Media Today

[Rick Plant]

The Tampa Bay Rays are off to a historic start. What’s behind it?

Tabbed for no higher than third in the AL East by most experts, the Rays have won 12 straight and are off to baseball’s hottest start in decades. How are they doing it and how long will it last



With their 9-7 win over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay Rays became just the third team to win 12 straight games to open a baseball season since the dead-ball era more than a century ago. With one more win, the Rays will tie the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and the 1982 Atlanta Braves as the only teams to begin a season with 13 consecutive victories since the 1880s.

The winning streak is the latest achievement for a team known for their modest payrolls, sparse attendance and excellent organizational development. Early adopters of the advanced analytic strategies that dominate contemporary baseball, the Rays have made the postseason for six years in a row despite playing in the same division as the famously deep-pocketed New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

In two of those six playoff seasons, the Rays had the lowest payroll of any team in the majors. In 2023, they have the third-lowest payroll of 30 teams and aren’t paying any player more than $11m this year, which is tied for the 127th-highest salary. The New York Mets – a team with a $344m payroll – have 11 players earning more than the Rays’ highest-paid player, pitcher Zach Eflin.

Even if the Rays have 150 scheduled regular-season games remaining, their phenomenal start should help their quest for a seventh straight playoff appearance. Of the seven teams to start a season with at least 10 consecutive wins, only one of them failed to finish with a winning record (the 1966 Cleveland Indians, who finished 81-81). Not bad for a club that most prognosticators tabbed for no higher than third place in the American League East behind the Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

Not only are the Rays winning, they’re dominating their opponents. Here is how.

Is it their hitting?

It’s a big part of it. The Rays are not typically known for their power, but it’s been one of their biggest assets to start the season. After ranking 25th out of 30 teams in home runs last season, the Rays have hit an astonishing 30 in 12 games to start 2023. Entering Tuesday’s game, they were tied for the most home runs that any team had hit in their first 11 games.

The power has helped make their 12 wins mostly comfortable ones since 10 of them have been by at least four runs. Their 92 runs over 12 games are the most in the major leagues and they’ve scored 65 more runs than their opponents. The team with the second-best run differential in baseball, the Yankees, have scored 28 more runs than their opponents.

Almost the entire roster is hitting well, but Brandon Lowe, Yandy Díaz and Wander Franco have been especially good. Lowe and Franco have combined for eight home runs (the Rays are one of two teams to have two players with at least four runs), while Díaz is among baseball’s league leaders with 12 runs scored. Outfielder Randy Arozarena, whose phenomenal defense and lively style of play made him a fan favorite during the World Baseball Classic in March, leads the team with 15 runs batted in. Entering Tuesday night’s game, they were the only team to have 10 players with at least two homers. Right now, every player in their lineup is a threat.

How about the pitching?

It’s arguably been better than the offense. The Rays have already shut out their opponents four times this season. Last season, the Washington Nationals logged four shutouts over the entire 162-game season. Maybe more impressive than the 29 homers they’ve hit is the mere four home runs that the pitching staff has conceded, another category where Tampa Bay leads all of baseball.

The staff has also allowed the fewest hits and runs per game of any team. Two of their starting pitchers (Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs) have yet to allow a run this season. Rasmussen hasn’t even walked a batter and has surrendered just three total baserunners over 13 innings pitched. Entering Wednesday night, the staff’s earned run average was at 1.74, which, again, is best in the majors. Defensively, the team is ranked highest in the defensive efficiency metric, according to the website Baseball-Reference.com.

Any caveats to this streak?

To be fair, nine of the Rays’ 12 wins have come against the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers, all of whom are expected to be among the worst teams in baseball this season. Sean Zerillo of the Action Network noted that even before the season, the Rays had about a 33% chance to begin the season 9-0.

Even so, the Rays’ start to the 2023 season is nothing short of historic and portends their likelihood as a contender for the World Series come October.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2023/apr/13/tampa-bay-rays-undefeated-start-history



Rays move to 12-0, one short of tying best major league start since 1900

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Rays won their 12th straight game to start the season, one short of the best major league start since 1900, as Randy Arozarena hit a three-run homer in a 9-7 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night.

The 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves both opened 13-0. Tampa Bay's 12-game winning streak matches the team record set in June 2004.

"It sounds amazing," Rays catcher Christian Bethancourt said.

Tampa Bay can equal the 13-0 mark Thursday at home against the Red Sox, who have lost 12 road games in a row to the Rays.

Taj Bradley (1-0) won his major league debut for the Rays. The 22-year-old right-hander, recalled from Triple-A Durham when Zach Eflin went on the injured list, allowed three runs and struck out eight over five innings.

"Taj did a great job," Bethancourt said. "I think he did amazing. I had fun. It was very enjoyable. He was everything I expected."

Bradley's victory came on his mother's birthday.

Arozarena made it 3-0 with an opposite-field homer off Chris Sale (1-1) in the first. Tampa Bay leads the majors with 30 home runs, joining the 2019 Seattle Mariners (32) and the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals (31) as the only teams to hit at least 30 homers in their first 12 games of a campaign.

Contributing to that, the Rays have homered in each of their first dozen games, becoming the first team since the 2020 New York Yankees to start a season with 12 straight games with at least one home run. Since 1901, only the Mariners in 2019 (20 straight), Cleveland in 2002 (14), the Detroit Tigers in 2017 (13) and the Chicago Cubs in 1954 (13) have had longer such streaks to start the season.

Tampa Bay has outscored opponents 92-27.

Rafael Devers, who had been hitless in 10 at-bats with six strikeouts in the series, pulled Boston to 8-7 on a three-run homer off Colin Poche in the seventh.

Arozarena's sacrifice fly made it 9-7 in the eighth.

Red Sox reliever Zack Kelly left in the fifth with right elbow pain. After throwing a pitch that hit Yandy Diaz, an emotional Kelly went into a squat on the mound and used his hands to cover his face.

"He'll fly with us tomorrow, and we'll do all the stuff, the imaging, all that in Boston," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "It's the elbow he had surgery [on] a few years ago. Tough, tough to see. Hopefully there's nothing wrong."

Sale gave up six runs, five earned, in four innings. His ERA remained at 11.25.

Pete Fairbanks, the fifth Rays reliever, worked the ninth to get his second save.

Wander Franco drove in a pair with a double during a three-run fourth as the Rays took a 6-1 lead.

Alex Verdugo got the first hit off Bradley with a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on Justin Turner's single. Enrique Hernandez stopped an 0-for-28 slide with an RBI double in a two-run fifth that cut the deficit to 6-3.

Bethancourt, who entered 2-for-19, got his second hit of the game with an RBI double during a two-run fifth that put Tampa Bay ahead 8-3.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/36173633/rays-move-12-0-one-short-tying-best-major-league-start-1900

[Rick Plant]

7 -foot alligator found along American River under investigation

The Department of Fish and Wildlife have the alligator now, and are trying to figure out where it came from.



FAIR OAKS, Calif. — In a very unlikely place to see alligators, a man says he found a 7-foot reptile in the American River at Sailor Bar in Fair Oaks.

"Hopefully, there's just that one," said Robert Valenti, who has visited Sailor Bar almost every day for about five years.

The Wildlife Care Association says they first learned about the alligator last week from a man who told them he was trying to help out his neighbor.

"He said, 'I'm trying to help my neighbor out.' He was fishing at Sailor Bar and he noticed that there was an alligator sitting on the rocks. He said, 'So I went over there with my trailer. I saw the alligator. It was hissing and I jumped on the alligator, taped it's mouth shut and put it in my trailer,'" said Sandra Foreman, the facility manager at the Wildlife Care Association.

Foreman doesn't believe the alligator has been living in the American River for a long time. 

She says the cold water would have made it difficult to survive, and she believes someone kept the reptile as a pet and dumped it when it got too big to handle. 

However, that's for the Department of Fish and Wildlife to decide. The agency has the animal in their care, and will now figure out where it came from.

"They are trying to understand the suspiciousness of the situation. Because they were already getting tipped off about an alligator in the Sacramento area. And I believe, they were trying to confirm that was in fact the alligator they were getting tipped on," said Foreman.

The Wildlife Care Association is warning that California has very strict laws on people owning wildlife because of safety concerns.

Watch: https://www.abc10.com/article/news/local/fair-oaks-carmichael/7-foot-alligator-american-river/103-b02650d6-3d7e-414b-9af3-02f43f2cc9f2

[Rick Plant]

First near-complete sauropod dinosaur skull found in Australia hints at ancient links between continents



In May and June of 2018, Australia’s first near-complete skull of a sauropod – a group of long-tailed, long-necked, small-headed dinosaurs – was found on a sheep station northwest of Winton in Queensland.

I was part of the dig team from the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum that made the discovery, and subsequently had the privilege of leading the team that studied the skull. After years of work, our results are published today in Royal Society Open Science.

The skull belonged to a creature we have dubbed “Ann”: a member of the species Diamantinasaurus matildae which shows surprising similarities to fossils found halfway across the world, lending weight to the theory that dinosaurs once roamed between Australia and South America via an Antarctic land connection.

A good skull is hard to find

The sauropod dinosaurs have been a source of lifelong fascination for me, and finding a sauropod skull was one of my childhood dreams. Sadly, the fossil record is biased towards preserving sauropod limbs, vertebrae and ribs, and heavily against skulls.

This makes sense when you consider the processes that act on an organism’s body after it dies, which paleontologists call taphonomy.

Large, robust limb bones are resistant to decomposition, and if they are buried rapidly they might fossilize quite readily. Vertebrae and ribs comprise a significant proportion of a vertebrate skeleton, increasing their odds of preservation.

By contrast, sauropod skulls were relatively small, made up of many delicate bones that were only loosely held together by soft tissue, and seemingly easily detached from the end of the neck. They might also have been prime targets for carnivorous dinosaurs: the only previously described sauropod braincase from Australia preserves several bite marks from fierce theropods.

The original skull bones of the sauropod dinosaur Diamantinasaurus matildae. Trish Sloan / Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum

The bones of the skull were found around two meters beneath the surface, scattered over an area of about nine square metres. Much of the right side of the face is missing, but most of the left is present. Sadly, many of the bones show signs of distortion (presumably a result of post mortem scavenging or trampling), which makes physical reassembly of the skull a delicate process.

Modern technology recreates an ancient animal

This being the case, we set out to reconstruct the skull digitally. We CT scanned the bones at St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne. This enabled the internal features of each bone to be observed on a computer.

Inside one bone in the snout (which we also had scanned at the Australian Synchrotron), we found replacement teeth. It has long been known that sauropods, like crocodiles today, continually replaced their teeth throughout their lives.

CT scanning a sauropod skull at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. Adele Pentland

We also scanned all of the bones with a surface scanner, enabling detailed 3D models of each bone to be made on a computer. The skull could then be reassembled in a virtual space with no risk of damage to the fossils themselves.

The teeth in the new sauropod skull were very similar to those found at other sites in the Winton area. Comparisons with Australia’s only other fragmentary sauropod skull (also from Winton) revealed additional similarities.

Meet Diamantinasaurus matildae

Our skull belongs to the species Diamantinasaurus matildae. Diamantinasaurus would have been about as long as a tennis court, as tall as basketball ring at the shoulder, and weighed ~25 tonnes – about as much as two fire engines.

Our skull belongs to the species Diamantinasaurus matildae. Diamantinasaurus would have been about as long as a tennis court, as tall as basketball ring at the shoulder, and weighed ~25 tonnes – about as much as two fire engines.

Diamantinasaurus occupies a low branch on the family tree of a group of sauropods called titanosaurs. Other members of the titanosaur group (from higher branches on their family tree) include the largest land animals that ever lived, such as Patagotitan and Argentinosaurus, which exceeded 30 meters in length. Titanosaurs were the only sauropods to live right until the end of the Cretaceous Period (66 million years ago), when the age of dinosaurs came to a close.

Diamantinasaurus has a rounded snout, typical of medium- to high-level browsing sauropods. Its teeth are robustly constructed, but those from other sites show little sign of wear by soil or grit, reinforcing the idea Diamantinasaurus preferred to feed some distance above ground level.

The reconstructed skull of Diamantinasaurus matildae, viewed from the left side. Stephen Poropat / Samantha Rigby

Only two replacement teeth are present in each tooth socket, implying that Diamantinasaurus replaced its teeth relatively slowly. And finally, the teeth are restricted to the front of the snout, meaning that Diamantinasaurus, like all other sauropods, did not chew its food.

Family resemblances

We compared our sauropod skull with others from around the world. The most similar skull was that of Sarmientosaurus musacchioi, which lived in southern South America. Diamantinasaurus and Sarmientosaurus lived at around the same time (about 95 million years ago), and at around the same latitude (50°S).

We had previously hypothesised that these two sauropods were close relatives, albeit on the basis of limited evidence. The new skull shores up that idea in a big way: bone for bone, the skulls of Diamantinasaurus and Sarmientosaurus are extremely similar. This might seem strange, given the great physical distance between South America and Australia today. However, back then each of those continents retained a lingering land connection with Antarctica.

Sauropods seemingly preferred warmer climates at low to medium latitudes. However, 95 million years ago the climate was extremely warm, even by the warm standards of the Cretaceous. With polar latitudes more amenable for sauropods, these scaly behemoths – and other landlubbing animals – could trundle through lush forests at the bottom of the world between South America and Antarctica.

It is a privilege to be able to finally put a face to the name Diamantinasaurus matildae. Future discoveries will hopefully help cement its status as one of the most completely understood titanosaurs worldwide.

https://theconversation.com/first-near-complete-sauropod-dinosaur-skull-found-in-australia-hints-at-ancient-links-between-continents-203405



Could 2023 be a quieter hurricane season? Early forecasts hint at below-average year



MIAMI — After back-to-back years of grueling and devastating hurricane seasons, early forecasts suggest that 2023 may offer a bit of a break — at last.

The pre-season forecast from Colorado State University, released Thursday, calls for a below-average hurricane season, thanks to the development of an atmospheric phenomenon called El Niño that dampens storm activity in the Atlantic.

CSU predicts this season will include 13 named storms, six of which will become hurricanes and two will become major hurricanes, which is category 3 or higher. An average season includes 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Hurricane season in the Atlantic runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, with a peak in August to September. But predicting what the season will hold gets dicey this early. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration makes its official prediction for the season — the gold standard — in late May.

But academic outlets and for-profit weather companies often make early season predictions, and CSU’s is one of the highest regarded. Its latest prediction falls closely in line with several others, including the well-known European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, or Euro.

“Hurricane seasons are not random. There are clues in the atmosphere that can tip us off,” said Phil Klotzbach, CSU meteorologist and lead author of the forecast. “Those clues really seem to appear this time of the year.”

However, Klotzbach warned, predictions get more accurate the closer to the peak of the season.

“There’s a lot that can change between April and August when the season really ramps up,” he said.

El Niño — or nothing?

Several early season forecasts call for normal or below-normal storm activity this hurricane season, and that prediction hinges largely on whether or not an El Niño will happen this year.

El Niño is the name for an atmospheric phenomenon that reaches across the globe, warming waters in the Pacific Ocean and shifting the upper-level winds in the Atlantic. That usually makes it harder for tropical storms to form and brings a colder, wetter winter to the East Coast.

“That wind shear has somewhat of a protective effect on Florida,” said Ryan Truchelut, the chief meteorologist of private weather service Weather Tiger, which also predicts a normal or below-normal season ahead.

For the last three years, the Atlantic has seen the weather pattern at the opposite end of the spectrum, a La Niña. Unlike El Niños, La Niñas are usually associated with more storm activity in the Atlantic and less in the Pacific.

These weather patterns make a big difference for the number of storms that form. Truchelut said that since 1900, La Niña seasons include an average of 0.8 land-falling hurricanes a year in Florida, compared with 0.4 land-falling storms a year for El Niño seasons.

This year, meteorologists are split on whether an El Niño will form (and when) or if the season will remain right in the middle of the two extremes, known as ENSO neutral.

The latest official prediction from NOAA says there’s a 82% likelihood one will form by August to October.

“Both of those paths forward are possible. It’s also possible that we don’t get an El Niño at all,” said Truchelut. “In the spring, you always have to take El Niño and La Niña predictions with a big grain of salt.”

And even if an El Niño forms, it’s not a guarantee of a quiet season for Florida, as much as the storm-slapped state needs it. In 2018, an El Niño formed toward the end of the season, dampening all storm activity. But not before a small window of perfect storm conditions opened, just big enough for Category 5 Hurricane Michael to swell and crash into the Panhandle.

“I don’t want people to take away from this that they don’t need to be prepared for hurricane season. Even in an El Niño year, there’s a significant chance of Florida seeing a landfalling storm,” Truchelut said.

“It lowers the odds, but we live in the most hurricane-prone part of the US and it’s just a fact of life. That risk is always going to be with us.”

© Miami Herald



Tennessee florist refuses service to Republican National Committee



A Republican National Convention fundraising event scheduled this weekend could go without flowers after a florist in Nashville, Tennessee, reportedly refused to provide its services over the GOP's gun positions.

The FLWR Shop wrote a letter to the Republican National Committee, saying the shop had received a request to provide floral arrangements for a Nashville fundraising event planned for mid-April. The letter, which was made public on Instagram, indicates that former President Donald Trump and "other prominent members of the Republican party" will be in attendance.

The shop said it declined the opportunity, noting instead that it would use the spotlight to push the GOP on its stance on gun violence. Going even further, the letter encourages fellow small business owners in the area to follow its lead.

"We would like to challenge others in the Nashville event industry to say no to taking money or jobs from the Republican party until they begin to make the changes to gun laws that most Americans are calling for," the flower shop wrote in the letter on Instagram.

To further clarify the shop's stance, the owner posted in the caption on Instagram that they feel it's appropriate at times to mix personal beliefs with business.

"I’ve been loud about protecting Black lives, the illness of racism in our country, and in defense of trans people," the post says. "These things should not be considered political in my opinion."

The letter was picked up by local news site WZTV, which went to the shop but found that the owner was not in the store. The shop then issued the following statement, according to ABC7.

"Most Americans including Conservatives agree we need some commonsense reform of gun laws," the reported statement says. "Refusing to work with the RNC is not a rebuke of Conservative values, it was a plea to our lawmakers... To step up and do what Americans are asking and expecting of them."

https://www.rawstory.com/rnc-denied-service/

[Rick Plant]

MLB roundup: Rays tie modern record at 13-0

Harold Ramirez's three-run double fueled a seven-run fifth inning as the host Tampa Bay Rays tied a modern-era major league record with their 13th straight win to start the season, bashing the Boston Red Sox 9-3 Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The 13 wins tied the record held by the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves and also set a Rays mark for consecutive wins overall. Tampa Bay has outscored opponents 101-30 through the streak.

Ramirez went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and a run. Brandon Lowe had two hits, including a home run, and Yandy Diaz also went deep for the Rays.

Rays starter Jeffrey Springs was removed after three-plus innings due to ulnar neuritis in his left arm. He struck out five and allowed one run on a homer by Red Sox outfielder Rob Refsnyder. Kevin Kelly (1-0) tossed 2 2/3 innings of one-run relief for his first major league win.

https://deadspin.com/mlb-roundup-rays-tie-modern-record-at-13-0-1850335873


Rays rally past Red Sox to improve to 13-0, tie modern MLB record



ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- After going unbeaten against four teams with losing records, the Tampa Bay Rays are headed to Toronto to try setting Major League Baseball's post-1900 record for consecutive wins at a season's start.

"We're a small-market team and people around the league not all the time have great things to say about us, but we play together," Manuel Margot said through a translator after the Rays beat the Boston Red Sox 9-3 Thursday for a 13-0 start.

Tampa Bay rallied in a seven-run fifth inning that Harold Ramirez began and capped with doubles, and the Rays matched the 13-win start of the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers.

The only longer opening streak was 20-0 by the 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association. The Rays have won all but two of the games by four or more runs and have outscored opponents 101-30 with the most runs in the big leagues and the fewest allowed.

"When you do something like that you're playing really well," manager Kevin Cash said. "There's not one part of our game right now that we don't feel good about."

Playing before a crowd of 21,175, the largest at Tropicana Field since opening day, the Rays set a team record for winning streak at any point in a season by topping a 12-game run in June 2004. The streak includes series against Detroit, Washington and Oakland.

Boston, held to four hits, has lost 13 consecutive games at the Trop.

"They pitch when they need to pitch. They put the ball in play and they drive guys in," Christian Arroyo said.

Rays starter Jeffrey Springs left two pitches into the fourth inning with what the team said was ulnar neuritis, inflammation of the ulnar nerve that causes numbness or weakness. He was relieved after throwing a 79.8 mph changeup and a 83.5 mph to Justin Turner, then looking at his hand and elbow.

"The pitch prior, kind of just felt a little bit of something in the elbow, forearm area," Springs said. "It was kind of hard to pinpoint."

He said the sensation felt like a shock rather than pain and he planned to get imaging on Friday. Cash said Springs is likely to miss at least one start.

"Hopefully, it's just a nerve thing that kind of flared up," Springs said. "I didn't feel anything pop or anything like that."

Tampa Bay trailed 3-1 in the fifth against the Red Sox. Ramirez started the big rally with a double off Corey Kluber (0-3) and broke open the game with a three-run double against Richard Bleier.

Francisco Mejía cut the deficit with a run-scoring single and Brandon Lowe greeted Bleier with a tying RBI single.

Randy Arozarena singled for a 4-3 lead, Wander Franco was hit by a pitch and Margot dropped down a run-scoring bunt single.

"I noticed the third baseman, he was playing back," Margot said of Bobby Dalbec.

Ramirez then lined a double into the left-field corner for an 8-3 advantage.

"When Harold led off with a double, it sparked the lineup. It kind of let everyone breathe a little bit," Brandon Lowe said.

Lowe added a seventh-inning home run off Kutter Crawford, his fifth this season.

Yandy Díaz tied the score 1-1 in the first with his fourth this season for the Rays, who lead the major leagues with 32. Only the 2019 Seattle Mariners and 2000 St. Louis Cardinals with 33 each homered more through 13 games.

Kevin Kelly (1-0) pitched 2 2/3 innings for the win.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/36180920/rays-rally-red-sox-improve-13-0-tie-modern-mlb-record

[Rick Plant]

Jury selection begins in historic Dominion defamation trial against Fox News
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/media/fox-news-dominion-trial-jury/index.html

[Rick Plant]

Germany ends nuclear era as last reactors power down



Germany will switch off its last three nuclear reactors on Saturday, exiting atomic power even as it seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels and manage an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.

While many Western countries are upping their investments in atomic energy to reduce their emissions, Germany is bringing an early end to its nuclear age.

Europe's largest economy has been looking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, but the phase-out was accelerated by former chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

The exit decision was popular in a country with a powerful anti-nuclear movement, stoked by lingering fears of Cold War conflict and atomic disasters such as Chernobyl in Ukraine.

"The risks of nuclear power are ultimately unmanageable," said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, who this week made a pilgrimage to the ill-fated Japanese plant ahead of a G7 meeting in the country.

But the challenge caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which put an end to cheap gas imports, and the need to quickly cut emissions has upped calls in Germany to delay the withdrawal from nuclear power.

'A mistake'

Initially planned for the end of 2022, Germany's nuclear exit has already had to be pushed back once.

As Russian gas supplies dwindled last year, officials in Berlin were left scrambling to find a way to keep the lights on, with a short extension agreed until mid-April.

Germany, the largest emitter in the European Union, also powered up some of its mothballed coal-fueled plants to cover the potential gap left by gas.

The perilous context has increased calls domestically to delay the nuclear exit.

Germany had to "expand the supply of energy and not restrict it any further" in light of potential shortages and high prices, the president of the German chambers of commerce Peter Adrian told the Rheinische Post daily.

The conservative leader of Bavaria Markus Soeder meanwhile told the Focus Online website that he wanted the plants to stay online and three more to be kept "in reserve".

Outside observers have been similarly irked by Germany's insistence on exiting nuclear while ramping up its coal usage, with climate activist Greta Thunberg in October slamming the move as "a mistake".

'Sooner or later'

At the Isar 2 complex in Bavaria, technicians will progressively shut down the reactor from 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday, severing it from the grid for good.

By the end of the day, operators at the other two facilities, in northern Emsland and southwestern Neckarwestheim, will have taken their facilities offline as well.

The three final plants provided just six percent of Germany's energy last year, compared with 30.8 percent from all nuclear plants in 1997.

"Sooner or later" the reactors will start being dismantled, Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the Funke group ahead of the scheduled decommissioning, brushing aside the idea of an extension.

The government has the energy situation "under control", Habeck assured, having filled gas stores and built new infrastructure for the import of liquefied natural gas to bridge the gap left by Russian supplies.

Instead, the minister from the Green party, which was founded on opposition to nuclear power, is focused on getting Germany to produce 80 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030.

To this end, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for the installation of "four to five wind turbines a day" over the next few years -- a tall order given that just 551 were installed last year.

But the current rate of progress on renewables could well be too slow for Germany to meet its climate protection goals.

Despite planning to exit nuclear, Germany has not "pushed ahead enough with the expansion of renewables in the last 10 years", Simon Mueller from the Agora Energiewende think tank told AFP.

To build enough onshore wind capacity, according to Mueller, Germany now has to "pull out all the stops".

(AFP)

[Rick Plant]

The Webb Telescope Finally Shows Us Uranus' Glorious Rings