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The Twins had not played a series in Pittsburgh that fans could attend since April of 2018, with the last series the team played at PNC Park being a fanless two game series during the COVID-shortened 2020 season. The scheduling of this series on a weekend in early June at one of the best ballparks in the country allowed the opportunity for many Twins fans, this one included, to watch their team get shutout in a new and exciting destination!
My wife Sophie joined me on this trip and she got a nice (for me) or terrifying (for her) glimpse into our future when we were surrounded by scores of older, presumably retired couples wearing Twins gear at the gate awaiting our early Thursday morning flight to Pittsburgh. Our plans got pushed back a bit when our Delta gate agent got on the loudspeaker and asked for volunteers to take $500 per person to take a later flight. We were the first ones to take the offer and didn’t actually fly out until 12:30, but did so $1000 richer. Always take the extra pierogi money, friends. 
Neither of us had been to Pittsburgh before and while the trip was largely influenced by wanting to see the Twins play at PNC Park, I had heard from numerous people that Pittsburgh was a wildly underrated city and actually had a lot of appeal outside of the ballpark, and that proved to be true. 
The main things I knew about the city entering the weekend were that the local "Yinzers" speak with ridiculous accent, which had initially come to my attention during this sketch. I also knew that they liked to eat pierogies and sandwiches with fries on them. While all of those things were on display throughout the course of the weekend, we came to find that the city is also very picturesque. It was once the sixth largest city in the country which explains why it has such an impressive skyline for a city that currently only has about 300,000 people. It’s split up by the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which meet to form the Ohio River, so you are never far from water or bridges and get some really great views.

When it comes to getting around town, the public transit options aren’t great. I would guess that’s largely due to the aforementioned rivers and bridges splitting up parts of the city and a lack of necessary connectedness, but Uber and Lyft were both pretty reliable. We took the bus from Lawrenceville, the neighborhood where we stayed, down to the Strip neighborhood and downtown a few times which was a good option for simple trips. The funicular at the Duquesne Incline was pretty cool too and only took about five minutes to ride to the top. Once you’re up there there are some great views (pictured above), especially at night, but not a whole lot to do except head back down. 
Pittsburgh is also the only sports market smart enough to have all of their professional teams wear the same colors. The Pirates, Steelers, Penguins, and even the Riverhounds in the USL, all don the black and gold. This results in a lot of cross-sport wearing of merchandise; for example there were a lot of Steelers shirts and jerseys at the Pirates game that didn’t look out of place. It seems like a great deal for fans; they can buy one black and gold shirt in their lifetime and fit in at any game in the city, but it’s probably not as great for the teams’ bottom lines.   
Friday night game
Friday morning and afternoon before the first game of the series I decided to throw on my Roberto Clemente shirt and blend in amongst the Yinzers. While I think this won me some points, it also created some confusion from the multiple people who asked me for directions or where they could find a bathroom and were met with my blank, helpless stares. 
Later on before the game, I changed into my Joe Ryan Grateful Dead shirt and became just another Twins fan jagoff. 

 
Ahead of game time we contemplated heading over to the Andy Warhol museum which is just blocks away from PNC Park, but decided we didn’t have enough time and that we’d tackle that the next day. Instead, we headed over to Southern Tier brewery down the street from the ballpark and had some beers with a large swath of Pirates fans listening to an acoustic guitar-playing singer banging out timeless hits like “Thong Song” and “No Diggity”. This was a pretty solid spot to have a few beers before the game, but it looked like there was no shortage of breweries around the park where you could do the same. 


 
About a half hour before game time, we strolled over to PNC Park and were able to get in pretty quickly. I had purchased seats up in Section 322 a few days before the game and the prices were pretty reasonable at around $25 a ticket. I like to get cheaper seats when I go to a ballpark for the first time as I expect to be walking around and exploring for a good portion of it. I feel most at home with the upper deck patrons at a ballpark anyways. These seats and really any section in the 300s near the third base line had a great view of the city and the bridge. 

 
Our seat neighbors for the most part were pretty engaged, but right in front of us, there was a group of girls likely in their late teens or early 20s that spent the entire game taking pictures of themselves and recording Tiktoks. This is not an exaggeration, it was the entire game. Just as I was losing hope in our youth, I noticed the group of girls to our left that were likely in their early 20s and were drinking beers and eating hot dogs and watching the game without a phone in sight. Let that be a lesson that there are not disappointing generations, just disappointing people. 
Some fun gimmicks at the game included the Warhol cam, which was a jumbotron filter honoring Pittsburgh’s famous purveyor of pop art, and the Pierogi race, honoring Pittsburgh’s famous Polish dumpling. Had we gotten a Michael Keaton-related activity, I think that would have covered the Pittsburgh Big Three.   

 
You’re likely not here to read about the game itself, and the Twins got shutout so there’s not a whole lot for me to write about on that front anyways. Joe Ryan pitched really well, the Twins hit a lot of singles but not in a row, and the home plate umpire was clearly doing a very bad job even from my seat in the 300 level. If you’re looking for a much more detailed writeup on the 3-0 loss, you can find a great one here.
The only thing worse than the result was that the Pirates' closer David Bednar, who is from Pittsburgh, walked out to “Renegade” by Styx for his intro music.  
One redeeming note: With legal sports betting in Pennsylvania I decided to place an “emotional hedge” bet on the Pirates moneyline so I would get to either see the Twins win or win some money. 15 bucks on the Pirates at +114 yielded a nice 17 dollar profit that paid for the jumbo 24 oz IC Light I had at the game.
After the game we were told there were fireworks, what we didn’t realize was that they would match the pyrotechnics budget of the helicopter Ride of the Valkyries scene in Apocalypse Now. To say these fireworks were a bit over the top would be like saying a Dinosaur Jr. show is a bit loud. We decided to watch them on the Roberto Clemente bridge since they were being fired off of a barge in the river right in front of the bridge. This seemed like a great idea until we started getting bombarded with smoke and actual fireworks shrapnel. Great view though!
Ballpark thoughts
PNC Park is as good as advertised. The sightlines are great from everywhere, the views are spectacular and it only has two seating decks which makes it really manageable to get around. The Clemente bridge is closed to traffic on game days which makes for an easy way to get there if you’re coming from downtown. The Pittsburgh fans are pretty dang good too. I was a little disappointed in the attendance for a beautiful Friday night in June but the ones there were very tuned in and loud. 
Going to a Major League ballpark for the first time always makes me consider where it ranks among the others I’ve been to so far. I have a hard time comparing Fenway and Wrigley to ballparks that were built in the last 30 years as it feels very apples to oranges. However, I would probably put those two in the top spots due to the joy and overwhelming sense of history one gets from attending a game there. That being said, I think my current top ten now including PNC, would be something like this:
1. Fenway Park (Boston)
2. Wrigley Field (Chicago, the good one)
3. Oracle Park (San Francisco)
4. PNC Park (Pittsburgh)
5. Target Field
6. Citi Field (Queens)
7. Coors Field (Colorado)
8. Kauffman Stadium (KC)
9. T-Mobile Park (Seattle)
10. Miller Park, it will always be Miller Park to me (Milwaukee)
Fenway and Wrigley are pretty interchangeable for me at 1A and 1B and so are Oracle and PNC at 3A and 3B, but it’s really all about personal preference. Wrigley is typically a more fun game experience with better sightlines than Fenway, but I like the architecture and quirkiness of the Green Monster at Fenway better. When comparing Oracle and PNC, they both have great views on the water but PNC gets the edge with the skyline and the Roberto Clemente bridge in the background and Oracle gets the edge on food and beer selection. 
The three I still haven’t visited that I’d really like to get to are Dodger Stadium in LA, Petco Park in San Diego (been to the park but in January during the offseason), and Camden Yards in Baltimore. 
Other Pittsburgh activities
My wife and I spend most of our vacations eating and drinking so while this section is titled “Other Pittsburgh activities” it’s mostly just going to be some of our favorite restaurants and bars to consider if you’re making the trip. 
As I mentioned earlier, we stayed in Lawrenceville. This was a really good hub if you want to be close to a lot of bars and restaurants that are walkable and cater to all ages. Of the neighborhoods we visited, we were definitely happy with our choice and it was validated by one of our Lyft drivers (shoutout David) who said we nailed it by choosing to stay there. Downtown had a lot of nice looking hotels if that’s more your scene and Squirrel Hill supposedly was nice if you’re looking for a more residential, quiet vibe. 
-Cork Harbour Pub was literally next door and was a solid home base/Lyft drop off spot for us. We ended up going all three days of the trip at some point in the day and even when we weren’t there at night, we got to pretend we were because we could hear it from our bedroom when we were trying to sleep. 
-Big Jim’s in the Run was a classic dive that naturally has been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was tucked into an odd, hidden neighborhood called Four Mile Run and is the most authentic Pittsburgh place we went to. I will admit that the food didn’t blow me away, but I would still highly recommend it just for the experience. This was also where I watched the final four innings of the Saturday loss and thanked my lucky stars that we explored a few more areas of the city instead of paying to watch the Twins get shutout two days in a row. 
-Dish Osteria Bar on the South Side was the best meal we had on the trip. If you don’t mind shelling out a little more money and have the foresight to snag a reservation (we had to grab one for 10 pm on Thursday) this is about as good as it gets for Southern Italian food. The pasta was perfect, the seafood was delicious, the drinks were great, and it was in a very nice, intimate setting. 
-I hesitate to even admit it, but the only time we ate at a Primanti Brothers sandwich was at the ballgame. I’m confident that a limited menu and a ballpark kitchen was not the best way to experience Pittsburgh’s most legendary sandwich chain but the capicola and cheese we got (topped with fries, of course) was still very good. I wish we would have made it to one of the locations around town and gotten the true experience but alas, I only have one stomach. 
-La Gourmandine was a great French bakery just up the road from us where we had a wonderful almond croissant and an apricot pastry for breakfast one day. It was a tough place to order because everything there looked so good, including the sandwiches. 
-S&D Polish Deli in the Strip was a good stop for pierogies and had some interesting Polish deli items to browse. 
 -Colangelo's was a solid pizza joint right around the corner from the Polish deli. I had a really tough time figuring out what they’re doing with pizza in Pittsburgh. Most of the places we saw or ate were similar to a Detroit style pizza which is fine by me, but then you have the unmelted cheese abomination of the Ohio River Valley style that’s served famously at Beto’s in Pittsburgh. I actually wanted to try it out of morbid curiosity but didn’t find the time.
-I ducked into William Penn Tavern to catch the fifth set of the Alcaraz/Sinner French Open semifinal while Sophie was shopping one day and that was a great spot to grab a beer and watch a game in the middle of the day. It looked a little more rowdy at night when we walked by however, so beware of that potential bro-fest.
-After the fireworks on Friday night, we wandered over the bridge into downtown and eventually settled at Emerson’s which was a good, hidden cocktail bar on the second floor. They had some really interesting cocktails and the food looked promising too. 
-Bar Marco was another good spot for drinks in the Strip that looked to have some good Italian food as well. 
-Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. was a huge Italian market that was fun to walk around if you like spending time in a place that has 40 different kinds of canned tomatoes. Think Cossetta’s in St. Paul on steroids. 
-After that dinner at Dish on Thursday night, we went to a bar called Dee’s in South Side Flats that still allows smoking and employed some bartenders with great accents. From what I could tell, South Side Flats and all the bars on Carson Street are basically Pittsburgh’s version of the old Combat Zone in Boston. In other words, this was an area I was entirely too old for, so we didn’t last long there. 
-Schenley Park was a good place to go for a walk in the city. The northern half of the park felt like being at a park that was in a city. It had an arboretum that we decided not to pay $22 for and had a couple weddings going on. The southern half of the park was a bit more rustic and while we may have gotten slightly lost in there, we did get to see a couple deer which was an unexpected surprise. 
-The Andy Warhol museum is very conveniently located only a few blocks away from PNC Park and was a good place to spend a few hours. It has seven floors that are broken into the different stages of Warhol's life and career. We later found out it’s half price on Fridays so that’s probably the time to go. 
Overall, I'd highly recommend making the trip out to Pittsburgh next time the Twins are in town, or just to see the Pirates. It's a highly underrated city if you know where to look and features arguably the best ballpark in the country that's been built in this century. 
Jump into the comments if you made it to the games this past weekend or have been to a game at PNC previously and have some experiences to share. 
 

You bet your sweet bippy they do.  They do platoon.  A lot.  My apologies for the click-bait subject line.  (It's fun.  Almost went with "One Weird Trick Your 2024 Twins Use To Platoon")
How do the Twins rank versus the other 29 teams, in plate appearances by batters in same-arm matchups?
LHB-vs-LHP:   29th  (64 PA, OPS of .759 which is 5th in the majors)
RHB-vs-RHP: 23rd  (752 PA, OPS of .680 which is 15th in the majors)
They try their darndest not to let it happen, especially with their lefty bats.  And here is how they do in opposite arm matchups:
RHB-vs-LHP:  7th  (520 PA, OPS of .707 which is 16th in the majors)
LHB-vs-RHP:  6th  (920 PA, OPS of .693 which is 18th in the majors)
What is the point of these numbers?  One, in case you wondered whether they go to great lengths to set up favorable hitting matchups, yes, yes they do.  Two, they aren't notably effective at exploiting these matchups.  Three, an oddity is that their unfavorable lefty matchups rank better in OPS versus their competitors than their favorable ones do.
Maybe the modest level of success at bat this season (they rank 16th overall in OPS) would be worse if they weren't doing things as they are.  Plus in addition also too, because the manager chooses which batter hits when, there is bias to all these statistics that is outside my control to account for.  The better results for left-handed batters against lefty pitchers than righties, in absolute terms, suggests Rocco is careful which bats to play in that matchup.
But mostly what I see is that they go to extremes, and reap little to no overall reward for their efforts.  The lefty bats don't clobber righties, and the righty bats don't crush lefties.  Why, again, are we even doing this?
I can't help having flashbacks to the old quote from the dugout: "I managed good, but they sure played bad."  (ChatGPT 3.5 attributes this to Casey Stengel; therefore I feel 99% confident that it must have been someone else.  Rocco Baldelli may become the source of the quote, going forward.)  But at some point, that guy who "managed good" needs to stop and ask if it's worth the trouble, and what better thing might be tried.

Unless I missed it, no one on Twins Daily posted anything about the significance of this past Monday in baseball history. Here is an adaptation of something I posted on Facebook that day. There's no Twins connection here, but hopefully this is okay, given the historical significance.
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The eclipse was amazing. But between that and the place the Iowa Women's Basketball team has had in my brain space lately, it nearly snuck by me that today (Monday) is also the 50th anniversary of arguably the second most significant date in baseball history, following only April 15, 1947, the day that Jackie Robinson played his first game.

Five decades ago tonight (Monday), Henry Aaron hit his 715th home run, passing Babe Ruth to become the Home Run King. In the interest of brevity (an unusual thing for me), I’ll not go into the details on the significance of the event, other than to say that Aaron was the victim of incredible hatred and voluminous hate mail for having the audacity to break the most significant record in baseball and perhaps even in all of American sports.

Upon Aaron’s death a few years ago, my favorite singer John McCutcheon, wrote an amazing song, “The Hammer.” It’s shared below. If you’re a baseball fan like me, give it a listen. If you’re more like my wife, who once lovingly said, “I don’t like baseball, but I like some people who like baseball” (and presumably you do, if you at least have me among your Facebook friends), humor me and give it a listen.

The recording concludes with the famous recording of Milo Hamilton’s call of the homer. I also love the call (linked in the comments) by the even-more famous Vin Scully, on the radio for the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers.

Scully said, “What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol.”
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I also added a couple comments to the post. Don't take them as insulting your intelligence -- I pasted exactly as I had them on Facebook, where not all my friends are as baseball-savvy as those here. 
1. Here's a link to the Scully call: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjqYThEVoSQ. 
2. In the interest of keeping the original post reasonably short, I‘ll just say that it wasn’t until I was well into adulthood that I realized how much effect Aaron had on my understanding of race. I’ve written about that a time or two. If you’re interested in reading it (and if I can find it on my hard drive), message me.
3. There’s a reasonable amount of baseball jargon in the song. Ask or PM if you are a Baseball as a Second Language student and need an interpretation. The lineup of greats in the last verse, in order of appearance, is:
First Base and Third Base (“the corners”): Lou Gehrig and Eddie Mathews (John’s a Braves fan, after all). Second Base and Shortstop (“up the middle”): Jackie Robinson and Ernie Banks. Pitcher: Satchel Paige Catcher: Josh Gibson Bullpen: Warren Spahn and Tom Seaver (Cy Young and Christy Mathewson don’t make the team). DH: Babe Ruth. Left and Center Field (“at the wall”): Ted Williams* and Roberto Clemente Right Field: Aaron *I actually contributed to the song. John had shared the song in his e-newsletter soon after it was written, and I reminded him that his original late, great Center Fielder was actually, um, not so late. Thus he made a tweak to add Williams as the third outfielder. We agreed that, based on his reputation, Ty Cobb probably would have had a hard time being eligible for heaven’s baseball team.

The Hammer - April 8, 2024.mp4

This book written by Thom Henninge tells the story of the great Tony Oliva.
  Tony O. has a fascinating life story from growing up in Cuba to coming to the USA to pursue his dream of playing baseball. This book really delves into all the things that this man has endured to make his dream happen. Unfortunately that dream came to an end sooner than he would have liked and was published before he received a long overdue honor of getting into the Hall of Fame. A must read for any Twins or just baseball fan in general. If you’re interested, you can buy it here:   https://www.amazon.com/Tony-Oliva-Times-Minnesota-Legend/dp/0816694893/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3NJN9UFYV977Q&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.idLCl4cEvKUucSeMqouMWvVCqQsuTI1A8avNx1X9WzFNJ64VkU-laCMTlYZ_ZaVskJSf3iVAe4UCvhGBWTmpJKbvwx4nb69UBv_N6lHfbc2f265t91BsFPbZAQ-qVchmdf_iMUkMzqgY_k17KZEOtyxvjGjFsgOAWLPXyH-lLTVNsmhC10_QkMCBWc3XyGRMz1BYmz89gW3K9W4hdJKUig.Zl-q0F2r0PF24R8yyP_WVmOusdttFXj-9tUkV-NOyvk&dib_tag=se&keywords=tony+oliva&qid=1712012873&sprefix=tony+oliva%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1

Hi everyone,
Sorry I haven’t posted in a very long time. Everyone on here does such a good job covering the team I’ve been struggling with figuring out what could I possibly add that would be unique to the site. I haven’t found anyone on here who reviews books so that’s something I’m going to start doing. If there is someone on here who already does this I’m sorry for stealing your idea. 
The first book I’m going to review is “Harmon Killebrew: Ultimate Slugger” by Steve Aschburner. Here’s my review:
I thought this book was great! This is a great biography of the greatest slugger in Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins history. I thought the story of his life and career was really well done by this author. I especially loved the stories about Harmon off the field since I already knew about his playing career exploits. It made me really jealous of my wife who got to meet Harmon in real life before he passed away. Highly recommended.
You can buy the book from Amazon here on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Harmon-Killebrew-Ultimate-Steve-Aschburner/dp/1600787029/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=3LJKIPBLX1FWA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.1IWTgxRUrrDZSnHTyrIZNcu6C4cRlqcPI7E89o47yMHjCSanbmhj_emo84vsAVaNnhbWhJQ7O8Rhs0cqz5xlbsz6UQu4TI-dRKM6BzjJXTm8LCEhSpRbGsTjAt6_wMb5Q2tygs3oYP4fbN3PQXiMqABkUKPY5zaFdBz9Yyl6znvfZue8NpXQw0j0FwFHaYcqs3GMJSdv92_DC47NcoIMqg.FkQJ3fTkStl80fMIl2GR61DOqC5_mwMa-MYmBmHVNxA&dib_tag=se&keywords=harmon+killebrew&qid=1710444362&sprefix=%2Caps%2C332&sr=8-2

Carlos Correa has 51 plate appearances with a runner on first(only) and less than 2 outs. In those 51 plate appearances he has 9 strikeouts, 6 walks, 1 HBP, 1 double, 1 home run and hit into 15 double plays. The most frequent outcome is a double play. That isn't surprising as he hits right handed, frequently makes solid contact and isn't very fast. Those factors aren't going to change.
It makes me wonder how often the Twins have tried to steal a base in those situations. I can't recall any. I think they need to view each of those grounded into doubles plays like a caught stealing. With Carlos up they need to be more aggressive stealing a base. Even a 70% success rate is probably preferable to staying on first with the likelihood of being the front end of a double play. Julien stole bases in the minors. They need to send him. They batted Correa first for a while. If they do that they need to put speed at the bottom and send them.
If anyone knows how to find it I would like to see how often they have tried to steal in this situation.

Well... do you, punk?
Last July, we started a new community initiative where we offer prizes for the most liked posts and blog entries on the site. We'll post these awards four times a year: first half of the season, second half of the season, offseason, and spring training. Probably. Unless it becomes a miserable experience, at which point we reserve the right to stop at any time.
These prizes... aren't great, to put it bluntly. They kinda stemmed me from reading comic books in the 1980s and loving the "No-Prize" award in every letters page written by the editor of Marvel Comics, signed off by Stan Lee and wow... I'm getting old real fast with that sentence so I'm gonna stop.
But the prizes, while not great, are incredible.
This season has been such a train wreck, such a total collapse of all things at once, such a complete and utter failure across the board that it was difficult to decide which of the many ripe fruits I should pick off the Minnesota Twins 2021 tree to celebrate this season finally coming to a close. But ultimately, I had to go back to the source of our collective misfortune and, at that point, it became clear what most needed celebration: the 2021 Minnesota Twins bullpen. And once that clicked into place, I realized there was only one place I could go with the second half community prize:
A Ron Davis commemorative display.
This display not only features Ron Davis' epic 1984 campaign with the Minnesota Twins but it also features Ron Davis' epic 1984 campaign with the Minnesota Twins.
2021 Twins fans surely can commiserate with everything I said - and didn't say - in that sentence.
But there's more than just a few trinkets included in this display, as the below video will show to you skeptics still standing in the back:
Ron Davis Commemorative Display Prize Ron Davis Prize.mp4
Yes, you heard that right. That is Grammy award-winning artist Sarah McLachlin singing her 1997 hit "Angel" from her 8x platinum album, Surfacing.
So if you have the nerve, feel the moxy, can be the spoon, will channel your inner Randball's Stu... this perfect piece of Twins history could be yours, all you have to do is write the most popular post in the Twins Daily community. That could be a comment on a news story, a reply to a blog post, or even a blog comment.
For the lucky person who can be all those things to all those people all at the same time, you will win the ultimate piece of Minnesota Twins memorabilia.
I know, you just want this thing so much but remember, YOU HAVE TO EARN IT.
Just like Ron Davis.

Time for the final update to my prospect rankings:

Any thoughts?

Baseball records used to have so much more meaning for me, but now I realize the external and societal influences and they have taken on less meaning. 60 and 61 were magical - 70 and 73 on steroids - blah. 714 and 755 HR totals were meaningful, but they were steroided too and then along came the juiced ball and 300 + team HRs means less too.
 
Doubles, triples, stolen bases are all dynamic and I love them, but ball park configurations, saber rattlers, and new strategies have removed a lot of the really exciting base movements. HR hitters drive cadillacs according to the old cliche. What do double hits drive?
 
Hank Aaron had 6856 total bases in his career. He was most proud of that record. Total bases were the ultimate goal in his mind and I agree. The next highest total was 6134 (Stan Musial) - over 700 difference. Under rated Dave Winfield has 5221 and is 16 overall, while Molitor had 4854 and is #27. Harmon Killebrew is number #79 with 4143. 3998 is Carew's total - #92. Albert Pujols is the leading active player with 5863.
 
The Twins/Senators record book has Harmon Killebrew 4026, Sam Rice 3833, Kirby Puckett 3453, Joe Judge 3239, Joe Mauer 3040 and Tony Oliva 3002. Remember that these are total bases with the Twins only so Killebrew and Carew will have different totals for the MLB record book.
 
In a single season the Total Base records for the Twins has Tony Oliva with 374, Puckett 358 and 365, Rod Carew 351,and Brian Dozier 336. The Single season record for MLB is Babe Ruth 457, Rogers Hornsby 450, Lou Gehrig 447, Chuck Klein 445, Jimmy Foxx 438, Stan Musial 429, Sammy Sosa 425. Among active players Pujols has the 37th best season with 394. Tony Oliva's season rank 89th. Hank Aaron had fifteen seasons where he collected more than three-hundred total bases — the most seasons by any player and Lou Gehrig had five seasons of over 400.
 
https://www.baseball-almanac.com/hitting/hitotb1.shtml

I just read the ESPN prospect ratings by Kiley McDaniels and is was an interesting look from a new perspective. Riley came over from FanGraphs and he has a different style than Law and others I have read. What interests me is the Twins prospects ratings, of course, and he challenged some ideas. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/28820713/kiley-mcdaniel-top-100-prospects-2020
 
First of all he has Royce Lewis rated the highest at number 15 - a surprisingly high rating in my mind, but he also lists him as a CF. "His hitting mechanics still need a little work in terms of timing and quieting his hand movement, but scouts rave about his makeup, and the raw power and speed are still elite. I'm betting on Lewis figuring things out and becoming an above-average everyday player with some chance to become a star, possibly in the infield"
 
Jhoan Duran was #54 - "The maturity and command look to be in place for a ground-ball-focused rotation workhorse with swing-and-miss stuff." This is really nice to see, I expected Balazovic to be above him.
 
#58 Trevor Larnach, "He's a slightly better bet in my book than Alex Kirilloff to be an above-average everyday player, but they're in roughly the same area." So the argument about who is number one - Kiriloff or Lewis has a new twist.
 
#63 is Alex Kiriloff, "Kirilloff's pitch selection leaves a bit to be desired, while he's moving down the defensive spectrum to first base and his wrist has been giving him trouble."
 
#93 Jordan Balazovic, "He also doesn't have a bunch of plus pitches that he's learning to harness, rather a number of above-average offerings that he already has a good feel for mixing."
 
It appears on all the lists that the top five prospects is the same (Graterol by the way is #92 "his command might be enough to start, but it's legit closer stuff").
 
Of course the question remains - who is the not on any list prospect who will be the next Arraez and throw the rankings out of the window. The second question - is it better to suddenly appear on the list and shoot to the top or to start your career with high expectations and high rating and then slowly slide down the list?

Welcome to Twinternationals! This is a space for Twins fans from different countries to read about their team in their native language. This section is run by Venezuelan Mariana Guzmán (@TwinsLatinos) and Brazilian Thiéres Rabelo (@TwinsBrasil).
 
Por Mariana Guzmán
 
¡Venezolana y fanática de los Twins!
 
Sí, esa es parte de mi historia. Nací y crecí en Venezuela y aunque cuando era una niña no tenia mucha noción del béisbol de Grandes Ligas, siempre supe que el béisbol era el amor de mi vida.
 
En mi país el béisbol es un estilo de vida pero muy pocas veces los Twins eran un tema de conversación. Los Yankees de Nueva York, Medias Blancas de Chicago, Medias Rojas de Boston, Rockies de Colorado e Indios de Cleveland fueron, quizás, los equipos mas populares durante mi niñez en Venezuela.
 
 
 

Todo comenzó en el 2003


 
La primera vez que escuche hablar de los Minnesota Twins fue en el 2003, cuando un joven venezolano de 23 años se perfilaba como una futura súper estrella del equipo de las Ciudades Gemelas. Para esa época, yo vivía enamorada de nuestro béisbol invernal y por mi cabeza pasaban los nombres de varios equipos de Grandes Ligas pero jamás el de los Twins, no hasta que Johan comenzó a brillar con ellos.
 
Transcurría la temporada 2003 y los diferentes medios de comunicación de mi país tenían muy presente a Johan, quien ese año fungía como relevista y en algunas ocasiones como abridor. Esa temporada, la tercera de Johan con los Twins, concluyó con record de ocho victorias y seis derrotas, y el buen sabor de boca de dejar una buena impresión con el equipo que le abrió las puertas vía Draft de Regla 5.
 
La temporada 2004 comenzaba y yo por primera vez escuchaba hablar de los Entrenamientos Primaverales, inmediatamente comprendí cuan importante era para Johan hacer un buen papel durante ese tiempo en Florida. Con la conclusión de los Campos Primaverales llegaba la noticia de que el nativo de Tovar, al Oeste de Venezuela, se convertiría en uno de los abridores de la rotación de Ron Gardenhire; y comenzaría así su transición de relevista a abridor. La emoción con esta noticia se regó como pólvora por toda Venezuela, el muchachito que sorprendió a muchos en el 2003, se convertiría en abridor de un equipo que podía claramente pelear por un puesto a la postemporada.
 
Con Johan como abridor, los dos canales de la televisión local que transmitían juegos de MLB una o dos veces por semana, hacían todo lo posible por siempre transmitir las aperturas del venezolano, y eso era para mi un alivio y disfrute. Sin embargo, mientras mas crecía mi amor por Johan y los Twins, más era la necesidad por conseguir información sobre el equipo, información en español; es ahí donde comenzaba mi sufrimiento. Si bien es cierto que Johan fue el detonante de mi fanatismo por Minnesota, también era cierto que en esos años también había un grupo de venezolanos y latinos sobresaliendo con los Twins; y eso, por supuesto, reforzó mi amor por este equipo. Y como es obvio, yo quería saber más sobre el grupo de jugadores y más sobre la historia del equipo que se estaba robado mi corazón.
 
Los venezolanos, Juan Rincón, Henry Blanco, Carlos Silva, Luis Rivas y Luis Rodríguez también eran parte de nuestro roster, a ellos se sumaban los talentosos Eddie Guardado, Christian Guzmán, JC Romero, por solo mencionar a algunos de los talentos latinos que vistieron la camiseta de los Twins entre el 2003-2005.
 
Ese año 2004 comencé a vivirme el béisbol de MLB con mucha pasión, solo hablaba de los Twins y de las maravillas que hacia Johan. Ese año, los Twins me “regalaron” un pase a la postemporada, nada mas y nada menos que ante los Yankees de Nueva York. Pasé el 2004 pegada a la TV, fue la primera vez en mi vida que no esperaba con tantas ansias el béisbol invernal.
 
Por primera vez en mi vida sentía la emoción y presión del béisbol de octubre. Con la clasificación de los Twins llegó la Serie Divisional ante los Yankees. Vivir esa serie estando en Venezuela, era básicamente vivirla sola, muy pocos ligaban a los muchachos de Gardenhire. Era yo contra el mundo; y sí, suena dramático pero así lo sentí en su momento.
 
El sueño de mi primer “October Baseball” se esfumó rápidamente. La única victoria que Minnesota conquisto en esa serie ante Nueva York lo hizo con Johan en la lomita en el primer juego. Santana lanzó siete solidas entradas en blanco, Juan Rincón y Joe Nathan se encargaron de preservar el triunfo. Una carrera impulsada por Jacques Jones en el tercer tramo y un jonrón solitario de Shannon Stewart, dieron el aporte ofensivo que necesitó Johan para ganar su primer y único juego en octubre. Pero aunque Minnesota sucumbió ante los Yankees, lo mejor para Johan estaba esperando por él durante el off-season del 2004.
 

11 de Noviembre de 2004



La fecha que le regalo una nueva hazaña al béisbol venezolano


 
Jamás voy a olvidar la tarde del jueves, 11 de noviembre de 2004. Había salido del colegio y me fui a un Cybercafe a esperar los resultados del Cy Young 2004. No se cuantas horas pasé sentada frente a la computadora esa tarde, no se cuantas llamadas recibí de mi mama pidiéndome que me fuera a casa. Era como que todo en mi se había paralizado y solo esperaba que las Grandes Ligas emitieran el resultado. Caía la tarde en Venezuela y con ella llegaba la noticia, “Johan Santana es el ganador unánime del Premio Cy Young 2004”.
 
 
El 2004 catapultó a Johan como una figura histórica del béisbol venezolano y me catapultó a mi como fanática de los Twins. Una histórica actuación de Johan ese año (record de 20-6 y 2.61 de EFE), lo hizo merecedor del Premio Cy Young al Mejor Lanzador de la Liga Americana, convirtiéndose así en el primer venezolano en recibir dicho galardón y en apenas el séptimo lanzador en ganar el premio de manera unánime.
 
Todos en Venezuela estábamos seguros de que Johan ganaría; pero cuando la noticia ya era oficial, la explosión de emociones se disparo por todo el país. Mientras la nación celebraba la histórica hazaña, yo, aún perpleja, lloraba de emoción y felicidad. Me tomo unos minutos calmarme y salir de ahí a celebrar como todos lo estaban haciendo. Esa tarde se escucharon las cornetas de los autos como medio de celebración, desde esa noche y por muchos otros días, nadie paraba de hablar de Johan Santana.
 
Ese día recibí llamadas y mensajes de texto de mis amigos, todos sabían cuanto admiraba a Johan y a los Twins, ese día hasta el menos experto en béisbol se enteró de la proeza del zurdo. Y con el reconocimiento individual de Santana, también, de alguna manera u otra, los Minnesota Twins comenzaban a ganar un poco de fama, ya no eran un equipo “fantasma” y eso me hacia muy feliz…
 
En una próxima entrega continuaré contándoles como se siguió alimentando mi amor por este equipo y como nació Twins Latinos. Y por supuesto, que además de mi historia, en este espacio también nos dedicaremos a realizar entrevistas y a contar la historia de cómo los Twins Latinos han conquistado el Territorio Twins.

I just read this really fun article in True West Magazine https://truewestmagazine.com/article/six-guns-sluggers/?mc_cid=1c6674cead&mc_eid=b66323b9da
 
"Two sesquicentennial anniversaries in 2019 will commemorate landmark events in the history of the American West. When gold and silver spikes were gently tapped into place in a ceremonial laurelwood rail tie at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory to symbolize the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad on May 10, 1869, it opened the West as never before. Earlier in the year, the Red Stockings of Cincinnati became the first all-salaried, professional team in the fledgling sport of baseball. Undefeated as the year progressed, the Red Stockings rode these rails in mid-September to introduce professional ball beyond the Mississippi. The West offered opportunity and adventure, attracting people from around the world who flocked to the California gold rush of ’49 and the Comstock silver lode in ’59. Now, in 1869, these professionals came west to demonstrate their wealth of baseball riches to overmatched but eager ball clubs with a hankering to be part of the Red Stockings’ historic season."
 
This was a fun historic article - you might remember I had an earlier Blog that had Wild Bill Hickok in a baseball game and Tom Custer was a good pitcher.

https://twinsdaily.com/blogs/entry/11497-wild-bill-umpires-the-game/
 
It took a long time before baseball moved west in the professional sense. For a long time the West Coast had a minor league team with players like Joe DiMaggio and his brothers making it almost as good as MLB. St Louis was the team of the West for a century.
 
"In 1859, the first organized team on the Pacific Coast, the San Francisco Eagles, was established. The next February, in San Francisco they played to a 33-33 tie with the Red Rovers of Sacramento. In September, the Eagles traveled to Sacramento in a rematch for the state title, emerging victorious 31-17. In a few years, the Eagles organization had grown such that with the overflow they formed a new club, the Pacifics. Both became premier teams among more than a dozen that organized in the Bay Area. The sport was invigorating to watch and spectators might even shoot their six-guns when excited. With gamblers betting on their favorite team, it’s said it was not uncommon to have enthusiastic supporters fire into the air to shake the concentration of batters taking swings or to rattle fielders preparing to catch the ball."
 
https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitions/local-nine-san-francisco-seals-baseball-1903-1957 The San Francisco Seals had a very long and successful life in the bay area.
 
After the 1957 season - another pennant for the Seals, they moved to Phoenix and the Dodgers and the Giants began the westward expansion of baseball in MLB.
 
Now you might think this has nothing to do with the Twins, but if you had been around then you would have seen our local cities trying to get these teams to come to us. But - "Millers were top-level affiliates of the Boston Red Sox (1936–38; 1958–60) and New York Giants (1946–57). The Red Sox actually swapped ownership of their top farm club, the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, for the Millers in 1957, enabling the Giants to move to San Francisco."
 
The Original St Paul Saints - "The Saints finished first in the American Association nine times, and won the Little World Series in 1924. During this period, the Saints were a farm club of the Chicago White Sox (1936–1942), the Brooklyn Dodgers (1944–1957), and the Los Angeles Dodgers (1958–1960). The Saints played streetcar home and away double headers with their local rivals, the Minneapolis Millers. When the Minnesota Twins came to town in 1961, the Saints became the Omaha Dodgers while the Millers ceased operations."
 
Note both Dodgers and Giants had a connection to the Twin Cities. The Dodgers were going to LA, but the Giants were not sure about SF and played games with the Twin City Press. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/sports/baseball/the-giants-almost-headed-not-quite-so-far-west.html
"MINNEAPOLIS, June 16 - If not for Walter O'Malley, Willie Mays might be remembered for making a leaping catch 100 yards from a grazing cow.
If not for a few twists of fate, Mays could have an "M" on the cap in his Hall of Fame plaque, and the scrum for Barry Bonds's 73rd home run ball might have occurred in the upper deck of the Metrodome."
 
"According to newspaper and historical accounts, Stoneham discussed moving here with Minneapolis officials as early as 1955, when concern over declining attendance and the decrepit condition of the Polo Grounds prompted him to consider his options. The Giants owned the Class AAA Minneapolis Millers, giving them territorial rights, and Metropolitan Stadium was under construction on 164 acres of farmland in suburban Bloomington in hopes of luring a big-league team."
 
The west won out, but the conversations were strong enough to interest the Griffith family in moving the Original Senators to that Bloomington field and here we are the Twins! And the story of the DC franchise which has had at least three professional teams includes 108 years without winning a series.

2019 is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and some things that were more of a giant leap for mankind, like the Minnesota Twins winning the first ever American League West Division title. Major League Baseball had just split into divisions so there would be an additional round to the postseason for the first time since the introduction of the World Series.
 
All summer long, the Twins were in a tight battle with the Oakland A's for the first ever AL West title. After play on September 2, 1969 the Twins held a lead of 6 games over the A's. Coincidentally, in 2019 the Twins hold a 5.5 game lead over Cleveland on September 2 after an up and down (mostly up to be honest) summer. But as Labor Day passes, baseball races get much more serious and numbers up and down become a daily watch if they haven't been before.
 
This week is a big week for the 2019 Twins with three games in Boston before coming home to Target Field for 3 games this weekend against Cleveland. A big series against Cleveland could go a long way toward putting away the 2019 AL Central Division.
 
Something very similar happened in 1969. As I said, on September 2, 1969 the Twins led Oakland by 6. On September 3, the Twins beat Cleveland at home while Oakland lost in Boston. This stretched the lead to 7 before a four-game series which saw the Twins visiting Oakland over the weekend. And what happened? On Thursday, the Twins won 10-5 in 10 innings, then lost game 2 5-4. On Saturday, in what could be described as the "nail in the coffin" game, the Twins prevailed in an 18 inning affair by a score of 8-6. Minnesota closed out the 3-1 series victory on Sunday with a 16-4 pounding. That series win essentially ended the 1969 AL West race in much the same way a series win this weekend could change the way we all think about the 2019 Central race. The 1969 team closed out the season by winning 97 games and leading Oakland by 9.
 
One element that will DEFINITELY not be repeated: the 1969 Twins were swept in the inaugural ALCS by the Baltimore Orioles. I have no predictions about a possible postseason result for the 2019 Twins, but I guarantee they will not get swept by the Baltimore Orioles.

Brusdar Graterol Shoulder Impingement Q&A
Heezy1323
 
 
Heralded Twins prospect Brusdar Graterol was recently shut down and placed on the IL for ‘shoulder impingement’. This is concerning given how promising a start to the 2019 season Graterol has had and what it could mean for his future.
 
So what is ‘shoulder impingement’? And when might it need surgery? Let’s see what we can figure out:
 
[Disclaimer: I am not a team physician for the Twins. I have not treated or examined any Twins players. The information I am using is only that which is publicly available. My goal with these posts is to provide some education to TD readers around general injuries that are peculiar to baseball players.]
 
 
Question 1: What is shoulder impingement?
Shoulder impingement is a sort of catch-all term that can be used to mean a number of different things depending on the specifics of the situation. It Is a term that is often used in application to patients who have pain in their shoulders, often without any specific structural damage or a particular injury. Most frequently, people have pain in their shoulder area that gets worse when working above chest level. It is often treated with physical therapy, activity modification, oral medication and occasional cortisone injections. It is uncommon for these patients to require surgery, but it is sometimes needed after the preceding treatments have failed to provide adequate relief. Some also refer to this condition as shoulder bursitis. It involves irritation of the rotator cuff and the bursa, which lies between the rotator cuff tendons and a part of the bone of the shoulder blade (called the acromion). You may have friends or family members who have been told they have ‘impingement’- this is a fairly commonly used diagnosis. More specifically, this condition is referred to as ‘external impingement’.
 


 
Shoulder impingement in pitchers, however, often means something entirely different than what is described above. Whereas external impingement occurs between the rotator cuff and the acromion (outside of the ball and socket joint of the shoulder), pitchers more commonly have problems with what is called ‘internal impingement’. This occurs specifically in overhead athletes because of the tremendous motion that is necessary to hurl a baseball 90+ mph accurately. During the course of throwing, the arm is cocked back, placing it in an awkward position. In this position, part of the rotator cuff can get pinched between the bone of the ball and the bone of the socket (also often including pinching of the labrum). This may not seem like a big deal, but over time this repetitive motion can begin to take its toll. Experts agree that some changes/damage to the structures of the shoulder are likely normal and adaptive in pitchers rather than problematic. In some cases, however, these structural changes progress down the spectrum and become an issue- causing pain, lack of velocity and/or control and fatigue of the shoulder.
 


 
There is not perfect agreement amongst experts about why exactly these athletes begin to have pain in some cases. Regardless, it is likely a very complex combination of factors ranging from subtle changes in mechanics to core strength to gradual loosening of shoulder ligaments over time (and many others). Each individual case is likely different, and treatment needs to be tailored to the specifics of the athlete.
 
 
Question 2: How/when did this injury occur?
Typically, this is not an injury that results from a single trauma (though theoretically it can happen that way). It is much more typical for this to be the result of an accumulation of ‘microtraumas’ over a long period of time.
 
Question 3: Does this injury always need surgery?
No. As mentioned above, painful shoulder impingement in throwers is likely related to a complex set of factors. Because of this, treating any ONE thing with a surgery is somewhat unlikely to be effective. As a result, treatment is almost always begun by trying to calm down inflamed tissues. This typically involves rest from throwing. It may also involve oral medications and in some instances, cortisone injections. There is some discussion around PRP and so-called ‘stem cell’ injections (what orthopedists refer to as Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate or BMAC) for these types of problems, though this is not yet something I would consider standard of care.
During this time, the athlete is also likely to undergo physical therapy to work on improving some of the other factors mentioned above- core strength, range of motion, rotator cuff strength, etc.
As the pain and inflammation improve, the athlete is likely re-examined by trainers and physicians. This can take anywhere from a week or two to several weeks depending on the case. When things have improved sufficiently, the athlete is likely to begin an interval throwing program, which involves progressively more aggressive throwing sessions. Once they have completed this, they would likely return to the mound and begin throwing from there. Once appropriate progress has been made (and of course presuming no setbacks are encountered), they are likely cleared to return to play.
The success of non-surgical treatment for these types of problems is all over the map in the literature. There are ranges from percents in the teens to 70%+. Again, it likely depends on a large number of factors which makes prognosticating nearly impossible.
 
 
Question 4: How do we tell which cases of impingement need surgery and which do not?
This can be among the most difficult decisions to make when dealing with pitchers. One of the problematic elements is that surgery to treat this problem is comparatively not very successful. As noted above, in general there are likely a number of different structural abnormalities in the shoulder that are in play with this injury. Some of them are adaptive and are considered ‘normally abnormal’ for pitchers. Others are problematic. Separating these two is something about which even experts readily disagree.
It is difficult (and perhaps foolish in this setting) to quote surgery success rates, but in general they are not the best. There is a reason behind the old saying that for pitchers “If it’s the elbow, call the surgeon. If it’s the shoulder, call the preacher.”
 
 
Question 5: What is done during surgery?
This is widely variable depending on the specific structures that are injured, and (quite honestly) the particular views of the operating surgeon. I was recently watching a lecture on just this subject that featured a panel of a number of the preeminent North American surgeons that treat these problems. The differences of opinion and differences in strategy between surgeons were substantial. Yet another reason to make significant efforts to make non-surgical treatment successful.
 
 
Question 6: How concerning is this for Graterol?
This is hard to know from the information available. As stated earlier, the term ‘impingement’ can mean a wide variety of things- some more concerning than others. One of the positives in this case would seem to be that Graterol was pitching very effectively quite recently. Thus, this doesn’t seem to be something that has been festering for months. Hopefully that means they’ve ‘caught it early’ and can get things back on track sooner than later. I would imagine he will be out for a few weeks at least, but I would be surprised if he required any surgery in the near future.
Overall, many pitchers have occasional blips on the radar with things like this that are improved with rest and rehab and don’t recur in the future. Predicting the future is difficult for anything- and this type of issue especially- but hopefully Graterol can get back on the mound throwing gas soon.
 
 
Go Twins!