Auditions

With the Marlins out of the race, I'm auditioning playoff contenders to decide who I'm going to back.

First, let's eliminate a few. The Cardinals are too boring, efficient, and effective. I can't root for them. Nick Punto plays for the Dodgers. So they're out. I hate the Red Sox because everybody used to like them for not being the Yankees even though they essentially were the Yankees. I just don't like the Braves. And as a Marlins fan, I'm not sure I can cheer the Nationals too much.

Beyond that, I can argue a case for most of them. The Pirates are the obvious bandwagon choice. They even have a former Twin excelling when freed from Twins Way. The Royals are another trendy pick. And I love TV color man Rex Hudler. Cleveland is winning me over with boneheaded plays like completely losing routine fly balls. Unfortunately that also loses games. Detroit features the only manager whose name doesn't rhyme with Dawn, Card, and Fire who couldn't win a championship with that roster. Texas manager Ron Washington usually doesn't wear the windbreaker. Baltimore is the little engine that could. For all the hype about Baltimore, KC, and Pittsburgh everybody forgets that Oakland and Tampa have been winning resourcefully for years. The A's are the last stand of football stadiums and Chili Davis is their hitting coach. The DBacks coaching staff is straight out of Parker Brothers Baseball. The Yankees are winning with spare parts while their high priced talent most valuable contributions have been their injuries. And I keep forgetting about the Reds.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I can stand the racket at A's home games. I'm not watching 5 hour AL East games and Tampa and Baltimore seem to have joined Boston and NY in that. I watched the Pirates tonight and they seemed really boring. I think we're down to Texas, Detroit, Cleveland, Arizona, KC, and Cinci. I guess I will have to figure it out this weekend.

Instant Replay

I'm pretty sure I've ranted on this before. But it's time to rant again. Major League Baseball announced a plan for expanded instant replay. They aim to have it in place for next season. Now baseball people are all up in arms. Some defend tradition and the "human element." Others want things right. They're both wrong.

If a team of skilled observers cannot reliably distinguish outcomes as they happen in a game, then the game itself is the problem. In other words, a game which requires repeatedly viewing several angles of super slow motion high definition replays is a dumb game. Baseball is a great game because it produces very few situations which warrant such meticulous inspection. And on those that do, video evidence is often inconclusive anyway. In which case, we're back to the original solution: A tie goes to the runner.

Close scrutiny also forces us to think about really inane technicalities. In geometry, a line is infinitesimally small. In baseball, the foul line is a few inches wide of chalk or painted grass. What if one of those painted blades extends over the geometric line? And what if a seam of the ball grazes just that one blade of grass? To the naked eye in real time, it's fair if your team is hitting and foul if they're pitching. For players like this, I'd be perfectly fine with implementing some sort of laser or camera system to make a ruling on the fly. That would be far more effective than repeatedly watching the replay to decide if the ball actually struck the blade of grass or it was just the air moved by the ball.

What about the obviously blown calls? There are calls that are definitely beyond an acceptable margin for error that are missed. Those calls should still stand, but Major League Baseball should be completely transparent in acknowledging them. MLB should review every call in every game. Then, they should post whether replay confirmed the call, showed it was wrong, or was inconclusive. I'd also like to see each call categorized as trivial (say a fly ball), indeterminate (something as close as my blade of grass example), or somewhere in between. The in-between ones are most important. Then you could say how many total calls were blown. You could see how many of those calls favored or opposed your team. You could see which umpires were the most chronic abusers. In the YouTube era, this would prevent the handful of terrible calls from overshadowing the majority that are correct.

With all of this data publicly available, MLB would face pressure to stay ahead of the Bill James analytic types. What patterns are there? What plays are most commonly missed? Are there calls that would have been correct with one more umpire? One less umpire? What if an umpire is noticeably better at calling bang-bang plays at first but calls a lousy strike zone? Would he be better off permanently stationed at first? Or would umping the same position ultimately make him less effective? I'm sure they do this to some extent now, but by giving fans access to the data, they'll look pretty dumb if they don't figure it out themselves.

I'm all for getting calls right. But in baseball, you really only have one shot at it. Let's get it right as it happens.

Opening Day

How many Opening Days are there? Is it still Opening Day? I've been making way too much use of my MLB.tv subscription over the last week. I swear every day, somebody tries to call it "Opening Day." I'm confused. And angry. As I understand, the Mariners and A's "opened" the season on Wednesday, March 28 in Japan. The following Wednesday, the Marlins "opened" the season by hosting the St. Louis Cardinals. Bummed that I couldn't watch it because nationally televised games are blacked out on MLB.tv, I decided to see what else was available. Guess what! The Oakland A's were now playing a spring training game against the Giants. After they had played regular season games. Then on Thursday, most teams played their first games. But still not all of them. The rest waited for Friday. By my count, that's four opening days.

But wait, there's more. Some people refer to a home opener as "Opening Day" too. There may be a few of those left, too, but I think by this weekend we've safely reached the normal weekend/weekday series pattern. I've made the most of the bizarre schedule with lots of day games- and being between jobs - to watch way too much baseball. Yesterday, my day of baseball began with Johan Santana laboring yet somehow not giving up that many runs. Nearly ten hours later, Joe Nathan blew a save throwing a bunch of junk instead of his fastball.

Clubhouse Guys

On Friday night, I watched the Marlins play the Nationals. I have noticed a few sources praising the Nationals and suggesting that they are contender in the NL East. One in particular contrasted them with the Marlins. The basic premise was that the Nationals improved more in the offseason and had a better year last year.

For Friday's game, only the Nationals had a broadcast crew, so I listened to their announcers. They interviewed the general manager during the game. Both the announcers and GM repeatedly described various players as good "character" or "clubhouse" guys to have on the team. Meanwhile, the Marlins brought in Ozzie Guillen as manager and they're banking on the enigmatic Hanley at third base. Does this sound familiar? The Twins had plenty of clubhouse guys over the last decade. The White Sox weren't quite as fan friendly. The Sox won something that counts. This is exactly why I like the Marlins.

WIld Cards

Apparently baseball has decided to add an additional wild card in each league. Somehow, they claim this will make playoffs more exciting, or pennant races more exciting, or rewards division winners, or includes more teams, or something. I say, let's call a spade a spade. The real reason is obvious. This new rule change all but guarantees that both the Yankees and Red Sox will qualify for the playoffs every year. That greatly increases the likelihood of the Yankees playing the Red Sox in the playoffs. I took a look at the past ten seasons. The Yankees and Red Sox would have combined to take half of the additional wild card spots. In the other five seasons, both of them legitimately qualified. Of those seasons, there would have been only one postseason which did not include both teams.

I actually like that baseball has a few franchises which are always among the best in the league. Despite all the grumblings about the elite teams, a variety of teams actually win the World Series in any given season. One of the biggest drawbacks of such a playoff system is that it fails to distinguish the difference between say the 2011 Red Sox and the 2004 Red Sox. Last season's incarnation had a terrible start to the season, climbed to be a near lock for the Wild Card, and finished a collapse on the last day of the season. The 2004 Red Sox won 6 more games than the West and Central Division champions, beat one of them in the division series, and recovered from a 3-0 hole against their division rival. Ultimately, they won the World Series.

Such a team deserves the championship. That's how a playoff system should be designed. The current format is actually pretty good for that. If you want to make the playoffs, you have to win your division. One team that has a really good year without winning the division gets in. I can't remember any recent champions who were not deserving nor were any deserving teams excluded. I still prefer the old two division format. Mainly, it makes September games more meaningful. Alas, it's harder to take MLB seriously with the new format. I'll just have to settle for what interesting event may happen during any given game.

Popular Demand

Apparently my reader wonders when I'll start posting again. In that case, I'll just start musing.

A few days ago, I was navigating MLB.com to see how pathetic the Twins roster is. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the words "Zambrano" and "Marlins" in the same headline. (Recall that I do not follow the offseason too closely because you can catch up in 5 minutes before the first pitch). I was pretty excited about that. If the goal is to pick the unTwins, I have succeeded. The Marlins may be great. They may be terrible. They'll probably be both.

The Twins already seem remarkably different when they're just another team. They have basically the same team as last year. All that's changed is that Young, Thome, Kubel, and Cuddyer have left. Meanwhile, they added that guy from the A's, that injury prone reliever from the Tigers, and Maddie Bisanz. In particular the starting pitching has not changed. Even if the Monstars return Mauer and Morneau's talent there's not much there.

By contrast, the Marlins also should expect two key players- Hanley and JJ- to return from injuries. They have added experience to the starting rotation. Jose Reyes is a proven performer. Then they have the nucleus of players like Mike Stanton, Gaby Sanchez, and Logan Morrison hitting their primes. I'd certainly think Ozzie should be a good manager for this group. They've taken a few risks but that's way better than patronizing their fans the way others might.

Interleague Part II

Earlier, I noted about American League managers and their fascination with double switches. This year, I watched mostly National League games for the first few months. Over the past week, I have watched several games with NL announcers calling a game in an American League park. They kept obsessing over that "9th hitter" in the lineup. There are a handful of tough yet positionless DH's in the AL. Generally, it seems to me that many teams just look at their eight best hitters and DH the worst fielder among them. If it were an NL team, he'd be in the field. In the AL, that extra half of a player is actually in the field. And he probably hits below .250 with little power. Heck, some of them probably hit closer to .200. At this point, there are only two differences between AL and NL baseball. The AL has a slightly better defense on the field. Whereas, in the NL the worthless hitter at the bottom of the lineup has productive at-bats, drives in key runs, and gets the bunt down. This is really just my perception, but I'd be interested to compare it to reality. But if I took the time to fact check everything, then I wouldn't ever post anything.

Personally, I love having a DH in exactly one league. The DH brings a different kind of purity to the game. You have a real pitcher, eight real fielders behind him, and 9 real batters in the lineup. As the game has specialized, it's just not possible to have 9 all-around players out there. That's, of course, the purity of the NL. The rules of the game force everybody to do everything. The players, coaches, and managers have to decide the perfect balance of skills.

U2

On Friday night, I knew the Marlins were playing a late game, so I took my chance to watch the early Pirates game. The Pirates finished their win over Boston at about 9:15 and I flipped over to the Marlins game. They were showing the Marlins batting lineup and oddly it included the pitcher. Then I noticed the Marlins were wearing the home white pants and it was the bottom of the first. The field looked suspiciously like Safeco. Of course, the announcers explained the whole story in the top of the first which I had missed. Sure, I could just look it up, but I hoped that at some point they'd mention it. Apparently, there was a U2 concert in Miami. At first, it seemed silly that a concert would bump the ballgame. Then I realized that they're lucky to get 10,000 fans at a Marlins game. For a 3 game series, that might be 30,000. I'm fairly certain that u2 could fill more seats than that.

Also, watch out for catcher Carlton Tanabe of the Clinton Lumberkings. He may only be the backup catcher for the Mariners Single-A affiliate, but he's a real good catch-and-throw guy. He calls a good game. Handles the young staff very well. Forget having a pitching coach out there on the field. He's like having another manager on the field. Or maybe he's just a backup catcher in the minor leagues. I suppose it's guys like this who hang around until they're 30 and find a job somewhere in the majors.

Davenport Iowa

Hey, at least I post more often than the Marlins win.

This weekend, I finally took my Eastern Iowa Minor League Baseball road trip. I've been stewing on the idea for a few years when I saw reports that one of the nicer parks in the minors is in Davenport, Iowa. There are also minor league teams in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Clinton, and Burlington. Just about any weekend should feature a decent amount of baseball. This year, the scheduling worked to go to Clinton on Thursday night and then to Davenport on Friday and Saturday.

Naturally, we had to stop at the Field of Dreams near Dyersville. There are few if any signs directing passing motorists on US-20. You have to know to exit in Dyersville. Then you drive past a Pamida and a Hardees. I'm not sure I knew that either of those existed. In our case, we had to navigate a detour of the main street, too. Otherwise, you just have to know where to go. It's only a mile or two out of town. It looks just like the movie, though the corn isn't too high yet. Having grown up playing baseball on fields with pine trees for an outfield, it seems rather ordinary. I think that's the point and I'm glad that I saw it.

Modern Woodmen Park- as it's called these days- in Davenport exceeded expectations. If you enjoy baseball, you need to attend a game in this stadium. The whole experience feels like you've stepped into one of those old black and white photos you see of baseball from the 30's. We even had to wait for a train to roll through before stopping at the box office. This is just a great place for baseball. Pictures and descriptions don't do it justice. As they said on Reading Rainbow, you don't have to take my word for it. Go and find out for yourself.

Interleague Play

Among other things, I've been busy moving over the past month. Interleague play seems like an appropriate occasion to return to blogging.

I have mostly been watching Marlins games. Occasionally, by the time I retire to the sofa, the Western Division games are just beginning. Either way, I tend to favor watching NL games. During Interleague games, the AL announcers love to tell us about the National League brand of baseball. They do complicated double switches such as putting the pitcher in to bat third and bringing in a reserve outfielder to bat 9th. Wheels are turning in the dugouts. In reality, the majority of managers making moves like this are AL managers playing in NL ballparks. In a regular NL game, a real double-switch involves pinch-hitting a light-hitting middle infielder for the pitcher and replacing the #8 hitting second baseman with the new pitcher. That's it. Meanwhile, the pitchers usually hit well enough that I don't even notice that it's the pitcher hitting.

The Royals

Yesterday afternoon, I watched the Royals play the Tigers. I have followed baseball for long enough to know better than to draw conclusions from a small sample. I have also seen that often, the team of the future turns out to be the team of the present. Both SI and ESPN the Magazine lauded the Royals farm system and proclaimed them to be the team to beat a few years from now. The experts discredited this group and instead focused on the big-spending White Sox, Twins, and Tigers.

This current Royals group has nothing to lose, and in yesterday's game they played like it. In the early innings, the Royals had runners on first and second with one out. The batter hits a medium line drive into left field. The third base coach waves Billy Butler around to score. The leftfielder struggles to get the ball from his glove. Finally, he throws it home. Even after the bobble, the ball arrives just in time, but it was high and wide. Butler scores to take a 1-0 lead. If Detroit executes here, there is no chance Butler scores. I suspect the coaches know this and don't care. Instead, they want to force division rivals to prove that they can make the play.

Later, the Royals are clinging to a 2-0 lead. The Tigers have a runner on first. The batter rips a double down the left-field line and into the corner. Alex Gordon chases it down and fires a strike to the cut-off man. Then he fires a one-hop throw that hits the catcher directly in his mitt exactly as the runner arrives. The catcher had positioned himself perfectly to block to plate. The runner actually puts himself out by touching the catchers mitt in an attempt to dislodge the ball. Although it could be argued that the catcher did not have control of the ball, I think the umpire agrees with my "a tie goes to the runner except when the defense just made a perfect play" interpretation. A runner should score from first on a double to the corner. There was absolutely no margin for error. Gordon has to hustle and make a strong and accurate throw to the cutoff man. The cutoff man has to quickly and accurately relay the ball to the plate. The catcher has to block the plate, handle the throw, and apply the tag. They did all of these things.

Baseball is a game of execution. Both of these plays could easily have gone the other way, but they didn't. None of these factors show up in the box score. Perhaps some new-fangled stats account for them, but otherwise, they don't really show up on the league leader boards. But they win ballgames. Maybe yesterday was just KC's day and a bad day for Detroit. If Kansas City continues to execute like this and the other teams rely on the payroll and star status, then the Royals will win the division.

First Week

Last Sunday, I missed the top of the first of the Marlins game because I was still cleaning up the kitchen after lunch. I discovered the Marlins trailing 3-0 and facing R.A. Dickey. Soon, it was 5, 6, or maybe even 7-0- not that it mattered. The whole game was startlingly familiar and by the fifth or so, I had switched to watching the Cubs and Pirates. On Thursday evening, I watched the entire game. It was a fairly "normal" game. The Marlins starter lasted into the 6th, several relievers pitched, and I think eventually the Nationals won in extra innings. On Friday, I picked up the game in the bottom of the 8th. In the top of the inning, the Marlins had rallied to take a 3-2 lead. The Astros leadoff man reached, they bunted him to second, and he stole third. At this point, I realized that the starter was still pitching. The next batter fouled off several pitches until finally chasing a 3-2 slider for strike three. Carlos Lee popped up on a few pitches to end the inning. It was pretty exciting. In other words, the starter:
1. Pitched effectively into the 8th inning
2. Pitched himself out of trouble
3. Pitched himself out of trouble in the 8th inning
4. Pitched effectively after his team had rallied to give him a lead
5. Struck out a tough batter who kept fouling off pitches

The Marlins?!?!?!?

After one game, I like these Marlins. I watched a game, and I didn't know quite what to expect. When they loaded the bases in the middle innings of a scoreless game for the veteran John Buck, I was actually a little nervous. He could strike out. He could GIDP. He could hit a sacrifice fly. He could hit an RBI single. In fact, he fought of several tough pitches before hitting an opposite field grand slam. I guess that stadium in Florida has a good batting eye or something. Some guy named Johnson took a no-hitter into the seventh. Apparently, he hit 3 HR's and drove in 19 runs last season.

On the flip side, the Mets are awful. I knew they were bad, but I didn't realize just how depressing it is. Perhaps comparing the Twins to the Mets was a bit of a stretch.

Now, I have the Angels/Royals game on. An Angels hitter just failed to lay down a sacrifice bunt because he tried to bunt for a base hit. Now, he's swinging away.

At any rate, I love baseball.

The Search

I have yet to officially choose a team, but the season rapidly approaches. I realize that with college basketball playoffs looming, I may forget to choose a team. I want to force myself to choose the team before the season starts. As such, I will choose a provisional team. If I do not choose another team before a pitch is thrown in the regular season, this choice will become permanent. Realistically, I will be too lazy and or distracted the change my mind so this will probably be final.

I began my search considering all factors as legitimate reasons to choose a team. The talk of the Twins supposed surplus of starting pitching had me wanting to pick a team which actually good pitching. I researched a few candidates. The Braves still have several quality arms. The A's have assembled a solid staff. The Padres ranked pretty high in the ERA category and I remembered reading an ESPN the Magazine feature on their bullpen. As I investigated, I realized what I really want. I want a team about whom I know absolutely nothing. I don't want to spend the off-season reading blog posts analyzing the VORP or WHIP of the player the team just signed to a minor league deal. I want to learn about the team- for better or worse- by watching the games. The less prior knowledge I have about the team at the start of the season, the more I can enjoy it.

I'm not sure I could even name a single player on this team's roster. I don't know who their manager is. In skimming over baseball headlines this winter, I have not heard anything about them. I know just enough about them to know that I have no idea what to expect. Perhaps most importantly, they have shared very few players with the Twins. At this point, the Houston Astros are second on my list followed by the Colorado Rockies. That leaves the Florida "Who the hell are the" Marlins in first. Technically, Houston is probably a better fit in the total ignorance category, but I already have a Marlins hat and Back to the Future II is my latest Netflix disc. I can think of no better way to spend the baseball season than answering Harry Caray's question: "The Marlins!?!?!? Who the hell are the Marlins?!?!?!?"

Comment of the Day

Today's Star Tribune comment of the day comes from martyu:

Start printing the Minnesota Twins 2011 World Champion T-Shirts...it's gonna be an awesome summer!!!

He's half right. When hasn't it been an awesome summer for the Twins? It's those pesky other seasons like fall that get them into trouble.

St. Louis

Should I preemptively pick the Cardinals for when they trade Delmon Young for Nick Punto? Actually, that won't happen unless Gardy incapacitates Bill Smith and convinces the powers-that-be to name him interim general manager. But if that happens for even five minutes that trade happens.

Yankees

Perhaps I need to reconsider the Yankees as a contender. A team with a billionaire owner and brand-new stadium essentially outbid them for a solid pitcher. Keep in mind that they buy their division series victories. Honestly, if they had let Jeter walk they'd be a strong contender. Actually, I'm not sure there's anything any team could do to trump giving him the finger and tell him not to let the door hit him.

On another note, I saw that Gil Meche retired. He's still under contract, so naturally the Royals are going to pocket his $12 million salary.

Football

I have been intrigued by fans reactions to the Twins off-season moves. To me, it seems Billy Smith is doing a pretty good job to Gardy-proof the roster. Everybody is up-in-arms at the departures of Hardy, Guerrier, Rauch, and Crain. My addition by subtraction theory is well-documented. Theoretically, of course, Punto is gone. Harris was traded, but as I mentioned earlier, I forgot he was still in the system. Of those six, the Twins would be lucky if one of them managed to not do more harm than good. Meanwhile, everybody is infuriated that they signed Capps. I didn't see him pitch much, but with relievers I will always take the fresh face. Everybody wonders how they could let Hardy go. Punto is to blame for the irrational love of Hardy. Who else could make an injury-prone shortstop with a mediocre bat look irreplaceable? Who here has heard of Starlin Castro or Ronny Cedeno? I readily admit I had not until tonight. Castro hit about .300 with 3 HR and 41 in 125 games playing shortstop for the Cubs last year. Cedeno hit .256 with 8 HR and 41 RBI in about 140 games for the Pirates last year.

What does this have to do with football? Why am I analyzing the Twins off-season when I claim to be switching teams? I would wager that typical baseball fans- myself included- hardly ever watch a contest that does not include their team. Whereas, with football, there are two games Sunday afternoon, one in the evening, and a game on Monday night. I think it would be fair to assume that the typical football fan watches his team's game and at least on other on average. Over the course of the season, at least half and up to three fourths of his time watching football are a team other than his favorite. Certainly this tunnel-vision in baseball affects a fan's perception of a team. Baseball fan's are like prisoners in a cave watching the shadows on the wall. This is why I am "trying" a different team next year. I want the contrast.

AL Central

The other teams in the division are all pretty much like the Twins. Except, the Sox won a World Series, the Tigers made one, and the Indians came within a game six choke of winning the AL pennant. I guess that leaves the Twins tied with the Royals for postseason wins in the last 6 seasons. The entire division is too close to what I've followed for the last decade, so I can't give any of them serious consideration. Instead, I will examine a few alternative choices:

Chiba Lotte Marines
I have explained my "addition by subtraction" philosophy of offseason moves before. I don't know much about the Marines, but I do know that they lost a middle infielder from last season. That's usually a step in the right direction. Plus, they have $5 million to burn.

Round Rock Express
Sure they have a lame nickname, but they have been the home of one of the stars of my fantasy baseball team. I could finally follow the career of "hot" prospect Chris Davis. Austin is supposed to be a pretty nice city. It's hip and trendy, but since it's in Texas, I can't imagine it's quite like Seattle, Portland, or San Francisco. Then again, maybe it is. Meanwhile, the Rangers seem to be in pretty good shape, so I would expect they have decent players working their way through the capital of Texas.

Mankato Moondogs
For each home game, they designate a player on the other team. Each time he strikes out, beer is half-price for the remainder of inning. Once, he was 0-2 with 2K's facing an 0-2 count when the Moondogs pitcher plunked him. Also, occasionally, the opposing manager will hurl the game ball into center field in a temper tantrum after the bottom of the first.

New Ulm Kaiserhoff
Is Terry Steinbach still pitching for them? I saw them play a few summers ago, and I still suspect that they were actually the 1989 Oakland Athletics. They even had the green and yellow uniforms.

Murray's Corner Store*
They may be third-graders, but the really know how to run around those bases. Well, actually, most of them don't know that you have to tag-up on a fly ball. Of course, they all sprint towards home plate at the first chance they get. I know a lot of Major Leaguers don't know that you have to cross the plate before the third out, though. They have also proven that they can beat Anderson Pharmacy* and Gunderson Implement and Tractor* in the playoffs.

So there you have it. I guess I'll have to get started on my next iteration of inspecting the teams. I've never been one for that, so I'll probably channel my inner Lou Brown and go with a hunch.

* All business names are intended to be fake.

AL West

The AL West brings back painful memories of Twins road trips during the 1990's. The time zone could work against these teams. More recently, I think of Dick Bremer perpetually reminding Twins fans how many times they play Seattle this month. With only four teams, it's easy to forget they're even playing.

Seattle Mariners
I'm still recovering from their dismissal of manager Don Wakamatsu. As I've said, anybody who gets into a fight with a weak-hitting and overpaid middle infielder is fine by me. At least they replaced him with manager Eric Wedge. He has also done something Gardy hasn't. I am certainly curious about the Mariners, but there isn't enough for me to root for them.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California
Lately, the Angels have combined everything that's wrong with the family-friendly Twins with all of my complaints about the Yankees. I suppose that's basically the Mets, but it's not comical. I don't know quite what to think of Angels skipper Mike Scioscia. He seems similar to Gardy, but I feel considerably different when he summons a reliever with a 2-run lead in the 8th than when Gardy does the same. I'd say that's because Tolbert, Punto, and Casilla are due up for the Twins, but somehow Scioscia's scrubs are actually somewhat threatening. Following the Angels, then, would mainly be an academic exercise. How similar or different are they from the Twins?

Oakland Athletics
A's general manager Billy Beane has been lauded- mainly by himself- for his Moneyball strategy to win games. As I understand, he picks an offensive statistic from a hat, acquires or develops players who are best at this, and has Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito in the cheap years of their contracts. The current roster has a handful of quality cheap- I mean young- pitchers and a futile- I mean high on-base-percentage- lineup. Do they still play in the Al Davis Coliseum? I think I may have to resort to the time zone argument if I want to rule them out.

Texas Rangers
Manager Ron Washington still wears his uniform without the wuss-out windbreaker. That alone might be enough for me. Nolan Ryan insists on building the team around quality pitching. It seems to be working. They've left themselves a target for this year. First, they need to remind us that although Cliff Lee was a huge part of reaching the World Series, he didn't do it alone. Second, they need to actually win the World Series. I have heard positive reports about the ladies in the Dallas metroplex and my favorite television show, King of the Hill, is set somewhere near Dallas. They play their games in the best mix of time zones of any team which would allow me the chance to watch an entire game and make my bedtime or retire to the sofa at 9:00pm to watch baseball to end my day.

The players in their lineup don't excite me too much, though. I also might feel a little bit too much like a fair-weather fan for jumping to a team that already won the AL pennant. At any rate, I think they are the front-runner after my first iteration through the teams.