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Cup of Coffee: June 30, 2009

Surprise! The Twins are right at .500.

This entry was posted by SBG on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 5:25 am and is filed under Cup of Coffee. It is one of 3096 entries by the author. We are no longer accepting Letters to the Editor on this post.

38 comments to Cup of Coffee: June 30, 2009

  • SBG
    June 30th, 2009 at 7:21 am

    This is the 20th time the Twins have been at .500! That's freaking amazing. They've been at .500 for every win total between 32 and the current 39. They have never been more than 5 games below .500 or one game above .500. Mediocrity, now playing at the Metrodome.

    • Jeff A
      June 30th, 2009 at 7:49 am

      I wonder if that's some kind of record. I don't know where you'd find a record like that, nor do I have time to try to figure it out, but given the number of games they've played, if being at exactly .500 twenty times is not the record, it has to be pretty close.

    • spookymilk
      June 30th, 2009 at 11:40 am

      Last year the Twins did it for the fourteenth time in Game 72, then continued a long winning streak and never looked back. Something tells me even fourteen is a high total for a year, so twenty is just madness.

      • SBG
        June 30th, 2009 at 11:48 am

        I don't know that fourteen in a whole season is a lot, that's less than 10 percent of the games. Teams that finish around .500 probably have pretty high totals at .500 or one game over .500 or one game under .500. Twenty in 78 games is a pretty high total, though. The Twins have been at one game over 7 times and one game under 23 times. So 50 of the 78 games, they've been within one game of .500. That's a lot.

  • Jeff A
    June 30th, 2009 at 7:53 am

    Davy Jones (1880)
    Ron Swoboda (1944)
    Bud Black (1957)
    Al Newman (1960)
    Tony Fernandez (1962)
    Mark Grudzielanek (1970)
    Garret Anderson (1972)
    Chan Ho Park (1973)

    • kalarson
      June 30th, 2009 at 8:18 am

      oof, now there's a scrappy infield

    • spookymilk
      June 30th, 2009 at 10:41 am

      It's Mrs. Milk's 29th birthday today...birthdays are always bittersweet for her, because I'm plain terrible at picking up hints and just knowing what she'd like in general. It's weird...it seems like the kind of thing I'd knock out of the park, but I just suck at it.

      • SBG
        June 30th, 2009 at 10:56 am

        I am terrible at giving gifts to my wife. I always screw it up. Part of the reason that I'm no good at it is that I don't like receiving gifts myself. My wife asked me what I wanted for Father's Day. I said nothing. Just let me enjoy a day with my daughter. So, I'm really terrible at buying gifts.

        • spookymilk
          June 30th, 2009 at 11:03 am

          I simply have no cognizance of when the "hint moments" are happening. Three days ago she took our computer speakers to work because she listens to the Current rather than the pop nonsense they play overhead, and when I finally told her last night that I had no idea what to get her, she mentioned speakers for work. Why, when it came up, did I not think of such a thing? Ugh. I'm a tool when it comes to gift-giving.

          If my kids were a bit older, I'd write a play and have them perform it. Now that will knock it out of the park, when it comes up. In the meantime, I lumber through the mall, suddenly having forgotten everything I know about my wife's interests.

          • Beau
            June 30th, 2009 at 11:25 am

            I won't judge you. Not all hints are overt enough. I have a friend who will absent-mindedly say, "Man, I wish I had one of those." A light goes off, I buy it right away, and then I have my birthday/Xmas/for the hell of it gift right there.

            Other phrases that are key to pick up on:

            "I love this artist/musician/comedian."
            "I'm going to have to get a new one of these pretty soon."
            "My friend got one of these for herself. I love it!"

            Of course, when in doubt, make something special. I love your idea about the play. When they're five or six and can remember a few lines, that'll be awesome.

            • Beau
              June 30th, 2009 at 11:26 am

              and one more thing: don't wait for a holiday or anniversary to get her something. If at any time during the year a light goes off, take advantage of it right then.

              • spookymilk
                June 30th, 2009 at 11:29 am

                What you're explaining is my mom, to a T. This is something I should've picked up from her. If I mention a passing interest in something, she will have it bought for me by week's end. If I'm in a mall with her, she'll buy presents for me right under my nose, and she always manages it without my seeing it. She's a gift-giving monster. I have three siblings, and every year, we all wonder if there's a single thing we wanted that she didn't get us (she's loaded, too, so that helps).

                I need to invest in a steno pad. Actually, I have about fifty of them, being a writer and all. I need to use one, is all.

              • SBG
                June 30th, 2009 at 11:31 am

                Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

              • Beau
                June 30th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

                I just hate how we've fabricated special days to give each other gifts. It creates expectations that can't always be met. If you want to get somebody something, get it for them. If you can't think of anything, don't force it. The most important thing is friendship and being there.

          • Jeff A
            June 30th, 2009 at 12:40 pm

            I'm awful at it, too. I tell my wife, "Look, if there's something you want me to get you, or something you want me to do, you'd better come out and tell me, because you know that if you hint at it, I won't figure it out." Sometimes she'll do that, and sometimes she won't.

  • davidwatts
    June 30th, 2009 at 9:51 am

    here is a pretty cool article about The Art of Stealing Home

    there have been 4 straight steals of home this year so far (2 last Sunday!)

    • ubelmann
      June 30th, 2009 at 11:54 am

      In my book, Getz' steal of home last Sunday doesn't count as a straight steal. The batter was clearly squaring around to bunt and Zambrano unleashed a WP. It was a broken squeeze play.

      Gary Matthews' steal was definitely a straight steal of home, though. It even looked like his lead might have been a tad bit conservative, but with the pitcher pitching from the windup, I guess you don't need a huge lead.

      • sean
        June 30th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

        Agreed, Matthews' steal was what I love to see. Not exactly a textbook steal with a right handed pitcher and left handed batter. Scherzer has a looong windup though.

    • ubelmann
      June 30th, 2009 at 12:04 pm

      I loved this bit, though:

      "Here lies Rod Carew, lined to left by Killebrew."

    • Neil
      June 30th, 2009 at 1:04 pm

      I stole home a few times as a kid playing Legion ball... I don't think it was quite the metaphysical experience the article describes, but it was fun. I got called out one time because I think it caught the ump by surprise and he figured better to wrong calling me out than wrong calling me safe. It pisses me off to this day.

      • ubelmann
        June 30th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

        I was thinking about that aspect of it when I was reading the article, and especially when I read one of the "related articles" that was about the 10 "most significant" home steals of all-time or something like that. Chance one time had "walk-off" steal of home to win a game 1-0. It seems like it would be tough for the ump to make a safe call there if it is close, knowing that it ends the game.

  • davidwatts
    June 30th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    an interesting read about The Economy and the new Twins Ballpark

    That's a big cash suck considering a total of $60 million in bonds due in 12 and 14 years hence. Barring another catastrophe, the $4 million gets the Twins to Opening Day, when ballpark revenue will begin paying off the debt.

    I know what you're thinking: So that's why we didn't sign that late-inning reliever this winter!

  • twayn
    June 30th, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    Minnesota finally has 2 US Senators again.