Cup of Coffee

May 13, 2013: Moms

100 Comments

Yesterday was another rough emotional day in a pretty sucky May, but a day late I want to recognize all the mothers in the nation. Okay, there's only one, so Pepper, consider yourself recognized!

100 thoughts on “May 13, 2013: Moms”

    2. It's entirely possible those are the only 10 games he'll ever play for the Red Wings.
      It sure seems like they will be.

  3. Joe Mauer, 2013: .341/.418/.496/.915

    Folks, the 2011 season was an IQ test. If you thought Mauer was a pansy ass who was sliding on his wallet, you failed. If you thought he was injured and that he would get back to his former self once he healed up, congratulations.

      3. So, Mauer in May: 14K in 41 ABs. Also Mauer in May: .463/.551/.707/1.258. Basically, if he doesn't strike out, he gets on base.

        1. Usually by hitting a double, too.

          It's a weird stat line given all the K's, but I like that he's hitting the ball hard when he hits it.

          1. I looked up his numbers. He's just generally swinging more and that has caused his swinging strike rate to go up. I think that if he became more patient again, the Ks would go down, but I think that he's doing just fine right now. By fine, I mean he's playing like a $42 million a year player.

            1. I agree, and thanks for pulling the numbers together. I was wondering earlier in the week about this exact thing and now I know without having to actually do any legwork!

              1. Yeah, I also totally ripped off your work and put it into an e-mail to some family members.

                1. i'm sick of trying to do that. my dad said this is one thing "we'll never agree on", which is simply ludicrous. i don't understand such obstinacy, and feel it's not worth the effort.

                  1. Most of my family is either on board with Mauer or open to convincing, but that openness goes both ways, and they can be convinced otherwise.

                2. And now I'm ripping off one of their responses:

                  Joe Mauer as a catcher this year: .351/.425/.511. Joe Mauer as a DH this year: .351/.442./514. Robot with dandruff-free hair.

            2. His BABIP is pretty high right now (.436), but if you figure that he can have a BABIP of .373 over the balance of the season (the same BABIP he had in '09), he could end the season with a BABIP of .389, which would only have been 2nd in baseball last year (behind Dexter Fowler's .390.) Given that Mauer is so obviously talented--well, obvious to those with their eyes open--it looks like he could actually keep up this strikeout rate and challenge for the batting title, though it puts hitting .400 more firmly out of reach.

              Given his strikeout rate, you'd kind of expect him to have a higher ISO, so if the strikeouts remain maybe the power will follow.

              1. Shorter ubes: Mauer strikes out too often to hit .400.

                I think that's about the right tone.

                🙂

    2. The other thing about Mauer so far this year: he's on pace to provide $42 million worth of value. Under. Paid.

      1. Yeah, it's ridiculous how few SB attempts have been made against the Twins, and how unsuccessful they've been.

        I'm looking forward to seeing that projected 71 doubles realized at the end of the season.

      2. It's a stark difference from last year. Last year Mauer had 80.2 SB/100G against and so far this year he has just 17.5 SB/100G against. 2009-2012 were his four worst years for SB/100G, so it would be great if he could keep this up.

        1. I wonder what is driving that?

          Twins are 5th worst in the A.L. in Runs Allowed/Game, 3rd worse in opponent slugging, 2nd worse in BAA, 3rd worse in opponent doubles, but have given up the fewest walks. I wonder if they just have been in a lot fewer stolen base situations?

          1. Bert/Coomer/someone said during a game that it's partly the pitchers. I think it's largely that, but it also seems like Mauer is doing a few centiseconds better, especially for accuracy.

            1. Pavano being gone helps quite a bit- were any of the other departures also ridiculously slow to the plate?

            2. Yeah, I do think the pitchers make a difference. I haven't seen enough of Mauer the last couple years to say if he's quicker to second this year, but I'm sure there are teams out there with that information.

              1. He does have a new bench coach that was a major league catcher as well. I think the pitchers have been the biggest difference. What I'm most impressed with is the opposition's unwillingness to even attempt to steal.

                1. No kidding, and it's not like Mauer catches every day. Doumit is eminently stealable. I think I remember one of the talking heads saying there have been more pitch-outs this year, although I doubt if it's a significant amount.

                2. I think it was reported that Mauer had a sore shoulder last year and it was messing with his throwing mechanics. I seem to remember one of the Star Tribune bloggers analyzing his form in 2012 vs. The past.

  4. Maybe I'm late to the party: Liam Hendricks to the DL with a sore elbow. Schedule the surgery now!

  5. Yes, I follow Rafalca Romney [forbidden zone, etc.]. But, this one was too funny not to share.

    1. I want to be absolutely clear: I am going to become a Netflix subscriber for this and only this. They earned the heck out of my money.

        1. I might stick around for some other things, but none of 'em were cause enough for me.

    2. This got me to go reread the Arrested Werewolf game. Oh... that was painful.

        1. Indeed, there was.

          I just still feel bad about being a jerk to meat and Greek.

  8. Liam Hendriks has been placed on the DL with right elbow inflammation. At least now we know why he's been struggling.

    1. Oops. SBG beat me to that one. I guess I should've read more carefully before posting.

    1. That's not at all surprising, yet seeing it all laid out like that is more than a little unsettling.

      And even though Nevada's isn't a coach, it still doesn't fit in all that well with the rest of the blue states.

            1. Totally forgot about the Spartans. Still, I can't imagine MSU basketball is coming close to pulling in the money that UM football is.

      1. That's one way of looking at it. 🙂 It's kind of surprising that hockey coach isn't #1 in ND, actually.

      1. The correct answer is zero, since as far as I can tell the contracts that coaches sign are worth less than the cost of the ink it takes to sign them.

    5. Data? What they're paid or what they bring in? I'd like to look into this some more. Also I'd like to see what happens if private schools are included.

      1. Those are the highest-paid public employees. Includes governors, DOT commissioners, etc.

  10. so, snort any good lake water lately?

    Cocaine was found in a third of the lakes, most likely from atmospheric deposits, they said. The government estimates that 157 tons of cocaine are used annually in the United States — apparently enough for some of it to find its way into the air in the form of small particles. Eventually, it falls to the ground and into the water, they said.

    1. The average person in the US uses about .45 grams of cocaine a year. The Repository tells me that a dose is about 35 mg, so that's about 13 doses a year or once a month. Some knowledge of variation can be useful.

    2. wasn't there some study that turned up a surprising amount of cocaine residue on the nation's currency?

      also, should our aquatic life become overly anxious from such stimulant use, it shouldn't be too hard to calm them back down.

        1. which raises the burning question: why isn't there more money laundering in this country?

  11. I've decided "I See A Darkness" is the next thing I want to learn for the keyboard. It's a simple version of the Johnny Cash version, but it's starting come together and I can sorta hear it forming.

  12. Hey guys, Chris Jaffe just emailed me to ask about my early Twins thoughts for a Hardball Times column for next week. I've shared a few of mine, but I was wondering if anybody else had something they wanted him to note.

    2. 1. Joe Mauer
      2. Oswaldo Arcia
      3. Minor league teams
      4. Joe Mauer
      5. Aaron Hicks
      6. Jack Goin (glimmer of hope)
      7. Joe Mauer.

      2. Heh, I also had initially sent him seven bullet points that looked very similar to yours.

    1. cold weather phenomena? starters not warming up enough?

      Pelfrey's problem is the runs he gives up in his last inning, not his first. Seems like he hits the wall hard.

    2. Assuming that starters average 6.5 innings per start, a uniform distribution of runs scored would imply that a starter should give up about 15 percent of his runs in the first inning.

  14. heh heh -- a guy posted "GOOGLE FIBER" on his Facebook page, and all the comments to it that followed were various .gif images of giving the bird 😀

Comments are closed.