also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -
I think I would like to make this “Friday Links and Thinks” a regular occurrence. First and foremost, there are a lot of Twins bloggers who work hard and deserve to be noticed. Second, there is some great content. Hopefully this is something that you enjoy. I’ll post a few links below to Twins blogs, and to some other events, but first, the question of the day (I heard Doogie Wolfson and Jim Schmit discuss this on 1500 ESPN’s Twins Wrap, which is on about 30-40 minutes after the conclusion of weekday night Twins games:
The Twins/White Sox series was quite intense. The Twins did a great job and won two out of three games. They had a great road trip. There has to be a fear of a let-down against the Oakland A’s. What would you consider a let-down against the A’s? The A’s are a good team (57-56) with a very good, young pitching staff (Look at those Gonzalez and Cahill numbers!). I mean, if they lose a couple of 4-3 games, would it be because of a letdown, or because good teams lose sometimes? I would be disappointed if the Twins were blown out or played sloppy (like Wednesday night. But what are you looking for in this Twins/A’s series, and what would be a letdown? Here are the pitching matchups:
- Friday night – Carl Pavano (14-7, 3.28 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, .245 BAA) vs. Gio Gonzalez (10-7, 3.51, 1.32, .235)
- Saturday night – Brian Duensing (5-1, 2.27, 1.11, .235) vs Trevor Cahill (12-4, 2.56, 0.98, .192)
- Sunday afternoon – Kevin Slowey (10-5, 4.45, 1.27, .281) vs Vin Mazzaro (6-4, 3.86, 1.38, .265)
Here is a look around the Twins blogosphere. A good site to find 66 Twins blogs is Newsbobber’s Minnesota Baseball Blog site. I’ve only included blogs that have been updated in the last few days (let me know if I’m missing any sites that I should add):
- Bus Leagues Baseball posted a Q&A with Kyle Gibson.
- Aaron Gleeman posted his Friday Link-O-Rama.
- Twin Cities Spark posted an interview with Nick Nelson of TwinsCentric and Nick’s Twins Blog.
- Nick also wrote a blog saying that Glen Perkins is not a LOOGY.
- On Saturday, you’ll want to read Roger’s new Minor League Report. Here is last week’s version.
- You’ll definitely want to check out the Twin Geek’s Magic article today!
- Over at Stick & Ball Guy (WGOM), they have a ton of stuff going on.
- Parker (Over the Baggy) and DiamondCentric have released their newest t-shirt, Frankkkkkkie! Get yours today.
- Twinkie Talk’s Fetch asks if JJ Hardy has been a disappointment.
- Coffeyville Whirlwind takes a look at the 1990 Twins roster.
- Lipgloss and Baseball takes a look at some of baseball fans’ etiquette.
- Ed Thoma of the Mankato Free Press in his Baseball Outsider Blog called Liriano’s performance last night Inelegant effectiveness.
- For the Love of the Game had a Bear-y interesting experience on Thursday.
- Hitting the Foul Pole wrote a tremendous blog showing just how incredible Francisco Liriano’s 2010 has been, and how unlucky. “You may not be impressed by his 3.26 ERA, but what about his league-leading 2.14 FIP?”
- Besides great nightly GameChat’s, Knuckleballs Jim Crikket posted video of many Beloit Snappers players that he saw in a four game series over last weekend
- North Dakota Twins Fan co-hosted the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast with me on Monday night. He also posted a link to video of Orlando Hudson on Jim Rome.
- I coached Cory Hepola in Little League baseball and into Babe Ruth levels. Now, he’s a famous sports anchor for a big TV station in Rochester, New York. Tonight, you will want to follow him on Twitter as he will Tweet about Kyle Gibson’s AAA debut.
Here are the links to the StarTribune.com TwinsCentric blog postings for this week:
- Tuesday – Seth Stohs – 50 Game Season Begins Tonight
- Wednesday – Nick Nelson – All About Pitching
- Thursday – John Bonnes – Bitter Aftertaste
- Friday – Parker Hageman – (Coming Soon to the TwinsCentric Blog)
- By the way, the next TwinsCentric (and Sooze) Viewing Party will head out of the Twin Cities Metro and up the road to St. Cloud. The lovely and talented Sooze is running the show on this one. On August 28th from 2:30-6:30 at Howie’s in downtown St. Cloud, there will be drink and appetizer specials as well as some give-aways. Those in the Metro, it’s not too far away, and those in the outstate, come on down! These events have been a lot of fun and a great opportunity to meet some of your favorite bloggers.
And I’m assuming you’re probably already reading Sooze’s STrib blog, as well as her great work on Babes Love Baseball.
And then you’re also probably reading the other Twins blogs at StarTribune.com: LaVelle E. Neal’s Twins Insider, Joe Christensen’s Around the Majors, and Howard Sinker’s A Fan’s View.
John Bonnes is on The Power Trip Morning Show on KFAN Tuesdays and Friday’s during the 7:00 hour. (Podcasts available here.) I am on KFAN with Paul Allen each Thursday morning at about 9:20. If you would like to listen, the podcast is available here.
This past week’s events:
- On Monday night, I was joined on the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast by Cody Christie from the North Dakota Twins Fan blog, and from the White Sox writer for Examiner.com JJ Stankevitz. We previewed what would happen in the Twins/White Sox series.
- On Tuesday night’s Twins Minor League Weekly, I was joined by voice of the Ft. Myers Miracle starting pitcher, Bruce Pugh, and discussed his season, philosophies and more. Later Jim Crikket of Knuckleballs joined to discuss what he saw from the Beloit Snappers in four games over last weekend.
- On Wednesday night, I hosted a Live Twins Chat and answered questions throughout the Twins/White Sox game.
- Later that night, Fanatic Jack asked me to be his co-host on his weekly podcast. It was a lot of fun. We were joined by Louis Schuth from Hitting the Eephus, and Dez Tobin of Dez Says.
Any thoughts on the Twins or the Twins blogosphere? Feel free to leave your questions and comments here.
