44 thoughts on “August 18, 2016: Putting Weird Things In Coffee”

      1. I think it had a green background, with maybe his mug and a bunch of baseballs-like-snowflakes. Since last season? Huh. First I can remember seeing it.

    2. Some people are really into Coke (my girlfriend drinks more of it than I drink coffee), but I just don’t get it. It’s a brown liquid of nonspecific flavour, with bubbles added so that every sip is an IOU for a burp or a fart.

  3. Lineup, 5 years ago today

    Revere, CF
    Plouffe, 2B
    Mauer, RF
    Morneau, 1B
    Thome, DH
    Valencia, 3B
    Tosoni, LF
    Nishioka, SS
    Butera, C

    Duensing SP

    Side note SelectShow

    1. I wish Mauer would've had more opportunity to play right field before moving to first. I don't know how his range would've faired, but his arm would've been awesome out there.

      1. His range couldn't be much worse than Cuddyer or Willingham or Parmelee or Colabello. I'm glad the next few years should be an above average defensive outfield though.

        1. I suspect Mauer would've been better in right than Sano, too.

          Dido on the optimism for the outfield alignment over the next few years.

      2. If Sano has to DH most of the time until Plouffe is traded, I would rather have Mauer in the OF and Vargas at 1B than Grossman/Santana in the OF and one of Vargas or Mauer on the bench. You would think with the improvement that Vargas had shown at the plate, especially in his patience, that they would want to reward that. Plus, as good as Grossman has been at the plate, he's been brutal in left field.

  4. Some anecdotal evidence led me to track down the following data:

    '16 Home OPS: .765
    '16 Away OPS: .839

    '15 Home OPS: .697
    '15 Away OPS: .740

    '14 Home OPS: .734
    '14 Away OPS: .731
    (but Home tOPS = 108, Away tOPS= 115)

    '13 Home OPS: 861
    '13 Away OPS: .901

    Hypothesized: Joe Mauer is a good parent.

      1. Thought about that. Didn't look it up. Thanks for doing that.

        Seems like it still doesn't account for that big a difference in OPS, right?

        1. A difference of 40-74 points of OPS does seem like there might be more going on than just park factor. I'm not sure what specific conclusions we can draw from this data other than Mauer has been struggling at home over the last two years and had fared poorly at Target Field in other seasons, too.

          Year/Location OBP SLG ISO BABIP tOPS+
          2016 Home .388 .377 .094 .324 91
          2016 Away .379 .460 .175 .329 109
          2015 Home .326 .370 .117 .282 94
          2015 Away .350 .390 .113 .338 106
          2014 Home .364 .370 .092 .328 101
          2014 Away .358 .373 .097 .356 100
          2013 Home .397 .464 .141 .376 96
          2013 Away .411 .490 .166 .392 105
          2012 Home .426 .452 .110 .409 104
          2012 Away .405 .439 .144 .320 96
          2011 Home .358 .350 .057 .326 95
          2011 Away .363 .388 .107 .310 106
          2010 Home .406 .406 .092 336 88
          2010 Away .399 .524 .151 .359 111

          1. Probably not many conclusions to draw, but it's certainly interesting. Thanks for looking back even further (and putting it into a nice table!).

          2. In 2009, Mauer had a lot of inside-out home runs to left-center field, and I wonder if similar balls are being caught at Target Field. It feels like it's easier to shift on him at Target Field, though that's anecdotal.

            1. Left field seems like where the ball travels best at Target Field, however. Mauer does have better career numbers under roofs (both dome and retractable) than open. He also has hit better at night than day. I wonder if this talk of being bothered by sunlight was more than just because of the concussion and perhaps the sunlight problem has been amplified at Target Field. Plus, the Twins play a lot more day games at Target Field than they did at the Metrodome.

  5. Made a visit to the new Modist brewery in the North Loop the other day. Had the Smoove and the First Call, which would make a dandy breakfast beer. I have a felling I'll be going back.

      1. It's just a few blocks from Target Field, and there is the last businessman's special of the season vs. Detroit next Thursday...

        1. I'd kill for a businessman's special whoutout the crushing heat and humidity of s. Louisiana. Blarf

    2. I am coming down for Twins game next Tuesday. I will have to stop and try a few brews.

      1. I work just a few blocks away, Shoot me an email to my moniker @ comcast dot net, I'd be happy to join you after work/before the game.

    1. I pay no attention to swimming, but wasn't his stupidity common knowledge since around 2008?

    1. Sweet. If someone made another one for South Park, I might never again need to use my own words to express myself.

    1. Strange stat since Twins are below MLB average in number of PAs with based loaded and also number of walks with bases loaded (so control really hasn't been an issue overall). But hey, at least they have him more batters with the bases loaded than they've allowed grand slams (4).

Comments are closed.