For my rebuttal, see below. However, I also received an e-mail from Twins President Dave St. Peter yesterday. The coming week is very important to those who support a Twin Cities/Hennepin County Twins stadium and effectively keeping the Twins in Minnesota. Here is a letter to Twins Fans that I know was also sent to their season ticket holders:
Dear Twins Fan:
As many of you know, the Twins pursuit for a new ballpark is in full swing at the Minnesota State Capitol. The Twins and Hennepin County have renewed our historic agreement aimed at building a 42,000-seat open-air ballpark in Minneapolis' warehouse district. The plan builds a ballpark with NO state money and ensures the long-term viability of Twins baseball.
We have two important hearings next week in the House Tax Committee and I can't stress enough the importance of getting the ballpark legislation through this committee without the referendum requirement.
In a unique move, Representative Phil Krinkie, chair of the House Tax Committee, has decided to hold two meetings to hear the Twins bill. The first meeting will take place on Wednesday, April 19 at 3 p.m. at the Capitol where testimony in favor of the bill will occur. The second meeting will take place on Thursday, April 20 at 6 p.m. at the Oak Grove Middle School auditorium in Bloomington where testimony in opposition to the bill will occur.
Given the unusual nature of Thursday's meeting at the school, we are working to mobilize as many fans as possible to attend and demonstrate their support for the Twins bill by filling up the auditorium. This is where you come in. We strongly encourage ALL Twins season ticket holders, their family, and friends to attend Thursday evening's hearing at Oak Grove Middle School. And, we ask that you wear something Twins-related to demonstrate your support of the team and the new stadium.
The school is located at 1300 West 106th Street in Bloomington. Below are driving directions.
I thank you for your consideration and hope to see you on Thursday evening. Feel free to contact me or your season ticket holder representative with questions.
We appreciate your ongoing support of the Minnesota Twins!
Sincerely,
Dave St. Peter
President, Minnesota TwinsP.S.—Additional information about the Twins/Hennepin County new ballpark proposal can be found on the Twins website at www.twinsbaseball.com.
(Driving Directions to Oak Grove Middle School from Minneapolis: Take I-35W south to the 106th Street Exit. Go west on 106th Street and arrive at 1300 W. 106th Street.)
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Saturday Special:
The Rebuttal
Good morning everyone! SURPRISE! I rarely will write on a Saturday, but something came up on Friday that I feel I need to write about, something that I need to respond to. That is the reason for today's special posting, but since I am going to be writing that, I will also post some thoughts on the Twins win as well as the Friday night minor league updates.
I went home for lunch yesterday and after eating a little bit, I hopped online and read a few Twins blogs. I went to the Dickie Thon Twins Fan Forum and from their, I went to their Minor League forum. There you will find a section for Seth's Minor League Reports. I saw that there were a couple of new entries on there, so I drilled into it. What I found was a posting by 'fmmiraclegal' that was:
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Now, I figured I had better go check it out. So, I clicked on the link and it took me to Dianna's blog. Now, what do I know about "Dianna?" Not much. I know that she is a big fan of the Ft. Myers Miracle, the Twins High Class A affiliate and she attends most, if not all of their games at home. I know that she writes a couple of Twins minor league related sites. I know that she set up a distribution list to send articles related to the Twins minor league affiliates. I appreciate much of the stuff that Dianna does.
So, I went to her link and was thinking it would be a positive thing. The first sentence says, "Seth, from the blog Seth Speaks has already decided that 3-fifths of our pitching staff needs to move to New Britain."
I start chuckling because I have not ever said or written that. In my blog entry from Tuesday, I wrote, "So, how long will Matt Garza be at Ft. Myers before the team promotes him to New Britain? My guess... not too long at all."
Now, if you were to click on the Comments from that day, Dianna left a comment that said, "Could you at least let them all pitch one game before the home town crowd before you pack them off to the Connecticut cold?"
In a subsequent comment, I added, "And yeah, Garza, Slowey and Swarzak should all be up in New Britain sooner than later. Dianna, as a FM fan, I know that there is frequent talk about how the team does not keep prospects in FM for very long. Last year they lost Blackburn, Perkins and Simonitsch along with Span and Moses. At least this year I don't really see them losing any position players (unless Moses moves up to AAA which I don't think will happen. then Winfree may move up.). They will likely lose those three pitchers, but I think that Ryan Mullins and Brian Duensing would come up, and I don't think that they will struggle too much there."
How did Dianna respond to that? " I Hate you."
When I read that, I chuckled. I was sure that it was a joke of some sort. I mean, look back at what I wrote. I said basically that the three mentioned pitchers are considered top level prospects, and that the Twins have a history of moving top prospects through Ft. Myers very quickly. I used the example of the five prospects that were moved up to New Britain, and said that I understand a Miracle fan's frustration. However, the reality is that the Twins move their prospects through the system. I understand that Dianna is a fan of the Ft. Myers Miracle and wants to see the best players. However, I am a fan of the Minnesota Twins first. The purpose of the minor league affiliates is to develop players and for them to work their way up the system to the big leagues. Sure, I want the Miracle to win and be successful, but I don't want our top prospects to sit in High Class A forever. I want them to move up to AA New Britain. And, I don't think that the New Britain fans expect their top prospects to remain there. They probably hope that they are moved up in time too.
Apparently, it was not a joke at all. Go back and continue to read her article. Here is the second sentence, "No matter that New Britain has our pitching staff from last year (sans Scotty Tyler, which is likely a good thing). They’re not winning any games, so let’s get those boys on a plane and fly them to New Britain." Again, why should the quality pitching staff that started last year in Ft. Myers remain there? Why should they not be challenged by moving up. Likewise, why should the current crop (Swarzak, Garza and Slowey) be held back if the situation presents itself? And again, where did I say that this change, or these promotions, should happen right now, right away?? I don't see it.
Dianna continues later, "So who exactly is Seth that he can decide all our pitching needs to get on a plane today and fly to New Britain?" I've never claimed to be anything more than I am. I am a fan and a blogger who enjoys following the Twins prospects and minor leaguers throughout their system. I like seeing players promoted. I enjoy watching players progress. For me, it is a lot of fun to see guys like Scott Baker and Jesse Crain fly quickly through the system. I also enjoy following guys like Trent Oeltjen or Alex Romero who have moved up one level each year. I also appreciate guys like Tommy Watkins or Josh Rabe who have spent lots of time in the organization. To me, they all deserve to be recognized for what they do. That is why I blog on them, because they deserve it, they're Twins minor leaguers and because I enjoy it. I don't have any inside information. I have no say in whether the Twins promote or release a player.
She goes on to write a lot of negative comments about me, my blog and my life. I am completely going to ignore those comments on here. They don't even warrant a rebuttal. I will only say that I do love baseball. I am passionate about the game of baseball at all levels. However, I do enjoy other things. I enjoy American Idol. I enjoy getting out once in awhile and doing other things. I like to think that I have many diverse interests.
I'm not going to sink to that level. I don't need to, and I don't want to. Like I said before, I think that Dianna does a lot to promote all of the Twins minor league affiliates, especially the Ft. Myers Miracle, and I appreciate it all. I'm just a little disappointed that she felt the need to completely bash me and my integrity over something I wrote that is not even inaccurate. The Twins do have a history of promoting top prospects from Ft. Myers to New Britain at midseason.
And then my favorite part of her posting:
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Yes, I agree, FUN is good. However, threatening to burn down my whole town, or using a uranium bomb, and for making me essentially extinct, that isn't fun. That isn't even funny! That shows no class. That, well, I don't even know what that is. Or maybe I do. I believe it would be called a felony. On the news, we have seen students expelled from school and adults thrown in jail for saying or writing less. I wonder what the FCC or other authorities would think of these 'terroristic threats.' At the very least, there is a 'defamation of character' situation at play. Maybe there is an organization that I could e-mail her story's link to. But again, I would rather not do that. However, if I continue to be attacked, I just might. If anyone has any information on whether there is anything that I can do, please let me know.
Fun is good. I really do enjoy following the Twins minor league prospects and teams. I enjoy reading their box scores and having a site on which I can write some very brief summaries to show Minnesota Twins fans what is happening in the farm system. Once in a while, I will make some other comments. I will post my Top 30 or Top 50 Twins prospect lists. I will try to note things of interest. I will also tell fans information like that the team has a history of promoting its top prospects quickly from Ft. Myers to New Britain. That isn't my opinion, that is something that can be supported by facts and by the history the past few years. As long as the readers let me know that they are still interested in this information, I will continue to provide it.
So again, I did not really want to post this. I know that most of you could really care less and don't want to get involved. I apologize for putting you through it. I would much prefer that it become a non-issue. However, what Dianna wrote was a personal attack on me based on nothing. It had no merit whatsoever. It not only was posted on her site, but she posted a link to it on the Dickie Thon Twins Fan Forum. Readers of that site may have read it and felt that it had some merit despite the fact that she did not back up any of her comments with anything factual. I felt it was within my right to post a rebuttal on my site, but also on the Dickie Thon site, just in case some readers did not take the time to read what actually happened or didn't know 'the rest of the story.' Here is my response on that site:
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I know, it was a hastily put together response, so please don't judge the grammar and punctuation. But what happened when I defended myself on there? I was told that the forum was not the place for "personal" stuff. Well, I didn't write anything 'personal' in the above response, did I? I responded to an article that was written with the things that I disagreed to in it. That happens a lot on the site. An article is copied and pasted into a message and people discuss it. In this case, an article was linked to, and I discussed the content of it (leaving out the complete attack on me so as not to make it personal).
I am generally a very happy-go-lucky person. If you ask people I know, it is rare that I am upset. I mean, we're talking once a year rare. And, with this, I am actually not mad about it. I am just a little disappointed that someone chose to make such personal statements about me, particularly since her apparent disdain for me is unfounded. I am sorry to have brought all of you into it, but like I said, I thought a personal attack of that magnitude deserved some sort of response. I hope you understand.
Anyway, if you have any thoughts on this topic, please feel free to Comment below. I only ask that we keep it decent (non-vulgar) and respectful, ok? Thanks for listening! (if you would like to comment, but not in public, you can also send me an e-mail.)
What a baseball game that was to watch. Here are some quick thoughts on the Twins 5-1 win over the New York Yankees last night:
I know there are a lot of people who like those 12-8 ball games because of all of the offense. For me, I prefer the nice 2-1 or 3-1 game that this was until the Twins added two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. It is just far more exciting when each pitch throughout the game matters.
Scott Baker was the story of the game. As I mentioned yesterday, the Yankees were able to score nine or more runs each of their previous four games. Baker held the Bombers to just one run on three hits and a walk over seven innings. Just remarkable! And, what do we all like about Baker? His Radke-like poise, right? Well, how perfect is this quote from Baker after the game? "What good is it going to do to show your emotion? They're going to eat you up if they get a glimpse of any kind of distress like that" I'm a big Baker fan!
Juan Castro had a great game. Yes, I still think that Jason Bartlett would have been the right choice at the beginning of the season, and I will believe that throughout the season. However, Castro deserves his props! He had some great at bats in the game including an RBI single that came on the 10th pitch of a 7th inning at bat the ended Mike Mussina's night. He went 2-4 and is hitting 346 on the season. That won't last, but it is good to see him doing well right now.
Good to see Lew Ford back in the lineup and in the outfield. He went 2-3 with a walk. He had some awkward running plays on the bases and in the field, and he came through them well, so I assume his hamstring is 100% healed.
The Twins got a win when their 2, 3, and 4 hitters (Castillo, Mauer and White) went a combined 0-11.
Rondell White is now 3-38 on the year.
Justin Morneau had a couple of hits. His 8th inning single to left gave the Twins another insurance run. The impressive part of it was that the pitch was outer-half and he hit the ball to left. In his previous at bat, he struck out on a pitch on the outside corner. If you check the replay, you will see that he 'stepped in the bucket,' a term used to say that his front foot was stepping toward the first baseman instead of back at the pitcher. In doing so, he gives himself no chance to do anything with that outside pitch.
The Yankees managed just four hits, and Robinson Cano had two of them.
Everyone likes to say that Mike Mussina is a "Twins Killer." Well, his career mark against the Twins coming into last night was 20-4 with a 3.14 ERA. However, if you look at his recent performances against the Twins, it is a different story. In 2005, he made just one regular season start against the Twins. He got the Loss after allowing six runs on eight hits and two walks in six innings. He gave up two home runs, two walks and had just one strikeout. In 2004, he made two starts against the Twins. He was 0-1 and gave up seven runs on 12 hits and six walks in 10 innings. A little more human!
If you have any thoughts on the
Twins season, or anything Twins related, please
send me an e-mail, or
post some Comments down below.
SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Matt Moses, New Britain Rockcats
SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Justin Jones, New Britain Rockcats
A night after all four affiliates lost, three of four won last night. If you have any thoughts on the Twins system, please e-mail me.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Thursday - Red Wings 10, Pawtucket 4 – The bats were back on Friday night for the Red Wings. Andres Torres had a single, double and triple in his five at bats. Chris Heintz went 3-4. Josh Rabe was 2-5, and Jason Bartlett was 2-5 including a double. Garrett Jones was 2-4 with a walk, a double and his first homer of the year. On the mound, veteran Peter Munro improved to 2-0. He went five innings and allowed just two runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out just one. Ricky Barrett came in for the next three innings and gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks. Matt Ford walked two in the ninth, but he did not give up a run.
NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Thursday - Rockcats 2, New Hampshire 1 – After missing the past three games, Matt Moses was back in the Rockcats lineup last night. He had an excellent game. He went 2-3 with a walk, a double and his first homer. Justin Jones was the star on the mound. The southpaw started and went 5.1 innings. He gave up a run on four hits and three walks. He struck out four. Justin Olson pitched the next 2.2 innings and allowed just a walk while striking out four hitters. Bobby Korckey pitched the ninth. He gave up a walk and a hit, but no runs, and recorded his third save.
FT MYERS MEMOS
Thursday - Miracle 3, Clearwater 4 – Kyle Aselton got the nod for the Miracle. He took the loss, but he actually pitched fairly well. In 5.2 innings, he gave up two runs on three hits. He walked three, but he also struck out seven. Alexander Farfan came in and gave up two runs on two hits (both homers) in 1.1 innings. Julio DePaula walked three in the last two innings but did not give up a run. With the bat, Alexi Casilla continues to impress. He went 3-4 with his fourth double and an RBI last night. Jeremy Pickrel went 1-3 with a walk, a double and two RBI. Ruben Sierra went 0-4 with a strikeout in his stint with the team.
To make room for Sierra on the roster, the Miracle placed David Winfree on the seven-day disabled list. On Tuesday night, he was hit by a pitch on the thumb. It is believed that he should return in seven days as the thumb was just very swollen.
BELOIT BITS
Thursday - Snappers 7, Burlington 4 – Lefty Ryan Mullins started for the Snappers and went six innings. He gave up three runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out six hitters. Dan Powers got his first win of the year. He went two shutout innings and struck out three. Eduardo Morlan recorded his first save of the year. He gave up a hit and a walk, but he also struck out two in his scoreless inning. Paul Kelly, Erik Lis, Caleb Moore and Terrance Patterson each had two hits in the game. Lis had a double. Kelly and Moore each had a triple. Drew Thompson recorded his fifth error of the young season. He was playing 2B.
Do you have any further thoughts on any Twins prospects, minor leaguers, or these summaries? I would love any input, or ideas to make it better. Thanks! E-mail me, or also feel free to leave comments below.
Welp, that is it for today. Again, I apologize for my rant. I hope it doesn't happen again! I hope you understand. I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday!
If you have any thoughts, opinions, comments, critiques, or ideas on anything, please e-mail me, or let's get a discussion going in the Comments.
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