ashbury

Ironically, after your fine post, Bark, I am suddenly giving more of a damn.

7. Think about all the concussions those Warner Brothers cartoon characters got, and the silly buzzing/guh-guh-guh sound they would make shaking their heads trying to shake off the effects. I picture Mauer trying to do just about this. 8. How *do* you spell that head-shaking sound they make in those cartoons? Disappointingly, a YouTube search of cartoon head-shaking didn't turn up what I wanted. 9. Lipstick.

2013 is a season for finding out what we've got. Sending the runner with 2 strikes and 1 out doesn't strike me as crazy strategy, trying to get a guy in scoring position for your good batter coming next - play for the tie at home, and all that jazz. You do need the right runner for it, as you point out. Bad track record for getting SB, but good speed, maybe the coaching staff thinks they can work on it with him. Fire Gardy for this, you probably fire most of the managers in the league at some point.

Thanks. This is great. He kind of hit the trifecta for the body parts I named. Although, looking at the BP page, these were all of short duration. I'd need to be as smart as the Twins trainers to interpret this information. And speaking of humorous memes like Twins trainers, I did appreciate your highlighting "bilateral". Always good for a laff. If concussions weren't such serious juju, a bilateral joke could probably be coined for Mauer's current woes.

Psst, Gardy - you didn't read the script.

Ack! I got busy with sumpin', and completely lost track of the game. This one was winnable. It's on me. / edit - one loss closer to a good draft pick, sez some

Jury's still out. My daughter's pretty good, I just haven't gotten sick yet.

Why thank you. My compliments to you as well, Sir.

I went to have dinner, came back here, found that an Astros home game had broken out.

I didn't think you were a heavy drinker.

I saw a stock tip on Cramer for Amalgamated Buggy Whips at $0.00003. Think I should load up?

I may need to go over to the Pelfrey thread and erase a message or two....

(Psst, doggie. Doggie. It really is a rabbit. As soon as it moves, POUNCE!)

You can save me 5 seconds of web browsing by answering this question: where does the series stand currently?

We haven't done one about him hitting into a double play as far as I recall. Give that one a whirl.

Glunn: Do you like Scheveningen? Me: I don't know. I've never Schevened.

It's about 22 posts deep before you finally showed up. Have a libation of your choice and watch the game with us.

I'm sure he'd prefer better circumstances but at least is keeping an eye on you.

See, that's why I'd never live in Canada, eh? It takes them two numbers just to tell you how cold it is outside, eh? And they have to sing the Star Spangled Banner twice before each baseball game, once in English and once in Montreal-ese, eh?

With a man, eh? / edit - that one's so terrible, I may have to follow Chief's lead and banninate myself

Welp, a run scored, on no hits and no walks... I suppose a bunch of cheap unearned runs is how Pelfrey has squeaked out a decent July-August ERA... checking... nope, eh?

I'd like to check out her Autumnal Equinox, iykwimaityd, eh?

Nice maple leafs on that one in the middle.

The back of his bubblegum card next spring will be what it will be; all the stats count, including April and May. Ditto for the career line. If we're handing out Cy Young 2013 or Hall Of Fame votes he's going to come up empty. But we're trying to forecast the coming couple of years. To me, a player achieving MLB-average or better performance are determined by his talent experience health luck and normal fluctuation I could include something about my view of the interplay among these but it'd be only marginally pertinent here. This is Pelfrey's MLB history before the Twins: age 22 ERA+ 81; 23/78; 24/113; 25/81; 26/107; 27/78; 28/out The way I read it, age 22-23 he didn't yet have the experience. Age 24 he demonstrated over a full season that he has the talent. Age 25 I will go out on a limb and infer some kind of health issue. Age 26 he again demonstrated MLB level talent. Age 27 I will go out on less of a limb to assume a health issue, because we know that age 28 culminated in Tommy John Surgery. Now at age 29 he has put up a half-season that was putrid, and then a third of a season (11 starts, not just "a month") that so far has him once again above major-league average in ERA. So what do we forecast for his age 30-31 seasons? To me, the signs are that he earlier had MLB level talent; doing it twice over full seasons at ages 24 and 26 is IMO no fluke. He has enough experience. Luck is always an unknown. So the question to me boils down to health - a) have past health issues degraded his talent, and will his future health be a good risk? I'm of the opinion that his July/August 2013 is a long enough stretch to confirm his talent remains high enough. What I don't know is his health prognosis: what's the experience with TJ patients at this future stage of recovery? was his age 25 blip also the elbow? or does he also have forearm, shoulder, leg, or other weak points that could flare up again? Bottom line, for forecasting purposes I think Pelfrey is a much tougher nut to crack than just looking at aggregate career or 2013 totals, and a careful look suggests where to look further.

Put up some token resistance on the eastern flank, and let them shoot straight down to Mexico if they want the warmer weather. Best case, maybe they pillage Texas as they pass through - heck, they can take it along for a souvenir for all I care.