Driver2165

Well 94% voted for a psuedonym for a hit. That’s about as decisive as it gets. No date is set yet, but word on the street is March the Second.

Thanks to everybody who showed up last friday to the Kitty Cat Klub. It was good fun.

We're going to miss you. And we got nothing for ya. Well we may have a decent pitcher in 2 or 3 years, but it looks like we're going to try to go all the way this year with 3 rookies starting.

I’m Tired.

Yay! I love this weather. Makes me wanna drive the 2. Specifically the 005 run Saturdays. Do they still have that one? The one with the 30 minute layover? That was awesome. I went to the record store all the time. I bought my wife the Cocorosie album the last time i did it. Speaking of my wife, we’re married now! It’s been about 4 weeks I guess, we’ve been real busy. It’s been great though. No time to update the ol’ weblog. In any case, I finished my this.

Join here

Don't try to start a wave sitting in my section.

Attendence was in the 16,000 range. Really that's probably because the weather was so nice after 3 days of rain. And winter is still fresh in our minds. But really, if we had a small outdoor stadium in a neighborhood instead of downtown WITH NO RETRACTABLE ROOF there'd be 30,000 easily. Seriously, forget all this downtown retractable roof business. It costs too much and nobody wants it. Knock down K-Mart at Lake and Nicollet and put it there. It's right off the highway. Put a 38,000 small stadium there with a parking ramp hidden. Sell naming rights to the Park Nicollet clinics. It'd be a nice homage to Nicollet Park, which stood one block away and is now a bank parking lot. Willie Mays tread on that ground. So did Ted Williams. Or we could put one over where that Target is on Hiawatha and Lake. That huge parking lot is doing our city no favors. It's right by the Light Rail. It's perfect. Nice neighborhood, the infrastructure is there. The roads are big enough to handle traffic, there's people that live nearby, great public transit already goes there. There's storefronts already built, with room for more. Old warehouses just a few blocks north. Sell naming rights to Pillsbury eh? Pillsbury Park. That's got a nice ring to it. Or we could just have Macy's come in and we'll name it Marshall Field. We could even put the Marshal Field's logo on it, just drop the apostrophe and the s. I'm all in favor of corporate sponsorship if it means we can get one built for a bit cheaper. I just don't want to see something like "TCF Field" or "3M Park" or "General Mills Stadium". We need a name that sounds like a ballpark name. It worked for Wrigley, and Pacific Bell Park was one of the best names ever until they ruined it.

AL 1B: M. Sweeney, MIN
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So we lost a series to Baltimore. But man it was close. The way Baltimore is playing, especially thanks to Brian Roberts, they're making me look more like I know what I'm talking about than the lunatic I looked like when I predicted Baltimore winning the AL East, followed by Boston, New York, Tampa, and Toronto.

AL Central: The Twins continue to compete against the good teams and mostly slaughter the bad teams, while the White Sox are off to one hell of a start. It won't last. The White Sox pitching staff is overperforming their abilities. Their hitting is about where it should be. Still if you look at the numbers that count, runs scored and runs scored against, the Sox are even overperforming their pythagorean record. So an overperforming pitching staff overperforming even their overperformance, no way this isn't gonna come back down at the end of the season. The Twins meanwhile are on pace for 100 wins, and their record is actually BELOW their pythagorean record. Now that's going to come back down eventually, but one of these days Santana's going to have a 1-2-3 first inning, and you know the first and second inning is your only chance to score (unless of course you're the Baltimore Orioles and your leadoff hitter has more homers and rbi than anyone on the Twins, including their young French-Canadian who's been channelling Mickey Mantle during the past two weeks. Then you might muster a measly 3 or 4 runs.) Anyway, the Twins will again win the division by a good 6 or 7 lengths, and the Indians will remember that they're slightly talented and end up as close behind the Sox as the Sox are behind the Twins. I still wouldn't be suprised if Detroit pulls of an 80-win season.

LA in the West, and Boston for the Wild Card.

NL: LA, Florida, St. Louis, and the Mets for the Wild Card.

This baseball world cup sounds really fun if they can get enough players to do it. Italy, South Africa, the Netherlands and Australia should be fun to watch attempt to play ball with the other 12 countries. (Why not England or India? Do cricket skills not translate well?) Panama and Mexico have some bona fide star players, but not too many. Japan and Cuba would be super interesting for me to watch because they'd mostly have their own teams with players that are good enough to, but don't, play in the Major Leagues. Sure Japan could have Ichiro, the Matsuis, Dave Roberts, and Iguchi, but the other guys will be just as competitive I'm guessing. Plus they're the only guys that know how to throw the mythical GYROBALL which was created by scientists on a computer! Korea, Taiwan and China could be interesting. I don't know if they have a glut of great players that don't play in the US or not, but they could probably beat Italy. Canada could also have a competitive ballclub with Eric Gagne, Corey Koskie, Justin Morneau, Rich Harden, and Erik Bedard. But it's the last 4 teams that really have me interested. This is where i delve into super long lists of names, but this could be a really cool tournament if these guys agree to play. I don't know who to root for!

Puerto Rico: C Javy López, C Iván Rodríguez, 1B Carlos Delgado, 2B Alex Cintron, SS Rey Sanchez, 3b Mike Lowell, OF Carlos Beltrán, OF Juan González, OF Bernie Williams, SP Javier Vazquez and RP J.C. Romero.

Now there's some holes here as far as pitching goes, but that's a solid lineup, albeit almost elderly. Maybe they emigrate one of their catchers to the Dominican Republican and get a pitcher to immigrate in return?

United States: C Joe Mauer, 1B Todd Helton, 2B Marcus Giles, 3B Alex Rodriguez, SS Derek Jeter, OF Carl Crawford, OF Gary Sheffield, OF Johnny Damon, SP Randy Johnson, SP Mark Prior, SP Roger Clemens, SP Curt Schilling, SP Jake Peavy, RP Mike Gonzalez, RP Brad Lidge, CL Joe Nathan

Of course the US has the more players to choose from on account of there being a shitload of americans, and these are my choices. That right there is the team to beat, which brings us to the two teams other than Japan, Cuba, and Canada that easily could:

Dominican Republic: 1B Albert Pujols, 2B Alfonso Soriano, 3B Aramis Ramírez, SS Miguel Tejada, OF Sammy Sosa, OF Manny Ramírez, OF Vladimir Guerrero, SP Pedro Martínez, SP Bartolo Colón, SP Ramón Ortíz, SP José Lima, SP Daniel Cabrera, RP Dámaso Marte, RP Guillermo Mota, CL Armando Benitez

David Ortíz, Luis Castillo, Adrián Beltré, and José Reyes is the infield that didn't make it and I'd probably take the Dominican second-string infield over the Americans' starters., and they're my backup picks, with José Guillén and Moises Alou being bumped out of the outfield. Now that is a nice team. The pitching is solid, but not as deep as the United States and Venezuela. I also couldn't figure out a catcher for them.

Venezuela: C Victor Martinez, 2B Edgardo Alfonzo, 3B Melvin Mora, SS Carlos Guillen, OF Bobby Abreu, OF Miguel Cabrera, OF Magglio Ordoñez, SP Johan Santana, SP Carlos Zambrano, SP Carlos Silva, P Gustavo Chacín, SP Freddy Garcia, RP Juan Rincon, RP Giovanni Carrara, CL Francisco Rodriguez

Another well-rounded team from top to bottom. Plus they have the best outfield.

So, I'm sorry that was really long, but Bethany was at work and I got bored.

We got Bret Boone!

Even if he doesn't hit like he used to he still plays great defense, and a slumping Boone is about as valuable offensively as a streaking Rivas. So does Punto move to short then? They love that guy for some reason. Or is Boone gonne ride the bench on Seattle's dime?

You made the mistake of giving up a single run tonight. If you want credit for the win, you're gonna have to go with the shutout.

During a conversation with These stats for that 1965 Dodgers squad are amazing. Nobody managed more than 12 home runs. Ron Fairly led the team with 70 RBI.

Just a thought.

Well, I know they don't ask me, but here is who's names you should be reading the in the paper later this month.

AL MVP: Alex Rodriquez, New York

This is pathetic. Since when does the 7th best era in a pitcher's era qualify as dominant? Especially when 7th is his most dominant stat. And the man who lead both leagues in every category except the least important comes in third. Do these people even watch baseball?

I love the new sleeveless, but we've seriously gotta get rid of batting practice jerseys in real games.

The Twins they'll be wearing their old mitt logo! That logo was awesome. The Twins need to follow Milwaukee's example: if you're going to wear an ugly uniform, at least make it look awesome, instead of like a little league uniform.

I realize my last few posts have been downers, so here's a light-hearted downer post, however serious. George W. Bush, hated by all, has now decided to ban Cuba from the World Baseball Classic this spring at the expense of future US baseball in the Olympics! I didn't know the guy could get any dumber, but apparantly his baseball policy is just like his national policy. Screw everybody else while going after his own personal grudge, and let the rest of us figure out the fallout in five or more years when we've got a president named Dean, Warner, or, in a perfect world, Kucinich (but not Clinton please).

Star Tribune: Signing of White completes Twins' offensive wish list.

What?!? They're done? That's what Terry Ryan has been hyping? Rondell White? This is terrible. When was the last time he played anywhere close to a full season? 1997! NINETEEN NINETY SEVEN! That was back when he was a "stolen base threat" (according to the Star Tribune) with a smoking 14 steals. Ok, maybe he's got a decent OBP, but you can't get on base very often when you're on the DL. Man, we coulda signed Mark Bellhorn for half that money. Or kept LeCroy. You know he wasn't terrible. Does anybody else miss David Ortiz?

So to recap, the big wheeling and dealing that Terry Ryan was hyping like crazy is supposedly complete. What did we get? A good leadoff man. A guy who was kicked off his team in Japan for sucking, had one great year in the US that looks like nothing else he did (steriods much?), and will make Mike Cuddyer look like somebody who can get on base without GIDP (that's not easy), and a guy named Gimpy. Meanwhile, who's now playing in south Chicago? Forget Chicago, Kansas City been signing cheap veterans that can actually play.

I'm this close to buying a Royals hat.

If there was an AL team somewhere, one which could still could use a DH, one which plays in a stadium nicknamed the Homerdome, one which has recently signed old men like Ruben Sierra and liabilities like RonDL White and Tony Batista, and the news came out that Sammy Sosa had just turned down a one year offer from an NL team because he'd probably have an embarrassing year having to field and hit in their extreme pitchers' park, maybe you've got a match there?

So nobody in the US cares about the WBC? And nobody can figure out why? Has nobody noticed it's not on TV? Hey, at least they're admitting that spring training is the worst possible time to have it, but everybody seems to talk as if the only other option is to take a two week break, like the NHL did for the olympics, in the middle of July. That's not a terrible idea, but why not play it in December? They don't have to play in the US. The finals should be in the Dominican Republic, so the home fans are there when their team wins the whole thing.

This is exciting, though. Japan is rolling over Asia mid-1930s style. Incredible. I'll be rooting for the United States, as politics isn't the same as baseball, whether Bush thinks it is or not. Honestly though, Venezuela is my secret favorite.

The Orioles let Richard Hidalgo go, making him the second inexpensive mediocre slugger that is better than RonDL White and doesn't have a team.

It's been a great weekend. I had friday off work, which turned out to be a great day to take off. I would have been driving the 4 on Lyndale and through downtown on Hennepin, and, from what I saw when we went down to the Wedge to get Eliot some wipes while we wait for our Twin Cities Blend Peace Coffee [Peace Coffee absolutely murders Stumptown, while I'm at it. Other recent coffee deaths inflicted by Peace coffee include Intellegentsia of Chicago, and everything I had in Seattle.] But hear me out, I'm a huge fan of eggs+beans+salsa wrapped up in various combinations. Earwax (Chicago) previously held the title for Greatest Breakfast Burrito, and the Uptown Diner held the local version, but Anodyne has taken over. Insane.

But wait, there's more! The Twins are on a roll. Remember five days ago when people were freaking out about the Twins' 1-5 start? A slow start to a season on the road has never been reason for worry. We just swept the A's. Our supposedly terrible offense wiped oakland pitching all over the FieldTurf. Scott Baker put the supposedly incredible [offensively] Yankees in his back pocket and sat on a very… hard… something. Now we're suddenly one game behind the two hottest offenses in the American League, and tied with the defending World Series champs [soon to be once-World Series champs]. I'll admit I don't like the additions. But they'll help more than it looks like they will. Castillo batting second is better than whoever the heck we had there last year. Batista makes the seventh spot in the order upgrade from a hack to 25 homer potential. And at some point Gardy's going to realize that Morneau should be batting fourth or fifth and Rondell should be putting up his 25 homers in the six hole. Morneau is going to be sweet this year. It would be nice if he would have somebody on base when he's up. Liriano is smoking jerks. Baker's pitching like Greg Maddux. Lohse is in the way.

I picked up our friend Heidi today. I suppose, since I have weekends off and was out sick on Monday and Tuesday, that makes two straight days that I picked up somebody I know. Pretty hot.

I picked new work for the summer operator's choice. I lost the weekend. Oh well, one more summer of missing the 11 line 7pm to 10:30pm.

I love the new ballpark plan. Not only is it great from a baseball point of view, it's great from an urban planning perspective. Take out everything about baseball, millionaires, public subsidy, referendums, and what you've got is somebody finally realizing that they nearly ruined the Warehouse District with their Interstate building and surfact parking lots. I view it as not only an apology, but also as a sign they're going to put us right again.

Now to the baseball. I'm hoping those mockups are true to the real deal. TC logos instead of those ugly M's is just the tip of the iceberg. Anybody else notice the complete lack of foul territory? And that looks like a short fence down the left field line. Looks to me like somebody's planning of keeping their left-handed power pitchers for awhile and giving their boys a shot at 30 homeruns for the first time in twenty years. I love the asymmetrical outfield fence. That's some character. It'll be a nice centerfield to watch Torii Hunter make his highlight reel catches seven games per year in his Red Sox jersey. I'll also like being able to watch the game while in line for hotdogs and beer. I'm excited. The best part is there's no retractible roof. When I come to Minneapolis to visit familiy and friends in 2010 from my new home in Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, or Portland, we'll definately go to a game.

[Via Twins Official Site (complete with new pics)]

Here's Craig Finn doing Take me out to the ball game (video), and it's better than Boys and Girls in America

It's snowing today, and, while it made for a very nice ride home tonight, it's probably going to bring out the complainers (aka Minnesotans) regarding the new Twins stadium. It's as if people here think it actually doesn't precipitate anywhere but Minnesota. A whole season of rainouts (or snowouts) is still better than an indoor stadium.

The best part of snow in April, especially a week after an 75° day, is when funny people show how little they actually understand about the idea of climate change. On the one hand you've got pretend hippies complaining about an 75° day in March because all they can think about is coal exhaust instead of just enjoying a nice spring day, and on the other hand, you've got people who also can't think for themselves yammering about a little bit of snow in Minnesota in early spring just proves that there hasn't been an increase of greenhouse gases because of humans and their machinery (did I mention that it's Minnesota?). I just shake my head and wonder about these people. Then, I complain about it on my blog.

Regarding the Twins radio home, I love the new Gluek scoreboard, but I hate the horrible reception of the new radio station. Normally, poor reception on 1500 AM is something I'm not to worried about because it just means fewer people can hear the right wing Ahmadinejad wackos (somehow only the third most extreme station in the local market), but now we're stuck with them for Twins games. And without Herb.

Ugh. Aren't we finished with sandstone in this damn city yet? At least it's outdoors and they didn't waste our money on a $100 million roof that might be used a handful of times per year. Perhaps it should be noted that the extra millions don't include climate control, so if similar weather to last week's cold spell (that was worse in most of the country, including Texas) came up we'd all be sitting in 25° F temperatures with a roof over our head (blocking the warmth from the sun? maybe). Now, I may be strongly grouped with the tax and spend crowd, but there's no way that's a good investment. $500 million for a public trust, good urban design, and a cultural institution in one shot is a good idea. $100 million for a roof that will not keep anybody warm, will stop about 4 games per year from being rained out, and will hang out over the next block like Mr Burns' sun blocking apparatus (or the stupid library) is ridiculous.

Do they have outfield wall dimensions posted anywhere? [Update: They do.] It's not quite as small as it looks. Those 40 feet concourses are going to be enormous. What's with the knot holes?

Ramon Ortiz is awesome. It makes me feel smart when my baseball predictions from January are still true after one week of the season.

I'm going to see the Brewers and Astros in Milwaukee next week. Sweet.

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

This is Bill Smith's first move as the GM of the Twins? Trading for Craig Monroe? Did he learn nothing from the RonDL experiment? I guess there was a gaping hole for an aging, injury-prone outfielder with the batting patience of, well, me playing All Star Baseball '98 on the N64. Sure, the guy hit 28 home runs once. He also walked only 37 times, while striking out 126 times. That .303 on base pct is going to come in HANDY.

Delmon Young is a Twin. Unbelievable. Bethany is a little mad that we traded Bartlett, and I'm surprised we traded Garza, but Delmon Young! Doesn't this kind of immediately make the Twins and Rays better?

It makes me wonder if we're going to keep Santana now. Our rotation currently projects as Santana, Liriano, Bonser, Baker, and Silva. If we trade Santana, who else would we pop in there? Unfortunately, Brendan Harris might be our shortstop.

Getty Images

1) Mets Phillies
This is a tough one for me to pick sides. I really like both teams right now. I just got a Phillie hat for my birthday yesterday, but I asked for Phillies or Pirates mainly because of the P. I want to be like Snoop Dogg. What's not to like about this matchup. You've got some of the most exciting young players on both sides with Howard and Utley with Philly and Reyes and Wright with New York. You've got your star veterans in Rollins & Burrell matched up with Delgado and Beltran. The starting pitching is as good as it gets with Santana and Hamels, Brett Myers and Oliver Perez, The bullpens are terrible enough that the game is never over, but exciting enough with JC Romero's constant fidgeting and occasional dominance. This is really just as good as it gets right now.

2) Brewers Cubs
There's the historic rivalry that shows up next, and there is this one, really the second best matchup in baseball. The Cubs get all the media, especially this year, but the Brewers are a fun enough team by themselves, and still my pick to win the division. Unless Eric Gagne (aka "Fat Driver 2165) blows it.

3) Cubs Cards
Fans really get into this matchup, and you can't take that out of the equation. It's not as compelling as it has been, but it's still pretty good. You've gotta love the Rick Ankiel, too.

4) Dodgers Giants
This is as historic as anything else, just nobody knows about since it only happens when the rest of the country in in bed. Plus my Dodgers are killing those nasty Giants these days.

5) Twins Sox
Nobody's even sure what this is all about any more, but as long as AJ is there, they're the team that is the target of the eruption from Minnesota's feeling of being general athletically inadequate (we can't even win at the only sport that makes climatic sense in hockey, and why aren't the Mighty Ducks from Minnesota again?). Neither team is any good anymore (Minny is obviously saving up for 2010), but I think the real Minnesota angst is based on an inferiority complex vis-à-vis the City of Chicago, which is enforced by the White Sox high-payroll low-performance way, topped with jealousy stemming from Jim Thome playing there. The best part is that not only does Chicago not care about the "rivalry", but I'm pretty Chicago isn't even aware that Minneapolis exists (that is, until a Chicagoan needs to leave the state for whatever reason and is looking for a nearby place to live). If the teams were Simpsons characters, the White Sox would be Nelson and the Twins would be Milhouse.

a few more: Cubs/Pirates, Cubs/Reds
I didn't realize this, but as much as I love going to Wrigley and getting Cubs games on TV, there are 4 teams in their own division that I would root for over them. Interesting.

Is it just me or is Lou Piniella what George Clooney is going to look like when he's 80?

That Twins sweep of the Tigers this weekend was awesome. Carlos Gomez is amazing getting hits, but like the rest of the team, seems incapable of taking a walk. It seems there might be a place in Minnesota for OBP guys like Wilkerson or MN native Dan Johnson. It's really just been a bunch of luck, but I have to admit, I'm liking Blackburn more and more. He's starting to remind me of a Jeff Suppan / Brad Radke type, that is, very useful. If he can harness the BABIP like Bannister and keep his walks down, he could give us a year like that bizarrely dominant Carlos Silva year.

I know this is pretty similar to what that great local beacon of mediocrity has been playing this month, but it's the best I've heard. This is almost a third local. We're having fish tacos tomorrow. I didn't even realize it was Cinco de Mayo until just a few minutes ago.

1. The Plastic Constellations - Disastrophe
2. The Morning Benders - Shedding My Skin
3. Tokyo Police Club - Sixties Remake
4. Man Man - Big Trouble
5. The Black Keys - So He Won't Break
6. Adem - Unravel
7. Atmosphere - The Waitress
8. Dom Mino - Scarlett
9. Weezer - Pork and Beans
10. Cepia - Ithica
11. Camphor - Confidences Shattered
12. Kayo Dot - Clelia Walking
13. Kid Dakota - Port Authority

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Previously: Mix #30, Apr '08