111 thoughts on “July 18, 2011: Let’s Play Two”

  1. I wonder if FSN will have a thermometer on the field for todays game? I remember back in the day when KC had AstroTurf, the thermometer would basically be slammed at 120 degrees because thats all the farther it could go

      1. I have! It doesn't sound like it was too different than what the TC got this past weekend.

        We did the tourist thing on Sunday - Crown Candy Kitchen for lunch and the arch in the afternoon.

    1. They serve both beers - Bud AND Bud Light.

      Enjoy our humidity!

      don't worry, it sounds like they'll have plenty of water on hand.

  2. I was busy yesterday (did listen to the game on radio), but I need to say:
    CHUCK JAMES!!!!!!
    CHUCK JAMES!!!!!!
    CHUCK JAMES!!!!!!
    CHUCK JAMES!!!!!!
    CHUCK JAMES!!!!!!
    CHUCK JAMES!!!!!!
    If I would have been online yesterday, this probably would have been its own post.

        1. more or less. enjoy it with my compliments.

          on the subject, we need to start an image repository around here. i'm not sure what would go into that. maybe merging with the "our headers" tab into a general image repository?

          EDIT: by the way, this was made on your suggestion.

  3. Rochester released Steve Singleton the other day. This makes no sense to me. He's 25 and had hit well in AA. He didn't do a lot in Rochester (in 153 at-bats), but he didn't totally stink it up, either. The Twins need infielders, and it's not like he was blocking anybody. I don't understand it.

    1. LEN III says it was due to off-field issues. So that could be just about anything, I guess.

      1. It would be nice if we had a reporter who could dig a little further into these things than just tweeting the team's side of things. I'm not saying that the release wasn't justified, but the "off-field issues" catch-all statement doesn't do much for me.

        1. Actually, I can't find any official mention of his release anywhere. The New Britain newspaper and the Rock Cats' website don't mention it at all. When I searched for it, all the sites that mention it credit LEN3 as the source, so just him giving as much as he did was actual reporting, not just rewriting a press release. Plus, I wouldn't expect a guy to get more than that on a nonprospect who's team was a 1,000 miles away. I would have expected at least something from the New Britain newspaper, however.

          1. Why would New Britain have anything about it? Singleton was in Rochester. Of course, I still don't see any explanation, but Mandelaro might have something soon.

            1. LEN3 said Singleton didn't react well when he got sent back to New Britain from Rochester. Did he get sent up again?

            2. Never mind. I guess I didn't read it close enough:

              Heard he also didn't handle things well when he was sent back to New Britain earlier in the season. He eventually returned to Rochester.

              Emphasis mine.

            3. This is the Rochester paper's only mention of it:

              Also, infielder Steve Singleton was granted his release Saturday.
              He was hitting .246 with three home runs and 17 RBI in 40 games with Rochester.

              1. This is almost exactly what the Red Wings website had in notes at the end of Saturday's game story.

  4. I know there have been injuries, but it still seems to me that a good organization should be able to come up with a better starting pitcher for an important game than Scott Diamond.

    1. I guess they don't want to start Gibson's service time yet, huh? I guess Diamond got the call because Gardy wanted a pitcher he can call Scotty in the post-game.

      1. Gibson started yesterday. If Baker hadn't waited until the day before a doubleheader to announce he couldn't pitch, the Twins could have moved things around to bring up Gibson. At least the Indians have a pretty bad split vs. lefties, which probably factored into the decision.

        1. The Twins should've at least had an idea that Baker might not be able to go, given he skipped his last start and all, so if they had wanted Gibson up to start, he wouldn't have started yesterday. I don't think that the Twins want Gibson up for what is hopefully one spot start, no matter what Baker's (or the training staff's) timing was on when he decided if he could go or not.
          Good to hear the Indians have a bad split against lefties, that makes me feel a little more confident about Diamond's chances.

        2. I guess the Rochester game was an evening game, so they could have called up Gibson, but it's not like he's been setting the world on fire. I wonder if his emotional state affected his start yesterday. He may have been upset at Diamond getting the call instead of him.

          1. Or there could be other circumstances:

            kgib44: Lost the battle tonight! The score and physical battle! Got hit by a liner, tripped & fell while taggin a guy & my cleats gave me a blister!

            kgib44: Overall, if you add in the 9 runs allowed, it would be considered a start to forget! So that is what i will do. Learn from it and forget it!

            Following his Twitter account makes me think this will be a guy that will be a lot of fun to watch when he does make it.

            1. I like how he takes responsibility for the 9 runs without making excuses. I agree, I think it will be fun to watch him when he does make it to the majors.

        3. I don't think it's right to make this out to be Baker's fault. He may have held out as long as possible because he wanted to give himself as much chance as he could to feel right enough to make the start.

          1. Do we know that it was Baker that waited 'til the last minute? Or the staff that told him let's wait until Sunday to decide what to do? In either case, I don't think they were blindsided. At least, I wouldn't expect anyone to tell the media a few days back that he might go on the DL.

            1. According to the STrib he told the Twins he wasn't ready. FSN announced before the game that Baker was ready. If a starter is day-to-day, the Twins always wait until he has his bullpen and then make the decision then to avoid this type of situation. They decide based on how he throws and how he says he feels. Obviously, he threw fine and initially said he was good to go and then decided Sunday that wasn't the case. I'm sure bringing up an extra pitcher had a lot to do with Baker being the one pitching because they wouldn't ask him to throw as many as normal. I just wonder if Baker wasn't being totally honest after the bullpen and was hoping it felt better by Sunday. I'm glad the guy wants to go out there, but that put the team in a tough spot. Maybe they would have gone with Diamond anyways, who knows, so it may not have mattered, but if Baker wasn't being totally honest after the bullpen, I'm sure that didn't sit well with Gardy. He could have been doing some light tossing on Sunday and felt something then. If so, then you can't complain about Baker's actions, but that doesn't bode well for him coming off the DL anytime soon.

            2. Right, even if he knew on Thursday that he likely couldn't pitch, there would be no reason to make the move until today or if the team had to burn the bullpen from extra innings or a short start.

              Chuck James hasn't pitched since the AAA ASG. Everyone in the org knew that move was coming.

        4. What would have been worse is if he did start and had to leave after one inning. That's why I thought it was nuts to schedule him for the double-header day.

          1. What would have been worse is if he did start and had to leave after one inning.

            That is very true- I think the Twins should've just decided to have Baker skip another start earlier, so they could get their spot-starter from Rochester lined up better. Still, if Baker's not ready, I'm glad he wanted to try to go out there but was smart enough to admit he wasn't quite ready yet. I just hope it's only this one start, and whatever the issue is doesn't linger any longer.

            1. Another point is wouldn't we rather have Diamond pitching against KC over Cleveland? Could have pushed Dunce back to today...

          2. Rule for the Twins for the day game: If it looks like extra innings, send in someone from this set: [Mijares, Capps, Burnett].

            1. Other than the "extra innings" part, that was a pretty amazing call. You sure you don't have readers high up in the organization?

  5. Got my acceptance into the program in Prague. I'm calling home tonight to make sure it's feasible logistically and financially. Barring anything wacky, I'm moving to the Czech Republic in October.

    1. Congrats. Good thing I remembered to box a couple of brews up today so I could get them to you before October.

    2. Congratulations! My mother's family is Czech (hence the Jan Hus avatar). If you run into any people over there named Nadenicek or Homolka, they may be my relatives.

      1. I'll keep an eye out for them. Do you happen to speak any Czech? I'm gonna get started on learning here right quick.

        I took a picture of the Jan Hus statue in Old Town Square last time I was there. I only knew who he was because you had mentioned him before.

        1. Nope, no Czech. Mom still remembers some, although she can read it a lot better than she can speak it. It was my grandparents who first came to the U.S. My grandfather, who was a Presbyterian minister, also edited a Czech language newspaper in the United States. When he died, the next edition was dedicated to him. Mom translated it and made a copy for each of us.

      1. Cheap, tasty, and plentiful. In the more touristy sections of town, most street corners have little food shacks that have all manner of sausages and beer on tap. And you can walk down the street with a beer in your hand. Out of beer? Oh look, another shack.

        And if you want to get a really nice beer, Prague has some wonderful local breweries, many of which don't even sell their beer off the premises. You have to go there, or in the immediate neighborhood, to get them

      1. From MLB.tv

        OUTSIDE THE U.S. AND CANADA

        No blackout restrictions apply.

        It's currently 7:00 PM in Prague, so day games played in Minnesota are ~= night games in Prague.

        1. When the Twins are on the West Coast, you can catch the second half of games early in the morning.

        2. Last year (2010), the Twins played 55 day games according to their BR splits. At $59.99 a year, that's roughly $1/game for MLB.tv (assuming similar day/night splits and I can see every "day" game). Not bad.

          1. Plus, if you wanted to do the avoid-the-score-and-watch-later, it should be easier to avoid Twins/MLB news in Prague than in the US.

    1. While down with an arm injury in 1982, Blyleven coached a Little League team, and gave the kids chewing tobacco so they’d look more like real pros.

      1. That was definitely news to me. As I read the article, I found myself wondering if Bert's early debut in the majors lead to his temperamental behaviour (and, more happily, his famous penchant for practical jokes).

        1. While googling "Bert Blyleven giving kids chewing tobacco" I came across another Bert factoid: Bert really likes to pick his nose.

          Farting, nose-picking, hot foots, kids doing chew-- Bert sure sounds like someone I'd of hung out with when I was 13.

          1. Is Blyleven the inspiration for Buttermaker?
            Shoot, his LL coaching during a DL stint was in '82.
            Inspired by Buttermaker?

  6. Back from exploring the coast of Massachusetts (Salem, Boston, Plymouth and Cape Cod). I brought the wrong shoes to walk the entire Freedom Trail and am now spending way more time on foot maintenance than I ever thought possible. Very enjoyable place to visit and explore the history as long as you can tune out all the Red Sox stuff.

    1. What a silly statement. If there were ten other Ubaldo's, his name wouldn't be a mononym. It has everything to do with the rarity of his name, not his talent.

      I can think of very few people with very common names that are mononyms. Tiffany is the first one that pops to mind. And she was in Playboy. /non-sequitir

      1. There was a time when "Michael" meant one and only one person in the world of sports. When you are referred to as simply "Michael" and everyone knows who you are, you are big.

        1. There was a time when "Michael" meant one and only one person in the world of sports. When you are referred to as simply "Michael" and everyone knows who you are, you are big.

          Plus, those gold shoes he wore were something. πŸ˜‰

      2. Johan, Yunieski, Yorvit, Alcides, Vladimir, Derek, Alex, Ambiorix, Barry, Delmon, Dmitri, Denard, Kendry, Jhonny, Mieklejohn

  7. Now that I've slept on it, advice to those considering jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet.

    1)Don't go when it's 95 and humid. It makes normal breathing quite difficult.
    2)Get in some semblance of physical shape first.
    3)Do it if you get a chance. I can't look over a stairwell without getting physically ill, but I found this to be much easier that getting up the nerve to go on a roller coaster. Free-falling is an indescribale experience.

      1. The Twins said it was 490, which beat what they consider his record by 10 feet as well, so they're consistently off from HitTracker. Either way, a big blast.

  8. On the "Breaking Bad" premier last night...

    Spoiler SelectShow
    1. I don't know how to do the spoiler button and am too lazy/rushed to do it right now. But I will say spoiler-free that I thought it was a solid start to the season and that I think the question you ask is answered by all three options you present. It's ambiguous and all the better for it.

      1. Spoiler button right there at the right end of the buttons above the LTE box. Just click "Spoiler" to start your spoiler, and when you're done, click the same button which now says "/spoiler" everything between the two will be hidden.

        1. Thanks, let me give it a whirl.

          Spoiler SelectShow
    2. Alright, finally watched it last night.

      Spoiler SelectShow
  9. There will be no Minor Details tomorrow, as I have been called out of town unexpectedly. If all goes well, the feature will return Wednesday.

  10. Just took Familia Leche swimming...114 degrees. A new high for me, ever. Still not as holistically craptastic as Minnesota around 90-95 degrees, but it'll make you want to quit existing.

    1. It's 90 with 60% humidity and the A/C is out in my car. The 25 minute drive home is going to be torture.

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