Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 5

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Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

Chief Bender (1884)
Bob Cerv (1926)
Bing Russell (1926)
Red Robbins (1928)
Jose Pagan (1935)
Tommy Helms (1941)
John Donaldson (1943)
Larry Hisle (1947)
Joe Angel (1948)
Ron Oester (1956)
Charles Nagy (1967)
Hideki Irabu (1969)
Mike Redmond (1971)

Better known for his role as Deputy Clem Foster on “Bonanza”, outfielder Bing Russell played minor league baseball from 1948-1949.  He is the father of actor (and minor league player) Kurt Russell and the grandfather of major league player Matt Franco.

Spencer “Red” Robbins was a minor league player for fourteen years.  He then spent many years in the Twins’ organization, most of them as a scout (1963-1986).

Joe Angel was a broadcaster for the Twins from 1984-1986.

Today we also salute Eddie Mayo, Jackie Mayo, and Mayo Smith.  Sadly, there has never been a major league ballplayer named "Cinco".  However, baseball-reference.com says that Johnny Cueto's nickname is Cinco.

 We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mrs. Rhubarb_Runner.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 5 →

2021 Twins Game Logs

2021Game Log 28 – Rangers at Twins

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Twins have been showing some signs of life lately with timely bats and decent starting pitching so why not finally bring Kyle Gibson to the mound to keep that winning streak going. Wait, I'm being told that Kyle Gibson is now pitching for the Rangers and he's been good Gibby?

Yes, Kyle Gibson has a 3.0 record for the Rangers, was their opening day starter and has earned that honor with a dang good season so far. Fun to see him do well but we all know it's time for bad Gibby to show is head sometime so why not tonight?

J.A. Happ for the Twins and he's been a pleasant surprise with a 2.0 record and 1.96 ERA.

Nice night for a ballgame if you can get in. 6:40p start.

Twins Lineup:

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 4

Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.

Charlie Hickman (1876)
Jack Tobin (1892)
John Tsitouris (1936)
Rene Lachemann (1945)
Ken Oberkfell (1956)
Rick Leach (1957)
Tim Tschida (1960)
Eddie Perez (1968)
Joe Borowski (1971)
Miguel Cairo (1974)
Ben Grieve (1976)
Jason Michaels (1976)
Ryan Jorgensen (1979)
Matt Tolbert (1982)
Kevin Slowey (1984)

 St. Paul native Tim Tschida was a major league umpire from 1986-2012.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 4 →

First Monday Book Day

First Monday Book Day – All Unhappy Families

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I started reading Anna Karenina.

I wasn't really planning on it, but Becca Rothfeld invited people to tackle a big long book and have a discussion group with her. Well, I find Rothfeld to be interesting and someone that has a different perspective. A big novel? A group of interesting thoughtful readers? Sign me up!

And then they chose Anna Karenina.

I read the first 10 pages in high school and never really had any inclination to go back to it, but I had recently read that George Saunders book about Russian short stories. And I had enjoyed The Master and Margarita and The Idiot in recent years, so maybe Russian literature could be my thing.

I'm not sure it's my thing.  I'm 550 pages in, I've got 250 to go, and it's a little bit of a slog for me.  The reading group is not quite as interesting of a group as I had hoped (there are some true literature snobs in there - George Saunders is not a serious enough writer for some in this group).  So now I will finish the book this month. There are parts of it that are really really good. I liked the observation someone made about how Tolstoy is pre-Freudian so he could not care less about anyone's backstory or childhood. That tickled me a bit.

Alright, what literature classics have you been accidentally roped into agreeing to read this month? Share it all below.

Minnesota Wild, NHL

Weekly Wild Whangdoodle: Home Ice

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Want to vote for some Minnesota Wild end-of-season awards?

Games this week:

The last four home games of the regular season.  The Wild have really dominated when at home (18-5-1, .771, +29 goal differential).  The only question now is whether these games will matter.

With the win over St. Louis on Saturday, the Wild have guaranteed that they will finish no lower than 3rd in the division.  Getting home ice in the playoffs would require the Wild to either...

  1. Pass Vegas (6 points back, two head to head games remaining) which means Minnesota has to win almost everything and get some help.
  2. Pass the Avalanche (2 points back, no head to head games, Colorado with a game in hand) which means Minnesota has to win almost everything and get some help.

The only way these remaining games matter is if the Wild knock out two regulation wins against Vegas. Anything else means the playoffs will start on the road.

Current Standings:

RankTeamGPPtsMagic Number
1Vegas53775 (division) - 2 (R1 home ice)
2Colorado52746 (R1 home ice)
3Minnesota53730
4St. Louis5257#4 seed clinched
5Arizona5552eliminated
6Los Angeles5248eliminated
7San Jose5448eliminated
8Anaheim5542eliminated

St. Louis will be the #4 seed and will start the playoffs against the division winner.

Kirill Kaprizov Corner

**screams**

Leaderboards

PlayerGPlayerAPlayerPtsPlayerxGAR
Kaprizov27Greenway25Kaprizov49Kaprizov15.2
Fiala20Kaprizov22Fiala39Eriksson Ek12.9
Eriksson Ek19Zuccarello22Zuccarello 33Spurgeon9.4
Zuccarello11Fiala19Greenway31Sturm8.9
Foligno/Sturm10Spurgeon18Eriksson Ek30Foligno8.8

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.