Can We Discuss*: Michael Cuddyer

I ate a lot of crow last year for riding this guy for never being clutch then all of a sudden he went on a tear to end the season and get us to the post-season (where he hit .429) so I won't be too harsh this early on . . . however . . . ever see a guy who hits more meaningless two out doubles with nobody on or one run home runs when we we're losing 8 to 1? He's currently hitting .273 with 5 HRs, 26 RBIs, and an OBP of .335. OK, I guess I'll take that, I mean they are basically in line with his career averages but it seems like he shrinks when he needs to be clutch. He's hitting .206 with RISP and .100 with the bases load this year (he's had them juiced 10 times already) something you can't do in the 5-hole of this lineup (you could argue that Kubel and DYoung behind him haven't been much better but this isn't about them it's about Cuddy.) He's hitting .214 with RISP and 2 out while hitting .295 with no one on; basically not who I want to see walking up to the plate with RISP and needing a hit.


If Cuddy's got the time to be promoting Baby Back Ribs for $3.99/lb at Lund's, he's got the time to take a little extra BP. And yes, this post is my subversive attempt to challenge Cuddy, if Gardy ain't gonna do it, I might as well.


* "Can We Discuss" will be an attempt at a new segment on this blog, please feel free to use that heading if your looking to talk about a specific player or don't, see if I care.

Quiz

Is this an image of:

A. MCA after a Twins/Yankees game

B. The Twins during a Twins/Yankees game

Holy $%#@*

No, I am not talking about the two Twins' losses yesterday. Those are as expected as Lucy pulling the football away. I am talking about Gemmy Industries. I received the following email this morning:

We have received the stakes and tethers and have input a request to have it sent to you. You should receive it within 7-10 business days. Thank you,Customer Service.

I still think I will be missing the adapter but 2 out of 3 isn't too bad.I thought their offer to send the stakes if they ever were stocked again was an empty offer to make me go away.

Sorry I can't figure out why it keeps wiping out my spaces. I really have to start real work and can not play around with it.

Room on the Twins Bandwagon for one more?

FTLOSBW members, guests, and distinguished visitors - this past weekend while traveling to Chicago for a bloggers convention I came across an old friend (let's call him LE) who was lamenting the fact that his "baseball season" was over (he is a fan of the Chicago Cubs who currently carry a 21 and 24 record.) He noted how cruel it was to be this early and have little left to follow in the MLB. I probably didn't help matters when I referenced this article last year by Tom Verducci that basically says if you're not 5 games within .500 by June, forgettaboutit (note: the article does point out three teams that are outliers to the stats, one of which happens to have been the 2007 Cubs who started 22-29 but wound up 85-77 and in the playoffs where they were promptly swept in the NLDS by the D'backs but I digress.)

Over a beer or two this friend asked if there was any room on the Twins bandwagon for the 2010 season. Among his reasons for wanting to jump on were:

1. The Twins are an easy team to follow and root for since they are a likeable cast of characters,
2. They are in the AL so not really betraying the Cubbies,
   
3. He loves Joe Mauer and would like to be his best friend if possible,
   
4. And he is from Minnesota Jr. (Iowa) which, while inferior in every way to the Land of Sky Blue Waters, kinda makes him a Twins fan by default (if only the Twins had a minor league affiliate in Des Moines instead of the Cubs he could be wearing a TC hat right now.)

I for one welcome him to FTLOSBW and would be interested on his take for the season. I think the upcoming Yankee series that starts tonight should be a good test for him, maybe if the Twins take 2 of 3 or (don't say it out loud) sweep the Bronx bombers, he could be the good luck charm we have been missing. If it is the case that he is our lucky rabbit's foot, more will be asked of him, but for now an occasional comment of just simply viewing FTLOSBW once in a while might be enough. Hope the other members welcome him with open arms, who knows if he'll ever contribute past this week but you never know where things go sometimes.

Note to Twins: It's not getting on base that counts. You have to make it all the way home.

Come on, guys. We need to do better. Hard to say what the problem is or who's to blame, and I wouldn't care if it was just a glitch a great lineup was having through the first third of a season. But this isn't a new problem. I haven't looked up the stats on this, and I don't intend to because i'm confident they will depress me, but I think we all know this has been a recurring problem for several years with us. More importantly, it's a problem that seems to follow us when it matters, like for instance in the playoffs, when we have absolutely humped the dog with runners in scoring position. Last year's Yankees series was an embarrassment. And it's not Nick Punto striking out against Sabathia. It's our god hitters.

This is a great team. It's a great group of players. They can play so excited and so clutch and as much as any team in the league, they never quit. When they come to play they can light it up as good as any team we've had. But they blow chances like they get a bonus for it. This shit hurts your pitching, it forces you to stretch your lineup and it means you have to make hard comebacks against teams you shouldn't. We just need to do better. Fix it. That's all I'm saying. I'm looking at you, Gardy.

Fluff of the day

I saw Barney Frank on CNBC today. It reminded me of the separated at birth with the Harkonian from Dune. I thought I would throw another one out there: Nomar and Mike from American Pickers.

Completely different subject, about a month ago I finished restoring the pinball machine. I think the over / under on it was completion vs never working again. The under came in, surprising even myself.

Twins v Red Sox

So anyone else get the feeling that the crown jewel of this last road trip was the win in the Bronx on Sunday and that the players just want to get home now? 4 runs in the last two games? C'mon.

A note from FTLOSBW Editor-At-Large

Due to recent discussion surrounding my postings under the Holy Bejebus section I thought I should weigh in. It should go without saying that I am all for people posting whatever they want to the site. I have tried to encourage, cajole, prompt, and elicit postings from people for the past two years so if you have something to say or something sparks you then by all means please, please, please post it!

With that said, a few items:

1. Holy Bejebus - Never really thought people read that section all that often, I even posted a poll at one time to gauge readership and found out, much to my dismay, that the section was basically ignored. Hell, not everyone votes on the polls for crying out loud. That said, RTS posts stuff to Holy Bejebs and I do regularly as a method of honing my 'one-liners' for my upcoming comedy tour. I welcome anyone to post anything to that section or to take what they read and make an actual post.

2. "Your Gov't At Work" - Not really sure what problem there is with this. The genesis of it stems from libertarian roots that the floor of the f'ing House of Representatives is not a time to recognize a goddam boy scout troop from New Ulm or, more likely, pay back some "political constituents" by recognizing "The On-Premise Sign Industry" or declaring "National Train Day." To think that this doesn't really take up all that much time and/or there are not "political reasons" for this kind of crap is wrong. As a taxpayer I elect these people to execute the people's business, glad-handing and photo-Ops with Arnold Palmer, while totally cool, doesn't seem like the people's business to me.

3. Regarding "The Blumenthal Incident" - I think of myself as rather fair-handed in my disgust for politicians who distort the truth for their benefit. Eight years of the Republicans and Bush and then the last year plus with the Democrats changing nothing about DC have worn me down to think of the majority of these people as grifters in nice suits. I want both parties to be called to the mat. RTS brought up my continued punishment of one "Give 'em Hell Michelle" and repeatedly referring to her as a nutjob (that might have been a time to check facts, right?) Yes, this might be a time to talk about the New York Times and why they chose to 'draw the line here' but that very statement would lead me to wager they lean a bit more left than right, no? You also need to watch this video (click here) where at the 40 second mark he pretty clearly trades on "the days I served in Vietnam." All well and good that he has gone on to "clarify" things saying he served in the reserves during the era, but c'mon, to say it was a "misstatement" is absurd. He knew exactly what he was doing -- he was trying to puff up his credentials to look like he had the resume of a war vet. Call it what you want ("fetishization") but it is kind of a big deal when people risk their lives when serving our country and they get a special spot on the pedestal that you and I don't get to stand on. When someone like Blumenthal tries to stand up on that pedestal then I am going to post something to the Holy Bejebus section that says they are a "piece of shit."

U Hoops - Winning will make everything go away

Day Two of TubbyGate

and where does Trevor Mbakwe think he's going? Who is gonna take him? Trevor, you're trial is next month. Let's take a minute here and think things through.

Evil Empire 1, Good Guys 0

We gotta beat these fuckers!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

It's May 11. Or did you fuckers forget?

Minnesota Hail to Thee!!!!!!!

Note to Ray Edwards: Tread lightly, my good man.

So as I read this I was reminded me of a George Carlin joke: "what do they call the guy who finishes last in medical school . . . . doctor." I get it that Ray Edwards dominated a few games last year. I also get the fact that he played with Jared Allen and the Williams Wall (2 of 3 of those are pro bowlers) and the 10th overall defense. I'm not saying he is being a baby, well, maybe I am saying that. I also feel like Ray might need some extra motivation to keep him focused, can't say I disagree with the Vikes front office on this one.

A visit to the Dump

A couple night's ago I was invited by FOB ER to attend an event at the Dome prior to going to Target Field (can we please nickname this place?) We got to go on the field and see the Vikings lockerroom, the press box, basically anywhere you wanted to go. Cool in a nostaligic, curious kind of way, totally depressing in a 'this place is a piece of crap and the Vikes need a new stadium yesterday' kind of way.

Here is a quick slideshow of my visit.

General comments:

1. When you see it on TV the field (i.e. warning track, 'bullpen' etc.) looks atrocious, right? Close up it's worse. The floors are peeling back, there are big holes in walls where they had to add stuff on ad hoc, pipes are gross and rusted.

2. Vikes lockerroom - Not surprisingly my high school has better facilities. Not exaggerating when I say this but the lockerroom was the size of my garage, there were two soaking tubs that look like Alan Page had used, 8 shower stalls and few toilets. The players use lockers with some on wheels so they can be moved around easily and get to relax on some sweet folding chairs with purple padding. It was embarrassing. Can see how it would be a rallying point for the players like it was last year against the Cowboys (us against them) and can't believe how short-sighted our legistlature is.

3. Ditto of the above for everything else from the dugout to the bullpen. It plain blows.

4. Going from there to Target Field (again, what are we calling this thing?) you can imagine.

5. My personal highlight - standing on the mound. Yes, I look like a douche as I am 35 years old but felt like I was 7.

Twins - One month down, five to go

So, thoughts on this early season? Have a feeling that Detroit is not going anywhere and we'll battling it out with them for the season. Our lineup is solid (the LOB numbers are terrible but that'll improve) of course everything changes dramatically without JoeMa in the 3-hole but a big "Hola!" to Wilson Ramos (note to Sal Butera, dust off that Rochester uni, you are brutal at the plate.) I'm big on DYoung, love the weight he has dropped as you can tell he is much faster than last year. Thome for $1.5M? Take that. Liriano looks as filthy as advertised while Baker looks more lost than found. I'm not going to hang our bullpen quite yet but I think we're gonna see guys like Slamma sooner rather than later. Still exciting to have dropped only one series so far however we gotta sweep the KC's and Indians of the world to get some breathing room.