Monday September 8, 2003

TWINS THOUGHTS

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER

ONE MORE THING

DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Hi! I’m Seth, and I’m from MINNESOTA(!)

What a great weekend to be a Minnesota sports fan!  The Twins swept the Texas Rangers in a 3-game weekend series while the Vikings were carving through the Green Bay Packers defense in a big 30-25 win. As I’m sure you could guess, I’ve got plenty of thoughts on both of them!  We Minnesotans can go into this Monday workday feeling good, knowing our Twins are playing well heading into Chicago for a HUGE four-game series against the White Sox.  And, we have bragging rights over our neighboring Wisconsonites, for at least a while!

Be sure to check out our “Expert Football Picks”. This is a fun ‘competition’ between a number of baseball bloggers and other friends, so be sure to check out how we are doing going into tonight’s Monday Night Football game between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia. I mean, you may want to take notice of who is in the lead. And, who, no matter who wins tonight will have the best record in Week 1. OK, I’ll post the Standings through all of Sunday’s games. You will be able to find this on the Football Picks page on this website throughout the season.

TWINS THOUGHTS

On Friday morning, I took a day off of work and left town, making the 7 hour trek down to Minneapolis! We fought a little rush hour, but got to the Dome at about 4:30, and bought our tickets, and stood in line for about ½ hour before going inside.  We had lower level general admission seats, so we got in and got to see two rounds of Twins batting practice. We were in the 5^th row in left center field, so batting practice balls were flying all around us! Check out my Baseball Fan Etiquette posting from awhile back. We noticed another one: IF you’re over the age of 17, don’t wrestle 5 year olds for batting practice balls!!!

You know how you frequently hear people talking about how they can hear if a hitter is a good hitter; that the sound the ball makes off the bat when they’re swinging is just different from most players?  Well, in watching the Texas Rangers take batting practice, there were a few players that created that special crack of the bat when they make contact. Watching Rafael Palmiero take batting practice is a treat! He just has such a sweet swing, and the ball frequently jumped from his bat well into the upper deck in right field! Obviously Alex Rodriguez’s bat makes that same type of noise. But, surprisingly, he didn’t hit a lot of home runs in BP. He hit more line drives to right and right center. All-Star hero Hank Blalock has a great swing too, with an upper cut that drove balls off the facade above the right field fence with frequency. Mark Teixiera, with Johan Santana starting for the Twins on Friday night, took most of his swings right handed. He hit some deep shots well into the left field seats.  He hit a couple that went more than halfway up the bleachers. But, the one name that I was most impressed with by watching him take batting practice was not one of these “stars”. It was actually Laynce Nix. He hit some of the longest home runs in batting practice I’ve seen. Granted, it’s just batting practice, but Nix is a big-time prospect, someone I think will do good things for the Rangers in the coming years. In 132 at bats this year, he’s hitting .258 with 6 homer runs and 23 RBI. The lone problem he has had thusfar is striking out every 3 at bats. (If you’re curious, just one Twin that I saw, made that sound when they hit the ball.  The player… Justin Morneau.)

What a game!  Cristian Guzman cleared the bases in the 3^rd inning with a triple, and scored from third on an error. At that point, the Twins were up 8-2 and with Johan Santana pitching, I made the comment, “This one’s over!” Right then, Santana lost control. He loaded the bases with a double and two walks. Then he got “wild in the strike zone” and tubed a pitch that Michael Young uncorked into the left field seats. Two batters later, Alex Rodriguez hit a shot to dead center and suddenly we were watching an 8-7 game.  But in the 5^th inning, Juan Rincon came in and saved the day! He pitched 3 perfect innings in relief!  Luis Rivas led off the 6^th inning with a triple! Doug Mientkiewicz followed with a great at bat that resulted in a sacrifice fly. At that point, I looked at my friend and made a call that Matthew Lecroy would ‘go yard’. And, he did just that, hitting a home run that landed maybe 20 feet from us! That gave the Twins a 10-7 lead, a lead that LaTroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado made hold up!

The next morning, we were up before 6, and on the road back to the Metrodome by 6:50. We got there about 7:30, got our tickets from Will Call, and worked to find the end of the line for Gate F.  There were two lines forming for that gate, and each rounded a few corners. It was really confusing because people from Gate G were trickling down to Gate F. Getting into line about an hour and a half before the gates opened, we were still probably 200 feet from the gate. It was AJ Pierzynski bobblehead game! That’s why we had to wait in line for so long. But that’s alright. When the gates opened at 9:00, we still were able to get our bobbleheads, making the waking up early and the standing in line for so long all worth it! I should admit; I went down to the game, hoping to get a bobblehead. But really, I just wanted to go to a couple of games, and if we happened to get a bobblehead, that is really just an extra. (The reason the Twins had to play at 11:00 on Saturday was because the Minnesota Gophers had a home football game at the Dome at 7:30.)

So anyway, we got to our lower level reserved seats shortly after 9. I was really looking forward to watching the Rangers take batting practice from up close. But with such an early game time, neither team took infield or batting practice. I have sat in those seats before, just to the left of home plate, and have never had a foul ball come near me. Saturday, we must have had 6 foul balls within about 20 feet of us, a couple within probably 8 feet, but we didn’t get one. This game was a little different. Brad Radke was great, holding the potent Rangers lineup to just 2 runs in 7 innings. And, with the mashers in the middle of the Rangers lineup, it was Shane Spencer who had two RBI hits in the game. In the 2^nd inning for the Twins, Jacque Jones led off with a single. On the next pitch, Torii Hunter tripled into the right field corner. He was stranded there until, with 2 outs, Shannon Stewart came through (again), with an RBI single!  Then, in the 3^rd inning, Doug Mientkiewicz led off with a single. Matthew Lecroy walked. After Jones grounded out (scoring Mientkiewicz) and Hunter struck out, AJ Pierzynski had a typical AJ Pierzynski at bat.  He had 2 terrible swings on the first two pitches, then fought off 5 or 6 more pitches before unloading on a pitch and hitting a 2-run homer, giving the Twins a 5-0 lead.  Radke gave up his two runs in 7 innings, before giving way to LaTroy Hawkins for the 8^th inning and Eddie Guardado in the 9^th.

In the game, Torii Hunter made another Gold-Glove caliber catch. On a line drive, Torii ran a long way up to make a diving catch. As terrible and frustration watching Torii Hunter at the plate has become, it is great to see how he has not let it affect his defense at all!  It was also nice to see the crowd give him a standing ovation and cheer. That was well-deserved.

Now, with that 7-hour return trip, we didn’t stay for Sunday’s game.  It wasn’t on TV either. So, after the game, we went half way, then finished the trip home Sunday morning. We listened to the Ron Gardenhire Show on ‘CCO. It’s funny to listen to because Gardy answers basically every question the same way, that being… he really doesn’t answer it and just says a bunch of cliches. It’s also funny because when the Twins were playing really poorly, Gardy gets bashed. Now that they’re playing well, Gardy continues to get bashed, just not by everyone. The object of the negative talk was Mr. Torii Hunter. The best though was a man who called in and ranted on how Gardy could continue to let him bat, how he can stand to see him wasting at bats, and just not being smart, etc.  At one point, he said, “I don’t know if Hunter has a learning disability or what,” but he just doesn’t make adjustments. I’m sorry, but when I heard that, I laughed. How did Gardy reply?  As always, with the combination of “We like Torii. We like when he steps up to the plate. We know he’s going to strike out sometimes. But he busts his tail every day. He works hard. And, he plays such a great defense.” The standard Gardy stuff! That said, when he came up with the bases loaded in the 10^th inning yesterday, with the winning run on 3B, Hunter was not the guy I would have wanted up there! Fortunately, Torii was able to come through with a fly ball just deep enough to score Doug Mientkiewicz for the winning run!

The Twins swept the Rangers! As I’ve said a number of times, they need to win series the rest of the season, 2 out of 3, 3 out of 4.  The Twins needed to sweep just to keep up with the Chicago White Sox, who this weekend, swept the Cleveland Indians. Kansas City went out to Anaheim and split a 4 game series with the Angels. So, that said, here are the American League Central Standings going into today’s games. (Note - we always see the team that comes from the city that alphabetically comes first is listed first when teams are tied. Well, this is a Twins site, so I’m going to list them alphabetically by their team name.)

So, there you have it. A little bit of proof that the Twins upcoming four-game series with the Chicago White Sox is pretty important! If the Twins can split the 4 games in Chicago, they should become the favorites to win the division.  When the Twins leave Chicago, they will go to Cleveland for 4 games while the White Sox go to Boston before they meet in Minnesota for a three-game series (they also have a series with the Yankees before the season ends). In other words, they’re all big games, and the cliché the is most annoying holds most true… They need to play one game at a time and can’t look past anyone! That said, here are the pitching matchups for the big series:

Monday - Kyle Lohse (12-10, 4.87) vs. Bartolo Colon (12-12, 4.08)

Tuesday - Carlos Pulido (0-0, 0.00) vs. Mark Buehrle (11-13, 4.22)

Wednesday - Johan Santana (9-3, 3.10) vs. Jon Garland (11-10, 4.31)

Thursday - Brad Radke (11-10, 4.93) vs. Esteban Loaiza (19-6, 2.60)

The White Sox set up their rotation to throw their top 4 pitchers against the Twins. So, they really need to win 3 out of 4, because they play the Red Sox next. Then in the three game Minnesota series, the Twins should miss out on both Buehrle and Colon. Should be fun! Try to enjoy the series! Try not to over-analyze the games! That’s my job!

VIKINGS THOUGHTS

The Vikings beat the Packers in Green Bay!!!  The Vikings beat the Packers at Lambeau Field!!! The Vikings are going to win the Division!! The Vikings aren’t going to go 16-0! That would be unrealistic. They’ll go 15-1! The Vikings are going to win the Super Bowl!!

OK, I hope you read the above paragraph and caught the sarcasm of it! There are still plenty of question marks around the Vikings. Clock management was terrible. The defense, after playing great for the first three and a half quarters gave up yards in big chunks toward the end of the game. Daunte Culpepper fumbled in unnecessary situations twice.

That said, the Vikings played a great game and reversed a couple of other trends that hurt them so much last year. They actually put some pressure on Brett Favre. That didn’t result in a lot of sacks, but it created a lot of hurries. The hurries forced the four interceptions for the Vikings.  Yes, four interceptions, two by safety Corey Chavous. The big play of the game happened near the end of the first half.  The Vikings had just had a poor possession and gave the ball back to the Packers with time, who marched right down the field. Inside the 20, Brian Williams picked off a bad pass from Favre and returned it 78 yard, allowing the Vikings to score 3 more points before the half.  Not only was that potentially a 10 point swing, but the Packers got the 2^nd half kickoff, so they could have further cut into the Vikings lead.

On the game, Culpepper-to-Moss was a pattern that seemed to work throughout the game. Despite frequent double-coverage, Moss was able to make 9 catches for 150 yards and a TD. Culpepper also threw TD passes to D’Wayne Bates and John Avery.

The offensive line was great, allowing Culpepper plenty of time to throw, and also opening up holes for Moe Williams (who ended with 78 yards rushing). I thought it was interesting that Onterrio Smith didn’t see the field.  Did anyone else think that Doug Chapman appeared to have cement in his shoes?

I know there was some concern with Aaron Elling being the team’s kicker, but yesterday, he connected on all three of his extra point attempts and all 3 of his field goal attempts, including a 46 yarder.

Anyway, the 30-25 victory for the Vikings in Green Bay was a very impressive win, no matter how early in the season it is. Does it mean that the Vikings are an upper echelon team?  Not necessarily.  Does it mean that the Packers aren’t that good?  Not necessarily.  The Vikings have to forget this win by tomorrow and can’t afford to look past next Sunday night’s game against the Bears.

On an important note, was it just me, or did the Donald Driver injury put the game back into perspective?!!?  That was a scary scene. Fortunately, at no time did Driver lose consciousness or experience paralysis, but the pain he experiences was intense.  I’m glad he’ll be alright!

OTHER NFL THOUGHTS (That I noticed)

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? I predicted that the Dolphins would go to the Super Bowl this year, yet somehow they were upset by the Houston Texans.  Upsets happen frequently in the NFL. But in my estimation, the Dolphins defense is one of the top in the NFL. The Texans and David Carr set records last season for most sacks allowed. So how many sacks did the Dolphins get on Carr yesterday?  NONE! No sacks, no forced fumbles, no interceptions.

HOW YOU LIKE THEM APPLES? On Monday, the Patriots released their defense Lawyer Milloy. On Wednesday, he signed with the Buffalo Bills. One Sunday, he started at safety for the Bills against the New England Patriots.  The Bills won the game 31-0 and Milloy had 5 tackles, tipped a ball which was intercepted, and sacked QB Tom Brady for an 11 yard loss.

ROOKIE RECEIVERS - Check out our “Expert Football Picks.”  In it, we all picked who we thought would win the Rookie of the Year Award. 6 out of 9 chose Charles Rogers. Charles Rogers gets all the publicity, and yesterday, he lived up to the hype. He caught 4 passes for 38 yards and 2 impressive touchdowns. But, he wasn’t even the best rookie receive on the field yesterday. That honor belongs to the Arizona Cardinals rookie wideout, Anquan Boldin. The rookie from Florida State had 10 receptions for 217 yards, including a 71 yard TD catch.

SIZE DOESN’T MATTER

Saturdays in the fall are all about college football. Every sports radio station talks about it as if it were the NFL.  I just can’t get into it.  I like watching Nebraska. I’d watch the Gophers if they were on TV. Ohio State and the Florida schools can be fun to watch. But aside from that, I couldn’t care less about it.  That said, sometimes small school college football is more exciting anyway.

First, my alma mater, Division III Concordia (Moorhead, MN) defeated Division II Minnesota State U.-Moorhead 42-28 on Saturday.  It’s not really an upset, because the two teams are pretty evenly matched. MSU-M is a middle-of-the-pack team in the NSIC, while Concordia is usually in contention for the MIAC title along with St. Johns.

But the big story of the weekend happened in Missoula, Montana!  Last year, North Dakota State University made the decision to go to Division I in its athletic programs, starting next year. They have decided to jump from Division II (where they have a rich tradition nationally) to Division I-AA. Saturday, they went out to Missoula to play the University of Montana, a team that is ranked #3 in I-AA, and is always a player on the I-AA playoffs.  I’m sure NDSU’s football team went out there to give them an idea of the type of competition they will play against when they jump to a full time I-AA schedule. Well, they did more than that, they went into Montana and won the game 25-24.  I realize this didn’t appear on Sports Center or any national highlights. But in reality, it would be similar to a team like Troy State going down to Miami and beating the Hurricanes? NDSU is coached by first-year head coach Craig Bohl, the former defensive coordinator at Nebraska.

On a side note, those who are reading this from the Fargo area, injured Minnesota Vikings RB Michael Bennett will be at Scheels on Sept. 16 signing autographs. For those of you around Grand Forks, he will be at Scheels there this Tuesday!

ONE MORE THING

On a more personal level, my siblings and I would like to congratulate my dad, Del Stohs, who yesterday graduated from the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO.  Over five years ago, he was among the first people to go through a program called DELTO, which allowed him to use Distance Learning to complete course work toward becoming a pastor, while working in local churches. I know that in addition to all the work he normally does, he had to write papers and do plenty of reading and homework. And, I’m sure mom is glad too, cuz I know that she did a lot to push him hard to get it all done. So, it’s official, my dad is a pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.  And, it’s also official, I am now a Pastor’s Kid!! So… Look Out!

 

DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE WEEK

This is a question that I think comes into question at this time every year… The MVP award.  What does the term “Most VALUABLE Player” mean? Does it mean just the best player in the league statistically for the year?  Does it mean the most clutch player?  Does it mean the best player on the best team? Last year, Miguel Tejada of the Oakland A’s won the AL MVP award even though his overall numbers weren’t as good as Texas Rangers SS Alex Rodriguez. But, the A’s went to the playoffs, and the Rangers didn’t play a ‘meaningful game after Memorial Day.  So, what do you think? I know that everyone has different opinions on this, and I would love to hear from you on your thoughts.

So, here’s how the Discussion Question of the Week works. Today, the Question is first presented. It will be included on the site all week. If you would like to participate in the discussion, just send me an e-mail with your response by Thursday night. I will then, on Friday, post the responses that I get. This one should be fun and interesting.

Have a great week!

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