Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

Johan Santana: Of Course He Would Pitch a No-No

For 8 glorious years he was all ours.  Then it was gone and the wind blows cold in Minnesota.

Johan Santana Pitched a No-No for the New York Mets:

What stood between the Mets and their first no-hitter in their 50-year history was a matter of inches, Carlos Beltran and one deceiving baseball. Johan Santana was supposed to have a pitch count, but his left shoulder was not supposed to be this healthy, and for how well he danced with fate all night, it would not have mattered how many pitches he threw.

But in the sixth inning, on his way to no-hitting the St. Louis Cardinals, Santana left a pitch where Beltran could pull it down the left-field line. It appeared to be a fair ball, what would have been a double, what would have ended the no-hitter. The third-base umpire, Adrian Johnson, called it foul, and Beltran then grounded out.

Santana ran the count full against the next hitter, Matt Holliday, only to dip out of danger again by striking out Holliday on a chest-high changeup. All night it went like this, until Santana had completed his no-hitter, throwing 134 pitches even though Manager Terry Collins had said his limit was 115, and walking five batters. The Mets won, 8-0.

Santana was amazing to watch.  It appears that still is the case.

Roll on Johan, roll on!

The Best Of Times


Watching the Twins today. Had a great moment with my 6 year-old kid. Earlier in the weekend we began exploring what a batting average is. I explained it this way:

If Jeter has an average of .312 it means that if he has 1,000 chances to get a hit or get an out, he gets a hit 312 times.

As we watched the Twins some freakin’ guy named Clete steps to the plate for the hometown 9.  The child laughs at Clete’s .000 AVG 0 HRS 0 RBIS line.  Just as I say, “If  ‘ol Clete here were to get 1,000 chances to get a hit, he’d get ZERO of ….”

And then the bastard goes yard on me. Me boy fell out laughing. How cool is it that he got that?

Then he asked me if I thought the Twins would win now that we were up 3-2. I said, “No.” He said, “Why not daddy?” to which I replied, “Cause we’re a horrible ballclub son.”

He just nodded and said, “Yup.”

I just saw that we lost 4-3.

Economics: Supply and Deman – Twins Style

So, yeah, the Twins have been horrible since the start of the season.  Some of that has to do with some guys getting hurt, to be sure, but I think most of it has to do with not having very many good players.

However, as fate would have it, the Twins play in a  horrible division of baseball and are only 6 games out of 1st.

The Twins think they’re “in it”.

And so too, it seems, do the fans:

The defending American League Central champs struggled out of the gate with a mixture of poor play and injuries. Throw in some inclement weather and it was the “perfect storm” according to Michael Nowakowski, one of the owners of Ticket King, an online ticket broker. A representative from StubHub agreed, saying brokers were “giving away 400 to 500 tickets a game.”

As he negotiated a deal Thursday, one scalper said he was selling $60 tickets for $5 early in the season. “There was an abundance of tickets on the street. It was bad,” he said. But scalpers were getting as much as $35 more than face value per ticket for the first game following the All-Star break.

In a market that’s widely seen as free, the street, literally, is determining the value of a Twins game.

Fascinating.

An interesting side note:  Notice that in each case, the two parties that exchanged goods–one money for tickets, the other tickets for money–walked away feeling “richer” than they did when they met.  One party was able to ttrade some amount of cash for something that meant more to them; a baseball game.  The other party was able to trade a baseball game for something that meant more to them; cash.

This is the text book example of how trade creates wealth.

Baseball Was Better Yesterday Than It Is Today

Harmon Killebrew

1936 – 2011

This one’s tough:

Harmon Clayton Killebrew, an iconic Minnesota Twin known for his prodigious home runs and humble demeanor, passed away Tuesday morning at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home at the age of 74 after a nearly five-month battle with esophageal cancer.

I’m sure it’s urban myth, but a favorite back home is the story of a reporter speaking with Killer during the height of the steroids controversy.  The young man asked Killebrew how many home runs he could hit if he were playing today?  Killebrew kinda looked past the reporter, pondered the question for a second, sighed and said, “Well, I think I could hit 15, probably a few more if I was lucky.”

“15!?!”,  responded the reporter?  “Only 15?  Are the pitchers that tough today?  You just don’t think you could hit ’em?”

Killer kinda grinned at the reporter “Son, theyre no tougher today than when I was YOUR age.  But you have to know, I’m 65!”

Damn!

RIP Mr. Killebrew

He’s Still Out

In my mind, the greatest World Series Ever Played took place after the 1991 season.  The Minnesota Twins vs. The Atlanta Braves.

Kirby Pucket

Black Jack Morris

And if you are a Braves fan, the one play that sticks in your craw is this one:

Believe me, I know your pain:

Anyway, head to Target Field this summer and get your “He’s STILL Out” bobble head for yourself!

April 5th, 2010: Chance of Recession in the Next 12 Months — 00.055%

Very little has changed since March 1st.

In essence, the New York Fed says that there is a 00.055% chance that the country will enter or be in recession by April 2011.

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