Can We Get Interleague Play to Last All Year?

Wow, the National League blows. Again. Over the last 5 years, the AL's gone like .600 against the NL. The Twins are 12-3 right now. If we were in the NL West we'd be 15 games over .500.

Regardless of the competition, it's nice to win 8 in a row. I mentioned earlier in the year I just didn't see this team having that sort of ability. But the rotation's come on really strong lately. It's the end of June and we're just out of first (and the Cubbies get to go pwn the Sox again this weekend so if we can take two of three from the Brews again we might take the division lead into July).

All that said, I still maintain this is total smoke and mirrors. This squad's got a +7 run differential. That screams .500 team.

LH, I think all this talk of going to Twins open tryouts is misguided. You should be trying out for the Dodgers or Rockies or Nats or Reds or Pirates or Brewers or Padres or Giants, my god, the list is endless. I'm going to start mentally discounting the stats of guys who've played in the National League in recent years. Definitely discounting Chipper Jones and Lance Berkman's numbers this year - they're hitting AAA pitching half the time.

Is it too early to man crush on Brian Buscher? Dude's hitting like .500 and appears to have cleared up the old 3B problem for the time being. How is he defensively?

Twins Open Tryouts

Twinkies are holding open tryouts at the Dome. LH - As discussed, next year you have to come back and do this, I plan on making a documentary about it. Please note: "Participants should bring their own gloves and shoes, with the Twins providing bats and balls" - I assume you have the requisite equipment but considering you plan to showcase at least 7 pitches to major league scouts, you'd better bring your 'balls' too.

Udeze update

From fanball.com

Udeze will surgery next month The NewsKenechi Udeze will undergo a bone marrow transplant in early July, according to the Star Tribune. Udeze is battling an acute form of leukemia, and said, "Right now I'm doing pretty good. I'm actually getting tired of people asking me how I'm doing because I know I'm going to be all right, and I want everybody to start thinking the same way." Our ViewHe will undergo the procedure with his older brother, Thomas Barnes, who is a 100 percent match. He will not play in 2008, but hopes to resume his career.

Vote for Joe (and Justin)

If you haven't cast your All-Star ballot, please do (go here) for Joe and Justin. I don't get MLB in that you can vote 25 times, why not just have people vote once. Bud Selig, you amaze me.

Thought I would share a tidbit from last night's game that makes me (as Gauck once said) 'man crush' on Joe Mauer. Bottom of the 1st and Joe steps to the plate with Gomez on third and one out. Joe quickly gets down 0-2 in the count. He then proceeds to have a 12 pitch at bat where he fouls off 6 two-strike balls and draws a walk. People jump on him for lack of power and that he hits into the 4-6-3 double play too often but I'll take a batting average of .332 and an OBP of .417 with Morneau behind him in that line-up every day of the week and twice on Sunday's.

NBA Mock Draft- #3 pick OJ Mayo

I am sure I don't need to go over my lack of credentials when it comes to basketball. I think I do know something about the Vikings though. The comments of "does not fit a need but is the best player on the board" screams Denny Green era draft day justifications.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=MockDraft-080617


I am trolling here for a response from LH and his thoughts.

Where have you Juan Rincon?

Following last week's news that Juan was "offered" an assignment to Class AAA Rochester (which was duly rejected as Rincon is going to test the free agent market), it got me thinking about Juan and how important he once was to our bullpen. (Interesting note: "Rincon" in Spanish means "inside corner"; that's like having a boxer named "Bob Uppercut.") Juan broke in with the Twinkies at the tender age of 17 and played all 12 years of his MLB career with your home town team getting the call up in 2001. By 2003 he was a regular out of the bullpen, was one of the best set-up guys around, and was a key player in one of the best bullpen's in baseball during the latest Twins Renaissance.

However, the controversy that surrounds Juan's time with the Twins was his ten game suspension in 2005 for roids. Let's see how that has played out through his numbers:
Throwing out his 2001 and 2002 figures (he appeared in 14 games total over those first two seasons in the Bigs), his ERA from 2003 to this year was:

2003 - 3.68
2004 - 2.63
2005 - 2.45
2006 - 2.91
2007 - 5.13
2008 - 6.11

Those figures alone would lead one to draw the conclusion that Rincon benefited from being on the juice. What is odd to me is that the Twins re-signed him to a one year deal for $2.48M over the off-season. His name did surface in the Delmon Young/Garza deal but he was never moved. Why would you pay $2.48M for a guy who had that brutal of a year in 2007? Obviously the Twins brass and coaches thought he would return to form and would be important in the bullpen with the departure of Santana. If Rincon magically happens to pop up on some other AL Central roster (crazier things have happened) I wouldn't mind facing him a few times a year.

University of Iowa and the Flood of 2008

Alright, everyone knows there has been a flood so I won't go into what is going on. As an alum I feel obligated to post a link to some pictures of the campus.

I used to live at 303 N. Riverside Dr. This pic is from the corner of that block. Unfortunately, the house I used to live in is now the SAE's and is up on a huge hill safe away from the water, so all that is under is the backyard. It should be noted that between Riverside Dr. and the river are most of the arts buildings that are flooded.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uinews/page2/

Something smells and it's Livan

What a week makes in MLB, at this time last week we were headed into Chicago for a crucial 4 game series and now we emerge from a week of baseball going 1 and 6 with another beating last night.

My notes -

1. Did not get to see the game but apparently our very own LH was in the stands 2 row up behind home plate (he is on a mini-baseball tour with his boys.) Hopefully he wasn't the typical douchebag who gets on his phone and calls people to tell them he is on t.v. (although I did get a text which I think is ok.)

2. "Hernandez (6-4) gave up seven runs on 12 hits in three innings. After starting the season 6-1, Hernandez is 0-3 with a 9.37 ERA in his past six starts, and during that stretch he has given up more than two hits per inning." Holy shizma.

3. I'm not so concerned that we lost but that we scored 2 f'ing runs.

4. We go to Mil-e-wau-kay for a 3 game set against a Brew Crew that is better than us. Great.

Hating Kent Hrbek - Part Deux

After posting about being at a party and having two people say they hate Kent Hrbek, I forwarded the post to one of those people to gauge his reaction (and drive some traffic to our site.)

Well, he has responded on our blog and we now have the official first comment by a non-founding member of FTLOSBW. Very exciting. I wanted to make sure people saw it as the original Hrbek story is quickly becoming an item of the past and moving off the front page of the blog, so you can check it out on that string or it is below. I stand somewhat corrected in my calling him out, probably had to do with the alcohol that night and I welcome the new contribution.

From "BertHater"

"OK. Since i am one of the two people that made it very clear i do not like Hrbek i have to clarify a few things and pose a question to the group.

1. I NEVER stated i didn't appreciate the way in which Hrbek played on the field. I loved him when i was young. There is no argument that the guy played the game the right way. FACT

2. Saying you don't like a person doesn't mean that you don't appreciate the way he plays or contributes/contributed to the team. Is it possible that a person that you really like on the field is maybe not the same person you would like off the field? Some examples: Pete Rose, Ray Lewis, OJ Simpson, and Barry Bonds. Now i clearly understand that these examples are extreme but is it not possible that our heros growing up are not all great people?

The argument i made is i can't stand Hrbek based on an interview that he had with one of the local news stations when he was asked to comment on the passing of Kirby. The guy had very little to say about Kirby and spoke almost the entire interview about himself the only mention of Puckett was when he spoke about all the Hrby and Kirby fans in the 80's and 90's. The guy is one of the biggest self promoters and is infact totally obnoxious and quite frankly myself and many people that are legit Twins fans are tired of him. "Circle me Bert" also fits into that same category. BTW i'm also tired of hearing about his CA math and how many days till his birthday!"

You say it's your (my) birthday

Yes, June 10th, what a glorious day. Turned 34 today (6:59am EST to be exact.) MCA, I think you have already hit the 34 year mark and BG and RTS are only a few weeks away (proving Gemini's are the B-E-S-T . . .Best!) LH, you might be in November but I can't remember (hey, that rhymes)

Considering my day at work is looking increasingly bleak I am going to try to remember that this is my day. Tonight, I am going to bury a 'time capsule' in my yard that I will open next year on my birthday (yeah, not much 'time' in my capsule but it's my concept so I can do what I want.)

Few items I think I am going to contribute, please feel free to add others:

1. Newspaper clipping from Strib sports quoting Jared Allen that anything other than the Superbowl is a disappointment

2. AL Central standings as of June 10th, 2008

3. A gallon of gasoline purchased this morning for $4.09 (maybe I'll just bury the receipt)

4. A lock of my own hair (the brown part, not the gray part.)

Good Gracious

The White Sox are killing us. Did we just hand them the Central this weekend? They're averaging more points against the Twins than the Bears do against the Vikes.

Yuck.

I love the decription on pick #27

14 Minnesota Twins Aaron Hicks RF/RHP Wilson H.S., Long Beach, Calif.

In terms of tools, Hicks is one of the top three or four players in the draft. He's first-rounder as an outfielder and a pitcher. He is relatively unpolished, so he should take a long time to get to the majors. He's gotten by a lot on strength and bat speed for now. The Twins will have to work with him on his hitting approach. He has a chance to be a switch-hitting Andrew McCutchen, one of the top prospects in the minors.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3412765&categoryId=2895263&n8pe6c=1

27 Minnesota Twins Carlos Gutierrez RHP Miami (Fla.)

Now this is the biggest surprise of the first round so far. Gutierrez is another college closer whose fastball tops out at 94 with sink. But he doesn't have a viable second pitch, not even a breaking ball. I don't think a team should take a player with only one pitch in the first round. But the Twins have always had success with power arms out of their bullpen.

Baseball Draft begins today

Here I am at work today, sitting by the phone, waiting for the call, wondering which scout out there is going to have the foresight to use a late round pick on a thirty-something rookie with questionable athletic ability and limited skills, but who the term "Joe Hustle" was created. Which scout actually took the time to watch the scouting tape from my 1985 BC Little League Champion season, and realize that this guy might just have a couple of good years left in him.

Twins have two first round picks (14 and 27), conventional wisdom is that they're looking for infielders... maybe that elusive 3rd baseman, and, as always pitching.

Carlos Silva and the Mariners

I did not realize how bad the Mariners suck. They were swept by the Angels, have lost 20 of 27 and are 15.5 games back despite a $117 million payroll. You might say "Yeah, so what someone has to be last." I agree and would not even notice except that Carlos Silva and his $8.25 million salary has now lost 6 straight and is 3-6 with a 5.96 era. All I have to say to the M's is "You should have seen that one coming." Good riddance.

Rotisserie Baseball

Is anyone interested in starting a rotisserie baseball league for the remainder of the year playing just for kicks and giggles? I have never played but was thinking if anyone was interested we could play a real stripped down version for free on Yahoo. To make it real easy I was thinking we could make it so we only use AL Central teams or something like that and limit the number of categories. Anyway, if you are interested let me know.

Can you really hate Kent Hrbek?

At a party this past weekend and I was asked if I think Bert Blyleven should be in the Hall of Fame. When I answered "Yes" two party guests openly guffawed and mocked me (more on that in another post.) They then asked if I "liked Kent Hrbek" to which I replied "Of course" - again I was mocked for liking Hrbek. Mind you that the two party guests are Minnesotans, huge Twins fans, and consider themselves to be "baseball savvy."

As the discussion of Hrbek ensued, both people said that Hrbie was a 'dick' - one cited his "Hrbek Outdoors" show as being lame (that argument is lamer) and another said that as a child they saw Hrbie in restaurant and he was aloof and self-centered (maybe he wanted to have dinner and not be pestered?) They also said he wasn't a great player and that his grad slam in 1987 & pulling Ron Gant off of first in 1991 were his only redeeming qualities in his post-season with the Twins. I am not going to argue about his post-season stats as he was terrible (he hit .154 in 4 postseason series) but what I will argue is that he played 14 seasons for the Twins, hit .282, drove in 1,086 runs, had 293 HRs, with an OBP of .367 and a SLG of .481. On a more sentimental side, having him at first base for my formative years made him (along with Randy Bush, Greg Gagne, Kirby Puckett, Gene Larkin, Dan Gladden etc.) a childhood hero. I never met the man but "being a dick" doesn't limit how much I like a guy who puts on the TC hat and steps on the field and wins 2 rings - if that was the case then I'd have to hate Kirby.

Hellboy 2 and the Johan Santana trade

If Hollywood has taught me anything, it has taught me it is acceptable to take an idea and do it over and over again until it is beaten to death. It does not have to be a good idea, just an idea. How else does sequel like Hellboy 2 get made? Anyway, here are the stats from the players involved in the Johan trade. No analysis, just straight numbers:

Carlos Gomez- BA .282, 31 runs, 23 RBIS, 17 SB and 4 HRs (4th on the team behind Morneau, Kubel and Monroe).

Phil Humber AAA Rochester- 3-5, 5.53 ERA, 1.717 WHIP

Kevin Mulvey AAA Rochester- 2-6, 4.10 ERA 1.63 WHIP

Deolis Guerra A+ Fort Myers 6-1, 4.23 ERA 1.41 WHIP

VS

Johan Santana 7-3, 3.20 ERA 1.20 WHIP, 71K in 12 games

Twins/ Yankees is on ESPN tonight.