Well, that was tense, and then it all blew out in the top of the 12th. The most contentious thing about this loss is that going into the 9th, the Mets were winning 2-1. Matt Harvey was pitching a gem; Collins had his closer up and suddenly there was this shuffle of whether to pull Harvey or not. Harvey apparently instead on going out in the 9th, walked the first guy and then gave up a double. Collins pulled Harvey only then, but it was too late, that was enough for the Royals to tie the game, thus setting up a duel of bullpens. 3 innings later, the Mets blinked, and by blink we might mean completely shut their eyes because the Royals poured on 5 runs. Davis came in to strike out the side and that was all she wrote for 2015.
Collins is going to get grilled about that 9th inning choice for the rest of his career. Had it been Joe Torre, he would have pulled any one of his starters for Mariano Rivera, so as a Yankees fan, it's a little hard to understand how Collins could even flip one way and let Harvey go back out in the 9th. Even Joe Girardi would have sent out Dellin Betances or Andrew Miller, and before Miller, David Robertson and or Mo. It reminds one of Grady Little sticking with Pedro Martinez a little too long in 2003.
The top of the 12th featured yet another error for Daniel Murphy. Daniel Murphy got didley-squat to hit in the World Series - the Royals pitched around him as if he were peak Barry Bonds so Murphy ended up drawing a bunch of walks. the real shame was how everybody else was very quiet with the bats. When it really got down to it, the Royals really could hit bullpen arms like nobody's business, and there was no stopping these guys.
Still, 30years is a long time between World Series wins for the Royals. That goes equally for the Mets who last won it in 1986.
The GST Scuttlebutt
One shouldn't be surprised that the GST debate is back on the agenda as the Federal Government seeks to raise the GST. The old arguments against putting in the GST in the first place have resurfaced, pointing out how regressive a tax it is, but in many ways the Federal government can't restructure taxation in this country without addressing the GST.
The curious thing about the GST is that in its original guise, it was meant to usher in a reform of taxes back in the late 1990s, but of course nearly two decades later the government finds itself short of cash again, and so we must contemplate the GST once more. You really wonder where all the money got squandered.
The original version of the GST skipped food, health and education. It appears part of this exemption has come back on the table for reconsideration. This gives rise to a four way grid between keeping the GST at 10% or raising to 15%, with or without the exemption of food, Health & Education. One imagines the Libs would like to raise the GST to 15% while keeping the exemption while the ALP would like to keep the GST at 10% even if it meant losing the exemption. Put more bluntly, the rich bastards who send their kids to expensive private schools would much rather have a 15% GST and keep the private school fees off the GST discussion. If you saw them yourself, you'd understand why.
The ALP has far less of a worthy position on it. The last three times there have been discussions on the GST, whether it was Keating's 'Option C' in 1985 or John Hewson's Fightback, or John Howard finally bringing us the GST, it's not really had a economically credible position in opposing it except to say it was regressive and they were against it. When it finally came in, they said they wouldn't repeal it, and such has been the ALP's rather wishy-washy position on it.
Of course, there isn't a good position on it. It's all going to cost the average punter more; that's the point of all this tax review and shoring up government income. Either way it goes, we know the GST price rise is coming and there's probably very little we can do to stop it. The states simply need that money.
Couldn't Stand The Weather
The news today is that this October was the hottest on record in 106years.
"The extreme monthly anomalies were a result of exceptional early-season warmth at the start of the month and persistence of above-average temperatures throughout the month as a whole," the bureau said.
Compared with the previous warmest October in 1988, last month was 0.7 degrees warmer.
"Certainly it's an October that was hotter than most Novembers," Karl Braganza, head of climate monitoring at the bureau. The national mean temperature came in at 25.6 degrees.Make of that what you will.
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