pjnelly

Anyone hear anything about Buxton's status? He's out of the lineup at AA for the second night in a row.

Twins finished 7th in walks in 2013 and 10th in walks in 2012. It's not like their approach at the plate this year is completely different from the last two years.

David Ortiz, J.J. Hardy.

I think your right, Nick. Better yet, I think TR is thinking the same way: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25519603&topic_id=8877600&c_id=min&tcid=vpp_copy_25519603&v=3

Here are some facts: Oswalt hits Mauer on a 3-0 pitch. Doumit and Morneau both strike out to end the inning while their manager is pacing in the dugout and obviously pissed off. We can't really be positive if Oswalt threw at Mauer intentionally, but he was probably not as tense as Doumit or Morneau when facing them after plunking Mauer. I think it was intentional and pretty brilliant on Oswalt's part if in fact it was intentional--he gets out of the inning unscathed, pisses off the other team into having some bad at-bats, and gets two others from the opposing team thrown out of the game while he gets to stay in. Great pitching if you ask me!

How in the world is Robertson leading in OBP without being on the leaderboard in walks?

And Verlander is going up against the best offense in July thus far and one of the best offenses in the majors in June, so I don't see any reason that we can't be optimists. Plus, using inductive reasoning is inherently problematic with predicting outcomes even though everyone does it with baseball anyway. See Trevor Plouffe.

You say "optimist." as if it is derogatory thing. What's wrong with being an optimist?

Mauer's third game in a row at catcher.

http://www.mytopclip.com/videos/36043/Hawk-Harrelson's-in-depth-analysis-of-a-Jim-Thome-HR

I was also just looking at Morneau, and it is surprising what he has been able to do with so few ABs. Obviously, Konerko deserves the vote at 1b, but Morneau is impressively comparable to some of the top 1b in the AL--his HR/AB rate is a ridiculous 15.8

Here is optimism at its finest: on June 6th, 2006 the MN Twins had 25 wins and 32 losses--they were 11.5 games out of 1st place. Lets talk trades in July, not in early June.

They should draft Buxton. There is too much risk with drafting a pitcher that high for the amount they will have to pay. Pitching injuries have hurt us too much lately--we should try to acquire pitching via trade or free agency instead.

His windup and delivery is semi-reminiscent of Cliff Lee or a not-so-exaggerated version of Lincecum. I like his chances a lot.

Super great to see Plouffe finally getting some hits--I think he might soon be leading the team in home runs if he gets the regular plate appearances.