Cup of Coffee

July 28, 2011: Yesterday

138 Comments

The Twins won, I got down the toughest six page-stretch of my script, and I finally tracked down some Mirror Pond, which I've been craving for a month or two. All this was nullified by some new car troubles, but hey, whaddaya want for nothing?

138 thoughts on “July 28, 2011: Yesterday”

    4. They've also acquired Chad Ochocinco now, too. Apparently Belichick is trying to assemble the least likable team imaginable.

      1. Not only that, but Storen "may be" heading to the Twins. Lot's of things "may" happen. It's usually best not to get too upset about them until they actually do.

        1. It's usually best not to get too upset about them until they actually do

          That's my philosophy. And once they do, you can't really do much to undo them, so best not to worry too much then either.

    2. I'm not happy with this trend of Washington players being traded to Minnesota- for football or baseball. I hope if this does go down, the Twins end up with much more than just Storen.

        2. They were pretty much dancing in the street after the Capps deal, right? So, at least this is a better sign.

      2. I guess from what I've read this morning, Storen could be the next Joe Nathan. Still not digging this deal.

      1. If nothing else, it looks like these trade rumors should help get your son to sleep.

    8. I haven't seen anything more on this, so perhaps that Yahoo report was late reporting of yesterday's rumblings.

    9. LaVelle was just on Paul Allen's show saying that basically the Nationals keep upping their offer and the Twins are saying that they won't trade him "unless they're blown away."

      My concern is what would blow Bill Smith away.

      2. Zimmerman and Harper?

        In any case, it's nice to see Smith play hard to get if that's what he's doing.

      1. So does that mean that instead of Smith holding out for Storen and something more, the hardball was being played on the other side?

        1. My Bill Smith Is Going to Make An Idiotic Trade Threat Level has been reduced from Red to Orange, or Elevated.

          1. To be fair to BS (I know, no fun), all of the rumors I have heard on this subject have been framed in the context of the Nationals going hard after Span, and the Twins wanting a lot in return, including perhaps Drew Storen.

            1. I know, I'm sure BS has denied many trades, and the idea of him playing hardball (even if it's to secure a reliever for a good leadoff hitter and solid centerfielder) heartens me a bit.

  3. Mo chailín moved out this morning. I'm holding up OK so far, but we'll see how I do when I get off work and go back to an empty apartment.

    2. I hope he's a huge bust for Seattle. I don't know why, but I do. I do think this creates a pretty big hole at WR for the Vikings. I wonder who they are going to go after.

      1. I'm not real sure why they let him get away, but I'm reading that Rice and the Vikings weren't getting along for some reason.

        This franchise just makes me shake my head.

        1. yeah, i liked having rice on the team. le sigh. oh well, he's got someone familiar to pass to him at least.

          1. I liked Rice, when he was healthy. That was basically about 1.5 seasons out of his 4 in MN, so if Seattle wants to give him 41 million for four years, I'm OK with that. If he stays healthy, it's a good deal for them, but it's awfully risky.

              1. That's more games than I thought he'd been in, so I'll dig a little deeper into numberland- OK, here we are.
                Games started- 26 out of 64
                In 2007, he missed 3 games completely, and had 7 other games with minimal impact. OK, rookie year, and he had 4 really nice games in there.
                2008, he missed 3 more games, and was blanked in 2 others. Even the games he played in he didn't do much, with a high of 3 receptions and a high of 31 yards receiving.
                2009, he kicked ass. Great year.
                2010, he missed 10 more games, didn't do much in 2 of the 6 he played.

                Overall, he did play in more games than I'd thought he did, but he didn't do a whole lot in quite a few of those. Granted, a lot of that was due to QB play and Childress' idiocy, so I think Rice, when healthy, should play more like he did in 2009 than he did in those other three years. Unfortunately, last year's health problems and his agent might have burned some bridges with the front office. For the $18.5 million guaranteed, I wish the Vikes could've kept him, but all those escalator clauses and whatnot pretty much killed any chance of that.

        1. I'm not surprised. He's quite the enigma. Balls thrown directly into his bread basket will get dropped, and then the next play he'll make a one handed circus catch. I'd like the Packers to re-sign him if they could on the cheap, but he's going to be #3 or #4 on their WR depth chart, and on another team he's probably #1 or #2 so I'm guessing he's gone.

  5. Lots of rain today in Buffalo. Sure glad the important stuff will be happening inside.

    2. I thought Williams' record wasn't games with a hit to start career, but career games played with at least a hit in each.
      It's a cool record to have if you're up for a Cuppa Joe, but I doubt Altuve wants it.

      Glenn also has the most career games played for career avg over .400. Williams finished with .425. Altuve at .423 is just below Glenn for that, too. If he keeps this going for another seven, he could get those records for a days or two only to lose it after an 0-fer. The other option is sustaining a season-ending injury and never making it back to the majors.

      He did hit .389 in the minors this year (though only A+ and AA, and his OBP was only .426), so it sounds like he's got the potential to briefly take Glenn's records away from him.

      1. I would think any player has the potential to get those records. They're impressive only in their uniqueness, not any special talent on their parts. Granted, Juan Pierre type will more likely to do so, but it's mostly luck I think. Three of Williams' games in that streak were pinch-hit performances.

        1. See below. Yes, any player can, but it helps if the potential is a high avg.
          Glenn was incredibly lucky to get the record, and then incredibly unlucky to keep it for so long.

          Looking at Glenn, I think I misstated above, and a high OBP (actually high patience) should hurt the "with a hit" record, as it increases the odds of an 0-0 PH game and may decrease the number of ABs in which to get a hit in any other game. At the same time, it should increase the odds of "avg over .400".

      2. More.

        Glenn did it with three PH/defensive sub appearances (1-1 in each) in his first six games of that stretch, including his first game, in which he PHd for Radke in Arizone. Altuve has just one so far.

        Glenn took no walks until his 12th game. Altuve has none in his seven.

        Glenn had 9 games with 1 hit (again three were 1-1), and 4 games with 2.
        Altuve has 5 games with 1 hit (one 1-1), and two games with 3 hits.

      3. I thought Williams' record wasn't games with a hit to start career, but career games played with at least a hit in each.

        In his case, they two conditions are identical. Rocco Baldelli had the record for most games with a hit to start a career, but his career extended past that streak. It just so happened that Williams' streak was his entire career.

        1. I didn't know about Rocco.
          Baldelli started his career with 11 straight games with a hit.
          In his 12th game, he was a defensive substitution, and did not get an at-bat.
          In his 13th and 14th game, he got three hits and one hit, respectively.
          In his fifteenth game, he went 0-3 with a walk.

          According to Wikipedia, the longest hitting streaks to start a career are:
          17, Chuck Aleno in 1941. Got a hit in every game he played.
          16, Juan Pierre in 2000. Defensive Sub without a PA in his first game, and his 11th game. Went 0-2 in his 19th game, breaking the streak.
          13, Dale Alexander in 1929. One hit in each game.
          13, Mike Woodard in 1985. Defensive Sub without a PA in his first game.
          13, Glenn
          13, Rocco

          So, Glenn holds these records:

          Most Career games played for any player with a batting average over .400.
          Most Career games played with a hit in each game.
          Longest Career-length hitting streak. (Subtly different that the one above this.)
          Third-longest career-beginning hitting streak (tied with three others).
          Longest career-beginning streak of getting a hit in each game played since 1941.

            2. Neither has Mijares.

              Oh well, time to get back to a regular rhythm. CJ now sees what weaknesses he has in his arsenal and can work on perfecting those. And if not, I can pick up a cheap game-used "James 44" road jersey at Twinsfest this January.

      1. Hey, there was always that one week a year that Blanco'd hit like a major leaguer. That was pretty sweet. Plus, since he's been gone, I've hardly heard the term "Mango face", which is a huge bummer.

        (Edited to attempt to make pronouns clearer)

    3. LaVelleNeal: Casilla expected to land on DL. Twins will need to make another roster move.

      I'm guessing it will be Hughes.

  8. @1500ESPN has learned that Matt Tolbert is on his way to Texas in case Alexi Casilla (hamstring) can't go. Might be a DL situation.

    I read the first few words and had hope for a moment that Tolbert had somehow been traded to Texas.

  9. This is a little too weird: a month or so ago, Runner daughter and her college roommate drove up to Chicago and attended a "Glee: Live" concert. Last night she was googling around, and found someone had posted a Youtube clip from their cellphone, and they were right across the aisle from Runner daughter. With a little work, I helped her screenshot a frame of her and Darren Criss just as he was walking by her with his handheld mic. She's tickled; I'm a little weirded out.

    1. I know how you feel, man. I, too, am weirded out that I know someone who likes Glee. (my wife)

  10. According to Jayson Stark, the Pirates are eyeing Kubel, but Bill Smith considers his team a contender at six games out.

      2. I mean, hey, the Pirates are new to this whole "buyers at midseason" thing. Maybe we could get them to throw in Karstens?

        1. Karstens looks to me like an NL Blackburn. Some of his peripherals look ugly.

          Then again, three years ago I would have thought Blackburn would spend most of his short career in the minors, and yet here we are.

          2. I have very little knowledge of who's good and who's not on the Pirates pitching staff. Sadly, I ended up going with the starter with the lowest ERA over the course of this year. My ignorance shames me.

      3. I think we should be careful about throwing that proposal around without first names. I can see Bill Smith thinking he robbed the Pirates in a Kubel for McCutchen trade, only to find out he got Daniel instead of Andrew.

    1. I am terrified about who might replace him. We could do a lot worse than Bob Bradley.

      1. Who I'd Like (Good Coach Category): Klinsmann
        Who I'd Like (If we're going down, let's do it in style category): Maradona
        Safe Money: Sigi Schmid

        The end of the press release says further info tomorrow. I presume to name a replacement.

        1. I think Klinsmann would be a mistake, at least at this point in the cycle. I don't think he's up for watching pixelated internet streams of Turkish second division games to search the nooks and crannies of the US talent pool to get the most out of the team. In Germany, you have the advantage of catching a train to see 95% of your talent base play, in person, the next day if you want, and many of them are in the same league playing against one another, so you're not trying to figure out how a guy in the Turkish second division compares to a guy playing in the Mexican Primera.

          One thing that makes me wary of Sigi, even though I like him, is that I once saw a graphic that showed basically how Sigi had done a pretty poor job of getting anything out of college players, at least compared to the Bruce.

          1. I'd like Klinsmann for his institutional changes. As I remember (which, granted, may be poorly) the sticking point over his appointment after WC2006 was that fact he wanted to change US Soccer from the ground up to better feed the senior team. Gulati didn't want to give that much power to the MNT head coach, but the system as it is isn't cohesive enough. There's not a good system in place for identifying young American talent, which I believe needs to be a priority. No telling how many Neven Subotiks there are out there waiting to happen.

            1. My impression is that there's no way the USSF has enough resources to really catch all the best talent in the US. How does MLB find talent? It's not up to the league, they have 30 clubs covering the country (and the globe) with scouts heading from HS field to HS field to college field to JC field looking for the next Joe Mauer. MLS has started in earnest on instituting youth academies for all the teams in the league (which hasn't always been the case) and that is starting to pay off for the league (Agudelo and Najar off the top of my head) and will eventually pay off for the USMNT. But the problem is that to really do it right, you need to cover the whole country, so you need about 10 more MLS teams and about 20 more NASL teams, and each with much bigger scouting staffs than they currently have.

      1. We might as well have Sven Goran Eriksson. Mercenary coaches looking to cash paychecks is the last thing this program needs right now. Especially with Lippi's brilliant squad selection for Italy last World Cup.

        Altidore could use some lessons on how to dive better though.

    3. I was never a huge fan of his team selection or tactics, but Bob Bradley was a)great at instilling belief in his team, b)American, and c) cheap. Since I'm not in the USSF, I could care less about c, but I think it's important to showcase our own coaches on the national level since they aren't getting any opportunities anywhere outside of MLS.

      I really think that it's good for new coaches to come in after one World Cup cycle. This is a little late, but there is still enough time for someone to make an impact.

    1. Oh, no.

      I almost got into the business of counseling people with these thoughts, as I've had an unfortunate number of friends go through with it. What a shame.

      1. Last night I told a friend "I hope that if Casilla is out for a long time we get a look at Plouffe playing second." God forbid, I guess.

      3. why not put plouffe! at 2B instead of tolbertin' tolbert

        Especially with Baker pitching.

      4. Hey, at least Gardy didn't manage to slot the 2B in the two-spot, for once. Baby steps, guys, baby steps.

        1. In this case, I'd almost prefer Tolbert batting second, ugh.

          With the futility at the top of the lineup, Gardenhire should go way outside his box and bat Mauer leadoff.

          1. And bat Nishi, Tolbert and Revere 7-8-9? It's like having three (Twins-style) leadoff hitters in a row!

            Actually kinda looks like a softball lineup, where you throw your three worst hitters all in a row so all three outs come at the same time, doesn't it?

            1. I hadn't thought that far ahead yet, but I'd definitely want them all near the bottom of the lineup. I'd probably be starting Ploufferdoodle instead of Tolbot, so that's only two automatic outs!

              I guess with today's lineup (exchanging Plouffe for Butera) I'd go:

              1. Mauer, C
              2. Cuddyer, 1B
              3. Kubel, RF
              4. Thome, DH
              5. Valencia, 3B
              6. Young, LF
              7. Nishioka, SS
              8. Plouffe!, 2B
              9. Revere, CF

              That we we sorta break up the suck?

              1. I like that better than Gardy's cut-and-paste version. I'd switch Thome and Valencia to keep the R-L-R going, especially with the lefty Harrison going tonight, but that looks like a lineup that could work. I still have hopes that Nishi will start seeing balls drop in instead of slapped right at fielders.

    4. Update from LEN3:

      Casilla will be out 2-3 weeks and will be placed on the 15-day DL after tonight's game. Luke Hughes will be called up from Rochester.

      Tolbert, Hughes and Trevor Plouffe will see time at second.

  14. Waiting for Survivor elimination results is excrutiating. I really don't want to be the first person eliminated off my team again.

      1. And having arbitrary rules that defy the spirit of the game is also excruciating. (I KEED!)

        2. Nothing personal Spooky, but I didn't like the spirit of the game all that much. If it was a straight up writing competition, that'd be fine. But the "Survivor" aspect just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not much for scheming or alliances or any of that. I find it a little ridiculous one can be voted off because one writes really well and others see that as a threat. I can see how others might find the Survivor bits fun, but it's not my style.

          1. Whereas I would have never had any interest in playing if it was a straight up writing contest.

          2. I kinda like the voting part of it. Then I can't just blame the judges for not liking my writing.

            1. I just didn't want you to thing I was all "UR GAME IS THE SUXORZ!" or something. I appreciate the effort you put in, and I'm glad I tried it, but it's just not my cuppa tea.

              1. I tried to do two games in one, and as a result, both types of fans - of which you and DK are on opposite sides of the spectrum - were a little unfulfilled. I'm not sure if you've followed along lately, but I'm attempting to turn the hybrid into two distinct games.

  15. via twitter

    lukehughes38
    Just jumped on a plane to meet up with the boys in Dallas.

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