Baseball Fever and Updates

Gophers basketball delayed it a little but it finally has hit me. I've got baseball fever. February is the worst month in sports. Football is over, NBA and NHL are playing meaningless games, College Basketball is spent just hoping March will show up and same with Baseball. The three readers of this blog will notice a sharp turn in material once March hits. I love Gophers sports but I am married to baseball.

There is a lot of talk about the Twins signing Joe Crede. To me this is a no brainer. This isn't similar to Craig Monroe and Rondell White were we hope we hit the lottery. True he has not played a full season since 2006, but he will only be 31 in April and last year in only 335 ABs he hit 17 hrs. That is a home run every 20 at bats. For comparison Brendan Harris, the current 3rd baseman hit one every 62 at bats and superstar Justin Morneau only hit one every 27 at bats. That is pretty impressive for someone not healthy. In his last full healthy season he hit 30 hrs and batted .284. I think that would work in our lineup, especially since adding him would make Kubel or Delmon Young a 7 hitter or in some cases an 8 hitter. The only lineup weakness would be Punto at shortstop. Even if he does get hurt we do have insurance in Harris, Buscher and maybe Luke Hughes.

Gopher Monday Update

Despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the Gophers squad if the season ended today according to ESPN, they would be a 9 seed playing Dayton. There RPI is still 36 and while that is not great that is an RPI that gets them into the tournament. If they win their home games (Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Michigan) they will be in but a win at Michigan on Thursday will be nice.

Stats of the Day

• .275 11 hrs 96 rbi: Combined production of Buscher and Harris last year with 652 at bats. In 335 at bats Crede went .248 17 hrs 55 rbi.
  
• 41.2%: The Gophers shooting in Big Ten games this year. 2nd worse in Big Ten. Only team worse is Michigan at 39.6%.
• 33.6%: 3-pt shooting by the Gophers in Big Ten games. 3rd worse in Big Ten. Michigan worst at 29.4%. I think we are in store for another ugly game on Thursday.

Video of the Day

While it is a great video and very funny it is truly humbling to know that a 7' 1" 325 37-year old man is a better dancer than I am or will ever be but enjoy Shaqtus.

YouTube - Shaq Dancing With JabbaWockeeZ! [HD]