My adoration for the Minnesota Vikings began with Joe Kapp. I never thought much about football until I saw Joe for the first time. Thirty-six years ago. At that time I was a lad in front of the television on a Sunday afternoon. January 4, 1970, the NFL championship game against the Cleveland Browns. Kapp then showed me why I would be a Viking fan all my life as he rolled out of the pocket on a pass play. The Brown's linebacker, Jim Houston, awaited Joe down field. Joe didn't head for the sideline or slide feet first when he saw Houston approaching. Instead he tried to hurdle him, the result of which was a knee to Houston's jaw which knocked him out of the game. Kapp stayed in, the grin a little larger, the swagger a little more pronounced. The Vikings won 27-7. It was the season of 40 for 60. Forty men playing together for sixty minutes. I was hooked.

I started writing down my thoughts about the Vikings in 1995. Then, I started posting them on a new-fangled invention called the Internet. Later in 1995, I hooked up with Dan Hildreth to create the Viking Underground which brought in thousands of hits each week. That original Viking Underground web page won "Best Personal Web Site" award from Net Guide magazine in 1997. Then we just burned out and by the end of the 1999 season we hung it up. But during that brief 4-year run on top, many other accolades came my way. I was a co-host on "Ragnar's Week in Review" radio show during the 1998 - 1999 season. I had two recipes published in "John Madden's Ultimate Tailgating" cookbook. I was photographed for NFL Insider Magazine as well as photographed with a story for Sports Illustrated during the 1999 season. I was one of four guests on "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" in 1999. The other three guests were Jimmy Kimmel, Roy Firestone, and the Big Dawg from the Cleveland Browns. Then came the documentary filmed by the Travel Channel on road-trip to Atlanta to open the 1999 -2000 season. "The Fan", filmed September '99; aired March '00. But my biggest highlight to date came after the 1998 season. In 1999, Visa in conjunction with the Pro Football Hall Of Fame sponsored a new promotion called the "Visa Hall of Fans" award. The charge card company with a select committee would pick one lucky fan from every NFL team to represent their team in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. A special wing in the hall was set up to honor these fans and was named the "Visa Hall of Fans." In order to be selected, fans would have to write a short essay explaining why they should represent their respective teams in the hall. In January 1999 the first class was selected and the 31 winners were invited to be honored at the Hall of Fame. I was the Vikings Inaugural Hall of Fame fan. It was quite an honor. Then came the birth of my son in 2000 and things really slowed down for me. My focus shifted from the Vikings to my family. But now, The Boy� is almost five and likes to toss the football with me. He also can entertain himself which meant that I actually had some free minutes during the day. I started writing again and the result was creating a Blog. With help from Shane Nackerud of the Greet Machine, the new Viking Underground was born. Last week, the blog averaged 400 hits a day. This week say the first 1000 hit day. It's been a little crazy. Just the way I like it. I hope people like it too.

3/18/2005 08:37:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|I do not like this new version of Pepper! I hope the traditional version will be back next week, as I look forward to reading it.3/16/2005 10:47:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|A funny thing happened on the way to tonight's column. I was going to write about basketball, what with the Wolves' big win in Dallas last night. Then, they got drubbed tonight and I really lost all motivation to write. So, tonight is a night off, except for SHOUT OUTS. A SHOUT OUT to Big Henk. Good to talk to you after a long time. A SHOUT OUT to Putzer. How's that suburban running? A SHOUT OUT to Seth. Enjoy the conversations about baseball. A SHOUT OUT to Moss. Thanks, buddy. A SHOUT OUT to Cheer or Die. Nice work at your site. A SHOUT OUT to Shane. Terminator rules! Robots don't cry! A SHOUT OUT to Nick. Let me know what's up. A SHOUT OUT to Butch. Cutting hair again. A SHOUT OUT to The Little Mayor. Boy, you are quite the ladies' man! A SHOUT OUT to Studes. Thanks for the plug. That's it for tonight. Come back tomorrow when SBG brings you another game of Pepper! I think this will be a good one. Let's just say that you may have to link to another site to get the whole story. And of course, who could forget that Saturday brings more stories about America's favorite cats. Catch you on the flip side.|W|P|111103535418306088|W|P|Night Off|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/15/2005 09:09:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|Aloha, SBG fans. Welcome to media day here at Stick and Ball Guy, the Website. This entry isn't so much about "the media." Well, it is a little. This weekend, SBG purchased a copy of the e-book The Hardball Times Bullpen Book 2002-2004. Tonight's entry is a review of the book, which is available at The Hardball Times Website. The website itself tells you quite a bit about the book, so I won't be spoiling it by discussing the book in some, but not too much, detail. The book is only available via the e-book format at a modest price of $5.00. It comes it at 110 pages, about 90 of which are statistics about relievers for all 30 major league teams for the last three seasons. Some of the other twenty pages are reprinted columns from the Hardball Times (a fact that is prominently displayed on the link above). Ultimately, the book is about the statistics -- and the statistics are quite interesting for people who care about such things. After looking at the book and studying it for awhile, several thoughts went through my head. For one thing, I was reminded of the "Wild Card" answer that Twins Geek gave in our game of Pepper from a couple of weeks back. Given a chance to say anything in the world in 50 words or less, Twins Geek said this:

Minnesotans, almost subconsciously, accept the premise that following sports isn�t intellectual enough, or isn�t important. Balderdash. Sports is the unusual combination of approachable and inspirational, and the passion for it is at least as justifiable as that which is shown for politics or media coverage.

I don't really know if I agree totally with what the Geek has to say. Are sports as important as governance? Well, the Geek said politics, not governance, now, didn't he. One thing I do agree with is that there is an intellectual component to sports that many people may not appreciate. More accurately, I would ask is sports less important that theater or sculpture or literature. My answer to that is I don't think it is less important. Consider this. When exposed to Beethoven's Symphonies, the untrained ear may dismiss it as so much noise and not be able to differentiate one from another. Others, who have some appreciation for Symphonic music may appreciate the melodies and the drama of his music -- the changing moods, the intricasies. Still others can appreciate the interaction between instruments, and the quality of play by the performing orchestra. Is any of this important? Not really. Does it bring enjoyment? For some yes, for some no. An important point to remember is that it can be enjoyed by people on different levels. So it is with sports. Consider this scenario. Tie game. Bottom of the ninth. Relief pitcher A comes in and strikes the first two batters out. He then has a classic duel with the third batter and walks him on 14 pitches. The manager pulls pitcher A and brings in pitcher B. Pitcher B lays in a big old fastball on the first pitch, which the batter hits into the gap for a double. The runner on first scores and the game is over. The run is charged to A, he's the losing pitcher, and B's ERA is unaffected. Somehow, this doesn't seems fair. Some people might say, who cares -- baseball is stupid (I love you anyway, Lucy). Others might say, yay, the home team won. Others might look at the box score and say, Pitcher A lost again. He's really hurting his team. Still others might say, we need to figure out a way to quantify what A and B did. B didn't blow a save, he didn't get a loss, no runs were charged to him, but somehow it feels like he's the guy to blame. I'm not going to judge anyone for their particular viewpoint. After all, baseball, like music, is a diversion from the drudgery of everyday life. How or whether one chooses to enjoy the diversion of baseball is a personal decision. Personally, I prefer to try to understand it more than the average fan. Which is not to say that my preference is any better or worse than the person who likes baseball because the players have cute butts. It's just my preference. This brings me to the book. The author makes the case that there really isn't a good, widely available metric for studying relief pitchers. Certainly ERA isn't a very good indicator. Instead, the author considers other metrics. For example, he considers how the actions of the pitcher affect the probability of winning the game. He discusses the save statistic, and how that has changed the way managers employ their bullpen, and not for the better. He also states that at some point, the way that bullpens are used will change because someone will figure out a better way, will employ that method and will be successful. And that's life in the post-Moneyball world. The game isn't about platitudes and following the book anymore (well, at least it isn't for everyone). It's about finding hidden advantages, it's about thinking creatively, it's about uncovering hidden advantages and exploiting them. In other words, it's about thinking and imagination, and creativity. This book attempts to explore an important and poorly understood part of the game -- the best way to manage a team's bullpen. I'm not sure that what the author has done is the holy grail, and the author himself makes that very point. However, the body of work here represents an impressive effort, and if you are interested in thinking about relief pitching on a different level than you previously did, you might think about downloading a copy of the book. If nothing else, you will appreciate the effort that the author has made. He's analyzed every game played at the major league level for the last three years. He's compiled data for every team in the majors. And he makes some interesting and some surprising discoveries about how and when relief pitchers are effective. If his work improves the enjoyment of the game for others, and advances the art, than it is important and useful. Thinking creatively about baseball is certainly an intellectual pursuit. For me, the book is a tool that I will have in my toolbox when I am thinking about the way Gardy uses Rincon, Nathan, Romero, et al. It has also helped me think about the game in a new way. Going back to the example above, in a tie game at the beginning of the bottom of the ninth, the probability that the home team will win the game is 64.9%. When A left the game, with two out and a man on first, the probability that the home team will win had dropped to 58.1%. Of course, the next batter ended the game, and the "probability" of the home team winning was 100%. Under this analysis, A lowered the probability that his team would lose from 64.9% to 58.1%, whereas B raised it to 100%. B is more accurately shown to be the culprit. The analysis in the book is a little more complicated than that, but my quick example shows that different tools can make a big difference in how you do the job of evaluating the efforts of players. On a personal note, SBG is proud to announce that he's an uncle again for the ninth time. Putzer and Mrs. Putzer had a baby son on Monday. He was 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long at birth. All are doing well. Butch tells me that he is a beautiful baby. Congratulations to my brother and his family.|W|P|111094783851207657|W|P|Media Day -- The Bullpen Book|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/16/2005 01:44:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|SBG:

Your comparison of baseball and music -- how different people can enjoy them for different reasons -- is very apt. Your review certainly helped me decide to get the book (even though I don't much like e-books).

One difference between sports and music, though, is geographical loyalty. I don't think local symphonic music fans would, based just on proximity, argue that the Minnesota Orchestra's version of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" is better than the Chicago Symphony's.

By the way, Four Seasons is not an elegy to Lew Ford's Twins career (I hope).

Jim H.3/14/2005 09:09:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|Welcome, SBG fans, to another edition of Twins Tuesday. Today, SBG asks the question, What about Lew? Last year, the Twins broke camp and came up North to face the Cleveland Indians to start the 2004 season. In the second game of the season, the unthinkable happened. Joe Mauer hurt his knee chasing a foul pop. While that may be the most famous knee injury in Minnesota professional sports history, another injury occurred that evening. Torii Hunter pulled a hamstring running to first base. In addition, Johan Santana had cramps in his forearm. SBG was in a bad mood. The young stud catcher was hobbled, Santana was suffering the same injury that he had in the playoffs in 2003, and to top it off, Hunter was hobbling. As it turns out, the only really bad thing (and it was really bad) to happen to the Twins that night was Mauer's Knee. Santana went on to have maybe the best season ever by a Twin, and Hunter eventually recovered. The best thing about that night was that the Twins called up Lew Ford from the minors. Now, SBG knew about Ford. Big Henk and I saw Lew's first game and his first major league hit. The Twins got pounded that night and I sent an e-mail to Big Henk joking that the Twins should keep Ford in the lineup because he was perfect at the plate (1-1). Well, Ford didn't stick in the lineup then, but when Hunter went down in that fateful 2nd game of the 2004 season, Ford got called up from the minors and he went into the lineup. And he didn't come out. With Hunter hurt, and then Shannon Stewart down, Ford was a godsend to the Twins. He played everyday, he could play any outfield position. He got to balls, he could throw, and oh yeah, he could hit. And steal bases. Ford had an outstanding 2004 campaign, his first full season in the majors. He hit .299/.381/.446. He lead the Twins games played, hits, runs, total bases, walks, stolen bases, batting average, and on base percentage. He stole 20 bases, getting caught just twice. He hit 15 home runs. And he was pretty much a rookie. Finally, a Twins minor leaguer broke through and became an everyday player in the outfield. Cuddyer couldn't do it. Restovich couldn't do it. Mohr couldn't do it. And so on. And so forth. But Lew Ford did do it. In the off-season, the Twins had some difficult decisions to make. It was clear that they wouldn't be able to keep everyone. Cristian Guzman left when the Nationals acted like a drunk on payday and gave him $17 million. Koskie left for some Canadian cooking. Henry Blanco left for the 1908 World Champion Chicago Cubs. SBG was convinced that Jacque Jones would go too. He needed a lot of money and with holes to fill on the infield, surely the Twins would take that money and give it to a proven shortstop or third baseman. But, no, the Twins signed Jacque Jones to a one-year, $5 million contract. The reason? Well, the Twins said that the reason was because of Jason Kubel's terrible knee injury. But, I kept asking, why not play Lew Ford in right field? Here's my thinking. The Twins are willing to take their chances with pretty much nobody at shortstop (come on, Jason Bartlett, we need you). They are willing to hitch their wagon to Luis Rivas again (.256/.283/.432) again. Apparently they'd rather do that then let Jones go, sign a decent middle infielder (or trade for one) and play Ford in right. If the Twins could get an average hitting second baseman for Jones, they'd add .065 to the 2nd base OPS. Not to mention that Jones' OPS was .085 lower than Ford's (Jones had a down year, definitely). Plus, Ford is a fine defensive outfielder who can run. The only reason I can see why Ford isn't the starting right fielder is because the Twins would rather play two players in the infield who have never had a regular job in the majors and Luis Rivas rather than eliminate one of those problems and play Ford everyday in right. Consider this. The Twins will be paying their starting outfield about $20 million this year. That's three players. Their starting infield will make about $3 million. That's four players. Oh hell, throw in Mauer, too. Five players, somewhere around $3.5 million. Update: Hell, throw Lew Ford in the mix. Two thirds of the line up is getting paid about $4 million. One third of the line up is getting 83% of the payroll spent on the entire everyday lineup. Those three guys had better produce! I've spent enough time bad-mouthing the Twins about this decision. Tonight, I'm going to try to explain what factors might have led to the Twins' decision. 1.) Jacque Jones will have a much better year this year. He hit .254/.315/.427 last year. That's putrid for a corner outfielder. But, his career numbers are much better: .284/.329/.458. Surely, the Twins feel he'll be up at his career numbers in 2005. 2.) Even though Lew Ford was pretty much a first year player, he's no spring chicken. Ford will be 29 in August. He's only a year younger than Jones. He's already at his peak. The fact that he's so old tends to support the idea that he's probably as good as he'll be. And there's a good chance that 2004 was somewhat of a fluke. 3.) Ford's second half of 2004 wasn't nearly as good as his first half. Ford hit .419/.471/.710 in April. That's (almost) Bondsian. He hit .276/.345/.347 in September and .272/.404/.391 in August. He only hit 2 home runs after July 28th. It's possible that Ford was unable to adjust to the adjustments made by pitchers. 4.) The Twins didn't see any good alternatives in the infield. They possibly could have signed Joe Randa to play third, moved Cuddyer to second and gambled at short. If Cristian Guzman was worth over $4 million a year, there weren't going to be any bargains to be had for infielders. And they weren't going to sign Adrian Beltre. 5.) The Twins really need Ford to DH. The Twins don't have a really good alternative to Ford at the DH position. LeCroy mashes against left handed pitching but is marginal against righties. With Kubel's injury the DH spot is just thin. The Twins felt that they couldn't give up Jones' bat. That's about it. If anyone has any other reason for the Twins to sit down Lew Ford or DH him, please let me know. With this roster, here's how I'd handle the outfield. Against lefties: Stewart in LF, Hunter in CF, Ford in RF, LeCroy DH. Against righties: Jones in LF, Hunter in CF, Ford in RF, Stewart DH. $5 million is a lot to pay a platoon player, so don't expect to see this happen any time soon. Finally: I sent this quote to Aaron Gleeman tonight, just to torment him, I suppose. Twins hitting coach Scott Ulger on Luis Rivas:

He can be a second hitter, he can be a first hitter if he becomes a little more selective at the plate...

That's all for tonight. If you have any comments on the Ford situation, please leave them here. Thanks!|W|P|111086092692170944|W|P|What About Lew?|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/15/2005 08:42:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|This is really a fine piece of work SBG. Three things stick out to me: 1) the collective payroll of the outfield compared to the infield (amazing) and 2) the fact that the Twins need Ford to DH. I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. Finally, I was unaware that Ford had such a mediocre second half last year. I guess I didn't pay attention. It explains why Ryan would want to go with a more proven commodity in Jones than take a chance on what might be a fluke.

Another reason to keep Jones, though, may be because of all the injuries they are sure to see this year (they are the Twins, right?). Stewart will sit for part of the year. I think that is a given. Hunter will sacrifice himself to catch a fly ball at some point. Having Ford around will go a long way towards off-setting the impact of these injuries.3/15/2005 11:19:00 AM|W|P| SBG|W|P|The pay disparity between the outfield and the infield is really something when you consider that one purported strength of the Twins farm system is outfield talent that pretty much ready right now. Why not spend money on the infield by bringing someone in and plug the hole left by Jones with some of that cheap talent? Kubel gets hurt and there's no one else?3/13/2005 06:56:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|Hello SBG fans. Welcome back to the sports portion of this website. For those of you that came by to see Lucy's cat blogging, thank you. She really enjoys cats and talking about them. It is a fun little diversion from the serious business of Twins speculation and conjecture normally found here. Speaking of the Twins, they won a couple of games this weekend. I saw a little bit of the game on Saturday, which the Twins won 4-1 while I was running around performing errands. I got my ears lowered and caught the top of the first at the barber shop, and I saw Mike Cuddyer go yard. The Twins pitching staff has been great so far this spring, but the bats have been a little quiet. Sound familiar? Any way, it was good to see number 5 take one over the fence. Seems like his partner (we hope) on the left side of the infield cranked one out on Sunday as the Twins beat the Red Sox 4-2. So far, in 12 games, the Twins have allowed just 46 runs, an average of 3.83 runs per game. But, they've scored just 51 runs, an average of 4.25 runs per game. This is not an acceptable number of runs. Of course, if the Twins were to score and allow runs at that rate, they'd have an expected winning percentage of .547, good for 88 wins. That might be enough to win the AL Central. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT. Ah yes. I've been shocked back to reality. This is spring training and these numbers mean absolutely nothing. Let's get back to reality. The Twins have gotten decent play from Jason Bartlett and Cuddyer, so let's hope that the Twins have their left side set right there. Unless of course, the Twins move Cuddyer to second. A guy can dream. Over the weekend, I published my first real entry at Twins Territory. For those of you who read this page on a regular basis, it was essentially a repeat of my article last week on team chemistry, with some modifications. It brought some reactions, both positive and negative. I stand behind the article. I really believe that a team that is not all that tight will perform better, all things being equal, than a team that is close knit. I haven't responded to any of the comments at the site, because I wanted people to have their say and didn't want to stunt the discussion. Go on over and join in. Twins Territory is a pretty darned good site, with a lot of information and Twins talk. I'll contribute from time to time. Right now, I intend to post the column I'm most proud of every week. (Some weeks that could really take some time to figure out. Am I actually proud of any of them? Or is it least ashamed of? Whatever.) I took in a few minutes of the T-Wolves on TV this afternoon. I've noticed something about the Wolves over the course of the last two weeks or so. KG has really stepped up his play. He's taken more shots, been rebounding more and has generally more effective. When Kevin McHale fired Flip Saunders, I was skeptical of McHale's ability to coach. But, he's done at one thing right and that is he's made KG the focus. If KG has a bad knee it hasn't showed. He's looked extremely good lately. After a poor February (for him) in which he averaged 19.4/11.8/4.5 with just 15.8 shots a game and 48.8% from the floor, he's had a very nice start in March, averaging 25.2/14.7/5.5, shooting 55.4% on 18.7 shots a game. The shots are up, but still not as high as last year. Nevertheless, he's been the focal point. And the Wolves were 4-2 after a 4-9 February. Then, today, KG took just 12 shots again (hitting 8). He did go to the line 12 times, but wow, he needs 8 more shots. The Wolves lost at home to Dallas 102-93, being outscored 31-24 in the fourth quarter. Sprewell and Hudson were a combined 2-18. For the rest of the year, my only interest is to chart KG's progress up the career points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks lists. I don't have his assists shown on the left because I am not exactly positive what position he is on the career list (he's about 110th overall). When he gets to 3,522 assists, I'll know exactly. That might come yet this year. My brother Putzer and his wife are expecting their sixth child and I believe that they are having the child induced on Monday. SBG is hoping that everything goes all right. This will be my ninth time as an uncle. Good luck Putzer and Mrs. Putzer!!! I watched Meet the Press this morning. Old Pumpkinhead had the two congressmen responsible for calling the hearings on steroids and issuing subpoenas to baseball players. It is my opinion that this is a ridiculous overextension of Congressional authority. The Sports Law Blog has analyzed the Congressional Subcommittee's jurisdiction and concluded that this hearing is within their power. Regardless, this is a waste of time. Steroids are illegal already. MLB has instituted a tougher policy. It is ridiculous that these hearings are being held -- despite all the hoopla, steroid abuse is not the most pressing problem facing America's youth. The subcommittee will hear the testimony of the families of two high school students who took steroids and later committed suicide. Did the steroids cause the suicides? We don't know. You can be sure that the families will blame steroids, even though there might have been any number of reasons that these kids did themselves in. Even if steroids were a cause of these deaths, this is a relative drop in the bucket. Every year, hundreds, if not thousands, of teenagers die in alcohol related offenses. Like steroids, it is illegal for teenagers to ingest alcohol. Perhaps congress should hold hearings to determine whether advertisements for alcohol should be outlawed because they actively entice youngsters to drink, and drinking directly results in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of teenagers every year. You can be sure that no committee will address this issue. They'll be too busy interfering with ongoing criminal prosecution (in the BALCO case) and trying to get players to go on the record regarding their own steroid use. Of course, none of these players has to admit to Congress that they've used steroids. If everyone (except for Jose Canseco) gets up and either denies usage or pleads the Fifth Amendment, what will we have gained? Nothing. Other news on the steroids front. The NY Daily News is reporting that an informant has confirmed that Mark McGwire took steroids during his baseball playing days. Now, you might be saying, hey SBG, this shows that Congress should have hearings. No, it doesn't. If people are violating the law, let law enforcement deal with them. Actually, in this instance, the focus of the investigation was on steroid suppliers, not on the individual users. That is pretty consistent with any drug enforcement. However, McGwire will now be open to some uncomfortable scrutiny. I know what Butch is saying. Roger Maris is the king! That's all for tonight folks. Come back tomorrow when SBG has his regular Tuesday Twins talk. Enjoy your Monday. If possible.|W|P|111076582936595273|W|P|Weekend Roundup|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/10/2005 09:47:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|Welcome to another edition of Pepper! SBG welcomes Ryan Maus from Twins Chatter to this week's edition. Ryan is a sophomore at St. Olaf College. He's also a native of Northfield (where St. Olaf is located). Ryan's been around baseball a lot. His dad is the local varsity baseball coach and Ryan played throughout high school. Even though he's not a college ballplayer, he is associated with the Oles baseball team. And his younger brother is a freshman middle infielder for the Oles. (Can he play second? There's an opening in Minneapolis!) Ryan is also the sports editor for the school newspaper. If you read Ryan's column, you will occasionally see one of his school newspaper articles reprinted at his site. Says Ryan:

I've been a Twins fan ever since I can remember, but my passion really bloomed during the 2001 season. Last spring, my friend John Betzler and I were talking about blogs (a medium we discovered through Twins Geek that December) and thought it would be cool to start our own blog. 11 months and almost 25,000 visitors later, Twins Chatter is still going strong.

They are going strong indeed. Ryan and John do a nice job at their site. SBG is impressed that young guys like Ryan can commit to writing about the Twins as much as they do. And Ryan gave SBG a plug when SBG was just a fledgling blog site. Thanks, Ryan, for playing. Stop by Twins Chatter and tell him that SBG says hi. And now, let's play Pepper! Topic #1 � Lew Ford 2005 Ryan: Twins Chatter has been driving the "Sweet" Lew bandwagon since early last April. Lew will prove he wasn't a fluke in '05-look for a .300 average, 15 homers and 80 RBIs. Maybe Gardy will even realize he's a better defensive outfielder than Stewart. SBG: The Jones signing shows that the Twins don�t have confidence in Ford. Ford will have to battle for his chances in the field, which is ridiculous. I am hopeful that he will replicate 2004. It�s possible he�ll slide a little, and I�m afraid the Twins won�t allow him much leeway. Topic #2 � Twins Minor Leagues Ryan: One of the greatest things about being a Twins fan is having an excellent organization to follow, something you don't get with large market teams. There's a reason the Twins win so many organization awards every year-they do things the right way and produce results. SBG: Dirty secret time. I don�t really follow the minor league system that much. This is contrary to most of my blogging colleagues. I do know that the Twins have a good system. The pitching seems especially strong. Light on infielders. I liked Ryan�s prospect list this week. Good work! Topic #3 � Gardy Ryan: Overall I'm a big Gardy booster, but there's no doubt that he has his strengths and weaknesses. It's easy to question his game decisions at times, but the guy is truly a "player's manager". His players like him and play hard for him, and that's good enough for me. SBG: Gets a lot of credit in some circles. I�m inclined to not be so high on him. He does some things right � seems to handle the clubhouse, although has had his run-ins with players. (Hello Mientkiewicz, I�m backing Gardy.) Strategy? Not so high. Should platoon Jones. Ford everyday in right! Topic #4 � College Baseball Ryan: One of the greatest baseball institutions in existence. The competition is pure and the enthusiasm genuine. I love watching every level, DI through DIII, especially my own college team, the St. Olaf Oles. It's a different game than the majors, but still just as fun to watch. SBG: SBG knew a few college ballplayers back in the day. Our team sucked, but those guys had fun. In North Dakota, it was too cold to enjoy. Overall, baseball�s minor leagues put baseball where college sports should be. Fun, but not too important. In that regard, it�s great. Topic #5 � Twins Infield Ryan: I was a little worried at first, especially right after Koskie's defection, but now I'm optimistic once again. Morneau is poised for a breakout year, and Cuddyer will fill Koskie's shoes offensively just fine (and will improve defensively). Rivas is another matter altogether though. SBG: Sore spot on team (outside of Li�l Harmon). But, if Bartlett can come through and hit, it could possibly be better than last year overall. Too bad Twins didn�t go after Joe Randa and move Cuddyer to second instead of signing Rivas. It could have been beautiful. Topic #6 � Mauer�s Knee Ryan: The season hinges on the strength of that little bit of cartilage. If Joe can stay healthy for the most part-and I think he will-then the Twins are a completely different team both offensively and defensively. Mauer is already the team's best hitter; hopefully he'll be able to prove it in '05. SBG: I�m not worried that his career is in jeopardy. But, he may not be able to catch. I�ve suspected that his surgery last summer was unsuccessful and hurt him badly. Even at third base, his bat would be a huge asset. Of course, he�s a lot more valuable at catcher. Topic #7 � Twins Rotation Ryan: The best in the Central by far, and potentially one of the best in the bigs. Radke might not repeat his 2004, but he'll be good once again. Johan has to be the odds-on favorite for Cy again in '05. Silva might drop off a little, but Lohse should rebound to pick up the slack. SBG: Chance to be the best Twins rotation ever. Stud at the top. Mr. Dependable in number two slot. Questions below, but if guys have good year, could be very deep. If anyone falters, Baker or Durbin(???) could fill in. Definite strong point. And this is the place to be strong. Topic #8 � Shortstop Situation Ryan: Personally I would hand the job to Bartlett, but I wouldn't be surprised if Castro is playing SS on April 4. Bartlett is the best long-term solution, so he'll get in there eventually. Punto and Ojeda don't even deserve a chance in my mind. SBG: Got to hope it�s Bartlett. Castro is a non-answer. The guy cannot hit. And he�s been miserable with glove. Punto is a nice backup. If Bartlett can do it, things will be fine. If not, it�s going to be a black hole. Punto has to be second option. Castro?!? Why? Topic #9 � Terry Ryan Ryan: The man most responsible for our current run of success. TR is a great baseball mind and a great guy to boot. He knows talent when he sees it and does more with a limited budget than anyone else in the majors. SBG: Not perfect, but damn good. Was fantastic in last off-season. This year? Not sure. But, do like his emphasis on pitching. Disappointed with Jones, Rivas, and to some extent Koskie resolutions. But, Twins fans should be optimistic. He�s given the team a chance to win. That�s doing the job. Topic #10 � Wild Card Ryan: I think that the war in Iraq� Just kidding! Following the Twins is great, but in the end it all comes down to baseball. I just love the game, no matter who is playing. Make sure you all watch/play as much baseball as you can once the weather gets nice! SBG: Lately I�ve pointed out negative things about the Twins. But, it�s nitpicking. I�m extremely optimistic about 2005. I feel quite good about this team. My criticisms are about finer points. I expect to see about 20 games in person and a fourth straight championship. After that? I think they�ll compete. There you have it. Another successful game of Pepper! Thanks again Ryan, your answers were great! Keep up the good work at Twins Chatter. Have a great weekend everyone. Stop by tomorrow for more stories about cats from Lucy, who rules this website on weekends. I'll be back on Monday with more sports. SBG Update: Apparently, the comments section of this blog is not working. Damn Blogger! It has really been acting up lately. If you have any comments, drop me an e-mail at stickandballguy@hotmail.com. Courage!|W|P|111051363927759588|W|P|Pepper! with Ryan Maus from Twins Chatter|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/14/2005 05:03:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|You guys totally miss the boat on Lew Ford. Jones as signed because Jason Kubel blew his leg out. It has nothing to do with Ford. Ford's value to the team comes with him playing off the bench and being able to fill in anywhere in the outfield.

Consider. Last season Ford finished with 569, and led the team in games played (154), runs (89) and hits (170). That at bat total is higher than any of the other three starters.

He finished with a .299 batting average, 15 home runs and 72 RBI while playing each of the three outfield positions and designated hitter. He also stole 20 bases.

"We needed a center fielder, and he brought in offense on top of it," Terry Ryan said. "He can impact the game in a lot of ways. We liked him when we got him, but he's exceeded all of the expectations we had when we acquired him."

Does that sound like a lack of confidence to you? Instead, I think the Twins have supreme confince in him. They just know where he's most valuable in that's in being available to play any of the three fielding positions when they need him to.3/09/2005 07:59:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|It's wild card Thursday, SBG fans. For those of you who don't know, a while back I decided to provide some structure to my postings to make it a little easier. Monday is the Weekend Roundup, Tuesday is Twins talk, Wednesday is Media Watch, Thursday is Wild Card, Friday is Pepper! and Saturday is Lucy's Cat Blogging. Since it is Thursday or at least close to Thursday that means its wild card, or pretty much anything that comes to mind. And what comes to mind tonight? Well a couple of things. I gotta talk Vikings and T-Wolves for sure. And I've gotta talk about some new blogs. And finally SHOUT OUTS! First of all, The Vikings. Man, is Mike Tice in a world of hurt. According to ESPN.COM, Tice has admitted selling Super Bowl tickets at a profit.

Tice told [ESPN's Chris] Mortensen that he scalped Super Bowl tickets as an assistant coach, but that he did not as the head coach of the Vikings. Tice told Mortensen that he told assistants that it was OK to sell Super Bowl tickets to a ticket agency in California.

See, this is a pretty big deal. And here's why. Unless Mr. Tice reported that as income, well that's tax evasion. Remember Pete Rose? He went to prison for tax evasion. But, there's something else, since he crossed state lines, the sales (if illegal) are in the federal domain. Mike could have a second federal offense (after tax evasion) to worry about. Of course, if Mr. Tice reported his income on his tax return and there's nothing illegal about scalping tickets in California (or federally), then he's okay. But, what do you think the chances are he actually reported that as income. Unlike one of SBG's friends, who actually reported profit from ticket sales as income, it is quite unlikely that Mr. Tice did so. Mr. Tice should keep his mouth shut. WARNING. THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS PURE SPECULATION AND SHOULD NOT BE READ AS A STATEMENT OF THE TRUTH. The question that SBG has is who ratted him out? SBG thinks it might be Red. Suppose Red wants to fire Tice but doesn't want to pay him the $1 million he owes him for next year. Ol' Red could just get Mike in trouble and terminate his contract. See, that'd save Ol' Red a cool mil. THE PREVIOUS LANGUAGE IS NO WAY AN INSINUATION THAT MR. McCOMBS DID ANYTHING OF THE SORT. SBG BELIEVES MR. McCOMBS IS AN UPSTANDING COWBOY WHO'D NEVER DO ANYTHING BAD. If this is the way that Tice goes down, how fitting. They run Moss out on a rail because he left 2 seconds early against Washington and pretending to pull his pants down in Green Bay. Meanwhile the head coach might have been involved in tax fraud and racketeering. But, Moss has a big afro. He's gotta go. Sheesh. Now, The Timberwolves. Yes, Moss, I'm addicted. I can't stop watching those clowns. I've been hooked since the very first game back in 1989. Love my T-Wolves, even when they suck. Yesterday, I wrote that it wasn't Latrell Sprewell's contract pout that's the problem, it's the play on the floor. That is 100% correct. Last night, they stunk it up against the Bobcats (for Chrissakes!) in the first half before righting the ship. And Sprewell showed me something. He can't dunk any more. The man has no legs left. He went up for an uncontested dunk and missed it. He flat out wasn't high enough. Looked like one of SBG's attempts after practice back in high school. (Eventually, I could do it.) The guy is just old. That's all. He's old. He's lost a bunch. I like looking at last night's box score. KG -- 25 shots. And reading the recap. KG -- calling for the ball. Man, KG that is what you have to do. KG, 30 points and 16 rebounds. The man can do it. The ball has to go to him. What a shame that they got away from that. KG lead the league in shot attempts last year. And the Wolves had the best record in the Western Conference. That is the key for this team. Period. Now, the Twins. A rain out today. But, better news on Joe Mauer. Maybe the knee's going to be okay. We'll see. If I'm the Twins, I would have been a little more savvy with this story. Why rouse the rabble unless they know what's going on for sure. I think it's probably going to be that Mauer won't be a catcher forever or even much longer. That would be too bad. But, I'd take him as a big hitting 3rd baseman, too. That'd be all right by me. And also frightwig. While the Twins were rained out Wednesday, they dropped two on Tuesday. But, that's not all bad. Here are the pitching lines for the starters:

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
S. Baker (v. Boston)	3	1	0	0	0	2	0
K. Lohse(v. Toronto)	3	1	0	0	1	1	0

Mama, that's all right. The Twins pitching has been very good this spring (at least the guys destined to be on the team when it comes up North). Now, as we know, spring training doesn't mean much (I think Lohse pitched well last spring, too). But, it's fun to think that everyone's gonna be going well. Finally, there are some blogs to mention. First of all, I wanted to mention SundAppledWood. Mr. Frightwig has started blogging about the Twins and he's hit the ground running. SBG gives him the STAMP of approval. He's got two links on my page, one under Hometown Bloggers and another under Lucy's Cat Blogging Friends. He's promised to blog about cats on the weekends, and by the looks of things, he's got plenty of them. So, welcome to the community Frightwig (he's a longtime commenter at B-G) and drop me an e-mail sometime as I am working on a project with other Twins bloggers and would like to include you. Secondly, I wanted to mention Third Base Line. The author is a big Twins fan as well. Even though she's pissed about Barry's DH'ing in spring training, I like her stuff. Hey it's just an exhibition! Go on by and check out these bloggers and tell 'em SBG sends them a big ol' RED McCOMBS Howdy. Now, it's time for SHOUT OUTS! A big SHOUT OUT to Henk West. Thanks for stopping by. Like the jokes you send. A big SHOUT OUT to Moss. The man knows good movies. Human Nature. Boo-yeah! A SHOUT OUT to Seth. Love the feedback on the Chemistry article. Good stuff. A SHOUT OUT to Twins Geek. The site looks good. Keep up the good work. A SHOUT OUT to Butch. The thumb is progressing and the first SS check came in. Man, you've earned retirement. A SHOUT OUT to Putzer and family. Good luck next week, I'll be thinking of you all. A SHOUT OUT to Mike Tice. Keep your big trap shut and lawyer up. A SHOUT OUT to Cheer or Die. Great Vikings site! Finally, a little preview of what's to come. Come back Friday for the signature column of this site, Pepper! That's where SBG and a guest hash out 10 topics. I have a guest lined up for this week and I think it's going to be good. Come on back! Come back again on Saturday when Lucy will regale you with stories and pictures of Jags and Theo in Lucy's Cat Blogging. A don't miss for sure! Peace. Out.|W|P|111042321834575714|W|P|Thursday Means Wild Card|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/09/2005 09:43:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Nice site, I really appreciate your total commitment to NASCAR for those two fine people, Butch and the mayor. Please spend less time on that other stuff like baseball and baseketball. You could have so much more room for picktures of my NASCAR idols.
Talk to you soon
Planner Bob3/08/2005 08:10:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|Welcome, SBG fans. Tonight, I want to focus on team chemistry -- and it's actual value to a sports team, particularly to a baseball team. A lot of people believe that team chemistry is important -- that it is the close knit teams that win and the teams that aren't close that don't win. Or, perhaps more accurately, chemistry can make the difference between two teams of similar ability. SBG has always been skeptical of this. The Twins have always projected an image of team unity. Now, I don't know if that's true or not. But, ultimately, I haven't cared all that much about it. Earlier this spring, Jim Souhan wrote an article in the aftermath of the Randy Moss trade about how the Twins won't allow a player like that on their team -- and how they ship players who have attitude problems out. This article made SBG cringe. For those of you who don't remember the 1970s, there were two teams who combined for five World Series wins, the Oakland A's and the New York Yankees. What did these teams have in common? The players on those teams did not get along. (Oh, and they both had Reggie Jackson.) These teams were full of players with big egos. And they won. The A's won five consecutive Western Division championship and three consecutive World Series. The Yankees won three consecutive AL pennants and two World Series. And they were known as the "Bronx Zoo." So what? Well, SBG read a story in the NY Times this week that suggests that it is the loosely associated team and not the tight knit team that will be generally more successful, all things being equal. The author's thesis is that the Yankees, who are not a close knit team, are better equipped to win than the Red Sox, who apparently can't get enough of each other. Now, perhaps the local rag is partial to its home team. Perhaps. But, the author cites the opinions of academics. Says Dr. Calvin Morril, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, who has studied group behavior in competitive corporate situations and in high schools:

So much of psychology and sociology emphasizes the importance of communicating and creating strong bonds to improve group performance, but in a lot of situations that is just not how it works. Baseball is an odd mix of an individual and team sport, and an ideal example of where a diffuse team with weak ties to one another may help the overall functionality of the group.

The author of the article indicates that the Yankee clubhouse is dispersed and without any true evidence of leadership. (Oh my God! I thought they all shouted how high when Captain October says jump!) The article seems to suggest that the Yankees are broken into factions, and not a cohesive group. The article suggests that this model is the more preferred model than the close knit group.

When a common purpose is shared, loosely tied groups can function better than strongly bonded ones when it comes to containing dissent or bickering, research suggests. In studies of neighborhood organizations and corporate teams, social scientists have observed that members with weak ties can withdraw from disagreements without disrupting the group or their own work. On a tightly knit team, by contrast, a falling out between key members can divide a squad, forcing people to take sides, psychologists say. "The idea is that any sort of problem is likely to ripple more strongly and quickly through a close group than one with weak ties," said Dr. Mark Granovetter, a professor of sociology at Stanford.

In other words, if a team is close knit, it might be less able to deal with problems and more likely to fall apart when dissention does arise. Whereas teams that aren't that close to begin with can tolerate problems (and problem players) more easily. Further, the article suggests that it is winning that creates cohesion, and not the other way around.

Winning is more likely to create team unity than vice versa, [Yankees Manager Joe] Torre has said repeatedly, and the evidence backs him up, said Dr. Richard Moreland, a professor of psychology and management at the University of Pittsburgh. Team cohesion is a hard thing to measure in the first place, Dr. Moreland said, and dozens of studies of sports teams find that, although having players who feel team unity helps performance, "it is not a strong effect, compared to the effect of performance on cohesion." Torre puts it this way: "Look, I was on teams in St. Louis, we would go out 10 or 12 of us at a time, but we finished third or fourth. We got along, we liked each other, all that stuff, but all that meant is you weren't alone a lot."

The Twins over the course of the last couple of years have lost a number of players who are "chemistry" guys: David Ortiz, Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, and Corey Koskie. And yet, they've still won. Now, it's Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones who are the chemistry guys. SBG doesn't care about that (although he'd love Ortiz' bat in the lineup). Let's face it, the important thing isn't whether Morneau and Cuddyer (or whoever) like each other, it's whether they are performing on the field. Think about it. They could all like each other and be great human beings. But, if they aren't focused on winning, if they aren't serious about their jobs, it doesn't matter. Look at the Timberwolves. The problems aren't that Sprewell spouted off about his contract. I mean, Joe DiMaggio used to spout off about his contract and hold out. And he never hung out with his teammates. And the Yankees won the World Series a bazillion times when Joe DiMaggio was playing centerfield for the Yankees. The Wolves problems are on the floor. Guys are not performing. They are taking stupid shots and not playing good defense. It's easy to point to the Sprewell contract situation and say it's his fault. If so, these guys are not mentally strong enough to win anyway. Think back on the Twins of the late eighties and early nineties. Kirby Puckett was the consummate chemistry guy. The Twins were the consummate chemistry team. And lo and behold, they won a couple of championships. And yet, when Puckett got in trouble what did Kent Hrbek say? (Paraphrasing) "I don't really know Kirby Puckett all that well. I never hung out with him except at the ballpark." So what is the point of this diatribe? Well, if you have players that are committed to winning, team chemistry isn't all that important. The players don't have to like each other or hang out with each other to win. In fact, if the team is too close, it might be a detriment. A team with a focus on winning can tolerate a few nut cases (like say, Randy Moss) as long as those nut cases are performing when it counts. I think that the whole chemistry thing is a great PR move. And a guy like Torii Hunter does a lot for his own image when he talks about leadership. But, a true professional team doesn't need a guy to stand up and be the leader. So, Torii, SBG has this advice. Continue to play Gold Glove defense and improve your performance at the plate. That is the best thing you can do for this team. SBG will cheer you when you perform on the field. Just win, baby.|W|P|111033768718256066|W|P|Wednesday Media Watch -- Is Team Chemistry Important|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/09/2005 11:34:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|I don't think team chemistry is only about getting along with each other and hanging out during off hours. I think it's a matter of eveyone on the team having the same purpose.

You see a lot of professional athletes with tons of talent , but when they're playing, they seem to be only thinking about themselves. "What's in it for me, personally?" I think this is an attitude that can sink a team that has a lot of talent. "Move the runner up? But that doesn't help my stats." "Yeah, it's a big game, but I've got a hangnail, I'm sitting this one out."

Some athletes give the impression of being strictly self-centered, whether they are on the field or not. Randy Moss certainly gave a lot of ammunition to his detractors when he admitted that he "took some plays off." Fans like to think everyone on their team is trying their hardest all the time--not just when they feel like it. I imagine teammates feel the same way.

So the Yankees don't hang out together. They have a ton of talent on that team. Even if they didn't practice together, you'd think they should win 100 games. Maybe if they had a little more "team chemistry" they'd win 130.
-Duane Hanson3/09/2005 06:59:00 PM|W|P| SBG|W|P|In my article, I wrote "Well, if you have players that are committed to winning, team chemistry isn't all that important." So, I guess for the purposes of this discussion, team chemistry IS about hanging out together and having fun in the clubhouse.

The psychologists and sociologists in the article indicate that a loosely knit group can handle adversity better than a tightly knit group. People who aren't tight don't tend to care all that much about conflicts between co-workers, they tend to just do their jobs.

In the Souhan article, Torii Hunter said: "We don't let [clubhouse problems] happen here. We keep talking to you until you start smiling and having fun. And if you don't, then we might have to fight." So have fun with Torii and the boys or he'll punch you out. The Souhan article is directed at clubhouse and team unity more off the field than on.

I don't think it's a bad thing if guys want to have fun together. And, I agree that guys that don't play hard are a problem. My point was that if you are too focused on that, you may not be doing yourself any good. Better to spend your energies working on your game.

I don't think that a lot of people were friends with Michael Jordan. Remember, he wasn't afraid to punch out teammates when he got mad. Nobody will argue with the results on the floor.3/07/2005 07:16:00 PM|W|P|SBG|W|P|SBG read today what he had been dreading. From the Star Tribune:

Twins catcher Joe Mauer was given Monday off because of some mild soreness and swelling in his left knee, the first problem he's had this spring. The team was told by Mauer's doctors that this was a normal expectation in his recovery from surgery to repair torn medial meniscus cartilage in the knee. But it wasn't exactly good news, either. "We're going to back him off for a day or two,'' [Ron] Gardenhire said, "and see how it goes from there. All we can do is wait and see.''

It's possible that this is nothing. But, it is an ominous signal in a spring that has been otherwise quite enjoyable to this point. I especially don't like the comment by Gardenhire. "All we can do is wait and see." Mauer represents an important part of the Twins lineup, and not having him will be a big loss. On this occasion, I'll take an opportunity to talk about the Twins' offense. In 2004, the Twins offense was, in a word, subpar. The Twins were 10th out of 14 American League teams in scoring runs with a 780 (compared to Boston's 949 and the New York's 897). Who did they outperform? Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Seattle, and Toronto. Those four teams had the four worst records in the American League, with a combined record of 258-388. Obviously, the Twins won with pitching, leading the league with a 4.03 ERA. SBG has hopes that the Twins will be better offensively in 2005, but a lot of that revolves around Mauer. Here is a rundown of the Twins in 2004 by position along with a prediction of what 2005 looks like.

Player/Position	OPS 2004	Player/Position	OPS 2005
Guzman/SS	.693	Whoever/SS	.725
Rivas/2b	.715	Rivas/Whoever/2B	.720
Koskie/3b	.837	Cuddyer/3B	.780
Stewart/LF	.827	Stewart/LF	.827
Hunter/CF	.805	Hunter/CF	.815
Jones/RF	.742	Jones/RF	.790
Mientkiewicz/1B	.703	Morneau/1B	.850
Blanco/C	.628	Mauer/C	.825
Ford/DH	.827	Ford/DH	.790

Obviously, there are more sophisticated analysis tools out there, but this is an SBG thumbnail sketch. I'm thinking that the Twins are about the same collectively at SS, 2B, CF, and LF next year, offensively. I think Jones will be much better (remember, he was playing under the pain of watching his father die of cancer in 2004) and so I plugged in his career OPS. The Twins will be slightly worse at 3B, but not much, really, when you factor it that Koskie missed a lot of games last year. I also expect that Ford will not be quite as good as last year. That brings us to first base and catcher. Mientkiewicz was putrid last year. Yes, Morneau played the last two months, so the upgrade won't be that huge. But it will still be a pretty healthy jump. In these eight positions combined, I see that the Twins are on the whole a little bit better. But, with Mauer, this team is a lot better. His bat is very important. And the drop off from Mauer to anyone else is significant. In short, I see Mauer's presence as being the difference from a repeat, offensively of 2004 and a vast improvement. So, let's hope that the report coming out of Florida on Mauer's knee is not that big of a deal.

Crappy Morning, But not Completely

I was waiting for the train this morning and the wind was blowing like it was North Dakota or something. About fifteen of us were huddled in a shelter at the station, taking a little solace in the heater above us. As I rode to work on the train, it was snowing ever so slightly. The spring feeling of Sunday had evaporated. And then I saw another sign of spring. As the train rolled past the Metrodome, I saw, for the first time this year, the players banners that hang from the lampposts around the stadium. It won't be long now.

Twins Territory

If you went to the Twins Geek site today, you probably got a surprise. There is no Twins Geek site anymore per se, it's been replaced by Twins Territory. Yep, the Twins Geek has started a new project, that will include his writing and a whole lot more. You too, can start your own blog, as it were at the Twins Territory site. SBG has promised the Geek that he would contribute writings once in a while. I haven't decided what that contribution will look like, but I have a couple of ideas. SBG the website will remain as it is right here. In addition, I may post some of my older writings at Twins Territory, but come here everyday for new writings. I hope that this new project will be fun for Twins fans and that it will complement this site as well. Good luck, Geek!|W|P|111025010221276681|W|P|Twins Tuesday -- Paranoia Sets In|W|P|sbg@stickandballguy.com3/08/2005 07:00:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Yeah, but you know, here's the thing -- the PiPress writes: Mauer said he experienced the soreness during his workout Sunday. He immediately went to the clubhouse.

So let's see. Sunday morning he caught pitchers fundemental drills. Then he took batting practice. Then he caught two full bullpen sessions. Then he packed up his stuff, and signed autographs as he made his was to clubhouse like most of the other players were doing. He wasin't limping. He seemed to be walking fine.

And I provided photographic proof of all of this. Couldn't be too big a hurt on his knee. After all, it's not like he suddenly grabbed it writhed on the ground in pain and dragged himself to the club house.

The newspapers blow this stuff all out of proportion. Really, they do.3/08/2005 12:24:00 PM|W|P| SBG|W|P|True enough. Moss, who's had knee surgery told me that he isn't all that concerned about it. However, the Twins, like most teams, tend to misreport or rather, underreport, injuries. They could have said something like we planned to give him a day off or said nothing. But, they brought it up. That's what concerns me -- the fact that the Twins brought it up.3/08/2005 12:30:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|While I agree with SBG that I am concerned the Twins brought it up, I must say that Dianna's comment has made me feel a whole lot better. I've been just sick about Mauer's knee until I read that. Thanks Dianna!3/09/2005 10:05:00 PM|W|P| SBG|W|P|Sprewell did as much dunking last night as SBG did in high school games. For the record, SBG could dunk a basketball once he got in college. And Putzer, how many dunks did you get?