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D. Hocking

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Everything posted by D. Hocking

  1. D. Hocking
    To keep with the positive puppy theme - I found a picture of Ervin's puppy http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j35/elo_001/2007/weird%20stuff/puppy_evil_001.jpg
  2. D. Hocking
    I know there are reasons to think this is going to be a long season (the last four seasons being a big reason), but April baseball can be so illusory to how the season plays out. April in many ways is like spring training, where adjustments are made and roster changes occur. I definitely don't look at an individual's stats for a number of weeks. How many times to do you see someone batting 400 in April only to fall off by June or someone to have a 185 average and end up contending for a batting title in September. Again, with the last four seasons, you cannot help but be concerned by a rocky start, but it is still a little early to be jumping off the top of the IDS building. At least wait until the third week of April - maybe Earth Day or something meaningful like tat..
  3. D. Hocking
    Do you not remember the bathroom decor discussion in the game thread last year? -- and I seem to remember something about curtains that went off the rails and was not an all together positive experience.
  4. D. Hocking
    Weren't they still the Senators during Caesar's time? and I believe Caesar did not always see eye to eye with the Senators. One of the older posters should be able to recall.
  5. D. Hocking
    Judging from the number of his posts on this thread -- not going to be a problem.
  6. D. Hocking
    The journey to 161 wins begins today.
  7. D. Hocking
    Looking at some of those names -- how did we miss the play-offs during those years?!
  8. D. Hocking
    It is time to let it go -- a sport's message board is no place for people not letting go of things that happened in the past. Speaking of letting go - I just went for a run - it might be time to let go of my running past...
  9. D. Hocking
    As a child, I had to accept Sonny and Cher splitting, and then Donnie and Marie in a (hopefully) different way, but I don't think I will ever come to terms with this split.
  10. D. Hocking
    I thought you were in a committed relationship with Brian Dozier's hair.
  11. D. Hocking
    I was enjoying a day off, reading Mike Berandino's article on Mauer - thinking it perhaps it was more than a PR piece -- full of specifics and lighter on cliches, thinking maybe there is some hope for this season. I did not even get the article closed and saw a tweet about Santana. I had to read it about three times before I was able to get a grip on what it said. I suppose better this year than next when we are further along with the future players, and if Gibson continues to develop and become more consistent, Nolasco doesn't give batting practice every game, Meyer and/or Mays makes their presence known, we won't feel Santana's absence quite as much. There is always something that goes wrong ( a key player gets hurt etc) and by May you usually don't have everyone you thought you could count on in March. Maybe this will be our bad luck for the season. It is disappointing and frustrating, but I am going to refrain from wearing black right now, and just try to enjoy the start of the season. In reality, I was not planning on a World Series team, but just hoping to see some improvement and development of the future players (I am going to ignore the average age of the bullpen for now) and see some more entertaining games with signs of hope of 2016/2017. That could still happen.
  12. D. Hocking
    Yes -- I flipped on the radio when I heard the news (thanks for putting a damper on my day off Irvin) - Buster O was talking to Ruesse and were saying that there was not much a team could do at this point. It almost sounded like it was something the player's association would have to change. Buster mentioned players hate it when someone who gets caught makes the claim they do not know how they tested positive, so Santana probably did not help himself by not just coming clean - esp since he is not appealing. On one of the newscasts last night, they were saying he had become a big club house presence and how the younger Latin players looked up to him. I don't think we ever really know how the clubhouse is (I think what the media sees and/or reports is an incomplete picture), but it could be interesting when he comes back. It would be nice if he changes his story and just openly accepted responsibility and admitted he screwed up.
  13. D. Hocking
    The 2015 Twins - we LAUGH in the face of steroid scandals -- you throw a road block and we will OVERCOME and WIN. (I want to hold onto my denial and hope a little longer).
  14. D. Hocking
    Watching this video and the styles makes me wonder if I perhaps did not look as cool as I thought I did in the '80s. I am also having flashbacks of getting together with friends to watch Friday Night Videos and being excited for the debut video of the week, which also makes me wonder if I was not as cool as I thought...
  15. D. Hocking
    WAIT!!! The owners of this webpage have not given you a contract, a competitive salary, excellent benefits, stock options, and potential bonuses, to allow you to live a comfortable life, and you have to work outside in addition to your important position here? I guess the spirit of Scrooge lives on in the owners of Twins Daily.
  16. D. Hocking
    I was listening to Mackey and Judd for a bit this morning, and Phil pulled out a column that he wrote at the end of spring training (2012?) about how he did not think Blackburn's great spring training was a mirage and how his strike rate was comparable to Liarano -- how he figured something out. Then Blackburn did not even finish out the year in the majors. He said he was not sure how he was not fired after that column. He also pulled out a column he wrote at the end of the 2011 spring training how the question was not if they would make the play-offs, but if they could finally get past the first round. It ended up not being an issue. I give him credit for going out of the way to mock himself.
  17. D. Hocking
    Damn -- the time is up -- I was going to ask if they will then fire Molitlor, Ryan and crew -- and rehire Gardy, Anderson, and reestablish Smith as GM. I am assuming much of the blame will be on Mauer for having no fire, and if the record would have been even worse than 0-162 if had not it been for the great clubhouse leadership and chemistry brought by Torii -- who undoubtedly will have an extension offer. At least we will get a decent draft pick. Hopefully we will at least get a couple of good game threads out of this.
  18. D. Hocking
    You are known as one of the more esteemed baseball minds (and perhaps minds in general, that I don't know) in the upper Midwest, so there could be worse predictions with which to agree.
  19. D. Hocking
    You forgot where Babe Ruth showed up and told him to clear his head between games with some drinking and carousing and said there was too much damn clean living in baseball these days. Then he took a deep inhale of his cigar and returned to the baseball diamond (or bar) in the sky. I think his season will be somewhere between the predictions of Nick and John. Nick – .315/.410/.445 (.855) with 40 doubles and 10 HR. John – .300/.380/.400 (780 OPS) with 35 doubles, and 8 HR. As a Mauer apologist, I am going to be proactive with my excuses for a slow April -- he is known to have slow starts (2009 withstanding - although I guess he completely missed April there) and I think he will have a period of adjustment where he seeks to find the right balance between his traditional way of hitting and the pulling to right field he has been trying to develop this spring. I think it will take part of the regular season before he gets any adjustments mastered. I know it is hard to judge vets by their spring training, esp. when they are trying to do new things, but I would feel a little more confident if his grapefruit season would have been better.
  20. D. Hocking
    Is this kind of cynicism allowed at this time of year? Shouldn't we still be living in our spring training rose colored glasses, there have been unicorns spotted down by the Mississippi playing with puppies, and we are going to go from worst to first, October baseball here we come world?
  21. D. Hocking
    The Ely Brush Puppies (Timber Wolves)! - but I suppose it is time to let go the now distant past (plus most of the old range teams have merged into multi-town teams) - but D&^M those Ely Rats (esp. the hockey team)!. The White Sox - I have not been happy reading about their upgrades this past off-season and would be happy to see if they did not go as well as they look on paper. One of the few blessings of the last few years, is that the White Sox have been near or at the cellar as well.
  22. D. Hocking
    I am thinking after the score of today's game, he might be better used coming out the bullpen.
  23. D. Hocking
    I was not able to follow the game. I know people are concerned the pitchers might be hurt by a weak defensive outfield Would a better outfield have made enough of difference tonight?.
  24. D. Hocking
    I did hear on the radio the last few days (on Ruesse?) where someone reported he has been spending a lot of time in practice trying to work hitting more to right field, so maybe we will find out he has made a few adjustments. I guess time will tell. Regarding being a philanthropic force in the community - who really knows what players actually contribute in private. I suspect some make a big show at the official events and don't do much more and some give a lot that we never hear about. It would not completely shock me with Joe's persona that he is not public with everything he does (or he could be siphoning money from Gillette's hospital, his buddy's charity event - and the Jimmy Lee rec center to fund his milk addiction).
  25. D. Hocking
    Probably cost us a Super Bowl. Mauer, not getting drafted by the Twins, would have decided to do the Florida State route; the Vikings would have managed to trade for him when they decided to finally pull the plug on T-Jack; no late game interception by Favre in the Saints game; and then an overtime Super Bowl victory two weeks later.
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