Teixeria vs. Morneau

For those of you who have read my blog all the way back to last July, you'll know that I have a slight beef with the All-Star voting system. To recap, it should be about the fans, but fans have to stop being such homers. Now, you could make the argument about me being a homer with this blog, but the statistics say otherwise.

If you haven't seen the American League starting lineup voting totals yet, here's the results so far.

Joe Mauer should be leading the American League, and when we are looking at the Minnesota Twins, he should be the only other player worthy of a starting spot. However, if you look further, you can see that Mark Teixeria has opened up a 140,000 vote lead over Justin Morneau.

Um...what?

Morneau hasn't gotten the respect of many people in the baseball industry. He's one of the elite first basemen in baseball, but most of the ink goes to Teixeria, Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, and Kevin Youkilis of the Boston Red Sox. The other three deserve ink too, but this year is blowing my mind as to why Morneau isn't leading by a landslide.

Let's compare. Justin Morneau is hitting .383 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI. He's also muscled a pair of bombs in one of the better pitchers parks in the league, Target Field. He also leads the league in on base percentage, slugging, OPS, and total bases. It's actually very similar to the season that Joe Mauer put up last year.

Then we have Teixeria. Tex is hitting .206 with 7 home runs and 30 RBI. He'll get RBI opportunities even when he's hitting like crap because he's in the Yankees lineup, one of the best in the American League. His other numbers are a little low because of a slow start, but you can't reward someone who you THINK is going to have a strong second half.

The Twins have been in that boat before. When Johan Santana was here, he'd have some trouble in the first half of the season, but once the calendar hit June, he was lights out. However, sometimes it would come a little too late and Santana would be left off the all-star team.

Joe Nathan has had that happen too. Nathan would throw absolute aspirin at hitters, but he'd only have about 10-15 saves at the time all-star teams were selected. It wasn't his fault, but he didn't get too many save opportunities to make the team. It happens.

So because we think Tex is going to bounce back after playing like crap for two full months, he should make the all-star team? Well, there is his defense, but Morneau plays great D at first two. In fact, the two probably rival each other every year for the Gold Glove Award.

Morneau talked about that earlier this week and said that a simple fielding session with former Twins manager Tom Kelly helped his D. He said that Kelly started chucking balls into the dirt and Morneau couldn't make the picks. Kelly stopped the drill and laid it out for Morneau in typical T.K. fashion.

"I can go get a guy off the street to catch the easy ones," Kelly explained. "But it's a true major leaguer that can catch the ones in the dirt!" From then on, Morneau got better and better defensively and some would say he's up to Tex's level.

Also, Morneau is just a good guy to root for. This is kind of a homer statement, but think of Teixeira's free agency courtship a couple years ago. There were three suitors for his services: the Baltimore Orioles, the Washington Nationals, and the Boston Red Sox. Tex grew up in the Baltimore area and all three teams were offering roughly the same amount. If Tex goes to the O's or Nats, he becomes Joe Mauer-like in terms of popularity.

So, Tex did what most people would do. He turned to his wife and asked where she wanted to go. Her answer? New York.

Cue the music...

Or better yet...ahem...la la la la la la la....

NOW YOU'RE IN NEW YORRRRRRRK
NOW YOU CAN BURN YOUR HUSBANDS MONEY!!!
TO COVER UP WHAT YOU CAN'T DOOOO
NOW YOU'RE IN NEW YORK!!!!
THERE'S PLENTY OF SHOPS TO BUY @#$%
HOME OF THE 50 DOLLAR CHEESEBURGER!!!!
LET'S HEAR IT FOR NEW YORK, NEW YORRRRRK!!!

Ok, that's enough. But really? He got duped...yeah there's the whole championship thing, but the Yankees didn't even make an offer to him. It's all irrelevant.

Morneau should start this game unless he starts playing like Tex did the first two months of the season here. Bottom line. If this isn't the year Morneau starts, it's thievery.

The Minnesota Twins: Taking Minnesota Nice To An Extreme

At the beginning of the season, I thought this was a different Minnesota Twins team. The Twins had added some veterans and I thought they had an edge to themselves. You know? The edge to drive in a couple runs when they were up by 10, steal a base in a late game, or slam the door in the 9th and jump up and down and start screaming about it. However, I was wrong. Your Minnesota Twins are just as cute and cuddly as they've ever been.

There are many reasons for this. I don't even know where to start. How about 3rd base, for example. On most major league teams, the third baseman is a guy that can mash home runs, play great defense, and be a leader on the team. On the Twins, they have Nick Punto. Punto can't hit, but he plays defense. (My uncle texted me that he plays "Gold Glove" defense...debatable...) However, between the two who primarily get the time at third, there is no offense to speak of at all.

Brendan Harris was supposed to be an offensive force after coming in the Delmon Young trade. He hit 12 bombs the year before and the Twins would have loved to see him doing what Orlando Hudson is doing now for the Twins. Instead, Harris has become very methodical in analyzing his stats. A couple weeks ago, Harris was asked how it felt to have a three hit game. Harris mentioned that his average went up about 40 points. Uh oh. The baseball player that keeps track of his own stats isn't very likely to succeed. Harris currently is hitting .181 better than myself and the reader of this blog. While Punto is hitting about .250, he's not an everyday third baseman. The only problem is that the Twins don't have anyone else to replace Punto as the current third baseman of the future, Danny Valencia, is hitting .302 in AAA...problem is he has ZERO bombs. Needs a little bit more seasoning before a callup is in his future.

The other troubling thing is that the Twins can not hit with the bases loaded. The lone highlight in this situation this year was Jason Kubel's grand slam off Mariano Rivera at Yankee Stadium. A lot of people have been blaming Trevor Plouffe for striking out with the bases loaded on Sunday, but the Twins also blew many chances to drive in runs earlier in the game. So what's the problem here?

Well, I think there's a lot of pressure on the Twins to crank bombs at will. Don't get me wrong, it's deserved pressure, but guys are going up there trying to crank grand slams when a single will get the job done and drive in a run or two. The results show as the Twins have grounded into 19 double plays this season...and Michael "Big Poppa Pump" Cuddyer has grounded into SEVEN of those double plays by the way. (By comparison, Justin Morneau has yet to GIDP this season.)

There's one last thing that I think this team is missing, and as Jim Souhan beat me to the punch in saying, that's a killer instinct. The Twins simply are too nice. Look at a team like the Rays. They got good when they told the Yankees to @#$% off. The Twins haven't done anything like that. I would pay to see Justin Morneau to sock Mark Teixeria in the face and scream "I SHOULD BE STARTING THE ALL-STAR GAME!!! I'M HITTING ABOUT .400 FOR GOD SAKE!!!" Or maybe see Scott Baker send a heat seeker at Jeter's head. Hell, even Nick Punto can get into the act by taking a hard slide into second base...well, assuming he can get on base.

This lack of an edge is showing in opportunities to sweep an opponent. The Twins have had 6 opportunities to sweep, but have only done it once. The Twins need to get on a streak at some point during the season, because every team will have a stretch where they play well over a 162 game season, and if the Twins can't get on a roll, the Detroit Tigers, who are currently one game back in the Central, will come sneaking up like the bad guy in a slasher flick.

I'm Done With The NBA

For many years, I have followed the NBA enjoyably. When I was little, I would go to countless Timberwolves games with my father. We've gone to some good ones. There was the game where Wally Sczerbiak was kicked in the face by Bruce Bowen and then exploded in the fourth quarter. Then there was the game where the Wolves ended a series of first round series upsets with a win over the Denver Nuggets. These games were a lot of fun and a great moment in my childhood.

However, today, I would like to renounce my faith when it comes to the National Basketball Association. I have long suspected that this league is rigged, and there were even a couple of reports of this in the early 2000's. Well, I didn't believe it at the time, but now I'm sure of it.

The biggest example of how David Stern has rigged and pulled things together the way he wants to is the NBA Lottery. The Lottery was made in 1985 to keep teams from tanking at the end of the regular season to get the top pick in the NBA Draft. So how does this mean it's rigged?

The top draft prospect in the NBA in 1985 was...Mr. Patrick Ewing. The team that wound up winning the lottery was the New York Knicks, who also happen to be David Sterns hometown team. This started a tradition of small market teams getting screwed.

No team has felt the wrath of David Stern more than the Minnesota Timberwolves. In their existence, which began in 1989, the Wolves have never picked higher than 3rd. The biggest screw job before tonight happened with the 1992 lottery in which the Wolves had the chance to get the #1 pick in the draft. The Wolves would wind up getting 3rd in that draft which would wind up being Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, and Christian Laettner.

Then came the big one. The Wolves decided to put up an under the table deal for Joe Smith. Yeah, it's our fault, but at the same time, David Stern took away SEVEN draft picks. SEVEN!!! Would Stern have taken SEVEN picks from, say...the Knicks if they offered LeBron James a side deal this summer? I think not. But they had to make an example of the Wolves!!!

Then, there's this year's draft lottery. The Wolves had the second best chance to get the #1 pick in the draft. Hell, if anything, they should probably get the 2nd pick in the draft, right?

Well, here's what you need to know. The NBA only draws for the top 3 picks in the draft, then the rest is inverse order. So, let's look at the top 3 picks in this upcoming draft...

The third team is the New Jersey Nets, who had the best chance to get the #1 pick. Yeah, they fell two and won't get either John Wall or Evan Turner, but they can get a solid front court player with their pick, most likely Derrick Favors. It's not a bad door prize.

The second pick belongs to the Philadelphia 76ers, a franchise that is still trying to replace Allen Iverson. Let's not mention that Philly might be the 3rd biggest media market in the Northeast, where the NBA is based.

And finally, the Washington Wizards have the #1 pick in the NBA Draft. Wizards owner Abe Pollin died during last season and it would have been a great story to see him there to accept the number one pick. But...

POLLIN JUST HAPPENS TO BE A CLOSE FRIEND OF DAVID STERN!!!! And here's the really big thing. Remember Gilbert "HOORAY FOR GUNS!!!" Arenas? Yeah, he signed a pretty big contract before the season. So the Wizards should be on the hook for Arenas' salary, right? WRONG! Stern is letting the Wizards out of the contract...without paying Arenas if they so choose. So they're saving a buttload of money, they have the #1 pick, and their late owner was Stern's good friend.

It's time to pull the Randy Moss card on the NBA and when the tough gets going, Randy Moss says @#$% this. The Wolves continue to get screwed raw and it keeps getting worse. But it's ok, David Kahn is going to sign a big time free agent, right???

Too bad nobody wants to sign here. There's nothing to do in Minnesota. It's too cold in the winter too. They want to go to Miami, where they can party with Dwayne Wade and pull their best Pac Man Jones impersonation. Hell, we are better people than most of the players in the NBA. Take a look at the entire Boston Celtics team...

WE LOVE COLD!!! WE PLAY BASEBALL OUTSIDE!!! WE PLAY HOCKEY OUTSIDE!!! WE LOVE OUTSIDE STUFF!!! LET'S JUST PLAY OUR GAMES AT TARGET FIELD AND SIGN THE ENTIRE CANADIAN BASKETBALL TEAM, BUT THEN STERN WILL JUST TAKE AWAY PICKS FOR HAVING TOO MANY CANADIANS!!!

Oh, and with that fourth pick, the Wolves are guessing they'll get DeMarcus Cousins, who has supposedly punched four of his coaches throughout his career. So I can't wait until he goes into a Wal-Mart and gets pissed he can't get his Lil' Wayne CD for free and goes apeshit. The Wolves should just sign Royce White while they're at it...

So, no more NBA for this guy. I'm done. When the Lakers and the Celtics get into the NBA finals, we'll know a lot more about this fraud of an organization, that financially is going down the toilet in small market. Lord knows why that would be happening...

The Current State Of Pro Wrestling Makes Me Sick

Most of the time when I post about wrestling I get a slew of comments. I will just quickly run through everything that's normally said so we can get past it.

First, I know wrestling is fake and is staged. So is your favorite TV show.

Second, yes, Kane is still wrestling. But if that's the only wrestler you know, you aren't a true fan so don't comment on it.

OK, now that that is out of the way, let's talk.

I watched a majority of Monday Night Raw tonight from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto tonight. This was going to be a marquee show for the Monday night brand as there would be no commercials and a big card to boot.

Unfortunately, things aren't as great as they were in say 1998. Trust me, that was a great year for professional wrestling. Stone Cold Steve Austin won the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania 14 and immediately became a legend with his feud with Vince McMahon. The crowds were awesome. Look at this...

Stone Cold drives a cement truck...

Stone Cold drives a zamboni...

Stone Cold whips out a gun...

And of course, Stone Cold drives a beer truck...

That was a fun trip down memory lane, wasn't it? Now back to the current day WWE. WWE is trying to draw a younger crowd to get more fans again, and it's product is suffering big time. I understand that you need to initiate the new crowd, but they're taking this to an extreme.

For example, the WWE has banned chairshots to the head in their matches. (Like I said before, yes, it's fake.) This means that the big knockout blows is the chair shot to the...ribs. Violent! Of course, the WWE is trying to prevent another Chris Benoit situation, who had his brain turn to swiss cheese and decided to kill his family and himself because of too many blows to the head. That's a good thing...but come on!!! It's wrestling!!! Wrestling without chairshots is like beer without alcohol. C'mon now!

The commentary has gone down as well. Jim Ross is one of the best wrestling commentators of all-time...and the WWE is starting to weed him out so that Michael Cole can be the voice of the WWE. It's good to know that they have my interests in mind, so Mr. Cole. Keep using your fake enthusiasm and crappy catch phrases and keep my seat warm.

The championships are being demoralized. The Intercontinental Championship has been tossed around like bean bags at a Brewers game the past couple of weeks. When was the last time Drew McIntyre actually defended the damn thing? And then there's the United States Championship which has been held by The Miz, a solid young wrestler, however the WWE has an interest in sticking him with crappy tag teams. Which brings me to my next couple points.

When was the last time a young superstar, WHO DESERVED IT...got a push. Mr. Jack Swagger doesn't count. He's got a good bit, but there was another guy who had the same bit as the "All-American American", that was Kurt Angle. Nice re-hash. But guys like The Miz and John Morrison (who were on a tag team once upon a time) aren't getting a push, they're getting paired together because of...

The lack of good tag teams. The Hart Dynasty might be the only real true tag team in the WWE. They're trying to build some, but none of them have the great impact that they had...say back in '98. In '98, you had teams like the New Age Outlaws, the Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian, and the Dudley Boyz. They might not have been the greatest tag teams ever, but at least fans could get behind them for good or for bad. Now they just mash two main eventers that they have no clue what to do with and then mix their songs together. Isn't that cute?

I'm ranting more and more about this and I haven't mentioned that Bret Hart won the U.S. Championship tonight. He makes a great champion...in '98! Why are they not promoting some young stars? Mix it up a bit! We can only take John Cena for so long!!!

And the guests hosts have been terrible! Flavor Flave? Buzz Aldrin? Bob FUCKING Barker??? Get someone who will be entertaining...not someone who is trying to sell stuff. Call Jared Allen. Call Bob Uecker. Hell, get Shaq to do it again, he's not busy thanks to Mr. James mailing it in. Guys with personality would make this great.

So, I'm officially an old guy. I'm looking for the good ol' days again, and someday, the WWE might turn up the maturity dial on their programming, until then...I'll just keep watching!

Time To Make A Statement

There have been many varying opinions in the media about this weekends series between the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees. The consensus one is that this will be one of the top American League series of the weekend, as both teams have identical records of 22-12. However, on one side of the coin, it's just another series in the middle of May. That would be how the Yankees would look at it and how the Twins should look at this. However, in recent history, that would be hiding the elephant in the room.

Over the past decade, the Twins have bowed down to the Yankees. Especially in the playoffs. They don't have trouble beating other AL East teams or American League mega powers, but there is something in the Twins head that can't get past the Yankees. When the Twins do beat the Yankees, Twins Territory goes into shock. Well, as Owen Hart would say "Enough is Enough and It's Time For A Change"

Many Twins fans are going to use this series as a barometer as to how close the Twins are to making a run in the playoffs. Yes, it's mid May, but a series victory over the Yankees in Yankee stadium would give this team a shot in the arm.

Since Ron Gardenhire became manager of the Twins in 2002, the Twins are 3-23 in regular season games at Yankee Stadium. The Twins were also 0-10 against the Yankees including a post season sweep. That's enough to terrorize Twins Territory worse than Freddy Kruger. It's gotten to the point where I would accept not getting swept at Yankee Stadium this weekend. If the Twins lose the series 1-2, I would be OK with that. It's not the end all be all, and it would get the "We can't beat these guys" feeling out of the Twins minds.

Also there's the point that the Twins are no longer the little engine that could when it comes to baseball teams. The Twins have added veteran guys over the past year who can perform in clutch situations. They have one of the best 3-4 combinations in all of baseball with Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and they have an above average pitching staff that should improve as the season goes on. The talent is there.

So bring on Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, LeBron James (too soon?), and everyone else. I hope the Twins can escape with one win, and if they can GASP win the series, Twins Territory will be in a partying mood on Monday morning.

The Sox Are Coming! The Sox are coming!

As we near graduation, I suppose it's that time of the year where I should A) Be cranking out resume's relentlessly and B) writing more blog posts. A has been taken care of today, so I suppose that I'll take a look at B. B is a good thing to do right now when you talk about your Minnesota Twins. Your American League Central Champions of the World Minnesota Twins.

This week figures to be rivalry week for the Twins as they'll take on the Chicago White Sox for two games at Target Field, and three games against the New York Yankees, at their personal house of horrors, Yankee Stadium. I'll take a look at the Yankee series later in the week, but here's what we should be looking at.

"Kill a mesquito with an axe."
The White Sox are struggling a bit right now as they are already 8 games behind the Twins for first place in the Central. Almost nobody is hitting and the pitching staff is really struggling right now. The Sox were able to take a 7-5 lead in the 9th inning against Toronto yesterday, but Bobby "Triple Cheeseburger Buffet Buster" Jenks served up a juicy three run bomb to Fred Lewis and did not record an out yesterday. If you want a good laugh this morning. Here you go. If the Twins can sweep this two game series, it would put the Sox at 10 games back of first. Remember that the Twins were about 12 games back of first place on June 1st, 2006 and we all know how that wound up, however, you have to kick a team when they're down.

The White Sox debut at Target Field
Ozzie Guillen was asked by FSN commentator Dick Bremer his initial thoughts of Target Field when the Twins visited the Sox in the second series of the season. His response was, "If it was built in Mexico it would have been nicer than the Metrodome." Ozzie will finally get to see Target Field this week, as will White Sox General Manager "Captain Arrogance" Kenny Williams. Williams had some harsh words after the Twins swept the White Sox on the last week in 2008 saying "I will not attend another game in that dump until the new place is done." Hopefully, they like what they see.

Throwback Mode
While most of the Sox lineup isn't hitting, Alex Rios and Andruw Jones are. After two miserable seasons for Jones in which he flirted with the Mendoza Line, Jones has gotten off to a respectable start for the Sox. As of today, he's hitting .261 with 9 HR and 17 runs batted in. Rios on the other hand is hitting out of his mind as well (.324, 6 HR, 17 RBI). Jones and Rios have been exiled from their previous places of employment and while Jones is consistent with the numbers he has put up with the Braves (we'll forget about the Dodgers and Rangers for a second), Rios is reversing the trend of his notorious slow starts.

Hellen Keller
Which brings me to the rest of the White Sox lineup. Alexi Ramierez usually is a slow starter, but this is ridiculous. Alexei is hitting .217 with 2 HR and 9 RBI and just one stolen base. This guy was compared to Alfonso Soriano a year ago...wait...he IS playing like Soriano!!! Never mind. The real shock is 2B Gordon Beckham (.193 avg, 1 HR, 6 RBI) who the White Sox moved back to his natural position of second, thinking he would excel off his decent rookie campaign. Instead Beckham has not looked like the phenom that the Sox shot through the minors. Remember, he had 14 home runs playing a foreign position last year, and if you don't think that's a big deal, talk to Michael Cuddyer, who struggled in his 3rd baseman role with the Twins in 2005.

Jenks on the Hot Seat
I talked about Jenks earlier, and while the Chicago pitching has been anything but lights out, Jenks is struggling. Yes, yesterday was his first blown save of the year, but he's posted a 6.75 ERA in 12 innings this season. He hasn't been the lights out closer that the South Side has known and loved, but Ozzie started grumbling about making a change. The one logical replacement would be Matt Thornton who throws just as hard as Jenks does, but has a 2.35 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. I think this is a Chris Kluwe situation (Remember the whole "Don't kick it to Reggie Bush" thing?) and no change will be made...yet. At least nothing that will affect this series.

HE HAS RISEN!!!
Too much? Joe Mauer made a pinch hitting appearance on Saturday, and then went 1-3 as the designated hitter on Sunday. Ron Gardenhire is expecting that Mauer starts at catcher on Tuesday and everything will go back to normal, and Wilson Ramos (who is 1 for his last 18 since starting 7 for 9) will be sent back to Rochester. It will be interesting to see how much Mauer will play at catcher over the next week as the Twins don't want his bruised heel to get re-injured. However, this is great news for the Twins pitching staff as Ramos has struggled calling games behind the plate recently. Taking Saturday into context, Liriano, who also "struggled" when Ramos called his game at Cleveland, got too many pitches up and wound up getting dunked to death by the struggling Orioles. Not helping his cause, Baltimore got two stolen bases when Ramos forgot to flash multiple signs when there was a runner on base. So, when he flashed the curveball sign, the O's took off and got a pair of easy stolen bases. In the nightcap, Drew Butera started and Scott Baker was lights out over 8 innings. Not to mention that Butera (2) has more RBI than Ramos at this point (1). Ramos will be a solid major league player, he's just not ready to be an everyday force to be reckoned with at the major league level yet.

Remember, this is the appetizer for the main course this weekend as the Twins will face the Yankees inside a steel cage. It will be interesting to see if the Twins will look past the lowly White Sox, or if they will, like I said, kill a mesquito with an ax.