76 thoughts on “June 27, 2011: Third to Last”

    1. The Mrs., who barely pays attention to sports, commented to me yesterday (out of the blue) that Big League Stew was "inconsistent" (in terms of quality). Something to the effect of the author just spewing cr@p to fill the space some days.

      I was stunned. and proud.

      1. When you get paid to write, you have to fill space whether you have good content or not, something the traditional bloggers don't have to worry about.

  4. Would anyone be willing to pinch hit tomorrow's game recap for me? I'll be around a bit, but I have a ludicrous work schedule the next three days and I'm not sure how much time I'd have to even half bake something.

    1. Zach, I don't know if you got an answer, but I'll half bake tomorrow night's game recap.

  5. Well, it turns out my final days at work will be busy ones after all. The woman from the outside company that took my job was in a car crash last night.

    A strange seven years, these have been...

  6. I've now moved into my new home (sort of--they've had water in the basement and the carpet had to be removed, so for the time being all the stuff we were going to put in the basement is in the garage, plus of course we have a whole lot of stuff that's still in boxes and probably will be for a while). Minor Details will return in a couple of days, as soon as I have time to get to it.

  7. Good God.

    MILWAUKEE --The Twins know something is wrong with Tsuyoshi Nishioka's swing; they're just not sure what it is because they've never really seen it working.

    "I would like to see the video from Nishi over in Japan and see what his swing looked like compared to right now, so we would know," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "The hard thing here is the first thing you want to do is let him swing, but if I don't have anything to compare it to, it's really hard to say, 'Do this, do that.' "

    Quick, fire this through the internet.

    1. When people act like Gardenhire in my everyday life, my usual response, after answering, is "If only there was some sort of...'information superhighway' where we could find these things out."

      It slays me that Gardenhire, in a billion-dollars industry, would not use that resource.

        2. I was going to say it's probably a PAL/NTSC thing, but Japan uses NTSC(-J). Instead, maybe it's (stupid!) region code. That's certainly harder to fix, but it's possible to workaround.

          1. you get, what, 3 region code changes on a computer? i'm sure they could sacrifice one of those.

            1. That's if you follow the law. I'm pretty sure there are software workarounds allowing unlimited changes. However, having a dedicated setup for Japan makes sense if the Twins ever sign other Japanese players (Yu Darvish!!).

        3. I will say that it is hard as hell to find much info on the NPB that is in English.
          If the league had a simple-to-follow English website (not a lot of stuff needed: scores, play by play, stats, pictures), I might actually follow it.

          1. I'll second that. I'd even love to find a site that just told you how the American players in Japan were doing.

      1. I just assumed most pictures of Ortiz in the field were some variation of him dropping or barely catching the ball.

    1. I think wgom at wgom dot org will reach both of us. I can't verify at this moment, so if it bounces then I'll find the right one tonight.

        1. Well, our wgom.org mail isn't forwarding to our regular mail like it should, and Sean can't look at it for a while (and the password had to be changed, and he doesn't have the new one on him so I can't get in). In the meantime, you can hit me at foreverunchanged at gmail if you want.

  10. Well, looky here. The Paper of Record has discovered one of my favorite grill items: lamb "riblets".

    These probably deserve a post of their own. Fatty, crispy goodness. I have a package in my refrigerator at home, waiting to be grilled.

  11. The gift that keeps on giving.

    After the Timberwolves agreed to send guard Jonny Flynn(notes) in a package to the Houston Rockets for Brad Miller(notes) and the 23rd pick on Thursday, the trade hit a snag on Friday when the Rockets’ team doctors raised issues with Flynn’s hip injury, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

    To keep the deal from falling apart, Minnesota sent a 2012 second-round pick to the Rockets, league sources said. The issues wouldn’t have kept Flynn off the court, but did raise some concerns for the long-term. Whether Minnesota had been forthcoming with the information prior to the trade is unclear.

    Until Flynn passed his physical on Friday, several NBA trades were held up in the league office. Minnesota had traded the 23rd pick to Chicago for the 28th pick, and immediately made a deal with Miami to move No. 28 for the Heat’s spot at No. 31. The T’wolves then sent No. 31 to the Nets for a future second-round pick and cash. Everything had to be put on hold until Minnesota further compensated Houston with the draft pick, and the Rockets agreed to clear Flynn on the physical.

            1. I was referring to the headline:
              The Minnesota Timberwolves Probably Won't Win NBA Championship Next Season

              heh.

            2. At today's interest rates, it might be a good bet to throw down $100 to win $1 when the Pups are eliminated from the playoff chase in December.

  12. Just looked up from my desk a few minutes ago to see a fawn go by window. I made it outside in time to see the little guy(gal?) run through the gas station lot and safley make it across a very busy 84th Street.

    1. Too late. He was supposed to be in the game at first base yesterday no matter how bad he would look, selfish jerk. Once we got swept by the Brewers the season was over.

      1. My lunch made my tummy kind of upset today. If that selfish jerk Mauer had given me his, maybe I wouldn't be dealing with indigestion this afternoon.

        1. I forgot my wallet today. If Mauer had any decency, he'd have sent an envelope full of cash to my office in anticipation of this event. He knows I'm good for it, plus $23M!!!

    3. Thank God Joe read Top Jimmy's latest column and took it to heart. Souhan for the Win!!111!!

  17. This is bizarre. I didn't know this was possible.

    httpv://mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16259051

          1. I believe it should count, if the umpire could process things at a thousand frames a second, as a foul ball. Similar to bunting and the ball strikes the hitter before he's able to get out of the batter's box.

            1. I think that's right, according to the letter of the rules. Going by the spirit of the rules, there's no violation here and we can just marvel at how cool it is to get a hit like that.

  18. From the Top Jimmy archives on this date:

    From last year: "At his best, Santana changed speeds better than a funny car equipped with a parachute."

    In 2008 comparing Kevin Love and OJ Mayo: "If you're drafting a college player to help your NBA team, you want the kid who has raised eyebrows at the IRS, not the one who is assumed to have played for cafeteria cheeseburgers and NCAA-sanctioned sneakers."

    And perhaps the wisest words of his entire career (seriously) back in 2005: "Rivas takes terrible at-bats and is, at best, a utility infielder. This all makes Nick Punto a reverse MVP - he never looks more valuable than when he's not available."

    1. Excellent work, TDP. As far as your last paragraph? Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then.

      1. I'm liking this. Not sure whether it needs its own post -- because I'm not sure we want to be in the business of pumping up Top Jimmy's readership. But I'm enjoying the blasts from the past.

  19. short, blunt response from seligula re: dodgers' bankruptcy filing:

    "The Commissioner's Office has spent the better part of one year working with Mr. McCourt and his representatives on the financial situation of the Los Angeles Dodgers, which was caused by Mr. McCourt's excessive debt and his diversion of club assets for his own personal needs. We have consistently communicated to Mr. McCourt that any potential solution to his problems that contemplates mortgaging the future of the Dodgers franchise to the long-term detriment of the club, its loyal fans and the game of Baseball would not be acceptable.

    "My goal from the outset has been to ensure that the Dodgers are being operated properly now and will be guided appropriately in the future for their millions of fans. To date, the ideas and proposals that I have been asked to consider have not been consistent with the best interests of Baseball. The action taken today by Mr. McCourt does nothing but inflict further harm to this historic franchise."

  21. You aren't as good a driver as you think you are.

    According to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 72 percent of drivers regard themselves as more skilled than everyone else. Researchers trace the bias to a fundamental information imbalance, namely that the poorest performers are also the least able to recognize skill (or lack of skill) in themselves or others.

    But mebbe you are a NASCAR diamond-in-the-rough.

    Then consider the guys you’re sharing the road with: Surveys indicate there's a nearly 80 percent chance they speed regularly, and a 53 percent likelihood they talk on the phone while driving. There's a 4 percent chance they run red lights—on purpose—and a 2 percent chance they have driven after drinking too much. These guys make Evel Knievel look like a defensive driver.

    What you can do about it: If you do one thing today, make it this: Stop texting while driving. You’ve probably heard that texting behind the wheel is just as dangerous as drinking and driving. Not true. Texting is way more dangerous. In fact, texting increases your risk of a crash by 23 times (versus 11 times for driving under the influence), according to a Virginia Tech study.

    1. If I'm not as good a driver as I think I am, I'm like 2%ile. I know I've seen about one out of every fifty or so drivers be even worse than me.

      (This is why I bus.)

    2. Brings to mind the famous George Carlin bit: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”

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