Very Random Sports Thoughts: Manny playing early, Timberwolves trading & drafting, and my Twins

I have so many thoughts on my little iPod "Notes" app, of things I want to write about in the blog, but getting my healing brain to cooperate seems to be the issue. So I am going to put those notes aside, and just cover some current sports things on my mind, since they don't take a lot of deep & analytical thinking!

• I already complained about this on Twitter, but why does suspended Dodger Manny Ramirez get to have "rehab" games in the minor leagues before his 50 game suspension is up? He shouldn't be allowed to play anywhere higher than American Legion ball until the suspension is done. MLB says he can't talk to the media from the Dodgers clubhouse, but he's allowed to go get his swing back in the minors? If a player is tossed from a game, the player replacing him doesn't even get a warm-up throw, catch, etc (and it's not even the fault of the replacement player), but Manny can play AA ball? This is a suspension for failing a drug test, not a DL trip for a torn ligament. If he needs rehab games, it should happen after the suspension. Someone please explain to me how this makes sense.


• The Timberwolves are currently trying to make up for all their lost draft picks from the Joe Smith debacle in this one year (just to clarify, I liked & still like Joe Smith, but he is not the kind of player that one should risk a lengthy punishment to try to sign him early...), by picking up their 4th pick of the 1st round. The latest trade, sending Randy Foye & Mike Miller to the Washington Wizards for 3 players & the #5 pick, is ok with me, if that actually matters to anyone. I plan to write an expanded blog about Randy Foye's time with the Wolves, and the impossible situation he was in through no fault of his own, but I think it would help him to be somewhere where is not continually compared to Brandon Roy. Mike Miller just seemed to lose the shooting touch he'd always shown against the Wolves, once he was actually on his childhood favorite team. My personal opinion is that his "man bob" haircut was the reason he was struggling, since not many Minnesotan men wear headbands, but I have no scientific backing on that thought! Now the question is what the Wolves will do with these picks, which leads me to...


• Please don't package picks to get Hasheem Thabeet. I have nothing against Thabeet, and he seems like a nice enough kid. I just think the odds of him being a complete dud in the pros is larger than the odds of him being a star. This is based on watching him play against the Zags twice in the last 2 years, as well as watching a large number of Big East games during his tenure at UConn. He has some defensive presence, but I feel that in the NBA, that will be overshadowed by his lack of offensive skills. I think Stephen Curry, with his size issue, is a much better risk than Thabeet. Having said that, I'd be ok with the T-Wolves taking Thabeet at #5 or #6 if he is still there, as there is a shortage of big men in this draft, just not with them giving up picks to move up to #2 or #3 for him.


• Which draft picks would I love to see on the T-Wolves when it's all said and done? I'm not even going to include Oklahama stud Blake Griffin, as he will be gone, and I think the Wolves have a couple good building blocks at his position, in Kevin Love & Al Jefferson. I will be showing a bit of a bias here with a couple of them, but I'd love for them to get any of the following:
• Spain's PG Ricky Rubio - I think he is overrated, but should still be a solid player, with the potential to have some Steve Nash passing ability...though potential is not a guarantee. Ndude Ebi had potential too.
• Davidson's SG/PG Stephen Curry -small, but that shot is something that Wolves haven't had in...well...ever. Closest they came was the year Freddie Hoiberg was hitting 50% on 3's, but he wasn't as good at creating his shot.
• Syracuse PG Jonny Flynn - I rank him above Jrue Holiday & Tyreke Evans
• Duke SG Gerald Henderson which pains me to say, due to my anti-Duke stance, and memories of Christian Laettner, Cherokee Parks & Will Avery.
• Gonzaga SF Austin Daye - but this is primarily because of my Zags love. I think Daye needs a few more years & a whole lot more bulk due to his position.
• St. Mary's PG Patty Mills - I've seen him play in person 3 times, and even when he wasn't shooting well, his quickness blew me away. Plus, unlike every other college player in this draft, Mills has played against NBA All-Stars in the Olympics, when he played for Australia, and he more than held his own. How often do teams get a chance like that to see how a kid does when he is up against the best?
• Gonzaga PF Josh Heytvelt - No, this is not just because of my afore-mentioned bias...Heytvelt is more like Kevin Garnett than Al Jefferson (not in skill level, but style of play). He likes to play face-up to the basket. Plus he has a long range jump shot that becomes a match-up issue as a 6'11" player. Wolves could throw out an interesting Jefferson/Love/Heytvelt mix, and see if the opponent has enough big men to follow them all.
• Now for what wouldn't make me happy...Hasheem Thabeet before the #5 spot, James Harden, Jrue Holiday, Dejuan Blair or BJ Mullens.

• And now for my Twins...disappointing loss in Milwaukee, after a bad relay throw home allowed the game to be tied, and a bad decision by Pitcher Nick Blackburn allowing the go-ahead run to score. But the way Nick Blackburn has been pitching for most of this season, is something very fun to see! After surprising most of us in Game 163 at the Chicago White Sox (due to an absurd coin flip) with an almost perfect performance, he just seemed to pick up where he left off, trusting his stuff, and trusting his fielders. I love it!

• Everyone noticed that this was the first Milwaukee-Twins series to not be on a weekend, seemingly since Milwaukee was in the AL. Naturally the Milwaukee at Minnesota series was on the weekend, but I am convinced that Bud Selig was tired of seeing the Twins fans showing up at Miller Park, so he switched it to a mid-week series to make it a little tougher on the fans, so there wouldn't be so many Twins chants during the games. I think he's still bitter that he was unable to contract the Twins, and then they've "owned" his team ever since then. (Ok, perhaps I'm not really convinced of all this, but I like the theory anyway!)

• Finally, in what was a perfect birthday present for me, the Twins got rid of Luis Ayala on June 22. It's as if they granted me the wish when I blew out my candles! I just couldn't handle him as a pitcher (and admit that I did not have an open mind when he came to the Twins due to his play for the Mets last season), but to find out he was asking to be traded because he wanted to be the set-up guy and was mad he wasn't getting the 8th inning, and that wouldn't help for his contract for next year? Aside from the fact that Gardy wouldn't stand for that no matter what, why would the Twins give the 8th inning to a pitcher who let batters hit .353 with runners in scoring position (.306 overall), especially considering his 1st batter faced BA had to be over .500 (but I can't seem to find that stat anywhere) which increases the odds that a player will get into scoring position. Oh well. I no longer need to debate this, as it is all over now! Thank you Twins!

Why Federer's 14th Grand Slam win isn't Tarnished Just Because He Didn't Play Nadal (or his 13th, for that matter...)

I've already heard many media outlets asking if Federer's accomplishment means as much, as he's beaten people other than Nadal for the last 2 wins. It isn't Federer's fault that Nadal couldn't find his way to the Final for the 2009 French Open & 2008 US Open. Federer just keeps showing up, and will take on whoever is there to met him. In my personal (albeit not too important) opinion, this makes what he has accomplished even more impressive!

Roger Federer has now played in 20 straight Grand Slam semifinals. 20!!! The previous record was 10, set by Ivan Lendl. He has doubled this record, and could still add on to it. The ability to be that consistent is unbelievable, and I don't find too many things to be unbelievable. He made the semis of the 2008 Australian Open while battling Mononucleosis. I was curled up in bed doing nothing but eating whole Baker's Square Cookies n' Cream pies when I had mono (yet kept losing weight...could I get that again please?) . I took a semester off of college & my parents put a mattress on the pull-out couch upstairs, because I felt too weak to go up and down the stairs to my bedroom. He "struggled" his way to a Grand Slam semifinal match, where Novak Djokovic was able to send him back home. That ended his streak of 10 straight Grand Slam Finals. He had as many Finals in a row as Lendl had Semis in a row!

As mentioned earlier, this historic 14th Grand Slam is being discounted by some because it was not against Nadal. Nadal couldn't even make it to the quarterfinals of the tournament he had cruised through 4 years in a row, let along win it a 5th time. To me, this shows exactly how "otherworldly" Federer has been for the last 5-6 years. Athletes get injured, they get sick and they have "off" days mentally. It happens to everyone. Yet it never seems to happen to Federer when it matters most; or if it does happen, he is able to overcome and keep pushing.

Nadal has pulled out of next week's Queen's Club grass court tournament, in which he is the defending champion. Did knee pain keep him from defeating Robin Soderling last week? Perhaps, but nothing has kept Federer from being there in every Grand Slam Semifinal since mid-2004, and 15 of the last 16 Finals. In my mind, this flat out makes him better than anyone else currently playing (and perhaps anyone else ever...perhaps.)

Much has been made of the fact that Federer cannot be the greatest of all time if he has a losing record vs rival Nadal. Nadal has defeated Federer in 62% of their matches, so he must be better. Of course, James Blake has won 60% of his matches vs Rafa Nadal - does this mean Blake is better overall than Nadal? While James Blake is, and has been my favorite men's tennis player since Agassi retired, I would be silly to argue that he is better than Nadal. The 2008 Tampa Bay Rays went to the World Series for the 1st time in their history after winning 60% of their regular season games, yet they were 2-5 against the .500 Cleveland Indians. Know anyone (other than Indians fans) who would argue that Cleveland was the better team in '07? In these situations, we look at the big picture.

And this is the big picture: Roger Federer has tied Pete Sampras for the all-time record of 14 Grand Slams won. Unfortunately for stars from prior generations, like Rod Laver, who were pros when the Slams were for amateurs only, we'll never know how many titles they could have acquired. All we know is that no one has more Slams than Pete & Roger. Federer now has a Career Grand Slam, having won each major at least once. Only 6 men in tennis history have achieved this feat. Andre Agassi was the last one to do it, in 1999. Prior to Agassi, it hadn't happened since 1964. While Federer could not join Agassi in a so-called "Career Golden Slam" by adding an Olympic singles gold medal to the mix, he was able to win the doubles gold medal in 2008 in Beijing, with fellow Swiss player Stanislas Wawrinka.

I'm not arguing that Federer is the best ever - I don't feel I'm qualified enough to say that, because my knowledge of tennis history before my birth is not as strong as I would like it to be. Perhaps someday I will get Bud Collins' Tennis Encyclopedia and read it, and then decide who is the best ever, but even then, it would still be impossible to truly decide. I'm merely arguing that Federer's place in history, and the significance of his 13th & 14th Grand Slam victories, should not be minimized just because they were against someone other than Rafa Nadal. It's not as if Rafa stayed home and played poker instead of competing in those tournaments. He lost matches before getting to the final. He didn't make it, and Federer did!

As a fan of tennis, I would love to have seen another Nadal-Federer battle, so in terms of entertainment value, we as fans were cheated by the Federer over Murray and Federer over Soderling victories. But the value of these victories doesn't change. Find me a Boston Red Sox fan (or any baseball fan) who thinks their 2004 World Series victory was not as important because it was a not-so-entertaining sweep. Or a golf fan (or any sports fan) who thinks Tiger Woods' 2008 US Open playoff win was less significant because he was battling Rocco Mediate rather than Phil Mickelson or Sergio Garcia. You can only play the hand that's dealt to you...

Bonus: Plus he had some crazy fan run on the court toward him and it didn't seem to affect his play at all. We're talking about the sport where a "fan" of Steffi Graf ran on court during a changeover and stabbed Steffi's rival Monica Seles in the back, changing the course of Seles' career forever, so there is a precedent for this not turning out well. He had a clear moment of fear before realizing that guy was just stupid, but not psychotic, and didn't even bother taking a moment to sit down and collect his thoughts. He is that focused on the task at hand, that he could immediately flip the switch back to championship tennis.

(As a full disclosure, though I was wearing my navy blue Nike Roger Federer hybrid hat while watching the match on Tivo a few hours after it's completion, I have not been a long-time Federer fan. Only when he appeared human in early 2008, did I feel that tug to start pulling for him. I'm a sucker for underdogs. It was the same with Pete Sampras. I liked him, but he was never my favorite player, until the last few years of his career, when I even found myself cheering for him a few times over Agassi, who had always been my favorite; though I always did love his Wimbledon serve & volley, probably because I grew up loving Stefan Edberg & Boris Becker.)

Bipolar Twins & other Random Thoughts

I have been absolutely pathetic about blogging lately, and even if I have good reasons/excuses, I don't like it. So, I am just going to put some random thoughts together here, to make myself feel better, even if no one reads them!


Is there any sort of bipolar medication available for baseball teams? The Twins are about to head out on the road for a 10 game road trip. They have a league leading 21 wins at home (with 12 losses), but also have the basement all to themselves for road games, winning only 6 & losing 16. Only the NL Washington Nationals are worse on the road, but they are just as bad when they play at home. For people who like numbers, the Twins have won 64% of their games at home, and just 27% on the road. I thought perhaps they are just scared of playing outside (which they'd need to get over by next year), but they only claimed 1 of the 3 indoor games at Tampa Bay last weekend, so that's not it either.

I dug a little deeper into the stats (but only about as deep as I could dig in my old sandbox...which wasn't too deep), and still remain confused. Twins pitchers have a 4.59 ERA at home and a 5.16 ERA on the road. That half a run or so is not a huge disparity considering the staggering difference in the final results. Twins pitchers do give up many more walks on the road than at home (3.3/gm on the road, 2.4/gm at the Dome), but that hasn't translated into more earned runs. Opponents hit .275 against Twins pitchers at the Dome, and .272 in their own parks. Huh? No issue there. As for the Twins hitters, they bat .278 under the white baggy roof, and .263 when exposed to the outdoor elements (or the St. Pete catwalks & sting rays in the outfield).

So how can the team essentially have the same overall hitting no matter where they play, but have seemingly no clutch hitting when away from the friendly confines of home? (No, I don't actually expect that anyone will have the answer, but if you think you do, feel free to share!)

And now for the random thoughts:

• First thought is something I shared on Twitter a few days back, but I wanted more than 140 characters to elaborate. When it comes to the actual flavor of the food, I have always preferred Burger King to McDonald's, for burgers or breakfast options (although not for the fries). However, I so deeply despise their last few years worth of ads, that I might just decide to never eat there again. Guys dressed up as a burger & a chicken sandwich going after McDonald's, Wendy's & Subway? And while Ronald McDonald inspires smiles & thoughts of "his" charity work and the Ronald McDonald Houses, the Burger King King is, well, creepy at best!

• How does Serena Williams keep matching up with "cheaters" on the red clay of Roland Garros (otherwise known as the French Open, but they want to be cool like Wimbledon, which is not known as the British or English Open). In most sports, players will try to get away with whatever they can. NBA players act as if they have never fouled anyone...ever, when they know it was their elbow in someone else's gut. NFL offensive lineman try to hold their defensive match without the refs noticing. MLB fielders are happy to act as if they caught the ball on the fly, when they know it has grass stains on it from the short-hop it took before finding their glove. Golf & Tennis are different. In golf, players keep their own scorecard and have to be honest. In tennis, if the ball hits your arm rather than your racquet, and ends up being a winner, and the ump doesn't notice, you admit it, you don't turn away, smirk, and claim the point. Sort of like what Serena ran into with Justine Henin a few back, when Justine asked for "time" and Serena saw this and held up on her serving motion hitting the ball out. The Ump did not see this, and ruled it as being out, and Justine never said a word, even though replay clearly showed her hand asking Serena to wait (which Serena did not need to do, as the game is supposed to move at the server's pace, but she was being the good sport that tennis players are supposed to be on the court). The worst example may have been in men's tennis though, in last year's Olympics, the event built on good sportsmanship, when James Blake hit a shot to Fernando Gonzalez, which nicked the top of his racquet before flying past the baseline, which should've made it Blake's point. Once again, the ump didn't see it, and Gonzo just kept his mouth shut, which disturbed Blake, one of the nicest guys in sports - it takes a lot to irritate him!
  

• Is it my imagination, or have the Minnesota Twins had an awful lot of great games on days they aren't televised? I am quite thankful for the FS North Squeeze Play, so I can at least see those hits & runs, and add them to my little highlight videos that I keep for myself (because I listen to Bert's announcement each game about what I can't disseminate), but in this day & age, I should be able to catch every game on TV. I have MLB Extra Innings. If the local station doesn't want to show it, then the Cleveland broadcast shouldn't be a blackout! I also technically live far away enough from the Dome that it shouldn't be a blackout anyway, but because parts of my city are close enough, I fall under that blanket. But I digress...my point was that they've had some great games not on TV! Kubel's two 3-run homers in the first 2 innings today, Twins big comeback after Scott Baker collapsed in the 6th vs. the Tigers, Game 1 of the absurdly high scoring doubleheader in Chicago 2 years ago (which didn't even have a Squeeze Play!!), and these are just the ones off the top of my head.
  

• On Wednesday (June 3), Cleveland Indians pitcher Cliff Lee yet again jawed at Carlos Gomez for bunting. I like what Jim Souhan said during the FS North broadcast; something along the lines of "Telling Carlos Gomez to not bunt is like telling Johan Santana not to throw a change-up." Why is there an appropriate & inappropriate time to bunt? Considering the Indians came back from a 10-run deficit earlier this season, they should know better than any team that no lead is safe, and when there is no clock, no team is ever out of a game. So why is there a time that bunting is not ok? (Well, other than with 2 strikes, when you haven't done it successfully ever, or almost ever). Then after the game, Lee says he doesn't want to discuss it with the media. If you don't want to talk about it after the game, how about not running your mouth about it during the game either? Just a thought...
  

• Last week, thanks to DirecTV, I could watch live French Open tennis matches from 6 different courts. As long as my favorite players were not relegated to an obscure court with no cameras, I could watch the match of my choice at any time. However, if I wanted to watch Rafael Nadal battling Robin Soderling in the 4th round, eventually losing for the first time ever on Paris' red clay, I had to wait until the match had been over a couple hours, before being allowed to watch it on NBC. Now, as I write this, it is just a few hours until the Men's semifinal matches begin, but they are not available to watch live either, because NBC couldn't possibly shorten or cancel the Today show for a day. If they don't think the tennis ratings will outweigh the Today show, then why don't they let the real tennis fans watch it live on the Tennis Channel, and then they can show the replay to people who don't care if they know the results before watching the match. In the age of the internet, text messages, twittering, etc., having the semifinal of one of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments available only on tape delay, is simply unacceptable. Imagine how football fans would revolt if the NFL did that with a Saturday playoff game. Don't buy the exclusive rights to the match if you don't intend to show it live. (Thank you to ESPN2 for pushing ESPN First Take back a few hours on Thursday, so the Women's semis could actually be seen live!) Of course, those of you on the Pacific Coast (and perhaps the Mountain time zone too) experienced this frustration last year with each and every Michael Phelps "live" race from China, as NBC couldn't be bothered with showing it before prime time...except that by the time his races started, it actually was prime time on the West Coast too. Also unacceptable...and also NBC...but I'm guessing they don't care about my opinion!
  

That's all for now. Hopefully I will not leave so much time between my random thought sharing in the future!