At last, the Twins' season comes to a close. I'm so glad there were interesting races here at the end to deaden the pain somewhat.
128 thoughts on “September 28, 2011: Mercy Killing”
Had this dish at a Belfast restaurant last week, and then successfully replicated it in my kitchenette (w/ Interwebs tips):
Guinness Irish Stew
- beef cut into cubes, rolled in flour, and browned in oil seasoned with garlic
- Irish potatoes and carrots cut into cubes
- med. onion chopped up - then brown in oil, then add in a cup or so of Guinness - let it reduce under high heat - you want the onions to get carmelly.
You may want to add some more Guinness to get the right effect; then add 1/2 of those sm. cans of tomato paste; turn down heat and let the tomato paste settle in; a pat o' butter seemed to work well here also.
Turn all of the ingredients into a casserole dish; cover and bake at 350F (or 176C - had to look that one up) for 2-2.5 hrs; mixing occasionally. Serve w/ soda bread and Irish butter, and pints of Guinness, of course.
mmmm. I saw of version of this on (gasp) Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives. I think they marinated the beef in Guinness overnight too.
My wife makes an Irish stew very similar to this using Guinness. It's awesome.
I make a chili using Guinness as a primary ingredient...won "fan favorite" at the annual chili cook-off at the SBG School of Law in '08.
I always use beer in my chili, but it's usually whatever's in the fridge.
Ok, this thread is getting me geared up for making chili this weekend. Sweet.
Guinness chili - do tell, do tell
GUINNESS CHILI
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 fresh hot chili peppers, seeded and chopped (variety of your choice)
1 pound ground beef
¾ pound beef sirloin, cubed
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can diced green chilies
4 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans (light and dark) or beans of your choice
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (10 ounce) can condensed beef broth
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle of Guinness
1 cup strong brewed coffee
½ cup brown sugar
3 ½ tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (red pepper)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce (Franks Red Hot)
1 tablespoon red pepper sauce (Tabasco)
1 tablespoon green habanero sauce (D’Elidas)
Directions
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions, garlic, ground beef and cubed sirloin in oil for 10 minutes, or until meat is well browned and the onions are tender. Transfer to a crock pot (3 quart capacity or larger).
2. Mix in the diced tomatoes with juice, canned chili peppers, dark beer, coffee, tomato paste, and beef broth. Add brown sugar and mix well. Season with chili powder, cumin, bay leaf, cocoa powder, oregano, cayenne pepper, coriander, salt, and pepper sauces. Stir in 2 cans of kidney beans and the fresh chili peppers. Bring to a simmer (low setting) for 6 hours.
3. Add remaining 2 cans of beans (or however much you can fit) and continue cooking at reduced heat (warm setting) overnight.
Halfway out to the curb with the garbage can when I realized today is not Thursday. It's going to be one of those days.
That's better than forgetting that tomorrow is Thursday /glasshalffull
That's still a distinct possibility.
At last, the Twins' season comes to a close. I'm so glad there were interesting races here at the end to deaden the pain somewhat.
Don't forget, you also have the Vikings season to look forward to!
The Diamondbacks went into extras tied 1-1, gave up five in the top of the tenth, but scored six and won 7-6 when Ryan Roberts hit a walk-off grand slam. So annoyed to be in blackout country right now, because watching that game was all I wanted last night. Of course, now that it's over I can see it.
It reminded me of the same, but I decided at the last second not to remind everyone else. I suppose everyone else is naturally thinking it anyway, though.
I'm watching this game now. The Diamondbacks had two outs in the tenth before they had any baserunners. Wow.
I still hate Trombley.
I'm okay with 99.
It really does feel different. But, dude...Bruce Chen! It ain't happening.
Twins are over .500 on Wednesdays this season. It's happening.
That evidence seems pretty overwhelming.
There better be a certain Toto song as the video tomorrow if it does.
I'm pretty sure that Blac_burn is the man for game 163. Git'r'dun billy smith!
Oh, that's awesome. We could miss out on Chen because he's needed by the preseason favorite to be the best team in a one-game playoff.
This Red Sox implosion has been hilarious.
It would be even funnier if they trade for him, the Twins win to avoid 100 losses, and either he implodes and the Red Sox lose in a blowout in Game 163 or they lose today and don't even have a Game 163 so Chen never pitches for the Red Sox.
That would immediately become my favorite thing about the Twins 2011 season.
Speaking of, we may have to have a poll for favorite thing about this dreadful season. There's got to be a few things we can look back on with some level of fondness - somersault triple, no hitter, etc.
If a list is made, it will be done.
JI
JIM THOME's 600th.
Liriano no hitter.
It's one of those two.
Even the good is tinged with the bad this year. Liriano's no-hitter was bowling-shoe ugly. Thome's 600th was all the Twins were waiting for before they sent him out.
-1 for being bowling shoe ugly. +2 for being against the White Sox.
Oh, it was great, and I jumped out of my seat and danced around my house. I just wish it had been something other than the least dominant no-hitter ever.
At least Liriano's came against a legit lineup, especially against a lefty. Milton's no-hitter was like facing the 2011 Twins before the AA season ended.
That's true. I tend to forget it, since I missed Milton's no-hitter when it happened.
Or the lineup that David Wells faced in his perfect game.
The Twins have a weird history with no-hitters. Liriano had all the walks and was in the middle of an awful stretch of pitching, Milton had the no-name lineup in the mid-morning game at a mostly empty dome and Scott Erickson had a no-hitter and still managed to lead the AL in hits allowed that season.
Are there any plans for playoff series game logs? Do we want to continue to just stick with our days and do it that way? Another thought I had is that there will be seven playoff series (4 LDS, 2 LCS and the WS) and we could each take one playoff series. The difference in each is that if we stick with the days, we have the possibility of up to four game logs in a day and if go by series, we would be committing to setting up game logs for three to seven games on different days. I'm OK however we want to do it, just thought we might want to look ahead.
I had planned on playoff logs (just one per day) and would cover them unless that day's person wants to do one.
I haven't had a Thursday game in about five weeks. I might get one or two play-in games, though.
I like the idea of one post per day for the playoffs. It'll keep the front page from getting too cluttered and pushing out other features.
Dido. Or maybe two -- one for day games, one for night games.
I have a feeling one a day will be enough, but if they get flooded we'll reassess. I seem to remember they were sparsely used, though this is mostly from years when the Twins were in the playoffs. With the Twins out, maybe everyone will watch more.
Me? I don't have TBS, home of the entire DS and NLCS. Ugh.
I think it was more because Twins were out quickly, so it was hard to watch the rest of the playoffs. Because of so many games in the first couple rounds, I tend to check them out in the later innings to see if the game is interesting enough to watch it.
When I'm around, I try to see all of the playoffs. That's the kind of thing that allowed me to catch Halladay's no-hitter last year. Lucky me.
That will work as well. I can take Sundays.
I got the 1991 WS DVD set as a birthday present; I thought there was talk of watching those simultaneous with the this year's WS or somesuch, and posting "live" commentary in a game log?
Having recently acquired the '87 and '91 DVDs for a self-birthday gift, I fully agree.
It seems to me that would be more fun to do in the off-season, when we're all really missing baseball, rather than during the real World Series, when there are still live games to watch. On the other hand, I don't have any of the DVD's, so my opinion probably doesn't mean much.
Yeah, even if I had the DVDs, I'd never skip the World Series.
I'm thinking spring training would be a good time. It would give more citizens a chance to nab the disc set, and it could get us primed up for the season.
Anytime after Christmas would be my vote.
(If my in-laws are reading this, yes, that is a hint)
I plan to listen to the spring training games, so maybe a Jan/Feb timeframe would be better
Ms Buffalo and I were watching the Bartman doc this morning. At one point she turned to me and asked, "why is there so much stuff about the Red Sox? I thought this was supposed to be about that Cubs fan?"
Yeah, that was way too much. The big problem is that Bartman won't talk, which of course, is his right. The other problem is that Red Sox fans are the most self-absorbed fan base in the history of sport.
What was interesting, though, was the "we forgive you Buckner" angle. Right. Turn the poor guy's life into a living Hell and then you forgive him?
Also, Moises Alou, you suck. Just come out and say, hey look, this kid was not to blame. I shouldn't have acted that way. I'm sorry, Steve.
Indeed. If Bartman hadn't touched the ball, someone else would have. And FFS, they had plenty of chances to get outs after that.
Plus, that would've been a tough catch for Alou anyway. There's no guarantee he would have caught it even had the stadium been empty.
I just realized that I can't remember a time when either John Gordon or Herb Carneal were calling Twins games on the radio.
I'm assuming you mean neither/nor.
Herb started with the Twins in 1962, so only the first season didn't have one or the other.
Oy, half-baked grammar.
Gordon started in 1987. I didn't start listening to Twins games until 1986, but I really don't remember a broadcast without Gordon (other than his days off in recent years).
I can barely remember a bit of Halsey Hall when he was in the booth.
The Twins could certainly have done a lot worse than Gordo. He'll be missed, but looking forward to turning the page
Joe Angel was in the booth before Gordo. A lot of people like him, but I didn't like that he seemed to get pretty excited when the other team hit a home run.
Here's the list. I most certainly listened when Frank Quilici was doing games and I remember listening to games in my grandfather's barbershop when my Dad was still working there, so that would have been Halsey, too.
Quilici didn't give you much in the way of analysis, but he never pretended to, either. He told some good stories and was enjoyable to listen to.
Frank enjoyed his liquid refreshment a little too much on air, if I remember right, but with the teams he was announcing, that might have been required.
Yup. Herb and Frank were a big part of my youth. I too barely remember Halsey Hall in the booth. Ray Christensen I remember primarily as the voice of the Gophers. I heard a lot of Gopher football and hoops on the radio back in the day.
I don't remember that about Joe. I remember liking him because I thought he had a good sense of humor and seemed to really enjoy himself at the games.
Joe Angel was great, and presumably still is. He does Orioles games.
I think I'll miss Gordo more than I expected to. Of course, just how much I miss him depends somewhat on who replaces him.
I purchased my airfare, and now I have to get permission to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days. I'm almost delirious.
Good to hear things are progressing.
I noticed farmer posters for 'fresh pinks' along the highways in No. Ireland. I asked my cabbie this morning - he said they are new potatoes with a lite pink skin. These people are crazy for potatoes, I tells ye.
Rob Neyer echoed my feelings towards the Rays last night:
Except I look at those attendance figures, and I wonder how many people actually care about the Tampa Bay Rays. I know that hundreds of thousands of people care passionately about the Red Sox. Yes, they've had their fun in recent years. But from a purely utilitarian standpoint, won't the joy in the universe be significantly greater if the Red Sox win this week? Should the Universe bother to favor a team with so few passionate fans? Should we?
I rather like the Rays as an organization. They have IMO the best GM AND manager in all of baseball (new market inefficiency). They deserve a much better fanbase.
Pfft. There are hundreds of thousands of fans who will derive joy from the fact that the Red Sox imploded. Where is that in Neyer's calculation?
It should be noted that the ratings plunged this year, but they're still not in the bottom five for total number of viewers or percentage-wise. Unfortunately I can't find a full list yet, but it seems their rating is 15-20.
That's lazy. Why not cheer for the Yankees every year then, while ignoring the fact that they're probably America's most hated franchise, too?
Taking this half-assed argument to its logical conclusion, then, it was obviously better for society as a whole to have the Yankees completely annihilate the Twins in the playoffs when they have met and for we Twins fans to feel otherwise is just selfish on our part.
This is quite possibly the stupidest thing that Neyer has ever said.
Yeah, looks like we came to the same conclusion.
I'm growing weary of Neyer, despite how much I like him when he's on.
I started following him in earnest about 7 or 8 months ago, only, but I still like him. Not Posnanski level, by any means, but if that was the criteria, I wouldn't read much of anyone. He's still on more than he's off, and while he occasionally gets way too smug about things, he's still someone that I can read without feeling dumber for it, even if I disagree with what he's saying.
but yeah... this one's way off base.
It doesn't even rise to the level of half-bakef.
And you didn't even mention the anthropomorphising of the universe. If history teaches us anything, and I know this as a Cleveland Browns fan, it's that the universe is completely indifferent.
He's definitely on way more than he's off. His smugness is tiring, though. He spends half his time mocking people for being wrong, rather than explaining why it's the case. With the attitude he takes toward baseball, it's easy to see why he gets passed over for getting a Hall vote and such.
I thought you were describing Keith Law, but then noticed you said only half his time is spent mocking those that disagree.
Har. No kidding.
I know many feel that Rob has an abrasive personality, but I feel compelled to mention that once, back in late 2004 or early 2005, I emailed him about Bert's HoF case. I'd started reading Rob shortly after he started working at ESPN, and probably mentioned as much in my email. Well, he was kind enough to email me back with some constructive criticism of my points, which was pretty cool. It was a different Internet then, and maybe he wrote back partially because I emailed him from an usmc.mil email address. I couldn't say. But anyway, we exchanged a couple of emails, and he seemed to me to be a pretty nice guy.
I've known some folks who were much more easygoing in email than in public online. Something about having a conversation vs. feeling like one is being batted into a corner and wanting to fight oneself out, maybe?
I also had an extremely pleasant interaction with Rob at the SABR convetion in Toronto. Gary Gillette had just given a presentation about clutch hitting (this was back in the dark ages about 5 years ago when "Clutch Hitting" was still the big thing that about which fans were arguing. Anyway, Gillette's presentation had this absoultely ridiculous conclusion showing that Royce Clayton had been the most "clutch" hitter in the past 50 years. The other "clutch" hitters were all banjo-hitters with no real talent.
I raised my hand at the end when Gillette took a few questions, and pointed out that his findigs didn't pass the smell test (very politely, I might add). I also hypothesized about why his results came out so "incorrectly." Gillette made a very snide retort and blew me off. Immediately after the presentation ended, Neyer walked up to me and said he had been thinking the exact same thing as I had said. Definitely a nice move on his part because we were complete strangers and I was one of the younger attendees that year having just been shot down by a SABR bigwig.
Anyway, that's not to say he's not wrong often, but still...
I also emailed Neyer at one point, when Randy Moss was in his first/second year with the Vikings, comparing him to "our" Gene Washington. We had a nice exchange, and he mentioned that he had lived in Fargo at one time, as well.
It's so simple! Society (other than the Generals' players and their families) will be so much better off if we all just get on the Globetrotters bandwagon!
I thought the Generals were due!!11!1
Of course, because sports are SO IMPORTANT.
So one of The Milkmaid's many work duties is to schedule interviews. This guy was set to come in to interview for an upper management position a week and a half ago, and a couple hours before his interview, he called and said he had to reschedule. So, they rescheduled for the next day. He no-showed. Eight days - eight days - later, he calls her and, sans explanation, calmly asks if he can reschedule. She says no, and he actually has the balls to say "Well, it's your loss."
How can someone like that even get to the point where his resume suggests he's upper management material? And if you can get that kind of interview these days, what is so intrinsically wrong with you that you feel the need to act this way? What a chump. "It's your loss." Sure it is, buddy. We'd be stupid not to hire you.
Moss just heard (from a knowledgable source who has worked at both companies) about how an exec was run out of one local device company for horrible behavior (towards coworkers and employees), but promptly found a high-level job at a second device company anyway. Catastrophe ensued. (As did unrelated criminal charges against the spouse, and then a divorce.)
You'd think that such people would stop being considered for top positions, but maybe baseball's managerial retread system isn't different than other companies.
Yeah, I've seen plenty of that. We had a much-maligned manager at one of my old places who made a lot of rules (that were against the company) in lieu of getting results or having a single positive effect on morale. She was an awful manager in every way, and they moved her out of the store. We summarily found out that she was moved into the exact same position in another store, and a few months later, another store. Not long after, a friend of hers in the company admitted to us that we had been her fifth store as a manager already.
She added me on Facebook a few months ago (I never hid my feelings for her, but in a weird twist, I've been told by multiple sources that she had a crush on me) and I learned she's finally out of the company. In fact, she's in a way different environment. One that suits her, I hope.
That must just be a corporate thing, because we had the same type of thing when I worked retail. We got a new head manager, one who had a reputation as a "house cleaner". Instead of doing said house cleaning, he sat in his office all day, was blatantly sexist, smoked pot with the employees, and was later fired after he got caught embezzling money.
Word later came that the "house cleaner" reputation was entirely fabricated - corporate hated him and ours was his fourth store (the other three had complained, and gotten him transferred along) and that they buoyed his reputation simply to mask that truth. The district manager and he were golf pals, though... Seriously, it seems like if you know one person, you're bulletproof, if not entirely made of gold.
Ugh, not a single meaningful game until 4pm Milkman Standard Time. This last week has gotten me excited for baseball in a way I haven't been since, well, June.
The final day of MLB.tv is available for $3.99, for those into the races.
tempting
ESPN and ESPN2 has picked up the four meaningful games today and will broadcast them regionally. I imagine the Midwest and the Southeast will get the Cardinals and Braves games while the rest of the country will get the Red Sox and the Rays games.
Jose Reyes bunted for a hit today in his first at-bat and then was lifted for a pinch runner. This means Ryan Braun has to go 3-for-4 or better to win the batting title over Reyes. Ted Williams, he ain't.
In ex-Twins news, since I may forget about it by Friday, Stan Cliburn has been re-signed to manage the Sioux City Explorers again next season.
I listened to it live. I can confirm that it is awesome.
I'm sitting here and I'm bored out of my noggin, so I've been mulling this over - Fantasy College Football. But here's the hook - only one player per college team allowed in the league. There are a 120 Division I football teams - so a 10-team, 12-player league. Say someone drafts the Oklahoma QB - no more Sooners for anyone else. Eventually, people will be forced to draft Hoosiers or Gophers. Restructuring your lineup would be interesting, since if you would have to do quite a bit of shuffling and trading.
So, would you draft actual players or maybe just draft the position? Like, Alabama running backs, or Hawaii wide receivers. That way you'd get more production with less concern about injuries.
Mitch Prensky, a chef in Philadelphia, also grew up eating gribenes and likes to try unusual uses at his restaurant, Supper. He puts chicken skin in his spaghetti carbonara, cures and smokes it like pastrami for Reuben sandwiches and crisps it into tuile-like garnishes for summer salads.
“It’s the Jewish bacon,” Mr. Prensky said.
Seriously. A whole article celebrating chicken skin.
This was amusing: "Harrelson bring a unique blend of homerism and more homerism to White Sox broadcasts."
This just in: professional football players routinely abuse painkillers, cheat on their wives, and have difficulty adjusting to life after the NFL.
Also just in, SI appears to specialize in stories that tarnish the images of dead athletes.
Oh god, it is a Jeff Pearlman book. Even better.
Asked if he worried about facing a backlash for tarnishing the image of a deceased man, Pearlman said, "I sure do. It hurts me that this will hurt his kids. It really does because Jarrett and Brittney are wonderful, engaging, fun, caring people and they're really uplifting figures in the Chicago landscape ... That said, I set out to write a definitive biography -- period. When people would ask, 'Well, is this going to be positive?' I'd say, 'Not positive, not negative -- definitive.'"
Poor Jeff. This hurt him! And SI is running excerpts. I'm so old that I can remember when SI was something special.
I started losing interest in SI when Dan Jenkins quit writing for them.
It wasn't all that long after that that pr0n became readily available on the web, making the swimsuit issue totally obsolete for teenage boys.
Every year my swimsuit issue got lost in the mail...
What, did they just now get around to reading North Dallas Forty?
Jerry Kill back at practice again today. I'm not a doctor and even if I was, I'm not aware of all the facts of this case, but I'm not sure this is a good idea.
I will say this: if Jerry Kill has another seizure on Saturday during the game, I blame Joel Maturi. Even if he doesn't, isn't there someone in the organization that can say, "Hey Jerry, don't worry about this one. You need to get healthy first. We need you for the long haul."?
Yeah, this reeks of either peer pressure or a leader masking the truth so he doesn't appear weak. If he had as many seizures as he himself reported, this sounds like a terrible idea.
As I said before, he should not be there unless and until the doctors know what's causing his seizures and are confident they have him on medication that will keep them under control.
I gotta give props to ESPN for picking up all four games tonight. Sure, I'll still probably watch MLB Network who will show me everthing without having to flip, but at least they made an effort.
I moved this comment to where it should have been.
Anyone else see last night's Sons of Anarchy? I'm watching it on the DVR right now. Everytime Clay's arthritis acts up all I can think is "A Khal who cannot ride is no Khal"
I can't decide if that is horribly wrong to mix two different stories like that, or if it's just funnier than hell.
Had this dish at a Belfast restaurant last week, and then successfully replicated it in my kitchenette (w/ Interwebs tips):
Guinness Irish Stew
- beef cut into cubes, rolled in flour, and browned in oil seasoned with garlic
- Irish potatoes and carrots cut into cubes
- med. onion chopped up - then brown in oil, then add in a cup or so of Guinness - let it reduce under high heat - you want the onions to get carmelly.
You may want to add some more Guinness to get the right effect; then add 1/2 of those sm. cans of tomato paste; turn down heat and let the tomato paste settle in; a pat o' butter seemed to work well here also.
Turn all of the ingredients into a casserole dish; cover and bake at 350F (or 176C - had to look that one up) for 2-2.5 hrs; mixing occasionally. Serve w/ soda bread and Irish butter, and pints of Guinness, of course.
mmmm. I saw of version of this on (gasp) Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives. I think they marinated the beef in Guinness overnight too.
My wife makes an Irish stew very similar to this using Guinness. It's awesome.
I make a chili using Guinness as a primary ingredient...won "fan favorite" at the annual chili cook-off at the SBG School of Law in '08.
I always use beer in my chili, but it's usually whatever's in the fridge.
Ok, this thread is getting me geared up for making chili this weekend. Sweet.
Guinness chili - do tell, do tell
GUINNESS CHILI
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 fresh hot chili peppers, seeded and chopped (variety of your choice)
1 pound ground beef
¾ pound beef sirloin, cubed
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounce) can diced green chilies
4 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans (light and dark) or beans of your choice
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (10 ounce) can condensed beef broth
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle of Guinness
1 cup strong brewed coffee
½ cup brown sugar
3 ½ tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (red pepper)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce (Franks Red Hot)
1 tablespoon red pepper sauce (Tabasco)
1 tablespoon green habanero sauce (D’Elidas)
Directions
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onions, garlic, ground beef and cubed sirloin in oil for 10 minutes, or until meat is well browned and the onions are tender. Transfer to a crock pot (3 quart capacity or larger).
2. Mix in the diced tomatoes with juice, canned chili peppers, dark beer, coffee, tomato paste, and beef broth. Add brown sugar and mix well. Season with chili powder, cumin, bay leaf, cocoa powder, oregano, cayenne pepper, coriander, salt, and pepper sauces. Stir in 2 cans of kidney beans and the fresh chili peppers. Bring to a simmer (low setting) for 6 hours.
3. Add remaining 2 cans of beans (or however much you can fit) and continue cooking at reduced heat (warm setting) overnight.
Halfway out to the curb with the garbage can when I realized today is not Thursday. It's going to be one of those days.
That's better than forgetting that tomorrow is Thursday /glasshalffull
That's still a distinct possibility.
At last, the Twins' season comes to a close. I'm so glad there were interesting races here at the end to deaden the pain somewhat.
Don't forget, you also have the Vikings season to look forward to!
The Diamondbacks went into extras tied 1-1, gave up five in the top of the tenth, but scored six and won 7-6 when Ryan Roberts hit a walk-off grand slam. So annoyed to be in blackout country right now, because watching that game was all I wanted last night. Of course, now that it's over I can see it.
Reminds me of this abomination.
It reminded me of the same, but I decided at the last second not to remind everyone else. I suppose everyone else is naturally thinking it anyway, though.
I'm watching this game now. The Diamondbacks had two outs in the tenth before they had any baserunners. Wow.
I still hate Trombley.
I'm okay with 99.
It really does feel different. But, dude...Bruce Chen! It ain't happening.
Twins are over .500 on Wednesdays this season. It's happening.
That evidence seems pretty overwhelming.
There better be a certain Toto song as the video tomorrow if it does.
Africa?
Which makes this story beyond hilarious.
Maybe we can send them Dunce for something.
I'm pretty sure that Blac_burn is the man for game 163. Git'r'dun billy smith!
Oh, that's awesome. We could miss out on Chen because he's needed by the preseason favorite to be the best team in a one-game playoff.
This Red Sox implosion has been hilarious.
It would be even funnier if they trade for him, the Twins win to avoid 100 losses, and either he implodes and the Red Sox lose in a blowout in Game 163 or they lose today and don't even have a Game 163 so Chen never pitches for the Red Sox.
That would immediately become my favorite thing about the Twins 2011 season.
Speaking of, we may have to have a poll for favorite thing about this dreadful season. There's got to be a few things we can look back on with some level of fondness - somersault triple, no hitter, etc.
If a list is made, it will be done.
JI
JIM THOME's 600th.
Liriano no hitter.
It's one of those two.
Even the good is tinged with the bad this year. Liriano's no-hitter was bowling-shoe ugly. Thome's 600th was all the Twins were waiting for before they sent him out.
-1 for being bowling shoe ugly. +2 for being against the White Sox.
Oh, it was great, and I jumped out of my seat and danced around my house. I just wish it had been something other than the least dominant no-hitter ever.
At least Liriano's came against a legit lineup, especially against a lefty. Milton's no-hitter was like facing the 2011 Twins before the AA season ended.
That's true. I tend to forget it, since I missed Milton's no-hitter when it happened.
Or the lineup that David Wells faced in his perfect game.
The Twins have a weird history with no-hitters. Liriano had all the walks and was in the middle of an awful stretch of pitching, Milton had the no-name lineup in the mid-morning game at a mostly empty dome and Scott Erickson had a no-hitter and still managed to lead the AL in hits allowed that season.
Are there any plans for playoff series game logs? Do we want to continue to just stick with our days and do it that way? Another thought I had is that there will be seven playoff series (4 LDS, 2 LCS and the WS) and we could each take one playoff series. The difference in each is that if we stick with the days, we have the possibility of up to four game logs in a day and if go by series, we would be committing to setting up game logs for three to seven games on different days. I'm OK however we want to do it, just thought we might want to look ahead.
I had planned on playoff logs (just one per day) and would cover them unless that day's person wants to do one.
I haven't had a Thursday game in about five weeks. I might get one or two play-in games, though.
I like the idea of one post per day for the playoffs. It'll keep the front page from getting too cluttered and pushing out other features.
Dido. Or maybe two -- one for day games, one for night games.
I have a feeling one a day will be enough, but if they get flooded we'll reassess. I seem to remember they were sparsely used, though this is mostly from years when the Twins were in the playoffs. With the Twins out, maybe everyone will watch more.
Me? I don't have TBS, home of the entire DS and NLCS. Ugh.
I think it was more because Twins were out quickly, so it was hard to watch the rest of the playoffs. Because of so many games in the first couple rounds, I tend to check them out in the later innings to see if the game is interesting enough to watch it.
When I'm around, I try to see all of the playoffs. That's the kind of thing that allowed me to catch Halladay's no-hitter last year. Lucky me.
That will work as well. I can take Sundays.
I got the 1991 WS DVD set as a birthday present; I thought there was talk of watching those simultaneous with the this year's WS or somesuch, and posting "live" commentary in a game log?
I would like this very much.
OMG, sick catch by Kirby!!1!!!one!!!11
I think that would need a spoiler tag.
Don't tell what happens in game 7.
Having recently acquired the '87 and '91 DVDs for a self-birthday gift, I fully agree.
It seems to me that would be more fun to do in the off-season, when we're all really missing baseball, rather than during the real World Series, when there are still live games to watch. On the other hand, I don't have any of the DVD's, so my opinion probably doesn't mean much.
Yeah, even if I had the DVDs, I'd never skip the World Series.
I'm thinking spring training would be a good time. It would give more citizens a chance to nab the disc set, and it could get us primed up for the season.
Anytime after Christmas would be my vote.
(If my in-laws are reading this, yes, that is a hint)
I plan to listen to the spring training games, so maybe a Jan/Feb timeframe would be better
Ms Buffalo and I were watching the Bartman doc this morning. At one point she turned to me and asked, "why is there so much stuff about the Red Sox? I thought this was supposed to be about that Cubs fan?"
Yeah, that was way too much. The big problem is that Bartman won't talk, which of course, is his right. The other problem is that Red Sox fans are the most self-absorbed fan base in the history of sport.
What was interesting, though, was the "we forgive you Buckner" angle. Right. Turn the poor guy's life into a living Hell and then you forgive him?
Also, Moises Alou, you suck. Just come out and say, hey look, this kid was not to blame. I shouldn't have acted that way. I'm sorry, Steve.
Indeed. If Bartman hadn't touched the ball, someone else would have. And FFS, they had plenty of chances to get outs after that.
Plus, that would've been a tough catch for Alou anyway. There's no guarantee he would have caught it even had the stadium been empty.
I just realized that I can't remember a time when either John Gordon or Herb Carneal were calling Twins games on the radio.
I'm assuming you mean neither/nor.
Herb started with the Twins in 1962, so only the first season didn't have one or the other.
Oy, half-baked grammar.
Gordon started in 1987. I didn't start listening to Twins games until 1986, but I really don't remember a broadcast without Gordon (other than his days off in recent years).
I can barely remember a bit of Halsey Hall when he was in the booth.
The Twins could certainly have done a lot worse than Gordo. He'll be missed, but looking forward to turning the page
Joe Angel was in the booth before Gordo. A lot of people like him, but I didn't like that he seemed to get pretty excited when the other team hit a home run.
Here's the list. I most certainly listened when Frank Quilici was doing games and I remember listening to games in my grandfather's barbershop when my Dad was still working there, so that would have been Halsey, too.
Quilici didn't give you much in the way of analysis, but he never pretended to, either. He told some good stories and was enjoyable to listen to.
Frank enjoyed his liquid refreshment a little too much on air, if I remember right, but with the teams he was announcing, that might have been required.
Yup. Herb and Frank were a big part of my youth. I too barely remember Halsey Hall in the booth. Ray Christensen I remember primarily as the voice of the Gophers. I heard a lot of Gopher football and hoops on the radio back in the day.
I don't remember that about Joe. I remember liking him because I thought he had a good sense of humor and seemed to really enjoy himself at the games.
Joe Angel was great, and presumably still is. He does Orioles games.
I think I'll miss Gordo more than I expected to. Of course, just how much I miss him depends somewhat on who replaces him.
I purchased my airfare, and now I have to get permission to stay in Ireland for more than 90 days. I'm almost delirious.
Good to hear things are progressing.
I noticed farmer posters for 'fresh pinks' along the highways in No. Ireland. I asked my cabbie this morning - he said they are new potatoes with a lite pink skin. These people are crazy for potatoes, I tells ye.
Rob Neyer echoed my feelings towards the Rays last night:
I rather like the Rays as an organization. They have IMO the best GM AND manager in all of baseball (new market inefficiency). They deserve a much better fanbase.
Pfft. There are hundreds of thousands of fans who will derive joy from the fact that the Red Sox imploded. Where is that in Neyer's calculation?
But their TV numbers are fantastic. Clearly no one watches them.
It should be noted that the ratings plunged this year, but they're still not in the bottom five for total number of viewers or percentage-wise. Unfortunately I can't find a full list yet, but it seems their rating is 15-20.
That's lazy. Why not cheer for the Yankees every year then, while ignoring the fact that they're probably America's most hated franchise, too?
Taking this half-assed argument to its logical conclusion, then, it was obviously better for society as a whole to have the Yankees completely annihilate the Twins in the playoffs when they have met and for we Twins fans to feel otherwise is just selfish on our part.
This is quite possibly the stupidest thing that Neyer has ever said.
Yeah, looks like we came to the same conclusion.
I'm growing weary of Neyer, despite how much I like him when he's on.
I started following him in earnest about 7 or 8 months ago, only, but I still like him. Not Posnanski level, by any means, but if that was the criteria, I wouldn't read much of anyone. He's still on more than he's off, and while he occasionally gets way too smug about things, he's still someone that I can read without feeling dumber for it, even if I disagree with what he's saying.
but yeah... this one's way off base.
It doesn't even rise to the level of half-bakef.
And you didn't even mention the anthropomorphising of the universe. If history teaches us anything, and I know this as a Cleveland Browns fan, it's that the universe is completely indifferent.
He's definitely on way more than he's off. His smugness is tiring, though. He spends half his time mocking people for being wrong, rather than explaining why it's the case. With the attitude he takes toward baseball, it's easy to see why he gets passed over for getting a Hall vote and such.
I thought you were describing Keith Law, but then noticed you said only half his time is spent mocking those that disagree.
Har. No kidding.
I know many feel that Rob has an abrasive personality, but I feel compelled to mention that once, back in late 2004 or early 2005, I emailed him about Bert's HoF case. I'd started reading Rob shortly after he started working at ESPN, and probably mentioned as much in my email. Well, he was kind enough to email me back with some constructive criticism of my points, which was pretty cool. It was a different Internet then, and maybe he wrote back partially because I emailed him from an usmc.mil email address. I couldn't say. But anyway, we exchanged a couple of emails, and he seemed to me to be a pretty nice guy.
I've known some folks who were much more easygoing in email than in public online. Something about having a conversation vs. feeling like one is being batted into a corner and wanting to fight oneself out, maybe?
I also had an extremely pleasant interaction with Rob at the SABR convetion in Toronto. Gary Gillette had just given a presentation about clutch hitting (this was back in the dark ages about 5 years ago when "Clutch Hitting" was still the big thing that about which fans were arguing. Anyway, Gillette's presentation had this absoultely ridiculous conclusion showing that Royce Clayton had been the most "clutch" hitter in the past 50 years. The other "clutch" hitters were all banjo-hitters with no real talent.
I raised my hand at the end when Gillette took a few questions, and pointed out that his findigs didn't pass the smell test (very politely, I might add). I also hypothesized about why his results came out so "incorrectly." Gillette made a very snide retort and blew me off. Immediately after the presentation ended, Neyer walked up to me and said he had been thinking the exact same thing as I had said. Definitely a nice move on his part because we were complete strangers and I was one of the younger attendees that year having just been shot down by a SABR bigwig.
Anyway, that's not to say he's not wrong often, but still...
I also emailed Neyer at one point, when Randy Moss was in his first/second year with the Vikings, comparing him to "our" Gene Washington. We had a nice exchange, and he mentioned that he had lived in Fargo at one time, as well.
It's so simple! Society (other than the Generals' players and their families) will be so much better off if we all just get on the Globetrotters bandwagon!
I thought the Generals were due!!11!1
Of course, because sports are SO IMPORTANT.
So one of The Milkmaid's many work duties is to schedule interviews. This guy was set to come in to interview for an upper management position a week and a half ago, and a couple hours before his interview, he called and said he had to reschedule. So, they rescheduled for the next day. He no-showed. Eight days - eight days - later, he calls her and, sans explanation, calmly asks if he can reschedule. She says no, and he actually has the balls to say "Well, it's your loss."
How can someone like that even get to the point where his resume suggests he's upper management material? And if you can get that kind of interview these days, what is so intrinsically wrong with you that you feel the need to act this way? What a chump. "It's your loss." Sure it is, buddy. We'd be stupid not to hire you.
Moss just heard (from a knowledgable source who has worked at both companies) about how an exec was run out of one local device company for horrible behavior (towards coworkers and employees), but promptly found a high-level job at a second device company anyway. Catastrophe ensued. (As did unrelated criminal charges against the spouse, and then a divorce.)
You'd think that such people would stop being considered for top positions, but maybe baseball's managerial retread system isn't different than other companies.
Yeah, I've seen plenty of that. We had a much-maligned manager at one of my old places who made a lot of rules (that were against the company) in lieu of getting results or having a single positive effect on morale. She was an awful manager in every way, and they moved her out of the store. We summarily found out that she was moved into the exact same position in another store, and a few months later, another store. Not long after, a friend of hers in the company admitted to us that we had been her fifth store as a manager already.
She added me on Facebook a few months ago (I never hid my feelings for her, but in a weird twist, I've been told by multiple sources that she had a crush on me) and I learned she's finally out of the company. In fact, she's in a way different environment. One that suits her, I hope.
That must just be a corporate thing, because we had the same type of thing when I worked retail. We got a new head manager, one who had a reputation as a "house cleaner". Instead of doing said house cleaning, he sat in his office all day, was blatantly sexist, smoked pot with the employees, and was later fired after he got caught embezzling money.
Word later came that the "house cleaner" reputation was entirely fabricated - corporate hated him and ours was his fourth store (the other three had complained, and gotten him transferred along) and that they buoyed his reputation simply to mask that truth. The district manager and he were golf pals, though... Seriously, it seems like if you know one person, you're bulletproof, if not entirely made of gold.
Ugh, not a single meaningful game until 4pm Milkman Standard Time. This last week has gotten me excited for baseball in a way I haven't been since, well, June.
The final day of MLB.tv is available for $3.99, for those into the races.
tempting
ESPN and ESPN2 has picked up the four meaningful games today and will broadcast them regionally. I imagine the Midwest and the Southeast will get the Cardinals and Braves games while the rest of the country will get the Red Sox and the Rays games.
Jose Reyes bunted for a hit today in his first at-bat and then was lifted for a pinch runner. This means Ryan Braun has to go 3-for-4 or better to win the batting title over Reyes. Ted Williams, he ain't.
In ex-Twins news, since I may forget about it by Friday, Stan Cliburn has been re-signed to manage the Sioux City Explorers again next season.
This has probably already been posted somewhere, but NPR has Wilco concert available here. Even better check out the opening set by the great (and vastly underrated and under appreciated) Nick Lowe.
I listened to it live. I can confirm that it is awesome.
I'm sitting here and I'm bored out of my noggin, so I've been mulling this over - Fantasy College Football. But here's the hook - only one player per college team allowed in the league. There are a 120 Division I football teams - so a 10-team, 12-player league. Say someone drafts the Oklahoma QB - no more Sooners for anyone else. Eventually, people will be forced to draft Hoosiers or Gophers. Restructuring your lineup would be interesting, since if you would have to do quite a bit of shuffling and trading.
So, would you draft actual players or maybe just draft the position? Like, Alabama running backs, or Hawaii wide receivers. That way you'd get more production with less concern about injuries.
Happy New Year
Seriously. A whole article celebrating chicken skin.
1) Dial 1-800-Lipitor.
Also: for duck fat recipes. See 1) above.
this headline should speak for itself.
I moused over, and you're right, it does.
This was amusing: "Harrelson bring a unique blend of homerism and more homerism to White Sox broadcasts."
This just in: professional football players routinely abuse painkillers, cheat on their wives, and have difficulty adjusting to life after the NFL.
Also just in, SI appears to specialize in stories that tarnish the images of dead athletes.
Oh god, it is a Jeff Pearlman book. Even better.
Poor Jeff. This hurt him! And SI is running excerpts. I'm so old that I can remember when SI was something special.
I started losing interest in SI when Dan Jenkins quit writing for them.
It wasn't all that long after that that pr0n became readily available on the web, making the swimsuit issue totally obsolete for teenage boys.
Every year my swimsuit issue got lost in the mail...
What, did they just now get around to reading North Dallas Forty?
Jerry Kill back at practice again today. I'm not a doctor and even if I was, I'm not aware of all the facts of this case, but I'm not sure this is a good idea.
I will say this: if Jerry Kill has another seizure on Saturday during the game, I blame Joel Maturi. Even if he doesn't, isn't there someone in the organization that can say, "Hey Jerry, don't worry about this one. You need to get healthy first. We need you for the long haul."?
Yeah, this reeks of either peer pressure or a leader masking the truth so he doesn't appear weak. If he had as many seizures as he himself reported, this sounds like a terrible idea.
As I said before, he should not be there unless and until the doctors know what's causing his seizures and are confident they have him on medication that will keep them under control.
I gotta give props to ESPN for picking up all four games tonight. Sure, I'll still probably watch MLB Network who will show me everthing without having to flip, but at least they made an effort.
I moved this comment to where it should have been.
Anyone else see last night's Sons of Anarchy? I'm watching it on the DVR right now. Everytime Clay's arthritis acts up all I can think is "A Khal who cannot ride is no Khal"
I can't decide if that is horribly wrong to mix two different stories like that, or if it's just funnier than hell.