July 2, 2010
Link-O-Rama
• Once upon a time Steve Carrell leaving The Office would have made me sad, but it's tough to get too worked up given how far the show has slipped recently. It was a good run.
• Mariano Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history and the New York Times has an amazing video breakdown that sheds some light on how he's been able to dominate for 15 years with basically one pitch.
• Despite being among the most brutal reviews of all time the Washington Post account actually increases my interest in a Courtney Love concert.
• Losing to the Twins wasn't even close to the worst part of Johan Santana's week. Setting aside everything else, my first question is what kind of maniac has sex and then immediately plays tennis?
• Starting next year the Mets will pay Bobby Bonilla a $1.2 million annual salary through 2035.
• While the TwinsCentric viewing party watched the Twins' ridiculous extra-inning win over the Phillies last week one of the televisions at Park Tavern showed an Amanda Bynes movie. We naturally spent the final few innings debating which movie it was, to the point that Seth Stohs missed Ryan Howard's game-ending strikeout because he was busy looking at her IMDB page on his phone. Less than 24 hours later Bynes retired from acting at age 24. Eerie, huh?
• Hopefully they'll also be able to trade him for Tom Gugliotta.
• Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com candidate Kelly Brook spent the week modeling various bikinis while on vacation. Surely no further commentary is necessary.
• Video of the "100 Greatest Movie Insults" is almost as not-safe-for-work as it is fun to watch:
My favorite is "go home and get your shine box," but anything from Alex Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross and R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket is pretty great too.
• Ron Artest celebrated an NBA title just like you'd expect Ron Artest to celebrate an NBA title.
• I'm apparently one of the few people who loved Louis C.K.'s first show that got canceled by HBO after one season, so it's no surprise that I also love his new show on FX. They're running back-to-back episodes every Tuesday night and I highly recommend watching assuming that you enjoy things that are really funny. And if you've never seen his amazing stand-up before, watch this recent set on Lopez Tonight. If you don't laugh, we can't be friends any more.
• Party Down deserved far better than to be canceled after two seasons on STARZ, but it was such a good show and so overlooked that most of the actors got better gigs. Adam Scott will be a regular on Parks and Recreation and my crush on Lizzy Caplan will live on forever.
• Freaks and Geeks is another show that deserved much better, but at least the Independent Film Channel will now be home to the old episodes nearly a decade after NBC sadly canceled the series after one amazing season. IFC also has Arrested Development re-runs.
• There's still time for the Twins to choose him over Joe Mauer.
• Some rare good news from the newspaper world: Let go by the St. Pioneer Press a year ago, friend of AG.com Phil Miller has been hired full time by the Minneapolis Star Tribune after doing a bunch of part-time work for them recently. I'm a little sad that Miller will be covering Gophers football after previously reporting on the Twins and Timberwolves, but his writing is so good it might actually get me to read about Tim Brewster and company. Maybe.
• Conan O'Brien can feel good knowing that at least no one is watching Jay Leno.
• My weight-loss effort was a total failure last month and the fact that there's a donut shop opening soon about a block from my house isn't going to help.
• Next time you get frustrated by a Twins baserunning mistake, remember Ruben Rivera:
Jon Miller's play-by-play really takes the clip to a whole new level.
• Rather than make some lame joke about fumbling, I'll simply link to Adrian Peterson and his Playboy-posing fiancee.
• Having chatted with him about such things, let's just say that this drawing of Jon Heyman is not a self-portrait.
• David Kahn has accomplished in two years what two decades filled mostly with losing could not, because between the draft and first couple days of free agency I'm giving serious thought to picking a new favorite NBA team. Any suggestions?
• This song randomly got stuck in my head last week despite not hearing it for 15 years, and I defy you to find a superior lyric: "Leave you kinda startled like the funk off a Frito / Make your man jealous while hoes cheese like Doritos."
• Based on this quote, I'd guess Ron Gardenhire reads Twins blogs, but not this Twins blog or any of the Twins blogs I read.
• A pair of Twins blogs Gardenhire and you should check out: OMG MN Twins and Knuckleballs.
• For whatever reason I was very late to the Drew Magary party, but he's quickly become one of my favorite writers because of absurd-yet-interesting things like this. As for the question on the table, I'd definitely take the over on 25,000.
• Friend of AG.com and awesome poker writer Paul McGuire has a new book called Lost Vegas that I can guarantee will be worth reading.
• I've been writing the "Daily Dose" column on Rotoworld each weekday since April 3, 2006, so it definitely feels weird to say that today's is my 515th and final column.
• On a related note, here are some highlights from my NBCSports.com blogging this week:
- Can Ubaldo Jimenez be the first 30-game winner since 1968?
- Stephen Strasburg's teammates let him down again in loss
- The next 300-game winner? How about Jamie Moyer?
- Pat Burrell apparently left his bat back in the National League
- White Sox are winning, so rookie Dayan Viciedo isn't playing
- GM says Carlos Zambrano's contract wasn't a bad deal ... and he's right
- White Sox reportedly targeting Nationals slugger Adam Dunn
• Finally, this week's AG.com-approved music video is Eddie Vedder joining Bruce Springsteen for a live version of "No Surrender":
A lot of us wanted Delmon higher in the order, but yeah, nobody was clamoring for the #3 spot.
Comment by Beau — July 2, 2010 @ 7:00 am
Just caught word of Party Down a few weeks ago, and watched the series beginning-to-end in one glorious afternoon (minus the last 2 episodes which I had to wait to watch). It’s a damn shame it got cancelled, but the show would have really lacked without Adam Scott and Ryan Hansen. The second-to-last episode was my fave, with the NFL draft party.
Comment by Glanzer — July 2, 2010 @ 7:35 am
Not tennis right after random sex on the golf course, but tennis with his dad, apparently. And she was watching! Did Dad wonder why this woman was watching them play tennis?
And seriously, didn’t Johan have elbow surgery last fall? What was he doing playing tennis?????
Comment by SBG — July 2, 2010 @ 8:08 am
That’s pretty much spot on about The Office. Show was great at its peak, but that was 2-3 years ago.
Comment by Mike Gianella — July 2, 2010 @ 8:19 am
There damn well better be a lot of focus on Punto’s error costing us the game last night. First thing Gardy should say to the press is that Punto’s error cost us the game. It did. It just did. There’s no getting around it. It was the one run that was “given away” in this game. To me, that’s the difference. Gardy sort of gave away another run by bringing in Mahay instead of Mijares or Duensing (who probably was not supposed to pitch last night, so I don’t blame him for not using Duensing there).
You know that Wins Above Replacement stat or whatever it is that people around here like to refer to when evaluating Punto? The one that shows Punto is more valuable than Bobby Abreu over their careers? Yeah, that one. Well, that stat better give Punto a full “minus 1” for last night’s game. Because it cost us a full win. If that stat does nothing like that, I call BS on it. It doesn’t tell us anything unless there’s a full 1 point deduction from Punto’s rating for last night’s game.
When another player, like Harris, costs us a game, Gardy, fans, media, etc., will say “well, that cost us the game right there.” Today and last night I’ve heard no rumblings that Punto cost us the game. Funny how it’s forgotten by so many.
Comment by Matt #3 — July 2, 2010 @ 8:50 am
Gardy didn’t blame Punto, but Pavano sort of did:
“You can point your finger at Jon — he gave up that one run — but earlier in the game it’s my job to close the door,” said Pavano, who gave up two two-out runs. He added: “I cost us the game.”
Pavano, of course, did close the door in the fifth, but Punto opened it again with an error that gave the Rays a run.
Everyone on the planet, with the exception of Gardy, knew that Mahay wasn’t going to come through.
Comment by Dan — July 2, 2010 @ 11:01 am
Dear Mr. Gleeman,
I address all the insults in the superb top 100 video in your general direction if you “pick” a “new favorite” NBA team. Times infinity.
Comment by Jeff — July 2, 2010 @ 2:23 pm
http://talkintwinsbb.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/state-of-the-twins/
Seth was the one I saw mentioning the idea of Delmon at 3rd.
Comment by Seanmiz — July 2, 2010 @ 4:27 pm
ha, big props for the Paperboy video, I had that Cassette back in the day. Now its stuck in my head too.
Comment by Steve L. — July 2, 2010 @ 7:14 pm
Matt #3: So it was that one run in the fifth that cost them the game? Not the equalizing run scored in the ninth, and definitely not the go-ahead run scored in the tenth? Those runs were apparently inevitable after Punto’s error allowed a run in the fifth.
I think that maybe your IQ should be deducted by one point.
Comment by Ted — July 3, 2010 @ 9:59 am
So I have been hearing a lot of chatter to the effect that the Twins might be trading for Cliff Lee.
What is it likely to take? Wilson Ramos is probably part of any deal, right? Then who? Revere? Hopefully not Hicks or Morales.
Also, what is Cliff Lee likely to ask in free agency? CC Sabathia-type money? Is there any possible way that the Twins might be able to afford him?
Finally, Lee will be a Type A, but will he be one of the top overall Type As? If he walks and signs with a team that signs multiple Type A free agents, is he likely to be the one who returns the first round pick?
Basically, what will it likely cost to get him, what are the chances MN keeps him past this season, and how likely is he to return a first-round pick?
Comment by Ted — July 3, 2010 @ 10:05 am
This is the only place I have to cry to. My girlfriend doesn’t care. This doesn’t have anything to do with this post. It seems like we are losing a lot of games because of how we are managing our pitching. And it is really breaking down to a trend: the starters are going to long when they are clearly done, and our relievers are pulled too soon. One could say it’s matchups and roles, but that only explains it about half the time. You ever notice how Gardy goes crazy on changing the relievers the most when he faces an opposing manager with intellect and sophistication? His personal overcompensation using the Twins is embarrassing. It was great to watch the Costas interview with Hall of Fame closers Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter and Dennis Eckersley. They all agreed that setup pitchers are sent off too often and early, and often the choices are random. In Gardy’s effort to deflect criticism to his pitching staff, he is making himself the problem.
Comment by brian — July 4, 2010 @ 5:51 pm