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tony&rodney

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Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. tony&rodney
    The Astros won the series 3 games to 1 versus the Twins. The idea of blame, blame, blame is simply lame, lame, lame. Weak.
  2. tony&rodney
    George Kirby? Does Seattle have any interest? What does this potentially mean? Kirilloff or Lewis or Julien or Wallner or Lee or ??? plus a few minor league guys. November and speculation isn't that far away. For now I'm just going to enjoy the postseason. The offseason could be huge this year.
  3. tony&rodney
    Well, we didn't know why Kirilloff looked so uncomfortable before today. A baseball player with a bum shoulder cannot swing freely and is unlikely to be diving around in the field. Players try to play through various bumps and bruises but some injuries restrict the ability to perform. Now we know what ailed Alex. Tough break for him.
  4. tony&rodney
    Good game, Good season. The Astros are the best team in baseball until proven otherwise.
  5. tony&rodney
    Hey your team just hit four home runs in the same inning, the first team ever to do so in MLB history. You have to be pumped about that.
  6. tony&rodney
    How can you even say that? He was having a great at bat. That pitch was 4-6 inches inside. Or are you listening to the radio?
  7. tony&rodney
    Willi Castro will go through arbitration this offseason (Arb2). MLBTradeRumors projects his salary at $3.2M next season. From his speed to his versatility in the field to his decent bat as a switch-hitter, Castro should be a certain lock on the 2024 roster.
  8. tony&rodney
    The Houston Astros would not agree that the AL Central teams are a pushover. The Astros were fighting to get into the playoffs and Kansas City nearly sent them to the golf course winning 5 of 6 games. The Astros swept the Diamondbacks to secure their AL West crown. Baseball is more balanced than many people realize. The Twins had a hard time forcing Javier into throwing mistake pitches and the Astros fouled off some tough pitches. It all comes down to execution. Julien has been difficult for pitchers, mostly. He saw 5 pitches each of his first three at bats but then shifted into swinging freely with only 3 pitches in each of his last two bats resulting in strike outs. Give Javier and the Astros credit. The younger Twins have looked a little inexperienced in some spots, but steady at other times. The only player who looks a little lost to me is Alex Kirilloff, but I have no idea why. Lewis, Wallner, Castro, and Jeffers have had some decent at bats and some poor approaches which reflects their inexperience. Baseball is a hard game with the percentages of failure far exceeding the times of success. Today should present another opportunity for the Twins to get their bats going. All season the Twins struggled to score when Sonny Gray pitched and ran up the score when Joe Ryan started the games. The chance will be there to score more than the Astros today to send the teams back to Houston. Expect it.
  9. tony&rodney
    When Julien has long drawn out at bats that exposes the offerings of a pitcher and stretches the limits of their stamina. Javier can be a dominating pitcher, especially when batters bite on his high fastball. The Astros are really good at forcing pitchers to throw strikes and then putting the ball into play. The Twins need to be disciplined and punish mistake pitches. Julien, Kirilloff, and Wallner (if he is in the lineup) will get chances today. The Astros will be more careful versus Correa, Polanco, and Kepler, which leaves opportunities for the rookies to shine. Go Twins.
  10. tony&rodney
    I would not be at all surprised to see Christian Vazquez behind the plate today. Sonny Gray buries the ball on a routine basis and Vazquez is a better catcher than Ryan Jeffers. Another possibility is Willi Castro in centerfield. I'm fine with whatever lineup Baldelli brings to home plate. In any event, the Twins will need to score at least four runs today and it would be sweet to see an early push by the Twins bats.
  11. tony&rodney
    Poor use of public money. Corporate welfare has ruled since at least the days of building canals and railroads in the 1800s. It is crazy but people love it, apparently. I lived in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area for a decade plus. There was a beautiful ball field on the bay that I played in - Al Lang Field. That is an amazing location. There is great high school baseball in that area. Kyle Tucker would be just one of hundreds from the metro area. I don't think a dome is a good idea there, at least not a fixed closed roof. The summer evenings are beautiful with cooling breezes. The afternoons are hot and humid but it rains and cools off by early evening. I really doubt whether the Rays will ever draw well in that area. I guess the owner can make some money on the real estate though, so glass half full.
  12. tony&rodney
    We should allow Byron to heal. He did everything within his power to stay in the lineup this year. I'm sure that nobody has suffered from the loss of at bats and playing time this season more than Buxton. He did not look healthy the last time I saw him play for the Saints.
  13. tony&rodney
    Sonny Gray has pitched wonderfully all season for the Twins. The Twins batters have not supported him very well. The bats scoring runs early and often would make everyone, especially Gray, feel better. We can hope that Gray holds the Astros to 3 runs or less in 5 or 6 innings. The offense will have their opportunities and I would sure like to see our quartet of Julien, Kepler, Kirilloff, and Wallner step up on Tuesday.
  14. tony&rodney
    Sorry, I was using the usual call and not the rule. i have not read the rule recently but the umpire has a decision to make. It is a judgment call and contact is not required and even contact is not an automatic obstruction call. The usual call on that play would be obstruction if the runner comes into contact with a fielder without the ball or the umpire feels the runner change their course because a fielder was in the way. Like many rules, the umpire gets to make the call. It is a call, when made, that often brings about a vigorous exchange of verbal thoughts.
  15. tony&rodney
    You are correct. I should have stated that in MLB an umpire will nearly always require some contact. Also, the rules for high school and youth baseball are different. Good call on your part. I was too hasty and inexact with my language.
  16. tony&rodney
    I saw the same, but the new rules state that the catcher must give the runner an ability to reach the plate (a sliding lane so to speak). Either way, I thought he was out. Some of the rulings in the past two years have been bogus and I would not have been satisfied with a ruling in this case in favor of the Twins. The out call was correct. i just wondered why late in the game .... maybe Rocco asks for those guys in New York to earn their keep. There was one particularly egregious ruling last season with Gary Sanchez that cost a game.
  17. tony&rodney
    Farmer had the biggest hit. That home run was huge. On a different note, why was Farmer playing all the way at the back skin of the infield with Altuve at the plate to start the game? That was confusing and Altuve DID notice.
  18. tony&rodney
    I wondered why Baldelli did not use one of his two challenges to see if New York would rule that Correa did not have a sliding lane. He could not reach the plate without making contact with the catcher, which resulted in Carlos sliding wide and never touching the plate.
  19. tony&rodney
    Lewis actually has to make contact with Maldonado to get that call. i think Royce was a bit flustered or he should have intentionally run into him bringing on the interference call. Without contact there cannot be a ruling of interference.
  20. tony&rodney
    Line drive single to right field. The outfielder made a good play and the throw was on the money to nail correa at the plate. Tucker is a gold glove outfielder, but it was a good send too. Nice swing by Julien. i hope he brings his A game on Tuesday.
  21. tony&rodney
    No problem. I like Ryan too, quite a bit. In fact, I can agree that Ryan is a better pitcher in the big picture than Ober. I just agree with the decision to start Ober in Houston because Minute Made Park is a band box and punishes fly ball pitchers badly which is exactly Joe Ryan. I expect Ryan to win Game 4 on Wednesday. As far as other games, I get that many folks on Twins Daily are Twins fans and not necessarily hardcore baseball fans, but the games do tell a story of how difficult it is to be a successful baseball player. Success or failure can be just a couple of pitches.
  22. tony&rodney
    This really depends on the hitters now, doesn't it?
  23. tony&rodney
    Cory Provus is a good listen, but I really enjoyed most of the national broadcast yesterday. The Twins television broadcast can be painful due to the over the top homerism even though that is expected. A. J. has a good handle on the game. Most of his comments are right on. An example late in the game was when he chided the Twins batters for swinging at breaking pitches up 2-0 in the count in the 9th inning. The crew stayed away from any controversy as well, which is good. There were several strike three calls that should have been ball four but the pitches were close and the broadcast team avoided unnecessary criticism. Wainwright gave the pitcher's view on Wallner by citing his weakness on high fastballs, although that is the case for others as well. I agree that yesterdays game was handled well by the broadcast team.
  24. tony&rodney
    Disagree, politely. Ober is a strong pitcher. He missed twice. Maybe if Ober is left in for two more innings you get the usual Ober, 5 innings giving up 3 runs. Houston has terrific hitters and their best are Altuve and Alvarez. If you are watching all of the games or just watching the Orioles-Rangers game today (Sunday), you saw Montgomery chased after 4+ innings having given up 5 runs and the fantastic Baltimore rookie, Grayson Rodriguez was roughed up for 5 runs in 1 and 2/3 of pitching. Maybe you watched Kershaw get torched last night. No, Ober was the right choice. The Astros are going to get their hits. It will take superb performances from Lopez and Gray to hold them down. If the Twins are going to win, the bats will need to step forward against Houston.
  25. tony&rodney
    The Twins did plenty of things well today but they will need to be a better tomorrow. Bailey Ober threw the pitches that were called. I'm thinking fastballs down on Altuve and good luck anytime on Alvarez. Ober has to execute every pitch but I'm not liking some of the pitch calls or the manner in which pitches were received. Ober was ok. The early focus on laying off pitches out of the zone on breaking balls was good. I actually wanted Lewis to bunt in the first inning with Bregman playing so far back. That is admittedly controversial. The Twins then started to get away from their patient approach and Verlander took advantage of the hitter's aggression. Wallner had a tough game. Polanco and Lewis created temporary panic in the Houston crowd but Abreu made a great pitch on Kirilloff. Twins couldn't catch a break and the Atros are a good ball team. Tomorrow will be a real tough test. The Twins need to score runs whenever the opportunities present and force the action when possible.
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