There have been a handful of times in the past few years when Kyle Lohse could be counted upon to blow a lead in the time, say, that it took to stop at the Brooklyn Park Culver's after one of YoungRD's soccer games. I believe that very thing happened twice. And there were other times when it seemed like a stop at Home Depot or Whole Foods or Target coincided with Kyle managing to suck the life out a Twins lead. So I reached the point last season where I thought I could best help Kyle by keeping my eyes and ears glued to the game when he was pitching. Under those circumstances, he didn't seem to suck as badly -- or as dramatically. Alas, he still usually sucked.
Eventually, I realized that we needed to build more trust. I needed to get on with my life when Kyle was on the mound. And, apparently, Kyle has decided that it's better not to suck. This is a recent phenomenon on his part -- covering his last four starts, including Saturday's when he yielded only one run in seven innings and looked flat-out nasty from time to time to time to time in the 4-3 victory over Toronto.
For my part, I stopped at Cub on the way home from the gym with the score 2-1. And, lo and behold, when I returned Castro and Stewart had homered yet again and the Twins were up 4-1. The Big Yummy Muffins will taste even better tomorrow morning.
Now consider this: In those 4 starts, Kyle has given up 6 earned runs in 25 1/3 innings. In his 4 April starts, he gave up 16 in 21 2/3 innings. No wonder we spent April wondering whether Old Man Mulholland would make a better fifth starter. Or young Baker or Gassner at Triple-A. Or maybe Bert could come down from the TV booth every fifth day... or LaTroy Hawkins would emerge from his personal hell... or, or, or. We were getting that impatient, and understandibly so.
But now, whatever Kyle has done, it has made him quite the hot pitcher. And for this, after all the barbs we've thrown this way and all the lousy pitches he's thrown our way, we must commend his recovery by anointing Kyle Lohse as Boyfriend of the Day.
Field/Readers 9, Lewww/Jeb 6, Stewie/Sooz 6, Justin/Goober 5, Joe/Batgirl 2.
Posted by Ron Davis at May 28, 2005 05:31 PMWay to go Kyle - nice to have you back! A great outing and a well deserved BOD.
Posted by: SDave at May 28, 2005 06:18 PMCongrats Kyle! You deserve it!
Is there an official nickname for Castro yet? If not, I'd like to submit Juan "The Cat" Castro. On such a kitty-friendly site, it almost seems absurd not to have a feline-related nickname for at least one player.
Posted by: ndtf at May 28, 2005 06:50 PMi liked whoever said Castro GTX
Posted by: aussie at May 28, 2005 07:05 PMThe return of Kyle's LONG lost mojo!!
OT, but I checked my e-mail for the 1st time in quite sometime (obviously) and had this old one as a reply from Ms. Dorfman:
Stacy,
Thank you for your email on the Hennepin County stadium
proposal. As you
know, the Board of Commissioners voted four to three on Tuesday,
May 3rd,
to approve the stadium proposal, sending it on to the State
Legislature for
consideration. The Legislature must authorize the new Hennepin
County sales
tax before the proposal returns to the County Board for further
action on
the tax and the issuance of construction revenue bonds.
While I am a Twins' fan and dream of watching a game in an open
air
stadium, I voted against the proposal for the following reasons:
Over the past two years we have seen a growing and worrisome
trend in state
and federal budget cuts that impact core Hennepin County
services, hurting
many of our most vulnerable residents. A $14.5 million cut in
subsidized
child care has negatively impacted hard-working families, with a
loss of
child care for 3,743 children who live in Hennepin County. Cuts
in the
state MnCare program will mean that more than 6,000 residents
will soon
lose their health insurance, driving up the cost of charity care
at
Hennepin County Medical Center to the tune of $10 million. There
have been
other cuts in housing assistance, mental health care, aid to
families with
disabled children, and the list goes on...
The core mission of the County is to build healthy communities
and provide
assistance to those in need. In light of the budget cuts of the
past couple
of years, it is difficult to suggest that we have $400 million
for a sports
stadium, but not enough money for adequate child care and health
care for
the residents of Hennepin County. This is a question of choices
and
priorities.
With regard to the proposed finance plan for the stadium, I
believe it
takes a strong public/private partnership to do a big
development of this
nature. Public dollars should contribute to elements such as
site
acquisition and infrastructure costs, but the public/private
split is
backwards in this stadium deal. Instead of the five to one
public/private
split that is proposed, exactly the reverse would be a more
appropriate
investment of public funds. In the end, with an eventual
retractable roof
(which we must have in Minnesota!), the Twins will contribute
only 20% of
the total cost of the stadium project. On top of that, all user
fees
(naming rights, personal seat licenses, ticket sales,
advertising,
concession sales, etc.) go to the team, instead of going to the
County to
repay the debt on the public revenue bonds issued to front the
construction
costs.
Lastly, if the ballpark is a regional or even state amenity,
then why are
we considering a Hennepin County only sales tax instead of a
seven-county
metro/state tax? Many of the hundreds of people who have emailed
me over
the past week are from outside Hennepin County. They say they
too would be
happy to contribute to the public costs of the stadium.
Thank you again for your email. I appreciate hearing from you.
Gail
Grrrr...
Posted by: Stacy at May 28, 2005 07:16 PMStacy, I share your "Grrr..." attitude. First of all, as we know, this plan simply does not take money out of existing programs. If we were taking money from, say, housing assistance to build a stadium, I might feel differently. To imply that we are is, in my mind, disingenuous.
Further, why a Hennepin County-only tax? I see this is a legitimate argument, but one that ultimately fails. Yes, this will benefit the whole state, but who will it benefit the most? Why, Hennepin County, of course. Further, Hennepin County, probably more than any other county in the state, gets much of its tax revenue from residents in other counties. Whether it be commuters or people visiting Minneapolis or MOA from out of town, Hennepin gets plenty of tax revenue from non-residents.
Finally, the Commissioner provides no reasoning to back up her assertion that a 5:1 private to public ratio would be more appropriate (all while assuming that a retractable roof will eventually be built, which I think is far from a sure thing). As I've said before, I'm not a huge fan of simply doling out money to billionaires. But we need to also look at the benefits to Hennepin County, which would be very high.
[/Rant]
Posted by: Nick at May 28, 2005 07:48 PMWe're going to need that roof. Look at this summer so far.
Posted by: Torhu at May 28, 2005 08:40 PMNo worries about the roof. After tonight's Powerball drawing, I will be filthy rich and will put a roof over our heads on days when the weather is not baseball-friendly. In return for my gesture, I would like season tickets for life and naming rights. I think we can make this work...
Posted by: ndtf at May 28, 2005 09:49 PMI guess tonight wasn't my lucky night. Maybe I'll win on Wednesday. Good thing I didn't quit my job.
Posted by: ndtf at May 28, 2005 10:20 PMSince Kyle had an above average performance...Does this mean that Lyle was captured....
Secondly...When your at the dome and you see those signs..Brad's Bunch, Jojo Nino's. I was thinking...If Juan Casto had a section at the dome...Would it be Castro's Commies?
Posted by: Bojangles Crain at May 28, 2005 10:37 PMCastro's Comrades, I'm thinking.
Posted by: AT at May 28, 2005 11:33 PMCrain,
Isn't it obvious? Lyle hasn't been captured. He was *excorsised*. They found a local priest and flew TC Bear in from the Cities and performed the act back when the team was in the Tampa area.
MK
Posted by: mk at May 28, 2005 11:48 PMI work for Hennepin county handing out the daycare and MNCare benefits that she talks about. Every single person that I work with here is all for the new tax, and the stuff she talks about is what we do everyday all day. yes we do need more money for those things, but even if we didn't have the new stadium, that money wouldn't be put towards MNCare and daycare subsidies. And seriously, if you want to solve the problem, provide affordable housing for everyone, less money on rent =more money for other things, ie daycare... stopping, because I could go on about that all night long.
Sorry *steps down from anger box*.
I just really want a new stadium and she is only looking at one side they always conviently forget the revenue a new stadium will generate and other factors only looking at their points.
Posted by: aurora at May 29, 2005 12:00 AMMy Mom threw me a college graduation party today, so I missed the end of the game, but it seems like we had a little Latroy Hawkins flashback the VP. By the by, Hawkins got traded to San Francisco today.
And before anyone asks, all I got for graduation was sage advice and a signed Shannon Stewart ass-bat. (He mailed it to me during the middle of the game Thursday, from Cleveland. Great guy)
I'm so stoked though. I'll make my triumphant week long return to game threads starting next Saturday. Then back to the dregs of unemployment.
I keep asking. Is anyone looking to hire a meteorologist?
Posted by: Ryan at May 29, 2005 12:15 AMSorry Ryan, we don't need a meteorologist hereabouts...anyone can say that it'll rain today.
Posted by: Andrew at May 29, 2005 12:28 AMIf a new stadium is to be built for the Twins, it should be justified on the ground of sheer love and pride of the fans ... not on "the new revenue" or positive economic impact, which won't happen.
I agree with this guy,
http://www.dcwatch.com/govern/sports030612g.htm
or
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=975
Sorry, this is more specific to Minneapolis and the Twins ...
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4067&mode=print&nocache=1117349605
Turning back to Kyle, I was giddy with excitement over his win. Yes, I picked on the guy during his bad times because I so clearly remembered how excited I was about his in early 2003. (In fact, I daresay, when Michael Cuddyer got sent to the minors in 2003, Kyle was probably my boyfriend.) I am so happy to have Kyle back!
And, Stacy, the letter I wrote got more-or-less the same response. (Less in that she didn't go into as much detail, but said the same thing.)
Just Beth
Posted by: Just Beth at May 29, 2005 08:45 AMYay!!
My favorite Twin honored at last! I am very happy for Kyle.
I can't tell you how happy I will be if Kyle keeps this up. I too was feeling very boyfriendish toward him at the beginning of 2004, and was crushed when he didn't live up to his potential. It sounds like there are a number of us who are all ready to jump on his bandwagon if he gives us half a chance. I hope this is it!
Thanks, RD, for your great posts. I'm looking forward to having Batgirl back, but thanks to you I have hardly missed her! (BG: please don't take that in the wrong way. You know I love you!)
Oops, should have included Jeb and Goober in the previous post. The sentiment is the same in both their cases.
Posted by: Pepper at May 30, 2005 04:51 PM