Macklemore loses a little bit without a crowd, but I've caught him four times in the last eighteen months and watched him go from the Seventh Street Entry to the mainstage at Soundset. If you're interested and want to see a baseball tie-in, search for his song "My Oh My."
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srp81vkFkEU
(5 votes, average: 6.40 out of 10)
Loading... There's no way I could let my guest week pass without some Craig Finn. This is the song that got me hooked. I guess I really like xylophones.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvPJrvjmr5g
(5 votes, average: 9.40 out of 10)Loading... I could listen to the introduction slowly build for hours.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udWIFQgAcYQ
(9 votes, average: 8.56 out of 10)Loading... I absolutely loved their show at the Fine Line back in March (although I was bummed I couldn't find DK). Their drummer was like Russell Brand except if Russell Brand was amusing to watch.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw7LPxBdB6Y
(6 votes, average: 9.17 out of 10)Loading... I've always dug this N'awrlins band. They remind me of a plugged-in Wilco.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NawFIqLmjKI
(2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)Loading... Caught them last Spring opening for Sharon Jones. Rather than pay Ticketmaster fees, Sheenie offered to go to the State Theater box office forty-five minutes before tickets went on sale. The staff made a big ordeal about how they didn't have time to sort through the system to get people tickets where they wanted (because the State had assigned seating), so to please just take whatever tickets you get (and they all cost the same). Sheenie was handed two tickets in the orchestra pit. We ended up being about three feet from the bari sax. Great stuff.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13QuNrNTEYQ
(8 votes, average: 8.50 out of 10)Loading... Apologies for the delay. I did love the sword fight and watched it twice.
Anyway, I rode yesterday with this song in my head. I also was wearing my old Fashion Nugget shirt and had someone approach me at one of the rest stops and ask if Satan was my motor.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKax7euEM5Q
(4 votes, average: 7.25 out of 10)Loading... I used a random number generator to pick a season from the past with the idea that I would quickly highlight the Twins history that occurred today in that year. The generator sent me to the year 1972.
Twins 4, Yankees 2 - BR Boxscore
Other Twins notes: Just 6,446 fans - the smallest ever to see the Yankees play in Minnesota - attended the game. Bill Hengen of the Minneapolis Star lamented that there simply was no longer a thrill having the Yankees in town because the team was no longer "menacing or arrogant" like in the 1960s.
Kaat and Roof roomed together on the road (along with Bert Blyleven). Kaat and Roof were such good bridge players that teammates Eric Soderholm and LaRoche never allowed the two to be partners.
Other history notes: Without venturing too much into the forbidden zone, the news on this day forty years ago was full of interesting stories for a history nerd. For example, seventeen people were arrested during a protest in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood against both Vietnam and "urban renewal." Also, the Duluth Board of Education announced it was dropping its plans to desegregate the school district that fall because of public pressure. Five different schools in Duluth failed to comply with state guidelines for integration, and the abandoned plan would have required busing 900 more children than the status quo. Sometimes it is hard to believe that school desegregation was an issue a) in Minnesota, and b) eighteen years after Brown v. Board of Education.
Along the same lines, reigning NFL MVP Alan Page was frustrated that he had not received a single endorsement offer during the offseason. Quarterback Fran Tarkenton, on the other hand, received an offer "just seven minutes after the season" (whatever that means). The Minneapolis Star worried that Page was being harmed because of his race.
I used a random number generator to pick a season from the past with the idea that I would quickly highlight the Twins history that occurred today in that year. The generator sent me to the year 2004.
Detroit 6, Twins 5 (10 innings) - BR boxscore
The Tigers won the rubber-match of a three game series to improve to 5-1 on the early season defeating the Twins in 10 innings (after ending the previous season with just 43 wins). The Twins rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to tie the game 5-5 before losing. The Twins stranded at least two runners in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth innings. Henry Blanco tied the game in the eighth inning with an RBI double, but he was thrown out easily trying to reach third base. Gleeman wrote, "The throw beat Blanco to the bag by about 10 feet and Blanco went 'sliding' into third with some sort of belly flow/somersault combination." The following batter, Cristian Guzman, doubled but was stranded when Nick Punto struck out to end the inning.
Asked about his aggressive baserunning after the game, Blanco explained, "I was out of gas. . . . I was trying to see what could happen. Nothing happened." He added, "Seems like every time you make a mistake on the bases, the next guy gets a hit and you pay for it." Ron Gardenhire did not criticize Blanco's decision. "The play's in front of him, and he's trying to play the game," Gardenhire said. "We don't knock guys for trying to be aggressive."
In perhaps the least surprising quote in the history of quotes, Ron Gardenhire lamented, "We didn't get it done. We were battling. We were getting after it. They were getting after it." [ed. note: I swear on my life this is a verbatim quote from the Strib.]
The Tigers scored their first run when Craig Monroe scored all the way from first base when Lew Ford misplayed a Carlos Pena single. Later, they scored the winning run when Joe Roa issued a one-out walk to Rondell White (aka The Insanity). White was removed for pinch-runner Andres Torres who stole second base and then scored on Monroe's game-winning single. "A game-winning single like that -- I can't describe how good it felt," Monroe said. "I'd never done anything like that before up here."
Joe Nathan did not pitch in the game, but he had pitched in four of the first five games of the season. In fact, through the sixth game, Nathan, Roa, J.C. Romero, and Carlos Pulido had each appeared four times and Juan Rincon and Aaron Fultz had made five appearances.
Johan Santana lasted just five innings (and had thrown only nine innings in his first two starts). He allowed a homerun to Pena in the fourth inning - his first homerun allowed to a left-handed batter in 70.1 innings dating back to the previous season. Santana struggled to retire hitters once he reached two strikes. In fact, Gleeman documented that Santana threw 32 pitches in his five innings after already having two strikes on the opposing batter.
Other Twins notes: The Twins signed Joe Beimel to a minor-league contract that day and assigned him to Rochester. Beimel had a pathetic cup-of-coffee with the Twins in September, but then put together some pretty decent years after leaving the organization. The loss was the team's third of the season. In all three games, they had scored at least four runs.
A front-page story focused on the likely inability of the Twins and Vikings to contribute more than 25% to the cost of their new stadiums. The Twins explained that paying for a large-chunk of the cost "could impair the club's ability to field a competitive team." A stadium bill working its way through the legislature at the time would require the Twins to contribute one-third of the cost - an estimated $150 million - to the final stadium.
GM Terry Ryan expressed some concern that Joe Mays, after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September, was trying to rush his rehab. "We've got to slow him down some," Ryan said.
Blanco was playing because Mauer had been attacked by the warning track behind the plate in the Metrodome and Matthew LeCroy strained his oblique. Through his first fifteen plate appearances, Blanco somehow had hit 267/467/733.
I used a random number generator to pick a season from the past with the idea that I would quickly highlight the Twins history that occurred today in that year. The generator sent me to the year 1993.
On this date in 1993, pitchers and catchers had reported to Ft. Myers but position players were not expected for another four days. However, forty-one year old Dave Winfield, the big off-season acquisition for the Twins, reported to camp. The only two regulars who were not in Ft. Myers by this point were Pedro Munoz (expected tomorrow) and Scott Erickson who was attending a wedding.
Winfield brought a first-basemen's mitt with him to camp despite having only played ten innings in his entire career - all in 1978 - at the position. Tom Kelly told the media that he anticipated that Kent Hrbek would play 120 games at first base in 1993 with his other appearances being at DH while Winfield would play about 120 games at DH with his other games at either first base or right field.* Winfield told reporters that he had not picked up a bat the entire offseason, but worked out often to remain in shape.
*Winfield would play just thirty-two innings at first base during the regular season. Hrbek started 110 games at first base that year with David McCarty, Gene Larkin and Terry Jorgensen each making more appearances at first base than Winfield.
Winfield had driven in the game-winning run in Game 7 of the previous World Series for Toronto, and Kelly expected another strong offensive season from Winfield. When asked if Winfield's performance would decrease because of his age, Kelly said, "If he had a decline last year from the previous year, then you might be able to say that. But he was in a good lineup and we feel we have pretty much the same kind of lineup, where he should be just as productive. Even if he does tail off a little bit, those would still be pretty good numbers."*
*While Winfield would record his 3,000th hit that season, his OPS dropped 100 points, his OPS+ dropped from 137 to 105, and his WAR dropped almost four wins to replacement level.
Besides the addition of Winfield, another hot topic was Tom Kelly's discussion about Kirby Puckett's future. Kelly suggested that he might transition Puckett to right field over the course of the season. In typical Kelly double-speak, he rambled, "I'd always consider it. I'm going to talk to him about it. If he wants to move I might move him. But then I might not. It wouldn't seem right. It just doesn't seem like the Twins if you move him from there. It's like a peanut butter sandwich - you're supposed to have jelly."*
*Kelly did eventually move Puckett to right field over the course of the season, and Puckett would start just three games in center field after 1993. The move occurred over the All-Star Break as Puckett started just three games in centerfield over the next two months. Curiously, he then shifted back to centerfield for his final sixteen starts in September.
The organization prided itself on its focus on simplicity and working hard. Having won at least ninety games in each of the previous two seasons, and a World Series title, the Twins expected to compete in the AL West again. Still, the front office conceded that its success hinged on young pitching.
"The top three [of Scott Erickson, Kevin Tapani, and Jim Deshaies] I think will be fine," VP of Player Personnel Terry Ryan said. "Whether or not the other three guys [Pat Mahomes, Willie Banks, and Mike Trombley] will provide us with solid fourth and fifth starters is the big question. If they give us consistency at that four spot then we're certainly going to be competitive. Any time you throw our offense out there, then we're going to be OK."
The team also planned to realign the left side of its infield as Scott Leius attempted to shift from third base to shortstop while Terry Jorgensen would start at third base.* The Twins also suggested that they were attempted to acquire Dave Hansen from the Dodgers to work into the third base logjam. Discussing the rotation and lineup, Ryan explained, "We have some question marks on the left side of our infield, and we are awfully righthanded, both on the mound and with our bats. But I think we'll show that if you can hit, it doesn't matter whether you bat right or left."
*Leius only played in eight games that season and Pat Meares took over at SS during the year. Jorgensen struggled at third while splitting time with Mike Pagliarulo and Jeff Reboulet.