Smashing Pumpkins are really a one album band for me -- but what an album. Easily top 5 for me. There's nothing even approaching weak song on it, and when it's REALLY firing on all cylinders...
Best album opener ever? It's in the mix for me.
(4 votes, average: 9.50 out of 10)
Loading... This is some amazing stuff right here:
Date: Thursday, September 11.
Batting stars: A. J. Pierzynski was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs. Torii Hunter was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Brad Radke pitched a complete game, giving up two runs on nine hits and no walks and striking out five. He threw 126 pitches, the most he would throw in a game all season.
Opposition stars: Jose Valentin was 2-for-4 with a home run (his twenty-fourth) and a stolen base (his sixth). Frank Thomas was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fortieth.
The game: Thomas homered in the first inning to give the White Sox a 1-0 lead. The Twins came back with a big third. Jacque Jones and Pierzynski singled and Cristian Guzman was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out. Shannon Stewart then hit a three-run double-plus-error and Denny Hocking followed with a sacrifice fly, giving the Twins a 4-1 lead.
Chicago opened the fifth with two singles but did not score. The Twins added a run in the sixth when Pierzynski doubled and scored on a Hocking single. The White Sox added a run in the ninth on Valentin's homer, but did not threaten to get back into the game.
WP: Radke (12-10). LP: Esteban Loiaza (19-7). S: None.
Notes: Hocking was at second base in place of Luis Rivas. Stewart was in left and Jones in right. The Twins made no in-game substitutions.
Stewart was 1-for-5 and was batting .312. PIerzynski was batting .306. Doug Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 and was batting .305. Jones was 1-for-4 and was batting .302.
Radke had not walked a man in his last two starts (16 innings). He walked just four in six August starts (38.1 innings). For the season he walked just 28 in 33 starts (212.1 innings). That may not be Carlos Silva, but it's pretty good.
Loaiza pitched seven innings for Chicago, giving up five runs on seven hits and one walk and striking out nine. He pitched very well other than in the third inning, but of course the third inning counts just as much as the other eight.
The win was the Twins' second in a row. It gave them a split in the series and moved them back into a tie for first. The two teams would meet again for three games the next week, bur first the Twins had four games in Cleveland while the White Sox would go to Boston for three. The Royals lost to Cleveland and were starting to fall out of the race.
Record: The Twins were 78-68, tied for first with Chicago in the American League Central. They were 3.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.
Honus Wagner (1874)
Wilbur Cooper (1892)
Del Wilber (1919)
Bubba Phillips (1928)
Jim Rantz (1938)
Wayne Hattaway (1940)
Dave Edwards (1954)
Eddie Murray (1956)
Nick Esasky (1960)
Mike Lowell (1974)
Randy Keisler (1976)
Bronson Arroyo (1977)
Dewayne Wise (1978)
Rob Bowen (1981)
Nick Blackburn (1982)
J. D. Durbin (1982)
Chris Parmelee (1988)
Jim Rantz was in the Twins' organization in some capacity from the birth of the team until his retirement in 2012, serving as farm director from 1986-2012. He was also the winning pitcher in the deciding game of the 1960 College World Series.
Wayne Hattaway joined the Twins organization in 1963 and was been employed by the team as an equipment manager, trainer, or clubhouse attendant, either in the majors or the minors, until his passing in April of 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKeFTOo4NlY
The video doesn't seem keen to embed for some reason?
I'm not always in the mood for Coachwhips, but when I want twenty minutes of maximum volume, redline, speaker blowing scuzz, they might just be the greatest band ever.
Looks like they put on an....intimate live show, too.
(3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)Loading... Yesterday felt like a Thursday. This should be a fun week...
Date: Wednesday, September 10.
Batting stars: Matthew LeCroy was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Shannon Stewart was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Pitching stars: Johan Santana pitched 6.1 innings, giving up one run on six hits and one walk and striking out six. LaTroy Hawkins pitched 1.2 scoreless innings, walking one and striking out one. Eddie Guardado struck out two in a perfect inning.
Opposition stars: Jon Garland pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks and striking out five. Magglio Ordonez was 1-for-2 with a walk.
The game: The White Sox had two on with two out in the first and did not score. That was really the only significant threat until the fifth, when the Twins broke the scoreless tie. Torii Hunter and Corey Koskie singled and A. J. Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. The Twins didn't get a big inning out of it, but sacrifice flies by Cristian Guzman and Stewart put them up 2-0.
In the sixth singles by Tony Graffanino and Frank Thomas were followed by an Ordonez sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1. The Twins got the run back in the seventh when Koskie walked, went to second on a ground out, and scored on Stewart's single.
Chicago put men on second and third with one out in the seventh but did not score. The Twins got an insurance run in the eighth when Doug Mientkiewicz walked and scored from first on LeCroy's double. The White Sox did not get a hit after that and the Twins won 4-1.
WP: Santana (10-3). LP: Jon Garland (11-11). S: Guardado (34).
Notes: Luis Rivas was back at second base. Stewart was in left and Jacque Jones in right. Dustan Mohr pinch-ran for LeCroy in the eighth.
Stewart raised his average to .313. Mientkiewicz was 1-for-3 and was batting .305. Jones was 0-for-4 and was batting .303. Pierzynski was 1-for-3 and was batting .302.
Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.92. Guardado got under three at 2.95.
Having lost the first two of the four game series, the Twins needed this win. They also needed Santana to come up big yet again, and he certainly did. The bullpen, which had been solid all season, was solid again, too.
The win stopped the Twins' two-game losing streak. They would have a chance to split the series and move back into a tie for first the next day. Kansas City won, as they tried to stay in the race.
Record: The Twins were 77-68, in second place in the American League Central, one game behind Chicago. They were 2.5 games ahead of third-place Kansas City.
Barney Dreyfuss (1865)
Paul Cobb (1888)
Roy Johnson (1903)
Ray Brown (1908)
Mike Tresh (1914)
Elston Howard (1929)
Ron Hunt (1941)
Ken Boswell (1946)
Juan Agosto (1958)
John Shelby (1958)
Bobby Bonilla (1963)
Rondell White (1972)
Scott Elarton (1976)
Edgar Gonzalez (1983)
Barney Dreyfuss was the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1900-1932.
The brother of Ty Cobb, John Paul Cobb (known by his middle name), played in over a thousand minor league games over ten years, batting .283.
Ray Brown was a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues from 1931-1945.
Man, these guys had some bangers.
Newbish loves "One More Time" (thanks, Trolls soundtrack!) and it's definitely a song that I haven'tinded hearing a lot of over the past few months.
(4 votes, average: 4.75 out of 10)Loading... A Monday night game threw off my schedule. Here's a whangdoodle.
14 games represents 25% of the scheduled season, so we're now into the second half of the first half. Other than Eriksson Ek still leading the team in goals scored, I think this team has been pretty much as expected.
This week's schedule:
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We have to be almost done with the Kings at this point, right?
LA won three in a row last week to vault to the top of the bottom of the West standings - Minnesota's sweep of Anaheim puts them with the best points percentage, but the fewest games played. Separation remains difficult for this group.
LA - 17 points in 16 games
Arizona - 17 points in 17 games
Minnesota - 16 points in 14 games
San Jose - 16 points in 16 games
Anaheim - 15 points in 18 games
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The Kirill Kaprizov Corner
Kaprizov continues to lead all NHL rookies in assists and is tied for first in total points. (3G - 8A - 11Pts)
He is indeed - fun.
Players not Named Kirill
Leaderboards
| Player | G | Player | A | Player | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eriksson Ek | 6 | Greenway | 9 | Kaprizov | 11 |
| Fiala | 6 | Kaprizov | 8 | Greenway | 11 |
| Rask | 4 | Suter | 6 | Eriksson Ek | 10 |
| Dumba | 3 | Brodin / Parise | 4 | Fiala | 7 |
| Kaprizov | 3 | Eriksson Ek | 4 | Brodin / Parise / Suter | 6 |
