37 thoughts on “January 29, 2012: Pepper!”

  2. Anyone who enjoys sports should turn on ESPN2 and watch some tennis this morning.

  3. I was reading the Sunday sports page and noticed the Wolves play 5 games this week (today, Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat). I hope we go 3-2. Also, I noticed Fri and Sat games are not on tv. boo.

  5. Headline that annoys me: Twins Say They're Set in the Outfield. Really? Anytime you can rely on Consensual Pork, a formerly concussed D-SPAN2, and a platoon of Revere and Benson, I think you have to be pretty satisfied, right? Ugh, that has the potential to be a pretty subpar group.

    However, I loved this quote:

    When told he had appeared in 35 games in right with the Washington Nationals in 2009, Willingham’s eyes widened.

    “Thirty-five games? Shut the front door. Really? I had no idea.”

    There's just something amusing about seeing "Shut the front door" used as a direction quotation rather than skipping it with an ellipsis.

    1. In fairness, what can Gardy say? "If things don't go right, our outfield could really stink"? I'd like them to have some better options, and maybe Gardy would, too, but they don't. There's not much he can do right now but make the best of it and hope it works out.

    2. Gardenhire said he hopes Nishioka, who struggled with offense, defense and health in his first major league season, comes to spring training “with a better idea of what we do and how we do things.”

      Seems like something that would work both ways, to me.

    3. They spent more money on the OF than anything this offseason. They moved the hitter who had the best year offensively in the organization to the outfield and their two prospects that are closest to being major league ready can both play the OF (Parmelee is more of a first basemen, but he has spent time in the minors in RF, more than Plouffe, that's for sure). I don't think you can ask for much more.

  6. Time to hit the garage and put some new exhaust gaskets in the truck. Before we replaced the catalytic converter a month or so ago, it was getting hot enough to glow. Now there's exhaust leaking from around the manifold-exhaust pipe connection, so I'm guessing the gaskets got burned out from the overheating converter. Hope this fixes things until spring, I don't much care for working on cars in cold weather.

    3. I've got new hubs ordered for my Ranger, new exhaust to put on my Jetta, and some electrical/ fuel sending unit issues I really need to get figured out on the Pacifica. Maybe next summer I'll insulate and heat my garage so I'm better prepared when everything inevitably breaks in January.

    4. I had to unstick the parking brake cable on my truck the other night, in the midst of the coldest weather we've had this winter. Fortunately, this was in a reasonably well-lit parking garage, and I could just shimmy under the truck and yank on the cables at the junction point until they unfroze. Still, I was on the ground, half under the truck, waiting for someone to run over my legs when they pulled into the open spot next to me.

  7. I know the Gophers women's team is not very good these days, but freshman Rachel Banham is good. She is the next Lindsey Whalen.

  8. Who said it:

    Seeing praise for six-hour Australian Open final. When a sporting event takes six hours, that means there's something wrong with the sport

      2. I suggested to Cuddyer that long baseball games are not necessarily boring through the use of sarcasm. but he totally didn't get it. But I got a ton of mentions suggesting that I not a fan of the grand old game.

        1. I'm not surprised that Cuddyer missed out on sarcasm, or that a bunch of other twitterers didn't catch it, either. Cuddy looks better and better to me wearing that Rockies hat.

    1. In June, batting .234, Heyward went on the disabled list to try to rest and rehab his shoulder. At one point, Chipper Jones suggested Heyward might need to learn to play with pain, which was whispered behind the outfielder's back, and in August, Heyward was struggling so badly that he played sparingly.

      Crap like this just infuriates me. You have no idea how much pain the guy is in or how much strength or flexibility a guy has lost. Playing badly can hurt a team much more than not playing. Morneau, Cuddyer and Mauer have all proven that.

      1. Dumb. These guys are mostly competive as all get-out. Most guys are playing nicked up and "with pain" a quarter-way through the season. How many pitchers blow out their arms because of crap like this?

        1. that's what coaches are for, stopping competitive as all get-out players from ruining themselves. Unfortunately, many coaches used to be players who didn't do very bright things either.

          1. I had something about managers sitting injured players down and taking the heat for personnel decisions typed in my LTE, but I couldn't get it coherent so I deleted it. I also didn't think about where the coaches and managers come from, either- that's a really good point.

  10. The Twins are coming off a 99-loss season and Twinsfest attendance went up. I take that as a good sign for game attendance. I'm guessing the average fan is willing to give a pass on an injury-plagued season, although another losing season would make the injuries look a lot like excuses covering other real concerns.

    2. coming off a 99-loss season and Twinsfest attendance went up

      perfect time to trim 10% off the payroll.

    3. Last year's Twinsfest was held at a different location because the HHHDome had a small hole in it. I believe there were restrictions on attendance last year.

    4. Twins season tickets are still available after being completely sold out the last two years. I take that as a less than good sign of game attendance.

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