not a whole lot of superchunk covers out there. i am not playing "the milwaukee song" by jewel. so, here's some advice for the twins from some wis-connie boys on what to do with the scoreboard while they're in town. you know, cause they seem to have forgotten while they were in san fran...
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CPIJONNkNg
1984
(some NSFWish lines towards the beginning)
(4 votes, average: 8.75 out of 10)
Loading... 2:45 Central? What kind of goofy game time is that? Programming Note: This is the MLB.tv free game of the day.
The Dunce 4-6, 74.2 IP, 4.82 ERA, 3.59 FIP, 3.96 xFIP, 1.3 WAR
The Freak 5-6, 98.1 IP, 3.39 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 3.07 xFIP, 2.2 WAR
You know, I saw some mainstream junk asking what Lincecum(5-6)'s problem was this year, and I gotta tell ya: looks like the answer is "nothing." Score some runs for him, and he'll beat the other team every time. He's again on pace to throw a total buttload of innings; how long is that arm going to hold out? Is he that once-in-a-generation guy who can do that? I hope so, 'cause I always liked him.
Meanwhile, Duensing also has been better than his mainstream numbers suggest, though certainly nowhere near as good as Lincecum. This isn't a game to be betting on the Twins, though it would be nice to steal a win before the Wolves amuse and depress us all at another draft tonight.
Two more days until Thome and Twitchy are back, right? I've been trying not to say "When the Twins are all healthy" because I'm not convinced it's ever going to happen, but wouldn't it be awesome?
LP: Nick BlacKburn. WP: Voglesong
Save? Nope, but a closer did pitch in the game !ONE!O!N!O!N!O!N!Nnnnn
Over the last one game the Twins are 0-1. While that may be upsetting to some, if we back up a bit you'll see that over our last two games we're 1-1. That's right fellas, the Twins have been playing .500 baseball for 2 days. Awesome.
We all knew that the Twins win streak would have to come to a close sometime. Unfortunately, that time was wednesday night. Blackburn didn't pitch awfully, allowing 4 hits over 6 innings, but he did walk 3 and the hits he allowed were loud. 3/4 of our infield committed an error last night, so, yeah, the defense was sloppy to say the least. The offense was worse, mustering only 4 hits off Voglesong. But, don't let this get you down. The local nine have played exceptional baseball of the last month. I haven't had this much fun watching baseball since the race down the stretch in '06. So, for today, I'm going to stay positive.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyMal2onfuM
Art: I love hanging out in San Francisco, there are a ton of galleries and museums showing excellent work. The SFMOMA holds a world class collection of modern and contemporary art. Just across the street from the SFMOMA lies the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts where they focus on big ideas, long contemplative conversations, and community interaction through art. I love the YBCA. Down in Golden Gate Park you have the de Young Museum which was recently renovated, and has a stunning observatory. If you happen to be in the bay area before July 17th, I would recommend you stop by the de Young and view Rupert Garcia: The Magnolia Editions Projects 1991–2011. Magnolia Editions, a fine art printmaking workshop, has been around a long time producing extremely good art that is extraordinarily well crafted. Speaking of printmaking, Crown Point Press is also located in San Francisco. Almost single handedly, they raised the bar for fine art etching and intaglio in America. Considered the leader in the etching revival, they published early print works by Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, and later threw their support behind the conceptual artists of the late 1970s. After stopping by these printshops you find yourself with a hankering to pull a few prints of your own you can stop by Griffin Press Co. in Oaktown and pick up one of the more beautiful and indestructible presses ever built. Oh, yeah, they're really, really heavy. And after you've made your first print you'll want to have a beer, why not stop in to the Magnolia Pub? Yeah, it's in the haight, you'll never get the smell of patchouli out of your clothes, but the beer is definitely worth the risk.
Jobu, I am not attempting to play another barrel full of monkeys covers game. I am just ripping off your idea of songs including the citiy the Twins are playing in.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm_6tNpUk-Q
After today the Twins come back from San Francisco. Well, back to Milwaukee.
(2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)Loading... Nick Blackburn 6-4, 91 IP, 3.16 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 3.82 xFIP, 0.6 WAR
Ryan Vogelsong 4-1, 64.2 IP, 1.92 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 3.37 xFIP, 1.5 WAR
If you find yourself looking at these numbers and saying, "What the hell is a Ryan Vogelsong?", you're not alone. Although his name seems only vaguely familiar to me, he's actually a couple of months older than I am and he's been kicking around pitching "meh" baseball for seven years now. From 2003-2006 he pitched rather poorly for the Pirates, then completely disappeared until last year when he pitched not so well for the Phillies AAA team, then was traded and pitched not particularly well for the Angels AAA team. So, naturally, now he's an effective starter for the defending champions.
Blackburn is an enigma as well, putting together a season (and, I suppose, a career) that I never saw coming. The Twins are now just seven games under .500 and six and a half games out of first after one of their best stretches ever, and although this is the kind of game that would have filled me with dread a few weeks ago, I'm finding it harder and harder to be pessimistic.
Keep it rolling, boys.
Well this sure was fun. The game started as I left my office, and by the time I got to my car it was already decided.
In the top of the first the Twins decided to celebrate the summer solstace by not making outs. This plan was, of course, ruined by Pavano's strike out and Joe GIDPer hitting into yet another double play. When all was said and done, the Twins tagged Madison Bumgarner for 9 hits, and 8 runs. He pitched one third of an inning. Yikes.
With a lot of room for error, Pavano pitched an efficient game. Thankfully he pitched much better than he hit batted. You chose the right profession, Carl. The game was essentially on cruise control until the 9th when Alexi "Babe Ruth" Casilla muscled up and hit his second homer in the last two games. If you extrapolate that out over the rest of the season, methinks Alexi will be in the running for MVP.
Eight wins in a row, three of them against the teams in last year's World Series, and two against the South Siders? Twins baseball is fun again. I am still surprised every time I see that they're under .500 on account of how good they've been playing. I'm thinking this is going to be a fun summer.
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 9, San Francisco Giants 2
Twins Record: 32-39, 6.5 GB in the AL Central. Do you suppose the Tigers & Native Persons hear footsteps yet?
WP: Carl Pavano (5-5) | LP: Madison Bumgarner (3-9)
Madison Bumgarner's Game Score Last Night? 2.
don't stop now, boys! (i died a little inside after saying that)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wex7Pk76ynQ
that gentleman behind mr. burdon seems to be confusing his stratocaster for an acoustic...
(8 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... @
Are we having fun yet?
No matter what arbitrary end points you chose the Minnesota Twins have been playing pretty good baseball as of late. They have won 6 in a row-- 9 of 10-- 14 of 16-- well, if you go back much further than June 1st it doesn't look too good but you get my point. The Minnesota Twins are starting to do what many predicted them to do at the start of the season, be a winning team with aspirations of a division title. This isn't new information to anyone here, of course.
If the Twins do the unexpected and climb back from from 16 or so games back from the division lead to claim the AL Central title there is going to be a ton of revisionist history claiming this team got hot once star players like Joe Mauer, Jason Kubel, Jim Thome, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Glen Perkins (heh), Justin Morneau, Denard Span, Kevin Slowey, and Joe Nathan all returned to the line up from injury. Only then did this team start to live up to its expectations. I am just here to remind everyone the following players are the ones who trimmed the division lead down to 7.5:
Ben Revere, Rene Tosoni, Brian Dinkelman, Matt Tolbert, Rene Rivera, Drew Butera, Luke Hughes, Jason Repko, Trevor Plouffe!, Anthony Sleestak, Phil Dumatrait, Chuck James, Eric Hacker, and well, not so much Jim Hoey.
Just remember Brian Dinkelman when Reusse complains on the radio in September saying this team had no chance until their players got healthy. Remember Rene Tosoni when Souhan says the Twins would have won the division by 15 games if Joe Mauer wasn't such a wuss. Remember Chuck James when the Twins prepare to face the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs, again.
Summer starts today and the Twins are looking good.
I don't know about you but this is starting to get fun.
Mags sent me a request a little while back, this is me coming through on that. His words below:
The Foo Fighters live in some dude's garage. If Dave Grohl wasn't already #1 on my list of "rock stars who seem like cool dudes and I want to hang out with", this definitely would have put him there.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWciVk_-5eo&feature=youtu.be
Happy Birthday, buddy.
(6 votes, average: 8.83 out of 10)Loading... something to soothe those sore necks and ringing ears.
1996
seriously though, great stuff, cheaptoy. we need that every now and then. kind of like a forest fire (arizona excepted).
(5 votes, average: 8.20 out of 10)Loading...