Secrets of the City

I just go to MLB.com. They have good rundowns on all the teams. If I’m going to a game or a big series is coming up, you can learn as much as you want there. Used to subscribe to The Sporting News. Nice having the pulpy newspaper arrive every week.

But Fox Sports North does not show the Twins in HD! They gotta do something about that. Fox Sport Midwest showed the Cardinals-Pirates game in HD. I was flipping back and forth.

What gives?

I watch most every game, so I really don’t look for much in the way of recaps. I do try to read all the beat writers to see what they have.

I also watch Baseball Tonight. Last night they gave total disrespect to the game by only showing the ninth inning, skipping over the two well-turned double plays that were actually the key to the game.

Tonight’s game is in HD. I hope it’s of a better quality than opening night on channel 29.

I use ESPN Mobile and keep baseball scores bookmarked because old people know that I can ask the interweb oracle trapped inside that fancy telephone machine of mine. I also look up gametime weather at Weather Underground as a little reminder to them of the “charm” awaiting them at Target Field in April.

I mostly read the Twins site and the Strib. I like Jim Souhan and Lavelle E. Neal III. I don’t really peruse all the Twins blogs. Bat-girl was fun, but most of them (including the Strib “blogger”) just rehash the same stuff that’s in the sports columns with maybe a few swears thrown in.

Anyway, the bottom of the ninth was a real gem. I hope the Twins sign that Seattle pitcher to close games against them all season.

Seemed like some spotty calling by Chuck Meriwether last night. I don’t how Cuddeyer didn’t strike out on that 2-2 pitch in i think it was 5th inning that he hung back on. I think that at-bat he singled home those two runs.

If he hung back on the pitch, I guess that’s why he didn’t strike out.

From my perspective it looked right down the middle. It was called a ball.

I miss bat-girl. And Zellar.

Ha ha ha @ Rat. I’ll just call it a W. and enjoy the victory.

I miss Bat-Girl too. Can someone rip off her idea AND be as cool as she was?

I hope to get to a bunch of games this year, because I love the Metrodome. I like watching baseball way up high in the bleachers with no one close to me. When I grad school, it was a great place to do homework and watch a game.

Slightly off-topic, but the new stadium? My parking ramp abuts it and I was planning on getting a rooftop spot and tailgating, and watching the game from the top of a tall truck or something. It appears they are building a scoreboard or something that will make any viewing from the ramp impossible. The jerks!

the twins blogging community is excellent. these guys are not rehashing the dailies with additional swearing:
aarongleeman.com
sethspeaks.net
twinsgeek.blogspot.com
http://www.twinkietown.com
http://stickandballguy.com/blog

and a half dozen others . . .

Slightly off-topic, but the new stadium?

Fugly.

I cringe everytime I ride east on the cedar lake trail into downtown and have to look at it.

The limestone facade is all wrong, it’s crammed into too small a space, I suspect any bike trail extension is going to end up going through a dangerous bottleneck, and there doesn’t appear to be anything that can draw people to the area before or hold them after the game: It looks designed for people to drive (or LRT) in directly from their suburb to the gates, and then head straight home after the final out.

Hmm, I sort of like how for once, the TC crammed something in a small space (yes, that’s what she said) instead of our usual urban sprawl. Also, I think they are building some walkways + stairs to over by the Target Center, to direct people to walk to/from there and spend money at restaurants and bars.

Not that I’m in love with the stadium, mind you. The Metrodome is pretty ugly too. Target Center is hideous. I expect little as far as an arena looking good.

Oh, another thing is I know a few of us from western burbs are planning to bike in to games, and I’d love to see the Cedar Lake Trail have a bike traffic jam on game days.

I’m not sure how to apply a standard of beauty to stadium. It will have some attractive features, I’m sure. From the outside it looks better than the ones with retractable roofs. Those look like erector sets.

there doesn’t appear to be anything that can draw people to the area before or hold them after the game

But there are more bars and restaurants now within walking distance of the new stadium than ever were available around the Dome.

Fact is, even the ol’ Met was designed for people to drive in, watch a game, and then drive home. What else does a stadium need to be?

Bike friendly.

Target Center is Miss Universe compared to Target Field.

Fact is, even the ol’ Met was designed for people to drive in, watch a game, and then drive home. What else does a stadium need to be?

When one of the arguments put forth for spending public money on it is how much economic activity it’s going to spur for the community, it better be a lot more. Unless you’re goal is to merely shuffle money spent at a suburban bar, movie theater, or local playhouses, etc. into the team owner’s pocket.

Bike friendly.

How about simply pedestrian friendly. As near as I can tell, 5th street is the only access, and that’s not particularily inviting. The other sides have an incinerator/railroad tracks, and freeway ramps.

The limestone they’re using is actually from Minnesota. Why doesn’t that work? What do you think would work better?

Until the stadium is done, I’m disagreeing: Target Center is still the ugliest! U-G-L-Y.

I too am a little suspicious about the non-car friendliness, but like I said it looks like they are extending at least one plaza area to have access to 6th street.

No denying the place is right on top of a freaking garbage burner… that could get nauseating.

Best Twins blogs:

Alright, Hamilton!
K-Bro
Pulling a Blyleven

Yeah, nothing is uglier than the Target Center. The shattered remains of fifteen Albert Speer stadiums piled on top of each other and plasticized by Michael Graves, turned inside out a la the Pompidou Center, covered in lichens and then set on fire by orcs isn’t as ugly as the Target Center.

Well said, Andyst.

I just checked, and the side I could see had 2 areas where pedestrians can walk to streets (6th & 7th), as well as stairs leading to the skyway (they should remember to put a door there, right now it just looks weird).

If I had a baseball blog, it would be called “the backdoor slider”.

I like baseball. I tried catching, but kept getting hit in the chin with the balls.

The real Larry Craig had more subtlety. I suspect an impostor.

He would have talked about the importance of getting the correct hand signals. The need to get a jump on the catcher.