Puckett's Pond » Marcus Thames http://puckettspond.com A Minnesota Twins Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More Sun, 19 May 2013 16:37:51 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 Friday Links http://puckettspond.com/2011/08/05/friday-links-4/ http://puckettspond.com/2011/08/05/friday-links-4/#comments Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:00:09 +0000 http://puckettspond.com/?p=5852 It hasn’t been quite a week since the last edition of the Friday Links, which went out a few days late, on Sunday.  But with MLB’s trade deadline on Sunday evening, there are no shortage of baseball related links to keep us busy for yet another week.  The Twins have managed to play particularly poor over the last week, but things turned around on Wednesday night when both Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young homered twice to give the Twins a convincing win, despite Scott Baker‘s inability to get to the 5th inning.  Big props to Anthony Swarzak for picking up the ball club and holding the Angels at bay for 5 strong innings.  Anyways, the team remains fun to watch, and this weekend the Twins head home to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 1991 World Champion Minnesota Twins.  If you don’t have tickets to the games this weekend, but still want to relive the glory of the 1991 World Series, don’t forget to swing over to Facebook and like the Puckett’s Pond page for a chance to win a set of DVDs chronicling the 1991 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins.

Here are the links:

Ever wonder how some of those advanced defensive metrics are made up?  Ever end up more confused than ever after trying to figure out what Ultimate Zone Rating really is?  Thanks to Justin Bopp at Beyond the Box Score, there is a handy little graphic.

As always, Joe Posnanski put out a couple of really interesting articles this week for Sports Illustrated.  I’ll just point you towards my favorite for the week, and if you feel the need, you can browse through his archives to find the rest.  This week Posnanski saw the blockbuster movie Source Code, and naturally, that made him think about sports.  Follow him as he weaves his way though 10 sports moments he’d like to edit.

Sometimes Joe Mauer hits big home runs, and sometimes, like this year, he doesn’t.  Joshua Casey from Rantsports.com chronicles Mauer’s first home run of the season.

And so begins a set of links revolving around the Minnesota Twins action (or rather, inaction) at the Trade Deadline:   (more…)

]]> http://puckettspond.com/2011/08/05/friday-links-4/feed/ 0 Jim Thome http://puckettspond.com/2010/08/09/jim-thome/ http://puckettspond.com/2010/08/09/jim-thome/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:18:39 +0000 http://twinkietalk.com/?p=2168 July 23, 2010: Jim Thome for the Minnesota Twins in action during a game against the hometown Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. The Orioles beat the Twins 3 - 2.

Nobody was really sure what to expect when the Twins inked Jim Thome to a one-year, $1.5 million deal in the offseason. He had a good 2009 for the White Sox, batting .249/.372/.493, but was awful after being dealt to the Dodgers at the trade deadline, batting .235/.235/.235 in 17 plate appearances as a pinch-hitter. Even though the price was certainly right, it didn’t really look like Thome would be a good fit for the Twins. He’s a left-handed bat in a lineup stocked with good left-handed hitters, and he can’t hit left-handed pitching at all anymore (he slugged just .421 against southpaws last year). He’s in his twilight years, he can’t play in the field, and his performance as a pinch-hitter (which was Bill Smith’s reasoning behind the signing) was disappointing. Between Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer, the Twins already had enough decent hitters who really shouldn’t play in the field. Far from being washed up, however, Jim Thome has actually been one of the best hitters on the team this season, and one of the best free agent bargains of the offseason. (more…)

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