Whammy

I've been thinking about this a decent amount recently (specifically after the series in Cincy). Why are some parks such hitters parks compared to other parks. I've been to a decent amount of games at Target Field (probably 30 or so) and I remember days where the wind was blowing out of the South, thinking "man, the balls are going to fly out today," but that just hasn't ever been the case. I feel like there are never days where the wind makes the ball carry, but there are certainly days when the wind stifles hard hit balls. There are probably several features of the Target field construction that effect this. (Just FYI, before I start talking about directions, the pitcher pitches due west at Target Field) The plaza could certainly be one. That "tunnel" could easily gather wind from a pretty wide swath of directions and direct it into Right field. So, if the wind is from straight south to straight east, there could be a pretty significant disadvantage for lefties. You'd think a wind from the south would help righties and a wind from the west would help both batters. But it doesn't seem to. It has to have something to do with the air dynamics of the building. Think of that roof element as a airplane wing. Just looking at an airplane, you would think it could fly. But the airplane wing creates lift; enough lift to lift a very heavy object into the air. Perhaps the roof at TF is making the air sink, which knocks balls down. That would explain, why even on days where the wind is howling out of the West, balls still don't seem to carry. The advantage gained from the wind blowing from the west is counteracted by the extra sink the air is feeling (when a plane goes faster it has more lift). If this effect is real, then that takes care of over 180° of wind direction. SE to probably due north. The final 90 degrees (north to east) are easy to explain because that's right in the batters face. So, on days when the wind is from South to East to North (12:01 to 5:59) it's hurting batters, and on days when it's South to West to North (6:01 to 11:59) it's about neutral.

Interesting article (and comment) on RBI per HR http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/2632

Historically speaking I believe that an average MLB homerun yields about 1.6 RBI 18*1.6 = 28.8 RBI Plouffe only has 20RBI from his 18 Homeruns (truly astonishing), so he is about 9 shy of where he "should" be.

Bump for BYTO'ers

That's too bad. It was a fun thread on "the other" board.

Twins have allowed 69 runs in the first 4 innings this year. 4 teams have allowed fewer than that in ALL of their innings.

Another quadruple for Morneau

There are other, more effective, ways to spend money coming off of a 99 loss season. I think the spending they did do, to get near 100mil was good... Doumit allows more flexibility for our roster (case in point, only carrying 2 catchers), Willingham is a nice, less expensive, version of Cuddy, and Marquis was needed to fill out the rotation. This wasn't the year to break the bank with a big signing. Next year, with more clarity with the M & M situations, and Morneau hainvg just one more year left, the Twins might be more willing to make a longer-term, impact signing. Obviously, the 2nd pick in this year's draft will cost more than we've been typically spending on our draft picks, but it would be nice to see the Twins go over-slot with a compensatory pick or two. Also, now might be a good time to invest in some latin american signings. Now is the time, with the draft, international prospects, and in-season trades, to load up the farm system for 2-3 years down the road.

You mean the DeRosa who has only gotten within 100 points of a .900 OPS, twice in his career, and missed by a mere 247 points last year? That DeRosa?