OFFICIAL 2010 LOS ANGELES DODGERS THREAD [79-82] : The losing season

[p mac one]

Manny

 

[p mac one]

is it April 1st?

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COLUMN ONE
[h1]Dodgers tap into 'V energy'[/h1] [h2]Frankand Jamie McCourt quietly hired a Russian emigre who calls himself ascientist and healer to 'think blue' and channel his thoughts towardthe team's success as he watched them play on TV.[/h2]
By Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times
June 10, 2010

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la-sp-dodgers-psychic-20100610

Reporting from Boston —
The most curious figure to emerge in the Dodgers' drama answers thedoor with a kindly smile and a hearty handshake. He motions toward theliving room, where his wife has put out a spread of chocolate andfruit, coffee and tea.

Vladimir Shpunt, 71, lived most of his life in Russia. He has threedegrees in physics and a letter of reference from a Nobel Prize winner.

He knows next to nothing about baseball.

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Yet the Dodgers hired him to, well, think blue.

Frank and Jamie McCourt paid him to help the team win by sending positive energy over great distances.

Shpunt says he is a scientist and a healer, not a magician. His methodcould not guarantee the Dodgers would win, he says, but it could make adifference.

"Maybe it is just a little," he said. "Maybe it can help."

In the five years he worked for the Dodgers, he attended just one game.Instead, he watched them on television in his home more than 3,000miles from Dodger Stadium, channeling his thoughts toward the team'ssuccess.

Shpunt's work was one of the best-kept secrets of the McCourt era. Thecouple kept it hidden even from the team's top executives. But frome-mails and interviews, a picture emerges of how the emigre physicisttried to use his long-distance energy to give the Dodgers an edge.

The McCourts, who are embroiled in a contentious divorce, declined tobe interviewed about Shpunt. Through their representatives, Frank saidit was Jamie's idea to hire him and Jamie said it was Frank's.

Shpunt lives in suburban Boston, in a community he insisted not benamed. He sits uneasily for an interview, joined by his wife Sofya andBarry Cohen, an executive leadership consultant who worked with theMcCourts and who introduced Shpunt to Jamie.

Shpunt is wary of publicity, disappointed in the loss of his anonymity,concerned about being caricatured. He speaks reluctantly, in haltingEnglish, about a commitment to the Dodgers that he said often requiredup to four hours a day.

"It's very big work. My blood pressure may be 200," Shpunt said, with a hint of a smile. "I like this team to win."

Shpunt could not transform a bad team into a good one, Cohen said, buthis energy could increase the chance of winning by 10% to 15%.

"The team has some level of capacity," Cohen said. "What we're talking about is optimizing that capacity."

It is unclear how much Shpunt was paid. Cohen, who negotiated on behalfof Shpunt, would not say. Dodgers attorney Marshall Grossman said hedid not know and could not find a copy of the contract.

But Bert Fields, an attorney for Jamie, said the Dodgers paid Shpunt astipend, plus a bonus of "certainly six figures and even higher"depending on whether the Dodgers won the National League West title andhow far the team advanced in the playoffs.

On Sept. 26, 2008 — one day after the Dodgers clinched the NationalLeague West championship and their third playoff berth in five years ofMcCourt ownership — Frank was jubilant.

"Congratulations and thanks to you and vlad," Frank e-mailed Cohen."Also, pls pass along a special 'thank you' to vlad for all of his hardwork.... This organization and this community will benefit a long timefrom our continued success. Thanks again."

***

The discoveries that led to whatever energy flowed to Dodger Stadium originated in a laboratory halfway around the world.

Shpunt said he led a team of Russian scientists that in the 1970s foundthat heat could travel beneath the skin and through so-called "gapjunctions" between cells, increasing blood flow and promoting healingby directing energy to ill cells without harming healthy ones.

He worked at the same scientific academy in St. Petersburg as ZhoresAlferov, a future Nobel prize winner in physics. In 1998, in support ofShpunt's application to emigrate to the United States, Alferov wrotethat Shpunt was an "eminent scientist" and "outstanding inventor."

Igor Sokolov, a Russian-born professor of physics and chemistry atClarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., said Shpunt had done "world-classresearch."

Yet his experiments have rarely been replicated in the West. WilliamParker, chairman of the physics department at UC Irvine, said Shpuntpublished his research in "second-tier Russian journals" not widelycirculated in the international physics community.

"That doesn't mean he's not any good," Parker said. "He's just not a leading figure."

At one point, as Shpunt's research team studied how medical devicestransmit electrical current through the human body, the devicesmalfunctioned. Yet energy was measurably transmitted, and Shpuntconcluded he must have been the source.

Shpunt, who said his grandfather was a village healer in Russia, saidhe subsequently discovered that his hands generated much more energythan the average person's.

In the 1980s, after doctors had ordered a conventional treatment for a14-year-old girl with leukemia, Shpunt said he tried to heal her andshe responded to the energy from his hands.

"I don't know why," he said. "My energy might be 10 or 15 times higher."

Shpunt began to use touch therapy with clients whom modern medicinecould not help. He would place his hands on various places on the body,believing his healing energy would be transmitted to the source of theillness.

Charles Shang, an assistant professor of medicine at Baylor College ofMedicine in Houston, has cited Shpunt's work in his own research andsaid the concept of gap junctions is "fairly established." The theorythat ill cells can be treated with touch therapy, he said, is not.

Shpunt said he redirected his efforts from research toward treatment,working with sick people in China, Germany, Russia and Vietnam.

In the mid-1980s, he said, he heard a girl complain about hip painafter her legs had been amputated. He said he left her room and thoughtabout how he might help resolve the discomfort, then returned to hearher say the pain had diminished.

That episode, he said, revealed that he could channel that healing energy not just through his hands but over distances.

"It seems like praying, or a magical way," Shpunt said. "There is no magic."

***

In 2004, not long after the McCourts bought the Dodgers and moved toLos Angeles, Jamie contracted an infection in her right eye so severethat doctors warned her she might lose vision in that eye.

Shpunt had met Cohen through a mutual friend and later worked with hisfamily. Cohen referred Jamie to Shpunt in the hope that hisunconventional methods might help.

Shpunt treated her in person and via long distance, and the eye was saved, Cohen said.

Jamie said through a spokesman that she could not definitively say Shpunt's treatment preserved her vision.

At the time, however, she urged Frank to consult Shpunt regarding anundisclosed health issue, according to Cohen and Fields, the attorneyfor Jamie. Grossman, the Dodgers' lawyer, declined to say whether Franksought treatment from Shpunt.

In any case, the McCourts debated whether to add Shpunt to the Dodgers'training staff but decided against it, according to theirrepresentatives.

Instead, they hired him to direct his energy to benefit the team. "Dr.Shpunt and others believe that he has the gift of providing positiveenergy," Grossman said.

Shpunt most often dispatched the energy from his home office, in a roomthat included a television, chair, bed and computer, watching theDodgers late into the evening. If the Dodgers played on the West Coast,the game usually started at 10 p.m. in Boston.

He would concentrate, sometimes with his eyes closed, as if meditating, Cohen said.

Shpunt could transmit the energy at any time and from any place, Cohensaid, but watching the games provided him with immediate feedback onits effects and intensity.

At one point, Shpunt also tried to heal a player. In 2005, Jamiereferred outfielder Jayson Werth to him for treatment of a wristinjury, after Werth had told her of his interest in alternativemedicine, according to Cohen and representatives for Frank and Jamie.

Werth had one in-person healing session and one distance healingsession, apparently not successful. In 2008, as he emerged as a starwith the Philadelphia Phillies, Werth said Dodgers doctors hadmisdiagnosed the injury and that he did not get proper treatment untilhe went to the Mayo Clinic on his own. He made no mention of Shpunt.

More recently, Werth appeared startled when asked whether he had worked with a healer named Vladimir while with the Dodgers.

"Where'd you hear about that?" Werth said. He declined to talk about it.

***

On Oct. 2, 2004, Steve Finley capped the first season of McCourtownership by hitting a walk-off grand slam, clinching the Dodgers'first playoff spot in eight years.

"The miracle finish … was the result of V energy," Cohen wrote in ane-mail to Jamie. "Frank was privileged to actually feel the energy."

Cohen sent that e-mail during the final week of the 2005 season toreinforce Shpunt's value to the team. The Dodgers lost 91 games thatseason, their worst in 13 years.

"V believes without his help this team would have lost about 15 moregames," Cohen wrote, adding: "It would be a giant error to take V offteam."

Cohen also wrote that Shpunt had "diagnosed the disconnects" amongManager Jim Tracy, General Manager Paul DePodesta and the team'spitchers and catchers.

"Your general manager destroyed last year's team," the e-mail read,"and put together a group of players that could not be a team and couldnot win."

Cohen further conveyed Shpunt's critical assessments of outfieldersMilton Bradley and J.D. Drew and said Shpunt had identified Tracy asthe "final reason for failure."

Grossman said Shpunt had been "introduced to the Dodger organization assomeone who had the ability to observe the team, observe opposing teamsand provide evaluations of performance of areas and strength andweakness."

McCourt fired DePodesta after the season, three weeks after publiclybacking him when Tracy and the Dodgers parted ways. Grossman saidShpunt's evaluations did not persuade McCourt to fire DePodesta or tocut ties with Tracy or any player.

"I doubt that one or more decisions were based just on what he had tosay," Grossman said. "I'm confident what he had to say was put into themix of opinions."

The relationship between Shpunt and the Dodgers lasted through the '08season, after which Jamie asked him for help with matters separate fromthe team, Cohen said. That would have required Shpunt to move to LosAngeles, and he declined, Cohen said.

Cohen would not say what kind of work Jamie had asked Shpunt to do, andJamie would neither confirm nor deny she had asked for his assistance.

By then, Shpunt thought his results with the Dodgers had been sosuccessful that he started to work with amateur and professionalathletes, sometimes with hands-on treatment, sometimes trying to willthem to victory from a distance.

Would he say which athletes? He said he would, well, think about it.

 

[in yo nostril]

what kind of horse**** is that? unbelievable.

 

[sinser13]

nice win

Dewitt has been playing good lately

 

[ooiron manoo]

I know IronMan hates when I post articles, sorry

It's a pain in the @@% when I'm browsing on my phone.


The McCourt's stay blowing their money on stupid %#@% and random consultants while taking a dump on front office personnel.  It's not a good thing when 98% of the front office is hoping that the team is sold

....along with 90% of fans (the other 10% don't know any better).

I guess that explains always leading the league in attendance, yet always breaking "even"

Raising ticket prices during a recession FTL!

 

[Los Angeles]

@ Vladmir Shpunt, +$!%$%$ owners spending cash on this fool and trying to keep it a secret. This is wild.

I see what they're doing with Zach Lee too, he ain't gonna sign.

 

[bigmike23]

they spent money on that crap? WOW

 

[in yo nostril]

heard we play the angels tonight or something like that

 

[cincoseisdos]

Someethin like that

Chad with a nice first frame.

We've got to get to em early.

 

[cincoseisdos]

Quakes plate four in the first inning off Charlie Haeger. 66ers batting in the bottom of the first, trailing 4-0.... http://bit.ly/cCJ56v 2 minutes ago via Facebook

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66ersBaseball

Inland Empire 66ers



Can we quit this experiment now please?

 

[cincoseisdos]

Per @kengurnick, Scott Elbert has left @ABQTopes & is on inactive list; Elbert apparently upset at demotion http://bit.ly/dDdloQ less than a minute ago via web Retweeted by you

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truebluela

Eric Stephen

 

[cincoseisdos]

Dodgers signed their 5th-, 13th-, 14th- and 28th-round draft picks. No. 1 pick Zach Lee remains unsigned. #WhatWouldShpuntDo 4 minutes ago via web

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dylanohernandez

Dylan Hernandez

*%*! ing Shpunt

 

[dako akong otin]

Originally Posted by CincoSeisDos

Quakes plate four in the first inning off Charlie Haeger. 66ers batting in the bottom of the first, trailing 4-0.... http://bit.ly/cCJ56v 2 minutes ago via Facebook

• Reply
• Retweet

66ersBaseball

Inland Empire 66ers

Can we quit this experiment now please?


how did this guy go from striking out 12 in 6 innings, to being killed in the minors.... and correct me if i'm wrong, but thats the single A team right?

 

[sinser13]

Smh all with 2 outs

 

[dako akong otin]

Torii 

 

[Los Angeles]

Dako, Haeger pitched in Florida where the humid weather loves the knuckleball.

It was obvious Haeger was only good for a couple starts, I have no clue why they're afraid of someone claiming him - he's pretty much been a journeyman and can't stick to a club.

And great showing by Bills.

 

[dako akong otin]

thanks for the explanation bright..  was wondering what happened to him because i remember watching that game against FLA.  
Joel Pineiro is now 2-0 with 2 CG and 1 SHO when I'm watching him pitch 

 

[Los Angeles]

Where everybody @

 

[sinser13]

we getting swept tomorrow

 

[cincoseisdos]

FUUUUUUUUUU ITS SO HOT OUT HERE IN SB!

 

[p mac one]

Originally Posted by CincoSeisDos

FUUUUUUUUUU ITS SO HOT OUT HERE IN SB!

What were you thinking the weather was gonna be like during June in the IE?

 

[cincoseisdos]

I know I know.... but My GOD its BLARING although theres a subtle breeze every few minutes :

 

[Los Angeles]

San berdddoooo

 

[uter zorker]

Who wins tonight?

 

[ooiron manoo]

What bobblehead made you take that drive?

You couldn't pay me to go out there.