I was listening to Mike & Mike in the Morning this morning on the radio coming into work and the topic was MLB post-season pitching performances and which was the best of all time. Of course the discussion started because of Roy Halladay’s no hitter on Wednesday, the first day of the playoffs. Halladay’s gem was only the second in the post season since 1956, when Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 5th game of a 7 game series that his New York Yankees would go on to win over their rival the Los Angeles Dodgers. By the time I started listening to the show I think they had already concluded that Larsen’s perfect game was a better pitching performance than Halladay’s, and given that one was perfect and one was not that seemed a reasonable conclusion to reach.

But then Mike Greenberg opined that Jack Morris’ 10-inning victory in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series was the all-time best post-season pitching performance, and that was a position that Mike Golic, an ex-football player mind you, was just not willing to take. In his simplistic way of looking at it Larsen’s was a better performance because he gave up no hits, and since Morris gave up 7, clearly Morris’ performance was subpar.

They argued back and forth quite a bit on this and I wasn’t satisfied with Greenberg’s argument of “Morris put up 10 0s and Larsen only put up 9″ (meaning Jack Morris pitched 10 innings compared to Don Larsen’s 9), which I think was as overly-simplistic as Golic’s.

For me the argument hinges on the context of the moment.

All other things being equal, would a no-hitter in the first game of the season compare to a no-hitter in the 163rd game of season (with this game being a one game “winner goes to the playoffs” extra game, such as the Twins had to play in a couple of times recently)? I don’t think so – I think it clear that because of the context of the moment, the “win or you go home” pressure of the moment, that, all other things being equal, the 163rd game no-hitter would be a better pitching performance. In fact I would argue that context is so important that even if the first game no-hitter was a perfect game that it wouldn’t stand up to the final game no-hitter.

How about two similar no-hitters in the post season, one the 6th game in the World Series where the pitcher’s team holds a 3-2 lead in the series and the other a 7th game where the series is knotted 3-3? Again, the context of the second example, where if you lose the season is done, makes me weigh that performance over the first, where the pitcher knows that even if he loses there will be a game 7.

What about a game where the other pitcher is throwing equally as well? If someone threw a no-hitter in a game where his team won 12-0 would that pitching performance be as impressive as one in which the opposing pitcher gave up only a single run? I don’t think so. The pressure in the second example, the context of that situation, elevates that performance to a higher level.

So the question becomes how important is context when comparing two pitching performances where the results were not equal, such as when comparing Don Larsen’s 5th game perfect game which gave his team a 3-2 series lead and Jack Morris’ 7th game 10-inning 1-0 gem that gave his team the World Series? Larsen had a 1-0 lead when he took to the mound in the 5th and a 2-0 lead when he took to the mound in the 7th. For Morris the game was tied 0-0 the entire game, including the 10th inning when he simply refused to be pulled out of the game. In the 7th game of the World Series.

The answer for me is that context is supremely important. No question Jack Morris’ pitching performance in the 7th game of the 1991 World Series is the best pitching performance of all time, and I will throw the regular season in there too. Talk to me all you want about perfect games, no-hitters, 20 strikeouts, or whatever other metric you want to use. Best all time.

And I’m not just saying that because I’m a Twins fan who watched every minute of the game.

Morris is the man.

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Best MLB Post-Season Pitching Performance

This has been a very difficult season to be a “Minnesota Twins”:http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=min fan, particularly one like me who doesn’t get the chance (nor enjoy due to the Dome) to attend many games.

Last year the Twins brain-trust created their own cable network, Victory Sports One, and they set about the arduous task of getting it picked up by cable providers so that fans could actually see the games they were televising. Unfortunately while Victory was able to garner deals with many small out-state cable systems they were never able to get a deal done with the biggies like Comcast which effectively meant that for most Twins fans in Minnesota the team would only be seen on TV about 30 times throughout the year as they played nationally televised games and other specials.

Thankfully the Twins have come to their senses, listened to their upset fans, and have done something about it. Yesterday they “inked a deal with Fox Sports Net”:http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/news/min_news.jsp?ymd=20040507&content_id=738625&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp to show the Twins in this region for the next eight years. Victory Sports will be disbanded and local Twins fans get what they wanted all along – the chance to tune in every night to see if home town baseball prodigy “Joe Mauer”:http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=7062 is back playing yet.

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Twins Back On Television

Good luck to the Johnnies of Saint Johns today as they take on the legendary Mount Union Raiders in the Division III college football championship. I’m a Saint John’s graduate, of a sort, having attended a leadership camp there when I was about 12. So I’ve got a vested interest!

It’s going to be a great game. On the Saint John’s side of the field you have the winningest coach in all of college football, John Gagliardi. I don’t know if this will be his last year or not but what a way to go out if it is.

Mount Union has won 109 out of their last 110 games, a stretch over seven seasons where they have won 6 championships. Smack in the middle of that was the lone loss, 56 games ago, and the Johnnies hope to repeat the upset that Rowan University was able to orchestrate back in 1999. They came close to doing it in 2000 when they lost to the Raiders 10-7 in the title game. Close, but no cigar. Mount Union’s current win streak of 55 is the longest winning streak in the history of college football, topping the 54 game streak that was interrupted by Rowan. Pretty impressive.

It’s the 13-0 Raiders against the 13-0 Johnnies. Good luck men!

[UPDATE: WOW, what an incredible 24-6 win by Saint John's! Congratulations Johnnies! To put this upset in more perspective Mount Union beat their opponents this year by an average of 50-6. Last week in the semi-finals they won 66-0. After a week in the NFL that showcased "it's all about me" players like Joe Horn and the sloppy tackling that seems to mark most NFL games this year it was such a pleasure to watch a well coached team like Saint John's. They hand the ball to the ref after they score, they run hard and they don't miss tackles. At the start of the game the announcers were talking about Gagliardi's coaching style and one of them criticized the fact that Gagliardi has a "no tackling" rule in practice. He said he didn't like that. Then sometime in the third quarter he admitted that Saint John's was the best tackling team he had ever seen. That's coaching.]

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Good Luck To Saint Johns

The Cubs/Red Sox series would have been a good one, but who knows where it would have placed on ESPN’s complete list of the 100 World Series that have been contested, ranked from best to worst.

The best? None other than the 1991 World Series won by the Minnesota Twins. Game 7 still ranks as one of my all-time great sports memories. Jack Morris pitches a 10-inning complete game 1-0 shutout to beat Atlanta and bring the trophy home to Minnesota. I don’t know of a better baseball game ever.

In reading the recap from ESPN I was reminded of why this was such a great series beyond the Morris heroics:

Four games won in the final at-bat; five games decided by one run; three extra-inning games, including Games 6 and 7; Kirby’s Puckett’s HR in the 11th wins Game 6; Jack Morris goes 10 innings in Game 7 1-0 shutout.

“And we’ll see you tomorrow night!”

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Best Series Ever

I found out just yesterday that the Colorado Avalanche added Paul Kariya and Teemu Salanne to their roster this year. No they don’t replace Sakic, Forsberg, Blake et al – it’s in addition to an already fine team. That spells serious trouble for anyone hoping to compete for the Cup this year, particularly our Wild who are still missing their two top scorers last year to holdouts.

Ouch.

Update – Colorado made the playoffs but their spending did not give them the ultimate prize as they didn’t even make the Cup Finals.

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Buying the Stanley Cup

This was an interesting week to be in Chicago. Got to feel sorry for those Chicago Cubs fans. Are they the unluckiest team in baseball? As a Minnesota Twins fan I have been able to relish the excitement of winning a couple of World Series in the last 16 years. But oh those Cubbies. I won’t add too much more to the guy’s fifteen minutes of fame, but you really have to feel sorry for Steve Bartman, the Cubs fan who from here on out is going to be more infamous than Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. For his sake I was really rooting the Cubs on last night but it was not to be.

What I found most amusing about this week was the reaction of the White Sox fans. One would think that with the Sox out of the playoffs that they would rally behind the city of Chicago and support the remaining local team. No way. The only people happier in Chicago than the Florida Marlins are the Chicago White Sox fans. It’s really something.

[UPDATE] – Curse of the Bambino still alive and kicking as well. Sorry Jim.

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No Joy in Cubville

The Wolverines of the University of Michigan beat the Gophers of the University of Minnesota in college football tonight with 31 points in the 4th quarter to win 38-35. How a team can rush for 425 yards and still lose is a tribute to horrible coaching, but that’s not the point of this story.

This game marked the 100th anniversary of the Little Brown Jug, the trophy these two teams have been fighting for since 1903. The legend has it that Michigan came into that game concerned that Minnesota would not supply clean water so they brought their own water jug. After Michigan left it behind accidentally the head of the Minnesota athletics department told them they would need to win it back if Michigan wanted to see the jug again. And the next time the two teams played in 1909, they did just that. But that’s not the point of this story either.

So what is the point? Just this:

1901: 550-0
1902: 644-12
1903: 656-6
1904: 567-22
1905: 495-2

That’s five seasons of U of Mich football with the total score for the seasons games. 2912 points for Michigan, 42 for the opposition. Over five seasons. One more measly touchdown by the Gophers tonight and they would have matched in one game what Michigan gave up in five years. Amazing. Those 6 points in 1903 were by the Gophers in the first Jug game, a 6-6 tie. The 1901 season featured a 128-0 shellacking of Buffalo.

You almost feel sorry for the poor guys playing defense on the 1904 team. What a ribbing they must have taken in alumni events.

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Michigan Football

So Manute Bol wants to be a jockey. A 7-foot-7 jockey. What the hell? Manute has tried both hockey and boxing after a less than stellar career in the NBA.

I don’t understand why he does these gimmicks when he could actually make a real impact in the NFL. Imagine having him play wide receiver in goal line situations. You throw the ball to him 12 feet up in the air, a ball that he snags with hands that easily palm a basketball. No problems with him getting hit – he can fall in from the 4 yard line.

Goal line specialist Manute Bol. Unstoppable.

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Somebody sign this guy!

No Fantasy Football for me this year but I did manage to win the picks pool this week with 13/16 right. We use a weighted ranking scale where most points wins and I managed to win despite losing my 16 (Miami) and 13 (Green Bay) games. Yes, that’s right I didn’t go with the Vikings. Fortunately it didn’t cost me. Since almost everyone will switch next week and go with the Vikes I have to think seriously about betting against them again, although for a lower point total. But against the Bears at home it has to be a lock, doesn’t it? If they do manage to lose it will signal a bad year for the home team.

Five years later and I still haven’t been back into Fantasy Football. I just found a didn’t enjoy football as much when as I was so into the players stats. Plus the channel flipping and constant checking of the Internet was driving my wife crazy.

This year I am in a new kind of office pool, where you only need to pick one winner per week and as long as you get that pick correct you continue on to the next week. One loss and you are done. The catch? Once you pick a football team you can’t use that same team again. I have 3 entries so this week (opening week of 2008) I picked New England, San Diego and Indianapolis. Each are big favorites.

So, no more fantasy football and hopefully this new kind of pick pool will keep me better grounded and not so crazy.

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A Good Start

I played golf this week at Legends in Prior Lake. Highly recommend the course. Challenging but with a nice mix of wide fairways and reachable par 4s. Greens are like ice and many are undulating. Spend more time on the putting green than I did!

Legends has installed ParView in their golf carts which really enhances the round and helps a golfer new to the course compete against those who know the yardages. This system tells you everything you need to know about how far you are not only from the pin but front and back of the green, bunkers, water, etc. The ParView demo has some nice screenshots which capture it pretty well. You can use the system to score as well.

Now as nice as it is to know how far you are from the green there are times that what you really need is to find where that ball is that just went in the woods or the deep rough. Tracker chips embedded in golf balls. That would be cool. They have glow in the dark balls for night play, I’ve got to think putting RFID or something similar into a golf ball would be simple enough.

I know I’d be willing to pay a lot more for a ball that I was not liable to lose in anything but the middle of a lake.

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Golf Technology

Herb Brooks was killed in a car accident yesterday. He coached the 1980 US Olympic team that won gold in Lake Placid, an event Sports Illustrated voted in 1999 as the greatest sporting achievement in the 20th century. To this 14 year old kid who watched in the basement with his family, who got goosebumps for the first time, this award was a no-brainer. Not until my Twins won the world series in ’87 and ’91 did I feel a similar emotion but you always remember your first.

A few things about that gold medal victory. First, it wasn’t against the Russians. The stunning victory that prompted Al Michaels’ famous “Do you believe in Miracles? — Yes!” call wasn’t actually in the gold medal game. Two days later the team that defeated the heavy favorite Russian “Red Army” team went up against Finland and came from behind in the final period to win gold.

In 1980 the Cold War was still on. The Wall was still u And Iran was holding US citizens as hostages. While other countries used professional athletes in the Olympics we still preferred amateurs – and no David vs. Goliath match-up was bigger than it was than in hockey. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for the kids on the US team to face off with the older professionals from the Russian team, many of whom (maybe all?) where actually soldiers.

A couple of weeks prior to the Olympics the Russians beat the US 10-3. Perhaps that made them over confident. Perhaps Brooks’ magic as a motivator put us over the to Perhaps it was just a bunch of kids who had been convinced by Brooks that they were born to shock the world. Whatever it was there is no doubt that without Herb Brooks hand-picking, coaching and motivating that team that there would have been no gold that year.

Memories of a 14 year old boy’s goosebumps. Yes, I believe in miracles.

[UPDATE] – College kids perform Olympic miracle is a must read.

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Herb Brooks Sadness

Are you a SortaGolfer? Take the quiz to find out. If you are anything like most recreational golfers the answer will probably be yes.

As SGA Commissioner Donn Glenn explains in his welcome letter, the core of SortaGolf is it’s seven amendments, which you most likely are following to some degree already:

Always Improve Your Lie
Double Bogey Is Max
Inside The Pole Is Good
One In-One Out
Any Found Ball Is Yours
Equipment, It’s All Good
Mulligan To Taste

The purpose of SortaGolf is to legitimize what high handicappers are doing already and in the process make the game, a game readily acknowledged to be different than one played by the pros and other scratch golfers, more enjoyable.

Am I a SortaGolfer? Well – to some degree. As I’ve said before I’m trying to play by the USGA rules more and more. At times it can be frustrating but it can also be satisfying too. I played Prestwick today and had a terrific front 9 of 41 that included a 230 yard blast out of a bunker to pin high just off the green, a terrific out from a buried lie and a flattened 3 iron punched out 150 yards from behind two trees with barely 4 feet of room between them. Tremendously satisfying shots. I could easily have improved my lies and never been forced to make those shots but then I would have missed something.

(I closed out the front by hitting a 300 yard drive and a 200 yard 4 iron to hit the par 5 in two. The 40 foot eagle putt never had a chance but I drained the 10 foot putt for birdie to close out the 41. On the back I forgot how to hit my driver and carded a 50. Ugh. Why do I play this game again?)

The spirit of SortaGolf is to make golf more enjoyable for everyone by freeing them from the bonds of guilt imposed by the USGA. It’s a noble cause and while it’s one I won’t be taking up I do think it has it’s place. For one thing it’s widespread adoption would speed up rounds and I’m all for that.

10% Off Your Order at Austads Golf

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SortaGolf

The latest ad from Tiger Woods has him surprising a number of amateur golfers by challenging them to a closest to the pin contest. It’s filmed via hidden cameras and is actually pretty well done. Check out the Tiger Trap video on buick.com.

In the ads Tiger is shown surprising a number of foursomes by claiming he had left his wedge behind. Once he meets everyone and gets his wedge back he offers the challenge and indicates that if someone beats him they would get a new vehicle. Apparently four people did actually knock a ball closer to the pin than Tiger and they each won a $42,000 Buick Rainier SUV.

One of the golfers has gotten into some hot water because of this though. Amateur golfer and reigning Orlando City champion Mike Freeman has lost his amateur status for one year because he accepted the prize. While that doesn’t seem fair given the nature of the setup (this wasn’t exactly Rick Neuheisel territory) as the ESPN article points out he will be netting some nice coinage from the vehicle and the royalties from the ads.

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Tiger Trap

photo credit: cordeman

I’m on vacation this week and have managed to get in 54 holes of golf so far – each one different than the other. That’s what I love about golf; even playing on the same course you will never have two rounds the same. Every shot is a new challenge. It’s the reason why some people call golf frustrating but to me it’s part of the experience.

Darts is frustrating; golf is not. I used to play in a darts league and the very definition of frustrating is knowing that every time you toe the line you are in a situation where every thing is exactly the same as the previous shot, but for some reason this time you hit the 1 instead of the triple 20. You are throwing a 27 gram dart to an object 1.74m off the floor 2.37m away and the only reason you don’t hit exactly what you want every single time is your lack of skill. Everything else is the same. To me that was the ultimate in frustration.

With golf you will find yourself hitting out of a sandy divot from the middle of the fairway. A perfect drive ruined. You’ll have to remember what a sidehill lie does to your flightpath. Don’t even mention the word undulating to me any more. Every shot unique. That’s why I love golf.

I’m not that good a golfer but I can get around OK. I’m playing right now to a 16 handicap and it will probably improve a couple strokes through the summer as I play a bit more than usual. A few years ago what I was looking for every round was one shot that would be like what a pro would make. That was all I was asking for – one shot. One great drive, approach or putt that would make your normal PGA pro happy and I would be ecstatic.

These days I’ve set my sites higher – that one hole that I played as well as any PGA professional. Yesterday I managed that, and on the 18th hole no less. 305 yard drive striped down the middle of the fairway. 100 yard wedge stuck to within 15 feet of the pin. Birdie putt with a two foot left to right curl drained. Man was that a nice way to end the day. It’s what brings you back.

Golf frustrating? Nah. Of course if I had sent that birdie putt 3 feet past the cup and then missed the comebacker I may have a different opinion. No doubt the next time I play that hole I’ll put my drive in the water, chunk my approach, hit it to within 30 feet and 3 putt for the triple bogey.

OK, maybe that would be frustrating.

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Golf Musings

By now you’ve heard that Sammy Sosa was caught with a corked bat. You may think his legacy is broken beyond repair. Today it was found that none of the other 76 bats in his locker (damn, that must be a big locker!) where corked. His excuse that he mistakenly introduced a corked bat meant for Batting Practice seems reasonable.

Here’s my take. Sosa isn’t having a great season. He’s been hurt. In his first two games off the DL he struck out eight times. He’s sitting in the dugout sulking when he spots “the bat.” The one he pulls out in BP to put on a home run show for the crowd. The one that is harmless when used in BP and that sends the ball a mile. The one that he knows to be corked and he knows to be illegal.

“Just one swing is all I need to get out of this slump,” he thinks.

One weak grounder and a cracked bat later and all anyone wants to talk about is how long Sammy Sosa has been cheating. I’d be willing to bet it was the first time and that he got caught before he went down the slippery slope of trying not to cheat again. Imagine if he had hit a home run with that first swing. Could you put it back the next time up? I don’t think so. Hitting is contagious and athletes like Sosa feed off success.

The corked bat is a chink in his armor like the doping charges were. Together they may cost him a few Hall of Fame votes but still, you don’t hit 500+ home runs without knowing how to hit. And Sammy knows how to hit. Maybe next time he should visit a virtual tarot to see his fate first.

I just wish he would tell the truth. It’s good for people to see that athletes are only human.

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Slamming Sammy

Roger Clemens has failed in his second attempt to win the 300th game of his career, first last week against the Red Sox and then yesterday against the lowly Tigers, who erased a 7-1 deficit to send Clemens to the showers and another game ended in frustration. That the Yankees ended up winning in 17 innings probably didn’t mean as much to the Tigers – nobody likes seeing someone set records against you in your home ballpark and they at least assured that would not happen.

Next up in his third attempt for the coveted 300 mark are the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, a park where Clemens has never pitched. As each game goes by that Clemens does not win his 300th (which no doubt will eventually come) he comes closer to one milestone he would rather not be associated with – most attempts at 300, the record which currently stands at 8. That’s the mark put up by Early Wynn. His is one of two pictures Clemens has in his locker (the other is Lefty Grove) as Clemens posts the pictures to remind him of the people he passes in the record book with each win. Both Wynn and Grove ended their careers with exactly 300 wins.

Early Wynn was a Hall of Fame pitcher who ended his career with a 300-244 win/loss record pitching in 23 seasons from 1939 to 1963. Wynn was one of the most intimidating pitcher of his time, prompting Micky Mantle to once say of him, “That s.o.b. is so mean he would $^#&ing knock you down in the dugout.” His record in the decade of the 50′s was 188-119 with more strikeouts than any other pitcher during that period, with 1,544.

He started his career in 1939 with the Washington Senators where he would pitch 8 rather uninspiring seasons, only twice winning more than 10 games. After the 1948 season he was traded to the Cleveland Indians where he began a string of 12 straight seasons with double-digit wins including five 20-win seasons.

After the 1957 season Wynn was traded to the Chicago White Sox and in 1958 became the first Major League pitcher to lead the league in strikeouts two consecutive years for different clubs. In 1959 Wynn won 22 games and the Cy Young Award as the league’s top pitcher. He also accomplished an extremely rare feat that has to this day only been done 10 times – winning a 1-0 game where he hit the homerun for the only score of the game. After a couple of sub-par seasons Wynn came into the twilight of his career, entering what he hoped to be his last season of professional baseball, 1962, needing only 8 more wins for the coveted 300 mark.

Wynn went 7-15 that season, ending the season one shy of 300. After giving him 3 shots at that last victory the White Sox released Wynn, allowing the Cleveland Indians to pick him up for the 1963 season and to hit the milestone for the team where he earned the most wins in his career. In his first start with the Indians he pitched a complete game gem, only to lose in the 9th on a home run by the Orioles’ Ron Hansen. That was typical over the next few games as Wynn would pitch well only to see poor run support from the Indians. Finally on July 13th in Kansas City the Indians staked Wynn to a 5-0 lead and Wynn made it through the fifth inning with a 5-4 lead and an eventual 7-4 win for the 300th win in his last start and 8th attempt of his career.

Back in the era he played players were famous for delivering great quotes to the press, Wynn being no exception based on these gems:

A pitcher is only as good as his legs.
That space between the white lines-that’s my office. That’s where I conduct my business.
A pitcher will never be a big winner until he hates hitters.
I don’t like losing a ballgame any more than a salesman likes losing a sale.
I’ve got a right to knock down anybody holding a bat.
I would if she were crowding the plate. – in response to whether he would knock down his mom on Mother’s Day.

The legacy of Early Wynn is the importance of that 300th win to not only a pitcher but to a team. It’s why Cleveland would pick Wynn up again at the end of his career. It’s why Wynn would keep going to the mound for that elusive victory. It’s why the focus is on Clemens this month and while it’s different for the Rocket who clearly has some spring left in his step, it’s the same until he actually gets that 300th win. A few more losses or no decisions and the ghost of Early Wynn will be nearing.

I’m wondering if those photos are still in his locker.

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The Legacy of Early Wynn

Finally got the chance to visit the friendly confines of Wrigley Field in an afternoon game with people from work today. Outdoor baseball is the best, even on a rainy day like today. It’s why even though I’m a huge Twins fan I prefer to watch the Saints play in person. The Metrodome is sterile, cavernous, and simply terrible for baseball.

Left the office at noon, got back shortly after four. Good conversation, some even work related, and a thrilling Cubs win. What a great way to spend the afternoon – Chicagoans have it pretty lucky with great transportation to both the Cubs and White Sox games (both on the Red Line).

Years from now we may be doing the same in Minnesota – taking the light rail out to the new retractable roof stadium we are sure to build. I’m sure it will be a wee bit bigger than Wrigley, which seems amazingly small from the stands.

That’s the Bulls, Blackhawks and Cubs I’ve been able to see now – hopefully the stars will align and I’ll get to a White Sox vs. Twins game this year.

Of course people around here would be even happier with Cubs vs. Twins in the World Series. I’d take that too.

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Visiting the Friendly Confines

For the second series in a row the Minnesota Wild go down three games to one in a best-of-seven series and come back with three straight victories to win the series, this time in a stunning 4-2 victory in game seven over Vancouver. Most impressively, in both series wins against Colorado and Vancouver the final game was won on the road, against heavily favored opponents.

It’s the first time in NHL history that a team has come back from two 3-1 series deficits in one year. An impressive accomplishment for a franchise in only it’s third year of existence.

Next up for the Wild are the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, an amazing story themselves who as an underdog have knocked out two of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year in Detroit and Dallas. The Wild will have the home ice advantage in this series and hopefully they will take care of business and move on quickly to the finals.

Congratulations and good luck Minnesota Wild!

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Wild Make History

The Minnesota Wild beat the Colorado Avalanche in OT(Overtime) of Game 7. What a game! What a series!

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WOW

Too bad the Minnesota Twins can’t play the Triple-A Detroit Tigers every series this season. Thanks to the generosity of the schedule makers for throwing that chunk of meat at our boys we’ve managed to get off to a 3-0 start for the second time in three years.

Detroit was over-matched every game, spreading 10 hits over 3 games and scoring a total of 2 runs. Our pitching was great, the hitting was more than adequate (27 hits producing 14 runs), and of course the defense was spectacular.

Unfortunately I fear this early success will jade the team into thinking it will be this easy all season. Let’s face it, the Tigers (the kittens?) really are a Triple-A club, not a MLB team. During Wednesday’s game they had 4 different pitchers make their major league debut. The first time that has ever happened, at least dating back to Naismith Doubleday (thanks Google).

With Eric Milton out for most of the season and with questions about Joe Mays’ elbow there was a bit of trepidation about the pitching staff this year. But beyond just the fact we whooped Detroit a number of questions have been answered so far, and more will be nailed over the weekend. Radke is strong after an off-season conditioning program. Mays appears past his mind problems related to his elbow. Lohse is turning into a strong pitcher. Hawkins is throwing a wicked change-up.

So far, so good.

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A Good Start