We once played this awhile ago, but I got it in my own head yesterday. Plus it's a banger.
(2 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
Loading... Twins in the top ten in the American League in various categories:
POSITION PLAYERS
Defensive WAR
10. A. J. Pierzynski, 1.5
Batting average
8. Pierzynski, .312
OBP
9. Doug Mientkiewicz, .393
Triples
4 (tie). Luis Rivas, 9
Hit by pitch
6 (tie). Pierzynski, 15.
Sacrifice hits
3. Guzman, 12.
9 (tie). Rivas, 8
Sacrifice flies
6 (tie). Corey Koskie, 9.
Intentional walks
5 (tie). Pierzynski, 12.
GIDP
6 (tie). Rivas, 20.
Caught Stealing
5 (tie). Guzman, 9.
AB per strikeout
9 (tie). Doug Mientkiewicz, 8.9
Pierzynski, 8.9
PITCHERS
Walks per nine innings
3. Brad Radke, 1.09
6. Kyle Lohse, 2.02
Games
5. LaTroy Hawkins, 74
6 (tie). J. C. Romero, 73
Saves
Strikeouts
8 (tie). Johan Santana, 169
Starts
8 (tie). Radke, 33
Lohse, 33
Complete games
7 (tie). Radke, 3
Shutouts
6 (tie). Rick Reed, 1
Lohse, 1
Radke, 1
Home runs allowed
4. Radke, 32.
Hits allowed
3 (tie). Radke, 242
8 (tie). Kenny Rogers, 227
K/BB
5. Radke, 4.29
10. Lohse, 2.89
Earned Runs allowed
4 (tie). Radke, 106
Wild pitches
6 (tie). J. C. Romero, 9
Hit by pitch
8 (tie). Rogers, 11.
Games finished
3. Guardado, 60.
Adjusted pitching runs
8. Santana, 27.
Adjusted pitching wins
8. Santana, 2.7
Base-out runs saved
6. Santana, 33.22
WPA
7. Hawkins, 4.1
9. Santana, 3.7
Sit. Wins Saved
8. Santana, 2.7
Championship WPA
1. Martinez, Bos, 5.5
3. Hawkins, 4.7
8. Santana, 2.5
Base-out wins saved
6. Santana, 3.3
Chicago went and dyed the river green in the dead of morning. That's always a spectacle.
New Japanese Breakfast let's goooooo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vok63vFHRtU
(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)Loading... Fred Pfeffer (1860)
Oscar Stanage (1883)
Joe Fitzgerald (1897)
Charlie Root (1899)
Sammy Baugh (1914)
Hank Sauer (1917)
Pete Reiser (1919)
Vic Voltaggio (1941)
Cito Gaston (1944)
Kurt Russell (1951)
Tim Lollar (1956)
Frank Wren (1958)
Danny Ainge (1959)
John Smiley (1965)
Dan Masteller (1968)
Bill Mueller (1971)
Raul Chavez (1973)
Scott Downs (1976)
Robb Quinlan (1977)
Chris Davis (1986)
Joe Fitzgerald had a long association with the Minnesota/Washington franchise, serving as bullpen catcher from 1945-1947, coach from 1948-1956, and scout from 1957 until he passed away in 1967.
Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh was an infielder in the minors for St. Louis in 1938, batting .200 in the American Association and the International League.
Vic Voltaggio was an American League umpire from 1997-1996.
Actor Kurt Russell spent three years in the low minors (1971-1973), batting .292 in 356 at-bats.
Frank Wren has been the general manager of the Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves.
NBA star Danny Ainge was a third baseman for Toronto from 1979-1981.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to AMR's sister.
It's still winter. But, could be a lot worse.
Date: Sunday, October 5.
Batting stars: Torii Hunter was 3-for-4. A. J. Pierzynski was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Eric Milton pitched 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, giving up two hits and striking out two.
Opposition stars: David Wells pitched 7.2 innings, giving up one run on eight hits and no walks and striking out four. Derek Jeter was 2-for-4 with a home run and a walk. Jason Giambi was 2-for-4 with two doubles. Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Jorge Posada was 2-for-5.
The game: Well, it was good for three innings. The Twins got a man to second in both the second and third, but could not get him farther. The Yankees had only one hit, and did not advance the man past first.
Then came the fourth. Jeter struck out, but Giambi and Bernie Williams hit back-to-back doubles to get New York on the board. Posada singled to put men on first and third. Hideki Matsui hit a ground-rule double to make it 2-0. Aaron Boone popped up and Juan Rivera was intentionally walked to load the bases. It backfired, as Nick Johnson doubled home two and Soriano singled home two more. It was 6-0 Yankees, and the game and the series were pretty much over at that point.
They played the remaining five and a half innings, of course. The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on consecutive singles by Hunter, Pierzynski, and Michael Cuddyer. The Yankees scored in the eighth when Boone singled, stole second, and scored on a bunt single-plus-error by Rivera. The Twins got a pair of two-out singles in the eighth to drive Wells from the game, but did not score. Jeter homered leading off the ninth.
WP: Wells. LP: Johan Santana. S: None.
Notes: The Twins used their standard lineup with the exception of Cuddyer at DH. Shannon Stewart was in left and Jacque Jones in right. There were no in-game lineup substitutions.
Santana was dealing with a hamstring issue, which is likely why he could not keep it going after three innings. His line was 3.2 innings, six runs, six hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.
The Twins were outscores sixteen to six in the series. Six runs over four games, and three in the last three, is not likely to get the job done.
Little did we know the string of post-season futility this series began.
Record: The Twins lost the best-of-five series, three games to one.
Bud Fowler (1847)
Blondie Purcell (1854)
Jerry Denny (1859)
Patsy Donovan (1865)
Jake Flowers (1902)
Buddy Myer (1904)
Lloyd Waner (1906)
Ken O'Dea (1913)
Tom Gorman (1919)
Clint Courtney (1927)
Hobie Landrith (1930)
Don Blasingame (1932)
Rick Reichardt (1943)
Rick Renick (1944)
Charles Hudson (1959)
Fieldin Culbreth (1963)
Abraham Nunez (1976)
Curtis Granderson (1981)
Stephen Drew (1983)
Brandon League (1983)
Mickey Storey (1986)
Bud Fowler was the first African-American to play professional baseball, playing in the minors in 1878 and from 1884-1894.
Tom Gorman was a National League umpire from 1951-1977. His son Brian is currently a major league umpire.
Fieldin Culbreth has been a major league umpire since 1993. His full name is Fieldin Henry Culbreth III.
Mickey Storey was drafted by Minnesota in the 22nd round in 2007, but did not sign.
I want to see a duet with her and Klaus Nomi.
1979
(1 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... Are the Wild good?
This is the question that keeps getting asked. It's kind of hard to believe that the Wild might be anything other than a middle of the road team that people mention only to say "yeah, they're ... OK, I guess." But here we are. They took 4 points off Vegas, and continue to dominate teams during 5 on 5 play and get pretty good goaltending to go along with it. At some point, the question has to be taken seriously.
The Analytic Method
Dom Luszczyszyn at the Athletic has a model that bases predicted outcomes on his Game Score stat (calculated by counting stats like goals, assists, shots, penalties drawn, but also factoring in possession stats like xG, faceoffs, and CORSI) as well as factors like strength of remaining schedule, injuries, etc. I like it because he continually updates how things have changed over the season, so you can see exactly where the model started to buy into the Wild as a legitimate contender in the West division along with Colorado and Las Vegas.
Evolving Hockey uses a team goal differential stat to compare team performance. The stat is broken down into four components:
In comparing the teams in the West across these four factors we see once again that the Wild are comfortably in the same statistical neighborhood as Vegas and Colorado.
The numbers in the table represent the team's rank out of 31 NHL teams. Shot Rate and Shot Quality are a comparison between a team and their opponent. The Wild have the largest differential in the NHL between the average quality of their offensive shots and the quality of shots they allow (they rank 5th in shot quality and their opponents rank 29th).
| Team | Goal Differential | Shot Rate | Shot Quality | Shooting% | Save% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas | 2 | 3 | 22 | 9 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 5 | 9 | 1 | 17 | 12 |
| Colorado | 6 | 1 | 18 | 19 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | 17 | 26 | 17 | 15 | 6 |
| St. Louis | 19 | 19 | 20 | 3 | 24 |
| Arizona | 23 | 31 | 16 | 23 | 7 |
| San Jose | 25 | 22 | 13 | 18 | 29 |
| Anaheim | 28 | 23 | 25 | 31 | 23 |
The DG plays with Spreadsheets Method
Which teams in the division have winning records (taking more than 50% of the points) against other teams in the division? Point percentage in this case is percentage of the points awarded in a game. So a win in regulation gets a team 100%, a win in OT or shootout gets them 67%, OT/SO loss gets them 33% and regulation loss 0%. Don’t be mad at me that this makes no sense, take it up with the NHL Standings Point Policy director.
TIER 1 - Las Vegas, Colorado, and Minnesota each have a points% greater than or equal to 50 against all but one team in the division. Las Vegas is lower than 50% against Minnesota, Minnesota is lower than 50% against Colorado, and Colorado is lower than 50% against ... you guessed it - Anaheim. (Colorado and Las Vegas have split their two games, so are each at 50% in their matchup).
TIER 2 - St. Louis, Arizona, and Los Angeles are each above a 50% points percentage against 3 other teams in the division. This seems like a natural second tier in the division so far this season. Dom's model would see this as a slight to St. Louis, but I think this matches the actual results pretty well.
TIER 3 - San Jose and Anaheim are certainly the low end of the West, generally not beating anyone consistently.
Now I can compare each teams result against those tiers so far this season:
| Team | P% vs. Tier 1 | P% vs. Tier 2 | P% vs. Tier 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas | 47% | 75% | 74% |
| Minnesota | 50% | 64% | 71% |
| Colorado | 53% | 67% | 58% |
| St. Louis | 42% | 40% | 70% |
| Los Angeles | 31% | 62% | 50% |
| Arizona | 28% | 52% | 64% |
| San Jose | 24% | 44% | 75% |
| Anaheim | 39% | 29% | 25% |
| AVERAGE | 38% | 53% | 62% |
What stands out here?
To quantify how much of each teams standings position came from games against each tier I calculated points earned above average using the numbers above.
| Team | versus T1 | versus T2 | versus T3 | Pts Above Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VGK | 1.7 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 8.3 |
| MIN | 2.2 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 5.9 |
| COL | 2.7 | 2.8 | -0.8 | 4.7 |
| L.A | -2.0 | 1.9 | -1.4 | -1.5 |
| STL | 0.4 | -3.9 | 1.6 | -1.9 |
| ARI | -2.2 | -0.2 | 0.3 | -2.1 |
| S.J | -2.8 | -2.2 | 1.6 | -3.4 |
| ANA | 0.0 | -5.7 | -4.4 | -10.1 |
The Grand Conclusion
I think they're a good team, actually. Their point total isn't inflated by beating up on the bottom feeders and they've won some games against the best teams in the division. They have the statistical proof that they have played well, but that their success is not a fluke. Their scoring and expected scoring line up pretty well. (figure from MoneyPuck).
There is of course, a warning in this analysis. And that warning is the St. Louis Blues. The Blues have had a remarkably easy schedule in the first half of the season, playing 10 games against SJ and Anaheim (more than anyone in the division) and 5 games against Vegas, Colorado, and Minnesota (fewer than anyone in the division). But they ran up against a hot team in Los Angeles in February and dropped a bunch of points in games that they probably expected to win. Now they have to make those points back in the second half of the season against teams at the top of the division, a much harder task. Those 8 games against the Wild have become a much more important set now that the Blues are looking up at the Wild in the standings.
The first half of the season has gone very well, the Wild have surprised a bunch of people by being legitimately good and exciting and fun. In the second half, the biggest danger becomes running into a cold streak or an opponent's hot streak that cuts into the advantage they've built by playing as one of the best teams in the division so far.
This week's schedule:
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A whole bunch more words on the standings are up above, but here's how they look as everyone approaches the halfway point.
===================================================
The Kirill Kaprizov Corner
Hat trick! 3 goals in one period! Look at how he shoots this puck on his second goal. He's turning on one skate, with no momentum toward the goal and still scores. AH! It's so good.
And while you're looking at that remember the 10 seconds before that where he comes off the bench like he's been shot out of a cannon and just ... skates past everyone.
He's so much fun.
🚀 🚀 🚀 pic.twitter.com/CyRiQdBYh4
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) March 13, 2021
On the rookie leaderboards, he's first in goals (10), first in assists (14), and first in points (24).
Players not Named Kirill
Who's got the best two-way line in hockey? Your Minnesota Wild, that's who.
Barkov or Barzal will probably win the Selke trophy for best defensive forward, but there will be a whole bunch of stat nerds who will take to Twitter and write "well, actually..." posts in favor of Joel Eriksson Ek.
https://twitter.com/nosalaryretaind/status/1370011339884744704?s=19
The bad news is that Foligno will be out for at least a couple of weeks.
Leaderboards
| Player | G | Player | A | Player | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eriksson Ek | 11 | Kaprizov | 14 | Kaprizov | 24 |
| Kaprizov | 10 | Greenway | 14 | Greenway | 19 |
| Fiala | 9 | Zuccarello | 14 | Zuccarello | 18 |
| Foligno | 7 | Foligno | 9 | Foligno | 16 |
| Rask | 6 | Brodin/Parise | 9 | Eriksson Ek | 16 |
