biggentleben

Depends on where in the state you are. Western SD is Rockies, and there is a piece of the state where the Royals are carried on the local radio station. The Cubs are also well-represented long-term in the state.

I think you may be confused. CBP is the park in the city of brotherly hate, not San Fran.

I personally love Turner Field for the way that they tied in the old field and the history of it on the outside to the feeling in the park. Well worth the cross-country trek.

My best dome memory was being a CA at the U and taking a group of freshmen residents to a game in the cheap seats for the Chuck Knoblauch hot dog game. We were about halfway up the left field stands, watching baseballs start to get chucked (no pun intended) onto the field.

I had your Fenway experience at Wrigley a few seasons back. It was tremendous to just walk in and experience the history of the place. I had goosebumps as I walked out onto the field. Part of my reasoning has to do with me being a baseball fan due to a great-grandmother who LOVED the Cubs and always told me about Wrigley, but it's still a great game experience. There are plenty of things that need updating, but at the same time, the stadium bleeds history so much because some of those things are there. The new Busch will be the destination for my bachelor's party down the road. I had a much better experience at Miller, but part of that could have been that my only two visits were in the first two years it was open, so there was some of that attempt at Lambeau ambiance that my uncle tells me has now left the exterior of the stadium.

James Gandolfini dead at 51, per reports

Exactly this...I just did a piece on TomahawkTalk.com on the subject of the draft and actual results. The Rays are the only team in all of baseball to have 0 players drafted since 2008 to play for their major league team. Many teams whose systems are lauded, like the Rays, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, ended up bottom 5 in either number of players drafted that played for the major league team or total WAR from their draft in the last 5 years. The Twins did rank bottom 5 in players who have played for their team that they drafted in the last 5 years, but they were mid-range in total WAR.

Oh, don't get me wrong, it won't surprise me that some will put him there, but the verbage of being "a lock" is what surprised me. He's struggled with major league arms to put any drive into the ball, can't play defense, and he's going to be 25 by season's end. Yes, he can put bat to ball and flash doubles power, but he's one of those guys that would have to have everything break right for him to make it as a starter in the big leagues.

Wow, I'd be very surprised by that, and I'm a huge Braves fan. The Braves blog I'm with is doing a midseason team prospect rankings, and Terdoslavich has cracked the top 10 in only one list of the writers thus far, and that's for the Braves team, let alone the top 100 prospects in all of baseball.

No disagreement, but you just need to see the 1990 NL pitching staff to see where the half-season crap can be dumb. Jack Armstrong starts the game while the NL Cy Young winner and another in the top 5 for the season don't make the game at all. I would much rather see Chris Davis play than Albert Pujols, but just last year, Brian LaHair had an All-Star roster spot and barely cracked 100 ABs after the All-Star game because he was terrible (and he was horrid after April, so he had already been terrible for two months when he was put on the team).

I am one that much more prefers to see the stars of the game at the All-Star game than a guy who happens to perform well in the first half of a season. I'd rather see Albert Pujols in the game than James Loney or Robinson Cano over Jose Altuve. That's for the entire roster, and then I'd reward the stars performing well with the starting roles. After that, I'd put on guys playing out of their minds - Chris Davis, for example. My ballots didn't look like this because I didn't want to upset El Oso Blanco, but here's what I would do... AL Catcher - Joe Mauer, Min First Base - Prince Fielder, Det Second Base - Dustin Pedroia, Bos Third Base - Miguel Cabrera, Det Shortstop - Jhonny Peralta, Det Outfield - Alex Gordon, KC; Mike Trout, LAA; Jose Bautista, Tor NL Catcher - Yadi Molina, StL First Base - Joey Votto, Cin Second Base - Brandon Phillips, Cin Third Base - David Wright, NYM Shortstop - Troy Tulowitzki, Col Outfield - Carlos Gonzalez, Col; Ryan Braun, Mil; Andrew McCutchen, Pit I would enjoy utilizing both leagues' DH roles to promote a breakout player. In the AL, I'd choose Manny Machado, and in the NL, I'd go with Jean Segura. My rosters would be filled with more of the typical one-half performers that you see, especially on the pitching staffs, but to me, an All-Star game without the biggest stars of the game on the team is simply folly.

You done pissed off the mighty El Oso Blanco. He will hunt you down and make you pay for your lack of love for his mighty beard and home runs.

Note the way the game is played, though, too. We have morphed since the 1970s/80s into a fastball-dominated pitching culture. The human arm is simply not made to throw a baseball at 90+ mph velocity over and over for extended amounts of time. We remember guys like Nolan Ryan and Bob Feller because their velocity was so incredibly rare in their eras. Now, virtually every team has a guy who could touch triple digits on a radar gun. Japanese baseball in general (obviously there are exceptions) is played station-to-station with lots of contact-driven offense, not power-driven offense. Because of that, pitchers throw a lot more junk pitches in order to affect more awkward contact. While you hear that throwing a ton of sliders kills arms, there's a big difference in an American slider and a Japanese slider in terms of velocity and, obviously, stress on the arm.

Marty Cordova's was up there...missed a game as a result of severe burns to his face from a tanning lamp.

It's been discussed as an option for the Braves when Brandon Beachy returns in another angle. They would pair he and Julio Teheran, whose innings they want to control to some degree this year, and have them each plan on 4 innings with a maximum of 5 and piggy back. That said, Houston started the year doing a similar philosophy, and it blew up in their face. If a team still had a bullpen full of guys who could go 3 innings, this would absolutely work, I believe. The problem is that you have a bullpen full of LOOGY and ROOGY types and one-inning max pitchers.

Not to mention every time they faced Pierzynski when he returned to the AL Central

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dead at 74

The three Twins starters vs. the Braves career: Correia – 11 GP, 7 GS, 41 IP, 3.51 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 5.9 k/9, 1.35 k/bb Pelfrey – 16 GP, 15 GS, 86 IP, 5.65 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 4.6 k/9, 1.16 k/bb Worley – 6 GP, 4 GS, 22.2 IP, 3.57 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, 7.5 k/9, 1.36 k/bb Each has some previous experience against the Braves, though each is a small sample size, of course.

Braves announced lineup: Simmons Heyward JUpton Freeman Laird Uggla Francisco BUpton Teheran Interesting that they dropped BJ to 8th, and Laird is Teheran's personal catcher, so that is to be expected.

The Braves have been playing with their lineup some, based on whether or not they're giving BJ Upton a day off. As he had a day off Sunday, he may not get one this series, but this is the typical RHP lineup: 1. Simmons, SS 2. Heyward, RF 3. Upton, LF 4. Freeman, 1B 5. McCann, C 6. Upton, CF 7. Uggla, 2B 8. Francisco, 3B 9. Pitcher The Braves have used 34 different batting lineups this season so far, so it's hard to nail down what the lineup will look like for sure, especially with BJ Upton and Uggla getting more days off and Chris Johnson hitting well enough that he may play a game or two, despite being on the wrong side of the platoon for this series.

Derek Lowe and Kenshin Kawakami in the same offseason really shied them away from the free agent market, mainly because they have a significantly tight budget via a corporate owner. This offseason was their first chance to attempt to flex some financial muscle with Chipper off the books and Lowe's contract gone as well. From what has been reported on the Atlanta side, the Braves made overtures to retain Bourn and then to trade for Span/Revere before going for BJ Upton. From what is rumored on the Atlanta side to acquire Span or Revere (Teheran or Delgado) and what Bourn was demanding from the Braves (5 years), they made the right choice. The Justin Upton trade is also the first of its kind after shying away. That was a move that Schuerholz made quite often toward the end, and rarely did it come back positive. For examples, look at the long-term ramifications of a one-year rental trades of JD Drew and Mark Teixeira. They had made the trade and sign of Uggla recently, but when you give up a career utility infielder (Infante) and a lefty reliever with command issues (Mike Dunn) and get back a perennial RH power hitter in a lineup without much from the right side at the time, you make that deal. It hasn't worked out as well as the Braves would like, especially as Dunn has figured out his control and would be very valuable this year with Venters/O'Flaherty injured and Infante has become a quite valuable piece. The model the Braves do often and has really hit for them this year is grabbing others' throwaway types. Ramiro Pena and Jordan Schafer are playing huge roles on the team after being easily acquired as they were out of options. Chris Johnson was a throw-in on the Justin Upton deal who's come out to hit .342 with a 134 OPS+. Guys like that seem to come to Atlanta every year, and if you hit on 1 or 2 of them, you feel great, but guys like O'Flaherty, Cristhian Martinez, and co. show you don't have to have a $100M+ payroll each season to acquire very important players. A new owner that forces ripping up arguably the worst TV deal in baseball would do a lot for the team's revenue, but for now, they have to be smart, and Wren has done well in that regard.

Funny part is that they're nearly always panned by BA and Law and such about their drafts, yet they continue to produce very solid pieces. On McCann, I simply don't see a way he's a Brave in 2014, but at the same time, it'd take them being offered a Teixeira-type of deal for him to move him this year, and that's simply not happening. The crazy part is that they might be doing the 3 catcher thing next year as well with Bethancourt's bat finally looking alive in AA with his other-worldly defense still prominent. You pair Gattis and Bethancourt behind the plate, and you have an inexpensive combo that would be above average in offense and defense for the next 3-4 years.

So, this is a poster's mock on Sickels' site after doing a long study of drafting trends of each front office: Cookiedabookie's 2013 MLB Mock Draft - Minor League Ball His draft would have the Twins getting Gray and Windle, which would be a huge steal for the Twinkies!

Being the local Braves fan, I will likely need to watch my words the next few days, but I am looking forward to the series this week, the first time ever the Twins have played in Atlanta. Oddly, the Braves have made 3 trips to Minneapolis for interleague, twice at the Metrodome, and in the inaugural season at Target Field. Coming into the series, the Braves are coming off of a home sweep of the Dodgers and are widely considered to have had the toughest schedule in baseball to this point, with their only sub-.500 opponent coming into the weekend being their opening series foes. They've also played the most road games in baseball to this point. Oddity of oddities in the schedule, the Braves will not travel farther west than St. Louis after the 12th of June. The Braves have been distinguished by two things offensively this season - strikeouts and home runs. They have hit 55 home runs, 2nd in the National League, and struck out 386 times, which leads all NL clubs. They have also walked 2nd most in the NL. Early season has seen some major slumps and injuries to big pieces of the Atlanta lineup, so though they lead the NL East at the time, their best offensive days should certainly be ahead of them. Jason Heyward, Brian McCann, and Freddie Freeman have all missed significant time while BJ Upton and Dan Uggla have struggled to get things going offensively. The Braves starters aren't any of the big-name variety like a Kershaw or Verlander, but they have featured the same five-man rotation all season long. The Twins will face off against the Braves two most veteran starters, Tim Hudson and Paul Maholm, along with their youngest, Julio Teheran, this series. On the youngest team in the majors via opening day roster, the 37 year-old Hudson and 31 year-old Maholm count as "ancient" on a pitching staff with one other 30+ year-old pitcher. Hudson has been up-and-down this season, as signified by his last four starts, two wins and two losses, where he threw 14.1 innings with 4 runs allowed in the two wins and 8.2 innings with 11 runs allowed in the two losses. This could be Hudson's last season in the majors, and he's shown himself to pitch much better at home this season with a 2.84 ERA and 3 of his 4 wins coming at home. Maholm started strong and has settled into a consistent role as the second lefty in Atlanta's rotation. He's very stingy on the home run and very tough on lefty hitters, so Mauer/Morneau could be in for a long night against him. The fun matchup will be watching young Julio Teheran take on the Twins lineup. He has been slightly prone to the long ball, but in general has pitched well when luck has been on his side. He has really improved as the season has gone on, and his two May starts were both excellent. He has a little bit of Brad Radke in him in that he rarely walks anyone, tends to get into a little trouble early, but you look up and it's the 6th/7th inning, and he's kept his team in the game all the way through. Where the Braves really shine is on defense. Their pitching staff can boast about allowing the 2nd least runs in the National League, but a lot of that credit goes to the defense. Justin Upton, BJ Upton, and Jason Heyward in the outfield can be argued as the best defensive outfield in baseball, and when Jordan Schafer subs in for a slumping BJ Upton, it can be argued they even get better. Freddie Freeman has been superb at first base, but the real superstar on defense is Andrelton Simmons, already making his mark in the conversation as the best defender in the league. His wizardry at shortstop is only matched in my lifetime by one other player, affectionately known as The Wizard, Ozzie Smith. It should be a fun series, and I will be one of the few here cheering for the home team, but it should be a good series of great baseball!

ftfy