97 thoughts on “April 3, 2012: Pure Excitment”

  1. The T-Wolves really like making youtube videos.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7er83J8Enfg

    1. thats neat.
      I like the Pegasus ad
      doing a little internet searching, I think the ad agency for the Wolves is something called Hunt Adkins, who did the 'Get To Know Em' Twins campaign. Looking around the HA website, I saw this commercial about Corey Koskie
      httpv://youtu.be/NxnOudKdvj8

      LOL

    3. the waitress suggested chicken alfredo, and i went with that. instead of the raspberry lemonade she suggested, i drank water.

  4. its a good day for people who like drinking beer at a ballgame

    Dave St. Peter ‏ @TwinsPrez
    It's official ... Surly, Fulton and other local craft beers now available at Target Field.

    2. This looks interesting:

      Grainbelt Nordeast cans (16 oz.) Vended in the stands $7.25

      If it's ice cold, Nordeast in a can would be very good during a warm summer game.

            1. I didn't make it down last year, but I think most beers were $6ish when I went in 2010? I'll pay the $2 premium for a Surly.

              Oh looking at that menu has me wanting to get down there to try some of the new stuff. I need to make it happen soon.

    4. Why are the Twins the only ones who switch up their menu and make a huge deal about it? Im sure there are basketball fans that would enjoy a Surly and a Kramarczuk.

      1. I love the way they're thinking, but price will dictate an actual purchase of said refreshments.

  7. I've actually been to that Olive Garden (assuming there's only 1 in Roanoke).

    It was the night before I started the bar exam. I'm getting chills just thinking about it.

    1. Also, Roanoke (technically Salem, but Salem is basically just Roanoke) is where they hold the D3 football championship every year. I actually took the bar exam at the same complex where they host that game. It was interesting... well heck, you can read about it here. (Shameless self promotion).

  8. I had a dream last night that Matt Capps was part of a group trying to buy the Minnesota Wild. I didn't understand why, but the only thought I had was that would make him have ties to Minnesota, and make it more likely he's here in 2013 and beyond. I was crushed.

  11. Though it doesn't look too serious, another one went down last night and Malcolm Lee is all that's left. As Kahn's been telling us all along, you can never have too many point guards!

  12. Prediction Contest Update - ManCity was down 3-1 to Sunderland, before salvaging a point with a 3-3 draw behind two late goals from Ballotelli. ManUtd beat Blackburn 2-0 on Monday night to strengthen their lead.

    In our contest, DG remains at the top (albeit with 3 less points than before). DK is the big loser this week, dropping 10 points and 6 places. (Previous Update)

    Place Player Points
    1 Daneeka's Ghost 23
    2 MagUidhir 19
    3 Freealonzo 18
    4 Homer Dome 14
    5 Spookymilk 14
    6 The Dread Pirate 12
    7 Buffalo 11
    8 DK 10
    9 davidwatts 10
    10 AMR 8

    1. ManCity was down 3-1 to Sunderland, before salvaging a point with a 3-3 draw behind two late goals from Ballotelli.

      I died. The Cats were that close to taking all six points from City this year.

      2. that game was on ESPN. I was watching it and gave up on it during the 80th minute. I should have stayed the extra 10 minutes.

    2. In other soccer news, Sporting KC is 4-0 to start the year, with 2 road wins (DC and Chivas), and having conceded only 1 goal in those 4 matches.

      C.J. Sapong and Zusi (sp?) have been a force on the offensive end. Can't wait to see how they match up with the top teams of the West.

    3. Barca and Bayern Munich in CL semis. Chelsea plays Benfica tomorrow (at Stamford Bridge) with a 1-0 advantage for the opportunity to face Barca.

            1. I'm still annoyed that I picked Kansas out of habit. The more I won games going deep into the tournament, the more I wished I'd been safe with the final.

            2. well played, Strat. I'm sure that someone, somewhere, will add your name to the "Achievements" page.

              1. What's the point of having a bragging rights contest if you're not going to brag a little? (Thankfully the same picks won me actual money in a pool at work.)

        2. I was probably tied for second then, because I watched about one minute, but only because everyone stopped their curling match to watch the last minute of the Badger's annual tournament exit.

      3. I watched the second half of SDSU/Baylor in the first round, and that was pretty much it for me. As my interest in the NBA rebounded this year, my interest in college ball really dropped off a cliff.

  15. While waiting for the barber today, I read Sports Illustrated's season preview of the Twins. First off, it struck me as a few weeks behind; like they just went with all the storylines at the beginning of spring training and didn't even check out what the team did during March (they wanted Nishioka to start at SS!).

    The second thing that struck me was that all it did was raise questions (Morneau Plate appearances, Mauer games at catcher, etc.) and assumed negative answers. Now, at this time of year, I'm always a little Pollyanna with the Twins, but I thought their 72-90 projection seemed low. Maybe not low if everything goes bad health wise, but to assume that it will seems wrong.

    I'm curious though, if we assume the opposite - that health returns for Morneau/Mauer/Baker/etc. - what's the upside? Those pitchers scare me, so I don't think a return to '10 is likely, but I'd say easily above .500, right?

    Anyway, that's my real question. We all know what the downside is; we saw it last year. But what's the upside?

      1. I haven't been here long, but even I know that'll be too rosy a picture. I want more jaded people to help this analysis.

        1. 100 wins is not out of the question! 🙂

          Gleeman and the Geek said that Vegas has the Twins at 72 wins on their O/U line. I think I'd bet the over there, but if 81 were the number I think I'd take the under.

          1. 100 wins is not out of the question! 🙂

            CC to Stick: I think New Guy has hacked your account.

            I too would take the under on 81. But I'm hoping for 83-85.

    2. The upside is above .500, for sure. It's fairly hard to find a team that doesn't have that upside. 72 wins doesn't seem like an awfully negative projection, though. There's not a lot of obvious top-line depth in the minors and there are plenty of questions when it comes to relief pitchers and health. My gut feeling is somewhere around 74-76 wins, but the difference between 75 wins and 72 wins at this point is meaningless. (Plus I am hungry right now, and if there's anything I've learned, it's not to trust my gut feeling when I am hungry.) I'd peg division title chances at around 10-15%. (I'm not that convinced about the Tigers and no one else in the division impresses me.)

    3. Depends on what you mean by "upside". If you mean everything that possibly could go right going right, the Twins could win the division. That's pretty unlikely, though. I think .500 is a reasonable goal. Like you, even if the batters return to health and productivity, I don't think they have enough pitching.

      1. How unlikely was 2008? Without doing a comprehensive comparison, I don't see a less talented team in 2012 than the Twins had in 2008. Sure, the pitching looks shakier, but looking at the '08 lineup, I see the following players listed as tops at their position: Casilla, Punto, Buscher, Young, Gomez. I think a lot of things went right for the '08 team, but certainly not everything.

        1. Maybe not absolutely everything went right in '08, but an awful lot did. Could it happen again? Sure. That's what's great about this time of year. We can hope, and we can dream, that a whole bunch of things go right, because every once in a while, they do.

          1. Padre, I think I'll buy hope & a whole bunch of things will go right. They're off to a good start offering Surly on tap. I'll be honest, I didn't see that coming - especially since I learned they went with the "BudMillerCoors" instead of "GrainSurlySummit" party deck. Perhaps the season will also provide unexpected happiness?

      2. I guess by upside I mostly mean that their biggest question marks are answered with average years from those players (thus, Morneau/Mauer/Baker all have career-line types of years, not their best ever, not their worst ever).

        I feel like if we could get that, in our division, .500 is a real possibility.

        Of course, if they're only on a .500 pace at midseason, I expect them to sell off every part they can and look at 2014+, thus tanking the .500 record.

        1. That could happen, but I don't expect a big fire sale. Depending on the circumstances, I could see them getting rid of guys like Doumit and Carroll and Marquis, but I don't see them trading any front-line players.

            1. I should've included Pavano. Anything's possible, but if the Twins are at .500, it probably will mean that Liriano and Baker are pitching well, and if they are, I look for Terry Ryan to try to find a way to keep them. Obviously, I could be completely wrong about that, but that's my hunch.

              1. I really think that .500 is going to be close enough to being in the race that they won't be selling. If they're far enough below to start selling off Liriano and Baker they're probably not playing well enough to get a decent return anyway.

              2. I think Pavano will be back before Baker is. The way Blyleven always bags on him and comments from the Twins regarding Baker this spring with the injury, it just seems like the organization is not thrilled with him. I also could see Pavano taking less to stay with the Twins. He's done the big free agent deal and it didn't work out so well for him. As long as the Twins look to be competitive in the next year or two, of course.

                1. I hope Pavano does well enough that the Twins are interested in bringing him back. Right now I'm not very confident of that.

                  1. Yup. Other than guys named "Marquis", Pavano concerns me the most (yeah, even more than Blackbeard)

    4. If all of our pitchers pitch as well as they can the rotation doesn't really look that bad. Liriano and Baker are legitimate 1-2 pitchers, Pavano and Blackburn can be 3-4, and a 5 is really just any warm body you can throw in there. This team does have potential for 90 wins, it's just that it never works out like that.

    5. If the Twins are anywhere near .500 at the end of April, I'll be very pleased. That schedule is stacked against them right from the start.

  16. wow, there are tornado in the Dallas/Ft Worth area ripping thing up, and a dangerous storm right over the DFW airport.

  17. An oldie, but a goodie.

    In his study, the bone density of 32 male, competitive bike riders, most in their late 20s and early 30s, was compared to that of age-matched controls, men who were active but not competitive athletes. Bone scans showed that almost all of the cyclists had significantly less bone density in the spine than the control group. Some of the racers, young men in their 20s, had osteopenia in their spines, a medical condition only one step below full-blown osteoporosis. “To find guys in their twenties with osteopenia was surprising and pretty disturbing,” Smathers says.

    Another recent study, this one published last year, had similar results. It followed competitive cyclists over the course of a race season in Colorado. The riders, aged 27 to 44, began with slightly below-average bone density. By the conclusion of the race season, they had lost a significant portion of their total, already-low bone mass in their hips, though not in their spines. At a three-month follow-up exam, however, they showed a small amount of bone recovery in the hips.

        1. I've always wanted to do a triathlon, except for the fact that I hate biking and don't know how to swim.

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