Author Archives: RJ Hamster

I was born on 6 August 1956 in San Francisco, California to Janet and (the late) Richard Hovis. I grew up in Santa Monica, California where I attended elementary, junior high school, and high school (graduating in 1974), in addition to involvement in sports and recreation (Little League +, the Boy’s Club ++). Further, it was in elementary school – St. Augustine’s By-the -Sea Parish School that I found, and made the choice to truly journey with God. I attended Arizona State University from 1974 to 1977 – seeking to become an architect, however, I was not accepted, and, as such, I graduated with a Liberal Arts degree. Upon graduation from Arizona State University, I attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and studied City and Regional Planning at the Master’s level. I successfully completed one (1) year in a two (2) year program – I did not complete the Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning – due to personal reasons. I returned to Santa Monica where I started (October 1979) my career as graphic designer with Exxon Company, USA. I spent five years with Exxon Company, USA. While working with Exxon Company, USA I was accepted into architectural school – Sci-Arc in Southern California, however, I did not attend preferring to stay with Exxon.. In 1982 I married Laura Flosi and in April 1983 we had our one and only child – Lauren Alain Hovis – a gift from God. We moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1984 from Los Angeles, where I went to work as a graphic designer with Kitchell CEM (from 1985 -1987). From 1987 – 1995 I was an independent contractor, and a registered representative in mortgage finance, financial management, graphic design, and drafting. Further, I attended the University of Phoenix and successfully obtained a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) in 1982. I was also a member of the Scottsdale Jaycees, where I became very involved in community events and projects. In 1994, I accepted a cartography position with the Defense Mapping Agency in Reston, Virginia. As such, I relocated from Phoenix to Reston. In 1998, I was accepted and worked as a Visual Information Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. In 2002, I worked as a Support Officer until my retirement (due to a need for shoulder surgery) in September 2018. Away from my Federal Government service, I have been involved in various organizations and activities in Northern Virginia. In November of 2011, I married Rebecca Ouellette in Santa Monica, California. I reside in San Tan Valley, AZ with my two hamster - Jess and Timothy, our fish, our lizard - RJ Lizard., and our cats - Pearl and Grey. As to hobbies, I enjoy playing sports, attending sporting events, mentoring individuals from financial management to hamsters, building models, photography, travel, multimedia design, managing partner for RJ Hamster, and jazz – smooth jazz to a samba or a bossa nova. Love and God Bless, Peter – aka RJ Hamster Jo hi

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1 Peter 1:1-6

(1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, (2) elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
New King James Version Change email Bible version

This was written in about AD 65, and Peter is having to remind Christians of who they are. We have to be reminded of this because we are a special people to God. Peter focuses on the term “election,” which is the very ground of consolation or encouragement because it means that God knows us. What kind of a gift is that? We are not a faceless blob to Him. He knows us personally and is watching over our lives!

The word election means “those sought out.” God sought us out! Thus believing, understanding, and taking action on this truth is a major part of our hope, that is, that we are indeed special and known by God.

Peter also uses the term “foreknowledge,” which intensifies “election.” When the two of them are taken together in this context, it indicates that God not only foresaw us but caused our relationship to occur because we would have never found Him on our own. To this, the apostle then adds “sanctification.” In this case, it means, not merely set apart, but dedicated for obedience, which Peter mentions. This suggests that God knows us, not merely because He wants to save us, but because He wants us to obey Him.

Taken together, these three terms indicate that God has given us a tremendous gift that not many people on earth have received. It is humbling because every gift carries with it the responsibility to make proper use of it in service to God’s purpose.

The issue Peter is dealing with in this first chapter is why we can have hope: because we have been elected by God. He sought us out purposely to make us acquainted with Him. The Father is the Author of an act of mercy by which we are given a sure hope of being brought into our inheritance. We should be conscious of this without being maudlin or self-righteous.

Peter writes that we have been begotten to a “living hope.” It is a living hope because Christ is alive, and in God’s behalf, He will absolutely carry out His God-given responsibility to us to bring us into His Kingdom.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

To learn more, see:
Trumpets Is a Day of Hope

Topics:

Calling, Uniqueness of

God’s Foreknowledge

God’s Foreknowledge of Us

God’s Knowledge of Us

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Church of the Great God
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Charlotte, NC 28247
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The biggest home shutout in 141 years!

Wednesday, August 19

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TOP NEWS

Jackson Chourio greets Christian Yelich at the plate

22-0! And yet, it’s somehow not the biggest shutout ever

The Brewers mauled the Mariners, setting a franchise record for the largest margin of victory. To find a bigger shutout win by a home team, you have to go back to … 1885.

Did Tatis make his best defensive play EVER to rob grand slam?

Martinez returns to D-backs after 2nd Tommy John surgery, 435 days after last game

8 players who have soared past expectations in 2026

Ohtani secures 6th straight 30-HR season to keep pace with PCA in tight NL MVP race

PCA meets with young fans pregame — then gives them a show in Cubs’ walk-off win

In 2nd game at Fenway, Rutschman’s 1st Red Sox HR ignites rally

With 25th homer, Okamoto breaks Blue Jays’ rookie home run record

Keeping focus on ‘process,’ surging Grisham knocks in all 3 Yankees runs

Dynamic duo of Bohm, Stott come to rescue as Phils win fifth straight

Adell kicks off career night with HR rolling in the deep LF bleachers

Marte returning to Phoenix for MRI on knee; Lovullo focusing on series in Boston

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PERSONALIZE STORIES

TOP PERFORMANCES

Longest Home Run

Jo Adell

455 ft

1st Inning

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Hardest Base Hit

Junior Caminero

116.9 mph

3rd Inning

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Fastest Strikeout

Ben Joyce

103.4 mph

9th Inning

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Decisive Play

Royals

39.4% WPA

9th Inning

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Shohei Ohtani

Has hit in 22 straight games at Coors Field (10 HRs)

Fernando Tatis Jr.

1st of 2 home runs his 18th career leadoff homer

Braxton Ashcraft

Completes 8 IP on 80 pitches (85-pitch CG in his last start)

Alec Bohm

2-for-4, 2 RBIs; batting .377 in August

Alejandro Kirk

3-for-6; slashing .392/.459/.608 this month

PLAY A SPORCLE BASEBALL QUIZ!

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MUST-SEE PLAY

An animated gif of Fernando Tatis Jr. robbing a home run and flipping the ball from his glove to his bare hand

After what may be the best home run robbery of his career, Fernando Tatis Jr. was just so cool about it.

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STAFF PICKS

Images of 10 prospects on the verge of a callup

10 top prospects who could be in the Majors quite soon

September roster expansion could mean some of MLB Pipeline’s top prospects will be called up. With that possibility less than six weeks away, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo run through some of the most likely candidates.

What did Benge think of his back-to-back outfield assists?

A day after throwing out two runners at the plate in the first inning, Carson Benge reflected on the feat in the Best Interview in Baseball, presented by Corona.

Andy Pettitte on hand to see his son’s first pro homer

Twenty years and seven days since Andy Pettitte’s lone career home run, his son Luke matched him in that category in his very first game in affiliated ball.

Luke Pettitte plays for the Tampa Tarpons

‘When I’m a fan of something, I like to really be into it’

You might know Daniil Medvedev as a U.S. Open tennis champ and the current No. 7 men’s player in the world. What you may not know is that he is a massive Cincinnati Reds fan. Here’s how that happened.

Tennis player Daniil Medvedev in a Reds jersey at Great American Ball Park

MLB Network Showcase: Yankees vs. Orioles

Ben Rice and the Yankees take on Gunnar Henderson and the Orioles in a MLB Network Showcase presented by CarShield at 6:30 p.m. ET (or Blue Jays vs. Rays).

Watch Yankees vs. Orioles on MLB Network

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SCOREBOARD

NYY 3
BAL 1

DET 1
PIT 4

SF 1
CLE 8

STL 3
CIN 0

TOR 10
TB 5

MIA 4
PHI 6

AZ 4
BOS 9

SD 5
NYM 2

ATH 3
KC 4

ATL 1
MIN 4

SEA 0
MIL 22

WSH 0
TEX 5

CWS 3
CHC 4

LAA 3
HOU 1

LAD 7
COL 6

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People Who Made America Great

TODAY’S PATRIOT

People Who Made America Great

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) – Known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” Rosa Parks became a national icon when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated Montgomery bus in 1955. Her quiet act of defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a pivotal moment in the movement that led to a Supreme Court ruling declaring bus segregation unconstitutional. Parks was active in the NAACP and continued her advocacy work throughout her life. Her strength, dignity, and unwavering commitment to equal rights made her a symbol of American perseverance and moral clarity.

Before her famous act of defiance, Parks had already been deeply involved in civil rights activism, including investigating sexual assaults against Black women. In one 1944 case, she worked with the NAACP to advocate for Recy Taylor, a Black woman who was gang-raped by white men in Alabama. Parks’ work on this case showed her long-standing commitment to justice for all, particularly for the voiceless.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

August 19, 1812

The USS Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, won a brilliant victory over the British frigate HMS Guerriere in the War of 1812.

A new stat for an underappreciated

Wednesday, August 19

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Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.

First base defense is always underappreciated. Heck, even Joey Votto says so, and we tend to trust Joey Votto’s opinions about baseball … even if he’s a little biased this time, since he was a first baseman, after all.

Well, we’re here to help, Joey.

We’ve got a cool new leaderboard up on Baseball Savant today that should bring us one step closer to properly appreciating first basemen for all the value they bring to the table.

Introducing: first base receiving (and scoops!).

Mike Petriello has a great explainer of all the new stats, but we’ll hit on a few of the highlights here.

What’s on the leaderboard?

We’re measuring every first baseman’s skill at receiving throws. Your first thought is probably: Who’s the best at scoops? And that’s absolutely on there. But so are all the other types of throws a first baseman has to catch: high throws, low throws, wide throws, throws that bounce far in front of the bag and, last but not least, throws that are on target.

The big new stat here is “Receiving Outs Above Average” — which tells you how many outs a first baseman saves for his team with his receiving skill. We also keep track of the total number of plays first basemen successfully make in each category of throw — total scoops, total high throws handled and so on.

Why does it matter?

Catching the throw is the one thing a first baseman has to do the most often. The majority of their plays are about receiving throws from their fellow infielders and turning them into putouts.

As Votto puts it, “The first baseman can make or break a good infield with their receiving skills.” But we never had a good way to account for that skill. Now, our fielding stats finally include the impact of a first baseman’s No. 1 duty. That’s big for painting a complete picture of Major League fielding.

Who’s the best receiving first baseman?

But let’s get to the good stuff: Which first basemen rank at the top of the receiving leaderboard?

This season, you might be interested to know that the No. 1 first baseman is Alec Burleson, who’s saved the Cardinals +7 runs with his great receiving.

And for the full five-plus seasons we have first base receiving data, the best of the best are the two names you might expect: Freddie Freeman and Matt Olson.

We always want a new stat to match up with the eye test, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here. Both Olson and Freeman are Gold Glove-winning first basemen with sterling defensive reputations.

Which first basemen have a tough time?

The guys at the bottom of the leaderboard also make sense. Since the start of last season, for example, the bottom three receiving first basemen are Bryce Harper, Luis Arraez and Rafael Devers — all players who moved to first base from other positions.

What about scoops?

Everyone loves a good scoop. It’s the flashiest play a first baseman makes, for sure, and we’ve got some good names on the scoops leaderboard.

The top five scoopers since 2021 are led by Olson (76 scoops), and also include Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (67) and Pete Alonso (57) — all first basemen who have a reputation for their scooping ability.

Play around with the scoops leaderboard yourself here >>

HOW OLSON BECAME A SCOOP KING

We also got the chance to talk to Matt Olsonhimself before we launched the first base receiving leaderboard, and ask him about how he got so good at what he does.

One of the best tidbits is how the Braves star approaches catching a throw. Olson hates when first basemen do the splits.

“The biggest thing for me is just to go get the ball,” Olson told us. “Especially with how many challenges there are and how close the challenges are. See, a lot of guys, they do splits out to catch the ball. But if you do a split, you can’t reach with your upper body. So for me, not getting as far with the front leg, and reaching with my upper half instead, you catch the ball further out. And hopefully, doing that, you’re able to get more bang-bang plays.”

We think the proof is in the pudding. Olson’s receiving numbers are great, and he is phenomenal at stretching. Watch him go out and get this throw from Dansby Swanson at short a few years ago. It’s a thing of beauty:

An animated GIF of Matt Olson stretching for a throw

We also liked this quote from Olson about how catching throws can be an unsung skill for a first baseman, even though it’s a huge part of the game — echoing Votto’s thoughts on how the first base position is underrated.

“If I get five ground balls in a day, that’s a lot. I’m catching way more balls than that first,” Olson said. “I think it’s, like, people just assume we’re gonna do it. We’re kind of like the offensive linemen of baseball — it’s a ‘You don’t notice them unless you give up a sack’ kind of deal.”

Read our whole story with more quotes from Olson here >>

GAMES OF THE NIGHT

Here are three games to keep an eye on tonight.

Giants at Guardians (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)

The Giants pitcher making his MLB debut today has one of the best names in the game. That’s Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson — a 6-foot-1, 250-pound lefty who was one of the top names in our Minor League nickname bracketearlier this year and is looking to tow San Francisco to victory in his first career start. As if the name “Tugboat Wilkinson” wasn’t enough, he also throws an “Invisiball” — aka, a fastball that’s not super fast but disappears on hitters thanks to a deceptive delivery.

Blue Jays at Rays (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)

Max Scherzer (3,520 career strikeouts) is just 14 K’s behind Gaylord Perry for ninth place all-time. We’d certainly like to see him get there this season, so we’ll be watching how the 42-year-old fares against the American League-best Rays. Plus, the Jays are only a half-game out of a Wild Card spot now. They have a real shot, so these games matter.

Mariners at Brewers (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)

After the Brewers’ historic 22-0 win over the Mariners last night — tied for the most lopsided shutout win in MLB since 1887 — we have to see what’s going to happen tonight. We assume it won’t be another one of the biggest blowouts in history, but hey, you can’t predict baseball.

A HISTORIC YEAR FOR JAPANESE SLUGGERS

Shohei Ohtani, Munetaka Murakami and Kazuma Okamoto all hit big home runs yesterday, and that got us thinking: Wow, it’s a great year for Japanese sluggers in MLB, isn’t it?

Turns out, that’s underselling it. This is probably the greatest year for Japanese sluggers in MLB ever, at least when you look at the number of stars who are shining in the Majors.

Ohtani’s home run last night secured his sixth straight 30-homer season, helping him keep pace with the red-hot Pete Crow-Armstrong in the National League MVP race.
Murakami’s was his 29th of his rookie season and was an absolute moonshot, putting a literal dent in the scoreboardbeyond the left-center-field stands at Wrigley Field.
Okamoto’s 25th blast broke the Blue Jays’ rookie home run record, which was previously held by 2002 AL Rookie of the Year Eric Hinske.
And we won’t forget about Seiya Suzuki, either, who didn’t homer yesterday but still has 22 this season.

This is already the first season in MLB history where four Japanese-born players have hit 20 home runs. And if even three of the four get to 30, that would also be a record. (Last year is the only time multiple Japanese sluggers have reached the 30-homer mark in the same season, with Ohtani and Suzuki doing it.)

And there could be more Japanese stars on the way, if players like Teruaki Sato come from Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. It’s a golden age for international baseball talent.

NEW DOC ON BASEBALL’S ROLE POST-9/11

'When America Took the Field' documentary

When America Took the Field, a new two-hour original documentary commemorating the 25th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11th, 2001, will premiere on MLB Network on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 10 p.m. ET.

The documentary examines how baseball brought Americans together and provided a sense of hope, healing and normalcy in the aftermath of one of the darkest days in the nation’s history.

When America Took the Field highlights the unforgettable baseball moments in the aftermath of 9/11, such as Mike Piazza’s emotional home run at Shea Stadium on Sept. 21, 2001, President George W. Bush’s ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium and Jack Buck’s moving message to a grieving nation at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

A clip from the film, which will re-air on Sept. 11, 12 and 13 on MLB Network, can be viewed here.