This Crap's Got to Stop

I don't like him, but he's been making a lot of sense lately. The last few weeks have been just atrocious. And by that, I mean shitty in a way that's not good. If it wasn't for the miracle comebeack against the Phillies, this session of interleague wouldn't be just really bad, it would be disastrous. This team is just better than this. They have to be. This pitching may not be what we had hoped it was going to be, seeing as we aren't getting overproduction out of any of them (The only exception may be Pavano, though i'm holding out hope he's somehow returned to his all-star form, and is actually legit again, and this is not just some cruel joke), but this is not acceptable. If they don't go on one of their now standard summer runs, I'm going to be forced to start longing for the days of Alan Anderson and Les Straker.

This team should not be three games under .500 on the road. Especially when you get about 30% of them against the royals and indians. I'm aiming this at you, Gardy -- last time i checked you play 50% of your games on the road. So it shouldn't come as a shock. They didn't change the schedule, and you still need to play the first inning and each of the succeeding 8. So, how about we stop the not showing up ready to play in the first inning crap? Good teams end up winning more than 50% of them because they have to. We wear caps and sleeves in this league, fellas.

Bert says: "Happy Birthday to BG!"

BG - Happy birthday (yesterday)! Are these birthday announcements annoying? Yes. Do I care? No.

Actually had the opportunity to celebrate with BG last night at the Ridgedale Champps (which you may remember from such things as meeting people there during your college years to 'catch up.') Just to report: he is looking well.

As a gift, FTLOSBW is getting you win tonight against the hated Tigres.

Happy Birthday to RTS! To another 36 years of wonder and awe!

FTLOSBW would like to recognize the 36th anniversary of RTS' day of birth.

As a gift I give you this picture of the same Flash Gordon pinball machine that stood in your parents basement beckoning out periodically "Flaaaaash!" in a really sadistic kind of way.

That was Epic

Hopefully all you guys got to see the match today because the ending was nothing short of extraordinary. Down to the final couple of minutes of additional time the team, and its captain stepped up. Short of a few select events (e.g. Kirby's walk-off in Game 6 of the '91 series, 2006 Texas/USC Rose Bowl) this ranks right up there with one of the best sporting event finishes that I've been lucky enough to witness.

Highway Robbery!

Well...I need MCA's eloquent take on this one. I'm not sure if this morning's match elevated my interest and passion for soccer, or if it was simply more evidence that the results are too arbitrary. The disallowed goal was the equivalent of calling offensive pass interference on a hail mary that is caught to end a game. I have yet to read what the foul call was...allegedly the whistle blew before Edu's "goal", but the commentators couldn't find offsides. In fact, the only foul on the play was Michael Bradley getting bear-hugged. Brutal.

Ubaldo, Frankie: Epic Throwdown

Big Twins matchup today. Just thought I'd remind people. Would be nice to be the first team to crack the code of Ubaldo Jimenez this year, but I'm not exactly counting on it, what with a lineup featuring Tolbert batting second, and a rookie and Punto at the bottom of the order.

Also, it's safe to say now: Mauer is slumping. No one expects him to hit .365 with 25 homers every year for the next half decade, but .310 with 2 homers and 20-some RBIs in mid-June is safely below even conservative expectations. What's going on here?

Delmon, coming along nicely, young man. Also, Kubel seems to have recovered a bit. Average is still low, but he's hitting some taters and driving people in at a more efficient rate now, too.

World Cup Corner: Weekend 1

Thoughts from the weekend:

1. Apartheid ended in 1994. 1994.

2. Holy shinballs the vuvuzelas are annoying. Have to say, though, FIFA should have thought of that one before giving South Africa the World Cup and if that incessant buzzing (which is supposedly at 130 decibles in the stadiums, Hump Dome ain't got nothing on them) is the mark or distinction of this world cup (along with, hopefully, incredible soccer) than let the vuvuzelas sound!

3. Watched US v. England. Hate to be Robert Green. A great piece on Clint Dempsey, if you don't know the story, take the time, wow (I think we know who scored that goal.)

4. RTS - any tally from Gamblor's corner? Saw you went Benedict Arnold on that one, I should ban you for a week from posting but that would limit this blog's output and I can't do that to our reader.

Big 16?

I suppose, now that this is seeming like a reality, we should discuss the Big 10 expansion. Nebraska appears to be headed from the Plains to the Midwest, with more to come, apparently.

I know we all vented at the concept a number of months ago, and I still hate it. Nebraska at least is sort of close to a cultural/geographic tie with Iowa and Minnesota, maybe even non-Chicago Illinois. But Rutgers, Maryland (!?!?), Syracuse, etc.? C'mon, Delaney.

Anyway, reality sets in - this is happening, the landscape of collegiate sports is completely driven by television dollars, the Big Ten Network has put the conference in position to go snapping up more programs for more dollars for its members, and so it's doing so.

Two questions for me at the moment:

1. How does this affect Minnesota? I tend to think pessimistically here.

2. What, precisely, is going on here? What's the future going to look like? Will three or four megaconferences be powerful enough to break the NCAA lock and institute a legitimate college football playoff system? That could be one positive outcome. I feel badly for non-revenue sports, though. I mean, getting from Lincoln, NE to State College, PA (or worse, College Park, MD, or Syracuse, NY) - that's no easy trip for the swim team, you know?

Baseball card pic of the week June 9, 2010

A page from a three ring binder titled: "Baseball Cards owned by: Jan"

1987 Kirby Puckett selling at $0.81 Did you know Kirby batted leadoff in the '86 All-Star game? Ruben Sierra in year 2 of his career. Not sure why Oddibe McDowell is so prominently featured (he did win the 1984 Golden Spikes award.)

Can We Discuss: Delmon Young

Researching a DYoung post last night (great minds think alike as Howard wrote it all) and just googling "Delmon Young":

1. Remember this? "Character issues." He got 50 games for it. He was at AAA at the time . . . as a 20 year old.

2. On to better things. He did pay homage to the 'Great Ones.' See ball, hit ball. And tomorrow I eat a big steak.

3. This is totally creepy. No really, listen to it at home with the lights off. No need to really comment on it. Moving on. . .

4. Remember that Royals series at the end of last year, needing the sweep, facing Grienke on a Saturday afternoon? Who likes the bases loaded? DYoung, that's who. BTW - how gross was the Dome?

Twins to End West Coast Road Trip, team reports

The Minnesota Twins are scheduled for a 3:05 CST game today against the Oakland A's at Oakland Coliseum (BG will not be in attendance, boo.) Let's look at the Twins lineup which, I think, is weaker than last night's lineup, which I didn't think was possible.

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Matt Tolbert, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, DH
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Danny Valencia, 3B
7. Brendan Harris, 1B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Drew Butera, C

Random thoughts from the last few games:

1. Tolbert was the hero last night. I pretty much always killed this kid but in his post-game interview he was a kid I now will root for (I know, it's like rooting for Lew Ford but he was really genuine, the slant on him is that everyone from TK on down loves his attitude and effort.)

2. DYoung - Like the production. Not gonna say "I told you so" but . . . Also, another guy in interviews after the game is really likeable. Not that it's gonna win us any games but another guy who you like to root for.

3. Blowing two leads (late) in consecutive games and coming back to win says something, not sure what but says something.

Gamblor takes on the World Cup

8 years ago I was in Vegas for my wedding. On one of the nights leading up to the big day, I was on the strip and lost quite a bit of money, at least a lot to me. As I was licking my wounds, I came up with a sure fire way to come out even for the night. I walked into the sportsbook and put enough on Germany at somewhere in the neighborhood of -$300 to win $100 to beat the US. I went to bed that night praying that the US did not pick up its biggest win ever. I awoke the next morning a genius as Germany won 1-0. In my mind I was now an expert on soccer. Predictably, I lost my shirt betting on and against the likes of Senegal, South Korea and Ireland. With my credentials or lack there of laid out, here are Gamblor's opening round bets:

Bets to win their groups:
Group A Mexico$40 to win $120
Group B Argentina $100 to win $40
Group D Germany $100 to win $80
Group E Holland $100 to win $50

Bets to advance
France $150 to win $50
Mexico $105 to win $100
Denmark $100 to win $105
Holland $300 to win $50

Bets to not advance
Japan $200 to win $50
Australia $150 to win $50
Swiss $87.50 to win $50
Ivory Coast $52.50 to win $50

Bets to win it all:
Brazil $100 to win $400
Holland $50 to win $500
Argentina $100 to win $650

Stay tuned for single game picks on the side of the blog.

Does he "Deserve" It?

So, I feel the need to be the turd in the punchbowl. Everyone is in a frenzy over gallaraga's "stolen" perfect game. Now they are saying they may overrrule the ruling and give him the perfect game. So here we go. Did he get screwed? Maybe. But maybe not. Do I feel bad for him? Yes. Did he handle it like a great professional (actually not like curent professionals would have handled it, but how you're supposed to)? yes. But I have watched that replay about ten times and maybe I am seeing a different play than everyone else. This was not a flagrant, blown call. This was an extremely close, maybe a tie play. Frankly, it's not entirely clear to me that he was eevn out. Certainly not a "Blown" call.

Here's my point. If we are going to undo calls this close made by an umpire because it robbed this guy of a perfect game, because we are so committed to making sure the records show this accurately, then there are a whole list of much more flagrant blown calls that have altered games, records, championships etc. We somehow feel bad for this guy, because we WANT perfect games. Well, I want small teams to beat the yankees, and I hate the red sox, but that doesn't mean we should lean on the scale to give us the outcome we wished we got. If that call can somehow be reversed and wiped away, then how about actual clear errors made by umps all the time, like our ass-fucking on the mauer foul ball call against the yankees? That actually impacted a series, a game and a championship. And it was a CLEARLY blown call. Should we have been able to replay those last two innings after they had a chance to review? I'm actually serious about this. Either the rules are the rules or they are just the whims of the commissioner. There's a human element that makes umpires sometimes technically wrong on very close calls, and sometimes they blow them because they are just idiots. I think we should do everything we can to eliminate the blatant error, but this one was at best a close call. Seligfuck doesn't want replay. So he doesn't get it.

Separated at birth: Ken Howell and Tracy Morgan

Thumbed through some of my old baseball cards.