GAME THREAD: Guardians v Twins, 8/18 @ 12:10pm CT

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Polanco at the bat.

[Cap'n Piranha]

Just now, Brock Beauchamp said:

Baseball needs a pitttttcccchhhhhhh clooooocccckkkkkkkkkk

Agreed.  Also, batters should be required to stay in the box unless they want to call a timeout.  Each time gets 4 timeouts they can use while batting.  Leaving the box during a PA is an automatic strike, doing it twice is an automatic out, and the offending hitter is ejected.

[mnfireman]

Why Cave swung at Ball 4 was beyond me, should be looking for a pitch to drive. He would have rolled into a 6-4-3 DP if he made contact.

[TouchEmAllGuy]

Hey Hey Polanco!!

[h2oface]

JORGE!

[GCTF]

Polonco > You

[mnfireman]

POLANCO....... Jump on my back boys!!

[Cap'n Piranha]

Just now, mnfireman said:

Why Cave swung at Ball 4 was beyond me, should be looking for a pitch to drive. He would have rolled into a 6-4-3 DP if he made contact.

I'm gonna guess it didn't look like ball 4 until it was too late to stop his swing.

[LVTwinsfan]

1 minute ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Agreed.  Also, batters should be required to stay in the box unless they want to call a timeout.  Each time gets 4 timeouts they can use while batting.  Leaving the box during a PA is an automatic strike, doing it twice is an automatic out, and the offending hitter is ejected.

Silly 

[Mike Sixel]

Remember when 1/3 of the board was ready to give up Polanco earlier this year? Good stuff.

No idea what happens tomorrow on the mound now.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Anyway, winnah!

 

I never woulda expect Polanco of all folk to come through for us!

[Cap'n Piranha]

1 minute ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Silly 

The idea or me?

[Cap'n Piranha]

2 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Silly 

Also, yet another response crammed with insight and analysis.

[wavedog]

Props to Polanco - smart at-bat - way to deliver in the clutch.    

[Squirrel]

It's chicken dinner tonight ...  

[wabene]

Hip hip JORGE!!!! YEAH BABY

[Squirrel]

4 minutes ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Silly 

 

1 minute ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Also, yet another response crammed with insight and analysis.

Stop it you two 

[wabene]

I'm an a big fan of Jorge. He is making quite the effort to learn English. He is a ballplayer, period. A healthy Polanco is someone you can build around. Tough as they come, speaks softly carries a big stick.

 

Ode To Jorge

[bighat]

1 minute ago, wabene said:

I'm an a big fan of Jorge. He is making quite the effort to learn English. He is a ballplayer, period. A healthy Polanco is someone you can build around. Tough as they come, speaks softly carries a big stick.

 

Ode To Jorge

Interesting point and I think foreign-born players should get way more credit for this, by the way.

I spent 7 years in Guatemala full-time (and spent several months in many other Central and South American countries) and I had to learn how to use Spanish on a daily basis for everything. .After seven years I still would struggle sometimes, I remember one particular trip to the mechanic when I realized I didn't even know how to say the words "leak", "pump", or "hose"....so there I was, a 40 year-old man jumping around in a repair shop doing charades like a toddler:

"Water go whoooosh! Whoooosh! Whoooosh and come out the long skinny thing" - as you can imagine the mechanics were doubled up with laughter.

Anyway, my point is that learning another language is super hard, let alone getting in front of 30,000 people with a microphone and a TV camera in your face. For these guys to be able to simply make sense on live television is incredible in its own right. Good on them.

[Loosey]

6 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Career .452 hitter Glenn Williams!

I think LHP Brad Thomas and 1B Justin Huber round out the Australian contingent of Twins MLB players.

Michael Nakamura and forever minor leaguer James Beresford

[Brock Beauchamp]

24 minutes ago, Cap'n Piranha said:

Agreed.  Also, batters should be required to stay in the box unless they want to call a timeout.  Each time gets 4 timeouts they can use while batting.  Leaving the box during a PA is an automatic strike, doing it twice is an automatic out, and the offending hitter is ejected.

I don’t actually think that is necessary, just make the rule with the clock and the pitcher can pitch whether the batter is in the box or not. 

[Loosey]

4 hours ago, Otto von Ballpark said:

Since Thorpe is Australian, does the fastball look any better in kilometers per hour?

I think his fastball today would be around 140KPH. . .. So that that does indeed look faster.

[Mike Sixel]

8 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I don’t actually think that is necessary, just make the rule with the clock and the pitcher can pitch whether the batter is in the box or not. 

Terrible idea. How would that work if he's checking a sign? What if he swung hard and needs a moment? 

OTOH, if you have to wait for him to be in the box, then every one will wait until 27 seconds or less to get in the box.

[Brock Beauchamp]

4 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Terrible idea. How would that work if he's checking a sign? What if he swung hard and needs a moment? 

OTOH, if you have to wait for him to be in the box, then every one will wait until 27 seconds or less to get in the box.

Batters didn’t step out of the box for most of baseball history and effectively communicated signs.

And if we want to speed up the game, the most effective way to do that is to enact a pitch clock and give the pitcher control over when the next pitch is thrown.

If the batter needs a moment, just call time like they do now. The umpire can decide whether to grant it. 

[RickOShea]

3 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Batters didn’t step out of the box for most of baseball history and effectively communicated signs.

And if we want to speed up the game, the most effective way to do that is to enact a pitch clock and give the pitcher control over when he throws a pitch. 

I would allow the batter to accept the pitch when ready.  Put the time rules on the batter being ready.  He's the one who's having a ball thrown in his direction at speeds up to 100 mph.  If  for no other reason, it's a safety issue

[stringer bell]

4 hours ago, Loosey said:

Michael Nakamura and forever minor leaguer James Beresford

I checked Nakamura on BBRef and he was born in Japan, but graduated from HS in Australia. I remember that he had an Aussie accent.