48 thoughts on “April 21, 2014: Clue”

  1. The old-style platter hard drive in my laptop failed on Saturday. I had a fairly recent (25 days old) backup that should have most of my data, so I'm not too worried that I lost much. I'm thinking about a smaller (250GB vs 500 GB) SSD as a replacement; the laptop is four years old and I've already installed as much RAM as it can handle, so this is my last remaining way to speed the thing up and get an extra year or two out of it. I'm leaning toward a Samsung 840 EVO, if anyone has experience with that SSD family.

    1. I have an 840, non-Evo in my desktop and it is very fast. It's an excellent upgrade, and a great time to buy an SSD as costs have come down to around $.50 per GB. My work PC is my only computer that doesn't have an SSD and I want to claw my eyes out every time I sit through a boot. I always thought the benefits of SSDs would be overrated but I absolutely love mine.

    2. I put a Samsung 840 EVO 128 GB SSD in my Thinkpad back in December. I've loved it so far.

      It took awhile to get used to it. For one thing, it's freakishly light. I thought they shipped me an empty box before I opened it. Secondly, my HD bay is right under the heel of my right palm. It took a week to get used to not feeling the platters spin ups. I kept thinking "My computer isn't booting but it is booting?!" But once you get past those, I haven't had a bad word to say.

    3. Awesome info; thanks Zack & Mags. I think pairing a smaller 250 GB SSD with something like a Transporter will really improve my computing experience.

      1. Oh you know I forgot about something. Another option for you, though it's more expensive, is that WD makes a combo SSD/HDD in one enclosure. If the space is vital, that could be a great option.

      1. I'm doing my best not to get any hopes up that Hoiberg will leave the NCAA, let alone for the Glen Taylors.

  3. Wild Playoff Watch: Maybe They Should Win a Game? Edition

    Tonight at 6 PM Central. Absolutely cannot afford to drop any home games in this series.

    I think the problem might just be that Colorado is really good.

    Heatley and Fontaine(?) in. Brodziak and someone else(?) out. Kuemper in net, maybe? None of that matters unless they stop Statsny/MacKinnon/Landeskog.

    3. I thought the Wild looked like the better team for the first 2 periods of game 1. I thought they looked like the better team for the final period of game 2. I think they are a better "team" overall. But holy crap do the Avalanche have some immensely talented, speedy players, and that pretty much negates everything else.

      1. It's a good thing that they scored it there, every time Colorado got it into the zone, it was a little creepier.

        Heck of a scoring run by Granlund there, though. I don't think the goalie thought there was any way he was making it through the center.

  7. Monday Starting Pitching Report:

    # Name W L SV G GS IP K/9 BB/9 HR/9 BABIP LOB% GB% HR/FB ERA FIP xFIP WAR
    1 Kevin Correia 0 2 0 4 4 24.2 4.38 2.19 0.36 .318 54.9 % 43.0 % 2.7 % 5.47 3.48 4.96 0.4
    2 Kyle Gibson 3 0 0 3 3 19.1 4.66 4.19 0.00 .211 90.5 % 57.9 % 0.0 % 0.93 3.44 4.68 0.4
    3 Phil Hughes 1 1 0 4 4 21.0 8.57 2.57 1.29 .394 66.0 % 34.3 % 13.0 % 6.43 4.03 3.63 0.3
    4 Ricky Nolasco 1 2 0 4 4 23.2 4.56 2.66 1.52 .345 69.8 % 52.9 % 13.8 % 6.08 5.15 4.59 -0.1
    5 Mike Pelfrey 0 2 0 3 3 14.2 4.30 7.36 3.07 .229 68.2 % 29.4 % 19.2 % 7.98 9.21 7.15 -0.6

    Twins are 29th in ERA and FIP and 30th in xFIP. Even still, there's a bright spot in Gibson. Gibson's peripherals aren't very good, but he's keeping runs from scoring, so that's cool. Plus, rookie. Hughes has been decent, despite the high ERA. Pelfrey, hide your eyes.

    1. Hughes seems to have been a tad unlucky. If that is true, and rights itself, next year might not be so horrible on the pitching front.

    2. I'm really excited to watch Gibson vs. Price tomorrow, I must admit.

      Pelfrey looks a little unlucky based on this. Hopefully he can progress to the mean!!!!!1!1

      #FreeMeyer

      1. Pelfrey is unlucky, I guess, in that guys are launching his pitches into the seats. A low BIBAP, but a very high HR%. Almost twice as many walks as strikeouts. It's like he's pitching to Barry Bonds in every at bat.

        1. Yeah, but his xFIP is a whole two runs lower than his FIP!! And his FIP is half a run lower than his ERA!

          I can't believe they not only signed him, but did so for two years. The quicker he is out of the rotation the better.

      2. When I saw that was the pitching match-up, I turned to Aquinas and said "that should be a good duel." And then I thought "weird, I'm looking forward to seeing a Twins pitcher." And then I thought "weird, my kid is 4, he doesn't understand this at all, why am I telling him?"

    3. May has been throwing strikes this year in AAA. Only three starts, but it is a big improvement. If he keeps that up, a Twins rotation in a few years of Meyer, Stewart, Berrios, Gibson and May could be scary good.

        1. Unfortunately, it fails to account for the 2-4 of them that will inevitably be injured.

          2. Unfortunately, it fails to account for the 2-4 times that each of them that will inevitably be injured.

            Fixed that for the current medical staff.

    4. Pelfrey's numbers look like the numbers of a pitcher with an injury. Even given SSS, 7.4 BB/9 is extreme for a pitcher that had 3.1 BB/9 last season and a career 3.2 BB/9.

      Or, I guess it could just be SSS. Last year in starts 19-21, Pelfrey had a BB/9 of 6.4 and a SO/9 of 6.4. Which is still better than these 3 starts, but there's more variance in 3-start K/9 and BB/9 than I thought. Last year, Pelfrey's rolling 3-game K/9 was anywhere from 3.0 to 10.3. His rolling 3-game BB/9 was anywhere from 0.9 to 6.4.

      I guess that's not crazy on an individual level, either. Hughes' ranges in the rolling 3-game windows went from 1.1 to 6.7 in BB/9 and 4.7 to 10.3 in K/9.

  8. So my buddy who has a big lodge in Sconnie (Big Sconnie Lodge) sends out an email invite for Sconnie Fishing Opener, asking everyone to reply if in or out.

    Everyone replies, including me.

    NBB: Unfortunately I won't be able to attend. Catch some Muslims!
    (that was autocorrected on my iPhone, BTW. I meant to say 'Muskies')

    Deasy: That is an awesome autocorrect!

    Schlicting: I was wondering when I would use my new Quran lure.

    Harrier: Are they stocking muslims now? Whats the daily possession limit on those?

    1. My hope is that in a couple of years a bunch of dudes who have a baseball, beer, etc etc blog in like San Diego or Pittsburgh post .gifs labeled Bryan Buxton does amazing things.

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