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Friday, October 15, 2004
Weekend StuffI am working on (or at least I'm supposed to be working on) a couple of fairly big assignments for my journalism classes that are due early next week, so today's entry is going to be a little on the light side ...
- When it Rains it Pujols (by Brian Gunn) - The Importance Of Strike One (and Two, and Three), Part Two (by Craig Burley) *****Comments? Questions? Email me!*****     
Thursday, October 14, 2004
_____ of the WeekSome stuff that got my attention this week ...Headline of the Week From ESPN.com: SEATTLE'S FINESTTurns out that headline, which sat atop ESPN.com's front page for parts of both Tuesday and Wednesday, was referring to a team called the "Seattle Storm" that beat a team called the "Connecticut Sun" for the 2004 WNBA championship. I've long been fascinated by ESPN, ABC and NBC (back when they had basketball) cramming the WNBA down our throats with tons of commercials and featured programming. Of the many hardcore sports fans I know and speak to on a daily basis, I've never heard a single one talk about the WNBA in anything even resembling a positive way, yet the league is tied in with the NBA on TV constantly, it is made a part of the NBA's "All-Star Weekend" every year, and it gets top billing on ESPN.com. Even more than that, the thing that struck me from the above headline is the amazing audacity of the ESPN.com headline writer who wrote that "Seattle finally has another championship" when referring to the WNBA. It's like putting "Boston finally ends World Series drought after 86 years" front and center on ESPN.com after a team from Massachusetts wins the Little League World Series. Now, before you send me those angry e-mails, I just want to say that I have no problem with women's sports. I have two young female cousins who are great athletes and make sports a big part of their lives, and I think it's wonderful. However, I do have a problem with a product being repeatedly forced on us, year after year, despite the fact that the viewing public has made it quite clear that, relatively speaking, we're not interested. The WNBA just isn't the NBA, no matter how many coed shooting contests we're forced to sit through before the dunk and three-point contests come on. The "Seattle Storm" winning a championship isn't going to make the city of Seattle feel like any sort of drought has ended, because the majority of the people there couldn't care less about the WNBA. In fact, I didn't even know there even was a "Seattle Storm" until I started to complain about that headline. Story of the Week From Yahoo! News: WASHINGTON (Oct. 12) - The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday sought to fine 169 Fox television stations a total of $1.18 million for violating decency standards when they aired an episode of "Married by America."I didn't see "Married by America" and, for all I know, it was the single worst and most offensive show in the history of television. I really don't care, since I clearly wasn't forced to watch it. What bugs the hell out of me in regard to the FCC is the fact that they are handing out huge fines for a nationally televised show on a major network because they received 159 complaints. One-hundred and fifty-nine. I don't know the exact figures, but I'm guessing even the least-watched primetime shows on FOX get more than a million viewers, which means fewer than 0.1% of the people who watched "Married by America" filed a complaint. Why exactly are we basing decisions on the 0.1% of people who can't handle watching something they don't like on TV? What about the 99.9% who watched the show, either liked it or didn't like it, and then went on with their lives? I really hate the way the country is going in this area. Quote of the Week From one of my journalism teachers: The Twins really sucked last game and the reason is that Johan Santana wears women's underwear.It's clearly better if I leave out the context for that quote, so I will. Campus News of the Week From my favorite student newspaper that won't hire me, the Minnesota Daily: The Interfraternity Council, which governs fraternities on campus, has suspended the University's Chi Psi chapter from the council for "several violations of (its) alcohol and risk-management policy," the council president said Tuesday.I'm not even sure if I've ever been to the Chi Psi house or not, since I've gone to a few frat parties simply by following the trail of alcohol and women without regard to where I actually was, but it sure sounds to me like, to quote Dean Wormer, they're on double-secret probation. DEAN WORMER: Greg, what is the worst fraternity on this campus?Today at The Hardball Times: - Mount St. Louis Erupts (by Brian Gunn) - A Harder Comeback? (by Ben Jacobs) - Respect (by Larry Mahnken) *****Comments? Questions? Email me!*****
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
The Almost ComebackIf the first game of the American League Championship Series is any indication, I'm going to be walking around campus like a zombie for the next week or so. With New York up 8-0 and Mike Mussina tossing a perfect game through six innings, the Red Sox came back and made things extremely interesting, closing the gap to 8-7 before the Yankees had enough of it and scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth.If not for Mussina's potential perfect game and the fact that things fell apart for him so quickly after that, last night could definitely have been one of those "okay, this one's over and I'm tired, so I'm going to bed" situations. I'm glad I didn't, although my comatose-like state this morning might disagree. Some very quick notes on the game, since it's late Tuesday night as I write this, I am literally having trouble keeping my eyes open, and I have class at eight in the morning and a very busy day after that ...
- Playoff Preview: Cardinals - Astros (by Aaron Gleeman) - Net Win Shares Value (by Studes) *****Comments? Questions? Email me!*****
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Decisions, DecisionsI found myself in a strange position over the last week or so. First, I defended a decision Ron Gardenhire made and got bombarded with e-mails telling me how wrong I was. Then, a couple days later, I criticized a decision Gardenhire made and got bombarded with e-mails telling me how wrong I was. In addition to making me doubt my sanity and ability to convey rational thought, this gives me an opportunity to touch on an interesting topic.Essentially, the first set of dissenting e-mails said that I was silly for suggesting that Gardenhire leaving Joe Nathan in for the 12th inning of Game 2 was a sound decision, because Nathan failed and the Twins lost the game. The second batch of e-mails said that I was silly for suggesting that Gardenhire taking Johan Santana out of Game 4 after just five innings was a bad decision, because Grant Balfour pitched scoreless sixth and seventh innings anyway, and Juan Rincon would have had to pitch the eighth regardless of when Santana left. The point I tried to make in the case of Nathan in Game 2 and the point I should have made in regard to Santana in Game 4, is that the quality of the decision should not be based on whether or not it worked. On the most basic level, you don't even need the result of the decision to form your opinion of it, just as Gardenhire didn't have knowledge of how things would turn out when he made the decisions. I know that running across a busy intersection with my eyes closed is dumb whether I get flattened by a semi-truck or not. I know that calling someone's all-in bet with six-high is dumb regardless of whether or not I hit two more sixes on the flop. In the same sense, leaving Nathan in was either a good or bad decision before Nathan struggled, just as taking Santana out was either a good or bad decision before Balfour pitched his scoreless innings and Rincon fell apart in the eighth. The reality, as so many e-mailers yesterday pointed out to me, is that the Twins lost Game 4 because Rincon gave up four runs while recording just one out in the eighth inning, not because Santana only pitched five innings. However, waiting until things play out to form your opinion of whether or not it was a good decision is silly, and it is the worst form of second-guessing. Gardenhire could have taken Santana out after two innings and turned to Jose Offerman to make his major-league debut as a pitcher and finish the game. If Offerman somehow threw seven shutout innings and the Twins won, was the decision a good one? If you said yes, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. Rather than individually reply to all the e-mails I've gotten on this subject over the last few days, I figured it would be just a little more practical to lay that all out here. Oh, and one more thing ... During Game 4, the TV announcers reported that Santana was surprised when Gardenhire lifted him from the game and wanted to stay in. On the other hand, Gardenhire said on his radio show that Santana told him he was getting stiff between innings and seemed to be saying he was just about done. There's obviously a big difference between those two stories and this is something that has been woefully under-reported in the local media. I'd like to see a quote from Santana and a quote from Gardenhire, in print, and if they differ I'd like to see some investigation into why. Today at The Hardball Times: - Playoff Preview: Yankees - Red Sox (by Aaron Gleeman) - YANKEEZ ROOL!!! Boston is teh suck (by Larry Mahnken) - Rivals in Exile: ALDS (by Ben Jacobs and Larry Mahnken) *****Comments? Questions? Email me!*****
Monday, October 11, 2004
Wait Til Next Year (Again)It's funny how quickly things can change. One minute I was optimistic about the Twins' chances of pulling off a first-round upset, and the next minute I'm eulogizing their season. One minute I was defending Ron Gardenhire's decision to leave Joe Nathan in for the 12th inning of Game 2 amidst an onslaught of dissenting e-mails, and the next minute I was screaming "why the hell did he take him out?!" when Gardenhire decided it was time to show off his quick hook with Johan Santana in Game 4.While I understood Gardenhire's decision-making process with Nathan in Game 2 -- I agreed with him that his other available options, namely J.C. Romero and Jesse Crain, were not better than Nathan -- I have no clue what the logic behind removing Santana after five innings was. With the Twins facing an actual "must-win" game, and not just the cliche-driven use of the phrase that we hear so much come playoff time, Gardenhire made the decision to go with his ace, Santana, the best pitcher in the American League this year, on short rest. If Santana came through, the team would live to fight another day, likely sending Brad Radke out on short rest in Game 5, at Yankee Stadium. If the team lost, at least they lost with Santana. So Santana started and, although he wasn't quite as sharp as he was during the second half, when he went 13-0 with a 1.21 ERA, he was about as good as could have reasonably been expected from a guy working on three days' rest for the first time in his career. His fastball was popping, his slider was breaking, and his changeup was as nasty as ever, a welcomed sight after Santana had to make due largely without his best pitch in Game 1. After giving up a run in the third inning and getting into a little trouble in the fourth, Santana struck out Derek Jeter to get out of the jam. Then, after walking Alex Rodriguez to begin the top of the fifth, Santana struck out Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui swinging, and got Bernie Williams to ground out to end the inning. With the Twins' offense finally breaking through against Javier Vazquez in the bottom of the inning, Santana was rolling right along and suddenly had a 5-1 lead to work with heading into the top of the sixth. Except he never made it that far. Gardenhire approached him in the dugout after the Twins scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth and told Santana that his day was done. After just five innings and 87 pitches, and having struck out three of the last four batters he faced, Santana was taken out of the game and the Twins' bullpen was given the 5-1 lead with four innings to hold it. And they almost did. Grant Balfour was the first guy out of the pen and pitched brilliantly, mowing the Yankees down for two innings -- six up and six down with pure, mid-90s gas. With the score still 5-1 Twins, Balfour then turned it over to Juan Rincon for the top of the eighth, at which point everything fell apart. Rincon, who had a 2.63 ERA in 82 innings during the year, held opponents to a measly .181 batting average, gave up just five homers to the 327 batters he faced, and allowed more than two runs once in 77 appearances, was asked to hold the Yankees down for one more inning, before turning things over to Nathan. Thirty pitches and just one out later, the game was tied at five. Sheffield led the inning off with a broken bat infield single, Matsui walked, and Williams singled to right-center, scoring Sheffield and putting runners on the corners with no outs. Jorge Posada struck out swinging on a slider down and in, and then Rincon left a pitch up and out over the plate on a 2-2 count to Ruben Sierra. Sierra destroyed the pitch, sending it into the folded up seats in deep right-center for a game-tying, momentum-changing, crowd-silencing three-run homer. From there it was just a matter of time, and that time came in the top of the 11th inning. Kyle Lohse struck Jeter out to lead off the inning and then Rodriguez doubled to left. ARod then got a huge jump from second base and stole third base without a throw, allowing him to score the go-ahead run when Lohse bounced a pitch to Sheffield and 41-year-old catcher Pat Borders, acquired at the trade deadline from Seattle because of his experience behind the plate, couldn't stop it from bouncing away. Mariano Rivera retired the Twins 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 11th without so much as breaking a sweat and, just like that, Minnesota went from taking their chances in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium to their season being over. It had a different feel from last year, when the Yankees knocked the Twins out of the playoffs three games to one, but really it was no different. Just like last year, the Twins took Game 1 to steal homefield advantage, dropped a heartbreaking Game 2 that they could have won, and then came home to Minnesota and lost two games in a row to end the series. From winning Game 1 and being just three outs away from winning Game 2 to not even forcing a Game 5. It went amazingly fast, like getting run over by a pinstriped bus. There was no time to regroup and no time to settle in, because the Yankees just kept coming and coming, and the Twins just kept hemorrhaging runs. And yet, more than Nathan running out of steam in Game 2 or Rincon imploding in Game 4, what this series will likely be remembered for are Gardenhire's decisions. I'll defend what he did (or didn't do) in Game 2 all offseason, but I don't think I'll ever understand quite what went through his mind to make him take Santana out of Game 4. There was no need for it. Santana was pitching well, he was showing no signs of getting into trouble, his pitch count hadn't even reached 90, and there was no chance of him contributing in Game 5 anyway. Taking Santana out and trusting the bullpen for four innings, even with a four-run lead, also meant that the relievers would be weaker for Game 5. It just made no sense. Gardenhire has said that Santana told him he was getting stiff between innings, but why not let Santana continue until he showed some sign of slowing down? With a four-run lead, Gardenhire certainly could have at least stayed with him until a runner got into scoring position, as I haven't heard anything about Santana actually asking out of the game. And Gardenhire should have known better too. In Santana's last regular season start, against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on September 29, he was lifted with a 3-1 lead after five innings so that he could rest up for the playoffs. Santana, who was in line for his 21st win of the year, handed things over to the bullpen, and after Balfour held New York scoreless for an inning, Romero and Rincon combined to allow four runs in the bottom of the seventh, as the Yankees came back and won 5-3. It's ironic that after consistently disagreeing with and criticizing many of Gardenhire's decisions over the years, I found myself defending him against the majority of Twins fans just a day before perhaps his strangest and least defensible decision yet. It's like setting up a crazy buddy on a blind date with a girl, telling the girl "oh yeah, he's a great guy" against your better judgment, and then hearing that he murdered her dog when the dog barked at him when he picked her up for the date. If I'd have known Gardenhire was going to go and do this, I would have just shut my mouth the other day. Now here I am having defended a crazy dog murderer. *****Comments? Questions? Email me!*****
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E-Mail: AaronGleeman@Gmail.com 
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