June 2005

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Drinking away the pain

Filed under: MLB

Breaking out of a potential division-losing slump by beating the Kansas City Royals is a bit like ditching your booze habit by tearing the label off your 40 oz. Mickey's. Sure, it might look to your friends like you've solved your little problem, but that doesn?t mean they won't find you face-down on the golf course tomorrow morning, with your pants around your ankles and barf in your beard.

Yeah, the Sox are running at a record clip, but still; that's pretty much how it's going to feel if the Twins lose the AL Central race. Have three straight division titles spoiled me? Probably.

Anyway, I'm rooting for the sweep, no matter how empty it?ll really be. That's the Royals? place in this division: to give slumping teams a morale boost via a Royal ass-whomping. Then again, as I write this, the Twin are down 3-0 to them in the 7th, and 'Clutch' Luis Rivas just struck out with the bases loaded.

Ugh. Pass that bottle.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at June 29, 2005 2:25 PM

 

The Only NBA Draft Preview To Read

Filed under: NBA

For those of you unfamiliar with The Sports Guy, espn.com's columnist is not only one of the most astute sports commentators in any medium, he's funny as hell. In honor of tonight's NBA draft, The Sports Guy (real name, Bill Simmons) has compiled his Top 60 moments from the past eight NBA drafts. Perhaps only Summers would be anal enough to keep a diary of the past eight drafts AND to lace it with so many hilarious insights. It helps if you know all the trivial figures he spools out, but even neophytes can find a laugh or two here. It is the perfect antidote to all the blather folks who tune in tonight will hear about players who, aside from a handful of sure things, represent one of the weirdest billion-dollar crapshoots in all of pro sports.

Posted by Britt Robson at June 28, 2005 4:34 PM | Comments (1)

 

Moss returns to MN next week for bass fishing tournament

Filed under: NFL

Oakland Raiders wide receiver Randy Moss will return to the Twin Cities next week to take part in the Randy Moss Celebrity Charity Invitational Bass Tournament, a one-day event on Lake Minnetonka. Fifty pro anglers will be paired with sports and media celebrities and corporate sponsors to compete for heaviest total catch and raise money for the Smile Network, which assists poor children with treatable mouth problems, such as cleft palate. No word on whether Daunte Culpepper will have a smile for Randy upon his return.

Read the rest of the story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at June 24, 2005 10:09 AM

 

Comfrey softballers attempt world record for longest softball game

Filed under: Amateur

Softball players in rural Comfrey, Minnesota, recently attempted a new world record for longest softball game. Eighty participants played softball from noon on Thursday to 8:01 p.m. on Sunday. No word yet if they officially beat the record.

Read the rest of the story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at June 22, 2005 9:05 AM

 

Yikes.

Filed under: Twins

So the other day, Baseball Prospectus, in their infinite (if obtuse) wisdom, calculated that "while the Twins have earned all the wins they have, the Chicago White Sox entered Wednesday playing 7.4 wins over their head." Don't ask me to explain how they figured this out; it's got something to do with adjusting a team's win projection in accordance to the overall pitching performance of their opponents (in other words, the Sox have been facing weaker-than-average pitching so far. I think). In any case, BP ended the article by noting that, if the White Sox's record really does sink down to realistic levels (which is a big if), then "the Twins will be ready to pounce."

Looks like the Twins didn't get that memo.

Because the Twins have an affinity for losing to terrible teams, then turning around and clobbering decent ones, I hesitate to think that the Giants series should've been a gimme--but seriously, come on. They're missing their veteran lumberjack. They're in full-rebuilding mode. They'd lost 14 of their last 17 games. And the scariest part? Last night, the Twins actually--finally!--gave their starter some huge early run support; it was the second-best bullpen in baseball that lost the game.

Or was it? Losing Abernathy to the DL and having Glenn Williams at the hot corner hasn't helped out the Twins defense, especially since it moved Cuddy to second. Going into the Giants series, the Twins were number one in the majors in Defensive Efficiency. Three games (and two losses) later, they're fourth in the American League, behind the Indians, the Mariners, and (guess who....) the freakin' White Sox. Just how bad is it? I read this... and was relieved. (But just a little bit...)

Ugh. To take your mind off the last couple days, go over to Retrosheet.org and check out this awesome Hidden Ball Trick list. The best part: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, back when he was a Sock himself, got pegged by the ol' hidden ball twice... in the same season. Now that's small-ball at its best.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at June 17, 2005 3:55 PM

 

Interleague play comes to the Dome

Filed under: Twins

Why should you care? As the Twins enter a six-game homestand to finish up their tour of the National League West, you've got to ask yourself: What's the big deal? Aside from some revitalized rivalries and rare World Series rematches (does anyone really care about this, btw?), is a Giants match-up really going to sell more DomeDogs than a Yankees game? I doubt it. For me, there's only one thing that would make interleague play at the Metrodome more interesting than your everyday Twins game (aside from watching a 300-pound grumplin with a bum knee chase the most coveted batting record in baseball, but it looks like that 'aint gonna happen...*sniff*), and it seems like it would be a ridiculously easy initiative for Buddy Selig to push through: switch the DH rule. Let NL teams bat a DH in their own parks, and make AL pitchers bat in theirs. Seriously--if I've got to experience the agony of watching Bradke strikeout with two men on and two out, or Kyle Lohse get K'd while attempting to bunt, then I want to do it at home. It's something you don't see every day, and when Santana or Silva actually pokes one through the infield, well, all the sweeter. Adopting the NL rules at home might even put some added pressure on Ron Gardenhire to hone his NL-style managing. As more than a few people have suggested, the Twins might have had a chance to take Sunday's game back from the Dodger's if Gardy had just gone to his bullpen in the sixth instead of letting Bradke go for the win (and consequently kill their offensive rally). Then again, Radke really deserved that tick in the loss column. As much as I love a good control pitcher (and he's certainly that), I don't give a damn about your stellar walks record if it means you've got to throw a first-pitch heater down the heart of the plate every time, especially to a 6-foot-5 firstbaseman who's having a career day. And speaking of Hee-Seop Choi: While there was no joy in Twinsville thanks to his three-bomb night, it sure made those pun-happy headline writers giddy. My favorite, from MLB.com: "Happy happy, Choi Choi...Choi?"

Posted by Chuck Terhark at June 13, 2005 7:32 PM

 

NBA Finals Preview

Filed under: NBA

The most competitive championship matchup in over a decade will go the seven-game distance.

I was wrong about ?Sheed. I thought Miami's Udonis Haslem would frustrate his offense in the paint, box him out of precious rebounds, and compel him to launch the ill-advised outside jumpers he's prone to jacking up anyway. It was a crucial match-up, and the primary reason I called the Heat to win the Eastern Conference Finals. But Rasheed Wallace, the hot-tempered dude with the super-cool tats and the quarter-sized splotch of white hair near the top of his otherwise ebony noggin, proved me wrong about everything but the match-up being crucial.

When the Detroit Pistons acquired ?Sheed for four players and a number-one draft pick in February 2004, he was the missing link that transformed the team into NBA Champions. Infamous for his tantrums, he began channeling his intensity into teamwork, tailoring his versatile skills to fit coach Larry Brown's unselfish, defensive-oriented system. And while he is still prone to popping off, drawing technical fouls and occasionally guaranteeing wins in comments to the media, he's obviously part of the fierce inner circle of personalities at the core of the Pistons, much loved and thriving because of it. This year, Detroit is 8-0 in the playoffs when ?Sheed scores 20 points or better.

It happened in three of the four wins required to beat the Heat, all of them absolutely vital to the momentum and outcome of the series. In Game One, ?Sheed's 20 points led the Pistons in scoring and enabled them to temporarily steal homecourt advantage. In Game Four, he racked up another 20, in just 22 minutes, to help even the series instead of forcing Detroit to go back to Miami down three games to one. And, after Haslem made me look smart by dominating his matchup with ?Sheed in Games Five and Six, Wallace was arguably the MVP of the deciding Game Seven, providing a game-turning tip-in and two clutch free throws in crunch time en route to another 20-point outing.

So now Detroit and ?Sheed are back in the NBA Finals, encountering the San Antonio Spurs in what should be the most competitive championship series in more than a decade. Unlike the previous round, where I felt fairly confident about San Antonio and Miami, I wouldn't be surprised to see either team emerge victorious, and think the series will go the entire seven games. Here are some of the key elements I'll be watching.

Perhaps the biggest variable is how much and how effectively each club resorts to crossover defensive assignments. The offenses of both teams are ignited by their shooting guards, while the perimeter stoppers for both teams are their small forwards. How much the Pistons' Tayshaun Prince is assigned to guard Manu Ginobili, and how often the Spurs' Bruce Bowen is put on Rip Hamilton will dictate how both teams attack the basket.

Both Ginobili and Hamilton are energizer bunnies who never stop running, and it would be fascinating to watch them engage in an endurance test by strictly guarding each other. That won't happen for a variety of reasons. Ginobili is better than Hamilton at penetrating to the hoop off the dribble, plays bigger than Hamilton (although at 6-7, Hamilton is an inch taller), loves to draw contact, and is a momentum generator who, as much as possible, needs to be nipped in the bud. The Pistons' best response is guarding him with Prince, who is a supple 6-9 with a huge wingspan, and is a maestro at deterring penetration without drawing the foul.

At the other end, Hamilton utilizes screens along the baseline and the elbows of the foul line for spot-up, mid-range jumpers that are the most reliable staple of the Pistons offense. Bowen is a highly physical?many say dirty?defender who impedes motion as much as possible and fights through and weaves around picks with grit and guile. But given how many picks are set for Rip, and how quickly he can catch and shoot, I don't think Bowen is as much of a defensive upgrade over Ginobili as Prince is over Hamilton in this series. Furthermore, with Bowen (whose primary offensive weapon is an three-pointer from the weak side) in the game, Hamilton can essentially conserve his energy by guarding him when Detroit is on defense. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Spurs leave Ginobili on Hamilton more than vice versa, and utilize Robert Horry and Brent Barry to expose mismatches with Hamilton. For the same reason, I suspect Lindsay Hunter will be used against Ginobili in the same way that he was called upon to deter Miami's Dwyane Wade in the conference finals.

The bottom line: Bowen will be less of a factor than most people anticipate. Horry and Barry will burn Detroit enough to pry Prince off of Ginobelli more often than the Pistons prefer. Hamilton will score plenty no matter who is guarding him. But because San Antonio is so much quicker than Miami on interior defense and in response to the pick and roll, Hamilton won't come close to averaging seven assists per game, as he did in the last series.

Meanwhile, it is also likely that defensive-oriented starting centers Ben Wallace and Nazr Mohammed will often be called upon to guard their opponents' more offensively gifted power forwards, Tim Duncan and Rasheed Wallace. One might imagine that Ben Wallace, the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year this season, guarding the superstar Duncan would be a marquee match-up. But this is precisely where I think San Antonio has an marked advantage, provided Duncan dishes to his teammates as effectively as Shaq did in the previous series.

It's odd to me that Duncan has this squeaky-clean reputation, when he's one of the biggest whiners in the league with the officials, and can occasionally be a bit of a ball-hog, especially since he's surrounded by Ginobeili, point guard Tony Parker, and deadly long-range shooters like Horry and Barry. If Ben Wallace switches on Duncan, it will be interesting to see how often the "Big Fundamental" engineers the best possible shot, either for himself or his teammates. Most often, he should move the ball around, because after getting steamrolled by Shaq for seven games, Ben Wallace is going to regard Duncan's butt-pushing low-post manuvers as a vacation. (As always, the caveat to any analysis or predictions about low-post matchups is what the refs are calling for fouls. Ben and Rasheed Wallace have to remember that more contact is allowed on both sides when Shaq is playing, and bodying Duncan in the same manner is likely to draw a whistle.)

Meanwhile, if ?Sheed is hitting his outside shot, the Spurs could be in big trouble. San Antonio would love to save Duncan's energy by having him guard the offensively indifferent (if marginally improved) scorer Ben Wallace, leaving Mohammed to contend with Rasheed. But if ?Sheed is nailing that three-pointer, especially trailing the fast break as the Spurs scramble to defend down low, Mohammed can't hang with him. Consequently, Duncan either chases him or becomes the de facto center because Horry has been assigned the task. It is entirely possible that the Pistons will continue to be unbeaten in playoff games where ?Sheed gets 20 or better this year.

Which brings us to the point guard matchup, which, as every analyst has already pointed out, pits the physicality of Chauncey Billups against the quickness of Tony Parker. I'd argue that a bigger distinction between the two is crunch-time confidence. Billups earned the Finals MVP award last year and has embraced the "Mr. Big Shot" moniker that has subsequently been affixed to him. The four free throws he made to ice the Miami series in Game Seven didn't even graze the iron. Parker is much more skitterish, mentally as well as physically. Like most of his teammates, he's not reliable at the free throw line, and perhaps even less so with the game in the balance. On the other hand, if he's allowed to get into a rhythm and his confidence soars, he'll generate a passel of fouls throughout the Pistons lineup and torment Detroit with his ingenuity and ability to finish in the paint.

Bottom line: San Antonio's chances of winning will rise and fall with Duncan's assist total and Parker's point total, although Rasheed's point total will be an even larger factor on the outcome. Billups will abuse Parker's defense more with pull-up jumpers than post-ups in the low block.

Finally, I don't think San Antonio can win this series without pulling off a nip-and-tuck victory somewhere along the way. As mentally tough as the Spurs have been this year, Detroit has the swagger and galvanizing sense of personal security that accrues to a tempered champion. They will not fold, they will have to be vanquished. And at some point that means the Spurs will have to hit their free throws or make their stops or convert their sliver of a chance at the precise moment when failure to do so spells defeat.

That's how close I think this series will be. And, on the strength of Duncan's good judgment, Ginobeili's kamikaze acrobatics, a pinch of Robert Horry, and a naked hunch, I'll call the Spurs in 7.

Posted by Britt Robson at June 9, 2005 6:01 PM

 

Wally the Horseman

Filed under: Horse Racing

Saturday's Belmont Stakes doesn't seem to be generating a whole lot of enthusiasm. Folks have become spoiled in recent years with a surfeit of potential Triple Crown winners heading into the final leg, most recently Smarty Jones and Funny Cide.

But there also seems to be a general consensus that this year's Belmont field is a bit rank. A.P Arrow and Nolan's Cat, in particular, look more like candidates for the glue factory than the winner's circle. Then again, nobody was much talking about Birdstone last year prior to his upset victory.

Afleet Alex, after an incredible performance in the Preakness, is the overwhelming favorite. Even so, some publicity-starved jackasses continue to insist that jockey Jeremy Rose should be replaced. (Thanks to the redoubtable Jeff Johnson for the link.)

But even if you can't get stirred up about the Belmont, there's another reason to head out to Canterbury Park this Saturday. The seventh race, the $50,000 Brooks Field Stakes, which is set to go off a little before the Belmont, features a top-flight, 12-horse field of turf racers.

The slight favorite, at odds of 7/2, is Vazandar. The Minnesota-bred horse has already won two races at Canterbury this season.

Kevin Gorg, who handicaps races for the Star Tribune, likes Slew Slayer. The four-year-old gelding, currently going off at 5-1, is in from Arlington Park in Chicago. He's only won about $60,000, but has generally faced competition a class above what he'll see on Saturday.

But most intriguing is Wally's Choice, pegged at odds of 9/2. The four-year-old gelding had a monster 2004. Last summer at Canterbury he won both the Minnesota Classic and the Minnesota Derby, raking in more than $80,000 for the season.

Wally's Choice really turned heads, though, last November at the Oklahoma Derby. Going off at odds of 33-1, he rallied from last in the field down the stretch to capture the $168,550 stakes race.

In 17 lifetime races, Wally's Choice has posed in the winner's circle eight times and taken third place on three occasions. (Strangely the horse has never finished second.) 

But what makes Saturday's mount even more compelling is that it will be the first time that Wally's Choice has run on the turf. "His mother, L'Etoile Jolie, was a monster on the turf," notes Gorg.

And oh yeah: Wally's Choice is partially owned by Wally McNeil, better known as Wally the Beerman.

Posted by Paul Demko at June 9, 2005 4:07 PM

 

Jocks, pot and the sports page

Filed under: Media

There is nothing new in the observation that sports columnists tend to be moralizing gasbags. Like talk radio, the sports column aims to engage the public by the easiest mean available--in other words, by inducing outrage.

That said, the response of Twin Cities columnists to the drug troubles of Viking running back Onterrio Smith has been exceptionally horrid. 

In a May 20 column, the Strib's Jim Souhan worked himself into a lather on the subject. The screed climaxed with this icky, artless sentence: "Smith pledged his allegiance to Mary Jane instead of Matt Birk, so he deserves to be punished." 

Could such censorious tripe ever be topped?

I didn't think so. Then I came across this piece by Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press, which opened with the line, "Thank you, NFL, for taking Onterrio Smith off our hands for one full season," and promptly careened downhill.

In his two seasons with the Vikings, Smith has been a rugged, reliable back who has averaged 4.9 yards a carry and has yet to lose a fumble. Apparently, he smokes pot sometimes. So what?

Posted by Mike Mosedale at June 8, 2005 5:56 PM

 

Shaq offers to pay for Mikan's funeral

Filed under: NBA

Miami Heat star Shaquille O'Neal has offered to pay the expenses for George Mikan's funeral. "Without No. 99, there is no me," said O'Neal. Mikan led the Minneapolis Lakers to five titles in a six-year span, while O'Neal carried the Los Angeles Lakers to three consecutive championships from 2000-2002. Mikan's son Terry stated it was up to his mother whether to accept Shaq's offer and mentioned that the elder Mikan and O'Neal had been close friends.

Read the complete AP story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at June 3, 2005 2:10 PM

 

Minneapolis Laker legend George Mikan dead at 80

Filed under: NBA

AP is reporting Minneapolis Laker George Mikan died Wednesday night, having suffered from diabetes and kidney failure. George Mikan's Lakers won five of the first six NBA titles after the league was formed in 1948. He averaged 23.1 points per game in seven seasons with Minneapolis before retiring because of injuries in 1956. Mikan was the league's MVP in its inaugural 1948-49 season, when he averaged 28.3 points in leading the Lakers to the NBA title.

Read the rest of the story here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at June 2, 2005 1:12 PM

 

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