Leaderboard

Who would have thought coming into the year that Thielbar would be getting the 7th in a tie game (and picking up the "W") with Wisler collecting the save?!

Let’s remember some Bert-isms. Dick: “Today is national left handed day. And in honor of that, I’ve done everything today with my left hand.” Bert: “...everything?” Dick: “So did you ever run out of gas while on the mound?” Bert: “Oh I always had gas. My problem is that I never ran out.” Dick: “One of your nicknames was Dr. Hook. Was that because of your curveball!” Bert: “Probably...unless they saw me in the shower.” Dick: “Never have I wanted a Twins player to hit into an inning ending double play more than I do now.”

SA...

"Oh, we're live?!?"

Best of luck in all you do, Bert! You were the best pitcher to ever wear a Twins uniform.

That'll suffice nicely. 'Kthxbye.

Best Dutch pitcher of all time. I'll always have a soft spot for him just because of this shirt.

You could have and should have done a "ditto" for Larnach in reference to Kirilloff. I think disappointment leads to speculation and hope that one of these guys could somehow replace Kepler or Rosario. Come on! But the Rooker opinion is smart and right on. He has to be added to the 40 man after this season. Isn't there some move available to do so now? I hate his age discussion! Not everyone is a 21-23yo prospect ready to come up and kill it. There are a plethora of guys who are 24-25 when they are ready and do well. And as stated, he adjusted to AAA after a few weeks...which has been his constant...and did well before injury. No offense to Wade, who is "struggling" for opportunity/consistency, but he is behind Cave. Rooker should absolutely get a shot as a RH bat at this point. I don't think Vargas was a bad cash acquisition. I don't think he is a bad ballplayer. He might even have a future here. But I would say that with Arraez fighting through a bad knee, even with Donaldson coming back, maybe it's time for Blankenhorn to get his shot. He's already on the 40 man, has shown flashes, and can fill in at several spots.

Senior Airman, Staff Sergeant, Tech Sergeant, and Master Sergeant. A couple more stripes to go, too.

Really, really good outing from Berrios

With Tom Seaver’s death, Steve Stone shared a good story on the Sox broadcast. Spring training of his rookie year and they’re facing the Cardinals. Bob Gibson throws a fastball right under Seaver’s chin, walks halfway to the plate and says, “Welcome to the big leagues, kid.” Gibson’s first time up, Seaver puts a fastball right under his chin, walks halfway to the plate and says, “It’s good to be here.”

I can’t even put “rock” and “powder blue” together like that

Didn't someone once say that the Twins are a better team when Buxton is on the field? Much Better! And what a great start by Pineda. Those runs in the first inning would not have scored had Sano not had a mental cramp and covered first base. Question, Seth. Is it possible that Pineda is the Twins best starting pitcher? What a pleasant surprise the local kid, Thielbar, has been since his return. And Wisler just keeps pitching well, very well. Both doing what we hoped Littell and Stashak would be doing had they not been MIA.

I think the author makes a good point that Rooker should come up before Kiriloff or Larnach. For one thing, he's more likely to be ready; a .933 OPS at AAA shows more readiness to contribute than a .756 OPS at AA. Also, you don't need to worry about wasting an option year. He's too old to worry about using up his options. And you need to put him on the 40 man roster anyway. Why wait? Promoting Kiriloff, on the other hand, would start his service time before he was ready, sacrificing control of later years at his peak. Let him develop and bring him up when he's ready to be a star. I'm not categorically against promoting Kiriloff or Larnach early. If they give the Twins the best chance to win, do it. But unless they are clearly better than Rooker, right now, I'd promote Rooker first.

Buxton is the straw that stirs the drink... the Twins are just so much better when he's on the field.

Buxton is a difference maker. (Stating the obvious, but big W for Twins and Buxton was right in the middle of it.)

Maybe Jeffers should become Berrios regular catcher? They seem to be working well together

It definitely sounded like Sano overthrew Kyle Rudolph in the end zone and Alcala ended up making the grab for 6.

My “nostalgia” issue with the powder blues isn’t that I can’t remember the not-so-happy years. It’s that I still think I might somehow lose the 40 pounds that will get me back into the one still hanging in my closet.

I'm going with "Sano's gravitational field affected the flight of the thrown ball."

"Wheels" Sano.

You never forget your first rental tux.

It Sano brainer.

Think the team missed Buxton and Donaldson much?

Congrats to Bert. I think it's probably time? He's seemed less and less interested in doing the games in recent years, which was a shame. Because when Bert was into it, he was flat-out outstanding, especially when talking about the art & science of pitching. I recall games where he would predict every pitch in a sequence and tell you why they were throwing it. he could spot flaws in a pitcher's mechanics and tell you what it meant and why. He really knows the game and it was fun to listen to him talk about it. At the same time, he knew how to have fun in the booth, which was really important with some of the truly awful teams. Sure, some of the bits got a little old/hokey (California math, pitchers being the best athletes on the team, etc) at times, but the dude did a lot of games and there were a lot of them in front of bad teams. I spent a lot of time with Dick 'n' Bert over the years, and I will miss having the man with the curveball that woke hitters up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat calling games. Happy retirement, to Bert "Be Home" Blyleven! And fortunately for the Twins, they have some fine in-house options to swing in after: Morneau (who could use a little more animation, but it otherwise excellent) or Hawkins (who reaches a little too hard at times for the comedy, but does a nice job dissecting the game, and has a very good voice. I know he works hard, but he sounds relaxed and comfortable. that's a skill.) are my top choices. Smalley is ok. Morris is a crank.

2020 games he appears: 14-8 Other 2020 games: 7-8 Previous seasons have shown a similar trend.

Pineda looked good overall. The play by Sano in first was a miscue by him and had it been made maybe Pineda does not give up any runs, I never assume everything plays out the same after something is changed. I am not sure if Pineda hesitated running to first on that play assuming Sano would not run 60 feet from the base trying to get to a ball. However, you need to remember this was a RH hitter and many times now the second baseman is up the middle on those, so Sano may have reacted thinking he was only chance to get there. Overall, I am very impressed with what Sano has done at first. I was thinking it was going to be a train wreck, but he has scooped the ball very well, guess his time at 3rd helped with that. He has looked shaky at times with pop ups, but that is normal for him he always did at third too. His decisions to come off the base at times has been an issue, but that just take time and paying attention to who is running, and where are the fielders, and who is pitching. Pineda is a large man that may not be too fast and Anderson will be him every time to first base, I do not know. Regardless, team won, they fought hard and hopefully we can start a win streak today.

Just needed a hefty beefcake on the mound to stop the skid, all those thin lanky guys weren't getting it done.

Okay, when talking about rocking the powder blues, I didn’t know I was going to get Smeltzer’s socks too!

A mid-inning pitching change for a team trailing 8-1. I think that's my cue to head toward bed. Good night everyone. Good game (to stretch a point), good thread (less of a stretch).

That's pretty morally bankrupt of you.

I went to the bank today, and this nice little old lady asked me if I could help check her balance. So I gave her a pretty good shove.

Alcala has gradually looked more and more relaxed and in command. He has great stuff.

Nobody wants to hear about your fantasy fantasy team.

"We built this gamethread on rock and rollllll !" Yeah, it doesn't really have anything to do with Sano's mass altering the physics of baseball, but what a catchy chorus...

I liked this post. But I ******* hate it.

What a terrible game of baseball. Silly mistakes in the field giving away runs. And we're now well over two hours and have only finished 4.5 innings.

I think I might have too, and I've had 64...

"For Arraez, that's his first error of the year." It shouldn't even be his first error of the night.

Powder blue brings back happy memories for me, so I can never be other than in favor.

The way this is going, I expect a no-hitter from Odo, when he comes off the IL.

Cave seems to be heating up.

Truly the end of an era. I know there are a lot of haters out there but Bert was one of my favorite parts of summer. He will be missed!

Agreed that Hill and Odo are optimal in short doses. I feel like the FO intended that for all the starting pitchers: as good as anyone for five innings, but cheaper and easier to obtain than the elite pitchers who go deep into games. Maeda, Pineda, and Berrios seem the most likely to surprise with a long start, so they would top my rotation, though I would put Hill ahead of Berrios to shut down a tough lineup or a lefty-heavy lineup

The boys stepped up across the board - including the manager who made all the right moves (with maybe the exception of Sano batting leadoff) with the pinch hitters and the pitching moves. Lets hope this is the start of a roll, with our (cough, cough) "ace" helping to build on the win.

I'm also of the belief that it will just take Sano time and in-game reps to learn which balls he goes for and which one he lets go. All is well after a very entertaining Twins win! That Cave triple and Arraez double got me out of my seat! Buxton showing a little clutch gene tonight.

Love the win, the fielding and the pitching. It was great to see Arraez step up, but where are the bats? Of course having Adrianza and Vargas in the lineup together was not going to get the hitting started. But we have to start scoring more than 3 runs a game.

Are we sure that it wasn't White Sox 3, Twins 2. Like a typo?!?!

How the **** is Donaldson ok for tomorrow, but not tonight? Against a leftie? Makes no sense. None. Either he's ready to go, or he's not. 24 hours is meaningless, its been weeks.