Laurel Jogger May be Hit-and-run Victim, Cops Say
Sign up for our COVID-19 newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus news throughout New York Police investigating the death of a pedestrian in Laurel are considering the possibility that he was the victim of a hit-and-run driver while he was jogging in dense fog early Thursday morning.Southold Town Police said two vehicles that struck James Callaghan of Jamesport while he was apparently laying in Route 25 near the corner of Laurel Lane shortly before 6 a.m. had stopped at the scene.“Investigators are considering the possibility that Callaghan may have been struck first by a vehicle [that] then left the scene,” police said in a news release.They are also exploring the likelihood that he suffered a medical emergency that caused him to be in the roadway.Southold police detectives ask anyone with information on this crash to call them at 631-765-2600.
My mom was recently in Colorado visiting us. One evening when I got home from work, there was a bouquet of flowers on the counter. My mom has quite a green thumb and these flowers seemed to be dying. It was unusual, so I asked, “What’s the story with the flowers?” My mom laughed and proceeded to share with me that she had gone shopping for flowers for our front porch.She told me that she was looking for a certain type of flower and was not able to find it within the store. This particular store employs greeters who also connect with shoppers as they exit. As she was on her way out, the gentleman asked my mom, “Did you find everything today?” She said, “No, I was looking for this particular flower and didn’t find it, could you help me?” He said, “No, but would you like some free flowers?” He handed her a bouquet of dying flowers. Always one to be gracious, my mom thanked the greeter and headed out to her car. On the way out, she almost immediately found the flowers she had been looking for in a promotional display. She zipped back in the store to pay for the flowers and tried to avoid eye contact with the greeter, pleased that she had found what she came for and also a bit frustrated and confused by the overall experience. My family and I had a similar experience just this weekend at a local restaurant. We’ve become fans of this local spot as they have a nice outdoor seating section in the back that my daughter enjoys tremendously since many other families with kiddos go there as well. When we arrived, they were quite busy and we ended up with a table in the front of the restaurant. MacKenzie wanted to go out back and see who was there in case we knew anyone and when we got outside, there were at least two open tables. I went in to ask the hostess if we could move out to the back. She shared that the tables we saw were too big to seat a group of three, but she assured me that at least two tables were likely wrapping up and they’d move us as soon as those tables vacated. We returned to our table and enjoyed an appetizer. Our waiter came back and we placed our order. I returned to the hostess and asked again about moving and she again assured me that they would be moving us soon. Our food came, we ate, MacKenzie asked to go outside again and we did, only to find two empty smaller tables. MacKenzie asked me why we weren’t being moved and I said, “I’m not sure, but we’ll find out.” As we approached the hostess stand, she looked at me and within seconds showed a look of dread. Clearly, she had forgotten about moving us. She looked away. I took MacKenzie to our table and went inside to talk with the hostess. She said, “Sorry about that, we were just really busy in the back today.” Without waiting for a response, she rushed to a group of waitstaff and started to whisper. We paid our bill and left. My husband Scott and I discussed our frustration and started talking about other places we could go in the future.At Canvas, we know that we exist as a credit union to serve our members. We ask for feedback from our members across all experiences including transactions, new account openings, loans and more. We know that we will never be perfect, but we ask for the input so that we can learn, grow and improve the experience. In those cases where we hear that we really missed the mark, we have a process by which our leaders reach out to our members to apologize and talk directly with our members in order to apply the learning. Planning for service recovery is imperative to creating a culture of exceptional service. As humans, we will make mistakes. In fact, beyond human error, our systems will fail us at times too. Thoroughly understanding our approach and setting expectations with our teams about how we react when things go wrong, ensures that we will recover more quickly, retain our members, and ultimately turn those occasional mistakes into moments of truth.From our recent service experiences, here are five ways to prepare for service recovery:Be upfront that mistakes will happen. No employee wants to fail. Most of us fear failure and the personal consequences we may face if we make an error. Ensuring that our leaders prepare our teams to know that we expect occasional mistakes and prepare our teams with resources when those mistakes happen is critical to service recovery being handled well. Without this upfront approach, errors may be hidden and leaders may not even know when they occur.Educate, educate, educate. In both of our service experiences, additional education and learning might have helped the team members to be more successful. Imagine if the greeter had known about the flowers my mom was looking for or if the hostess had a tool to ensure that even on a busy night, she remembered we were waiting. At Canvas, we have a hotline we call “3411.” It is a dedicated number for our frontline team members so that if they don’t know an answer or have a member issue where they need help, they will have a resource immediately. We don’t lecture them about how they “should have known better” and they always know that they will have a knowledgeable resource on the other end of the line. We then analyze the kinds of questions we receive to continue to grow our learning efforts with our team. Arm frontline team members with tools to quickly respond. A few years ago, I was in a Starbucks in Savannah, GA. I had just finished a run and was excited to snag some caffeine. The staff was super engaging and friendly. I placed my order and waited. 10 minutes passed. The woman who took my order looked over at one point and saw I was still waiting. She immediately said, “I’m so sorry. Let’s get your coffee right now and here is a small token because we never want you to have to wait so long.” She handed me a $10 gift card, nearly immediately got me my coffee and I was on my way. She didn’t have to ask permission, she had a plan in place and she knew how to respond when something didn’t go well. This preparation ensured she could act quickly and make things right. It’s empowerment at its best.Create appropriate offerings for when things go wrong. In my mom’s past-their-prime flower story, the empowerment had been created and the individual was ready to act to make things right. However, the offering that he was provided or that he found actually made things worse. If resources are limited or lacking, it is better to simply provide a sincere apology rather than to give a token that does not represent your organization well. Practice and role play. Even the best-intentioned and well-trained team member can get intimidated by situations that have gone wrong. In a classroom setting, we might review service recovery and it will all seem very logical. When it actually happens and a team member is faced with a frustrated or angry member, they may freeze or not know how to respond. There is no doubt the hostess at our local restaurant saw how disappointed we were and feeling that frustration may have simply wanted to avoid a tough conversation. At Canvas, we are in the midst of iteratively reviewing our new hire orientation curriculum. We recognize that while there is lots of good content, we have an opportunity to add more learning connected to how we interact with members and deal with tough situations. We often focus so much on systems and process, we do not leave enough time for how to engage with members once we understand those systems and processes. Practicing and preparing will help team members to be ready for those difficult responses and be armed with answers that will de-escalate and reengage our members. All of us want to provide exceptional service to our members. Our frontline team members care deeply as well. Errors will still occur. Preparation and practice can help us ensure that our members are sharing stories about how well we recovered instead of asking their friends for recommendations about another financial institution. 23SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr,Tansley Stearns Tansley is a dynamic force of nature, fiercely crusading on behalf of all credit unions while tirelessly driving forward the brand image and family spirit of Canvas. She joined us … Web: https://www.canvas.org Details
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Jan 10, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – A survey conducted in Vietnam in 2004 suggests that human cases of avian influenza may be much more common but less severe than indicated by the numbers of confirmed cases, although the findings are not backed by laboratory testing.In the questionnaire survey of more than 45,000 people in a rural area hit by avian flu in poultry, about 18% reported having had a recent flu-like illness, according to the report in Archives of Internal Medicine.People who had had direct contact with sick or dead poultry had a significantly higher rate of flu-like illness, defined as cough and fever, than those without such contact. The authors—Anna Thorson, MD, PhD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and several colleagues—estimate that 650 to 750 cases were attributable to contact with sick or dead poultry.The findings “are consistent with a higher incidence of HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] among humans than has been recognized previously,” the report says. “The results suggest that the symptoms most often are relatively mild and that close contact is needed for transmission to humans.”The World Health Organization has logged 147 confirmed human cases of H5N1 avian flu, including 78 deaths, since late 2003. Disease experts have often speculated that the true number of cases could be significantly higher because of mild or asymptomatic cases going undetected.As the authors acknowledge, however, the new study is only suggestive, because it involved no blood testing to verify H5N1 infection in the survey participants.Capitalizing on a regular demographic survey conducted in a rural area of Ha Tay province of Vietnam, the authors added questions about flu-like illness and contact with poultry. The survey was conducted in the spring of 2004. Participants were asked if they had been sick with a cough and either fever or dyspnea in the previous 6 months and if they’d had any contact with poultry in that time.About 84% of the 45,476 people surveyed lived in households with poultry, and about 26% (11,755) lived in households that reported sick or dead poultry, the article says.Just having poultry in the household was not a significant risk factor for self-reported flu-like illness, but having sick or dead poultry in the household was (odds ratio, 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.06 to 1.23). Contact with sick or dead poultry was even more significant, increasing the risk by 73% (odds ratio, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.58 to 1.89).The researchers say the “convincingly higher” risk in people who had direct contact with sick or dead poultry demonstrates that “the flulike illness in our study was not easily transmitted from birds to humans.”The link between illness and contact with sick or dead poultry varied across different age-groups. There was no link at all in children younger than 7, while the association was strongest in adults between the ages of 19 and 45 (odds ratio, 2.36; 95% CI, 2.13 to 2.62).People who had been sick after contact with sick or dead poultry also were more likely to have missed work or school than those who had been sick without such exposure, the report says.The authors state, “In the absence of serological data, we cannot state the cause of disease.” They say the findings could reflect other illnesses that strike both poultry and humans, such as psittacosis, but in the circumstances, avian flu was the most likely cause of the illness linked to contact with sick or dead poultry.The data need to be confirmed by population-based serologic studies and by virologic testing in patients with mild infection, the researchers add.Other disease experts varied in their reactions to the study.Dr. Frederick Hayden, an avian flu specialist at the University of Virginia, said the study was evidence of the need for widespread blood testing in Asia to learn the true incidence of human cases, according to an Associated Press (AP) report today.Dr. Gregory Poland, a flu expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., took the findings seriously. “I would call this the smoking gun,” he told the AP. “All of us have been concerned and have guessed that the data we have so far has been the tip of the iceberg.”Poland said the findings suggest that the prevalence of mild human cases in rural areas is “pretty high.”But Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, was skeptical of the authors’ conclusions, given the lack of proof that the survey respondents had avian flu. He is director of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, publisher of this site.”I don’t believe the study really adds much to our understanding of the possible relationship between H5N1 infection and mild illness,” he said. “There is no serologic data demonstrating that the people even had H5N1 infection. Several recent efforts in Southeast Asia show that very few asymptomatic or mild infections occur in settings where we know H5N1 transmission has occurred.”In addition, the connection between reported illness history and the presence of sick or dead birds could be a result of “recall bias, a common problem in similar retrospective studies,” he said.Thorson A, Petzold M, Chuc NTK, et al. Is exposure to sick or dead poultry associated with flulike illness? Arch Intern Med 2005 Jan 9;166(1):119-23 [Abstract]
In the spring of 2018, EU residents made almost 390 million tourist trips, representing 34% of the annual total. During those trips, they collected over 1,8 billion overnight stays and spent 170 billion euros. To estimate the potential loss that the tourism sector will experience due to these constraints, Eurostat has set aside baseline figures from the previous two years for the period March-June and July-August at EU level. Source: Eurostat Belgians preferred to travel abroad, where the vast majority of trips during the spring and peak summer seasons were outside the country of residence (79%). 390 million trips in the spring, 270 million trips during the peak summer season Challenging moments are ahead of the tourism sector, and as with everything, those involved in strategic and market development will recover faster. Spring and summer are the most popular seasons in the European tourism industry. In 2019, the number of overnight stays and non-residents in EU tourist accommodation facilities during the spring and peak of the summer season was almost one third (32%) of the annual total number of overnight stays. The tourism industry is currently the hardest hit by the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, and is among the first industries to stop and recover the longest. For the purpose of this analysis, the “summer peak” season does not cover June, but focuses on two months (July and August) that overlap with the main holiday season in most Member States. In the summer of 2018, EU residents made over 270 million trips, accounting for 24% of the annual total. Those trips amounted to over 1,9 billion overnight stays and almost 138 billion euros in tourist spending. During the summer, this also applied to Greeks, Romanians, Portuguese and Spaniards, who spent most of their tourist trips within their country of residence (95%, 91%, 90% and 89%). On the other hand, tourism is directly and deeply affected this time, and although it recovers quickly, this time we can only talk about the beginning of recovery when a cure is found. From that moment on, 3-5 years of recovery await us, so that global travel returns to the same numbers as before. Also, a factor that is extremely important is domestic consumption, ie domestic tourists, and not so much dependence on foreign tourists. For example, in Germany and Austria they have the habit, but also the financial power, to generate domestic travel throughout the year, so they will recover much sooner, while in Croatia, primarily due to the worse financial situation, we are extremely dependent on foreign tourists – which is the current situation further negative factor. More than two thirds (70%) of trips were in the country of residence, while 22% were trips to other EU countries and 8% to destinations outside the EU. A similar pattern was observed for year-round travel, including during the peak summer season.
At the other end of the scale, residents in Romania and Spain preferred to travel to their country of residence in the spring, making up 94% and 90% of domestic travel, respectively. There will be more weekend travel, and large malls will be avoided. Active holidays in rural and continental areas will be required. Awareness of organic and organic food will increase significantly, as will demand for it. Digitization will play a key role, as will mobile payments. Too much dependence on tourism will unfortunately cost Croatia dearly, but as every crisis offers an opportunity, this is certainly not the time to bow your head, but to roll up your sleeves and define a new tourism paradigm on a healthy and sustainable basis. Are any of our new tourist stories being considered? This, as well as the next few years, regional travel will be in focus The share of spring season member states in annual tourist accommodation is relatively similar, ranging from 24% in Croatia and 27% in Bulgaria to 35% in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands. In the height of the summer season, this share ranged from 23% in Malta to 58% in Croatia. Preferred European destinations outside the EU were: Spain, Italy and to a lesser extent France and Germany, which together accounted for 49% of intra-EU travel during spring 2018 and 45% in summer. Spain and Italy are the main destinations for visitors within the EU The share of overnight stays in these accommodation facilities was particularly high in June for the spring season and amounted to 11% of the annual total, as well as in July (15%) and August (17%). A similar trend was observed for both residents and non-residents of the countries visited. Also, as measures are relaxed throughout Europe, so is the economy, and all countries will encourage and communicate domestic consumption, so that citizens can shop and travel locally. Logically, it is imperative to start the local economy as soon as possible. Optimistic estimates say that 25-30% of last year’s annual turnover is expected this year. Certainly how this extraordinary situation will leave various consequences on the behavior of tourists and how the tourism sector will change. One thing is for sure, more will travel within Europe, and car and train will be the dominant transports, while air traffic will fall significantly. As Eurostat’s analysis focused on “spring and summer tourism”, it should be noted that the most important for us are the seventh, eighth and ninth months, where 63 percent of total turnover is realized. From March to June, Austria dominated the top 5 most favorable destinations within the EU, and in July and August Croatia was among the most popular destinations for tourists from the EU.
Harmony’s first residents – Ben Francis and Caisa Tottszer.THE first residents have moved in to AVID Property Group’s $3 billion Palmview development, Harmony.Ben Francis and his partner Caisa Tottszer, both aged 21, moved in just before Christmas, and are among the first of 12,000 residents expected to move in to the masterplanned community over the next 15 to 20 years.“We were looking to buy a house for around six months and looked at places and developments all over the coast,” Mr Francis said.“We decided to buy a piece of land in Harmony, as we had heard great things about the plans for the development, as well as it being so central to everything on the Sunshine Coast.“I work in Caloundra and my partner works in Noosa, so it is the perfect location for us. We both grew up on the Sunshine Coast and love the lifestyle here.”The couple chose a three-bedroom, single story house by Sunshine Coast builder, NuTrend Quality Homes. Harmony at PalmviewAVID Property Group general manager Queensland Bruce Harper said it was exciting to be welcoming the first residents at Harmony.More from news02:37Purchasers snap up every residence in the $40 million Siarn Palm Beach Northless than 1 hour agoNew apartments released at idyllic retirement community Samford Grove Presented by “Harmony has been almost 10 years in the making and it is rewarding to finally see our first residents settling in and buyers’ dreams becoming a reality,” Mr Harper said.“We are looking forward to hosting a range of events, like long table dinners, that will help residents meet their neighbours and develop lifelong friendships.”Mr Harper said there was a “hive of activity on-site” with lots of homes due for completion. Once complete, Harmony will feature 4800 homes, 100 hectares of open space, including Queensland’s first grand linear park, and a 15,250sq m town centre.Harmony is home to the largest display village on the Sunshine Coast, Harmony Display World.The display precinct showcases 43 architecturally designed homes from 25 local and national builders. THE BASICS HARMONYDeveloper: AVID Property GroupPrice: House and Land Packages from $416,261Location: Palmview
A prominent Burundi human rights activist has been shot and seriously wounded by gunmen on motorbikesA prominent Burundi human rights activist has been shot and seriously wounded by gunmen on motorbikes. Pierre Claver Mbonimpa was attacked in the capital, Bujumbura.He was a stern critic of President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial bid for a third term in office.This comes after presidential aide General Adolphe Nshimirimana was killed in an attack on his car in Bujumbura on Sunday.He was in charge of the president’s personal security. Related Uganda defends its human rights record Burundi’s top human rights activist attacked by gunmen China releases annual human rights progress report
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe made just one change from the side that ran out 4-3 winners at West Ham last weekend. Joshua King, sidelined with a hamstring strain, was replaced by Lee Tomlin who made his first Premier League start. For the visitors, N’Golo Kante started after impressing in their Capital One Cup win at Bury, with Shinji Okazaki dropping to the bench. With only 15 seconds gone, Max Gradel found himself in referee Neil Swarbrick’s notebook after a rash challenge on Riyad Mahrez. It was a poor tackle in an otherwise impressive display by the Bournemouth winger against his former club. Mahrez was then in the thick of it moments later when he was denied his fifth goal of the season. He was adjudged to be offside following a Marc Albrighton through-ball and it appeared to be the right decision. From there Bournemouth dominated the opening period and Wilson’s delightful strike after 24 minutes was no more than they deserved. Charlie Daniels was afforded too much space on the left-hand side and his cross eventually fell to Wilson. His improvised effort left Kasper Schmeichel stranded in the Leicester goal and Bournemouth celebrated their first Premier League strike at Dean Court. Bournemouth should have then been given the opportunity to double their lead from the penalty spot after Kante tripped Tomlin inside the area, but the hosts were awarded only a free-kick. Gradel’s effort was punched clear by Schmeichel. Both teams made one change at the interval. Okazaki replaced Mahrez and joined Vardy in a two-pronged attack. Tyrone Mings came on for Daniels. Press Association Jamie Vardy scored from the penalty spot with just four minutes remaining to maintain Leicester’s unbeaten start to the season at Bournemouth. The Cherries appeared to be on course for their first home victory in the Premier League after Callum Wilson’s acrobatic strike in the first half. But Steve Cook hauled down Vardy in the penalty area and the Foxes striker then stepped up to score his side’s equaliser and ensure a 1-1 draw. But Mings, an £8million signing from Ipswich, lasted just five minutes on his debut. The 22-year-old defender appeared to get his left leg caught in the turf after a collision with Danny Drinkwater. He immediately signalled to the bench that he could not continue and received gas and air before leaving the field on a stretcher. It was then Gradel’s turn to go down after what appeared to be an innocuous challenge by Ritchie de Laet midway through the second period. Gradel limped off the field and was replaced by Marc Pugh. Leicester began to take a stranglehold on the game and Artur Boruc was finally called into action in the Bournemouth goal with 70 minutes gone when Jeff Schlupp escaped the offside trap but his effort was parried away. Bournemouth were rattled and Vardy was upended by Cook after a mazy run. The England international converted from the spot to the delight of the visiting fans. Vardy could then have been awarded another spot-kick after he appeared to be fouled by Tommy Elphick. It was not to be and Bournemouth managed to hung on for a point in a frenetic finale. TWEET OF THE MATCH “Credit where it’s due, Wilson has scored a belting overhead kick for Bournemouth against Leicester.” – Former Foxes striker and England great Gary Lineker could only stand and applaud Wilson’s opener. https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/637632123344699392 – @GaryLineker Bournemouth Artur Boruc: 6 Simon Francis: 6 Steve Cook: 5 Tommy Elphick: 5 Andrew Surman: 6 Max Gradel: 7 Charlie Daniels: 7 Callum Wilson: 8 Lee Tomlin: 7 Matt Ritchie: 7 Eunan O’Kane: 6 Subs Tyrone Mings: 5 Adam Smith: 6 Marc Pugh: 5 Leicester Kasper Schmeichel: 6 Ritchie de Laet: 5 Danny Drinkwater: 5 Wes Morgan: 6 Robert Huth: 6 Jamie Vardy: 7 Andy King: 5 Marc Albrighton: 5 N’Golo Kante: 5 Jeff Schlupp : 7 Riyad Mahrez: 5 Subs Shinji Okazaki: 6 Joe Dodoo: 5 Yohan Benalouane: 5 STAR PLAYER Gradel was not deemed good enough for Leicester but he impressed against his former club with a dazzling display. Hopefully his injury is not as bad as it looked. MOMENT OF THE MATCH After a blank in their home opener against Aston Villa, Wilson’s goal was Bournemouth’s first at Dean Court in the Premier League. And what a way to get the Cherries off the mark with a delightful overhead kick. VIEW FROM THE BENCH Claudio Ranieri stood hands on hips for much of the game, but he couldn’t hide his fashion faux paus. Shirt, tie, trousers, shoes and a baseball cap. Yes, a baseball cap. I thought the Italians had style? MOAN OF THE MATCH You would be forgiven for forgetting it was August in Bournemouth. Dark clouds and rain greeted the players for the start of the game, and the floodlights were on for the entirety, too. So much for summer. WHO’S UP NEXT? Norwich v Bournemouth (Premier League, Saturday 12 September) Leicester v Aston Villa (Premier League, Sunday 13 September) 
SOUTHAMPTON, England – Rain has forced a no-result in West Indies’ third match of the World Cup against South Africa at the Rose Bowl here Monday.Play was halted in the eighth over with South Africa stumbling on 29 for two, and persistent rain here left match officials with little choice but to abandon the encounter at 4:15 pm.Left-handed opener Quinton de Kock was unbeaten on 17 and partnered by captain Faf du Plessis who was yet to score.Left-arm pacer Sheldon Cottrell had given West Indies the perfect start when he knocked over opener Hashim Amla for six and Aiden Markram for five, to claim two for 18 from his four overs.
I’ve heard people from different organizations compare the environment to the Instructional League, the September intrasquad camp for players whose minor league seasons have ended. It’s off-limits to reporters, but by all accounts the Instructional League amounts to a highly individualized version of spring training. If a coach decides a pitcher needs to work on, say, his changeup, he can tell the pitcher to throw 20 straight changeups to live hitters regardless of the count or game situation. If a catcher needs to work on his pop time, the coach will stick a runner on first base and order him to steal second. Then again. Then again. I don’t mind that Instructional League games are off-limits to reporters.This setting also provides more time for players to work out.“(Ruiz) has absolutely changed his body over the last … since he got hurt last year, since that day, he’s made a huge commitment to his body and changed so much of what he’s done as far as nutrition and how he attacks the weight room,” Sienko said. “Most of that [credit] should go to our performance staff, to keep him motivated and going through this weird time. He did an incredible job during the quarantine period.”Ruiz’s tale presents some bigger ideas worth exploring. Some are probably more valid than others.Idea #1: It’s only sensible that the Dodgers’ heralded player development system would be better than most teams at getting such a young player ready for the big leagues in such a strange setting. “What do we do now?” seems like a logical response within an industry that could count on a century’s worth of minor league seasons continuing unabated, until suddenly it couldn’t. The Dodgers had a clue about what to do, at least with one of their players. As Jeff Passan noted within this column for ESPN, not every player on every team can say the same. Newsroom GuidelinesNews TipsContact UsReport an Error Idea #2: Continuity matters. With so much disruption to Ruiz’s in-season routine, let’s look at who he had around him. At Camelback Ranch, he could train with Sienko, who’s coached in the Dodgers organization for the last five years. He started out as the assistant catching coordinator to … Barbary, who managed Ruiz last season in Triple-A and hosted him each of the last three off-seasons. While in Phoenix, Ruiz worked out with Rocky Gale, a 10-year pro and Ruiz’s teammate last year in Tulsa. “Rocky deserves a lot of credit,” Sienko said. What do the best player development pipelines do well? Lots of things, but having good people who stick around for a long time helps.Idea #3: Preparing an advance scouting report on a brand-new player is a nightmare for opposing teams. This makes sense ― the alternate site camps are off-limits to opposing scouts ― but Ruiz’s homer served as proof of concept. (Then I was able to ask Joe Maddon about it yesterday.) Just last week I was exchanging texts with a scout who thought Ruiz had been overhyped based on what he’d seen in years past. This scout hadn’t watched Ruiz come into his left-handed power because he couldn’t. Multiple Dodger people who had seen Ruiz at USC could. Baseball Prospectus certainly couldn’t, and neither could the Angels.Idea #5: If the alternate-site format is so useful for teams and players, why even have minor league games at all? There are plenty of valid answers to that question, but you figure it’s a guiding thought for Major League Baseball in its negotiations with MiLB, as it attempts to shrink the size of affiliated baseball.Idea #5a: The Dodgers have had two left-handed pitchers at their alternate site camp: Victor Gonzalez and, intermittently, Adam Kolarek. That means Ruiz has had very few chances to swing right-handed this year. His lefty-righty splits evened out quite a bit in 2019, a step in the right direction after a 2018 season in which he OPS’d .754 from the left side and .638 from the right. If Ruiz struggles (or doesn’t play at all) against left-handed pitching, count it as a point in favor of the tried-and-true player development method.-J.P.Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the Inside the Dodgers newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.Is it tomorrow, or just the end of time?Road to 53-7 ― Corey Seager got the better of his brother in the Dodgers’ win over the Mariners.Six extra hits ― Cody Bellinger isn’t making hard contact in the zone, and he’s been unlucky.Let the kids pitch ― Tony Gonsolin has the stuff to stick in the Dodgers’ rotation, writes Baseball Prospectus’ Tyler Stafford.Well on the way ― Mookie Betts has already checked some boxes off his Hall of Fame resume, writes FanGraphs’ Jay Jaffe.Better with age ― Jake McGee is doing something almost unheard of.
Editor’s note: This is the Tuesday, Aug. 18 edition of the Inside the Dodgers newsletter from reporter J.P. Hoornstra. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.Keibert Ruiz’s smashing debut Sunday got my mind spinning. His home run off Julio Teheran was plenty thrilling in the moment, and I ended up writing this about how it was particularly special for Ruiz’s mentor, Triple-A Oklahoma City manager Travis Barbary. I think the moment has even more stories to tell.The last couple days, I’ve learned a lot about the “alternate site” camp environment and how the pandemic pause (I’m uncommitted on what to call the absence of baseball from March through June) might have benefitted Ruiz’s development. Maybe it was my fault for assuming a 22-year-old catcher who had only nine games of experience above Double-A would be harmed more than helped by the cancellation of the minor league season. I’m still not sure if training at an “alternate site” is preferable to minor-league games for most players. For Ruiz at least, the circumstances of 2020 couldn’t have been better.“I would say for a couple of players it was very beneficial, (Ruiz) being one of them,” said Ryan Sienko, the Dodgers’ catching coordinator. “Without the competing and surviving of the game, he saw growth. Every pitch is magnified in the game because there’s so much consequence to it.”