December 13, 2005

Slow News Day

  • My mom noticed the new ad on the left-hand sidebar yesterday and asked, "New ad for porn, huh?"

    I said, "No, the ad is for MSNBC."

    To which she replied, "What is BC?"

    That is the sort of conversation that movies and television simply don't accurately capture.

  • An interesting note from Charley Walters' column in Sunday's St. Paul Pioneer Press:

    Tony Cicalello, who played baseball at Cretin-Derham Hall, will become baseball coach at St. Thomas Academy, with former Raiders pitcher Billy Mauer as an assistant.

    By "interesting note" I mean interesting to me, because I was Little League teammates with Tony Cicalello. In fact, I'd probably rate him as the third-best player I ever played on the same team with, behind current University of Minnesota center fielder Tony Leseman and a guy named Travis Brown, who as far as I can tell has vanished from the face of the earth.

    Although Cicalello may not remember this (or even having me as a teammate), he and I were double-play partners at one point. He played shortstop when he wasn't pitching and I played second base when I wasn't hitting pop ups to right field. I don't really have a point to this little bit of nostalgia, but it does seem weird to see a guy like Cicalello becoming a high-school coach.

    I always think of high-school coaches as the gym teacher-types who wore those weird spandex biking shorts, aviator glasses, and a whistle around their neck. Not slick-talking Italian kids who once knocked me out cold with a feed from shortstop when we were practicing double plays and I wasn't paying attention. I guess I'm getting old.

  • Guess which Twins player said the following:

    I told them I didn't want to do any underwear shots.

    Give up? I'll give you a hint ... he's the brother of the new assistant coach at St. Thomas Academy.

  • Some bad news for those still holding out hope that the Twins can trade Kyle Lohse for something significant. The Phillies dealt Vicente Padilla to the Rangers yesterday for a PTBNL. What does that have to do with Lohse? Well, he and Padilla are very similar and "PTBNL" isn't going to look great batting cleanup.

    Lohse is 27 years old, made $2.4 million in 2005 while going 9-13 with a 4.18 ERA in 178.2 innings, and is eligible for arbitration. Padilla is 28 years old, made $3.2 million in 2005 while going 9-12 with a 4.71 ERA in 147 innings, and is eligible for arbitration. And here's how their career numbers match up:

                   IP      ERA      W      L     K/BB
    Lohse 844.2 4.72 49 52 1.95
    Padilla 779.0 3.95 51 51 1.96

    Much like with J.C. Romero, it seems as though most Twins fans have gone overboard on that whole "one person's trash is another person's treasure" thing. Maybe Alexi Casilla has a brother or something.
  • Today at The Hardball Times:
    - Franchises at Birth: The Royals and the Pilots/Brewers (Part One) (by Steve Treder)
    - Patience and Position (by Dan Fox)

    Pick of the Day (153-128, +$2,405):
    Miami -4 (-110) over Chicago


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