Tuesday Talkers

Going to be flipping between the Twins and the NBA Finals tonight, so might as well write some random stuff while doing those things.

- First off, I know we are all very excited about our little Byron Buxton and the just promoted to double-A Miguel Sano and with good reason.  Buxton is hitting .350/.444/.578 with 8 triples, 7 homers, and 26 steals while playing amazing defense and Sano hit .330/.424/.655 with 16 home runs in 56 games before his promotion.  No doubt these guys are crushing it and, assuming nothing significantly changes, both will be rated as top 10 prospects in all of baseball when next year's rankings come out.  It's very, very awesome, but the hype train might want to back up just a hair.

On the radio today I heard both Dubay and PA spout complete inanities about these guys (and yes, they are two of the biggest dummies when it comes to baseball among all people who have a public voice so I know they're almost going to say something stupid, but this just really bugged me).  Dubay's big call was that Sano would be a September call-up this year, which is wrong for two reasons.  First, you never go from A-ball to the major leagues in one season, it just doesn't happen unless somebody can prove me wrong but I'm sure it's extremely rare.  Even if he finishes the year tearing up AA like he did A I just can't see it happening.  Secondly, the money issue.  It's moot if he ends up starting 2014 in the majors, which I could see happening but kind of doubt it after Aaron Hicks started so slowly this year, but if they call him up in September guess what?  That major league service time clock gets going a year early.  The Twins are no longer cheap, but that doesn't mean they want to start giving out big money contracts a year early.  Won't happen.

The far more egregious and stupid comment came from PA which is something I assume we are all accustom to at this point, in that he said Buxton should be in the majors RIGHT NOW.  He also said if Buxton had started the year in the majors (yes this year) he would be as good or better than Aaron Hicks so far.  I'm not even going to start to break this doubt because it would be an insult to all of us, but I just don't get the PA popularity.  His knowledge of sports is extremely limited to NFL-only and he's only ok with that, his interview skills are subpar, and his personality is grating and annoying.  Yet, when I was listening to a Vikings game on the radio with a group of people one time somebody said, "Man I love PA" and then somebody else said "He's the best" and then everybody agreed.  I just don't get it.  Is it the raging homerism thing?  Do people love a homer announcer?  He's an idiot and a jackass and is stupid.  It's so confusing.  Sometimes I wonder if I'm living in some kind of weird dream world and this isn't real life.

- One other thing that's kind of getting lost in the Buxton/Sano hype is that Eddie Rosario was also promoted to AA along with Sano.  Rosario may not have the hype of the other two, but he's a pretty big deal and ranks consistently in the top 5 or top 10 on most Twins prospect lists, and is becoming even more valuable after his conversion from outfield to second base which, based on being promoted here, is likely going well.  He can hit (.329/.377/.527 this year) and if he can field at the 4-spot he may be the guy to finally fill that second base hole that's been on this team seemingly since Rod Carew.  Hurry up, Eddie, I can't take much more Brian Dozier.

-  Since I've been typing I've now seen Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, and Oswaldo Arcia absolutely drill balls back-to-back-to-back off Cole Hamels and it makes one wonder - what is up with that dude?  Long time readers may remember that Hamels was my boyfriend for a while, but he's just been brutal this year.  Thing is, I can't find a single thing you can point to and say "that's the problem."  He's practically been the exact same pitcher this year as he's always been.  The only difference at all is batters are making more contact than usual when they swing at pitches in the strike zone (84% vs. 82%), he's given up more infield hits (16% vs. 11%), and more fly balls he's given up are going out of the park (13% vs. 11.5%).  All of that says his results have been more the result of a fluke than anything significant going on with him.  Then I see him basically put it on a tee for four straight Twin batters and I wonder if he's just making more mistakes this year - the higher contact rates in the zone and homer/flyball rates could back that up.  So, I guess I'm not sure yet what's his deal.  What am I, Galileo?

-  I actually had someone tell me they thought That's My Boy was a really good and funny movie.  No I didn't punch him immediately in the neck but only because we were at softball and we are on the same team and that would have caused all kinds of issues, but I kind of wanted to.

-  Speaking of movies, I caught a little bit of Reign of Fire recently, which is that movie with Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey about dragons in a post apocalyptic world.   It's mostly a terrible movie, but Bale and McConaughey both rock and obviously dragons are like the bomb and stuff so every time I see it I ended up staying on the channel at least long enough to see a dragon fight and quite often end up watching the entire rest of the movie.  So if you're a fan of dragons and/or hot guys you should totally check it out on your netflix or hulu or whatever people watch stuff on these days.

-  The fact that Lebron James hasn't developed a true post game yet drives me crazy - almost as much as his constant bitching.  After the success of having him play the 4 in the Finals last year after Bosh got hurt he had to know they were going to be doing it a lot this season, but still he didn't develop any kind of offensive post moves.  I mean yeah he's still effective posting up and finding shooters or cutters, but his offensive game on the block is to put it on the floor and drive to the hoop.  Sure that works sometimes and he can get to the line that way as well, but can you imagine him with a turnaround jumper or a little jump hook or something?  I know it seems silly to criticize someone who just put up a season where he averaged 27, 8, & 7 while shooting 57%, but man, what if he had an actual post game?  That's fairly terrifying, in a boner inducing way.  Pretty sure he'd still bitch about everything though.

-  Wow the Spurs are just daring Lebron to take jumpers.  Seems to be working since he just bricked a wide open three.
 
 - Should be a very interesting U.S. Open.  From what I've heard the rough will be rough, but tons of rain will make the greens incredibly soft and slow so you'll see a whole lot of conservative play off the tee (to keep in in the fairway) and then aggressive shots into the green.  Sounds like a recipe for an awfully low winning score, which the U.S. Open hates, but there are three par-3s over 235 yards which is going to equalize things a bit, as well as only two par-5s to keep scores in check.  I know a lot of people like to say stuff like "I like it better when it's super tough because then the cream really rises to the top" but really the last few winners when the winning score was even or worse were Webb Simpson, Graeme McDowell, Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, and Michael Campbell while the last few winners at -5 or better are Rory McIlroy, Jim Furyk, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Lee Janzen, and Payne Stewart.  I mean, that's a pretty clearly better second grouping, right?  Just proves my theory that people are idiots.  Man, I got a lot of evidence for that theorem.  I'll probably be in a magazine soon.

-  Wow Lebron has just been terrible.  Kawhi Leonard refusing to let him drive by giving him the jumper and James can't hit anything.  He's 2-11 from the field right now and if it wasn't for the incredible, incomparable Mike Miller being 5-5 from three this one would be over already.  And now that's 2-12, and he's whining to the ref.  I think I hate this guy.

-  Oh yeah, and I don't have any favorites for the U.S. Open yet.  I need to take a look at a few things before I give you your good futures bets, but without spending too much time on it I think Steve Stricker and Matt Kuchar would be the two I'd throw money at if I had to right now with no time to research.

-  Wow.  This got out of hand quickly.  Like Game 2 but in the Spurs favor.  It's a 31 point lead.  Gary Neal and Danny Green have combined for 51 points so far.  Green by himself has outscored Duncan+Ginobilli+Parker.  Crazy game.  But crazy awesome.

This shouldn't be a surprise

I was listening to the Paul Allen show today, and PA went on and on about how Joe Mauer doesn't come up big in big spots and isn't clutch and blah blah blah. I don't really believe in clutch, which is irrelevant here I suppose, but I also assume anything PA says is wrong at worst and misinformed at best. So I checked.
In 2010, in situations defined as "late & close" by baseball-reference.com (7th inning or later, team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run on-deck or better). Mauer's stats in 51 plate appearances in those situations:
.463/.549/.707 with 2 of his 4 home runs

With 2 outs and runners in scoring position this year, he's hitting .414.  In tie games, he's hitting .393.

So, once again, PA is an idiot.

"Shocking"ly Retarded

I didn't really believe WWWWW when he claimed he heard Paul Allen comparing Livan to Johan. But I made the mistake of turning on KFAN this morning and to my surprise PA was at it again. How in the hell does a person who compares Livan to Jo-Jo Santana actually have a six figure job that pays them to talk about sports. This wasn't your typical tongue in cheek comparison either, this idiot actually believes Livan is a better pitcher than Jo-Jo at this point in the season.

Another question I have is how in the world does anyone work with this tit? If I was Jeff Dubay or Justin Gaard I would literally walk out of the studio when PA started singing while I was talking. What an obnoxious asshole. Who thinks that is funny and why hasn't their program director been fired for not telling this no talent idiot to knock that shite off. He also comes off as the type of guy who would be upset if someone did that while he was talking.

Question for you. Do you think PA believes he is "hip" because he plays RB music? PA is about as hip as Bogart with a poop/vomit covered arm.

Can someone tell me what in the hell "Yadot" means??? Does PA think he is coining some new hip term in the twin cities. If I heard either one of my two friends say Yadot, I would punch them in the mouth. "Yadot"....honestly.

This was going to be a quick little post, but now I am pissed off thinking about this f'ing tit. Thanks for wrecking my morning you no talent twat!

Not only is PA obnoxious and knows little about sports, but he dresses like Mike Max. Note to PA, sweaters that look like a Leprechaun blew his rainbow colored load all over the front of your chest do not look good. I know you think you are sophisticated because the sticker on that rag was $200, but in reality everyone but Mike Max and Kevin McHale are laughing at you.

I also love how PA acts like he is a man of principal yet he turns around and sells his soul for any half ass product that will pay him $20. I swear to god he would put his name on a underage prostitution service if they paid him a couple bucks at let him make a commercial. Sellout Twat!

Lastly, Just because you announce the Vikings game on the radio doesn't make you an NFL insider. Quit acting like a tit your entire show and then transform into "Joe Professional" when you discuss football. You have no idea what you are talking about and the next time you have your own opinion on a team or player will be the first time. Who does he think he is fooling when he talks about that stuff? All he does is call a couple of his fantasy bo-bo's and regurgitate what they tell him. PA, You don't understand football so knock of the charade. You calling football games makes you know as much about football as me or any one of the 60,000 fans in the Metrodome on Sunday. Also, knock off the canned touch down calls, you sound like an idiot.

Little known fact. Did you know Bogart called into the PA and Dubay show once and actually asked legit questions? God did you wet the bed on that bit bogart!

PA needs to go!

Side Note: TJ Oshie is going to sign with the St. Louis Blues within the next 72 hours. The one good Sioux players is no more. At least I can once again hate the Sioux with all my heart!

P.S. Kubel sti....has always blown!