33 thoughts on “July 4, 2011: Fireworks in Fresno”

  1. I put up a flag holder yesterday for my MIL's flag. It is hanging in front of our house. Happy birthday, USA!

  2. I wake up this morning to the news of Marty Havlat being traded for Dany Heatly. neato!

    1. So long as he puts up another of his 30 goal, 70 point seasons, I guess I don't really mind a "bad" attitude.

  3. We went to the bar last night and ended up playing the little video console thing. We played a bit of Photo Hunt, then some Wheel of Fortune. In the category of "Sports", I got this clue on just two letters:

    _ _ /"_h_/ _ _ _ / H_ _ _ _ r _ _ _" /Hr_ _ _ _ _ _

    Slashes indicate word breaks, since the LTE stripped the extra spaces.

    1. Nice. Not sure I would have got it as quickly as you did, but those two letters in the last word really help

    2. The answer, as I'm sure most of you got by now, was Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky. The Hr was definitely key to figuring it out so quickly. I guessed 'h' to confirm that the second word was "the", then started with RSTLNE, but it only took to R to see that odd pairing in Hrabosky. It certainly helped that "The Mad Hungarian" is one of my favorite nicknames ever.

  4. "Fireworks in Fresno"??? What, gangbangers running around firing their guns in the air?

    1. Unfortunately, since Cowboy Joe and his crew weren't all fired after last year, they probably feel like they have a "be as crappy a crew as possible" mandate.

  5. Hardball Talk's Power Rankings

    27. Twins (28): There has been more talk about a closer controversy on this team than I can recall for any sucky team in recent years. It’s like everyone up in Minnesota forgot that no one really cares when a sucky team’s closer situation isn’t solidified.

    1. The author seems to have totally missed an opportunity for education here. The idea that relief pitchers are less important for bad teams than for good teams is not based on facts in the slightest. On the contrary, terrible teams play close games just as much as good teams do, and good relieving helps bad teams just as much as it helps good teams.

      Including Capps at 0.0 fWAR, the Twins have six relievers who have combined for -1.9 fWAR. Even if they were modestly successful at +2.1 fWAR combined, that would put the Twins at 41 wins and legitimately in the hunt for the AL Central title (lame as it may be this year.)

      Excepting Perkins and James, the rest of the Twins' bullpen has combined for -2.31 WPA (this actually includes positive contributions from Dumatrait, Hughes, and Slama.) Just a bunch of average guys and half-a-season of good Joe Nathan would be a roughly 4-win upgrade over that.

  6. Anybody want to hang out with me and my family for tomorrow night's game? I've got two tickets in Section 331. Each comes with a hot dog and soda. $21 each or best offer. Going fast.

        1. i'm sure you can, sweetheart, i was just busting balls a little. so, are you a d-bag californian yet?

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