Also featuring an extended Jimmy Fallon bit (which may or may not be to your tastes any more than these guys are)
(2 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)
Loading... DAY GAME ALERT!
First pitch at 1:10 p.m.
The Twins snapped a three-game losing streak last night and have a chance to split their four-game series with KC this afternoon. Not much has gone right for the Twins coming out of the gate this year. The starting pitching has been spotty and short and we've lost our ace to the IL for the foreseeable future with a tweaked hamstring. The bullpen is overworked already and that's when you see breakdowns in relief situations which we have definitely seen. And then there's the across-the-board lack of offense from this lineup. I don't know, maybe we need a rank summer sausage to banish the ass-bats and get things going at the plate.
Bailey Ober takes the mound today for the Twins. He's 0-1 after two starts, one of them abbreviated by performance, and he sports a 12.15 ERA and 2.40 WHIP coming into the game. The Royals counter with right-hander Michael Wacha. He hails from Iowa City, Iowa and his nickname is Wachamole. In two starts he's pitched 9.2 innings to a 4.66 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP and recorded 7 strikeouts.
The boys are back in town tomorrow to start a six-game homestand with series against the Tigers and Mets. I'll be at the ballpark for half of them. That's all I got, kids.
PLAY BALL!
(0 votes, average: 0.00 out of 10)Loading... I've mentioned my company is leaning pretty hard into a particular teamwork based AI system. I don't think I'll ever use it for writing or the like, but there are sooooo many new technical terms I keep coming across as we deal with a wide variety of industries, products, and processes.
I will admit it has been useful for giving me a quick summary of these things so I can keep going through the email, etc. without having to stumble around for an explanation. Obviously I don't trust it 100%, but I think in my case, since the answers are so cut and dry, it does a decent job with brief summarizations.
ST. PAUL SAINTS 3, OMAHA STORM CHASERS 2 IN ST. PAUL
Jair Camargo started the scoring with a two-run homer in the fourth. Andrew Morris held Omaha scoreless for five innings, but then left the game, and reliever Cory Lewis allowed two runs in the sixth to tie it. Not to worry, as Carson McCusker homered in the bottom of the sixth to give the Saints the lead back. Lewis settled down to pitch two scoreless innings, and Anthony Misiewicz pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
Batters: Austin Martin was 2-for-3 with a walk. Carson McCusker was 2-for-4 with a home run. Emmanuel Rodriguez was 2-for-4. Jair Camargo was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk.
Pitchers: Andrew Morris pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits and two walks and striking out three. Anthony Misiewicz pitched a scoreless inning, striking out one and walking one.
Opposition: Luca Tresh was 2-for-3.
Record: St. Paul is 3-5, tied for eighth with Indianapolis, 4.5 games behind Columbus.
MIDLAND ROCKHOUNDS 8, WICHITA WIND SURGE 4 IN WICHITA
Midland scored three in the top of the first, but Wichita bounced back with a Rubel Cespedes grand slam in the bottom of the first to take a 4-3 lead. Luke Mann hit a two-run homer in the second, however, and Midland added another in the third to go up 6-4. Wichita got two on with one out in the eighth with Cespedes again up, but he could not come through again, striking out, and a fly out ended the threat. Midland added two in the ninth to put the game out of reach.
Batters: Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-4 with a home run and a double.
Pitchers: Starter Ricky Castro had a rough go, allowing six runs on five hits and three walks in 2.2 innings. He struck out two. Mike Paredes pitched 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and one walk and striking out three. Jaylin Nowlin struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Opposition: Euribiel Angeles was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Luke Mann was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and two runs. Colby Halter was 1-for-5 with two RBIs. Micah Dallas struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Colin Peluse pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.
Record: Wichita is 2-3, tied for third with Arkansas, 2.5 games behind Northwest Arkansas.
BELOIT SKY CARP 10, CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 0 IN CEDAR RAPIDS
It was actually close most of the way. Beloit scored two in the third and one in the eighth before exploding for seven in the ninth. The Kernels managed only three hits.
Batters: None.
Pitchers: Starter Ross Dunn pitched 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks and striking out one. Wilker Reyes struck out four in 2.2 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk. Jack Noble struck out one in a perfect inning.
Opposition: Jay Beshears was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and two RBIs. Yiddi Cappe was 2-for-4 with a walk, three runs, and three RBIs. Fenwick Trimble was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Brock Vradenburg was 2-for-5 with a triple, a double, and two RBIs. Noble Meyer pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and two walks and striking out two. Justin Storm pitched three shutout innings, giving up only a walk. I don't know how good this team is, but they have some guys with great names.
Record: Cedar Rapids is 3-2, in third place, one game behind Beloit and Quad Cities.
FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 5, TAMPA TARPONS 1 IN FORT MYERS
A sacrifice fly brought home a run in the first to give Fort Myers the lead. Tampa tied it in the fourth on a bases-loaded hit by pitch. Jose Rodriguez singled in the bottom of the fourth to put Fort Myers back up 2-1, and there things stood until the seventh, when Dameury Pena delivered a two-run single. A wild pitch plated one more in the seventh, and that brought us to the final score of 5-1.
Batters: Byron Chourio was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs. Yasser Mercedes was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Dameury Pena was 1-for-3 with three RBIs.
Pitchers: Starter Michael Carpenter pitched just one inning, but it was a scoreless inning, as he struck out three, walked two, and gave up one hit. He threw thirty-six pitches in the inning, which we assume is why he was replaced. Kade Bragg pitched two shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one. Jacob Kisting struck out six in 2.1 scoreless innings. Ivran Romero pitched two shutout innings, walking two and striking out one. Tyler Stasiowski pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.
Opposition: Brian Sanchez was 2-for-4. Danny Flatt pitched four innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on three hits and two walks and striking out two.
Record: Fort Myers is 2-3, tied for fourth, one game out of first. Half the division is 3-2, the other half is 2-3.
TODAY'S TILTS
6:05 Tampa (TBD) at Fort Myers (Jakob Hall, 0-0, 12.00)
6:35 Beloit (Thomas White, 0-0, 0.00) at Cedar Rapids (Ty Langenberg, no record)
6:35 Midland (James Gonzalez, 1-0, 7.20) at Wichita (Chase Chaney, 0-0, 9.00)
6:37 Omaha (Tyson Guerrero, 1-1, 4.00) at St. Paul (Marco Raya, 0-0, 0.00)
In a hotel on a recent bidness trip, I was watching The Terminator as it was the only semi-interesting thing that was on (and hadn't seen it for awhile; it was on HBO, so the whole picture). Anyway, it reminded me there was a computer game based on this I used to play. It was basically an open world concept where you could play Reese or the Terminator. As I was watching, I was wondering if it was one of the first open world games out there (I was playing it several years after it was released). Is that true? It would take three seconds to Goggle, but I need content here, so yeah?
Ross Youngs (1897)
Bubba Hyde (1908)
Chuck Connors (1921)
Frank Lary (1930)
Robert Nederlander (1933)
Wes Stock (1934)
Joe Gibbon (1935)
Bob Watson (1946)
Lee Lacy (1948)
Tom Lundstedt (1949)
Ken Griffey (1950)
Mike Devereaux (1963)
Starvin’ Marvin Freeman (1963)
Alberto Reyes (1971)
Mike Lincoln (1975)
Andre Ethier (1982)
Corey Kluber (1986)
Charlie Culberson (1989)
Scott Blewett (1996)
Bubba Hyde was an outfielder in the Negro Leagues for twenty-six years.
Better known as an actor, Chuck Connors was a first baseman for the Chicago Cubs in 1951. He also played professional basketball, and was the first player to break the glass backboard with a slam dunk in a professional basketball game.
Robert Nederlander is a part-owner of the New York Yankees and was managing partner in from 1990-1991, when George Steinbrenner was suspended.
Joe Ryan
vs
Seth Lugo
I'm a believer in regression to the mean. Bad teams aren't that bad. The Twins collapse to end 2024 would reset and they would play .500-ish again. Well, we're still waiting.
The quick version.
OMAHA STORM CHASERS 3, ST. PAUL SAINTS 0 IN ST. PAUL
St. Paul had only two hits, both singles. Zebby Matthews struck out nine in five innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk. Both runs came in the fifth.
WICHITA WIND SURGE 3, MIDLAND ROCKHOUNDS 1 IN WICHITA
Ricardo Olivar was 2-for-4. Tanner Schobel hit a home run. Darren Bowen struck out five in five innings, giving up one run on three hits and no walks.
CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 3, BELOIT SKY CARP 2 IN CEDAR RAPIDS
Billy Amick was 1-for-3 with a double and drove in all three runs. Jose Olivares struck out six in 4.2 scoreless innings, giving up one hit and three walks.
TAMPA TARPONS 5, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 3 IN FORT MYERS
Dameury Pena hit a two-run double in the second, and the 2-0 lead stood up until the ninth, when Tampa scored five runs. They were aided by four walks and an error. Pena was 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Poncho Ruiz was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Dylan Questad struck out eight in five shutout innings, giving up one hit and one walk.
It's been a year since I started practicing Aikido, and two years since starting the jab. At this recording I've lost nearly 26% of my previous mass, something that is very difficult to understand fully. (Like, I know I'm a smaller human but .... how much smaller am I? and, I'm like, really strong in ways I wasn't before.... who do I think I am having core strength?)
I've passed the first two gradings for Aikido - the first is really a demonstration that I won't harm myself or someone else while continuing to learn the kata. The second grading is to demonstrate that I have mastered the kihon for the basic set of forms - can you perform an entrance and a throw without adding steps or losing your balance - really a function of reps and time on the mat. (Ubes observation about kids baseball inspired me a bit to write about my practice because it comes down to reps and time on the mat)
The idea of joining a martial art practice with no experience whatsoever (save for a bit of time in taekwondo as a 12 year old) in my 40s seemed nuts. That I've kept going - rather ramped up the practice - seems even more nutty.
I spent a year and a half leading up to joining the dojo examining my life, looking to change something (anything!) because ennui had become my vibe. I read about heroic doses of psychedelics cracking open your brains and reorganizing you into something more you. I took two semesters of college chemistry (Ksp and pH can still get f'd IMO)(okay, by the end I got the math bit sorted, but it wasn't easy for my art brain to do the math brain thing.....)(I bailed on organic chem this semester but that's a post for the forbidden zone...)
Turns out that shedding some weight and joining a community of weirdos who like to throw each other to the ground in a peaceful way was enough to change a lot about my life. (Oh, I'm still me, but I'm not as quick to anger and I'm better at recognizing when I'm tense and how that affects everything around me (one of the greatest keys to Aikido is to remain calm when someone grabs you with intent to take your balance (think of this as someone wants to hit you in the face, but in the aikido practice it's done gently and without the intent to harm)) The physical side of things have been a delight, if not painful at times, to experience. I van roll over my shoulders both forward and backward from standing That is something I never thought possible again. From a seated position I can roll backwards to my shoulders and then forward to standing - on good days(!) - again, something I never thought possible when I started. I enjoy the physical growth, but the real reason I keep going is community. I spend several hours a week focused on a practice that seeks to create harmony out of conflict and make our community more peaceful. (Young, angry, punk rock meat can't believe soft, old meat just wrote that....)
I've come to understand that we need more human connection and community across the board. Aikido forces you to grab someone else and try to hold on as they try to dissuade you from grabbing them. Willing partners in conflict and resolution. (As a friend put it, when you train to fight you'll find a fight.) This practice isn't for everyone, I get that, but what I've learned is that joining a community, and trying to sustain that connection, has been extremely rewarding.
What are y'all doing on the health front?
