Laying It On The Line

FOXNews.com – Too Good to Play

Just a quickie for now.

This story is pathetic. Boo-frickin-hoo. As long as the kids were playing within the rules, let them play.

Unfortunately in my days in sports I’ve been beaten badly a couple times. You get over it. The kids that lost to the “Stars” would get over it as well.

Is there a reason that Mulholland is still on the team? Top of the 6th inning, Twins up 7 to 6, in walks Methuselah. One out and 2 runs later out he goes and in comes Jesse Crain.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that gets nauseous when the old man comes in especially in a close game. Is there really no one in AAA that can pitch better than Mulholland? Isn’t Bowyer doing well? How about moving Mays or Lohse down and bringing up some of the future SP’s? Anyone with a pulse would almost be preferable to the old guy. Please Mr. Ryan. Please bring up someone and get rid of Terry.

By the way, while I was writing this Jesse Crain was able to get two batters out without a problem. Why didn’t Jesse come in to start the inning?

Stick and Ball Guy – Optimism

I like Stick and Ball Guy, I really do. However, today’s post about the Twins made me a little sad.

I am the first to admit that I am an eternal optimist. The sky is always blue and the grass is always green. There are just times the blue sky is behind the gray clouds and the green grass is under 2 feet of white snow.

I honestly feel the Twins will at least make the Wild Card. I think Terry Ryan will make a “Stewart-esque” deal that will bring in some help. Don’t ask me who that is because I really don’t have a clue. However, I trust the brain-trust with our beloved team. If a clueless guy like me can see the problem, I’m sure they can too.

Michael Cuddyer demoted.

I feel bad for Cuddyer. He’s been jerked around by the team for the last couple years. When he finally has a position (one that probably wasn’t right for him) he experiences some growing pains. Not unexpected in my mind considering how little he’s played there. Well, after finally starting to come around (offensively mostly) he is jerked once again. Yes Glenn Williams is playing decently, but he’s an 11 year minor leaguer and his big league experience is next to none. I feel that the sample size used to determine that he’s better suited to 3rd than Cuddy is too small.

Right now it appears Cuddyer will be a utility type person. Although I really like the guy, maybe it’s time he went somewhere else. A change of scenery may be just the thing he needs to get on track. Hey Terry Ryan, Cuddyer has to be worth something.

To wrap things up, I will relate some personal info. As the two readers of this blog know, my wife is pregnant. The due date is August 20th. Right now we’re in the process of determining how much time my wife wants to take off of work, how much she wants to work after maternity leave and who the day care will be.

One of the big problems with working in Montana is that even if you have a good job (in my case I’m a Mechanical Engineer) you do not get paid nearly what you should. I have 5 years of experience and I’m making under $40k per year. Pretty pathetic.

Anyway, as with most new parents, money tends to be the biggest topic right now. I always thought that when I grew up I’d have the Ozzie and Harriet or Leave it to Beaver life of the 50′s. I would work, my wife would be home taking care of the kids and everything would be hunky-dory. Man reality sucks.

How do you readers handle it?

That’s all for today. Later.

D-Link DI-514 Router

I have 1.5M DSL service at my house as of today. What fantastic speeds. It definitely beats the 256k DSL I had before. The only problem I have isn’t really a problem with the DSL service. The wireless router I have (D-Link DI-514) is absolutely terrible.

Since I bought this piece of junk, I’ve never had a reliable wireless connection. There’s times where it will work flawlessly for a couple hours and other times where it won’t work at all for a couple hours. I’ve been in contact with D-Link a couple times and they insist it’s a problem with my computer or something else. What a crock.

The only good thing I can say about this router si that the wired router part works flawlessly. However, when you buy a router that has wireless capabilities you assume the wireless portion will work as well.

Anyway, I am replacing this with the D-Link DI-524. Hopefully this will work. If not, no more D-Link for me.

So, the best thing about getting the much speedier DSL service is that I can now get the MLB.TV package. This package is only $49.99 as compared to the $169.99 MLB Extra Innings package on Dishnetwork. As long as I can get a router that works, I should be able to watch games on my laptop anywhere around my house. Also, since the laptop has a TV out, I would be able to display the game on either of the two tv’s in my house. I can hardly wait.

Oh, in case anyone has been keeping track, only about 10 more weeks until my son shows up. Yes, the future first baseman for the Minnesota Twins is only about 70 days from greeting this world. Obviously it will take him 20 or so years to get to Minnesota, but it’s already a foregone conclusion.

Well, that’s all I have for today. I’m listening to the Twins game right now. They are playing the Giants, and the bottom of the seventh they are down 1 run (5-4). Hopefully they can get this one as it seems like the White Sox are going to win against the Diamondbacks after a 10 run 6th inning.

I’m out. Later folks.

I haven’t posted for a while and there really isn’t a reason why. Sometimes I just have a hard time logging on and writing. I envy the guys like Gleeman, Stohs, Bonnes, etc. because they can come up with a thousand words or so every day.

I mentioned going to Vegas a couple posts ago. Well, we went, we saw, we ate at a buffet. It was fun. The first couple days I had the Midas touch and couldn’t lose. I’m not a big gambler, but overall I was up about $500 after two days. The third day was completely different. Fortunately, after dropping $40 in about 5 minutes, I decided it was time for me to walk away.

On day one I played blackjack for the first time in my life. What a fun game. I was apprehensive about playing, figuring the dealer would have me thrown out for not having a clue. However, all three dealers that I had in the couple hours I played were great. They helped me with my basic play and made the game fun. That coupled with my basic BJ strategy card allowed me to cash out at $100 up. Not too bad for a rookie. (BTW, I want to thank David, Solait and Steven at the Boardwalk for introducing me to the game in such a pleasant way.)

We get back from Vegas on a Wednesday, go back to work on Thursday, work two days and then have a three day weekend (Memorial Day). What a great way to recover from a vacation. This last weekend was spend lying in the hammock reading a book and going to Old Chicago to drink a few beers and watch the Twins. I love weekends like that.

BTW, for those that are still reading, I only have about 2 1/2 months left until my first child (Elliot James) is born. Where has time gone?

Twins Related

I’ve been reading Pat Neshek’s website recently. He’s a relief pitcher in the Twins minor league system. Currently he’s pitching for the New Britain Rock Cats in New Britian, CT. His site is pretty interesting with some good stories of the not so glamorous minor league life. He also has a message board that has some info. I definitely suggest going over and seeing what he’s written.

With that, I’m going to call it a day. Later y’all.