Alright ladies and gentlemen, another edition of the series preview. This time we are broadcasting to you live from Minneapolis…by way of my couch in hot and humid St. Petersburg, FL. My oh my I do declare, there are so many possibilities for streaming audio at the bottom of the page this time around. Do I got for the tried and true Replacements or Husker Du? Do I give a shout out to some of my favorite hardcore and crust bands, and err in the direction of Civil Disobedience or Man Afraid? What about Dillinger Four or Atmosphere? So many tempting choices!

Before I get started, I have to give a big shout out to a certain Rays blog that is already poo-pooing the idea of a new facility in Carillon. Then again, that’s what people that are hell bent on one idea, and only one idea, do when a solution pops up that may not fit their mold. It’s funny how they repeat the Rays respect the process mantra, without actually doing it themselves. I’ll agree, that the parking situation at a proposed Carillon site could be nightmarish. Then again, the group that put together the stadium proposal has reportedly “hammered out details for months”. How’s this for a novel concept, perhaps LeClair’s group should formally pitch their plans before we talk about the flaws.

Look folks, not every set of plans are going to be 100% perfect, and I’m certain that there would be parking concerns if a stadium were to be plopped down, smack dab, in the middle of downtown Tampa. LeClair and Co. are land developers that work on these types of problems all of the time. Give them a chance to explain themselves before you send them to the gallows. Opening day in a new park isn’t just around the corner. A new stadium probably wouldn’t open until 2016 at the earliest. There’s time to work things through. But then again, the infrastructure and traffic engineers over at the unnamed blog simply must have a greater perspective an understanding of these types of things since they were privy to the project plans before the city or the Rays. Wait…what’s that? They weren’t privy to the plans? Oh, hmm. Respect the process fools!

Rays and Twins series starters over the last 30 days
Rays and Twins hitting at home and away (respectively), and over the last 30 days
  • Well, the Twins offensive output can’t be to blame for their 49-62 record. Posting a team .264 BA/.331 OBP/.404 SLG/.735 OPS line, the Twins  have scored 51 more runs than the Rays. Compare that to the Rays .231 BA/.313 OBP/.368 SLG/.680 OPS line.
  • So what’s the problem then? Simply put, the Twins pitching isn’t very good. The Twins pitching staff has posted a 4.77 ERA/.273 BAA/.296 BABIP/4.69 FIP/1.39 WHIP line. Yeesh.
  • Tampa Bay went 4-2 on this home stand, and 8-3 in their last 11 games with a 1.19 ERA. Even more spectacular, the Rays pitchers have posted a 0.70 ERA in their last 10 wins.
  • The Twins are 6-4 in their last ten games, going 5-2 on their most recent road trip.
This series preview is brought to you by the Twin-Cities own Banner Pilot. Sure Collapser is older, but it’s still pretty damn great!

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