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Afternoon Tea — December 27-28, 2009

I would have made coffee, but the mountain air made me drowsy. Anybody for a cucumber sandwich?

This entry was posted by brianS on Saturday, December 27th, 2008 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Cup of Coffee. It is one of 752 entries by the author. We are no longer accepting Letters to the Editor on this post.

23 comments to Afternoon Tea — December 27-28, 2009

  • socaltwinsfan
    December 27th, 2008 at 9:07 pm

    I'm not sold on Tim Brewster, but it sure seems like Pat Reusse has it in for the guy a lot more than is called for here. And this isn't the only example of Reusse going after Brewster. You would think Brewster wrote a baseball blog or something.

    Last I checked, the goal of a football team is to improve from one year to the next. The Gophers fell off a cliff at the end of the season, but that coincided with their best offensive player (Eric Decker) getting hurt. Brewster's first year was a disaster, but you to give the guy a bye on that one with him bringing in a completely new staff with totally new schemes on offense and defense while playing a ton of freshmen and sophomores. Also, a bunch of their games they lost by a TD or less.

    • ubelmann
      December 27th, 2008 at 10:51 pm

      From what I've been able to tell, the only problem that the press really has with Brewster is how he interacted with them. The general sequence of events seems to be: at first they seemed to like the guy, then he lost, they criticized, he became less open with them, they became more critical of him.

      I think that Brewster is fine, but I think he'll run into the same hurdle that Glen Mason hit--it's relatively easy to build a mediocre DI football program with no reputation, but it's really, really hard to build a great DI football program without a good reputation to recruit on.

      Maybe Brewster will luck himself into a Rose Bowl appearance, but I don't think that's very likely, and I think that Mason could have eventually lucked himself into a Rose Bowl appearance, especially with a new, on-campus stadium to recruit with.

      My only beef with Brewster is that he sent an obviously concussed kid back onto the field. I don't think that's particularly responsible coaching. (Although, even then, my bigger beef is with the media, who seem to be encouraging that sort of thing. If a player is injured below the neck, he can be as much of a warrior as he wants. If he has a head or neck injury, I think you should be about a thousand times more cautious.)

      Also, a bunch of their games they lost by a TD or less.

      Only two of their losses were by a TD or less. (Unless they plan on losing the Insight Bowl by a TD or less.) Really, this season looks basically the same as a typical Glen Mason season towards the end of his tenure here. Beat the non-conference patsies, win a couple Big Ten games, lose some close Big Ten games, get blown out in some Big Ten games. Brewster's supposed to have some magical recruiting beans, but I'll believe it when I see it.

      • socaltwinsfan
        December 28th, 2008 at 7:00 pm

        I was actually referring to his first season when they lost a bunch of close games. I can't find their results from the previous year, but it seemed like a ton of those losses were pretty close, especially early in the season.

        And if Glen Mason couldn't luck into the Rose Bowl with Marion Barber and Laurence Maroney with All-American offensive linemen, then it was time to try someone else. Brewster's supposed strength is his recruiting and his first full recruiting class was more highly acclaimed (for what it's worth) than any of Mason's and any since Lou Holtz left. And any "questionable" recruit (academically speaking) that manages to get in the U would most likely get entrance into any other major football program in the country.

        I think the fact that the guy never stops selling the U and never lets his guard down is what probably has rubbed Reusse the wrong way, but it could very well be his biggest strength.

        • ubelmann
          December 28th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

          I was actually referring to his first season when they lost a bunch of close games.

          There were six by my count, but if we're going to start forgiving close losses, Glen Mason's win totals go up, too. (And losses by any amount are awfully bad results against Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic.)

          I guess I don't see the point in just trying new coaches for the sake of trying new coaches. When it's all said and done, Brewster will probably look just the same as Mason and we'll have accomplished nothing. Hooray.

        • SBG
          December 29th, 2008 at 3:04 pm

          They had just about the worst defense in all of D-IA last year. NDSU piled up about 600 yards against them. That team deserved the record it had.

    • ubelmann
      December 27th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

      Also, this is the softest Big Ten schedule that Brewster might ever get, not having had to play two of the top three teams in the conference.

  • davidwatts
    December 27th, 2008 at 9:25 pm


    'Afternoon Tea'

    well, I've watched more Timberwolves basketball in the last 2 days than in the previous 3 months. sometimes they actually looks like a basketball team. sometimes they looks like a junior high team. Too bad they wont win tonight.
    Rashad McCants has been shooting the lights out both last night and tonight

  • twayn
    December 28th, 2008 at 12:40 am

    Here's hoping everyone had a happy and healthy holiday. Unfortunately, we missed out on the healthy part. Wife came down with a nasty stomach flu on Christmas Eve. I got it Christmas night. Youngest daughter came down with it tonight. All the usual symptoms, plus fever, chills, and body aches. So if you don't mind, I'll take a side order of sympathy with my tea. A flamethrower to sanitize the bathroom with would be nice, too.

  • Jeff A
    December 28th, 2008 at 5:08 am

    Friday night, Aragua scored in the tenth inning to defeat Caracas 5-4.

    Wilson Ramos was 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run. Matt Tolbert was the star, however, going 3-for-4 and lacking only a home run for the cycle. He led off the tenth with a triple and scored what proved to be the winning run on a sacrifice fly. Oswaldo Sosa pitched a scoreless ninth, giving up a hit and a walk, to get the win.

    As I write this, Saturday's result was not yet available.

  • Jeff A
    December 28th, 2008 at 5:10 am

    Keeping up with the ex-Twins: San Diego signs Luis Rodriguez.

  • Jeff A
    December 28th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    Aragua scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth Saturday night, but it was not enough as they fell to Magallanes 6-5. They had the bases loaded with one out, but a strikeout and a ground out ended the game.

    Matt Tolbert and Wilson Ramos were each 1-for-4. Frank Mata pitched the sixth inning, giving up a run on a hit. Yohan Pino pitched two scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

  • Jeff A
    December 28th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Some winter league stats:

    The Twins have had seven players in the Dominican League, five position players and two pitchers. However, only three of them have seen any playing time to speak of. Alexi Casilla is batting .343 in 67 at-bats, with an OBP of .436 and a SLG of .478. He has 3 doubles, 2 homers, 3 steals, 15 runs, and 10 RBIs. Carlos Gomez is batting .243 in 74 at-bats. He has an OBP of .364 and a SLG of .351. He has 3 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 9 steals, 17 runs, and 5 RBIs. Francisco Liriano is 0-1, 2.45 in 11 IP. He has struck out 8 and has a WHIP of 1.09.

    In Venezuela, the Twins have four position players who have seen significant playing time. Luke Hughes batted .298 in 104 at-bats, with an OBP of .348 and a SLG of .423. He had 3 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 2 steals, 14 runs, and 14 RBIs. Alejandro Machado is batting .281 in 64 at-bats, with an OBP of .370 and a SLG of .344. He has 4 doubles, 2 steals, 8 runs, and 6 RBIs. Wilson Ramos is batting .330 in 109 at-bats, with an OBP of .339 and a SLG of .477. He has 7 doubles, 3 homers, 16 runs, and 23 RBIs. Matt Tolbert is batting .277 in 65 at-bats, with an OBP of .347 and a SLG of .415. He has 4 doubles, 1 triple, 1 homer, 10 runs, and 10 RBIs.

    There are five pitchers in Venezuela who have seen enough playing time to note. Bobby Korecky was 1-1, 6.00, in 15 IP. He struck out 11 and had a WHIP of 1.73. Frank Mata is 2-0, 3.16 in 25.2 IP. He has struck out 19 and has a WHIP of 1.17. Jose Mijares is 4-1, 1.09 with 9 saves in 24.2 IP. He has struck out 31 and has a WHIP of 1.30. Yohan Pino is 1-0, 2.08 in 13 IP. He has struck out 11 and has a WHIP of 1.08. Danny Rondon is 2-0, 4.04 in 35.2 IP. He has struck out 19 and has a WHIP of 1.65.

    The Twins also have a few players in Puerto Rico. Felix Molina is batting .267 in 86 at-bats, with an OBP of .323 and a SLG of .302. He has 3 doubles, 2 steals, 10 runs, and 6 RBIs. Andres Torres is batting .324 in 142 at-bats, with an OBP of .368 and a SLG of .556. He has 5 doubles, 5 triples, 6 homers, 6 steals, 27 runs, and 23 RBIs. Kyle Aselton is 1-2, 5.40 in 18.1 innings. He has struck out 9 and has a WHIP of 2.07. Zachary Ward is 0-0, 3.63 in 17.1 innings. He has struck out 11 and has a WHIP of 1.62.

  • twayn
    December 28th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    Nice win for the Vikings today.Gotta admit I was surprised that they pulled it off. The Bears lost, of course, but it would have sucked to back into the playoffs while losing the last two regular season games. Today's win makes the (weak) division title and playoff berth feel a lot more legit. I expect they'll get knocked out in the first round, but at least they got there.

  • davidwatts
    December 28th, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Im pretty upset about the New York Times crossword puzzle that was in today's Star Tribune. Apparently, I was confused on the rules of Crossword Puzzles, and crossword puzzle makers are allowed to have boxes represent 2 or more letters

    click here and scroll a bit to see what I mean

    • Rhubarb_Runner
      December 28th, 2008 at 9:11 pm

      I've worked on some of there puzzles where a digit is required in the answer, and one of them very ingeniously used numbers to identify the places/order of folds required to make the puzzle into a paper airplane (with the instructions in the puzzle answers). I'm more upset with them when they make up words, which I swear is a daily occurance.

    • Andrew
      December 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am

      The Chicago Tribune always has sayings by some @$$ named "Evan Esar" that are always terrible pun-based one-liners.

  • Rhubarb_Runner
    December 28th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    We had a nice weekend in Grinnell, IA with brother's family and parents. We drove through some nasty fog to get there, and while we were gone StL got 2"+ of rain back home, sealing the lid on what was already the wettest year on record.