Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

tony&rodney

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    10,385

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    88

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by tony&rodney

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. tony&rodney
    This really depends on the hitters now, doesn't it?
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. tony&rodney
    It might be fair to say that the season sits in the hands of the Twins left-handed hitters.
  19. tony&rodney
    The Twins pitching has been pretty consistent all year. It might slip in a game or two but fans of the team can count on the pitching in my opinion. The Twins defense has been all over the map but fairly decent at making the outs. A few Twins look less than stellar in the field yet I'm comfortable with those awkward plays that result in an out. The primary pressure in this series will be on the Twins offense. They will need to lay off of pitches out of the zone and punish mistakes. The Twins have bats who can accomplish this and Houston pitchers will make enough mistakes to provide opportunities for Minnesota to score runs. This is actually the strength of the Astros offense right now, which will face a slew of Twins pitchers capable of throwing strikes on the edges of the strike zone. This series is a great matchup in my opinion and whomever manages to execute their plan should prevail in the games. National writers see the Astros as a far superior team while giving only a nod to the Twins pitchers and Correa. It is an opportunity for a number of unheralded Twins players to give the wider audience a chance to remember their names.
  20. tony&rodney
    Bailey Ober has been pretty much good for 5+ innings, giving up 2 runs as a practice. I'm pumped for Ober to get the ball because he is really tough and will enjoy the atmosphere. The Twins need to score more runs in this series, but they can. One thing that may have been overlooked is how good the Toronto pitching staff was this year. Certainly Gausman is among the best starting pitchers in baseball. If guys like Julien, Wallner, Kirilloff, and Lewis can control the strike zone and lay off all of the tricks thrown by Verlander, the Twins can do very well. Go Ober. Go Twins.
  21. tony&rodney
    Ober is a good choice for either Game 1 or 4. I think he would be really good on Saturday. Ryan goes in Game 4. Maeda is ready right away when he is needed. Funderburk is someone to keep but no surprise if he is left off the team. Stevenson provides speed and good defense. The Twins can run on Houston. Pinch running late and the added defense with a lead are huge in the playoffs. This addition of Ober, keeping Funderburk and Stevenson means that someone from Round One gets left off the roster. I think Chris Paddack has looked really good but the Twins need that roster spot; he is off the roster.
  22. tony&rodney
    I have no quibble with anyone picking Max Kepler. I mentioned him by name for his strong second half. All season long, including during his dark first half, I have been in Kepler's corner. I like almost everything about the way Max plays baseball and he seems to be enjoying himself and smiling for the first time in a long while. My choice for 2023 Twins MVP is Correa though.
  23. tony&rodney
    MVP is usually pretty divided unless one player puts up incredible numbers. Gray, Lopez, and the starting pitchers were the driving force for this Twins team. Kepler had a wonderful half season and there were noteworthy contributions from young players too: Julien, Wallner, Lewis, and Kirilloff in that order. I was never a huge fan of Correa until he became a Twin and saw his play on a daily basis. He led the team in at bats, hits, doubles, and was second in most other categories. His leadership and play at shortstop makes him the guy the Twins look to for words and action. Despite the subpar campaign this year for C4 with pedestrian numbers, I'm picking Carlos Correa as the most valuable Twin.
  24. tony&rodney
    Walker JenkinsEmmanuel RodriguezBrooks LeeDavid FestaAustin MartinMarco RayaCharlee SotoSimeon Woods RichardsonConnor PrielippCory LewisTanner SchobelKala'i RosarioNoah MillerLuke KeaschallBrandon WinokurYasser MercedesKody FunderburkRicardo OlivarJose SalasMatt Canterino
  25. tony&rodney
    Ober, Lopez, Gray, Ryan with Maeda ready in Game 1.
×
×
  • Create New...