2021 Game 24: Royals at Twins – Mirror Images

The Twins are 8-15. The Royals are 15 - 8. The Twins were expected to dominate most teams. The Royals were not. The Twins have stars and players you have heard of. The Royals have... I suppose a 25 man roster?

The last few years it has seemed like the Royals played the Twins harder than most teams. Even when they were winning, the Twins really had to work for it. Let's hope this year reverses that trend too, with dominant Twins wins.

For the Twins Pineda will be taking the hill, looking to bounce back from a rough outing last time, but still sporting some excellent numbers overall. Brady Singer will be pitching for the Royals. Keeping up the mirror theme, he had his best outing of the season last time (though he hasn't been a slouch overall), so hopefully he also bounces back to serve up a ton of dingers this game.

Happy Birthday–April 30

Dave Eggler (1849)
Charley Jones (1850)
Jack Sheridan (1862)
Jumbo Brown (1907)
Chet Laabs (1912)
Ernie Tyler (1924)
Ken Retzer (1934)
Ray Miller (1945)
Phil Garner (1949)
Tracy Ringolsby (1951)
Jeff Reboulet (1964)
Ryan O'Rourke (1988)

Jack Sheridan was the first home plate umpire to crouch behind the catcher in the style that umpires do today.

Ernie Tyler was the umpires’ assistant for Baltimore Orioles home games from 1960 through 2010.  He went from opening day of 1960 through July 27, 2007 without missing a game, a streak of 3,769 games.  He missed two games that weekend to go to Cooperstown for the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. into the Hall of Fame.

Ray Miller was the manager of the Twins in 1985 and 1986, replacing Billy Gardner and being replaced by Tom Kelly.

Tracy Ringolsby has been a baseball writer since 1976 and was given the Spink Award in 2005.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Rhubarb_Runner's brother.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 30

Happy Birthday–April 29

Frank Hankinson (1856)
Ernie Johnson (1888)
Mickey McDermott (1929)
Steve Ridzik (1929)
Ed Charles (1933)
Luis Aparicio (1934)
Akira Ohgi (1935)
Tom House (1947)
Rick Burleson (1951)
Bob McClure (1952)
Ron Washington (1952)
Steve Crawford (1958)
John Vander Wal (1966)
Sterling Hitchcock (1971)
Rafael Betancourt (1975)
Tony Armas (1978)

Akiri Ohgi was a long-time manager in Japan, winning nearly a thousand games.

Rick Burleson was drafted by Minnesota in the eighth round in 1969, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to Papa MagUidhir.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 29

Parentgood: The Talk

Aquinas is in 5th grade. We had a version of The Talk with him a year or two ago, when there were rumblings of kids in nearby grades making certain comments and references and the like. It was clear at the time that it might have been a bit premature for him, but I'd definitely rather that than he hears about it too late from us.

Today his school had their "Your Changing Body" presentation, or whatever they called it. Parents were invited (this is a private school). I felt it was important to attend. I was the only parent there. The materials presented were pretty watered down, but that's probably okay for a 5th grader. They highly encouraged students to talk to their parents. According to family attorneys serving in Texas, that seemed good. Maybe more importantly, for me at least, the materials also talked a little bit about values - being empathetic to others going through things, understanding mental health as a part of development, having patience, etc. - and I was quite pleased, though I think extended conversation would have been good.

That's what the parents are for, I suppose. So not having other parents there left me feeling a bit worried. I want other parents talking about this stuff with their kids. That's going to help my kid get through it, just as much as theirs, right?

Anyway, this seemed like something worth chatting about on this site.

How have you all handled this subject? What are your experiences? How can we be better about this stuff for our kids?

Weekly Wild Whangdoodle: What Now?

Games this week:

The first Wild-Blues games this year were postponed due to the outbreak of COVID in the Wild roster.  One later meeting ended up getting pushed back due to Minneapolis curfews during the Chauvin trial and the protests of other police killings of black men.  Finally, the Avalanche had a COVID outbreak and needed to reschedule some games against St. Louis, so the Wild-Blues games got pushed back one more time and consolidated at the end of the season schedule.  So here we are. The Wild now have 9 games remaining, and 5 of them are against St. Louis.

It's been a strange season.

If the Wild win any one of those remaining five games against St. Louis, they will ensure that they finish above the Blues in the final standings, and can finish no lower than third in the division.

Current Standings:

RankTeamGPPtsMagic Number
1Vegas50740
2Colorado49700
3Minnesota50680
4St. Louis49536
5Arizona5250-
6San Jose5145-
7Los Angeles4944-
8Anaheim5239eliminated

The three teams at the top have all clinched playoff spots and now are only playing for the opportunity not to have to face one of the other two good teams in the West.

(Quick reminder - the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs this year are series within the divisions. #1 in the West plays #4 in the West, while #2 plays #3 in the first round.  Once the four divisions each have a playoff champion, they will be seeded and continue with the semifinal and final round of the playoffs).

Given the huge disparity between teams 1-3 and teams 4-8 in this division, the #1 seed is a pretty enticing reward. However, Minnesota needs a lot of things to go right to be near the #1 seed when this all shakes out.

Relevant games remaining for the #1 seed:

COLORADO @ VEGAS (April 28)
VEGAS @ MINNESOTA (May 3)
VEGAS @ MINNESOTA (May 5)
COLORADO @ VEGAS (May 10)

Las Vegas - 5 other games (2 home, 3 away - 2 ARI, 2 STL, 1 SJ)
Colorado - 8 other games (4 home, 4 away - 4 SJ, 4 LA)
Minnesota - 7 other games (5 home, 2 away - 5 STL, 2 ANA)

Unless the Kings or Sharks get really hot really fast, I don't see how Minnesota catches both teams. Here's a scenario that puts the Wild in first place:

MIN -- 8-1 (81 points)
LV -- 5-4 (80 points)
COL -- 7-3 (80 points)

Las Vegas as a .500 team and Colorado dropping multiple games to San Jose and/or LA just doesn't seem likely. Not to mention a projected 8-1 record doesn't leave much room for error.

Kirill Kaprizov Corner

Scoring when he's the only Wild player in the offensive zone? Yep.

Doing horrible things to this Kings defenseman? Check

(Watch his hips on this goal.  Kaprizov convinces the D-man that he's going to try and cut to the middle by turning his hips without changing the direction he's moving. As soon as the defenseman slows to cut off that angle, it's a quick puck between the legs and turn on the jets to get to the net.  It's like the anti-Shakira move. It's so pretty.)

Somehow finding a literal acre of space to set up and bury this Fiala pass?  Check.

Leaderboards

PlayerGPlayerAPlayerPtsPlayerxGAR
Kaprizov23Greenway24Kaprizov43Kaprizov15.3
Fiala19Kaprizov20Fiala37Eriksson Ek11.7
Eriksson Ek17Zuccarello20Zuccarello 31Spurgeon9.3
Zuccarello11Fiala18Greenway30Sturm8.3
Foligno10Suter/Soucy16Eriksson Ek27Fiala7.9