Mike's Annual

BASEBALL! BASEBALL! BASEBALL!! BASEBALL!!! BASEBBBBBAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!! if you have not gathered, baseball starts tomorrow. Someone is mostly excited. Completely. I am freaking pumped. I don't have time to do a full blown analysis of each division, so you only get the brief version this year. Not like my analysis mattered at all. Every year, my picks are so fubared by the second week of the season. Moral of the story, if you are planning on putting money on baseball this year, just look at my choices and pick another team. Let's get on to the picks. . .

AL East
1. Red Sox
2. Yankees
3. Rays
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays

AL Central
1. White Sox
2. Twins
3. Tigers
4. Royals
5. Indians

AL West
1. A's
2. Rangers
3. Angels
4. Mariners

NL East
1. Braves
2. Phillies
3. Marlins
4. Mets
5. Nationals

NL Central
1. Reds
2. Cardinals
3. Brewers
4. Cubs
5. Astros
6. Pirates

NL West
1. Rockies
2. Dodgers
3. Giants
4. Padres
5. Diamondbacks

ALDS
Red Sox over A's
White Sox over Yankees

ALCS
Red Sox over White Sox

NLDS
Rockies over Reds
Dodgers over Braves

NLCS
Dodgers over Rockies

World Series
Red Sox over Dodgers

We'll check back in November to see how ridiculously wrong I am!!

Let's go Rockies and Twins!!

Til the next post,
Mikey

I Don't Care If You Think Your Music Is Better

Several weeks ago, I was like most people in that I did not watch the Grammy's. Award shows bore me, especially their endless and pointless drivel being spewed after anyone wins an award. I did, however, enjoy checking out the performances the few days following the show. The one performance that stuck out (for a couple reasons) was the combination of Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, and Bob Dylan. My first thought when Mumford and Sons started playing was "When did Alec Baldwin start a folk-rock band?" Once I was able to get past this resemblance, I was able to enjoy the rest of the performance. While Bob Dylan was horrendous and The Avett Brothers were very, very good, Mumford and Sons' rendition of The Cave was absolutely amazing. The energy, the sound, the look, the music, everything impressed me. After enjoying their song, it was only natural to wander over to YouTube to listen to more of their work.

It was there that the musical elitists showed their mangy, dirty, ugly faces yet again. . .

A majority of the comments on the Mumford and Sons videos stated that they knew about the band before the Grammy's. These sages' prior knowledge made them musically superior to us schmucks who happened to be introduced to them more recently.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that discovering bands had a time limit. I truly apologize. I will push their exceptional performance into the recesses of my mind and immediately stop learning anything more about these talented folks because you, far superior musical listeners, have already filled the Mumford and Sons fan quota.

Their perspective blew me away, despite having seen this vitriol being directed toward newly-added fan bases in the past. The comment sections for videos of any up-and-coming band are littered with similar sentiment; only fans since the beginning allowed. Logically this makes no sense. When I am a fan of a band, I would like as many people as possible to enjoy them as well. More exposure and more positive responses mean more music being created by that band. It is a simple concept. A exceptional band with little following is forgotten about quickly, has less accessibility to their music over time, and has much less staying power than a pretty good band with a rabid following. Think about this situation outside of music. The Boston Red Sox, prior to 2004, had not won the World Series since 1918. The Chicago Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908. Every year, their seasons ended with disappointment. Despite this ineptitude, the fanatical fan bases have keep these teams consistently two of the three most popular teams in baseball. (Who had the 5th in the "Which paragraph will Mike make an unnecessary reference to baseball?" pool?)

Back in the music world, think about what happened with Green Day in the 90's. They were considered sellouts when their albums starting going mainstream. Their popularity drove the punk world into a punkish frenzy. Years later, Green Day is one of the most successful bands of our time. They are 50 years old and still dropping punk records that sell like crazy. I would argue that their success was the impetus to the today's punk popularity. Prior to Green Day's supposed sellout, how many punk bands were in the regular rotation of mainstream radio stations? It wasn't many, if there were any at all. Perhaps the Mumford and Sons Grammy performance will do to folk rock what "Dookie" did for punk, pull their style of music from the fringes and to a wider audience. For that reason alone, those original and elitist Mumford and Sons fans should embrace these new additions to their club and look forward to years and years of banjo rocking.

In the grand scheme of things, why should anyone care how or when people unearth music they enjoy? I discovered Mumford and Sons from the 2011 Grammy's. My love of classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd stems from my middle school friends. I was exposed to Rise Against through friends in college. I learned about Muse through Guitar Hero. I was turned on to Oasis because someone told me they were going to be the biggest thing out of the UK since the Beatles. I started liking Radiohead as I listened to and bantered about their music with my coworker Alex while we ran Atterberg limit tests. I listened to George Strait because my mom loved him when I was growing up. I found David Hasselhoff because I love freedom and light-up suits. And I was blessed with The Darkness because their awesomeness revealed itself to me in a beam of heavenly light. The various ways I found these bands doesn't make my love for each particular band more or less authentic. To all you musical elitist with your superiority complex - take a quick look at how ridiculous you sound and get the heck over yourself.

Until the next post,
Mikey

An Official "It Is Time to Put Fingers to Keys" Blog

Let's just have some brain dump here:

• Since I am not actually putting pen to paper (that is soooooo 1995), I guess "fingers to keys" works. Still, it just doesn't have the same effect. 
• Christmas has come and gone. Sarah and I took Mackenzie on her first Black Friday shopping extravaganza. She slept through the whole thing. As always, Sarah and I got more stuff for ourselves than Christmas presents. Such is life on a Black Friday. Just as we got home and were gearing up for a nap, Mackenzie decided she was ready to attack the day. Brutal. 
• Speaking of Christmas, the holiday became 1000 times more magical when you have a little human in your lives. We met the John, Vicki, Riley, Jack, Natalie, Robert, Emerson, Keith, Corrie, Travis, Traci, Charlie, Calvin, Jaime, and Jason downtown at the Parade of Lights. It was awesome to watch Mackenzie as she stared at all the light floats. She loved it so much that the parade wasn't over more than 2 minutes and she had already crashed hard. Looking at all those lights is exhausting. We also took her to the North Pole down outside of Colorado Springs. She loved the carousel. She kicked and laughed and petted the reindeer the entire time. 
• We took a page from Andrew and Jessica's book and got our Christmas tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. 
• The outside lights are another story. . . 
• Sarah's friend Jaime from PA school brought her husband out to Colorado to check out possible new homes. While they were here, I was forced to take Jason up to Winter Park. Poor me. I was absolutely amazed at the coverage on the mountain for that early in the season. That is a good sign for a great ski season. Naturally, this is the first year in many years that I did not purchase a pass. Dang. 
• Completely related: Kenzie needs to learn how to ski. Soon.
• Troy Tulowitzki signed a big contract extension with the Rockies. His deal picked up his 2014 club option, then added an additional 6 years onto it. Basically, this sets him up to be in the purple pinstripes for life. Tulo repeated over and over during his press conference that he was determined to be a Derek Jeter or Cal Ripken Jr. for the Rockies. He wants to retire a Rocky and he is not even 30 years old. I am teetering on the fence right now about this deal. On the positive side, they just locked up the best shortstop in baseball for the bulk of his prime production years. On the negative side, it could be Todd Helton Part Deux. Let's hope that (a) Tulo's health stays with him, (b) his production stays up, and (c) the Rockies management keeps enough talent around Tulo to make this team competitive for a long, long while.
• Just a few weeks later, it was announced that CarGo had signed a deal as well, his supposedly for $80 million over 7 years. The amazing thing is that CarGo is a Scott Boras client and the new contract defies a lot of the standard Boras contract details. The most shocking was the elimination of three free agent years from CarGo's future. Boras is notorious for getting maximum money out of his superstar players in their free agent years. He does not give those up because those are the money making years. The rumors coming through Twitter and other media outlets is that Boras advised CarGo of the pros and cons of signing the deal and he allowed CarGo and his family time to make the decision. The decision was to take the deal and give up those free agent years. The sabermetric people are estimating (using projections) that CarGo's true value will be closer to $98 to $112 million dollars over the life of the contract. Now he just needs to keep his numbers up. . .
• The Rockies ownership has done a great job of getting themselves set up for the future. They took their two most marketable stars and locked them up long term. Now they are set up to build a competitive team around their two cornerstones. 
• On the other side of the money coin, apparently Carmelo Anthony wants to sign his extension. If the Nuggets promise to trade him to the Knicks. My biggest problem with this situation? Who do the Knicks have to send back to the Nuggets to make the deal worthwhile? Let's just say that they better be throwing in lots and lots of high draft picks. The Nets have also been rumored to be chasing Melo as well. At least they have a few players that might be worth grabbing, but again, show us those draft picks!
• The Avs started the season hot and have cooled significantly as of late. I have not watched too many games, but every time I turn them on, I am amazed by something that Duchene or Stastny does. Those two are absolute hockey studs. 
• I'm not sure if I want to cover the Broncos here. What a joke of a team. I'm sorry, Pat Bowlen. Your once proud franchise has turned into one of the crappiest organizations around. And Tim Tebow will not part the Orange and Blue Sea to get us to the promise land. They are going to have to start rebuilding from the ground up. My blood is starting to boil just thinking about this. 
• On a positive note, the Vikings finally got rid of Brad Childress. That dumbass was the WORST head coach in the NFL. Yep, even worse than McIdiot. Thanks to Brad Childress, they are two years behind where they should be. Instead of dragging Brett "Throwing Pics and Textin' Chicks" Favre out of retirement after his stint with the Jets, Childress should have drafted a young stud QB and developed him into a badass NFL player. Can you imagine a young stud QB with Peterson, Harvin, and Rice? I wish I could, but Childress ruined it. 
• After continuously having issues with speed on my old phone, I finally upgraded to a new piece of technology. I went with what basically is the newer version of my old phone: the T-Mobile/HTC G2. The screen is amazing, the keyboard is great, Android Froyo is so user friendly. The biggest complaints thus far? The regular phone speaker is pretty weak. I have a hard time hearing people talking if I am in my car or in a loud place. The worst part about the phone is the fact that it drops internet coverage a lot. I'm not sure if it is a phone issue or a service issue, but we constantly lose the internet in our house. Luckily, I have the WiFi set up so I usually just sync to that when I am home. Still a pain in the ass. 
• I am convinced that Drew Soicher is the most annoying person on television. And I don't even watch local news. I just think about "Drew or False" and I want to hurl. 
• Since I am working on a new big project, I moved out of our regular office into a window cube on the 34th floor of 1670 Broadway downtown. For about three weeks I had a serious headache every day. It was so excruciating that I was downing ibuprofen like they were M&M's. I finally switched my monitors around so that I was not sitting with my back to the window. No more headaches. Now I sit and stare out at my beautiful view of Commerce City as it slowly burns. 
• If you haven't seen the video of the Metrodome collapse, go watch it now. I'll wait.
• Wasn't that amazing? Absolutely incredible. 
• My favorite book when I was really little was "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go". We have that book for Kenzie, but I am working on getting all the way through it. Apparently she has some of her daddy's attention issues.
• And yes, I still remember where Goldbug is on every page. 
• My biggest focus in my career right now? Figuring out a way I can retire at 30. 

Think that was enough information for you all? Those words had been jammed in my brain for a long time now. My head just shrunk 3 hat sizes because of that dump. It is now a size 8. God damn.

Sorry this post lacks some color and creativity. The post has been sitting here too long to put THAT much effort into it. 

Til the next post,

Mikey

An Open Letter to the Twins of Minnesota

Dear Twins management, coaches, and players,
This year was supposed to be the year. With the stacked outfield, the M&M boys, the best manager in baseball, the health of Francisco Liriano, and the addition of J.J. Hardy, you were poised to become not just the class of the AL Central, but all of MLB. As the season progressed, anytime the wheels fell off, Gardy righted the ship and the team miraculously got better. Nathan out for the season? No problem. Jon Rauch pitches out of his mind. No production from your third basemen? Just promote Valencia and watch him explode as a rookie. Bullpen start breaking down? Go get Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes. Lose Morneau for the rest of the season? Put Cuddyer at first base. With all the setbacks, it seemed as if you only got better. In the end, you coasted to a AL Central win (by 6 games), the third best record in the American League (behind the Rays and Yankees), and home field advantage for the ALDS. Things were looking up.

Your first round foe? The hated New York Yankees. The bane of my existence. The devil in pinstripes. I have been a Twins fan my entire life. I know the history. I thought this year would be different. Instead it was the same old crap. There are two possible explanations for your horrendous collapse.

1. You guys are the modern day Black Sox. Despite the fact that the your payroll is now in the top third of the league, you feel like you are underpaid. Once the Steinbrenner family added several of you guys to their payroll (most notably Jesse Crain), the series took care of itself. Spot bonuses were also given for blowing chances with RISP and errors in the field.
2. The Yankees apparently kidnapped all your wives/children/girlfriends/parents and would only release them after you lost the series. Thankfully, your families are all safe now after laying down and handing the Yankees a trip to the ALCS. 

I hate to break it to you guys, but the Yankees are just a baseball team. They did not kidnap your loved ones. They will not kill you if you stand up to them. They are a team of baseball players who get paid ridiculous amounts of money to do the exact same thing you do. Remember this next year when you face them yet again in the post-season. Maybe knowing this can help you avoid another freaking sweep. 

All the best.

Your number one fan in CO,

Mike

Baseball Quiz Time

Last night, we had the pleasure of watching the Rockies give away a victory to the Houston Astros late in the game. It was stupendous. But mostly terrible. However, this was not the worst part of the game. The worst part of the game was the guy who sits behind us for 12 games out of the year. He is a old curmudgeon who has admitted that he never played baseball, yet constantly tells us why we are wrong about the strategy of the game. Last night, he took it to a new level. First, let's set the scene.

The Rockies were down by one run (4-3) in the bottom of the 9th. After getting the first out, Ian Stewart is sent in to pinch hit for Clint Barmes against the right handed closer Matt Lindstrom. He draws a walk, which puts the tying run at first base with one out. Jonathon Herrera comes in to pinch run for Stewart as Jason Giambi strolls to the plate to pinch hit in the pitcher's spot. Giambi proceeds to hit a long, high fly ball to deep left field that the left fielder caught up against the wall for the 2nd out. Herrera had advanced to 2nd on the fly, then retreated to first after the catch.

Now here is where our disagreement started: did Herrera run the bases in the correct manner?

Augie, Noel, Vicki, John, Robert, Natalie, Katie, Jorge, Sarah and I all said that Herrera ran the bases correctly. Hell, even Emerson and Riley agreed with us. The idiot behind us was screaming at Herrera for not tagging up. Carlos Gonzales ended up grounding into a fielder's choice and the game was over. This did not stop the moron behind us from screaming at Herrera for his base running. We defended Herrera's decision and chirped back at the old bastard. After he got all hot and bothered and Robert put him in his place, he finally left and we were allowed to quietly enjoy the walk to the car. After thinking about it more, I am completely convinced that we were right and he was wrong. Do you agree? Let me explain my reasoning.

First, let us look at the absolute best and worst case results for each scenario.

Herrera advancing to 2nd on the fly: 
There are three possible outcomes to this play:

• The ball leaves the yard - Herrera continues on to home as the tying run, Giambi as the winning run.
• Left fielder catches the ball - Herrera returns to first with 2 outs.
• Left fielder does not catch the ball - Herrara either advances to third with one out (1st and 3rd with one out), scores the tying run (Giambi at 1st or 2nd with one out), or is thrown out at home attempting to score the tying run (Giambi at 2nd with 2 outs).

Herrera tagging at first base:
Same three possibilities:

• The ball leaves the yard - Herrera and Giambi both score. Game over.
• Left fielder catches the ball - Herrera either advances to 2nd on the tag with two outs in the inning or he is thrown out at 2nd for the 3rd out of the inning. Game over.
• Left fielder does not catch the ball - Herrera makes it to 2nd with one out in the inning.

Looking at the two different viewpoints, isn't it obvious that Herrera did the correct thing on the base path? The way he played it, he gave himself a chance to score (he potentially scores on the missed fly ball). The way the moron behind us wanted him to play it, the best he can do is GET TO SECOND. If I am a manager down by a run with only a couple outs to work with, I make sure I try anything to get that tying run across the plate. I am 100% certain that Herrera, Tracy, and Hill made the correct move when they sent Herrera on the fly.

One more thing about the dumbass behind us - this is not the first time we have had a verbal spat with the guy. He constantly questions the Rockies decisions despite the fact that everyone around him agrees the Rockies played it correctly. Since he talks the entire game and since I am sitting with a bunch of people who have big mouths (myself included), we are constantly questioning his reasoning. Yesterday's ridiculous vitriol was just so aggravating because we knew for a fact that he was wrong. Completely. Yet he was the one who called us all idiots as he left his seat.

Even with my big mouth, I tend to avoid subjects where I am clueless. This guy should learn to do that and never talk about baseball again. Every time he opens his mouth, he comes this much closer to having a pregnant lady punch him in the face. IN THE FACE!!!

One last thing - Robert did have the quote of the night. It was, "How have you lived that long and still not know how to play baseball?!!"

I'd love to hear some feedback to see if my reasoning stands up. Let's hear it. 

Til the next post,
Mikey

There was a riot on the streets tell me where were you?

Sarah Needs Her Dansko's:
If you have never listened to anything I have said before, listen to this: NEVER buy shoes from www.ComfortShoesNY.com. We placed an order for some Danskos for Sarah two months ago, were charged for the shoes within a couple days and have yet to see the shoes. When we originally asked them for a status update, they responded saying that they would be shipped on or before April 28th. It is now June and all of our additional attempts at communication have been ignored. To put this in perspective, we also ordered a pair of Danskos for Sarah on www.Zappos.com on the same day. They were sitting on our front porch the next day when we got home from work.

So to recap: buy from Zappos, punch ComfortShoesNY in the face.

Twitter Update:
As of this evening, this is the story for @flickerbock:

• Following 57
• 41 Followers
• 485 Tweets

I joined Twitter on September 1st of last year. Over the 9+ months following, I have learned an absolute boatload. First of all, following celebrities is mostly a complete waste of time. Usually their tweets involve (a) info on the project they are currently working on, (b) details on their favorite charity, (c) some obscure reference to some C-lister that no one knows, or (d) some combination of the those three. These tweets did not add any value to my life. At all. After some trial and error and some purging of my account, the people I follow can be divided into four groups: my friends and family, photography people, sports reporters/athletes, the four random celebs that have remained interesting (@ConanOBrien, @JimmyKimmel, @RainnWilson, and @TonyHawk). If you are not on Twitter and are thinking about joining, I would recommend it completely (especially if you are a baseball fan). Just make sure you come find me on there!

Jim Joyce is the Worst Person in the World
If you happen to be a baseball fan, then you probably heard about the plight of Armando Galarraga. He is a pitcher for the Tigers who happened to get 26 consecutive batters out. If you do the math, this put him just one away from a perfect game. The next batter hit a grounder between first and second. The first baseman snagged the ball, flipped it to Galarraga at first, and the team started celebrating. One problem, though - idiotic first base umpire Jim Joyce called the runner safe. Galarraga ended up getting out of the inning for the complete game shutout, but some moron umpire ruined that kid's chance at perfection. Now if you know me, you know how I feel about Bud Selig. For every thing that he gets right (Wild Cards), he messes up ten other things (steroids, contraction, All Star Games, etc). If he was a good commissioner, he would review the tape, talk to Joyce about the call, and reverse it. Game over. Perfection accomplished. Let's hope that this is one of the few things that Selig handles correctly. I have some serious doubts, though.

The Rockies Finally Figured Out That They Are The Rockies
Right now the Rockies are down 3-1 in the 6th inning. Even if they drop this game, they will still be three games above .500. They are finally having some things bounce their way. Their lineup is getting healthy and they are winning games that they should be losing. Hopefully they can get a bit of a run going. I would love to see them win the NL West and do some damage in the playoffs. And I really need them to win 86 games so that I can make some straight cash homey.

Til the next post,
Mikey

A Return to the Random Musing

I have quite a few random thoughts bouncing around my head these days. Time to spill them onto my internet canvas.

• I flew to Portland for work a couple weekends ago. When I left Portland, I had a layover in Sacramento before ultimately ending up in Vegas for the opening weekend of March Madness. On Monday night I headed back to Denver. It was a great freaking trip.
• As I sat in my seat on the plane from Denver to Portland, I was checking out the seat markers under the overhead compartments. The seat markers say "(Mos) DEF" on the right side. "Mos" is implied. 
• I kept hearing him saying, "I HAD A BAD EXPERIENCE!"
• As the plane was taking off, the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 were scrolling through my brain. Those are not the best numbers to think about during plane travel.
• I truly love flying. It still amazes me to think that I am floating through the air in a metal box. 
• I usually try to get a window seat so that I can watch the takeoff and landing. I love seeing a city's infrastructure from above. I know, I am a nerd. 
• I had an aisle seat on the flight from Portland to Sacramento. A couple was sitting across the aisle from each other in the seats right in front of me. The older man was wearing incredibly short shorts. His wife spent 90% of the flight putting her hand across the aisle to stroke his bare thigh. I have never puked on a plane, but it almost happened. 
• I almost asked them to get a room, but then I realized the only rooms on the plane were the cockpit or one of the lavatories. 
• I love Twitter, but I have a huge problem with people abusing spelling and grammar on there. Just because you only have 140 characters does not give you the right to cut corners.
• If you present yourself as an idiot, I am forced to believe that you are an idiot.
• Fans of ICP might be the weirdest freaking people on the planet. I have never understood the appeal of that joke of a band. 
• Do you know that the Canadian currency still has the picture of Queen Elizabeth II on it?
• Can you imagine having U.S.A. currency with a picture of a monarch from a country we gained our independence from on it? I sure can't. 
• Joe Nathan's injury and subsequent trip to the DL (for the year) will hurt the Twins. It won't, however, stop them from winning the AL Central.
• I start drooling every time I think about how good the Rockies outfield could be for the next several years.
• Carlos "The Knife" Gonzales, Dexter Fowler, and Seth Smith (once he usurps Hawpe) are lethal on both offense and defense. 
• I am obviously ignoring Scott Boras in my last two bullets.
• My 2002 Xterra still has less than 80k miles on it. That means I am averaging less than 10k miles per year. That is awesome. 
• I plan on owning that car forever.
• When Sarah and I fly, we usually take Southwest Airlines since they have the cheapest flights. When I traveled this past trip, I flew on Frontier for 2 out of the 3 legs of the journey. I now remember why I like Southwest so much. 
• The Frontier people were incredibly rude in the Las Vegas airport. I asked a simple question about getting on an earlier flight and the lady at the gate nearly bit my head off. 
• I absolutely love tattoos. I currently have zero. I have never been able to determine exactly what I would want painted on my body for eternity. This does not stop me from enjoying other people's phenomenal inked artwork. 
• Last summer I saw one of the coolest sleeves ever on a chick on the 16th Street Mall Shuttle. 
• She may or may not have caught me staring at her arm. 
• It was awkward.
• When I win Powerball, the first thing I will buy is a spicy bean burrito with sour cream from Taco Bell. You can't forget your roots. 

Til the next post,
Mikey

Nostradomas I Am Not

However, I still like to make predictions. With Opening Day just around the corner, it is time to take a look at where I think the MLB teams will end up this season. We'll check back on these after the World Series to see how terribly wrong I am.

NL West
1. Rockies
2. Dodgers
3. Giants
4. Diamondbacks
5. Padres

This is the year the Rockies do something they have never done before - win the NL West. And they better do it with 86 wins or more. I have cash money riding on it. I see the Diamondbacks improving, the Dodgers and Giants regressing, and the Padres continuing to suck. 

NL Central
1. Cardinals
2. Brewers
3. Cubs
4. Astros
5. Reds
6. Pirates

Guess what Cubs fans - your team still sucks. Cardinals are solid, Brewers got better, everyone else is blah. One of these years the Pirates might field a competitive team, right? Probably not.

NL East
1. Braves
2. Phillies
3. Mets
4. Marlins
5. Nationals

The Braves are somewhat like the Rockies - young and talent-loaded. The Phillies are a veteran team that has lots of weapons. I just worry about them considering their age. The Mets will collapse in April and May this year, so we won't have to worry about a late year swoon.

AL West
1. Angels
2. Rangers
3. Mariners
4. Athletics

Probably the most improved division in baseball. LA is still the team to beat, despite the addition of Cliff Lee and Ron Washington's cocaine. I think the Rangers are finally figuring out that you need pitching to win. I think this is a year they make big strides. Plus, go B-Mac!

AL Central
1. Twins
2. White Sox
3. Tigers
4. Royals
5. Indians

I have the Twins on top, but who else could you reasonably put there? I would say maybe Chicago or Detroit, but it is a big maybe. The Royals are trending up, but they will remember that they are the Royals. And who the hell knows what is happening in Cleveland? Mistake by the lake, people.

AL East
1. Yankees
2. Rays
3. Red Sox
4. Orioles
5. Blue Jays

I think the Red Sox are in trouble. The Yankees are powerful and the Rays are young and talented. I hope that the Orioles do well this year, just because Garrett Atkins is with them now. He has too pretty of a swing to continue that slump he had last year. Best of luck to him. The Blue Jays might take over as the worst team in baseball.

NL Wild Card
Phillies

AL Wild Card
Rays

NLDS
Rockies over Phillies
Cardinals over Braves

NLCS
Rockies over Cardinals

ALDS

Yankees over Angels
Twins over Rays

ALCS
Yankees over Twins (We all know the Twins cannot beat the Yankees, period.)

World Series
Rockies over Yankees (6 games)

In an ideal world, the Twins and Rockies would meet in the World Series. This would (a) cause my body to spontaneously explode with excitement and (b) win me tons of money. I can't wait for the real games to get started!

Til the next post,
Mikey

On to the AL

As promised in my post about the Colorado Rockies, I will not take a look at the 2010 season for the Minnesota Twins.

2010 Minnesota Twins

I have been following the Twins my entire life. I was fortunate enough to watch two Twins World Series victories in 1987 and 1991. Of course, I was only 5 and 9 during these years. Not exactly the best ages to explicitly remember exactly how everything went down. After the 1991 season, the Twins decided to be the laughingstock of baseball (kind of like the Pirates and Nationals are now) and almost got contracted by Bud Selig. After several years of wallowing in the bottom of the AL, they changed their management approach, just as the Rockies would do years later. They reduced their payroll, made better drafting decisions, and created one of the best farm systems in baseball. The result has been years of a competitive Twins team that has won the AL Central five of the last eight years. They have also fizzled out in the playoffs every year (6-18 in their last 5 trips to the postseason), but whatever. Think the Royals or Blue Jays would trade places with the Twins? I sure do. A trip to the playoffs every year is still better than being on the outside looking in. At least you have a chance (until you ultimately get raged by the Yankees, like the Twins do EVERY FREAKING YEAR!!).

This offseason, the Twins have slightly varied from their small market mentality. They added a couple of higher profile free agents (albeit at a reduced price) in Jim Thome and Orlando Hudson and traded for another in J.J. Hardy. Their payroll may actually even jump up into the top 10 payrolls across the league, depending on if they can extend the contract of the franchise, Joe Mauer. Despite the uncharacteristic payroll splurge, the team is still filled with locally grown products, especially through their starting rotation. They have arguably the best manager in the game, the best catcher in baseball, a top 5 first baseman, and a top 5 closer. While this might not be the best team that the Twins have fielded during my lifetime, there is no doubt that they are the favorites to win the AL Central for the 6th time in 9 years. Consistency, people.

Starting Lineup:
C - Joe Mauer
1B - Justin Morneau
2B - Orlando Hudson
3B - Nick Punto
SS - J.J. Hardy
LF - Delmon Young
CF - Denard Span
RF - Michael Cuddyer
DH - Jason Kubel

Bench:
Jim Thome
Wilson Ramos or Drew Butera
Alexi Casilla
Matt Tolbert
Brendan Harris

This lineup is approximately 1 million times more lethal than last year's lineup. No joke. The Twins effectively replaced Nick Punto, Brendan Harris, and Orlando Cabrera with Nick Punto, J.J. Hardy, and Orlando Hudson. Why would you not expect a gargantuan improvement to the offense from these positions? Punto is scrappy player 1C behind David Eckstein and Jamey Carroll who has huge swings in production from year to year. Last year was a down year. That means 2010 will be a good year for Little Nicky Punto. Hardy struggled through his last season in Milwaukee. An incredible defender, he just could not get his previously hot bat going throughout 2009. I think a change of scenery and the fact that he will be pushed deeper into the lineup will let him relax and find his hitting groove again. As for Orlando Hudson, all this guy has done in the past several years is produce. Combining Hudson with Span at the top of the lineup will create ample RBI opportunities for the big bats behind them. With Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, and Thome, this lineup could be a murder's row for opposing RHPs. Good luck getting through this high average, high power, left handed leaning lineup.

I do worry about the depth in the outfield. Before the Hardy trade, Carlos Gomez was a great 4th outfielder with an incredible upside. Now the Twins may end up relying more on Kubel or a utility infielder (Tolbert, maybe) to fill any backup outfield spots. The corner outfield positions might be the weak link on a otherwise solid defensive team with Young and Cuddyer not exactly being Gold Glove material.

Starting Pitchers:
Scott Baker
Carl Pavano
Nick Blackburn
Kevin Slowey
Francisco Liriano

Bullpen:
Joe Nathan (Closer)
Matt Guerrier
Jessie Crain
Pat Neskek
Jose Mijares
Brian Duensing / Jeff Manship
Jon Rauch

The pitching rotation is pretty much set with the top 4 guys as close to locked in as you can be at this stage in the spring. The question mark comes in the 5th spot. Brian Duensing has a chance at this spot. Hell, he started Game 1 of the ALDS last year. You have to look at him for a rotation spot. The reason I am inclined to include Liriano instead of Duensing is all the reports I have heard coming from the Dominican League this winter. Twins personnel, rival scouts, and fans are all saying that Liriano is finally back to where he was before undergoing surgery a couple years ago. The one-time heir-apparent to Johan Santana looks to finally be back to his ace of the rotation act. This could not make me any happier. It seems like the more question marks the Twins have in the pitching staff, the better it ends up being. I think they have the depth and now a bit of experience to assist that ridiculous lineup. The bullpen is hopefully getting back Pat Neskek, who was out last season. All that guy did in 2008 was become one of the best setup guys in the game. Hopefully he can return to that form and the other young pitchers continue to progress.

Regular Season Prediction: 91-71, 1st in the AL Central.

Til the next post,
Mikey

Making Progress

I would guess that you have experienced this situation before: You are with a group of people when you reveal something about yourself to the group. There is always that one individual that says, "Hey, my Uncle Bob is really into that, too. I should introduce you to him/show you his website/give you his email address. You would get along swell!" Most of the time, meeting Uncle Bob does not go so swell. It might be the subtle smell of cat urine seeping from his pores or the fact that he is more interested in you than what your interest is. Regardless, the original idea of introducing a couple strangers who supposedly share some common ground tends to have great intentions with catastrophic results (at least in my experience).

An "Uncle Bob" moment happened to me after my blog proclamation that (a) I was going to blog much more frequently in 2010 and (b) that blogging was one of my many creative outlets in my life. In this particular case, being introduced to "Uncle Bob" actually turned out to be far from a disaster.A friend of mine who I work with was unaware of this non-engineering side of me. He gets to pleasure of seeing me during my most impressive nerd phases. After reading the blog and learning that I was interested in photography, he told me I should check out his friends' website because I would really enjoy it. Now this guy hails from South Dakota so automatically my bullshit sensor was going off like crazy. I had zero interest in looking at pictures of Midwestern country life. Cows are great. . .for eating. They aren't exactly the best photography subjects. Despite my anti-Dakota leanings, I relented and gave his buddies a chance. Thank god I did.

Proud Ruin is a collaboration of two artists creating incredible visual scenes. Tayn Reis dreams up a scene and ensures everything is in place. Aaron Stryzewski sets the lighting and frames that perfect shot. Beware, some of their creations are not for the faint of heart. Their images are dark, violent, foreboding, and often gruesome. But they are also absolutely incredible. (My favorites are definitely "Paramove" and "Forget the Hatchet") The lighting throughout their work makes the photos blend the realism of a photograph with the fantastical nature of a painting. I have stared at several of their scenes trying to figure out how they created the colors and texture of the photograph. The scenes are dark, but incredibly vibrant. At first glance, they do not appear to have much color at all. After settling your eyes on the photo, you start to see the brightness of the colors against the darkness.

As a disclaimer, I have not met Aaron and Tayn personally. Everything I know about them is what I have gathered through either their website or my buddy at work. However, the beauty of any medium of art is that through their creations, we can get a glimpse into the creative minds of others. Even if those minds are completely twisted and insane.

Excellent work, Proud Ruin. I hope you continue to churn out vivid and dark expressions of the endless human struggle.

On a side note, make sure you check out the section called "Aaron's Extras". Again, very impressive work, this time using a more standard portrait style. This one and this one are particularly great.

As the title of the blog says, I am making progress by opening my world to these new and exciting (and completely obscure) photographers/artists and being able to discuss them on this blog. You all know that I take pictures. They are not great pictures. A lot of them are not even good pictures. But with every website I find, every photographer I talk to, and every picture I take, I hope that I am slowly progressing to a point where I can truly and honestly call myself a photographer.

Til the next post,
Mikey