Game 23: Timberwolves @ New Jersey. 6pm

*** ALERT ALERT *** SIX pm East Coast start

There is no local TV for this game, so once again I will follow the action on the radio with Alan Horton ( @WolvesRadio on the Twitter machine! He is actually a good follow because he throws out awesome stats during timeouts/halftime of the game and post game stats afterward).

I gotta be honest, I dont know a whole lot about the Nets. They have a bunch of injuries and Kris Humphries plays for them. I also thought they were moving to Brooklyn and they are owned by a Russian billionaire who might run for President of Russia (good luck beating Putin!). Daron Williams plays for them and is the leading scorer at 20 per, and hasnt run coach Avery Johnson out of town (yet). The Nets are also rated 3rd to last in points given up (98.8 p/g)

The Wolves are looking for a victory after getting the snot kicked out of them by the Pacers. I hope Pek! starts tonight.

Australian League Playoffs

Melbourne 7, Sydney 2.  The Aces scored three in the second to break a 2-2 tie and added two in the fifth to put away the victory.  Kevin David led Melbourne with a pair of doubles.  Brad Harman singled and doubled.  Ex-Twin Justin Huber hit a two-run homer and drove in three for the game.  Kevin Reese relieved to start the third inning and worked five shutout frames, striking out four while giving up six hits to get the win.  The Blue Sox were led by Boss Moanaroa, who had two singles and a double.  Chris Oxspring took the loss, allowing seven runs (six earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out six in five innings.  Joshua Hendricks was 1-for-4 for Melbourne and scored once.  Jacob Younis was 0-for-4 for Sydney.  The best-of-five series is tied at one game apiece.  The winner will play Perth for the championship.

Friday Fungoes: Favorites

I suppose some may quibble with this statement, but I think the Twins have been fairly judicious when it comes to retiring player numbers. Four of the six are Hall of Famers who spent all or significant portions of their career in a Twins uniform, and the other two are franchise players who, while not Hall of Famers, had great careers and have tremendous resonance among fans.

If you ask most Twins fans who their favorite all-time Twins player is, you'd probably stand to receive more answers with a name represented by one of the numbers above than any other name. While that's all well and good, I think the more interesting answers are the unexpected players who get mentioned. With that in mind, who is your favorite Twin of all time who is not honored with a retired number? If your answer would be a recent player, who is your favorite Twin who hasn't played for the team in the last decade?

Mine is the guy in this photo.

Caribbean Series: Day One

Puerto Rico 3, Venezuela 1.  Ruben Gotay’s two-run single in the second gave Puerto Rico a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish.  Jeff Dominguez singled in a run in the eighth to give Puerto Rico and insurance run.  Dominguez and Gotay each had two hits for Puerto Rico, as did Jesus Feliciano.  Feliciano had the game’s only extra-base hit, a double.  Nelson Figueroa struck out eight in 6.2 innings to get the win, giving up a run on seven hits and two walks.  Saul Rivera gave up two hits but no runs in the ninth, striking out two to get the save.  For Venezuela, Cesar Suarez and Adonis Garcia each had two hits.  Seth Etherton took the loss, striking out seven in 4.1 innings but giving up two runs on five hits and two walks.  Twins who played were Rene Rivera, who was 0-for-3 for Puerto Rico, Nelvin Fuentes, who retired the only man he faced for Puerto Rico, and Pedro Guerra, who struck out two in one inning but gave up an unearned run on a hit and a walk for Venezuela.

Dominican Republic 2, Mexico 1.  Pedro Florimon’s RBI groundout tied the game in the second, and a run scored on a double play in the third to give the Dominican Republic a lead it would never relinquish.  Fernando Tatis of the Dominican Republic was the only player who had two hits in the game.  There were no extra-base hits.  Kris Johnson allowed an unearned run on three hits in five innings while striking out four to get the win.  Jairo Ascencio struck out two in a perfect ninth to get the save.  Luis Mendoza gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings while striking out five to take the loss.  Florimon was the only Twins player to appear in the game, going 0-for-3.

FMD: 2/3/12

I'm down to six days! Random ten music thoughts:

1. Lydia Loveless will be coming back to MN on March 1, opening for the Hackensaw Boys (???) at the Cabooze.
2. I can't imagine I won't be there. I can't imagine you won't want to be there with me. Here's some more music, and a radio interview, to listen to.
3. EAR's birthday is Tuesday, and I'm taking her out on Sunday. It's my tradition to make her a mixdisc for her birthday, and I'm having a hard time putting one together. Probably because I just want to burn her a CD with 13 Lydia Loveless songs on it, only I don't think my wife would dig the cussing and excessive drinking.
4. I also typically make a mixdisc for her and my in-laws of my "Best of" the year pics that weren't on the summer mix, but I'm running up against the cussing problem again with Lydia and the Weeknd.
5. I'm way too obsessed, I want to name this baby girl "Lydia".
6. EAR says no to that because all she can think of is "Lydia the Tattooed Lady"
7. Lydia the pig looks like she could be a barista at Hard Times or some similar coffee joint.
8. Another of my fave-album releasing guitar-playing gurl singers from this past year, Tristen, will be at the Varsity Theater on May 7, opening for Justin Townes Earle.
9. I just cannot stop staring at Tristen's twitter avatar. If I knew this girl, she could wreck my life. I doubt I could say no to her, no matter the request. Hopefully that won't make things awkward for me at her merch table.
T. My mother told me that if she hadn't named me Adam, she was going to go for Tristan. Seriously? Holy crap, I'd be that much further out there, but I'd probably love "Charlatans at the Garden Gate" even more.

Happy Birthday–February 3

Lou Criger (1872)
Slim Sallee (1885)
Larry MacPhail (1890)
Joe Stripp (1903)
Buck Ross (1915)
Dick Tracewski (1935)
Joe Coleman (1947)
Bake McBride (1949)
Fred Lynn (1952)
Ronald Williamson (1953)
Fred Toliver (1961)
Joe Klink (1962)
Scott Klingenbeck (1971)
B. J. Garbe (1981)

Ronald Williamson was a catcher in the Oakland organization from 1971-1973.  In 1988, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.  He was cleared in 1999 through DNA testing and became the subject of John Grisham’s first non-fiction book, “The Innocent Man.”  Williamson passed away from cirrhosis in 2004.

Outfielder B. J. Garbe was chosen by the Twins with the fifth pick of the 1999 draft.  He was with the Twins through 2004, ended his career in 2006, and never got higher than AA.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–February 3

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.