Cup of Coffee

April 5, 2012: Closer to Opening Day

81 Comments

Today is the third day that could be called Opening Day, with a slate of six games. Teams that lost 99 games last year aren't invited until tomorrow, however.

81 thoughts on “April 5, 2012: Closer to Opening Day”

      1. I already have two copies at home (one signed by Jim Bouten that I found at a used book store).

    1. while this is all well and good, has the NFL even done a cursory glance at any other teams? i believe i predicted that the NFL would come down hard on the saints, brush their hands and say, "well, we took care of that problem". so far, that seems to be the case.

      1. I think I read that they are investigating other teams as well. I assume that other teams wouldn't be quite so obvious, but I could be mistaken.

      1. "No one wants to make excuses for what the Saints did," Morrell said. "But the sanctions are excessive it's an election year."

        FTFH.

  3. With baseball season starting I thought I would share a couple of pre season wagers I would have made if wagering were legal.

    Future/PropBaseball Futures - Regular Season Wins Under 87 Wins Ev for Cincinnati Reds Reg Season Wins
    Future/PropBaseball Futures - Regular Season Wins Over 73 Wins -115 for Minnesota Twins Reg Season Wins
    Future/Prop Baseball Futures - Divisions Miami Marlins +750 for NL East
    0Future/Prop Baseball Futures - Divisions Colorado Rockies +750 for NL West

    1. what is the line on the Gigantes winning the NL West? (looks -- +150, and o/u of 87.5)

      SF's rotation will be excellent again (Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Zito and, when he gets off the DL, Vogelsong). The bullpen will be solid, and the offense should be much improved with the acquisitions of Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan (ok, not great, but better than the declining Andres Torres), the return of a healthy Buster Posey, the expected return of Freddy Sanchez, and a full season of Nate Schierholz in RF. The major losses were the Carlos Beltran rental and erratic Jonathan Sanchez from the rotation.

      Add a full, quality season from Panda and some competence from the Aubrey Huff/Brett Pill/Brandon Belt combination at 1b, this team should be pretty good.

    2. I'd guess there's a good payout on Division, League, and World Series KC Royals.
      Even Wild-Card KCR.

      Not that I think they're most likely, but I do think they're more likely than the line would assume.
      So if I were to put money in, that's where I'd do it.

      Anyways, most likely is boring, and you get the whole staff of the HBT picking the same 5 teams to make the playoffs from the AL. (No one went with Boston, the only disagreement was TEX or ANA for the West, and probably the order of the two Wild Cards.)

  5. TNR celebrates baseball (I think).

    Major League Baseball (MLB), the oldest spectator team sport in the nation, has become the most affordable and least exploitative one—and its labor relations are remarkably harmonious, too. Compared to the dysfunction, scandal, and discontent commonplace in other professional sport, baseball is looking better than ever.

    Oooh, "least exploitative"!!!!!11111one1111!!! Let's go to the ballpark, kids!

  6. depressing

    canishoopus ‏ @canishoopus
    Wolves now have 20 straight April losses. 4/8/09 was last win. 0-17 in April under David Kahn's leadership.

    1. I'm downloading this tonight.
      I bought the annual membership. My free T-shirt should be coming any month now.

          1. I'm the fool who quit his job to become a professional umpire, but having failed at making affiliated ball has decided to go back to school in Europe.

              1. I'm just filling out applications but trying to get into a couple of Universities in Germany.

                Definitely not Prague. I hear a bad crowd runs there.

            2. Don't consider yourself a fool. You had something you really wanted to do, and you gave it your best shot. That's a lot better than sitting around twenty years from now wondering what would've happened if you'd tried.

              1. I can wholeheartedly support the Good Padre's advice. I've done that now, twice - packed up and moved because I felt like I wanted to and I didn't want to regret it later. Things haven't worked out perfectly along the way, and sometimes I wish I might have handled things slightly differently, but not as much as if I had never tried.

                2. I did that once -- moving to DC after finishing undergrad. No regrets on that decision at all. I made plenty of mistakes, learned a ton, and made some wonderful memories.

    2. As usual the WGOM Citizens have been quite successful in knocking up their wives.

    1. I thought this was funny considering our recent Cuddiier and Torii discussion.

      A few of the details change — depending on which account you read in other media

      2. Tomorrow's story has Torii making fun of the other cop who just sat in the squad car and wouldn't come in to try to arrest him.

    2. For some reason I thought Punto was going to get punched at the end of this story.

        1. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XWijwmvGU4

          Edit: Hmmm, this isn't nearly as amusing as I'd remembered.

    1. Hey, my future hometown is at the top of that list! Wait, that's a bad thing? Crap.

    1. You know, we really ought to do something about professional writers stealing our best shtick.

      Claim to Fame, Minnesota: one of the players the Twins acquired from the Angels in the Rod Carew trade that made us throw an epic [redacted] fit in 1979.

    2. Thanks! Any time anyone sees something like that, please let me know. I always feel bad when I have to say that no information is available about someone.

  12. My boss left yesterday on an improptu vacation. To Florida. To watch the Gophers play hockey. So I think it's only fitting and proper that tomorrow afternoon I hold the bag in front of my television set as the Twins play the Orioles. All those in favor, signify by drinking a beer. All those opposed, have a Budweiser.

  13. Opening day roster is set - sorry if I'm stepping on your call sean.

    CF Denard Span
    SS Jamey Carroll
    C Joe Mauer
    DH Justin Morneau
    LF Josh Willingham
    RF Ryan Doumit
    3B Danny Valencia
    1B Chris Parmelee
    2B Alexi Casilla

    SP Carl Pavano

    1. Huh. I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all. I mean, I'm not excited, but after last year...yeah, this lineup does it for me.

    1. The banner image is from Lollapalooza 2007. I was there. I didn't know The Hold Steady at the time, but I stopped and watched because he was wearing a Gardy jersey.

      1. Oh, at first I thought it was the IDS Tower back there. (Without really looking at details.) I thought how cool it was that they had a concert outside near the Dome or TF.

  16. oh oh

    Fort Myers Miracle ‏ @MiracleBaseball
    Scott Baker last just a third of an inning. Comes out due injury. Ibarra in to pitch.

  18. the 'Community' send up of Ken Burns/PBS style documentaries (complete with Keith David (were you in The Cape?) voice over) is the one of the best things Ive seen on tv this year.

    1. Dwight Howard may be a very dominant physical specimen, but he's no match Mr. Van Gundy when it comes to candidness.

Comments are closed.