Other Baseball

The World Series is over. There will not be any Major League Baseball until spring training. It is 5 months until Opening Day. From April through October, the prime time schedule was booked with Twins games or other baseball options. So, now that there isn't baseball... what are you watching on TV? I'm always looking for advice on this topic. I have kind of forgotten what night certain shows are on, so let me know what you're watching. Me? I know on Wednesday nights, I'll be watching a lot of SyFy, with Ghost Hunters and Paranormal Witness. I'm officially a big fan of Parenthood. Big Bang Theory is on Thursday nights now, but it's also on (4 straight episodes!!)…

2 years $29 million plus his $4 million option buy out spread over 4 years. He can also earn a $15 million option for 2015 if he stays healthy enough to pitch enough innings over the next 2 years.

Two World Series appearance in three years. When I look at their roster, it does not look that impressive. They seem to be the ultimate clutch hitting, solid defense, and good pitching team. Their outfield plays really good defense, but does not bring power to the plate. I think it's a pretty great story.

According to a tweet by ESPN's Buster Olney, former Twins catcher may be the favorite to be the next manager of the Miami Marlins. He has been managing in the Blue Jays system the past two years.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/pirates---hells-angels-----navy-seals--minor-league-training-methods-become-mlb-joke--.html GM Huntington is making top prospects go through a Navy Seal type training program. Still doing it even after star pitching prospect got injured in hand to hand combat training. Wow.

Two topics... one thread. Dunn won Comeback POY. A dubious honor perhaps. Still, I think Mauer should have won. I saw this article, "Jerks of the Year: Worst Batters, Pitchers, Teams in the 2012 MLB Season." Only one Twins mention that I noticed, Ben Revere hitting an MLB worst zero home runs. I did take note of the worst attendance: Tampa Bay drew 1,559,681 (19,255 average per game). That would have led the AL in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1970 and 1974 (and very often prior to '61). I imagine both leagues measure the same way now but, back in the day, one league (I think the AL) counted the turnstiles which included give-aways like Knothole Day (among others) …

According to several sources, the Miami Marlins have dismissed Ozzie Guillen as their manager. Not terribly shocking news.

The Tigers and Yankees both needed five games (and usage of their #1 pitchers) to reach the ALCS. Here is the schedule: Game 1 - Saturday - Tigers @ Yankees - Doug Fister vs Andy Pettitte Game 2 - Sunday - Tigers @ Yankees - Anibal Sanchez vs Hiroki Kuroda Game 3 - Tuesday - Yankees @ Tigers - CC Sabathia vs Justin Verlander Game 4 - Wednesday - Yankees @ Tigers - Phil Hughes vs Max Scherzer Game 5 - Thursday - Yankees @ Tigers - Andy Pettitte vs Doug Fister (if necessary) Game 6 - Saturday - Tigers @ Yankees - Anibal Sanchez vs Hiroki Kuroda (if necessary) Game 7 - Sunday - Tigers @ Yankees - Justin Verlander vs CC Sabathia (if necessary... and what a Game 7 matc…

I am starting to believe that Alex Rodriguez’s career and story is taking a turn into the majestic waters of “Hollywood”. Now is the right time in America’s history to call on Tinsel Town to construct “A-Rod” The Movie. Some may be skeptical of the quality of the said movie, but I believe it has all of the elements to keep the viewers strapped to their seats. Whether it be his PED situation, being benched in the ALCS, trying to pick up some lovely ladies in the stands as he rides the bench during a playoff game, his aloof egomania, his dealings with prostitutes/strippers, celebrity actresses, hanger on relatives who help him procure “Athlete Drugs”, his bromance with…

Joe Girardi quotes: 2009 after Yankees benefit from Phil Cuzzi brain fart vs. Joe Mauer and the Twins: "If you were to start to Instant Replay all these plays, I think it would break the rhythm of the game." (thanks 1500ESPN's Phil Mackey via Twitter) 2012 after being ejected by Jeff Nelson who missed a call at 2B: “n this day and age when we have instant replay available to us, it’s got to change. These guys are under tremendous amounts of pressure. It’s a tough call for [Nelson] because the tag was underneath and it’s hard for him to see. And it takes more time to argue and get upset than you get the call right.” Later he would add, “I’ve been thrown out of games en…

The Giants and Cardinals both needed five games to advance to the NLCS... and the Cardinals needed a huge comeback in Game 5! So, what will happen? Here are the pitching matchups: Game 1 - Sunday - Cardinals vs Giants - Lance Lynn vs Madison Bumgarner Game 2 - Monday - Cardinals vs Giants - Chris Carpenter vs Ryan Vogelsong Game 3 - Wednesday - Giants vs Cardinals - Matt Cain vs Kyle Lohse Game 4 - Thursday - Giants vs Cardinals - Tim Lincecum vs Adam Wainright Game 5 - Friday - Giants vs Cardinals - Madison Bumgarner vs Lance Lynn Game 6 - Sunday - Cardinals vs Giants - Chris Carpenter vs Ryan Vogelsong Game 7 - Monday - Cardinals vs Giants - Kyle Lohse vs Matt …

Game 1 - Sunday - Yankees @ Orioles - CC Sabathia vs TBD Game 2 - Monday - Yankees @ Orioles - TBD vs TBD Game 3 - Wednesday - Orioles @ Yankees - TBD vs TBD Game 4 - Thursday (if necessary) - Orioles @ Yankees - TBD vs TBD Game 5 - Friday (if necessary) - Orioles @ Yankees - TBD vs TBD Feel free to make your predictions, and discuss the series here.

"Injury prone" J.J. Hardy led major league shortstops in innings, putouts, assists, and double plays. Baltimore shortstops committed six errors all season long (Hardy played all but 44 innings). Next best were Seattle and Arizona with ten. The major league average was 19 errors and Twins' shortstops had 25. Hardy's stint with the Twins in 2010 wasn't so wonderful as that but, that year, he committed his first error in his 30th game and committed only 3 in his first 63 games. He then committed 8 more in the final two months of the season.

Game 1 - Sunday - Washington @ St. Louis - Gio Gonzalez vs TBD Game 2 - Monday - Washington @ St. Louis - Jordan Zimmerman vs TBD Game 3 - Wednesday - St. Louis @ Washington - TBD vs TBD Game 4 - Thursday (if necessary) - St. Louis @ Washington - TBD vs TBD Game 5 - Friday (if necessary) - St. Louis @ Washington - TBD vs TBD Feel free to make your predictions, and discuss the games as well.

Catcher Raul Ibanez .312/.375/.486 Shortstop Alex Rodriguez .319/.379/.605

OK, when they announced the one-year format with the lower seed hosting the first two games, many (including myself) didn't like it because, as it was said repeatedly, only a small percentage of division series actually go to 5 games - in effect negating the higher seeds home-field advantage. Anybody else find it ironic that all four series this year have gone to game 5? I have to admit it's made it pretty exciting. I find myself wondering (almost against my will) if maybe, just maybe, they should keep it.

Over the past few days, I've been enjoying the hell out of some playoff baseball. That's pretty normal, except... I don't have cable. In all likelihood, I will never buy cable again. Instead of blacking out US and Canadian residents, MLB and TBS have agreed to allow MLB.tv subscribers to stream games over the Internet (instead of forcing me to just use a proxy out of country, like I normally do to watch games). In a sports world that is blackout-crazy, it's nice to see organizations try to work with modern users instead of fighting them and forcing them to use back alley channels just to watch a damned baseball game. If only more companies would show a little foresi…

In the New York Times, there is a story about the Lindell AC, the famous dive bar in Detroit where athletes used to rub shoulders with the fans. It's also the setting for one of the most infamous stories in Minnesota Twins history, a story that would be unbelievable if it happened today. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/sports/missing-the-lindell-ac-in-detroit-where-athletes-mixed-with-fans.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&tntemail0=y&emc=tnt Maybe we can get Kyle Lohse back here this offseason so he and Gardy can reenact it? If so, it won't be at the Lindell AC. It closed in 2002, but it had a heck of a run.

Ok, am I crazy or is the idea of changing the playoff structure to emphasize the value of the regular season totally undermined when you let the lower seeds have homefield the first two games of the first round? It's insane that Oakland is already in do or die mode and haven't even had a home playoff game yet. What on earth were they thinking?

OK, for those of you who actually played the game and aren't just spectators like me: I'm watching the Washington-St. Louis game this afternoon, and on a bloop hit to RF Ian Desmond, who was on second, decides to run through the stop sign his coach was given him and come home. The throw was off-line and Desmond scored, so in one sense it worked. My question is: is there going to be fallout from that in the clubhouse after? Are players expected to follow coach's signals or do they have the latitude to disregard them and substitute their own judgment? Does it matter that in this case it worked out, or would the reaction (if any) be the same regardless of the outcome? …

...without Strasburg?

While I think the Rangers would have had a much greater shot at knocking out the Yankees, I have more faith in Jim Johnson shutting them down in the ninth than I would with Nathan.

Wow...what a disgace. I'm only listening to the game. How bad was the infield fly call really?

Game 1: Saturday - Reds @ Giants - Johnny Cueto vs Matt Cain - Game 2: Sunday - Reds @ Giants - Bronson Arroyo vs Madison Bumgarner - Game 3: Tuesday - Giants @ Reds - Mat Latos vs TBD Game 4: Wednesday (if necessary) - Giants @ Reds - Homer Bailey vs TBD Game 5: Thursday (if necessary) - Giants @ Reds - TBD vs TBD What an incredible pitching matchup in Game 1! But what'll happen. Make your predictions and discuss the series as it happens.

Game 1 - Saturday - Oakland @ Detroit - Justin Parker vs Justin Verlander Game 2 - Sunday - Oakland @ Detroit - Tommy Milone vs Doug Fister Game 3 - Tuesday - Detroit @ Oakland - Anibal Sanchez vs TBD Game 4 - Wednesday (if necessarly) - Detroit @ Oakland - TBD vs TBD Game 5 - Thursday (if necessary) - Detroit @ Oakland - TBD vs TBD Feel free to discuss the series as it's going on, or make your predictions first.

By now, most people on this site should have heard about TR saying that the pitching market "wasn't particularly deep this offseason." Now, looking at the list of FA, it is actually probably the strongest area in FA this offseason. I mean, the biggest names in FA that aren't pitchers are probably Napoli, Hamilton, Swisher, and LaRoche. That's it (in my opinion). Seriously. While Hamilton and Napoli are sure to get attention (especially Hamilton), I just don't see there being much drama outside of the pitching market. I would love to debate about who you think will be the biggest names to come onto the market this offseason.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/high-school/varsity-letters/bal-severna-park-names-eric-milton-as-baseball-coach-1005,0,4048005.story

I was one of his biggest fans while he was with the Twins, which is why I find this story so sad. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/172601141.html This is so depressing, I don't even know what to think about it. Please pray for the Neshek family.

I'm pulling for the Oakland A's in the AL and Cincinnati Reds in the NL. I think it'd be nice to find out what the 'back-up' teams are here. Baseball just isn't as fun when you don't have any rooting interest!

Here is my Dream Finish for the American League: Oakland Beats Texas to win the AL West New York Loses and Baltimore wins forcing a game 163 on Thursday Baltimore wins game 163 to win the AL East Texas beats New York in Wild Card game on Friday thus eliminating New York from the playoffs. If the above happens, I believe that Baltimore would be the #1 seed (due to winning extra game) and would host Texas in the ALDS and Oakland would host Detroit.