May 2008

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Twin Cities Sports Media Medals

Filed under: MLB

After ten years as a writer, I've learned (among myriad other tenets) that there is no substitute for being a learned reader and researcher of other people's work. And the lay of the Minnesota sports landscape has no shortage of talent. Of the countless places I've been fortunate enough to live, visit, or vacation in my days -- I've long held the belief that my hometown of the Twin Cities provides a better arc of sports coverage than any other destination where I've picked up a sports page, watched a broadcast, listened to a ballgame, scrolled through local websites, or purchased a book penned by a native scribe.

And given the vast research that has encompassed the fine opportunity to tackle this Twins project for 2008, I've found a heightened sense of my attentions magnified toward those whose work I personally find most poignant. That said, I thought it might be fun to create a list of those who ascend to the zenith of our Minnesota sports bread basket. After researching and revisiting the work of close to 100 local talents (94 to be exact) who are presently working in town as writers, radio/television broadcasters, and prognosticators-- I organized a 30-point grading scale with the following breakdown to see who came out on top:

Experience (10 points possible): Basically, a point awarded for each year working in Minnesota.
Talent (10 points possible): Again, just one guy's opinion here.
Gig (5 points possible): Gauging the height of the podium from which they work.
Buzz (3 points possible): Recognizing how many different media in which the person works, combined with how often other people in the field reference their work.
Influence (2 points possible): What is their influence on the present, and future, of Minnesota sports media?

And while there are surely some omissions on this list (13 other fine talents in fact, who were a point or two shy-- Sean Jensen, Jay Weiner, Dick Bremer and John Bonnes among them), I whittled it down to the top 20%. Again, one guy's opinion here. Comments -- of concurrence or of dissent -- are of course always welcome. Eschewing further pause, here are the medallists of Minnesota sports media, noted in ascending order:

Honorable Mention

Jim Souhan
-trusted and well-respected multi-medium vet who is at his best during baseball season.

Kevin Gorg
-Rapidly-rising, he's great with both hockey and horses.

Bob Sansevere
-Radio and Sports page fixture.

Aaron Gleeman
-Closer to Bill James than Henry James, but has surely branded more (well-deserved) name recognition in his 20's than anyone on this list.

Brad Zellar
-Versatile veteran freelancer and author who has a penned a veritable laundry list of outstanding magazine and web articles. Great with baseball.

LaVelle E. Neal
-Skilled and highly-knowledgeable baseball writer who will have no shortage of opportunities to extend his voice to radio and television in ensuing years.

Bronze Division

Ross Bernstein
-Churns out quality sports books at the rate of four per day. Truly a fine purveyor of Minnesota sports history.

Dan Barreiro
-Fine sportswriter who has shifted to purely radio work. Political, smart, and with a very strong following.

Stew Thornley
-Major thread in Minnesota baseball mosaic. Unique voice, original ideas, and he loves dead Hall of Famers.

Dark Star
-Polarizing veteran voice -- beloved by some, bemoaned by others. But hell, when I'm his age, I'd love to have the lifestyle: staying up late, talking sports, going to the track.

Rachel Blount
-Despite my equine bias, I'll still call her the most underrated sportswriter in town.

Silver Class

Paul Allen
-Active, fun, and funky. Deserving of his 17 jobs, and his voice is the perfect match for both Adrian Peterson highlights and photo finishes.

Neal Karlen
-Probably the most talented writer here. Subjects range from religion to pop culture to sports. His "Leaning Toward Fargo" is one of the most timely Minnesota books ever written.

Britt Robson
-Like Zellar in his versatility. Sharp and smart veteran with an acute proclivity toward basketball insights.

Sid Hartman
-No list would be complete sans the local luminary. Has more contacts than LensCrafters, more columns than Rome.

Gold Circle

Joe Soucheray
-All those window stickers mean something. May have a greater following than anyone herein.

Ron Shara
-Veteran outdoors presence and excellent storyteller.

Patrick Reusse
-Has never ceased hustling for a great story, his work generates the most reaction, and he scribes a few lights-out columns month-in, month-out. Radio work is also well-respected.

Mark Rosen
-Very likable and trusted broadcast vet, and his Sunday night show proves consistently insightful and entertaining.

Posted by Judd Spicer at May 15, 2008 9:09 AM | Comments (7)

 

Mr. Tom Brady, meet Mr. William of Ockham

Filed under: NFL

Tom Brady ripped ESPN yesterday, saying that the network's coverage of the Patriots' spying controversy is manufactured controversy. Can't we just keep news of our organization's illegal spying on opposing teams in the past, Brady asks? He alleges the typical media sensationalism.

Let's hear from Mr. Brady directly:

MR. BRADY: "I think it's a way to really sell newspapers, and all the ESPN stations, they've got to fill the air, too... It's just kind of the environment right now, though. I think that's the way that guys make it. They just say the craziest things. That's what ESPN has become. ESPN, to me, is like MTV without the videos, ESPN is without the highlights."

To rebut these comments, we've resuscitated William of Ockham, the 14th century Franciscan friar whose principle, "Occam's razor," states that the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is the most likely true explanation.

What say you, sir?

MR. OCKHAM: "The most successful NFL franchise in recent memory cheated. They admitted to the cheating. But because new information had come to light indicating the cheating might have been more widespread than previously indicated, the story got more press. Q.E. fucking D. May I go back to the grave now?"

Mr. Ockham, you've been most helpful. Mr. Brady, please go back to impregnating models and leave the media criticism to Ben Bagdikian.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 14, 2008 6:06 AM | Comments (4)

 

Secretary of Agriculture: Livan Hernandez

Filed under: MLB

This is likely not the first place you're visiting on the site for political news and notions. However, this is of course an election year. And given the formidable relationship between sports and culture, I'd be remiss not to include the occasional nod (or at least the illusion thereof) toward what may prove to be the most critical election year of our lifetimes.

That said: Now back to sports! Every 25-games or so, I'll be appointing a member of our favorite club to the Minnesota Twins Cabinet. The process will be both rigorous and exhausting--lots of paperwork, stamps, filing, Notaryies, approvals, vetoes, gin, filibusters, quills, Red Bull, and probably some parchment paper in there somewhere.

Without further pause, the first appointment of the 2008 campaign is:

Livan Hernandez- Secretary of Agriculture

While due consideration of this appointment was given to Livan's paunch and neck fat, the stamp of approval was ultimately punched because above all else, Livan is eating a lot of innings for the Twins. Entering Monday night's nationally televised showdown with Boston, Livan has logged an impressive 51.2 innings in his first eight starts, placing him 10th in the A.L. in innings consumed. A mere 12 outs separates him for 3rd in this category.

In his eight starts, Hernandez, at 5-1, has a victory for each neck roll, and it should be readily noted that the Twins are 7-1 in those games. Toss out his April 27th performance against Texas (2 2/3 innings), and the guy has gone at least 6 innings in every start. His last was a complete game victory against the White Sox on May 7th.

At his present pace, Livan would finished the season with roughly 228 innings pitched, which would be tied for the fourth most innings labored by a Twins pitcher since the millennium.

And while many a local bard has wanted to compare Livan to Twins' stop-gaps of yore such as Sidney Ponson, Ramon Ortiz, Terry Mulholland, Rick Reed, and Sean Bergman, the 13-year veteran Hernandez is pacing to win half the games in a lone season as those chestnuts did for the Twins in their combined tenures.

Lastly: Don't look for Livan to slow. Of his 139 career victories, 55 have come in the months of July and August. And out of his 2422.2 innings pitched, 844.2 have come in those same summer months, with 18 career complete July/August games to boot.

Livan has proven more rubber-arm than rubber-chicken since the Twins inked him to a deserved $5 million contract in the off-season. For anchoring the rotation with moxie, manhood, and veteran mechanics, Livan Hernandez is hereby appointed the Secretary of Agriculture for the 2008 Minnesota Twins Cabinet.

Posted by Judd Spicer at May 12, 2008 5:32 AM | Comments (10)

 

Wild coach Jacques Lemaire: I want to coach again UPDATED

Filed under: Wild

The Wild PR office has just put out a statement from Wild Coach Jacques Lemaire that would seem to confirm he'll be back next year:

"When you are younger, it's a lot easier to make a decision. At the end of the year, I said I wanted to ask questions of Doug. I wanted to make sure my boss is happy with the work I am doing and with the way I manage the team. This is what we talked about in our meetings. I am reassured of my work and I want to coach again.

My satisfaction behind the bench is getting the team to play the best it can, individually and as a group. Success will come with that."

There's a phoner scheduled at 12:15 p.m. which should provide a lot more insight into the Coach Lemaire's thinking.

UPDATE 1: Here's quotes from the press conference:

"Maybe I'm different than the majority of coaches," Lemaire said. "I feel secure, and feeling secure makes me do the right things. ... When I came to Minnesota, I said I want to work with a GM that I know, that he knows me, he knows how I work, because I want to work together."

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 10, 2008 3:12 PM | Comments (0)

 

Wolves pre-season prediction contest winner announced!

Filed under: Timberwolves

It took us a while to recover from the season sufficiently to go back and do that math. But the scores from our pre-season T-Wolves win prediction contest have been tabulated and a winner has been crowned.

That winner is none other than the good and great Jason H., who predicted, way back in October, that the 2007-08 Wolves would win 21 games. In Mr. H's own, immortal words: "21, Just like the year before KG arrived."

The Wolves, of course, finished their storied 19th season with a 22-60 record. And Jason H., with his outstanding ability to evaluate talent and to further translate this understanding into the harsh reality of wins and losses, is hereby presented with the following book from the Paul H. W. Demko Memorial Library:

From all of us at your alternative to the alternative to the home of the Timberwolves, here's hoping that you, Jason H., find a vege burger somewhere in the book.

May God bless us everyone.

Oh , and for the record, here are the predictions in full:
36 - Ben
33 - Sam
30 - David Roth
28 - Kory
27 - fullofsquirrels
24 - Robert
21 - ***Jason***
19 - Nate
13 - Benj
07 - Demko
01 - Kyle

Posted by Jonathan Kaminsky at May 9, 2008 11:16 AM | Comments (1)

 

Carlos Gomez Hits For The Cycle

Filed under: MLB

The Twins have been earning their way onto SportsCenter the last few days, in what is fast becoming a headline-heavy week for the club.

Just a night after getting no-hit for 8 1/3 by White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd, the Twins followed up that sad display by stomping the Sox 13-1 in a game delayed nearly two hours by rain. The team now leads the Central Division by 1.5 games over Cleveland.

The last time a Twin hit for the cycle came compliments of Kirby Puckett, who accomplished the feat against the Oakland A's on August 1, 1986. Carlos Gomez was just 8 months old.

And Gomez' magnetic traits of youth were widely on display Wednesday night as the young center fielder went 4-6, raising his average 21 points, from .261 to .282.

Gomez homered to lead off the game against Sox starter Mark Buehrle, tripled against Buehrle in the fifth, doubled in the sixth, and then singled off of Sox reliever Ehren Wasserman in the ninth. The single, completing this "inverse cycle," ricocheted off of the pitcher's glove, and Gomez beat out an infield throw by shortstop Alexei Ramirez to assure the feat. Camera angles showing Gomez' sprint down the first base line also readily captured an electric Twins dugout.

Gomez then flashed a beaming smile as he made his way around the bases, scoring his second run of the night. Arriving back at the Twins dugout, he was mobbed by teammates and seemingly shared joyous battle tales with pitcher Livan Hernandez, whom it should be noted tossed a complete game, improving his record to 5-1 on the year.

Gomez cycle was the eighth in Twins history. The box score can be seen here.

Posted by Judd Spicer at May 8, 2008 8:20 AM | Comments (8)

 

Floyd's Near No-No

Filed under: MLB

25 year-old Gavin Floyd, whom the Twins defeated just eight days ago, survived some early control issues and a 4th inning unearned run before deftly settling in for the night, and rolling through the hot Twins lineup with a series of well-spotted fastballs and knee-locking breaking pitches. He worked fast, seemingly ready to deliver fresh pitches mere seconds after receiving the ball back from catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

Vying to become the 17th White Sox to toss a no-hitter, Floyd retired 16 Twins in a row at one point. Fox Sports' cameras focused on him often in the late-innings, showing the mop-topped righty with seemingly little stress on his face as his teammates let him be, alone on the bench.

Mauer, who also walked twice, laced his opposite field double to left center, past diving CF Nick Swisher. Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen then removed Floyd from the game allowing the pitcher a hefty standing roar from the announced Chicago crowd of 23,480. Bobby Jenks finished off the 7-1 Sox victory, recording the last two outs.

Floyd walked 3 Twins, and accrued 4 strikeouts.

To see the box, click here.

Posted by Judd Spicer at May 6, 2008 9:36 PM | Comments (16)

 

Heating Up

Filed under: MLB

Fresh off of an impressive 5-0 homestand that saw the Twins take two from Chicago and three from Detroit, the boys now visit the White Sox for three on the South Side. The series begins what should be a most telling stretch of 20 games in 20 days against tough competition that includes visits from Boston and Toronto, before heading west to take on defending N.L. champ Colorado.

But signs are positive, as evidenced by our first-place standing and two-game lead over the Sox. As losers of six straight, the White Sox haven't found May flowers. Rather, their atmosphere has been showered with some much-publicized Ozzie Guillen spittle, and instead of describing their plight and problems as internal, I think it's safer to say that the White Sox are blowing up.

Things are looking far sunnier here on the home front. Sunday's inspiring win versus the Tigers marked the Twins' biggest comeback since July 15, 2002. The result of overcoming that 6-run deficit six years ago? The club went on to win 15 of their next 18.

But before looking at where we might be going, let's focus on what took us to today. Here are both some team, and individual players numbers that we can focus on during this key stretch that is the next three weeks:

Player:

-Joe Mauer is finding his swing. With multi-hit games in each of the last three, Mauer has soared to #2 in the A.L. batting race with a .333 average. What's more, of Mauer's ten multi-hit games in '08, the Twins have won seven. In games that Joe has gone hitless, the team is 2-5.

-In games that Carlos Gomez has multiple steals, the Twins are 3-0.

-Of the team's 16 wins, Justin Morneau has been on base in fourteen of those contests. In our 14 losses, Morneau has 0 hits in six of those games.

-Nick Punto has appeared in 19 games thus far. The Twins have won 63% of those.

-Mike Lamb has played in 14 of our 16 wins. Of those 14 ballgames, he has hits in 8. In addition, Lamb has appeared in 11 of our 14 losses. Of those 11, he has gone hitless in 7.

-The club is 4-1 for games in which Delmon Young has stolen a base.

-The Twins are 6-2 when Brendan Harris has multiple hits.

-When Jason Kubel has an extra base-hit, the team is 6-1.

Here is the Twins' record for contests in which the following relief pitchers appear:
-Pat Neshek: 9-5
-Dennys Reyes: 6-6
-Matt Guerrier: 6-7
-Jesse Crain: 3-7
-Juan Rincon: 3-7
-Brian Bass: 2-6

(Note that this tracks the outcome of games in which said pitcher appeared as an individual, and does not account W/L when they've appeared in tandem)

-Joe Nathan is earning his new contract extension, with a stellar 11 saves in 11 chances. Also, he's given up just 7 hits in 10 innings pitched, with a lone run allowed all year (that coming in a rare non-save appearance).

Team:

-While the club is 13-2 when leading after 7 innings, we're 0-11 when trailing after 7.

-The club has hit just 2 Home Runs after the 7th inning all season (extra innings included).

-The pitching staff has allowed an MLB-low 73 walks. While the staff's home ERA is 2.92, the away number balloons to 5.77.

-After 30 ballgames played, the 3rd inning seems to be the focal point as our guys have an overall inning-best .316 AVG and .381 OBP in said inning; furthermore, foes are hitting an opponent-best .322 with a .366 OBP in the 3rd.

-The team is 5-0 on Saturdays.

-Over the last seven days, the Twins have hit .293 as a team, coupled with an On Base Percentage of .346.

These last numbers should translate well over the next three days, as the Twins hit .319 as a team in their series at Chicago earlier this year, and in 2007 hit a very solid .292 as a team a Cellular Field. That accounted for their top team away-average within the Central Division.

Here are the projected pitching match-ups for today, Wednesday and Thursday:

Tuesday: RHP Nick Blackburn (2-1, 3.52 ERA) vs. RHP Gavin Floyd (2-1, 3.16 ERA)
Wednesday: RHP Livan Hernandez (4-1, 4.43) vs. LHP Mark Buehrle (1-3, 4.42)
Thursday: RHP Kevin Slowey (0-1, 8.10) vs. LHP John Danks (2-3, 3.12)

Posted by Judd Spicer at May 6, 2008 3:11 PM | Comments (5)

 

The Jo-Jo Equation, Part 2

Filed under: MLB

In one of my initial entries this season, I introduced the "Jo-Jo Equation," whereby I'll provide the periodic stat tracker of the factious trade that sent 2-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana to the Mets for four MLB-unprovens. One of the four, Carlos Gomez, is doing his damndest to make Twins fans forget Santana, both with his unhinged legs, and his occasionally-unhinged head. Gomez leads the AL in steals (11), is tied for the team-lead in hits (27), but also holds the dubious honor of leading the club in strikeouts (25 K's in 102 official at-bats, with just 2 walks).

Here's the stat tracking equation presented in that previous post:

-AAA Rochester
Pitching: 1/2 point for a win, a strikeout, or a save.
Hitting: 1/2 point for each total base, a stolen base, or an RBI.
Fielding: 1/2 point for an assist, and a negative 1/2 point for an error.

-Below this level, all point totals are worth 1/3. (Even though the AA level is more about grooming the MLB prospects, rarely is the jump made from here to the Big Show).

-For all Major League numbers accrued, full points are awarded/deducted in the same areas.

And I also added the caveat: "Now, there are no doubt another 589 statistical categories that could be implemented here to further examine and compare Santana with the 4 fellas now on our side -- but let's stick to the basics, I say, and see how the tally comes out."

That said, let's compare the numbers-

Mets (14-12)

Johan Santana-
Pitching: 3-2, 39 Strikeouts
Fielding: 0 errors, 7 Assists
Hitting: 4-15 (.267), 3 2B- 7 Total Bases

Twins (13-14)

Carlos Gomez-
Hitting: 11 Steals, 7 RBI, 27-102 (.265), 6 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR- 38 Total Bases
Fielding: 1 Error, 2 Assists

Twins Minor Leaguers
AAA Rochester
Philip Humber-
Pitching: 1-3, 14 Strikeouts
Fielding: 1 Error, 4 Assists

Kevin Mulvey-
Pitching: 2-2, 29 Strikeouts
Fielding: 0 Error, 6 Assists

(High) A Fort Myers
Deolis Guerra-
Pitching: 2-1, 19 Strikeouts
Fielding: 0 Error, 3 Assists

Totals:

Santana: 56 Points

Our dudes: 88 Points

And lastly, as a series of asides today, here's a little medley of sporting chances that will surely make for some sound weekend cocktail conversation:

1. SI.com/CNN recently released their "Fan Survey of MLB Ballparks," with categories and rankings that include Food, Fan Intelligence, Promotions and Affordability. Note that while the Twins/Dome finished with a suspect 26th Rank (out of 30), we did finish high in the Affordability section (7th). Despite 2 World Series wins in a five-year stretch, however, our History & Tradition Rank was an ugly 27th.

2. There was a great story of sportsmanship to come out of the NCAA women's ranks this week. The ball may not be hard, but these ladies aren't soft --it's really worth reading.

3. Finally, as I've been preparing a baseball book review for this month, I thought I'd toss out a few solid baseball reading recommendations to accompany both the hammock and the gin that are soon to find backyard your dwellings-

-My Greatest Day in Baseball by John P. Carmichael (and others)

-The Umpire Strikes Back and Strike Two by Ron Luciano and David Fischer

-Jackie Robinson: A Biography by Arnold Rampersad

-Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball by Bob Costas

-The Catcher was a Spy: The Mysterious Life of Moe Berg by Nicholas Dawidoff

-Joe Torre's Ground Rules for Winners by Joe Torre and Henry Dreher

-Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy by Jane Leavy

or, should you be in more of a listening mood, try:

-The Ernie Harwell Audio Scrapbook (for a few extra dollars, Ernie'll autograph the box for you, too)

UPDATE: The Star Tribune reported at approximately 4:15 p.m. CST today that the older brother of Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire has unexpectedly passed in Oklahoma. Mike Gardenhire was just 55 years old. According to the report, Ron Gardenhire will travel to Oklahoma to be with his family. Scott Ulger will manage the club versus Detroit this weekend. Our well-wishes go out to Gardy and his family.

Posted by Judd Spicer at May 4, 2008 7:04 PM | Comments (15)

 

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