"Souhan: Brewers lack glamour, but not wins"

[jokin]

Souhan sets up the "4 game series" (Home and Home....2 in Milwaukee followed by 2 at TF) that begins this evening. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/261464041.html

 

http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/420*503/ows_140167590563656.jpg

 

Strange picture in the lead, as the Twins are missing Kyle Lohse during this series, Lohse, yesterday, was brilliant in a complete-game, 3-hit shutout of the Cubs. (But the requisite Lohse quote puls it all together later on).

 

There are a few nuggets in the body of the article, Souhan makes Brewers GM, Doug Melvin, sound strangely reminiscent of Terry Ryan:

 

Most likely, the Brewers being in first place in one of baseball’s toughest divisions, the National League Central, won’t make much of a national stir. That’s because Melvin is cut from the plaid cloth of traditional GMs unbound by overarching philosophy, who trust their eyes and simply try to make one good decision at a time

.So when Melvin saw a spectacular athlete such as Carlos Gomez learning to hit, he signed him to a three-year, $24 million deal last spring at a time when few teams would have invested hope, much less money, in a player who took such undisciplined at-bats.

Melvin signed two front-line starting pitchers the market seemed doubtful about, Kyle Lohse and Matt Garza.....Melvin signed Lohse to a three-year, $33 million contract last spring, and Lohse has become an ace. He is 7-1 with a 2.60 ERA after shutting out the Cubs on Sunday, far outperforming his contract.

 

Despite talking about Carlos Gomez's non-stop chatter in the clubhouse, Souhan was only able to obtain quotes from the other 2 ex-Twins:

 

Garza, Gomez and Lohse sit next to each other in the Brewers clubhouse. “We’re just outcasts from the Twins,” Garza joked. “We just keep playing, keep plugging away.”

 

Asked what it was like to sit next to two other former Twins in a first-place clubhouse, Lohse said, with a smile: “It feels good. I’ll leave it at that.”

 

This Brewers team is loaded, at the top of the NL Central, another MVP year from Gomez, they've gotten a huge lift from an unlikely FA signing of 3rd base defense and offense in the form of Mark Reynolds, and they will get even better when Aramis Ramirez comes off of the DL. Yet another big challenge for the Twins, with a little extra home town flavor starting tonight, as they go up against Garza.

[JB_Iowa]

Go-Go did have a comment for Bollinger:

 

"When I was in New York, at that time, the best thing for me was to move to Minnesota," Gomez said. "It was a two-year experience, and I appreciate it. I don't have any hard feelings with Minnesota. I'm always watching highlights from Minnesota, because they took care of me well [and had] beautiful fans."

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_06_02_minmlb_milmlb_1&mode=preview&vkey=preview_web_away&c_id=min

 

Of course, he didn't mention that he gets a great deal of pleasure from kicking the Twins in the shins (and another portion of the anatomy as well)!

 

Twins miss Lohse but Brewers miss Hughes so I actually think the Brewers may get the better end of that deal.

 

Should be a fun series. And let's hope Jo-Jo gets his mojo going against the NL. .340/.392/.521/.913 at Miller Park for career. Not his best but definitely not the worst NL park for him.

 

 

EDIT: Ooops, not Bollinger but Caitlin Swieca on the mlb.com story.

[gil4]

"... they took care of me well [and had] beautiful fans."

 

When my little leaguers pull their heads when they swing I like to tell them to watch the ball, not the pretty girls in the stands. Maybe that was Go-Go's problem, too.

[jokin]

"... they took care of me well [and had] beautiful fans."

 

When my little leaguers pull their heads when they swing I like to tell them to watch the ball, not the pretty girls in the stands. Maybe that was Go-Go's problem, too.

 

Hmmm....no quotes for Souhan or Bollinger.....but he did have time for Caitlin Swieca?

 

[jokin]

Danny Santana back in the lineup today, in CF and batting 8th.

[John Bonnes]

The fact that Gomez also plays center field, a seemingly chronic problem for the Twins the last two year, hurts even more.

[Guest USAFChief]

That's a real nice ball club in Milwaukee.

[Paul Pleiss]

For all of the former Twins doing big things with other clubs, I don't feel bad about Go-go's emergence with the Brew-crew. Keeping him when the Twins had Span didn't make sense, especially with Revere and Hicks coming up the system. In hindsight it looks bad, but it doesn't hurt the way other moves have.