I’m obviously not really posting much baseball/sports content on this site anymore. You can find plenty of that at 1500ESPN.com. Sometimes I’ll double post on PhilMackey.com, just for kicks.

I’ve had a lot of people ask, “How’s the new show going? Do you like working with Reusse? Is he as grouchy as he seems?”

In short, the show is going really well. And it’s been a blast working with Patrick, Cory Roufs, and Tom Pelissero every day. They’re all great dudes, and they’re all very talented and awesome at what they do. And yes, Reusse is grouchy sometimes, but in a teddy bear sort of way.

From a poker standpoint, we’ve generated over $500,000 in prize pools since December in the first four Minnesota State Poker Tour events. As a whole, the poker business is way down these days, especially in Minnesota. But we’re still doing well and will continue plowing forward, because the tide will turn as soon as online poker is regulated once and for all.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound too preachy, but I wanted to share a few items that I’ve either learned and/or been working on recently. After all, it’s my website, and I can write about whatever I want.

Thinking out loud:

- Nobody is stopping you from getting whatever you want. I think this one is hard for most people to wrap their heads around. (And I’m talking about life, careers, etc. — not crimes, where police officers obviously CAN and DO stop people from doing things…).

I shake my head when I hear folks complaining about external factors that seemingly prevent them from getting what they want at their job, or in life, or in any big picture scenario. Those are all irrelevant, limiting beliefs.

People who get what they want in life — think specifically about the people we put on pedestals, and the people we envy — almost always share two main traits:

1.) They generally work harder than their peers at whatever it is they are trying to accomplish

2.) They usually develop a game plan of some sort and stick to it, despite the inevitable bumps in the road.

A lot of times we put celebrities, business people, famous people, and other successful figures on pedestals and live vicariously through them. For many people, it never clicks in their head that they TOO can achieve the same things — or, at the very least, can achieve more than they think. Instead of living vicariously through others, why not create a cool life for ourselves?

Of course, a lot of people are content just chilling, and that’s cool too.

- Don’t worry. Be happy. So many people think in terms of, ‘Once I get that new promotion, then I will be happy.’ Or, ‘As soon as I’m caught up with these bills and this pile of work, then I will be happy.’ Or any other similar example you can think of.

It’s all B.S.

There will always be another pile of work, or a new rung to climb in our careers, or another obstacle for us to overcome. It never ends. The way to be happy, I’ve found, is to accept the current moment as it is (good or bad) and focus on the process. I’m fairly certain happiness isn’t something we find. It’s something we already have.

If you are a good person who provides value to the people around you, and if you live life productively, generously, and optimistically (while also providing some sarcastic and cynical tweets for the greater good, and for entertainment purposes) — call it a personal Code of Conduct — the “process” will likely be the most fulfilling part.

Better to latch onto the process than the results, because results can always fluctuate.

- Expanding comfort zones. Fear nothing. This is hard, but totally worth it — something I work on and battle constantly. I’m not talking about going skydiving tomorrow or anything like that (although, that would be interesting…).

Just pushing the limits socially, through business, taking risks, etc.

- It doesn’t matter what people think. Another tough one, because we are socially conditioned to always worry about what people think, at least to some degree. Now, that doesn’t mean we should all go around slandering and insulting each other, using, ‘I don’t care what you think,’ as an excuse.

I’m saying that if you know you are an awesome person, and if you KNOW you are good at what you do, then what significance do others’ transitory opinions have?

Conversely, if we constantly worry about how others perceive us, how is it possible to REACH full potential? It’s almost impossible.

- Sing loudly. Or just don’t sing at all. And mix in a couple dumb dance moves once in a while.

But when Anderson comes out, he usually brings a soothing message of some sort.

Full Story

I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or not, but Delmon Young Day falls on the same day — May 12 — that he left the ball club in 2009 to tend to his ailing mother, Bonnie, who eventually passed away from cancer.

I had a chance to catch up with Delmon, and a couple others, after the Twins’ 3-2 victory over the White Sox on Wednesday.

Needless to say, J.J. Hardy is good at defense.

Former Twins RP Bobby Keppel

Fanhouse.com’s Ed Price recently took some jabs at former Baseball Prospectus and current Sports Illustrated writer Joe Sheehan regarding Ron Gardenhire’s bullpen strategy.

The bullpen argument applies to every team in baseball, not just the Twins, but Gardenhire happens to be the subject in this case.

Are teams decreasing their chances of winning due to poor bullpen strategies

?

As you can see, the 15-hour workdays and lack of shaving have caught up…

I won’t be posting nearly as many baseball articles on this blog, because quite frankly, it doesn’t make sense to double post when you can just find everything HERE.

Thanks for reading. Stay thirsty, my friends. Or something like that.

Sleep deprived too, but whatever.

This past weekend, we shattered all expectations with a massive, 183-player turnout for the $1,100 buy-in Minnesota State Poker Tour Main Event at Running Aces Harness Park. I finished 26th for just over $1,200, and Joe Matheson won the $51,000 first place prize after 21 hours of grinding.

On top of that, I’m also pleased to announce the official launch of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Feel free to browse around the new site, bookmark the SportsWire, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Eighth inning, Twins trailing 4-3, Michael Cuddyer on first base with one out, and Angels’ reliever Fernando Rodney had just missed the strike zone eight times in his first nine pitches (including the pitch Jason Kubel popped out on).

Delmon Young, who smacked a two-run bomb over the left field fence off Jered Weaver in the second inning, came up to the plate, swung at the first pitch, and grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

The Angels obviously went on to score two runs in the bottom of the eighth, thanks to back-to-back home runs by Hideki Matsui and Kendry Morales, to effectively put the game out of reach.

As awesome as it was to see Delmon rip a line drive over the left field fence to tie the game in the second inning, it was equally frustrating to see him swing at the first pitch against a pitcher who had very little command.

Overall, Delmon provided reasons for optimism on Monday night. Aside from the home run — which equaled his total from April and May combined in 2009 — Young also legged out an infield single and stole a base, thanks in large part to a more, shall we say, “trimmed” physique. Delmon also seems to have carried over the same swing mechanics that helped him hit .300/.322/.502 with nine home runs during the second half of the season last year, ditching the front leg kick for a more compact stride.

That said, Delmon has never shown a great sense of plate discipline, and it can be frustrating when he unloads on the first pitch in situations where conventional wisdom calls for a patient approach.

To put Delmon’s aggressiveness in perspective, only one player in all of baseball swung at the first pitch more often in 2009 — San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval, who hacked at the first pitch in 48% of his plate appearances. Delmon took a cut 47% of the time.

Delmon also swung at the first pitch twice in four plate appearances in Monday’s season opener.

Swinging at the first pitch doesn’t necessarily correlate with being a good or a bad hitter. Sandoval (.330/.387/.556, 25 HR) was one of the best hitters in baseball last season. Jeff Francoeur and Carlos Gomez, for instance, who both sat near the top of this list in 2008, were two of baseball’s worst hitters that season.

The first pitch in an at-bat can actually turn into quite the chess match. With advanced scouting reports and pitch-by-pitch data, it’s no secret which hitters frequently swing at the first pitch, and likewise, it’s also no secret which pitchers are pumping first pitch fastballs at a high rate.

Now, granted, Delmon’s offense improved considerably during the second half of 2009, but the biggest difference between him and Sandoval was the ability to make contact on pitches out of the strike zone — not just on the first pitch, but on all pitches.

When Sandoval (age 23) swung at pitches out of the strike zone last year, he made contact 75% of the time. When Delmon (age 24) swung at pitches out of the zone, he made contact only 54% of the time.

In other words, Sandoval’s free-swinging style leads to a ton of contact, much like Vladimir Guerrero. Delmon’s free swinging style is… well… still a work in progress, and pitchers will (or at least should) continue to exploit that aggressiveness by extending the strike zone on the first pitch.

But if he can continue to hit bombs to left field on a semi-regular basis, Delmon’s occasional and/or frequent over-aggressiveness will be much easier to swallow. Not to mention, his “calmer” batting stance these days allows him to wait on pitches a split second longer.

We’ll revisit this later in the season.