Daily Links for 4/18/06

by Intern Thomas

• Well folks, it seems we’re finally going to find out whether or not the stadium deal is going to go down. Alright, fine, that’s not true. I’m guessing that short of the two things that shall not be named happening to the franchise, there will always be some kind of stadium deal in the works (note that neither of those things are actually building a new stadium. I like to consider myself an optimist, but I’m not crazy). The current one, however, is nearing its conclusion and the House Tax Committee is holding hearings on it. Dave St. Peters, the President of the Twins, has been emailing various Twins bloggers to help rally support. Shane, of Greet Machine, has all the info, as well as a cynical, yet realistic take on what you’re likely to see if you make it out to the Oak Grove Middle School auditorium in Bloomington on Thursday, April 20 at 6 p.m. to hear the opposition testimony (and which, if you support the stadium, the Twins would like you to attend wearing Twins gear).



• If you made it out to the games this weekend, you probably heard some boos after Rondell White’s “at bats”. Personally, I don’t mind that people are choosing to voice their unhappiness that the Twins cleanup hitter is currently batting under .100 and has a .206 OPS. Third Base Line, however, thinks that Twins fans need a refresher course in fan etiquette. Her main point: only heckle the other team. And keep it clean. If you need some ideas, you can find it at the Heckle Depot a site created to help uncreative hecklers everywhere.



• And while it might seem like it, as Aaron Gleeman points out at the Hardball Times, Rondell White is not, in fact, the worst hitter ever--Ski Mello is, though, if we’re lucky, we’ll get to see Neifi Perez claim that title this year.



• It’s not often that Major League Baseball does a good job with something new, but I have to say, as a happy mlb.tv user (I’ve managed to avoid the problems others have) that MLB has done a great job embracing the internet. And their latest idea is pure genius: FREE customizable email addresses. And yes, I’m as surprised as you are that MLB isn’t charging anything. That being said, being able to have @minnesota-twins.net as your email address is pretty sweet.