Four games with Detroit, starting today. This series is a big'un.
73 thoughts on “July 21, 2011: Tigers”
Minor league morning game: Rochester hosts Durham at ten (Central) this morning.
I was a little late in getting to the Red Wings, and it's already 6-0 Durham in the top of the 2nd. I may find something else to listen to.
I don't know about you guys but I sure like Pavano in this match up against Verlander.
Yeah, I'd take Pavano over Verlander any day!
[exaggeratedwink.gif]
with the weather, I'm thinking that mebbe Verlander will burn out by the 6th or so, while the Smartest Pitcher In Baseball might be able to nibble a little longer by playing soft-toss.
Verlander laughs at your presumption he will succumb to the heat.
the boy on the bike sez:
Verlander is an excellent pitcher. I'm thankful his manager is Leyland who will stick with him even after he's gassed. That's when the Twins need to make hay.
I read this over on twinsbaseball.com this morning:
"Tigers starters not named Justin Verlander are 27-27 with a 4.70 ERA, and their bullpen has the second-highest ERA in baseball."
Also, I think Revere and Laddie should bunt in every plate appearance tonight. Because Zoolander loves fielding the bunt.
Would that be enough bunting for Gordo and Dazzle?
Dick, too. He said "we haven't seen much bunting in this series" a few days ago after the previous game in the series had seen about six Twins bunts.
I watched the replay of yesterday's game last night and heard Dick say this:
"And the sacrifice bunt advances both runners into scoring position..."
I shook my head for a long time after that.
Don't you remember when we had two guys on first?
As much as I hate the Twins' infatuation with bunting, on a night like tonight that might not be the worst strategy if selectively employed. Of course, there's no counting on the Twins to stick to that stipulation.
Storm rolled through last night and into this morning. As a result, it's currently only 70F here. It's pleasant, but I am waiting for the humidity to kick in once this stuff starts evaporating.
This coming weekend the Milkmaid and I are using a timeshare a few hours away, and we primarily made the decision to go based on the fact that there are supposed to be thunderstorms all weekend.
I love thunderstorms, and I've seen one since 2008. One.
this tends to be my experience with storms:
Mine too. The phenomenon followed me when I moved 10 miles south a few years ago.
That could totally happen this weekend, which would be a real bummer. I've been living in places where storms just don't happen, though. On the upside, the one I was in attendance for was at my FIL's 60th birthday party, which was outdoors (we had a tarp). It was kind of a blast.
I love thunderstorms. I went about 18 months without seeing one when I was in Ireland, then when I got back it was fall & winter. I was so pumped to sit there and watch the Heavens unleash.
That comic is spot on for where I live. I call it the St. Louis Weather Defense Shield.
I wouldn't mind having one of those shields.
It's fed by heat and humidity, so just say "No."
Be careful what you wish for.
Heat index of 119 predicted for MPLS for today. I am soooo excited to be coming home. Thanks, guys.
Be happy you didn't arrive earlier in the week.
Holy cow:
American League Central To Win Moneyline
221 Chicago White Sox +250
222 Cleveland Indians +225
223 Detroit Tigers +140
224 Kansas City Royals +30000
225 Minnesota Twins +350
I'll put a penny on the Royals
Up from +8000 on June 2. A pretty good (almost) two months.
ok, hitman, what the hell is that?
Hehe. A couple of us get it, though it's still definitely ridiculous.
the only thing i'm missing is the pink over the eyes.
Half-baked shades to match Bret's.
But I don't have shades on my av- oh, Bret Hart, gotcha. And the pink stripe-glasses-thingy is not quite half-baked.
that's not even half-bakef.
it's deliciously stoopid.
I would love if Joe spends his newly found time at first base applying a sharpshooter to Austin Jackson.
I'd order that PPV.
What is what?
New banner
ah.
Did anybody else see Go-Go break his collarbone on a diving/rolling catch yesterday? It sure looked painful. But it was a sweet catch.
Yikes. Nice catch. I really didn't see anything awkward in how he landed or anything to break a bone, but that was a lot of speed and I'm sure the ground isn't very soft.
That is bizarre. How do you break it on a roll? He did everything you could possibly do to avoid injury and still got a major one. Strange.
"People don't realize how valuable he is," Braun said. "He's probably our best defensive player and one of the best defensive players in baseball. The guy is unbelievable in center field. He's hit lefties well all year. It's really valuable to have a guy that can come off the bench and be a great defender and run the bases.
"And he's a lot of fun to be around every day. He has a lot of energy. I feel horrible for him. ... You can't replace somebody like that."
*hides Revere and Span*
Yeah, I saw that and Drew's ankle within minutes of each other on MLBN. Zowch.
For some reason, I really enjoyed this from Patrick:
Susan Ebner and her son Jack, from Edina, were nearby. Jack was home from summer camp and insisted that they ignore the heat and go to Wednesday's game.
"Do you know why '28' is in chalk in the grass?" Susan asked.
She was told it was Bert Blyleven's number and he would be going into the Hall of Fame on Sunday.
"What was the name?" she said.
Answer: "Blyleven. He circles people on TV."
That seemed to solve one mystery...
I blame the Twins for not making a big deal out of this Blyleven to the Hall thing.
Anyone, however, who expects a blockbuster deal involving key homegrown Giants hasn't been paying attention. At least not since Bill Neukom took over as managing general partner of the team.
Neukom has a clear philosophy, one he began to implement in 2008 as he was transitioning into the position that Peter Magowan held for 16 previous years.
He outlined that philosophy this spring during an in-depth interview. When he took over, he knew things had to change.
"We knew we had to rely more on homegrown talent, that we have to be better at identifying talent that will contribute," he said. "We can't go out and buy talent, like Boston or New York. There are six or seven teams that can buy what they need, but we're not one of them.
Hence, the deck chair-shuffling acquisition of Keppinger, just as Bill Hall is ready to return from injury?
I was gonna check out Amazon to see if they had a Kindle version of a book, but now I can't for the life of me remember which book. I hate it when this happens.
speaking of books, I am looking for a pinch-hitter for the August First Monday Book Day post. I don't return from the Motherland until that evening, and given that I haven't gotten the post done yet, it prolly won't get done before the first (by me).
also, I need a pinch-hitter for the game log for Monday, July 25 (this coming; Blackburn vs. Holland according to Yahoo), please.
I can fill in for FMBD this month, Doc. I need the kick in the pants to finish The Windup Girl before I have to start pre-reading for autumn semester.
Done. Thanky kindly, CH.
I can do Monday's game log, seeing that I'm sans family right now.
Speaking of books, the wife is going to be without a job again once the liquidation of Borders is completed. They figure about six to eight weeks for that. <sigh>
That's no good. Best of luck to y'all in the forthcoming job search.
Rob Neyer has an interesting post on Captain Cheeseburger as a potential 300-game winner. I say interesting not because I'm all that interested in Sabathia's specific chances, but in something else Neyer said:
There are three potential roadblocks ...
1. His team - Again, as long as he's pitching for a good team, he'll win games. While there's no guarantee that he'll be a Yankee for Life, he's not likely to spend any real time with the Royals or the Astros in the foreseeable future.
It's the postseason mileage part that makes me wonder - given the expansion of the postseason already (and the talk of expanding it further), are pitchers like Sabathia and Halladay actually hurt by the success of their teams, which saddles them with extra wear and tear on their arms on cold autumn nights? If one's only goal were to get to 300 wins, might it not be better to pitch for a slightly less successful team, one which provides sufficient run support, but which makes the postseason infrequently enough that the extra innings don't create further opportunity for injury?
Especially if we continue to not count postseason wins (and losses) as part of the career total. Personally, I think we should, since the games do count for something.
Oh yeah, throw the Yankees ANOTHER bone, why don't ya?
what about All-Star game wins???
Matt Capps and Tyler Clippard, 300 game winners?
This just came across my Google news feed.
One of my rules of thumb is to stay away from any media franchise saddled with a substantial amount of fanfic.
Me too. I've not seen one bit of Twilight, except what I learned from Tom Haverford. I meant to point out the picture accompanying the headline.
That Twilight episode was the last of the Parks & Recs episodes before they really hit their stride. It was just really, really clunky.
Have you ever been made aware of how much fanfic is out there? I once accidentally ran into Curious George fanfic. Seriously.
See, not indie enough.
Leopard mauls 11 in fierce showdown with Indian villagers before cat dies of wounds!11!!!!one!!1 True story...
Minor league morning game: Rochester hosts Durham at ten (Central) this morning.
I was a little late in getting to the Red Wings, and it's already 6-0 Durham in the top of the 2nd. I may find something else to listen to.
I don't know about you guys but I sure like Pavano in this match up against Verlander.
Yeah, I'd take Pavano over Verlander any day!
[exaggeratedwink.gif]
with the weather, I'm thinking that mebbe Verlander will burn out by the 6th or so, while the Smartest Pitcher In Baseball might be able to nibble a little longer by playing soft-toss.
Verlander laughs at your presumption he will succumb to the heat.
the boy on the bike sez:
Verlander is an excellent pitcher. I'm thankful his manager is Leyland who will stick with him even after he's gassed. That's when the Twins need to make hay.
I read this over on twinsbaseball.com this morning:
"Tigers starters not named Justin Verlander are 27-27 with a 4.70 ERA, and their bullpen has the second-highest ERA in baseball."
Also, I think Revere and Laddie should bunt in every plate appearance tonight. Because Zoolander loves fielding the bunt.
Would that be enough bunting for Gordo and Dazzle?
Dick, too. He said "we haven't seen much bunting in this series" a few days ago after the previous game in the series had seen about six Twins bunts.
I watched the replay of yesterday's game last night and heard Dick say this:
"And the sacrifice bunt advances both runners into scoring position..."
I shook my head for a long time after that.
Don't you remember when we had two guys on first?
As much as I hate the Twins' infatuation with bunting, on a night like tonight that might not be the worst strategy if selectively employed. Of course, there's no counting on the Twins to stick to that stipulation.
Storm rolled through last night and into this morning. As a result, it's currently only 70F here. It's pleasant, but I am waiting for the humidity to kick in once this stuff starts evaporating.
This coming weekend the Milkmaid and I are using a timeshare a few hours away, and we primarily made the decision to go based on the fact that there are supposed to be thunderstorms all weekend.
I love thunderstorms, and I've seen one since 2008. One.
this tends to be my experience with storms:
Mine too. The phenomenon followed me when I moved 10 miles south a few years ago.
That could totally happen this weekend, which would be a real bummer. I've been living in places where storms just don't happen, though. On the upside, the one I was in attendance for was at my FIL's 60th birthday party, which was outdoors (we had a tarp). It was kind of a blast.
I love thunderstorms. I went about 18 months without seeing one when I was in Ireland, then when I got back it was fall & winter. I was so pumped to sit there and watch the Heavens unleash.
That comic is spot on for where I live. I call it the St. Louis Weather Defense Shield.
I wouldn't mind having one of those shields.
It's fed by heat and humidity, so just say "No."
Be careful what you wish for.
Heat index of 119 predicted for MPLS for today. I am soooo excited to be coming home. Thanks, guys.
Be happy you didn't arrive earlier in the week.
Holy cow:
I'll put a penny on the Royals
Up from +8000 on June 2. A pretty good (almost) two months.
ok, hitman, what the hell is that?
Hehe. A couple of us get it, though it's still definitely ridiculous.
the only thing i'm missing is the pink over the eyes.
Half-baked shades to match Bret's.
But I don't have shades on my av- oh, Bret Hart, gotcha. And the pink stripe-glasses-thingy is not quite half-baked.
that's not even half-bakef.
it's deliciously stoopid.
I would love if Joe spends his newly found time at first base applying a sharpshooter to Austin Jackson.
I'd order that PPV.
What is what?
New banner
ah.
Did anybody else see Go-Go break his collarbone on a diving/rolling catch yesterday? It sure looked painful. But it was a sweet catch.
Yikes. Nice catch. I really didn't see anything awkward in how he landed or anything to break a bone, but that was a lot of speed and I'm sure the ground isn't very soft.
That is bizarre. How do you break it on a roll? He did everything you could possibly do to avoid injury and still got a major one. Strange.
*hides Revere and Span*
Yeah, I saw that and Drew's ankle within minutes of each other on MLBN. Zowch.
For some reason, I really enjoyed this from Patrick:
I blame the Twins for not making a big deal out of this Blyleven to the Hall thing.
According to the Sac Bee, Bill Neukom has a plan.
Hence, the deck chair-shuffling acquisition of Keppinger, just as Bill Hall is ready to return from injury?
I was gonna check out Amazon to see if they had a Kindle version of a book, but now I can't for the life of me remember which book. I hate it when this happens.
speaking of books, I am looking for a pinch-hitter for the August First Monday Book Day post. I don't return from the Motherland until that evening, and given that I haven't gotten the post done yet, it prolly won't get done before the first (by me).
also, I need a pinch-hitter for the game log for Monday, July 25 (this coming; Blackburn vs. Holland according to Yahoo), please.
I can fill in for FMBD this month, Doc. I need the kick in the pants to finish The Windup Girl before I have to start pre-reading for autumn semester.
Done. Thanky kindly, CH.
I can do Monday's game log, seeing that I'm sans family right now.
Speaking of books, the wife is going to be without a job again once the liquidation of Borders is completed. They figure about six to eight weeks for that. <sigh>
That's no good. Best of luck to y'all in the forthcoming job search.
Rob Neyer has an interesting post on Captain Cheeseburger as a potential 300-game winner. I say interesting not because I'm all that interested in Sabathia's specific chances, but in something else Neyer said:
It's the postseason mileage part that makes me wonder - given the expansion of the postseason already (and the talk of expanding it further), are pitchers like Sabathia and Halladay actually hurt by the success of their teams, which saddles them with extra wear and tear on their arms on cold autumn nights? If one's only goal were to get to 300 wins, might it not be better to pitch for a slightly less successful team, one which provides sufficient run support, but which makes the postseason infrequently enough that the extra innings don't create further opportunity for injury?
Especially if we continue to not count postseason wins (and losses) as part of the career total. Personally, I think we should, since the games do count for something.
Oh yeah, throw the Yankees ANOTHER bone, why don't ya?
what about All-Star game wins???
Matt Capps and Tyler Clippard, 300 game winners?
This just came across my Google news feed.
One of my rules of thumb is to stay away from any media franchise saddled with a substantial amount of fanfic.
Me too. I've not seen one bit of Twilight, except what I learned from Tom Haverford. I meant to point out the picture accompanying the headline.
That Twilight episode was the last of the Parks & Recs episodes before they really hit their stride. It was just really, really clunky.
Have you ever been made aware of how much fanfic is out there? I once accidentally ran into Curious George fanfic. Seriously.
See, not indie enough.
Leopard mauls 11 in fierce showdown with Indian villagers before cat dies of wounds!11!!!!one!!1
True story...
The Dude abides again!
Nice.
Also, Mauer back at first (Pavano's pitching). Lineup tonight same as yesterday.
I like everything about this lineup except the catcher and _elmon
playingrollerskating in left field.