Cup of Coffee

July 12, 2015: The End

46 Comments

...of the first half of the season. Well, we're past that already, but it's the all-star break after this game. I got to announce the Dozier all-star thing to the wedding, so that was fun.

46 thoughts on “July 12, 2015: The End”

  1. So, Beau has helpfully pointed out that there's a high chance of thunderstorms today, making the Wabun park plan a bad idea. Ideas being kicked around email are Old Chicago in Apple Valley (our usual), bowling, and Edinborough Park in Edina. The Milkmaid also suggested the Ikea food court, which honestly might work at this point. Anyone? It's tough to find an indoor place that's kid friendly with a lot of space. I wish I had a house here. And that it was big.

      2. Aw hell, if I lived in Minnesota, the IKEA food court would've been a surefire way for me to get my wife to come along.

  2. Talking to a few people over the weekend about the Twins and most of them are in the "Brian Dozier needs to hit for a better average" camp.

    Sigh.

    1. I think you should not talk to those people about the twins.

      On Friday, my brother specifically said "his average is kind of low, but I don't give a crap about that."

        1. Totally. I've had many disagreements with him, but we are in line with this. He also thinks mauer is still really good (although he thinks the conversation about moving back to catcher should happen) and the Ricky Rubio is great.

          1. We all (I think) so want the Mauer thing to be true.

            Hopeful signs: over the last 28 days (106 PA), his slash line is 309/377/479. He has a 913 OPS in July. #pleaseletthisbereal

  3. So, reverse searing.

    We had friends over for dinner last night. I broke out my new batches of sauerkraut and sour pickles (both hits, thankyouverymuch). To accompany, I smoked some Johnsonville brats and pork tenderloin. About an hour or so before our guests arrived I first smoked some green beans (yess!!! it's a thing! I then dressed with a very small amount of Mae Ploy sweet chilli sauce -- the interplay of salt, char, smoke, sweet and spicy was great) and some granny smith apples (which went well with the pork). Then with the coals pretty low, I smoked the brats about half-way through and then the tenderloins, also about half-way through. When our guests arrived, I started a new batch of coals and got a char and more smoke on the tenderloin, then finished the brats.

    Tenderloin was nearly perfect. Not as much of a crust as I would have liked because my second fire wasn't super super hot, but good color and smoke, and very tender and juicy. Brats were, if I may say so, awesome. I'd never smoked fresh brats before (why the hell not????), but I definitely will be adding that to my repertoire.

    1. also, I bought a twelver of Leine shandy (on sale and the store didn't have sixers of it), thinking "this might go well with a hot afternoon of grilling."

      Ummm. Not so much. Mediocre beer combined with not very good lemonade was my takeaway.

      2. Oooh, I'll have to try smoking some beans some time. The last time I made pork tenderloin, I threw some fuji apples on the grill with them and it worked out beautifully. I've also done a pork stuffed apple on the charcoal grill with a couple wood chunks that was amazing.

        Also, Leinie's can go right to hell (despite the fact that I was just drinking an original because I had to get something cheap to boil some brats in).

        1. I 'member the good old days when Northwoods Lager was my go to. Yeah, Millerleinies can stuff it.

            1. Hell even I remember that. But then, I went to college in menomonie, which wasn't the beer town it is now.

              1. just more evidence that we live in a Golden Age. Really good beer is available almost everywhere for reasonable prices.

                I was out with friends Friday night and hit a new, local microbrewery in town (raising the number of local breweries to two). Warehouse-y space, food truck outside. We sampled their full set of offerings (a raspberry wheat, which was well-made and inoffensive, but not something I would order; a very competent saison; an excellent "extra" pale ale; a red, which almost by definition is "meh"; a nice oatmeal stout, and a pedestrian IPA). I had a pint of the saison after the taster and was very happy with it. I'll definitely be back to the place.

                1. I can't even keep up with all the places that have opened in Northeast in the past few years, but I thoroughly enjoyed spending a few hours at the Fair State Brewing Co-op last week. I tried a couple of their sour beers and a hefeweizen--all very tasty brews--in their understated industrial storefront spot 3 blocks from my house. It was the perfect cool down from the spicy green Curry we had at Karta Thai just up the block. I'll be back.

                  1. I went to my first bar in NE the other week, Spring Street. I think I wanna spend more time bar hopping up there.

                    1. You were at Spring Street and didn't stop by the Vegas Lounge? Kidding (but if you need a little blue collar dive in your life, the Vegas is that, complete with pulltabs, horrible juke box and the perfect mix of Union men and the unemployable.)

                      Did you have the pizza at Spring Street? Pretty dang good if you like a greazy pie.

                    2. Actually, it's The Moose (across the street) with the greazy pizza. Those places seem to have evaded the hipster doofusism that has overtaken NE MPLS, instead offering a traditional, irony-free version of doofuses. And there's something to be said for that.

                  2. man, I love me some sour beers. One of the Sactown micro/pico operations (I guess they've upped their game to at least "micro" now), Track 7 recently opened a second location even closer to me. It was supposed to focus on sours, but maybe the business model has changed, since nothing on tap right now looks like a sour.

                  3. I've been curious about Fair State. Glad to know it's worth a visit! (Not that I get out very often, but someday . . . )

                    Also, how does Karta Thai compare to Sen Yai Sen Lek? The latter has been my go-to Thai place, in part because of the daily curry special.

                    1. It was actually my first visit to Karta (I don't get out very often anymore, either.) Really enjoyed it--looking forward to going back. I loved Sen Lek at first. Friends and family agreed it was damn good. Subsequent visits proved hit or miss. The service was dreadful on at least two occasions when they weren't even remotely busy--the same waitress both times. I think she's family. As someone in the biz, that sh!t really chafes.

                      Fair Trade is well worth your visit. No TV's, music played low (some Bobby "Blue" Bland the night I was there), friendly service, reasonable prices. My only complaint was it was too brightly lit when we first arrived. They eventually lowered the lights...

                  4. I pretty much live across the street from Fair State, and yet haven't been there yet. I'll have to stop by one of these days.

          2. Hey! Their Big Eddies are pretty dang good. I consider their Imperial IPA to be just a tidge below Hopslam, for a much better price per bottle.

            1. so, I poured one of the shandy's into one of my pilsner glasses this evening to give it another try (drank the other one from the bottle like a bro yesterday).

              this simple act raised the quality to "inoffensive" or maybe even "meh." I'll likely drink the remainder of the twelver over the next couple weeks, if I can't find some undiscerning friend to foist some off on.

    2. This sounds fab. Have you ever you ever had wild rice brats? The IL's give us these brats now and again from Hayward, MN (also beef jerky from there is great).

      1. We got wild rice venison brats from our deer harvest this past year. Amazing.

      1. There were reports of some suspicious short men in matching red-and-blue vests and fezzes.

  5. So, I passed through the bookface today and saw a post from the Twins about today's win. For some inexplicable reason, I looked at the comments. Did you know that Torii's clubhouse leadership is one of the key reasons they are playing so well?

    I then went over to b-r. The Twins rank 12th -- TWELFTH!!! -- in the A.L. in "Wins Above Average by Position", which just sums up the WAA figures for each position, plus PH.

    Position AL rank WAA
    Total 12 -1.3
    Pitching 2 3.9
    Starting P 3 3.5
    Relief P 5 0.3
    Catcher 14 -1.4
    1b 11 -0.7
    2b 2 1.9
    3b 6 1.1
    SS 15 -2.0
    LF 13 -1.0
    CF 13 -0.7
    RF 12 -1.2
    OF total 15 -2.9
    DH 10 -0.7
    PH 13 -0.5

    So, basically, the starting pitching is carrying the club, with significant assists from Dozier and Plouffe.

    Of the team's top 7 players by rWAR, 5 are pitchers (Gibson, 2.8, Perk, 2.2, Milone, 1.9, Pelf, 1.6, and Hughes, 1.4).

    1. And now Sano!

      This is where I do disagree with the . He is in the clubhouse leader camp.

      1. yea, I think there is a good chance that Sano and Buxton will be among the club leaders in WAR for position players by the end of the year, and that Rosario and Hicks will finish solidly in non-negative territory. I'm excited for the future of the club.

        1. Buxton might be difficult considering how much time he'll spend on the DL and there's no guarantee he'll come up as soon as he's healthy and done a normal amount of rehab the Hicks is playing right now. Since he was struggling somewhat initially with the bat, the Twins might give him an extended rehab at AAA to get his bat going and work on a few things.

  7. so, I picked some purslane from our garden (a weed growing as a volunteer, not something planted) today to include in a salad for dinner. The Mrs. declined even to taste it. Good thing I left it on the side as an optional add-in. It was very mild. Nice crunch, but not much flavor.

  8. Minnesota's decision to start Kyle Gibson twice this week with Trevor May heading to the bullpen also paid off

    Say what? I hope this is Bollinger talking out of his @$$ because I find it hard to believe that Gibson was even being considered for being moved to the bullpen. I kind of understood May because he didn't win a spot in the rotation initially and only came up when Tommy Milone was demoted plus May has the stuff to be a pretty good setup man now while he waits for a spot to open up, which might not be too long the way Pelfrey has pitched of late.

    1. I agree. I don't think taking Gibson out of the rotation was something the Twins ever considered.

    2. I think he is referring to the decision to start Gibson versus starting May in a 6 man rotation.

      1. I'd also be surprised if the Twins ever seriously considered a six-man rotation.

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