April 2007

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Yowch

Filed under: Twins

Or as most of my female friends would cry, "Anything but the face!"

The event of Torii Hunter's second cranial beaning of 2007 seems an appropriate time to reflect on the ridiculous season he's had so far.

Before taking a fastball off the teeth from anxious Royals pitcher Zach Greinke, Hunter was on a 12-game hitting streak, had a .315 average, hit four homers and stole just as many bases, knocked in a MLB-high 13 doubles, and had a .658 slugging percentage, the seventh highest in baseball.

All of which means he was the best centerfielder in baseball this month, so it's no surprise he's been taking some high heat. Here's hoping our favorite contract-year Twin won't be too uncomfortable in the batter's box when he returns this weekend.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 27, 2007 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

 

Cold Comfort

Filed under: Twins

I love this summary, from La Velle E. Neal's column at the Star Tribune online (could be in the hard copy; I'll never know):

"After watching Torii Hunter get hit in the face, the Twins snapped their four-game losing streak in the 11th inning."

That's rich. Torii gets hit in the second inning and it only takes us nine more fucking innings to score a measly run against what remains the worst team in the American League? Boy, that must have riled up the troops! (One thing: the above quote wasn't in the article, but was the summary on the 'front page' of the Strib.)

Now, I didn't watch the game. Yesterday afternoon, I thanked the God I don't believe in for that, as another one of these sickly, extra-inning contests would have killed more brain cells than I can spare. However, I can read, both articles and box scores, and this game looked like yet another hideous contest, both from a pitching standpoint and an offensive one. Both sides were utterly ineffective, stranding 25 runners on the bags (11 were Twins) and our big boppers had two hits and two walks in 15 at-bats. Boof walked 7, struck out 8. Final score 1-0. Three hours and forty-seven minutes carved out of a beautiful April afternoon for this?

Up next: the Detroit Tigers. I would say that we're about to embark on a long stretch of meeting tough teams, except that these Twins are making everyone look tough.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 27, 2007 7:55 AM | Comments (0)

 

On the road again: Thunder battles Atlanta on national TV

Filed under: Soccer

The mighty Minnesota Thunder hit the road last weekend to open the season and returned with two points. The squad secured ties against the Charleston Battery (0-0) and the Carolina Railhawks (1-1).

Considering that the squad was seriously undermanned on defense, it was a more than decent start to the season. Two of the team's primary defenders, Kevin Taylor and Alfredo Esteves, were out with injuries. A third, Jonathan Greenfield, was finishing up his indoor season with the Detroit Ignition. (They lost in the championship match 13-8 to the Philadelphia Kixx.)

"We didn't play particularly well in either of the games," says Coach Amos Magee. "I expect that we're going to play better as the season progresses."

But the second year coach was happy to steal a couple of points away from home even though the team wasn't in top form--a rarity last season when the Thunder picked up just seven road points all season long. "I really do think we've got a different mentality this year than we did last year," Magee says. "I feel even though we're younger, we have a better battling, fighting mentality, and I expect that some good things can really happen for us."

Things won't get any easier for the Thunder this weekend. They travel south with the same patchwork corps of defenders to take on a talented Atlanta Silverbacks squad. "They're formidable," says Magee of Atlanta. "I think they're going to be a better team, a more dangerous team, than either Charleston or Carolina. I expect us to be better too."

One bright note for the local squad: 6'4" Japanese forward Keisuke Ota has joined the team and will make the trip to Atlanta. "It's going to take some time to figure out his tendencies and figure out how we can best use him," says Magee. "Guys for the last three years were reluctant to lump balls up the field and have a big guy battle for it. That said, I think they're starting to recognize that we now have a really big legitimate target who will battle and fight and hold the ball for us."

The Thunder's defensive depth will hopefully improve prior to next Sunday's home opener. Magee expects to have Taylor and Greenfield training next week. (A full transcript of my interview with Magee is posted on Blue Sky Soccer.

Tomorrow night's match is being broadcast on Fox Soccer Channel at 7 p.m. (CST). Thunder fans will be gathering in St. Paul at the Sweetwater to watch. It's located at 161 St. Anthony Boulevard (651-224-6373), inside the Kelly Inn.
Here's a map. Join us.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 26, 2007 4:52 PM | Comments (1)

 

Melancholy Musings on Another Awful Evening

Filed under: Twins

This afternoon I took a stroll through The 2006 Baseball Prospectus. Those guys pretty much dismissed last year's Detroit Tigers, stating flatly that, in order to compete, the "pitchers need to become stars." We now know that they did just that. Last season, our very own Morneau and Mauer hit that big-time, too, joining Johan Santana in the spotlight. I get the feeling we're going to need more than a three-star constellation to make a go of it this year.

See, I like the Detroit Tigers. I'm from Michigan, been following them my whole life. Now I know that no one gives a flying handshake where I'm from or who I root for, but we're both here, we're both watching the Twins at least (and I do consider myself a fan of the local nine), and I'm looking for a tonic to the pain I've had to endure at the Metrodome. Already frustrated with the thought of coming to the ballpark to watch Ponson take on his arch-nemesis Kansas City Royals this evening--and, really, I call anyone that faces Ponson an arch nemesis, such is his success with teams that actually come to bat against him--I found myself turning to Prospectus for some insight. For although the Twins batters are doing little to make things easy for their vaunted pitching staff, tonight Ponson kept up appearances as the mediocrity many were making him out to be. No, four earned runs aren't horrible, but, as one frustrated fan shouted tonight, "C'mon, it's the Royals!"

From the top of the Royals order to the bottom, the batters were taking long pitch counts--in fact, both of the Royals' homers came after six pitches each (from Sweeney and Gload, who, admittedly, aren't slouches, and their number nine hitter took ten pitches before walking). A while back, a local scribe, I don't recall who (though he was undoubtedly making a good point) noted that Ponson's bad outing v. the Yankees was superior to Bonser's (though the Aruban Nightmare had more earned runs than Boof), and this was part of his evidence that we need to be patient and wait for things to settle down. After all, the reasoning went, everything was going wrong to start last year, between Santana (always a slow starter), Boof, Garza, Radke, and the offense, things were plain bad. Same thing this year, kind-of: Ponson and Ortiz and Silva aren't the problem, and the youths in Rochester aren't the solution.

The problem with this logic, as I see it, is that Boof is young, and young pitchers go through outings like these and (hopefully) learn from them. A bad outing for Boof is still a beginning, while Ponson's is, at best, the beginning of the end. Granted, Ponson might learn something, build on his rough outings. Old dogs can learn new tricks, I suppose. But I wouldn't stake even part of a season on that.

Thing is, puppies learn tricks better than old dogs and there are pups the Twins could be benefiting from right now, even in a loss. Matt Garza is the obvious pitcher to fill a role. Would he have had a better time of it than Ponson? Or Silva, or Ortiz? Who knows? But the Tigers didn't hesitate to let Jeremy Bonderman or Mike Maroth struggle mightily through that wretched 2003 season, and here we are, one year after Bonderman especially (and Verlander the rookie) hauled the Bengals to the World Series. They're tough cookies today, in part because someone in the Tigers organization had faith in them in the present that was 2003. And 2004, 2005 and finally, triumphantly (almost) 2006.

Personally, I'd rather have one season like the Tigers 2006 than four division titles that went nowhere. I bet they say that in Texas and Seattle, too.

Why I'm grousing like this I'm not entirely sure, because tonight's 4-3 loss was almost entirely due, yet again, to an offense that shut down when it was needed. I'll be brutally honest with you: much of this entry was written in between the seventh and eighth innings, when the Twins were but a run away from tying the game. So what? Had we won, somehow, would that have been cause for celebration? Sweet Mother of Fuck, these are the Kansas City Royals. We stranded guys, hit into double-plays, and the Royals hurler, with his almost nine-run ERA, looked as poised as... well, as all the pitchers who come through the Metrodome and watch the heart of the order go down quietly as kittens. The Twins are supposed to be one of the premiere clubs of both leagues, ready to take the next step. Squeaking out a win against these rubes from Missouri (and the worst team in the league) isn't worth any bragging rights, especially in such a close game. The Royals have a lousy pitching staff, mediocre hitters, and yet still beat us. Again.

Yes, it's early in the season, for sure. We've only hit the 21 game mark and still have a winning record, even if it is by one game. But here's another observation from the folks at Prospectus from 2006: "...if The Twins take credit for building a large base of homegrown talent... they deserve criticism for failing to leverage that talent to into a genuinely great club." This club is far from great, though I do think it's too early to determine exactly who in this league would qualify for that title. You might say the Twins had a pretty good season last year to gripe. But BP also noted, and I agree, that had the Twins brain-trust not given contracts to such powerhouses as Tony Batista and Rondell White, we might not have needed such an amazing comeback to win the division last year.

(I might add that the exhaustion of such a comeback might have kept them from advancing in the first round, as happened to the 1987 Tigers, who also staged a mighty comeback of epic proportions and were blown away in a playoff.)

But I digress. This is no longer the AL Central of 2002-2005, as we all know, and the Twins need more ingenuity than simply relying on Sidney Ponson to take up the last spot, and filling holes in their offense with garbage, last year's piranhas, or nothing at all. The Twins, this early in the season, have struggled against some of the worst teams in the league, looking confident only against the Orioles and Mariners. When we hit, we strand those runners by not hitting again. Their pitchers are not dominating us, we're allowing ourselves to be dominated.

I don't claim to know who we'd trade for, or what we'd trade for, what triggers to pull or who to call up from the minors or trade away (though I would claim that sending Ortiz and Silva to the pitching-hungry Yanks might be a start--trade while the trading's good, though it's early). Perhaps The Twins're stuck, that they won't be able to pull any triggers until we get that new stadium. By then we'll be spending money just to keep the guys we've got now.

Ugh. Outside of Baltimore, that first, and now distant series, the vaunted Minnesota Twins, with the MVP, Cy Young winner, and Batting Champ, have done nothing but make the very bad look very, very good. Games like these make an already long season seem like eternity.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 25, 2007 6:41 PM | Comments (2)

 

Holy beef-a-Rooney!

Filed under: Soccer

I tried to cheer for Milan. The thought of an all English final makes me ill. All those insufferable Anglophiles at The Local and Brit's is too much to contemplate. I splurged on a $7 bottle of chianti, heated up some delicious Chef Boyardee Cheesy Nacho Twistaroni, and watched highlight footage of the great Gilardino on the internets.

And thanks to their brilliant, waifish Brazilian Kaka (that second goal!), the diving wankers did me proud in the first half, outplaying Manchester and jumping to a 2-1 lead. But then in typical Italian fashion they proceeded to shit all over the second half of the game. Didn't bother trying to score. Just hunkered down and prayed that the Pope would erase the final 45 minutes from the clock.

Thankfully it didn't work. Despite suffering sufficient injuries to staff the best 7-v-7 side in the world, Manchester kept at it. Darren Fletcher and Patrice Evra were valiant. The Great Wayne Rooney won it in stoppage time. Should be a fantastic return leg in Milan. Highlights in Arabic (maybe? Turkish? Hell if I know) here:

Posted by Paul Demko at April 25, 2007 8:35 AM | Comments (2)

 

The Ace Makers

Filed under: Twins

For the third game in a row, the Twins proceeded to take another very human pitcher and make him appear like future Cy Young winner. I don't know if this is a part of some kind of program to restore the self-esteem of opposing pitchers, but it seems to work wonders on these guys. Tonight the papier mache hero was one Fausto Carmona. Considering his first name, one might assume that he sold his soul for tonight's 5-3 victory, were this not becoming a regular occurrence.

Last year, Fausto was up and down like a yo-yo, being a starter, a closer, and a starter again when he blew three saves. This year, he's lost two and came into the game with a 6.97 ERA. The Cleveland Indians rotation was undoubtedly set awhile ago, but we had to feel confident with Carmona versus Santana, right?

Wrong. Again, the Twins hacked and hacked and hacked away, allowing young Mr. Carmona to throw but 81 pitches through 7 frames, running the count fatter in that last 2/3 inning (when he gave up 15--his second highest total of the night). Young Fausto looked great out there, giving up only two runs, both in the fourth, and having the confident look of a man in complete control. Our ace, Johan Santana, seemed merely human, fraught by a bug, perhaps, or suffering from some acute melancholy. Perhaps he's musing too much about his performance in his advertisement for the team, or wondering if there's more to life than just baseball. Whatever the reason, he seemed merely human this evening, and now has his second home loss in as many games after going almost two seasons without one.

What is going on with these Twins? Hell if I know. They're playing like my old softball club, lunging at bad pitches and then, in Torii's case, stretching hits into easy outs at second. With two outs in the second, Torii laced a single to center, a bit of movement on it, not an easy play to be sure. But Torii, who tried this successfully last night, was out by city mile. "It's not worth it if they catch him half the time," grumbled a colleague. He's right.

As for the rest of the Twins, there were a number of baffling plays: With the Tribe's Victor Martinez on third, Trot Nixon sent a bounding ball to Alexi Casilla. Martinez didn't wait, but bolted for home. The problem was that Casilla waited, slapping the ball in his glove once, then twice, before throwing home and allowing the run to score and every other Indian to stand safely on their bag.

The Twins didn't strand too many runners, but then again they're not getting on base. Only one Twin ran the count full on against Carmona, and the rest saw no more than four per at-bat through the first three innings.

Add to this Torii's mistake, Johan's two hit batsmen, Nick Punto's continued insistence on diving headlong into first (successfully, though I'm still not convinced that that is any faster; I am convinced that it is more conducive to injury), and the Twins look more like a team interested in empty posturing than winning games.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 24, 2007 7:00 PM | Comments (0)

 

Here Comes the Night

Filed under: Twins

God, is there anything more depressing in professional sports than that one lone guy booing in the twelfth inning of a losing game? That one soul who's still trying to rouse the six people left in his section, maybe trying to rally himself for the long drive home, maybe a dedicated follower of primal scream therapy. By the time Joe Nathan walked Cleveland's Jhonny Peralta to load the bases in the twelfth, probably five thousand long-suffering (and now utterly sober) fans were left scratching the scruff on their chins and wondering why they were still glued to their seats. Yeah, the home team gets its at-bat, sure. But then Shin-Soo Choo, who'd gone 0-4 over the last four hours, squeaked a hit past Nathan's outstretched glove and drove in two more. What had been a barely reachable 5-3 contest became a 7-3 blowout. If a miracle was going to occur, it certainly wouldn't have many witnesses.

I don't know what got into both teams tonight. Look at the Indians, for Christ's sake. For the love of God, it seemed like they were primed to feast on Carlos Silva. Check out these pre-game numbers: the top four hitters in the Indians line-up had, in the past, made mincemeat of our pitcher of choice. Grady Sizemore was hitting .500 in 44 at-bats; Casey Blake .368 in 38; Travis Hafner .394 in 33; and Victor Martinez .500 in 26. Those are all numbers against Carlos Silva. It's his turn in the rotation, but I bet there were some butterflies in the stomachs of the local nine. That foursome had 8 homers and 70 hits in all those at-bats, combined. But after eleven innings, the Indians and their vaunted lineup had but three runs to show for these portents. Silva held his own until a pesky fifth inning, when he coughed up three runs when Blake and Hafner reached with a pair of singles and Martinez blasted a home run, which is often his want. But I'll take only three runs from our starter. If we could give him some runs back, that's one in the win column.

As on Sunday, one of our starters gave up just three runs that we couldn't beat. Torii was game, stretching a single into a double in the second inning, and then standing there and watching Cuddyer and Morneau pop up. In the third, poor Jason Bartlett whacked a nice double down the third base line, and then was doubled up on a soft liner to the shortstop--an utterly impossible, hard luck play in which Mr. Peralta stood on second and reached out and caught the liner for an automatic double play. Like life in the hall of mirrors, the fourth opened with two base hits and resulted in no runs. It seemed like we were going around and around, unable to escape this hell.

You could say that the Twins wouldn't give up, that they kept themselves in the game with their pitching, until finally they scratched out three to tie it up in the seventh. Torii lifted a home run after taking the utterly effective Jeremy Sowers (who counts Minneapolis as his favorite town on the road, and no wonder the way we play) to a full count. As if to give the Twins marketing department some highlights, Kubel and Bartlett were on with a pair of hits, and Alexi Casilla doubled to send them home and tie the game.

But after that the Indians allowed just one baserunner in the remaining five innings. Our late scoring rally, the one that tied it up in the seventh, gave the illusion that we could possibly win this thing. Up we came, bats ready, and then down we sat, stifled. Eventually, the twelfth inning arrived, the first four Indians scored, and that, as they say, was that. Only the utterly faithful, the cynical, self-hating baseball fan was left, and probably would be wondering the next day why, oh, why they waited until this evening came crashing down on them. Traffic? Sobering up? Probably they were raised that way. My family would just as soon drink lye than leave a game early. Tonight, I'm not sure which is worse.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 23, 2007 6:41 PM | Comments (1)

 

The Monterrey Kid Spoils the Day

Filed under: Twins

Against a backdrop of empty seats, seemingly undistracted by the ignominy of hot dog wrappers tumbling at his feet, the Royals' Jorge De La Rosa shut down the Twins through eight strong innings, giving up but one run against five hits. This young wayfarer is no stranger to baseball, having come up from Monterrey (home of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame) and spending time in the Diamondbacks and Red Sox organizations before trudging through three seasons with two woebegone Midwestern clubs, the Milwaukee Brewers and now the Royals (he came to Kansas City last season). Already this year he's shut down the Tigers once, and might be sitting on a gaudy 4-0 record if the offensive half of his team would get the job done once in awhile (he gave up four runs in a loss and a no-decision to the Blue Jays and Tigers, respectively). Today, the Royals hitters were just good enough, in the Twins 3-1 loss.

As a Royals fan, celebrating a series win against a team predicted to hit the playoffs is probably all you can hope for this year. That your club--the Royals today, the Devil Rays, Mariners, Orioles and whoever else fails to meet expectations--will send a division- or wild card leader tumbling out of contention. The Royals, you might recall, fought valiantly against the Tigers in September of last year, sweeping three games and taking away their division title on the very last day (and after a pair of incredible comebacks). Perhaps this September, when the Twins miss the playoffs by one game, we'll look back on this afternoon's contest with a grimace.

For this was a game that might have been won with some patience. De La Rosa began the thing shaky. The Twins pounced on him right away, when Punto and Mauer both cracked hits and Cuddyer walked, loading the bases with one out and the reigning MVP at the plate. But De La Rosa was nonplussed. He struck Morneau out on four pitches and Torii drove the first pitch deep into center field... but not deep enough. No more jam.

Did I mention that this was the first inning? You should know that De La Rosa retired sixteen straight after that.

How our own Ramon Diogenes Ortiz, The Barber of Cotui, The Cynic, who sat on a 3-0 record and a 2.48 record at the dawn of this Sunday, must have stared in disbelief as he tried--and succeeded, really--to keep the Twins in the game. The wind was on his side, blowing baseballs out toward the fences, which is good for long-ball hitters like Cuddyer and Morneau and Hunter (and groundball pitchers like Ortiz), and doesn't hurt a pitcher who can get them to ground out. Sure, he gave up a two-run home run in the third, to Ross Gload, 'way out to center. And got out of that inning with only a two-run deficit, stranding a pair as well. What more can a journeyman pitcher do? The Twins have some power, can manufacture runs, they say, and all-in-all Ortiz gave up but three runs. And earned a loss.

Watching the game on the telly, I recall hearing Blyleven notice that the Twins were hitting pitches right away--bad news against De La Rosa, who's noted for his wildness. That sounds par for the course in beating the Detroit Tigers I've come to known and love these past two seasons, a free swingin', low-walkin' club if ever there was one. But the Twins play this small-ball, tiny-bitey piranha thing, and when no one, not one single Twin, runs the count full, well, you'll get beat by a guy like De La Rosa. You won't see good pitches to hack. Seven Twins were out on the first pitch, and six of those were fly outs (De La Rosa had but seven ground-outs). Wait for it, boys, make him throw, make him walk some, then make him toss a pitch or two into the heart of the plate and then smack him around. The Twins today appeared utterly flummoxed.

In this division, and during this difficult year, we need to take as many games as we can from the likes of Kansas City. Granted, you can't win them all in this long summer, but taking two of three against the lowly Royals (who won their first series this season) is absolutely essential. For the Royals, they're busy just watching the kids grow and hopefully get better, en route to a .500 season in the year 2010. But the Twins are hoping to raise the pennant now--to do that, they can't waste performances like Ortiz' today, nor refuse to wait for walks.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 22, 2007 3:48 PM | Comments (0)

 

Blue blood in the blue blue grass

The big news out of Kentucky this week is that Queen Elizabeth is coming to the Kentucky Derby in two weeks. People everywhere with no sense of reality are all abuzz because this highly inbred woman with no real appreciable skills at anything has decided to use a portion of her enormous wealth derived from centuries of abuse of normal people like you and me, to come to America for 6 days and waltz around for photographers. I once read a story about her that said as a girl, she was given cookies if she could space out her bowel movements such that she only took one when she awoke, and one before she went to bed. Indeed. Royalty. There's nothing more useless on earth than someone who claims to be or is actually certified as "royalty." When some idiot points out their charitable works, it really chaps my ass, because the money wasn't theirs to begin with, so they should be giving it back. The entire royal family of Great Britain should be thrown out into the streets and required to make down payments and take out mortgages on their castles and servants. What a fucking joke.

Beyond that, there was one last tune-up for the Derby that Demko missed, the Lexington Stakes from the worthless polytrack of Keeneland. At the post of this misbegotten trot, everyone was interviewing D. Wayne Lukas and reliving the good old days when Charismatic won this race, then the Derby two weeks later. They were fellating his horse, Starbase, and asking him whether lightning could strike twice. But lightning is a strange old bird, and leaves split tree trunks and scorched earth everywhere it goes. All the big money was going into Belgravia, Soaring By and Joe Got Even; all 3 horses ate shit and were no factor in the race or the money. Robbie Albarado, who will pilot current favorite Curlin at Churchill Downs in two weeks whipped something called Slew's Tizzy--who went off at 40-1--around both turns in a reasonable 1:43 and change, wire to wire, ahead of Starbase and Forty Grams. It was a normal race, and it really makes me question what happened last week at the Blue Grass, a horrible race from start to finish, and a real thorn in the sides of miserable gamblers, like Demko. So all that wisdom that Beyer spouted about polytrack last week is either bullshit, or is vulnerable to speed freaks, which might make Slew's Tizzy a new favorite to set the pace. If you bet $2 on the Trifecta in this run, you were rewarded with $14,000 on the backside, so the afternoon wasn't a total loss for some.

In the next two weeks, it will be time for some heavy number crunching, followed by a foolish bet made 3 minutes to post, based on nothing in particular. Stay tuned.

Posted by Jack Sparks at April 21, 2007 6:41 PM | Comments (1)

 

Another Vikings stadium design unveiled

Filed under: Vikings

Yesterday, the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission (MSFC) reviewed plans for redeveloping the site of the Metrodome as a multi-use, retractable-roof behemoth for the Minnesota Vikings. The ROMA Design Group unveiled a $954 million facility that would supposedly anchor a mixed-use redevelopment of the eastern edge of downtown, and would include a light rail train station, a plaza, and streetscapes connecting downtown to the river. In a story posted at Vikings.com, Roy Terwilliger, Chairman of the MSFC, declared, "Today, we saw a vision for what can be next—a world-class, retractable-roof stadium that can make Minnesota a year-round host to major events—and a driver for development that enhances our quality of life. We have the opportunity to secure the benefits of an NFL franchise and those of a year-round, multi-use facility for the next 30 years."

A graph on the website shows the facility's price tag to be similar to a stadium project in development in Dallas ($932 million for a retractable roof stadium), but significantly lower than a proposal for New York City ($1.7 billion for a new open-air stadium). The cost of acquiring additional land is estimated at $8.89 million and construction of the retractable roof portion of the stadium would cost $200 million. SRF Consulting Group has noted redeveloping the current site would save hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure costs that would incur if a suburban location were chosen. Two designs from ROMA are posted below:

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 20, 2007 1:48 PM | Comments (2)

 

Squeak! Squeak!

Filed under: Twins

According to a variety of sources (I did not travel to Seattle to watch these games, nor watch them on the cable I don't get), the Twins took the third game in a three game set against the Mariners by playing small-ball. Amazingly (to this writer), the Twins haven't swept Seattle since 1996. That's over eleven seasons, for God's sake. Compare that '96 Mariners squad to that year's Twins, and consider some of the lousy teams the M's have fielded in just the last three years, and, wow, that's one bizarre statistic. Then again, with the imbalanced schedule, we don't get an opportunity to play teams outside the division, so maybe that skewers the whole thing.

The Twins edged Seattle 5-4 on Friday. There was a small-ball carnival in the lucky seventh inning, beginning with three bunts in a row by our fishy friends (Bartlett, Casilla and Castillo) followed by a booming Michael Cuddyer double and a single by Mike Redmond. Behold, like candy spilling from a pinata, it's 5-1. With Santana holding his own, and our ace relief staff on the line, the game should have been sewn up, yes? No.

Joe Nathan, lately shaky, wasn't going to pitch at all, what with that four-run lead and submarining Pat Neshek on the hill. But Neshek was a bit off on his game, perhaps feeling groggy from West Coast time, from the afternoon game, from staring intently at the totem poles in downtown Seattle. He gave up three runs on a blast by one Mr. Raul Ibanez, and suddenly it was a one-run game. In comes Joe Nathan, who would have been perfectly effective were it not for a long fly ball, a sure out, that was lost in the cruel sun. It dropped in front of Cuddyer and leaving Richie Sexon standing on second (Quote of the day: "These 3:30 games don't make much sense to me," said Mr. Cuddyer. So much for "Let's play two!") Finally, Nathan ended the game on a Jose Guillen strikeout. Whew.

Now I've been known to criticize the use of bunts in the past, especially coming off the bat of Joe Mauer (and in his case, I'll continue to grump despite decent arguments to the contrary by one Twins Geek, whose points I still consider incorrect. But, man, that guy knows how to throw statistics around...) In any case, the Twins blew a couple of scoring opportunities from their big bats. In the third inning, with runners on second and third and one out, Cuddyer popped foul and Morneau couldn't get the ball out of the infield. In the fourth, Redmond opened the frame with a double, made it to third with only one out, then stood that ninety feet away and twiddled his thumbs while the next pair of Twins couldn't even hit a pop fly far enough to score him. Then in the fifth, Luis Castillo doubled to get things started, and after Nicky Punto grounded out to the shortstop (thus failing to get Castillo over--not a small-ball way of moving runners, to be sure) and Joe Mauer was hit by a pitch, now again you have people in scoring position. And Cuddyer and Morneau as the next two batters. And again, for the third straight inning, these guys failed to score.

But Seattle is Seattle, a better team than last year, and in this brutal sport of 162 games, you take any and all victories, no matter how ugly they might be. At this point, the Twins are doing things right--going 4-0 in one-run games is a great start. Small ball is perfect, folks, especially if it's just a matter of being there when the big bats are quieted.

...

A feat that always amazes me is the 35-5 start by the Detroit Tigers in 1984. You can keep your 56 game hitting streak (unbelievable for sure), but will any team ever eclipse, or even tie, that 40 game record? With one fourth of the season down, that year's Tigers were thirty games over .500 and could lose half their games from then on and still win 95 (they ended up winning 104--with the third best record in the American League after that. Toronto and New York fared better in the remaining 120 contests, but, as Sparky said, "you gotta count the whole season.")

Having grown up in Michigan, I'm an old, dyed-in-the-wool Tigers fan, but this is still one hell of a record. For instance, no team has played more than 16 games this year, and only one club has an opportunity to beat the '84 Tigers, and that's the Mets, sitting today at 10-4. Meaning, of course (this is simple, non-SABR math), that the Mets need to go 25-1 in order to tie the Tigers of that incredible year . I'm convinced that no team will ever break this record, but I'd be happy to entertain algorithm and other mathematical feats to prove me wrong. I think it was Stephen J. Gould who proved that DiMaggio's streak is so crazy as to never be beaten; could this one be the same?

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 20, 2007 7:15 AM | Comments (1)

 

Thunder start season with southern swing

Filed under: Soccer

The Minnesota Thunder open their 2007 campaign against the Charleston Battery tomorrow evening at 7 p.m. (CST). The game will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel. The Thunder will then travel north to face the Carolina Railhawks on Saturday.

After a brutal 2006 season, finishing tied for last with a 7-15-6 record, the team's roster has been substantially overhauled. Fewer than half of last year's players will return for coach Amos Magee's second season.

Among the key returnees will be veteran goalkeeper Joe Warren, defensive midfielder Freddy Juarez, and central playmaker Godfrey Tenoff. Ansu Toure, who tallied four goals in just ten matches last season (and nearly secured a roster spot with the New York Red Bulls), will likely be more prominently featured in the attack. Diminutive striker Leo Gibson also looks poised for a breakout season.

Tougher to gage is the impact that the team's newcomers will have on the field. Potentially the most exciting addition is striker Rodrigo Hidalgo. The 19-year-old Colombia native has spent time with various U.S. youth national teams and was a standout at the University of South Florida for three seasons before leaving to try his luck overseas. Unfortunately a tryout with Irish club Bohemians ended prematurely after Hidalgo volunteered to play 'keeper during a match. The end result: a missing tooth, a broken nose, and 22 stitches on the inside of his mouth. For a swell primer on Hidalgo's tumultuous upbringing, see this 2005 St. Pete Times story.

Other intriguing newcomers include 6'4" Japanese target forward Keisuke Ota (who is yet to join the team owing to visa issues), and 19-year-old midfielder Lencho Skibba, a native of Ethiopia who has spent time with German club Alemania Aachen's youth side.

Defense looks to be the team's primary liability heading into the opener. The team's travel roster lists just four primary defenders for the two game road trip. Alfredo Esteves and Kevin Taylor are sidelined with injuries, while Jonathan Greenfield will be playing in Saturday's MISL championship game for Detroit. Newcomer Derek Smith should immediately get to prove his worth (or lack thereof) in central defense.

One other promising change for 2007: Minnesota soccer legend Manny Lagos will be working more closely with Magee on the sidelines.

As always, Blue Sky Soccer is the definitive source for Thunder news.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 19, 2007 1:06 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fine feathered fiends

Filed under: Wild

Exhibit A on why we need players like Derek Boogaard

Our recent cover story on hockey fighting sparked a debate about why the NHL continues to tolerate fisticuffs. Some even went so far as to suggest it was racist, since fighting is heavily penalized in African American-dominated sports such as basketball, but earns just a short stay in the penalty box in the majority-white NHL.

But anybody wondering whether fighting serves a legitimate purpose in hockey need look no further than Game 4 of the Wild's playoff game against the referees the Mighty Ducks.

After the Wild went up 4-1 in the third period, the game began to resemble a streetfight more than an organized sport. Wild defenseman Brent Burns (above) admirably showed up for his second scrap of the series, thoroughly trouncing the overmatched Corey Perry.

Then all hell broke loose.

With less than two minutes to play in the all-but-decided game, the refs lost control and the Ducks decided to take out their frustrations via cheap shots and sucker punches. Ducks left winger Shawn Thorton was the third man in during a fight between teammate Kent Huskins and the Wild's Adam Hall. While the cowardly Ducks were going two-on-one with Hull, Anaheim agitator (read: chickenshit) Brad May cold cocked Wild pacifist Kim Johnsson, who'd done nothing to provoke the blindside attack. Johnsson collapsed to the ice with a head injury in what was a scary moment for the home crowd, which had earlier made its feelings about the piss poor officiating with a rousing chorus of "bullshit."

The jeers turned to cheers when Coach Jacques Lemaire took action where the refs would not, sending Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard onto the ice to restore order. Showing their yellow bellies, the Ducks ducked and covered, refusing to engage the Boogeyman and finishing the game in a defensive crouch. Afterwards, Boogaard made his feelings clear.

"Brad May is supposed to be a tough guy and everybody sits there and says he's one of the toughest guys in the league," Boogaard said. "I don't think tough guys go around suckering guys that don't fight. If he deserves respect and does stuff like that, he's not going to get respect in this series... if he even plays again. He's done for the rest of the playoffs as far as I'm concerned."

Which is to say there's a lot of bad blood that might be spilled on the ice tonight during Game 5, which starts at 9:30 p.m. in Anaheim. The Ducks better come prepared to drop the gloves and fight like men, because the Boogeyman certainly is.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 19, 2007 10:59 AM | Comments (3)

 

Goodbyes

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel

When the season began, I thought there would be no way that the Timberwolves could have a worse season then last year. With the additions of Mike James, and rookies Randy Foye and Craig Smith, they would surely be closer to fighting for a playoff berth.

Yet, with last night's loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota ended their 2006-07 season with one less loss then last year... and with more questions then ever before.

Will Randy Wittman, who has acquired a 12-30 record since replacing Dwane Casey, really return next season as head coach? What has he done to deserve to keep his job?

Although Randy Foye showed glimpses of great play throughout the season, can he truly be an NBA point guard?

Will Craig Smith learn from his rookie year and find ways to continue his own growth as a solid role player for this team?

Can Rashad McCants fully heal over the summer and come back next year, ready to live up to expectations?

Will Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Marko Jaric, Bracey Wright, and Trenton Hassell even be on this team next year?

How can Glen Taylor afford to keep Kevin McHale employed?

...and, have we already seen Kevin Garnett's last game as a member of the Timberwolves?

Right now, nobody knows the answers to any of these questions. This off-season is obviously the most important in the history of the franchise as they must decide if they will trade their superstar or try to build around him one last time before his patience completely wears off.

Stay tuned, Wolves fans. This will either be an incredibly busy summer for this team or the silence will be deafening. A summer that brings the same team (along with the player chosen in the draft), will be the Timberwolves officially announcing that they do not care about the product they put out to the public.

We can only hope that the press conference Wednesday will be Kevin McHale finally announcing he is quitting. I'm won't hold my breath, but one can dream.

* * * * * *

It truly was a sad sight in the locker room after the game. Watching players give their final interviews, seeing the lockers being packed up for the summer and, of course, the absence of Kevin Garnett truly gave the finality of the moment. Players exchanged phone numbers, addresses and plans as to when they would hook up over the summer while filing out one by one, some not knowing if they would ever play together as teammates again.

At the very least, as I have stated all year, a vast majority of these players are friends off the court. The problem? Most are not friends with Kevin Garnett. Throughout the season, there was never a sense that Garnett himself was a member of this "team." He did his own thing, separate from the rest, leading by example on the court while allowing the dysfunction to continue off the court.

But, can you really blame him? After all, Kevin Garnett will go down as one of the greatest power forwards in the history of the NBA, his career is beginning to wind down and these are the best teammates that management can give him to work with?

* * * * * *

This is also a goodbye for me as this will be my final post for City Pages. I would like to thank City Pages for the opportunity and Corey Anderson for his faith and guidance. I have been allowed to continue my growth as a writer and am incredibly grateful.

I also would like to thank my readers. It is because of my relationship with you that I truly enjoy this opportunity that I have been given. You keep me on my toes, never letting me slide with half-assed work and let me know when you disagree with my takes. That is what is wonderful about sports. We all can watch the same thing, but depending on where you sit in the arena, how intently you watch on television or how rose-colored your glasses may be, we all have different thoughts and it has been wonderful to share mine with you and to hear yours.

As I now move on to another forum, I hope that you, my readers, will join me. Be assured that I will be around and if you truly want to find me, you know how to get in touch with me.

By Stephen Litel
Stephenwolvesguy22@hotmail.com

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 19, 2007 7:00 AM | Comments (4)

 

What Demko knows after the Blue Grass Stakes

Filed under: Horse Racing

The Blue Grass Stakes from Keeneland was the kind of race that would make you turn around and start scanning the box seats for a smiling John Gotti, smoking a cigar and shaking hands with his associates. Watching the horses down the backstretch in this garbage race, you couldn't help but think to yourself that the fix was in. Five jockeys had their donkeys out for a casual afternoon stroll and they were all going to wait until the quarter poll to turn it on. At the post, Street Sense was at even money and Great Hunter was 2nd at 9-5. And the horsey wizards were falling all over themselves after the race trying to convince everyone that's exactly how it would have played out, had the race not been "paceless," which is just paddock code for "everyone shook hands and agreed not to actually race their 'racehorses' until the backstretch."

They shouldn't do things like this to Demko, who in addition to being an absolutely unrepentant degenerate gambler, is also an investigative journalist, with a real hard-on for St. Paul City Hall. He would have been pounding on the jockey room door after this race shouting, "Chris Coleman couldn't hide from me, and neither will you bastards!"

My own heart is so full of hate, I want to scratch all of these horses off the list. Just in case you're scoring at home, in a photo finish, Dominican beat Street Sense and Zanjero. But what DID we learn, if anything? One...Dominican out-kicked the others, which might be of note; the Derby is the longest race any of these nags will have run, so late steam is a desirable trait. Two...Zanjero absolutely hogged the rail; he not only kept the rest of the field off the rail, he also took it over and ran it 3 or 4 wide down the stretch, forcing them all way to the outside. If he were to get a good post position, you might look at 2 or 3 horses next to him and wonder whether they're going to get aced out. Three...Polytrack takes the furtive adrenaline of a desperate bet based solely on self-loathing out of horse racing because it slows the race to a crawl. Four...The "pace" horse, Teuflesberg, ended up fourth, but it was a very strong fourth, and he might be a sexy pick for a Superfecta, if you have a gambling problem, like Demko. Five...Don't bet the mortgage on Street Sense or Great Hunter; a loser is a loser.

In other news, Curlin beat absolutely nobody by 10 1/2 lengths in the Arkansas Derby. When I get down to some heavy action on the Derby, I'll examine his times and Beyer numbers, but this horse has run against the equivalent of the race scene in "The Quiet Man:" he's beat all the neighbor horses in a Sunday race over brunch and Irish Whiskey.

Posted by Jack Sparks at April 17, 2007 11:40 AM | Comments (1)

 

There's Joy in The Mudville That is Tampa Bay...

Filed under: Twins

I am at an utter loss as to who would consider themselves a fan of the Tampa Bay Steve Irwin Killers. Granted, I'm not from Florida, but the people I know who make the Sunshine State their home usually follow other teams. Often, people will root for, say, the New York Yankees, catching a few spring training games here and there or heading to the other dome to watch the Rays get smacked. This hapless franchise, "celebrating" their tenth anniversary (and what memories those must be), must have some kid, somewhere in the bay area, cheering for 'em.

I imagine some suburban kid, picked on by Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans in his grade school, pasty-faced from too much time indoors and especially at Tropicana Field (what a cruel joke that is), keeping score and hoping against hope that the Rays will have a good season, someday. I imagine him at home this beautiful Sunday afternoon, ignoring the entreaties of his parents to do something productive for a change, like playing GameBoy or watching Animal Planet. But he refuses. And today, there's a brief burst of joy when his Rays split a four-game series against the heralded Twins, winning game four of the set 6-4. Look, look, he tells his indifferent parents, the Rays beat two of the finest pitchers in baseball! Who woulda thunk they'd hand Johann Santana his first loss at home in twenty four games, and Joe Nathan his first loss since '05 and blown save since sometime last year (and no, I don't know what game he blew--you tell me). Our boy will cling to some futile hope that perhaps these guys can actually compete this year. His innocence is not yet lost.

The Devil Rays are just the kind of club that forces fans to seek the small blessings in life, and today they were there in this close game. The Rays fell behind early, when Cuddyer singled and Morneau cracked a double and then Torii grounded out to send Cuddy home easily. The Rays were trying at least, stealing twice in the first two innings, getting nabbed both times (in part due to heads-up playing by both Mike Redmond and Jason Bartlett, the latter keeping his planted feet in the way of both runners). The Rays wouldn't score until the fifth, when Mr. Dioner Navarro scored on a Jonny Gomes single to tie the game. And so our Florida fan's eyes widen, only to watch the Twins go ahead in the bottom half of the same inning.

Down 2-1, the Rays reward his faith: Boof was hit hard in the sixth inning, that frame opening with a Brendan Harris solo homer in right field. Three batters later comes yet another blast, this time a Delmon Young two-run shot that took the score to 4-2. The Twins were doing their level best to comply, giving our mystery kid a new hero in Jae Seo, the South Korean pitcher who thus far was sitting on a fat 9.64 era but kept the Twins bats cold.

Sure, the Twins came back to tie the game in the seventh. In that inning, Torii Hunter, wearing the sacred number 42, seemingly conjured up the spirit of Jackie Robinson and raced from first on a Jason Kubel double, sliding under the tag of catcher Dioner Navarro. It was spectacular, and later, Jason Bartlett, who went 3 for 3, sent Kubel home with a nice hot single. This kept Boof from taking a loss--he actually looked very good, striking out eight, four on nasty curves that broke perfectly.

But the Rays didn't give up, knowing that somewhere, some kid was watching, and just praying for his team to win just once so he could go to school on Monday without getting tormented by his bandwagon schoolmates in their Mets garb. The Rays were patient today, biding their time until the ninth, when they appeared utterly unimpressed by the normally masterful Joe Nathan (who really hasn't been up to his usual speed thus far). Akinori Iwamura, Dioner Navarro, and Carlos Pena--their sixth, seventh and eighth batters--hit two doubles and a single, respectively, to go ahead 6-4, which would be the final score of the game. Take that, predicted-to-be-first-place Twins!

This was a contest between two teams that play in domes, but two teams of such contrasting fortunes it's depressing. We've got a stadium underway and a number of good years. The Rays have... well, they have virtually nothing to show for ten years of play. But this is baseball, and in baseball a team as perpetually lousy as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays can still beat a team as good as the Twins.

This year's Rays are a fascinating bunch, some good hitters and near-awful pitchers, and a bunch of bizarre cases. Aside from their unpleasurable losing ways (they can't even channel the good feeling of the Senators, Mets or Cubs in their inability to win), the Devil Rays carry some baggage. One of the players, Johnny Gomes, has suffered a heart attack and wears the initials of a deceased friend on his skin. The catcher, Dioner Navarro, wears the number 30 to commemorate September 30, the day his wife "was supposed to die" from a brain hemorrhage. She didn't, thank God, but eesh, what a story.

I bring all this up because, frankly, while I can't feel sorry for anyone who plays baseball for this much money (and who will, if they're any good, end up with another club), there are the suffering fans out there who deserve better. Who want a home-town club that wins once in awhile, for Gosh sakes! Now, I didn't want The Rays to beat us, but Jesus, that kid who grows up in the sunshiny wasteland of Tampa Bay and has to sit through season after season looking at the aqua-marine walls and hanging on news like Lou Piniella becoming the manager has to get a bit bent over time, or at least a little cynical. Makes you wonder what would've happened had the Giants left San Francisco for the bay all those years ago. Perhaps Barry Bonds would be chasing his record in Tampa Bay.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 15, 2007 1:46 PM | Comments (1)

 

If You Can Change Baseball, You Can Change America

Filed under: MLB

As you ought to know by now, today, April 15, marks the sixtieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the end of the color barrier in Major League Baseball. To mark this stirring occasion, I had the good fortune to speak with Lester Rodney yesterday by phone. Rodney, for the many of you not in the know, is the former sportswriter with New York's Daily Worker. The Daily Worker was the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of America and Rodney is one of the nearly-forgotten principals involved in the integration of baseball. At age 85, Rodney is one of the last living men to have witnessed the debut from the press box (the AP's Jim Becker is the other survivor). In the past few years, he's been in the news quite a bit, finally having his due in the form of a biography (Press Box Red) and being inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals.

CP: Not too many people know about your influence with breaking the color barrier in baseball. But The Daily Worker was actually quite instrumental.

Rodney: Well, from the moment I started, in August of 1936, we immediately went after the problem of segregation in baseball. You have to remember, The Worker didn't have a sports page until I started one. And it was overwhelming to me that no one--no one!--in any paper other than the black newspapers (most of which were weeklies and therefore had limited space and influence) were covering this story. In fact, The New York Times didn't even mention Robinson until the fourth paragraph of their article, and it didn't even merit a mention on the front page.

But I couldn't make segregation the only subject of this section, though I wanted to. No, I had to write about sports in general as well.

CP: Did you have any difficulty in the press booth when you started? It strikes me that those guys were fairly conservative.

Rodney: It took a few months. At first they just let me into the press box, sitting in the back row. I couldn't belong to the BBWAA (The Base Ball Writers Association of America) until they saw I saw I could actually cover baseball. No one spoke to me, but it wasn't really a cold shoulder. After a while I gained credibility. People came to know me first as a sportswriter--and a good one, if I do say so myself--and the abstraction of being a communist fell away. Soon, I was accepted just like any other writer.

CP: What was that opening day like? Jackie Robinson's first day?

Rodney: I remember it as a cloudy April day. Some people assume there was this happy, celebratory mood, but there wasn't. The press didn't treat it in any way historically--we had a headline, as did the black newspapers, of course--but the crowds were very subdued. Of course, Branch Rickey went around to the leaders of the black churches and told their flocks that they had to "act properly"--which may have had an impact on the crowds.

There was certainly a consciousness hovering over the players. There wasn't any normal bantering you find between players in that Dodger dugout and on the field.

One thing I clearly remember was there in the first inning, when Jackie came out to first base and this boy, a teenager, I think, "Let's Go, Jackie!" He had this piping voice, and it echoed across that subdued crowd.

CP: And what do think of all the tributes we're seeing today?

Rodney: Well, I'm surprised. I thought that after the 50th anniversary the interest would die down and possibly even vanish. But this is larger even than ten years ago.

1947 was a remarkable season. He changed people over the course of that season, and of course over his career. I think of Carl Furillo, who didn't like the idea of playing with Jackie at first. Well, over the season, the abstraction of Jackie's being a black man wore off--it's difficult for a man to consider another man inferior when he is, in fact, so superior at the thing that you do best. And that was baseball.

One thing I'd like to leave you with is this, a thing that frankly I'm ashamed about. Why didn't the Dodgers, after Jackie's having been with them for ten years, not hire him as a coach? Can you imagine Jackie as a manager or coach? He was brilliant, he had a brilliant baseball mind. The only reason I can think of for his not being a coach was that he was too militant, he never kept his thoughts to himself when he felt there was injustice. Jackie refused to go to an old timers game between the Dodgers and the Yankees because he was upset about the opportunities for African-Americans in managerial and coaching positions. No one brought this up. Including me, and I feel bad about that.

Jackie Robinson is a true American hero--he ought to have a statue in Washington, D.C. as far as I'm concerned. People can't fathom how it was back then. Look at a guy like Josh Gibson. One of, if not the, greatest ballplayer, a right-handed Babe Ruth. Now, my daughter's a Giants fan, and she loves Barry Bonds. I tell her, imagine if Barry wasn't allowed to play? And that all his achievement were considered rumor or conjecture? It's unbelievable. Jackie proved that if you can change baseball, you can change America. As you ought to know by now, today, April 15, marks the sixtieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the end of the color barrier in Major League Baseball. To mark this stirring occassion, I had the good fortune to speak with Lester Rodney yesterday by phone. Rodney, for the many of you not in the know, is the former sportswriter with New York's Daily Worker--the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of America and one of the nearly-forgotten principals involved in the integration of baseball. At age 85, Rodney is one of the last living men to have witnessed the debut from the press box (the AP's Jim Becker is the other survivor). In the past few years, he's been in the news quite a bit, finally having his due in the form of a biography (Press Box Red) and being inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals.

CP: Not too many people know about your influence with breaking the color barrier in baseball. But The Daily Worker was actually quite instrumental.

Rodney: Well, from the moment I started, in August of 1936, we immediately went after the problem of segregation in baseball. You have to remember, The Worker didn't have a sports page until I started one. And it was overwhelming to me that no one--no one!--in any paper other than the black newspapers--most of which were weeklies and therefore had limited space and influence--were covering this story.

But I couldn't make it the only subject of this section, though I wanted to. No, I had to write about sports in general as well.

CP: Did you have any difficulty in the press booth when you started? It strikes me that those guys were fairly conservative.

Rodney: It took a few months. At first they just let me into the press box, sitting in the back row. I couldn't belong to the BBWAA (The Base Ball Writes Association of America) and no one spoke to me, but it wasn't really a cold shoulder. But after a while I gained credibility. People came to know me first as a sportswriter--and a good one, if I do say so myself--and the abstraction of being a communist fell away. Soon, I was accepted just like any other writer.

CP: What was that opening day like? Jackie Robinson's first day?

Rodney: I remember it as a cloudy April day. Some people assume there was thsi happy, celebratory mood, but there wasn't. The press didn't treat it in any way historically--we had a headline, as did the black newspapers, of course--but the crowds were very subdued. Of course, Branch Rickey went around to the leaders of the black churches and told their flocks that they had to "act properly"--which may have had an impact on the crowds.

There was certainly a consciousness hovering over the players. There wasn't any normal bantering you find between players in that Dodger dugout and on the field.

One thing I clearly remember was there in the first inning, when Jackie came out to first base and this boy, a teenager, I think, "Let's Go, Jackie!" He had this piping voice, and it echoed across that subdued crowd.

CP: And what do think of all the tributes we're seeing today.

Rodney: Well, I'm surprised. I thought that after the 50th anniversary the interest would die down and possibly even vanish. But this is larger even than ten years ago.

That was a remarkable season. He changed people over the course of that season, and of course over his career. I think of Carl Furillo, who didn't like the idea of playing with Jackie at first. Well, over the season, the abstraction of Jackie's being a black man wore off--it's difficult for a man to consider another man inferior when he is, in fact, so superior at the thing that you do best. And that was baseball.

One thing I'd like to leave you with is this thing, that frankly I'm ashamed about. Why didn't the Dodgers, after Jackie's having been with them for ten years, not hire him as a coach. Can you imagine Jackie as a manager or coach? He was brilliant, he had a brilliant baseball mind. The only reason I can think of for his not being a coach was that he was too militant, he never kept his thoughts to himself when he felt there was injustice. Jackie refused to go to an old timers game between the Dodgers and the Yankees because he was upset about the opportunities for African-Americans in managerial and coaching positions. No one brought this up. Including me.

Jackie Robinson is a true American hero--he ought to have a statue in Washington, D.C. as far as I'm concerned. People can't fathom how it was back then. Look at a guy like Josh Gibson. One of the greatest, if not the greatest ballplayer in history, a right-handed Babe Ruth. Now, my daughter's a Giants fan, and she loves Barry Bonds. I tell her, imagine if Barry wasn't allowed to play? And that all his achievement were considered rumor or conjecture? It's unbelievable. Jackie proved that if you can change baseball, you can change America.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 15, 2007 10:39 AM | Comments (3)

 

The Wild go Duck hunting

Filed under: Wild

NHL teams often bench their tough guys during playoffs, because the game is so much different than the regular season.

There's a sad irony in the fact that the guy who takes the lumps for his team day in and day out often doesn't share the glory of post-season play.

Last month, when I interviewed Wild Head Coach Jacques Lemaire for my cover story about Derek Boogaard, I asked if there was any chance The Boogeyman would see ice during the playoffs.

"If we play Anaheim, he will probably play," Lemaire said.

Evidently, Lemaire is a man of his word, because Boogaard took his regular shift last night in Game 1 against the Ducks.

The Boogeyman has his work cut out for him. Anaheim led the NHL in fighting majors with 71 this year—20 more than the next closest team—and has enough tough guys to start a street gang, led by 6-foot-5, 230-pound George Parros.

Meanwhile, the Wild has an Army of One.

Last night's game was a mixed bag for Boogaard. He took a penalty for charging early in the first period that swung momentum to the Ducks. But in the second period, the Boogeyman played disciplined hockey and drew a holding penalty that put the Wild on a power play right after they scored to go up 1-0.

Unfortunately, the Wild wasn't able to seize the advantage. That left the door open for the Ducks to eke out a 2-1 heartbreaker, despite the Dyson-like goalkeeping of Niklas Backstrom, who got run by his own teammate in the third to give Anaheim a cheap goal and a victory in Game 1.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played at Anaheim on Friday at 9:30 p.m.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 12, 2007 3:16 PM | Comments (0)

 

Are you ready for some futbol?

Filed under: Soccer

Tonight marks the debut of Thursday night MLS soccer on ESPN. I actually saw a commercial promoting the game during SportsCenter last night. The spot was insipid, but at least it's something. Smartly the first match will feature the best atmosphere in MLS, L.A.'s Home Depot Center. Hopefully the Riot Squad and other like-minded imbeciles will put on a good show for home viewers.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 12, 2007 3:09 PM | Comments (1)

 

Without offensive improvement, the Vikes could face a long, ugly season

Filed under: Vikings

The 2007 Minnesota Vikings schedule has been announced, and, at first glance, it looks like it could be an uphill battle all the way. Chicago looks to chew up the NFC North once again, including a Bears-Vikes match-up on Monday Nght Football in mid-December at the Metrodome. The Vikes will also face quality AFC West teams, including San Diego, Kansas City, and Denver. Add games against Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, and the New York Giants (who may not be great, but always seem to have our number) and it could be a pretty rocky season unless there's notable improvement in the receiver corps and at the quarterback position (Brooks? Tarvaris? Brady Quinn?). Tell me what you think!

2007 Vikings schedule after the jump...

Preseason
Friday, August 10 St. Louis Rams
Friday, August 17 at New York Jets
Saturday, August 25 at Seattle Seahawks
Thursday, August 30 Dallas Cowboys

Regular Season
Sunday, September 9 Atlanta Falcons
Sunday, September 16 at Detroit Lions
Sunday, September 23 at Kansas City Chiefs
Sunday, September 30 Green Bay Packers
Sunday, October 7 BYE
Sunday, October 14 at Chicago Bears
Sunday, October 21 at Dallas Cowboys
Sunday, October 28 Philadelphia Eagles
Sunday, November 4 San Diego Chargers
Sunday, November 11 at Green Bay Packers
Sunday, November 18 Oakland Raiders
Sunday, November 25 at New York Giants
Sunday, December 2 Detroit Lions
Sunday, December 9 at San Francisco 49ers
Monday, December 17 Chicago Bears
Sunday, December 23 Washington Redskins
Sunday, December 30 at Denver Broncos

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 12, 2007 11:48 AM | Comments (2)

 

Did a new fan miss their "KG" moment last night?

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel

As I made my way towards the Timberwolves locker room before the game, I noticed a gathering of people huddled around someone just outside the door. I stood in the back and moved around to see who it was and was rather surprised to see Kevin McHale fielding questions. This certainly grabbed my attention since McHale plays the role of the invisible man quite well.

When I moved closer, the first thing I heard was "... and he is not playing tonight." I whispered to Tom Hanneman, who was standing right next to me, "Who is he talking about?" When he answered with "KG," I just had to laugh. I stood there, listening and watching McHale blatantly lie to the media members' faces, although I know I should not expect anything less.

What is he going to say? "Yeah, we are doing everything in our power to tank the rest of our games. Therefore, we have decided that coming up with a bullshit story about an injury to Kevin Garnett would be our best course of action."

I just chuckled to myself as I walked away. All this comes days after Garnett himself said "I don't prepare every season to play 76, 70 games. If they want me to do that, then they'll have to come and ask me that themselves. But whenever I prepare, it's for 48-plus minutes. Nothing more. Nothing less than that. If they want to play the young guys and sit us down, then so be it, but tell me that ahead of time and be up front about it."

... and the Wolves didn't have the guts to change the scoreboard, revealing that Garnett was not playing, until 15 minutes before tip-off.

I had two friends at last night's game. My friend, Megan, was attending her first game of the season. My other friend in attendance, Jennifer, was at the game with both her husband and son. Jennifer's son could care less about the Timberwolves, but was excited for this game because he is a fan Dirk Nowitzki. He was not a happy little guy when I broke the news to him that Dirk did not even make the trip to the Twin Cities for this game, even though he is not injured.

In either situation, what a sad night that must have been. Megan battles the snowy weather to come to a game basically to support me. Jennifer, on the other hand, has been in attendance for other games, but is also treated with the same disrespect from the organization as Megan.

In either situation, the price of the ticket is largely due to promise of watching Kevin Garnett play the game in which he is a star. After such actions from the team to shut him down, whether they want to admit it or not, aren't my friends, along with any other fans at the Target Center entitled to a refund? Anyone who spent their hard-earned money on a ticket certainly did not expect to hand over their money, only to be followed with bad basketball and lies.

Driving home from the game, I thought back to an interview that I saw with the one and only Michael Jordan when he was still with the Bulls. The interviewer asked MJ why he never shut it down at the end of the season, even though his teams had wrapped up home court advantage throughout the playoffs. His answer was amazing.

"Each and every night, there is probably one person in the stands who is attending their first Bulls game. Who knows? For that one person, this may be the only chance they'll ever have for a 'Michael Jordan moment.' This may be the only time they get to ever see me play... so, I play for that person."

So, that is why I truly hope that Kevin Garnett is injured. I honestly hope that the fans were lied to last night by both McHale and Glen Taylor and they decided to shut Garnett down, not the other way around. Nobody should be surprised by the level of selfishness anymore on their end, but Garnett has always given everything he has to his fans. Don't tell me that if Kevin Garnett was healthy (or reasonably close to it) and wanted to play that McHale or Taylor could really do anything to stop him.

Otherwise, if Garnett has decided to join forces with the front office and be a part of a lie, he let that one person down tonight... and a lot of other people.

By Stephen Litel
Stephenwolvesguy22@hotmail.com

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 12, 2007 6:52 AM | Comments (3)

 

The Philosopher Takes the Mound

Filed under: Twins

Ramon Ortiz' middle name is Diogenes, and whether or not that was given to him by a great uncle with a love for ancient Greek philosophers, I don't know. But the Diogenes of the ages was famously a cynic, which is apropos for the beleaguered pitcher of record. For tonight this journeyman wasn't wicked with his fastball or suffering the Yankees with a sharp slider, but he was effective enough. Our man whiffed four, his 92 mph fastball hitting the corners the Yankees bats couldn't reach, or making them hit weak flies and grounders. Problem was, after seven and a half innings Ortiz had given up but three hits, and still the game was knotted at a single run.

Ramon Diogenes Ortiz, wandering from the Dominican Republic to Anaheim to Washington, D.C. to Cincinnati to Minnesota, a colder climate with every new stop. Look at him there on the mound, facing the batter, not intimidating but contemplative, as if struggling to figure out a new puzzle. Back home, the man's a barber, for Christ's sake, a profession to rival pitching for its emphasis on profound rumination and precise skill. Inning after inning, against these Yankees who have done nothing but bludgeon our pitching, Ortiz brushed corners and snipped bats and then sat in the dugout and waited, patiently, for the Twins to do their thing... or fail. Certainly, he hoped they would succeed, but Ortiz looks to be a man who does his best and accepts what fate has in store for him.

At first this looked to be a duel of two cynics, one without that sweet middle name. Mike Mussina worked two innings and did his level best to fool the Twins with his declining skills. But after surrendering a pair of solid hits from the bottom of the order (tonight Luis Rodriguez went two for four at the DH sport and Alexi Casilla went one for three while filling in at short), Mussina stopped and signaled for a medic, and he was out with a pulled left hamstring.

And so the Twins proceeded to make the Yankees Sean Henn look positively brilliant, just as they had Andy Pettitte and Carl Pavano before him. He kept us off home plate until the sixth inning when Nick Punto doubled and Joe Mauer bunted to sacrifice Nick to third.

I say that it must be frustrating for Ortiz to work in these conditions, without any breathing room whatsoever. I don't know how he feels about the bunt sacrifice, but another great thinker, Earl Weaver, once mused that the easiest way around the bases is with one swing of the bat. Even without referring to the wit and wisdom of that old soul, one has to wonder why you'd take the bat from Joe Mauer's hands. You could argue that the play worked, in that Punto made it to third and scored on Cuddyer's hit. But Punto was at second base, there was no chance for a rally-killing double-play, and Joe did crack thirteen homers last year, and did something like win a batting title.

Weaver also said that "if you play for one run, that's all you get."

In the sixth, despite a lead-off double and a base hit, that's all we got. One run.

So The Cynic took the mound again, allowed but one hit in the seventh and then shut down the Yankees in ten pitches in the eighth. And still the score was tied at one.

The Twins blew the game open in the eighth, Castillo walking on four straight Kyle Farnsworth pitches, stealing, and then watched four Twins hit three singles and double and suddenly it was 5-1. And Ramon Ortiz had his win, is 2-0 in as many starts with and leads all our starters with a 1.80 ERA.

So do we feel pity for a man playing Major League Baseball, earning his three plus million, not having to cut hair but doing it anyway, a man who will never have to struggle to make money ever again, yet someone who will have to struggle in this wicked game? If you're going to follow this sport, you have to accept both the money and the suffering of men like Ortiz. Look that face as it examines batter after batter. Tonight, The Cynic, Ramon Diogenes Ortiz waited and waited and waited. And this time, his patience was rewarded.

This Just Off the Wire:

Pitcher Glen Perkins was recalled from the Rochester Red Wings, where he'd had but one start, a no-decision and but one run in six innings. Catcher Chris Heintz was sent down to make room on the Twins roster. Perkins didn't start in his 5.2 innings last season (he gave up but one run for an almost identical ERA as he had in Rochester this year). Were the Twins hoping he'd add some oomph to an already oomphy relief staff, or is he already taking Ponson's spot (I can't imagine Boof going down). Or are they worried about Carlos Silva?

I suppose we'll know tomorrow. Though I don't know that I'd trust an outing against the Devil Rays to be an adequate reflection of anything...

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 11, 2007 7:01 PM | Comments (3)

 

As if Man U fans weren't already annoying enough

Filed under: Soccer

I had an inkling how the Roma-Manchester match was going to come out when I received the following text message around halftime from my friend Haggerty: "Glory, glory Man United." This was highly annoying for three reasons: 1. I was taping the game. 2. Text messaging is for 12-year-old girls. 3. There's no subset of mankind more insufferable than preening, self satisfied Man U fans.

Roma started well enough. They fired off three long-range shots that didn't particularly trouble Edwin Van der Sar, but at least put the home side on notice that they didn't plan to hunker down and attempt to hold on to their one-goal advantage. They also apparently didn't intend to play any defense.

United proceeded to strike three times in under ten minutes against the comical Roma defenders and the rout was on. In the end they put up a touchdown on the poor Italians. Watch the carnage here.

The only upside for Roma: that awesome mask that Cristian Chivu wears might prevent him from being recognized on the streets of Rome and beaten with a tire iron. Boy was he awful.

And oh yeah: Chelsea snuck past Valencia 2-1 on a 90th minute Michael Essien goal that most definitely should have been saved. Of course I failed to record this game.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 11, 2007 10:41 AM | Comments (6)

 

Yankhilles Heel?

Filed under: Twins

"Show me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man." --old Jesuit saying.

Only seven games, you tell yourself. Only seven games, and they're 4-3, still a winning record, bunched together in the middle of the Central Division, which means nothing so damned early. After all, it's April, and the season's long. You watch as the Yankees, the New York Yankees, who we fought to a draw last year (thus breaking what seemed like a curse) and this year we're already down by two in a year-long six game set. Not only that, we get blasted, 10-1 tonight, a football score of 18-3 over the pair of contests. You look at your scorecard and stare in utter disbelief. We still can't beat the Yankees? Worse, are we seeing portents of trouble? However you want to spin this thing, it still looks bad.

As if prompted by Twingo Night at the Dome, the visiting Yankees seemed to take to heart the idea that they ought to give the fans something to scratch onto their silly cards, more than just the usual defensive plays. As they did last night against Ponson, the Yankees went after Boof right away, and the results were similar. Derek Jeter did his part, sending a hard single into right (1b for you Twingo fans) and, two batters later, Alex Rodriguez, as if to shut up the loudmouths here and at home, blasted a 423 foot home run into left field (that's HR2 for your card).

Andy Pettitte wore his Mr. October crown in April, gazing at the Twins with that classic glare (and his eternal five o'clock shadow which makes him look like The Barber), one of the finest stare-downs in all of baseball history. Pettitte worked the Twins like they were rubes, and scattered four hits and a walk. None of which the Twins could do anything with apart from stand on base once in awhile. After the triumph in Baltimore, the Twins have hit a lousy .158 with runners in scoring position, and tonight went 1-3 (and that one came on Jason Kubel's pinch-hit single to score Justin Morneau to bring the Twins within six--that's cold comfort.) Overall, the team's well below the Mendoza line, .163 in these last four games.

Should I be worried that these four games were against good teams?

Oh, boy. You could sense early that it was going to be a long night, whether or not the Yankees started their usual fireworks, which eventually they unleashed with unrivaled joy. Still, though the Boof gave up another run in the second, when Melky Cabrera singled home Robinson Cano, the pitcher seemed in control enough to make the game close. Theoretically into a groove, Boof sailed through the next two innings without allowing a baserunner.

Since I've already mentioned that the score was a dismal 10-1, you know disaster looms around the next corner. Every Yankee reached base tonight at least once. They scored ten runs for God's sake. But it didn't matter if the Yankees hadn't pulled those seven more runs out of their collective hats, because the Twins, once again, were rotten at the plate. The only ones hitting with any consistency on the Twins are batters three through six, and even that's a stretch. Torii's up to his old tricks, swinging wildly at lousy pitches while staring at good ones, followed by that shocked pirouette when the ump raises his fist. I've only taken in four games at the Dome and I swear I've seen at least five of these goofy lunges.

So do we have half a team? A chunk of decent hitters in Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer, one great starting pitcher and incredible relievers? Look: Boof was nearly as bad as Sidney Ponson yesterday, going but 4 1/3 innings and giving up six earned runs. The heralded piranhas haven't hit the weight of their batting gloves, and have been fumbling the ball to boot (Bartlett had yet another error this game (his fourth this season!) and Punto made a pair of lousy plays in the ninth, at one point trying to barehand Jeter's high chopper and fumbling it--Jeter would go on to score in the Yankees three run ninth). The relievers once again were amazing, giving up three hits and striking out four.

Of course, I am ignoring the suddenly destructive Dennys Reyes, who came in to the ninth inning and gave up three runs on four hits and a ball. Without Reyes, the bullpen's numbers would be mind boggling, so I choose to pretend he doesn't exist.

The Twins took three from Baltimore and looked just great, like the championship team everyone's thinking they could become. They split a cold-shortened series against Chicago, and still seemed like they were ready for a year-long fight. But the Yankees are hurting, their starting pitching looking miserable and Hideki Matsui on the mend. So we have to make them go and look like champions? Sigh.

If at the end of seventy games we're looking at a 40-30 record, I won't complain. But we won't get a steady diet of Orioles and Devil Rays. Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago will be our meat this year, and Santana's not pitching more than 35 games or so. I hope this team at seven games is not the team of a whole season, but we'll see.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 10, 2007 6:12 PM | Comments (0)

 

No TV and empty seats at Target Center... you didn't miss much

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel

What can you really say at this point in another unrewarding season? The best hope for the future of the team is to lose now and keep the pick in this summer's draft. We were again treated to a game that could have bored even the bubbly dance team to tears, yet some of the players showed up for their job last night. I did as well.

Other than taking another step toward the draft lottery, the only positives from this game came in spurts...

After getting in foul trouble in the first half, Rashad McCants showed some improvement in both his game and his health in the second stanza. Taking advantage of his matchup with Juan Dixon of the Raptors, McCants was able to pull off some fine moves against the smaller player. Shaddy was able to score all eleven of his points in the second half, mostly while playing without Kevin Garnett on the floor. McCants ineffective play without the presence of KG was beginning to be a concern, but if he can continue to build off his solid second half, he could be a stabilizing force next season while Ticket rests.

That is, of course, if Ticket is here next season.

Minnesota won the rebounding battle with the Raptors. They were, of course, paced by Garnett's obligatory ten rebounds, but more surprisingly were the nine rebounds from center Mark Blount, including three on the offensive end. Being the player that he is, a small forward in a center's body, Blount has never been a significant threat on the boards. So, when Blizz decides to play more to his size, he can be a welcome help to Garnett down low.

But the obvious highlight of this game was the play of rookie Craig Smith. While Kevin Garnett sat in the second quarter, Minnesota actually featured Smith in their attack. As a whole, the rookie was able to abuse Chris Humphries in the low block and even got a few floaters over the outstretched arms of lengthy Chris Bosh. What was most eye-opening was Smith's heart and hustle on the defensive end, although most of those efforts do not show up in a box score.

What else? What else was a positive? Um...

Kevin Garnett continued his double-figure scoring streak and added yet another double-double...

With the completion of this game, there are only five games remaining in this draining season...

Yeah. That's about it.

By Stephen Litel
Stephenwolvesguy22@hotmail.com

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 10, 2007 6:44 AM | Comments (6)

 

Only The Good News From This Scribbler

Filed under: Twins

Check this out:

Three Twins relievers faced eleven batters, gave up but one hit and a walk and no Yankees crossed the plate.

Luis Castillo opened the game with his sixth infield hit, which leads the majors.

In the sixth inning, Michael Cuddyer fielded Derek Jeter's hard-hit single and threw a bullet to nail Johnny Damon at third base. A work of beauty: the throw was on a line right to Nick Punto, who spun and whacked the runner just in time. Damon's slide sent Punto tumbling head over heels, only to hold his glove up to show that, indeed, he'd held on. This led to some awesome histrionics on the part of the ump, who pointed an accusing finger at the fallen third baseman and jabbed at the air like he was piercing the hide of an elephant. More umps ought to go crazy like that now and again.

In the eighth, Dennys Reyes pulled a Satchel on tonight's Twin-killer, Bobby Abreau. Abreau had, at this point, already tucked four RBIs under his belt from a single and a home run. So Reyes throws three straight balls to keep the guy off-kilter and then bam, bam, bam, a strike-out. Satch used to set 'em up like this, so that he could toss two fat pitches he knew the batter wouldn't swing at, and then got him looking on a snappy something or other, like a bee-ball.

Now, I'm pretty damned certain that Reyes wasn't taking a page from the book of Satchel (no pun intended), but one of the great joys of this punishing sport is that you can fall backward and into the distant past when the present is a strong disappointment. And tonight's game was not a strong disappointment if only because it's tempered with the thought that the season is a long one and it is but one game.

For here's another set of numbers: Sidney Ponson went five and a third innings. He gave up eight runs on ten hits and looked as though he dripped about two gallons of sweat. That's about all you need to know about this evening.

My guess is that Ponson was charged up to show the home crowd something, having missed a start last Friday's start in Chicago thanks to the bitter cold. Maybe he was a bit shell-shocked. And I have to say that, at first, it appeared that he was suffering from some awful luck. Johnny Damon started off with a broken-bat bloop, nothing more than a gesture of fate, a soft fly that landed right on the line and far enough behind Morneau and just ahead of Cuddyer to give the speedy Mr. Damon enough time to bolt to second. Yes, I will blame Ponson for Jeter and Abreau's solid hits following that double, the latter's bringing Damon home. But it could have ended there. Instead, Jorge Posada popped a long fly which should only have sent Jeter in on the sacrifice. But Jason Kubel turned in a half circle and chased some shadows before watching a very catchable fly to bounce into the left field seats, scoring two more.

Ponson got out of that inning after a fly ball and a ground out kept the score only 3-0. But give the Yankees credit: I don't know what the scouting reports said about our big pitcher, but it appeared that the Yankees were told to strike quickly and often. Uninterested in full pitch counts, they put the ball into play, aggressively going after Ponson and his four-seam and dangling slider. If it's in the zone, smack it. And smack it they did.

The next inning wasn't any better: Damon and Abreau scored again, this time on a two-run home run after a scrappy at-bat by the latter, taking Ponson deep after nine pitches. Again, the Yankees opened free swinging, forcing Ponson to use his noggin and mix up his pitches, and for a time he was feeding them stuff they couldn't hit. Not really, for the law of averages in a game where a round bat hits a round ball means everything in play isn't going where the defenders ain't. He wasn't fooling anyone, really, but Ponson made it through five, having only tossed 80 pitches. It seemed as though those pesky five runs, some of which were bad breaks, made an OK performance look worse than it was.

Or so I thought. There's only so much you can give a guy who gives up eight runs and ten hits. Unlucky? Maybe a couple of those runs were unlucky, but really this game was over by the second inning.

So after that mercifully short contest (two and a half hours), it would easy for me to second guess the Twins decisions, and though I'm happy to do so on most occasions, I'll hang it up tonight. Carlos Silva's performance Saturday shut me up a bit, Santana's was an Easter gift (though not as great as this one {thanks Z}), and tonight's scoring derby from Sidney Ponson didn't make me want to rip my hair out and wish that Boof was in (though I thought he was the second starter after Santana). Ponson's giving up such a smorgasbord of runs also helped one forget both Kubel's blunder and Cuddyer's baserunning gaffe (his second since Saturday), taking off from second on a Torii Hunter ground ball to short. Well, Jeter didn't throw to first but instead tagged the bonehead on his way to third base.

Sigh. Well, Boof will get his chance tomorrow, and against Andy Pettitte, which should be a great match between two workhorses. Kind of like the fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac. So, remember: there's 156 games remaining. For now, steady as she goes.

Conversations Real & Imagined: Around the Dome

In the booth and gaping at one of the many tidbits on Yankees information sheet: "Look at this thing: When Pavano started on Opening Day for the Yanks, no pitcher had started on Opening Day after such a long absence since Vinegar Bend Mizell... Jesus, I'd bet you five hundred bucks no other pro sport has names like Vinegar Bend...

...

In the booth, when Jeter got 'hit' by a pitch (it must've brushed him): "Man, it certainly looks like Jeter talked his way on base. That oughta be a stat: Talk Base Percentage. Jeter'd win every time."

...

A locker room attendant, late after the game, complaining about some superstar on the visiting team: "I can't wait for everyone to leave and then start cleaning! For God's sake, I want to go to sleep. I don't live in New York for a reason..."

...

As the lights dimmed a bit over the field and the crowds emptied, to my surprise two high school teams take the field to play a very late game. Virginia High School v. Nashwauk High School. Talking with Scott, the proud parent of the catcher of the Virginia team, the boys always open the season in the Dome, after whatever game's being played. "After all, there's snow up in Virginia," he laughed. "I just hope the snow's gone for Friday's game. But that's how it is.

"Needless to say, they won't be in class tomorrow!"

...

And one of our distinguished sportswriters, grousing about the little kids cheering their brothers in the high school game while he's trying to get tomorrow's article written. "That's another good thing about an open air stadium. We won't have to listen to those little shits anymore..."

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 9, 2007 6:16 PM | Comments (0)

 

Degenerate alcoholic offers Kentucky Derby superfecta wagering advice

Filed under: Horse Racing

The voice on the other end sounded groggy. Demko was either in an opium den or incredibly bored with what he was doing.

"Are you watching the ponies motherfucker?" Small pause. "Oh, oh yeah those races are today aren't they?"

Having to remind Demko that the Wood Memorial, Illinois Derby, and Santa Anita were all running in the space of approximately one hour on one day, usually, would be like reminding Julia Roberts to brush her teeth. But there it was, a fish out of water.

Fortunately, I was on the case, because there's nothing more important than speculating on a horse race that's 4 weeks away and has no definite entrants.

Before yesterday afternoon, after the dust settled, the high rollers believed they were going to have all their best brain wizardry confirmed about Any Given Saturday, Cowtown Cat, and Liquidity. Leading up to the races, the biggest news was that Cowtown Cat had chickened out of the Wood to run against a watered down field at the Illinois. The talking heads made a lot of fuss about NoBiz Like ShowBiz wearing blinkers for the first time and cotton in his ears.

When reality set in at the Wood, we knew that Any Given Saturday has no kick. He tried to stalk the field and charge to the wire, but he was easily rundown by the winners. There is hate in Demko's heart for horses that can't finish, but there is tangible bile in his soul for a jockey that can't ride. Anyone with eyes could tell you that winner NoBiz is going to need a new jockey, or at least a major attitude adjustment for the one currently on his back, for him to compete at Churchill Downs. He busted out of the gate and looked like he was going to shoot his wad until he was visibly held back down the backstretch. Make no mistake, the horse won this race. Sightseeing made a nice charge at the end. As an aside, you can throw Summer Doldrums on the scrap heap after the Wood, as well.

The Illinois Derby was boring. Cowtown Cat basically led wire to wire, and wasn't really challenged, and he shouldn't have been. The only question was whether Cobalt Blue would make a run, and he didn't, stalking in third and then disappearing badly down the stretch. Cowtown Cat will end up being one of those horses that gets staked to 6-1 or 5-1 rolling into Kentucky because he wins, but he looks slow to me.

Here's where things get interesting for a degenerate gambler like Demko. The Santa Anita Derby looked like all the smart guys were going to be right. Liquidity, Sam P, and King of the Roxy ran the race like good horses do, keeping the pace, closing off the rest of the track for the field; and then something wonderful happened. A half brother of Giacomo--the 50-1 longshot that won the Derby a few years ago--came charging out of nowhere down the backstretch and smoked everybody. King of the Roxy tried to stay with Tiago but just didn't have it. If you've ever spent time with a bunch of drunks who make terrible bets--and I have--you know Tiago blasting down the backstretch in an otherwise non-descript field like this to gain entrance in the Derby is the best possible thing that could have happened. The handicappers won't fall for it, they'll post this mule at 30-1 and the twitchy crowd will drive him down to 9-2, a freak bet, a chance to tell everyone, "I told you so." Yummy.

But, what of the Derby, May 5th, and Club Taco on opening day at Canterbury Park?

This past Monday, Demko and I made a blood oath to bet Stormello 4th in a Superfecta, because he looks like the kind of horse that will try to run a wire job and fade nicely into a big payday for us. Outside of that, we know that Cobalt Blue probably shouldn't run Churchill Downs and NoBiz should probably get a new jockey. I'm not afraid of Any Given Saturday anymore either, unless someone tells me he had too much to eat for breakfast Saturday morning and just didn't have it. There's a few more donkeys left to tweak our guts at the Blue Grass and Arkansas. Unless one chickens out, Street Sense is going to dual Hard Spun next Saturday, so that will tell us which one them has the right stuff.

Right now, over one Bloody Mary, two eggs over easy with sausage and wheat toast, two Margaritas, 3 beers and one poorly executed hot dog, I would try very hard to convince Demko that the Derby will run Hard Spun (pictured above), Circular Quay, NoBiz Like ShowBiz, and Stormello.

Posted by Jack Sparks at April 8, 2007 12:57 PM | Comments (1)

 

The bottom six

Filed under: Soccer

This prediction business is already making me look like an ass. After the first day of matches, Colorado, Chivas and Chicago are sitting atop the table. Nonetheless I shall persevere.

8. Colorado Rapids: Fernando Clavijo's side has earned a reputation for playing dull, cynical soccer, with Kyle Beckerman and Pablo Mastroeni brutalizing the opposition in midfield. Don't expect much to change. A retooled back line still looks suspect, and Bouna Coundoul (or tubby Zach Thornton) looks to be a serious downgrade in goal. Rugged Panamanian import Roberto Brown (pictured above) should tally his share of goals, especially with Terry Cooke sending in marvelous crosses.

9. Chicago Fire: Their marquee off-season signing was Cuahtemoc Blanco, the angry, hunchbacked Mexican striker, who's on the downside of his career. The Fire shipped out useful forwards Andy Herron and Nate Jaqua, along with St. Paul native Tony Sanneh (who can't seem to find a club, despite making a grand comeback in central defense last year). Justin Mapp, who's already rumored to be headed to England, will have to be a consistent menace if Chicago's going to have any success. It will be the last season for one of MLS's all time greats, defensive mid Chris Armas.

10. Chivas USA: Much will hinge on Amado Guevara. The temperamental Honduran playmaker is scintillating when he decides it's worth his while. But even if first-year coach Preki can convince Guevara to put forth some effort it won't be enough to keep the Goats off the bottom half of the table. The defenders are mostly old (38-year-old Claudio Suarez) or inept (Lawson Vaughn). Cuban speedster Maykel Galindo will add some excitement up top.

11. Columbus Crew: It might be hard to believe, but this squad was much worse last year than their 8-15-9 record would indicate. Coach Sigi Schmid deserved consideration for coach of the year for turning an already suspect roster that was decimated by injuries into a semi-respectable outfit. Jacob Thomas was a revelation up top, terrorizing defenders with his wild-man routine. Eddie Gaven seems to have matured sufficiently to do a respectable job as the central playmaker. Danny O'Rourke will take over the league lead for fouls from traditional title holder Simo Valakari (where is that guy?).

12. FC Dallas: Can anyone explain what the hell first-year Dallas coach Steve Morrow is up to? He shipped out the aforementioned pitbull Valakari, along with veterans Greg Vanney, Ronnie O'Brien, and Richard Mulrooney, and replaced them with ... nobody. Well I guess Adrian Serioux counts, but he's out for quite awhile with a bum knee. The defense looks atrocious, with unproven (that's putting it kindly) kids Clarence Goodson, Drew Moor, and Alex Yi expected to hold down regular spots. Carlos Ruiz and Kenny Cooper will need to combine for at least two dozen goals if they're going to have any chance.

13. Toronto FC: I have a bet with Bruce that Mo Johnston's squad will have a better campaign than the disastrous debuts of Chivas and Salt Lake two years ago. But after watching Toronto get thoroughly outplayed by Chivas last night I'm starting to regret the wager. The two Brit midfielders, Andy Welsh and Carl Robinson, will have to prove themselves much more skilled than they've initially shown. The only competent defender looks to be Jim Brennan. Goalkeeper Greg Sutton will lead the league in saves. Unfortunately the veteran Canadian will also lead the league in goals allowed.

On tap tonight: L.A. v. Houston, 6 p.m. (CST) on Telefutura.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 8, 2007 11:42 AM | Comments (2)

 

A Perfect Tank Job and Random Happenings

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel

Before my actual post, let me first apologize for my absence the past few games. I have been struggling with a case of exhaustion lately between covering the Wolves, covering the Lynx draft, working on my Kevin Garnett book, along with the fact that I am a husband and father of two children who are wild ones. I am feeling rested now and ready to go for the home stretch of the 2006-07 Wolves season and am anxiously waiting the beginning of the Lynx season.

As someone who now believes that it is in the best interest of this team to lose each game in order to secure their draft pick, I found myself in a strange situation prior to the Wolves/Hornets game last night. Like many fans, I struggle to root for my beloved Timberwolves to lose, knowing in the back of my mind that losing is precisely what they need to do for the remainder of the season.

So, when I entered the locker room before the game and saw how a majority of the players were motivated to achieve victory on this night, it was tough to not want the win. Mark Blount, Mike James, Craig Smith, Justin Reed, Marko Jaric, and Bracey Wright were discussing the playoff race when Wright asked me how far out they were. When I answered, Blount then asked if they were mathematically out of the race and when I informed them that they were not, although they are incredibly close to it, Mike James chipped in with "Man, we gotta get this one."

As the starting lineup was announced, followed by the video montage with Marilyn Manson's version of "Beautiful People" plays, (which I think was incredibly put together), it was hard for me to hope Minnesota loses the contest. The crowd was of relatively decent size, even as another disappointing season winds down, the players were pumped up more so then I have seen for a majority of the season and Spike Lee was in attendance, so it would be nice to see the home team win.

Through all of the heat that he has received since replacing Dwane Casey, head coach Randy Wittman coached a brilliant game against New Orleans. You may be asking yourself something to the effect of "Has Stephen lost his mind?" right now, but it really took some amazing coaching to purposely tank this game, all the while making it seem as if you are trying to win.

It is astonishingly clear that the best lineup that Minnesota can put on the floor at this time consists of "KG and the Kids," as some have called them. The lineup of Foye, McCants, Hassell, Smith, and Garnett has shown consistently that they enjoy playing together, have the ability to move the ball in incredible fashion, gives this team the best chance at acquiring a win... and showing a small glimpse of hope for the future all at the same time.

Continuing to leave the starting lineup as the status quo of James, Davis, Jaric, Garnett, and Blount, mostly to placate the egos of the veterans, Wittman shows his brilliance in losing games. Instead of flat out admitting to tanking, one of the things he can point to is the starting lineup, saying that by continuing to play the veterans he is giving the team their best chance. Rookies make mistakes, along with second year players coming off knee surgeries, that cost games most of the time, yet anyone who thinks they know basketball can see that is not the case on this dysfunctional team. After the starters combined for a total of 21 points in the first quarter, led by Mike James 13 points, KG and the kids hammered New Orleans in the second quarter, putting up 36 points with 12 points each from McCants and Foye, along with Hassell's 10.

Coming out of the half, the starters played a majority of the third quarter. During that time, Minnesota's six point halftime lead was gone within two minutes and by the end of the quarter the Wolves had given up 29 points, trailing by five. Mark Madsen replaces Garnett with 1:22 left in the third while McCants enters the game for the first time in the second half at that same time. Randy Foye re-enters the game with 47.7 seconds left in the third, turning the ball over twice before the end of the quarter, which gives Wittman yet another thing to point to as proof that they are not tanking...

Instead of calling out his veterans for their overall bad play, he can point to the mistakes of the young players as reasons for the eventual loss.

Rashad McCants and Kevin Garnett play great basketball together, but by putting McCants out there without KG, Wittman can show that McCants has a lot of areas in which he needs to improve. Craig Smith continues to get questionable fouls against him, but that comes with the territory of being a second round pick who likes to fight down low and take charges. Foye helped Wittman's conscience by turning the ball over when he did, so he can sleep at night by placing the blame on the few players who actually care about winning anymore.

Playing Foye, McCants, Hassell, and Smith for nearly half of the fourth quarter with Mark Madsen was a great move for Wittman. Now he can say that he gave his young players a valuable learning experience as this team continues to build on its "Blueprint for the Future," but he had to be careful to not substitute Garnett back into the game too early. He had to make sure that the lead was large enough that "the lineup," no matter how well they played, would not be able to overcome. This is really where Wittman showed his brilliance, but also was given a lucky break.

Reentering the game at the 6:22 mark, Kevin Garnett was still in single figures scoring. If Garnett did not extend his double figure scoring streak, Wittman would have been in hot water with the fans in attendance, screwing up the one nice thing that Garnett has going for him. Therefore, Wittman was allowed the opportunity to use timeouts in the fourth quarter to draw up plays for Garnett to continue the streak. The brilliance was that Wittman got exactly what he wanted, along with Kevin McHale and Glen Taylor... Garnett's streak continues and Minnesota loses by a point due to a lack of timeouts remaining after New Orleans takes the lead.

* * * * * *

When I re-entered the Wolves locker room after the game, I found it to be empty except for Bracey Wright. As he was changing clothes to leave, he cracked a joke that nobody ever wants to talk to him. So, somewhat out of sympathy and somewhat out of a genuine curiosity, I asked Wright if his butt hurt from sitting on the bench all night.

He laughed and said, "No, my butt's fine, but my legs are killing me," referring to his legs falling asleep on the bench.

I then asked him if he was going to be in Minnesota next season. His reply?

"I'm a free agent this summer and things can change quickly." He later added "Most Improved Player right here next season," pointing to himself, surely indicating that he will be winding down his run as a Wolves cheerleader in ten days when the season is officially over.

By Stephen Litel
stephenwolvesguy22@hotmail.com

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 8, 2007 9:45 AM | Comments (2)

 

Beautiful Silva, Enemy Piranhas & Other Random Observations

Filed under: MLB

Well, Carlos Silva certainly shut me up yesterday. Here's his line: five full innings, five hits, one run, walk, strikeout. He wasn't brilliant or dominant and started off looking like a meltdown waiting to happen--the first three batters actually took Carlos to full counts and the second, Darin Erstad, actually saw ten pitches before poking the eleventh through the middle (and he would later score that inning). But give Silva this: he calmed down and did his job, working through five innings before turning the gig over to our normally awesome bullpen in the Twins 3-0 loss.

Carlos Silva did his job, the second decent outing in a row (he was very effective in his last spring training start, too). What you want from a fifth starter right. Why, I said it all along!

On this cold and blustery Chicago Saturday, the Twins were simply outmatched. I could rip on Michael Cuddyer's bonehead play in the second, when he bolted from third on a one-out pop, believing it to be the last out. That ended the inning when the bases were full. This, right after Fox color-man Mark Grace claimed that "The Twins just don't beat themselves!" (he later made fun of himself, to his credit... he's good in the booth, I'll say). But Cuddyer's play, which might have led to a game-tying run, was but one of two blunders and in the end it didn't matter much because the White Sox simply pecked and pecked and pecked away, and kept our hitters off balance. The three runs on the enemy side were from the bats and baserunning of batters one, two and nine, which, when you think about it, are the shallow streams where other teams' piranhas normally feed. Our guys just couldn't handle the pitching of Javier Vazquez (ouch: 6 2/3 innings, one freakin' hit, five strikeouts and four walks scattered about) and the Chisox bullpen or its defense--our one opportunity in the seventh, with two men on and no outs, was smothered when Two-i Torii grounded into a double play.

Chalk one up for Southsiders. You could claim that the cold hurt the Twins, that Fox hurt the Twins, twice cursing our boys with praise that was belied on the field, or that the Twins hurt themselves with those two mistakes. Later, Mr. Grace again admired the fact that our relievers had, to that point, given up one hit in eight innings work, and especially Dennys Reyes and his miniscule 0.89 ERA in 66 innings last year. The curse was on as suddenly we watched as Reyes gave up a Juan Uribe home run and then let Scott Podsednik score on a pickoff that went bouncing off the bag and into the outfield. It's going to take awhile for him to lower his 18.00 ERA to the less than zero number he enjoyed last season.

But for every mistake we made, the White Sox were there to punish us, so I don't think it behooves anyone to complain too loudly. Especially after Carlos Silva chowed on his five innings. Why he was in there, I don't know: I thought arguments in favor of Silva over Matt Garza suggested that he was going to miss his starts now and again. Santana could just have easily thrown yesterday (it would have been the typical four days), or Ponson. Instead, they stuck with Silva and I guess Gardy's a near-genius today (they certainly talked him up on Fox). Silva takes a loss and looks great doing it. Rondell White pulled a muscle in the cold, but it could've been worse. We're certainly going to lose some games, but in the long run I'll take this ratio of three wins to one loss over 162 games. I say that even in defeat, the Twins look just fine.

AROUND THE HORN

Whan that Aprill gives us sweet showers, snow, and too much cold, it seems ballplayers can't play ball. Clear skies, but cold wind and twenty degree temperatures were enough to cancel Friday's contest, which blew my easily blowable mind (and someone else's too). Yesterday, when asked about the cold, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said that "we're paid good money to be here." That was a frank admission. But they're also paid good money to play on Friday night as well.

...

The best line from Fox yesterday: when the camera gave us a thermometer showing 30 degrees, one of the announcers said "Don't let that temperature fool you! It's freezing!"

...

I have to bark about this: Last week, Balls reported that the Hold Steady had recorded a "Twins-centric version of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game'." Being a long-standing fan of the Detroit Tigers, and having attended my share of games around the country, I should warn Twins fans (and Twins management for cry-eye) that this song is team-specific in virtually every ballpark in the country. You're supposed to include the name of the team where it says "root, root, root for the home team". It's like saying "I, state-your-name", and the joke goes that the rummy says "state your name". In Detroit, it's "root, root, root for the Tigers", Dodgers are "Dodgers!", Giants are "Giants!", Cubs are "Cubbies!" and so on. Twins could be "Twinkies!" or you could belt out "Twins!..." and then leave a pregnant pause before continuing on.

I have no clue why forty plus years have gone by without anyone figuring this out.

...

One of the great joys of April is getting The Baseball Reliquary's large lemon-colored envelope in the mail. Enclosed please find The Shrine of the Eternals ballot, the fan's hall of fame. Yes, this could also be called the crackpot's hall of fame, I suppose, and personally I'd wear that title with great pride.

I quote: The highest honor afforded by the Baseball Reliquary is election to the Shrine of the Eternals. Similar to Cooperstown's National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Shrine of the Eternals differs philosophically in that statistical accomplishment is not the principal criterion for election. It is believed that the election of individuals on merits other than statistics and playing ability will offer the opportunity for a deeper understanding and appreciation of baseball than has heretofore been provided by "Halls of Fame" in the more traditional and conservative institutions.

With this in mind, the Reliquary's members have, over the years, inducted Bill Veeck, Mark Fidrych (my personal favorite), Dock Ellis, Jim Bouton, Marvin Miller, and William "Dummy" Hoy, among many others (three go in every year). Your membership in the group gives you full voting privileges. This year we're seeing Emmett Ashford, the first African-American umpire in the majors, Bill James, pro scout Phil Pote and forty-seven others. Pete Rose is not on the ballot.

Check out their website and marvel at the items in the Reliquary collection, which are scattered through southern California and the director's Pasadena home (I've visited and had the singular thrill of holding an actual Joseph Cornell baseball piece). You'll find a tortilla with Walter O'Malley's face, a hot dog that was taken from the stomach of Babe Ruth, a Jackie Robinson icon, and a skin fragment from Abner Doubleday, among many others.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 8, 2007 9:35 AM | Comments (0)

 

MLS preview and predictions

Filed under: Soccer

Major League Soccer kicks off its 12th season this afternoon at 2:30 (CST) with the Colorado Rapids hosting D.C. United at their spiffy new (and ridiculously named) stadium Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Catch it on ABC. The league continues to slowly make progress both financially and on the field. Among the highlights:

*Toronto FC becomes the league's 13th team (and first outside the U.S.). The fledgling franchise capped season-tickets sales at 14,000 and sold out. Their brand new 20,000-seat stadium will likely be full for every match of their initial campaign.

*With the addition of the Toronto and Colorado stadiums, seven of the league's teams now play in soccer-specific facilities. New homes for Real Salt Lake and Red Bull New York are now under construction.

*For the first time MLS is getting paid for TV rights. Most notably ESPN is paying the league to air weekly Thursday night matches. This means the country's premiere sports network will actually have to promote the league for the first time. It will also have a financial incentive to provide significant coverage of the league on shows like SportsCenter. Fox Soccer Channel and Telefutura are also paying to air MLS matches.

*And of course there's the arrival of David Beckham.

Here's how I rank the teams heading into the season.

1. D.C. United: Last year's top regular-season team wasn't content to sit idle over the winter months. They shipped out their talented teenage phenom Freddy Adu and forward Alecko Eskandarian, replacing them with Brazilians Luciano Emilio and Fred. The former has already proven himself a dangerous threat up top, scoring four goals in recent Concacaf Champions Cup matches. The latter led Melbourne Victory FC to the title in Australia's A-League. D.C.'s potential achilles heal is its defense, particularly the repeated pratfalls of right back Facundo Erpen.

2. L.A. Galaxy: After a dismal 2006, expect this team to rebound strongly. Landon Donovan is highly motivated after a disappointing World Cup. He has the ability to dominate games, as witnessed recently in the U.S. squad's 3-1 dismantling of Ecuador. The Galaxy have upgraded at forward, with nimble target man Nate Jaqua replacing goal poacher Hercules Gomez. Expect Jaqua to benefit from the pinpoint service of Beckham once the superstar arrives in June. Los Angeles also added the best 'keeper in the league, Joe Cannon. Perhaps the key to this squad, though, will be talented youngster Nathan Sturgis. After impressing in the back last year he's being asked to fill the vital defensive midfield slot.

3. Houston Dynamo: Last year's MLS Cup winners return with almost the same squad. It's difficult to blame them. Dwayne DeRosario and Brian Ching form one of the most potent offensive duos in the league. Expect a huge year from Ching if he can stay healthy. He'll benefit from the solid service of flank players Brian Mullan and Brad Davis. The defense, anchored by strongman Eddie Robinson, is solid. One potential issue: dynamic defensive mid Ricardo Clark is out with a knee injury to start the season. How long will he be sidelined?

4. Kansas City Wizards: This team is an enigma. They could finish last or first. But they're one of the few MLS squads heading into the season with no significant questions at the back. They've added solid veteran goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. The central defending duo of Jimmy Conrad and Nick Garcia is arguably the best in the league. And Jose Burciaga, Jr. is a menace at left back. The Wizards will be extremely difficult to breakdown. The question is how they will score. All eyes will be on Carlos Marinelli, the highly pedigreed Argentine playmaker who was signed just this week. If he can add some class to the midfield and struggling striker Eddie Johnson can get on track, the Wizards will not be fun to play.

5. Red Bull New York: The laughingstock of the league for 11 years, this team finally has reason for optimism. The chief reason: coach Bruce Arena. The former U.S. men's national team coach will have his squad ready to play. The midfield should be dynamic, with veteran U.S. playmaker Claudio Reyna setting things up and talented foreigners Dave Van Den Bergh and Markus Schopp creating havoc from the wings. New York will also get attacking heat from its pair of talented outside backs, Marvell Wynne and Todd Dunnivant. The big question? Who will knock the ball in the net. Arena is putting a lot of pressure on 17-year-old Jozy Altidore to score goals. Expect a significant forward acquisition for this squad before the season's over.

6. Real Salt Lake: This is another team that's tough to figure out. They've got an intriguing mix of young talent and veteran stability. And as Bruce keeps pointing out to me, they had the league's best record in the second half of the season last year. Youngsters Mehdi Balouchy and Freddy Adu should be entertaining to watch in the middle of the pitch. The redoubtable Eddie Pope will anchor the back line in front of either mistake-prone veteran 'keeper Nick Rimando or highly touted youngster Chris Seitz. A key question will be how new Panamanian striker Luis Tejada links up with Jeff Cunningham. They both have reputations as headcases.

7. New England Revolution: I expected big things from the Revolution last year. A team that had created a talented nucleus of attacking players seemed poised to finally win an MLS title. But the Revolution scuffled all year long, finally hitting the accelerator for a playoff run to MLS Cup that ended with their third title defeat in five years. Now they've lost Clint Dempsey and haven't added much in return. With vital defender Michael Parkhurst fighting injury to start the season they could struggle early.

(I'll post the bottom half of the table tomorrow. I've got to run off to watch a couple of pre-season matches for the mighty Minnesota Thunder.)

Posted by Paul Demko at April 7, 2007 11:42 AM | Comments (0)

 

"The Boogeyman" vs. Edmonton Oilers' Zack Stortini

Filed under: Wild

City Pages cover boy Derek "The Boogeyman" Boogaard dropped the gloves last night against Zack Stortini of the Edmonton Oilers. Off the face off, the players bear hugged and ripped off each others hats. Boogey started dropping overhand rights on the back of Stortini's skull, and the overmatched Oiler was clearly looking for a way out. Stortini hooked Boogaard's leg (what is this, Ultimate Fighting?) and the two men fell to the ice, ending the fight prematurely, but not before the Wild's enforcer had notched another victory.

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 4, 2007 4:40 PM | Comments (0)

 

D.C. gifts game to Chivas

Filed under: Soccer

PSV Eindhoven put on a display of remarkable incompetence in yesterday's Champions League match with Liverpool. The Dutch side was simply attrocious from first whistle. The only player on the field who seemed to have any clue as to what might constitute successful play was Philip Cocu. Granted PSV was missing three vital players (midfielder Ibrahim Afellay, striker Arouna Kone, and centerback Alex), but that's still no excuse for such ineptitude. It was painful to watch.

Of course the game I didn't manage to see turned out to be a crackerjack affair. Belgian defender Daniel van Buyten scored on (literally) the last kick of the match to earn Bayern Munich a 2-2 tie on the road against AC Milan. Extended highlights here.

The most agonizing viewing of the day was D.C. United-Chivas. The Americans went ahead early on the road courtesy of some goofy goalkeeping and a smart Jaime Moreno bicycle kick. But then they gave the game away with two bad errors. Facundo Erpen (of course) was the goat on the first goal, getting torched down the left side of the field by Alberto Medina. Then Troy Perkins committed a rare howler, failing to handle Gonzalo Pineda's long-distance shot. It would've been a milestone victory for MLS, beating the Goats on the storied, high altitude grounds of Estadio Jalisco. But it was not to be.

The Houston Dynamo will have to represent for the league on Thursday. They take a 2-0 lead on the road to Mexican club Pachuca.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 4, 2007 12:01 PM | Comments (1)

 

Trainspotter's Opening Day

Filed under: Twins

When you think about it, the second game of the lengthy baseball season is the real opening day, the first game when the dedicated fan comes out to watch. Nothing against yesterday's contest, mind you. But after all, tonight the Twins are facing the same team they fought on the big day (and not one projected to go far), the top pitcher isn't on the mound, and look, it's Tuesday night while school's on or the kids and their folks are drunk in Cazumel on spring break. These fans have patience, they have their scorecards, and a love of numbers, and they dress funny--it's funny to wear shorts and a Twins jersey on a night promising snow and cold winds. No, these bugs resemble Britain's trainspotters, people who will follow this season from start to finish with the same single-minded dedication as those Brits who stand and wait all day for locomotives to pass by.

It's reassuring to this writer to see that in spite of myriad distractions (such as television and radio and the internet, among others) almost twenty-five thousand baseball-loving souls braved the crappy weather to watch Boof Bonser and the Minnesota Twins dispatch the Orioles on this snowy, snowy night. (A game that will, in three-years' time, be called on account of weather in our new, open air stadium).

Young Boof looks to be starting what could be a lengthy career as an inning-devouring second or third starter, making a decent living being the nobody in a rotation of stars, or the bargain basement ace for the Devil Rays. The Boof came in this evening looking to make people forget about the Twins' pitching woes. Tonight he was just wonderful enough, tossing six strong innings, faltering just a bit in the O's two-run third. Look at his numbers: six innings, three hits and three walks, a home run and six strikeouts, two of which were capped with beautiful curveballs to nail the rookie Nick Markakis and journeyman catcher Alberto Castillo. Of the latter I'm impressed with his staying power: Castillo somehow manages to secure jobs every year, in spite of playing in just over 400 games over twelve seasons (and he didn't play at all in the majors in '06). That's dedication on his part or desperation in the O's camp, probably a combination of both. The guy didn't do himself any favors this game: offensively he went 0-2 with a sacrifice in the seventh; defensively, the Twins ran all over the basepaths, stealing five bases successfully, including one that resembled something from the Mack Sennett silent comedy days, when Jason Bartlett slid shy of second and, laughing to himself, crawled safely into second when Castillo's throw was off by a nautical mile.

It was this aggressive baserunning that set the pace for the Twins, who for a change look loose and ready to win in the early going part of the season. For the second day in a row they didn't allow a lead, slim though it was, to rattle them. Nick Punto got things rolling in the fourth, opening with a strong hit and then boldly taking third on a Joe Mauer single to center. A good thing, too, for Michael Cuddyer grounded the next pitch into a double-play that scored Punto. Cuddyer baffles me: again he opened with a strong at-bat, striking out but forcing seven pitches to go his way, and then hacks away at whatever for the rest of the night (in fact, he took the same number of pitches in his remaining three at-bats, hitting the first pitch in two of them).

No matter. The Twins nibbled away, Torii Hunter walking in the fifth (amazingly, after going down 2-1 in the count, and looking absolutely, in the words of a fellow scribe, like the Torii of 2001), stealing second easily, racing to third on a Rondell White grounder to first, and then home on a Luis Castillo hit. These are almost flabbergasting plays: Hunter walks, White hits behind him to advance, Kubel walks, Bartlett doesn't do shit, and then Castillo singles? I'm shocked and elated. The offense provided some fireworks last evening, but tonight the Twins settled for street theater. They didn't allow a very good performance by the Orioles young hurler Daniel Cabrera to spook them. He pitched like an ace, going seven full innings, striking out nine and walking four. The Twins responded like a team interested in the pennant, and made him pay for two of those walks, which were converted into runs by stolen bases and singles both times.

Boof threw exactly 100 pitches, 59 of them for strikes, emerged without the 'W', though something tells me he doesn't mind. The Twins let six pitchers stroll to the mound tonight, but Boofus was the sole pitcher to enjoy 1-2-3 innings. Joe Nathan earned his second save--last year he had three in the entire month of April.

So the die-hard, pigheaded baseball fans who ignore the pleas of those who don't want them on these icy roads had something to take home: a close game, played well. What more do you want in this miserable April?

An Observation From The Press Box: Justin Morneau also appears to be working very hard to silence the naysayers who think his MVP was undeserved. The guy went 1 for 3 tonight with a walk, but those two productive at-bats made him look absolutely brilliant, running the counts full and then either poking a good pitch through the middle or taking ball four. Hell, if the guy meets ESPN's projections, he'll hit 80 home runs and nearly 300 rbi.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 3, 2007 8:16 PM | Comments (1)

 

The Hold Steady record "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

Filed under: Twins

MTV.com posted video yesterday of Craig Finn, the Hold Steady's "singer," recording a Twins-centric version of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

According to the corresponding article, Finn was asked to do the song by Kevin Dutcher, the Twins musical director. (We didn't know they had one, either). Dutcher plans to play the track between innings at home games, a move that will almost certainly make the Metrodome the hippest dome in sports.

Not everyone is pleased with the development, though. As one City Pages staffer complained, "Finn manages to destroy even the most basic and recognizable of melodies! His talent is truly limitless." The Twin Cities ex-pat also opts for the questionable lyric "Root, root, root for the Minnesota Twins," when everyone knows it should be "Root, root, root for the Twinkies."

In other news, Craig Finn has a beard.

Posted by Chuck Terhark at April 3, 2007 3:47 PM | Comments (2)

 

Chivas Guadalajara v. D.C. United

Filed under: Soccer

This almost slipped my mind. Tonight is the return leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup showdown between D.C. United and Chivas Guadalajara. Catch it at 8:30 CST on Fox Soccer Channel.

The D.C. leg ended in a 1-1 draw, and that was a fortunate result for the Americans. They were markedly outplayed by their Mexican counterparts and needed a last-minute equalizer by Luciano Emilio to keep it from being an outright disaster. Chivas did a remarkable job of keeping tight pressure on D.C., shut down their midfield, and exposed the MLS squad's lack of speed. Perhaps that shortcoming will be rectified tonight with the possible D.C. debut of Brazilian midfielder Fred (no, not the one from Lyon).

Facundo Erpen has been brutal in the Champions Cup games. He should terrify any D.C. partisan.

For the inside dirt on D.C.'s training camp in Mexico (and multiple hilarious Emilio videos) visit BobbyBoswell.com. For the best American soccer writer outside of Grant Wahl, see Soccer Insider (which has an update on, of all people, Kenny Arena). For a top-notch primer on the Chivas match see the incomparable DCenters. And for the most inane, hilarious, sometimes soccer-centric, sometimes cheese-centric blog on the planet visit the D.C. Sports Bog.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 3, 2007 1:51 PM | Comments (4)

 

Champions League Quarterfinals

Down to the final eight! Today's matches see PSV home against Liverpool, while AC Milan hosts Bayern Munich. Catch the former on ESPN2 at 1:30 CST, while the latter will be shown on tape delay at 4 p.m. CST on ESPN Classic. Tomorrow it's Roma at home to Manchester United (ESPN2, 1:30 CST), with Chelsea hosting Valencia (ESPN Classic, 4:00 CST).

My pick: the hated Blues. I love Jose Mourinho.

Posted by Paul Demko at April 3, 2007 11:13 AM | Comments (4)

 

A Little Power, A Little Pitching, A Little Piranha

Filed under: Twins

The Minnesota Twins treated a packed house to a rollicking opening day victory that saw each one of the pillars of last year's success (our newfound power, our piranhas, our pitching) contributing toward a 7-4 victory. Those first two innings were particularly exciting: Johan Santana striking out a pair in as many innings, and, in the second, picking off Miguel Tejada so cleanly the runner didn't bother to grouse. Joe Mauer cracked a hit in the bottom of the first (suddenly batting 1.000!), and while Michael Cuddyer stranded the reigning AL batting champ, the right fielder did so with a pesky at-bat, fouling off pitch after pitch before standing there and watching a nice fat one go by. And that's fine, for after all, it's still the first inning of the very first game. But next inning, sweet Jesus in Dollywood, Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter hammered back-to-back pitches into left and right fields, respectively (two more batting 1.000!) All was well in Twins Territory, yes?

Well, there was that pesky fourth, when the former St. Louis Browns touched our ace with three hits, a walk, and emerged with the lead at 3-2. This was in part to some mediocre fielding, most notably when second baseman Luis Castillo decided to relay Cuddyer's return of an Aubrey Huff double and send it home with a throw that more resembled a kid skipping a rock across a pond on a lazy afternoon. The runner, Jay Payton, was easily safe at home, while Huff, a slow-footed beast if ever there was one, scooted into third and scored easily on a single.

Were you to hope that this first game would augur great things, well, the Twins certainly seemed like a cohesive unit tonight, utterly capable of picking up their ace when he wasn't at the top of his game (and Santana is rarely on top of his game in April, though he's got an incredible win streak dating back to August 2005). After the O's took the lead back, our boys at the top of the order set to nibbling, as Ozzie Guillen and the Twins marketing department would say, and it was 6 to 4 on a hit, a ground rule double, a walk, a hit, and another double. Castillo, Nick Punto, and Jeff Cirillo all did their jobs in conjunction with the heart of the order, and in fact every Twin except Jason Bartlett and the pitching staff reached base this evening. Our relievers came in, all four (Reyes, Crain, Rincon, and Nathan, in that order), and threw nothing for the Orioles to hit, giving up a one hit, two walks and a balk, and that door's shut tight as a drum.

Fortunately for the Twins, their mistakes weren't punished. There were a pair of baserunning blunders that seem to come whenever the Twins fill the Dome--I'm still remembering Torii's bizarre race for third against the Yanks in the '04 playoffs. Tonight it was this: Morneau's trying to score from second in the Twins half of the fourth. Thousands stared in disbelief as third base coach Scott Ulger seemed to have channeled the spirit of Al Newman, waving Morneau home, where the MVP was out by a car length (a Mini, granted) and tried to plow over the catcher, Paul Bako, and risking some serious injury to himself. That would have been a lovely way to start the year. Morneau also tried to stretch a single into a double in his next at-bat and was canned. These are problems in a close game. Fortunately, this game wasn't as close as the score indicated.

I raise these concerns only because they're sitting at the front of my mind, and rest assured that my pessimism will not leave me until, say, the last out of the game that eliminates this team from winning the World Series. Opening Day is, of course, a funhouse mirror, stretching each success into a taffy-shaped giant and squinching failure into a frog-faced dwarf. I should be awed by the presence of the greats--Jack Morris and Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Brad Radke (who I have to admit am glad he's no longer in uniform to torment me)--and the garbled tributes to Herb Carneal that no one could hear (seems like every Opening Day of late is as much a wake as anything else). Perhaps I should look at the bright side statistically: Morneau is now batting a saucy .750, Castillo .600, Santana has a win, Nathan's got himself a save and a perfect zero under "ERA". The Twins sit in first place with Cleveland and Kansas City. And all is well, all is well... until tomorrow.

Conversations Real & Imagined: Talk Around the Dome

From a popular local Twins broadcaster to another: "Well, I'll tell you, Herb could eat. He could just flat-out eat!"

A college-age girl, shivering: "I think that the new stadium is proof that conservatives are finally getting it through their head that global warming is a reality. They're thinking it'll be like fucking Georgia in April by, what, 2010?"

One thug to his pal in the cheap seats: "I hope Morneau's on the juice, man. Hell, Bonds got away with it. I'll take 50 bombs from him, 50 from Cuddy, and 50 from Mauer, man. Give it to 'em, I say!"

Father to son: "Well, they had to take the giant milk jug away because the milk went bad. Remember how your milk smelt so bad the other day? That happens sometime."

An obviously drunk fellow staring at an ad on the Trinitron: "Man, John Gordon sure looks like Larry 'Bud' Melman, doesn't he?"

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 2, 2007 10:09 PM | Comments (4)

 

Trash Talking with Fred Hoiberg and Shaq Talks Smack

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Timberwolves Assistant General Manager Fred Hoiberg. Looking back on the 2006-07 season, as well as thinking towards the future of the franchise, Hoiberg was willing to answer all questions posed to him. The problem? Some of the answers come off as somewhat "canned," but I'll let you be the judge. As I prefer to do, I present the interview to you, the readers, and then allow for you to take the conversation on whatever course you may want to go down. The conversation with Hoiberg is below. What are your thoughts on his answers? Did he state anything that really sticks out to you? Do his answers make you feel any better about the Timberwolves or do you actually feel worse?

SL: This season has obviously not gone as planned. What are your thoughts on how the team got to this point?

FH: Well, it's been a disappointing season for all of us. You know, we expected more out of this season and what I've seen, especially, is our inconsistent play. We've had moments against the best teams in the league where we've looked like world beaters. You know, we come out, we play great basketball for 48 minutes and we beat the top teams. Houston, Chicago twice, we won at Detroit. I can't think of all of them right now, but we lost in Dallas by one possession twice, which not many teams have done. Then you look at the other part of our season where we've lost to the bottom teams in the league, so the biggest thing I have seen is our inconsistent play. Our job this summer is going to be to figure out why that happened and to make the necessary changes.

SL: Looking back, Coach Casey had this team playing 0.500 ball when he was let go. Coach Wittman has struggled to find ways to win games since he took over. Does the organization feel that the coaching change was indeed the right move to make?

FH: It's always tough when that kind of thing happens, but the big thing we were looking for was to do everything we possibly could to get everything we could out of the guys and get some consistent play going. We just wanted to try a new voice and we feel, in the long run, Randy Wittman will be a very good coach for this team. We feel that with a whole training camp with the guys, being able to put in his own philosophies... you know, he's got some that are the same as Dwane (Casey) and some that are different. We just felt that we wanted to give every opportunity we could to get this thing turned around. It hasn't worked out that way so far, but we're confident that giving Randy (Wittman) a full season, he'll do a good job with this team.

SL: Glen Taylor has all but said that Coach Wittman will return as coach next season and you also just alluded to that. What is it, specifically, about Coach Wittman that makes the organization believe that he is the right fit for this team?

FH: We just feel he will do a good job. He was a head coach once in this league and had some success with that team, but also had some disappointment with that team in Cleveland. He had some very untimely injuries after he got off to a great start one year that really turned around that season, so he's learned from his previous head coaching experience, he's learned from the coaches that he's coached under, including Dwane (Casey), who he coached under. He's a guy who has played for the best in the business. Bobby Knight as a player, he was a player in this league, he knows when to get on guys and when to back off. We also feel that he'll do a good job of holding guys accountable. It's going to be a tough job, but we hope he'll be around here for a long time.

SL: This past summer, Kevin Garnett did an interview with SLAM Magazine where he basically stated that this team needs to improve very quickly in order for him to want to remain in Minnesota. That has not been the case this season and he stated awhile back "Thank God for opt outs." Why should fans have any faith that Garnett will be here next season and beyond?

FH: I don't know. I mean, he's never come upstairs and said "Get me outta here." He's never done that once. You read what he said about "Thank God for opt outs" and the reporter asked him what he said and he said he didn't mean it that way. Kevin is frustrated like everybody else is. He wants to win and that's the best quality about Kevin is his desire to win games. When we're winning, he's happy and when we're losing, he's miserable. His big thing, like everybody else, is he wants to win.

SL: This team isn't accustomed to having good young players, due to the Joe Smith penalties. Can you speak on the young core of McCants, Foye and Smith?

FH: We feel very good about the young pieces on this team right now with Rashad coming back after being out of basketball for eight months. We feel that what he showed at the end of the season, he's still getting his legs back right now, but he's a piece that will be very good for this organization for a long time. We feel very good about the draft from last year with Randy (Foye) and with Craig (Smith). Randy has succeeded everybody's expectations with coming in and hitting game winners, playing big in fourth quarters and hitting tough shots in overtimes. He doesn't have any fear and that's the kind of guy that you can build around. Craig Smith, I think, has been a surprise for everybody with his rugged play down low. He gets in and gets offensive rebounds, takes charges and gets extra possessions. They're pieces that as they grow and mature will be very good players. It's going to be an important summer for them as far as getting better. You improve the most from your first year to your second year in the league, so it's going to be a big summer for those guys. Those are guys we feel we can build around. It's nice to have young players and have some hope for the future when in the past, there haven't been a lot of young guys where you can say that "this is the future of this team." You're starting to see that now and those are the guys that we really want to start building around.

SL: Last one for you, Fred. As of today, do you believe that Kevin Garnett retires as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves?

FH: I hope so. I hope so. He's meant the world to this city. He's the best teammate that I've ever had. He approaches the game like very few others with his passion, as far as bringing effort on a nightly basis, as far as being a great example in practice and as far as how he approaches the game. It's going to be up to us to find the right pieces to put around Kevin and to help this team to, hopefully, get to the next level. We want to get back to where it was three years ago, although it seems like a hundred years ago that we were in the Western Conference Finals, but, in reality, it's not that long ago. We need to realize what mistakes have been made to get to where we are right now, address those in the summer and try to get back to where we were a couple years ago.

*****

Speaking of that great Western Conference Finals run, prior to the Wolves game against the Miami Heat on Friday, Shaquille O'Neal made mention of it as well.

Standing in the Heat locker room before the game as Shaq and Antoine Walker were watching film of the Wolves/Heat game in Miami earlier in the season, the big fella asked me, "So, what's it been? Five years since the Wolves have made the playoffs?"

I replied, "No, this will be the third. The last time they were in the playoffs was against you in the Western Conference Finals."

Shaq seemed surprised to hear my answer, grinned his goofy Shaquille O'Neal grin and said, "...and we all know what happened then! Boy, do we know what happened then."

By Stephen Litel
Stephenwolvesguy22@hotmail.com

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 2, 2007 4:27 PM | Comments (5)

 

Poor Pitiful Watford

Filed under: Soccer

On Saturday I watched Fulham v. Portsmouth. I mostly was hoping to catch a glimpse of Clint Dempsey with his new club. It was a pretty ho-hum affair. Portsmouth scored in the fourth minute on a crackerjack goal by Niko Kranjcar. From that point forward Fulham controlled the run of play, but created few dangerous chances.

Around the 70th minute, Ian Pearce, Fulham's veteran defender, pulled up lame after a tackle. Unfortunately the squad had already used all three substitutions. So Pearce stayed on, gamely hobbling up and down the field, but basically reduced to one leg.

Then two minutes into injury time, with Portsmouth looking certain to take home all three points, the ball trickled out of the Portsmouth box and ended up at the feet of Pearce. He gamely struck the ball (with his bad foot no less), it caromed off a Portsmouth defender, and trickled into the goal. It was one of the most ridiculous goals I've ever seen. Pearce was too hobbled to even properly celebrate. Watch it here.

(Dempsey, sadly, did not play.)

Then I watched Watford v. Chelsea. American centerback Jay DeMerit had a marvelous game for the miserable Hornets, including a goal-saving tackle on Frank Lampard in the 78th minute. But the American's side was cruelly undone two minutes into injury time by a Salomon Kalou header. It was brutal. Watford is a cursed squad. They can not score. Highlights here (with commentary in some language other than English).

Posted by Paul Demko at April 2, 2007 2:59 PM | Comments (2)

 

Tom Hanneman and Jim Petersen: I'll See You In Court

Filed under: Timberwolves

By Stephen Litel

Surely, many fans will find themselves conflicted after the Timberwolves win in Orlando. It is, of course, always good to see your team get a hard-fought win on the road, especially an overtime game. Yet, with each win that the Wolves notch from now until the end of the season, they find themselves close to losing their first round pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

As I have mentioned in this space before, an ideal situation would be to play the young guns (Foye, McCants and Smith) a good amount of minutes to continue their development in this now lost Timberwolves season. The lineup that Minnesota can put on the floor until the end of the season that helps to find something positive going into next year is Foye, McCants, Jaric, Smith and Garnett.

Although, to a certain degree, Marko Jaric's inability to play well coming off the bench holds the Timberwolves hostage, if he needs to start to be productive, then so be it. Trenton Hassell is certainly a fine on ball defender, but Jaric is able to play better help defense. Look back to the game against Miami on Friday... Jaric played a stellar defensive game, allowing his confidence to get back on track. He does, however, need to work on his outside shot during the off-season to be a complete threat, as it is always a crapshoot when he has an open shot.

Did anyone happen to notice what Kevin Garnett said to Marney Gellner post-game? After the nice road win, Garnett stated "We're just trying to build something for the future here." Now, Garnett is always careful with what he says to the media and usually knows what he is doing, so I find it interesting that he made this statement.

In a season where Minnesota will miss the playoffs for a third straight year and has been nothing short of a disaster with the expectations coming in with the additions of James, Foye, and Smith, Garnett has been showing the true leader he can be. Coach Wittman stated recently that there really is no leader in the locker room for Minnesota, but I am constantly seeing Garnett praising the younger players, encouraging Jaric in the huddle and I have also seen glimpses of a young Kevin Garnett. You remember that guy? "The Kid" used to be full of energy and life, working himself into a lather due to his overwhelming love for the game of basketball. I believe that guy is slowly re-emerging.

It is not debatable on whether or not Garnett likes his teammates this season as people, but as basketball players, they can leave something to be desired. However, he is indeed on board, doing all he can to push the young players, along with Jaric, in order to find something that he can cling to for the remainder of his time in Minnesota.

It is also obvious that Garnett likes Ricky Davis, but I believe that he was speaking of Davis and Blount when he spoke of "head-cases" a few weeks back. The Big Ticket has spoken out numerous times in support of Davis with statements like he made last night, saying "Ricky and I are gelling later (then they would have wanted), but I will take it." Again, another comment that seems to come off as if he is certainly disappointed in how this season as a whole will turn out, but sees promise. The problem is that if Garnett wants Davis to return next season, Mark Blount must be traded, as those two seem to feed off each other, creating a spiral of negativity on the bench... and Blount's contract will be hard to trade.

One last random thought... I am going to be taking Tom Hanneman and Jim Peterson to court soon for copyright infringement. I began to call Randy Foye "Fourth Quarter Foye" in this space awhile ago. It was brought to my attention recently that they have begun calling the rookie the same and I heard it for myself in the Orlando game.

OK, so I didn't have the nickname copyrighted, but I'll have to have some words with them.

By Stephen Litel
Stephenwolvesguy22@hotmail.com

Posted by Corey Anderson at April 1, 2007 10:55 PM | Comments (8)

 

The Silence Will Be Deafening

Filed under: Twins

Longtime Twins broadcaster Herb Carneal passed away this morning at age 83, on the eve of what would have been his 45th Opening Day in the booth. I'm not from Minnesota originally, having moved here some thirteen years ago, but I know how hard it's going to be hard for Twins fans who follow their team through the tinny sounds on the box, and specifically the rich voice of Herb Carneal. He was great play-by-play man: to the point, able to capture a play nimbly and with an economy of words that isn't often found in broadcasters today. Carneal was magic to listen to, and I used to love hearing him on those hot days when you could drive around the lakes and have him conjure up a ballgame right there in the car.

Having come from a rural part of Michigan, I know how important a great radio man can be for people who can't get to the stadium in the big city. Sure, it's fine to watch television, and I don't want to praise Mr. Carneal at the expense of the guys on the tube. But with radio, it's something else, something special. You can work and listen to a game. You can cook. You can tend your baby or your model plane in the basement or play cards with your grandmother, who cackles with every home run. You can walk with your headphones on or you can be an old grump sitting in the driveway and just watch traffic go by while Herb went through an at-bat with that voice that was as sweet as a puff of pipe tobacco. This summer in Minnesota, I know that out in the fields and in the barns, in the garages and the factories, even in the prisons, and in every automobile of every Twins fan, the sound of baseball just won't be the same.

Posted by Peter Schilling Jr. at April 1, 2007 4:54 PM | Comments (1)

 

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