SB Nation User Blog: BD57

Harry Kalas ...

BD57 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 01:26:41 -0000

I know, this is a Twins site .... but Harry was like family for anyone who grew up with baseball on the radio.

I first heard Harry Kalas when I was 14 & listening to Phillies broadcasts in Western New York. Boy, were those lousy teams .... but Kalas never was. What a voice!!!

Moving to Florida in September 1972 put an end to that - Phillies games didn't come in down here and there were no alternatives. After a while, you forget ....

Gameday Audio rectified that; what a pleasure it was to be reintroduced to a real professional broadcaster.

Wikipedia has a link to Harry Kalas's call of the 9th inning of Game 5; it's a real joy to listen to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Kalas (scroll down)

D@mn that Fat Lady .....

BD57 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:16:39 -0000

Sports teams hate to see her coming - - - - a "female" - measurements 5'1" by 5'1" by 5'1" - wearing what looks like a hot air balloon that got the weekend off, topped off by a Viking helmet (horns & all) ...

The first sign they get is a news bulletin that three concession stands on the third base line have had to close because they've been bought out. Then comes the sound of a kazoo orchestra "warming up", followed by something you later learn was "throat clearing" (though it sounded like a bucket of bolts in a dryer at the time).

She doesn't just burst into song, though - there's always a prelude, an "introduction" before her Fattitude begins her bellowing. With each team it's different - for some, it's the gale force winds created by bats hitting nothing but air; with others, it's the sound of Homer Simpson's "D'Oh!!!!" ringing through the park as their gloves turn to iron.

With our Twins, it's been the relief corps adopting "Flight of the Bumblebees" as their theme song for opposing batter/runners in the late innings.

While there's still time, and she can still be shut up, it's not going to happen with the pitching we're getting from the 7th inning on.

Obviously, we miss Pat Neshek. Just as obviously, Matt Guerrier has underachieved this year (which happens). It has, however, been a bullpen-wide failure this month - - - who expects Joe Nathan to get beat twice in a month?

Who'd have thought the 7th & 8th innings would be our big problem?

The crystal ball says (per Liriano)

BD57 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:01:03 -0000

Per Len III:

"Francisco Liriano pitched well for Class AAA Rochester on Saturday, shutting out Buffalo for six innings on three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts. He did need 98 pitches to get through six innings."

"I’ve been told that Liriano needs to have a long run of outings like Saturday’s (and probably use fewer pitches) before the Twins would consider calling him up. Let’s face it, he’s changing from a power pitcher to someone who has to pitch a little bit, and those transformations can take time."

Sounds good to me ....

Whence comes the "Frankie is lazy" accusations?

BD57 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:06:27 -0000

Comment after comment on various boards / blogs make the accusation / insinuation ..... "Frankie is lazy"

Some say Frankie's had long enough to get back in form. Others say the Twins brought Frankie to the big club rather than leave him in Rochester because he's lazy & Gardy, et al. wanted him close so they could keep after him. He's been accused of being "fat".

Basically, every explanation has been given for his suckage other than "that was a bad injury, he hasn't played for 18 months & he's trying to pitch and change his mechanics at the same time."

What's the deal here? How big is the group in the fan base that believes Frankie's some sort of malingerer??? Do they have some sort of factual basis for believing it - something Frankie's said or done, something Gardy, et al. have said or done? What is it?

RESOLVED: Trade Free Agents-to-Be before Their Final Year

BD57 — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:47:50 -0000

One of the "gifts" of the Free Agent Era is the star player entering the final year of his contract ...

162 games, with the possibility of 19 more before a champion is crowned. Games 6 days a week - on occasion two in a day.

Hours at the ballpark when you're at home; hours on airplanes, buses & hotels when you're on the road.

Day after day after day spent (largely) with the same group of guys.

It can get on your nerves. And often does. Which is why so many organizations worry about "chemistry."

Back when the Reserve Clause ruled, players knew they weren't going anywhere unless they were traded or released. Which made "chemistry" easy - you kept useful players with good chemistry, you tried to 'manage' useful players who weren't so hot on chemistry ... and you got rid of bad chemistry guys.

No more.

With the advent of Free Agency,"next year" began to intrude into the chemistry of "this year" - how much does knowing Tom X will be playing somewhere else next year affect your going to battle with him this year? How do you manage the intrusion? Can you?

We all know what the options are ....

"Play Ball!" - Let Tom play out the year & let "next year" take care of itself;

"See how it goes" - We start the year with Tom ... and we solicit offers for Tom as the year goes on, hoping to get a package we like.

"Trade Tom now" - As soon as we're convinced keeping Tom won't happen, we move him - sooner rather than later.

Recognizing that each situation is unique, there still should be some basic guidelines you can lay down to help you choose between the options ...

And they would be?????

My two cents:

20/20 hindsight says the Twins should've traded Torii Hunter before the 2007 season for two reasons:

First, the Twins organization isn't used to star players coming & going via free agency, with the result that "star player going elsewhere next year" will have more of a a day-to-day impact on chemistry than it would for, say, the Yankees.

Second, Torii wasn't the type who would play out his free agent year quietly to avoid being a distraction.

Combine a player who will talk (constantly) about his contract status with an organization where the players aren't used to (and therefore good at) blocking it out & you get a sour clubhouse.

Comments?

Has anyone evaluated the options Smith had?

BD57 — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 21:45:14 -0000

No, not "The Red Sox / Yankees proposals" v. "The Mets deal" ....

In December, 'everyone' thought the Red Sox / Yankees offers weren't nearly good enough for Johan, that the Twins would get better deals if they held out & that Johan would waive the no-trade clause ('no problem').

Now, of course, Smith should've taken one of those deals ....

Has anyone evaluated what Smith actually had to choose between, to wit:

"One year of Johan + two draft picks"

vs.

"The four players we got from the Mets."

Mauer at 3rd base???

BD57 — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 03:38:25 -0000

Assume Mauer could handle the defensive load ...

Assume also that Mauer matches his career stats ... .314 / .397 / .458 / .854 OPS. Say he averages 12 HRs a season (he's played roughly 3 "full" seasons) & 70 RBI a year (a number likely to go up if he gets some decent hitters in front of him).

There's a historical 3B who was considered pretty darn good with similar numbers, namely .328 / .415 / .443 / .858 OPS - though he didn't average double digit HRs a season and his RBI totals were in the 50-60 range.

If Joe Mauer @ 3B turned out to be Wade Boggs II, do you REALLY think the Twins would be hurt by him playing 3rd?

Here's the problem

BD57 — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:33:52 -0000

It's really all mathematics ....

The Twins are trying to play binary baseball in an arabic numeral world.

Nothing else can explain their fascination with "O's" and "1's" on offense.

Except the ass bats, that is .....

P.S. Mariners are up 2-0 in the 2nd ... with our offense, that's like being down three touchdowns with a minute left in the fourth quarter. AARGH!!!

Finis

BD57 — Sat, 12 May 2007 21:50:53 -0000

We've seen enough.

It's mid-May, which is as far as Sidney Ponson should get with a bad start to the season. He's certainly had the "bad start" and we have options in Rochester - Slowey, Baker, Garza.

Thank you for playing, Sid, but you have pitched here too long for any good you have been doing lately. Depart, I say, and let us be done with you.

In the name of God, go!

Ortiz per the Mariners TV crew

BD57 — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:00:58 -0000

One "advantage" of MLB Extra Innings is the opportunity to listen to the opponent's broadcast team ...

When the Twins are visiting Seattle, MLB Extra Innings gives us the Mariners broadcast on FOX Northwest.

The Mariners broadcasters were pretty darn fair - they quibbled about a pitch here & there (wondering what the difference was between one pitch and another as far as balls & strikes mostly), but were pretty straight up in their commentary.

Their comments on Ortiz were interesting: they said

His nemesis has been the big inning (duh!), with home runs figuring prominently in those big innings.

One change for him this year is he's developed a two-seam fastball under Rick Anderson's tutelage.

The two-seamer is really moving for him (as shown by all the ground balls he threw last night).

IF THIS COMMENTARY IS ON THE MARK, then there's a much better chance of Ortiz being a season-long surprise than any of us suspected at the beginning of the year.

Anyone have any additional info on the topic?