Mainstream This!

Kudos to Fourth Pew Center for tipping me off to this story. I needed a new ulcer.

Beliefnet.com: Indianapolis, May 26, 2005

A judge's order that keeps a man and his ex-wife from exposing their 9-year-old son to their religion of Wicca has been appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Thomas E. Jones Jr. questions an order that Marion County Superior Court Chief Judge Cale Bradford put into divorce proceedings that bars Jones or his ex-wife from exposing their child to 'non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals,' the Indianapolis Star reported Thursday. Jones has asked the state appeals court to look into the case.

The judge's spokeswoman said the judge would not comment on the case, the Star said.

Both Jones and his ex-wife practice Wicca, a pagan religion that predates Christianity and preaches balance between its practitioners and nature. Jones claims that the judge put the paragraph about religions in the divorce papers without either parent asking for it.

Well, actually, Wicca doesn't predate much of anything, but I find this story disturbing for reasons far more serious than that minor factual error.

Remind me who's been foaming at the mouth about the evils of "judicial activism" for the last year or so? Oh, that's right--conservatives. I'd like to see those same lawmakers condemn this piece of judicial activism. Bet they won't, though. They'll just call it "upholding the values this great nation was founded upon" and nominate this idiot judge for a federal post.

Religious freedom--how's that for a value this great nation was founded upon? This judge's unwanted addition to the divorce decree was unconstitutional (like much of the Patriot Act, but I digress). Government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion--ANY religion, with the exception of religious practices which break other fundamental laws, like those against murder. "Government" includes the judiciary. You follow? Then you're ahead of that judge, congratulations.

We pagans aren't the most cohesive bunch. I think our creed actually reads: "And it harm none, do as thou wilt, unless thou wilt organize, in which case, can it." There's not going to be a press conference by the National Pagan Council on the 5 o'clock news to protest this ruling, mostly because I don't think there is an NPC. There's not going to be a Wear Your Pentacle to Work Day, either, because a lot of us work in corporate America and if you really believe there's religious tolerance in this country, wear a pentacle into a cubicle farm. I dare you.

But we knew this was coming, didn't we? Not this, specifically, but this sort of thing. It starts with cases like the above, and if these rulings are not overturned, it expands. This administration has made no secret of its desire to weaken or even eradicate the establishment clause, and unfortunately there are a lot of average citizens out there who think it would be a pretty good idea, because they don't realize it's their freedom under fire, too.

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Today's Baseball Fix

A long, sunny holiday and the Twins and the Saints are both between series. But you can still get your baseball fix at 12:30 Central at http://www.redwingsbaseball.com/. The Twins AAA affiliate Rochester Red Wings play the Richmond Braves at Frontier Field in Rochester, NY. A live, free radio webcast is available on the Red Wings site.

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Notable Performances

Hitting and Fielding

Hot Streaks:

Nick Punto - 19 for 61 (.312) over current 12-game hitting streak. 5 doubles, triple, 3 stolen bases.

Shannon Stewart - 36 for 110 (.327) in the month of May. 7 homers, 16 RBI, 10 walks, 2 stolen bases.

Joe Mauer - 41 for 133 (.308) in 2005. Caught 10 of 22 attempted base stealers.

Slumps:

Justin Morneau - 6 for 51 (.188) in his last 15 games. 2 extra-base hits (double, homer) over that span.

Jacque Jones - 18 for 86 (.209) in the month of May. 3 extra-base hits (double, 2 homers) over that span.

Torii Hunter - 42 for 177 (.237) in 2005. Committed a bizarrely high 3 errors in the field.


Pitching

Hot Streaks:

Carlos Silva - 1-0, 1.89 ERA in last two starts. No walks allowed, one complete game.

Kyle Lohse - 3-1, 2.30 ERA in 5 appearances (4 starts, 1 relief). Only one home run allowed.

Jesse Crain - 0.96 ERA over 18 2/3 innings pitched in 2005.

Slumps:

JC Romero - 9.00 ERA over last 4 appearances (2 innings pitched total). 1 walk, 3 hits. 2 of 4 inhertited runners scored.

Joe Nathan - 0-1, 5.73 ERA over 11 appearances in May. 1 blown save, 7 earned runs, 14 hits, six walks.

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See Ball, Hit Ball

"They couldn't break a chandelier if they had batting practice in a hotel lobby."
--Bill Lee, in reference to the Anaheim Angels

Woo-hoo!, we thought, coming into the season. This year we've got Jacque Jones to smack the ball to right, Shannon Stewart to smack the ball to left and center, Joe Mauer to smack the ball all over the field, and Justin Morneau to reduce the ball to its component atoms. We've also got Torii Hunter's 20+ homers, Lew Ford's signature doubles, a third baseman whose sporadic hot streaks are positively scorching, and a rookie shortstop who hit .332/.417/.892 in AAA last year. It's gonna be a great year!

Well, hell, we think now. What happened?

Are they just plain not hitting? They're hitting .270 as a team, actually. Not the best in the league, but in the top half. The team with the best record in the league, the despicable Whine Sox, are hitting only .251. But batting average, as we all know, is a deeply flawed measure of offensive performance. Let's dig deeper...

	H	XBH	HR	R	SAC	GDP	BB	OBP	OPS
Twins	430	126	41	211	23	49	155	.340	.744
AL Avg	417	136	46	216	22	36	141	.327	.738
AL Best	465	171	71	266	37	27	198	.359	.829
AL Worst	381	103	27	180	9	49	108	.295	.664

I've highlighted the categories in which the Twins dip below the league average. One thing becomes immediately apparent--our boys are hitting, and walking, but they're not hitting for extra bases and the double plays are killing them. Note that they are the league worst in hitting into double plays. 49 extra outs in 46 games, my friends. Ouch.

Now, let's examine the same stats, but only for situations with runners on. They're still getting all those singles and walks--what's happening afterward?

	H	XBH	HR	R	SAC	GDP	BB	OBP	OPS
Twins	207	54	20	190	23	49	83	.397	.857
AL Avg	188	61	21	191	22	36	69	.349	.780
AL Best	226	79	33	239	37	27	106	.397	.877
AL Worst	151	47	13	145	9	49	51	.293	.671

GDP, predictably, remains the same, as does SAC. Both require runners on. This time I'm calling out the categories where the Twins are above average. Note that the Twins lead the league in OBP with runners on. That does not sound like a team with offensive woes, does it? But too many of their extra-base hits (including homers) are coming with bases empty, and of course the double plays are still a serious concern. Additionally, the walks, which will only rarely cause a run to score directly, inflate the team OBP. Still, how does a team that gets more hits, walks and sacrifices than the norm with runners on have such difficulty scoring, even with a rash of double plays?

The simple answer is, they may be moving the runners along, but they're just not bringing them home. They are particularly inept with bases loaded. Only one team has had more bases-loaded at bats than Minnesota's 55. Of those 55, the Twins have squeaked out ten hits, 3 walks, and four sac flies, for 31 runs. Sound good? Consider that there were 165 baserunners involved in those at-bats, and only 31 scored. We've got ourselves a 18.8% success rate. Ouch, again.

Obviously, it's easiest to score with a runner on third. But I found something very interesting when I looked a little more closely at the Twins performance with the coveted runner 90 feet away. With bases loaded, which includes a runner on third, we have the 18.8% success rate. With runners on second and third only, it rises to 30.1%. With runners on the corners, it jumps to 40.6%. With a runner on third only, it soars to a mind-boggling 86.4%.

Shouldn't it be easier to score runs with the bases loaded? Or with two in scoring position? Especially when your team is having a hard time hitting anything but singles? The simple answer is yes, it should. But it isn't. Not for these Twins.

Is it the pressure? Are they swinging too hard, or too early? Are they too desperate to impress? Are they too afraid of failure? Is it just bad luck that will even out as the season goes on?

I wish I knew.

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(sigh)

Gardy.

Gardy, Gardy, Gardy.

I told you not to use Romero with runners on, but do you listen? No. And look what happens.

You, my good man, owe me a beer for forcing me to witness the horror that was the end of last night's game. Make it a Guinness. And give one to poor Juan, too, for saddling him with the loss.

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Wild & Outside

Ever been to a St. Paul Saints game?

We go a few times a year, to see baseball played outside for the fun of it. At Midway Stadium, there are no skyboxes, no fat contracts, no roof. You can get a beer for a buck, or a good beer for three. There's a grill behind the third base stands that flame-grills brats, polish sausages, hamburgers and chicken--culinary heaven on a warm spring evening. The baseball is played at about the level of the late innings of an MLB spring training game, and the between-innings diversions stretch from the cute to the frankly bizarre. The announcer is as likely to heckle the visiting team or the fans as he is to broadcast the bare facts of the game. We sat in the front row behind the home on-deck circle, and paid the munificent sum of ten bucks for the privilege.

I love major league baseball, don't get me wrong. The sheer talent and skill, the familiar names and faces, the rivalries and histories captivate me. But sometimes it's simply glorious to sit on an aluminum bench with a real beer in one hand and a real hot dog in the other (neither of which is easily acquired at the Dome), soaking up the late-day sun (which absolutely cannot be acquired in the Dome) and watching a bunch of guys I wouldn't recognize if I met them in line at the grocery store play ball.

Would I still go see the Saints if the Twins also played outside? Absolutely. There's air of innocence about the independent leagues--the taint of excess wealth that permeates the MLB and causes the haves-vs-have-nots tensions are absent in the Northern League. Team incomes are roughly equivalent and very low. Players make between $800 and $4000 a month during their abbreviated season. What the independent leagues lack in talent they make up for in exuberance. It's a different style of baseball, and it definitely has its own charm, and its own allure for dedicated and casual fans alike.

The Saints and Twins are rarely in town at the same time. If the Twins are on the road and the game's not on TV, think about heading over to St. Paul. It's a great time.

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An Open Letter to Ron Gardenhire

Dear Ron,

Hi, how's things? Tough game yesterday. Say, I wanted to let you know about something pretty nifty. It's a stat called "Inherited Runners/Scored", or "IR/S". It's a ratio of how many runners a pitcher inherits from the previous pitcher to how many he allows to score. Taken over a significant period, it can help you decide which reliever to bring in when your starter falters. I know you're all about innovation, so I wanted to make sure you'd heard about this.

Take last night. Lohse was getting a little tired, and he put runners on the corners with one out in a tie game. So obviously you want to go to one of your best setup guys, and even though they both got used in the last game neither pitched more than an inning. The next three hitters due up are a lefty, a switch hitter, and another lefty, so you lean toward Romero.

Now, lefty batters are hitting .227 off Rincón, versus .174 off Romero, but the two are allowing virtually identical OBPs at .320 (Rincón) and .321 (Romero). Neither has given up an extra-base hit to a lefty batter this season. Romero has given up 4 hits, 2 hit batters and 3 walks with 4 RBI in 23 ABs, Rincón 5 hits and 3 walks with 2 RBI in 22 ABs. Given the next three hitters, we start to lean slightly toward Rincón despite the "handedness" matchups, because he's shown better control and allowed fewer RBI. But it's very nearly a wash.

So far, so good. Now, let's take a look at IR/S, shall we?

Romero				Rincón
Career	2004	2005		Career	2004	2005
162/51 (.315)	45/21 (.467)	13/5 (.385)		100/28 (.280)	52/14 (.269)	6/1 (.167)

So, both historically and immediately, Rincón is definitely better at handling inherited runners. JC, meanwhile, has been terrible over the last season-plus, not just lately. Hmmm. Very interesting. It looks to me like putting Romero out there is almost begging that runner on third to score. He's definitely a start-an-inning kind of guy, don't you think?

So, Gardy, dearest, next time it's late in a close game and you've got runners on and both Romero and Rincón available, for the love of God, sit Romero the hell down.

And tell Silva to pull his pant cuffs up. He just looks wrong in the ankle-length "jogger" style.

Yours,
TBL

P.S.
Oh, and by the way--Thursday? Bunt on Sabathia. He hates that. He'll get all mad, plunk a batter or two (hey, free baserunners!), and get tossed. And we want him tossed, don't we? Yes, we do. Preferably early.

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