reduction in the number of new research
grants, a loss of 40 planned Graduate Fellowships and $439 million in
missed opportunities for scientific discoveries. (See
this report for a more
detailed list of the effects that will be felt by NSF)
- At DOE, university grants could be cut by 10% or more. Due to the
significant cut in funding of the Office of Science in FY06, DOE has
been operating below FY05 levels. The proposed Continuing Resolution
would extend these difficult levels through October 2007.
To do something, write or email your US Represenative and Senators. The
following link allows you to send a form letter to them. You don't have to
personalize the letter (other than putting your address so that the letter
goes to your represenatives). The more people that raise this issue with
their representatives then the more likely it is to come to a positive
resolution.
Congress Web.
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