JBMasterAngler

Well...we obviously got the Maryland that beat Texas today, instead of the team that lost to Temple last week. Annexstad looked bad! He was clearly still affected by that injury from last week. His receivers didn’t exactly do him any favors either...several dropped passes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a team with so many penalty yards still win a game, let alone a blow out win. Just ugly all around! Thank goodness it’s a bye week!

They’re better off waiting until the trade deadline, where teams might be more willing to give up more. In theory, because it’s a contract year, Butler should put up good numbers, even if he doesn’t want to be here.

I do believe it will hurt baseball in the long run, as lots of people choose which games they go to based on who the starting pitcher is. Also, I could see it backfiring on a team by depleting their bullpen, should the starter in the next game get rocked early.

What’s this garbage the twins are doing with their pitchers? Putting a reliever in as an “opener” to start for an inning, then put in a long reliever. Are other teams doing this? I sure hope this isn’t the future of baseball!

Doesn’t look like the future is very bright for the wolves. Butler’s choices in teams are interesting, to say the least. None of those teams have anything to offer that would benefit us. So, the alternative is to keep him for the season, and go to the playoffs as an 8th seed again. Then lose him, and suck again while we suffer through Wiggins’ contract.

Defense is looking pretty good. Hopefully Annexstad’s injury isn’t too bad. I was glad they pulled him when they did. I was hoping Morgan would have given a better showing with his chance at meaningful minutes. Too bad Maryland lost today, makes a win over them next week less of a big deal.

Now that was a game that will give our young guys some experience! While Annexstad was down from last week, he made a few big plays that really make his future look brighter. Overall, the offense looked better with Green taking the snaps. While I still expect Annexstad to start next week, it will be interesting to see how they run the offense from now on. Minus the boneheaded roughing the passer penalty, our defense looked very good! Especially considering Fresno State scored 79 points last week. I think they had 9 rushing TD’s! Gophers held their run game to a minimum. I’ve been a gopher fan long enough to know better than to consider next week’s game a cake walk, BUT I feel really good about their chances.

The college football season is underway, or if I may borrow a line from the famous Andy Williams song, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”! I was impressed with Annexstad. He definitely looked like a freshman, but I could see him get better as the game progressed. The aggies had an advantage in the fact they played their 1st game the previous week. We’ll see how much more he improves next, Fresno State will be an upgrade. Defense looked pretty good too. I never heard about what happened to that QB juco transfer from California...why did he leave?

Fernando Rodney joins the casualty list. What did we get in return from the A’s? I thought signing him was well worth the risk...but with that being said, I’m glad he’s gone now.

I like the Lance Lynn trade...looks like we have Mauer’s replacement now. Looks like the rest of this season will be open try outs for next season.

I heard the twins are leading candidates to sign Escobar back in the offseason. That would be a win-win for the twins if it were the case.

Well, not to happy about trading away Escobar. I wonder who’s next on the list.

Whatever trades they might make won’t be to make a run. It’s going to be to rebuild. I guess there’s still some interest in Dozier from a couple teams, but otherwise, we don’t have much trade value in anyone. I’m just still hoping we finish .500.

The popular speculation is that the lakers are taking this season “off”, and waiting until next year to sign a big name or 2, one of which could be Butler. Personally, I don’t think there’s any chance Butler re signs with the wolves (he already turned down the first offer), as long as Wiggins remains on the team! And at this point, Wiggins is untradable.

Well, I bought a “blackbird proof” suet feeder, and it works great! Downy and hairy woodpeckers are able to squeeze into the openings. Blackbirds couldn’t get in, but they could still peck away at the edges of the suet. I made a minor change in the position of the feeder, and it fixed that problem. This morning, I was happy to see that pileated and red belly woodpeckers were still able to feed from it as well. The only likable bird that hasn’t been able to eat from it was the grosbeaks.