Cup of Coffee

March 26, 2014: Dispersal

74 Comments

Once again, the major leaguers are heading out of town just as I'm getting to know some of them. On the upside, baseball!

Does it seem like it snuck up on people more than usual? Maybe tempered expectations do that.

74 thoughts on “March 26, 2014: Dispersal”

    1. Jeez, Babe think you could show a little more hustle running to first? Surprised the Yankees didn't ship him off to the Philadelphia Athletics.

      1. Somewhere, Honus Wagner and Nap Lajoie were probably complaining about how modern players like Ruth had no respect for the game.

  3. Here's a shock. An injured Twin to be out longer than originally expected. Buxton to miss the start of the season with an injured wrist, but an MRI showed no structural damage. I'm wondering which coach/head honcho starts giving not so subtle hints that Buxton should just rub some dirt on it and learn to deal with a little pain just before the surgery is announced.

  4. Mauer batting second today with Suzuki seventh and Kubel third playing LF and Willingham DHing. Just who made out this lineup today? It makes way too much sense.

      1. I believe the correct terminology is that you "fired it through the Internet" to him.

  6. WGOM Music Aficionados
    /paging free, hj, AMR, Bootsy, DK, nibbish, dw, FTLT, DPWY, DG, Scot, et al./

    Seeing as how participation in The Current's March Madness (bracket of bands) is ongoing and results are announced Friday, it didn't make sense to wait until FMD to link. Even if you don't care to vote, I had a fun time running through the list.

    1. the REM/The Replacements vote was a lot closer than I would have imagined from The Current listeners.

          1. Yeah, I'd have GBV, Pavement, The Wedding Present, and Built to Spill in my NIT final four.

        3. If I filled out a bracket, my Sweet 16 would look similar, except I would have a Black Keys-Chuck Berry matchup.

      2. Agreed.
        There are a lot of bands from the WGOM Desert Island Twenty* "competing" so I'm sure we'll see quite a few more peculiarities.

        *Probably a fair cross-section of the musical tastes of The Current listeners

      3. Also they didn't give totals but 751-749 would give you the 50.14% to 49.86% split listed in the Replacements-REM contest.

    3. I love the idea. Even voted in the first handful of match-ups. Then I realized they had set it up so artists were facing "like kind" based on the categories they came up with. It made listening really tedious, since you'd get a whole bunch of "90's college rock" for 2 or 3 hours, and then they'd switch to hip-hop for 3 hours, or whatever. I think that's just a tremendous programing mistake, and I've tuned out for a while.

      Also, I think some of these results are just simply absurd. But that's an issue with listeners, not programming.

    4. /paging free, hj, AMR, Bootsy, DK, nibbish, dw, FTLT, DPWY, DG, Scot, et al./

      Hrm, chopped liver, eh.

      1. Dang, I knew I'd forgotten an important contributor to the local music scene. Sincerest apologies printer - just ran through a mental list of regular FMD posters - no offense meant, I assure you.

    5. This makes me think we should do some sort of WGOM March Madness bracket. Just 64 different WGOM "things" from the past year. Anyone can nominate anything to be added to the bracket - bands or shows we talk about, specific baseball games or plays that are memorable, great recipes, examples of half-bakedness, etc.

      Maybe that's not a thing people would want, but if there's some sort of interest in it, I'd tentatively be willing to do the labor for it. Next year at around this time.

        1. A Final Four based on my dad

          Things Tucked into Jeans v.
          War Books

          Hoosiers v.
          Brother with no kids & a sports car

          ==============

          Hoosiers
          War Books

          1. A Final Four based on my dad

            Pistachios v.
            Grilling during a Blizzard

            Spearing Northerns in the Ice-House v.
            Deer Hunting in Itasca State Park
            ==============
            Grilling during a Blizzard
            Deer Hunting in Itasca State Park

            1. My dad:

              Getting to Airport 5 Hours Early v.
              War Books

              Awkward Texting v.
              Conversations about Gutters

              Getting to Airport 5 Hours Early ekes out a close victory

              1. My dad:

                Sweatpants With Paint On Them v.
                Lowes

                Actually Uses Highway Mile Markers v.
                Conversations A Gutters

                Sweatpants With Paint On Them finishes in dominating fashion, having earlier beat out Napping On The Floor.

                1. Actually Uses Highway Mile Markers

                  There's a stretch of state highway in Indiana that's an official odometer check stretch. It's a very precisely measured 5 miles or something like that. Dad makes a point of taking that whenever possible when we're back in Indiana.

        3. Final Four from my father:

          Napping on the floor (after narrowly defeating things tucked into jeans in the Sweet Sixteen)
          Lower back stuff
          Awkward texting
          Comcast-issued email address

          ====
          Napping on the floor
          Awkward texting

        1. Roots over PE was pretty bad.

          You're just baiting me with that Smiths comment aren't you.

  8. Whoa, a plunking war has broken out during a Twins game. That doesnt happen too often.

  9. After yesterday's hiatus (another long-delayed airline flight)...

    ID the AU -- identify the Twins player (current or former) who would put this signature on his contract extension
    AU

    'Hint' SelectShow
    Answer SelectShow

    2. I got it! And while it wasn't necessarily the hardest in the series, it wasn't exactly a gimme, either.

  10. Sunderland - Liverpool in 40 minutes, get excited!

    From the BBC, after lineups were announced: "It looks like Sunderland have not only parked the bus, they have popped the tires, set it on fire and used it as the basis for a flaming barricade at Anfield."

    3 centerbacks, 2 defensive midfielders. I might just skip this one.

    1. I'm not sure if that or Big Sam's West Ham v. Hull City sounds less appealing. I'll probably watch Liverpool-S'land just because I have Suarez as my fantasy captain.

    2. Man, Stevie G had all sorts of space to shoot at. I'm not sure where that wall was supposed to be, or why the keeper shuffled slightly to his right.

    1. I'm kind of sad to see him go, and it would be nice if he slipped through so they could send him to Rochester, but I can't say it's a bad move.

  13. Yesterday, the Twins starting pitcher threw three innings. Today the Twins starting pitcher threw four innings. It seems to me that if the Twins don't stretch their starters out in March, they don't really have much room to complain if those starters aren't ready to go deep into games in April.

  15. Joe Poz on the Sixers' losing streak, but part of it seemed appropos for my other favorite NBA team:

    The NBA, more than any other sports league I think, discourages mediocrity. Do or do not, there is no try. The worst thing you can be in pro basketball is a team that fights (and often loses out) on the eighth playoff spot. There’s no escaping that wash cycle. There are so few ways to improve in the NBA, so few opportunities to get one of those handful of players who can make your team a viable championship contender. Being in the middle means getting too low a draft pick, and thus, prospective free agents will mostly skip right over you.

  16. I don't even know what to say except that I think I actually miss the opaque non-answer answers from TR.

    Phil Miller‏@MillerStrib ·
    Asst GM Rob Antony: We planned for higher payroll than $85M, but FA position players signed elsewhere. "We were trying to give money away."

        1. We're raising money for an addition to the Gettysburg church, if they're really interested in giving some away.

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