Bang the Drum Slowly

I actually agree with Joe Soucheray's column (to a certain extent) today! Is this the first sign of the apocalypse?

Who will own ballpark? You will, Hennepin County


Jack Hannahan, former Cretin boy (and younger brother of Buzz) just got called up to the Tigers. Pretty cool stuff. I know Buzz, but not Jack. Dave tutored Jack at the U of MN.

In recent years, my interest level in the Timberwolves has plummeted faster than a Carlos Silva sinker- oh, wait. I guess that analogy doesn't work very well right now, does it? In any case, the Wolves will draft in the 6th spot, which is exactly where their record says they should draft. Despite failing to move up yet again, it has to be considered a moral victory when the Wolves don't draft lower than they're supposed to. In a draft class that doesn't feature a sure-thing player or two, standing pat at 6th isn't necessarily bad news for the team.

However, a quick glance at the T-Wolves draft history doesn't exactly instill me with confidence in their ability to assess amateur talent. Here is a list of players selected when the Wolves had a top-20 pick:

Year		Position					Player
1989		10					Pooh Richardson
1990		6					Felton Spencer
		20					Gerald Glass
1991		7					Luc Longley
1992		3					Christian Laettner
1993		5					J.R. Rider
1994		4					Donyell Marshall
1995		5					Kevin Garnett
1996		5					Ray Allen
1997		20					Paul Grant
1998		17					Rasho Nesterovich
1999		6					Wally Szczerbiak
		14					William Avery
2005		14					Rashad McCants

The team has has some bad luck, most notably in '92, when, as the worst team in the league, they should have been able to draft Shaq. Ray Allen was traded for Stephon Marbury, and we all know how that turned out. Losing four first-rounders because of the secret Joe Smith contract debacle was a major blow, but judging by the team's draft history, maybe we were simply spared four more bone-headed picks.

Other than the KG selection, it almost looks like someone was planted on the inside to sabotage the draft on an annual basis.

Some of the early speculation has the Wolves taking Rudy Gay at #6, which could be intriguing. Although, I can't imagine KG wants another lazy son-of-a-bitch on the team.

At some point, whien I have enough free time, I'm going to enroll at Tufts University so I can take this class: Sabermetrics 101. Look at the syllabus! The required reading includes Moneyball, Baseball America, and Bill James.

Barry Bonds tied Babe Ruth yesterday, clubbing his 714th home run. I need him to hold out until a week from today to hit #715, since I'll be attending the GIants-Rockies game next Sunday. I'm not really a Bonds fan, but to be at a game with that much excitement in the air would be awesome. Plus, I might catch the ball, and make loads of cash.

The Twins have finally made a move that makes sense- pulling Silva from the rotation, and inserting Francisco Liriano. Of course, Gardenhire let Silva give up eight more friggin runs before pulling him last night! Hey, Gardy- just because he has low pitch counts doesn't mean you should leave him out there to be slaughtered every start. That's 74 hits allowed in 46 innings, including a league-high 15 gopher balls. In the games that count (in other words, ignoring his game vs the Royals), he's given up the following run totals: 6, 5, 8, 7, 9, 5, 8.

The worst-case scenario for this team would be to stay within striking distance of the playoffs all season long, before reality finally hits down the stretch. I have a feeling that's exactly what is going to happen, though. With Hunter hitting and fielding very well right now, I can't imagine his trade value is going to ever be higher. I would move him immediately. Of course, if I was running things, Jason Bartlett wouldn't be in AAA, and Juan Castro and Tony Batista would not be Twins.

I watched the failed bunt which resulted in a triple play last night, and it was one of the worst baseball plays I've ever seen. First you have Luis Castillo, who has easily been the best hitter on the team so far, pop up a bunt attempt. Then, you have both Nick Punto and Shannon Stewart totally misread the play, thinking Konerko's not going to get to the ball before it hit the ground. To make matters even worse, once Punto realized he screwed up, he just walked off the field, toward the dugout (he had already made it to third base). This was way before he was actually doubled off of second. Definitely not the "Twins baseball" Gardenhire preaches.

Well, Onterrio Smith hopes to put his "young and careless" days behind him, and earn a living in the CFL. Apparently the CFL has no drug testing policy, but the NFL will continue to test him. Can somebody tell me why the NFL is testing for pot? It's not a preformance-enhancing drug. The dude must seriously like his weed, though. Instead of building leverage for a possible multi-million dollar contract, he'll be earning about $60,000 in Winnipeg.

Another running back who seriously likes his reefer, Ricky Williams, might be playing in the CFL, too.

A great quote from the Winnipeg GM: "If Onterrio is a total pothead and comes to work stoned every day, we're not going to condone that."

Try being a Royals fan.

At the End of Their Ropes

They could be paying over $4 million/year for Cristian Guzman.

Guzman Will Have Surgery, Is Out for Year

That would have been the perfect day to end the baseball season, as far as Twins fans are concerned. After a rough start (losing two of three in Toronto, then getting swept in Cleveland), the Twins came home and were born anew, sweeping the A's, and taking 2 of 3 from the big bad Yankees. After losing the series opener to the Angels, the Twins clawed their way out of numerous holes on the evening of Wednesday, April 19.

Although Kyle Lohse tried his damnedest to hand Los Angeles de Los Angeles the "W," the scrappy Twins scored 4 in the 2nd, 4 in the 6th, 1 in the 7th, 1 in the bottom of the 9th (off K-Rod) to send the game to extra innings, and then Michael Cuddyer blasted a 2-out dinger off former Twin J.C. Romero for the 12-10 victory.

It seemed a good time to be a Twins fan. Their record stood at 7-7, and Santana had yet to pitch a good game. Rondell White was sure to snap out of his funk, and Silva and Radke could only improve.

Well, things have definitely gotten worse. The Twins have gone 4-11 since April 19, getting outscored 84-40. If you don't count the games against the worst team in baseball (the Royals), the Twins have gone 1-9 since then, and have been outscored 75-24. The overall numbers hurt to even look at (keep in mind there are only 14 teams in the AL):

Batting			Pitching
Category	Rank		Category	Rank
BA	11		ERA	14
OBP	12		WHIP	12
SLG	14		K/BB	1
R	13		K/9	5
2B	13		HR	12
HR	12		2B	13
HBP	14		BAA	14
SB	7		SLG	14
SB%	2		OBP	12
PH BA	1
IsoP	14
P/PA	11

The only areas in which the Twins don't completely suck are steals, steal success rate (80%!), pinch hitting batting average (.400), K/9 (thanks to Liriano, Rincon, Nathan, & Santana), K/BB (thanks to the four previous guys mentioned + Silva, Radke, & Baker).

Something I noticed while looking at stats- Lohse's overall numbers are awful, but he's actually had two good starts thrown in there (12 innings, 10 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts, 2.25 ERA, 1.42 WHIP). When you remove those two good (lucky?) starts, his numbers in the remaining 4 starts are absolutely revolting:
an average of 4 IP, 7.5 H, 1.75 BB, 7.25 ER, 2 SO, 15.82 ERA, 2.55 WHIP.

With the way the Twins have played against our competition for the division (0-10), it's time to write off this season, trade Hunter, and give some young guys some serious playing time.

When does football season start?