Author Archives: Jim Crikket

Shakespeare Was Right

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It’s probably the most famous quote about lawyers ever uttered. In “Henry VI”, Dick the butcher urges, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” If only Dick and Jack Cade and the rest had taken care of things properly back then. Maybe if Mr. Shakespeare had written that line for a character in one of his other plays… you know, one of the ones that people actually liked… instead of a play that was destined to be all but forgotten.

I work with (and for) lawyers. I’m surrounded by them. Most of them are pretty good people. Sure, they tend to look down their noses at anyone who isn’t a lawyer, but then again, so do doctors and William never wrote a line suggesting all physicians be disposed of.

But right now I’m tired of lawyers. Not so much because of my work (after all I’m compensated quite well to deal with the lawyers there), but because of what the sharks are doing to me… and all of us… elsewhere. I’m especially disgusted by the lawyers who masquerade as public servants. Legislators. Governors. Candidates for president. (’tis already Presidential Caucus season down here in Iowa… you can’t attend a county fair without bumping in to someone who wants to be the Leader Of The Free World. I’m probably the only resident of Iowa who’s happy about the slashing of ethanol subsidies. I’ve been waiting for 30 years for a Presidential Caucus where candidates would have to talk about something else when they invade our living rooms and coffee shops.)

They’re all annoying the hell out of me lately.

I’m even disgusted by the lawyers who led the state government of Minnesota to shut down… and I haven’t lived in that state since I was 13 years old.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Durham has sent me over the edge. I’m sorry, all of my friends who are lawyers, I know it’s not your fault and I know you’re good people with families who love you… but Durham’s actions have spelled doom for all of you. It’s time to be done with the whole lot of your ilk.

It’s bad enough that our federal government is spending millions of dollars to prosecute Roger Clemens (not to mention Barry Bonds and whoever else these lawyers think they can make a name for themselves by prosecuting), while we’re also being told that the country is broke and we all need to (a) pay more taxes, (b) expect fewer services, or most likely, (c) both.

Look, I get that a person shouldn’t be able to lie when he or she testifies before Congress. But if Congress is going to waste their time (and our money) grandstanding on an issue that is really nowhere near the top 100 issues they need to be investigating in the first place, then I really don’t give much of a flying fig if they get lied to.

I get that if a person lies under oath, he or she should face consequences, even if the circumstances that led to them testifying were stupid. And in the case of Clemens, I certainly have no sympathy for him, given that, in this case, my understanding is that he wasn’t even called to testify. This guy was so stupid that he ASKED to testify… and THEN lied when he testified. A guy like that should be locked up just for being stupid!

I think Mr. Durham and his co-workers could have busied themselves with much more important prosecutorial work than spending months (years?) preparing a lock-down case that was sure to put Clemens behind bars (or at least cost him a few million dollars in fines and his own lawyer fees).

But if you’re going to do all that, against my wishes, anyway…don’t screw it up!

Durham and the other lawyers spent days picking a jury. He bored everyone in the courtroom to death walking a former House parliamentarian through a discussion of what Congress does and why it’s so important. Granted, this may have been important, assuming the jurors are just as confused as the rest of us these days concerning why we should continue considering Congress to be important, but still…

Anyone in the courtroom still awake after that was treated to Durham guiding a Congressional staffer through the process of telling the jury how important the Committee for Oversight and Government Reform’s hearing testimony on steroid use in baseball was.

And then to emphasize all this, apparently, Mr. Durham started a video.

As I’ve mentioned, I know lawyers. I know good lawyers. I know bad lawyers. But I know that lawyers who make a living in court rooms go over every word… every gesture…every detail that they’re going to present to a jury. They go over it twice… three times… a hundred times.

So when, despite the judge’s pre-trial ruling that any testimony relating to Laura Pettite (wife of Andy) would be prejudicial to the jury and thus was off limits, the tape being showed to the court included references to that very thing… well… it’s really hard for me to believe it was an accident.

Durham is either a total moron or he intentionally disregarded the judge’s order.

Either way, the result is that all the money they (make that we, the taxpayers) paid to put Roger Clemens on trial went straight in the toilet. We have a mistrial one day in to the trial.

So now the process starts over. One side argues that charges should be dropped. The other side argues for a new trial. And we keep paying the bill. If the judge decides the screw up was intentional, the charges will be dismissed. So, in essence, Durham’s only chance at getting the judge to agree to a new trial is to convince that judge that he, Durham, is too stupid to live.

Since the only reason these prosecutors keep bringing these cases to trial is to get publicity, likely in order to improve their chances at higher political office… and since I’m realistic (and, hopefully, moral) enough to realize we shouldn’t actually kill all the lawyers… I hope you’ll all join me with in declaring we will never, ever, cast a single vote for anyone who wasted our tax money prosecuting one of these cases.

Let’s send the message out loud and clear. We do not need lawyers and politician-wannabes screwing up baseball.

We’ve got Bud Selig for that.

– JC

Roger Clemens - "Dumb" (Photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
Steven Durham - "Dumber" (Photo: Elise Miller/NYDaily News

 

 

Eleven Days In July

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When I’m getting ready to draft a new post, I often do a quick check of what other Twins bloggers are writing about so I can avoid doing nothing more than adding one more post on the same subject others are already covering (and likely covering much better than I would, anyway). I did the same thing this morning and obviously there’s no shortage of material in the Twins blogdom about the upcoming series with the Royals, Indians and Tigers. So I should have come up with another subject to write about.

But I didn’t.

The Twins play twelve games over the next eleven days (thanks to a make-up game that turns next Monday’s scheduled game with Cleveland in to a doubleheader). All three series are against AL Central Division teams and two of those series are against the virtual co-leaders of the Division… teams that the Twins trail by about half a dozen games in the standings.

With the non-waiver trade deadline looming a week after the Twins wrap up this intra-divisional stretch, it’s certainly possible to conclude that by the time the Twins finish up their July 24 game with the Tigers, we’ll all know how the rest of the season will play out. We’ll know whether GM Bill Smith will spend the last week of July looking for bullpen help or whether he’ll be fielding offers for some of the higher-paid Twins that are free-agency bound at the end of the season. After all of the trials and tribulations of April and May and after the turnaround in June and, thus far, July, it all comes down to these eleven days.

Or does it?

It’s fun to think of it that way. It certainly generates excitement and enthusiasm among the fan base. It may even be healthy for the players if thinking along those lines helps them focus and give just that little bit of an extra effort. But let’s not lose sight of the fact that it’s still only 12 games… just under 7.5% of the season’s schedule.

Hey, the Twins certainly don’t want to lose 2/3 of these games and it’s always particularly helpful to beat the team’s you are trying to catch when you face them one-on-one. But this is hardly the last time our guys will be going head-to-head with their divisional competition. Even after they wrap up the next twelve games, they will have ANOTHER NINE GAMES EACH against the Tigers, Indians and White Sox during the final two months of the season.

My point is… yes, these three series are important and it would certainly be helpful to keep the momentum going and cut a bit more in to the deficits the Twins face behind the Tribe and Tigers. But if it turns out that they don’t… if it turns out they’re still a handful of games behind at the end of all this… it would still be premature to start writing obituaries for this team, as long as neither of the co-leaders rattles off about 15 straight wins to leave everyone in the dust.

Those of us who held off on declaring the season a lost cause at the end of May have been rewarded for our patience. The Twins are definitely still playing meaningful baseball.

Delmon Young rejoins the line up tonight

They have steadily improved. They are getting healthier and that means their bench is getting deeper (which has been so thin recently as to almost make one yearn for the days when the “bats on the bench” consisted of some combination of Jason Tyner, Lew Ford, Rondell White, Luis Rodriguez and Brian Buscher). And keep in mind that the teams the Twins are chasing are not exactly the 1927 Yankees… or even the 2011 Yankees, for that matter. The three teams ahead of the Twins have some flaws and those franchises don’t exactly have a recent history of strong second half finishes.

So… enjoy the next eleven days and let’s hope the Twins keep closing on the leaders, but let’s try to retain some perspective. There’s going to be a lot of baseball to be played in August and September, regardless of how these games shake out.

– JC

To DH Or Not To DH? There’s NO Question

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This is how my mind works at times.

I read a simple Tweet… in this case from Joe Posnanski… and the next thing I know, my mind is moving from point A to point B and all the way to about point R.

In the wake of the MLB AllStar Game Tuesday night, Posnanski posed the following question, via Twitter:

So wait because Venters got outs and Quentin made outs, David Ortiz won’t start in 4 World Series games? Still don’t understand.

Obviously, Joe isn’t fond of the practice of awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the representative of the league that wins the AllStar Game. Hardly a revolutionary viewpoint, I know.

But you know what? No matter what method MLB uses to determine home field advantage in the Fall Classic, the result will be the same… whether it’s David Ortiz or Travis Hafner or Jorge Posada or, better yet, Jim Thome… a critical member of the AL representative in the ultimate contest to determine the champion of Major League Baseball is likely to play a reduced role for his team.

If you read my posts here often, you have probably figured out I have limited respect for Bud Selig. The truth is, it’s not just Bud… it’s Bud and everyone else who determines baseball policy that just make me shake my head almost on a daily basis. These people have no clue how to address problems. They’re all about treating symptoms, not finding cures for underlying issues. If these guys had been in charge of polio research, you’d have the best iron lung in the world, but no polio vaccine (blatant “West Wing” ripoff quote).

The problem isn’t that the AllStar Game determines home field advantage in the World Series. The problem is that MLB continues to force two teams who play by significantly different rules to compete against one another to determine the championship.

It’s long past time to put an end to this nonsense. It’s time for Bud Selig to step up and tell the National League that they WILL adopt the Designated Hitter.We all know it’s going to happen eventually. Sure, there was a time when it might have been possible for baseball to turn back the hands of time and force the American League to drop the DH, but those days are long gone.

I know there’s a stubborn resistance to the DH by fans of National League teams. That dumfounds me a bit. It’s bad enough that they seem to enjoy watching pitchers flail helplessly with a bat, but don’t they realize their best hitters are almost all destined to end their careers in the American League? Is that really what they want?

Let’s say you’re a St. Louis Cardinal fan. You’ve got the biggest star in baseball playing first base for your team right now, but he’s coming up on free agency. He expects to get paid fair market value and rightfully so. But that market value is higher in the American League than it is in the National League and, unfortunately, your team plays in the NL.

Albert Pujols will be 32 years old when next season kicks off. An American League team can offer him an eight year contract and figure that, if it turns out that age catches up to him a bit and he can’t continue to play competent defense, he could spend the last few years of that contract DHing. The Cardinals don’t have that luxury.

Bud Selig

So, Cardinal fans, when Albert ends up turning his back on you because an AL team is able to offer a longer contract than St. Louis reasonably can or should, don’t blame Pujols. Don’t blame the team he signs with. Blame yourself for not wanting the DH to “taint” your NL game. Blame your owner and his friends who refuse to adopt the DH.

Or better yet, blame the guy I blame for everything that’s wrong with baseball.

Blame Bud Selig.

– JC

Home Run Derby Chat

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Yes, I know it has probably outlived its usefulness as entertainment, but I’m not doing anything else this evening, so I’m watching the Home Run Derby.

That being the case, I thought I’d open a Chat window in case anyone else was in the same boat.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who stopped in to chat during the HR Derby. We actually had more for a while than we do for Twins games lately!

And don’t worry… we won’t tell anyone who showed up. Don’t want others to know just how many of us have so little going on in our lives that we spent 3 hours watching this! – JC

If The Price Is Right

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If it’s the All-Star Break, then it must be time for fans to start talking about trades. We are, after all, just past the mid-point of the season and the non-waiver trade deadline is less than three weeks away.

At this point there are three kinds of teams… obvious buyers, obvious sellers and everyone else. The Twins are in that “everyone else” category because they haven’t established themselves as an obvious contender nor have they fallen so far back in the standings that they have virtually no chance of becoming contenders.

So, that means everyone is (or soon will be) posing the question, “Should the Twins Buy or Sell?” To me, the answer is… “Yes, if the price is right.”

What’s that you say, it wasn’t a “yes or no” question? Too bad.

Bill Smith

July trades generally are made between two parties, one a contender and one… well… not. The contender (or “buyer”) has a spot or two to fill to help push them to the top of the standings and/or prepare them to be a stronger playoff team. Their GM has to be willing to do one of two things… or both… (a) give up highly rated prospects or young (read: cheap) MLB-ready players; and/or (b) take on significant salary owed to an established (and often overcompensated) veteran player.

The other party to these trades (the “seller”) has some highly paid veteran players that are either having good seasons or have put up good numbers recently enough that a contending team might be willing to bet they could help put their team over the top this season and that team is looking to restock with young players that will help next season… and for several years to come. They also are likely looking to shed some salary because they recognize attendance is going to be dropping the rest of the season.

I think the Twins, thanks to the very weird season they’ve endured, find themselves in a unique position… they’ve pressed a lot of young players in to Major League action and many of them have performed well enough to demonstrate that they fit the “MLB-ready” criteria that “sellers” are wanting in return for established players. They also find themselves with an abundance of veteran outfielders and pitchers… many of whom will be free agents at the end of this season… that could be attractive to contending “buyers”. Finally, they’re already certain to exceed 3 million in paid attendance, so there’s no need at all to consider shedding salary to be a factor.

Denard Span

It amazes me how many suggestions I’ve read that the Twins trade a Denard Span or a Delmon Young for established relief pitching. That’s absurd on two levels. First, nobody who has top veteran relief pitching to trade is likely to look for expensive veterans in return. They’re going to want young players they can continue to pay the league minimum to for a while. Also, you simply don’t trade players of the quality of Span, Young, Cuddyer, etc., for relief pitching. Ever.  MAYBE you trade your Rene Tosonis and Trevor Plouffes… legitimate prospects (but not future superstars), guys you can (and likely will) find a way to live without in the future… for relief pitchers. The Twins SHOULD be “buyers”… they SHOULD get relief help… and they have enough decent young talent to use for that purpose. There are a lot of decent relievers (meaning better than what the Twins have been trotting out there for middle relief) on the market so it should be a buyer’s market. There’s no need to overpay.

At the same time, the Twins have demonstrated that they can compete without the likes of Delmon Young, Denard Span, and Jason Kubel in the line up. The question is… should they trade away a veteran or two and continue to try to compete without them? If the price is right, sure, why not?

Delmon Young

Of course, you do not just give any of these guys away. Even those who are going to be free agents are likely to be good for compensatory supplemental draft picks if they walk away at the end of the season. But because guys like Ben Revere, Luke Hughes, Anthony Swarzak, and Glen Perkins have demonstrated they can be relied upon to play a role with a contending team, the Twins CAN afford to deal SOME of their veterans and still remain in contention in the AL Central Division. If Twins GM Bill Smith can get real prospects in return for one of his outfielders or one of his pitchers, he should go ahead and do it. Would that mean running a risk in the event the Twins get hit with more injuries? Absolutely… but a GM’s job is to evaluate and take acceptable risks.

But what if the Twins do none of this? What if Smith takes a summer vacation and leaves his phone in the Twin Cities? Can the Twins compete if they do nothing at all?

Well, I still think getting some relief help is important, but otherwise… yeah… the Twins could stand pat and make a serious run the second half of the season… and in to the playoffs. How is that possible?

Justin Morneau

It’s possible because, even if Bill Smith takes that long summer vacation, he will be adding three quality veteran players by the July 30 deadline and another… a former MVP… by the August 30 waiver-deal deadline. Delmon Young has been reactivated and Denard Span sounds like he won’t be far behind. Jason Kubel should be returning not long afterward. Justin Morneau’s recovery seems on target for mid August. Name me a contending team that wouldn’t give a boatload to get four players like that over the next 5 weeks! And Smith doesn’t have to give up a thing.

And here’s the bonus, in my mind… many teams (including past Twins teams) expend so much emotion and energy trying to make the surge necessary to dig out of a deficit in the standings that their tank is empty in September and October. They’re worn out mentally and beat up physically. But most of the Twins top players shouldn’t be feeling worn down. Mauer, Morneau, Young, Kubel, Span… they’ll all be far fresher than most players at that point in the season.

The Twins also have enough starting pitching, with Swarzak, Kevin Slowey and Kyle Gibson (again, we’re assuming the GM makes no deals) ready to step in, that any member of the current rotation who gets as much as a hangnail could be DL’d for 14 days, allowed to get rested up, and come back strong.

This is not the time for Bill Smith to overspend. He doesn’t need… in fact can’t afford… another trade where he gives up a top prospect for a relief pitcher, like the Ramos-for-Capps deal a year ago. He can afford to wait for a trading partner who’s willing to overspend and, if necessary, settle for a moderate deal for middle relief help.

I hope he shows patience because God knows the blogging world is likely to urge otherwise.

– JC

Guest Post – Kirsten Weighs In On The Twitterverse

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Once again, we’re pleased to have a guest post from Kirsten. She may not be blogging these days, but she’s plenty active over on Twitter… and we’re happy to have her use our blog to let you know what’s on her mind! – JC

Things have changed in the sports world. When I still blogged, I relied on reading the paper and scouring infrequent updates all over the Internet to find what I was looking for. Now, there is this awesome new media called Twitter. It keeps people from getting long winded, but allows me to click on a link if I really want to know more. Twitter gathers everything up in one place, and is the inspiration behind this post.

Lately, a few things have been floating around the Twitterverse that I’d like to address from the perspective of a person who has spent much of their life playing and later umpiring ball. In the spirit of Twitter, they’re all 140 words or less.

1.) Batting order: yes, it really matters. It can be a force of stability when the team is doing well, a way to shake things up when they aren’t, take pressure off players who are struggling, or reward their talents when they are on track. It’s important to consider the skills of the player when putting them in the order…speed, on base percentage, slugging, etc, but it’s also important to consider their mentality. Some may be able to hit the ball a million miles, but dislike the pressure of batting cleanup and some may relish the challenges. That being said, sometimes you have to suck it up, trust the coach is doing what’s best for the team, and maybe even find a new spot in the lineup that suits…and sometimes the coach needs to ball up and do so.

2.) Throwing: a player can improve their throwing arm (both strength and accuracy). Status quo with the workouts, drills, and practice usually causes a plateau, which can be really hard to overcome and improve upon. It can be done, just often takes different training, drills, and a lot of throwing time/patience…and someone who is willing to throw and work with you. A player can also get lucky and find mechanical ways to improve their efficiency, but then they have to work hard to re-train their muscle memory. Of course there are biological limitations on this, a man of Casilla’s build will not be able to throw as hard as say a Cuddyer (muscle mass, ratio of long/short twitch muscles, height, etc), but a player like Revere should certainly be able to improve his range and accuracy, especially as his body matures.

Joe Mauer (photo: Hannah Foslien / Getty Images)

3.) Mauer playing 1B: I think he did a good job overall, but in the margins of my scorecard, I nitpicked and wrote down a lot of things I saw that he could improve upon. I don’t want to see him at 1B every day (love him behind the plate), but I think it could be a nice option to give Morneau a rest, give Mauer’s knees a rest, and still have a DH (possibly Morneau). He’s athletic enough to pull it off. I’m still confused as to why he’s Jesus at first and Judas behind the plate, but perhaps that’s a question that doesn’t have an answer.

Note: I predominantly catch, but did a lot of work a 1B in high school to help my knees out, so I can speak to the transition he’s making there.

4.) Kevin Slowey: I don’t really want to write much about pitching, but I think the Slowey thing could work out for the best. A. He could pitch really well in AAA and we could trade him for something we need (bullpen help), B. he could pitch really well and we call him up (like Blackburn last season, or was it the season before?), C. maybe he just needs to take some of the stress off his oft-surgically repaired body, get a consistent schedule back, and try again next spring. I think maybe a different work atmosphere might help too; it’s hard to play your best when criticism of the unconstructive kind is raining down.

Bits and Pieces

I wish TK could stay forever. I loved his more academic and big picture approach to the games, not just focused on the pitchers.

Apparently if you want the Baseball Gods to listen to you, write your demands on your back in Sharpie. It worked for Nick Blackburn and Drew Butera…maybe we should have something similar on the Twitter board at Target Field. Top ten hash tags that should be written on someone’s back. As a bonus experiment, we could see if it works for anyone but me.

– Kirsten

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #4, 1:10 pm

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Changes are coming.

Heading in to this series, the Twins trailed the White Sox by 3.5 games. As the Twins head in to the AllStar Break after today’s game, they will either trail by Chicago by that same 3.5 games or will have closed to within 1.5 games of third place. No, your goal should never be to reach 3rd place in the standings, but when you’ve spent most of the season in 5th place, I believe you have to focus on catching… and passing… the next team in front of you. You can’t get to 1st place until you’ve moved in to 4th… and 3rd… and 2nd.

Media reports indicate manager Ron Gardenhire has promised roster changes will be made following the game. One of them is obvious… Delmon Young is ready to return and that almost certainly means Rene Tosoni will be returning to Rochester. But what else?

It just seems to me that Trevor Plouffe has done all he can do in Rochester. I’m not sure if he’ll ever be a good defensive player and I’m not convinced he’s really as good with the bat as he’s been in Rochester this year, but it’s time to bring him back up. I don’t think he needs to start on this team, but he’s got to be a more valuable bat off the bench than the Twins’ third catcher, whoever that might be. I suspect it will be Rene Rivera who gets a plane ticket back to AAA.

I won’t be surprised if Chuck James is recalled from Rochester, as well. The question is, which member of the current bullpen will be dropped? Another thing to consider is that Kevin Slowey’s rehabilitation assignment is drawing to a close and a decision will have to be made with regard to his future, as well.

But first things first… let’s beat down the Bitch Sox today and head in to the break on a positive swing!

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Revere, CF Pierre, LF
Casilla, A, 2B Ramirez, Al, SS
Mauer, DH Konerko, 1B
Cuddyer, 1B Dunn, A, DH
Valencia, 3B Quentin, RF
Tosoni, LF Rios, CF
Nishioka, SS Pierzynski, C
Butera, C Beckham, 2B
Repko, LF Teahen, 3B
  _Swarzak, P   _Peavy, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 1 6 13 0
Chi White Sox 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 8 0

That’s 3 of 4 from the BitchSox heading in to the break and while it wasn’t the prettiest of wins, any win over AJ and his buddies is a good win!

Good balance on the offensive side today with 13 hits, but only two were for extra bases (2B by Repko, 3B by Casilla). Anthony Swarzak picked up right where he left off the last time he was pressed in to a starting role and threw six very solid innings. Things got a bit hairy after he left the game, but Glen Perkins cleaned up the mess he inherited and then pitched another good inning for 1 2/3 of terrific relief. Matt Capps looked just fine getting the save.

GameChat votes broke right down the middle, so our Boyfriend of the Day honors are shared today by Swarzak and Perkins. Get some rest, boys… the fun really starts after the AllStar Break!

Anthony Swarzak
Glen Perkins

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GameChat – Twins @ White Sox, 3:10 pm, FOX

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We are Twins fans and that means we have a lot of things in common. Two of those common threads that most of us share are extreme dislike (I hate to say hate) for the White Sox and the Yankees. It’s tough for us to say a single positive word about players on either team’s roster.

Derek Jeter (Photo MLB)

That said, I’m also a baseball fan. And as a baseball fan, I have to step up and acknowledge… and yes, congratulate… Derek Jeter on reaching the 3,000 hit milestone in today’s game with the Rays. Despite the uniform he wears, Jeter has conducted himself in a manner that I can respect, as a fan, and I enjoyed watching him get #3,000 in classic Yankee fashion… with a home run in front of the home fans at Yankee Stadium.

So, on this day… and this day only… I’ll join with Yankee fans and congratulate number 2. Well done, Derek.

Closer to home, the Twins go for another win over the BitchSox today in Chicago with Brian Duensing facing off with Mark Buehrle. That sounds like a tough match up for Twins fans, but lately that sort of thing doesn’t seem to matter. Somehow, some way, the Twins win these games. Let’s hope it continues today.

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Revere, CF Pierre, LF
Casilla, A, 2B Ramirez, Al, SS
Mauer, C Konerko, 1B
Cuddyer, RF Dunn, A, DH
Thome, DH Quentin, RF
Valencia, 3B Rios, CF
Hughes, L, 1B Castro, R, C
Nishioka, SS Beckham, 2B
Repko, LF Morel, 3B
  _Duensing, P   _Buehrle, P

That was at least an interesting ballgame. Brian Duensing and Mark Buehrle both pitched very well. What struck me, as much as anything, was that we got a very good look at the good and bad extremes of Ben Revere in the outfield. He made a terrific diving catch and then, on the last play of the game, we saw just how badly he throws the ball. That may have been one of the weiniest throws I’ve ever seen a MLB CF make to home plate… you couldn’t count the bouces because it was literally rolling by the time it reached Joe Mauer at home plate.

Ah well, come back and start a new winning streak against the BitchSox on Sunday.

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox, 7:10

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Make no mistake, this is a big series.

It’s preposterous to call any game or even any series a “must win” at this point in the season. Still, you don’t have to spend much time perusing the standings before coming to the conclusion that the pre-AllStar Break series that begins tonight against the White Sox is huge.

It’s easy to focus on the number of games the Twins trail the AL Central Division leaders, if for no other reason than those are the numbers we see published every day in the media. The Twins have been bouncing around between 7-9 games behind whichever team, the Indians or Tigers, might happen to be leading the division on a particular date. In fact, some writers (including myself) have pointed to the week of July 18-24, when the Twins are scheduled to play eight games against the Indians and Tigers in a span of seven days as the stretch during which the Twins’ destiny will be determined.

But, as we all know, the Twins don’t just trail Cleveland and Detroit. If the Twins are truly going to pull themselves up in to contention, they’re going to have to step over the cold, dead body of the BitchSox, as well. The Sox haven’t found a way to win even a single game over the Twins so far, with our guys going 2-0 both on their last trip to Chicago, in May, and also on the Sox’ return trip in June. That’s a trend that needs to continue.

The Sox enjoy a 3.5 game lead over the Twins as the series begins. A Twins sweep would propel them in to third place at the AllStar Break. Getting swept by the Sox would mean a 7.5 game deficit and we’ll probably start reading a lot more articles about other teams contacting the Twins about trades, like this one from the Denver Post, as it would seem all but impossible to catch and pass three teams from that far back at the Break.

As for tonight’s game… it’s the long-awaited (and much too ballyhooed) debut of Joe Mauer at first base for the Twins.

Joe and the Twins will be facing off against former Twin Phil Humber. Joe Christensen at the Strib wrote a nice piece on Humber that’s worth a read.

Finally, congratulations to Sox 1B Paul Konerko on winning the fan vote for the final spot on the AL AllStar team. Personally, I thought it was stupid that he had to go through that process, rather than just being named on his own merits. Konerko is one of those guys I can’t help but respect, even when he plays for a rival.

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Revere, CF Pierre, LF
Casilla, A, 2B Vizquel, 3B
Mauer, 1B Konerko, 1B
Cuddyer, RF Dunn, A, DH
Thome, DH Rios, CF
Valencia, 3B Pierzynski, C
Tosoni, LF Ramirez, Al, SS
Nishioka, SS Teahen, RF
Butera, C Beckham, 2B
  _Pavano, P   _Humber,P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 6 13 0
Chi White Sox 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 6 1

Didn’t tonight just remind you how much fun it is to beat the BitchSox?

Carl Pavano wasn’t terrificly sharp, but he still got through 7 innings while giving up only 2 runs, so you have to happily take that. Glen Perkins and Matt Capps… yes, Matt Capps… each contributed a scoreless inning of relief work.

Ben Revere had a really nice night, going 3 for 5 with a couple of runs scored and Tsuyoshi Nishioka contributed with the bat and the glove.

But tonight’s BOD was pretty clearly Joe Mauer. The Chairman had 3 hits and 2 RBI, and also looked like he had been playing 1B most of his career. Ground balls, line drives, scooping balls in the dirt, soft-tossing to the pitcher covering… he had to do it all and did just fine. Good work Joe!

Joe Mauer (and 1B coach Jerry White)

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Selig v. McCourt: Who Ya Rootin’ For?

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I was skimming my way through a few baseball articles today, including a brief Associated Press piece reporting that a Delaware judge denied a motion by lawyers for the Los Angeles Dodgers that MLB be required to turn over certain documents that the lawyers claim would demonstrate that MLB has not treated the team fairly. Of course, by “the team”, we’re talking about Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

At the end of the brief article, this particular line caught my attention: “But Gross said he did not want to turn a July 20 hearing on the team’s proposed financing plan into a trial of baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.”

My reaction, of course, was, “Well, that’s a damn shame, because if there’s one thing we could really use, it’s a trial of baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.”

Jamie and Frank McCourt

Alas, we won’t be getting that. Instead, we’re going to continue to be treated to months of “McCourt v. Selig”. How the hell are we supposed to find someone to root for in THAT contest?

Trying to figure out who to root for in this battle is kind of like figuring out who to  root for when you watch the Yankees play the White Sox. If you’re like me, you just end up rooting for everyone involved on both sides to be swallowed up in to a giant sinkhole.

In case you haven’t really followed the situation involving the owner(s) of the Dodgers, let me summarize the situation:

Frank McCourt and his wife Jaime bought the Dodgers a few years ago, apparently without having to put a single nickel of their own money in to the transaction. I’m not exactly sure HOW they did this, but apparently they were not only able to essentially borrow 100% of the money they needed, but Selig and his MLB buddies (yes, the same ones who don’t seem to think bazillionaire Mark Cuban is good enough to join their little club) cheerfully approved the sale to the McCourts.

Frank and Jaime then commenced to spend every dime the they could rake in from the organization to support a lifestyle they really had no business expecting to live. They gave out huge deferred contracts that are now handcuffing the Dodgers. In other words, they not only spent current revenues on themselves, but when that wasn’t enough any more, they had the team go deeply in to debt so they could continue living their excessive lifestyle.

Then the couple started not getting along any more. The details of how that came to pass are certainly interesting, but I won’t bother with them here. You can look those up yourself. But suffice to say that Frank didn’t care for some of the things he discovered his wife was doing and he fired her from her position with the Dodgers. They filed for divorce and Jaime claims she owns half the Dodgers.

In order to fund (a) the divorce, (b) his soon to be ex-wife’s lifestyle, and (c) his own lifestyle, Frank has talked FOX in to a long term TV rights deal for Dodger games on a contract that is significantly… some would say obscenely… front loaded. The net effect would be that, while the money would arguably allow McCourt to pay off his wife and have a few bucks to spend on himself, it would also almost eliminate a critical revenue stream that the Dodgers would otherwise have to spend on other things… like baseball players, for example… over the rest of the next decade.

So Bud Selig said, “no”. This has forced the Dodgers in to bankruptcy when they were unable to meet their June 30 payroll.

When owners buy their team, they are required to sign an agreement stating that they will not sue MLB. I think it’s safe to say that the validity of that agreement is about to get tested and we will then get the “McCourt v. Selig” battle I referred to at the onset of this post.

If we were Dodger fans or if it had been the Twins ownership that had so overtly plundered their team’s present and future revenues, we would really have no choice but to loudly root for the Selig team. But we’re not and they haven’t.

So I’m rooting for McCourt.

It’s certainly not because I think what the McCourts did was “right”. The two of them have got to be just about the worst excuses for owners… and probably even just as human beings… that you could find in modern day sports. They are clearly flat out awful people and what they’ve done to the Dodgers is indefensible.

Bud Selig

But I don’t care about that as much as I care about Bud Selig and his buddies losing this fight. The reason is simple… if Frank McCourt can convince the legal system that he is within his rights, as owner of a MLB team, to essentially steal most of the team’s future TV revenues just to support his own immediate personal financial needs, then maybe… finally… MLB will be forced to finally take central control over teams’ local broadcast/cable rights.

McCourt is only able to do what he’s done because MLB lets every team negotiate their own local TV deals. This has, as we all now know, led to the BS blackout restrictions (~You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant~) and, even more importantly, enormous revenue and competitive advantages for teams in the largest media markets.

I want the courts to tell Bud Selig, “You approved this guy as an owner… your rules say he can make his own TV deals… so if you don’t like the deals he makes, too damn bad! Maybe you should change the rules!”

Because, let’s face it, until the current situation blows up in Bud’s face, nothing will change. We will see the Yankees and Red Sox on TV 45 times a season. The Yankees will take in twice as much revenue as anyone else and therefore have twice as much to spend on talent. Only when revenues are more balanced (not necessarily equal, but more equitable) will teams compete on level playing fields… and that will not happen until Selig and the big market owners get punched in the nose by the courts. This may be the last, best hope of seeing that happen.

This would also solve the silly realignment issue. Which teams are crying the loudest for realignment? Baltimore, Toronto and Tampa Bay, that’s who. Why? Because in the current situation, they have to contend with the two teams with the most obscene revenue advantages, New York and Boston, every season. So, naturally, instead of curing the illness… revenue disparity… MLB proposes treating the symptom through realignment schemes that result in the rest of the AL sharing the competitive disadvantages equally. After all, MLB and their network partners WANT the Yankees and Red Sox in the playoffs every year and competitive balance would make that far less assured to happen.

Finally, there’s one last reason to root for the courts to come down against Bud Selig. It’s simple really. He’s Bud Selig.

I know the odds are against me… and Frank McCourt… in this deal. So what do we wish for if it’s not possible for McCourt to win this battle?

I guess there’s always the “swallow everyone involved on both sides in to a giant sinkhole” thing.

– JC