LET'S PLAY HOCKEY!!!!

It's official!

NHL, Players Reach Deal to End Lockout:
NEW YORK - The NHL and the players' association reached an agreement in principle Wednesday on a new labor deal, ending a lockout that wiped out last season.
The sides met for 24 hours starting Tuesday afternoon to hammer out the collective bargaining agreement that will return the NHL to the ice. In February, commissioner Gary Bettman canceled the season, making the NHL the first North American sports league to lose a year because of a labor dispute.
Both sides still need to ratify the deal, which is expected to contain a salary cap. That process is expected to be completed next week, the league and the union said in a joint news release.
It took all night and then some for the final round of negotiations to produce an agreement.
The sides met for 10 straight days in New York, and it became clear Wednesday morning - the 301st day of the lockout - that they weren't going to leave the room without an agreement in hand.
The expected salary cap will likely have a ceiling approaching $40 million and a minimum somewhere between $20 million and $25 million.

Oh, hallelujah. A baseball offseason with more to offer by way of entertainment than a choice between crappy re-runs or throwing the housecat into a snowbank.

Let's play HOCKEY!

Read More

Twins Acquire Boone

The Twins get Bret Boone for a player to be named later, with the Mariners picking up practically the entire remainder of Boone's salary.

Good deal?

Maybe. Boone has been phenomenal. Unfortunately, most of that was two years or more ago.

Has he sucked because his team sucked?

Again, maybe. A lot of people (including the Twins front office, which ain't exactly stocked with morons), seem to think the excitement of a pennant race will bring out the best in him.

Is he a better option at second than a healthy Nick Punto?

Probably not. But second isn't Punto's only position, and we do have that glaring vacancy at third.

Is he a better option than Rivas?

Probably. Even if he hits for a Rivas-like average, he's got way more power, and that means something to this team. It means runs.

Does another "veteran presence in the infield" open the way to bringing Jason Bartlett back?

God, I hope so. I really, really do. Castro's been fabulous in the field, but Bartlett was fine and we really need bats. Castro's, ah...not so much with the hitting. Bartlett just needs a little time to work through the scouting reports, that's all.

Who's playing where?

If no further moves are made, I'm betting: Boone at second, Castro at short, Punto at third, with Rodriguez and his hot bat spelling all of them at times. What we do when Abernathy and Cuddyer are ready to come off the DL is anybody's guess.

Trade an excess infielder for some pitching?

Please!!!

And now, dear readers---what do you think?

Read More

Another Look at the Numbers

The good news is that the Twins seem to have broken out of their long streak of lousy games. The bad news is that they've started a new streak of bouncing wildly between greatness and hideousness.

The first half of June was fabulous. Much of the second half, not so fabulous. The beginning of July has been a roller coaster. Some people will tell you it all evens out. Let's check on that theory, using the last 30 days as our frame of reference against the rest of the year. Year-to-date figures are presented in [brackets].

From June 8 through July 7, the Twins have played in 27 games, for a record of 12-14 (.462) [46-37 (.554)].

The team ERA is 4.44 [3.75], with starters pitching an average 6 2/3 [6 2/3] innings per start and posting a 4.60 [4.01] ERA. Relievers put up an ERA of 4.20 [3.09]. The pitching staff has given up 30 [93] home runs, 72 [165] walks, 8 [17] wild pitches and 10 [22] hit batsmen while recording 161 [498] strikeouts. The pitching staff ranks 10th [4th] in the AL based on ERA.

Twins hitters are hitting .262 [.268] with a .736 [.744] OPS, 25 [79] home runs, 171 [501] strikeouts and 81 [258] walks. They have stolen 19 [55] bases and been caught stealing 8 [25] times. They have grounded into 18 [76] double plays. The offense ranks 10th [7th] in the league based on BA and 10th [10th] based on runs scored.

Minnesota fielders have completed 292 [915] assists and commited 16 [54] errors in 1025 [3224] chances, leading to 9 [29] unearned runs, for a team fielding average of .984 [.983]. Twins catchers have caught 5 [23] baserunners stealing while allowing 11 [29] stolen bases and 3 [6] passed balls. The field ranks 9th [10th] in the AL based on fielding average.

In sum, the hitting lately is more or less on a level with the season as a whole (though I will take the opportunity to point out that the season as a whole has been pretty lousy on the run-producing front), and the fielding has actually improved.

So. It's the pitching, then. ERAs are shooting upward, balls are flying into the stands, walks are piling up, batters are getting plunked and wild pitches abound. The whole staff, with the possible exception of Juan Rincón (1.64 ERA / 0 HR / 13 K over the last 30 days, and yet he's hit two and walked five...) seems to have lost its collective location and/or control.

I'm guessing that part of the problem is a staff worn out from trying to compensate for lousy run support. If the hitters pick it up (unlikely, given that they're already hitting about as well as they have the last few years), the pitchers can relax. The All-Star break might help, at least temporarily.

Tell you what, though--we really need that patented Minnesota Second-Half Surge this year. Cross your fingers, get out your lucky rally cap, and for the love of the game, find this team a hitting coach!

Read More

Baseball, Softball Tossed From London Games

Baseball, softball tossed from London Games:
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - London will stage a reduced Olympic Games in 2012 after baseball and softball were wiped from the program in a controversial vote on Friday.
London's showpiece will now feature 26 sports rather than 28 after International Olympic Committee (IOC) members rejected proposals to replace the axed sports with two from rugby sevens, golf, squash, karate and roller sports.
Baseball and softball failed to win a majority of votes in a ballot of members at the IOC Session at the Raffles complex and became the first sports to be cut from the Games since polo in 1936.
In a farcical display of bureaucracy, IOC members went through seven rounds of voting to decide which two of the five would-be Olympic sports should be put up for a vote to give them Olympic status.
Having selected squash and karate, the members then overwhelmingly rejected their bids to join the Olympic program.
The last Olympics to be staged with just 26 sports was Atlanta in 1996. The minimum number of sports required for an Olympic Games is 15, while the maximum is 28.
'Today was a decision to put quality over quantity,' IOC communications director Giselle Davies said.

No baseball in the Summer Olympics. I don't believe it. That's the only damn thing I watched! (Not that they televised it often, mind you, and then usually in the middle of the night. But that's what VCRs are for, right?)

For your edification, here are the sports the IOC, in its infinite wisdom, considers of higher quality than baseball:

Aquatics
Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball
Boxing
Canoe/kayak
Cycling
Equestrian
Fencing
Football (Soccer)
Gymnastics
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Triathlon
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Handball? HANDBALL?!?! This is more important than baseball? What the hell is "Modern Pentathalon"? Who decided that basketball, a sorry excuse for a sport if there ever was one, has more value than the "great and glorious game"? What the hell is hockey doing in the Summer Olympics? And don't even get me started on table tennis...

Read More

You Might Be A Reenactor If...

...you spend a lovely summer afternoon in the fabric store hunting for the perfect lace to trim your new bloomers.

...your swords are more polished than your silverware.

...you're insulted if someone refers to your garb as a "costume".

...you know what a bodice chiller is.

...you own and use a bodice chiller.

...you hoard golden dollar coins all year in anticipation of Fest.

...you know what a baldric is.

...you own and use a baldric.

...you'd rather have the Museum Replicas catalog than the Victoria's Secret catalog.

...you secretly (or not-so-secretly) long to own a cannon, trebuchet, catapult and/or tall ship.

Read More

Holiday Weekend Recap

Edging Ever Onward
The Twins have won seven of their last eight games and have gained two games on the Whine Sox. Cleveland continues to breathe down the Twins' collective neck, holding on just one game behind Minnesota.

Looking Forward
Scott Baker, a hot prospect and brief callup in a bullpen role, will offer the fans a glimpse of the (probable) future tonight as he makes his first major-league start in place of the (literally) stiff-necked Radke.

Lowering the Tone of the ASG
I don't like the All-Star Game. It bills itself as a game between the best players from each league, but invariably it is the most popular or the most recently and spectacularly successful, instead. Large-market teams send flocks of players (of whom few are truly deserving) courtesy of the sheer volume of voters they can command. The tie-game fiasco and the resulting dumb-as-bricks decision to tie home-field advantage in the World Series to the result of the ASG reduced it from farce to fiasco in my eyes. I didn't think it could sink any lower, really. And then they named Kenny Rogers to this year's AL All-Star Team.
Excuse me, does that 20-game suspension for repeatedly assaulting an innocent cameraman not include the All-Star game? 'Cause it should. Especially since "this one counts".

Read More

Infield: Life on the DL

Twins' Williams Devastated by Injury:
Minnesota's Glenn Williams learned the hard way this week that baseball can be as cruel as it is rewarding. After toiling in the minor leagues for more than a decade, the Australian-born infielder's major league dream was fulfilled when the Twins bought his contract from Triple-A Rochester on June 7 to provide some depth for an injury-depleted infield.

Williams did more than just fill in. He batted .425, with at least one hit in every game he appeared in, showing a patient approach at the plate and a steady glove at third base. Williams had actually taken over as the regular at that position, in place of Michael Cuddyer, and started his sixth straight game when disaster struck.

Diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt Tuesday night, Williams' hand hit the dirt awkwardly - forcing his right shoulder, a joint he had surgery on in 1999, to pop out.

The diagnosis was a dislocation. The recovery timetable is at least six weeks, if not more.

His chance of making an impression in spring training was mostly wiped out by a pulled groin, and he was sent to the Twins' Triple-A team in Rochester, N.Y. - beginning his 12th minor league season.

Then came health problems with the big club, though, and Williams was recommended as being the most ready for the majors.

"We trust the staff," Gardenhire said. "He proved them right."

Unfortunately for Williams, he'll have to wait a while to keep proving his worth. Seen crying in the training room the night of his injury, Williams - who turns 28 on July 18 - was devastated by his setback.

My first reaction to hearing about Williams' injury was: "Oh, that poor guy. How horrible."

My second, hard on its heels, was: "%@$#! We finally get a third baseman who might actually turn out to be competent, and now this!"

Williams' injury, as sad and devastating as it is to him, the team and those of us fans who can still bear to confront infield plays with our eyes open, is only the latest in a string of infield disabilities and more minor injuries.

April 12th: Justin Morneau to 15-day disabled list with a concussion after being hit by a pitch.

May 31st: Luis Rivas to 15-day disabled list with a strained oblique of mysterious origin.

June 2nd: Nick Punto to 15-day disabled list with a pulled hamstring on a stolen base attempt.

June 17th: Brent Abernathy to 15-day disabled list with strained shoulder after colliding with a wall during a fielding play in foul territory.

And now Williams' dislocated shoulder.

In between these DL-worthy injuries we've seen many a game missed due to pulled groin muscles, hit-by-pitches, unidentified illnesses, and (most recently) dizzy spells. In Wednesday's game, Michael Ryan played third base for several innings. Michael Ryan, the outfielder. The spare backup outfielder. And yet, "shortstop of the future" Jason Bartlett continues to languish in AAA after being royally hosed by the organization the first time he hit a slump. But I won't go farther into that particular rant today.

Suffice it to say, the last thing a struggling team needs is an infield held together with duct tape and prayer. But at least the pitching staff is healthy.

Oh.

Crap.

I shouldn't have said that.

Read More