Monthly Archives: May 2025

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Game of May 5

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FCL PIRATES 5, FCL TWINS 3 AT PIRATES

Apparently they play seven-inning games in the FCL.  The Pirates scored first, getting a run in the second on an error.  It stayed 1-0 until the fifth, when Ramiro Dominguez hit a two-run double to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.  It lasted until the bottom of the fifth, when the Pirates scored four times, with Eddie Rynders contributing a two-run single.  The Twins got one back on an RBI double by Ariel Castro in the sixth, but that was as close as they would come.

Batters:  Irvin Nunez was 2-for-3.

Pitchers:  Leonardo Rondon struck out five in three innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and a walk.

Opponents:  Edward Florentino was 2-for-4.  Reinold Navarro struck out eight in four shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Record:  The Twins are 1-1, tied for second with three teams, one game behind the Rays.

TODAY'S TILTS

11:00  FCL Pirates at FCL Twins
11:05  Wichita (Darren Bowen, 2-0, 1.50) at Northwest Arkansas (Ethan Bosacker, 2-2, 5.19)
6:05  Dunedin at Fort Myers--no starters listed
6:05  Cedar Rapids (Chase Chaney, 0-0, 4.76) at Beloit (TBD)
6:37  Buffalo (Easton Lucas, 1-1, 1.59) at St. Paul (David Festa, 2-1, 4.40)

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 6

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Bonesetter Reese (1855)
Walton Cruise (1890)
Mike McCormick (1917)
Willie Mays (1931)
Russ Gibson (1939)
Bill Hands (1940)
Masanori Murakami (1944)
Steve Staggs (1951)
Larry Andersen (1953)
Al Williams (1954)
Gerardo Parra (1987)
Jose Alvarez (1989)
Jose Altuve (1990)

John “Bonesetter” Reese worked with many baseball players and other famous people in the first part of the twentieth century.  Today we might call him a physical therapist, although he did not have a formal degree.  “Bonesetting” is a Welsh term for the treatment of muscle and tendon strains.

Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese-born player in the major leagues.

Infielder Steve Staggs was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 1970, but did not sign.

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First Monday Book Day

First Monday Book Day: Olio

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My April reading was a mish-mash of whatever books I had ready to hand, so I couldn't really come up with any connection to riff on in the intro.  Instead I thought of the word olio, and figured I should just take the opportunity to recommend Tyehimba Jess' really excellent book: OLIO

Rambling introduction accomplished.

The problem with being on a book publisher's email list is sometimes they send me pictures of their newly published books and then I think, "Ooh, those look cool. I bet I would like reading those..." and now I have more books in my house that I didn't even know existed before that email arrived.  I'm weak.

"Attila" is the final work of Aliocha Coll, an experimental Spanish writer.  It's described as "untranslatable" and "a stunning labryinth of allegory and metaphor".  Should be fun!

"Attila" is a fictionalized version of Coll's attempts to finish "Attila" and a meditation on authors that continue to be dedicated to their vision in the face of failure and dismissal.  More fun!

Books Read in April:

"Wizard of the Crow" was big and mythic and interesting and I really wish is had stuck the landing at the end of its 760 pages. It's the story of a fictional modern African nation that must deal with a despot, colonialism, exploitation, and history.  Magic and reason are both employed (sometimes) and it ends up quite often feeling like a myth or a parable in a really interesting way.

"Ordinary Wolves" was a really arresting book.  It told only its own story.  The main character, Cutuk, grows up in an igloo in remote Alaska and then must find his place inside or outside of society.  He hunts, he moves to Anchorage, he moves back to the tundra. He has people that he looks up to and those he fears.  A good coming-of-age narrative, but with a unique perspective on the world.

"Tongues" was a graphic novel that retells the Promethean myth with a post-apocalyptic bent.  It was interesting enough that I'll read volume 2 when it arrives, but I wasn't blown away.

 

 

Cup of Coffee

May 5, 2025: Outage/Outrage

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I mentioned recently I was on a bidness trip. It was actually a vendor's conference for something interesting they might have coming online relatively soon. Anyway, we were out to dinner, and I forget how it came up, but one of the main contacts we're dealing with expressed his and his family's love for a certain dick baseball player that's been exiled in Japan for the last few years because no MLB team will sign him. I later told my boss the despite the potential millions in revenue we could get, we need to cut off all contact with them immediately. She disagreed.

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of May 4

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ST. PAUL SAINTS 3, COLUMBUS CLIPPERS 2 IN COLUMBUS (10 INNINGS)

Finally able to get a game in, the Saints decided to play a little extra to make it worth their while.  Petey Halpin singles home a run in the second and Will Brennan homered in the third to make it 2-0 Columbus.  But our own Will, Will Holland, homered in the fifth to get St. Paul on the board and Mike Ford singled home a run in the sixth to tie it 2-2.  It stayed there until the tenth, when a sacrifice fly plated Manfred Man Anthony Prato.  Columbus was retired in order in the bottom of the inning and the good guys won.  Columbus has twelve hits, but stranded thirteen and went 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.

Batters:  Ryan Fitzgerald was 2-for-4.  Will Holland hit a home run.

Pitchers:  Zebby Matthews struck out five in four innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and two walks.  Michael Tonkin (remember him?) struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Darren McCaughan pitched three shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out two.  Brady Feigl struck out two in a perfect ninth.

Opponents:  Johnathan Rodriguez was 4-for-5 with a double.  Will Brennan was 3-for-4 with a home run (his third) and a walk.  Kody Huff was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a run.  Petey Halpin was 2-for-5 with an RBI.  Parker Messick struck out nine in five innings, giving up two runs on three hits and three walks.  Zak Kent struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

Stats:  Anthony Prato is batting .340 with an OPS of .941.  Ryan Fitzgerald is batting .330 with an OPS of .931.  Carson McCusker is batting .319 with an OPS of .991.  Will Holland has an OPS of 1.000.  Jeferson Morales has an OPS of .858.  Mike Ford has an OPS of .824.  Darren McCaughan and Brady Feigl each has an ERA of zero.  Zebby Matthews has an ERA of 2.30.

Record:  St. Paul is 15-14, in fourth place, three games behind Memphis.

FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS 6, WICHITA WIND SURGE 1 IN FRISCO

Keyber Rodriguez singled home a run in the first and tripled one home in the third to give Frisco a 2-0 lead.  Rubel Cespedes had an RBI single to get Wichita on the board.  It was all Frisco from there, however, as they got two in the sixth and Luis Mieses hit a two-run single in the eighth.  As Mr. Jinx used to say, "I hate those Mieses to pieces!"

Batters:  Tyler Dearden was 2-for-3.  Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Pitchers:  Christian MacLeod pitched three innings, giving up two runs on five hits and no walks and striking out one.  John Stankiewicz struck out two in 1.1 scoreless innings.

Opponents:  Keyber Rodriguez was 3-for-4 with a triple, two RBIs, and a run.  Luis Mieses was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.  Sebastian Walcott was 2-for-4 with two runs.  Florencio Serrano pitched three perfect innings, striking out one.  Ryan Lobus struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.  Larson Kindreich pitched two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Stats:  Tyler Dearden is batting .327 with an OPS of .858.  Kyler Fedco has an OPS of .989.  Aaron Sabato has an OPS of .876.  Mike Paredes has an ERA of 0.77.  Christian MacLeod has an ERA of 2.00.  John Stankiewicz has an ERA of 3.18.  Angel Macuare has an ERA of 3.27.

Record:  Wichita is 15-12, tied for second with Arkansas, one game behind Northwest Arkansas.

CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 9, SOUTH BEND CUBS 1 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

Carter Trice put the Cubs ahead in a trice, delivering a first-inning RBI single.  Kaelen Culpepper homered in the third to tie it 1-1 and Kevin Maitan doubled home a run in the fourth to give Cedar Rapids the lead.  The Kernels then scored five in the fifth on six singles to take control of the game.  Jose Salas hit a two-run double in the eighth.

Batters:  Khadim Diaw was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.  Nate Baez was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run.  Kaelen Culpepper was 2-for-5 with a home run (his second) and two runs.

Pitchers:  Jeremy Lee pitched five innings, giving up one run on five hits and no walks and striking out four.  Spencer Bengard pitched four shutout innings, giving up four hits and no walks and striking out two.

Opponents:  Carter Trice was 2-for-3 with an RBI.  Ivan Brethowr was 2-for-4.  Reginald Preciado was 2-for-4.  South Bend doesn't win much, but they have some players with cool names.

Stats:  Jose Salas is batting .400 with an OPS of 1.000.  Nate Baez is batting .351 with an OPS of .988.  Kaelen Culpepper is batting .345 with an OPS of .932.  Kevin Maitan is batting .316 with an OPS of .922.  Kyle DeBarge has an OPS of .910.  Danny De Andrade has an OPS of .826.  Khadim Diaw has an OPS of .807.  Spencer Bengard has an ERA of 3.45.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 17-9, in second place, one game behind Quad Cities.

TAMPA TARPONS 12, FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 4 IN TAMPA

It started well.  Fort Myers took a 4-0 lead in the second on two-run homers by Miguel Briceno and Jefferson Valladares.  But Tampa matched them with a four-run third, took the lead with two in the fourth, added one more in the fifth, and put the game out of reach with a five-run seventh.  Each team made four errors, but Fort Myers went 2-for-17 with men in scoring position.  Twins Baseball!

Batters:  Jay Thomason was 2-for-5 with two doubles and a run.  Miguel Briceno was 1-for-3 with a two-run homer and a walk.  Jefferson Valladares was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer.

Pitchers:  Starter Dylan Questad struck out five in three innings, but allowed four runs on six hits and a walk.  Xavier Kolhasser struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.

Opponents:  Owen Cobb was 3-for-4 with a double, three runs, and two RBIs.  Engelth Urena was 3-for-5 with two doubles and a run.  Marshall Toole was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs.  Juan Matheus was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Dillon Lewis was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.  Cade Austin pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.

Stats:  Jay Thomason has an OPS of .989.  Zander Sechrist has an ERA of 2.50.  Kade Bragg has an ERA of 3.00.  Dylan Questad has an ERA of 3.38.

Record:  Fort Myers is 14-13, in fourth place, one game behind Clearwater, Dunedin, and Lakeland.

TODAY'S TILT

11:00  FCL Twins at FCL Pirates

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 5

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Chief Bender (1884)
Bob Cerv (1926)
Bing Russell (1926)
Red Robbins (1928)
Jose Pagan (1935)
Tommy Helms (1941)
John Donaldson (1943)
Larry Hisle (1947)
Joe Angel (1948)
Ron Oester (1956)
Charles Nagy (1967)
Hideki Irabu (1969)
Mike Redmond (1971)

Better known for his role as Deputy Clem Foster on “Bonanza”, outfielder Bing Russell played minor league baseball from 1948-1949.  He is the father of actor (and minor league player) Kurt Russell and the grandfather of major league player Matt Franco.

Spencer “Red” Robbins was a minor league player for fourteen years.  He then spent many years in the Twins’ organization, most of them as a scout (1963-1986).

Joe Angel was a broadcaster for the Twins from 1984-1986.

Today we also salute Colby Mayo, Eddie Mayo, Jackie Mayo, and Mayo Smith.  Sadly, there has never been a major league ballplayer named "Cinco".  However, baseball-reference.com says that Johnny Cueto's nickname is Cinco.

 We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Rhubarb_Runner.

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