Cup of Coffee

April 17, 2013: No Love

69 Comments

Tonight marks the end of another season of Wolves basketball, continuing the trend of the team never once having a winning season that didn't feature KG. Well, there's Utah to cheer for, and the Lakers to cheer against.

69 thoughts on “April 17, 2013: No Love”

  1. Gah, totally sorry about the game log for last night. I had a "day" at work yesterday and it slipped my mind. I won't let you guys down again.

    1. If there's not one by the time I get back from my next meeting, I'll put one up with some photos from the game.

    1. In the comments, it was mentioned that Blyleven tried to pick up the ball, not the bat. Umpire Doug Harvey kept him from throwing it back at the pitcher and by that time everyone was running on to the field, so that might explain why Blyleven wasn't thrown out of the game.

    2. The comments seem to indicate that the article misread the details. Other sources imply that he took the ball with him, having picked it up intending to throw it back at the pitcher.

  5. Ubaldo Jimenez was traded from Colorado to Cleveland in 2011. Since then, Jimenez has been not that good. ERA+ of 70. BB/9 jumped from 3.9 to 4.7. K/9 dropped from 8.2 to 7.7. The whole thing is weird and has kind of gone under the radar.

      1. well in Colorado he was a pretty dominant pitcher. Gets traded to Cleveland and he stinks. I find that weird.

          1. He stank last year for sure. But I think it is still a bit early to conclude that he will stink this year.

            Looking at statcorner, his LD% was up a lot last year from his 2007-2009 peak, but only marginally from 2010-11 in colorado. His GB% was well down from prior years. Mostly, he could not keep the ball in the park (25 HR allowed, compared to 10-13 in his full seasons in Colorado).

            other notables: his opponents were more selective, swinging at a smaller share of pitches out of the strike zone last year, driving down his K% to a career low.

  6. I've been working on sort of a secret project with a friend/business partner. We applied for an incubator program recently. Yesterday we found out we didn't get in. Not terribly surprising, given the relatively short time we've been working on it. And despite my general "ability" to take things personally, I haven't taken this personally at all - if I were making the funding decision, I'd tell us to come back in 6 months and show us where things have gone in the meantime. But man, all I want to do now is work on this project. Unfortunately, since it pays $0.00 and puts no food on my table or diapers on my kids, until we're at a point where it can make some money, we'll have to keep hacking away in our spare time.

    It feels really good to be your own boss though, which is exactly what I am when I'm working on this project. I'm excited to keep working.

    Anyway, that's probably about all I'll say about it publicly for now. Just wanted to say something. And the post title today was inspiring...

      1. Thanks. I think it's the kind of thing that could make our world a better place, so it's pretty easy for me to be excited about it.

    2. You should tell the kids to skip food for a year and, if everything works out, there will be more than enough food in the future. I'm sure they will understand.

      1. The only downside I see to this plan is that it's likely my kids will need medical attention if they don't eat for a year, and this project also doesn't provide health insurance.

      1. Speaking of... I went to an orchard this past fall, decided to try an apple, allergies be [redacted]. Didn't have any reaction at all. I think I may have grown out of the allergies? That's a thing, right?

        2. Growing out of allergies is definitely a thing. Unfortunately, so is developing allergies as you age.

          1. I had no allergies as a child. I developed allergies to cats around 18, seasonal allergies around 20, and this apple thing not long after. My seasonal allergies have faded somewhat, as has, apparently, my apple allergy. It all seems kind of absurd to me.

  9. Hearing the number 41 feet being thrown around Fargo this morning. Just office scuttlebutt at this point, but that would be a record flood. Heavy snow in Fargo this morning. Again. This will be the latest crest in recorded history.

    1. Sounds like we will get a new forecast today. The snow falling today seems quite full of water. This could get really ugly.

  10. Good childhood friend of mine from MN (and CA) is going to be on a business trip to Cedar Rapids, and he and 9 co-workers are driving up for the Twins game on the 28th, his first at Target Field. Any Citizens planning on going to that one?

    1. I think Russo has said they (the Wild) avoided a 2014 outdoor game on purpose since they're shooting for the official Winter Classic in 2015.

  15. More on the craptastic spring in Fargo. As alluded to earlier, April 17th is the latest that Fargo has ever gone into a year without seeing 50 degrees.

    When will Fargo see its first 50-degree day?

    “The earliest I could foresee it happening is late next week,” he said.

    Last year, Fargo saw its first 50-degree day on Jan. 5, the earliest on record.

    Fargo’s latest 60-degree on record is May 6, and May 28 is the latest arrival of a 70-degree day.

    The high for the year so far is 42. Eight days from now, the forecast high is 51, but here's the thing. I've seen 10-day forecasts over the last several months be optimistic, only to see them fall apart, so I'm saying that I'll believe it when I see it.

    3. Hope you guys aren't in the flood zone? Did the legislature give Fargo money for flood control? That isn't a forbidden question, is it? If so, delete.

      We are getting the same kind of news (and weather) up here in Minot. Oh man, we cannot handle another flood. Can not.

      1. Our house is probably a mile from the river. Unless the entire town goes under we should be safe.

        The legislature voted yesterday (good timing?) to not give money to Fargo until the feds pitch in, but it sounds like this will be on the floor again today.

        That's terrible news about Minot. You're still not completely rebuilt from the last flood are you?

  16. Re: the post title.
    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN659FUswZg
    I guess this song should be saved for his retirement or signing with another team or trade.

  18. David Luiz just scored an absolute stunner to put Chelsea up 1-0 over Fulham. It was so nice, I can't even hate on it, and that's a lot to say considering it was scored a) by Chelsea and b) against Fulham.

      1. My twitter feed is telling me that John Terry scored a second goal, making it 3-0 Chelsea.

  19. Just realized the Twins aren't in last place. Woohoo! Also, there are six AL teams with a worse run differential than the Twins (-10).

    1. Some various other Twins stats:

      4.43 xFIP -- 3rd worst in MLB
      3.75 xFIP -- 11th best in MLB

      Which likely means good luck with home runs...

      6.1% HR/FB -- 2nd best in MLB (behind just the Tigers)

      I wouldn't be surprised if that is cold-weather related, but either way expect more 3-run HR against in the near future.

      0.4 fWAR -- 6th worst in baseball (position players)
      -1.8 fWAR -- combined fWAR of the 6 players with a negative fWAR so far (Mastroianni, Ramirez, Parmelee, Carroll, Doumit, Hicks)

      11 strikeouts in 60 PA for Mauer. This is likely a SSS blip, but I'm always surprised when Mauer has that many strikeouts in such a short period. He's also hit for more power than usual, which kind of jives with more strikeouts, but getting moved to the #2 spot in the lineup would seem like an odd time to change his hitting approach.

      .314 wOBA -- 17th in MLB, in line with their .313 wOBA from last season. Cold weather is usually not great for hitters, though, so there's probably some upside there.

  20. I was at the Mariners-Tigers game last night on a corporate social function. I have to say that I can't remember the last time I went to a game with people who actually cared much about the game being played, or knew anything about the players involved in the game, and it detracts from the experience. At last there was less senseless dance music between innings and video shots of fans dancing to said senseless music. As expected, the larger video board added little to nothing to the overall experience, though it was somewhat distracting, so if their goal was to keep me from focusing on the game at hand, well done. There also seemed to be less repetitive crowd prompting, which was a positive change from before.

  22. Argh! They're airing the most anti-me Wheel of Fortune ever. These idiots are buying, like, three vowels at a time.

    1. mc and I hate when people blow a lot of money on vowels. Rarely are they necessary to buy. For instance:

      J__ M___r _s v_ry g__d _t b_s_b_ll

      You can tell what that says without any vowels. There's no need.

  24. The streak is over! Palm Beach beat Ft. Myers 5-3. Angel Morales grounded into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded with Eddie Rosario on deck and Miguel Sano in the hole.

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