Game Thread: Twins v Mariners, 6/15 @ 12:10pm CDT

[LaBombo]

 

Trying to decide which option is going to kill me faster.  The slow wait for the cringeworthy answer or the answer itself.

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZqSGbBu.jpg

[Mike Sixel]

Grossman clearly suffering the Fangraphs jinx today!

[USAFChief]

 

Gretzky was right. Assists really can be sweeter than goals.

Quite the assist, too.  The entire net was wide open.  I almost couldn't miss.

[USAFChief]

 

Because they make up everything.

 

You gave up too early, buddy.

a minute in the space time continuum can be an eternity.

[wavedog]

How are we going to score 20 runs with Grossman and Vargas leaving em on like this. 

[Puckett34]

 

How are we going to score 20 runs with Grossman and Vargas leaving em on like this. 

Don't worry, Babe Gimenez is up next inning.

[LaBombo]

 

How are we going to score 20 runs with Grossman and Vargas leaving em on like this. 

 

Agreed. At this rate we might end up with the kind of narrow lead that forces us to use actual bullpen guys in relief of Berrios.

[Circus Boy]

 

And don't forget that all the moderators are beautiful.

And strong.

[USAFChief]

My grandkids are over, and I was grilling up some hot dogs for lunch.  My eldest granddaughter (she's 4) came out to help me, and unfortunately we had quite a scare.  I picked her up, and she dropped her doll on the grill.  The thing flared up and we came close to both getting burned.

 

 

...

 

 

It was a real barbie-Q.

[USAFChief]

 

Agreed. At this rate we might end up with the kind of narrow lead that forces us to use actual bullpen guys in relief of Berrios.

We made a trade??

[wsnydes]

 

My grandkids are over, and I was grilling up some hot dogs for lunch.  My eldest granddaughter (she's 4) came out to help me, and unfortunately we had quite a scare.  I picked her up, and she dropped her doll on the grill.  The thing flared up and we came close to both getting burned.

 

 

...

 

 

It was a real barbie-Q.

Grillmarks Barbie sounds like an instant hit to me!

[Circus Boy]

 

My grandkids are over, and I was grilling up some hot dogs for lunch.  My eldest granddaughter (she's 4) came out to help me, and unfortunately we had quite a scare.  I picked her up, and she dropped her doll on the grill.  The thing flared up and we came close to both getting burned.

 

 

...

 

 

It was a real barbie-Q.

Was she drinking again?

[LaBombo]

 

And strong.

 

I was going to go with "All the servers are strong", but I didn't want to drop a jinx like that with an enjoyable game thread in progress.

[LaBombo]

 

We made a trade??

 

I'm just extending them the courtesy of using the title that the game program and team roster grant them.

[USAFChief]

 

Was she drinking again?

No.  

 

Not again, still.

[mikecgrimes]

This Trevor plouffe kid is available

[USAFChief]

I have a stepladder out in the garage.

 

It's just fine and all, but some day I hope to meet my real ladder.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I have a stepladder out in the garage.

 

It's just fine and all, but some day I hope to meet my real ladder.

 

ugh. that one is Alexa worthy for sure....

[Puckett34]

 

This Trevor plouffe kid is available

Big time deal in Minnesooooota

[LaBombo]

 

This Trevor plouffe kid is available

 

Briefly thought that said "Trevor Plouffe's kid is available" and wondered if it was because he was the first pre-schooler to demand 20% over slot.

[USAFChief]

Gamel is starting to **** me off.

[LaBombo]

 

I have a stepladder out in the garage.

 

It's just fine and all, but some day I hope to meet my real ladder.

 

I have a Versa ladder. It swings both ways.

 

At least that's what the hedge trimmer was saying to the table saw last week.

[USAFChief]

If any of you end up in Vegas, I highly recommend seeing Penn and Teller at the Rio.  Fantastic show.  They've updated their show in recent years.  For a while there, they used the ol' "trap door" trick in every show, and it got old.

 

I guess you could say it was a stage they were going through.

[LaBombo]

 

Gamel is starting to **** me off.

 

The rising staccato of snapping fingers from the opposing dugouts signaled the inevitable confrontation...

 

 

...as Gamel's Luxurious Mane stared down Dozier's Glorious Hair.

[Puckett34]

 

This Trevor plouffe kid is available

DFA'd on his birthday no less.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Berrios. Stopper.

[Circus Boy]

This is a very funny game thread. Upvotes to all!

 

EDIT ADD: I even tried a couple of Chief's jokes on my wife, and she smiled, which is as good as a guffaw.

[LaBombo]

Mariners really testing Dozier's plunked elbow with that four pitch walk...

[jimbo92107]

I was watching Buxton's can of corn fly ball to right-center. Where does easy power come from? it comes from putting energy into the square area of the sweet spot, of course. But that energy does no good unless it's headed in the right direction, which is basically right back at the pitcher.

 

If you recall how the Angels corrected Alex Meyer's tendency to fly open on his delivery, they made him pound his glove back into the baseball just before his shoulder/forearm torque. That allowed Meyer to store energy from his long leg drive, then deliver it in a straight line towards the plate. Without that pound, Meyer would fly open, causing his pitches to drift wide arm-side.

 

Similarly, a hitter must store the energy from his leg drive, then transmit that energy to the sweet spot of the bat traveling into the path of the ball.

 

One common mistake hitters make is opening up their hips and shoulders too early, preventing them from covering the outside of the plate, and causing the sweet spot of the bat to slide away from a direct path through the ball. 

 

A second common mistake is to start bringing the bat head around too early, in an attempt to "catch up" to that speedy baseball. Even if you avoid opening up your hips and shoulder early, bringing the bat head around too early will waste a lot of that energy. 

 

Byron Buxton tends to make both those mistakes. Not his fault; this is a coaching error, and it is fixed fairly easily. 

 

If you're looking for a good example of how to produce easy power, the best example on the Twins is Eddie Rosario. From his relatively modest frame Rosario is able to put an excellent charge into baseballs to all parts of the field. How?

 

First, he's in an athletic crouch, which gets his body out of the way of an outward snap, and allows him to drive with his leg and body. It also allows him to carry the sweet spot through a long sweep in line with the pitch, with power.

 

Second, he holds the bat counter-rotated towards the pitcher, allowing him to lag the bat head as he bring his hands forward. 

 

Third, he drives through and up with his rear hand, executing what Bert calls the "uppercut swing." The uppercut motion from an athletic crouch gets your torso muscles driving through the swing. If you want to hit a ball really hard and far, that's the way to do it. 

 

Buxton right now does have an athletic crouch, but he still tends to open his hips and shoulders too early. The heel tap helps a little, but it's nowhere near enough. Buxton also tends to open up the bat head early, rather than lagging it behind to store energy. Last, he also throws a roundhouse punch, not an uppercut. This will cause him to slap and pull the bat's sweet spot off the ball. 

 

Watching Buxton ground out to SS now, I see he's trying to do most of the stuff I was mentioning, but he's not quite there. He needs a little more crouch, a little more counter rotation of the bat, and he needs to tilt his head to get more of an uppercut swing. I would also get him to close his stance. so his hip points more at the 2B. I get the impression too that he's opening up the bat too soon. Hard habit to break. 

 

 

 

 

[wsnydes]

I enjoy and loathe the fact that Buxton is not afraid of walls.