Riverbrian

I agree but his opponent clearly hasn't spent much time working with a trainer.

Sometimes it helps when you hunt and peck.

I'm now reading about Wallaby's on Wiki. Evolution took a nap when it got around to their arms.

You could be right but one thing is for sure. That squirrel sure has grown.

A Kangaroo bounced between Eddie Rosario's legs in the 2nd inning.

The Nats got their hit... Now the Twins can answer back with two.

Tuesday night is cheap movie ticket night. So, normally My son and I have a Tuesday night routine to go watch a movie. We cancelled tonight because none of the movie choices were appealing.

It hasn't resulted in 115 games in two seasons. Migraines are not a product of his play... A foul ball of his toe is not a product of his play.

You slow him down... He isn't the same player. Yes... he has been injury prone but not all of the injuries were fearless reckless baseball injuries.

I count 8 players in the starting lineup who have been with us all along. Arraez, Polanco, Cruz, Rosario, Garver, Adrianza, Astudillo and Schoop. Lamonte Wade must have a minus 27 whatever to cause all this angst.

There are things to be questioned in the article such as the AA/AAA advancement thing because guys like Tatis and Soto are the very top of the pile... But, Baseball has been trapped in systems created by our Grandfathers. "Why for so long has the minor league system been immune from disruption?" Everything is life changes... and most times for the better. Baseball hangs on to traditional conventions with both hands and actual change comes slowly as a result. A small number of teams have broken away from these out-dated systems and are succeeding while the other teams either don't pay attention or dismiss the new approach in order to stay with a familiar system passed down from the generations.

This is probably what we need to do. I'm not sure they will do it... But, yeah we need information in double time.

I don't know and I don't believe the front office knows either. Martin Perez had a 5.08 ERA in June, 5.32 ERA in July and a 6.75 ERA in August. Perez should be the replacement for Pineda because Perez's performance should have already been upgraded by now. We have sufficiant data on what Perez brings to the table. The front office has already confirmed "through action" that they believe that Martin Perez is better than all of the available options we are looking at to replace Pineda. By sticking with Perez and not allowing Smeltzer, Thorpe or Dobnak the opportunity to show they are better, they have forced us into the position of pinning the tail on the donkey blindfolded with Smeltzer, Thorpe or Dobnak. I've been warning anyone who would listen about this upcoming issue since June. We are talking about small sample sizes here. Smeltzer has been better than Perez and Gibson through 36 innings. Dobnak has been better than everybody through 9 innings. Smeltzer should have thrown his 37th inning by now and Dobnak should have thrown his 10th inning by now and we should have a pretty good idea if Smeltzer or Dobnak can improve the rotation by now. I don't trust the small sample size and I don't trust any assumption that Perez can't be improved upon and I have never trusted the possibility that the cemented 5 man rotation would be intact come playoff time. This isn't the offense where we have a roster full of guys who can get the job done, leaving no room for discovery. Even with the offense being plump full with no room for discovery, we still managed to find Arraez by letting him continue doing what he was doing. On the mound, we have protected Perez in the rotation when performance suggests he is easily replaceable. We have rostered players in the bullpen who have been under utilized and eventually released so this has never been a 25 man roster space issue. We have done nothing to prepare for this moment. I'm am extremely disappointed in Pineda and the consequences that followed his actions but if it wasn't a suspension, it was going to be an injury to one of the 5 starters or exhaustion from one of the 5 starters or just plain ole' poor performance (like we have received from Perez for 3 months) from one of the 5 starters. It's too late. We have no choice but to close our eyes and choose. I hope the choice works out. It's possible but the risk of choosing blind was unnecessary.

Stewart, Thorpe, Smeltzer, and don't forget Dobnak. I have always been in full support of giving any of these guys a shot. However... It's September 7th. It's probably too late. So, who do you choose? Do they have a sufficient sample of MLB performance data to aid the front office in the selection? Are you going to get enough data before the month is up to hand one of them a playoff roster spot? How many starts does Smeltzer get to prove he is the one? How many starts does Dobnak or Thorpe get... if Smeltzer uses some starts up and fails to prove he is the one? I can certainly understand the anger and disappointment directed toward Pineda. I have that same disappointment but Pineda isn't where my eyeballs are focused.

We didn’t play well defensively in the fateful inning. I’m not blaming anyone but if that double play ball gets turned instead of Arraez bailing out Cron to get a single out. The commentary afterwards is different. I’m not going to single out Cron either. It’s baseball these things happen. The pitching did their job. Baldelli did his job.

We all saw the match-up of Perez vs. Eovaldi and assumed it would be a pitchers duel. That's why I love baseball, it can't be played on paper. I love that Perez stepped up big, I love that Cave made a big catch, I love Astudillo pinch hitting and unexpectedly took 4 pitches before coming up big and I love the nice play he made at 2B. And of course "The Throw" coming from a guy who has made his share of throwing gaffes this year. This is baseball... Strap it on and do something between the lines. Tomorrow is a new day. However, I do want to look back at something and I hate being this guy after a fantastic win. It is not my intention for this to spin off a side topic in this thread because it was good news last night but it is relevant from a compare and contrast moment. Keep in mind... I have forgiven Tony Diaz for August 12th against the Indians but I do want to illustrate that Rosario was fielding a ball off the LF wall, quite a distance from home plate. When Rosario threw the ball, Devers was touching 3B. He made a perfect professional throw with two outs and got him by plenty. On the play August 12th... Adrianza was in similar position to where Devers was, either about to touch 3B or just touching third when LIndor was receiving the ball as the cut, not far from the infield. Much much shorter distance and a much easier throw for a professional... and of course there was 1 out. I think the Boston 3B coach made a sensible send with two outs. Rosario just got it done. I'm not doing this to bash Diaz one more time. I just think it was a compare and contrast moment. I've made mistakes in my life. I've forgiven Tony Diaz. On to Cleveland.

Yeah and from the usual cast of characters.

I was planning on going to bed after the game. I'm a 53 year old Adult I don't think I can sleep now. I'm surprised my life turned out this way.

http://giphygifs.s3.amazonaws.com/media/tLQfm7dmGqxfa/giphy.gif

That was a big league throw. Makes up for all those times he made big league throws when he shouldn't have. Rosario doesn't buy his beer tonight.

YES!!!!