116 thoughts on “May 16, 2013: Coffee Substitute”

  1. I got a text from FTLT last night informing me that The Hold Steady are playing a free concert downtown in a few weeks. It'll be my 2nd time seeing them, and my 2nd time seeing them for free.

  2. I had sick kids all last week, which also sucked, and I was trying to fight stuff off for the entire second half of April and first week of May. I'm fairly sure all of Arizona was sick, actually. It seemed that way.

    1. I'm pretty sure it's something like a bad case of RSV this time around. Aristotle had croup and needed a steroid, and Aquinas has been feverish all week, coughing, and lost his voice. I'm pretty sure Philosofette is getting sick too, and today I'm feeling achy, but hopefully that's just from yesterday's run? (I don't think it was. But I can hope.)

      1. A couple of weeks ago, my whole household was really sick. OGZ was throwing up whenever she ate for about 6 hours, then had a really irritable stomach on and off for the next 3 days. GRZ managed to get a really nasty cold, and the wife and I got some combination of both. It was especially bad for the wife as her available meds were limited, being pregnant and all.

        1. ...being pregnant and all.
          I may have already known this, but if so, I've forgotten. Congratulations!...(again)

          1. I can't imagine that you did, since we are just now starting to tell people (being in the second trimester).

            Also, thanks!

            1. In that case, congrats!

              Could we start keeping track of this stuff on the sidebar, now that there aren't Wolves or Wild games? I can't ever remember who is expecting...

        2. Congrats and here's wishing you a healthy stretch this spring/summer! (I had influenza during my 2nd trimester and kind of wanted to die for a few days there.)

  3. bS, with the owners voting to keep the Kings in Sacramento, I'm curious again about the pulse of the town. Does this feel like prolonging the inevitable again?

    1. I don't know anything about Sacto, but what it does tell me is that David Stern is one powerful mofo.

    2. I was hoping they'd move so that I would no longer get blacked out on Warriors games.

      People are extremely tired of the Maloofs and their crap. And of all the crap involved in getting a new arena sited, approved, and built. People around here still love the Kings, but the last 3-4 years have really stressed the relationship. Lousy teams and lousy owners will do that.

    3. Having this all play out so publicly seems like a negative for the NBA any way you cut it. From Seattle, it seems like they are on a campaign to destroy any and all interest in the NBA in Seattle.

      1. I assume it's like what if at the last minute, Selig decided to keep the Expos where they were, after Washington assumed they had them and Montreal fans had given up and moved on already? Both fanbases get to feel maximum grief!

  4. The AP app on my iPad just sent me a breaking news alert: David Beckham announced that he is going to retire after the season. I'm not sure this qualifies as breaking news.

  5. Runner daughter has her finals today, and then she enters summer school mode. She had a talk with her TA yesterday about her semester scores in one of her classes, which was just short of an A; TA reviewed her grades and was able to help her out, and in talking with her it sounds like she might have an internship lined up with the I/O program there. Meanwhile, my fingers are crossed for today's testing

      1. Now I'm definitely an out. Somehow we just stumbled into free Twins tickets that night right behind the plate.

    2. If you want to come out to Brooklyn Park, we could have a brief mini-caucus and I could share some of my reserve beers.

    2. Twins pitchers this year have a 3.90 ERA with Mauer catching and a 5.26 ERA with Doumit catching. I think the Twins understand this because Gardy's been using Doumit to catch Diamond. Not because it is better for Diamond but because Diamond is the easiest to catch and needs the least help behind the plate.

    3. So, basically add another win to Mauer's total for every year of catching. Under. Paid.

  12. So Sheenie and I have been part of an organization through Macalester the past five years in which we are a "host family" for an international student at Macalester. Being host family basically entails meeting with the student for dinner once a month. Our current student just completed his freshman year, but his brother is graduating from Mac this weekend. To celebrate his brother's graduation, his parents and grandfather have flown over from India for their first visit to the campus and wanted to meet us for dinner. They don't have a car, so they were talking about somewhere nearby the campus to eat when the host student emailed: "WE CAN GO TO THE BLUE DOOR!!!!"

    So, long story short, my dinner will be delicious tonight and we have trained an international student to love some fine American cuisine.

    2. wait. You are taking an Indian family to eat dead cow?

      *sez the fellow-traveling-jew who loves teh Bacon*

      1. To be fair, the Blue Door does have the best chicken strips I have ever eaten.

    1. He also confirmed that Jason Kubel's page once was sponsored by Grant Maki, and read:

      "Jason Kubel is my hero. Like if Nightcrawler was real and played baseball."

      Grant Maki???

      1. K: I’d spend a lot more time exploring the dual nature of Nightcrawler. I think he would deal with crime really well, sort of like a grooved fastball by a mop-up on the Royals. I figure a longer sponsorship would explain their connection eventually, but that wasn’t necessary to the sponsorship here. It’s stripped down to the point where it says exactly as much as I’d like it to. I like this one a hell of a lot. GOLD

        1. I originally read this as:
          The Makis are a strange and wonderful brunch.

          Which made it seem like a Shawn Ashley story.

      1. They didn't trade for him and they didn't draft him, so close enough. The posting fee essentially made him a free agent since the Twins had to sign him to a completely new contract. And he is by far the worst. No one comes close.

    2. Marquis was pulled from the rotation after his start on May 20, 2012, and was released eight days later.

      Hey, I was at that game!

      2. Ponson was signed on a minor league deal, so hardly anything to get worked up about.

    1. "I think I’m pretty good. I can’t be over there at that desk and be over here on the couch."
      Nice.

    2. That is the best summary of defensive shifts that I think I will ever read.

  17. Dork Wars.

    Police were called to calm Star Wars and Doctor Who fans at a science fiction convention in Norwich, UK, after the two groups got into a heated argument, the BBC reports.

    3. I'd like Mauer to bat first, second, third, fourth, and fifth, but for some reason major league baseball doesn't allow ghost baserunners.

    1. I had always assumed that NW craft beer was hoppy because Washington and Oregon each have major hop-growing regions. I think the point about using hops to cover up flaws in the beer is important, though. I am under the impression that it's somewhat harder to brew a really clean-tasting lager as opposed to a really hoppy ale. (Anyone can feel free to disabuse me of that notion if they like.)

      Personally, I like a good IPA and don't really mind the hops. That said, I don't need all of my beer to have loads of hops. If it's winter and I'm feeling like a stout or a porter, I'm not really looking for hops. Where do pilsners fall on the hop scale? I like a good pilsner on a hot summer day.

      Anyway, my wife doesn't like hops much at all, and here in hop central I can basically always point her to something she'll like.

      1. I can confirm that it is harder to brew a clean-tasting lager than a hoppy ale. I tend to like brewing beers on the lower end of the hop scale for this very reason. I'll never get better as a brewer if I just dump a load of hops into everything. Of course, by summer time I'm usually scrambling to brew up a bitter beer, or two, because hops are f***ing awesome when its hot. (which made me confused to why I saw zero hops in Thailand. Well, not confused, or surprised really, just bummed.)

        1. I wonder if that has to do with geography. It looks like South Korea is the closest large source of hops to Thailand.

          1. That was my guess. I don't think hops will grow very well in such a hot, humid climate which is why I wasn't surprised. I was surprised that the Singha I drank tasted way better than I would have expected, although I'd probably dislike it if I had it back home.

            1. I am kind of flummoxed by the whole concept of lager as the dominant style for beers in SE Asia. Lagers are brewed colder and longer than ales, no? They are cold-climate beers at their hearts.

              Now, to be sure, the modern, continuous fermentation technologies make it easier to brew macro-lagers, but one would have thought that hoppy ales would predominate in hot climates, since hops are preservatives.

              1. I think that's just it. From what i can gather about making booze in Thailand, beer hasn't really been a thing until fairly recently and its almost entirely in the American macro style. I think the lack of any historical hop production combined with no barley cups probably meant the Thais had to find other means of relieving thirst/getting drunk.

        2. I've grown to love hoppy beers, but haven't ventured too far down the brewing trail to really appreciate their use as camouflage. I have also come to appreciate different styles of beer depending on the season - buying seasonal beers (from quality breweries) to drink when they were "traditionally" consumed is a fun way to broaden your horizons. Miabock in the Spring, Siason/Hefeweizens in the Summer, Oktoberfest/Marzen in the Fall...

      2. That's pretty much my attitude. I like different types of beers at different times. I'll go through streaks where I'll only drink stouts & the like and other times I go for IPA's. The one type of beer I almost never drink are the fruity beers.

        1. I have trouble with fruity beers, too. It probably has something to do with the one night I had way too much peach beer (pitchers were on special and girls were involved) but even before that I wasn't a huge fan.

          I haven't had much time to try sour beers. They were a real shock the first couple of times I tasted them, but I think I could really like some of them.

          1. Sour beers and intentionally funky beers (e.g., gueuze) are delights, but certainly not built as session beers. "Fruity" beers generally are abominable, but a good lambic...is good.

            beer is a Big Tent.

      3. Where do pilsners fall on the hop scale? I like a good pilsner on a hot summer day.

        Pilsner Urquell is on the high end of bitterness for lagers at around 40 IBUs. Budweiser is around 12. GABF style guidelines for traditional Dortmunder lager is mid-30s. see here.

        In contrast, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale registers at 38 IBUs. Full Sail IPA is at 60 IBUs. Those should help you calibrate.

    2. I tend to shy away from IPAs because I find, at least in my perception, that the brewers overdo it on the hops for the sake of "hoppiness" and as a result are left with an unbalanced tasting beer. Much like how I don't understand people who drown their food in hot sauce. Hot sauce/hops are meant to be a compliment/enhancer, not the only taste component.

      1. The thing is that almost all brewers will have an IPA because it is fairly ubiquitous and an easy to make style, while they won't have the other many style of beers including the lagers that dominate the macro piss beer market. Of course here in Chicago we have an all lager craft brewer called Metropolitan.

        Either way, I think the anti-hop backlash has been largely overblown and all it points to is there is some saturation in the less specialized part of the craft brewing market.

        1. I think your point about saturation is a good one. I do like the occasional well made IPA, but there is (to my palate anyway) so many of the style that are hopped just for hop's sake and unbalanced that the good ones are hard to find. The signal/noise ratio is just too high for me to bother experimenting.

          But for people who like IPAs more than I do, that ratio may be more favorable.

          1. There are IPAs for hops' sake, for sure, but I wouldn't say it's the norm. Maybe it's just that I know where to look, but it's been a while since I tried an IPA that ended up being bitter and nothing else.

    3. The solution of course is to buy craft beer that isn't full of hops. Which is pretty easy.

      My opinion is that some people get intimidated by craft beer because there is so much choice. If their conclusion is instead that it's all too hoppy, then they just aren't reading the labels and getting something that they'd be comfortable with.

      1. It can help to spend some time at bars/pubs with bartenders/waiters who know what they are talking about and can help give you the lay of the land. I'm a lot more comfortable ordering a new (to me) beer today than I was 8 years ago.

        1. If I'm at a joint known for its beer selection, there's a near-zero percent chance I'll order something I've had before. I used to be all about comfort, and now I'm anything but.

          1. Isn't beer fun? I also do my best to not drink the same beer twice if I'm in such an establishment. (Unless it's a good beer that is on special for like 2 bucks.)

  21. Had a discussion today regarding Twins' prospects. I suggested that Sano and Buxton could both move up this summer, based on their performances. Counter-point was that Sano's K rate was too high and BABIP was artificially inflating his numbers, and, either way, the organization might be better served to move up Buxton and then have the two of them progress together from there. Curious what others think here?

    1. I think Buxton moves up first. I'm not sure about Sano. He spent the entire year in low-A last year, and I think his "raw-ness" will slow his promotions.

      1. The Twins seem to be pretty consistent about promoting guys who are solid in the field and sort of hold their own at the plate (DSPAN2 being a good example.) For players who aren't very good in the field, it seems to be a little more hit or miss on how fast they progress.

        1. Sure, but Buxton qualifies as solid in the field and solid at the plate. Buxton has hit ten homers so far as a minor league, matching Span's career minor league total. Buxton's progression may be closer to Mauer's than Span's (or Hicks').

          1. Absolutely, I was referring more to your comment about Sano--basically agreeing that his "raw-ness" could slow his promotions.

      2. Sano is playing at a higher level in a league that is traditionally more of a pitchers' league and has a higher batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The only thing that might keep him back is his defense, but he's had good reports on his defense being improved both in the spring and during the season, IIRC.

    2. Sano's BABIP is likely higher than he could sustain, but that just means he's not a "true" .364/.452/.674 hitter at Fort Myers. But does he really need to be that good to justify moving up?

      Sano's had a high strikeout rate at every level he's been at. So far it hasn't hindered his development. I say keep moving him up until the strikeouts become enough of a problem that he has to change his approach. He's probably not going to make a meaningful improvement to his strikeout rate at a level where he's still hitting for power and getting a decent average. I'd worry about his strikeouts, but he's still hitting for loads of power.

      I can't see anything not to like about Lord Byron's numbers in Cedar Rapids. 7 CS in 22 attempts isn't brilliant, I guess.

      I know nothing about their personalities, so I have no reason to be for or against moving them up together.

      1. They are about the same age, which doesn't really mean anything other than I'm in favor of moving Buxton.

          1. They were down three runs at the time. Wow. Doesn't get better than that.

    3. I don't know what the Twins will do, but it seems like, historically, they've made a lot of moves like this in about the middle of June. So about a month from now, we should know what they're going to do.

  22. Crawford at short for SF just made a real nice bare-handed play. I'll post it here soon as it pops up on MLB.tv. The ball was hit really weakly over the pitcher and he came charging in, but had to hold up when he realized he wouldn't be able to catch it. It bounced once in front of him, and judging from the hop it had some spin on it. But he just snatched it right out of the air as it was moving away from him and got the runner at 1st.

  23. The Newmark Rays took it to the A's today, winning 8-1. Trey got the game ball after getting a triple and a single and scoring two runs. He also made a good play at second base to throw out the runner for the final out.

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