Rod Beck - An all-timer

When I went to my first spring training, in Arizona in 1992, my family and I went to a Giants-Indians game, and got there plenty early to try and meet some players and get some autographs.
I specifically remember Will Clark and several other familiar names blowing us all off.

But I also remember an unknown guy with the worst hair I'd ever seen signing autographs for an hour.
The dude was not wearing a hat. He was nearly bald on top, with like a military crewcut, but in the back his hair went down to his waist and spread out sideways to where it almost wrapped around his arms.

It was Rod Beck. He was a nobody at the time, and he signed autographs until there was no one left to sign for.
Before long, Beck was one of the game's top closers, but his everyman quality never left him.

Beck died this week at 38. Cause of death is still unknown.
Since his death, plenty of stories have circulated describing what a cool guy he was.
He drank. He smoked. He had a mullet.
He was cool.

Once, after a game where he pitched poorly and blew a save, a reporter approached Beck's locker nervously and asked, "Are you available?"
He replied, "Actually, I'm married."

Then there was the time in 2003, when he was trying a comeback with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs.
While pitching there he lived in his RV behind the OF fence, and actually invited fans to grill-out and drink beer every night after games. But no Miller Lite (again, how cool is this guy?)
He cooked for these people, let them use the bathroom in his RV, and control the remote for the TV that was set up outside. Signed autographs. Bummed cigarettes.
He was eventually picked up by San Diego, and picked up 20 saves in 20 chances, all while throwing an 82-mph fastball.

Some of Beck's greatest quotes:
"I was taught that ice was for bourbon, not for your arm."
"If those guys were still there, I wouldn't go back for all the money in Boston. And there's a lot of money in Boston." - on Dan Duquette and Joe Kerrigan.
"I think half the time, I was throwing my fastball, but they thought it was a change."
"I didn't want to get a liquor license, so I just give the stuff away for free." - on inviting fans to his RV for postgame beers.
"If you can make money off me defacing a baseball card, good luck."
"I've never seen anyone go on the Disabled List with pulled fat."

Rod Beck dies, Manny Ramirez and Roger Clemens live on.
Say it isn't so.

Ugly Athlete No. 8 - Bartolo Colon

It doesn't help that this guy won a Cy Young Award that he blatantly didn't deserve, getting the nod over Johan Santana for the 2005 award, simply because he had 20 wins. Santana had more innings, strikeouts, complete games, shutouts, lower whip, lower ERA, scored with more chicks, cured more sick children and adopted more stray puppies than Bartolo that year, yet, well, we know how it turned out.

Nobody as far as I can tell, has ever been a fan of Bartolo Colon. He's fat. Out of shape. Ugly. Doesn't appear to enjoy the game. Has been in the league for like 20 years and still doesn't speak English as far as I know. His baseball-reference page is un-sponsored.

He's soooo ugly. There's this horrible gericurl Mexi-fro that always sticks out from under his tiny cap like a neglected Chia pet.
And this pencil-thin grayish, pube-like "mustache" that he refuses to shave. Gross. It's reminiscent of Andre the Giant, not well known for his good looks (but seemingly much more personable, and athletic for that matter).

He's also got a sort of round, cup-like face, and of course a huge gut, creating a resemblance to King Hippo of Mike Tyson's Punchout fame.
Bartolo Colon is nobody's favorite player. Not even his mother's.
He's ugly. Ugly, ugly, ugly.

Bartolo Colon
MLB Baseball Player 1997-present
Ugliness: 10
Creepiness: 8
Identifying Characteristic: Mexi-fro, pube-stache, pot-belly. Sweat.
Looks like: Andre the Giant, King Hippo. A janitor I remember from Cleveland Elementary.

Twins who did roids

I don't get too worked up about all the steroid talk, whether it revolves around Bonds, Giambi, McGwire, whatever.

If they didn't want these dudes to take steroids they should've made it illegal.

How many steroid tests has Bonds failed?

And how many pitchers that McGwire, Bonds, Giambi & Co. took deep were also on roids?

Having said all that, I often go back and look at past Twins teams, and think about what guys were likely on roids, and how it never occurred to me at the time.
I don't think the Twins had a lot of roid-heads, but there were undoubtedly a few.

*Marty Cordova
Shown above getting his picture taken topless, no doubt for an underground gay mag in Minneapolis, Cordova was about to be released from the Minnesota organization early in his career.
In 1990, he hit .216 with 7 homers. In '91, he hit .212 with 7 homers.
In 1992, he hit .341 with 28 homers and 131 RBI. Hmmmmmmmm.
Cordova would go on to a pretty good major league career, hitting 122 homers in parts of 9 injury-plagued seasons, and winning the '95 AL Rookie of the Year award.
A unexplained spike in performance? A Canseco-like blend of speed and power? A bodybuilders physique, and an inability to stay off the DL?

Seriously, how did we miss this?

*Bobby Kielty
He's frickin' weird, he's buff, and his back is covered in zits.
He looked like a very promising player right up until the time the Twins traded him, but as the game has put more focus on steroids, Kielty has been little more than an uglier version of Lew Ford.

*JC Romero
Pitchers aren't supposed to be as buff as this guy was, who had one good year (maybe two) and a bad temper.
Recently cut by Boston.

*Chuck Knoblauch
Not that Chucky ever became a real big dude, but he looked a lot different in 1998 than in 1991, and also hit a lot more homers - 5 in his first 3 years, 18 in his first year as a Yankee.
Obviously Chucky wasn't taking the same stuff as some of the big boys, but I'm guessing he relied on more than protein shakes.

*(I hate to say it) Kirby Puckett
Maybe, maybe not.
I will say this:
1984 - 0 homers.
1985 - 4 homers.
1986 - 31 homers.
He credited the power surge to the leg-kick suggested by then-hitting coach Tony Oliva.
I hope that was the case. I'm skeptical.

Roadrunners...winning rules

When I'm not writing about an indoor football team that never loses, or a major league baseball team that seems to try its hardest not to win, then goes out and wins anyway, I do still actually play baseball.

This is my 9th year of amateur baseball, my second with the Renner Roadrunners, and my fourth as a manager.

After picking up a pair of wins Sunday and Monday, we are 4-2, including 3-0 in our conference, and are currently ranked No. 1 in the state in Class A.

On Sunday, our 20-year old pitcher Chris Kessinger, struck out 20 batters, and also homered and doubled. He's pretty good. He's got a chance to someday get paid to play this game.

And, just to brag a little, I am currently hitting .400 (6-for-15).

I don't know if we can win the state title. We could use a little more depth in our pitching staff.
But anyone that is going to contend for the title will certainly have to go through us.
All I know is that winning is fun. Really fun. I had almost forgotten how much fun it is to be part of a winner.
When you've got a group of guys you enjoy being around that know how to play the game the right way, baseball is the greatest game in the world.

And in case you are wondering, I never bat my DH 9th, don't limit my starters to 100 pitches per start, don't bat utility infielders in the 2-hole just because they run faster than a guy who gets on base twice as often, and I don't let a shitty outfielder play the OF instead of DH just because he thinks he hits better that way.

If we do win this thing, I may send my resume to Terry Ryan.

This is what MVP's do

When everyone else has screwed up, and the team is about to choke away a game they have to have, this is what MVPs do.

Not exactly out of contention

While many continue to act as though the Twins have no chance at postseason baseball in 2007, Thursday night's win over Atlanta serves as a reminder of how quickly momentum can turn in a sport where you play a game every day.
A sweep of the Bravos and suddenly everyone feels good again.
And any special season has to have at least a couple of dramatic 9th-inning comebacks now and again, so that made Thursday double-special.

*The comeback took Johan Santana off the hook for what would've been his 7th loss in 13 decisions. He lost six games all of last year.
While it might seem like Johan is having a down year, it should be pointed out that his 3.19 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 93 innings place him comfortably near the top of the AL leaders.
In fact, 2007 has probably been the best first half Johan has had since be became a full-time member of the rotation.
It's old news that Santana is a slow starter, but the 6-6 (almost 6-7) record seems to have overshadowed that Johan is in line for the best year of his career, assuming he gets into his usual mid-summer groove.
If and when that happens, he'll be on his way to another 250 or so strikeouts, and an ERA comfortably under 3. His win-loss record, as is the case with all pitchers, will depend on his run support, defense and bullpen.

*Two complete games in three starts for Carlos Silva. More importantly, he looked like the Silva of old in the shutout of the Braves, with a sinker that induced 15 ground outs.

*Not much news on the trade front. Twins are apparently not interested in Dmitri Young, because he had some clubhouse problems last year in Detroit. I think that's bogus. The guy's hitting .340, while the Twins DH is Jason Tyner, hitting .260 with no power.
Ty Wigginton's name is still out there, while BoSox 3B Mike Lowell's name has popped up.
Supposedly Lowell would be available if the Sox acquire Texas' Mark Tiexiera (and move Kevin Youkilis to 3B). I'll believe it when I see it.

*Name to know: Matt Tolbert
Just another name going into the season, Tolbert has wedged his way towards the top of the Twins positional prospects (admittedly not a difficult feat these days), by hitting .378, placing him tops in the International League.
The Twins are in no hurry to call him up, and they shouldn't be, since he hit just .258 in Double-A last year, and .303 in A-ball. He only has 10 homers in about 600 career ABs.
He's still raw, and probably bound to start coming down a little over the next few weeks or months.
But the Twins are clearly paying attention, as evidenced by the fact that they moved Tolbert from 2B to 3B last week.
That means Nick Punto and Matt Moses should also be paying attention.

*The Twins are 5.5 games back of Cleveland, and 3.5 back of Detroit, the wild-card leader.
The Yankees, left for dead by the whole world, have won 9 in a row, and are tied with the Twins.

I enjoy fucking with idiots

Actual conversation that took place between me and a fan at the Washington Nationals-St. Louis Cardinals game as I stood in line for a beer, May 26th at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.
(I was wearing a Cincinnati Reds hat, because I forgot my Twins hat at home, and the Reds were the only team on our trip of whom I felt comfortable sporting a hat).

Dude: "Why are you wearing a Cincinnati Reds hat at a Cardinals-Nationals game?"
Me: "Because I used to play for them."
Dude: "Oh, yeah? What's your name?"
Me: "Barry Larkin."
Dude: "Fuck you."
Me: satisfied.

Time for some new bats

Losing two of three to the Nationals is not a good thing, under any circumstances. But at least they averted disaster and salvaged a game Sunday.
Johan Santana got beat by some guy named Spangler or something (not Egon).
Santana expressed some frustration towards his teammates, and while I don't blame him, I think it should be pointed out that Santana is not pitching like Cy Young at this point.

Not saying he's struggled necessarily - two earned over seven should be a win, and an ERA of 3.24 should produce better than a 6-6 record. But right now Dan Haren and CC Sabathia are flat out better than Johan.

He's entitled to mistakes certainly, but it's hard to feel 100% confident he's going to go out and win every time when he's so susceptible to the homerun ball.
Obviously the Twins are still sorely in need of another bat or two, and there were two guys in uniform for Washington I'd like to see them move on, in DH/1B Dmitri Young and OF Ryan Church.

Young appeared to be at the end of the line last year when the Tigers dumped him, but he's been far more than just a hanger-on in Washington, posting an almost stunningly good .335/.405/.511 line for the Nats prior to Sunday's 3-for-5 effort. He is a switch-hitter.
He's 33, so it's not like he figures in their long term plans. You'd think he could be had for a low to mid level prospect (probably even lower than Scott Baker, though I'd be okay with Baker for Young).

Church is less of a likelihood since he's a lefty, and the Twins seem more desperate for a RH bat.
But the 28-year old has a nice skill-set. This year marks the first time he's had a chance to play every day, and he's among the NL leaders with 21 doubles.

In 735 career at-bats, he's posted a line of .268/.351/.459, with 26 homers.
That's not anything spectacular, but it's better than any Twin not named Mauer, Cuddyer, Hunter or Morneau, and unless the Nats plan on this guy being a cornerstone player (and since he'll be 29 in October, I doubt that), you'd think he'd also be available for a low-level prospect.

The Strib reports that Tampa Bay IF Ty Wiggington could be on the Twins radar, and I'd gladly welcome him to the team for a prospect less than or equal to Scott Baker.

Wigginton is at a modest .263/.307/.461 right now, with 11 homers.
Last year was by far his best as a pro, as he hit .275/.330/.498 with 24 homers in 444 ABs for Tampa. He's righthanded and will turn 30 in October. His salary is a manageable $2.7 million. Wigginton is a great option because he not can play 3B, while Young would be pretty much strictly a DH.

With that in mind, here's a radical idea - trade for them both. Make Wiggington the 3B and Young the DH, with Nick Punto replacing L-Rod as the utility guy. Maybe even try to add Church to the OF mix and get rid of RonDL.

Why not be aggressive?
This isn't an outrageous suggestion. These guys aren't going to cost an arm and a leg.
Come on, for once, do something to add to the offense!

*Analyzing the NFL or NBA draft is too much for me, so I won't even bother putting too much effort into analyzing the Twins draft from this weekend.

I will say that the 1st round pick, Ben Revere, is a clear vote of no-confidence in Triple-A centerfielder Denard Span, who we were told back in spring training was going to be ready to replace Torii Hunter for the Twins next year.

This strongly suggests that the Twins may be looking to find a way to resign Torii, which everyone in the media said would never happen.

They keep Torii for four more years, ditch Span, and have Revere ready to take over when Torii's next contract expires in 2010 or 2011.

It's no secret that the Twins system is stocked with an abundance of promising arms but very little in the way of talented offensive players, so I guess it's good that the Twins used their first four picks on position players.

In day two, though, they focused on pitching, and ended up with 26 pitchers among their 50 picks. So it's not like they strayed too far from their bread and butter.

*I was never a fan of Viking safety Orlando Thomas, as he was a decent centerfielder in the passing game but a terrible tackler.

Denny Green always stuck up for him, though. He always said what a smart player he was, and how he'd one day become a great coach.

Sure enough when he retired Denny added him to his staff in Arizona.
But as this story in the Strib reports (http://www.startribune.com/vikings/story/1235182.html), Thomas' life has taken a tragic turn, as he finds himself nearly paralyzed by Lou Gherig's disease.

Seriously, this is one of the saddest things I've ever, ever read.
Say a prayer for OT.

*Loved the last Sopranos. If you're pissed off about the non-committal ending, that probably means you're an idiot who needs to be spoon-fed entertainment. It was a perfect ending. And thank God Phil got whacked. Phil sucks.

A Piranha awakens, I miss Randy, Durant a pussy

I was at work, trying to work up the motivation to write a story about Mark Blackburn, a linebacker for the Storm. It wasn't going well. Nothing against Mark, but the Storm are hard to write about considering they've won 29 games in a row.

It gets boring.
So I look up at the TV and see John Lackey on the mound for Anaheim, pitching with a 4-0 lead. Lackey is currently in a battle with CC Sabathia (soon to be joined by Johan Santana) for the AL Cy Young award, so, it's looking like a sweep.

A minute later I look up and it says 4-2. Michael Cuddyer must've hit a homer (he did).
A minute later I look up again and there are two men on for Nick Punto. He works the count full. I get up from my desk and move closer to the TV.

Punto drives the 3-2 pitch for a three-run homer.
This is a minor miracle, considering the circumstances.
But I can understand how it happened.
Lackey thinks to himself, "Okay, this is Nick Punto. He sucks. The Minnesota fans gave him some stupid nickname like Crappie or Eel or Porpoise or something. There's no way I'm going to walk him here. I'll just throw him an 87-mph fastball down the middle, and he'll probably pop out. Maybe even hit into a double-play."

But no, Punto cheated a bit on the pitch, and it paid off with his first homer. A big one. Later Jason Bartlett would homer.

What the hell is going on?
Twins win. A much needed slump-snapper. The way Anaheim has been playing, especially at home, and with the pitching matchups being what they were coming in, taking 1 of 3 is almost a victory for the Twins.

*Gardy is apparently going to bat Joe Mauer (he comes back Friday) 2nd in the order. It's good that he's finally seen the light, though slightly disappointing that he waited until now. It's like he has to wait until enough time has passed that he can act like he thought of it on his own, and somehow take away the satisfaction from the number of fans, bloggers, analysts and grandmothers who have been calling for the move for three years.

*Interesting news this week about a couple former Vikings whose jerseys are now wasting space in Mike Knudson's closet.
Daunte Culpepper is closer and closer to being irrelevant. Nobody wants him. The Dolphins prefer 37-year old, stone-footed Trent Green. I don't blame them.

Culpepper is back to talking to the media only through email. He says he doesn't want a trade because 'he's been through that already'.

Guess what, Daunte, the Dolphins don't want you to give them shitty quarterback play because, to quote an idiot, 'They've been through that already'.

I'm not often inclined to give Brad Childress credit for anything, but he was right on the money when he realized shortly after being hired that getting rid of Daunte was a good idea. Remember, Daunte told Childress in their first conversation, "I need to be a $10 million a year quarterback."

Yeah. Good luck with that. Ass.

On the other hand, Randy Moss is the new most popular player in New England. In a story for ESPN.com, Len Pasquerelli reports that Moss is back to his old tricks on the field, while making the right moves off it (he attended the funeral of Marques Hill with teammates and happily attended the team's charity golf event).

Let me get this out of the way.
I'm a pro-Randy guy. I won't defend some of his past antics, but he was, and possibly still is, an amazing player.
I don't care, I repeat, I DONT CARE, if he takes a few plays off. They all do.
This is not Pop Warner. This is not Little League. No one cares if you gave 110%. No one cares if you're a role model. No one cares if you hustle on every play.

What matters is if you have the talent and can do the job.
When healthy, Moss does the job as well as anyone.
This guy does not belong in the same discussion as Terrell Owens. He's not selfish, he's not a cancer. Lazy, yeah, I'll give you that. But if in the right situation, and I can't think of a better one than New England, he'll thrive.

I hope he catches 20 touchdowns, New England wins the Bowl, and he moons the entire world in the post game lockerroom.
The idea that athletes need to be role models for kids, by the way, is a joke. They're not volunteering, they're at work. Playing football or baseball or whatever is their job. If you'd rather have Wayne Chrebet on your team than Randy Moss, if you prefer Lew Ford to Barry Bonds, stop watching sports, because you don't get it. It's a business. Trying hard should be a given, not something to be compliemented. And if you're talented enough to have success without trying hard, well, it's not real admirable, but good for you anyway.

Big talented guys gets jobs over small, try real hard guys.
That's how it works. Life sucks, get a helmet.

*One final note.
Kevin Durant, who will likely be either the 1st or 2nd pick in the NBA draft (Greg Oden being the other), made news today when he was rated 78th out of 80 players at a workout. The main reason the NCAA player of the year was rated so low?

He failed to bench press 185 pounds. Once.
Seriously, that's hilarious. 185!
Durant is 18 years old, stands 6-foot-10, and weighs 225 pounds.
For comparison sake, President George W. Bush is 61 years old, stands 5-foot-11, and weighs 190 pounds.
And Bush benches 215. I looked it up.
I am a 27-year old out of shape sportswriter. I'm 5-9 and about 200 pounds. I haven't maxed out in several years, but for my bench workout (which was originally four times a week but is down to 'Hey, there's my weight bench maybe I should lift') I do 3 sets of 10 reps apiece - at 185 pounds.

Kevin Durant, get your skinny ass to a weight room.
If you don't you'll never survive a trip to the paint in the NBA.
Seriously, 185? Wow.

Someone buy Jason Miller a shot

Lefthander Jason Miller looked somewhat promising in his first couple appearances out of the Twins bullpen.
In fact, with Dennys Reyes pitching so shitty before his injury, Dick and Bert openly talked about the Twins having a tough decision to make once Reyes comes back (which is expected to be soon).

Minutes later, Miller would be headed to the showers after a JD Durbin-esque performance.
The line: 1/3 IP, 7 hits, 8 earned runs, 2 homers.
That raised his ERA from 0.00 to 18.00.
It didn't matter, and thankfully Gardy was kind enough to put him out of his misery and remove him, where a lot of managers probably would've made him stay in, considering the score was 16-1 by then.
It's probably now a safe bet that when Reyes comes back, Carmen Cali will stay, and Miller will head back.
Having said that, this was just one outing. Miller still looks like a guy who might have a future.
It's just too bad the poor guy had to endure a night like this.

*A rough outing for Boof that could've been worse. Were it not for the cannon right arm of Michael Cuddyer, his line of 6 runs in 5.1 innings could've been, um, like I said, worse.
Boof had talked last week about pitching more to contact and not working as many deep counts, the idea being that would allow him to stay in games longer.
But this start should've been evidence of what a bad idea that is. Boof is a strikeout pitcher, and there's nothing wrong with that. When you 'pitch to contact' (a stupid phrase that makes as much sense as 'clogging up the bases'), you give up more hits. Period. The goal is to miss bats.
Boof has had a tendency to walk quite a few hitters, and if he's going to be giving up a bunch of hits and not striking anyone out, that's a recipe for disaster.

Chief, Piranhas suck, Mauer should bat 2nd

Carlos Silva is now 3-6 after 11 starts.
That's probably about what most of us expected Chief's record to be after 11 starts.

Of course, we expected that his 3-6 record would be accompanied by an ERA somewhere north of 7.50, and yet here he is with a 3.86 ERA, 20th in the American League.
Luck has had a lot to do with it, especially early on, but Silva looked something like his 2004-05 self in Saturday's start against Oakland, when he pitched an 8-inning complete game in a 1-0 loss.
The Twins have been shut out five times this year, and four came on days Silva pitched.
Normally that would frustrate the hell out of the guy, but the way last year went, it's evident he's just happy to be keeping his team in the game.

I'd be very surprised if Silva keeps his ERA under 4 all year, and there's almost no way he's a Twin next year, but it's at least nice to see his career somewhat back on track.

*It will be very hard for the Twins to stay in contention in the AL Central if their offense does not start getting more contributions from people other than the usual suspects.
Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett both have sub-.300 slugging percentages. Jason Kubel's OBP is still below .300.
Luis Castillo is hitting .339 with a .386 OBP, but his slugging % is barely higher than his batting average.

In Castillo's case I'm not complaining. He is what he is and he's doing his job. But a good team can really only afford to have one guy like that, maybe two. Not four or five.
Bartlett is simply not doing the job at short right now.
He's making highlight plays on occasion and obviously has as much range as any SS in the AL. But he has 10 errors in 48 games, and has been a virtual non-factor with the bat.
Punto's ineffectiveness has not been a surprise, but Kubel's has.

The Twins are trying to get Jeff Cirillo more at-bats, but the idea was for him to play primarily against lefties. He's not much more than an average hitter against righties, and that's what fans are seeing now. That makes Punto's suckiness hurt a little bit more, as it's forcing Gardy to use the 37-year old Cirillo more than he probably should.

*I have no idea whether Gardy will actually consider it, but with the Piranhas being so shitty, it couldn't be more obvious that Joe Mauer should bat 2nd when he returns (sounds like Friday).
It's been suggested before (pretty much from day one on this blog), but in light of the hot hitting of Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau, the failure of the Piranhas and the failure (so far) of Mauer to develop into a power hitter, the 'Mauer for 2-hole' voices have grown louder and more numerous.
Maybe he'll finally relent and give it a try.
When Mauer returns, this should be the lineup.

Castillo 2B
Mauer C
Cuddyer RF
Morneau 1B
Hunter CF
Kubel LF
Redmond DH
Punto/Cirillo 3B
Bartlett SS

Doesn't that look better?

Ozzie loves Twins, hates Sox

The Twins' Wednesday afternoon win over the White Sox is the kind of win that usually indicates the Twins are in their zone.
Because let's face it, the Twins are as good as anyone in baseball at winning cheaply, and I think scoring 7 runs on 7 hits and 8 walks - including the game-winner with the bases loaded - qualifies.
When games are being won with walks, errors, balks, choppers off the plate, hit batsmen and the like, you know it's safe to believe in them.
This is what they do.

And that's probably what Ozzie Guillen's talking about whenever he blabs about the Twins and how good they are.
Ozzie, who made a few All-Star games as a player and won a rookie of the year award despite being a rather awful offensive player, would've fit in perfect as a Twins infielder. He was the quintessential Piranha.

I of course, think the whole Piranha thing is a bunch of bullshit, and any fan over the age of 7 should be able to see that, too. Still, for the Twins to keep up with Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland, they will need to continue winning their share of head scratchers.

*Ozzie might've made a mistake in bringing in David Aardsma to face Torii Hunter in the 9th.
After the Twins loaded the bases with 1 out against Mike McDougal, Ozzie made the logical move to bring in lefty Boone Logan to get Justin Morneau, and got Aardsma up to face Hunter.
But Logan retired Morneau on one pitch (nice AB there by the way, Justin). Hunter was coming up and Aardsma probably wasn't ready.
Ozzie had a choice: let the lefty Logan face the righty Hunter, or bring in the righty Aardsma even though he was probably not fully warm.
He chose the latter, and Aardsma walked the most impatient hitter on the team on four straight pitches that weren't even really close.
To tell the truth, I probably would've done the same thing Ozzie did. I just wonder if Aardsma's control was affected by his short warmup time.

*Nick Punto drew three of the Twins 8 walks. Punto has been the offensive disappointment that many of us feared this year, but I'll say this for him - his poor hitting stats haven't led him to return to the hacking ways of his past.
Punto's average sits at .237, and his slugging percentage is an embarassing .295.
But his OBP is .337, a full 100 points above his batting average.
That means he's working as many walks as he possibly can.
It still doesn't make him a good offensive player, but it keeps him from falling into Juan Castro territory.
A lot of fans are rightfully bitching about the fact that Punto remains in the 2-hole, as opposed to hitting 8th or 9th, but I wonder if Gardy isn't doing that because he fears that if he drops Punto down, he'll go back to hacking away and stop drawing a fair amount of walks.
Just a theory, and in any event, Jeff Cirillo should get more ABs.

*Joe Mauer's comeback has been pushed back again. Could be another week.
I don't blame the Twins, because they can't afford to rush him back and then lose him for an even longer period.
My concern is that Mauer could be injury-prone, and that we'll have to deal with this crap every year.

*The bullpen doesn't seem to miss Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes and Glen Perkins. Sure didn't on Wednesday.
Matt Guerrier, Jason Miller, Pat Neshek and Joe Nathan combined for six scoreless, hitless innings to allow the Twins to come back from a 6-1 deficit.
I like what I see in the lefty Miller, especially since Reyes has been such a disappointment this year. And as I said the other day, Guerrier is a probably a better option in key spots than Crain was anyway.

*Morneau leads the Twins with 16 homers. Hunter is second with 11. Michael Cuddyer is third with 7.
Jason Kubel is fourth with 2.
Cirillo, Mike Redmond, Luis Rodriguez and Mauer are tied for fifth with 1.
The rest of the roster is tied for sixth with zero (0).
So right now, the Twins 3-4-5 hitters have hit 85% of the teams homers (34 of 40).
I'd have to believe that would be a record of some sort if it ends up that way.

*Kevin Slowey makes his much anticipated debut Friday against Oakland.
My predicition: 6 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 3 Ks and a 4-3 Twins win.

.500, amazingly

We got back from our trip Monday at Noon.
It was awesome. We saw seven great ballparks, drank lots and lots and lots of beer, and went to some cool places (Al Hrobosky's Ballpark Saloon is the best sportsbar in America, I am ready to declare). I'll maybe write some more about it later, but I don't want to right now. I'm ready to get back in routine.

So the first thing I did after driving over 2,000 miles to watch 10 baseball games?
Watch a baseball game, the Twins vs. White Sox.

The Twins are playing well. Last year the moves to replace Juan Castro, Tony Batista and Scott Baker with Jason Bartlett, Nick Punto and Francisco Liriano sparked a major run.
Could replacing Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz with Baker and Kevin Slowey do the same?

Possibly, although it's kind of an apples-oranges comparison.
What I see is that a healthy Michael Cuddyer and Luis Castillo are pretty important, and that Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter are every bit as good as they were last year. They're scoring enough runs, I think. I'd still like to see more.

If Jeff Cirillo can get hot it looks like Gardy is willing to let him take ABs from Punto at 3rd. I think by years end Cirillo will be hitting .300 and Punto will be a part-time player.
I was very disappointed to see Lew Ford replace Jason Kubel in the lineup so much over the last week. Kubel has struggled, yes, but he still has a lot of upside.
Meanwhile it should be apparent by now to even the most bone-headed Leeeeeeeeewwww fan out there that Ford is almost completely worthless. Kubel had a good game Monday at the plate and in the field, and Jason Tyner also had a good game, so maybe that situation will return to normal.

The bullpen is a concern now, thanks to all the injuries. Carmen Cali, Jason Miller and Julio DePaula have replaced Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes and Glen Perkins, though someone (probably DePaula) will go back down when Slowey is called up and Ortiz is shifted to the bullpen.
I don't think Ortiz will fare much better out of the pen. Ironically, I think both Carlos Silva (who still has a respectable 4.22 ERA) and Ponson would actually have a chance to be good relievers. But it's not going to work out that way.
The saving grace is Matt Guerrier, who is no longer a mop-up guy. And he no longer should be. In fact, I think most Twins fans would agree with me in saying they have more confidence in him than they ever have in Crain.
As long as the big three of Juan Rincon, Pat Neshek and Guerrier exists in front of Joe Nathan, the pen should survive.

Meanwhile, the rotation suddenly looks promising. Johan Santana is finding his summer groove, while Boof has very quietly posted terrific numbers in 10 starts (3-1, 3.88 ERA, 62 Ks in 55 IP).
I'm not ready to declare Baker back, but his first two starts have been very promising.
Silva still lives dangerously every outing, but it's hard to argue with 4.22, especially considering what we all expected of him.

As for Slowey, I wouldn't be surprised if he has immediate success (nor, frankly, would I be surprised if he gets knocked around a bit).
His minor league numbers are filthy. He's walked five guys in 63 innings. He's ready.
He's so ready.
And don't forget about Matt Garza. Don't think he won't be motivated by the fact that both Baker and Slowey are in the show and he's still stuck in Rochester.
Knock on wood, but I don't think pitching is going to be the Twins problem this year (I've pretty much been saying that all year, though).

The problem, if there is one, will be staying healthy.
Remember back when Alexi Casilla, Tyner and Luis Rodriguez were all playing almost every day?
Just getting Castillo and Cuddyer in their every day has been huge. It's made Morneau and Hunter better.
Joe Mauer will be back soon. It would be tempting to give him plenty of DH duty, and let Redmond continue to handle the bulk of the catching duties, but Mauer and the trainers are concerned that DH'ing is actually harder on him than catching, because he gets too tight in the dugout.

Fine, I guess that means Mike Redmond is the DH. The way he's hitting, he can't come out of the lineup.
If and when Rondell White ever comes back, I say use him as a pinch-hitter and spot OF vs. lefties until he proves himself useful.
And keep giving Cirllo ABs at 3rd and Kubel ABs in LF.
That is all.


*In case you're wondering, I think the AJ spike-gate was blown way out of proportion. I'm sick of Dick Bremer playing the AJ as villain card, and I just wish everyone would shut up about him.
It was apparent to the entire TV audience (but apparently not Bremer) that AJ tried to apologize when Morneau came to bat in the 6th, and though he could be lying (and Morneau didn't appear interested in what he had to say), that should be the end of it.
I've made my pro-AJ feelings known on many occasions.
In my opinion the Twins need less Disney characters on their roster and more Gashouse Gang types.

Besides, all AJ did in Minnesota was play a central role in the club ending a nearly 10 year run of ineptitude, hit the biggest post-season homer in team history this century, and help the team acquire two All-Stars (Liriano and Nathan) and a potential All-Star (Boof).
I'd say it's time we move on.

Gateway City

Sadly, our tour is nearing an end.

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that we're running out of steam a little bit, and that we're starting to miss our own beds and our dogs.

Having said that, St. Louis is another highlight of the trip.

We're staying in the Ballpark Hilton, so we can actually look into the stadium from our room.

The park itself isn't spectacular, but it does have a lot of the cool statues and murals of past Cardinal greats.

The place actually reminded me of Wrigley, in that it's more about the atmosphere than the actual stadium.

While the new Busch is definitely an upgrade from the old one, and has a distinct retro feel, complete with a giant scoreboard, tons of concession options and Budweiser beer and signage everywhere, it lacks the bells and whistles of all the other new parks.

And I think that's because, like at Wrigley, the Cardinals are such a big deal, and the fans so loyal, that it isn't necessary to turn the stadium into an amusement park. The Cardinals are the draw.

Yes, the Rams and Blues play here, but the Cards own this town. And that's cool.

Before and after the game there were parties everywhere, jam-packed bars with live bands playing in every direction of the stadium.

A near capacity crowd of 43,000 rabidly rooted for the Cards (who are 19-26 by the way), against the Nationals (who are now 3-0 in games attended by Mr. and Mrs. Zimmer).

It rained a little bit, and due to the threat of more rain today I waited to buy tickets for the Saturday game.

Mistake.

Now all that's left is standing room only, and I don't think I'm going to fork over $40 to stand in the CF plaza.

We'll see. There's always a trip to the Bud brewery, or to the top of the arch.

*Twins have won 5 of 7? Maybe I should stay away. Sounds like Boof and Baker are pitching well. With all these injuries, why can't Carlos Silva or Ramon Ortiz come down with something?

Cincy Rules

Great American Ballpark (named for Great American Bank), is easily the best ballpark we've seen so far.

Across the street from the Bengals new Paul Brown Stadium, GAB features terrific sightlines, a close proximity to the field, huge, wide open concourses, one of the largest scoreboards in the Majors, tons of concession options and pre-game festivities, and several nods to the history of the oldest team in baseball.

The first thing that strikes you is the various tributes to the Big Red Machine and even the Reds teams of the 1800's.
Statues of Reds greats greet you at the front gate, as do various murals featuring Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, George Foster, Tony Perez, etc., etc.
A huge Big Red Shop offers tons of cool (and fairly affordable) Reds memorabilia, and next to that is the Big Red Museum.
It costs $10 to get in ($5) with a ticket, and we didnt have time last night, so we're going to tour it today.

GAB has a riverboat theme, with a boat and misters in the outfield, but that really doesn't add or subtract from the park itself. Everything is red, giving it a distinct hometown team feel, and I've never seen a place that tilted the seats towards the action as much as GAB. It's very exaggerated - we sat down the third base line and were facing the mound straight on (Kyle Lohse pitched for the Reds and got hammered. Bad. Cristian Guzman hit a triple, that brought back memories).

Cincinnati is the chili capital of the world, and we had some really good chili dogs. There's also BBQ, pizza, tacos and even a cakes and cookies stand. I had 3 Buds and a margarita from the tiki bar. The prices were better than any place we've been so far.

There were about 31,000 fans (it was Bronson Arroyo bobblehead night), and most of them left by the 6th inning, at which point the Nats had a 9-1 lead.
The ushers didnt mind at all when the remaining fans moved down into the field level seats. We moved over directly behind home plate about 7 rows up in the 8th inning (the game lasted almost four hours, as the Reds came back a little before losing 12-7), and that was as close as I've probably ever been at a Major League game.

We'll be back tonight, hoping to hit the Reds museum before hand, then Friday morning we leave for St. Louis.

Halfway Home

Some more highlights from the trip:

Scott Baker shoving it up the Brewers' butts in his first start of the year, and another homer from Torii.
The roof was closed for the second game in Milwaukee, and Miller isn't nearly as cool when it's a dome.

We also hit up the Miller Brewery (semi-boring, but you get free beer), and the Milwaukee Zoo.

Then to Chicago, where we caught the "Crosstown Classic", as the Cubs-White Sox rivalry has now been officially dubbed (Brienne took the photo at right).
Wrigleyville was a zoo by 10 AM. We went into the Cubby Bear and had four Leinie's for $25. At 11:30 we headed to the park to take our $125 outfield bleacher seats.
The bad news is Chicago was, according to the weather channel, the coldest major city in the US on Sunday. It was about 45 degrees for the Cubs-Sox game, with a windchill of 32.
That makes it hard to give Wrigley a real evaluation. I will say the surrounding Wrigleyville area was really cool, and just being in the building can give any baseball fan shivers. I had a Chicago dog, and it rocked. It also gave me the shits.

We left in the bottom of the 7th with the Sox leading 10-2, after actor Tim Robbins led the crowd in 'Take me out to the ball game'. AJ hit a grand slam, and I have to admit I enjoyed seeing that. You think they boo AJ at the Dome, you should hear it at Wrigley.

Monday we spent the day on the pier off Lake Michigan, and visited Soldier Field (I didn't really get to see the field, but I did get to pee there), the Chicago Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium.
Then we saw A's-White Sox at US Cellular.
Really liked the Cell. Spacious, fan-friendly, relatively affordable beer and concessions, and a nice modern feel and look without being boring.
Unfortunately it's in the middle of the slums, so we were sure to get the hell out of there.

But that was nothing on Detroit.
We're staying in a 19th century mansion in midtown, about 2 miles from Comerica.
We walked all the way to the stadium and met my old buddy Solari at the Hockeytown bar (think Hubert's only bigger). We had to walk through some fairly scary parts of midtown to get there.
The game was fun, and Comerica was a cool place, too. I like all the Tiger sculptures all over the place.
Another place with a lot of wide concourses, and we were able to walk around and watch the game from several different vantage points.
Plus our seats were great, 20 rows up from first base.
Afterwards we went to Cheli's Chili Bar (as in Chris Chelios, the Red Wings defenseman), and watched the Wings season come to an end.

Solari offered to drive us back to our hotel, and when we arrived at his car, found that the window had been smashed and a bunch of CDs and tapes were stolen from his car.
Solari is the unluckiest guy I know. This kind of shit happens to him all the time.
Luckily they did not steal his Sioux Falls Storm mini-football, or his clove cigarettes.
I'm sure it was a fun drive back to Lansing with a busted out window at 2 in the morning.

By that point, we were glad that we only had one night in Detroit.
Now it's off to Cincinnati.

Not a bad start

Miller Park is an impressive place.
It's huge.
Keeping in the tradition of the newer ballparks having some sort of tie-in to the culture and history of the city, Miller Park seems to be a nod to Milwaukee's industrial history. It's a highly engineered structure.
I'd been warned by some that it felt too much like an indoor park, but I didn't feel that way at all.
It is, however, more like a machine than an organic "ballpark".
You can see the folded girders that comprise the roof from miles away - at its peak the stadium is over 300 feet tall. The last row of seats in the 4th deck only reaches about halfway to the top of the outer structure.
The park pretty much stops at the centerfield fence and goes straight up from there. It feels compacted horizontally, but, again, goes up for miles.

The city of Milwaukee has definitely caught Brewers fever. A sell-out crowd was there, and thousands were tailgating beforehand. With all the tables of food, portable grills and beer cans it felt more like a college football game.
The fact that the Brewers are in first place actually made this feel kind of like a rivalry game, which I didn't really expect. There was an almost Vikings-Packers atmosphere.
And there were a lot of Twins fans. Our seats, 20th row behind home plate, were in the midst of a big throng of Twins fans, which was nice.

On a down note, since this is Miller Park we're talking about, your beer options are pretty limited. We did find a Leinie's stand.
The hot dogs were small but cheap ($2.75) and good. The 'secret stadium sauce' was awesome.
It was Paul Molitor bobble-head night, but unfortunately someone stole the bobbleheads out from under me and Brienne's seats.
Boo.

After the game we didn't want to deal with traffic, so we walked around the stadium to a TGI Fridays that resides in left field. We sat there and had a couple more beers and appetizers with a window seat to the field, watching the grounds crew prep the field for Saturday. We wanted to watch the roof close, but they didn't do it.

By the way, the Twins played awesome, which made it a million times more fun.
I knew Torii Hunter would hit a grand slam, because that's what he does when the bases are loaded. Jeff Cirillo killed his former team (he was met with a surprising number of boos from the crowd), and Boof was on fire. The only run he gave up should've been unearned, as Luis Castillo misplayed a candy-hop in the first inning.
11 K's for Boof, and he now has 56 Ks in 50 innings. He was consistently hitting 94 on the gun, and even caught 96 a couple times. His curve was awesome, too, which made for a long night for the Brewers.
Today we're probably going to hit the Milwaukee Zoo, and if there's time, tour the Miller Brewery. Then it's back to the park for the season debut of one Scott Baker.

10 days, 6 cities, 7 parks, 10 games

By the time anyone reads this, my new wife and I will be on the road to Milwaukee, the first stop on our honeymoon.
We were married Apr. 28, and starting Friday we are embarking on a 10-day road trip to 7 major league ballparks.

Here's the lowdown:
Tonight we'll be at Miller Park when the Twins take on the Brewers, and we'll be there again Saturday night.
Sunday we're in Chicago for an epic interleague clash, when the White Sox face the Cubs at Wrigley.
Monday night we travel across town to see the Sox host the A's.
Tuesday we're in Detroit for Angels vs. Tigers.
Wednesday and Thursday we're in Cincinnati, Friday and Saturday we're in St. Louis, Sunday Mariners at Royals in KC, and on our way back home Memorial Day.

It should be an awesome trip.
We're going to be visiting some of baseball's best and newest ballparks, and hopefully we'll see some good (rain-free) baseball.

Brienne's bringing her laptop with, so hopefully I'm planning to check in here whenever I can with some updates from the trip.
I'll try to nail down all the particulars (coldest beer, best hot dog, hottest chicks, etc.)
It starts tonight and Saturday, with Boof and Scott Baker going up against a team that is suddenly the best in the NL.

I could spit out a few graphs about how shitty the Twins are playing right now, but I don't want to get in a bad mood.
I've got a lot of drinking and driving to do.

Separately, of course.

Ouch...seriously

Yesterday I wrote that Jesse Crain's injury wasn't a big deal.
That was before the news came down that Crain likely has a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff.

If this turns out to be true (he's going for a second opinion), he's not only done for the year, but his career could be in jeopardy.

This is serious stuff.

And it begs the question - again.
What the hell is the Twins training staff doing?
They don't prevent injuries, we know that.
And now this. It's not like Crain kept it a secret from them. He was shut down for over a week in April.
So we know the trainers were working with him. And they apparently overlooked the fact that he was tearing his shoulder off.
If I were Ron Gardenhire and Terry Ryan, I'd be furious.

*A tough outing for Carlos Silva, but 5 runs over 6 isn't even that bad for a Twins pitcher against Cleveland.
Our worst fears from spring training - that there would be little to no pitching after Johan Santana, are coming true.
This has the feeling of a long and ugly season.

Apparently, the pitching sucks, too. Great.

Sunday's 16-4 win over Detroit gave some brief cause for optimism.
I have to admit, I didn't fall for it.
This is still a very flawed team. So flawed, in fact, that I almost wonder if they're actually overachieving right now. It could get worse.
Could this be a 90-loss team?
It shouldn't be. In fact, it could still be a 90-win team.
But there are just so many things that have gone wrong and continue to go wrong.
Some were easy to see coming. Others were not.

Early on, Ramon Ortiz and Carlos Silva, the two worst starting pitchers in their respective leagues last year, were the biggest bright spots on the club. Ortiz was 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA. Silva still sports an excellent 3.00 ERA.
Now Ortiz has posted a 12.25 ERA in his last three starts, and Tuesday's performance against Cleveland was flat out embarrassing. He didn't even compete after being handed a 2-0 lead.
Even when Ortiz was winning there were signs that this was coming.
He wasn't striking anyone out. He was leaving pitches up. The velocity was unimpressive.
Now it's catching up to him.

I think there's still hope that he can be at least passable, i.e. - an ERA around 5, but that of course isn't good enough to keep the youngsters down on the farm, nor is it good enough to justify the $3.1 million the team is paying him this year.
It was easy to cut bait on Sidney Ponson, who gets only a million.
What about Ortiz? I wrote way back in February that signing Ortiz could be a good idea if he was dirt cheap like Ponson, but that the problem with signing him to an expensive deal is that modest-payroll teams can't afford to give up $3 million to a guy and then release him.

And what if Silva rediscovers his form from last year? His sinker has really been moving, so I'm somewhat confident he can keep it up. But if he starts getting bombed, too, 90-losses is a safer bet than 90 wins.

*Jesse Crain gave up 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning, but was sent to the DL afterwards. As much as the Twins don't need another injury, I don't think anyone is jumping off a cliff over Crain going on the DL. He's been terrible this year. I thought they should've traded him this off-season, and I still think that'd be a decent idea. Matt Guerrier has proven he can handle Crain's role as a late-inning guy, and there are plenty of candidates to replace Guerrier in the mop-up/long relief role.

To replace Crain, the Twins called up 24-year old righty Julio DePaula.
DePaula had a 2.56 ERA in 43 games last year in Double-A, and so far this year has posted a 3.15 ERA and 2 saves in 15 games for Triple-A Rochester.

*Rondell White could be back by the first week of June. I guess that's good news.

*There were actually some positives in the 15-7 loss to Cleveland, mostly that the team hit 4 homers for the second straight game.
Justin Morneau whacked two, giving him 11. That puts him on pace for about 42.
The biggest positive to come of the entire game was Jason Kubel finally hitting his first homer, with Dick and Bert practically willing him to do so in the 8th inning.
Hopefully that will help Kubel turn a corner.
His failures this year have been a big reason the Twins offense has been so bad.

*Jeff Cirillo made his first appearance of the year in the field, taking over at 3B in the late innings. I have a feeling Ron Gardenhire is feeling him out to see if he can play there somewhat regularly. No matter how good Nick Punto is defensively (and he misplayed three balls on Tuesday, including his first error of the year), I don't think Gardy will stick with him if he can't get on base.

*Which brings me to the biggest positive I've seen from the team so far.
Gardy.
He seems to be getting it.
He stopped batting Punto 2nd. Stopped batting Redmond 3rd. Moved Bartlett up. Has shown a willingness to move Cuddyer, Morneau or Hunter in and out of the 3-4-5 holes. Plays Kubel.
And if you watched Tuesday's post-game show, you saw him as mad as you ever have.
He was ready to blow at the gathering of reporters, and they weren't even asking pointed questions.
It's good to see Gardy finally losing his patience. Good to see him holding players accountable.