Say Anything Blog

Today the American League Championship series begins.

The three divisions leaders are Rob’s New York Yankee’s, Brenarlo’s Oakland A’s and my Minnesota Twins. The wild card is the Detroit Tiggers. I don’t know if there’s a Detroit fan, but I’m going to assign them to Likwid Shoe by default.

During the regular season Brenarlo had a small amount of trash talking over the race. He sorta bet me that the Oakland A’s would win 93-95 games.

Well they just about choked but they won the last game of the year, so he won his bet. I’d feel pretty bad about losing that bet except for the fact that my Twins finished with a better record. In fact today’s game between the Twins and A’s (surprisenly enough I’ll be home)is in Minneapolis for that very reason.

Since the Twins shook up the roster in Early June they’ve been the best team in baseball. During that time they lost two of their top pitchers. They managed to keep winning with substitute pitching. That is an impressive record.

What’s been fun this year is that so many Twins are having breakout years. Joe Mauer had a breakout year winning the batting title; as a catcher no less. Justin Morneau was number two in the AL RBI race. Shortstop Jason Bartlett had a great year after being called up in June. Michael Cuddyer had his breakout season hitting cleanup with 109 RBI’s. Nick Punto had a great defensive year and a very good hitting average year at 3rd.

Most of the Twins came up through their minor league system. Their second baseman, Castillo, was the only key player that they picked up.

The Twins one weak spot is the DH position. They haven’t gotten much productivity there.

None of the four AL playoff teams finished the last week strongly. The team that suffered the worst was the Detroit Tiggers. I predict that they’ll fall quickly to the Yankee’s.

I think the Twins will dispatch the A’s in short order. In fact after this week Brenarlo’s going to Blog in shame.

I’m concerned about my Twins facing the Yankee’s. However since they’re Rob’s team I think they’re setting him up to make up the “too many injuries” excuse meme. In sports that’s what Rob does best.

The biggest question mark is whether or not the Brad Radke will be able to pitch effectively. He’s had one short (but effective) start since he’s come off of a stress fractured shoulder socket. He’s a gamer and if he can pitch he will do it through the pain.

I won’t go into the National league. Mostly because I know NOTHING about the teams there. The Twins only lost one game in interleague play but that doesn’t mean that the team that shows up in the World Series won’t be first rate.

It should be a fun October for this Twins fan.


***Update*** I'm sure that losing 3-2 was part of Gardenhire's strategy to ultimately win the series against Oakland and the inevitable World Series.

Late on Friday night’s edition of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” former Bush administration aide Ron Christie, author of “Black in the White House,” pressed host Chris Matthews on the suggestion that if Republican Sen. George Allen’s alleged racial slurs in the 1970s are a character flaw, what about the Democrats re-electing Senator Robert Byrd, a former Klansman, this fall? Matthews protested in a lecturing tone that “everyone knows about it….It’s been raised a thousand times on his record.” After claiming he was not defending Byrd, he told Christie: “The guy’s 90 years old. Give him a break.”  Emphasis mine.

Thanks to Newsbusters.

You just can’t watch that too many times.

So you see, it’s not his fault.

Answers some questions about the product we’re getting out of Congress.

Times On-line

A leading scientist has warned that opposition to nuclear power by environmental campaigners is irrational as well as dangerously misguided

ENVIRONMENTAL groups are setting back the fight against global warming with misguided and irrational objections to nuclear power, according to Britain’s leading thinker about the future.

The “fourth-generation” nuclear plants that could be built now are profoundly different from older designs, with safety features that make meltdown impossible, low waste output, and fuel that is not suitable for bombs, Dr Martin said.

He is keen on the pebble bed reactor, an experimental South African and Chinese design, in which the fuel is incapable of melting. A prototype has been built in Beijing. “With the pebble bed reactor, the fuel is easily disposed of, and it can be divorced absolutely from the bomb industry,” he said.

The environmentalists are just the latest in the Luddite movement.  They want to deny all of the great things that progress has done for us. 

Over the weekend I was camping out.  No lights, no running water, no hot showers.  That’s the lifestyle they want to impose on most of the world.  However they seem to have a loophole for their own luxuries.

Imagine the world if we had 6 Billion people and no technology.  The forests would be gone, the rivers would be choked with sewage.  There would be no wildlife. 

I don’t believe the claims of the global warming crowd.  However atomic power is the cheapest way to generate electricity.  If the environmentalists were the least bit rational they’d be behind this safe clean technology.

But they hate and fear progress, which is what sets them squarely as the latest members of the Luddite clan.

The Fighting Sioux just won their season opener (actually an exhibition game) against the University of Manitoba Bison 5-2. 

My impression was that they looked rusty.  I saw some flashes of the Oshies and Toews of last year.  Unfortunately we didn’t play for the full 60 minutes that it takes to win against the better opponents.  Still it’s early yet and I’m sure everyone is still getting their skates under them.

The emotional high light of course was the return of Robbie Bina who suffered a broken neck in the 2005 playoffs.  It’s absolutely amazing that he’s back on the ice.  In the first shift of the second player two Manitoba players took a run at him.  I’ve never understood how a small player like Bina can level a much larger player who’s initiating the hit.  Well the old Robbie was back because the first player was the one that went down.  The second run Robbie shifted a bit and the Manitoba player went flying into the boards.

Anyway it’s great to have Robbie, a home town boy back on the ice.

I suspect this team will develop a lot like last year.  We’ll take some lumps early in the year (remember when Wisconsin beat us in the Ralph) but by the end of the year we’ll be in contention once again.

The one freshman that stood out tonight was number 19, Hunter Bishop.  I thought he really tried to get out there with a physical presence early.  He also scored a goal by relentlessly going after the puck. 

Anyway good first game guys!

The Grand Forks Herald has a short article on the “contrasts” between Senator Kent Conrad and Dwight Grotberg.

If you asked the Conrad campaign to write this article, this is exactly what you’d get.

—Economy: Conrad says the country’s increasing debt load and heavy borrowing from foreign lenders paints a bleak budget picture and is hurting efforts to strengthen Social Security. Grotberg says debt is part of the risk to future growth and is a better option than raising taxes. Grotberg says he would vote to make tax cuts permanent.

Notice that Conrad gets credit by the Herald of saving Social Security and keeping our country from being taken over by being “concerned with” the debt.  How is Conrad supposedly going to “fix” the problem?  An Herald reader would never know that he wants to raise taxes.

Dwight Grotberg, and anyone who with the ability to learn from history knows that raising taxes hurts the economy and actually cuts future tax revenues.  In fact barring an actual reform of Social Security the best way to strengthen SS is to cut taxes and let the economy take off.

—Energy: Conrad is promoting his bill called Breaking Our Long-term Dependence, or BOLD. He says it would increase production of renewable energy and alternative fuels, reward conservation, fund research into new energy technology, and upgrade the electricity grid. Grotberg says he agrees with those ideas, but believes Conrad isn’t doing enough to encourage domestic drilling.

“But believes Conrad isn’t doing enough to encourage domestic drilling.”  Notice how this is written to puff the Senator up and minimize Grotberg?  Conrad’s communications Director couldn’t have done a better job. 

Senator Conrad is blocking the will of the majority to develop our own resources in ANWR and in coastal areas.  Instead Conrad wants us to send BILLION overseas where it often winds up helping our enemies.

—National security: Conrad and fellow Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., introduced a bill that would spend $200 million to create an intelligence team with the purpose of capturing Osama bin Laden. Conrad voted against sending troops to Iraq in 2002, which Grotberg says was “a bad decision based on information that he had at the time.” Conrad says he voted against sending the troops because al-Qaida, not Iraq, attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Grotberg says Conrad has put too much reliance on the United Nations.

Once again the differences couldn’t be greater.  Senator Conrad has worked as hard as he could to block our efforts in the War on Terror.  Instead he throws up a smokescreen over someone who frankly has become almost inconsequential in the war on terror.  We’re fighting a war against a movement and Senator Conrad is trying to arrest one man.

The Herald is running with Senator Conrad’s talking points while minimizing Dwight Grotberg’s campaign.

With support like this from the North Dakota media Senator Conrad won’t have to spend those millions he took from out-of-state interests.

The Grand Forks Herald ran a number of letters on the shared Parenting Initiative today.

What was unusual was that these letters came in from all over the country.  Perhaps these are coming from special interests, or perhaps the Shared Parenting Intiative is getting notice.

CBS2Chicago:

A school superintendent in the southwest suburbs was coming under fire Thursday over a videotape scandal.

CBS 2 Investigator Dave Savini reports the tape was posted on the school district’s Web site. The superintendent is accused of mocking new teachers on that video.

Mitchell interviewed new teachers, taped it, then without their knowledge took the teachers’ real answers and edited in fake questions. CBS 2 covered their faces, Mitchell did not.

In another, Mitchell asks, “What were the results of the last drug test that you took?”

The answer: “It was positive.”

The video of some of the questions is on the linked story.  It is very worth your time to watch the video.

They guy’s going to lose his job over this, but I still think the reporters and School Board need to work on their sense of humor.