Gophers vs. Illinois L ive Blog

-11 minutes - So why not drink some booze and live blog, am I right?  Watching the Iowa State vs. Kansas game right now.  Great game. 

-9 minutes - On a scale of 1-think the Big Bang Theory isn't nerdy enough, how nerdy is it that I just watched this:


-7 minutes - So real quick since we have some time let me just mention how ridiculous the Hall of Fame voting crap was this year with nobody getting in.  Are you guys kidding me?  The worst part is you know they think they're taking some kind of stand or making a statement, when in reality they're just being a bunch of pussies.  The worst part?  As pointed out by Loretta8 from Sippin' on Purple - Bonds and Clemens finished with a different amount of votes.  One is the all-time home run leader, the other won 7 Cy Young Awards.  They're both no-brainer first ballot inductees - unless you are against voting in steroid guys (aka completely ignoring the 90s) in which case they both are at the same level of guilt and should both stay out.  One way or the other.  This means somebody voted for one, but not the other guy. Makes zero sense.  They need to revamp the whole system, and I hate saying that because I really don't know how to make it better.  To start, how about kicking out all the idiots. 

-4 minutes - Seriously, even if you don't want to vote in anybody you remotely suspect of steriods (and, by the way, I've never heard Piazza linked to roids) how do you not elect Craig Biggio?  The stats are there and I'm pretty sure nobody suspects him of steroid use.  Or elect Tim Raines for christ's sake.  He's the second best leadoff hitter of all-time.  At some point I may have to do a post on Raines - or at least link to one - because the guy absolutely has the numbers to be in Cooperstown.  And you know he wasn't on steroids because he was too busy being high on cocaine.

-2 minutes - This Iowa State game needs to end before the Gopher game starts.  Hurry up already.

20:00 - A banked in three for Kansas?  You gotta be joshing me.  Welp, on to the Gopher game.

20:00 - Being good kind of sucks.  It was much easier watching these games when I knew they were going to lose. 

20:00 - What's Egwu doing in there, he doesn't even shoot threes?

19:48 - Paul with a very tough three point attempt (and missed).  You can have that all game, guys.

19:04 - Another bad three early in the shot clock.  Please keep doing this, Illini.

17:41 - Illinois doing a good job keeping the Gophers off the offensive glass, which we can tell already because they've missed like, a billion shots already.

16:53 - Announcer guy FYI - D.J. Richardson is not a "sharp shooter."  Gopher offense is so bad right now I'm afraid Tubby might go with the line change offense.

16:18 - Brandon Paul called for the charge after dunking over Mbakwe - announcers don't seem to realize that is, indeed, an offensive foul so who cares about the dunk part.  I feel like these guys might be the death of me.  Gophers down 4-3, but there have been as many shots already as there were in the entire first half of the Northwestern game.

15:44 - Wait a minute.  How can a basket count on a made dunk with a charge called?  By definition the ball was still in Paul's hand, which by definition means the basket doesn't count.  Jesus this is like re-writing the rules of math.  It's not like you can just change PI to be equal to 3.14158.  My god people.

14:29 - Gopher defense has been good, forcing Illinois into tough shots, other than the two dunks that is, and doing a good job on the boards.  Gophers just not converting opportunities except for just now with Coleman on a dunk in transition.  More transition please.

13:25 - Rodney for 3?  I guess if they aren't going to challenge it he's going to have to prove he can hit it.  Big shot as far as rest of the game implications go.

12:12 - Dre hits a three to answer a Richardson three.  Richardson's came early in the shot clock with a hand in his face, Dre's came mid-shot clock and was wide open.  Gophers are going to win this game, you guys.

11:29 - Complete second unit in for the Gophers.  Great.  And Elliason travels 35 feet from the bucket.  I know why he does this, so he can play the good players the entire second half, but I still don't like it.  Gophers down 13-11 right now, let's hope it stays close to that number while these clowns run down the shot clock again and again.

10:18 - Gopher turnover, Illinois three, Gopher turnover.

9:52 - Welch guarding Paul.  God save us all.

9:32 - Offensive foul on Elliason.  That's three straight turnovers by him.  Effing brilliant.

9:00 - Is there anything more terrifying than Maverick in transition?  For Gopher fans, I mean.

7:56 - TV timeout coming with Illinois up 16-15.  Good job by the second unit.  And by good job, I mean good job on defense (for real) with absolutely brutal offense until Mbakwe came in for Elliason, with Trevor scoring all four points.

7:42 - Wow.  Mbakwe with the drive from the top of the key, makes a lefty layup and is fouled.  That was an NBA second round draft pick play right there.  Free throw to tie?  Good.

6:45 - Coleman goes for a monster dunk and gets fouled but it's not called, good job attacking the rim though.  Pretty sure Dan just pulls up for a 16 footer there.

5:47 - Great defensive rotations forcing the Illini into bad shots, leading to transition opportunities leading to back-to-back dunks by Coleman and Mbakwe.  Gophers up four.

4:53 - More bad shots, more transition opportunities, more Gopher dunks.

4:17 - Good one-on-one move by Bertand to hit a jumper, answered by a three-pointer by Austin Hollins off a good pass by Andre in transition.

3:57 - D.J. Richardson has got to be one of the more disappointing big 10 players I can remember.  Tons of fan fare and hype and in four years he's become nothing more than a jump shooter.  Of course, it's tough when you have to play for the worst couch in the world.

2:08 - Illinois getting (and hitting) a shit ton of free throws, keeping this close at 31-27 Gophers.  Illinois just terrible from three right now, but a lot of it is the Gopher defense.  In general the Illini aren't missing open shots, but contested ones.

1:25 - Hollins (Austin) for three, followed by an Illini miss, followed by Andre Ingram throwing a pass into the 8th row.  I really think Andre Ingram is very promising for a sophomore.

0:47 - Paul actually gets an open look and drains it.  Then Ingram travels.  We're going to have to go Iron Five.

0:00 - 34-30 Gophers at the half.  Excellent job.  Gopher defense is playing awesome, and as long as they keep that up and keep getting transition opportunities they're going to win this game.

0:00 - Holy crap the Lakers are a mess.  Spurs up 101-85 with seven minutes left.

19:13 - Illinois still taking dumb shots as Paul goes for the contested running floater (and misses).

18:33 - Paul swatted by Rodney on a contested turnaround jumper, which leads to a wide open three for Austin Hollins (who misses) which leads to an offensive rebound which leads to a lay-up (and foul) for Mbakwe.  Free throw good.  That sequence was a microcosm of this game.

17:53 - Richardson step back 18 footer early in the shot clock.  So dumb.

16:54 - Gopher ball up 39-30.  Looking for a dagger.  Looking at you, Austin.

16:17 - How about a 40 footer with teh shot clock at two that banks in for Dre who I'm not even sure looked at the hoop?  How about that?

14:52 - Illinois with a couple buckets in the paint to cut it to 44-36 Gophers.  I hope they haven't figured out this "get good shots" thing.

14:11 - Another lay-up for Illinois, time-out Gophers.  Gotta keep 'em out of the paint and keep making them take those contested jumpers they love so much.

12:33 - Illini cut it to 2 with like their fourth straight basket in the paint.  I liked it better when they were stupid.  Also Mo Walker in the game is killing everything. 

11:54 - Austin Hollins steal leads to a dunk for Coleman, and then a Dre Hollins steal leads to an intentional foul by Illinois.  Also, I'm having a heart attack.

11:54 - I think I'm supposed to try to be funny but I'm just way too into the game.  If you want to laugh just listen to Nickelback or Coldplay or something.

11:41 - Dre hits both free throws and then nails a three.  Thank god for Dre.  Like Eminem said, you can't forget about Dre.  *streetcred*

11:09 - Shit, Paul into the lane, fouled and hits the shot.  STOP PLAYING SMART ILLINOIS.

10:50 - "Ahanmisi getting ready to check-in."  Cry.

10:28 - Another Illinois lay-up, defense has gone to shit. 

9:38 - Coleman for three?  Great play by Rodney to find him.  And again Illinois gets to the lane and draws a foul.  This needs to stop.

9:12 - Time for Welch to shine here with four fouls on Andre Hollins already.  I'm fine with him on offense, but very scared on defense.

8:38 - Gophers switch to a zone leading to an absolutely terrible three point miss by Paul, leading to a dunk by Rodney and a 58-47 Gopher lead.  I love dumb teams.

7:09 - Paul into the lane and misses when he could have kicked it out to a teammate for an open three, leads to a transition lay-up for Coleman and a 60-49 lead.  I feel like I'm typing the same thing over and over again.  Also fearing this is a pretty worthless live blog for the reader, but what do you care it's saving you from having to think about actually doing work.

6:42 - Bertand goes one-on-one for about 10 dribbles then misses a contested turnaround.  I know I keep pointing it out but I can't get over how dumb this team is. 

5:43 - Could have done without the easy dunk.  On Coleman, naturally.

5:24 - He pays it back by blowing by his defender for a lay-up.  Incredible game for Coleman.

4:45 - Coleman with ANOTHER three.  And Dre Hollins just checked in and picked up his fourth foul, which means earlier when I thought he had four he only had three which means I have no idea why he was ever taken out of the game.

3:33 - Gophers up 13 (another Coleman dunk) and I can still barely breathe.

3:04 - Sloppy turnover.  Oh yeah, that's why.

2:52 - Richardson airballs a three (contested, of course) which reminds me why I probably CAN breathe.

2:30 - I know the game isn't over yet (Gophers up 72-59) but man is this team good.  Their defense is incredible.  Watching their rotations on defense was the most impressive part of the game, and that's a game when Coleman scored 25 (as of now).  Those who didn't watch or didn't pay attention may call this a fluky bad shooting night by the Illini, but the Gophers had everything to do with that.  Then look at the offense where they have five guys who could put up 20 on any given night?  This team is for real, kids. 

1:48 - I can't believe Illinois missed another contested three-pointer, you guys.

1:16 - Brandon Paul lay-up.  Basically uncontested since the Gophers are up by 12 (after that).

0:30 - Coleman playing some serious suckhole, now up to 29 points after a couple easy dunks.

0:09 - Dre with a three as the shot clock winds down becasue why not.  84-67 Final.  Crazy, dudes.  I'll maybe have more on this game tomorrow if I don't get lazy

Bert gets Hosed

As I am sure you are aware of by now, Bert Blyleven once again was denied entry to the Baseball Hall of Fame, this time by a mere five votes (I heard it was six somewhere else but I'll roll with five because that sounds more dramatic).  I am still not sure why there are people not voting for him, but I'm pretty sure it's because sportswriters are idiots.  (Exhibit B would be Roberto Alomar not getting in, simply because he "isn't first ballot material" which is the dumbest shit I've ever heard.)  It's clearly because they are hung up on him not having 300 wins and/or not winning a Cy Young award.  Ok, fine.  Dumb, nonsensical, but fine.  You're an idiot.

There are also a lot of people voting for Jack Morris, who got 52% of the vote.  I also disagree with this, but whatever, you people are entitled to your own opinion even if it's stupid.  But what really boggles the mind is the people who are voting for Morris over Blyleven.  "What?", you are probably saying, "No way did anybody vote for Black Jack over Bert."  Oh but it's true.  I have proof.  Here is the ballot submitted by the ESPN writers.  Notice anything?  Buster Olney, who I thought was a pretty smart guy, voted for Morris but not for Blyleven.  At least the other three guys who didn't vote for Bert had the common decency to leave Morris off as well.  I just don't get it.

WINS:  Blyleven 287, Morris 254
ERA:  Blyleven 3.31, Morris 3.90
ERA+:  Blyleven 118, Morris 105
WHIP:  Blyleven 1.20, Morris 1.30
Strikeouts:  Blyleven 3,701, Morris 2,478
K/9:  Blyleven 6.7, Morris 5.8
K/BB:  Blyleven 2.8, Morris 1.8
Shutouts:  Blyleven 60, Morris 28
Complete Games:  Blyleven 242, Morris 175
Winning Pct:  Blyleven .534, Morris .577
Cy Young top 3 finishes:  Blyleven 2, Morris 2
Cy Young top 10 finishes:  Blyleven 4, Morris 7

I will grant that Morris's seven top-10 finishes in the Cy Young voting is impressive, but outside of that for what reason could you possibly think Morris is a more worthy candidate than Blyleven, leaving aside whether Morris is worthy or not in the first place?  He won three wings, Bert won two - that's a function of playing on better teams, as is the winning percentage and actually many of the Cy Young top 10s as well, since four of the seven times he finished that high in the voting he wasn't even in the top 10 of the American League in ERA.


Yes, the game 7 of the 1991 Series performance was still one of the greatest things I've had the pleasure of watching, and I will always love Black Jack for it and won't complain if he gets in, even though I don't think he should.  But to vote for him over Bert because he started a bunch of opening days in a row and had the most wins in an arbitrary 10-year period (and make no mistake, despite our base-10 obsessed culture a decade is still an arbitrary span of years) is ludicrous.


How could you Buster Olney?  You broke my heart.

 

Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame? OMG WTF?

I know, I know, I haven't posted in a while. Sorry. June has been god awfully busy and July isn't looking any better. Once I hit August I should be good to go.

In the meantime, I want to bring your attention to this little ditty I read in the Star Tribune. It's a letter to the editors, and one they named "Letter of the Day" which I really hope was sarcastic. It's from some doof named David in Coon Rapids who thinks it's high time we get Roger Maris in the hall of fame.

Of course, when it comes to the hall, there are plenty of arguments to be had. Tim Raines? Andre Dawson? Bert Blyleven? Alan Trammell? Jack Morris? Sure, they all have a compelling argument to get in. No matter which side you fall on, you can find reasons to at least listen to the other side. Roger Maris? Not really. Sorry David from classy Coon Rapids.

Let's take a quick look at David from Coony's arguments, solid as I'm sure they are:

"While the sportswriters of the world ponder whether Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, etc., will ever make baseball's Hall of Fame, I would like to see similar questioning as to why a star from the past isn't there. Namely Roger Maris."

You know why they ponder if Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa will ever make the hall and not Maris? Because Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa have the numbers - Maris doesn't. Here are their career home run totals: 762, 609, 583, and 275, ; career hits - 2935, 2408, 1626, and 1325; and career OPS+: 182, 162, 128, and 127. Guess which one in each group is Maris. Yep.

"there are only two players in history who have hit 60 home runs in a season without the specter of steroids hanging over their heads. One is Hall of Famer Babe Ruth, and Maris is the other."

This is the one and only point I will concede in this letter. LETTER OF THE DAY.

"Maris was a spectacular fielder"

One gold glove in 12 seasons, a below league average range factor, and just five runs allowed better than average per season.

"an outstanding baserunner"

All of 21 career steals (Delmon has 28 already).

"a two-time MVP and played in six World Series, winning four."

Two MVPS mean something. Winning four means less - particularly when you hit a combined .217/.298/.368. It especially means less when he actually won only three (1961, 1962, and 1967 while losing in 1960, 1963, 1964, and 1968) - and actually played in seven. You're a liar David in Coon Rapids. A liar and an idiot. And that's the worst kind of idiot.

"You also have to remember he broke Ruth's record at Yankee Stadium, despite hatred from even his own fans -- through no fault of Maris."

Completely, totally, and unfathomably irrelevant.

"Skeptics always point to his lifetime batting average, but to me that would be like denying Greg Maddux a spot in Cooperstown because he wasn't a great strikeout pitcher."

This is probably my favorite part. Maris's career average is .260, not in the top 1,000 career marks (that's as high as baseball-reference.com goes - that's baseball-reference.com, where we sponsor the Mo Sanford page). Greg Maddux struck out 3,371 batters in his career, good for tenth all-time, and if you want to get all pissy and insist we use K/9 instead, he ranks a respectable 211th (and is 19th in K/BB). Maris topped the .300 mark zero times in his career, with a career high of .283. Maddux struck out more than 190 batters in a season five times, with a career high of 204 (and was in the top 3 in the league five times) AND THE REST OF HIS STATS ARE SOME OF THE BEST WE HAVE EVER SEEN FROM A MODERN PITCHER HOW CAN YOU MAKE THIS COMPARISON YOU GOD DAMN REDNECK COON RAPIDS HICK!!?

Sorry. Idiocy causes me blackout rage fits. I'll just end this portion with the fact that Matt Stairs, Tony Womack, Stan Javier, and Neifi Perez all have more career hits than Maris. Hall of Fame? Really? You have more? Well by all means, carry on.

"Plus, isn't the Hall of Fame at least partly about achieving fame? I would venture that Maris' name is more familiar than at least half the current members of the hall."

I'd bet more people know of Jose Canseco than Roger Maris. And if you want famous, how about Eddie Gaedel, the midget dwarf little person that Bill Veeck sent up to the plate to draw a walk. And if you just want to talk about home runs, George Foster hit 52 in 1977, the first player to hit fifty in sixteen years, and the last to do it for another thirteen. Isn't being the only player to hit fifty home runs in a season in a 30 year stretch more impressive than hitting 61 in a year when another player hit 54 and five other guys hit at least 45? Think about it.

Look, I get the argument that famous people should be in the hall of fame, but it's about numbers, too. You can't just toss dudes in there for a one-season trick. Earl Webb and George Burns have the two highest single-season double hitting seasons in history, but nobody's schlepping to get them in the hall. Of the players with the ten highest single season batting averages in history, four of them aren't any where near the hall, and they all should probably slide in before Maris. Hell, Joe Wood won 34 games in 1912, the second most ever by a pitcher since 1910. He ended his career with just 117 wins. Do you think he's going to get in?

And moments from great season actually are recognized. Pretty much everything. Ichiro's bat from his 262 hit season, Rickey's spikes from his 130 steal season, and almost certainly something from Maris's 1961 season (sadly, I can't find a comprehensive list of what's in the Hall anywhere). Look, if you have a great season, or even a great game (Kerry Wood's 20 K game is recognized) you will get a spot, even if it's just a glove, ball, or bat. It doesn't mean to get a plaque. There are only 289 inductees, only 202 are in for being major league players. It's a special thing. One hit wonders need not apply. You don't see Snow in the Rock and Roll HOF, do you?

"Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig must find a way for this blatant injustice to be corrected."

Blatant injustice? Really? Blatant injustice is what Dan Monson did to Rico Tucker. And Bud Selig couldn't correct his ass with both hands. The use of the words "blantant injustice" convinces me this is just a bit by David from Coon Rapids, because there's now way anybody could believe Maris is a sure-fire HOF candidate. No es posible.

Let's run down some career numbers.

HOME RUNS: 275. Kent Hrbek = 293
HITS: 1,325. Kent Hrbek = 1,749
RBI: 851. Kent Hrbek = 1,086
AVERAGE: .260. Kent Hrbek = .282
ON BASE: .345. Kent Hrbek = .367
SLUGGING: .476. Kent Hrbek = .481
RUNS SCORED: 826. Kent Hrbek = 903
TOTAL BASES: 2,429. Kent Hrbek = 2,976
OPS: .822. Kent Hrbek = .848
OPS+: 127. Kent Hrbek = 128

In case you weren't keeping track, that's Hrbek 10, Maris 0. Hey, I'm all for getting Hrbek in the hall, I love that slob. If getting a mediocre hack with one (or two) miraculous seasons in the hall can open that door, I say let's do it. Good call David in Coony, good call indeed.

[EDIT: I just remembered there is a comments section after star trib articles. I would leave my own comment, but for the life of my drunk ass, I can't figure out how. Instead, I will supply a quick sample of the comments.

GOOD: "Obviously this wasn't written by a person who knows a damn thing about sports or baseball HOF voting. This is another case of Minnesotan's being homers (even though he's from Minot[W'S NOTE: actually born in hibbing])"

BAD: "I can see the point that his career wasn't great, but what he did in one year will be remembered in baseball forever and to me that's worth it to get into the HOF."
UGLY: "I don't know why I didn't know that Roger wasn't in the Hall. I guess I didn't give it a second thought that he wouldn't be there. It is long overdue for him to be in the Hall of Fame. Or maybe without him, the Hall of Shame. Why isn't he there? I can think of a bunch a players that should have gone in AFTER Roger. It's time for baseball to right this wrong." [W'S NOTE: It says 15 of 16 people liked this comment. I hate everyone forever.]]

Baseball Fun Facts

Even in the midst of this very exciting Gopher basketball season, and a fun college hoops season in general, the other day I found myself looking forward to opening day for YOUR Minnesota Twins (This is Twins Territory, after all). Perhaps influenced a bit by the Hall of Fame Inductions today, whereupon the inimitable Rickey Henderson and overrated Jim Rice got in, but our very own beloved birthday-lover and compulsive circler Bert Blyleven fell short again, I am very much in a baseball mood.

I don't really feel like breaking down the arguments for and against Blyleven (should be in), Black Jack Morris (out), Tim Raines (in), Tommy John (out), Mark McGwire (in), Andre Dawson (out), Lee Smith (out), Alan Trammell (in) and the rest. I also can't really break down any major Twins happenings, since that roster has seen less action than the Todd so far this winter. The only moves of even the slightest note were the Punto signing, which shouldn't have happened - not for that much money, and the R.A. Dickey signing which I already blogged about, less than enthusiastically. Although I could mention that the Egyptian was on the same plane as Punto last month, and unfortunately couldn't quite place who he was, at one point wondering if he was mildly retarded.

So what's a brother to do? I think I'll just play around with both baseball reference and Minor League Ball and see what happens. I should also note I'm having a drink right now (vodka & cranberry - with lime - naturally) but I don't plan to get drunk so this probably won't be all that funny.

- Speaking of funny, don't forget that we here at Down with Goldy are proud sponsors of the Scott Stahoviak page at baseball reference.

- Do you know who is the career leader in home runs amongst Hall of Fame eligible players other than Mark McGwire? It's Jose Canseco, with 462 steroid-free home runs. Ozzie Canseco hit zero; although he did hit 49 in his minor-league career. I read his book by the way, Jose's not Ozzie's, and it was ok. There's no review of it on this page because I finished it on February 13, 2007 but didn't start the blog until April of 2007. It was mostly Jose bitching about how the league didn't treat him fairly, very much like the Pete Rose book, actually. A lot of whining in both.

- If you're wondering how I know the exact date I finished the Canseco book, it's because I keep a very nerdy list in Excel detailing all the books I read. Yes, I'm fully aware how nerdy that is, but I don't care. For the record, it was 52 books in 2006, 62 in 2007, 43 in 2008 (stupid baby), and 1 so far this year (Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea by Charles Seife - if you like math I fully recommend it, if you're a typical mouth-breather who reads this crappy blog, stay far way and stick to your Maxim).

- The non-HOFer with the most career RBI is Harold Baines with 1,628 which surprises me a bit. He had more RBI in his career than George Brett, Mike Schmidt, Harmon Killebrew, Joe DiMaggio, Tris Speaker, Willie McCovey, Willie Stargell, and Jim Rice, among many others. That's impressive. More impressive if RBI was a stat that wasn't so largely dependent on good teammates and opportunity, but still.

- Corey Koskie had more RBI in his career than Mike Pagliarulo, although Pags kicks the Canadian's ass in non-sensical blog entries.

- How about batting average, since I know you people are so in love with it. Don't have to look far down the list, as Lefty O'Doul ranks fourth all-time with a career average of .349 and he is not a HOFer. Pretty good player, but was only around for like seven years or so, amassing just 1,140 career hits. He was basically Matt Holliday if Holliday's career ended right now, but with a higher average and slightly less power.

- By the way, I just want to let it be known that Luke Harangody cannot guard Samardo Samuels, and I mean at all.

- How about OPS+, that's a good one. You know who the top 5 guys in OPS+ all-time are? Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, and Rogers Hornsby. Yeah, it's a pretty good talent evaluator. Interestingly, Albert Pujols ranks tied for seventh on that list, I guess he's been pretty decent. The leader not in the hall of fame is Pete Browning, with an OPS+ of 162 which is tied with McGwire and better than Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron. Of course, Browning's last game was played in 1894 so his numbers are a bit weird, although his 9 home runs in 1885 were third in the American Association.

- Here's something interesting I stumbled upon: Ned Williamson hit 27 home runs in a 112 game season in 1884 for the Chicago White Stockings, a record that stood for 35 years until some fat ass named Babe Ruth hit 29 in 1919. However, "Williamson benefited from a very short outfield fence in his home ballpark, Lakeshore Park. During the park's previous years, balls hit over the fence in that park were ground-rule doubles, but in 1884 (its final year) they were credited as home runs. Williamson led the pace, but several of his Chicago teammates also topped the 20 HR mark that season. Of Williamson's total, 25 were hit at home, and only 2 on the road." Interesting, looking a bit deeper, the previous year he had just 2 home runs, but 49 doubles. I'm guessing most of those were at home.

- I love how the parks were all quirky back in the day, which is why I loved the crazy hill in center field at Enron, but nothing could compare to the Baker Bowl. The home park of the Phillies until 1938, the Baker Bowl had a wall in right field that made the Green Monster look like a little girl. It was 60 feet high and was just 280 feet from home plate, compared to the Monster which is just 37 feet high and 310 feet away. So it was about 20 feet higher and 30 feet closer than the Green Monster. Crazy. And basically the reason Chuck Klein destroyed the league from 1929 - 1933.

- Ok, enough about with the history lesson. Let's take a page from Doc Brown's book and look to the future, but I warn you it's bleak.

- The Twins top 20 prospect list is out from John Sickels of Minor League Ball, and I warn you it ain't pretty. Look:

1) Ben Revere, OF, Grade B+: Picking between Revere and Hicks is tough, but I went with the guy with the bigger track record. Kenny Lofton possibilities here.
2) Aaron Hicks, OF, Grade B+. Could flip with Revere due to higher power ceiling.
3) Wilson Ramos, C, Grade B: Good glove, strong bat.
4) Shooter Hunt, RHP, Grade B: Some worries about his command.
5) Danny Valencia, 3B, Grade B-: Might have strike zone problems.
6) Jose Mijares, LHP, Grade B-: Terrific arm, erratic, has command and personality issues.
7) Kevin Mulvey, RHP, Grade B-: Exact opposite of Mijares, okay stuff but with strong command and makeup.
8) Carlos Gutierrez, RHP, Grade B-: Not going to bet against this guy after the Twins proved to be right about Revere.
9) Rob Delaney, RHP, Grade B-: Is this too high? Should he be a C+?
10) Chris Parmalee, OF, Grade C+: Got hurt, low batting average, but still young, lots of power and walks.
11) Angel Morales, OF, Grade C+: Great tools, power, but plate discipline a big problem.
12) David Bromberg, RHP, Grade C+: High ERA masks strong K/IP ratio, looks interesting to me.
13) Tyler Robertson, LHP, Grade C+: Would rank higher if not for arm problems.
14) Anthony Slama, RHP, Grade C+: Good solid relief arm.
15) Luke Hughes, 3B, Grade C+: Worried about the strike zone with this one.
16) Anthony Swarzak, RHP, Grade C+: Check out the component marks in Triple-A; they are more important than the pretty ERA.
17) Steven Tolleson, INF, Grade C+: Intriguing player, could rank higher depending on what you want to emphasize.
18) Jeff Manship, RHP, Grade C+: Could have been victim of bad luck in Double-A, as K/IP and K/BB remained steady.
19) Jason Pridie, OF, Grade C+: Interesting mix of strengths and weaknesses, still seem him as a fourth outfielder.
20) Charles Nolte, RHP, Grade C+: Favorite of ground ball fetishists.
21) Bobby Lanigan, RHP, Grade C+: Sleeper from the 2008 draft.

Before I talk about who is on this list, let's talk about who is NOT on this list: Deolis Guerra. Remember him? The second big prospect from the Santana trade (other than Carlos Gomez who Snacks says has the most talent of any Twin and that includes Mauer and Morneau) who was ranked the #2 prospect in the Mets system by Baseball Prospectus and instantly became the #1 Twins prospect? Uh, yeah, it's not good. A little deeper digging shows that Guerra had some serious problems this season, not just in his numbers - 5.47 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, disgusting 1-1 BB/K ratio - but also in his mechanics and ability. Apparently his fastball has fallen down to the 86-88 miles per hour range, and had several starts where he didn't touch 90 on the gun. What this means is the Twins pretty much traded Sandy Koufax for Vince Coleman, Les Straker, Brien Taylor (or Todd Van Poppel), and David West. THAT'S SO AWESOME.

- Should I live blog a movie again? I enjoy doing it, but is it entertaining to read?

- Back to that Santana trade, it looks like Mulvey still has a shot at least, coming in as the #7 prospect, but Humber is nowhere to be found. THAT IS ALSO SO AWESOME.

- #15 on the list, 3B-man Luke Hughes is intriguing, mostly because he was first pointed out to me by Dawger in this post. As Sickels mentions, Hughes strikes out a ton (once every 3.8 ABs last year in AA/AAA) but he still really made some leaps in hitting the baseball last year. With the black hole that seemingly will not be filled at third base, if he can duplicate his AA numbers from last year (.319/.385/.551 and 15 homers in 285 ABs) at AAA this year, we could see him with the big club. I guarantee he's better than Tony Batista.

- #11 on the list Angel Morales could be an absolute stud. He's just 18 years old, but led the Appalachian League in home runs last season with 15 in 183 at bats, racking up a line of .301/.413/.623. Seventy-two strikouts in 185 at bats is a bit troubling, but he can hit for average, takes walks, and hits for power and to the gaps. Keep your eye out for this dude.

- Lastly, you'll notice Jason Pridie at #19 despite sucking badly. Eduardo Morlan, who the Twins traded back to Tampa in that deal, checks in at #13 for the Rays and continues to put up excellent numbers as a reliever in the minors. That's depressing. Not as depressing as Matt Garza winning NLCS MVP, but still.

Circle me Bert

So I've been asked by some very important people to take a look at the Bert Blyleven for the hall of fame discussion. The kind of people you don't say no to. So, of course, I will tackle it the way I always look at difficult issues: Drunk. Still drinking. Semi-coherent while I flip between the Pats/Giants and Arizona/Memphis. The only true way to evaluate anything.

Also please let the Patriots lose. I don't even care if they go ahead and win the stupid super bowl after this, just don't let those homos go undefeated.

So anyway, going into this Bert has a huge strike against him for the whole "Circle me Bert thing." It's just stupid. And, I am very sad to admit, my mother has been circled twice. She's stupid that way. Although when we flew down to Texas on a free trip to watch the Twins, Bert was really nice to my family. Not like that son-of-a-bitch Jeff Reardon. Enjoy prison, dumb fuck!

So, before getting into the stats, my impression of Bert is a very good pitcher for a very long time. Never considered the best at his position at any time, but always very good. He's basically the very definition of a borderline hall of famer. There are two arguments I'd like to dismiss right now:

1) He was never considered the best at his position: I would love to know how the F this is relevant. At all. You know who was the absolute, undisputed, most kick ass pitcher in the world and it wasn't even close in 1984 - Dwight Gooden. Does he deserve to be in? Guess who led the AL in ERA in 1988? Alan Anderson. Should he be in this conversation? Just a stupid argument and stop using it.

2) He has a "signature pitch." Really? You mean that hanging curve that gave up an all-time record 50 homeruns in 1986 and followed it up with 46 in '87? Stupid. You know who else had a great curveball? A billion other guys. The only reason you hear about Bert's stupid curveball all the time is because he announces Twins games and he can't stop talking about himself.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, let's see what we really have here by looking at what really matters, the numbers. Let's look at the most meaningless, but to many people most meaningful, stat: wins. Bert clocks in at 287 wins against 250 losses. Ouch. Those who are in love with the wins will tell you that you need 300 to get in. Not good for our buddy Bert.

Now, strikeouts, which are a pretty big deal, Bert ranks fifth. The top 17 players all are either in the hall or will be in the hall, if Schilling and Smoltz (and Clemens after the whole cheating thing) get in. That's some pretty good evidence.

I think the booze is hitting me hard because I had A LOT to say about this but now I can't seem to remember anymore, so I'll sum up quick:

Bert's strikeouts, complete games, ERA+ of 118, and WHIP of 1.20 over his career pretty clearly indicate he's a hall of fame caliber pitcher. The people not voting for him, I will almost guarantee, are doing it because he doesn't have 300 wins, which is a terribly retarded reason for not voting for someone. I realize stats like strikeouts and complete games are compiling type stats, which I ripped Brett Favre for, but in my defense, Favre is a raging homosexual.

Before I pass out in a haze of unremembering, I'd like to point out something blatantly stolen from Fire Joe Morgan - Blyleven had a ERA+ of 133 or better six times. Jack Morris = never. Or, in idiot terms, Morris never ever ever ever had an ERA less than 3. Blyleven did. Nine times.

Blyleven should seriously be in the hall. If anything should keep him out, it's his career save total of zero.

Tom Brady is also gay. I've seen it.