Despite making their first triple play in 6 seasons, the Pittsburgh Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds this afternoon 2-o. (It appears that the headline writer and proofreader on the link must be Bucco fans). After a remarkably unremarkable performance, the Pirates are now 3-4 0n the young season. Perhaps they should have taken it easy yesterday and saved a few runs for today. On a bright note, it's good to see that the brothers LaRoche are in fine season-opening form having gone a combined 3-36 at the plate so far.
In the other showdown, US Navy snipers shot and killed 3 of the 4 pirates holding the captain of an American cargo ship hostage off the coast of Somalia. While this a big win for the American team, there were a few glaring weaknesses in their gameplan:
- This part of the world is notorius for piracy. Why wasn't the ship or its crew armed?
- The lifeboat carrying the captain and 4 pirates was "shadowed" for days by US warships and helicopters. Why wasn't the Navy allowed to use its training and take back the ship earlier?
- Hundreds of sailors and billions of dollars in naval hardware within eyeshot of a lifeboat and they have to wait around while FBI negotiators try to talk to Somalian pirates. World renowned naval powers France and India deal with pirates and our government sends in Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. While I am a big fan of both, sometimes I'd prefer Kiefer Sutherland.
Hopefully, before this happens again (and it's highly likely it will) I hope someone in Washington reads up on 1801 Tripoli.
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