The WGOM

It should be noted that former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Preacher Roe passed away this week. Known for his country charm and a wicked spitball. He was 93.

Gardy's tenure will probably depend on his blood pressure.

With the MVP being announced next week I did a BCS breakdown of the 15 best AL hitters in 10 stats (OPS+, Average, Homeruns, RBI, Runs, VORP, WARP3, Winshares, WPA, and team wins). Mauer barely beat out ARod. Do you think Mauer even finishes in the top10 in the real vote?

    OPS+        AVG            HR           RBI             R       VORP    WARP3           WS        WPA  Teamwins
Pedroia 122 0.326 17 83 118 62.3 10.4 26 3.29 95
Mauer 137 0.328 9 85 98 55.5 11.8 31 4.88 88
Sizemore 128 0.268 33 90 101 62.7 9.7 28 3.48 81
Hamilton 136 0.304 32 130 98 57.1 9.4 27 2.8 79
Youkilis 143 0.312 29 115 91 55.8 9.3 29 2.33 95
Arod 150 0.302 35 103 104 65.6 10.1 25 0.47 89
Quentin 148 0.287 36 100 96 52.3 8.9 24 3.81 89
Morneau 137 0.3 23 129 97 45.5 9.7 29 3.87 88
Cabrera 130 0.292 37 127 85 46.8 6.4 21 2.95 74
Bradley 163 0.321 22 77 78 56.9 7.8 21 2.09 79
Kinsler 134 0.319 18 71 102 54.6 8.9 26 1.21 79
Huff 135 0.304 32 108 96 58.4 7.9 23 1.69 68
Vlad 130 0.303 27 91 85 44.3 6.7 24 2.17 100
Markakis 134 0.306 20 87 106 49.9 9.6 25 1.67 68
Roberts 117 0.296 9 57 107 50.6 9.1 21 1.87 68

      OPS+         AVG         HR         RBI            R       VORP     WARP3         WS       WPA  Teamwins BCSRAW
Mauer 5 1 14 11 7 8 1 1 1 6 5.5
Arod 2 10 3 6 4 1 3 8 15 4 5.6
Youkilis 4 5 7 4 12 7 8 2 8 2 5.9
Hamilton 7 7 5 1 7 5 7 5 7 9 6
Pedroia 14 2 13 12 1 3 2 6 5 2 6
Morneau 5 11 9 2 9 14 4 2 2 6 6.4
Sizemore 13 15 4 9 6 2 4 4 4 8 6.9
Quentin 3 14 2 7 10 10 10 10 3 4 7.3
Huff 8 7 5 5 10 4 12 12 12 13 8.8
Markakis 9 6 11 10 3 12 6 8 13 13 9.1
Kinsler 9 4 12 14 5 9 10 6 14 9 9.2
Bradley 1 3 10 13 15 6 13 13 10 9 9.3
Vlad 11 9 8 8 13 15 14 10 9 1 9.8
Cabrera 11 13 1 3 13 13 15 13 6 12 10
Roberts 15 12 14 15 2 11 9 13 11 13 11.5

Hey Stick...I was just thinking that your little girl looks like Christa Miller.

Keeping up with the ex-Twins:

Philadelphia hires Sam Perlozzo as a coach. It is speculated he will be the third base coach, although that has not been finalized.

Phoenix scored four runs in the sixth and six in the seventh on its way to a 15-6 victory over Scottsdale, lenthening its division lead to six games.

No Twins position players appeared in the game. Tim Lahey pitched a perfect seventh, striking out two. Rob Delaney pitched the last two innings scorelessly, despite giving up four hits.

Aragua scored three in the sixth and three in the eight to defeat Magallanes 10-6. Carmen Cali started the seventh and lasted only a third of an inning, giving up three hits and a run. Jose Mijares pitched the last inning and a third perfectly, striking out one, to get his fourth save.

You bring up a great point, SBG. I really remember the run of short term and semi-short term managers, from Rigney, Quilici, Mauch, and on through the revolving door of the early 80's, and there's something to be said for having a stable coaching staff. Even MORE to be said about a stable coaching staff that is lead by someone whom is considered to be among the top managers in the league each year.

So I got offered a new job this afternoon. With the facility I currently work at less than two months from shutting the door, this is a huge relief. I'll be making a good amount more now, as well, so that'll help with those medical bills.

Also, Brian, if you want some homebrew samples, let me know. I have three batches that have been judged acceptable by me that I can send you for review: Dunkelweizen, Roggenbier, and Schwarzbier. Also, I'm dry hopping my pale ale, which should be consumable in about 3 - 4 weeks.

Top Jimmy with a nice article today about Carleton football and tomorrow's "big game" between Carleton and St. John's for the MIAC title. D-III: the way college sports should be played.

Mesa put up a crooked number in each of the first five innings as they trounced Phoenix 15-7 Friday.

Only two Twins appeared in the game. Anthony Slama pitched a perfect ninth inning. Dustin Martin was 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, and an RBI.

No result from Aragua is yet available at this writing.

To those of you going to the Hold Steady Show tonight. Enjoy. It is going to be a wonderful time.

Some stats from Arizona, through thirty games:

Steven Tolleson is hitting .383, with an OBP of .440 and a SLG of .543. He has 2 homers, 18 runs, and 20 RBIs.
Dustin Martin is hitting .302, with an OBP of . 387 and a SLG of .427. He has 2 homers, 28 runs, and 12 RBIs.
Danny Valencia is is hitting .225, with an OBP of .275 and a SLG of .284. He has 0 homers, 9 runs, and 5 RBIs.

Jeff Manship is 2-1, with an ERA of 4.91. In 29.1 IP, he has 27 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.40.
Tim Lahey is 1-2, with an ERA of 3.48. In 10.1 IP, he has 8 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.74. He also has a save.
Rob Delaney is 1-1, with an ERA of 5.59. In 9.2 IP, he has 10 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.76.
Anthony Slama is 0-0, with an ERA of 3.68. In 7.1 IP, he has 8 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.77.

Some stats from Aragua, through twenty-one games:

Bobby Korecky is 1-1, with an ERA of 6.39. In 12.2 IP, he has struck out 10, and has a WHIP of 1.50.
Jose Mijares is 1-1, with an ERA of 1.04. In 8.2 IP, he has struck out 10, and has a WHIP of 1.15. He also has 3 saves.
Carmen Cali is 0-0, with an ERA of 1.35. In 6.2 IP, he has struck out 5, and has a WHIP of 1.50. He also has 1 save.

It somehow escaped my notice until now that Twins prospect Luke Hughes is also playing for Aragua. He is hitting .266, with an OBP of .309 and a SLG of .453. He has 2 homers, 8 runs, and 11 RBIs.

The used car salesman whose in charge of MLB is now lobbying the IOC to put baseball back into the Olympics. He promises that if they do, MLB will figure out a way to get the best players there. I didn't bother linking to the article because, despite the fact that it's fairly lengthy, it really doesn't say any more than that. It's at mlb.com if you want to see it.

I would hate that. The only way you could do this is if MLB took at least three weeks off during the regular season. Thus, everything we've heard for over a century about the integrity of the baseball season would be wiped away in an instant. I do not see any way this is in the best interests of baseball, although I'm sure it won't happen unless the owners are making a buck out of it somehow.

Gopher football lose again today

at least 2 more years of John Gordon on the radio

I figured he was done after last year. The first 3 months of the year, he sounded 'off'. I mean, he misses plays and mis pronounce/mis place players and all that, but it was really bad the first part of the year. It will be interesting to hear who will replace Gordon for the dozen or so games he is going to miss. Studio host Kris Attebury? another broadcaster? Dazzle? (ye gods)

Stick, I am a long time reader from West Fargo and I just registered for the first time. I would like to e mail you but I cannot find your address on the site. Would you send me your email address!!!

Phoenix scored a run in the top of the first inning Saturday. Unfortunately, they had to play eight more innings, and Mesa defeated them 8-1. No Twins pitchers were used. Steven Tolleson again did not play. Dustin Martin was 1-for-4 and struck out twice. Danny Valencia was 0-for-3.

The news was better in Venezuela, as Aragua scored three runs in the eight to defeat Caribes 6-4. Luke Hughes was 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Bobby Korecky appeared with one out in the sixth inning and Aragua leading 2-1. He promptly gave up the lead, giving up three runs on three hits in a third of an inning. The runs were unearned due to a two-out error, but that's still not good. Jose Mijares pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up only a walk, to get his fifth save.