Recently in Baseball Category

I probably won't have a new mix for a while. I find it very very hard to listen to popular (or unpopular) music in the fall and winter. Drinking hoppy beers gives me heartburn too.

Plus I'm spending so much time watching and listening to baseball. Postseason.TV is incredible. I want four angles when I watch baseball in the regular season too.

I've had a personal great week in sports. Vikings monday, that awesome Twins game tuesday (what a graph):

The Dodgers had an awesome game last night:

Batting Mark Loretta with fantasy-season-killing Jim Thome on the bench with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and bases loaded was a bold move.

A Dodger game is a hard thing to listen to after Vin Scully gets off the air after 3 innings. Steiner and Monday are pretty terrible, but the St. Louis guys are painful. And even they are better than the Naive & Hustle boys we have doing Twins games. I'm listening to the Yankee broadcast. He's actually very good as long as there are no Yankee home runs. I've always had a bad impression of John Sterling because of those stupid home run calls, but they're all I've ever heard because that's all you hear in highlights. Plus there's a woman in the booth with an awesome accent.

You can at least see what I'm reading online if you care.

So, no mix right now.

If anybody's looking for a fantasy baseball league, let me know. We've got one opening in our 14 team head to head. The draft is tomorrow at 1:30 central, but email me anyway if you're too late and want to play anyway.

I've been working on finishing my top 65 records list (not to mention being outnumbered by people under three feet tall and watching Mad Men), and I got sidetracked, forgetting to put up December's mix. We'll have to see if anyone other than Zakcq still reads this thing. The year end mix and top 65 list should be up very soon.

Stupid Mark Teixiera and CC Sabathia.

1. Tobacco - Dirt (ft. Aesop Rock)
2. Unbunny - The Path
3. Jeremy Messersmith - Dead End Job
4. Mount Eerie - Who?
5. Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
6. Sydney Wayser - Ode To A Frenchman
7. Guilty Simpson - The American Dream
8. From Monument To Masses - Beyond God & Elvis
9. Jolie Holland - Mexico City
10. Cold War Kids - Against Privacy
11. The Uglysuit - Let it be Known
12. Plus-Minus - Snowblind
13. Koufax - Drivers
14. Tokyo Police Club - The Baskervilles f. Aesop Rock and Yak Ballz (Amplive Remix)

Download link [ ? ]
Previously: Mix #35, September '08

I have been on the Rays bandwagon for a few years. This year I called them to make the playoffs in spring training. They have many of my absolute favorite players. Carl Crawford has been one of my favorites for years. How can you not like David Price, who's going to be the best pitcher in the AL east for a long time? BJ Upton is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma (I love how he has skinny power, draws tons of walks and strikes out all the time, and still manages to bring a decent average). Bartlett was my favorite scrappy (mediocre white guy) Twin for the last few years. I love that Mets fans get to at least see Scott Kazmir in the World Series. Grant Balfour has my favorite name for a pitcher (better even than Kevin Slowey, Josh Outman, and Homer Bailey). Matt Garza is their third best starter. Andy Sonnanstine has a beard. They have a sidearmer. Evan Longoria is a pretty good hitter.

But I cannot root for them in good conscience. Not having any sort of history has nothing to do with it. They've been around for ten years, but they've had their current hats and uniforms for one. The fans clearly have been fans for a month. I mean, nobody is wearing a throwback 2007 BJ Upton jersey. Even at a Twins game there are noticable amounts of people with baby blue Oliva and Killebrew shirts, 1991 Puckett shirts. I just can't root for a team where the fans have been on the bandwagon for three years less than I have. The same fans who cheer like it's a walkoff home run every time a ball is hit out of the infield. They ignore good baserunning and fielding. Some idiot plays his damn wiener cowbell every time there are two strikes. The cowbell makes the home broadcast as hard on the ears as the College World Series. The mohawk thing is getting on my nerves. It was one thing when the players did it. It was another thing when the manager cut one. Now the fans have pink mohawks on their pets and babies. They also have cheerleaders. In baseball.

There are valid reason to root for the Phillies, though. Chase Utley, for example. Ryan Howard will strike out 14 times and hit 3 home runs. I hear Cole Hamels is talented. That idiot Brett Myers was amazing on my fantasy team this year. Brad Lidge was the best closer in baseball this year (41/41 in saves is infinitely more impressive than 62/69), and it's nice to see him back after that Pujols homerun. Jimmy Rollins has been underrated his entire career (until going into this year, where he was slightly overtouted). I'm worried JC Romero will twitch out of his skin. Pedro Feliz has a beard. I always like watching Pat the bat. He is so taguchi. Plus I already have a Phillies hat, and with the economy, that's really the main reason,

Why can't us?

I know I'm a day late and a quarter short (or is that Twin Cities transit passengers?), but I keep putting off my playoff picks. The Twins put me in a bit of a foul mood. Since that Thursday game where we sat in the second to last row in the upper deck directly behind the plate (not terrible seats, plus they were free, thanks to Bethany's boss) that they came back from a 6-1 defecit to win 7-6 in extra innings to take first place, they've been absolutely terrible offensively.

I'm going with LA, Boston, Tampa, and Philly. The World Series will be LA against Boston, and will be one of the most exciting series ever.

I'm not just being a homer with LA, I really think the Cubs aren't as good as people think. The Dodgers had the pitching, top of the rotation and bullpen, and dropping Manny in the middle of the lineup improves it exponentially. And we can't forget Casey Blake, who is a nice player to have batting eighth. He may be a Twin next year, and he'd probably bat fifth for us. Or even fourth if Gardy (I agree with Posnanski here, Gardy is one of the better managers in the game. My other favorite? Ozzie Guillen with a bullet) gets smart and bats Mauer second, behind Span, sends Gomez to the minors, and publicly apologizes for pitching Brian Bass so much in games closer than five runs. The Dodgers got Furcal back too. If I told you your team could take Angel Berroa's career .305 OBP out of your lineup in favor of Rafael Furcal's .352, is that something that you'd be interested in?

My man Matt Kemp reached on an error, stole second, reached third on another error, and scored on a sac fly. That's quality baseball.

Kind of reminds me of the Dodger offense in Sandy's perfect game. That hit didn't come until after the run scored.

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

Download link [ ? ]
Previously: Mix #30, Apr '08

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?

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.

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.