SB Nation User Blog: Andersklasen

Lane Kiffin: A Winner in My Book

Andersklasen — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:36:07 -0000

Lane Kiffin: A Winner in My Book

A piece describing why Kiffin shouldn't have been fired, and what he did right for the Raiders.

Good Luck, Sox Fans

Andersklasen — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:31:05 -0000

You might possibly be forced to need it. But I doubt it.

To start things out, I'm a Twins fan. If there are any bashings or "screw you!'s" after I'm done, well...

Your ChiSox better watch themselves tomorrow. This Twins team is one of, if not the best in the history of mankind. Don't believe me? Let's just take a look at some examples:

The Twins have one of the best starting rotations ever. Livan Hernandez was stellar before he died somewhere in Colorado. Despite the tragic death, Hernandez was an opposing figure on the mound. His 5.48 ERA, 1.632 WHIP, and 199 hits allowed were among the top in the league.

Need I even mention Boof Bonser? Obviously one of the best relievers in the game, he is so unselfish he has limited himself to only two holds and no saves the entire year. He even went so far as to blow two saves so Nathan could have a chance at one later on. What a nice guy. His 5.93 ERA ranks as third best in the league. Just look at him:

via assets.espn.go.com

What do you think of when you see that picture? You may see a porn star, barber, or popcorn vendor, but I see...well, nevermind.

And there is also Dennys Reyes. When he is not in a heated debate with the United States over the wacky spelling of his first name, or in a weight-loss program, Reyes is a ____ reliever for the Minnesota Twins.

via assets.espn.go.com

Yeah...

But the Twins don't just boast excellent pitching. Sweet baby-robbing-penny-pinchers, no. In fact, these two excellent hitters are stealing a combined $5 million from the 122-year old Carl Pohlad; the allegedly gay 121-year old and owner of hip-hop radio stations who also happens to own the Minnesota Twins. Little Nicky Punto and Adam Everett. I don't think any more needs be said than this picture. Would you pay nearly $3 million for this face?

via assets.espn.go.com

We also have strength and extreme power in Carlos Gomez. Seriously, he is one of the strongest people in the world, and has the English skills of a 4-year old to boot. Here is a picture of the 22-year old body-builder:

via assets.espn.go.com

All-in-all, these guys are a force to be reckoned with. You better bring your rally hats and voodoo dolls to the game on Tuesday, providing you are man enough to even show up.

(PS - Does your team suck as much as ours?)

From Starting Quarterback to Secret Scapegoat

Andersklasen — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:14:17 -0000

From VikingVigil.com

Unless you live under a rock, you must now know that Gus Frerotte will be starting under center on Sunday the 21st instead of Tarvaris Jackson. The reason for this move is because the offense has been “sputtering” through the first two weeks.

Sputtering? How about dropped dead?

Ever since Coach Childress, aka Mr. Noodle took over the playcalling duties everyone, even Dan Dierdorf, could call every Viking play. If Dierdorf can call the plays while sitting in the CBS television booth, just imagine how giddy Tony Dungy was on the Indianapolis sideline. He probably knew what Childress was “planning” before Childress himself. I hesitate to say “planning” without giggling because I strongly doubt Childress was doing anything but randomly pointing his finger on his color-coded 5×3 index card, complete with four plays.

Obviously, I’m exaggerating a little. Childress doesn’t limit his play book to four plays, but he is the worst coach in the league. At least, every Viking fan seems to think so. After busting at the seams in his approval and support of Jackson at the start of the season, Childress has provided less than ideal situations for the quarterback he was going to “mold” into the next Donovan McNabb.

After two dismal losses the rug of support has been ripped from beneath Jackson, and I am as shocked as Bobby Wade: “I was very surprised. I didn’t anticipate that.” This move was undoubtedly made by the front office and I was shocked at their shortsightedness. The move to bench the quarterback you pledged your allegiance to before the season is not just bad for public relations, it is bad common sense.

Certainly not uncommon in the world of football, Jackson had just assumed the role of scapegoat while his coach got off the hook.

Or did he? I doubt owner Zygi Wilf and Co. will let him get away unscathed. I would have loved to hear the

Zygi Wilf

verbal reprimand Childress received on behalf of his horrible play calling. That is, unless the front office didn’t see it either.

A perfect example of how inept Childress is at managing a game was on the final drive the Vikings had against the Colts in Week Two. With the ball on their own 2-yard line Childress first chose to pound the ball up the middle with Adrian Peterson. A one yard gain. With just 1:37 left in this tie game, an upfield throw was inevitable, right? We need to get into field goal range, fast. But Childress chose to run Peterson again, this time to the left. To Peterson’s credit he got six yard on the play. It was 3rd and 3 on the 9-yard line.

Instead of giving the ball back to Peterson or Taylor (which I wouldn’t have done) or even dropping back to hit a crossing pattern, the Vikings ran a play they had been utilizing all night. Tony Dungi saw it coming a mile away with his eyes closed. Jackson took the snap, faked the handoff, and rolled out to the right. There were two Colts giving chase before he even had an opportunity to look downfield. Because of the rollout, Jackson was over ten yards behind the line of scrimmage, in his own end zone. With a defender just inches from him he did the smart thing and dumped the ball to Tahi for a loss of five.

Immediately the crowd started booing, and with good reason. Jackson did the best he could possibly do in the situation he found himself in; which was another horrible play call. Childress needed a whipping boy once more.

Just to reiterate, I do not think Jackson is a good NFL quarterback. He has the tools to be one, but is very inconsistent and raw. That being said, no NFL quarterback can perform well if he can’t get into a groove. If you limit your quarterback to nine passes in the first half, like the Vikings did, it is impossible for him to get into any kind of rhythm.

Gus Frerotte

Enter Gus Frerotte. He is a 15-year veteran and had a passer rating of 58.3 last year in eight games. He threw twelve interceptions, five in one game, compared to seven touchdowns. He sported a completion percentage of 56.3.

Simply put, Frerotte is not the answer in Minnesota. He cannot do anything under this system that Jackson did. Childress could alters (or smarten) his game plan and allow his quarterback to throw more and remove the dumb play calls and insert some that nobody would expect. If he can successfully do this and make Frerotte appear as a Pro-Bowler, then I’ll sense a conspiracy, but I’ll be happy.

If things continue unchanged two things would probably happen. One, it would be the earliest I have ever pulled the plug on the season, and Childress would be serving tacos in 2009.

Taken from my blog: http://www.vikingvigil.com/2008/09/from-starting-quarterback/

Hat Tip from Twins Fan to the White Sox

Andersklasen — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:43:54 -0000

Hey guys, I am a Twins blogger, so I guess I hate you. Maybe not. I recently showed you some love over at my blog, TwinsFix. I named your 1906 team one of the best pitching rotations of all time. Here is the article:

via 4.bp.blogspot.com

Before I begin this series, I would like to cover my rear and say that these are in no particular order at all. I will do a total of five of these, all in separate articles.

The first team I have chosen to highlight is the 1906 Chicago White Sox. To start things off on the right foot, here is some background information so you have a better feel for what is going on.

The early 1900's were filled with star pitchers; Christy Matthewson, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Eddie Plank, Cy Young, and the great Walter Johnson. At the time, there were 16 teams in two divisions, the American League and the National League.

Before 1903, these two leagues were separate and competing with each other for players. The National League had been around long before the then-infant American League, but in 1903 decided to place their respective winners in a World Series.

After a successful 1903 Series, the 1904 edition was abruptly canceled thanks to John T. Brush, president of the National League champion New York Giants. He said that he refused to play a "representative of the inferior American League." He soon embraced reality, however, and conceded to the rest of the league. The World Series would continue as planned.

After another Series in 1905, the 1906 season was under way. Cy Young was 39 years old, still pitching, and still the ace of the Boston Pilgrims. Christy Matthewson was in his prime with the New York Giants, and the Chicago Cubs were considered baseball's best team. They were anchored by five pitchers with ERA's under 2, but I'll get more into that team in a future article.

If you travel south from West Side Grounds, where the Cubs played, you wind up inSouth Side Park. The Chicago White Sox packed a total of 585,202 people into that stadium over the course of 151 games; an average of 3,876 people per game.
The White Sox, like many other teams at the time, were a very new team. Since the inception of the American League in 1902 the South Siders had been in the hunt for the League title almost every year. In 1905 the White Sox had finished just two games behind league-leading Philadelphia; the closest they had ever been to a title.

The 1906 team looked fairly pathetic. There were no power hitters on offense, but the pitching was shaping up to be fantastic. At the time, everyone must have known that in order for Chicago to have any chance, the pitching would have to be extraordinary. It was.

The pitching carried the team all the way to the World Series behind an offense that sported a batting average of .230 and combined for seven home runs over the course of the entire season. Needless to say, they earned the moniker "The Hitless Wonders."

Frank Owen
22-13, 2.33 ERA, 293 IP, 66 K, 27 CG, 7 SHO

Owen was the anchor of this young rotation. At only 26-years old, many more years were expected from him. As it turned out, 1906 was the last year he won more than six games. For a reason unknown, he stopped playing after the 1909 season and never returned. Perhaps it was because his effectiveness had plummetted from what it once was.

Whatever the case, Owen led the 1906 White Sox in wins, but had the highest ERA of all five starters.

Ed Walsh
17-13, 1.88 ERA, 278.1 IP, 171 K, 24 CG, 10 SHO

Walsh is one of the best pitchers of all time. At 25 years old, this was just his third year in the major leagues. He would go on to pitch until he was 36 years old and compile 57 complete game shutouts. He is one of only twenty pitchers ever to cross the 50-game plateau in this category.

In 1906 Walsh perfected his infamous spitball. Obviously, this pitch was legal in 1906, and Walsh almost singlehandedly brought it to the popularity it had at that time. Three years after Walsh retired, in1920, a spitball off the hand of Carl Mays hit and killed Ray Chapman.

More than half of Walsh's victories that year were complete game shutouts, which tied the then-record ten shutouts in a season held by Cy Young.

Nick Altrock
20-13, 2.06 ERA, 287.2 IP, 99 K, 25 CG, 4 SHO

Altrock headed into 1906 coming off the best season he would ever have. Many expectations were placed on this 29-year old, as he was one of the oldest in this rotation. He didn't repeat 1905's numbers, but no one could be disappointed with what he did provide. He didn't surrender a home run over the course of the entire season, and sported an awesome 1.08 WHIP.

He proved to be crucial in the World Series later that year against the Cubs. He hurled a gem in the first game, beating out future Hall of Famer Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown by one run.

Doc White
18-6, 1.52 ERA, 219.1 IP, 95 K, 20 CG, 7 SHO

27-year old White was in his fourth year in the major leagues. He was very consistent over his eleven year career, only recording an ERA over 3.00 twice. In 1906 White was among the top five in ERA, and his seven complete game shutouts were also near the top of the league.

White was one of the league's youngest and brightest stars. He pitched for Chicago his entire career, and led the league in WHIP in 1906 with an outstanding 0.90.

Roy Patterson
10-7, 2.09 ERA, 142 IP, 45 K, 12 CG, 3 SHO

Patterson was at the bottom of the list of five starters for the 1906 White Sox. He only enjoyed a five year career, spending all of it with Chicago. In 1906 he was 29-years old, and the oldest on this rotation. He had some excellent starts during the season, and provided an extra day of rest for the other four starters 18 times during the 151-game schedule.

Patterson would be the ace on almost any modern team, but on this outstanding White Sox team he was the bottom of the barrel.

The South Siders would go on to shock the world by upsetting the heavily-favored Chicago Cubs. The World Series itself was a classic "Windy City Series," switching between two stadiums on opposite ends of Chicago. In Game Five, the "Hitless Wonders" exploded for 12 hits and eight runs against three Cub pitchers.

After pitching three innings of relief in Game Five, Doc White was called upon to pitch Game Six. White pitched the complete game against the suddenly stoic Cubs, as they only managed to dent the plate three times. Again the "Hitless Wonders" managed to score runs in bundles, making Brown pay for six runs before his second-inning exit. The White Sox went on to win the deciding Game Six by a final score of 8-3.

The 1906 Chicago White Sox pulled off one of the biggest World Series upsets in baseball history and the majority of the credit goes to a simply incredible rotation. There is no doubt that Frank Owen, Ed Walsh, Nick Altrock, Doc White, and Roy Patterson were one of the greatest pitching rotations of all time.

Sources: thebaseballcube.com, baseball-reference.com, wikipedia.org, mlb.com, espn.com, baseball-almanac.com, "The Great Shutout Pitchers" by Joe MacKay

TwinsFix.com

Taking a Look at The MLB MVP Race

Andersklasen — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:14:47 -0000

The question has been posed forever. The chant has been yelled for decades. The nicknames have stuck for years.

"O-ver-rated!"

Just what makes a player overrated? Are we just dealing with emotions, or are other statistics and facts applied?

Likewise, MVP chants have filled sporting arenas and fields for years on end. In the end, is the best player really chosen, or are they really "overrated"?

The baseball season is hitting it's prime as the month of September unfolds and the races for major awards heat up. The MVP award is slightly less talked about this year than the Cy Young, but let's take a look at who really should be leading the MVP race.

Before I dive in, I would like to make a disclaimer. I realize that there is no award measuring the most valuable player among both the American League and National League. In this article, I do not separate the AL from the NL, but rather look upon both leagues as a whole. When I reach my conclusion, it will be my MVP for the entire league.

One key attribute to an MVP season is the ability to help your respective team. One way to measure this is by looking at a statistic called "runs created." The purpose of this stat is to estimate the amount of runs a hitter contributes to his team. This is done without taking into account how good the team as a whole is, or where they are in the division standings.

Runs created takes into account hits, walks, total bases, and at-bats. Here are the 2008 leaders (all statistics through August 30):

Player	Runs Created
Lance Berkman	120
Grady Sizemore	115
Albert Pujols	115
Justin Morneau	109
Aubrey Huff	105
Ian Kinsler	105
Nick Markakis	104

As you can see, Berkman is in the lead. He is also among the league leaders in batting average. The league leader in batting average, Pujols, is third on this list. Chipper Jones and Matt Holiday, both among the top five in batting average and both currently receiving attention for the MVP award, are no where to be found. Holliday is 21st on the runs created list while Jones is 28th.

Another statistic that can be used to measure a players' overall effectiveness is win shares. This stat is extremely complicated (in Bill James' book about the stat he uses pages 16-100 to walk through the formula), but is a pretty basic concept. For every game a team wins, the three players who contribute the most get one win share apiece. Therefore, if a team wins 100 games in a season, there are 300 win shares scattered among the team.

This statistic can narrow down which player has the biggest impact on his team.

Obviously, the more success a players' team has, the more win shares he will more than likely receive. This may be more a matter of personal preference, but MVPs are usually chosen from winning teams. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. Generally, though, the more success a team has, the better the chances a player on the team has of winning the award.

Here are the 2008 leaders:

Player	Win Shares
Lance Berkman	33
Ian Kinsler	28
Albert Pujols	27
Justin Morneau	27
Grady Sizemore	26
Hanley Ramirez	26
Josh Hamilton	26

Berkman remains at the top of the list with a comfortable lead over Kinsler. There are two newcomers, Ramirez and Hamilton. The addition of the latter makes two Rangers on this top seven list. That is interesting because Texas is 17 games behind in the AL West, nearly eliminated from the postseason.

Again, the much-hyped Chipper Jones and Matt Holliday are nowhere near the top. Holliday finds himself at 17th while Jones ranks 35th.

Now before you start ripping me to shreds, I realize that there is a major flaw with the latest statistic when trying to find a Most Valuable Player. Berkman may have more win shares because he has more plate appearances than anyone else. This would make a player with fewer WS more valuable because he has fewer plate appearances.

For those who are lost, here is an example. A player with 30 home runs during a season is overshadowed by a player with 10 home runs in a month. The same concept applies. The only way to find out a players raw win shares is to narrow it down to win shares per plate appearance. A plate appearance is defined by at-bats plus walks, plus intentional walks, plus times hit by pitch, plus sacrifice hits/flies (PA = AB + BB + IBB + HBP + SH + SF)

This new number will obviously be extremely small, and a tiny difference must be looked as a huge difference. Here are the 2008 leaders for win shares per plate appearance.

Player	WS/PA
Lance Berkman	0.0574
Ian Kinsler	0.0479
Albert Pujols	0.0471
Kevin Youkilis	0.0445
Justin Morneau	0.0444
Josh Hamilton	0.0434
Hanley Ramirez	0.0428
Carlos Quentin	0.0428

Berkman remains at the top with a huge lead. Clearly, he is the most productive player per plate appearance. Youkilis had been hanging around in the top ten over the course of these previous two rankings, but finally explodes to fourth on this list. This shows that he is very productive and helps his team win when he gets a chance to bat. The problem is, Boston limits his plate appearances.

If you have stuck with me this whole time, I want to thank you. This was very fun to put together, and I think it is very revealing.

I am just providing these statistics for you to interpret as you want to, but in case you care, here is my personal opinion. I think that these rankings totally pave the way for Berkman to win the award. As displayed above, he helps his team more than anybody else in baseball by contributing more runs. He also is the most valuable to his team, both overall and per plate appearance.

I don't think there should be any doubt in your mind as to who the real Most Valuable Player is. The real question is, "who will be chosen by sports writers this year?" Will it be another classic case of overrating someone, or will they actually get it right this time?

It will be fun to find out.

Thanks for reading, guys. I originally wrote this for my blog, TwinsFix, but I thought you would enjoy it as well.

Taking a Look at The MLB MVP Race

Andersklasen — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:12:12 -0000

The question has been posed forever. The chant has been yelled for decades. The nicknames have stuck for years.

"O-ver-rated!"

Just what makes a player overrated? Are we just dealing with emotions, or are other statistics and facts applied?

Likewise, MVP chants have filled sporting arenas and fields for years on end. In the end, is the best player really chosen, or are they really "overrated"?

Player	Runs Created
Lance Berkman	120
Grady Sizemore	115
Albert Pujols	115
Justin Morneau	109
Aubrey Huff	105
Ian Kinsler	105
Nick Markakis	104

Here are the 2008 leaders:

Player	Win Shares
Lance Berkman	33
Ian Kinsler	28
Albert Pujols	27
Justin Morneau	27
Grady Sizemore	26
Hanley Ramirez	26
Josh Hamilton	26

Player	WS/PA
Lance Berkman	0.0574
Ian Kinsler	0.0479
Albert Pujols	0.0471
Kevin Youkilis	0.0445
Justin Morneau	0.0444
Josh Hamilton	0.0434
Hanley Ramirez	0.0428
Carlos Quentin	0.0428

Why the Twins Will Miss the Playoffs

Andersklasen — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 07:19:33 -0000

Why the Twins Will Miss the Playoffs

Some dumb guy with a blog figures that the Twins will miss the playoffs. What a jerk...(I wrote this, by the way...)

Minor League Report 7/26

Andersklasen — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:02:01 -0000

Hey guys. I am a Twins fan first and foremost, but I have recently moved to Tucson and am trying to adopt the Dbacks as my second team. I've been to one major league game, and just got home from the Sindwinder's 6-5, ten-inning win tonight. I love the minor leagues, and I am really becoming attached to the Sidewinders especially.

I want to start a regular feature where I review the minor league system of the Diamondbacks weekly. I know some of you couldn't care less about prospects, but I love them. There are others of you who don't follow the minor leagues, but are interested. I hope you read this weekly feature and get all the information you need regarding the minor league system of the team you love.

Organization record through last Sunday: 20-22

Triple A Tucson Sidewinders

Record through last Sunday: 4-2 (45-62)

The Sidewinders are still last in the Pacific South region of the PCL, but with the winning record this week, have pulled to within 17 games of Sacramento. Tucson remains the second-worst team record-wise in the Pacific Coast League. It's amazing how far a team can fall in simply two years.

The week opened up with Tucson dropping the third game in a three game series with the Tacoma Rainers. Esmerling Vasguez took the mound on Sunday, but only made it through four and two-thirds innings giving up four runs on four hits. His record is now 1-5 and he sports a 7.11 ERA. On Monday the Sidewinders again beat Tacoma 6-1 behind a great pitching performance by Matt Torra. He went seven and two-thirds innings and only allowed one un-earned run. He is now 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA. On Tuesday Tucson beat the Iowa Cubs 5-4 behind strong pitching from Evan McLane. He went seven innings giving up only three runs but ten hits. He now sits at 4-6 with a 4.86 ERA. On Wednesday Tucson again beat Iowa, this time 10-7 behind a strong bullpen. Juan Gutierrez started the game and made it through four innings while giving up four runs on five hits. He didn't get the win, so he stands at 2-10 with a 7.28 ERA. On Thursday the Sidewinders lost in a shootout, 15-7 to the Iowa Cubs. A.J. Shappi was demolished for eight runs in three innings. He now has a 1-3 record with a 6.37 ERA. After Friday's rained out game, Tucson beat the Omaha Royals 6-5 in ten innings. Juan Cruz made the start because he is rehabbing an injury but was pulled after one inning of solid pitching. My only guess as to why is because Arizona is ready to bring him back into the major league rotation again.

On the hitting side, Jeff Salazar, Josh Whitesell, and Wilkin Castillo all had over three hits in Sunday's win. On Monday Trent Oeltjen and Jamie D'Antona both had the only multi hit games for Tucson. Oeltjen had two more hits on Tuesday, as did pitcher Evan McLane. There was an offensive explosion on Wednesday's victory. Castillo, Raines, Whitesell, Merchan, and Hammock all had two hit games. On Thursday Josh Whitesell had a huge game, going 4-5 with a home run and three RBI. Saturday's game was highlighted by Jesus Merchan, who went 3-4 with a double. Tim Rainer Jr. had only a total of five hits this week, but his average is still sitting pretty at .310.

Double A Mobile BayBears

Record through last Sunday: 4-2 (45-59)

The BayBears are now officially the worst team in the Southern League. They are at the bottom of the South Division, now 12.5 games behind leading Birmingham.

Mobile started the week by shutting out the Chattanooga Lookouts 7-0 behind a great start by Brooks Brown. He went six innings of five-hit ball to improve his record to 6-10 and his ERA to 3.63. On Tuesday the Jacksonville Suns edged out the BayBears 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth. Matt Green started for Mobile and lasted four innings but gave up five runs (three earned) on seven hits. His record is now 1-1 and his ERA is 5.49. Wednesday's game was rained out, so both teams played a double header on Thursday. Mobile took the first one 4-3 behind stellar pitching by Tony Barnette. He went six innings and gave up two runs. His record is now 6-7 and his ERA is 4.18. The second half of the double header was won by the Suns. Hector Ambriz was roughed up for four runs in three innings as his ERA rose to 5.53. His record is 5-12. Friday was a 2-0 victory for the BayBears. Cesar Valdez has been excellent since his promotion and he went seven innings giving up only four hits. His ERA is 2.54 through five games, and he has a 1-1 record. On Saturday Mobile beat the Suns again 5-4 behind another start by Brooks Brown. He went seven innings and gave up four runs.

Guillermo Reyes went 2-3 with a triple on Sunday to bring his average to .232. Bryan Bryne has been great this year for Mobile. He went 3-5 with a double on Monday to raise his average to .319. Both Gerardo Parra and Javier Brito homered in Tuesday's loss. Pitcher Hector Ambriz had the only extra base hit for Mobile on Thursday. On Friday Rusty Ryal went 2-3 with two doubles. Ryal also went 3-4 on Saturday. John Hester also had a good game on Saturday, going 3-4 with a double.

High A Visalia Oaks

Record through last Sunday: 1-5 (50-55)

Visalia is also having some tough luck in the California League. They are last place in their northern division, eleven games behind San Jose.

Bryan Augenstein had a great start on Sunday, going six and a third innings while giving up only three runs. The Visalia defense was horrible though, committing three errors which led to six unearned runs, which led to a loss for Augenstein. He is now 2-3 with a 3.86 ERA. 22 year-old Eddie Romero had two starts this week; one on Monday and one on Saturday. He combined for 8.1 innings and gave up eight runs (four earned) on 13 hits. His ERA is now 4.80 and after those two losses he is now 5-11. Chad Beck made one start this week on Tuesday. He only lasted 2.2 innings while giving up four runs on seven hits. His ERA is now 4.56 while his record is 2-3. Wes Roemer took the loss on Wednesday, going 6.1 innings and giving up six runs on eight hits. His record is 6-8 while his ERA is 4.51. Barry Enright earned the only win for Visalia this week. He went a solid six innings giving up only one run on Friday. His ERA is 4.75, but his record is 8-6.

Evan Frey had a decent week this week, but really heated up towards the end of it. He combined to go 7-25 through last Sunday. Mark Hallberg was bad this week, hitting 5-22. Pedro Ciriarco was great this week, going 12-26 with a double and a home run. Konrad Schmidt is raking High A pitching after being called up from South Bend. This week Schimidt went 9-19 with two doubles. Steve Mena only appeared in three games this week, but went 0-9 anyway. Peter Clifford went 6-22 this week as he had two dingers and three RBI.

Single A South Bend Silver Hawks

Record through last Sunday: 5-1 (56-48)

The Silver Hawks are leading their division in the second half standings, but are 2.5 games beind Lansing for the overall division lead. They made a strong push this week behind some excellent pitching.

Jarrod Parker made two starts this week; on Sunday and Friday. He combined for 11 innings pitched, seven runs (six earned), and ten hits. His ERA is now 4.04 and his record is 9-5. Dallas Buck also made two strong starts this week; one on Monday and one on Saturday. He combined for 12 innings pitching, four runs, and eleven hits. He had made eight starts this year and is 1-3 with a 3.76 ERA. Joshua Collmenter had an outstanding start on Wednesday, throwing seven innings and allowing only five hits. With the win he improves to 11-5 and has a 2.99 ERA to boot. On Thursday Tom Layne took the hill and pitched six innigns giving up only one run (unearned), and five hits. He didn't get the win, but improved his ERA to 2.61 and his record sits at 4-2.

Matthew Oxendine went 8-19 this week with two doubles. Sean Coughlin was awful this week, going 2-20. Colin Cowgill went 5-22 this week and his average is now at .207 after being called up from Yakima recently. Taylor Harbin, Joseph Batton, and Chance Wheeless all went deep this week. Nobody that is active on the South Bend roster is currently hitting over .300. It is amazing the discrepency between outstanding pitching and horrible batting and fielding. The South Bend starters have really shouldered this team to where it is in the standings.

Sorry chaps, but I just don't have it in me to do the other three teams tonight. My apolgizes to the big Yakima Bears, Missoula Osprey, and DSL Diamondbacks fans out there.

I really would like some feedback on this. Again, I hope it becomes a regular feature, but it was probably extremely stupid to start right now. I leave for a two-week vacation on Sunday night, and will be unavailable to do this next week. I hope to resume on the 16th of August, but I will be stopping by here if time permits before then.

Normally, I would take any questions anyone might have regarding any player in any team in the Arizona organizaiton. Feel free to ask, but I might not be available to answer this particular week. In the future, if Mr. McLennan permits, I will try to answer every question.

I hope this becomes a regular feature at the Arizona Snakepit!

Yo Adrian: Despite reports that the Twins have given up on their attempts to pry Adrian Beltre away...

Andersklasen — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:27:24 -0000

Yo Adrian: Despite reports that the Twins have given up on their attempts to pry Adrian Beltre away from Seattle, we're hearing those discussions are far from dead. The Twins' No. 1 trading priority is to upgrade at third base.

Twins Pitchers and the Teams' Defense

Andersklasen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:24:16 -0000

Twins Pitchers and the Teams' Defense

An analysis of the defense of the Minnesota Twins based on who is pitching.