Twins Quick Hitter (pun intended)

Agents will be the death of all sports.

With this closer business, now you even can't use your best reliever off the bench to seal a game off, if it's not a "save situation."

What crap, it's all agent driven, the proof is it makes no logical sense.


That said: Jaque Jones has 10 walks in April! He's lucky to walk 10 times a year!

This bodes very, very well for the Twins.

We closed to 3 games today against the W-Sox, so now it's only a matter of time before their annual collapse.

And who can now dispute my 4-10 post regarding Matt LeCroy?

Good bye Corky Miller, hello Terry Tiffe: it's only a matter of time.

Torii is Sneaking up on People...

Well, more to the point, the Twins Torii Hunter has been unexpectedly sneaking around the backs of pitchers on the basepaths this year, and stealing bases seemingly at will.

He's an unbelievable 10 steals in 10 tries!

And the jumps he's getting are so big, I don't know why catchers even risk a throw.

In only 3 weeks, he's nearly half way to his season best of 23.

I think stealing bases is one of the most exciting things about baseball, and don't think as that as his reputation grows, he starts really playing on pitchers minds when he gets on.

They end up worrying more about him after he's on, than the batter they're facing.

So keep it T.H.

Now, if we could just teach Rivas to bunt for a single every game...

Viking Draft '05, Grade = A

Well, I never expected it, but I have to give the Vikes '05 draft a grade of A.

After years of epic bungling, they finally got it right.

At #7, they added a rocket powered wide out, who with Burleson & Robinson, all combine to give you what Moss did.

Granted, it's 3 roster spots as opposed to 1, but it's also without the poisoned attitude.

Then they had to go "d," and they did it with a pass rushing end.

They filled all needs, and even managed to get their picks in on time!

I'm liking it, and my optimism is starting to build for next season.

Viking Draft '05

Just some quick thoughts on the draft...

As mentioned previously, if the brain trust does not take a wide-out on their 1st pick (most likely Mike Williams, USC) they will feel the sting of my wrath.

This time last year receiver was our deepest position, this year it's running back.

We have 3 very good running backs, any one of which is potentially great, but Tice (I'm starting to not be a Tice guy, which is ironic, because as the team keeps improving, he keeps looking dumber) misuses them like Gardy does with his charges.

Tice & Studwell (who was once my favorite player) have the savy sophistication of a sledgehammer. They just make me nervous. I mean, the Sheriff could be an idiot, but at least not 24/7. He picked nutjob Demetrius Underwood in the first round, but he had already picked Dante, so I say, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.

Word is that Dred McCombs really likes RB Cedric Benson from Texas.

Great.

Yeah, that's just what we need, 4 running backs (and this doesn't even count all-everything Moe Williams.)

That makes about as much sense as the Twins keeping 4 catchers, which happens to be insane.

What next?

Have the Wild carry 4 goalies & the Wolves carry 4 centers?

Where will the insanity end?

And to think, it was all started by the sanest of our pro sports franchises- the Twins.

Thanks Gardy, for really getting some mileage out of that Oklahoma dust-bowl brain of yours.

Drat! Sometimes I just hate being right.

Granted, those times are rare, but this is one time I actually wish I was wrong.

If you've read my post on Twins Mgr. Ron Gardenhire keeping an unbelieveable 4 catchers on the roster, you know my big fear is that what if there's a problem at another postition?

Gardy has somehow contracted total myopia when it comes to Joe Mauer and the catcher position, to the detriment of all others.

So 3 days into the season, 1st baseman Justin Mourneau is beaned in the head, and is out indefinetly with headaches.

So who is the backup 1st baseman?

Well, it's now one of our backup catchers, Matty LeCroy.

So maybe, it just might have been a good idea to have switch hitting corner infielder Terry Tiffee up here, instead of #4 catcher Corky Miller.

So 3 days into the season, and we're already behind the 8 ball, all because Gardy had to have 4 catchers.

Don't be sad Gardy, you got what you wanted.

My post @ twinsterritory.com Re: Matt LeCroy

The question posted was "do we keep LeCroy up here?"

I have no problem at all keeping Matt up here, to see my thoughts on the 4 catcher situation, scroll further down.

Matty is versatile, can play catcher or first, and obviously DH.

Plus, he fits the chemistry of this team, no ego, team first, flawlessly.

He's been a very effective DH, he stays on my roster, Corky goes down, and Tiffee moves up.

That said, I'm going to the game tonight (4-10-05), so I'm sure Corky will go 3-4, 2 HR's, 5 RBI's, and I'll be dining on crow.

Gardy avoids broadside...

And I'm not talking about old Napoleons, oh no, I'm talking about "Shock & Awe."

I'm talking "The Nuclear Option" here.

To what am I possibly refering to, in the context of Twins Mgr. Ron Gardenhire?

The decision he faced April 8th, as to whether or not to play Justin Mourneau (1B), who had been drilled in the head by a fastball Wed. night.

It was a scary scene as he lay on the ground, and later staggered off the field, and it reminded this writer of the ball Kirby Puckett took to his eye socket a few years back that essentially ended his career.

Mourneau had a good MRI, and the Fri. papers made it sound like Gardy was seriously thinking of playing him.

I commented to friends during the workday, that I thought that that could be a catastrophic decision; and in light of the way he rushed Joe Mauer back from a knee injury too early last year (which ended his season) anything was possible.

What if... I mean just what if he got hit in the head again? I shudder to think of possible consequences.

Well now we know they're going to hold him out until at least next Tuesday.

Maybe you can teach an Ol' Dog new tricks.

No Vikes for You Reggie!

I just want to go on record as saying, I just don't think Reggie Fowler has the personal wealth to buy the Vikings.

Furthermore, it would not surprise me in the least, if he was a co-conspiritor in a Red McCombs scheme to drive the price of the team up so he can eventually sell to Glen Taylor at an inflated price.

A couple things pop up on my radar, one being when I learned that Red & Reg have known each other for many years, and two, nobody in Arizona had ever heard of this "so-called" multi-millionaire- Fowler .

It's well known Reggie does not have the personal capital to be the majority owner of the Vikes, so now the story is he's going to sell 25% of his aviation simulator company for $300 million.

Not bad for a company who's total value may be far below that figure.

Smell any Red yet?

There was a very fine story today in the Strib by Jay Weiner & Randy Furst checking into the company that is supposedly going to overpay by 10's of millions for a share of Fowler's company.

They basically found out this company, supposedly ready to pay $300 million for a 1/4 interest in Fowler's company that isn't worth that in it's totality, is a ghost.

They are gentle in their commentary, I'm not: It's a complete fraud!

Fowler doesn't have the cash, and I suspect, Ol' Red is behind this whole scheme.

Stay strong Glen Taylor.

WCC..."NO"

I didn't have a problem working until 7pm today, because I knew the WCCO website connection would allow me to keep up with Twins opening day ballgame which started at 4pm.

Little did I know, "Minnesota's 830, WCCO" has yet to activate it; just try WCCOradio.com, it says disconnected for the offseason. Hummm.

One would think someone over at WCCO might have picked up on this , oh say, maybe sometime during the 6 weeks of pre-season action.

You'd think after they lost the Vikings broadcasts, that they'd maybe keep a closer eye on the Twins.

It won't be long before their flagship sports team will be the Swarm.

The problem with the Twin Cities sports scene...

In my opinion, the #1 problem with the local sports media in this area, is quite simply, the lack of divergent voices in its coverage.

There is a near monoply of the TV, radio, and newsprint slots for sports opinion.

You'd think in a metro area of 2.5 million people, we'd have more than a handful of sports analysts sharing their opinions with us.

You'd think you would have dominant TV people, and independent radio personalities, and cantankerous newspapermen (and women); but here, it's all the same people.

Think about it: Sid Hartman, newsprint, radio, TV show; Pat Reusse, newsprint, radio, TV; Bob Sansevere, newsprint, radio, TV; etc., etc.

I think you get the point.

The way to get a radio sports commentary job, is to have a sportswriters job. The way to get a TV gig, is to have a newspaper column and a radio career.

It is monolithic nepotism...kind of (I didn't even say Chad Hartman.)

It seems like the only people to penetrate this closed court has been P.A. and Dubay. But when did they break in, ten years ago?

I do like the latest bright light at the Strib: Jim Souhan, he's a knowledgeable & easy read, unlike his predecessor, the "nattering nabob of negativity:" Dan Barriero.

This is the biggest mystery of all to me.

Now, of all the sports media condridictions that we have, KFAN's Barriero drive-time show has got to be the biggest. It just baffles me.

They claim to be a sports station, but the Barriero show is anything but.

It's one of their flagship programs, and yet, they never seem to be talking about sports.

If they were a true "all sports show" on my commute home, I'd be a captive listener, but unfortunately, this is not the case.

So, I listen to a political show instead, and when they go to a commercial, I'll pop over to KFAN and check it out (sometimes they do have a good guest.)

But what do I get? Barriero pontificating on politics. It's bad enough that he barely knows anything sports, outside of basketball, but he's completely clueless about politics.

I remember one conversation he had, where he, a newly appointed political "expert," didn't even know who the Speaker of the House was.

That was an instant channel changer.

So to all the sports editors, program directors, and station managers, I am available; and if not me, somebody new.

Anybody new.

Terry Ryan to Emergency: STAT!

Gardy's OD'd on Idiot pills again!

Apparently, with the emergence of Jason Bartlett at short, Gardy put his Tums bottle back in the medicine cabinet; but when he started thinking hard about Loius Rivas, he ran to get the Tums, but actually grabbed his idiot pills and downed a 1/2 bottle.

The next thing we knew, he had brought up 4 (YES 4!!) catchers from Spring Training. That brilliant move also forced top prospect and switch-hitting Terry Tiffee back to AAA, and the complete loss of Mike Restovich through waivers, for which we got absolutely nothing in return.

Please step in and take control of the situation- PLEASE!

Many American league teams do fine with 2 catchers, we used to.

We're all waiting to see if Mauer's "golden knee" holds up, so that would mitigate the decision to carry 3 catchers.

But 4?

Come on!

Is Gardy so rediculously paranoid about the catching situation that he may also send someone else down, and then bring up Rob Bowen?

Mr. Ryan, please give Gardy the antidote to the idiot pills he's taken: a call from you.