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Short of a Saltdog collapse it's just a battle to end the season above .500.

Last night really did it for me when Ariail came in and threw 12 consecutive balls to walk the bases loaded. to start off the 7th. No batter even bothered to lift a bat.

When your bullpen's doing that you're not going to compete with the 'Dogs and 'Nuts for a playoff spot. The 'Dogs lost, but the Saints made up no ground.

And today may be rained out too. Maybe that's a good thing.

First let's not argue paid attendance vs. turnstile count that's a total waste of time.

The Saints HAVE done a few things to improve things like the scoreboard and Twig's Place. The facility itself is the city's and even they aren't interested in investing in it.

The product on the field argument seems pretty lame also especially if you think 2 years is too long. We've gone a lot longer with miserable clubs and there are plenty of other clubs who've had SO much worse. Besides, we may have seen some guys on their ways up pass through this season.


This year the Saints have done a whole lot more than lip service about a new ballpark. There has been a great deal of active work in he Lowertown area for months. They brought Bill Murray in to get more interest. They have started a group to get fans more involved FOR a new ballpark instead of against it. This year has seen more solid activity than in years past. It's not their fault that the Twins, Gophers, and now Viqueens have to get their new facilities from the public before they can.

I look forward to Target Field but won't stop going to Saints games wherever they play. It'll always be more affordable and appraochable than any MLB club could ever be.

There was investigation of doing a "Guilded Cage" rework of Midway and the costs are too high. For all the original Sioux Falls Stadium design flaws, there was so little IN the actual stadium grandstand and so much open, undeveloped city land AROUND it the current form was obviously doable. The existing grandstand was a low-slope bowl with adequate legroom with space for replacing seating and good ground level sightlines. It also was relatively short and does not need to accommodate football and soccer part of the year.

Midway has no open land around it: railroad to the north, a small sliver of land between it and the street to the south, the city fire dept area to the east and the (already limited) parking to the west. Contrary to the "renovation" crowd, expanding Midway was a bad idea in '95 and adding more would make it an even larger, uglier monster than it already it.

The plumbing is already overtaxed and built deep into the structure itself meaning lots of concrete demolition just to get to the water and sewer mains to increase the capacity needed for the bathrooms. Then there are the questions of what to do to improve the narrow concourses, limited concession area and woefully inadequate staff offices and team clubhouses.

The grandstand cannot be extended without eliminating Midway's other role as public football and soccer facility (which is played across the field, essentially from foul pole to foul pole). The seating is already cramped and uncomfortable with no practical way to retrofit real seats in it. The bowl grade is steep and starts over 6 ft. from ground level and would put skyboxes up about 10' higher than in SF.

When the Saints and NoL were still an experiment in '93 Midway was one of the top location in the league. But standards were low, facilities old (except SC) and few of us (myself included) knew how that would change.

At least the season's not over already (like it felt after the Saltdog series).

If the Saints win tonight, it will continue tomorrow night (regardless of what SF does).

We may have given up, but George and the guys haven't. In spite of posts above, the next few games STILL have meaning. That's a clear improvement on last year's results. Even if they don't make the playoffs, it's a lot more exciting to watch games when there's still a chance.

Hmm... the weekend series are getting more interesting.