I'm going to Chase Field tonight today. Seeing a good team in a playoff atmosphere seems like something I've never done at this point.
68 thoughts on “September 21, 2011: Race to the Top”
I was into work at 6:30 to help decorate my supervisor's desk for his birthday. Being in an hour before I usually get up has me already dragging, but I get off work at 3 now, so that's cool.
How big is that desk?
I know a guy who got fired for "decorating" a supervisor's car. Not too bright when the whole facility is covered with security cameras.
i suppose it depends on the medium...
I'm going to the Twins game tonight. At this point, the Twins have still won as many games I have attended this season in Kansas City (1 out of 1) as they have in Minnesota (1 out of 8). Of course, I will also have gone an entire season without seeing Joe Mauer behind the plate (despite seeing him play rightfield!).
I've only been to one Twins game this year, the KC meet-up, and they won. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
I've only been to one game. I don't remember who they played, but they won. Clearly, you and I didn't go to enough games
I went to one game and they lost, blowing a 7-0 lead. I thought about going late in the season when tickets were almost free, but even that wasn't enough to get me out there.
My one game was the Scott Baker start where they blew the 5-0 lead going into the 8th inning. I thought Linds was going to go down to the dugout and choke Gardy when Baker didn't come back out for the 8th. I thought I was going to after the 8th.
My one game was the 11-1 game at Miller Park where _elm_n hurt himself. I only lasted 6 innings before I decided to head back out to the car to drink some more beer.
I've been to three games this season, all wins. Saw the 11-1 drubbing of Oakland back on May 19th, a complete game from Blackburn against the M's on the 24th, and the come-from-behind win against the Brewers, one day after SBG's lone visit to Target Field.
Funny, I was at 2 of Blackie's 3 wins in May, one of the better months of his career.
I was worried there for awhile, but they pulled it out at the end.
Things are so crappy on the sports scene in Minnesota these days that it's easy to forget that an all-time Minnesota great is here, right now, doing her thing.
I totally spookied that you would write about her.
I had a mini-crush on her way back when
Dido
I had a minor thing for Diana Taurasi at one point. And a couple of the girls on the Drake team were pretty hot. One's a model now.
I can second this.
I watched part of the game last night. Game 2 was unwatchable -- they played turrble, turrble basketball. Last night, though, they looked pretty good and it was actually reasonably good basketball, good ball movement, nice interior play, and shot making.
I watched part of game 2 and most of the game last night...agree with you on both points. I hope they can figure out Phoenix.
As for Lindsay, she's been great since forever. I was fortunate enough to attend grade school & high school with her out in Hutch. I'm two years older so I never had any classes with her, but my sister is the same age and was in school with her starting in the 3rd grade. A very nice woman and truly a class act, I would love to see her (them) win it all.
Through a co-worker I received free tickets to a game against the ranked Wolverines her sophomore year. Within about five minutes of game time, it was pretty clear to me that she was the best player on the floor.
Craft beer and smoked foods are two of my favorite things.
Hey! I had some new beer the other day. At Bills games you can no longer bring bottles into the tailgating area. So I tried some of these. Best thing I've ever had out of a can.
Old Chub is, indeed, a fine beer. And because of Oskar Blues, its now possible to shotgun an imperial stout.
I'm going to be downtown tonight for the HaHaTonka show. I'm thinking I'll swing by El Bait Shop before hand and get some Old Rasputin. That's the only place I know in DSM that sells it and I've been meaning to try it for some time now.
Thursday through Saturday I am going on my annual solo hiking trip along the Superior Hiking Trail. It's my time to get out, hike at my own pace, etc, etc. I read Sigrud Olson at night and drink Jaegermeister under the stars. I also go very minimal, bringing just barely what I need to survive the couple of days and no more. Last year I unknowingly took that concept to the extreme as I forgot a sleeping bag and it got down to 45 degrees one night!
This year I already have my sleeping bag packed but temps are forecasted to get down to the mid- to upper-30's during the night. I think I have enough warm clothes but we will see. Oh did I mention that no campfires are allowed because of the Pagami Creek fire? Should be fun.
I am doing the 7 summits challenge (don't laugh westerners, we flatlanders take what we can) and I am pretty sure I can do it in 3 days. If any of you guys follow me on twitter -- @freealonzo -- I plan on giving updates, I think phone reception is pretty good up there.
Sounds cool, free. Your recaps and updates from previous trips have always been awesome.
Also, can I just say how much I love that Jaegermeister falls under "just what I need to survive".
Be careful out there, man. Don't let anyone try to convince people you're a werewolf.
The Twins 3rd order winning percentage pegs them at 52-101, at least eight games worse than every other team in the majors.
#racetothebottom #epicfail
The Twins are talking about wanting to avoid 100 losses, but at this point they need to get at least one win out of the way to avoid having the worst season in Twins history. Two will allow them to avoid tying for the worst season.
Last nite after a nice oysters/fish dinner in Belfast, we went over to the Crown for a pint.
What a place. After getting our Guinness(NBBW) and Caffrey's(me), we found a snug to settle into. The place is over the top in Victorian decor and embellishment. Tile, engravings, painted glass windows, etc. A must if you are going to quiff a quaff in N. Ireland.
Oh, and re: the Titanic, which was built in Belfast. We saw a sign that said 'She was fine when she left here...'
Oh man, The Crown is a fantastic place to grab a pint. While I'm not too bummed about not getting my PhD funding, as the more I do on the side the less I want a career out of it, I am still super bummed about not moving to Belfast.
Took a bus out to Belfast Castle, and climbed up to Cave Hill/Napoleon's nose today. Nice circuit. Got to the top of the hill, and the winds must have been 30-40 mile/hr 700-800/km/metric-time-unit. Nice view of Belfast harbor - can even see the Scottish coast from there.
Jesus must have forgotten about that rich man, camel, eye of needle thing. No, not that Jesus.
“There’s an inherent level of trust and handshaking in the poker community that is unique to it”
Uh huh.
I was just about to highlight that sentence as well, except to point out it's unique to every community.
The blood has been in the water for a while now, and sure enough, the shark has attacked.
"I'd love to talk to Tiger about it, guy to guy," Norman said. "The president of the United States [Bill Clinton], when he came to my house, wanted to talk to me guy to guy. We all put our underpants on the same way, one leg at a time. So we sit down and have a chat until two o'clock in the morning."
Woo-hoo! Slowey vs. M's with OF of Revere, Span and Benson sounds like a good matchup.
while i like that outfield alignment, i still don't see the point of bringing span back this year.
My guess would be a) Span wants to play; b) the doctors have said it's okay for him to play, and c) they're hoping he'll have something positive to carry into the off-season.
i'm sure all those are true, but with the way everything has gone this year it seems like an unnecessary risk. also, what if he does terrible down the stretch? that's one more thing to gnaw at him during the offseason.
I think his performance won't matter as much as him being able to play without symptoms recurring. I think he wants to get past that for his peace of mind for the offseason.
Got a sinus cold (probably allergy-aided, although I haven't had Fall allergies in quite a while) which I hope is gone by this busy weekend. In any case, if I was a Twins, I'd be shut down for the season.
Either that or you would go to a doctor who would find nothing wrong, then you would perform horribly at work for awhile, and finally in about a month a different doctor will diagnose you with the black lung.
and if we were STRIB columnists, we'd write a column about how we'd talked to some guys we'd met in a bar who'd never heard of sinuses, allowing us to conclude that it was a fake ailment.
It just hit me how unremarkable a year it has been in music. I found Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes stoudemire albums to be merely good. I hated King off Limbs. The King is Dead might be the only album I look back on with any fondness. What am I missing that would change my mind on the year in music?
I've been feeling the same way about it, actually. I've mostly been looking back over last year's stuff that I missed. I'm not even sure I have a 'favorite' album this year yet.
I hear ya. I keep trying to listen to new stuff, but end up listening to Two Door Cinema Club or The Tallest Man on Earth, pretending that because I never heard it in 2010, it counts as 2011 material.
the Weeknd House of Balloons
Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra
Shabazz Palaces Black Up
Emptyset Demiurge
Lana Del Rey's Youtube singles (album won't be out until '12).
The Alabama Shakes are the only new music this year that I'd say I'm in love with.
hmm. it seems that the NFL is giving manning/nicks credit for a 23 yd pass that was originally ruled as interference. if i'm not mistaken, that should lead to a tie between nibbish and i (and if hicks had gotten 2 more measly yards that game, a win). brilliant!
That is crazy. When will that be reflected?
as per usual, the vengeful yahoo gods strike in the deep of night.
Dick really thinks the odds say that the Twins are due to come back and win a ballgame. I think if you asked Dick what the odds were of a coin landing on heads were if the last five had landed on tails, he'd legitimately say they were higher than 50%.
...and what Bert likes about Parmelee is that he's ready to swing at that first pitch rather than fall behind. That's what he didn't like about Delmon. Looks like the announcers haven't missed a step in my absence from watching closely.
I'm in the CoC. I wondered why it was this quiet...
what Bert likes about Parmelee is that he's READY to swing at that first pitch. That's not quite the same thing with Delmon
Lead story on the Fargo news tonight: Gene's TV Repair on Main Avenue is closing on Friday.
Lead story on the news in LA the one night I watched while I was there: a house that was once owned by Jack Nicholson is on fire.
Not Gene's! They were an Authorized Nintendo Repair Center!
Positive thoughts:
The Twins have 95 losses and eight games remaining.
The Astros have 102 losses. The Twins' elimination number for worst record is 2.
If the sum of Twins wins and Astros losses is less than one, the Twins have the worst record.
If the sum of Twins wins and Astros losses is less than two, the Twins have tied for the worst record. I don't know how they decide who gets the #1 draft pick then.
If the sum of Twins wins and Astros losses is two or more, the Twins have a better record than the Astros.
Only the Mariners and Orioles still have a chance of having a worse record than the Twins.
The Mariners' elimination number for second-worst record is 2. Twins loss today would take care of that.
The Orioles' elimination number for second-worst record is 3. Twins can hope that Boston keeps playing like Twins East.
These Elimination numbers go down for each Twins loss or other team's win.
If these are the positive thoughts, I'm glad you didn't give us the negative thoughts.
I was into work at 6:30 to help decorate my supervisor's desk for his birthday. Being in an hour before I usually get up has me already dragging, but I get off work at 3 now, so that's cool.
How big is that desk?
I know a guy who got fired for "decorating" a supervisor's car. Not too bright when the whole facility is covered with security cameras.
i suppose it depends on the medium...
I'm going to the Twins game tonight. At this point, the Twins have still won as many games I have attended this season in Kansas City (1 out of 1) as they have in Minnesota (1 out of 8). Of course, I will also have gone an entire season without seeing Joe Mauer behind the plate (despite seeing him play rightfield!).
I've only been to one Twins game this year, the KC meet-up, and they won. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
I've only been to one game. I don't remember who they played, but they won. Clearly, you and I didn't go to enough games
I went to one game and they lost, blowing a 7-0 lead. I thought about going late in the season when tickets were almost free, but even that wasn't enough to get me out there.
My one game was the Scott Baker start where they blew the 5-0 lead going into the 8th inning. I thought Linds was going to go down to the dugout and choke Gardy when Baker didn't come back out for the 8th. I thought I was going to after the 8th.
My one game was the 11-1 game at Miller Park where _elm_n hurt himself. I only lasted 6 innings before I decided to head back out to the car to drink some more beer.
I've been to three games this season, all wins. Saw the 11-1 drubbing of Oakland back on May 19th, a complete game from Blackburn against the M's on the 24th, and the come-from-behind win against the Brewers, one day after SBG's lone visit to Target Field.
Funny, I was at 2 of Blackie's 3 wins in May, one of the better months of his career.
I was worried there for awhile, but they pulled it out at the end.
Things are so crappy on the sports scene in Minnesota these days that it's easy to forget that an all-time Minnesota great is here, right now, doing her thing.
I totally spookied that you would write about her.
I had a mini-crush on her way back when
Dido
I had a minor thing for Diana Taurasi at one point. And a couple of the girls on the Drake team were pretty hot. One's a model now.
I can second this.
I watched part of the game last night. Game 2 was unwatchable -- they played turrble, turrble basketball. Last night, though, they looked pretty good and it was actually reasonably good basketball, good ball movement, nice interior play, and shot making.
I watched part of game 2 and most of the game last night...agree with you on both points. I hope they can figure out Phoenix.
As for Lindsay, she's been great since forever. I was fortunate enough to attend grade school & high school with her out in Hutch. I'm two years older so I never had any classes with her, but my sister is the same age and was in school with her starting in the 3rd grade. A very nice woman and truly a class act, I would love to see her (them) win it all.
Through a co-worker I received free tickets to a game against the ranked Wolverines her sophomore year. Within about five minutes of game time, it was pretty clear to me that she was the best player on the floor.
Do members have privileges?
Craft beer and smoked foods are two of my favorite things.
Hey! I had some new beer the other day. At Bills games you can no longer bring bottles into the tailgating area. So I tried some of these. Best thing I've ever had out of a can.
Old Chub is, indeed, a fine beer. And because of Oskar Blues, its now possible to shotgun an imperial stout.
for dessert, it's hard to top Young's Double Chocolate Stout.
I'm going to be downtown tonight for the HaHaTonka show. I'm thinking I'll swing by El Bait Shop before hand and get some Old Rasputin. That's the only place I know in DSM that sells it and I've been meaning to try it for some time now.
Thursday through Saturday I am going on my annual solo hiking trip along the Superior Hiking Trail. It's my time to get out, hike at my own pace, etc, etc. I read Sigrud Olson at night and drink Jaegermeister under the stars. I also go very minimal, bringing just barely what I need to survive the couple of days and no more. Last year I unknowingly took that concept to the extreme as I forgot a sleeping bag and it got down to 45 degrees one night!
This year I already have my sleeping bag packed but temps are forecasted to get down to the mid- to upper-30's during the night. I think I have enough warm clothes but we will see. Oh did I mention that no campfires are allowed because of the Pagami Creek fire? Should be fun.
I am doing the 7 summits challenge (don't laugh westerners, we flatlanders take what we can) and I am pretty sure I can do it in 3 days. If any of you guys follow me on twitter -- @freealonzo -- I plan on giving updates, I think phone reception is pretty good up there.
Sounds cool, free. Your recaps and updates from previous trips have always been awesome.
Also, can I just say how much I love that Jaegermeister falls under "just what I need to survive".
Be careful out there, man. Don't let anyone try to convince people you're a werewolf.
A look at the 2011 Ft. Myers Miracle season.
The Twins 3rd order winning percentage pegs them at 52-101, at least eight games worse than every other team in the majors.
#racetothebottom #epicfail
The Twins are talking about wanting to avoid 100 losses, but at this point they need to get at least one win out of the way to avoid having the worst season in Twins history. Two will allow them to avoid tying for the worst season.
Last nite after a nice oysters/fish dinner in Belfast, we went over to the Crown for a pint.
What a place. After getting our Guinness(NBBW) and Caffrey's(me), we found a snug to settle into. The place is over the top in Victorian decor and embellishment. Tile, engravings, painted glass windows, etc. A must if you are going to quiff a quaff in N. Ireland.
Oh, and re: the Titanic, which was built in Belfast. We saw a sign that said 'She was fine when she left here...'
Oh man, The Crown is a fantastic place to grab a pint. While I'm not too bummed about not getting my PhD funding, as the more I do on the side the less I want a career out of it, I am still super bummed about not moving to Belfast.
Took a bus out to Belfast Castle, and climbed up to Cave Hill/Napoleon's nose today. Nice circuit. Got to the top of the hill, and the winds must have been
30-40 mile/hr700-800/km/metric-time-unit. Nice view of Belfast harbor - can even see the Scottish coast from there.Jesus must have forgotten about that rich man, camel, eye of needle thing. No, not that Jesus.
Uh huh.
I was just about to highlight that sentence as well, except to point out it's unique to every community.
The blood has been in the water for a while now, and sure enough, the shark has attacked.
this should probably wait until friday, but oh well.
I like the reasoning, and now seems like as good a time as any. Still a shame.
Woo-hoo! Slowey vs. M's with OF of Revere, Span and Benson sounds like a good matchup.
while i like that outfield alignment, i still don't see the point of bringing span back this year.
My guess would be a) Span wants to play; b) the doctors have said it's okay for him to play, and c) they're hoping he'll have something positive to carry into the off-season.
i'm sure all those are true, but with the way everything has gone this year it seems like an unnecessary risk. also, what if he does terrible down the stretch? that's one more thing to gnaw at him during the offseason.
I think his performance won't matter as much as him being able to play without symptoms recurring. I think he wants to get past that for his peace of mind for the offseason.
Got a sinus cold (probably allergy-aided, although I haven't had Fall allergies in quite a while) which I hope is gone by this busy weekend. In any case, if I was a Twins, I'd be shut down for the season.
Either that or you would go to a doctor who would find nothing wrong, then you would perform horribly at work for awhile, and finally in about a month a different doctor will diagnose you with the black lung.
and if we were STRIB columnists, we'd write a column about how we'd talked to some guys we'd met in a bar who'd never heard of sinuses, allowing us to conclude that it was a fake ailment.
It just hit me how unremarkable a year it has been in music. I found Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes stoudemire albums to be merely good. I hated King off Limbs. The King is Dead might be the only album I look back on with any fondness. What am I missing that would change my mind on the year in music?
I've been feeling the same way about it, actually. I've mostly been looking back over last year's stuff that I missed. I'm not even sure I have a 'favorite' album this year yet.
I hear ya. I keep trying to listen to new stuff, but end up listening to Two Door Cinema Club or The Tallest Man on Earth, pretending that because I never heard it in 2010, it counts as 2011 material.
the Weeknd House of Balloons
Frank Ocean Nostalgia, Ultra
Shabazz Palaces Black Up
Emptyset Demiurge
Lana Del Rey's Youtube singles (album won't be out until '12).
The Alabama Shakes are the only new music this year that I'd say I'm in love with.
hmm. it seems that the NFL is giving manning/nicks credit for a 23 yd pass that was originally ruled as interference. if i'm not mistaken, that should lead to a tie between nibbish and i (and if hicks had gotten 2 more measly yards that game, a win). brilliant!
That is crazy. When will that be reflected?
as per usual, the vengeful yahoo gods strike in the deep of night.
Dick really thinks the odds say that the Twins are due to come back and win a ballgame. I think if you asked Dick what the odds were of a coin landing on heads were if the last five had landed on tails, he'd legitimately say they were higher than 50%.
...and what Bert likes about Parmelee is that he's ready to swing at that first pitch rather than fall behind. That's what he didn't like about Delmon. Looks like the announcers haven't missed a step in my absence from watching closely.
I'm in the CoC. I wondered why it was this quiet...
what Bert likes about Parmelee is that he's READY to swing at that first pitch. That's not quite the same thing with Delmon
Lead story on the Fargo news tonight: Gene's TV Repair on Main Avenue is closing on Friday.
Lead story on the news in LA the one night I watched while I was there: a house that was once owned by Jack Nicholson is on fire.
Not Gene's! They were an Authorized Nintendo Repair Center!
Positive thoughts:
The Twins have 95 losses and eight games remaining.
The Astros have 102 losses. The Twins' elimination number for worst record is 2.
If the sum of Twins wins and Astros losses is less than one, the Twins have the worst record.
If the sum of Twins wins and Astros losses is less than two, the Twins have tied for the worst record. I don't know how they decide who gets the #1 draft pick then.
If the sum of Twins wins and Astros losses is two or more, the Twins have a better record than the Astros.
Only the Mariners and Orioles still have a chance of having a worse record than the Twins.
The Mariners' elimination number for second-worst record is 2. Twins loss today would take care of that.
The Orioles' elimination number for second-worst record is 3. Twins can hope that Boston keeps playing like Twins East.
These Elimination numbers go down for each Twins loss or other team's win.
If these are the positive thoughts, I'm glad you didn't give us the negative thoughts.