As I announced two weeks ago, in honor of the doubleheader today's View from the Ballpark will be a different kind of challenge - replicating the view via your mapping tool of choice. Click through for the recaps and the picture clue.
Game 94
Weather: 90°F, sunny
Wind: 5 mph
Attendance: 39,768
Time: 2:44
Twins record: 44-50 (4th in AL Central, 8.0 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap
Highlights:
- Highest WPA, hitter: Valencia .029 (1-3, BB, SO) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Mijares .019 (2.0 IP, BB, 2 K)
- Mauer continues to make his case for the Fielding Grammy at 1b.
- Cuddy go boom!
Lowlights:
- Lowest WPA, hitter: Butera, -.146 (0-3, 2 GIDP) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Swarzak -.191 (6.0 IP, 3 ER, 4 K)
- Crapps.
Game 95
Weather: 93°F, partly cloudy
Wind: 7 mph
Attendance: 39,768
Time: 3:03
Twins record: 44-51 (4th in AL Central, 8.0 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap
Highlights:
- Highest WPA, hitter: Valencia .124 (2-4, HR, R, RBI, SO) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Burnett .086 (1.2 IP, BB, K)
- Juicy & Plouffe's homers.
- No Crapps.
Lowlights:
- Lowest WPA, hitter: Young, -.169 (0-4) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Diamond -.229 (6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, HR, 2 BB, K)
- The AAA pitching reinforcements' performances.
Frustrating loses, both of them. Word is that the Twins are looking for a middle reliever and "may go outside of the organization for help." Given the current front office's penchant for overpaying for mediocre relievers, I'm more than a little concerned. I understand that the organization might feel like going for broke in the AL Central race with a nearly-new ballpark and guys like Thome and Cuddyer entering free agency at the end of the year, but I can't help but think that with every mid-season trade for relievers Bill Smith is bleeding the organization perilously thin on young, cheap talent. I hate to be a wet blanket for those who have been feeling a bit of hope at the recent resurgence, but to me the more sensible thing for the Twins to do is swallow their pride, refocus for next year or the year after, apologize to Jim Thome for not getting him to the playoffs again, and try to make some trades which will bring aboard a young outfielder who isn't completely lost on both ends of the ball, or a decent pitching prospect, or a middle infielder with a little pop (just to name a few dire needs). If the Twins persist in trying to make the playoffs and actually succeed I will happily eat those words. I just don't think it's particularly likely, nor a particularly sensible thing to attempt.
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So, on to today's View from the Ballpark. I'll admit, I'm more excited about this particular item than I have been for any other in the (admittedly brief) series so far. Your mission this week is to replicate the perspective in this photo as best you can with your mapping tool of choice (Google Maps, Google Earth, etc.). All the clues necessary for pinpointing the view from this ballpark are contained in this photo:
photo by Flickr user ben+maggie
Good luck. Remember, no embiggening.
O.k. I know this. Now to get it mapped correctly.
When you get it, could you place your answer behind a Spoiler tag? If correct I'll acknowledge you as the winner, but I'd like to see how many folks who participate can get this one.
I'm going through a skyscraper database to see if I can match that silhouette, but no luck so far.
I think I got it.
Nicely done, especially the use of both Street and Satellite views.
I think it's just a bit off. If you go east (the arrow right by the motorcyclist) three times, the view lines up better.
That is a bit better. In the interest of speed, since free had indicated he knew it, I just dropped the little guy somewhere nearby where you could see the ballfield, bridge, and tower.
Yeah, once I realized I was down into the 10th page of skyscrapers, featuring such noted buildings as the tallest building in Indiana the Bank One Tower (or whatever banking conglomerate owns it now), I realized I had to have passed it. So I started fresh and found the right one. Skipped right over it the first time.
Yeah. I found it rather quickly thanks to Wikipedia having a picture on its skyscraper page. The building in front of it is ~30 stories, and the skyscraper behind it is significantly taller. That meant it would either be listed prominently in the article or within the top 10 or 20. Then it was just double and triple checking.
I used this world's tallest buildings database from SkyscraperPage.com
Diamond was not a lowlight. His performance was great, just unlucky with a few bloops by the Indians at the wrong time.
Joe C's postgame blog talked of Revere's "rare" 0-fer for the day and said this demonstrated how he makes the Twins' offense go right now. I love the guy, but if the Twins' offense is keyed by a player with a .607 OPS and a .300 on-base average, then it's in big trouble.
It seems like the general consensus is that the Twins' turnaround has been keyed by surprising performances by young players, but the truth is that except for a few Plouffe HRs, the Twins have gotten little production from the young/new players and the turnaround has been keyed by the Twins' veteran players getting healthy and/or turning around horrible starts to the season. As the Twins get more healthy, they'll just continue to get better.
Yeah, I don't think you could ask more of Diamond in that game.
I asked for a perfect game. Swarzak at least tried.
It is in the City of
I closed your spoiler tag for you, free.
Correct! Did you find the view?
That's it!
I'm obviously not as fast as those kids on my map view skills but I knew that skyscraper instantly.
Your initial response was very confident, so I assumed you identified it immediately. Are you a fellow skyscraper enthusiast?
My 11 yr old son is a big big fan of skyscrapers and the resulting skylines. I called him over to my laptop and asked if he knew where that ballfield was. He immediately said "that's Taipei Dad". Should have logged on earlier today.
Give him a pat on the back for me.
I wish BS would quit fixating on the middle relief and concentrate on position players. We've been losing due to low runs scored, not (necessarily) on high runs allowed (Capps excepted)
[Dido header]. If he wants middle relief help, it's called Kyle Gibson or Anthony Slama.
If Smith trades anything of value for Jon Rauch, who they could have re-signed (and in my opinion should have) in the offseason, I hope he immediately loses his job.
Is Slama still on the DL?
I'm not sure Gibson should be brought up just to be middle relief.
I guess it is kinda slim pickings. But still.
Gibson will not be a middle reliever. Possibly long reliever, but I doubt that. Carlos Gutierrez will be called up for middle relief before Gibson is.
I don't know if they'll go there again, but Dusty Hughes has a 35/10 K/BB rate in 27 1/3 innings. However, he has a 4.94 ERA. He's allow three home runs, which isn't all that bad. Hoey has almost as good stats (actually, better traditional stats), but it's a lot easier to get outs in the minors with a mid-90s fastball than it is in AAA, so I don't trust his stats unless the Twins get reports that his offspeed stuff has improved.