Slowey….and a programming note
Posted on June 25th, 2008 – 7:37 AMBy La Velle
The results are definitely better for Twins righthander Kevin Slowey lately. He’s won his past three starts, during which he’s posted a 1.35 ERA.
He’s been throwing two bullpen sessions with pitching coach Rick Anderson between starts, the normal session two days after starts then a 4-5 minute touch-up session a day later to make sure he’s sharp. Anderson has tried the same thing with Glen Perkins, tonight’s starter.
I expected that Slowey would take a while to adjust to major league hitters, and he’s in that process now. He’s far from overpowering, so he has to have pinpoint control and get one step ahead of hitters.
He needed 55 pitches to get through three innings on Tuesday. While San Diego didn’t hit him too hard, he had trouble finishing off hitters and some at-bats ran long. That’s the big hurdle he needs to clear now - putting hitters away - and he’ll really take off.
I’ve said this before, but Scott Baker had the same trouble a couple years ago. Now he’s the Twins’ most reliable starter. If Slowey can take that next step, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire won’t have to debate a pitching move after six innings and 92 pitches.
In other news, I’m filling in for Rock Bottom Radio from Noon to 2 p.m. today on KFAN. Phone lines will be open.
Update: Just wanted to point out that the umpire who appeared to step into Mets manager Jerry Manuel on Tuesday before tossing him from the game was Brian Runge. Runge is the same umpire who tossed Ron Gardenhire from a June 15 game in Milwaukee. Gardenhire then was fined for time-wasting.
70 Responses to "Slowey….and a programming note"
Great to see you getting a fill in role over at KFAN. I was hoping that someday you might take a run at radio. I’ve always enjoyed it when you were on with PA & Dubay.
I agree with mcrow. It’s good to have “Wobble” on PA and Dubay talk about MLB but not so much when they talk about the Bears and soccer.
Of for Gods sake please take over the noon to two slot. PA and Dubay spend little enough time on baseball, and thier analysis is horrible. The so called “sports station” tries to stay away from actually talking sports until the sun goes down. You are the one good baseball analyst on the entire station, you need your own show. At least during the spring and summer.
Hey LaVelle,
if you ever need a sidekick…
I could be Dorky Blogger Guy, or something like that. 
The beloved noon to two slot will actually be listenable today? That’s great! I’ll actually listen to Kfan instead of Mischke on Am1500 today. Dan Cole is like fingernails on a chalkboard - both voice and content. Congratulations!
Common Man stinks. He has no sports insight whatsoever. Yes, Wobble, please TAKE OVER the 12-2 slot on KFAN. Hey “Dan from Woodbury”, I agree that PA’s baseball insight can be less than stellar but Dubay is pretty sharp.
If I hear the word “cookie” one more time I will vomit all over a newspaper vending machine
Did anyone see that pic of Mcfail this morning it was quite a clasic. All Kevin Love has to do is show up in an ugly sweater and he is sure to get the job. Why does everything McFail wants has to remind him of himself. I want to yell blog to blog today and talk about why Kevin McFail is an idiot. Oh wait back to baseball
Common Man is the best thing on KFAN! He is hilarious…I wish he would take an hour from PA and an hour from Sid’s Kid, probably won’t ever happen since he would have to actually prepare for the show if its more than 2 hrs.
a pat on the back for seth, he had a real nice thing on comparing baker and slowey a few weeks back. they were very close in stats in the same time frame.
Sid Jr. stinks too!!! He thinks he is so funny, interrupts too much, and does not do much research on the topics he is discussing. Ideal KFAN lineup should be:
Power Trip - 6-9
PA and Dubay 9-1
Dan Barerrio 1-5
All La Velle needs to do is not whine every other sentence (following a 30 second pause) and he’ll already be a major improvement over Common Man.
Unfortunately for Perk he’s going to be facing off against Maddux (aka “He of the Open K-Zone”)
Which means the offense is likely going to be in for a long night, while Perk’s going to have to hit his spots carefully.
Hopefully the ump doesn’t get too involved. I hate watching a pitcher getting forced to lay them in the wheelhouse for strikes.
DB stinks. He rarely talks about the Twins and when I does, it sounds like he has never seen a Twins game. However, I’m sure all five people in Minnesota who actually cared about the NBA playoffs, enjoyed his endless analysis and opinions, day after day after day. KFAN in general has horrible coverage of the Twins.
ES16 DB (Dan B) is the most negative writer in the entire Star Trib. Nothing ever is possitive from any of his articles
Barriero hasn’t written anything in the Strib for several years.
Jimmy, Dan B hasn’t had a column in the Star Trib in years.
Seth that proves how much I paid attention to Dan B. Ha Ha on me.
A couple of friends and myself were talking the other day regarding 2 players David Wright and Matt Holladay and who would you rather have on the Twins. I said Wright would be awesome. Anyone care to choose. Also Seth do you think the Twins will make any trades or cuts before the deadline this year? Go Fresno St CWS
Common is by far the best radio guy in the Twin Cities. Just because he doesn’t verbally fellate local sports teams like the guys who immediately precede him doesn’t make him a bad guy.
I find common’s show to be very boring. But, I can see where others are entertained. I’m glad he’s on when I can’t listen, and guys I find more entertaining are on when I can.
the common man is the best thing that ever happened to radio. your ok too La Velle.
insight on Common Man - have a brother who interned at KFAN a few years back, said common man was a complete dick, thought everything was owed to him and that he was a better thing than sliced bread, treated anyone below him in office like prostitutes for whatever he needed.
and his show blows.
Barriero was attempting to talk Twins last night and at one point claimed that 90 wins is 20 games over .500.
Hartman and Dubay are the only guys on that station who have a clue about baseball, and Hartman coddles the Twins front office in interviews as much as his dad does.
Common bugs me. How do you have a person on a sports talk radio station that doesn’t want to talk sports. And, for that matter, they never talk Twins except for Barreiro’s misguided rampages against Mauer. They should rename it KVIKINGS.
I cannot listen to Dan Cole. He has no insight on anything except for golf, and the conversation if filled with cliches rather than intelligent conversation. He has a “schtick” as common man, and that is it! Nothing else, zero, nada. Uffda!
I know Dan Cole is being ironic with his sports analysis, but even taking that into account, it’s still unbearable to listen to. PA doesn’t know baseball, but at least he admits it and acts as a sidekick to Dubay when they talk baseball. Dubay is the only one who knows anything about baseball. I’m embarrassed for the rest of them when they show their ignorance. Some of them don’t even know who’s on the team.
I’d much rather listen to Seth and TwinsGeek.
We no longer get KFAN here in my part of N.D. it’s ESPN radio now. When i did listen to Dubay and company i thought they were the biggest homers ever so i don’t miss them at all. The common man was the only one i enjoyed but at times his schtick did get a little stale.
KFAN is frustrating because it’s all Vikings all the time. the only problem is that KSTP, I can’t even get it in Bloomington! LaVelle is great on there. Aaron Gleeman is now on at 8:00 on Friday mornings for a segment which is good.
BC - do you get to listen to Jack Michaels though? He’s good.
KFAN is with out any doubt the worst sports station ever in the whole country …..i have never listened to so much crap in my life…common is just the biggest waste of air time, and that ego of his is shameful—really for a town the size of the twincities, you would think they would have tremendous sports talk radio, with all the teams etc that exist……its too bad, but true….
Seth yes i’m listening to him right now and it’s nice becaue he does cover the local seen as well as the national sports are you in N.D.as well?
No, but I am on Jack’s show for a segment about every other week.
I’m not on every week like Marney Gellner (Tuesdays with Marney), who is a U of Mary grad, or Chris Attebury.
Anybody have suggestions for good MN sports radio that streams over the internet?
Common’s show is lame for a number of reasons. Some include…
1 - he eats his lunch while “doing” his show. gross.
2 - He does no show prep. (if prep is actually needed his sidekick does it all).
3 - He twists and distorts everything PA and Dubay say into what HE wants to hear.
What a waste of 2 hours.
Slowey was outstanding. I didn’t worry too much about pitch count because, of the 55 pitches through three innings, 10 of them were in one at bat to my pick for the NL MVP at this stage–Adrian Gonzalez.
BTW, how good would the Rangers be with Gonzales and Hamilton? That trade is up there with the Slocumb for Veritek and Lowe trade among the worst ever.
In order who is most hated
Steve Bartman
Paul O’Neil
A.J.
Bill Buckner
McFail
CP
Punto
Slowey stuckout 7 batters so I don’t think he had trouble putting batters away. Batters fouling off pitches instead of putting them in play is a good sign for a pitcher not a bad one. It means that can’t figure out his stuff. He through 91 pitches through 6 which is fine he could have been at 105 through 7 which is also fine for todays starting pitchers.
“Barriero was attempting to talk Twins last night and at one point claimed that 90 wins is 20 games over .500.”
If 36-32 is 4 games over .500, then wouldn’t 90-72 be 22 games over .500?
He was probably just rounding off… Not that I usually stick up for him, but he is close.
Barriero is that thing they turn Chet into on the movie “Weird Science.” I can’t stand that POS
Seth when are you going to be on next? Marney is awesome she went to school at U of Mary with my wife. I think i went after the wrong girl.
“If 36-32 is 4 games over .500, then wouldn’t 90-72 be 22 games over .500?”
I may be wrong (only a math minor cuz I wasn’t smart enough to do those advanced college math classes for the major), but woudln’t that be 18 games over .500?
“I think i went after the wrong girl.”
Wow!! I would maybe keep that to yourself
I’ve usually been on about every other Thursday. Then I get to do that Pick Four contest!!
I am with BC on this one.
I think Marney is hot.
YADAT!
MLB needs to make up their minds. Didn’t they want more runs to be scored to make the game more interesting, to stir up more interest? Now they’re saying hurry the game up cause it’s taking too long? That makes me laugh
Lets speed up golf too
Last time I checked 91-71 was 20 games over 500.
If you don’t get Common, the joke’s on you.
I like the line up. Star, PA and Dubay, and Common all have distinctly different bits, they’re not all for everybody but I think there’s something there for everyone. (Personally, I don’t care much for Star’s show, but that’s just me and I know many people who enjoy him.) The afternoon and drive are, in my mind, much more straight forward, news/sports/talk shows for dudes.
Common’s show is a bit, nothing more nothing less. I enjoyed it when he was the Seinfeld of radio talking about nothing. Then he became Barriero Jr ripping anyone and everyone. How tired and juvenile.
Sid’s kid is a joke. Clueless on any sport not called tennis or the NBA. If anyone thinks he got jobs on anything other than his name, I’d like to sell you some land in FLA.
Barriero pretends to be an intellect, but can’t continue a discussion once challenged. Extremely thin skinned. Love to “rip”, but can’t take it himself. He also is incapable of having an unbiased conversation.
I haven’t listened to KFAN after noon in atleast a year.
I hope the Polad’s are still considering an all sports station to compete with KFAN. KSTP has the Matt Thomas show, maybe they could steal Matt along with the Twins? Thomas show is actually pretty good even on that crappy station.
Forgot to add this:
I bumped into “Bump” once in a store. He is the classic, “Do you know who I am?” guy. Self absorbed ass is what he is. I always hoped someone would go Jim Everett on the mental midget.
It’s Chris Everett. And who’s thin skinned?
Signed, Jim Rome
To Ben
A new podcast popped up about the Twins that i’ve been listening to. It airs twice a week and you can find it on http://www.twinscast.com
Pretty good stuff…45 minutes a show dedicated just to the Twins. At least somebody is talking about the team for more then a couple minutes.
I agree with the comments on Slowey. He’s looking better and better with every outing. Baker, Perkins, Slowey and Blackburn could make for a great starting rotation for us for years to come, (knock on wood).
I’m not sold on some of our relievers yet, Crain included although he too seems to be improving. I’ll feel better when our side-armer returns from the DL.
liriano bombed again . 5 runs in under 6 innings. Injury or Livan exploding would be the only reason to bring him up. OR a Livan trade!!!! after 2-3 more good starts
I wonder at this point if Liriano has come to grips with his status with the team? One would think that he would have had a fire lit in him when he was sent to the minors. For abit, it seemed like he found the groove, and now, well, I don’t know what to say.
He has already cost himself millions by basically throwing away his chance at super2 status. I fully expect him to get back to the majors this year, but right now, he isn’t even close.
Concerning Liriano, read Howard’s blog. A guy who was at the game posted that the ‘Wings lack of defense is what hurt Liriano. In fact, he stated that Liriano actually looked pretty good.
Mr. Neal III,
I enjoyed your show on Common Man today. I’d like to hear more of it. I love the blues and I’ve been a big follower of Kenny Wayne Shephard for about 10 or 11 years, ever since I caught his act at the Deadwood Jam in the late nineties. He rocks. Hope to see you at the Cabooze.
Good point on Brian Runge, Lavelle. He looked to instigate the matter, both verbally and physically, and seems like a guy with both a big ego and anger management problems. Being a third generation umpire doesn’t make him untouchable and I’ll be interested to see what penalties, if any, are assessed by the commissioner’s office.
I’m thinking both Slowey and Liriano are on short leashes right now as far as letting it go — in each case because of injury prevention.
Slowey said last night that his arm feels good but he wasn’t gonna be throwing 95-96. Obviously the same with Liriano.
Wait till 2009?
Romer,
The comment about Slowey throwing 95-96 was in regards to working with the strength and conditioning coach.
Slowey has never thrown in the 95-96 range and never will.
The common man show is about to be run -out of town just wish he could take Mcfail with him.
Note: 90 wins IS 20 games over .500 - if you win ten more games than half, you lose ten fewer games than half, thus 90-72: pretty much 20 games over .500.
“Good point on Brian Runge, Lavelle. He looked to instigate the matter, both verbally and physically, and seems like a guy with both a big ego and anger management problems. Being a third generation umpire doesn’t make him untouchable and I’ll be interested to see what penalties, if any, are assessed by the commissioner’s office.”
BEGIN RANT:
Are you kidding me?!? Umpires, Referees, (etc, whatever you want to call them) are some of the most protected people in sports. It’s almost sickening. Refs/Umps don’t EVER get punished for anything. The league (of whatever sport their in) have their backs like 99.99999% of the time. No matter how many bad calls they make, no matter what stupid decisions they make, no matter their course of action in any given situation, there’s never any consequences. No recourse, no reprimands, nothing! Why do you think that Bert (God, I hope that IS why) never badmouths umpires? When the Ump blows a call at first, he always says something like: Looked to me like he was safe/out; It was sure a close one; I don’t know about that call. He never just says that the Ump blew the call even if a blind person could tell that the ump screwed the call up royal. I think he’d get fined for saying things like that. Managers get fined when they badmouth umps. Umpires and Referees are way overprotected for how much and how badly they screw up at times. Have you ever seen an umpire tossed from a game after making a horrible call? Gotten suspended? Fined even? This is a case of no one polices the police. It can be sickening at times.
END OF RANT
In other news, anyone think we should try to obtain Adrian Gonzalez?
Any other names you guys think we should go after?
Roy Oswalt maybe?
Adam F#%K YEAH Dunn? (Sorry I want him more than anyone else)
Carlos Lee?
Sabathia- “too bad” he’s in our division
Anyone else?
Stand pat? (I think we could really benefit from someone)
BC of ND - I will actually be on the radio this morning (http://www.fan710.com/main.html), sometime after 10:30. If you get a chance, take a listen, let me know what you think.
““If 36-32 is 4 games over .500, then wouldn’t 90-72 be 22 games over .500?”
I may be wrong (only a math minor cuz I wasn’t smart enough to do those advanced college math classes for the major), but woudln’t that be 18 games over .500?”
Yeah… I was adding 2 rather than subtracting. Either way, he was close in saying that it was 20 games over.
Common is brilliant entertainment who throws a curveball in to the regular KFAN line-up. His dry sense of humor may be an acquired taste, but in my opinion he is very good.
Common is the man. I hated his show at first, now I love it. I also love Hartman’s show. Not big on any of the others.
My point? Everyone likes something a little different. If I wanted nothing but sports I would like Duckies and Bunnies, however I like to think there is more going on in the world besides who the Twins next gem is in some rookie league.
YADAT!
Hi-fi was rounding, you were doing actual math me boy
After looking at the video on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTpozbqObL4), I want to know if Runge will get fined for wasting time to ‘dust off’ an obviously clean plate.
Perhaps a 2-week demotion to ump Georgia HS games would be better than a fine.
