New Year's (Season's) Resolutions

I read an article on the top ten most popular New Year's resolutions for the coming year. (Based on who, I have no idea) But here they are:

1. Spend more time with family & friends.
2. Spend more time working out.
3. Lose weight.
4. Quit smoking.
5. Enjoy life more.
6. Quit drinking.
7. Get out of debt.
8. Learn something new.
9. Help others.
10. Get organized.

I started to wonder about what some of the Twins players might be making New Year's resolutions about, or maybe New Season's resolutions. I know a lot of the time many sports websites, blogs, and newspapers spend time criticizing players on their play on or off the field. But after thinking about it, no one's perfect, and the best professionals are the ones who aren't content with where they're at, and are always striving to be better. I remember stories of Ken Griffey Jr. never content with his swing, and 611 HR's later, "The Kid" is now "The Natural".

C Joe Mauer: New Year's Resolution-Increase power numbers without decreasing plate discipline. Although there are few obvious flaws in Mauer's offensive and defensive game, one would hope that eventually the 25 year-old with the 6-5 230 frame might produce more than 10 HR, 80 RBI seasons.

1B Justin Morneau: New Year's Resolution-Be more consistent. No one's complaining after a 2nd MVP-type season, but after his stellar 2006 campaign, his offensive numbers dropped across the board, most noticiably in his AVG (.321 to .271) and OPS (.934 to .834).

2B Alexi Casilla: Improve OBP, maintain power numbers. To everyone's suprise, Casilla knocked out 7 HR's in under 100 games last year, contradicting all of his minor league numbers. the Twins need a 2-spot hitter who is able to get on base consistently and get in scoring position for #3 man Mauer.

SS Nick Punto: Show he is a capable starting shortstop...offensively. We know Punto loves to play good, hard-nosed, Twins defense in the field. He's the scrappy little sparkplug that keeps a team going through tough stretches. But if he returns to his dismal 2007 form (.210 AVG, .291 OBP), it may be tough to keep him in the lineup, espeically if Rochester SS Trevor Plouffe is heating up.

3B: Brian Buscher: Show he is a capable starting third baseman...offensively. With either Brendan Harris or Buscher staring the 3B spot in the face, I believe that Buscher showed by the end of last season that he was a viable candidate with slightly better offensive numbers in AVG, OBP, OPS, K%, and BB/K ratio.

Next edition will include those competing for outfield and DH positions.

So long everbody...see you in '09.

Weekend Wonders

This weekend, Jenni and Adam came to visit and we spent Saturday afternoon braving the wind and rain to enjoy some time downtown. After the visit to the Bean and Millennium Park, we headed over to the Art Institute to "culturalize" ourselves. There were some great times by all, and you can see it in our faces while trying to imitate one of our highlights of the trip here...



We then stocked up on drinks at Caribou Coffee and headed off to Daley Plaza to see the Christmas tree. After battling the crowds and a rowdy bunch of Santas, we arrived and made the best of another photo op...



With the Christmas season in full swing and the big day only 11 days away, we have now begun the "12 days of Christmas". Have you ever wondered who came up with the 12 days of Christmas, or what it originated from, or who in the world thought that the song would catch like it did (especially with my extended family year after year) If you're interested, here's the Wikipedia link.

But since I'm more about the how and why (being a Science teacher) and not the history of the song, have you ever wondered how much all 12 days of Christmas would cost someone in order to win over their "true love"?

Well wonder no longer, because the numbers are in....







drum roll please....






For the small price of $86,609, you can make your true love happy this holiday season. However, by leaving out the 7 swans a swimming for each of the 6 days you give them, you can save yourself some pocket change ($33,600).

Just don't let the true love know that you're holding out on those swans...


So long everybody...

Between holidays

This feels like the first actual free time in a long time, but then again, the whole Thanksgiving weekend was free time...so other than that I guess.

• School is still going great, we're working through the periodic table and elements right now and will be until Christmas break and maybe a bit after that, then its to chemical bonds and reactions.
• It has snowed a couple times now, maybe 3-4 inches each time. Glad we don't live in the city of Chicago though. They found out that it cost the city $500,000 each time it snows to pay workers, gas, trucks, salt, etc. So they decided that they wouldn't clear the streets throughout the night, but only if/when it stopped snowing.
• Basketball has been going pretty good, its definitely a different mentality out here with kids having more opportunities to play on travel teams throughout the entire year (yes, even during the season). I took some pictures from one of the kids' facebook pages, so here you go...

• We're 5-2 right now, and just won Friday night by 3 over the team that won their summer league tournament.
• Well...less than two weeks before its back to Minnesota for the wedding, Christmas parties, and hopefully some ice fishing!

So long everybody...

Busy Times

Getting 1st quarter grades in...

Starting the basketball season...

Getting through parent-teacher conferences...

Entering the holiday season...

I knew life was becoming busy, 99% of which was school-related, but tonight capped it all off. With Linds back in Iowa watching State Volleyball, I was sitting in the Lazy-Boy after another underachieving "Office" episode (the 1st couple seasons were ridiculously funny, now.....not so much). While talking to Linds on the phone, she mentioned they went to Wendy's to eat after the game...which immediately left me craving ice cream (which we are out of in the house), so Linds gave me the OK to drive over to our neighborhood Wendy's for a later-night treat. I pull up to the drive-thru and couldn't believe the words that came out of my mouth..."Uh, yeah, can I get a medium, chocolate McFlurry...." (I'm thinking "Where am I....did I just say that")...."I mean a Frosty..." I put on my best "I'm having a bad day face" when pulling up to the window so they wouldn't ask any questions or make a smart comment, and it must have worked because all I got was my Frosty and my change. I was off before you could say Chicken McNuggets...

Well, it has gotten busy lately. Basketball started 3 weeks ago, and cuts had to be made because I had 21 kids try out and 16 jerseys at my disposal (I kept 15 on the team). It was far tougher than it should have been, but the worst part was having to see the kids I cut the next day in class. But other than that, its been really good. We're 2-0 so far, after playing a fairly weak team in our opener winning 46-20 and then picking up victory #2 tonight 50-38 against a top-half team in our conference. Our next game is against a team which will compete with us for the conference title, so it could be a tough one.

Last weekend I did get some time off from school and thinking and everything... I was invited to a Bulls game (great seats...15 rows up behind the hoop) As much as I've said that NBA basketball isn't the most enjoyable sport for me to watch, it was a blast. Here are a few pictures...








So that was my Friday night, and then Saturday Linds and I decided to test our artistic side again with the camera. After hitting up a forest preserve and a ballfield, we came out with these pictures...among others:









Hope all is well with all of you...the weather now reminds me of pheasant hunting with hints of ice fishing. I hope to get at least one of them in sometime in the next few months.

So long everybody...

CEA

Short week of school this week...or a long weekend, however you want to put it. We had our CEA convention this Thursday and Friday in South Bend. It's a pretty cool place, a ton of Notre Dame stuff all over and the College Football Hall of Fame is there. We drove down Thursday morning, leaving here at about 6:00 and getting there around 9ish. The main speaker was...alright. I guess he's a well known writer. Walter....something, I think it starts with a W. Anyways, after that we had a few sectionals, I went to one on collaboration in the Science classroom that was alright, and then one about using everyday materials to teach Science lessons. That one was a little better because it appealed to the cheap me who never wants to order anything out of the overpriced Science supply catalog.

Friday morning I went to a pretty interesting one...Fantasy Sports and Mathematics. It was really good...used alot more math than I use in my class, so I think I'll use a bunch of his ideas.

Not a ton going on today either, so I'm sorry for the boring post. I've spent the afternoon so far watching a combination of the Wisconsin/Illinois, and Northwestern/Indiana games, following the Minnesota/Purdue game online, watching the Dordt/Doane game on webcast, and listening to the Northwestern/Briar Cliff game at times.

And people say guys can't multitask...

During down time, halftime, or anytime the games were all slow, I've been working on basketball practice for next week, fantasy basketball (which starts next week with the new quarter), and figuring out what experiments to use to show Boyle's & Charles's law this week in Science.

All from my laptop with "borrowed" internet and my flatscreen tv with "borrowed" cable.

Good thing my neighbors are such nice sharing people, otherwise I wouldn't get anything done!

Artistic Side

Linds wanted to take some pictures of the fall colors around our neighborhood, so I thought I would try my hand at being a little artistic. I think I did pretty good...these are all my pieces of work...and I even managed to keep baseball out of the picture.

enjoy...

This one...I think I got funny looks from the neighbors for looking straight up at the sky trying to get the camera to focus on the right leaf.

I call this one Barak Obama...it wants change and it looks like its headed for it, but no one knows quite how or when it's going to happen.

This is my John McCain, the true red maverick among a sea of green.


This is one of the stupid Canadians that wake us up every morning before sunrise. It'll be nice when they leave and I can sleep in peace, eh?

Actually, my first picture taken on the adventure before I started looking for stories to go with my pictures.


This is my favorite of all of them, its the background on the computer right now and I think I'm going to get it enlarged over at Wal-Mart or something, it would look good hanging on a wall somewhere.

Call it what you like...Republicans vs. Democrats, U.S. vs. Canada, Summer vs. Winter, American League vs. National League..........


so much for leaving baseball out of it (you really didn't think I could, could you?)

I'll admit it, I had to somewhat crack the stem of this leaf to get it to lay like this, but I think it looks pretty cool. Plus by now it would've been dead anyway, and my picture lasts alot longer.

I snuck up on this leaf, it was just looking the other way, minding its own business when I crept up in full camoflauge and took a shot at it....then the neighbor came out of the garage and I stopped humming the "Mission Impossible" theme song and moved on.

Post-baseball??

Well, its over...the 2008 season is history for the Minnesota Twins, who finished 10-12 wins higher than I personally thought they were going to reach. They also finished 2 places higher in the standings than I thought they were going to. They have two potential (though unlikely now) MVP winners in Mauer and Morneau. Next year's rotation looks like it should be solid, along with quite the battles in the 3B and RF positions for the '09 season.

Well...enough about the Twins, because I'm sure you've all already scrolled down to see the pictures I've posted.


This is the entrance to my classroom. Despite the way it looks, the doorway isn't pink, its more of a dark red.

This is a shot from the doorway to the front of the room. My desk and computer are right in the middle of the picture. you can see my SMARTboard on the wall to the left.

...and here is me with my latest edition...my Twins Territory blanket that I feel really "brings the room together". Notice the strategically placed broom there as well...this is what Sox fans had to look forward to last Monday when they came back to school after the Twins sweep.

Well, I think pictures justify it as a successful blog post, even if I didn't say much. We had Chicago baseball day today at school, so everyone was supposed to wear either Cubs or Sox apparel, so I went to Jewel and bought a $3 Cubs "W" shirt that I sported for the day. I could've worn a Twins shirt...I got it OK'ed, but after the loss, I couldn't bring myself to endure the ridicule.

After school today, I was suprised to find my school mailbox stuffed with a manila envelope. I opened it up to find 75+ sympathy cards written to me to offer their condolences on my team losing the night before. Apparently one of the 6th grade teachers (who I know is a HUGE Sox fan) decided to have his class do a writing activity. Most of them are the typical...

"Dear Mr. Van Schepen, I'm very sorry your team lost. But not really. I'm a Sox fan. Maybe next year. but probably not. I slept really good last night." (signed) A 6th grader.

But a few of them were actually pretty creative...

"...you should teach the Twins more chemistry, because they didn't really have it last night."

"...being a science teacher, you can see the Twins lost because they aren't evolved as the Sox."

"Whoop di doo, too bad for you. The Sox have won and the Twins have lost. I bet your face is really cross. Mr. E. made me write this sympathy letter, even though it won't make you feel better."

and my personal favorite...

"The Sox can't exist without the Twins because every sock needs a twin."

...how many times have I heard a similar phrase from my mother???

So long everybody...

More comments about comments...

“I said it last night, and I’ll say it again…that umpire should not be here. Not in this series. You put your best players in the All-Star game and you put your best umpires in the All-Star game. It’s the same thing with the World Series. You have meaningless games being played right now with very capable umpires and here we get stuck with this guy. It’s ridiculous…and that’s a fact.” (Ken Harrelson, White Sox announcer) Which puts the question in my mind….why can’t we have the best announcers for such a critical series? Maybe Vin Scully or Bob Uecker could make an appearance.

We had a teacher inservice Friday, so there was no school. Which was…good and bad. Good because I wore a Twins shirt to the inservice and I don’t know if I would’ve met a “professional” dress code wearing that to teach. I think that’s where that Twins polo comes into play. It was bad because I really would’ve loved to see the response of the little Sox fans who continually think they have something on me. I know, I shouldn’t be saying anything…but in my defense, I don’t begin the conversations…its them telling me how bad MY team is…I think they’ll get a lesson on Monday on how it feels to be in 2nd place. I’ll take pictures and post them on here…unless the Twins are on such a high that they refuse to take advantage of the divisional lead.

Twins Tidbits

Interesting comments that the White Sox announcers made during the game vs. the Twins on Wednesday:

-“You’ve got to be kidding me. The Twins will be happy tonight with the umpire on their side the whole game.” (First batter of the game…4^th pitch of the game)

-“That’s one thing that MLB needs to change. They need to realize that this is a big series and they need to send the best umpires to make sure the game is called fairly.” (In the bottom of the 2^nd inning)

-“You’ve got to have some sort of a rating system, because this is absurd.” (Still ranting about the umpires in the top of the 3^rd)

-“I don’t care if we play them at Midway Airport, the Grand Canyon, or Grant Park, as long as we don’t have to play them in the Metrodome” (Top of the 4^th)

-“You know what’s amazing..is that we’re playing that bad and we’re going to leave here tonight with a 2 ½ game lead” (In the bottom of the 4^th with the Sox down 3-2)

-“I’ve seen the Twins go up to the plate with hairline cracks in their bats because they’re going for those cheap broken-bat singles” (Bottom of the 6^th)

-1: the number of half innings that the attempted Gomez pickoff WASN’T shown as some sort of “Freeze Play”, “Game changing play”, “Story of the Game”, “Game Summary” or any other excuse that Ken and D.J. could think of to explain why the Sox weren’t winning. (I think it had something to do with your 3-4-5 hitters going a combined 1-11 with no RBI, but I’m no professional announcer)

-Final Score: 3-2 Twins

-To put it in those infamous words…THEY GONE!!!

Put that on the board…

Weekly News

Since I've been on the cycle of writing once a week, I figured I would give you what's happened this week, complete with the title of "Weekly News", which Linds told me not to put because its...boring.

• Well, whether I believe it or not, this past week was the first full 5-day week of school. It somewhat amazes me when I think about the attitude of some of these kids here. Don't get me wrong, there are these kids all around the world, but I say here because well...I'm here. I thought the slow start may have been because it was summer, and they didn't have to do anything for a couple months. Well, to end the babbling, I had 10 kids not turn in the Lab sheet Friday...and it was something we did in class. I just wonder what was going through their mind when I said "It's due at the end of the period" and "Pass the papers to the right". Maybe I was the weird kid, but I couldn't hand anything in late, blank, or not hand it in at all after I went through all that work.

• Continuing with the "boring theme from Linds", she told me I was boring this week Monday-Thursday because again, for some reason, allergies hit me. Don't get me wrong, I think I'm young enough to feel invincible at times, but these allergies really kick my butt. Its especially tough to teach all day when the Puffs with Lotion tissues kept calling my name (I keep a special stash, the kids get the sandpaper) So...it was a week of going to bed at 9, multiple trips to Walgreens, and choking down Airborne (which I don't know if it worked or not, but it tasted bad enough that it had to do some good)

• Friday night I went with Linds and some of the varsity v-ball team to watch the DePaul v-ball team take on Univ. Texas-San Antonio. The head coach of DePaul is married to the varsity assistant at Timothy, so he got us all in for free. So I guess now officially...we made it downtown! We took a minibus with the 12 of us from school and drove to DePaul (which is north of downtown, fairly close to Wrigley) They lost in 4 games, but it was pretty fun to watch, and alot of fun to see where the DePaul men play their basketball games. We also saw the George Miken banners for being All-American and Player of the Year back in the 40's. Afterwards we stopped downtown and got ice cream at Cold Stone before heading back to school.

• Today...wow today. It has been raining since Friday morning. We saw this morning that O'Hare had about 6.5 inches already, and they have to be well above 7 by now. But, we decided that we were going to make a trip to....where else? Target! This was no special trip, however, because it ended with me running through the rain with a 32" big-screen tv in my hands. Dinner was put on hold while the setup procedures proceeded. I let the channel search do its thing to find stations, thinking it would take about a minute with our 12 channels to find. So we sat down for a sandwich, and watched the numbers keep going up................and up......................and up................and (you get the picture). Well, the sandwich was finished long before the channel search was complete at a number well into the triple digits. So we flip through the stations and it wasn't long before each time we were yelling with our new-found entertainment. Out came TBS, TNT, FX, Spike, Discovery, History, TLC (Linds favorite), and.....oh yes, ESPN and ESPN2, plus the Big 10 network. Well, pathetically, this afternoon has been spent watching full HD college football and MLB games, but I really don't feel bad about it at all...

• Well, that may be about the extent of the excitement for one blog. For those of you interested in Twins material, AG posted this link the other day which proves my theory from this past Winter/Spring about Bill Smith, its a pretty interesting read with WAY too many numbers, but the conclusion at the bottom is worth checking out. On the other hand, hindsight is always 20/20...unless you're a Twins nut.

• Big doubleheader today, looking good so far for the Twins...up 5-1 in the 7th. Obviously with all the rain we've had, the Sox aren't playing again, so it will be interesting to see when they make up their games with the Tiggers.

So long everybody...

So much has happened...

Really? Two weeks since my last post, can't imagine many people missed hearing my thoughts about the Twins, especially because there hasn't been much to talk about in the last two weeks. If not for Justin Morneau (you're welcome Tyler) racking up a .370/3/14 with a 1.101 OPS coming into today, the Twins may be rivaling the '99 Cleveland Spiders for most consecutive losses at 24. (That's the 1899 Spiders, and I know it hasn't been that bad, but it feels like it because I hear it about 25 different times a day living in Sox territory)

Since the last post, here's a little bit of what's happened...

• First day of school...it went really well, I gave some puzzle questions, told about myself, talked about expectations. Basically I wanted the kids to know me a little bit and not be totally freaked out by everything. Plus, we had a retreat coming up, so I didn't go too in depth with anything the first couple days.

• 8th grade retreat...we (the four 8th grade teachers) took 91 8th graders to Phantom Ranch, a camp in Wisconsin, for 2 days for a time of community building among the students to start the year. They had the chance to do activities like horseback riding, canoeing, and archery, among others. I was in charge of Team Building games, which went over relatively well, except for the food relay. Don't get me wrong, it was a big hit, it was just that some kids weren't able to, uh....hold it all in when they were done. It made for our cabin to be labeled the "sick bay" and lets just say that no one was sleeping alone.

• Labor Day weekend...Linds and I left early Friday morning (we didn't have school, I guess many of the families at Timothy have beach houses in Michigan that they go to for the weekend, so the school complies with that) for Linds' parents house and met up with them to head up to NW Iowa to catch Brent's cross country race and a couple volleyball games. It was a good weekend, it gave us both a chance to see family again and get out of the city for awhile. On the way back we took in the PC football game Saturday night before we came home Sunday night.

• Last Tuesday Linds had her first volleyball match, which you can feel free to read about on her blog. My interesting fact for the night was that I was roped into help line judge for the varsity match. The other official didn't show up, so I took a corner and the varsity coach's husband took the other. Even if we were biased, it didn't help a whole lot, they lost in straight sets.

• The next night was another late one...I had a fantasy football draft with some of the other teachers at TCS. We set up in the computer lab with our snacks and cheat sheets and went at it. I honestly had a blast, I could've done it for hours...or at least until the Dew ran out.

• Then the next night...Back to School night for K-8. Parents could come in if they wished and listen to the teachers talk about expectations and highlights for the year. It was a good time for the most part, a few questions caught me off guard, but oh well...

• For some unknown reason to me, I agreed to play basketball the next morning with some of the HS teachers. I know why I said yes...because I missed doing anything even remotely competitive, but as I was driving to school at 6 a.m., my competitive spirit wasn't exactly on fire. But it was a good time for the first half hour, which was when I slightly sprained my ankle. I say slightly because I wanted to keep playing, but still sprained because now as I look at it, its a little big and a little discolored. The worst part was that the average age of the rest of the guys had to be upper 30's to 40, and here's me by far the youngest guy out there and I get hurt. I just told them it was because I was the only one with my feet leaving the floor.

• I spent Saturday correcting homework and quizzes, which the class did fairly well in. The last bunch may have a few more questions marked wrong because I was in a worse mood as it was around the 8th inning of the Twins game where Reyes and Guerrier gave up 2-run bombs each to erase a 4-2 lead for Baker. It was the FOX game of the week, so its the first game I've seen since...July 31...I think. Wow, that's been a long time.

Well, that's probably the highlights of the past two weeks. For anyone who checks this as much as I check the blogs that are in my daily check, sorry I haven't updated. Hopefully I'll get a chance if things slow down a little now and then...

So long everybody...

Gas, Meet the Teacher, Baseball, New Phone

I had meant to write about this last time, but I forgot. I guess it gave me more time to solidify my conclusion. The week of August 10, gas here was at $3.99 all week. Well, we were out and about all week and as it typically goes, the gas gauge eventually sat just above the “E”. We had Sarah’s wedding in South Holland on Saturday, so that morning, we went to fill up, only to find that gas was now $4.09! We just assumed that the oil price had risen again, and we were on the wrong end of the totem pole. Well, the weekend came and went, and when Monday morning showed up, the gas price stood at…$3.93. We just had to laugh at our unfortunate fill-up, but honestly I think its because all the people here leave on the weekend, and they fill up before they go, so gas prices go up. So…this week we filled up for the $3.93 price on Thursday night only to see it spike at $3.99 this weekend. So…for ALL of you people who are planning on visiting, don’t fill up here on the weekend, unless you want to get a taste of big-city $4.00+ gas.

This past Friday afternoon was a time for all the students and parents to come in and meet the teachers, find their lockers, and get their schedules if they wished. I think we may have had around half of the 8^th graders stop in, so around 45-50. I saw way too many new faces, new names, and I might have remembered a few of them. There were definitely some odd connections, which I should have seen coming, even though the Dutch/Reformed background now only accounts for about 40% of the school population. One woman came up and asked if I knew Van Schepen’s from Washington, which I don’t, but now know that there’s a pastor that preached there for awhile. I told her that my dad was from NW Iowa, and she responded by saying she was from Ireton and that she remembered my dad driving the bus to school “back in the day.” (direct quote dad, sorry) Another (and possibly the craziest connection I have ever made) knew the Van Schepen name and asked who my dad was, and my grandparents, grandma’s maiden name, and my great-grandparents names. Well, we sat down and pieced together what we both knew of the family tree and she discovered that my Grandma Alice and her mother Cora were cousins…I think that’s how it went. My great-grandma Maria and her grandpa ________ were brother and sister. Honestly, they probably went to church together in the early 1700’s back in the Netherlands…if they could’ve played cards back then, I’m sure they played Dutch bingo too.

Well, school starts Monday, whether I’m ready or not. The room is pretty much done, I think my planning is done, I just need to get my final class list (which still wasn’t finalized Friday afternoon with all the adds and drops) and I need to run off some sheets for my introduction to the class.

Five-Tool Performer is competing for the last day today barring a 150-point outing. With Rollins struggling for the past few weeks, and Kinsler on the DL, I just ran out of bench players to adequately fill in. The $10k will have to wait for next year…

Twins started out 2-0 on the road trip only to drop a should/could win against the Angels on Saturday. I saw Buscher had two huge errors that cost them, and Gomez misplayed one in center that Gardy based on lack of experience. It does seem like we’ve avoided that lately…misplays due to inexperience. But 74 wins is about what I had hoped for this year based on the offseason moves, so to be there with 5 weeks left and to have a ½ game lead in the division is amazing. Just so more of those “inexperience” plays don’t start showing up.

Last note…I just got a new cell phone/number with Verizon, so all of you Alltel people can’t talk to me free whenever anymore, which might mean I have to go back to the nights & weekends calling schedule. New number is 630-470-3293…but I’ll send out an email or Facebook message soon.

Until next time…

Farmer waves, Driver's License, and the Kane County Cougars

After living in a metropolitan area for a solid week, I decided that as nice as the people here are (it still is the Midwest), they aren’t near friendly enough. So I decided that whenever I find myself driving down a residential street, I’m going to give oncoming cars a little wave. I have a feeling that so far when I’ve done it, people are a little freaked out, and some just stare at me, wondering if they should know me. I guess they see my Minnesota license plate and wonder a little.

Last Friday, Linds and I decided to get our driver’s license switched to Illinois’ licenses. We looked online and needed 4 forms of ID to apparently prove it was us. We needed our old license, SS card, Birth Certificate, and proof of address. We showed up and went from checking in to sitting in chairs waiting to giving our information and taking the vision test. Now, I should stop at this point and say that when we checked in, the lady didn’t ask Linds if she needed a book to study for the written test, but for some reason she did ask me if I would like to look one over. I asked her if she thought I needed one (in my most confident voice), and she just smiled and laughed and said “probably not”. Yeah, probably but not definitely. At this point in my life, after 17 years of schooling and now a certified teacher, I believe I know the difference between a good multiple-choice question and a bad one. So when I left 3 of the first 5 questions on the test blank after reading them, I should have thrown my red challenge flag because it had to be illegal what they were doing to me. They were questions such as, “When can a driver under the age of 17 drive at night?” and “You can lose your license for which of the following?” And here I thought this was a written test about driving, and here they were going to end up nailing me for the little nitty gritty details. Well, there were two pages of multiple choice, about 20 questions I suppose, and then a page of 15 street signs that you had to identify. I figured it was at least 15 free points until I got to the front and the young girl who was correcting my test must have had something else on her mind, because all of a sudden she went pen crazy and started making all these marks on my test. Turns out, Matt doesn’t know when 17 year-olds can drive at night, or when someone can lose their license. Furthermore, apparently Matt doesn’t know the difference between a merging lanes sign and a lane reduction sign. I didn’t ask how many questions you could get wrong and still pass, but lets just say I wouldn’t have made the honor roll with my test score.

But, as any baseball guru would say… “It’s a line drive in the book…”, because not 15 min later Linds and I both walked out of the office with new cards in hand…and mine didn’t say “This guy only got an 85% on his written test…”

After two weeks of living in the Windy City metro area, and it still being summer, one would think that our (my) attendance at baseball games would have at least begun, especially with limited teaching prep to do right away. Well, we didn’t make the connection that maybe there are teams around that don’t have little bears or clean socks as their mascots. Monday night we drove about 25 miles to the northwest to Geneva to watch the Kane County Cougars take on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in a Midwest League matchup. The Cougars are a Class A affiliate of the Oakland A’s, and the Timber Rattlers (which I assume is either Paul Bunyan running from Duluth to Brainerd or some kind of snake) is a Class A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. We were surprised as to how many people attended the game, somewhere in the 8,000 range, which probably puts them right up with the Florida Marlins in average game attendance. We paid $10 a seat and sat 10 rows up from the home bullpen down the 1st baseline. The game went 13 innings, with Wisconsin winning 8-7. I only recognized one name between the two teams, pitcher Scott Hodson of the Cougars played for Azuza Pacific in the 2007 NAIA World Series, and if I remember right, he was NAIA pitcher of the year that year. We did get to see him pitch 5 innings of relief, and he did really well.

Like I normally do, I’m typing this at home because I almost feel bad typing on my blog at school. Like I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing, or something like that. But we don’t have our gracious neighbor’s wireless internet right now, so I’m typing this on a word document. Not that any of this means much to anybody, but it does mean that there’s no official update on Five-Tool Performer’s quest for $10k. Things are bleak right now, after averaging over 40 points/day for 6 of the 7 days last week, it was the 7th day that really did me in. A TEN point day…I don’t remember having a TEN point day all year. I finished the week at 255 points when I was looking for 280. I figured that if I could get two 280-point weeks, I might not be going on, but at least I would have felt good about it. This week could be tough as well, because most teams are taking a day off at some point this week, with a few (Cardinals) taking two off, which really hurts the stats of Ludwick and Molina. I subbed Hernandez of the Orioles for Molina, but couldn’t get it in my heart to bench Ludwick for Alexi Ramirez. But, looking at last night’s drubbing of Seattle and Ramirez’ bomb, I may have been wrong.

Here are a few pictures of the Kane County game we went to…

Until next time…

August 11

Linds and I spent the day at school. She helped out at v-ball camp while I was getting more stuff ready in my room. In the afternoon, she helped me put stuff up on the walls and even made me a poster. I'll have to take some pictures and put them up as soon as I get the rest of the posters laminated and on the wall.

Some thoughts from the past few days...

• I really hope anyone who is reading this is finding time to watch the Olympics live rather than just seeing highlights here and there. Watching that 4X100 freestyle swim and come from behind to win was absolutely incredible. Even right now as I type I'm watching the men's team gymnastics finals. It really gives you a sense of national pride...

• Glad to see the Twins come back after dropping the final game of the Royals series to take Game 1 from the Yanks. I see Perkins had a little extra motivation after the birth of his baby girl this past weekend. Even Adam Everett, after a huge throwing error on Sunday, comes back with a 2-run bomb to start the scoring on Monday.

• The good news about Livan Hernandez' return to the NL with his start for the Rockies against San Diego on Sunday? His manager still believes in him...somehow. A quote by Rockies manager Clint Hurdle..."His command wasn't sharp...he wasn't able to throw quality strikes on either edge, and the balls were hit hard." He went on to say that his ineffectiveness was a result of not pitching for 12 days. Just profound, an absolutely out of this world description about the game's best batting practice hurler.

• Well, the Five-Tool Performer gave Wrigley17 a run for the money but came up just 1 point short of the league title. An RBI single by D-Lee in the Cubs/Cards game Sunday night put him over the top. I now move on to the underdog bracket, where ending up with one of the top two teams is practically impossible. A formidible start thus far on Monday, scoring 30 points with Rollins getting 2 more AB's before his game is over. I'll have to average around 40 points a day to even have a chance. I had two players (Kinsler & A. Ramirez) with the day off, which is why I'm not reaching my 40-point goal. (Or so I tell myself)

Well, its back to school tomorrow, putting lessons together, figuring out the workings of the 8th grade retreat, and making my room somewhat inviting...

Updates

Just wanted to give a few updates...

• We've moved into out new place, Linds has a link to pictures of our place on her blog, which I have a link to on the right-hand side of the page. It's a pretty nice place, although we haven't been out alot to really enjoy living in a city. We know its a city because there's a lock to get into the building, and two more to get into our condo. We see planes flying overhead, which isn't weird I guess, except now you can see which airline it is and even this picture I took the other day...

• My fantasy baseball team, Five Tool Performer, continues its bid for the $10k prize, although I don't have quite the confidence as I did last week. After winning my semifinal match 288-216 last week and moving on to take on the #1 seed in the league, I find myself trailing by 32 points with two days left to play. Last week I outscored my opponent by an average of 10 points a day, so I really need to pick it up or be forced to enter the loser's bracket. As I write this, Jimmy Rollins is 4-4 with two triples, so he's pulling his weight. I'll definitely be watching for the Rays to mop up on the Mariners tonight too...I would love to see a shutout by former Twin Matt Garza...

• If you didn't get to watch the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics on Friday night, you missed one amazing show. I can honestly say it was nothing like I've ever seen before. I wanted to try and describe it, but I seriously can't find the words...

• For anyone looking to add to their daily blogroll, I would recommend checking out Brian Duensing's blog. He's a AAA pitcher in the Twins organization who is playing for the U.S.A Olympic baseball team. I'm hoping that he continually updates, his first two entries have been pretty good.

• For any of you who know me fairly well, you know that my favorite ball player is Doug Mientkiewicz. There's a number of reasons why, but if you watch him play, its pretty much because he plays the game right in my eyes. Anyway, after seeing limited playing time since leaving the Twins in 2004, he's finally found a place in the lineup in Pittsburgh. And I put lineup because its been a somewhat role reversal for Doug this year. With Minnesota, he was a Gold-Glove firstbaseman, who was average at the plate. This year, while putting up typical Doug-like numbers offensively, hasn't been able to find a regular spot in the field. Here are his games by position and fielding % for each:

3B- 30 G, 5 errors in 77 chances (.935 %)
1B- 26 G, 0 errors in 215 chances (1.000 %)
RF- 9 G, 0 errors in 17 chances (1.000 %)

• I guess when you play for the Pirates and your batting average is 2nd on the team at .286 behind Ryan Doumit's .336, the manager finds a position for you.

Well...that's all for now...

July 30

I listened to the last inning and a half of the Twins game last night on the way home from our fastpitch game in Steen. I expected to hear news about what the Twins did with Adam Everett, but heard nothing. I read today that they first designated him for assignment, then changed their minds when Casilla went on the DL with a torn tendon in his finger. I've read that its the same injury that Matt Tolbert suffered in May, and he's still not back. Hopefully its not as bad.

On many of the blogs I read, they have campaigns to "free" a player, or in other words, let them play in an everyday role. For example, Aaron Gleeman had a "Free Jason Kubel" campaign earlier this season (April 1). I've seen a couple others, but like an amateur writer/blogger, its not my job to remember everything, is it? Anyways, I am going to propose my own "Free" campaign..."Free Alejandro Machado!"

Machado was picked by the Twins in the 2006 Rule 5 draft, but tore his labrum during Spring Training in 2007, and was out for the entire season after surgery. Since coming back from the DL this season, he has hit .333 in 23 games with an OPS of .829. Although he hasn't showed it this season, he has averaged 22 SB's a season in his 9 minor league seasons.

I realize that the case study isn't that great, but using the Minor League Equivalency Factor, that gives him a line of .293/.301/.419. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but I know that those stats are far superior to Adam Everett's. I don't want to undermine the thinking of the one and only Bill Smith on this one...wait, yes I do...but Everett better be either picking up right where Casilla left off, hitting over .300 or be laying out for balls heading to Canada or he'll be calling Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens for job-searching info.

Another update on the Five-Tool Performer's bid for $10k... After two days of play in the league playoffs, FTP holds an astonishing 52 point advantage over WWC. Biggest reason: the pitching staffs. My Rays hold a 31-4 point advantage over his White Sox.

If you made it through all those numbers and all those terms...don't you just feel the least bit more intelligent, a smidge smarter, even a little enlightened??

Maybe you just can't believe that this guy's going to be teaching a fantasy sports class to 8th graders this fall...

If I were GM...

I see a note on ESPN that Buster Olney thinks that Adam Everett would be a good fit for the Dodgers at SS, now that Nomar is out for a bit. LA has a great bullpen...maybe we could get one of their five relievers with a sub 3.00 ERA? I'm thinking maybe Cory Wade is a possibility?

Another note worth watching...LaTroy Hawkins was released by the Yankees. The Twins need bullpen help...would he be a help?

Notes: July 28

-The Iowa High School Baseball Tourney wrapped up last weekend. The only reason I bring this up is to mention the play of B.J. Hermsen, the 6th round pick of the Twins in this year's draft. Here's his line for West Delaware's 3A 13-0 win over Cedar Rapids Xavier:

CG 5 IP 3 H 0 ER 0 BB 12 K

also...

3-4 R 5 RBI including a 3-run HR

He came in relief against Centerville in the semifinal round, throwing 1 1/3 IP, striking out 3, but West Delaware's season ended in a 2-0 loss.

-Shooter Hunt was promoted to Class A Beloit and started on the 26th against Wisconsin:
5 IP 3 H 1 ER 2 BB 9 K
He ended up on the short end of a 1-0 game, however, picking up his first minor league decision.

-I may need to apologize to Denard Span for reaching my earlier conclusion that he was the odd man out in the OF battle. He has now emerged to be more of an asset than Gomez, given Carlos' recent slump. Since June 30 when Span was called up, Gomez has hit .184 with a .282 on-base %. The speedy CF has also shown no signs of the early speed, having only gone 1-2 in SB attempts in that same time frame.

-Many people (hopefully more than just me) have had questions about why can't the Twins send down Boof to AAA and bring up Liriano, or why is Liriano's agent having a fit because Francisco is still in the minors. Well, I found this website that explains things pretty good, and its to the point as well. If anything doesn't make sense, feel free to ask me, not that I know the answers, but I'll definitely enjoy figuring it out.

-I found a page on the Rule 5 draft that takes place during the winter meetings. I thought it was interesting to see how some rules are put in place to maintain balance in the league. Basically the Rule 5 draft is in place to keep teams from hoarding minor league talent. In many cases, one team may have a stockpile of players that aren't quite as good as the guys ahead of them in the organization, but are good enough to play for another team. Take Johan Santana for example...he was a member of the Astros organization and was left off the 40-man roster at the end of the 1999 season, which opened the door for the Marlins to pick him in the '99 Rule 5 draft. They then traded him to the Twins, who, by law had to keep him on the 25-man roster (big-league team) all of 2000 in order to keep him. Although his stats that season were less than impressive (2-3, 6.49 ERA, 64/54 K/BB), by having him up all year gave the Twins complete rights to him, so they sent him to the minors for more seasoning. He was a huge contributer to the Twins 2003 success, going 12-3 with a 3.07 ERA and 169 K's in 158 1/3 IP.

-Today, the Twins need to decide what to do with Adam Everett, who's rehab assignment is done. They either need to re-evaluate him back to the DL, bring him up (releasing someone), or release him. Personally, I choose the latter of the three.

-Finally, a update on the Fantasy Season for Five-Tool Performer, my 2008 MLB.com Open team. A heartbreaking loss last week...didn't see it coming. I had a 20-point lead going into the last day. I check it this morning and I lost by 10. Somehow I was outscored by 30 points on the last day. As humiliating as it was, it didn't hurt my playoff chances. I made the postseason tournament as the wild-card team. If I put up the same stats as I did last week in my loss, I should be alright though. He's got Jose Reyes and Justin Morneau as his studs that I need to look out for, along with the ChiSox pitching staff. I'm countering with Ian Kinsler, Grady Sizemore and the Rays pitching staff. I like my chances. (Plus he won't get any points for having Matsui still on his lineup, as he's on the DL...shhhh!)

BRING ON YOUR BEST "WEWE'S CABBAGE"!!!

So long for now...

Tidbits

I'm not sure what it is about Fantasy Baseball that gets me excited. I assume is somewhat similar to people who bet on games, races, or anything else under the sun. I think it makes it more exciting to watch, knowing that you have a (somewhat) personal connection to something you wouldn't normally have. For what other purpose would I daily watch the box scores of Yadier Molina and Ramon Hernandez, trying to squeeze every point I can from my catcher position? And why else would I be worried about having two pitching staffs from the same division (Blue Jays and Rays) because they'll both have to face the Yankees and Red Sox lineups down the stretch?

Only in Fantasy Baseball.

Normally I just compete in the Yahoo Sports leagues, but this year I decided to make an MLB.com Fantasy Open team. After not paying too much attention for the first half of the season, I've gotten into it a little more over the last month, especially when I realized that the grand prize is $10,000, and someone has to win it. Even the final 32 teams in the tournament get $100 to the MLB.com store, which I decided would go a long way in decorating the future Twins room in the house.

I'll probably keep updating my chances of coming out on top, but here's where I stand right now:

I'm 11-5 in my division, 1 game behind the 1st place team who I just beat last week, and tied with another team, who is my opponent this week. I have more points overall than any of the top three teams, so in the case of a tiebreaker, I win. This is the last week of competition, and I need to win and have the leader lose to gain a postseason playoff berth. If I don't get in that way, I still make it to the postseason because I already have the 2800 points needed to automatically qualify (I'm at 3417).

Not that most people care...I'm just a little excited.


Twins notes:

We went to the game on Saturday vs. the Rangers where the Twins dominated 14-2. I can't wait for the day when I go to a game and nothing goes wrong. The backup of traffic on 35 started earlier than I expected and we were in stop and go with 30 miles to the Dome. Thanks to some quick navigational skills, we made a slight detour only to find more construction. We made it to the HHH at the same time the downpour did, which thankfully scared off enough fans for us to still get our Delmon Young bobbleheads. After driving around through Minnesota's 10,001st lake, and our 3rd parking spot in the same lot, we swam through the newly formed sea 4 blocks back to the gate.

And what do you know...the game was right on time, even with all the rain. Who would've thought that a roof on a baseball stadium in Minnesota would be such a good idea?

For those of you who don't faithfully check the Twins minor league stats, I'll give you a bit of an update on some of this year's draft picks. Here are the stats of the players for Rounds 1-10:

Aaron Hicks: .317 AVG 1 HR 15 RBI .406 OBP

Carlos Gutierrez: 0-0 6.00 ERA 3 IP 2 K 1 BB

Shooter Hunt: 0-0 0.47 ERA 19 IP 34 K 6 BB

Tyler Ladendorf: .222 AVG 0 HR 7 RBI 5 SB

Bobby Lanigan: 2-2 3.00 ERA 27 IP 29 K 6 BB

Daniel Ortiz: .222 AVG 0 HR 15 RBI .602 OPS

Nicholas Romero: .241 AVG 4 HR 14 RBI .758 OPS

DJ Hermsen: Still playing HS ball in Iowa for #1 ranked West Delaware. He's currently 9-0 with a 0.70 ERA with 114 K and 9 BB in 63.1 IP. He's also hit for a .425 AVG with 23 HR and 71 RBI. Interesting note: He doesn't even have the most wins, best ERA, or most K's on his own TEAM! That would be fellow senior and teammate Garrett Linderwell, who's name wasn't called on draft day.

Daniel Osterbrock: 2-2 3.78 ERA 33.1 IP 40 K 3 BB

Jeff Lanning: .227 AVG 2 HR 4 RBI .775 OPS

Michael Gonzales: .393 AVG 2 HR 9 RBI 1.025 OPS

Evan Bigley: .286 AVG 4 HR 13 RBI .858 OPS


Now obviously no one's making predictions on how the rest of their professional careers will turn out, but it is interesting to see how HS and college stars make the transition to pro ball. In looking at these stats, Shooter Hunt obviously stands out above the rest of the pitchers, as does Michael Gonzales among the hitters.


NAIA news:

A couple of recent NAIA stars updates:

1st round (13th overall) draft pick in 2007 for the Indians, Beau Mills from Lewis & Clark State is at high A ball hitting .279 with 15 HR and 64 RBI...

13th round pick in 2006 Ben Jukich from Dakota Wesleyan was recently promoted to AAA in the Reds organization. He was 8-4 with a 3.57 ERA at AA...after one start at Louisville is 0-0 with a 8.31 ERA...

My buddy Mihai Burlea signed a contract with RCH MediaMonks of the Dutch Major League. He went 3-3 with a 1.99 ERA while striking out 53 in 45.1 innings. Too bad his team is 5-25 on the year and has a team batting average of .233...He left the team for a bit to pitch for Romania in the European championships. While there he went 1-1 with 2 CG. He left with an ERA of 1.42, striking out 22 and walking 5 in 19 innings. His highlight came when he faced heavily favored Ukraine and beat them 1-0 with a linescore of 10 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 13 K.

That's all for now...

Kelly Thesier

Now, I'm not completely sure why, but when Kelly Thesier took over the job at the Twins beat writer for MLB.com, I find it really hard to enjoy reading articles on the Twins website. Maybe its the way everything is sugar-coated, no matter how bad the situation is. The Twins could be in the middle of a 3-33 slump, and the headline would read "Twins Persevering Through Troubled Times". Which I guess is true, they are still alive, they get their paycheck...but yeah, beyond that its the Great Depression out there. OK, so maybe its not that bad, and I realize you can't write negatively about the team on its own website, and I'm not asking her to write negatively or to criticize...just don't write straight up lies.

In her latest article on the Twins midterm report, I literally laughed out loud. Let's take a look...

1) Club MVP Joe Mauer...no argument here, best player on the team has been nothing short of dependable and durable the entire season.

2) Call him "Ace" Livan Hernandez (insert my laughing out loud). She notes that the Twins were looking for an innings-eater and a veteran to stabilize the rotation. Oh, but he has done more than that..."proving himself to be a mentor to the starting staff" (isn't that how to stabilize the starting rotation?) "and delivering better numbers on the mound than expected" (true, I honestly thought he would have an ERA in the mid-upper fives, a whip of 1.70, and a BAA of over.320...

...oh wait, he does...

I guess the number I didn't expect was the Twins scoring almost 6 1/2 runs/game when Livan starts.

3) Greatest strength..speed. Kelly, you should've stopped right there. She goes on to discuss the bullpen, which although good, I don't consider a strength to the team. Between losing Neshek and having Bonser and Bass piling up runs, you're down to less than a handful of guys you feel comfortable pitching with a lead.

4) Problem...injuries. Honestly, I dont' know if this is such a big one...Adam Everett going down is probably the only reason he's still on the team. Losing Neshek hurt badly, but the play of Castilla, Buscher, Macri, and Span is more than what was expected of the guys they replaced.

5) Suprise...Castilla. I will agree to some point on this one, but to me, the biggest has been the younger starting pitching (Perkins, Baker, Blackburn, and Slowey) They have a combined 25-15 record with a 3.90 ERA and a 4.7/1 K/BB ratio. What more could you have asked for without Santana, Silva, Liriano, and Bonser in the rotation?

6) Team needs...power hitter. Who doesn't need a power hitter at the deadline, honestly? I am worried about the condition of the pitchers arms though. The bullpen has thrown the 5th most innings in the AL, and may increase as the 2nd half of the season takes a toll on the arms of the younger starters who are typically not ready to throw 175-200 innings a season. Many people make the case for Liriano to come back in the 2nd half, but he has already logged 110+ innings this season, a year removed from Tommy John surgery. If he does come up soon after the break, don't expect the Twins to use him for more than 5 or 6 starts. In my opinion, the team could try and deal one of their excess OF's for either starting pitching or bullpen help to get them through a tough 2nd half schedule.

But that's just my fantasy two cents...

Trade Deadline Moves

As Aaron Gleeman discussed the Twins’ somewhat surprising pre-All Star game numbers in his blog, he took a look back at the Twins’ first-half records since 2001. With the exception of the 2001 season where the Twins took a second half plunge with a 30-45 record after the break, each of the seasons since have seen the team put up a winning second half record. Now if the Twins were your typical big market “stop-at-no-cost-to-win-now-even-if-it-means-depleting-our-farm-system” club, I might be spending this time and space talking about the great trades that then GM Terry Ryan made and how it helped push the club to the front of the AL Central race. Now don’t get me wrong, the Twins have made some trade-deadline moves in the past, such as bringing in Rick Reed and Shannon Stewart, among others. But more often than not, the Twins haven’t made that big last-minute midnight deal on July 31. Let’s recap each season and look at what moves the Twins made (or didn’t make) during the second half of the year.

2001: Traded for Todd Jones & Rick Reed. Claimed Casey Blake off waivers.

2002: No moves made, but made the playoffs for the first time since winning the 1991 World Series.

2003: Traded for Shannon Stewart and Jesse Orosco.

2004: Traded away Doug Mientkiewicz for minor leaguer Justin Jones, who is no longer with the organization.

2005: Received Bret Boone from Seattle on July 11 and was released on July 31st, never to play again.

2006: Released Ruben Sierra and Tony Batista. Traded away Juan Castro and Kyle Lohse for minor leaguers. Acquired Phil Nevin from Chicago Cubs.

2007: Traded away Luis Castillo for two minor leaguers. Traded away Ramon Ortiz for minor leaguer. Released Jeff Cirillo.

Now it’s 2008 and the Twins find themselves in the same situation they have faced in each of the past five seasons—staring at one of their rivals perched atop the standings. The next few weeks will be critical for the team as they spend much of the rest of the season on the road, where they haven’t fared nearly as well as they have at home. In addition to the tough schedule, players who had been on the DL, (Michael Cuddyer, Matt Tolbert, and Adam Everett) are scheduled to come back, and the players who initially took their place (Denard Span, Brian Buscher, and Alexi Castilla) have established themselves as everyday players in the lineup and on the field. Another issue that the team faces is the recent success of 2006 phenom Francisco Liriano following Tommy John surgery and an unsuccessful comeback attempt at the beginning of the season. Now normally this wouldn’t be such a problem, except that the Twins’ young hurlers (Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Nick Blackburn, and Kevin Slowey) have no doubt met expectations so far this year.

Now I’m not completely sure if every Twins fan thinks about what move the brilliant Bill Smith is planning next, but I like to play fantasy GM whenever situations like this come up. If I was Bill Smith, here’s what I would do:

1) The first move I would make would be a page out of Terry Ryan’s book (see Chapter 10 : 2006 Minnesota Twins). Cut your losses and get rid of the players that aren’t helping your team. Mike Lamb is not part of the team’s future, even with his guaranteed $7.6 million salary. No one who hits for a .220 average on a team in need of a power third baseman deserves to stick around. (FYI: The salaries of Sierra & Batista only totaled about $1.5 million combined.)

2) Stop using the excuse that we haven’t seen the full potential of Adam Everett because of injury. What you see is what you got, and you ain’t got much.

3) As much as it pains me to say this…Craig Monroe, I don’t think there’s room for you either in Twinkie Town. After using you in the role that I had hoped you could fill (right-handed power off the bench) in the series against Boston before the break, you killed two rallies in two much needed road games.

4) Finally, when I call up Liriano towards the end of July, Livan Hernandez will be on his way out. Even though credited with 9 first-half wins, he did nothing to earn them, entering the break in either last or second to last in ERA, opponent's batting average, opponent's on-base percentage, opponent's slugging percentage, and opponent's OPS.

So to finally conclude…I wouldn’t make any outside moves. The rumors that the Twins may be interested in Adrian Beltre from Seattle or picking up Freddy Garcia via free agency is absurd. You can’t keep veteran players around if they simply aren’t producing when you have young guys proving they deserve a chance. There are enough guys on the team that have playoff experience (Cuddyer, Mauer, Morneau, Punto, Redmond) to guide the younger players through the second half of the season. The likelihood of the Twins dumping $17.4 million guaranteed is about as likely as Babe Ruth coming back to solidify the rotation and add some pop to the lineup. A more likely scenario could be to try and trade Hernandez to an NL team in need of starting pitching, Everett to a team in need of a late-inning defensive replacement, and Monroe to a team which needs a right-handed bat off the bench.

But that’s just my fantasy two cents…

The Twins Dilemma

Alright, its my turn to play fantasy GM again for the Twins. They will soon have a number of players returning from the DL, with no real clear options as to who's spot on the roster they will take. Let's assume that the Twins stay with 12 pitchers and 13 position players. Starting at the top with the most obvious to stay:

Keepers:
Joe Mauer: All-Star catcher would have to be dead to lose his spot on the team.

Justin Morneau: All-Star 1st baseman, 2006 AL MVP, not a chance.

Mike Redmond: Oldest player on the team, only 20 games played all year...may have the best job in baseball, backing up Mauer.

Alexi Casilla: Called up on May 11 and is 4th in RBI's this season while hitting a solid .318 through July 7. Even if he is unable to keep up this pace, he's done absolutely nothing to warrant being sent back to Rochester.

Jason Kubel: Finally coming back around after devastating knee injury in 2004. Tied for the team lead with 12 HR's while establishing himself as the team's DH.

Delmon Young: After slow start to the season (.264, 0, 15 through May 31) has come alive (.327, 3, 18 since June 1). Even though his K/BB ratio isn't getting any better (22 K/ 4 BB since June 1), he's still a solid hitter for his age.

Carlos Gomez: The speedy CF projected at 39 SB's by ESPN.com has played 83 games in CF providing a formidable replacement for departed CF Torii Hunter. He's on pace to set the team record for K's in a season (Bobby Darwin-145 in '72), which isn't ideal from a leadoff man.

Nick Punto: The Twins stuck with him last year through his hitting woes, and most certainly won't the piranha go this year after hitting over his career averages thus far. As long as he stays healthy after two stints on the DL already this year, he'll be in the lineup.

Brian Buscher: Saw action in only 2 games for his first call up, but was outstanding in the month of June during his second call up, putting up a line of .360, 1, 14 with an OPS of .810. Has cooled off as of late after splitting time at third with both Harris and Punto when facing left-handed pitching.

Brendan Harris: RH hitting infielder struggles to hit LH pitching (15-80) this season, and overall average is below career mark. Is currently switching between starts at 2B and SS with Punto and Casilla

Craig Monroe: Best AB/HR ratio on the team at 17.3. Also has 2 HR and 5 RBI in 10 PH AB's this season. Could have 20 HR potential if played everyday, but his .217 AVG is less than to be desired.

Denard Span: Was a solid replacement for Cuddyer in April, but has performed beyond expectations during 2nd call up hitting .350 in 7 games. His range is far greater than that of Cuddyer's as well, but Cuddy's arm is far superior.

Mike Lamb: Where do I start? You follow up a horrendous April (.197 BA) with an amazing May (.302 BA with a .747 OPS) only to slide back down to a dreadful June (.063 BA). Now with 6 AB's in the last 20 GAMES, the Twins appear that they're already beginning to eat your $3.5 million salary. But can they do that through next year and justify it? Beware when Everett and Tolbert come back...

So...where does that leave us??? With Cuddyer looking to be the first one to return, it would seem absurd to keep 6 OF on the squad. We all know that Kubel, Young, and Gomez aren't going anywhere. Monroe, as much as his .217 BA hurts, has been the RH pop off the bench all year, plus he's making $3.8 million this year. That again leaves Denard Span who, at least this time around may have some backing from Twins fans when he complains he got the raw end of the deal. Denard, we feel your pain, but until the Twins realize that its really not worth spending millions on chance FA's like Monroe, Lamb, and Everett, guys like you, Buscher, and Tolbert may be the odd men out.

Decisions done...for now

Well, the big decision is done. Next year it will be Mr. V- 8th grade Science teacher at Timothy Christian. Wow, sounds a little scary to finally say that. It was pretty much the hardest decision I've ever made. Declining anything is hard for me to do, especially with all the great schools that offered me jobs. But...I'm looking forward to teaching there, getting my classroom, and everything else that comes with the job. First things first though...I'm ready to come home. I've accepted the fact that I won't see mountains everyday again, that I won't have kids begging me for prizes and rewards for just about anything, and that I'll have to leave my track guys 2/3 of the way through the season.

On the other hand, I do have to somehow get across Nebraska (do they have Starbucks there) On the other hand, who needs Starbucks when you have good old gas station coffee, right Verlan? It's my goal to leave Gwyn's house around 7:00 on Thursday morning, if I can't get myself to get up and leave earlier. That way, hopefully I'll make it back on time to spend some time with Linds. (I won't mention The Office is on at 8:00)

Well, this might be the last post for awhile. I think I managed to average over 1 post/week, which isn't great, but yeah...hope I kept some of you up to date on things.

So long everybody...

Rockies pictures

Here are some pictures from the Rockies home opener that I went to with Gwyn and a couple of her friends. The first picture is us in our seats, which were in the 3rd deck along the 3rd baseline, about even with the left fielder...oh, and they were obstructed view, kinda. (That's what the tickets said, it just meant that we were in the 2nd row, so the fence in front of us was in the way...we didn't care) Anyways, the 2nd picture is of my and a 2-LO sign I picked up from some fan who left it. I was like a scavenger picking up Magnet schedules and this sign. 2-LO stands for the Rockies shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, one of the more popular players on the team.

Oh, and if anyone is wondering...yes I did wear that SWEET yellow bucket hat all game. Gywn gave them to me and my brothers a number of years ago when you could go to Rockies games where the first 10,000 fans got hats and Gwyn got 4 of them because no one came to games until the end of the season last year.

Options, Choices, and BIG Decisions

Just got back from the Chicago area, little update...

Visited both DeMotte and Timothy Christian schools and thoroughly enjoyed both of them. They have very similar missions, but are also very different in their makeup. Urban vs. Rural, Variety of subjects vs. the same subject, large school vs. small school, and I could go on... My honest opinion on both of them...excellent schools, both have their definite pros as well as cons to living/teaching there.

Those are the options...and as of now, I also have choices as both schools offered me a job.

Now comes the big decision, which won't be an easy one, but I almost feel as if I can't go wrong in which one I decide. I have felt all along that God has provided us with opportunities to enter a school/community that knows what its mission is and is very welcoming. Which I believe is a good dilemma to have, I just wish it wasn't driving me crazy. I know I have leaned one way and then the other already and it hasn't even been a day since interviewing.

I know that God has a plan for us (especially since we made it through Chicago with a sellar GPS... A.K.A-Girl in Passenger Seat) Sorry Linds...I had to:) It was a bit of an adventure driving through somewhere Chicago after we weren't sure which exit we needed to get out of there Monday night after flying in, but we made it eventually. I think the bullets only skimmed the tires and scared the rest of the drug dealers away, which was a good thing. (Again kidding, it wasn't that bad)

Pray for us as we attempt to make a decision as to where God will be able to use us best in the lives of my future experiments (students) and Linds' future (wherever that may be, as long as it doesn't start with "Hi, welcome to McDonald's, how can I help you?")

It's 10:00 at night and I'm running on all cylinders...I could keep going, but I better get to lessons, and sleep, and watching the weather in hopes that the 10 inches of snow forecasted goes away...fast.

So long everybody...

Devastating news...

I might have, quite possibly, most likely, definitely burnt my face and neck from being in the sun during the Rockies game and at the track meet all day Saturday. (I figured a title like that might get people somewhat interested in the rest of the post)

Well, the end seems to be in sight now. I did an ice cream lab with the freshmen science class. We were talking about chemical reactions and rates, so we talked about freezing point depression and how salt reacts with ice to lower the freezing point below 0 degrees Celsius. So we were able to combine milk, sugar, and vanilla and shake it in our ice cream mixture for 15 min in order to spend the last 10 min of class enjoying a bowl of ice cream. It was great...I just hope the remember why it all worked. I'll find out the answer to that when we review our conclusions in class Monday.

I'm almost done with the P.E. classes. I gave a rough golf test to the seniors on Thursday. The Team Sports class gets a softball test on Wednesday, so then I'll be done with them. They all groaned when I told them they got Coach back next week. I figure it means one of two things. 1) I was just that good that they were learning so much and I was such a great motivator for them, or 2) I was way too easy on them and he's harder, so they'd rather have me. I'm going with the latter on that one.

Well, the Rockies game was...well, the atmosphere of the home opener for the defending league champs was sweet. The game was awful. They only got 2 hits all game and lost 7-1. It was the least number of hits they had in a home game in over 2 1/2 years (looked it up). Then it was the fun fact for the game the next night. Maybe when I'm done teaching I can work for baseball coming up with weird stats. (For example, for all of you Michael Cuddyer fans...he's a career .213 hitter when its a tie game, but hits .288 when the margin is 4+ runs)

Oh, and my Mark Redman prediction was correct...he stunk.

I spent the morning over at Highlands Ranch for the bagel party...it was awesome. I was mobbed by the 8th graders when I walked downstairs and they all had to show me pictures of stuff I had missed in the past 6 weeks. Then the girls complained I didn't even stop to say hi to them and went straight to talk to the guys. (I tried to beat them off with a stick, but 8th grade girls are very persistent) As I was leaving they invited me to the dance that night (I won't say whether it was the guys or girls that invited me...we'll just stick to 'I was invited')

So begins the week of decision-making for the future. I'm about 90% sure that by this weekend, I'll know what the future holds as far as next years plans. What a tough decision it'll be, I know that already. (Much harder than the whole getting engaged deal...I knew what the answer would be there:) What I've learned so far...it's a trust God moment, and I'm trying my hardest.

Well, since I've been writing this, I've managed to set off the smoke detector twice with the burning experiment I'm conducting, so I better get back to that before the neighbors start window peeping.

And as far as that devastating news with the sunburn...I was just trying to get a tan to cancel out the worst haircut I've ever had, hopefully it works for the interviews this week! Oh, and I'm officially firing my barber, which means the female in the house will be cutting my hair come mid-June. This guy is staying away from his own head with the scissors/mirror combo.

So long everybody...

Update

It could be a busy few days coming up, so I figured I would give you an update as far as what's been going on lately. I'm not at school today for two reasons: 1) This morning I'm going back to Highlands Ranch to have a Bagel Breakfast with the kids there. We had a pedometer challenge when I was there right before I switched to the high school. All the teachers had to wear a pedometer during the day at school and the one who walked the most in 3 days won a Bagel Breakfast for their homeroom. Well...turns out Mr. V won (quite handily I might add) with something like 33,000 steps in three days at school. 2) Gwyn and I are going to the Rockies home opener this afternoon, which I've talked about before. I could've gone to school for most of the day today, but I still would've had to make up the time later that I missed, so I figured if I could put the two together it would be great, and it worked.

So, I better run off to the bagels!!

So long everybody...

Post-Opening Day

Ok, I spoke, er...wrote too soon for Cuddy. Two innings later, EXACT same situation. Gomez gets on, steals 2nd, Mauer grounds out to 2nd, Gomez advances to 3rd, and instead of striking out looking, this time Mighty Michael delivers with what will end up being the game-winning hit. I'd like to think that he snuck a peek at my blog sometime during the 4th inning, and got a little extra motivation. Well, Cuddy, if you did, you'll be seeing more and more of it on here, so if you ever think you're not playing up to your $24 million extension, come on over here and I'll let you know how you're doing... So, the Twins win the opener, Hernandez looked great, and Torii's return to the Dome ends with an 0-4 night with a K in the 9th.

It feels good to be undefeated...

Oh, and Cubs fans...some things never change, do they?

So long everybody...

Opening Day

Well, its Opening Day, and I wasn't actually going to write on here until later tonight, but right now, there's so much to talk about already. I'm not even watching the Twins game (I'm following it on MLB GameChannel), but I literally screamed when Cuddyer struck out in the 3rd with 1 out and Gomez on 3rd. Wow...its a great thing we signed him to that 3-year extension so I can prove my point for at least 3 more years at how UNCLUTCH he is time and time again. It wouldn't have been so bad if he struck out on a valiant effort to hit a sac fly. But...he struck out looking!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?

Anyways, Rockies game today at St. Louis was rained out with the Rox down 5-1. Good thing is they get to try again tomorrow. Bad thing was that I had Adam Wainwright on my fantasy team (St. Louis' starting pitcher).

More splendid news about the Rockies...you'll never guess who's scheduled to pitch the home opener on Friday when Gwyn and I are going...a man by the name of Mark Redman. Sweet...never seen him throw before. (He pitched for the Twins 1999-2001 and I think every game I went to during the 2000 season, he ended up pitching)

Back to burgers and the game...

News and Notes

Well, another beautiful day in Colorado. Mostly sunny and 65 degrees, no wind. But no one reads this to hear my weather report. I'm just thinking of the weather though, in listening to my Raiders play in Doane. It sounds like Doane has a new complex though, becuase what I remember most from playing at Doane was playing at the fairgrounds, with the drunk hecklers down the 3rd baseline. And when I say playing, I mean I actually played that game...I think the score was 19-3 or something in the 5th, so I saw my inning of action. Anyways, back to the weather...the announcer on the internet feed said the wind was taking control of the game a little.

You know, as beautiful as it is out here, there's not alot to do without someone to do it with. So...all you people who want my nice weather, take it...just trade with me for a player to be named sooner than later.

Well, my feed to the baseball game was cut off with Doane leading my boys 4-2 in the bottom of the 2nd. Heits just stole 2nd, so you know the wind was blowing...

Anyways, I had another chat with both Timothy Christian and DeMotte Christian yesterday, and we worked it out so that we will fly in Monday night, check out and interview with DeMotte on Tuesday, then drive to Timothy Christian Wednesday morning and see the school/interview during the day, and then fly back out late Wednesday afternoon. The 2nd biggest upside of it all (besides being able to see Linds in a little over a week)...they're paying for us to rent a car...LOOK OUT FORD FOCUS!!

Well, I do have to add my 2 cents about the Twins in here...

-Torii Hunter was interviewed last week about his time with the Twins, and he said that now he wasn't part of the organization anymore, he did have one criticism. It was that he was disappointed that the Twins didn't go with Denard Span to fill the CF opening that he had left. Maybe the mentor knows something that we all don't? Maybe he should be given a shot in the majors. After all, he did hit .282 this spring, compared to .267 for Gomez. Span's AB/K ratio was almost twice as good as the free-swinging Gomez. Oh, and for Pete's sake, if Nick Punto and his .125 AVG this spring can make the team...oh forget it, I'm done.

-So Livan Hernandez was named the Opening Day starter for the Twins. It marks the first time that a pitcher besides one with the last name of Santana or Radke will take the hill on the opener since Bob Tewksbury opened against Toronto in 1998, which resulted in a 3-2 loss...Twins were 6-3 in openers during the Radke/Santana era.

-One more fun fact about Opening Day...there will be 6 new faces in the Starting Lineup, with only 3 starters returning from last year's lineup (Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer). Those gone include Castillo, Bartlett, White, Hunter, and Cirillo. Punto started at 3rd last year, but with the aquisition of Mike Lamb, won't make the starting lineup.

So long everybody...

Spring Break Thursday

Well, I'm back from Montana. The interview went really good, I got to sit in on one of the classes I would be teaching, and they use the same books that I used at Highlands Ranch for MS Science. After the interview, I went to the Eekoff's for supper. (For you Dordt people, which is pretty much everyone...Bigs and Mark's parents) That night, Robin & Jon picked me up and showed me around for awhile. We looked around Belgrade at apartment complexes and houses. There were some really nice places there, a number of subdivisions I guess. We went on to Bozeman after that, which is where the closest Wal-Mart, Target, etc... are all located. Its also where Montana State is located, so there's plenty to do there.

When I flew in, it was pretty cloudy, so I didn't really get to see the area until the next morning, and the mountains seemed to be no further than 15-20 miles away in each direction, so its like a bowl in the middle surrounded by ski slopes, fly fishing streams, and all the hunting you can think of.

Well, the day after I got back, they called me and offered me the job! So as hard as it was to get on the plane, fly there, sit through the interview, and fly back... the tough part really begins now. I did let them know before I left Montana that I had another interview at a school in Indiana in 2 weeks, and that they had already bought plane tickets for me and Linds, so I was planning on going out there. They had no problem giving me two weeks to think about it so I could check out DeMotte.

As relieving as it is to know that I will have a job next year, I think I feel even more worried about it now in trying to reach a decision about our future next year. I know that God will reveal His plan to us when the time is right, but saying that and living that are two so completely different things that its making my head spin. So...it would be great if you could pray for God's guidance in this whole decision-making process, as there are definite pros and cons to each place I've interviewed with so far.

On another note, with baseball season I guess "officially" started with the games in Japan, I thought I would add a few baseball thoughts...

-Aaron Gleeman makes a good point about the Twins batting Adam Everett 9th and having Carlos Gomez hit leadoff. If you bat Joe Mauer 2nd...will he reach the 100 RBI total that everyone knows he's capable of?

-We know how big of a fan Gardy is of Punto (he did show complete confidence in him after his stellar .210 AVG last season. Gleeman says "don't be surprised if Punto takes over before midseason for Harris, unless we see a .350 AVG from Harris in April." Wouldn't that be just an amazing lineup? Punto, Everett, and Gomez batting before Mauer? How long before Casilla is ready for the majors? Maybe when he's 30 years old? 35? (I guess he is only 23)

-I don't get to see Twins games out here in Denver, but apparently Livan made an impossible play in the Twins' game vs. the Rays on Wednesday. Elliot Johnson bunted a ball down the line towards 1st, and Livan lumbered over to make the play with Morneau covering the bag. When the ball reached about 10-15 feet from the base, Livan and his 6'2", 250 frame wouldn't (couldn't) bend over to make the play, so he did the next best thing...he kicked it...right into the glove of Morneau for your routine 1-3 putout. It's a good thing we have a Canuck playing 1st base to make the save...to which Morneau replied "it wouldn't have counted anyway, you can't kick it in for a goal." Wow, spoken like a true Canadian. I don't remember seeing a kick in baseball so spectacular since Paul O'Neill's relay throw...er...relay kick.

-A non-Twins question for the Cubs fans out there...why the signing of Reed Johnson? Besides the fact that he can backup Pie in center, what now becomes of Murton? Another season in AAA?

So long everybody...