For most of us who can’t afford the time (or expense) of attending technical conferences on even a semi-regular basis, Google was nice enough to post their sessions from the Google I/O conference online. I’ve really enjoyed each session I watched in the APIs & Tools section. There’s a lot about Google App Engine and developing with Python for that environment.

If you have any desire to try out GAE, start with this great introduction to developing on the GAE platform by Guido van Rossum, the creator of Python and current Googler.

Of course the day after I post on Edmonds, he has a couple of great games in a row. He’s bought himself a decent length stint and now with Soriano out for roughly six weeks, he’ll need to play even a touch better.

That saying, I was listening to the game this afternoon and DeRosa and Zambrano lead-off the 3rd with singles, which normally brings up Soriano and the offense starts to purr over the prospect of a crooked number of runs. But with Alf out, we have Eric Patterson (yes, Corey’s younger brother) and he grounds into a double play. Not saying Soriano is immune to twin killings, but it’s an example for those who defend him in the lead-off position.

I personally feel in the National League, that if you don’t have a Rickey Henderson type (.250-.300 AVG, .400+ OBP, crazy wheels, crazy stolen base instinct) then it’s a fair decision to make, and there’s little you can do wrong: you either stuff a high OBP guy (regardless of wheels) or a good contact/RBI guy in that position. There’s statistics out there that the lead-off man only leads off 25% of the times he bats, so basically you want a good hitter up there. He’s going to get the most at-bats on your team, he’s going to hit in front off your best slugging hitters, and he’s going to bat when the bottom of your order is clicking.