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tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66387053187573846042015-10-03T19:34:31.504-05:00The "Unofficial" Minnesota Twins Fantasy Camp ReportTales of the (mis)adventures of playing some baseball in Fort Myers, FL while pretending to be a real ballplayer in a Minnesota Twins uniform.Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-32679560429149961282015-04-18T21:29:00.003-05:002015-04-18T21:29:58.510-05:00Saturday's Games -- NY/NY (Mets and Yankees)We were slated to play 2 games today -- and the forecast had a high of 89 and an heat index of 102 -- so games of 7 innings -- no problem.....

We were matched up against the NY Mets (they brought two teams) this morning and we found out they were 0 for the tournament. We went with our "big" lefty Will for the first the game. Will is one of my favorite players from camp, first he is an amazing baseball player, 2nd he is a good guy, and 3rd (and not last) he is lefthanded. We lefties have to stick together. The start of the game it was sunny, hot, humid, sticky. A Florida weather special for the summertime. Will had his A game on and he went 6 strong innings - I am going to guess they had 2 hits (maybe 3) off of him and only one time did they have a runner on third base (and he struck out 2 guys to end the inning) - our bats started going in the first - leadoff guy got on, moved to 2nd on an error and I was up to bat, I grounded out to 2nd allowing him to gain third and then a base hit to score him - 1-0. We scored three runs in the fourth to extend the lead to 4-0, scratched another in the 5th and added another 3 in the sixth - Roiger came in and finished the game as it ended on a game ending double play -- 8-0. Very well played game - great job by the entire team - a wonderful pitching performance by big Will.

We ended up getting the 2 seed in our division and we matched up against the Yankees team for our final game (this was not the same team we played earlier in the week) - the game was definately low key and for some other teams it was survival of the fittest -- a couple teams bailed out due to lack of healthy players - we were lucky that we had most of our team in tact, just having one player not playing but we still had 12 strong. I surprisingly got the nod for pitching so got into the bullpen to get as loose as I could - my legs were pretty much jello and didn't know how much my arm/legs could pitch. The weather was another factor - but the big upside with this game -- no more games after it so I could basically throw it all out there and not have to worry about tomorrow ("Would if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today" --name that movie quote). We were the home team so I went out to try to execute the plan of pitching - control, throw offspeed stuff, and try to figure out my curveball -- well two of out three worked really well -- throwing to my more than capable catchers, I pitched a very nice game - I always try to get my inner Jamie Moyer going and figured out how to keep those darn Yankees off the base paths -- I did a very good job through the first 3 innings not allowing any hits -- the first hit was in the 4th and he came around to score on a long double by a "Phillies" defector, but by then our offense provided some runs to give us a 4-1 lead by then. We tacked on another 2 runs as we move to the top of the 6th inning. I was thinking of going 4 innings, but pitch count was low, so went out for a fifth inning -- 6 pitches later we were in the dugout. So I went out for the 6th inning looking for another quick one -- well I did well and got the first two batters out, striking out one of them on a masterful changeup (he was way out in front). I had the next batter with a 1-2 count and couldn't finish him off and he gained first via a walk. The next batter I had 0-2 -- the next pitch was slightly inside and it grazed his elbow and he gets on first -- a couple scratch hits and they score another. The bases are loaded with 2 outs and I am kicking myself for not taking care of business with those batters I had with 2 strikes - I was able to induce a line drive to shortstop to get out of the jam. We decided that 6 innings was certainly a good enough outing and LA came in to close it out - pop up to short, strikeout, and a final out of another strikeout to end the game. Twins win 6-2.

A good week (not a great week) by the squad - we end up taking 3rd place (out of 8 teams) and finishing with a 4-2 record, It was somewhat disappointing but we certainly showed the other teams we are a team to be reckoned with and future teams with Twins jerseys will represent well in the future.

Thanks again for following along -- as always check out www.yuratwin.com for info about the Twins Fantasy Camp (every year we play in January) and if you have questions about how much fun it is to play baseball -- feel free to email me at email@example.com.

To see cool pictures from the tournament - http://springevents.smugmug.com/Other

Answer to name that movie quote - "Groundhog Day" -- one of my all time favorites......

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-40020347594389170152015-04-17T16:36:00.001-05:002015-04-17T16:36:41.214-05:00Friday Double headerGoing to make this post in more or less quick fashion - going to head over and see the Rays play at the Trop.

Twins played two games today -- Red Sox and the Phillies -- we were obviously hoping for a sweep so we can be in contention for the championship game to be played at the "big" field on Saturday night (under the lights) -- the Red Sox team we found out has some very good hitting and they started the day 2-0 - a loss would guarantee us not making it to the championship game - it was important.

Red Sox jumped on us early, striking for 3 runs in the first inning - I was feeling kind of bad as my defense was not very good - I didn't get a good read on a sky high pop up behind 2nd base - I was playing RF and if I would have been on my horse, that was my ball, the CF was shading toward left - then a play later I missed a cutoff man allowing the runner to advance to 2nd -- so I feeling a little bummed out about not making those routine plays -- I would soon not feel so bad about those "misplays" -- Red Sox tack on a few more runs and take a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the third, the Twins finally got their rally on as we loaded the bases with no outs - I went up to the plate and laced a nice line drive to RF - unfortunately it was right at the fielder - it ended up going as a Sac Fly and we plate our first run, but boy if that is left or right 10-12 feet, it would have rolled a long way. We score two more to make 6-3 and seemingly things are looking good - a scoreless fourth inning both ways leads to a 5th inning -- well long story short a hit parade broke out and the Sox strike for 11 runs in all -- we didn't get any and the game is over by virtue of the 10 run rule -- 17-3. They hit well - tip your cap.

Our 2nd game in the afternoon was against the Phillies - in talking with the first baseman, the Phillies won the Championship Series in 2013 (they beat the Red Sox) so it was fun to get that update - all the teams & players are really decent guys (except the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets..........). We were the visiting team and scored a run to begin the game, I walked and came around on a base hit to make 1-0. The Phillies got 2 in the bottom of the inning - a few base hits but nothing hit hard so the game was off and running - we scored a couple more runs in the third to make it 3-2 and they tied it up in the fourth to make it 3-3. We head to the top of the sixth inning and the bats finally broke out - some timely walks to jam the bases up - but a couple of sharp hit balls and the Twins put up a nice crooked number -- in fact we scored 8. We closed them down in the 6th and 7th and walked away with a 11-3 victory and a 2-2 record going into the last day -- our Division looks like this:

Red Sox 4-0
Twins 2-2
Mets (1) 2-2
Yankees (1) 1-3

A win tomorrow (we play at 11am) we secure a #2 seed and play the other division 2nd place team at 3pm -- a loss -- well we could be the 4 seed -- so let's win our 11am game (which will be played at Steinbrenner field) and leave town above .500!

Unofficial Hitting stats -- 4 for 7, 4 Runs, 2 BB, HBP, SF, 2 RBI
Unofficial Pitching - 4 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-63138267921978652702015-04-16T19:13:00.001-05:002015-04-16T19:13:28.089-05:00Bad Sources, Bad Baseball, and a Bad ComebackDay 1 is in the books here at the fantasy camp championship series at the Yankee Complex in Tampa, FL. This blogger needs to fix (update) his previous blog posting of leading off the game. Sources had told me (and this source was rock solid.....) on Weds I would be my leadoff hitter -- so I tweeted and blogged about it -- then....bam....it didn't happen. The good part is the first 4 pitches of the game were not even close, so I would have walked and more importantly taken the first pitch (like I thought I would). The better part is I was hitting 2nd -- so to clear up the previous post.....

10 AM Game - So our game was against one of the Yankees teams (they have 2 of them here) and we were ready to play them tough, we had our ace on the mound, LA, and a bunch of "all-stars" ready to play. It was probably close to 90 degrees at first pitch and 80% humidity (at least) so it was a hot and sticky one. We were the home team so we went out in the field first -- my stomach was in knots -- it took me until the 3rd or 4th inning to 'feel better'. Nerves sometimes get the best of you and in reality -- sometimes nerves are good - so go with it! LA gets through the first inning without any problems and we go up looking to plate some runs and get a lead -- well the plan worked, a leadoff walk started off our inning and I worked a 2-1 count to lace a line drive to right center - DH (a very good runner) was able to trot around the bases and I checked up at 2B to put us up 1-0 - bam, very exciting - fist pumps ensued at 2nd base. I later scored and we tacked on another 2 runs to make it 4-0. LA is cruising along but in the 3rd and 4th innings - the heat and humidity started taking its toll. LA was laboring out there - I was worried early because the umpire was calling a very small strike zone, so I felt bad for both pitchers having to make a lot more pitches than necessary -- but the small strike zone should be a whole another blog post! We get to the top of the 6th and the game is still 4-0 - the Yankees pitcher settled in after the 3rd inning and was pitching well - I had two other AB's - ground out to third and pop up to 2nd as he did a nice job of making pitchers' pitches. LA was more or less gassed at this point and walked a batter, a slow roller base hit, and a HBP got the bases loaded up - a single brought home two runs and that was it for LA -- 4-2, big Will came in to shut the door down on the inning but the Yankees got 2 more runs to tie the game at 4. In the bottom of 6 we had a 1 out walk and he was doubled off on a very strange call - the umpire said our runner did not "re tag" at 2nd base (he was stealing 2nd, then realized the CF caught it, touched 2nd and turned around and went back to first) -- the Yankees successfully lobbied he rounded 2nd -- he didn't, I was watching him the whole way, but the ump bought the story and we are out of the inning as the Yankees threw the ball to 1st for the 3rd out of the inning. The 7th inning for the Twins was worse than the 6th, the dust settled and the Yankees got 7 runs -- we went quietly in the bottom half and it was over -- a well pitched game by LA (Yankees ended up only having 4 hits off of him, nothing hard hit) but the heat took its toll (and the small strike zone) and he couldn't get through the 6th inning - we had the game but our hitters couldn't muster anything after the 1st inning either.

Game 2 was against the Mets - we were really disappointed with our game 1 loss, so the idea of going 0-2 was not going to hit our radar. I was awarded the honor of starting game 2 - we were playing in the "Big Stadium" - George Steinbrenner Field so this was a treat, we were supposed to get our faces on the jumbotron and 'walk up' music for our AB's -- so looking forward to that.
A clean first inning was followed up by both teams scoring 2 runs in the 2nd - so end of 2 we were all tied up at 2-2. I felt ok on the mound, my legs were a little like jello, but the clouds rolled in and we had a big fan in our dugout to keep me from overheating -- so that was nice. We couldn't muster any runs in the top of the 3 and we moved to the bottom of the 3 - if I remember I walked the first guy (and maybe the 2nd guy) -- I really struggled with my control in this game, a smallish strike zone (both ways) didn't help - these umpires were calling a "non" fantasy camp type zones -- so that didn't help either -- but the inning was extended a number of times by some very poor defense (which was a big surprise -- one thing I thought this team would excel at was the defense) but runners advanced bases - sprinkle a hit in there - the Mets scored 4 runs after it was all said and done, making the game 6-2. We scratched a run in the 4th, I started with a hit, and the Mets helped me get to 2nd, 3rd and home via throwing the ball away and finally a wild pitch and I scored to make it 6-3 - I was really 'gassed' after that running and luckily the guys kept the inning going but eventually leaving the bases loaded without any other runs scoring. We chipped away scoring another run in the 5th inning to make it 6-4 - we decided on a pitching change so Roiger came in (Boomer as we call him, he can wear a Yankee jersey representing David Wells and it works....) - he had warmed up as I ran into a jam in the bottom of the 4th - but I struck out 2 guys to get out of it without giving up any runs so it was time to make a change - Roiger pitched well in the 5th and gave up a scratch run in the 6th -- of course we could not manufacture any runs, so we head to the top of 7th down by three -- 7-4. McMacken led off the inning by skying a high pop up, but it was in the 'bermuda triangle' right behind the mound, the pitcher called for it but it was just out of his reach and found some green, so we had the leadoff guy on base. We got a hit and a walk (along with an out) but the bases were loaded and LA came to the plate - LA might be our best overall hitter on the team, he hit a triple earlier in the game - unfortunately he popped out to 2nd and we had 2 outs. A base hit by Andy scored 2 runs and the Twins are in business - 7-6 now. A passed ball advanced runners to 2nd and 3rd and Eric ripped a line drive single into RF to score those runners -- BOOM - Twins have the lead 8-7. We go to the bottom of the 7th and Roiger shut them down -- 1, 2, 3 and the Twins got the win - going 1-1 was not in the plan, but much better than 2-0.

Here are some pictures from Day 1:

Field by George

Jumbotron Johnny - long hair and muscle shirt

I slid into home and dragged my elbow

We play the Red Sox at 10:00am and the Phillies at 1:00 pm -- winning 2 games would get us back on track to be playing under the lights at George Steinbrenner Field on Saturday evening.

The hot tub calls tomorrow morning and the cold tub will be calling post game....

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-17685735193344293642015-04-15T22:09:00.001-05:002015-04-15T22:09:43.550-05:00Games start tomorrow - All Star editionThe Twins will be playing two games tomorrow -- 10am and 1pm -- we will play 7 innings and for the most part it will be full rules baseball (only modification is each team will have 5 stolen base attempts and I believe no reaching home base on a passed ball/wild pitch) but otherwise we will play by all the rules (not any adjusted rules like the normal fantasy camp) -- our first game at 10am will be against the Yankees -- how fitting is that, and I was informed by our manager that I will be the leadoff hitter for this game -- holy sh!t! Really? Me leading off the game against the Yankees at the Yankee spring training facility wearing a Twins jersey -- get out of town! So this guy get the honor of doing a Joe Mauer and taking the first pitch -- now I know @sorney would not agree with my idea of flat out saying I am going to take the first pitch -- but I would say with confidence (at least 90%) that is what will happen -- the only scenario where I envision me swinging would be if the pitcher does not have a dominating fastball in warm ups and he throws this pitch right down broadway and about belt high -- otherwise I will be taking. I will keep you posted!
Our 2nd game (starting at around 1pm) will be against the Mets -- wow good times.

I will probably be live tweeting updates as I can -- we have a great group of guys and honored to get to play with them -- I will guarantee one thing - I will have a fun time this week!

Play ball!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-9295572739258740932015-04-14T22:44:00.000-05:002015-04-14T22:44:49.529-05:00This week in Baseball - All-Star style live from Tampa, FL
Well this week brings a new baseball adventure - it's going to be sweaty and it's going to be fun. This baseball adventure takes me to Tampa, FL at the Yankees Spring Training facility - the "All-Star Twins Fantasy Camp" team will be playing against other all-star fantasy camp teams. They include the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Pirates, and the Red Sox a total of 8 teams (Yankees and Mets brought 2 teams) in all in a 5 game "pool play" and a final 6th game championship (and match ups based on divisional seeding - 2 divisions of 4 teams). Our team will be constructed of many guys who I have never played with during the Twins Fantasy Camp in January -- so a different feel indeed. The sweaty part of the adventure comes into play as the forecast shows 90 degrees all week here and it's Florida so call it humid and it will be a chore to stay cool and hydrated. We will play 2 games on Thursday & Friday and another game in the morning on Saturday. The Championship game will be played under the lights on Saturday evening. That is the goal! You can follow along via the Facebook Page - Steinbrenner Field Championship Series The "Championship Series" is interesting as it serves as a fundraiser for the Yankee Foundation - so nice to know that a portion of my player fee will be doled out into the local community. We (the players) will have full clubhouse amenities (laundry, lockers, trainers) and we even brought our favorite "Twins" massage therapist Kelly Quist (she does massage in MN check out her website - http://www.todaystouchmn.com/ and has been catering to 'real' Twins players in the past and present). I have had some conversations with my fellow teammates and we are all very pumped up to join forces and see what we can do against other fantasy camps teams. We will have a practice on Weds at 4pm - I wonder how long we will be out there as the promised 90's and muggy weather will be greeting us with a smile. I am looking forward to playing in another MLB facility and enjoying a few days of baseball and fellowship with a bunch of great guys.

Follow along with the blog and my twitter feed this week -- twitter.com/fantasycamper -- for in game updates (No Kangaroo Court as far as I know -- stick it Bert no fining me this week) and game recaps and of course general ranting.

I would love to rant about my favorite MLB team - but they are showing us that Gardy was indeed a decent manager because his Twins never started 1-6 and Paul Molitor has a tough road ahead of him -- the cool part is this putrid Twins squad will get my #BringUpBuxton hashtag trending on twitter in no time -- so do me a favor and tweet out my newly created hashtag I made up last week (it's not like I copyrighted it or anything).

Here's to a week of having walk up music before my AB's, my pale white mug on the Jumbotron, and toting my MN Twins jersey (Home and Away) for another round of baseball - um, yes, life is pretty good (Thank you wife Tanya for not vetoing this idea of mine)....

"Kramer goes to a fantasy camp. His whole life is a fantasy camp." -- George Constanza

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-40048155202371522272015-01-17T21:40:00.003-06:002015-01-17T21:40:30.686-06:00Just like that -- the camp is overThe camp concludes with a silent auction and live auction -- I think the final tally raised was over $30,000 which was clearly a record, many generous campers who bid on various items.

After the dinner is one the highlights of the evening when Stan Dickman announces the camp awards. Now last year -- sorry Pro Staff -- I really think the awards were "kind of" strange. Not that any of the winners were not worthy it just was interesting who got what award and why -- plus I probably had sour grapes....see other blog post. This year's awards were pretty much spot on! Every camper who got an award really deserved it and many "first time" award winners which is awesome. The camp has such a good crop of players to actually nail down these awards can be very difficult. Congrats to those who won an award tonight -- I was nominated for the Gold Glove, Cy Young, and MVP award -- so that is really, really nice - but the real award is the teammates that you get to know and the friends you made during the week. Super week guys, can't wait to do it all again next year.

So long Papa Smurf - you will be missed my friend.

Not sure if I am going to make another post - but if you are attending Twinsfest make sure you stop by the booth and say HI to myself or Rob who will be taking care of the duties of "manning the booth". We will look forward to seeing some of the Pro Staff at Twinsfest as well.

Find me on twitter -- @fantasycamper

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-65894242006073444132015-01-17T15:41:00.001-06:002015-01-17T15:41:29.564-06:00Quick Recaps of the Championship GamesIt was a beautiful day in Fort Myers -- a little chilly in the morning but skies and sunny.

The first pitch of our game was a little earlier than reported but it was 65 degrees at 9:30am as the 38 Special was matched up against our team the PED's. It has been a great week, super group of guys so we will look to cap off a good week and make it a great week by winning today.

Schmidt was matched up against Borgeson in the pitching department. Shane pitched two very solid games for us earlier in the week so looking to get the third one today out of him. We got to Borgeson in the first matchup and touched him up for 7 runs - so a repeat of that would be very nice.

After a scoreless first inning, Schmidt got out of a slight jam in the top of the 2nd. We plated a run in the bottom of the 2nd to get an early lead 1-0. Both teams were held scoreless in the 3rd and Schmidt kept 38 off the board in the top of the 4th and the game is cruising along. In the bottom of the 4th the PED's were able to put a nice rally together and score 2 runs to go up 3-0. 38's put together a rally led by a rocket double by Borgeson and drew the game closer to 3-2 going into the bottom of the 5th. The bottom of the sixth we go with the score still at 3-2 and I came up to bat with guys on first and 2nd, I hit a flare over 2nd base which was good enough to score another run to put us at 4-2. Schmidt came out to finish up the game in the 7th inning - he hinted to me that if he got in trouble I might come in relief but I knew he was up to the task. He was able to get 2 quick outs to start up the inning. Mr. Pirate (Pittsburgh fan) laced a double down the right field line and the tying run comes to the plate. Schmidt got the final batter to fly out the left and the PED's win the "RED" division championship.

The Blue Division Championship matched the Warriors vs the Sleepers. The Sleepers plated a run in the top of the 2nd to strike first, but the Warriors came back with 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd to take a nice lead (which at the time seems like a lock to win the game) - the Sleepers had a few guys on but could not break through and get runs on the board needed to beat Anderson on the mound. The game ended up being the same score as ours -- 4-2 with the Warriors winning the "BLUE" division championship.

Tonight is the final banquet where they will hand out various awards (MVP, Cy Young, Gold Glove, Rookie of the Year, and the Kirby Puckett award) and to cap out a great week.

Shout outs to my teammates (especially the Rookies) this week for a great week - super team, better teammates and since Papa Smurf is retiring from baseball after camp - I am glad to be a part of sending him off a winner! Papa you are the best.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-24750350421421483872015-01-16T21:51:00.002-06:002015-01-16T21:51:42.951-06:00Saturday Matchups and Watch the Games online tomorrowIf you want to catch the games tomorrow you can via a livestream audio and video by going to:

www.msbnsports.com

I think if you click on the baseball link you should see a boxscore with the team names.

9:45 AM (EST) "Red" Division Championship

PED's vs 38 Special

12:15 PM (EST) "Blue" Division Championship

Warriors vs Sleepers

The early game -- 38 Special are on a 3 game win streak since we beat them on Weds 7-0. I do think we have the better overall team - our pitching matchup is probably edge to them with Tarron pitching but our offense and defense overall has to be better, so give us the edge there for both. We have faster guys and hopefully fresher legs. Schmidt will throw for us and if he gets in trouble I will probably come into the game - the hope is he pitches really well and we can play tight defense. I pitched a pretty clean game against 38 so not sure if I should start the game but I am going to defer to Schmidt and if he wants to take the ball going to let him do it. He is a solid pitcher and as long as he throws strikes we will be in good shape. I say runs get scored and this game is something like a 6-3 win for the PED's.

Afternoon Game - The Warriors get the pitching edge matchup with the best pitcher in camp, he did throw on friday so how effective he can be on Saturday - we will find out. Warriors have at times struggled on offense and defense is solid. Sleepers bring an overall game to the table - not great in any one area but good across the board. I am going to give them the edge on defense and offense. I generally pick the team with the pitching edge because that is the equalizer, but I think the Sleepers will prevail with a 3-2 win - they just are good enough to win game like they have all week. Clearly the surprise team (from my perspective all week). Will be a good game.

Now to get some sleep.....more than 5 hours would be nice.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-32487531144769378802015-01-16T15:16:00.001-06:002015-01-16T21:56:17.340-06:00Friday's games are in the booksIt was a chilly morning (per Fort Myers) with temps in the low 60's but a solid north wind at around 15 mph kicking around for the start of the friday games. The "unofficial" standings turned into official standings when I made it into the locker room this morning and it confirmed all the seeding and the matchups. I forgot to report that yesterday afternoon in anticipation of pitching today that I did "cold jacuzzi" for 8 minutes - the water was a lukewarm.....er check that....a coldish 50 degrees. The first 2 minutes were complete torture, when you body enters that cold of water it sends shockwaves -- I could barely breathe! After a torturous 2 minutes I began to adjust and my toes when basically numb -- I stayed in there for a total of 8 minutes and when I got out and warmed up I felt very good. Well this morning I found myself in the same jacuzzi but this time it was was much warmer at around 100 degrees and did a good 10 minute soak -- got stretched out by the trainers, a little 'atomic balm' to keep the muscles warm and loose -- and we are ready to play some baseball. I was starting the game and the last two years my friday's at camp have been less than spectacular -- in fact, down right awful -- pitching 12 innings and giving up 18 runs is not what I call even average pitching. So I was on a mission to stop the history of poor friday performances. I felt good in the bullpen and noticed one of the better umpires in camp was behind the dish -- confidence was high.

The top of the first I went out and was able to induce a fly ball, a ground ball, and struck out the ROY from last year (#2) with a nice outside change up to end the inning. We got started in the bottom of the first with some hits (I had one of them) and with 2 outs Schmidt came up with a clutch hit over the left fielder which scored 2 runs -- it was followed up by another RBI hit and the PED's strike first to lead the game 3-0. I went out for the 2nd inning to build upon my solid first inning -- it really didn't work out that way -- I walked the first batter, and then the 2nd batter. I struck out the third hitter to get some relief, but then I hit (barely) the next batter with a pitch (it grazed his jersey) to load up the bases. I struck out the next hitter and followed it up with a fly out to left to end the inning. I escaped some danger there. I also escaped a big time potential rally in the 5th inning when they left the bases loaded as well. The 6th inning commences -- both teams were doing a good job getting a few a base runners on here and there but rallies were being killed (mostly by great defense and some timely strikeouts) -- game is still at 3-0. I got the first batter out and then walked the next batter. Abby G came up and grounded out to first sending the runner to 2nd. Yoda was up to bat (and his nickname is Yoda because he looks like Yoda and it's true) - I had this batter 0-2 (I struck him out the last time he was up) and the next pitch I threw inside almost hitting him and the runner advanced to third. The next pitch Yoda reached out and hit an RBI single to center field to make the game 3-1. I was able to get the next hitter but a 2 run lead going into the 7th was not comfortable. I hit into a FC grounder to the SS and on the next play scored on a single to RF to make the game 4-1 and to add a much needed insurance run. The 7th inning I was going to face the last guy in the batting order and then the top two in the lineup -- Saggy's didn't have an up and down super team but they certainly had some good hitters in the mix and they were all coming up to bat. I got the first batter to pop out to shortstop and then the next batter flew out to left - 2 outs. I gave up a base hit to the follow batter setting me up with another match up with good old #2. *Quick side rant -- while I really don't know this guy so I should not talk smack about him -- but he won the ROY (Rookie of the Year) award last year and I must still have sour grapes that a friend of mine didn't take home that hardware -- so long story short -- this blogger really, really wanted to get this guy out.* I struck him out in the first inning with a changeup and he grounded to third (in which the umpire called him safe enough though he was out......oh well) so this is the 3rd AB of the game for him. I was able to get strike one and also strike two on him -- a good fastball and then a breaking ball that jammed him but he fouled it off. #2 is a quality hitter with a good compact swing -- so I looked for the sign and Papa Smurf called for another deuce - I focused myself ready to throw the best pitch of the day -- and I did -- I snapped off a curveball that ended up being in the dirt -- #2 swung and lost his bat into the field of play -- strike 3 and the game is over -- PED's win and move on to the Saturday game. I let out a loud "Yeaaaaaa" and pumped by fist as Papa Smurf came out behind the plate to congratulate me -- I felt a little bad but in the moment of being a competitor sometimes you have to yell a little bit. It was nice to get the friday game slump out of the way and only give up 1 run over the 7 innings. I ended up getting 3 wins this week and not sure if I will be going tomorrow for #4. I ended up going 2 for 3 and scoring two runs so it was a pretty good game for me. I am happy for the rookies on the team who will get the full experience and any veterans who have not played on Saturday for a while -- it was a 2 year drought for me, but I am not going to complain at all.

We will be playing 38 Special, coached by Brunansky & Hrbek, they won an 11 inning grudge match with the Stingers 7-6. Stingers were leading in the 7th inning by 2 runs and a simple play was not made to end the game and allowed 38 special to tie it up and move on to extra innings.
The #1 seed Yo Julio's lost 6-4 -- while leading going into the 7th inning 4-3 they had 2 outs and nobody on and proceeded to load up the bases -- a seemingly harmless ground ball to the SS turned into a disaster and another hit later they gave up 3 runs.
The Warriors defeated the BSer's 3-1 and high drama was in the air as well -- in the 7th inning the BSer's had two on and nobody out -- but couldn't find the right hit to get the runners home.

Games are tomorrow -- 9:45 AM (Eastern Time) -- PED's vs. 38 Special
12:15 PM - Warriors vs. Sleepers

These games are broadcast live via stream on the internet -- msbnsports.net

Hammond Stadium is still under construction so the games will be played right at the complex rather than in the usual "big league" field.

Kangaroo Court tonight and Camp Karaoke this evening at the bar - should be a good time!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-12772421175824481622015-01-16T04:31:00.001-06:002015-01-16T04:31:23.947-06:00Friday morning thoughtsWell it is a usual friday morning -- I am up early, I am always amazed at how little sleep I get when I am at camp - my mind is ready to be playing baseball so sleep is like a treasure - I generally only get 5 (maybe 6) hours of decent sleep, so instead of just laying in bed wishing I was sleeping more I just get up and write a blog post -- so here I am.

Let's do a little recap -- if my unofficial standings are true I was fairly ok in my 'bold' predictions -- my comments were pretty good I missed on 38 special & Sleepers (they flip flopped) - 38's ran into pitching problems and finished up 3-4, but the Sleepers were 4-1 at one point. Yo Julio's led by a deep veteran bunch and good rookies are all around the best team in camp with lots of balance I give them the nod in their matchup against the Sleepers. The best matchup will be the BSer's led by Dave Hinnenkamp vs the Warriors and Lance Anderson -- this game will probably be a one run game. I am going to lean Warriors but this could go either way.

I had our team in the top four -- but I was not that off since we finished 4-3. I really felt the teams were as even as you can get them when they were announced and that played out with a lot of parity. The bottom four teams are still good teams - the C.S. Stingers are one of the best 2-5 teams I have seen at camp so I am glad we are not matched up against them today. We play the Saggy B's and they have zero pitching which helps us a lot - but we are not a sho-in to win at all. I will be pitching and look to shut down that lineup and I hope we can get our bats going early to help me out. I give us a good chance and with 38 special winning 2 games on thursday they carry the momentum and win on friday as well.

The Rookie-Pro Camper game is in the afternoon, it is a real bummer that because of the construction at Hammond the rookies will not get a taste of the big league ballpark but it will still be a good time. I generally play for the Pro Staff and room the outfield but we will see how my legs are feeling after pitching this morning.

It really has been a very good week, a great group of rookies this year (not that the past years have been bad) so just another memorable great week in the books! Let's finish it off with a win on friday!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-72336468290987025792015-01-15T16:31:00.001-06:002015-01-15T16:31:32.412-06:00It's scramble day at camp -- we play two on thursdaysAnother great day to be playing baseball - despite the mostly cloudy skies -- a lot teams are in the mix for the coveted top 4 spots at camp -- we played two of the teams that are in the "lower"division and even if they they win two they are probably not going to make it into the top 4 -- if we win one game we most likely find out way into the 4 seed and in the top division.

The morning game we were matched up against the Cuban Southern Stingers -- Eric Nelson was on the mound vs our wiley veteran John Spagnolo ("Spags") on the bump for us. Spags injured a hammy earlier in the week but the trainers got him put together enough to come out and start this game for us.

Eric and Spags were dealing early and nobody was scoring - but after a couple walks by Spags the Stingers struck for 3 runs to stake themselves out to an early lead. I figured we needed to get to Nelson early but we were not able to put anything together until the 5th inning when we scratched a run home, they countered with another run and it was 4-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning - we scored 1 (yours truly) and had the bases chucked with 1 out -- Besser, our standout rookie, lined a shot to left centerfield and our friend Johnny Moore tracked it down for the out, but a baserunning error found us out of the inning as Moore through out the runner who thought the ball was going to find some green. A foiled rally -- Spags got the team into the bottom of the 7th with a 4-2 score - we got our leadoff guy on and he came around to score with 1 out and a guy on first. Nelson focused in and seemingly hit a batter (the ball hit his hand and then the bat) well for some reason the umpire did not see it that way and it turned into a foul ball instead and then an out. A wild pitch advanced the runner to 2nd and Father Stan was up battling to get the tying base hit -- Nelson was not going to give in and on a 2-2 pitch Nelson painted the outside corner with a knee high fastball that the umpire rung up Fr. Stan. Ballgame -- nicely done, we just couldn't get our bats going so we drop the first game.

Our 2nd game we played the 2-4 Saggy B's (short for Balls) -- they were desperate for pitching but Ron S went out to start for them. I went to high school with his son (Mike) so it has been a fun week watching Ron (who I think is 71) have a fun time at camp. Ron got knocked around a bit as we touched him for 7 runs over 2 innings -- but I think he said he had a great time - he did a nice job and our bats were pretty warm and I got 2 of those hits off of Ron. The game ended up being more of a tune up for tomorrow and we ended up finishing off the 11-5 victory. We finish 4-3 for the week and most likely the 4 seed. I reviewed a couple of scenario's and in fact we had a situation where we could have fallen to the 5 seed if the BSer's beat the Warriors causing a major cluster "eff" of 4-3 teams and since we have been giving up too many runs -- well it might have cost us a top 4 finish. I was not real worried about it because we finish were we finish -- but who knows. Runs Against is the first tiebreaker for the teams - which is a fair way to do it.

A good day out there and after the other games finished up here are my "UNOFFICIAL" standings and matchups for the playoffs

#1 Seed - Yo Julio's 5-2
#2 Seed - BSer's 4-3
#3 Seed - Warriors 4-3
#4 Seed - Sleepers 4-3

#5 Seed - PED's 4-3
#6 Seed - 38's 3-4
#7 Seed - Stinger's 2-5
#8 Seed - Saggy B's 2-5

So the 1 plays the 4 and the 2 vs 3 play for the upper division and the 5 seed plays the 8 and the 6 vs 7 for the lower division -- whoever wins on friday -- plays saturday for the upper/lower championships -- so here is to a lower division championship run!!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-66824966234871973012015-01-14T20:59:00.000-06:002015-01-14T20:59:00.854-06:00Throwback Weds -- some good stuff from past blogs....I figured this stuff was good enough to put back into the blog mix

Videos:

Viola with a good story about Laudner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MonhOTjSOSs

Laudner talking about his first MLB Ah-ha moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS5gplnoFjA

Hrbek's clipboard fine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX5xKeWafZo

Bruno gets a camper in trouble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PikJzBL5lGg

Some oldies but goodies from past camps. Eric Rasmussen told our table a story about walking on the top of the metrodome in 2009. He evidently had to get in touch with the groundskeeper who let him up to the top row in the right field upper deck seats - he said it was around noon as they had to do this well before the game started that evening. They opened up this door that led to more stairs which went up to this "trap door" that you went out on the roof of the metrodome. He said it was somewhat bouncy and felt very interesting and the view was fantastic. Eric is the minor league pitching instructor for the Twins and glad he didn't fall off the roof because he is one of the better Pro Staff here in camp -- but a good story indeed.

And if any rookies are reading this -- ask Rick Aguilera about his spring ball experience when he was converting from 3B to pitching (he was playing in Alaska at the time) -- great story.

Thursday's tilt involved 2 games -- lots of teams could fall and rise in the last day.....

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-6347832872435924382015-01-14T13:06:00.000-06:002015-01-14T13:06:26.198-06:00Hump Day -- We play just one todayIt was an overcast day here in Fort Myers -- but it was a brisk 66 degrees at first pitch. The 2-2 PED's were matched up against the 1-3 38 Special -- a big swing game as who ever loses this game is probably destined for the bottom four -- really need to find a way to 4 wins so you can grab that top 4 spot. I was pitching today with my usual one day off -- I have found a nice Mon-Wed-Friday rotation mix -- granted I have been shelled the last two fridays -- so maybe I shouldn't plan on pitching on Friday.....but back to the Weds game. I was up against another fine lefty in Tarron Borgeson - he stands about 8 inches taller than me (maybe more) -- the last time I faced him he struck me out a couple times so I was hoping to fare better this time around.

We were the home team today so I went out and got the game off in fine fashion by striking out the first to batters, a base hit and then a ground out to end the inning. Our bats came to battle today and I even chipped in a hit and a run into the mix and we ended up scoring the maximum 5 runs -- so it was 5-0 after the first. I gave up a hit in the 2nd inning but able to get the next guys outs for an easy inning -- the 3rd inning was even better -- I threw 3 pitches and induced three ground balls -- I enjoy getting anyone out on one pitch so that was a much needed easy inning. I ran into a little trouble in the 5th inning - my legs were a little tired as I walked the first 2 batters (even though I struck out he first guy twice -- and he even told me that those were strikes as well - thanks Bob) but Big Eddie throw out a guy at home and I was able to get a pop out to shortstop to end the rally. We put another 2 runs on the board as I doubled home a run in the 6th to get us to 7 runs -- the top of the 7th came and was able to go 1-2-3 -- three ground outs and the PED's were back into the left hand column.

Felt good being on the mound and I probably only threw about 80 pitches which was even better - gotta get that arm rested up for the next game.

Standings after 5 games:

Yo Julio's 4-1
Sleepers 4-1
Warriors 3-2
PED's 3-2
BSer's 2-3
Saggy's 2-3
Stingers 1-4
38 Special 1-4

Now time for a nap......

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-37262104151266173692015-01-14T05:36:00.001-06:002015-01-14T05:36:19.579-06:00Kangaroo Court run down & Rookie RantCourt was in session last night and boy did the judge pile on the fees.
Video: http://youtu.be/w32TfytdoKc
In the past the fees have been light and plenty -- but last night he went for higher offenses and it was difficult not to have a fine that was below $20! This camper escaped any fines but did have fun with my mother. My mom is actually at camp (until today -- Weds) -- I decided she had a rough year and needed some time away from cold country so found a cheap Sun Country flight and the idea turns into reality (we make a different post about "Mom" later this week) -- but I figured the Kangaroo Court judge, the honorable Bert Blyleven, might need something -- so yes I tipped off my mom -- I did it. She got fined $20 -- video replay: http://youtu.be/3N-54YvdmMU
Kangaroo Court was amazingly funny with a number of fines going out (all the money raised goes to the Children Hospital in Fort Myers -- so an excellent cause). We had a Federal Judge making deals with the other team (Bert went light on him since he was worried about being in real court anytime soon), he fined a wife of a player for yelling at the umpire a little bit (she decided it would be a good idea to hire on the attorneys who could help you out - Berenguer, Becquer, or Gagne) - just a hint, don't hire them unless you want expensive entertainment.
Attorneys were introduced by the judge - video: http://youtu.be/CvBo_VlXS7M
The highlight of the night was shortly after court was in session when my teammate -- Big Eddie (he stands about 6'7") was asked by the honorable Bert Blyleven to stand guard for him as the Sergeant of Arms. Video: http://youtu.be/t4ZPIhigXNY

Good choice judge.

Rookie Rant
This blogger may have been a little harsh at the end of his last post - but don't read into at all. This year's crop of rookies has been a cool bunch to watch - not sure why but first of all, a lot of ball players are here. Guys that are at least legit players - they might not have the speed or power they had but they know how to play the game -- seeing a lot of decent baseball this week. The "fun" part of camp is the give and take with each guy out here - it might seem a little excessive but fun to give some of the rookies some "crap" about this or that -- but the reality is the camp gets a new group of guys who are walking around with these huge grins on their faces (oh and I remember that year) and hopefully, hopefully they are having a great week. We have day 3 in the books and I think at least 80% are having an amazing time with the other 20% might be just having a really good time (some injuries out there) -- this camp has been scarred by a few injuries (and family situations) where campers might be out for the week or they had to cancel at the last minute -- but I hope everything goes well for them. Rookies keep bringing it -- you might as well you have 3 (maybe 4) days left of the camp week -- make it a good one! (and wear some shorts while hanging out in the clubhouse for crying out loud -- nobody needs to see that)

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-55858962828217593362015-01-13T16:26:00.001-06:002015-01-15T07:55:05.631-06:00What is good on Monday -- might not be good for Tuesday (standings update)The day started wonderful - sunny blue skies probably a good 75 degrees by the first pitch as the PED's matched up against the Warriors -- both teams were 2-0 yesterday so this meant only one undefeated team in camp would be left after the morning game. Lance Anderson was on the mound and he had a no-hitter in his first outing -- well the 2nd batter ended that no-hit bid but we couldn't build upon another hit in the ending to scratch a run off of LA. The weather was good -- but the baseball was bad -- the crisp monday defense turned into seeing eye hits and not so good play in the field for the PED's -- after the dust settled we were in a big hole after the Warriors scored 9 runs through 3 innings -- we finally put together a semi rally by scoring 1 off of LA but the Warriors kept scoring and it ended up being a 15-4 blowout.
Our 2nd game was against the Sleepers -- i felt this was a good opportunity to pick up a victory since i personally was thinking we could hit the pitching staff - we did score 6 runs -- which is acceptable -- but after one teammate (who can pitch) pulled a hammy in the morning game we ran out of arms on the team -- the pitchers on the mound couldn't find the strike zone so it ended up being a 12-6 loss pulling our record to a nice mediocre 2-2. One item to note is we have probably effectively taken ourselves out of tiebreakers since we have given up so many runs. We played better overall but too many walks and a couple of untimely errors didn't help -- we should have scored more runs but many of the guys on the team were spent after spending the afternoon in the 82 degree weather - it just wears down the average camper. I did a stupid thing and almost got injured as I had my first decent hit at camp that went for a double and on the next hit I rounded third trying to score (which was stupid since we were down by 8) and could have hurt my self -- ended up with a small skinned up knee -- but otherwise I was fine -- but could have hurt a hammy or groin which is not needed.

Updated Standings:

Warriors 3-1
Sleepers 3-1
Yo Julio's 3-1
BSer's 2-2
PED's 2-2
Stingers 1-3
38's Special 1-3
Saggy Balls 1-3

Good parity -- the big upset was the 0-3 Stingers beat the 3-0 Warriors in the afternoon game.

This evening is kangaroo court which is a highlight for the camp and campers -- I hope the rookies bring plenty of cash as they will need to pay for various "offenses". This rookie class is interesting as this blogger is getting a lot of grief for just covering my team and the things I am doing -- it's my blog rookies, deal with it. One rookie declined an interview as I was going to highlight him as a special feature for the blog - I told him he can even sponsor it (he owns a business) as well. Stupid Rookie, he is probably the front runner for ROY - he is a very good ball player. I hope Blyleven nails a few of these rookies and raises a bunch of cash at tonight's court. (FYI - the rookies have been great, lots of fun....)

I will probably get some video of the court and upload it tomorrow afternoon as we just have one game to play tomorrow and get a much needed afternoon off.

PED's need to find some pitching for thursday and we will be in good shape to be a top four team.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-52278399518578307232015-01-12T16:10:00.000-06:002015-01-15T07:56:06.243-06:00Monday Games are in the books!The PED's were matched up with against the BSer's and Yo Julio's today -- I think both teams are solid "top 4" quality at the camp this year so we had our hands full.

The morning game started at 10am and with yours truly on the mound I knew I had to be good to be effective today. I was matched up against Dave Hinnenkamp who year after year is one of the best all around players at camp as a good hitter, fielder, and a quality pitcher as well. We were the visitors and we scratched out a run in the top of the first to get things going - but the bottom of the first BSer's plated 2 runs to take the lead. I was not sharp at all and wild, walking a number of batters (let alone I felt like the umpire was putting the squeeze on the strike zone -- but that is for another blog) as well but escaped disaster by limiting them to two runs. BSer's struck for another run in the 3rd inning to stretch their lead and we scored in the 4th to make it a 3-2 ballgame. The bottom of the fourth BSer's put together a mini rally as our fielders did not make the plays and BSer's are up 5-2. PED's hitters finally started putting the ball in play and found some holes (helped by some errors) and scored 2 runs in the top of the 6th inning to bring us to 5-4. I struggled in the bottom of the 6th but stranded 3 runners after BSer's had loaded up the bases with only 1 out - I struck out one guy while getting another to pop out to end the inning (and potential rally). PED's came out fast and plated a run to tie the game in the top of the 7th -- then with 2 on and 1 out - Don Brandt (a good North Dakotan guy - GO BISON!) hit a line drive down the first base line for a 2 RBI base hit -- PED's are now up 7-5. I went out to the mound to close out the game and after getting 2 outs, I walked one guy and then induced a weak pop up to third base and the PED's notch the victory - a good all around game by the PED's.

The 2nd game we were matched up against the Yo Julio's - who won their first game - so both teams were looking to get to 2-0. The game was very well pitched and we will fast forward to the bottom of the fifth inning with the YJ's having a 1-0 lead. Sutherland was pitching a very nice game to this point, the PED's decided it was time to get the bats going and we scored 4 runs to get that lead while the rain started to pour down a little - we held them in the top of the sixth and then tacked on 2 more runs in the bottom of the inning to stretch the lead to 6-1. Schmidt finished out the complete game victory by getting the last 3 outs and the PED's are 2-0 for the day.

Day 1 - Standings
Warriors 2-0
PED's 2-0
Sleepers 1-1
38 Special 1-1
Yo Julio's 1-1
BSer's 1-1
Stingers 0-2
Saggy Balls 0-2

The Stingers scored one run today and Saggy Balls scored 0 -- so a long day for a couple of teams -- we will play two tomorrow as long as the weather holds up -- might rain tomorrow but today's forecast was ugly and it ended up being ok to get the games in!

Cigar & autograph party tonight....looking forward to it.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-80695045185266568982015-01-11T21:24:00.000-06:002015-01-11T21:24:10.519-06:00Teams Announced....games on tomorrow!Sunday was a great day - nice and warm out there with the temperature topping out at 82 - a little breeze felt good as the campers had morning workouts followed by the rookies playing a scrimmage after lunch. A total of 36 rookies are here in attendance so a good crop and to be honest I think we have some players in this group -- not that the previous years of rookies have been bad -- last year ended up being a good group of rookie campers but overall I think it will be hard to figure out which teams will be better -- in previous years it was pretty clear that certain teams were pretty good and some teams would struggle -- but it is the rookies which bring the most question marks -- Can they play? Can they stay healthy? I have seen great rookies on day 1 and 2....but by day 4 and 5 they are injured and cannot help out their team (for some reason or another) so they really are hard to figure out at times - the week long grind is interesting to say the least.

So on with the teams -- names & the Pro Staff which will be leading them:

1) Yo Julio's -- coached by Julio Becquer, Tim Laudner, & Greg Gagne
2) Warriors -- coached by Rick Aguilera & Phil Roof
3) Sleepers -- coached by Frank Quilici, Milt Cuyler, & Dick Stigman
4) BSer's -- coached by Bill 'Soup' Campbell & Steve Braun
5) PED's -- coached by Gene Larkin, Juan Berenguer & Eric Rasmussen
6) "38" Special - coached by Kent Hrbek & Tom Brunansky
7) Saggy Balls - coached by Mickey Hatcher & Frank Viola
8) Cuban Southern Stingers - coached by Tony Oliva, Stew Cliborn & Lee Stange

In previous years I had a good handle on the teams which I thought would be good and the teams which I thought would be bad -- this year I have 2 teams which will finish in the top 4 and 2 teams that I think will finish in the bottom 4 (and I know of one camper who I going to give me big time grief -- but his championship run is going to end this year.....IMO) so here are my power rankings and maybe a reason or two why I think this --

Top 4 teams:
Warriors - this team looks like a good group with Lance Anderson leading the way, They have pitching depth and good defense and offense to mix in -- not sure who is going to catch for them but they will figure that out
Yo Julio's - I think they have the Rookie of the Year on this team (could be a number of options), they are kind of a wild card here, but solid vets with pitching depth -- they might be a bit slow which could lead to question marks for defense
38 Special - They are a bubble team - they have some really good players but I am not sure of the pitching depth here, promising rookie talent will get this team in the top 4
PED's - I am always bullish on my team, this year we have a good mix of veterans and a couple rookies -- I think we are up and down really solid, hitting should be a strength along with defense, do we have enough pitching is my question

Bottom 4 teams (because not all the teams can finish in the top 4)
BSer's - this is a pretty solid team, hard to put them in the bottom four, but they looked "old", they are 4 deep for pitching and back to my "rookie" questions - if the rookies play well, they will be in the top four
Cuban Southern Stingers - this team is pretty solid - I like the rookies on this team so if they play up to their ability they will be able to move up to the coveted top 4 seeding
Sleepers - this team seemed old to me as well, but that said, good pitching depth will help them along, not sure who is going to playing in the outfield
Saggy Balls - they have some good players, but I am not sure if they have any pitching depth - this could be a problem for them.

At the end of the week -- we play 7 games -- we are going to have a lot of 4-3 teams (or 3-4 teams) -- 5 wins is probably the #1 seed this year.

The first hour in the clubhouse should be fun tomorrow -- if I picked your team in the bottom four -- make me eat my words and push my team in the bottom four -- you can control that.....otherwise, in all seriousness - this is done for fun and I hope nobody gets really ticked off -- the rookies are like horses and can be difficult to handicap......

Two Games tomorrow -- the weather appears it might not cooperate, first game should be OK, but that afternoon game might be a problem.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-13181557137188067292015-01-11T06:36:00.001-06:002015-01-11T06:36:47.370-06:00Sunday - Work Outs and warming upThe camp begins today - we will get some BP, infield/outfield drills, pitching/catching tips and if you want in the afternoon some scrimmages will be going on. Last night was a the opening night banquet and the highlight is when the "Rookie" campers give their one minute talk about who they are, where they come from and hopefully why they are there. We have a bumper crop of rooks with about 40 of them in camp - early indicators have the camp as "older" (more or less meaning the average age is closer to 60 than having a mix of younger and older campers) -- but I am actually bullish on this class as I didn't see too many "out of shape" guys so when I handicap the teams in tonight's post it might be hard to figure out how who can play and who cannot!! Good times.
The camp will have 8 teams this year even though we have well over 100 campers in attendance - the teams will be 13 and 14 players which is good for defense, but not so fun for offense since we use the full lineup for batting and sometimes hard to roll over the lineup unless you are scoring at a softball pace -- so hopefully at-bats will not be a premium this week.

A few notes from last night --

Tom Brunansky - "I didn't have a job a few months ago!" -- his comment when asked by a camper that he didn't think a MLB coach would keep showing up for camp -- obviously he was in limbo for about 6 weeks after Gardy got canned and we are happy for two reasons -- he is the hitting coach and that he is here at camp - one of the better camp pro's here.

Frank Viola - "I would have loved to received an offer from the Twins" - I ended up chatting with Sweet Music for a good 5 minutes - he is a new grandpa this year so things are good for the Viola's right now after having a rough spring - Frank had open heart surgery in April 2014 but is doing great. But I specifically asked him if he was interested in the pitching coach position for the Twins -- My thoughts were that the Twins staff is not very good and potential conflicts in pitching philosophy -- I also knew he is working in the Mets organization which is stocked full of prospects and also a AAA job in Vegas pares in comparison with an actual MLB job I was wrong -- Frank would have loved to get the job for the Twins (he did have a phone interview with the executives) and he loves Minnesota -- so who knows, maybe in the future we could see Sweet Music back in Minnesota (probably only if Molitor's staff really stinks it up, so not sure if I am rooting for that).

Bill "Soup" Campbell - The actual first "free agent" in MLB - because of a contract snafu - Soup was a free agent after him and the Twins didn't come to an agreement on a contract after the 1976 season -- he signed a $1 million contract with the Yankees (which was "huge" back then) over a 5 year period -- so good money for the day - So Soup was a pioneer but a fun chat with him on how that came about and it was the door opener to free agent but in his words, "the best thing that happened for the players was arbitration and salaries really started rising", Bill mentioned.

We will be blogging this evening after my ever popular prediction blog -- which on Monday morning is always fun since I can't pick every team to finish first.....

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-29394089225544495782015-01-08T21:28:00.000-06:002015-01-08T21:28:18.180-06:002015 Camp Blog and I am feeling a little fat and sassy....So the January weather strikes again with cold temperatures and extreme wind chills this week before fantasy camp -- last year it was even worse (lower temps, much lower wind chills) so that direct flight to Fort Myers could not come soon enough.

So a few thoughts before I get my packing going tomorrow (yet another year where I will be getting things together on the friday before heading out) -- you would think I would be all packed up on Tuesday! I guess coaching (and scouting) a 3rd grade boys basketball team needed more attention than my packing for a week of baseball. We have our first game tomorrow and the boys are set to dominate (ok maybe not....but we have a good time).

This year at camp will be interesting -- I seriously am like that ball player who is in the 2nd (or maybe 3rd) year of a lucrative contract and have gotten amazingly lazy. I love reading articles about sports figures and how they worked out in the off season and have declared they are in "the best shape of their life" -- See article if you want to know what I am talking about:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/search/best+shape+of+his+life/

I am announcing quite the opposite -- this year (my sixth year attending fantasy camp) I will be officially in the "worst shape of my life" (when counting fantasy camps) -- I weighed in at 190 earlier today at the old Lifetime Fitness Moore Lake in Friendly Fridley -- the last time I weighed this much was in 1999 -- so basically I got lazy, ate everything and anything and bam -- an extra 15 pounds finds his way around that waistline. It mostly has been a diet thing - eating out way too much has caused me to balloon up -- I am hoping most of uniforms fit ok.....so pictures might be at a premium this year. I am a bit more concerned about my ability to stay injury free - my workouts have been light and body is not nearly as in good of shape -- I would say 2011 and 2012 I was in very good "camp" shape and I checked in at around 170-175 lbs which is where I really should be -- when you stand 5'7" -- 175 is plenty of poundage to be dragging around. I am just lucky I am not in a contract year as I would really need to pull a rabbit out of my hat. So I am going to apologize ahead of time to my teammates and hopefully this extra weight turns triples into doubles and get my CC Sabathia pitching performances going -- so we will see -- let's just focus on being injury free, a few more feet away from the buffet line and, as always, just have a good time.

35 hours until that flight heads out of cold country.....we will keep you updated this week and BOLD predictions will be in play along with usual assortment of blogs.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-13357611037722073452014-01-12T13:17:00.001-06:002014-01-12T14:43:31.530-06:00The Luckiest Man Alive
I think I was thinking about that quote on the last day. We conclude the long week of baseball with an award and final banquet night. I really do think I am a very blessed (lucky – I suppose you can say that) man. I get to spend a week in Florida with a bunch of good guys playing baseball – all the while my wife is at home taking care of our two boys (who are 10 & 8) and putting in her 40 hours of work as well. I am amazed at her patience and willingness to let me continue to go on this adventure every year – I guess I have the defense of I am not a not a hunter guy or fisherman who spends many weekends away so I just take my week in Florida and go with it. I usually don't make too many comments about the awards – but earlier in the day I was discussing who might win what award with a fellow camper and for the first time I was really perplexed as to who should win what awards. Most years a few players come out of the woodworks and bat .800 or just pitch a couple shutouts awards are somewhat known – but going into this evening with so many campers and the fact I only played everyone once and one entire team we didn't even get to play not sure who was shining and who was not – I was, however, pretty confident that my roommate would find his way to some hardware. The Rookie of the Year was definitely something in the running for DS and quite frankly he should garner some camp MVP votes as well – DS had a very solid week – hitting about .600, pitching 2 complete games (giving up 0 earned runs mind you), played two full games at catcher, played third base and shortstop and maybe had one throwing error (I think it was intentional to get a guy on the other team a hit too) – truly a week worth some take home hardware. The over 50 Cy Young went to our 81 year old teammate Curt Sampson – that was fun. I was nominated for the Cy Young and MVP this year – I have been lucky (that word is a theme here) to have been nominated a number of times and blessed to win three different awards over the years – yep, really lucky – so to be honest I was fine with not getting any awards this year (let alone I played well this week but not enough to get any camp hardware). I was very surprised during the Rookie of the Year as DS didn't even stand up – I was thinking this was a good omen, meaning – DS will win another award instead, as another guy won the ROY (he seems very shocked, surprised, humble, and happy), DS was nominated for the the under 50 Gold Glove – didn't come his way, in fact the 2013 Camp ROY took this home. Nothing against the 2013 ROY but I am not sure what positions he played to get this award – I was told his knee was bothering him all week (when he pitched against us this is what I was told). Now it came down to MVP – both DS and I were nominated to stand up – I was waiting to hear DS as the winner but it went to another camper who is a great baseball player in Will McMacken. That was a shocker – I think my roommate got robbed, but DS is a great guy and I am sure it rolled off his back – I have been around camp 5 years and his play this week was worthy of some camp hardware – I guess the votes/nominations didn't go his way – rant over. The awards are fun and from year to year I think it is a good thing to spread around the awards since year after year we have some very good ball players that come back and truly play very well out here. Certainly not a big deal but when you get to write a blog you can type about anything – so that was my soapbox for the week. I also know a few other campers had weeks like DS that didn't get the recognition – a tough year for the underdogs.<o:p></o:p>

Back to Minnesota we go – I look forward to seeing my wife and kids – I really do miss them the first few days are nice but boy about day 4 or 5 I miss being home. The bed at home will be super comfy and then Monday back in the office will bring everything in perspective. Until next year – this camper needs a break – about 51 weeks – the good part is this year I am as healthy as I have ever been after a week of camp – so no walking around like an old man and no post camp surgeries for this camper (I think I heard of at least 3 guys where this is not the case) – so in one more instance, I am pretty lucky. I'm not even Irish (at least I don't think I am).<o:p></o:p>

One last note – I got an email from Seth Stohs from TwinsDaily today (Sunday) and he recommended that I put something together on their site – so I think that will be my homework this evening – look for that if you dare on TwinsDaily.com <o:p></o:p>

If you have any questions please email me at firstname.lastname@example.com – send me a twitter message @fantasycamper or find me on facebook – facebook.com/bennep <o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>

Til next year!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-58872647367862984242014-01-11T15:10:00.001-06:002014-01-11T15:10:54.739-06:00Playoffs...Playoffs? Playoffs!!...I am just hoping we can win another gameToday is the final day of the camp -- 4 teams get to play for 2 championships -- the morning game matchup was the Padrones vs. Pro's Plus -- the game started out fast with 5 runs in the top of the first tinning by the Padrones and Pro's Plus clawed back with 2 runs in the bottom of the inning -- it appeared a shootout was in the works -- no more runs were plated and Padrones took home the victory and the lower division championship by virtue of the 5-2 score.

The afternoon game matchup was C&C Crew vs. the Humble "13" -- we had an excellent pitching matchup with Anderson facing Conzemius -- the pitching was billed as good and it was very good -- in fact 0-0 score until the bottom of the 5th when Humble scored 2 runs off of Anderson. C&C came back in the top of the 6th inning by putting together a rally that yielded two runs to tie the game. We move on to the 7th inning where C&C put together rally and got the go ahead run in off a sharp single by Mileo. Humble was able to get the leadoff batter aboard but Anderson did his part to retire the next three batters and C&C takes the victory and championship 3-2.

Tonight is the final banquet/dinner and awards night. They will be giving out a number of awards and it should be interesting to see how the awards go -- with so many campers and great performances it should be very interesting -- in the past couple years I have been fortunate enough to take home a Gold Glove, MVP, and Cy Young awards -- I would think that this year I would be in discussion but so many other good players we will see who will take some hardware home this evening. It's been a good week -- a long week -- we will get one more update with the award winners and then finish out the evening by watching some football!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-33092506014782222142014-01-10T15:18:00.001-06:002014-01-10T15:18:36.223-06:00Playoff Results -- a couple good games and a couple shutoutsSo if you were 7-1 today -- that was not a good thing -- both top seeds were beat today --

Humble 13 came back from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 over the BruBekSki's and will play the C&C Crew after they destroyed the No-Lo's 10-0 in the upper division.

In the lower division -- the Padrones won 4-0 over GagNe w/ a Spoon and the Warriors lost to Pro's Plus 4-3.

Tomorrow you can watch these games online streaming live at www.msbnsports.net -- those games will be played 9:30 AM EST and 12:15 PM EST.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-76688066609969368582014-01-10T14:53:00.002-06:002014-01-10T14:53:14.928-06:00A field of dreams.....It is friday here at camp and boy it was a humid morning -- the clouds covered the sun but it was warm -- around 80 degrees and at least 60% humidity out there -- so the sweat started soon after walking to the field. We were up against the C&C Crew and Lance Anderson was on the bump. I started the game for us and boy was I sore all over -- a good trip to the training room to get the day started is much needed and very appreciated.

The top of the first went well -- I was able to get them 1-2-3 --- 3 groundouts -- a clean inning. We started fast in the bottom with a leadoff triple -- but he was stranded at third -- I came up with 2 outs and bounced out to first base. A good opportunity to get the lead was squandered. Lance and I continued to pitch scoreless innings and going into the top of the 4th we were tied up at 0-0 -- then things started to roll for C&C -- hits, a walk, hits, and a couple more hits -- the dust settled and 7 runs were scored in that inning -- 3 more runs in the 6th inning capped off the scoring -- we couldn't touch Lance as he did a great job of staying in the strike zone with his breaking stuff -- our offense didn't have a chance -- a well played game by the C&C Crew.

On to Kangaroo Court this evening.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-72793171176128096952014-01-09T21:28:00.001-06:002014-01-09T21:30:07.243-06:00Unofficial Standings -- Playoff MatchupsThese are unofficial but I think I have them correct:

Top 4 teams:

1) No-Lo's 7-1
2) BruBekSki's 7-1
3) Humble 13 6-2
4) C&C Crew 5-3

Next 4 teams:

5) Pro's Plus 4-4
6) Padrones 3-5
7) GagNe w/ a Spoon 3-5
8) Warriors 3-5

Bottom 2:

9) You Must Be Kidding 2-6
10) Stingers 0-8

When quickly reviewing my predictions -- I had No-Lo's and BruBek's correct (top teams) -- I missed on the Padrones. I thought C&C Crew and Warriors would fight for #4 -- I had it correct, but Warriors were not the team they fought with -- I completely missed on Humble 13 as I had them in my bottom 5 -- they had a good solid team -- no real injuries for them.

Not going to make predictions for the playoffs -- too many variables. Our game puts us up against the C&C Crew -- who have some very good players -- but they have some injuries which have slowed them down and their offense doesn't have good consistency. They had numerous batters who needed runners when we played them on Weds -- so I have a hard time thinking that has changed. They will have the MVP/Cy Young (best pitcher in camp) on the mound for them tomorrow -- so on one hand that gives them the edge -- great pitching can always trump -- but I don't think they are very good defensively so if we don't strike out more than 10 times -- we should be able to scratch some hits and hopefully turns into runs. Our team is pretty solid all around -- we don't dominate in any one area but put together we are fairly good. I will be on the mound tomorrow and the recipe is -- keeping hitters off balance -- don't walk guys -- let our defense do the talking (we have played great defense since the first game of the week). If I had to make a prediction I would think we walk away with a 3-2 (maybe 4-2, 4-3 victory) -- I do think the game will be of the 1 or 2 run variety -- if we played a 7 game series against these guys - it would probably go 7 games.
Offense: Edge No-Lo's -- Defense: Edge No-Lo's -- Pitching - Edge C&C Crew (potentially the big neutralizer) -- the weather looks like it will be sunny tomorrow (a new and exciting thing -- I have not wore my sunglasses in two days).

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://firstname.lastname@example.com:blogger.com,1999:blog-6638705318757384604.post-76391510207461399152014-01-09T20:46:00.001-06:002014-01-09T20:46:26.823-06:00Thursday is here and a scramble for playoff seedingIt's thursday here at camp and we will play 2 more games to finish out the "regular" season play before the first round of the playoffs on friday. The day was cloudy and alittle rain in the morning but the rain held off and the temp was in the low 70's -- humid though but good enough to play. We obviously wanted to win 2 games today -- but in reality we wanted to get through the day without any injuries or having to pitch too many guys.

The first game we started Doug -- he pitched earlier this week with success so we rolled with him -- we were playing the Padrones who were 3-3 coming into the day -- earlier in the week I thought this team was one of the better teams in camp. Doug pitched great -- didn't walk too many guys and before you knew it - he had 5 shutout innings -- we struck for two in the bottom of the third -- a basehit for Sorney and a double for me -- we later scored on groundouts to break through for the scoring. Doug got much needed run support in the bottom of the 5th inning when we got our hitting shoes on and scored another 6 times -- we unfortunately gave up one run in the 6th inning but Doug completed what he started and finished off the game and the No-Lo's won 10-1 -- good defense, timely hitting -- and solid pitching - a good recipe for a fantasy camp win.

The 2nd game we were matched up against the 0-7 Mexican Stingers -- at this point both teams were low on energy but we knew we had to plow through this one. Ron Coomer made an executive decision and we started our spry 81 year old Curt Sampson to take the mound. The first inning went ok, after surrending two hits Curt was able to get the next three guys out -- so the plan was for him to pitch just one inning -- well one inning turned into two inning which turned into three innings......before you know it we are headed into the 5th inning and we are winning 7-0 -- The Stingers plated a run in the 5th to make it a 7-1 ball game (we lost the shutout). Curt was still dealing on the mound at this point. The catcher (Doug) wanted to take a break from behind the plate - so I stepped in and took over in the 6th inning behind the dish -- I ended up surviving a quick inning with Curt only have to throw 4 pitches -- 3 of them were ground balls which were quickly turned into outs -- what a thrill it was to be able to catch Curt - who has been to 21 (or maybe 22) camps over the years! He also had his 3 sons and 3 grandsons with him on the team as teammates!
We ended up winning the game and securing the #1 seed for the camp -- whoa -- I figured we had a pretty good team but I did not expect us to have the #1 team -- we finished with an identical record as the BruBekSki's at 7-1 -- but by virtue of the tiebreaker (runs against) we prevailed by a handful of runs over them -- but it all comes down to friday. Here at camp the friday playoff games are what matters -- win on friday play on saturday -- lose on friday and you are going to watch the games from the stands.

Today was a good day hitting -- I finally got my bat working and collected 5 hits in 6 AB's -- DS topped by effort with a 6 for 6 day -- so a lot of hits all around -- a good day indeed. I think our legs were somewhat refreshed since we didn't have to run too hard since we had built up some leads in the games as well.

Big day tomorrow!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~Fantasy Camperhttp://email@example.com


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subset: commoncrawl


text:
2001 Audi A4 • 143,000 miles
The esp light is on an the glow plug light is flashing aswell and when I touch the accelorator the car goes into limp mode what would be causing this?
January 14, 2013.
January 14, 2013.
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text:
Nice plugin!
Having one slight issue. I've imported an xml file from a WordPress.com export. But it failed to import several images. It did import all post, categories, tags and several images. But it left some images out, and left them linked to the WordPress.com blog. I have tried it a couple times to see it would get what it didn't the first time. No Luck. Any ideas why this might be happening?
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text:
Kidsday meets the 'Charismatic Enigma' Jeff Hardy
Kidsday reporters attended the TNA Impact Wrestling World Tour and interviewed the former TNA heavyweight champion Jeff Hardy at the Theatre at Westbury. Videojournalist: Pat Mullooly (April 4, 2013)
Newsday.com now uses Facebook for our comment boards. Please read our guidelines and connect your Facebook account to comment.
Brentwood man killed, second man wounded in shooting Two injured in early morning fire at North Babylon house Marchers rally for action on climate change in Manhattan North Babylon mother killed crossing Southern State Parkway after surviving accident Local retailers talk Small Business Saturday 2 dead in fiery truck-car collision in Inwood Black Friday protest Good Morning LI: It's Black Friday! Forty years of football Blimp makes unplanned landing Good Morning LI: It's Thanksgiving! Judge to rule 'soon' on whether to shut down fantasy sports


text:
Three of every 10 water meters sold in the United States come from a Milwaukee-area company.
In Glendale, General Electric Co.'s water division produces water purifiers that are sold around the world.
And all told, four of the world's 11 largest water-technology companies have a significant presence in southeastern Wisconsin, according to an analysis of data from a new Goldman Sachs report.
The report buttresses what the region's economic strategists have been saying for months: that the Milwaukee region is positioned to become a global player in one of this century's most important growth industries.
"We are going to develop ourselves and market ourselves as the water capital," said Richard Meeusen, chief executive of Badger Meter Inc., the Brown Deer-based maker of water meters. "My vision is to one day get (more water-industry) companies to locate here."
Wall Street has tracked automakers, railroads and retailers almost since there were stocks and bonds. But water remains a novelty. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. didn't begin to research water treatment as a stand-alone industrial sector until late 2005.
Today, its water analysts are openly bullish.
Their March 24 report, "The Essentials of Investing in the Water Sector," sees $425 billion a year in global demand for technologies that clean, conserve, recycle, desalinate and pump water. The sector has the potential to expand 3% to 5% yearly, led by double-digit growth in such places as China and India.
"Demand for water - the natural resource with no substitute - continues to escalate at unsustainable rates," fueled by rampant population growth, tapped-out aquifers and pollution that dwindles supplies, the report says.
Civic leaders in metro Milwaukee woke up to the same potential about a year ago, although the region spawned its own cluster of water-technology companies decades earlier.
The Milwaukee 7 economic-strategy consortium has begun mapping water companies in the area and eventually wants to recruit venture capitalists, chemical engineers and other entrepreneurs to coax more growth from the sector.
Meeusen, of Badger Meter, has helped drive the effort. "Water is all I think about," he said.
Now, he wants to make Milwaukee "the Silicon Valley for freshwater industries."
Major players
Perhaps surprisingly, the Goldman Sachs report establishes that Milwaukee already is firmly in the game. In the investment bank's rankings of 55 "global companies in water," four of the top 11 are active in the region:
• No. 1 Veolia Water SA of France announced this year that it will bring some research-and-development work and funding to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The $1.5 million, 10-year grant came after Veolia won a $400 million contract to operate the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District.
• ITT Corp., the No. 7 water company, operates two water subsidiaries in greater Milwaukee: one in Pewaukee that makes huge pumps, and another in Brown Deer that specializes in wastewater treatment. Together, they employ 135 people.
• No. 9-ranked GE Water & Process Technologies, a division of General Electric, uses a fast-growing Glendale subsidiary as its global headquarters for a line of residential water purifiers - a boom industry in places such as India and China, where Westerners cannot even brush their teeth with tap water because it is so polluted. GE last month chartered a joint venture to make residential water purifiers specifically for India out of its Glendale offices, where it employs 120 people.
• No. 11 Siemens AG of Germany has acquired two Wisconsin companies - one in Waukesha that employs 205, and one near Wausau that has 222 workers - making the state its biggest U.S. hub of water-related R&D.
Badger Meter, which ranks 45th on the Goldman Sachs list of water-related companies, had more than 1,100 employees worldwide at the end of 2007.
In addition, UWM is creating a graduate-level School of Freshwater Sciences, and its harbor campus south of downtown has 12 full-time scientists, a $2.4 million operating budget and $4 million in research grants and contracts.
In an effort to maintain momentum in the sector, the Milwaukee 7 is hosting a "water summit" in mid-July to help local water companies exploit global opportunities.
Profits surging
GE saw operating profits jump 50% from 2006 to 2007 in its water division, a spokeswoman said. The company doesn't break out numbers for its Glendale facility, although the spokeswoman said it had double-digit growth.
ITT saw its water division sales jump to $3.5 billion last year from $2.8 billion two years earlier.
"Globally, water consumption is doubling every 20 years, more than 2X population growth," the Goldman Sachs report says. "Given current trends, by 2025, it is estimated that about one-third of the global population will not have access to adequate drinking water."
Nine of China's 10 largest cities "have unfit drinking water," it notes, adding that half of China's rivers and lakes and 35% of its aquifers are "classified as polluted." What's more, China has only 7% of the world's renewable water supply but 21% of its population.
At the same time, North America is in the enviable position of having access to 15% of the global water supply and just 8% of the population, Goldman found.
Yet that hardly makes the United States immune to freshwater bottlenecks. U.S. water demand has tripled in the last 30 years, while the population is up just 50%. And much of the country's water pipe system - installed up to 100 years ago - is full of leaks and urgently needs an upgrade.
Consequently, Meeusen said, "The biggest opportunity right now is in the U.S.," with an annual market for water infrastructure of nearly $100 billion, four times the size of China's.
Falling water tables hit home in suburban Waukesha, which lies outside the Lake Michigan watershed and cannot tap the lake under state treaties. Its underground reservoirs have fallen by 500 feet, leaving some aquifers with concentrations of radium at more than twice the federal limit. Gov. Jim Doyle called last week for a special session of the state Legislature to approve legislation that would restrict diversions of Great Lakes water to dry parts of the nation or the world.
Bottle backlash
Goldman Sachs anticipates a "backlash against bottled water" that could also drive increased demand for clean tap water. The analysts predict consumers will realize that a standard half-liter bottle of water can cost 4,000 times the same volume of municipal tap water "with little to no actual quality difference."
Because the economic stakes are so high, the Milwaukee region is sure to face competition as it works to establish itself as a global water resource center.
Meeusen says that no other region in the United States is fashioning a water hub, but the top six water companies on Goldman's list all are headquartered outside the U.S. Goldman also predicts the imminent emergence of Asian competitors.
Singapore, which has chronic water shortages, has branded itself as a "Global Hydrohub." After GE Water announced that it would build a "world-scale" R&D center with 100 top-tier researchers in Singapore in 2006, Siemens Water Technologies followed suit with a $36 million water technology R&D center there. In addition, the National University of Singapore has opened a research center and expects to graduate a steady stream of environmental and chemical engineers.
Singapore, however, depends on neighboring Malaysia for its freshwater supplies - a disadvantage that Milwaukee has avoided naturally because of its proximity to the Great Lakes.
"It's good to have assets in an industry that's increasingly important in the future," said Jim Paetsch, deputy director of the Milwaukee 7.


text:
Mad Men's Argument for the Women's Movement
Mad Men's Argument for the Women's Movement
Mad Men's Argument for the Women's Movement
I barely know what time it is, as I just got back from a memorial service in Paris for a very dear friend. But I was greeted with an urgent message from my daughter that I immediately had to catch up with the latest episode of Mad Men, titled "The Other Woman."
So I did ASAP, and so I write ASAP... because if any person on this planet ever wondered why the Women's Movement was necessary or why it was originally called the Women's Liberation Movement, this episode shows and tells them, loud and clear. Bravo to the writers! Bravo to the entire ensemble cast!
In the brilliantly captured 1960s world of episode 11 we saw Peggy, Joan and Megan completely dominated and insulted by men as they endured varying insults and indignities that young women today can barely imagine. Until change was insisted upon, and we saw the beginning of this insistence before our very eyes during this episode, even those men who loved their wives usually viewed them as possessions whose purpose was to serve, entertain, nurture and amuse, as well as provide children. Even educated husbands, unless they were raised in highly unusual families or somehow developed into the finest and most compassionate of human beings, saw marriage as ownership as they came and went as they pleased. Things got very ugly for women who said "no" to this accepted and ingrained societal way of life.
In the office, regardless of brainpower or innate ability, manipulation and condescension were the order of the day. This was true even when what was expected or demanded was the deepest possible insult to dignity and self esteem.
Therefore, more often than not, it was necessary for women to get what they desired or needed through sex. All of this occurred, of course, during a time when abortion was illegal. This and former episodes showed the deep struggle and shame of a single woman with child, as well as the shame of being divorced by your husband after having a child, and the economic terror tied to raising a child alone.
The burgeoning changes clearly shown involved all of the three women this segment concentrated on:
Peggy, a true genius at what she could produce professionally, earlier had been impregnated (her mom is raising her child -- family put downs are her diet) by Pete, whose moral compass is where the sun cannot shine (more about that later). Don had seen her early abilities and given her the chance to leave the secretarial pool, but the culture of the time and his own blindness, caused one too many insults. Peggy resigns, a very hard decision as she is a deeply loyal and decent human being. Her parting with Don, who is left with disbelief, is done with enormous dignity and courage. Peggy, looking radiant, breaks into an enormous smile as the elevator, her exit, is before her.
Megan, devoted to Don and his children, always wanted both marriage and family, and an acting career. She is very smart, as well as beautiful, sensual and ambitious. Her professional detour at Don's firm showed her seducing him and then, with a serious nudge from a dad where there were strong oedipal bonds, decide that having been given every advantage at Don's firm, she wanted to leave to pursue her acting dreams. Don struggled but supported her until he realized that her success would mean periods of separation. Rather than discuss this maturely, he withdrew, and she demanded something more of him. He heard her. Later, she came to his office for what men usually came to women for -- a purely sexual experience that left her feeling fulfilled and powerful for her audition. Don did not refuse her. (Concurrently, Megan brought a skilled actress with her, who used her sensual talents to help the male team know precisely how to approach the Jaguar account -- and pitch to male desire for ownership of an exquisite woman.) Subsequently, those auditioning Megan treated her like a pound of flesh.
The most deeply unsettling focus of this episode was on Joan, who refused Roger's offer to help support a child born of their earlier affair. Above all, Joan wanted marriage and the protection and legitimacy her generation of women depended on exclusively to provide. It was during this scene that Joan's good-for-nothing husband, who we saw rape her before their marriage, sent her divorce papers. It was also during this scene we saw Pete (who may be ducking tomatoes on the street as I write) ask Joan, in his true-to-life sickeningly passive aggressive manner (the same one he used to distance himself from his wife) to spend a night with a disgusting major owner of a car dealership in order to receive a Jaguar account. This was something Don was adamantly against; but after he left the room where Pete presented the idea the other partners, even Roger, aquiesce with varying degrees of distaste. By the time Don visited Joan at home to tell her it was not necessary for her to prostitute herself (he does not use these words) -- that the presentation could win on its strengths, or the account was not worth having -- it was too late. Don's presentation was masterful, and the account was won. However, he now is not sure if it was won because of his abilities, Joan's one night stand, or a combination (thus a foreshadowing of male resistance to the Woman's Movement, and its perceived threats). Joan is no longer a mere employee. She has insisted upon and has received a modest percentage of the partnership, which frees her from dependence on Roger, her good-for-nothing husband, or her whining, frustrated, and inappropriate mother.
For one who saw a young friend die following an illegal abortion, and another friend commit suicide under cruel divorce laws that offered neither alimony, no fault divorce nor equitable division of marital property, the truths of this segment are stunning reminders of the 1950s and '60s: Women saw that to survive and raise our daughters and sons to understand how essential self and mutual respect are, it was essential to become another woman.
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