100 thoughts on “April 14, 2015: I Hope it’s Habit Forming”

  1. Twins pitching: 30th in ERA, 29th in FIP, 30th in xFIP, 29th in WAR.

    Twins hitters: 29th in runs above replacement.

    Twins defense: 30th in runs above replacement.

    Not a very good start. But 155 games left, so who knows?

    1. I do have to hand it to the Twins. No team in recent memory has made me not give a shit about them this fast.

  2. 65 losses for the T-Wolves with only OKC left on the schedule. OKC needs to win this game to have any shot at the playoffs. With the Knicks victory last night, the Wolves can finish with the worst record in the league with a loss on Wednesday. RACE TO THE BOTTOM!

      1. I had a twitter conversation with the great Stop'n'Pop last night, which was fun.

        Okay, some real happy news. My daughter has first communion this weekend, she turns 8(!) next weekend, and has her ice show where she's skating in four numbers the weekend after that. That's where real happiness lies.

        2. That's where real happiness lies.

          Preach it.

          I am having an extended text conversation with my daughter this morning. I'm wondering where THAT came from. 😉

        3. Younger Daughter wants me to take her to some of the MSP Film Festival screenings. She sent me a list of the movies she'd like to see. Atop the tally is a film about the Armenian genocide of 1915. That's my girl.

          1. I haven't been following it at all. What are the chances that Towns/Okafor are this year's version of Derrick Williams?

            1. I shouldn't have looked...I should never look back at Wolves draft results, I should just continue to look for signs that things will get better.
              Cherry-picked for your displeasure:
              2014-15 NBA Points Per 48 Minutes -Top 10 includes 3 players the Wolves passed on. The fellas the Wolves took instead either aren't in the top 100 or aren't in the league...and none of 'em play for the Wolves.

            2. What are the chances that Towns/Okafor are this year's version of Derrick Williams?

              zero.

              By which I mean neither Towns nor Okafor is a tweener. They are legit 4s.

              I admit that I was intrigued by Williams when he was at Arizona. He seemed athletic enough to get his own shot and be a stretch-4 or to dominate SFs. I was wrong. He's a decent enough 2nd or 3rd guy off the bench, but not much more than that because he doesn't shoot well enough.

              I don't know if Towns is hungry enough to take advantage of his abilities. Okafor is, I think, but doesn't have "superstar" athleticism. He's just a load down low.

          2. Now imagine what would happen if the Wolves stumbled over the bright idea of putting Bazzy and Wiggins in a wing platter with Ricky Rubio running the point.

            Yes. Get a quality big in this draft and all of a sudden, the Wolves could be interesting. Assuming everyone comes back healthy, that is.

    2. The good news is that, even if they somehow beat a motivated Thunder squad (which I would like to see because Anthony Davis would be more fun to watch in the playoffs, you ask me), they'll do no worse than splitting all those ping-pong balls with the Knicks.

      Course, there is a zero percent chance they beat the Thunder, so we'll get to find out which non-#1 pick they get because Timberwolves.

      1. I haven't watched a game in weeks, but I will be tuning in on Wednesday to see what Russ does. Wouldn't be surprised if he scores 60.

    3. Will the fans at Target Center openly cheer for OKC a la the Sabres fans this year in a game against AZ in Buffalo? I might actually tune in on Wednesday.

      1. Timberwolves fans are completely beaten into submission. They'll likely just sit there and stare blankly into space.

  3. Morning game alert: Fort Myers is at Tampa at 9:30 this morning. Luke Westphal is the scheduled starter for the Miracle.

    1. I can't even function at my brainless retail job at 9:30. I couldn't even get close to being able to pay professional ball that early (assuming I could at all)

    2. Looks like Steven Gruver is going to start, rather than Westphal. Gruver has generally been used in relief, although he made ten starts (out of forty-two appearances) last year. I don't know what the plan is for him this year, so we'll see how far he goes.

    3. No sweep for the Twins today, as the Miracle lost 3-1. I didn't listen to the game, so I still don't know who started. Gameday said it was Steven Gruver, but the box score says it was Luke Westphal. Whoever it was gave up all three runs (two earned) in 3.1 innings. The Miracle had only five hits.

    2. No.
      1. You had the disc out in plain view before the exchange.
      2. I need to maintain emptier pockets. I fumbled at tucking the disc away after the exchange.
      3. I don't believe you were wearing sunglasses. Definitely not discreet without sunglasses. (Though I can't wear them because both of us wearing sunglasses is so discreet it's suspicious.)
      Needs practice.

      1. I agree it could use some refinement. Reminded me of the baton handoff in a relay--the mechanics have to be just right.
        1. Perhaps I should carry my bag on the other arm and carry the disc tucked under the bag? Because women's clothing is shamefully devoid of pockets large enough to be useful.
        2. I wasn't aware of this because of course I simply continued looking straight ahead, walking briskly toward my destination.
        3. Total sunglasses fail on my part. (I didn't have my contacts in today due to staying up too late alternately working and tending to a sick baby. Clearly undercover agents need to make sleep more of a priority to avoid such issues.)
        The second disc is now in my bag. Practice makes perfect, after all.

        1. Clearly undercover agents need to make sleep more of a priority to avoid such issues.

          Based on The Americans, I'm convinced they never sleep and use lots and lots of amphetamines.

          1. Edited rule:
            Undercover agents need to make sleep a priority.
            In lieu of sleep, amphetamines will suffice.

  5. I'm as down on the Twins organization as anyone, but then I see this and a little sprig of hope pops through the dirt.

    3. By the time the base umpire can get to second in case there's a play, Buxton is already gone.

      2. Oh, get excited! Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. (Someone please translate that into baseball-ease for me.)

        1. Better to have swung for the fences and struck out than to have taken a called third strike.

          2. Better to have swung for the fences at everything and struck out than to have taken a called third strike pitch.

            FTFii

        3. Better to have been still only 25 years-old than to never have had potential at all.

          1. I thought about this angle too, but the memory of the regression: Gómez-Hardy-Hoey (Nishioka)-Florimon ... too painful.

            1. I still get worked up about the Hardy deal. I was irrationally attached to him since I traded for him in The Show every year. I was crushed they traded GoGo for a bunch of reasons, but was happy to end up with Hardy who I'd coveted for years. Then to watch them basically remove any leverage in the trade, trade him for less than I even could've imagined was absolutely infuriating.

              I realize that Garza for _elmon and Ramos for Crapps were probably trades that affected the team more negatively, but that Hardy trade was when I felt things were about to get bad.

              1. that Hardy trade was when I felt things were about to get bad.

                I was irrationally excited that they'd "won" the Nishi sweepstakes, but yeah, this is how I felt too.
                Still can't comprehend trading a known for peanuts in order to sign an unknown who'd never played an inning of ball in North America.

      1. 'Spoiler' SelectShow

  8. My bowling scores yesterday were 186, 168, 222 for a 576 series, but before you get too excited, understand that yesterday, and for the rest of the season, we've gone to nine-pin no-tap rules. The first two games are pretty legitimate, because I only had one nine-pin "strike" in the first game and none in the second, but I had three or four in the third. If not for that, my third game would probably have been more or less in line with the first two.

    That still would've been really good for me. And that's what I don't like about nine-pin no-tap rules. I think I bowled really well yesterday, but I'll never know just how good it really was.

    1. Back when I was a league bowler, the last week of the year was always a nine-pin no-tap night. One of the years, one of my teammates had a 300 in his first game.... he failed to achieve a 600 series that night.

    2. I bought 3 tickets with a couple coworkers. One is a maybe so I could have an extra.

    2. “I think a lot of the players choose their own music, and generally speaking, baseball players don’t have the coolest music taste. I think your ability to hit a baseball takes away from your ability to like good music.”

      1. I printed it out yesterday. Today I re-click and see the image.
        I think he looks more like Can of Corn.

  11. Thabo Sefolosha: NYC cops broke my leg.

    I'm not sure you've heard about this case, but it's another black man gets beaten by cops. Except this black man is an NBA player.

    From the article:

    Sefolosha was arrested at the corner of 10th Avenue and West 17th Street in Manhattan's Chelsea district. The police report authored by officer Johnpaul Giacona of the 10th precinct stated that Sefolosha was interfering with the establishment of a crime scene in front 1 OAK nightclub, where Pacers forward Chris Copeland was stabbed in a separate incident.

    But a pair of videos published on TMZ late last week challenge several specifics from the report.

    One video, shot by a witness, appears to show an officer at the scene swinging a baton at Sefolosha's lower body after a group of officers wrestled him to the ground. In addition, the arrests of Sefolosha and Hawks center Pero Antic appear to be more than 100 feet from the site of Copeland's stabbing.

    Video contradicts the police version of events? That seems unpossible.

    1. broke his leg AND failed to take him to a hospital for evaluation. He's lucky he didn't have massive internal bleeding.

  12. Of the 13 pitchers to appear for the Twins this year, only 3 were drafted by the Twins and only Gibson is younger than 32. This means he is the only one drafted by BS and none since TR returned. Not that I would expect any, but the Twins have yet to benefit from having Top 5 draft picks and are now paying for poor BS drafts.

    1. Terry Ryan wasn't exactly on a deserted island during the Bill Smith regime. He was in the building. Specifically as a consultant. That fact is conveniently overlooked.

      1. In fact, he probably had a lot more input into those drafts than Bill Smith did.

        Billy was a disaster, but it's not like Terry's done a great job of righting the ship. Plus, he still has the same annoying tendency to sign washed up free agent pitchers, except now he's paying more than ever for them.

        1. Ryan was still on the payroll, but there's no way to know how much he was actually "consulted" on things. I suspect he wouldn't have offered his opinion unless he was specifically asked, but that's just a guess.

          Come to think of it, isn't Bill Smith still on the payroll as some sort of consultant or special assistant or something? So who knows how much is due to who. What we do know is that we now have some talent coming up, where we didn't a few years ago. Whoever is responsible for that, I'm happy about it. I just hope a lot of that young talent comes through, because there doesn't appear to be any Plan B if it doesn't.

          1. The lack of plan b has me less willing to part with my (dollar)bills to support this squad. I'm always going to be a twins fan, and at the very least I want them to be exciting from time to time.

            1. Yeah, baseball is in my blood, too, but the Ryan-led FO is proving the cure for that malady. (Bill Smith was a scapegoat. Dude was an accountant. You really think he was evaluating talent?) There is not a device invented that can measure my indifference toward this franchise.

              Wake me up when the kids are here

      2. He also has overseen building up a top-three farm system. The Twins did not draft well at all those years, but they appear to have done a lot better once they got the high picks (starting with Buxton). Those high picks have yet to get to the majors so the Twins essentially have yet to see benefit from 2011 let alone the following years. Buxton would have been up last year barring injury. I think their biggest problem is evaluation at the major league level, relying too much on less meaningful stats such as ERA and batting average as well as using too small of sample sizes.

        1. How much credit does a FO deserve for drafting high and taking the concensus pick? I am not saying they don't deserve some credit but I don't think building up a minor league system using high picks really illustrates skill.

            1. In equilibrium, the draft is a crapshoot in every round. Every team should have access to the same, observable information. So, if a franchise is consistently over- or under-performing other franchises in the draft or some stable segment of the draft, then maybe we can say that they are doing something different.

              Not sure that I believe it, however. If over-performing, other franchises should quickly adapt to eliminate the gap. If under-performing, well, that's just pathetic.

  13. More good pitching in the minors tonight. Pat Dean went six innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and two walks while striking out eight. As I write this, Jared Wilson has allowed one run on three hits and a walk in four innings for Cedar Rapids.

    1. Nice outing by Dean. I hope it's a sign of things to come, but I doubt it. His results and his peripherals have all been pretty mediocre except for his control. It's difficult to imagine that he will be doing just as well if not better than Berrios if he had started the season in AAA.

      1. I certainly don't expect Dean to be Berrios, and you're right, he may not be anything. He didn't do very well in nearly two seasons of AA, but he's pitched well in seven starts at AAA. Most likely that's a fluke, but there's the chance that he figured something out or developed a new pitch or something.

  14. Ugh. The taxes are dun, man. This year we only owe the feds 200+, but the great state of LA wants to give us back 700+. Minus 'turbo''s money we're still plus. Thank goodness I remembered our traditional 401k contribution otherwise we'd have owed far more and gained less.

  15. I'm not sure what I think of the "Justified" finale. I need to think on it, maybe watch it again.

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