A BLOG OF THEIR OWN

Speaking too soon...

2005-09-15T09:03:00.000-05:00

Complete systemic failure. Absolute futility. Nothing is working.

I'm not talking about the Twins offense. Hell I'm not even talking about the Vikings "effort," against the Bucs last Sunday. I am speaking of my computer at home. After cleaning up the viruses and fixing a runtime error, the thing worked for two days before something terrible happened. I don't know if it's a power failure or the mother board is fried or what but the stupid thing won't turn on. The only action it seems able to perform is to blink feebly on the power button.

Needless to say, the entries to this site have and will continue to suffer until I can get this attended to. I'm sad because this is a great time of year to be observing baseball regardless of where your team is at. But it is not to be for me. I'll be around and making entries here either mobile or from work.

Thanks for stopping by.

This time...for sure

2005-09-10T14:40:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome back to this little blog. Since last we spoke my Internet Explorer was stricken by a runtime error-hence I could not go online. Hopefully the woes of this computer are over. (knocking on wood)

So back to baseball then.

Be advised all you who reside in Twins Territory that we are at a full Red Alert. This means that only a large miracle will give us a hope at a playoff spot. Otherwise, I see this season as an emminent failure. No, not a dissapointment...a failure.

Justin Morneaus performance, Jason Bartletts demotion and Cuddyers first half are dissapointing. Not reaching the playoffs with this pitching staff is a failure.

I am sorry to report that Kyle Lohse has appearently patched things up with 'tool. What sucks about that is that it probabally means he will get his next start which I wouldn't have been opposed to before his hissy fit this week. We have all seen glimpses of this Kyle...the crybaby, the prim madonna, the guy whos ego is not justified by his performance. If I was to guess I would suppose we don't see Lohse back in a Twins uniform next year. But who knows?

With TWins Territory at red alert of the TFAS, it's time for two things:

1. Gleen the call-ups and pretend to be excited that Jason Tyner is here (vs being excited about the division title is little consolation)
2. Decide who to root for now

I will address the second question today. I think ideally I'd love to see Oakland nail the wild card spot. It's been fun to see their surge this year and I think they deserve it. The problem is though...how much more Billy Bean worship can I stand? Not too much I tell ya. He's a genius and he deserves all the accolades but I just don't wanna hear it anymore. That leaves us with Cleveland IMO. It's hard to not like Cleveland when they're not playing us. They have built a good club much the same waythe Twins try to, drafting and developement with emphasis on pitching. I honestly could care less I suppose so long as someone puts out Chicago for me. I really don't like them. I really really have an unhealthy obsession with them.

Well, I'm gonna see if this here puter will keep working some other applications. Game starts at 6:00 and I'll be watching.

The Twins Fan Alert System

2005-09-02T13:23:00.000-05:00

Washington D.C

Many Twins fans have been concerned over the last season. They unsure what to believe when it comes to their favorite team. With so many ups and downs and false hopes, George W. Shrub has decided to enact the Twins FAn Alert System (TFAS) The minister of fandom (MOF) in Twins Territory was appointed to Brian Nawrocki, Code name : Twinsluvver. Check daily for updates.

Todays Color: Burnt Cienna...what some of you would lazily call "Orange." When last my computer worked I would have had us at Yellow if not a yellowish green. Since then, well...we have been doughnutted 4 times against bad bad teams.

It's really time to prepare for the "fun," of watching Baker, Lariano and the others make their mark in September. There is going to be much speculation in the comming weeks about off season moves. My favorite so for was one Sid Hartmans observation that we should just trade for Jim Thome and make it so that Philly pays most his contract. How this guys is considered an expert or a journalist is beyond me.

For me, I think the Twins will mostly stand pat. Maybe we upgrade the bench a bit but thats about it.

On a side note, please keep the people affected by Katrina in your thoughts and hearts. As you may have read on this blog before, I love baseball but its not the most important thing. I really do think baseball should take a day off to honor those who lost everything or even their lives in the storm. Sundapples wood has some great links to sites where you can donate $$$$$. Please see that you pull together and help our brothers and sisters to the south.

2005-08-28T17:42:00.000-05:00

Texas: 2 Twins:1

Allow me to summarize the game: The starting pitching was good. One run good. The defense was good. A Twins starting pitcher allowed 1 run over 8 innings. The Twins had many scoring chances not the least of which was in the first inning SP Young had loaded the bases with Matt Lecroy at the plate and 1 out. The Twins...would score one run, but not until the 8th inning.

This is starting to feel like Ground Hog Day...ya know, same thing happens over and over again. The Twins nearly got blanked twice in the same series. However, the funny part is; we had chances to pull a series win out of it. The difference today was...a fly ball. Maybe two of them.

The Twins of '05 seem less able to execute the small ball habbits that made them successful in the past. Evidence of this is Matt Lecroys at bat in the 1st. When Mike Ryan led off with a single and the next two walk, someone has to tell Matty "make sure it's there." There was no need for a grand slam yet. There was at least one run out there that needed to make it home. Instead Lecroy flails at the first pitch and pops up. Instead of taking one to a pitcher who was struggling to find the plate we gave him a gift.

If I weren't lazy right now I'd try and find something on the number of runs scored by sac fly this year VS last. I suspect it's less this year.

My buddy called me while watching the game. He says: "Man, the Twins a terrible in the clutch this year." To which I replied "no, we're just terrible."

This is the earmark of a great debate. There are those who suppose that some players do better in the clutch or WHISP than others do. I am of the camp that chooses to believe that it averages out. In other words, players that suck, suck even WHISP. Players that don't suck, also don't suck WHISP. There are statistical exceptions but not many. In general, players are the player they are regardless of WHISP. My point being, the Twins suck at the plate and there is no relief in sight.

All the more reason why it would be nice to have a team who could execute the little things (and a manager who could execute for that matter). We are now 5.5 back in the wild card. All the ground we gained two weeks ago seems for not. With the pitching going like it has for us I would have hoped we would have maximized oppritunities like today. Too bad.

Well, after the game I returned a rug doctor which I lost an attachment and had to pay the deposit. I came home and mowed the lawn upon which I steped in doggie poo. Lots of doggie poo. So I guess the Twins arent the only ones not executing. It really can be a bummer on your day man.

Stream of consciousness

2005-08-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

Virus or no...I will dilever the mail!

The Twins pulled one out of ther asses today, which makes since considering their heads where already up there so it probabally mad it easy to find. I had all but grieved this game when J.J pinch hit for Cuddyer in the 9th and nailed a double off Texas close Cordero. He later scored on Nicky Puntos base hit. A few innings later the Twins managed 5 runs to earn a win against the Texas sluggers.

It was nessicary if we hoped to keep pace in the W.C race as New York put up 5 in the 9th to beat K.C and Oakland at the time has a 10-1 lead over Baltimore.

Interisting quote in the Star Tribune today.
A.J Pyzrienski was asked if he'd ever play for the Twins again when he became a free agent to which he replied (paraphrasing) "I will never play for Ron Gardenhire again." He failed to elaborate but I suspect it had something to do with Gardys refusal to bat A.J higher up in the order. Either that or A.J is a prick.

Super Bartlett
Jason had a heckuva game today going 4-5 with a RBI and a run scored. He still is bringing up the rear of the line-up which is fine...I am just glad he's playing.

For those of you wondering here are some of his stats:

.259/.321/ .364 for the season

.234/.294/.298 for the month of August

Granted the kid only has 143 AB's this year. One interisting side note though allow me to show you his stats against lefty pitching (33 ABs)

.303 /.343/ .545

For a team struggling against LHP that should be encouraging. Like I said, I'm glad he's here and learning to survive at this level. It may not pay dividends this year, but it will. His fielding has been impressive as of late as well.

Well, its nap time for bonzo. Working two jobs is sorta dumb. BTW, if anyone needs their winshield replaced I'd be glad to help you. Sigh...good night.

Episode II: The revenge of the Trojan

2005-08-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, my computer is still sick. Microsoft tech support has actually assigned me a prioraty status and I believe Bill Gates himself will be calling me in a day or two. While my computer is usuable I have decided to shut 'er down until I can resolve this. Entries over the weekend will come from remote locations and therefore may be brief. On the fun side, they are telling me I may have a brand new virus they haven't seen before...I asked them if that means I get naming rights but they said "no."

Baseball topics:
Our Beloved Twins are also a sick little team it would appear. Like my computer they are suffering from a variety of "bugs" right now ranging from poor management, injuries and dysfunctional dynamics.

This week we saw Ron Gardenhires opinion Joe Mays waver from one extreme to the other. It appears for now that Baker will be called up for a start on Monday. Which is good. I guess that is the equivelant of me performing a quarenteen on an infected file; the problem isn't solved, but it should help a little. I have worked for companies that operate much the same way the Twins do right now. Ya know, the vets get to underperform and stick around because..heck, they've always been here. Meanwhile it falls on the new hires to pick up the slack or get canned.

On a related topic, Luis Rodriguez reportedly will get sent to AAA to make room for Jaun Castro when he is activated from the 15 day disabled list. In all honesty signing Castro to 1 million dollar contract is looking worse and worse as time goes by and the Twins appearantly feel obligated to use him.

Gardy got a case of "the spells," yesterday in the 6th inning and left the game to seek medical help. It is being reported as "hart palpatations," for now. What that means I don't know. If I were Gardenhire I would be feeling woozey too.

Shannon Stewart may be out for the weekend. The injury of Torrii Hunter is looking more significant as we push foreward. How many times in the Sox series did it look like the Twins might just pull a win off if there was only that one timely hit? Instead, we slipped to 3.5 back in the AL wild card race, our depleted roster is back to putting up bagels on the score board and the pitching (in general) is doing all it can to keep us in games.

There is time, there is hope. There is a month of baseball left. But it makes me wonder: "Did I really think we had a shot?" Where we fooling ourselves or can this roster of AAA kids and utility men pick up the slack for the ominously missing bats of Hunter and Stewart? We shall see. The posative thing to look foreward to is a Texas pitching staff which has been pretty bad. Plus we'll get to see Soriano play which I know many of you have been champing at the bit to see him play in a Twins game.

Well, I hope I you continue to stop bye and check us out. Also, please leave your pin on my guest map. For those of you trafficing here from DCTC or Scout.com, I encourage you to check out the fine links I provided on the Right of the page. Some of the smartest and best baseball minds in the state are over there.

Well, we'll see you tomorrow. Good day.

Patty cake patty cake: Where's Baker...man?

2005-08-25T00:25:00.000-05:00

I am truly sorry for the title of the entry today...really I am.

Well, hours on the phone with tech support with has rendered me (i think) bug free on my puter. However, before I shower and go to bed I decided I couldn't wait to put my two cents on tonights game.

Shockingly, Joe Mays sucked tonight. Not so shockingly, in the Star Trib Gardenhire was quoted saying the this is not the time to start pulling guys lest they "get in their head." Um...what? Lemme get this right, Ron Gardenhire when asked about if he'd consider starting Baker instead of Mays his response was he didn't want Mays to "get in his head?" Hmm...

Joe Mays has a +8 ERA since the all-star break. Does THAT get in his head Ron? What about pulling the plug on the Bartlett experiment before the kid had a chance? Where you worried about getting into HIS head? We had no problem sending Rivas down when he sucked. How about when you called out Morneau publicly and questioned how hurt he was? Didn't you HOPE to get into his head?

Ron has been pretty open with his critique of many players this year ...most of them younger.

Look, I know tonights game wasn't the end of the season (probabally). Yet, I would have loved to pass on Joe Mays. I don't know if Baker would have pitched any better or if we would have won. But we might have. The fact remains that we are 2.5 back in the wild card and Ron is still trying to spare the feelings of a select few guys on the team.

In the post game Rick Anderson had these fine cliches to add:
"He gave it all he got," and "looked like he had a tired arm."

If "all he got," is 4 2/3 innings giving up 5 runs well...that sucks. Joe Mays looked horrible today. The sad part is I don't think you'll find a Twins fan alive who was suprised that he was so terrible. I don't even think it would be drastic to bring up Baker right now, it just makes sense.

From Twinsbaseball.com:
"Mays is 6-8 with a 5.16 ERA for the season, but spiraled to 1-6 with a 7.94 ERA in his last nine starts. Manager Ron Gardenhire told reporters after the game he planned to meet with Mays and general manager Terry Ryan to discuss their options"

Maybe there is hope.

The Game
It sure looked like another poor outing by the offense, granted there were alot of Red Wings playing tonight. Then the 9th inning when the wiggled three runs out of the Sox and actually had the tying run at the plate before Cuddyer stuck out to end the game.

Brent Abernathy joined the heroics in the outfield going nose first into the wall. There was some good defense again tonight and Bartlett looked pretty comfortable at SS. There were some posatives to the game I suppose.

Silva needs and I mean needs to step up tomorrow against Jon Garland who will probabally be a 20 game winner by seasons end. I'll be listening at work and sneaking a peak at the T.V when I can. Catch you all tomorrow with my takes.

Thanks for stopping bye.

Bloodhound virus?

2005-08-24T14:39:00.000-05:00

After posting a personal best in hits for my site this last day (78), my PC at home has been struck by something that Norton calls "bloodhound," and McAfee isn't sure what to call it. (I'm typing this from work.) Whatever it's called, my computer is messed up. There is a new wallpaper on my screen which is trying to sell me anit-virus and my settings keep changing with no rhyme or reason.

Needless to say, correcting this problem before my fiance returns from her vacation home for her birthday will take a prioraty to blogging about our Beloved Twins tonight. If anyone has an idea about fixing this...um...please leave me a note.

Best Wishes,
Twinsluvver

Two of a Kind

2005-08-23T23:27:00.000-05:00

Twins: 1 White Sox: 0

Wow... I don't know if I can say anything else. I was fortunate to catch most the game tonight inspite being at work (Perk of the job sometimes.) I am blessed for having wittnessed it. I don't think much of Twins Territory is aware how truly special tonights game was. We witnessed Garcia 5 outs away from a no-no. We saw Santana in his gutty and dominant brilliance hold the Sox at bay while the offense floundered. We saw the Twins win a game with one hit, a feat which we haven't accomplished since Sept 9 1963 when we beat Boston 2-1. We saw a grieving Jaque Jones who is also still dealing with an oblique strain kill a pitch by Garcia in the 8th inning to break up the no hitter and allow Nathan to come on and earn the save.

What makes this even more special is that for the Twins there was so much riding on this. Our Beloved Twins really need to win when they send guys like Santana, Radke and Silva out there. We'll have to take our chances with May and Lohse. It was an intense game with some of the greatest defense I have seen in a while...and that goes for both sides.

Wow.

Oh...and a casualty
Yes...Shannon Stewart reportedly strained his shoulder. Let's hope and pray that it's not a big deal. But I would guess he gets at least a day off. If it's worse than "they" think, I would have serious concerns for our season. Jaque Jones will miss the next two games after being co-hero of the night. He is due in San Deigo to attend the funeral for his Uncle. Suddenly our "soul patrol" has morphed into "the geek squad." Mike Cuddyer and Mike Ryan will likely be the outfield replacements over the next two days at least. Cuddyer and Lew need to catch up on magic trics and other geekery anyway. Now is a good time.

I must be an idiot
Sometimes I think that I am a glutton for pain as evident with my loyalty to local sports teams. Mostly the Twins. After a gruelling and emotionally intense game tonight where I was exhausted from watching, where at any given moment I was sure our season was about to tank, after all the agony I couldn't wait for tomorrow when we get to do it all over again.

I think this is good. It's like the playoffs but its not yet. This is what a playoff hunt SHOULD be like. Where every pitch, every hit and every diving catch counts. To a degree, I think this game sums up quite nicely where the Twins are at: We have almost no margin for error and the adversity keeps mounting. Tonight we overcame that adversity giving hope that we can do it again. I suppose Joe Mays pitching tomorrow against Burhle could be considered quite an adverse situation. But we'll see what happens.

In any case, this is a great time to be a baseball fan in Minnesota.

Off day blues

2005-08-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

.364/.394/.737/1.131 with 3 HR

I should just leave that as the entry for the day. Lew Fords stats for the week which is also his first player of the week honor. Congrats Lew...you earned it.

Soriano
In retrospect, there was no reason to believe we were going to get Soriano. There probabally was no hope from TR that he would get it done. We should be neither sad nor dissapointed that he is not a Twin. Shame on us for hoping.

The Big Series
Suffice it to say this series is huge. There are some interisting match-ups and some not so interisting (Mays vs Burhle). The Twins have the diffacult task of staying in the mix while playing a tough schedule of ChisoxX10 and Cleveland comming up. We are gonna need more career weeks from guys like Lew and the pitching has to keep pace. It would help at some point if Cleveland cooledt he heck down. From here on 'til the end of the season, I will referr to every game as The Big Game and every series as The Big series. I don't think we can afford to take any games for granted at this point. In particular we gotta help ourselves against Cleveland.

In Other News
I just started a new job (second income) tonight. I will now work 13 hour days 4 days a week. The goal is to save enough so when the baby comes I can take some time to get to know my son before charging off to work again. What that means is that the MN twins will exist Mon-THurs in my life only through radio and ESPN. I tell you this only because...that sucks and I will recieve no sympathy from the woman who is carrying my child. (After writing that I decided I should include she is the woman of my dreams and I love her dearly.) I assume I will get a smidge of empathy from one of you dear sweet readers.

Ok...most of yall will read this tomorrow. It's time to get our knocking wood out and root this team to victory. "The Big Series," begins tomorrow.

Keeping it simple...

2005-08-21T14:56:00.000-05:00

...as well as short. Such is my dedication to this blog and this team, that before crashing for the day I will put in my two...maybe three cents.

Very seldom in my adult life have I done so much, been so exhausted and yet accomplished so little as I have this weekend. Such was the theme of my weekend with the boys. The bachelor party was very tame by fraternal standards but for me it was alot of excitement. It occurs to me that I may belong to a group of the most competitive people I know and everything revolved around a compitition: Poker, Horse shoes, PS2, Bocci Ball, flag foot ball and more horse shoes. It was very sophmoric as tends to happen when you are with your buddies.

Up in...uh...I just realized I have no clue what town we were in. Well, up there...there was only channel 4 so my source of information on the Twins was the paper and the radio. I caught wind of a victory on Friday and a loss yesterday inspite of Lohses best efforts.

On the drive home today I caught the pregame show and an interview with Terry Ryan. It was then that I heard about:

THE RUMOR

It appears that somewhere, somehow word was leaked out that the Twins were working a deal with Texas for Soriano. Terry Ryan was his usual self and avoided confirming or denying anything we wanted to know. He makes it sound like we are never involved in anything. I actually tend to believe him right now but it's interisting to think about.

We already know that J.C and Lohse cleared waivers so they cannot be part of the deal. TR has all but stated that Lariano will stay here. So that leaves...Baker? I gotta believe he is safe too. Bonser? Perkins? This really doesn't make sense to me except unless Texas is thinking they will not resign Soriano anyway and they just want something in return. If this is the case I'd have to think the advantage goes to the Twins and TR for negotiating.

But Brian...weren't you against trading for Soriano?

Well, yes...and no. I was against trading Lariano or Baker for a 2 month rental unless we could sign him and if we are going to sign anybody I'd prefer it was a younger, cheaper guy like Youkilis. However, if Texas is hell bent on getting value in return for Alfonso and we can get him for a Bonser/Perkins type I'd say go for it now. We are back in the race, our season has a little life left and it's not the same scenerio as July.

Do I think it will happen?

Probabally not. It seems unlikely that a player of that caliber gets moved for what TR is willing to give up.

Well..that was more than I meant to write ...the Twins are up 8-3 and they're rallying in the 7th. I will sleep off the boyish foolishness that I indulged in this weekend and awake ready for work tomorrow followed by my first day at my part time job.

Good day.

Umm..who are these guys again?

2005-08-18T22:06:00.000-05:00

Twins 7 Seatle 3

In case you missed it a few weeks ago I predicted (because I am a great baseball mind) that if the Twins scored more runs, they'd win more. I have worked dillegently to prove this theory and I have come up with the following official looking graph:

As you can see, we clearly win more (blue line goes up) when we score "more," runs. When we score "less," runs we loose (red line goes down.)

I'd like to see those punks at hardball times or Twinsgeek try to compete with indepth thingies like that.

Anyhoo...I am simply thrilled, nay, I am spoiled by the way Our Beloved Twins are playing lately. In particular one Matt Lecroy. Matt Lecroy has flat out owned the plate the last few games. Three HR's in two games. The guy is on fire. I have argued that he needed to get more AB's even a year ago. It is evident now that has some of the power we need. A platoon partner would be nice but when we face lefties there is no reason why Matty shouldn't be the DH.

So, am I excited? Yes, it's hard not to love how we are playing. Am I optimistic? YEs, look at yesterdays entry and you'll find Im reserving some optimisim for now. I stil say we're drawing against a tough hand. But it also seems that over the last week and a half(which is a stupidly small sample size) we are better than any of the teams ahead of us in the wild card standings. Un-officially we are now 3.5 back.

I'm going up north "camping," with some buds for my friends bachelor party. I think "camping," will mean playing PS2, flag football and poker. So, my baseball watching and my blog will suffer for the weekend. Hopefully I'm not dead tired and I will get something in on Sunday.

Cheer hard and knock on wood when Jon Gordon says stupid things like "Beltre has only had two hits off Twins pitching this year." CUz if you don't the very next thing he'll say (just like tonight) will be "A deep fly ball and this one is gone!" I'm putting this burden on you my fellow fans. Knock on that damn wood!

Good weekend to you all.

Drawing Dead...

2005-08-17T17:47:00.000-05:00

I admitt it, I'm so happy I could pee myself. I worked for 16 hours yesterday. The crowning moment of my day was sitting in the tub listening to the Twins go 16 innings to beat the White Sox. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel good about winning a series against the hated BitchSox.

But my joy paled in comparison to what I saw on blogs and message boards today. Even a certain talk radio duo (Whose names rhyme with P.A and Dubay) were over the top optimistic. I would like us all to take a moment to breathe and relax for a moment. (Sigh) Let's not hand the Twins the Wild Card spot just yet.

With Our Beloved Twins just 5 games back and 6 weeks of ball left there is room for optimisim. With teams like NY, Oakland and Cleveland ahead of us, it's going to be tough. It's sorta like when you stupidly call some ones all in with A-K and he A-A. Maybe better yet, it's like drawing against a full house. Right now, for the Twins to see October baseball they need to go runner runner and hit the straight flush.

I have to ponder to myself if we aren't better off playing for next year anyway. If we suddenly are 3 games back or less, does that mean Gardy continues to go with guys like Castro and Mays? What will it do to September call ups? Will Lariano and Baker get some spot starts? I dunno. I guess you have to go for it if your in the thick of it but if yuo loose that was some precious time you lost for the rookies.

Well, it's a short one today as I get ready for another long day. I will be listening to Johan and the boys as they try to hand Chicago a series sweep and a 5th loss in a row. Wish em luck!!!

One to feel good about

2005-08-15T17:03:00.000-05:00

The Twins took the series from arguably the hottest team in baseball this season when they beat the Oaktown A's 2-1 yesterday. 3 games = 5 runs = 2 wins. Even the one that got away from us was probabally winnable for teams with some offense. What I can't help but keep wondering is : how gawd awefully scary could this team be if it had just a little bit more offense?"

I've already delved into my opinions on this teams unbelievable pitching in a previous post. But let me tell ya again...its really good. For their efforts, Santana combined for 16 innings, 10 stike outs, 1 earned runs and 1 walk. Add both those efforts and you get two games that we are damn lucky to have won. There is some bizzarre math going on this year.

C'mon, your excited about this series

There is the teeniest, tiniest little part of me who stupidly hopes/wonders if we can run the table against the Bitchsox. For pride, for fun, just to make things interisting. I am excited for this series. Against my better judgement I am holding out just a mouse sized scrap of hope.

It's time to admitt, I HATE the Yankees. Now, my mom always said "hate is a strong word." THanks mom...I now only use that word when referring to the Yanks and to a slightly lesser extent, the White Sox.

Not only are they division rivals but back when there was only American West and East divisions I hated the Sox. Historically I haven't like the players much (Frank Thomas, Carl Everrett to name a few) but I also have hated the way they do business: Michael Jordan gets a call up? Come on!!!! I just dont like 'em.

So this series has even further implacations for me. Not only do I wish to cut into the impossible lead Chicago has on the division, but it's always fun to beat the team I loathe. (Remember when the Twins in 2001 beat the Yankees like 9 out of 10 times or something like that?)

So I will be watching with anticipation tonight. Wish our boys good luck.

1 is the loneliest number

2005-08-13T00:12:00.000-05:00

Twins 1 A's: A big fat doughnut

Johan had his mojo working tonight. Here is his line:

IP H R ER BB SO
9 3 0 0 1 9

That is pretty sexy if you ask me. It's been a while comming since I have seen Johan pitch with the poise he had tonight. The funny thing I thought, was that Gardy was going to let him potentially take the loss. With Chavez at the plate with runners on 1st and second, unless Johan walks Chavez it is at least a tie game if he doesn't get him out. It is a moot point right now, but if Johan had given up the tying run or God forbid to go ahead run, we would be having another round of Gardenhire rants to deal with this morning.

Tomorrow we get to see something called Kirk Saarloos take the mound against Joe Mays. Do not let the ineptitude of Our Beloved Twins line-up foo you, Saarloos is not a good pitcher. He is 25 yrs old, has pitched 113 innings this year while striking out 33 and walking 35. If it werent for a stretch in May-June his ERA would be above 5.00. It should be interisting to see if there is a contrast from the pitchers duel we saw tonight.

A little help from my friends
Help me out here as I digress from baseball for a moment. This week we have seen the debate regarding sports teams who name themselves after Native American tribes or old slang for Native Americans in general i.e: Braves, Chiefs etc. This has always been a topic that I have been passionate about. I have been lucky to work directly with many people who represent the tradition of the indeginous American in Minnesota. Professionals as well as kids from Cass Lake, Red Lake, Shakopee Reservation, Leech Lake and so on.

It is my opinion that when most of these teams where named it wasn't to honor the tradition of the Native American. Why do we name teams Vikings, Pirates, Raiders and such? Isn't it because of the savage and violant immage the call to mind? How about Tigers, Bears or Cougers? Vicious animals right?

So either you must accept that teams where named after the Indeginous People of the U.S because a) we think of them in a sterio-type that is one of savaged, blood thirsty warriors bent on destruction b) wild animals or c) they are the one exception...white America always loved and respected them.

I believe that the answer is "A'' but thats just me. And don't give the that crap about "Vikings are just scandinavians and they're not offended." Excuse me pal...I have never met a "Viking," I have met Native Americans.

So, here is where you help me out. Also this week:

"University of Minnesota officials were apologetic Tuesday after they misspelled Sandy Stephens' last name on football tickets for the Gophers' home game against Michigan State. It was another blow to the fragile relationship between the athletic department and the local black community."
-U of M web page

Ok, as I think I have demonstrated, I am almost as socially liberal as the come...I think. I just can't peice this one together. A typ-o? They mis-spelled his name and that is going to be a blow to race relations for the U of M? Perhaps I am being naive. Perhaps I am just used to people misspelling my name. But I believe there are many MANY real fights to be fought on the front of equality for minorities. I just can't see how this is one of them.

I would be perhaps offended if I were a member of Sandy Stephens family.

I want to understand this one. Somebody help me. Am I being unsensative???

More Topics Not Baseball...
Frightwig has this cool little thingy on his website where you can put a pin into a map and leave a message to show where people are from. I'm sure you've seen it. It was the coolest danged thing and I just had to have one. So please click on the Guest Pin icon. I'm not actually sure if it works so let me know if it's not doing it's job. And then when you're done with mine, check out http://sundappledwood.blogspot.com/ and put a pin on Frights map.

Since this site went up not yet a month ago it has had an increasingly steady stream of hits and page views (I know your viewing me and some of you come back daily) and I am grateful for the oppritunity to indulge my writer inside for any audience no matter how small...some day I'll tell you about my experiment as a poet contractor/spoken word for hire man...but not today.

Stay off the Red list

2005-08-11T16:17:00.001-05:00

Everyone is silent, message boards empty and blogs going un-attended. In this, a dark hour in Our Beloved Twins history let us not abandon our team. Instead, let me be this teams McCarthy as I implement the OBT Pledge of Allegiance. For this is your team, they will one day return to glory and you and I can say honestly that we were there all along.

Say it with me…

I pledge allegiance,
To the Twins,
Of the American League Central,
And to the legions of loving fans
One ball team under Carl
With bobble heads and Dome Dogs for all

Drafting dissapointment

2005-08-10T13:48:00.000-05:00

Group #1

Ryan Mills, Adam Johnson, Travis Lee, Mark Redman, Brandon Garbe and possibly Michael Cuddyer.

Group #2

Lance Berkman, Adam Dunn, Eric Chavez

The first group are Minnesota Twins first round draft selections going back to 1995 but not including 2002-2005. With the jury still out on Cuddyer, we can safely say that the rest of these guys have been bricks for the team.

The second group is the Bats we passed up on that were availabe when we drafted these players. I only included first round pics because I didnt want to get complicated seeing as how Albert Pujols in the 13th round is'nt as big of a crime if he doesn't pan out. By the 13th round, GM's are looking for bodies who fit a mold of what a big leager could look like in a few years. If it doesnt work out no one gets upset. I also only included guys who I felt were a "Big Bat." There were several marginal guys with 20+ HRs and a +OBP.

On a side note...the Twins passed up on the likes of John Garland, Barry Zito and appearently some guy named Mark Prior. (Justkidding on the Prior thing).

It is clear that the Twins love to draft pitchers. It makes sense I suppose. You can build a team around solid pitching while the pitching is cheap and young. To Ryans credit, the focus on pitching has payed off handsomly. TG had a piece today on how to aquire a big bat: http://twinsterritory.com . I love TG and the work he does but griping about Carl Pohlads tight ass isn't gonna help.

The fact that we have no bats to brag about right now is directly associated to the fact it was no a priority for years. Years I say. Terry Ryan was building a small ball, cheap baseball team. If I were motivated I would love to study the scouting reports on the position players the Twins have drafted for the last 10 yrs or so. I suspect they have looked very hard for guys who were solid defensively and (yawn) could hit and run fast...should develope into a lead off-type hitter blah blah blah.

I will take it one step further and say that the Twins have done very poorly on evaluating talent as far as drafting offense goes. While many are arguing that it could be poor coaching I wonder "Maybe the talent wasn't provided." Dont get me wrong here, it is tough to draft baseball players. Much harder than drafting NFL. It is so hard to know who will live up to their potential and who will be a bum. If everyone knew Pujols was gonna be who he was gonna be he wouldn't have fell to the 13th round.

So then where do we get a bat for next year?

I hate to break it to everyone but unless we find ourselves in the hunt for October next year the bat we seek probabally wont come from outside. We may trade J.C, Stewart and half the team for some talent but it will probabally be AAAA type guys who may make in impact next year...maybe not. There will be no guys named Vlad, Alfonso, or Pujols in a Twins uniform next year.

We will have to make do with the likes of Morneau, Cuddyer, Mauer and Hunter as the main "POP," in the line up.

I will indulge one fantacy in which Ryan goes balls to the walls and puts some faith in Baker, Lariano and Bonser while trading Silva and Stewart and maybe more and get a good return from a team looking to re-design. But that is a long shot.

But the topic I originally slated for today before the disaster (see below entry) was about the Twins pitching situation. The window is closing on this crop of pitchers by 2008. In that time, I was speculating as to wether Ryan had it in him to trade for a big bat or if he could let this amazing group of pitchers to go wasted like the Dodgers last year. But today, I digressed into this when I started trying to remember all the Twins draft choices of the past few years.

This is it for today. If you like, drop me a line. I'm always looking for feedback.

Oh no...

2005-08-10T00:07:00.000-05:00

I had prepared my first in depth entry complete with fact finding and hot speculation. It was good, I was proud. I typed it directly onto the friggin blog and then...it made me sign in again and I lost it. Gone. 2 hours of work gone. I am so mad right now I could scream. Instead I am going to bed. In the meantime here a random link for you to enjoy in absence of my ground breaking article.

http://www.ratemykitten.com/

Nice and easy...

2005-08-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

Warning: This may be the most wasteful use of pixels ever. It is self indulgent and should not be read by anyone.

I think on my lazy days I like to write about things that are completely un-scientific and untrackable. Today is one such day.

My Dad used to tell me (in any sport) "Ok, nice and easy." I always thought he was telling me to be smooth or slow and dilleberate. I have learned since then the wisdom he was trying to impart on me. I know understand what he was telling me to mean "take it easy, relax."

With Our Beloved Twins un-officially out of the race for October ball games, the baseball purest in me cannot give up on the team or the season. This can be an exciting time for baseball fans even when your team is...well...fighting the Tigers for third place. There is something so intriguing to me about a team who is simply playing the game. I would like to believe that there is something pure about guys like Morneau and Bartlett hammering out the kinks in their major league game quietly in the shadows of teams making noise in a pennant push.

So this is where I draw my main interist as far as this season goes. And I ask this question "does a team playing for nothing play differently than a team playing for the postseason?" In other words, does Morneau feel a little better at the plate knowing he can focus on his swing and working counts vs knowing he is counted on to be the Kent Hrbeck to bring us to glory? Does Bartlett feel like he can focus on learning the pace and rythem of the majors instead of needing to be the instant fix of a revamped infield?

I would think that the answer to my question could depend on alot of factors not the least of which could be individual resiliance to adversity. Another factor may be how experienced a player is.

Hopefully I am right (which has actually happened before) and this is a time which we will see a team of young men learn to relax and play the game. We could be in for a sneak preview of what this team is capable of when they can just play.

My arguement for this could be 2001 when no one expected a thing from OBT and they had a pretty decent year. Expectations were low so there was no pressure. You could add 2002 to this but by 2003 and 2004 there were expectations at least locally.

I know what you're saying, "But they are professionals and shouldn't be affected by fan expectation." I can agree that I would like them to not be affected. But the bottom line is that baseball players, especially young ones are vulnerable to mental pressures just as you and I are. And speaking for myself personally, I hate feeling like I have let people down.

So to my favorite baseball team I offer this time tested piece of wisdom, "nice and easy boys, nice and easy."

Boston 11 Twins 7
Hell I almost forgot to mention yesterdays score. As for my hope of a series sweep I guess that may have been asking for alot considering the opponent. But it was kinda neat to put a 9th inning rally together and have the tying run at the plate. I'm pretty sure I jynxed it (sorry Twins territory) when I said outloud "Come on Jaque take this one for a ride." I got greedy and the baseball gods ended the game before I could knock on wood. Again...sorry.

Halleluiah, we won a series!

2005-08-06T23:58:00.000-05:00

Twins 4 Boston 3

Hot damn I'm giddy. Our Beloved Twins (OBT from now on) with their victory tonight ensure that they will win a series...the first one since before the all-star break. Santana was pulled after just six innings and only 94 pitches. I wondered what Gardy was up to with this move as it seemed very un-Gardenhire. I thought Johan would throw one more inning, maybe try to get him the "W''. But Gardenhire seems to be trying to out-fox himself a little bit this week. He's using the bullpen in tight games and he's playing for the Win finally. He has little choice at this point I guess.

I know he is leading the league still, but I wonder where Johans stike outs have gone. Granted, if this is an off year than its a wonderful offyear to have. Still, I wonder if Johan has something close to the dominance he showed last seasons second half in his future.

A Walk off....bunt?
Yes, the elusive sac bunt walk off. I guess it's important to note that not only did Mueller have to overthrow first base allowing Cuddyer to get to second but also, Mike Timlin had to then also overthrow first base allowing Cuddyer to score from second. It's an extreme example of why teams who can count on being in close games often (like OBT) need to have rock solid defense. But small ball isn't Bostons game and they will recover from this I am sure.

On tap for tomorrow is Mays and his 4.62 ERA vs Wakefield and his 4.23. It might be interisting...knuckleballers tend to do well in domed stadiums. What will be interisting to me is to see which Joe Mays shows up tomorrow. With any luck it'll be "Good Joe," and maybe a series sweep is within reach. We'll see.

Smoking update
None of your damn business.

Have a lovely day and cheer hard tomorrow.

Bad habbits

2005-08-05T21:51:00.000-05:00

No, Im not talking about the Twins infield, putting Tiffee in the 4 slot or anything like that. I am quitting smoking for the umteenth time in my life but this time it's gonna have to stick for the sake of my unborn child, his mom...I suppose me too. Needless to say I'm cranky and going to retire as soon as this game is over. As it stands right now The Old Man is on the hill and Boston was nice enough to spot him seven runs. Even TOM should be able to hold that lead.

The game so far...
What can I say? Its a lot more fun when your team is kicking ass. I don't suppose I should get used to it just yet but its nice to see. As I type this J.J just went yard. Radke has to be thinking it would be nice if they's spread the run support around to a couple games instead of just one but hey, we'll take it.

The past two nights Lew Ford has looked like a guy who likes to play in center field. Especially tonight where he flat out hussled to make some great plays. Not the least of which was stealing a homerun. I might critique that he may not be in position on the field and therefore has had to make some plays because of it. But thats only speculation of the fact that he is recently playing CF everyday.

Ryan on KFAN
I heard TR on KFAN today. First off, Burrero has no business breaking down baseball and all he seems capable of is belly aching about not getting Soriano. I am so glad to have the resources of the internet so I don't have to rely on crappy reporting from the local writers.

Terry said he was close to a couple of deals that eventually fell through. He wouldnt say out loud that Soriano was one of them because he didn't want to hurt feelings of guys like ROmero or Lohse. But it sounded like that was one of them.

Earlier on KFAN I hear LaVelle E Neal the too long a name say that his sources had it that Soriano was all but a done deal on sunday. He also said he knew that Pohlad would have payed for his contract extention if we got him. Huh. Kinda makes you wonder. Ahh well...I'd rather have Lariano in the rotation in a year or two than have aging 2nd basemen with poor fielding skills.

OK...Thats it. I feel a little better just typing for a while. I'm gonna finish this game and then go to bed and dream of Lucky Strikes.

Quick takes...

2005-08-04T16:32:00.000-05:00

Twins: 2 A's: 5

I had to listen to todays game at work today and to be honest I missed alot of it. Just glancing through stats I see that Kyle Lohse appeared to have a pretty good game Striking out three while walking one and holding Oakland to two runs. But I have learned something pretty important in the last week or so...when your offense only scores two runs, you tend to loose alot of ball games.

The bright spots were Morneau who went 2-3 with a double and an RBI as well as Lecroy who went 2-3 with a solo shot. I am holding my breath that Morneau is awakening to his potential and hopefully he can parlay this into success for next year. But we have all seen him be streaky this year too so until I see consistency I remain cautious.

Looking at the lineup today which was:

Stewart
Castro
Ford
Lecroy
Jones
Morneau
Cuddyer
Redmond
Bartlett

It strikes me that Our Beloved Twins are lacking at depth suddenly. Without Mauer in the line-up the #4 spot seems extremely exposed no matter who you put there. Lecroy seems to have done well today but this isn't a roster that puts fear into the other teams pitcher. I have hopes that either Bartlett or Ford step up and become a top third of the order by next spring.

The Call of the Year
Last night I was sent on a duty to get a peanut butter chocalate chip cookie for a increasingly pregnant fiance. On the drive I heard Jon Gordons call in the bottom of the 9th where Lew doubled off the baggie in right to drive Morneau in from first for that game winning run. The call was typical of Gord-o...the squeaky voice cracking as he screams "and heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees (pause) SAFE!" I was so charged up by the call and then I realized...this was the first win in 6 games. It may have been the most exciting call I will remember of 2005. Watching that play on the news I learned another important lesson...Justin Morneau is s-l-o-w. Not Kent Hrbeck slow but certainly he's no Greg Gagne.

Thats all for today, I'm working on something special for y'all in the future so do come back and check it out. Thanks for stopping.

Rumor Stew

2005-08-03T19:18:00.000-05:00

The Minnesota Twins have been blessed with a plethora of outfield talent for several years. Even with the annual surplus of outfielders, Our Beloved Twins traded Bobby Keilty for Shannon Stewart in 2003. You all know the story; Stewart appeared to save the season (although a marked imporvement in pitching for the second half is equally responsible.) Everything was fantastic. He was such a hit that TR even re-signed him in the offseason.

Stew has been a fan favorite since.

As of today 8/3/2005 Our Beloved Twins are going into the offseason with Jaque Jones probabally leaving, Hunter comming off an injury, Lew Ford "hitting," at a .252 clip, Kubel our best prospect comming off a surgery and Ryan hasn't been an everyday-type player.

Alot will depend on if Jaque stays or goes. It has been excepted as fact that he would leave but then the Hunter injury happened. It isn't impossible that TR wouldn't keep him but I still say it' not likely. All I am saying now is that it isn't as universally understood as it was two weeks ago.

With the infield looking like it will set up with Morneau 1b, Cuddyer 2b or 3b, Bartlett ss and Punto in there some where, that should still prove to be a soft hitting infield. There are a few x-factors like Brent Abernathy and Glen Williams who could make a splash in the spring but I doubt any huge impact would be made on the offense as a whole.

If Jaque goes we have Hunter who is tied to a big contract and a fan favorite. Lew is young and cheap and I gotta believe he's got better years ahead. Ryan is Ryan and Kubel is gonna be a rookie. If the Twins can't move some pitching for a bat this winter they are essentially screwed right? Maybe not...

Shannon Stewarts numbers this year are low. Very low bye his career line and certainly lower than the guy we thought we'd have traded Kielty for.

Stewart Last year:
304/.380/.447

Stewart this year:
279/.331/.399

Stewart isnt hitting the extra base hits like he did in previous years. Through 92 games last year (compared to 101 right now) Stewart walked 19 more times than he has this year. If his 730 OPS holds up it will be the lowest OPS he has posted since 1996. He hasnt had a double digit stolen base season since '02. What is really killing us is that OBP. For a team that relies on hit and run, stealing bases and "making things happen," .331 obp from the lead off guy aint gonna cut it.

The signs of rust are there. But I want to know "what is he worth?" It could be he's having a bad year and we could convince another team of that. Maybe there are teams who feel they could use him...But are those teams into making this kind of move in the winter? I doubt it. I think Stewarts value was to a team in the hunt right now. But maybe he could be packaged with our pitching for a great hitting prospect or a big(ish) bat. I will look into this more as the season winds down to see who might need a deal like this. I suspect we'd still be looking at Florida, Tampa or Texas.

My flavor is this: TR couldnt find a deal to improve us. I accept that as a done issue. But I wonder how aggressive he will be this winter. Prying Shannon Stewart from Toronto for Bobby Kielty was one of the proudest moments in Terry Ryans career. I wonder if TR can part with him for the right deal. Would TR take a risk on a prospect or two?

The right deal may help our overall offense especially if it were for 3b, 2b, outfield or DH. Bartlett or perhaps Rodriguez could take Lead off or even Lew Ford if he has a renaissance. The mantra into the offseason should be the same as it was about two weeks ago "nobody is off limits." I hope the Twins are aggressive in persuing help for next year. Even if it would cost them their most prized steal.

Im curious to hear what you thing about Stewarts tradability on this team. Do you feel he is untouchable? Maybe a better question: DO you think he is replaceable?

Those who went before me

2005-08-02T18:25:00.000-05:00

The New Look:

This blog is a work in progress and as such you may find me tinkering with the template until I find something that I like. Also as my knowledge expands I hope to make upgrades and neat little ...um...thingies. Most recently (10 minutes ago) I figured out how to change the links to the right over there. Listed are a few of my favorite Baseball blogs and sites.

They were here first:

I highly doubt that any of you reading my blog have never heard of or read the fine links to the right but just in case you Googled me by mistake you need to check them out. I have been reading them for a long time and I owe alot to this talented lot.

Aaron Gleeman has some great takes on the Twins and is always good for a read. He's a fan and it's always a good read. Twins Geek was the first Twins related fan site I ever stumbled apon. I was amazed to find there were other people who knew what OPS was. He is a talented writer and if e-mails are any indication, a swell guy to boot. Bat Girl is one of my favorites simply because I admire her mix of humor and fantastic writing. The work that goes into that sight must be exhausting. It's important to remember to laugh...even about something as serious as baseball. Twins Junkie has flat out blown me away with his recent articles on win shares and Runs Created for the Twins. Very solid sabermetrics easily digested for the mathmatically impaired. I am a recent convert to Stick and Ball Guy for the simple fact that he is so outside the mainstream as far as what is accepted about this team. I suggest you check out his entry on Torrii's injury.

Baseball cube is just a resource site I like to use.

Well, thats my act of humility for the day. These people are much more polished than I am and do great stuff that is interisting and entertaining. Check em out. Also, please check me out again soon. If you wish to send feedback on this site please check out the link to my email under my profile. I'd be glad to hear from you.

Good day.

P.S: I'd be more than happy to include your site on my list of links. Just shoot me an email and I'll do it for ya as soon as I can.

Letting go

2005-08-01T21:59:00.000-05:00

Oakland 2 Twins 1

Today in the wake of the devistating weekend for Our Beloved Twins I found a peace. It was alot like what I recall of skinny dipping in a cold Rum River on chilly nights. First the shock and the body trys to reject the cold. Eventually I adjust and its ok. I am not cold, I have no shame or apolagy. I am what I am. Today, I am a fan of a pretty sad little baseball team. But no shame, no shock, no apolagy. Just acceptance. Acceptance that we will not win the division, the wild card and at our current pace probabally not even 3rd place.

It's liberating to watch this team in this new light (although skinny dipping is pretty liberating too). I wasn't even mad when the Twins wasted an effort by Johan tonight and continued their streak to 5 losses in a row.

There were small things I was grateful for today like Bret Boone being released. What was YOUR favorite Boone moment. I think mine was before he ever played and I was filled with hope. Hope that he may have a little left in the 'ol tank. Thic Naht Hahn tells us that hope is a terrible thing, that hope is not reality but rather expectation. But I try to keep Buddhism and baseball seperate....I digress.

Bartlett is up and thusly the era of Jason has begun (again). I would hope that he gets every chance to play this year and gets lots of coaching and help from the veterans.

My only impression of the game is this: Our Beloved Twins still have 2 months to play. I wish that I had seen a team having fun and playing the game and working hard. I haven't mailed it in on the season, I will still watch or listen to all games I can. I hope my team doesn't mail it in either. There can still be exciting baseball in Minnesota without the playoffs. I hope to see improvement and some exciting ball in the weeks to come as this years call-ups are playing for next years roster...once again we're talking about hope.

Ya know, on the drive to work today, was stuck at intersection after intersection as the police blocked off my neighborhood all the way to uptown. I was about to be mad at my commutes unplanned delay until I saw the guy lying in the street. You probabally saw it on the news, the two officers stabbed bye the guy who robbed the money store. He had been dead about 5 minutes when I saw him. Just a clump of clothes and hair from all I could see. I couldn't help but feel sorry for everybody, not just the officers but everyone. That dead man on the street had made poor choices perhaps, or maybe he was mentally ill. Either way, he lay there lifeless and it was too late to make new decisions and thats sad.

And that's how my day began...before the plunge into acceptance of my precious baseball season, I had to stare at death and reflect on my life, the life of my unborn child. I love you Thic Naht Hahn but I need hope. I need passions like baseball and I need tragedy.

It was a good day.

Standing Pat= standing still

2005-07-31T16:34:00.000-05:00

And when you stand still, you get left behind.

Today Our Beloved Twins couldnt make a deal at the trade deadline. I was on record as saying that I didnt think we would get Soriano. I didnt think we'd get a Big Name. I did think we at least would end up dumping a contract or two. Instead...nothing.

It was ominously quiet as I went outside at 3:00 today. The sound I heard was the sound of Mench, Hillenbrand, Cantu and even Millar staying put. And I will say, Im saddened. Not becuase I felt anybody would single handedly salvage our season. No, I am sad because it signals that we are still playing for this year which is a serious mistake I think on TR's part.

I think if we were building for this/next year we would have moved guys like Mays, Lohse and even Jones (more on that later) for some decent prospects. I mean really, a bucket of slightly used baseballs for Romero wasn't possible? In a previous year I think TR would have made a move and let some competeing team rent Mays or Jones. This year however, it would have been probabally unpopular considering we are still numericaly in the playoff race.

But as demonstrated today by Our Beloved Twins, good pitching only can take you so far. We are currently an extreme example of what happens when you can pitch your little arse off and not score. Even the Dodgers a few years ago where a low scoreing, pitching team who had some success. The Twins are getting too old and too slow for "Small ball," and agressive baserunning. We no longer have the team when Guzy and Lawton just had to get on base and make things happen.

J.J was probabally saved from any trades when Hunter got hurt. He will now become a supplemental draft pick in next years draft I believe. And thats fine I suppose but I am not convinced we couldnt have gotten something for him that would pay dividends by 2006 or 2007 in the way of a prospect. The issue I am speculating became a sudden lack of depth in the OF if Jones was traded. To which I say: "for the right deal, put Cuddyer in right, Lew in center, Stewart in Left, Ryan and a AAA guy like Kevin West could be the 4 and 5 OFers. It would be an extreme white flag move but it may have kept us competitive for a while longer.

I trust somewhat blindly that the "right," deal wasnt out there and TR did the right thing. But Im still not happy. But I am now filled with a little anticipation as to what Our Beloved Twins will do.

My hope is that we start to expose our talent. This is what I'd like to see:

-Tiffy stays up and gets to Play 3b most the time perhaps platooning with Cuddyer

-Bartlett comes back to the club and plays everyday getting his Major League Hacks in before next year...he is the futur SS and the future is now

-Loriano replaces The Old Man...TOM becomes a ticket sales guy or beer guy or whatever else helps the team that doesnt rhyme with "Bitching."

Until the Sept Call ups the odd men out will be guys like Baker which is too bad. The bottom line is; how does this hurt us? Can we make the team worse than it is right now? Even if you believe it does short-term, doesnt it make us more prepared for next year?

How does this line up look?

1Stewart
2Bartlett
3Mauer
4Morneau
5Ford
6Jones
7Lecroy DH
8Tiffee
9Punto

I think its at worst about as bad a line up we are fielding right now.

I am trying to be optimistic here and there is reason to be for sure. The division should slightly improved next year but still wide open. So why not start to look at these guys as our future?

The hottest prospect ever!

2005-07-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

Allow me to introduce you to the youngest prospect not yet in the Twins orginization. His name (until proven otherwise) is Miles. He is 20 weeks old. The scouting report is that he is lanky and mobile.

The Twins will lose tonight...its the 9th inning. According to ESPN insider Soriano is comming to the Twins maybe..probabally...nobody knows. This season has been one huge dissapointment. Baseball is a fickle thing and I must pleade "guilty," to being perhaps more of a fan than is healthy. But tonight I am reminded and in fact humbled by the things really important in life: little arms and toes, health, my growing family and all that is right in the world.

Torrii...

2005-07-30T11:06:00.000-05:00

If you were Terry Ryan, and Torrii Hunter just got knocked out of the season for 4-6 weeks, would you still be in the position to trade?

Before gametime yesterday our biggest hole according to most was a "big bat." One may arguethat by the games end, another oght those holes had been added: outfield depth. Suddenly, Jason Kubels injury seems more poignant. The idea of playing lew Ford every day doesnt do much to make me feel better. So, TR is suddenly pressed with questions like:
"Does a bat even help us right now?" Certainly we cant trade Stewart or Jones anymore so his other question may be "Can Cuddyer play Right field?"

Really it goes on and on. We may come to hear in the next day or two about a big deal that "almost went down." But it will probabally be a deal we werent that close on in the first place and it may not seem like a good time all of a sudden to make such moves for TR.

I am terribly saddened by this sudden developement in our season. More than that I am sick to think how this could hamper our attempts to improve for the stretch run and for next year.

Spankee them Yankees

2005-07-27T23:17:00.000-05:00

Twins 7 Yanks 3

The score is a good one, but Im not happy.

I was certain after stranding 13, leaving the bases loaded twice and letting Al Lieter off the hook that we were gonna cough up this lead. It seemed as I drove home from work that we were cradling that one run like an egg on a spoon. Any minute the Yanks would touch us for a couple runs...another beautiful start wasted.

Instead, Our Beloved Twins beat up the Yank relief corps for six more runs. Nathan almost blew the lead in the 8th but thankfully the umpires got a foul ball call right when Williams almost went yard but...not quite.

Im not happy for selfish reasons, it seemed that the Yankees were trying to hand us this one and we couldnt get it together. Poor hitting WHIP again. Example:

Justing Morneau comes to bat with runners on first and second. Stewart at 2nd and Boone just coaxed a walk from a pitcher who was salvaged off the scrap heap not too long ago. This pitcher has walked 5 batters in the game. This pitcher is throwing his ninety-somethingth pitch. What does Morneau do? He goes Jack Kavorkian on the rally and hits into a DP by swinging at the VERY FIRST PITCH OFFERED!!!

I know, he had a HR and a double tonight. His bat has woken up a tad bit in the last two series. But really, doesnt anyone like Scott Ulger, or Gardie, or the other players or Justins dad say before he gets to the plate "maybe take one." I mean unless its a mistake pitch left up he should at least THINK about taking one right? Am I crazy?

Well, it wasnt the only hitting gaff by far. And I dont mean to single him out. It was a frusterating first 5 to say the least.

More will have to be said someday about my disdain for the yanks which deserves its own entry and Im sure on a slow day it will happen. Also keep your eyes peeled for my entry to be titled :
"Deity All-Star Team."

Again, its a good score and Im glad to get the "W". Still not happy.

The Double header

2005-07-23T21:57:00.000-05:00

Im conflicted tonight. Am I upset over another one run loss or happy about a 5-2 win? Well, I suppose it depends on when you ask me. My thought on the day:

Game one:

Base running gaffs are stupid. I dont like them. We had way too many. The same could be said of the night before. Im beginning to become a fan of when Silva pitches. There is something kinda neat about the extreme ground ball pitcher. Thats all my thoughts, I got to see snips and pieces of the game.

Game Two:

One of my favorite things is a rookie pitcher. This Baker fellow has pitched his arse off in two MLB starts. Tonight it looked like he had a tough time locating the breaking ball, but he was just wild enough, and just consistent enough to get it done. Very impressive especially against this Tiggers line-up.

I wish that more pitchers would throw first pitch strikes to our free swinging team like Verlander did. The guy did have some fantastic "stuff," but he happened to get caught throwing too many over the plate. Yay for us. Nice to see Morneau hit the snot out of the ball with both a double and a dinger. Hopefully this is the awakening.

He didnt look comfortable, but Cuddyer didnt look terrible at 2nd base. For whatever thats worth.

One last thought...my BOLD prediction was wrong. I guess Im not sorry and I totally missed a move that made complete sense. However conservative it seemed.

Alright Twins Fans, Im off to bed. Goodnight.

Top Ten reasons Im better than TOM

2005-07-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

Your better off not reading this. Press "back" right now. Fine...dont say I didnt tell you.

Top 10 Reasons Im better than Terry Mullholand

1) The Old Man (TOM) Cant get a MLB right handed batter out. Neither can I but I'm cheaper.

2) I dont have a mullet

3) I am younger and probabally have more "Upside"

4) I am not out of options and could be sent down if I ever sucked this bad. (which I would)

5) Ron Gardenhire would not feel obligated to use me in close games.

6) Ron Gardenhire would not feel obligated to use me in any game.

7) I am younger than the sport I would be playing

8) If I give up 5 runs and kill any hopes of a comeback to the Tiggers, I would send an apologie and a Dairy Queen Buster Bar to all fans who hear/watched the horror.

9) My ERA is 0.00 right now.and the Number 10 reason why Im better than TOM is...

10) I dont have the Excuse that my "veteran presence" is needed to help tudor the young but talented bullpen which is by the way, one of the best in MLB hence keeping me needlessly on a roster and taking up some young, promising prospects roster spot.

Seriosly, I would let TOM play for my softball team if he needs to be around the game to feel happy. Only he would have to agree to never pitch...maybe a catcher. My problem is not that Gardy used him tonight. We have along series with Detroit (5 games in 4 days) and we need to conserve some Bullpen arms. But my problem is that he is on the roster. I mean, isnt there a guy in the minors right now who could do AT LEAST as good as this guy and get his MLB cracks in in the process? We can argue that Joe Mays lost the game but TOM put it out of reach and he has done so way too much this year.

There...that is my vent for the day. I will leave poor ToM alone from now on. I just needed to get that off my chest.

Random thoughts on random topics....

2005-07-22T11:15:00.000-05:00

Twins 10 Detroit 5

It was nice to win one and know you were probabally gonna win it most the game huh? It was a foriegn feeling, that five run 2nd. Even if it was the result of inept fielding from the Detroilet Tiggers.

A pressing matter, a bold prediction:
With Scott Baker comming up Our Beloved Twins need to send down somebody. But who? Whoever we send down needs to stay there for 10 days. I cant see us sending down Morneau in the midst of a play-off push. But its probabally not the worst idea ever. Still, there are candidates that I would prefer.

Perhaps we make room by letting Terry Mullholand go. It has been widely excepted that he is on the team as an inning eater and a "veteran presence." Excuse me, but our bullpen is one of the best in the league and the same can be argued about our starting rotation. Can we please not have him on the team anymore? It is possible, however not likely that The Old Man (TOM) will go and Im pretty sure it has to do with him being one of "Gardy's Guys." Or else he has some comprimising photos of Ryan/Gardy together that they prefer not get out. However, sending TOM to the nursing home is probabally a move that I am in favor for. Bring up Lariano after Baker goes down to be the other Lefty out of the pen and let him eat garbage innings while getting his big league experience.

My actual prediction however, and I am going out on a limb here is that Our Beloved Twins make a trade within the ten days which will hopefully upgrade the position. So with that said I suppose we send down Cuddyer or Castro....potentially Morneau assuming whomever we traded for would take up the DH roll when he returns.

Random topic:
Scott Ulger, in addition for being questioned for his talent (or lack thereof) as a hitting coach now has to answer for also being a ho-hum arguer. Did you see that? Gardenhire would have said something nasty about the Umps wife and been tossed in seconds. But no, Scotty went out the ump and casually asked him to tea. Scotty, this just isnt your thing is it?

You know its stressful when...
Brad Rakeme (no thats not a spelling error) gets tossed in a game he wasnt even pitching. It was brushed over in the STRIB today but to me, that was almost as big a story as a score that didnt end in 3-2. Mild mannered Radke got tossed. I hope that the young guys are inspired by that. Its nice to see emotion out of that guy. I heard not too long ago that Brad loves his wife so much, he actually thought about telling her.

Now if he'd only brush batters back from the plate...

There ya go. Twins go tonight at 6:05. Wish em luck.

Hey Joe where ya going?

2005-07-21T17:05:00.000-05:00

Radio and Boston news papers reporting rumors of Joe Mays and J.C Romero to Boston in exchange for------->

Mueller: .281/.382/.399 with 4 home runs.

Millar: .276/.367/.386 with 4 homeruns.

They are 33 and 34 yrs old.

Not knowing the details of a trade like...who pays whos salaries. I am leery of this trade. First off...what position do they upgrade? Morneau and CUddyer have 16 homeruns between them. Does this put us in a position to win the wild card? I say loud and clear "no."

Does this perhaps then help us next year? I say again "no."

So the true question is...why we shopping Joe?

1)He is in a contract year

2) He has dissapionted us greatly over the course of THIS contract

3) We have cheaper options in our minor league

If you said "yes," to all of these you'd be right.

Let me say this right now and allow me to be deffinative on this: I do not like this trade. It not only slows the progress of some cheap and talented people who need MLB time, it also stinks to high hell of desperation. We may as well go get the Alomars! Most importantly, this seems like a "move to make a move." Surely we can get someone, well...not old for Mays. Prospect or two at least. I understand if TR wants somthing for him this year while he's still ours to trade. But I cant see this trade going through.

It sounded like the Twins are pushing for Lohse to be the SP traded instead which I think makes a bit more sense. Lohses value is in his potential and youth. Hitters are hitting .308 against him this. I used to be real high on Lohse but not these past few years. He either is going to be brilliant someday or a major dissapointment and I dont care to find out on a contending team anymore.

Now, it has been alleged that J.C ROmero is on the outs with coacing staff and I presume this may have alot to do with our willingness to trade J.C. For that, I have nothing to say. Minnesota has always been a "Team guy, Clubhouse guy" kinda place to play and if you gotta go (Ala Chuck Knoblauch) ya gotta go.

I am gonna hope and pray the TR finds something better for Joe or Kyle. If we have to settle for a bucket of baseballs for J.C, lets at least see that they are new.

Perhaps my next column will address the other Southpaw bullpen guy. Unless someone would like to tell me what is Terry Mullholand doing on this team still? I wouldnt let the guy pitch for my Softball team. Well thats two entries for today so I think im calling it a day.

Ron...grant me the serenity....

2005-07-21T11:37:00.000-05:00

Poor Ron Gardenhire. Its ok buddy. Maybe you need a hug. But after hearing you say "he can kiss my ass." soo many times, it began to sound like a plea more than an insult.

To be honest one of my favorite things about Gardy is watching him get tossed. I have been at a game where he barely got out of the dugout and was ejected which leads me to believe that whatever he said to the Umpire had little to do with baseball. Perhaps calling his parenting into question. I dont know.

This has got to be the most trying year he has coached as of yet. And I can only immagine the stress that goes along with the media, fans (not to mention internet geeks) scrutinizing your every move. The funny thing is, I got nothing to say about Rons episode. I found it entertaining in a guiltful sort of way.

To a point, it flies in the face of Minnesota Nice. And I love Minnesota Nice at the grocery store or church. But when it comes to sports I wish we were less nice. I usually find myself booing alone at Twins games. I find myself being the only one chanting/taunting the other team. And frankly, we could use some snippy, home made banners.

So to you Ronnie, I say good job. Perhaps the fans will bring their Bunny ears to the nxt game, boo the marginal calls and make fun of Pudge.

Push the button Frank...

2005-07-18T13:36:00.000-05:00

For those of you looking for one, I thought I would provide a panic button for y'all.
Reading along my fellow Twins fans today, I see two main threads:

1) Fire Scott Ulger

2) We should be greatful its not the 1998 version of the Twins

I certainly am glad its not 1998 on many levels, not the least of which is the state of Our Beloved Twins.

But I can't help but find the first idea interisting. At best I wonder what responsibility Scotty has for the current state of our offensive offense. Next, I wonder what does a hitting coach actually do? I assume he can make someone better, perhaps give them a game plan. But can a hitting coach actually make someone regress?

Player #1
.275/.339/.500/ 20HR

Player #2
.288/.369/.592/ 31 HR

Player #3
.301/.380/.603 41 HR

Give up? Heres a hint. They are all the same guy. Most of you probabally guessed this was David Ortiz's numbers. The first batch of stats are his last year as a Twin. Not terrible but certainly not fantastic considering he doesnt have a position and its not exactly the DH "big bat," we were looking for. Two things happened for David when he went to Boston. He had Manny Ramirez batting behind him. The other was that Boston changed his swing. He strikes out about the same but he is getting more hits as a Bosock.

So what? you say. David is gone, nobody saw that kind of production comming including probabally Boston who signed him for a freaking song in 2003.

I wish to discuss one Justin Morneoueoueaue.

Justin Ernest George Morneau was seen at the start of the season as the savior. Him and Maur were the new M&M boys. Minnesota was all but promised 30+ homeruns from him. He was gonna be the second comming of Alber Pujols, or maybe just another Kent Hrbek. We'd take either.

.255/.316/.455 with 11 HR's so far this year.

Justin still cant hit a big league curve and he cant go the other way. Watch him close and youll see pitchers exploiting the outside half of the plate and throwing the hammer right over. I really wonder what Morneau would do on a different team with, dare I say different coaching. Would we see the second comming of D.O?

Interisting side note...until his injury Douggie Baseball was:

.224/.312/.390 with 9 HR's

But I digress...

So maybe bigger than the Ulger question is this: Why hasnt a power threat produced at the Major league level for the Minnesota Twins? Really, who was the last one? Hrbek?

If my incomplete and admittedly self indulgant little blog here is any indication, you almost have to blame coaching. If its not coaching, than it must be a philosophy of the orginization that whoever plays first base must be major underperformers.

Lets not throw rocks or burn Scotty just yet but beware Mr. Ulger if the angry mob forgets all about 1998 and sets their sites on you.

"To every thing turn turn turn...

2005-07-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

...there is a season..."

A time to plant, a time to ...umm...go get the stuff you planted I guess. I don't recall that verse. However I thought the song appropriate for my first ever blog entry. For a time I have been envious of the blog community and I frequent some blogs daily. Now I am joining this brave new world of people who couldn't get published either.

The topic of this blog 90% of the time will be baseball and in particular the Twins.

Now...Enough with the pleasantries.

Angels 2 Twins 1

It has occurred to me this week. With most MLB teams there is a time to rebuild, a time to reload and a time to wear bags over your head when you go to games.

To me, rebuilding involves the sometimes painful but necessary action of bringing up the young talent and letting them play on the "Big kids club." You are not trying to win a pennant, you are simply giving playing time to under matured ball players. (Anyone remember guys like Greg Brummet, Rich Garces or David McCarthy being on a Twins roster?)

Reloading by my definition is what the Yankees try to do every year. I think the closest thing we have seen would be getting Kenny ROgers when Milton went down. These teams are in no way looking to next year but rather looking to win this year.

The question begging to be asked is weather or not the TWins are in a position to Reload.

At the start of this '05 season many of us were dooped into thinking that the transition to the new infield unit would be seamless and smooth. Cuddy could field at 3b, Bartlett was tearing it up in spring training, and Rivas/Punto would be the answer at 2b. Don't forget Morneau would hit like a thousand homeruns.

Let me summarize what took place from then until now.

Injuries, Mornaue has cool hair but isn't hitting too well, Cuddyer has rosey cheeks but isn't hitting too well. Bartlett must have said something nasty about Gardenhires mom and got sent to AAA Rochester and Rivas, just got sent down yesterday.

don't get me wrong, I like Bret Boone and I always have. But if this isn't followed by a VERY significant move for a 3b with some pop in the bat, then I think we have our "Seasons" confused.

I think our infield is about as good as its going to be for this year. I would much rather Bartlett get his hacks in this year and see if this kid has got what it takes to play MLB.

To a point:

In 92 MLB AB's this year Bartlett was batting .242/.310/.374
In 273 AB's Boone is .231/.299/.385

Now, I know they do not play the same position here but the fellows named Punto and Castro play either of those. Therefore I see Boone is taking up a spot on the roster that could/should go to Jason.

We are hearty people in Minnesota. We have suffered and lived with the Twins sucking for many years before 2001. Its a bummer that I wont be able to call 'em the "Quad squad," for winning 4 consecutive Division titles. Wild Cards dont count. This team has a nucleus of young but inexperienced talent. There are some exciting things happening in our minor leagues too.

I don't see a trade out there that will turn this team around. I see trades with little down side like the Boone trade. But I cant think of a REALISTIC trade scenario that brings us the bat we need, without giving up the prospects and monetary commitment that we historically don't get involved in.

Perhaps I am being premature with all of this considering that we are technically still in the hunt for a wild card and its not impossible that we cant win the division. There is a thing called "September Call ups" as well, which will partially grant my wish.

I just wish we hadnt abandoned our plan so quickly only to go and find a 36 yr old replacement who will be gone next year.