From Baseball Think Factory:
Mike Restovich continues to pound the ball in Iowa - he’s now at .324/.397/.658. Meanwhile, Jacque Jones continues to face lefties. The double he hit off Clausen after the rain delay yesterday was on as grooved a pitch by a struggling pitcher as I’ve seen in a long time. [...]

Through four innings, Batista has fielded five balls. No, um, safeties for the Halos so far.

While interviewing "American Idol" finalist Ace Young, Bert asked Ace if he "got lucky" with Paula Abdul.

Welcome, SBG fans, to the tenth edition of 360 Degrees. This is one game late and doesn’t include the Baker start on Tuesday. I suppose 360 lashes with a wet noodle are in order. For the second consecutive time, the trip includes two starts by one pitcher – this time it’s Brad [...]

Derek Jeter sent Dwyane Wade a note of encouragement. Now that's leadership.

Terry Ryan:
Some of it is mechanical and some is psychological, I suppose. We still believe in him, and unless he gets down on himself to the point where he's giving up at-bats, we're not going to give up on him. He's a competitive person, and he's about as good a human being as you'll find.
I've [...]

There's been a lot of talk (or at least some) that it'd be great if Torii Hunter was on the 2010 Twins. Torii himself is talking about a contract extension (because I think he'd get more from the Twins than anyone else). He can't possibly be the highest paid player on the 2010 [...]

This Puckett estate is getting ugly.
The executor and Kirby's agent apparently slipped Kirby's fiancee, Jodi Olson, some money right before Kirby died. Kirby's ex-wife is trying to get the executor, Brian Woods, disqualified, despite Kirby's statement in his will that he be the executor because of the last minute money exchange. [...]

I'm going to head over to the Summitt Brewery Twins Stadium party to see my buddy Shane Nackerud on Thursday after work. I should get there around 6 PM. Stop by and give me some guff.
The story that I linked to on Hank Aaron yesterday was dubious at best. Certainly, the Brewers [...]

Joe Theismann has his shorts in a bunch because Ricky Williams is playing football in the CFL while he's suspended for drug use in the NFL. Says ole Joe:
He's a disgrace to the game. The man doesn't deserve to play football. He should go on with his life and treat his drug addictions or [...]

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
After Aaron hit his [755th] home run over County Stadium's left field fence, the ball was recovered by Richard Arndt, a Milwaukee Brewers groundskeeper. Arndt reportedly offered to return the ball to Aaron on one condition: that he be allowed to meet the home run king and hand the ball over [...]

From the Strib:
Earlier, the Twins gave away the tying run in the eighth inning when Morneau failed to scoop a throw and then second baseman Luis Castillo failed to catch a line drive. Both of these routine plays went as hits, leaving Juan Rincon with both a blown save and an earned run.
Someone really ought [...]

J.A. Adande would rather believe his lying eyes than to look at stats. Peter King would be proud.
This is plain stupid stuff. The big point Adanade makes is that Nomar Garciaparra "defied" the stat heads. No one said he couldn't hit. The question is his health. So far, he's been [...]

ESPN.COM's latest NBA draft rankings (Wolves pick 6th):
6. Adam Morrison 6-8 SF Gonzaga
He will be a good NBA scorer and a hit at the box office. As prospects go, he is more ready than most. But his weak defense, health issues and lack of athleticism have GMs questioning Morrison's long-term potential.

I read an article by Scoop Jackson last week that posited that the problem with Kobe is that he's always going to be compared to Michael Jordan and be found lacking. He suggested that if there were no Michael Jordan, we'd be celebrating Kobe Bryant instead of criticizing him. Good try Scoop. [...]

I am continuing to get absolutely hammered by Spam attacks. You may have noticed that, but let me assure that it is even worse than you might guess. I am getting about 10 comments an hour (or more sometimes) that are being directed toward my site and even though I have some plugins [...]

Lucy and I were very excited to have my parents, Butch and Mrs. Butch, visit this weekend. This is the first time that they have visited us since we got married. We put a lot of work into our apartment and wanted them to see it. They really liked our apartment -- [...]

Butch, Mrs. Butch, Lucy and I are heading to the great indoors to watch Johan and the Twins.

Bump writes a post on his blog that agrees with my point on Kelvin Sampson. I don't know how I feel about this.

Derek Jeter got his 2,000th career hit tonight. Tim Kurkjian, who I exposed last year as making up stuff to tell us how great Jeter is said that Jeter would make the Hall of Fame the "second he retires." I'm gonna bet that it takes him five years to make it just like [...]

Felix Hernandez v. Francisco Liriano, a matchup of two of the best young pitchers in all of baseball.
Here are the lineups.

NO.
SEATTLE
MINNESOTA

1.
I. Suzuki, RF
J. Kubel, LF

2.
J. Lopez, 2B
L. Castillo, 2B

3.
R. Ibanez, LF
J. Mauer, C

4.
R. Sexson, 1B
T. Hunter, CF

5.
C. Everett, DH
M. Cuddyer, RF

6.
A. Beltre, 3B
J. Morneau, 1B

7.
K. Johjima, C
R. White, DH

8.
W. Bloomquist, CF
T. Batista, 3B

9.
Y. Betancourt, SS
J. [...]

The Vikings sex boat cruise scandal netted two convictons.
Minnesota Vikings cornerback Fred Smoot and left tackle Bryant McKinnie pleaded guilty Friday to misdemeanor charges in the team's boat party scandal. Each agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and perform 48 hours of community service.
Smoot and McKinnie pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and being a public nuisance [...]

Only Baseball Matters with a great interview with Jeff Pearlman, who wrote Love Me Hate Me a book on Barry Bonds.  I really encourage you to read this article.

With the Mariners coming to Town, I thought I'd give you a few links to the opposition's faithful.
U.S.S. Mariner -- As far as I know, the flagship of Mariner bloggers.  Talks about a quasi mention by Bill Simmons and theorizes that baseball will, deliberately or not, let Pujols break Barry Bonds' record this year.
Nice Guys Finish [...]

I've mentioned a couple of times that I've seen a game in New Britain, I believe, back in 2000. One of the things that I remember from the game more than anything was Matt LeCroy gunning down Drew Henson at second base. I remember thinking, hey, LeCroy can really throw. Um, well, [...]

Top Jimmy writes about how the Twins aren't using Joe Nathan because of the dearth of save opportunities. He never, however, suggests that with a shaky bullpen it might be time to think about bringing him in to a game in other situations.

The hatred for Bonds is so great that St. Louis writers are criticizing Albert Pujols for saying nice things about Barry Bonds. Says the St. Louis columnist:
Pujols shouldn't use his new status as the game's No. 1 star to pardon players who cheated the game, the fans, past baseball heroes and each other of [...]

I don't know what it is about me that I have defended certain characters in sports so fervently in the face of criticism. I'm a Barry Bonds guy. I know he's a dink. I know that it's all but proven that he did steroids. I still like him. Why? [...]

It's time for another guessing game. Who said it? If you know because you read it, please don't spoil it for others.
Nobody will ever convince me that the Metrodome, closer to the West Bank and the Coffman Memorial Union than the site of the new stadium, wouldn't have been a great addition for [...]

I was thinking that the Twins might just have the worst starting shortstop in the league. Then, I thought of a way to quantify it. This is an inelegant tool, I will admit, but I thought I'd use a blunt force instrument that's easy to calculate and understand. Here's what I did.
I [...]

From the Strib:
Punto appreciates ScruFi sticking up for his players.
"The best thing about him is that he always protects us," Punto said. "That doesn't go unnoticed by the 25 of us."
The manager has been ejected four times already, and twenty times prior to this season, or five a year. He used to get ejected [...]

Am I the only person in these United States that doesn't watch American Idol? Unlike with Survivor, I can't say that I've never seen it. Really, you don't have to watch it to know all about it. It is on the news all the time and there are enough commercials for it [...]

This was another extremely close game but Dallas appeared to have the advantage late. But, then Nash pulled the Suns close and eventually ahead. The Mavs got a go ahead basket with four seconds left only to have Phoenix answer with a bucket with 0.5 left. They added two free throws and [...]

I saw something last summer about how the Chicago White Sox offense, while not scoring a ton of runs, had a fairly even distribution. It was that consistency, it was posited, that helped the ChiSox to win more games than what they "should have" based on their runs scored/runs allowed totals. Before the Wednesday [...]

In 3 2/3 innings of relief, the bullpen had the following line:
3-2/3IP 4H 5R 4ER 2BB 1K 1HR FIP: 8.10 ERA: 9.81.
Sigh.  Another long day in a season full of long days.

The Line:  5 2/3IP 11H 6R 6ER 2BB 3K 1HR.  FIP: 5.32  ERA: 9.52
Update:  I must say that I like Radke, was in favor of his signing, and frankly don't know what to do about his performance.  It's dreadful and it pains me to see it.

bjhess examines the Wolves' tendencies to pick white guys.

Ah, Herm Edwards must be proud.  Fresh off of his riveting article on Tony Batista, Joe Christensen gives us this beauty.
Santana squandered a four-run lead against the Cleveland Indians, forcing the Twins to use Nathan in another non-save situation.
Nathan dominated for two innings, setting the stage for Justin Morneau's game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th [...]

Welcome, SBG fans, to the ninth edition of 360 Degrees.  In the previous eight rounds only five men started for the Twins.  This time we had starters number six and seven going, allowing me to go to an obscure Rolling Stones reference in the title.
And guess what?  Putting a couple of young guys in the [...]

Game One of the Heat/Pistons was man ball.  No JJ Reddick allowed.
The Heat came out and smoked the Pistons in the first quarter, shooting 75%.  But, the Pistons got to the line and got the Heat's best two players, D-Wade and Shaq in foul trouble.  The Pistons hung tough and stayed with the Heat the [...]

DeSagana Diop was playing with a broken nose when he shut down Tim Duncan in overtime.

Chances for the Wolves:
1st: 5.3%  (5.3%)
2nd: 6.0% (11.3%)
3rd:  7.0% (18.3%)
6th:  44.0% (62.3%)
7th:  33.0% (95.3%)
8th:    4.5% (99.8%)
9th:    0.1% (99.9%)
Everyone knows the Wolves have never caught a break in the lottery.  I'm predicting 7th. I'm also predicting that McHale won't be sitting there.
Update:  Who the hell is Zarko Duricic?  He's the director of player personnel of the Timberwolves.  So [...]

You have to read the article today on Tony Batista by Joe Christenson in the Strib entitled "Whatever Works" detailing Batista's unorthodox batting stance.  Apparently, a couple of dingers in Milwaukee have quelled the "is Batista about to be cut" rumors.  The money quotes:
"Everybody doesn't like the way I hit," said Batista, a .251 career hitter [...]

What a series between San Antonio and Dallas.  How can you top that? 
Dallas blew out to a huge first half lead, but the Spurs were relentless in the second half.  Down the stretch, Dallas was holding on for dear life.  Meanwhile, Duncan had thrown that team on his back and they tied the game up [...]

I've finally got an RSS feed set up for the new site.  It's also in the meta section on the left XML Link (updated).

Stewart on DL, Kubel up from minors.  Hate to wish an injury on anyone (else), but wouldn't it be great if the title of this post were "C'mon Jasons, You Both Can Do It"?

Here is the actual title from Shooter's Friday column:  A.J. trade among Twins' best.  Really.  Hey, did you hear about the Lindbergh baby?
Now, if I had picked up a copy of the PiP on Friday and read that, I would have thought, there's 25 cents I'll never get back.

Yesterday, the Pistons completely shut down LeBron James in the second half and since Cleveland has no one else to go to, Detroit won going away.  Frightwig asks whether that performance tempers my enthusiasm for James as the best player in the league.  It opens up a lot of questions.  One, how was this different [...]

I've been sitting on some news that my blogging buddy Seth let me in on last week.  Go on over and say hi to Seth this morning and see what in the heck he's been holding back.  Congratulations, Seth!

As I said earlier, most of this weekend was spent with Lucy, so I didn't spend a lot of time watching sports.  The Twins had a big weekend, getting a stadium and all, but for the 2006, the big deal happened on the field.
The Twins got good starts from "San" Francisco Liriano and Boof "Bay" [...]

Imagine you are sitting the right field seat on Saturday afternoon and here comes Barry Bonds' 714th homerun ball right at you.  You catch it.  You have just gotten a huge windfall.  But, of course, there's some question as to how much you can get for the ball.  If you caught it, what would you [...]

Three, count 'em THREE Game Sevens in the second round of the NBA playoffs.  Two absolutely riveting games last night.  Guys playing all out.  And how about that Clips/Suns series.  Seriously, if that isn't entertaining, then I don't know what is.
Meanwhile Shaq Daddy and D-Wade are waiting for the survivor of that Detroit/Cleveland series.  And [...]

Major League Baseball did the right thing and suspended Russ "Jerry" Springer and manager Phil Garner for deliberately beaning Barry Bonds the other day.  Springer got four games, Garner one.  I would have liked to seen a bigger suspension, seeing as how Springer clearly threw near Bonds' head.
Under no circumstances should a pitcher throw at [...]

This may be the biggest game of the year.  So, I'll stop egging on frightwig in a KG discussion for at least a while.  Francisco Liriano toes the rubber in the first inning.  I'm looking forward to this game, although I may have to miss it. 
The wife and I are going to celebrate our anniversary [...]

But, he gets to eat crow.  From his mailbox:
Does an MVP throw in the towel during the second half of a Game 7? I don't know if Kobe was trying to make some kind of statement or what, but that's not what an MVP does. Period.
-- Alex, Provo, Utah
SG: I knew what was happening within [...]

Last night, Steve Nash drives to the hoop and puts in a left handed hook shot, prompting Bill Walton to say that Nash is "basically the same player as Bill Russell".  I mean, could he have possibly picked a player in the history of the league that is more diametrically opposed to Steve Nash than [...]

I think you should all go over and chastise Seth for his short, 3,451 word article.  How dare he not give his blog the attention it deserves?

Yesterday, I posted Baseball Prospectus's playoff odds report at the quarter point of the season.  I don't know their method exactly, except that I know they have some model that they run a million times to determine their results.  Like all predictive tools, it isn't saying what will happen, it's only saying what is likely [...]

From ESPN.COM: 
Watch out, Takeru Kobayashi. Here comes Joey Chestnut.
Chestnut, a 22-year-old civil engineering student at San Jose State, ate 50 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes Thursday at the Las Vegas qualifier for a spot at the table at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
...
"I was hoping to do 40," said Chestnut, the [...]

I heard "Satisfaction" come on the radio this morning and I smiled.  For those of you that don't know, Satisfaction was released in 1965, the same year in which I was born.  The legend is that Keith Richards woke up in the middle of the night with the riff in his head, turned on a [...]

I have mentioned that Rondell White has a vesting option next year based on plate appearances.  He is making $2.5 million this season and the team has a club option for 2007 with a $750,000 buyout.  So he is getting $3.25 million no matter what.  If he gets 400 plate appearances this year, his option [...]

Let's hear what the positives are about this season so far.  Like I said, put on the thinking caps.
1.  Johan Santana remains one of the premier pitchers in the game.
2.  Joe Nathan, when called upon, has been very good.
3.  Jesse Crain is striking people out again.
Add yours.  No snark.  I'm serious.  I think.

Radke v. Rogers.  Do the Twins have a chance today?

From Baseball Prospectus, the postseason odds report after 40 games (1/4 of the season):
Average wins by position in AL Central: 100.5 91.2 83.0 72.4 59.5
AL Central W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card [...]

From the Strib:
After Santana's first loss since April 21, he spoke in long, measured tones, with each answer to the reporters' questions seemingly directed at his teammates.
"I felt pretty good; I was doing my job," Santana said. "But that lets you know right there; it's not just about one guy. It takes 25 guys to [...]

No, I'm not making that up, believe it.  Long ridiculed as a terrible executive (he picked Michael Olowokandi with the first overall pick), the 71 year old Hall of Fame player grabs an improbable honor.  He made a couple of very nice moves, but his piece de resistance this year?  The move that catapulted the [...]

Welcome, SBG fans, to the eighth edition of 360 Degrees, a look at the last trip around the rotation.  The Twins have now played forty games, which means it’s also time for an eight-pack.  First things first.  Did you hear?  Things are about to change.  In the off-season, while SBG was advocating cutting Kyle Lohse [...]

King James
Just imagine if he was in college.  But, did you hear?  All the best 21 year olds are in the NBA.

Or so I think.  I'm at the office tonight but I'll have a corner of the screen with the game cast going.

This is a sad day for me, friends.  Kevin Garnett didn't even make third team all-NBA.  He was aced out by Carmelo Frickin' Anthony, despite the fact that KG lead the league in rebounds, was fifth in the league in PER, had a true shooting percentage of .589.
Compare:
               AST      TS%   TO     ORR  DRR   REB     PER
KG            [...]

Nick is reporting that KFAN is reporting that Boof is coming up and Kyle Lohse is headed to the minors.

Understand three things: (1) Ryan has not talked to anyone about trading Hunter or Stewart; (2) He is, in Gardenhire's words, "reluctant to trade any of his players"; and (3) Ryan knows ownership is sensitive to public perception when the legislature is weighing a proposal to fund a new downtown ballpark.
If the pitching does not [...]

I came across a new Twins blog through Will Young today.  It's called Coffeyville Whirlwind.  Check it out and say hi from SBG.

Maybe the best three paragraphs written in the national media on Bonds in quite some time.
When Bonds hits his 715th home run, there will be a huge national temptation to use the occasion for moralizing vilification. But perhaps that instant-gratification reaction should be tempered. If Bonds cheated, he didn't cheat alone; he just cheated best. [...]

The Twins fall in Detroit again 7-4.  Kyle Lohse, who survived last start's pitching for your job exercise posted the following line:  2 2/3 IP 6H 5R 5ER 1BB 3K.  Actually, his FIP was just 1.33, but no matter, five runs were on the board.  I didn't get to see much of the game, but I [...]

From ESPN: 
With the San Francisco slugger leading off the fifth inning, Springer's first pitch sailed behind Bonds' back, drawing a warning from plate umpire Joe West.
The next four pitches all came inside, including one that hit Bonds' bat handle on the third delivery for strike one. The fifth pitch hit Bonds as he turned to [...]

You've heard it said that Joe Nathan needs the pressure of a save situation to pitch well and that if the game isn't on the line, well, he's not as effective.
Thought I'd look into that by tracking last year's numbers.
Sure enough, when Nathan got a save, his numbers looked like this.
ERA:   0.63
WHIP: 0.56
OBP:   0.158
SLG:   0.140
OPS:   [...]

The local nine head to Detroit Rock City to take on the Motor City Maulers.  Nate Robertson starts against Kyle Lohse, who was recently bypassed by the angel of death.  Lohse has had his problems this year against the Tiggs.  In consecutive starts against the Tigers, he was rocked for 13 runs and 17 hits in [...]