A colleague and I were having trouble tracking down the root cause of a production issue recently and we learned an interesting trick involving the JIT compiler. The issue was that after a certain period of time the JVM would go from 60 second GC intervals to less than 2 second intervals, coupled with a spike in CPU usage from 3% to 30% (light load). There was no correlation found in the application logs, but we could show that the reduction in interval was occurring at the same time as the increase in CPU usage.
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While Santo’s nickname for Mike Fontenot is a little much, “Little Babe Ruth” is showing some serious pop for a guy listed at 5′8″ and a generous 170 lbs. He’s currently tied for 7th on the team with 7 HR, but when you factor in playing time, you can see he’s mashing with the Ramirez-Soto-Lee group.

I’m not saying he should be starting or that he can duplicate this production over 450-500 ABs. What I have noticed though is that it seems like his short stature and position in the order (generally 8th) afford him lots of fastballs to punish. Also, take notice of when Edmonds does damage. There’s been a several times this year where Edmonds slugs a 2B or HR and a few batters later Fontenot matches him. Whether it’s the pitcher thinking he’s got an easy out in the miniature sized batter or the pitcher being generally weak against lefties, it works well for the Cubs.

The Server Side reports that Ounce Labs discovered two vulnerabilities in the Spring Framework’s MVC component.

SpringSource, the company behind Spring, issued a security advisory as a result. The two issues are entitled Data Submission to Non-Editable Fields and ModelView Injection.

Pass along the word to your friends and co-workers.

Why do the derby contestants have to be All-Stars? The dunk contest in the NBA doesn’t require All-Stars. The reason I ask is that I am dying to see Adam Dunn in this contest. He’s just a beast and hits the farthest home runs I’ve ever seen in games.

Just something to think about…get rid of All-Stars and just get the lumberjacks toting sawed off treelimbs to participate. That’s what I want to see.

This guy wrote his own MMO using ASP, JS and MySQL. Pretty cool!

Two interesting plays in tonight’s home game against the Reds which occurred after Montoya brutally raced through “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”.

Cubs fans should be encouraged by Carlos’ restraint in not arguing the call at first base in the bottom of the 7th. He was clearly safe after viewing the replay, but he responsibly avoided confronting the umpire and ran back to the dugout. Sweet Lou came out to please his case instead, but there were no real fireworks.

Adam Dunn has been the hot subject lately as Toronto GM J.P. Riccardi made some comments about not being interested in his services (even though he’d be better than anyone on the Blue Jays save Rios). As much as Dunn gets unfairly ripped for his offensive style (patience & slugging over average & aggression), he rightly gets prodded for his lackluster defense. Just after the Cubs were robbed by Jim Joyce’s poor call at first base on Zambrano’s sacrifice, karma prevailed as Dunn awkwardly avoids catching Fukudome’s opposite field drive to the ivy. I believe most average defenders would have caught that, but it landed safely for a double. 4-1 Cubs, 2 out in the bottom of the 7th.

Cubs get Rich Harden RHP and Chad Gaudin RHP in exchange for Matt Murton, Eric Patterson, Sean Gallagher and minor league player.

Looks like a fantastic trade for the Cubs … this is not a usual Billy Beane trade in that he didn’t get any outstanding prospects, only some guys whose ceilings project to average at best. As long as Harden stays healthy, this puts the Cubs in a great position to maintain their lead and be a threat in the post-season.

The unsung piece of this deal is Chad Gaudin, who was solid as a starter last year, and has pitched well out of the bullpen this year.

There’s been a lot of hype and discussion about how the trade of Sabathia from Cleveland to Milwaukee impacts the NL Central. Chicago sports radio seems to imply that the Cubs have to make a counter-move, and that now Milwaukee is better than St. Louis.

To become a better team, the Brewers still need bullpen help and to depend less on the home run to score more consistently. Not to mention that Sabathia will make somewhere between 12 and 14 starts. While he and Sheets make a great combination in a playoff series, they have to get there first…he can only affect 20% of MIL games the rest of the season.

I keep hearing that the Cardinals are more experienced, but this roster only has a couple of ‘old’ Cardinals like Carpenter, Isringhausen, Molina and Pujols. LaRussa and Duncan are the keys, but I’d say Piniella can match LaRussa in X’s and O’s.

I just hope the Cubs don’t knee-jerk themselves into a weak trade for someone like Randy Wolf or AJ Burnett. They aren’t top of the line rotation pitchers. The only guy I’d be interested in right now is Rich Harden from the A’s or someone who has previously not been mentioned in the market that has #1 or #2 quality make-up.

The Cubs just need to get healthy (Soriano / Zambrano), stay healthy, and hope that Gallagher and Marshall continue to make quality starts at the bottom of the rotation.