Weekend Review - 8/16/2010

Seriously folks, if the crowd can walk in it, it's not a bunker.  

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Brian Duensing.  I don't think anyone is exactly shocked or anything since Duensing has looked like a very good pitcher since he was called up last year, but it was awfully nice to see him put up a 3-hit shutout so soon after joining the rotation.  I wouldn't expect this out of him regularly (his BABIP and strand rate are pretty much unsustainable), but he's shown himself to be a good middle-of-the-rotation type who throws strikes and induced groundballs - so he's your typical Twins pitcher.  He'll get knocked around some, and he doesn't miss a ton of bats, but he's much better than Nick Blackburn, even if that isn't really saying much.  So now they can just cut Blackie - except, of course, for the $13 million they owe him over the next three years.  Awesome contract.


2.  Kevin Slowey.  I suppose if I'm going to highlight Duensing here I should throw some props at Slowey as well since he just went out and threw 7 innings of no-hit ball on Sunday.  I guess I'm just much more impressed with Duensing's outing because we've seen this brilliance from Slowey before, and he can't ever sustain it - maybe Duensing can.  And I'm fine with Slowey getting pulled after 7 innings even though he had a no-hitter going.  It was a 1-0 game, and at this point in the pennant race winning the game is more important than getting Slowey some personal glory.  Additionally, he was over 100 pitches already and they just had to skip a start of his due to a sore elbow, no sense in risking re-injury.  I disagree with just about every game decision Gardy makes, but I'm with him on this one.

3.  The PGA Championship.  Now that was one fantastic tournament.  Sure, there were parts that sucked pretty bad:  Nick Watney's collapse (more on this later), Dustin Johnson's ridiculous penalty that knocked him out of the playoff, Bubba Watson's dumb decision that lost him in the playoff, and the fact that Martin Kaymer won despite a bogey on the last hole.  Overall though, this was great.  There were 10-20 different golfers that could have ended up winning on Sunday with just a couple of different shots so there was drama all the way to the end, and any tournament that ends up with a playoff is a good one.  Perhaps the best was the way the course played (outside of sand traps that aren't sand traps, right Dustin?).  There were opportunities to make shots and grab birdies, but there were also plenty of ways you could screw yourself with a poor shot or poor decision.  Unlike some of the other majors that are set up where par is a major achievement, this course was set up with the perfect combination of risk/reward.  Just a fantastic tournament and a great, great venue.  Hard to believe it was in that shithole of a state, Wisconsin.

4.  R.A. Dickey.  You ready for this one?  R.A. Dickey threw a 1-hit shutout on Friday.  Yes, R.A. Dickey.  And not against some crap team, but against the Phillies.  You want to know why he's good all of a sudden?  He's basically given up on everything else and is only throwing knuckleballs.  He used to throw the knuckler about 2/3rds of the time, but this year he's thrown it 83.7%.  He's also given up on throwing a curve, slider, or change, because his fastball makes up the 16.3% of his pitches.  The results of this change have been an increase in ground balls and fewer of the fly balls going over the fence, mainly due to getting batters to chase more pitches out of the zone.  So, yeah.  That'll do it.

5.  Cole Aldrich.  My sources tell me that Cole was in town this weekend.  My same sources also tell me he's a pretty nice guy.

         


WHO SUCKED


1.  This Justin Morneau situation.  I won't even say Justin Morneau sucks any more, just that this whole situation sucks.  Supposedly he's getting better, but still can't make it through an entire day without showing symptoms, and as such was unable to travel with the team to Chicago because apparently airplane travel makes people who have had recent concussion's heads explode like that dude in scanners.  Instead, he stayed home and didn't get better, and is still unable to play.  In fact, he's unable to play so hard that there is officially no longer a time table for his return, which is causing all kinds of speculation that he won't be back this year.  Which would suck pretty bad.  This team might win the division without him, but they aren't going any farther.  So if he can make it through the day I say the get him in the lineup.  If he's walking around at home after the game and keeps bumping into things because he's all dizzy, well, I'm sure he can afford to replace whatever knick-knacks and porcelain dolls he breaks.  The team needs his bat, because he's not a pitch man.

2.  Nick Watney.  As I mentioned above, Nick Watney had a pretty epic collapse on Sunday.  After shooting the first three rounds all in the 60s, and being the only player to do so, Watney went into the final round with a 3 shot lead, only to double bogey the first hole to cough that up, tripled seven, followed that up with back to back bogeys, and then after a par tossed up another double, this time on a par 5.  Suffice it to say, it wasn't a good round.  That sucks too, because Watney has been one of my favorites and the reason is he seems to always be cool, always keep it together no matter what, so I was more that a bit surprised he went off the deep end here and ended up shooting an 81 to end up in 18th place.  I guess he's like every other golfer (other than Tiger and Louis Oosthuizen) and can't handle the pressure of being the leader after 54 holes.  Sucks, man.

3.  Memphis basketball.  Do you guys remember a few weeks ago when I talked about how Will Barton, Memphis's #1 recruit for this year and #11 on the Rivals150, wasn't going to be playing this year due to academic issues?  Well it seems that isn't the only issue the Tigers are going to have to deal with this year.  It also turns out that neither Chris Crawford (#72 Rivals) nor fellow freshman Hippolyte Tsafack have been cleared by the NCAA to play yet.  Finally, it turns out Jelan Kendrick (#15) didn't travel with the team on their Bahamas trip this weekend, dealing with "personal issues" and their are now rumors that he might not rejoin the team.  So Memphis had one of the best recruiting classes this year, but nobody can play.  I guess Pastner didn't learn enough tricks from Coach Cal.  Of course, they still have Joe Jackson (#18) and Tarik Black (#54), so I think they'll be just fine.  Unfortunately.


4.  Tim Lincecum.  It's not like he's been awful this whole season, and his numbers are ok overall (2nd in strike outs, 3.62 ERA) but after dominating to start the year he is fading and fading hard, and was knocked out in the fourth inning Sunday against the Padres.  And this follows up his last start when he didn't make it out of the fifth.  I'm not exactly sure what's going on, but this Giant team is winning with their pitching, and even though Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner are all very good, Lincecum is obviously the most important member of that staff, and they aren't going anywhere if he doesn't get it together.  This could just be a blip, but he's lost a full MPH off his fastball from last year and is 3 off from 2 years ago, and his curveball seems to have lost some of its effectiveness.  Stay tuned.  Or don't, it's just the stupid NL after all.

5.  J.J. Putz.  When your closer is Bobby Jenks you're pretty much screwed.  And since Jenks has been little more than a fat batting-practice pitcher they turned to J.J. Putz.  Putz had been lights out as a set-up guy all year, and was a dynamite closer a few years ago when he was with Seattle.  Seems like it would make sense that he'd be pretty good closer for the Sox, right?  Wrong.  First on Saturday night he came into the game against Detroit in the top of the ninth with the Sox up 2-1, gave up a 2-run homer to Alex Avila, and walked away with the loss.  Then, Sunday afternoon, he came into the game in the top of the 8th, the Sox leading 7-6.  A single, triple, and error by Andruw Jones later and the Sox were down 9-7 and on their way to their sixth lost in their last 8 games.  Awesome.    


Also Happy Birthday to The Bear.  Way to be born, douchebag!

Weekend Review - 8/2/2010

Remember how these Weekend Reviews used to be just for the weekend stuff, and then they morphed into the full week in review?  Well, now that I'm doing daily postings, they're going back to weekend reviews only.  I think.  For now.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Kevin Slowey.  You know, if he had just pitched like this all year nobody would be worried.  When he's on he's just an excellent, efficient, strike-throwing, out-recorded machine.  Obviously we haven't seen enough of that version of Slowey this year, leading to all the Haren/Oswalt/Lilly talk, but with Pavano and Liriano essentially dominant at this point if Slowey (and Baker) can start pitching well the Twins could end up being a serious problem for somebody in the playoffs.  Or those two will continue to suck, leading to down-to-the-wire pennant race where the winner gets swept in the first round.

2.  Francisco Liriano.   Seven innings, 2 hits allowed, no runs, eleven strikeouts, and it's really just a ho-hum effort at this point.  He's now tossed 21 straight scoreless innings, and is looking very close to his 2006 form.  Honestly I'm almost getting sick of writing about him, even as he's getting more and more enjoyable to watch.  Seriously, is there anything better than watching him carve up a lineup, and do it in a completely different way than Pavano?  Man I really hope those other jackasses in the rotation get their shit together.   This next week and a half is going to tell us a lot, with the next 10 games on the road including matchups with Tampa and the White Sox.   

3.  Stuart Appleby.  Do you remember two years ago when Stewart Cink won the British Open and I had to say nice things about him because he won?  Well I hate Cink, so that really sucked.  This also sucks, because Stuart Appleby is basically nothing but a cotton-headed ninny-muggins, and he won the Greenbrier Classic this week because he shot a 59 on Sunday, and a 59 is a score that has only been reached like five times or something like that, so it's pretty impressive.  Less impressive was Jeff Overton missing a 3-foot birdie putt on 17 that would have tied Appleby and then blaming a ballmark for the miss.  Also, how is this thing called the Greenbrier "Classic" when it's in its first year of existence?  Seems like false advertising.  

4.  Gavin Floyd.  Why is he so good now?  He pitched six perfect innings on Sunday against the A's before it was broken up, but finished with yet another sparkling outing.  Since June 8th, here are his earned runs allowed by game:  1-1-1-0-2-1-1-1-0-0.  That's ridiculous.  And it feels like the entire team has started doing this crap.  The Twins are a far better team than Chicago, but if they keep getting pitching like this they're going to be awfully tough to beat.  Luckily the just acquire Edwin Jackson, so we're good.

5.  Texas Rangers.  Not because of their play this weekend, when they dropped two of three against the Angels, but because they have now positioned themselves as a darkhorse World Series candidate.  The rotation was already pretty good with the emergence of Tommy Hunter, Colby Lewis, and C.J. Wilson and they added Cliff Lee.  The bullpen is outstanding.  Parts of their lineup were already stacked (Josh Hamilton, Elvis Andrus, Nelson Cruz, and Michael Young) and where they had weaknesses they went out and acquired pieces to address it:  Cristian Guzman at 2B, Jorge Cantu at first, and Bengie Molina behind the plate.  None of those guys are awesome or anything, but they all shore up weak areas for Texas.  Look out for these guys, serious sleeper potential. 

.

WHO SUCKED

1.  Chicago White Sox.  So let me get this straight.  First of all, they weren't able to get the guy they really wanted, Adam Dunn, or either of there backup plans, Lance Berkman or Manny Ramirez, and they even had a deal in place for Berkman but he vetoed it.  Then they end up trading for Edwin Jackson, a pitcher who has been on three teams in three years, has a 5.16 ERA in the National League this year, has a career 4.74 ERA, leads the NL in earned runs allowed, and is going to make $8.35 million this year.  And they traded two of their top 10 prospects for him.  And the only reason they traded for him is because the Nats made them think that getting him was the key to getting Dunn.  Psych, I guess.  Well played Nats, well played.  White Sox?  More like White Sux, am I right?

2.  Seattle Mariners.  Wow, way to not put up any resistance at all, and following up a sweep by the White Sox as well leads me to the conclusion that the Mariners are the most worthless team in baseball.  Yes, the same Mariners that I said were a sleeper World Series candidate.  Let's all agree that I never said that, k?

3.  Bryce Harper.  I'm pretty sure Bryce Harper is a douche.  I mean, I already kind of did, considering he has been anointed a future star since he was like six and he wears war paint when he plays like some douche from Precision Tree, but check out his facebook profile (No, I didn't stalk him, this is from an article on yahoo)

I mean really.  Between the picture and using his status as a tool to try to get a better contract?  Ugh.  Count me out.  I hope Strasburg beans him in BP, assuming Bryce gets to the bigs someday.  Really, I'd think a former Twin would raise his kid better than this.

4.   Early season NFL injuries.  Are there always this many injuries before practices even start?  Dez Bryant.  Knowshon Moreno.  Percy Harvin.  DeSean Jackson.  Wes Welker.  I mean, how are people getting hurt?  Isn't this the part where they don't do anything but watch film and do non-contract drills?  Sounds like a bunch of sissies to me.  I  guess we already know Harvin is, thanks to his Justin Morneau-like response to headaches.  Just seems weird.  Or maybe I'm stretching for subjects to write about.

5.  Angelina.  Seriously, why is she even there?  None of the guys want her there.  None of the girls want her there.  She's only there because she's jealous of the fame these dorks have now achieved, however much they don't actually deserve it.  Perhaps the best part is that she thinks nobody likes her because she left early last season, but in reality nobody likes her because she's a terrible person who talked trash about all of them.  And why would anybody talk shit about JWoww.  That chick would straight up murder you in your sleep if she so much as thought you looked at her wrong.  Honestly as hot as she is if she wanted to sleep with me I'd turn her down because I'd be afraid that I wouldn't perform up to her standards and her response would be to break a bottle on the headboard and then stab me in the balls.


The End.  I would have written more but it's Shark Week.  Holla.

Week in Review - 6/21/2010

Man, I am full.  Full, full, full.  I just finished up the most awesome steak ever.  I actually cooked it on the grill, and I can generally cook a steak well but I've never quite nailed one the way I just did.  Toss in my newly discovered steak rub - which makes Paul Prudhomme look like an amateur - and that was just the perfect way to wrap up a father's day that included a viewing of Toy Story 3, which was pretty good.  You're the best ever, Wonderbaby^TM.

And thanks for everything, dad.

WHO WAS AWESOME

1.  Scott Baker.   This guy is maddening, isn't he?  He always looks incredibly stressed on the mound and looks like he's going to cry if he gives up a run, and at times is wound up so tight he can't put the ball anywhere near where he wants to and gets destroyed and is extremely proficient in allowing home runs.  Then, just when you think he's no better than an end of the rotation type, he busts off a game like Wednesday against Colorado when he allowed just 2 hits and struck out 12 over 7 innings, and was basically unhittably brilliant.  He does this just enough to tease.  A 3-hitter in 8 against Baltimore earlier this year.  The two near no-hitters.  Multiple games with more strikeouts than innings or 7 ips or better and 3 or less hits.  When he's good, he's very good.  Unfortunately he's about as consistent as Ron Artest's jumper.

2.  Ron Artest.  Speaking of Ron-Ron, you got to hand it to the guy, he got his title and game up huge in the biggest game of his career.  He scored 20 (against a season average of 11), pulled down 5 boards, and grabbed 5 steals all while playing excellent defense on Paul Pierce who was just 5-15 in Game 7 and shot just 38% for the finals in Staples.  Artest also hit the biggest shot of the game, and thus the series, with his 3-pointer with just a minute left in the game.  Celtics were down by three, and with the shot clock winding down he let go with a heave despite being fairly well covered.  It was the exact shot the Celtics would have wanted to see the Lakers take in that situation, it just happened to go in and now Artest is a hero.  He's clearly insane, although I blame Stephen Jackson more for that brawl than Artest, but is there anything more entertaining than an insane person who is also deliriously happy?  I think his post-game interview answered that question. 

3.  Wimpy, limp-wristed, slap-hitting Twins.  Specifically, Matt Tolbert, Nick Punto, and Drew Butera.  All three of those little wiener kids hit a home run this week.  And Tolbert also kicked in two doubles and a triple this week.  Punto overall hit .450 this week and had four multi-hit games.  And even Butera hit .667 and is now the proud owner of a 2-game hitting streak.  Those five total bases he had this week?  Just one shy of his season total previously.   I suppose getting production from anywhere is a good thing, even if it means Gardy is going to feel validated going with these clowns as often as he does, and assuring that we are going to be in for a lifetime supply of Matt Tolbert and Matt Tolbert clones as long as Billy Smith and Gardenhire are in charge.  Oh joy.

4.  Josh Johnson.  You know, in all the Ubaldo hoo-ha, we seem to be missing out on the fact that Mr. Johnson is having a pretty damn good season for the Marlins.  This week he pitched twice, going 7 innings on Tuesday, allowing just four hits and one run and striking out seven, and then following that up on Sunday by going 8 innings, allowing six hits and again one run and striking out nine.  Those two starts drop his ERA to 1.80 with a WHIP of just 0.98.  In exactly 100 innings he's struck out 98 while giving away just 26 walks and allowing only 72 hits.  In short, he's having an insane, incredible, out of this world season.  So try to remember that as Ubaldo marches toward 30 victories with an ERA under 1.00.    

5.  Chicago White Sox.  I still hate them, and always will, but it's time to recognize that the Sox are playing pretty good ball.  Yeah, I know their six game winning streak has come against the Pirates and the Nationals so it's not like they're playing world beaters, but the week prior including winning 2 of 3 against the Tigers, and they've cut the Twins lead over them to 5.5 games and are within four of the Tigers - close enough that it's maybe time to take notice.  Their hitting is still pretty poor, but the pitching is starting to come around, with Danks and Peavy each pitching a gem and Gavin Floyd tossing two, and Freddy Garcia and Buehrle having a couple of nice outings as well.  I'm not worried, because any team with Bobby Jenks as a closer isn't scary, but we might need to start paying some attention here.


WHO SUCKED

1.  Nick Blackburn.  Yuck.  One and 2/3rds innings and 8 runs allowed?  I praised Baker earlier for hitting one of the good squares on the wheel of random, and it seems Blackie hit the big double-zero.  And that's why I really hope they trade for Cliff Lee, even if it includes trading Wilson Ramos.  Baker, Blackburn, Pavano, and Slowey are all way too random and way too inconsistent.  All of those guys have games where they get destroyed too often.  Liriano is the only Twins pitcher who when he takes the mound you know you have a chance to win every time.  Those other guys have too many games where they get destroyed early and the game is basically over.  Blackburn just gave up 8 earned runs.  Cliff Lee (since becoming good in 2008) has never allowed 8 earned runs in a game.  He also pitched less than 4 innings in a game just three times in three years.  Blackburn has done in it three of his last four games.  Lee also has failed to pitch at least seven innings just once this year.

The current four are fine and they'll win some games and probably get you to the playoffs, but if the Twins want to make any kind of a run they need another top-shelf arm.  Go get Cliff Lee, Mr. Smith.  Just do it.

[UPDATE:  Funny story.  I wrote the above on Saturday morning.  Not more like five hours later, Kevin Slowey helps hammer my point home by not getting out of the second inning, going just one and 2/3rds innings and giving up 7 runs.  Which is less than Blackburn, so I guess that's an improvement.  Please Billy.  Go get Cliffy.]

2.  Europe.  A lot of people think Europe is full of smelly, non-showering drunks with bad teeth, but that's not what I'm referring to here.  I actually enjoyed the hell out of Europe the one time we visited, so I have nothing but love for those weirdos.  But I have to admit that they suck at soccer.  And I'm talking about all of Europe, I'm talking about the big boys who were supposed to be title contenders and are now going to have to struggle to make it out of group play; specifically Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and England.

England tied with both the U.S. and Algeria.  France tied Uruguay and got rolled by Mexico 2-0 and is almost certainly out of the playoffs or whatever they call the tournament part.  Germany destroyed Australia 4-0 in their opener and was looking like a possible juggernaut, but then got beat by Serbia, and Spain, who was maybe the strongest European team, lost their opener to a bunch of mincing nancies from Switzerland.  Italy might have had the biggest mismatch of the pool round, going against a pretty crappy New Zealand squad, but even they couldn't pick up a win, playing the Kiwis to a draw at 1-1.  Even though the continent has some nice surprise teams like the Netherlands and Slovenia, it is an ugly, ugly Cup so far for the Euros.  Probably a good time to invade.  Pay attention Obama.   

3.  Manny Corpas.  Corpas, the Rockies' current closer, had himself a pretty awesome weekend.  He had been pretty solid, saving nine of his last ten opportunities, and not being over remotely shaky in those chances, giving up no runs and more than one hit just once.  The this weekend happened.  First, on Saturday, he came in to save a game against the Brewers only two give up two singles and then a game-tying home run to the suddenly superstar Corey Hart.  Then, on Sunday, he had a chance to redeem himself, coming in again in the ninth, this time in a 1-1 tie against the Brew Crew.  Just to mix it up a bit, he didn't even bother getting an out, giving up three doubles (amongst other things) on his way to allowing five runs and turning a tie game into a 6-1 loss.  For christ's sake, Trevor Hoffman got people out in that game.  Trevor.  Hoffman.

4.  Baltimore Orioles.  God they're just so bad.  They're now 19-50 (19-50!!!!!), and there aren't really any signs of getting better.  Their two young pitchers of the future, Chris Tillman and Jake Arrieta went with their Blackburn/Slowey impersonation this weekend against the offensive juggernaut that is the Padres, with neither of them getting to the fourth, and Tillman's ERA is now over 8 and he's been shuttled off to the bullpen - a great, great way to help build the confidence of one your building blocks.  And speaking of building blocks, two of the supposed biggest - Matt Wieters and Adam Jones - have been absolutely terrible this year.  I don't know if it's still true, but I read somewhere earlier in the week that there are three teams in the NL whose pitchers have a collective slugging percentage greater than the Orioles' first basemen.  Yuck.  No matter what they try to do, it seems they'll never turn this thing around and get better.  The curse of Jeffrey Maier lives on. 

5.  Dustin Johnson.  It's not often you see someone totally dominate and then completely and completely fall apart all in one weekend.  He raced out at Pebble, shooting 71-70 in the first two rounds, and then had a monster 66 on Saturday to set himself up with a three shot lead over Graeme McDowell and a five shot lead over Tiger, who was alone in third place.  Since he had won the previous two tournaments held at Pebble Beach, it was looking like a possible runaway situation.  He then came out on Sunday and threw up all over the place  He triple-bogeyed the second, double-bogeyed the third, and bogeyed the fourth.  He ended up with five more bogeys on the day (and zero birdies) to finish up with a +11 round of 82.  Nightmare.  The fall from the first three rounds to the final round would be just like the Ohio State football program turning into the Gophers.  Yeah, it was seriously that bad.


And I want to give a special shout-out to Hunter Mahan.  Thanks for making me look like an ass, jerkface.  That's two majors this year, two guys I was absolutely convinced were going to win, and two guys who missed the cut, and not only missed it, but were basically already so far out of it after one day that they would have had to pull out a miraculous second round just to stay alive for the weekend.  Obviously, neither of them did.  You can now consider Mahan on my list along with Furyk.  Betrayers!  The both of them!  J'Accuse!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but Mama. W is all knocked up again and I'm pretty sure it's mine so I'm pretty interested in what's going on with this here kid, and we found out tonight that we're having a boy, which is awesome because we already have a girl named Wonderbaby^TM as you probably know.  Since we got that bit o' good news I figured I'd celebrate by having a couple of little screwdrivers and watching the Twins.  Join me, won't you, on this magical ride I call life? 

8:51 - No, the Twins haven't started but I'm watching the O's/Rays thanks to the free MLB package preview Directv is nice enough to give us, and I'm torn.  The Orioles are leading 5-3 in the 8th and I have the Orioles at +155 but I also have the Rays' closer on my fantasy team.  Some might look at this as a win/win, but I look at it as sucky and am trying to figure out how I can cash in on both.  I'm looking for the Rays to tie it up, Soriano to pitch 2 shutout innings, and then the O's win and somebody else gets the loss.  Win/win.

8:57 - So we had a nice girl's name that we agreed on, but we haven't been able to come to an agreement with a boy name at all.  Mrs. W wants Lucas, while I'm trying to convince her to go with a first name-middle name combo of either Optimus Prime or Matt Wieters.

9:02 - By the way that wasn't me who picked Furyk to win the Masters.  I think Dr. Acula hacked my account.

9:04 - I'll be watching the game, at least for now, via internet feed and it is behind real TV by anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, so if you Tivo'd the game and play it back later to match up the times with this blog it won't work.  Sorry to spoil your Friday night plans.

9:05 - Gail Simmons has large boobs, but she's no Audrina.

Audrina and Vegas in the same picture?  Is this heaven?

9:11 - Good god this is a terrible internet feed.  It's like watching the game through a Viewmaster.

9:17 - Morneau strikes out with runners on second and third and only one out which means all he had to do was put the ball in play and the Twins go up 1-0.  And if I know one thing about facing Joel Piniero, it's that you need to score the runs when you can because a shut-down pitcher like him doesn't give you many opportunities to score.

9:19 - Text from Snacks "God Cuddyer is a fat piece of crap."  Sums it up.  Not much more to add.

9:20 - Oh, I forgot to mention that my soon to be son has a gigantic head.  Like, their computer program actually moved up Mrs. W's due date by a full week because the kid's head was so gigantic.  Apparently he's basically like a toothpick with an orange on top in there.  He's pretty much either Stewie or Justin Morneau.

9:22 - Slowey strikes out the leadoff batter, Aybar, on a pitch that I have no idea what it was because I only saw the windup and then the result, but that's a good sign.  I was worried about Slowey a bit because any time you miss as much time as he did I worry about rust a bit.

9:27 - So that would be back to back hits now by Fatbreau and Torii.  I take it back.

9:30 - I think he got out of it.  I can't tell because the feed froze.  Whoever is after Matsui either popped out to Hardy or Hardy couldn't get quite get back there and Span was being not Gomez and couldn't get up there and it fell.  And nevermind he caught it.  I'm going to try to find another feed because this is a nightmare.    And not like the new one with Kelly Leak, I mean more like Robert Englund.

9:33 - Thome again?  He better not be playing for Kubel again.

9:34 - Thome walks and here comes Kubel.  Sorry Delmon.  And it's about time for Kubel to get a god damn hit already.  It's not like he's Denard Span.

9:35 - God Kubel sucks.

9:44 - I was poking around for a different feed, which I didn't at all find, and now I come back and it's 1-0 Angels?  What happened?  God it's like Slowey just hates me.  And also we're still watching Viewmaster style.  Actually I think it's more like a flip book.

9:50 - Span grounds one back to the pitcher to officially move to 1-14 on the season.  What's the deal here?  Gomez gets traded, Span gets a fat contract, and suddenly he's like a big fat cat sitting on top of a swimming pool full of money?  God I miss Gomez.  At least he's a gamer.

9:57 - Slowey walks Torii Hunter.  Isn't that kind of like some kind of reverse unstoppable force meets immovable object kind of thing?

9:58 - Hideki Matsui's eyes are really doing nothing to dispel stereotypes.

10:06 - Ok I'm on to an actual television now.  We just stared the top of the fourth and it's 1-0 Angels.  I can't believe they haven't scored off of Piniero yet.  That guy always has a four+ run inning in him, you just have to crack the shell so it comes oozing out.

10:09 - Another 1-2-3 inning as the Twins go down meekly like a tentative high school kid.  This is getting embarrassing.  It's Joel Piniero for christ's sake.  I'd be really upset right now but I'm seeing Clash of the Titans tomorrow so really nothing can bring me down.  Also we're having a son.  That too.  That is also important.

10:17 - Slowey sets them down 1-2-3. I'm either going to have to get more entertaining or this game is going to have to get more interesting.  Hope for the game, I think.

10:20 - Thome with a double, leaving Kubel as the only Twin without a hit this year I assume without looking anything up, not counting that fake catcher guy.  And there you go, game-tying run-scoring single by Kubes, which is also worth 2 fantasy points.  Our team is so good.

10:22 - Hardy, with 2 homers already this year, is ordered to bunt.  Jesus christ Gardenhire, you have an actual offense this year.  I know you're used to having a bunch of Matt Tolbert's in the lineup and you have to scratch and claw for every run you can get, but not this year.  Just chill out, sit back, and let the Hardy boy mash like he wants

10:23 - Mama W just described Hardy as "cute."

10:26 - Holy F Brendan Harris just destroyed the ball, and the Twins are up 3-1.  Can we please, please, please start Harris at 3B more than once a week?  I know he never slides into first and isn't some minority scrappy guy but he's a much better hitter than Punto and doesn't exactly suck defensively.  Stop being retarded, Gardy.  You know you need more Harris in your life.

10:29 - Hudson reaches on error which is apparently his best shot at getting on base.  He's been bad at the plate and his defense has been less than impressive as well.  Since I believe you can easily make blanket judgments about the entire season after just four days, I'm going to go ahead and say this guy sucks.

10:46 - Massive computer problems kept me off of here for the past 17 minutes.  I saw some things in the game I was going to comment on but now meh and also I can't really remember.  Instead I will let you know that Matt Wieters (a rich man's Joe Mauer) did not hit a home run tonight, instead electing to go 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored.  I don't know why that's all he did, and you don't either, but who are we to question his plan?

10:49 - Kubel got out again.  How odd.

10:50 - I'm lame.  I'm too tired to keep going.  I've stayed up for all three games, and with early rise times I'm just plain tuckered, so it's either keep drinking or go to bed.  As much as I'd like to keep drinking, it turns out they frown upon employees who show up reeking of vodka, so it's probably in my best interests to pass.  Don't judge me, I'm old.  Plus I have little Optimus Prime on the way, so I need to save up my strength now.

Twins rotation outlook

Damn, the baseball season is finally almost here...it feels like Spring Training has been going for months. The Twins hype machine is fully operational though, someone on the radio broadcast said the team has a good chance of having multiple 20-game winners this season. The last guy to do it was Santana, who only managed to do it once despite being the best pitcher in baseball his last three years with the team. Seems a little hyperbolic to me, but let's take a look at the fortunately-Livan-free rotation from top to bottom.

Scott Baker
Key 2008 stats
3.45 ERA
4.25 xFIP
7.4 K/9
2.2 BB/9

Positives: Nearly every meaningful category improved in his second full season in the rotation. Held left-handed hitters in check. Only turns 27 this season. Pitched well enough to get Bert to shut up about keeping the ball down.

Red flags: Gives up a ton of fly balls, how many fly over the fence is variable and could cause an ERA spike. Stranded an above-average number of baserunners last year, that's tough to duplicate.

Useless Sidler Projection (USP): Pitches like a #1/2 starter and could be a fringe All-Star, but won't match last year's ERA.

Kevin Slowey
Key 2008 stats
3.99 ERA
4.14 xFIP
1.15 WHIP
6.9 K/9
1.3 BB/9

Positives: Began to show the promise his killer minor league stats suggested. Posted some of the best control numbers in the league while picking up 0.55 K/9 compared to 2007.

Red flags: Lefties combined to hit like Justin Morneau against him. HR rate was a little low, and like Baker, Slowey gives up a lot of fly balls.

USP: Bill James' projection system is a big fan of Slowey, and so am I. Slowey will be the best starter this year and put up better numbers than last year.

Francisco Liriano
Key 2008 stats
3.91 ERA
4.40 xFIP
1.39 WHIP
7.9 K/9
3.8 BB/9

Positives: It was a tale of two seasons for Liriano, and the second half--a 2.74 ERA speaks for itself. He's been a ground ball machine in Spring Training and the infield defense should be improved this season with Crede-Punto-Casilla providing + defense at their positions.

Red flags: He has control issues. Still learning how to pitch after Tommy John surgery.

USP: I might take that Slowey prediction back...a healthy, confident Liriano is the best starter in the division.

Nick Blackburn
Key 2008 stats
4.05 ERA
4.55 xFIP
1.36 WHIP
4.47 K/9
1.8 BB/9

Positives: Solid debut, awesome sideburns. Great control, solid groundball rate. HR rate well above his minor league performance. No extreme platoon splits. Improved infield defense will help him, too.

Red flags: Doesn't strike out many batters. 4.68 ERA after the All-Star break. Reminds me of Carlos Silva, performance could vary wildly throughout career.

USP: Won't match last year's ERA but will still be a reliable starter, especially for someone in the #4 starter slot.

Glen Perkins
4.41 ERA
5.05 xFIP
1.47 WHIP
4.41 K/9
2.3 BB/9

Positives: Much-improved walk rate compared to his minor league track record. Right-handed hitters performed worse than LH hitters.

Red flags: Horrible away from the Dome. LH hitters weren't phased by him throwing with his left hand, RH hitters knocked the crap out of the ball when they got a hit. High number of stranded runners. Doesn't strike out many hitters but lacks great control or a high groundball rate to make up for it.

USP: Perkins plants one foot in the bullpen by putting up a ~5.00 ERA this season. One of the many solid AAA arms in the Twins system will be pushing for the #5 spot by the All-Star break.


Wow, I didn't realize I was so optimistic about the Twins rotation this season. I'm not going to look around at other rosters, but I don't think many teams can match the Twins' 1-3 starters. With a potentially-improved defense behind them, the pitchers could lead the way to a big improvement in the team's run prevention (#16 last year). I think they'll need it, since the offense will be hard-pressed to match last year's performance...more on that later.

So This Is It

Well here we are, about to kick off the huge series against the White Sox, needing a sweep to put the Twins in command. Winning two would help, but would leave a lot to chance. Granted, the Twins would be in ok shape going up against the not-as-hapless-as-I-would-like Royals for three down 1.5 games with the Sox having to play Cleveland, including a likely last game of the season matchup against Cliff Lee. That being said, if they can't put it all together and take all three games in this must win series, I'm not so sure they even deserve to get in the playoffs.

Game 1: Scott Baker vs. Javier Vazquez
Advantage to the Twins here. Don't forget that Vazquez is a high quality pitcher though, and could definitely hold the Twins down. He's posting a 1.30 WHIP this season to go with an ERA of 4.32. The negative here is that his WHIP is as high as it is mainly because of a high walk rate (to go with a high K rate). Given that the Twins don't walk much, they could end up struggling for base runners, and, as such, runs. He's also been pitching pretty well lately, although not his last time out, so with a little luck he'll be off his game.

Baker has somehow acquired a reputation for being a "Big Game" pitcher, although I'm not entirely certain how that happened. He's going to need to live up to it tonight against a very good Sox lineup, even without Quentin. He'll have to keep the ball in the park, and I'm thinking he'll do it. I'm predicting a Twins victory here, keeping hope alive. Baker goes 8 strong, and Nathan has a shaky, but effective ninth for a 2-1 Twins victory.

Game 2: Mark Buehrle vs. Nick Blackburn
This matchup sucks. Buehrle has historically been very good against Minnesota, and since he's lefty Gardy will probably sit down Mauer, Morneau, and Kubel against him. The good news is that he's struggled against the Twins in two of his three starts against them this season, but in his one good start he completely shut them down. He's hot right now, with four straight excellent outings.

Blackburn started strong, but has tailed off in a big way lately, try not to remember his last start when he didn't even get out of the second inning. I'm hoping he can dig down for one last big time start, but I don't see him getting through more than six. Handing it over to the bullpen is not a good idea, and that's where this one falls apart. Blackburn keeps it close, but the bullpen ruins it all once again as the Sox take this one 8-2.

Game 3: Gavin Floyd vs. Kevin Slowey
I'll be at this game, so history would tell us that the Sox will roll. I'm counting on Slowey to not do that. He's been the team's best pitcher this season, and his two shutouts were nothing short of masterpieces. Up until his last outing, he had been on a roll and hopefully can keep it up.

He'll have to against Floyd. Floyd is probably the Sox best pitcher, but he's not all that dominant and the Twins can definitely get to him. Not that they have this year, but I still think they can. This one is going to be close, and will end up being a 3-2 win for somebody. Too tough to call, but if I have to, I'd say the Sox take it and the season ends in flames.

Go Twins Go

Didn't get to type anything during tonight's big win due to that smiling bundle of curveball throwing joy pictured above, but I'm going to say I think I was wrong when I thought Kevin Slowey would suck, but last night was a pretty masterful performance. He didn't exactly seem dominant, but he was brilliant in keeping the Sox from getting the good part of the bat on the ball. Color me impressed. And clearly Denard Span is the next Willie Mays, while Carlos Gomez is the next Willie Mays Hayes. Clever, no? I also think Carlos Quentin may be the shakiest looking outfielder since that spaz named "Spanky" I played softball with this summer. No joke, he wanted to go by Spanky. Like, he preferred to be called that. I'm not kidding.

Anyway, I drive by the Dome every day on the way home from work, and I have a question: Shouldn't there be some kind of limit on how long after a player leaves a team you're still allowed to wear their jersey? I saw so many Santana and Hunter jerseys driving by the stadium today and it just seems bizarre. I mean, I can give a pass I guess because they just left last year, but what? You can't pony up the 20 bucks for a new shirt? And I've seen some Pierzynskis, Mientkewicz's, Jacque Jones's, and Lew Ford's. You're just announcing to the world that you're either too stupid to know these guys aren't on the team anymore or too poor to afford to buy a new shirt (not to mention three out of four of those are embarrassing anyway). And let's not even get started on the mouth breathers who still trot out their Chris Walsh jerseys for every Vikings' game. Leaving aside the inherent toolishness of a grown man wearing a jersey (yes, I own an LDT jersey which I wore in public twice before I realized how dumb I looked), nobody should have ever worn a Chris Walsh jersey. It's an abomination. AND he hasn't played on the team in like five years, AND he's a dirt-ball drunk driver. Nice hero. God you people are complete asses. If you see someone wearing a Walsh jersey, just go up to him and tell him he's a complete ass. Seriously, you're doing him a favor.

And while I'm in rant mode, what is it people around the Metrodome don't understand about how crosswalks work? It's really simple, when the pretty lights say "WALK" you walk. When they say "DON'T WALK" you don't. Yet every time I'm coming home from a game, I have to sit and wait as a herd of elephants crosses against the light. And god forbid you give a little honk to remind them they're breaking the rules. The whole group turns on you as if you ran over one of their faggy little purse dogs or something. Jesus christ people, it's not that hard to follow the rules, and I'm not even talking about the people who cross in the middle of the street, they usually have the decency to get out of the way - unless you're in that Somali-town area over past Preston's on the way to 94, anarchy pretty much rules over there.

You know what else is stupid? There was a commercial on FSN tonight for National Night Out, which I think is when all the people in a neighborhood are supposed to get together and eat hotdishes and somehow this stops crime. FSN is having a two-hour special about National Night Out on that evening. The evening of National Night Out. So they're promoting National Night Out by encouraging people to stay home and watch a special about National Night Out. I really, truly don't understand what the hell is going on in this world.

And I also don't get the constant booing for Pierz-nasty when he can flat out ball. And whiny bitchy pouty Mientkewicz gets cheered when he plays here. Makes zero sense.

You are all idiots.

Mid Season Twins Talkie

Before I get into the Twins stuff, first let me congratulate Josh Hamilton on winning last night's homerun derby. What a tremendous....what? Oh, right, Justin Morneau won. You wouldn't have known it from the media coverage. Look, I get that Hamilton put on a show for the ages in round one, and it really was incredible. If that was the reason for the Favre-like gushing I would understand. But enough already about the "Josh Hamilton Story." We know it. We get it. We're getting sick of it. Just talk about what an amazing year he is having and drop the Movie of the Week stuff (note: there WILL be a movie at some point here.) I want to hear about his run for the AL triple crown, not about how "The demons he has faced make facing the ghosts of Yankee Stadium easy", a quote actually said last night. Let's move on.

A quick look at the Twins at the season's mid-point (ok, all-star break, close enough):

The M&M Boys: I really hate this moniker for Mauer and Morneau, but it seems to have stuck and I suppose it is fitting, seeing as their last names both start with M. The boys have obviously had a strong season, both making the all-star team, and I'm not sure how much more you could ask of either of them. They rank #2 and #3 in the AL in batting average with nearly identical .323 and .322. Expected of Mauer, a nice surprise from Morneau who is hitting a lot more line drives this season. Morneau's homeruns are down a bit, but his doubles and slugging percentage are up and his walks and OBP are way up, so I see no reason to complain. Now that I've made peace with Mauer's lack of power, I can really appreciate his game, although Charley Walters claims he could hit 30 a year with a minor swing adjustment, which seems totally realistic and not made up crap at all. High average and high OBP, he'd actually be an excellent lead-off or 2 hitter, but on this team has to hit third. In any case, he's having a tremendous season, as a 140 OPS+ from the catcher position is truly exceptional.

The Young Pitchers: This, without question, is my favorite part of this team. In contention with what I'm going to assume without looking anything up is the youngest group of four pitchers in the rotation, all doing well and looking like they have extremely bright futures. Perkins is the shakiest of the group, and he gets hit pretty hard at times, but his excellent control helps mitigate a lot of the damage. Slowey is the one who I was the least sold on going into the season, but he looks extremely strong lately and leads the team in WHIP despite having the highest ERA of the four. He's still prone to meltdowns, but as with most young pitchers you take the good with the bad. Baker and Blackburn are both looking really, really good. Not just the numbers, which are outstanding, but the way they handle themselves on the mound and seem in control at all times both make me believe they will have long, successful careers with other teams once their initial contracts are up. With Liriano starting to come around, the rotation could be one of the best in baseball next year from top-to-bottom. (Is that homerish? I'm a delusional? Tell me if I am.)

The Bullpen: Nathan has been awesome and practically unhittable, but the rest of the bullpen has been pretty blah since Neshek went down. Crain is back and trying to fill that role, but has been mediocre at best. The top bullpen arms this year have been Reyes, Breslow, and Korecky in their limited work. Reyes is a specialist, so I get that, but why not use Breslow and Korecky instead of trotting Guerrier and Bass out there every game? Bass is first in relief innings in the AL and Guerrier is seventh. Guerrier has been ok, but Bass is brutally bad. His ERA is bad. His WHIP is bad. His walk rate is bad. His homerun rate is bad. His strikeout rate is bad. But he leads the AL in relief innings, and not just mop up innings where he started, he's now being used in high impact situations. This does not bode well.

Free Agent Accusations: I don't even want to look here. Out of the three hitters they signed, Craig Monroe is the best pick up and he's hitting .203/.280/.419. At least he has a little pop. Lamb and Everett's sluggin percentages of .292 and .324 beat only Glen Perkins on the team - even all the other pitchers have managed to outslug those two children. OBP is only slighly better, as Everett is still at the bottom but Lamb manages to climb just above Kevin Slowey and someone named Howie Clark.

As far as Livan, well, they got him to be an innings eater and that's exactly what he is. That would actually be pretty useful if this team was as bad as expected, but they aren't, they're contending. He needs to go away someone or other. Nobody would trade for him and his $5 million, so he just needs to be released. I'm not sure what kind of financial impact that would have, but he's not doing the team any good, so as soon as they figure out a viable fifth starter he needs to gone. Here's a prediction for you, the Twins call up Liriano right at the trade deadline and there is at least one quote rationalizing their lack of making an actual trade that goes something like this, "We get Liriano back, which is as good as making a trade."

The Garza Trade: Garza continues to look like a top prospect for the Rays, and has started to make some major strides, while Bartlett has taken a step backwards offensively. For our beloved Twins, Brendan Harris has been less of an offensive threat than advertised taking a step back in average, OBP, and slugging, but has been a decent surprise in the field. He's still more of a 2b/3b type than an actual shortstop, but hasn't been terrible.

As far as Delmon Young goes, I'm backing off on my "he sucks" opinion slightly. I heard on the radio the other day someone talking about maybe trying to trade Young while he still has some value - let's not get crazy just yet. As others have told me, he's just 22. His power loss is still something of a mystery, but he seems to be getting smarter at the plate and showing more discipline (not much, but some) and will walk more this year than last (with 21 walks now compared to 26 all of last season). I still think he has potential and I still think he's a terrible fielder, but I'm no longer totally down on him. I don't think he's going to end up being particularly special, and right now I think the Twins got the bad end of the trade, but hopefully he can develop further. And in case you're wondering, Eduardo Morlan is having a bit of a down year in AA for the Rays, but is still a top young relief prospect. Jason Pridie will never be anything more than a fifth outfielder at best.

The Santana Trade: Johan continues to be strong over in the NL, fourth in ERA, seventh in strikeouts, and ninth in WHIP. If his second half surge continues again this year, he'll be in the Cy Young discussion once again.

Meanwhile, Carlos Gomez needs to be in triple A, Deolis Guerra is struggling in high A, while Mulvey and Humber are ho-hum in triple A (actually Humber pretty much sucks). All of these guys have the tools to still develop into quality players, but as of right now, it's pretty clear who won this trade. Gomez is reallly overmatched right now.

The Call-Ups: It's pretty clear that the biggest boost this team has gotten outside of the performance of the young staff is from the call-ups. Denard Span, Alexi Casilla, and Brian Buscher are all hitting over .300 and have an OPS over .747. Even Matt Tolbert and Matt Macri performed well before getting hurt. Span and Casilla both show signs that they've figured it out and could keep playing well the rest of the season (not at the rate they are now, but still good). A big, big key to how far the Twins can go the rest of the year.

The Returnees: Cuddyer has been hurt most of the year, and when he eventually comes back the Twins are going to have some tough decisions to make with the outfield/DH position. Look again for some quote about how getting Cuddyer back is as good as making a trade, even though he hasn't look very good when he has played. Jason Kubel has made some strides, and is giving a glimpse of what he can be - which is Matt Stairs. He clearly has a place, and it's not in the outfield, but he could be a quality full-time DH. He's not the hitter he once was before all his knees fell off, but still - Matt Stairs isn't too bad. We like to call him a "professional hitter."

Overall: The season has been a huge shocker to me. I figured this was a full on rebuilding year, and that's why I didn't understand why they bothered to sign Nathan instead of trading him at this year's deadline. Now it looks like the Twins should be buyers rather than sellers, and get Adrian Beltre and another arm so they can get rid of Livan. They are in it this year due to good pitching (which should continue) and amazingly timely hitting (which shouldn't). If they want to make a run, they need to make a move or two. It's been fun, but let's hope they go for more.

Twins/Sox - Catch the Rainness

I'm going to attempt to live blog the Twins/Sox game this afternoon here, but I am unsure of how this is going to work out. The baby is sitting happily in her bouncy chair (thank you Uncle & Aunt Bogart) but could snap at any moment so we'll see. Also I'm cooking bacon.

1:03 - Naturally, the game is in a rain delay. Glorious. Instead we are being treated to an episode of Coach. That show sucked.

1:10 - I burned my hand on the bacon

1:29 - When there's a rain delay, don't they usually keep it with the broadcast team and talk about, you know, sports? How am I supposed to comment on how Hayden Fox's mentor betrayed him at the Pineapple Bowl? (He's way too sensitive, by the way). The Bacon's good at least.

1:30 - Bert breaks in to tell us they think the rain will pass in an hour. I'll be back.

2:33 - Looks like we are going to get started, and the Twins send Slowey out there. $20 says he gives up a three run home run within the first two innings.

2:35 - Carlos Gomez never steals anymore. I got to say though, the kid has impressed me. A much better hitter than I thought originally.

2:47 - Holy crap, Delmon hit a homerun last night? No way! And then they show the replay, and it didn't even get to the first row of the stands, just cleared the fence by a matter of millimeters. That guy has less power than your average women's softball player. Word.

3:03 - And there it is, Nick Swisher, three run home run. Totally called it. You owe me $20.

3:13 - Bert let's us know that the Twins are not a homerun hitting club. That is the kind of hard-hitting insight he's famous for. I'd put him in the hall of fame as an announcer before a pitcher - sorry Dawger.

3:14 - Carlos Quentin throws like a girl. And if he ends up leading the AL in homeruns at the end of the season, I'll quite watching baseball 4 eva.

3:23 - Jesus christ, Kevin Slowey is a god awful pitcher. He basically throws BP. I think I could get a hit off of him. In fact, I know it.

3:30 - The Twins' starting pitching difficulties are now Joe Mauer's fault for not calling enough inside pitches, according to Bert. I'm just happy to see somebody actually criticize the baby Jesus.

3:31 - Nick Swisher looks like a pedophile. I find it fascinating that Ozzie Guillen led him off for a good part of the year. Ozzie has been outspoken about "that moneyball shit", yet Swisher is a perfect leadoff hitter using a statistical approach to lineup creation, and horrible in traditional terms. Thus, Ozzie is a hyprocrital ass. Whereas Kevin Slowey is just a gigantic piece of crap.

3:37 - They've now batted around here in the third, but Slowey is still out there tossing up his BP. He's like Jamie Moyer without the ball movement. Gardy is clearly trying to teach him a lesson.

3:46 - Yeah, I'm not doing this anymore. This team is garbage.

Go Twins

I managed to catch some of the Twins/Red Sox game on Boston's station NESN last night. I managed to watch enough to see Kevin Slowey give up back-to-back homeruns and see Punto demonstrate his gritty scrappy hustletude by sliding in the outfield to grab an errant throw from Joe Mauer.

I'm so excited for this season.


Vandy/Arkansas OVER 147.5 (W)
Oklahoma -1.5 vs. Texas A&M (W)
Wichita State +12 @ Drake (W)
St Mary's +6.5 @ Gonzaga
Stanford -4.5 vs. Washington State (W)
Syracuse -2.5 vs. Pitt (L)
Duke -12 @ NC State (L)
Miami -6.5 vs. Virginia (L)
Ohio State +3 @ Minnesota (L)
Baylor -6.5 vs. Missouri (W)
Memphis -11.5 @ Southern Miss (L)
Kansas State +13 @ Kansas
UCONN -5 vs. West Virginia (W)
Alabama +6.5 @ Ole Miss (W)
Rhode Island PK @ LaSalle (W)
Marquette -3 vs. Georgetown (L)
Vanderbilt +7 @ Arkansas (W)

Thursday: 7-5
Season: 367-346

PREDICTION

PREDICTION: Kevin Slowey is going to get destroyed tonight. Won't get past the fourth. Book it.

UPDATE: 6 innings, 5 hits, 1 run, 3 K's, 2 walks. Oops.