LaBombo

Next 3 wins... http://img2.rnkr-static.com/list_img_v2/19540/339540/C520/the-very-best-of-the-futurama-fry-meme-u1.jpg ...or next 3 speeding tickets?

Dick with the Mirror, Mirror reverse of his usual hysterical OMG calls on warning track fly balls. http://ashleyshockey.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/evilspock.jpg He probably wasn't expecting Vargas to achieve an exit velocity of roughly double the pitch speed...

Vargas homering off the batting tee will look like he turned on an Aroldis Chapman 101 MPH heater in his season home run total.

http://media.nj.com/yankees_main/photo/twins-tigers-394991bcf41f785e_large.jpg

So you're saying Suzuki's three-on-the-tree transmission has a higher gear than JOG?

Smalley can go several innings without saying anything of worth and then suddenly come up with something like taking the Ranger player to task for that dreadful lunging tag attempt instead of protecting the base. I'm amazed how often it happens and how seldom it's mentioned.

And so is Kepler. And his agent.

Kepler has reached the point where I'd watch the Twins just to see him play. Come to think of it, until Sano came back that's almost exactly what I was doing.

Don't get your hopes up. He can only listen to the calls that make it past Sarah the Twins operator...

Only four AL teams are 10 or more games out of first in their respective division, or five teams if you count the Twins (21.5) twice...

Great game for Duffey. Please, Paul, take the 6 innings and run. Besides, wouldn't want the bullpen to get rusty after sitting through that first complete game of the year.

And the Bert as well...

Duffey still looking good for that 170 pitch CGSHO.

With the exception of the .229 AAA season in question, Oswaldo Arcia has not posted a BABIP under .300 at any level since his .279 debut in rookie ball. And yes, Arcia wasn't very good at getting on base in his age 21 and 22 seasons, when most good prospects are getting their first taste of AA or even high A. But it's better to bank on plate discipline developing in the mid-20's than contact or power. Also, you do realize that Worley's been pitching at least somewhat effectively since his BABIP went down a hundred points after leaving the Twins, right?

Street performer's gotta eat...

Nunez has played well for nearly a season's worth of games over the past 15 months, and I'm very happy for him getting to go to the ASG. He'll be 'former All Star Eduardo Nunez' for the rest of his life, and that's got to be a terrific feeling for him and for many of the people along the way who helped him get there. As for Ryan and the Twins' part in Nunez' achievement, they deserve credit for holding on to Nunez and probably to at least some extent helping him develop into the player who was honored with an All Star appearance. But I wouldn't be too hard on people if they don't give Ryan and the Twins as much credit as they may deserve. When you're attempting to juggle six balls and you drop five of them, people don't remember the one you kept going. They remember the five you dropped.

Grossman's hit-by-strike was reminiscent of the time another Twins switch hitter, Javier Valentin, was batting right-handed, which he usually executed with the precision and control of a man trying to shoot skeet backward over his shoulder. But he was even worse that night, and on an inside pitch he swung straight down, ruffled his pantaloons, and appeared to actually graze his own leg.

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/feefeemac/gifs%20i%20likey/hurt-locker.gif?t=1267089367

http://www.wolfgnards.com/media/blogs/photos/celebrities/gb-mood-slime.jpg Hold on, let's rinse off the Pink Slime of Twins Negativity. I'm not telling anyone how they should feel about the Twins' season or suggesting there's a right or wrong way to feel. All I'm saying is that the most negative poster on TD and the most positive one are just differing shades of rose-colored Twins viewing goggles. All it takes to get on board with that is accepting the idea that ignoring a sports team is more negative than ripping it. If you're down with that, the rest is easy, especially for us fans of baseball metrics. It's easy because we have a statistic, and here it goes: the ratings say that out of every 10 fans watching the Twins broadcasts 5 years ago, 6 have stopped watching. So again, while I'm not telling people how to feel or judging, I'm entirely comfortable with my point of view that anyone still watching games or posting on the forum or listening in the car is less negative than the average fan, who has GIVEN UP on the Twins. That minority includes me. My assessment of what the Twins did or didn't do to get into this mess or of their odds of climbing out of it may be more negative than the average TD poster, maybe even waaay more, but compared to the average Twins fan, I'm a raging font of pro-Twins passion, simply because I actually still give a crap about the Twins. And so is anyone else who even reads TD, let alone posts. Those posts may be grumpier than usual, and so might some of us, but we're still here and getting along, (albeit sometimes with a bit of help - thanks, mods!) and giving a crap about the Twins. So enjoy TD, even the parts of it that call for Ryan's and/or Molitor's heads. At the rate things are going, by the time the season's over we might be the only people in MN still positive enough about the Twins to rip'em.

I have literally no idea what you're talking about. Corner of 6th and Carew, 2 doz. XLarger or Jumbo, wear dark clothes.

Fair enough. After a half season of watching a thoroughly inept Twins team fail to claw its way above a .333 win percentage, it sometimes feels like anything short of egging the exterior facade of Target isn't negative enough, so please don't take it personally if that's possible.

Oh. Ok. And depending on how you feel about major league baseball as purely an exhibition rather than a competition (so please, no wagering if you're reading this, Mr. Rose), you could argue that anyone still paying any attention at all to the Twins is not being negative enough.

Well, there's not an official definition of rebuilding in MLB, but if there is a widely accepted one I can't see it calling for the removal of every player with trade value or all players with major league experience. Sano gone? Buxton and Berrios too? That sounds more like a purge than a rebuild to me. That said, I share your concerns about the presumptive core. Sano could end up a one trick pony like Mark Reynolds or Dan Uggla, or a Three True Outcomes freakazoid like Adam Dunn. Buxton could take years to mature ala Carlos Gomez, or fizzle out and end up a rich man's Cameron Maybin. Berrios may prove the naysayers about his small frame correct and plateau at third starter. The bullpen prospects may not reward the all-in faith that the Twins have placed in them in recent drafts. But again, I can't see even attempting to shop the headliner youngsters, let alone getting value in kind coming back to the Twins. That sounds to me like taking five new cards in draw poker.

Because stats be damned, he LOOKS like a ballplayer! Rob Antony's hunches are like gold when it comes to player valuations...

Raise your hand if you'd have been shocked if this Twins outfit had saved its most exciting comeback win for one of a dozen games that's not on TV this year...