tony&rodney

That was sweet.

Never heard of Parcell. Baseball writer?

Pitching is how teams win games over the long season. Pablo Lopez is a really good pitcher and the Twins are lucky to have him. That is why the Twins signed him to an extension.

Maybe, but he is better at third than he was at first base. At third a player is involved in less than three plays per game whereas the number is close to eight for a first baseman.

Same as it ever was .... a player needs to earn a job and then do well enough to keep it. Baseball is an ultra competitive business and tough. Whoever shows the skills and performance to get advanced a level, will.

The Twins are doing well and the pitching has carried the team mostly giving the offense time to warm up. I was pretty sure that two young guys were big keys for the Twins this season. Both Alex Kirilloff, already showing his glove and stick matter, and Royce Lewis can be dynamic. I did not think we would see both Bailey Ober and Louie Varland this early, and man have they been good. The season is young and counting out Cleveland, or any team, is looking for bad luck. The Twins need only to take care of their own fortunes. Right now I'm not seeing consistently good swings from Brooks Lee at AA, and Jose Miranda looks like he is still searching for the ball at AAA. Eddy Julien looked pretty good for the Twins in his very short stint with the team and continues, even in a minor slump, to have good at bats, get on base, and hit for extra bases. Julien does not have a golden glove but all talk of that shortcoming has been blown way out of proportion. Eddy gets to most balls and make the plays. He just isn't as athletic and always looks a little stiff. Matt Wallner may have a rough time getting his next opportunity. He has done a fine job working on his defense and his speed is more noticeable in the field as he has become more comfortable out there. Something tells me that he always believed he would be a pitcher/DH and never worked as hard at playing defense. I think the Twins are sitting on a decent roster collection right now. If Buxton, Correa, and Polanco reach expectations, we could begin to see how good the young guys (Kirilloff, Larnach, Lewis, Julien) are as compliments.

I agree that it would be ideal and wonderful, but he may be a top ten pick. Teel does not compare to the top five though, according to every scout or baseball draft writer.

Too bad Varland had that third run go against his bubble gum card, but no problem. The guys will close down the last two innings.

What a nice outing by Louie Varland. He has looked really good at the back of the rotation.

Disagree. I like a batter who can hit the ball.

Wow. You cannot throw a low fastball to that man.

I'm feeling pretty good about the Twins roster right now. The bats will come along, hopefully consistently. The pitching has been very good overall, especially the starting pitching. Headrick is a good option as a sixth starter when needed. Moran has made us all nervous but he is pretty tough on the batters and we do not need him to be a top four reliever. I'm aware of how Alcala gets ripped up in a second inning, but perhaps he can be limited to just one inning. Balazovic is the only guy on the 40 person roster right now. The Twins may want Jordan to have an extended run of success.

The Cubs seemed to sit on a pitch on Friday night and yesterday afternoon, which did not work because both Gray and Ryan varied their routines and hit their spots. This is the typical life of a pitcher, needing to be effective with at least two and hopefully four offerings from the mound. I think Varland has looked good thus far and he seems committed, mostly controlling the at bats and making the batter work. Louie sure does pitch quickly, no nonsense or hesitation. Today should be another good test for Varland. I'm real big on his potential to have a good year because he seems to improve in small ways each time out.

Watching on milb.com yesterday, Lewis looks strong and that double seemed to get to the wall in a hurry. Festa pitches so quickly and simply overpowers batters at times. He is definitely a strong prospect with a bright future if he can harness 3-4 pitches. The Saints missed on a number of chances to score. Helman out with an injury hurts their lineup. Miranda and Garlick are searching for the ball. Always enjoy these reports on the minor league games. Thanks.

Those who have traveled and watched each of the consensus top five and seen many other players as well all suggest that the top five would all be good number one picks in most every other year in the last decade. I haven't personally seen any of these ballplayers, so I will take the word of scouts and the writers. I have seen several games and at bats watching via the internet: LSU, Tennessee, Florida, and a couple of others. The Twins cannot get cute with the #5 pick. They must choose the last of the five left for them. It is a win, win. I'm hoping it is Max Clark. Paul Skenes would be nice but it would be crazy if he was still available at #5. None of the other college pitchers are top ten picks.

The Twins have been putting together teams in hopes of competing for an AL Central crown during the Baldelli years with ownership spending much more money on the rosters in addition to the acquisition and signing of players to improve the team. There have been some disappointments to be sure but the Twins have not been in a rebuilding phase where younger players and prospects are given extended stretches to play. Thus, the young guys need to put their best foot forward and keep their performances at an expected standard that helps the team win games. The signing of Carlos Correa is the most noteworthy example of this trend. The Twins could have used Kyle Farmer as a hold at shortstop until either of Royce Lewis or Brooks Lee was ready to take the position. This makes it difficult for young players and bad luck can also be an impediment. Krilloff has been badly impaired by injuries for a couple of years and we can see the potential right now. Hopefully AK remains healthy in the front of the batting order. Trevor Larnach has also had some health setbacks and slumped lately. He has to make the final adjustments at the MLB level because AAA does not provide the challenge or repetitions that he needs against top off speed pitches. Larnach is in a tough place because he must prove he can recognize and react properly to breaking balls or he will lose at bats to someone else. Matt Wallner faces long odds because he just hunts fastballs. Currently he is working hard to learn at AAA, and he is doing well. Wallner will need to wait for an injury or trade before his name is called again. Similar in some ways to Eddy Julien, Wallner will need to crush AAA pitchers for a lengthy period of time as he waits for an opening. Jose Miranda presents a different scenario than the others. Miranda looked like he could be a fixture on future Twins teams last season. He just needed to work hard on his defense. Jose reported to camp in excellent condition and hit. Then .... the bat went sour and so did the glove. Miranda has not looked good (on milb.com) for the Saints. He may need a mini reset in Ft. Myers to work on his swing. The swing vacillates from at bat to at bat and Jose looks desperate to punish the first pitch. His sequences at the plate are out of sync. Miranda has really good hand eye coordination and can become a high average extra base MLB bat, but he needs to reset his mechanics and develop hitting plans that he adheres to at the plate on a consistent basis. Perhaps Miranda turns it around quickly. We hope so, but baseball is tough.

I like Solano or any bench players getting some at bats but Kirilloff needs to see left handers too. So, a little conflicted but no big deal. I just don't see Solano on the team after the All Star break.

Ryan has the Cubs looking demoralized today. He is really sharp and mixing his pitches masterfully.

I agree that the season is long and Kirilloff will need to prove himself over the long haul. I also still believe that Jorge Polanco is the heart of the Twins team. Still if the Twins are going to make a dent in the post season, it will be Kirilloff leading the way. Stick him in the two or three spot and enjoy.

To quote Bob Dylan, "The Grateful Dead aren't just the best at what they do, they are the only ones who do it." The quintessential musicians of the 20th century, effectively mixing classical, blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, rock, and more into their music. Dylan again, "When I listen to a Grateful Dead rendition of one of my songs I think that this is exactly how I wanted it to sound."

Why would any pitcher throw Gallo a low pitch. His swing is so susceptible to belt high swings and misses. Watching Ryan pitch made me think of Gallo's swing. Ryan eats up people with high fastballs and then batters are surprised when he slides in a low fastball.

I don't get why it matters if the batter is looking at the pitcher. If the pitchers want to pitch, let them pitch. The batters will learn quickly.

Kirilloff is showing what good health looks like.

Turning Nelson Cruz into Joe Ryan stands out. The one curious move, which befuddled me at the time, was giving up on Nick Anderson.

Did anyone else notice how shallow the San Diego outfielders played as opposed to how deep the Twins outfielders set up? Nick Gordon made a valiant effort to catch that short fly ball but he was playing super deep. It is an interesting strategy. I wonder if there is data for that.