31 thoughts on “Friday the 13th comes on a Monday this month”
Hah. I check for a Cup post, see nothing, and try to think of something to brew. Instead bS beats me to it (although I posted after and would have won).
If either of you want to put up a video of the day for Spoonto as well, knock yourselves out.
Remember when I emailed you 15 minutes ago saying I was finding one? I didn't die between then and now. It's up.
Busiest weekend in a while. I never saw it coming.
You think I check the facts on the ground before I speak? Pfft.
So watching both LCS series and I've come to the conclusion that the Twins bullpen is nowhere near as good as these 4 team's bullpens. Even with the late inning heroics, most of the time these guys are throwing nasty nasty stuff.
That's definitely true this year. The Twins bullpen OPS-against ranked 25th. Last year it ranked 13th.
Overall, I'm not sure how much it matters. Here are the teams that made the 2012-2014 postseasons, plus the Twins, and the bullpen OPS-against.
Team
'12 Rank
'13 Rank
'14 Rank
Twins
13
13
25
Angels
0
0
9
Athletics
2
6
1
Braves
5
1
0
Cardinals
14
11
12
Dodgers
0
8
15
Giants
22
0
2
Indians
0
16
0
Nationals
10
0
5
Orioles
7
0
6
Pirates
0
2
16
Rangers
8
0
0
Rays
0
5
0
Red Sox
0
23
0
Reds
3
7
0
Royals
0
0
8
Tigers
23
22
29
Yankees
15
0
0
The Giants won in 2012 with the 22nd-best bullpen (beating the 23rd ranked Tigers). The Red Sox won in 2013 with the 23rd-best bullpen against the Cardinals 11th-best.
Along the lines of the Branch Rickey (I think) saying that speed is the only common denominator between offense and defense, a shut-down bullpen is only truly an asset if starting pitching keeps the team in the game and the offense scores enough runs to win.
Those Tigers have sure had a chink in their armor, haven't they?
#6pen
And watching these games has also reminded me that even the best managers are entirely too wedded to set roles with their relievers. Bochy seems determined to keep using Strickland against lefties with power. Maybe it'll work out differently the fifth time he tries it.
(Yost, on the other hand, seems to finally be understanding that Davis can pitch outside the eighth inning. )
I was in Dallas last week for a nurses conference and they had the welcome party at Gilley's. Were I single and a two dimensional character in Top Gun I'd have called it a target-rich environment, a few thousand women and maybe a couple hundred men. The Shiner Bock was cold and tasty and that's good because I was able to drink three or four of them before I rode the mechanical bull. I stayed on, but today the inside of my right thigh and pretty much my whole left calf are still sporting huge purple bruises. Damn blood thinners.
Jan Hooks is dead?! Did anyone cover this? Ugh. She was one of my favorite comedic actors and I think she was criminally underused given her talents.
SNL did a nice little tribute, rerunning a sentimental fantasy bit she did with Phil Hartman.
So I rewired all the RG6 from my basement to a rooftop antenna. The crap Dish Network left up there was terrible, which meant pulling new cable through a pipe under my garage and up the side of my house.
Testing the antenna is why I was watching SNL Saturday night – something I rarely do. And I had the same reaction. "Jan Hooks died?!"
pipe under my garage
Oh I wish I had that. It seems the RG6 connector in one room goes outside and underneath apparently a patio that isn't as old as I thought. I looked at it last night and the concrete was poured right over the cable. I'm not sure how to goes from house to patio and I am a bit intrigued, but it definitely just pops out of the patio with no conduit. That room probably doesn't need to be wired anytime soon however.
Oh, yuck. If you need to replace that cable you may be…jackhammering. 🙁
The pipe is nice…except the part this summer where water was streaming pouring into our basement from both the low voltage pipe _and_ the electrical box (whose main is provided through a second pipe). Either the wind and rain was so silly that it was streaming through the degraded silicone on the boxes outside the house or the pipes are cracked somewhere under the concrete floor of the garage. Hopefully it was the former.
Mark Bell, of LFO (not the US Boy Band, this one stood for "Low Frequency Oscillation", not "Lyte Funky Ones"), Björk collaborator, dead.
If LFO would have had a crossover hit, this was it:
httpv://warp.net/records/lfo/mark-bell
I think an instrumental version was used in a Range Rover commercial.
Link.
It was a Hummer commercial, and the song was "Tied Up", which had an S&M type video.
I remembered the part about the video. So, when they had their chance at widest visibility, they had a music video that MTV (probably) wouldn't show. (Which they might have shown for a big-name artist, but they're not going to draw fire for some UK techno act.)
I almost got to visit Spamtown, but my hearing was continued. Someday...
Twins lose one manager option as the Diamondbacks hire Chip Hale.
The Gophers football team won four B1G games in a row last year for the first time in 40 years. This year, the Gophers are 2-0 and will be pretty heavily favored to win their next two games against Purdue and Illinois.
ALCS Game 3 has been rained out. Weather in KC for the rest of the week looks good, so probably not a big deal.
I think I figured out my top300 thing by copying over last year's version and changing the numbers on the 2014 players (and moving around). If I did something wrong, anyone feel free to edit ot put in right place)
Sorry about not getting a guide done. I looked over what you have and it looks good.
Any clue when the spring training schedules are doled out? I need to find out what game(s) I'll need to try to take in this year.
Hah. I check for a Cup post, see nothing, and try to think of something to brew. Instead bS beats me to it (although I posted after and would have won).
If either of you want to put up a video of the day for Spoonto as well, knock yourselves out.
Remember when I emailed you 15 minutes ago saying I was finding one? I didn't die between then and now. It's up.
Busiest weekend in a while. I never saw it coming.
You think I check the facts on the ground before I speak? Pfft.
(just got that mail; sorry, broseph)
There's a website that can help.
So watching both LCS series and I've come to the conclusion that the Twins bullpen is nowhere near as good as these 4 team's bullpens. Even with the late inning heroics, most of the time these guys are throwing nasty nasty stuff.
That's definitely true this year. The Twins bullpen OPS-against ranked 25th. Last year it ranked 13th.
Overall, I'm not sure how much it matters. Here are the teams that made the 2012-2014 postseasons, plus the Twins, and the bullpen OPS-against.
The Giants won in 2012 with the 22nd-best bullpen (beating the 23rd ranked Tigers). The Red Sox won in 2013 with the 23rd-best bullpen against the Cardinals 11th-best.
Along the lines of the Branch Rickey (I think) saying that speed is the only common denominator between offense and defense, a shut-down bullpen is only truly an asset if starting pitching keeps the team in the game and the offense scores enough runs to win.
Those Tigers have sure had a chink in their armor, haven't they?
#6pen
And watching these games has also reminded me that even the best managers are entirely too wedded to set roles with their relievers. Bochy seems determined to keep using Strickland against lefties with power. Maybe it'll work out differently the fifth time he tries it.
(Yost, on the other hand, seems to finally be understanding that Davis can pitch outside the eighth inning. )
I was in Dallas last week for a nurses conference and they had the welcome party at Gilley's. Were I single and a two dimensional character in Top Gun I'd have called it a target-rich environment, a few thousand women and maybe a couple hundred men. The Shiner Bock was cold and tasty and that's good because I was able to drink three or four of them before I rode the mechanical bull. I stayed on, but today the inside of my right thigh and pretty much my whole left calf are still sporting huge purple bruises. Damn blood thinners.
Jan Hooks is dead?! Did anyone cover this? Ugh. She was one of my favorite comedic actors and I think she was criminally underused given her talents.
SNL did a nice little tribute, rerunning a sentimental fantasy bit she did with Phil Hartman.
So I rewired all the RG6 from my basement to a rooftop antenna. The crap Dish Network left up there was terrible, which meant pulling new cable through a pipe under my garage and up the side of my house.
Testing the antenna is why I was watching SNL Saturday night – something I rarely do. And I had the same reaction. "Jan Hooks died?!"
Oh I wish I had that. It seems the RG6 connector in one room goes outside and underneath apparently a patio that isn't as old as I thought. I looked at it last night and the concrete was poured right over the cable. I'm not sure how to goes from house to patio and I am a bit intrigued, but it definitely just pops out of the patio with no conduit. That room probably doesn't need to be wired anytime soon however.
Oh, yuck. If you need to replace that cable you may be…jackhammering. 🙁
The pipe is nice…except the part this summer where water was streaming pouring into our basement from both the low voltage pipe _and_ the electrical box (whose main is provided through a second pipe). Either the wind and rain was so silly that it was streaming through the degraded silicone on the boxes outside the house or the pipes are cracked somewhere under the concrete floor of the garage. Hopefully it was the former.
Mark Bell, of LFO (not the US Boy Band, this one stood for "Low Frequency Oscillation", not "Lyte Funky Ones"), Björk collaborator, dead.
If LFO would have had a crossover hit, this was it:
httpv://warp.net/records/lfo/mark-bell
I think an instrumental version was used in a Range Rover commercial.
Link.
It was a Hummer commercial, and the song was "Tied Up", which had an S&M type video.
I remembered the part about the video. So, when they had their chance at widest visibility, they had a music video that MTV (probably) wouldn't show. (Which they might have shown for a big-name artist, but they're not going to draw fire for some UK techno act.)
I almost got to visit Spamtown, but my hearing was continued. Someday...
Twins lose one manager option as the Diamondbacks hire Chip Hale.
Sounds like La Russa is in full roar down there.
More on our weekend at
Bernie'sthe opera house.Critical commentary? Go ahead, be a snob.
The Gophers football team won four B1G games in a row last year for the first time in 40 years. This year, the Gophers are 2-0 and will be pretty heavily favored to win their next two games against Purdue and Illinois.
ALCS Game 3 has been rained out. Weather in KC for the rest of the week looks good, so probably not a big deal.
I think I figured out my top300 thing by copying over last year's version and changing the numbers on the 2014 players (and moving around). If I did something wrong, anyone feel free to edit ot put in right place)
Sorry about not getting a guide done. I looked over what you have and it looks good.
Any clue when the spring training schedules are doled out? I need to find out what game(s) I'll need to try to take in this year.
K-Jay-U has made his first public appearance since 3 September. Applying careful formulas/maths, it's obvious that he received a box-set gift for seasons 1-4 of Game of Thrones and is now just coming up for air.