ashbury

We seem to experience that same shortage every Friday! Go figure.

Ever heard Tom Waits's version of the Disney song Heigh Ho? If you don't recognize the full lyrics to the song, and you hear it unannounced, it sneaks up on you.

No visible family resemblance, to say the least.

We can't know what the conversations were in Sept/Oct 2016 when Falvey was hired. Those had to have centered on what to do with the emerging core that was being inherited. The degree to which Falvey can tell the guy who signs his paycheck, "this is one of the scenarios I laid out for you almost five years ago, remember?" will be the degree to which he can commit to a rebuild. My previous post indicates what I think that degree to be. "Last place in 2021, Berrios and probably Buxton dealt at the deadline? Um, no, I don't recall that particular scenario coming up."

The question I have is whether a FO can survive making such a white-flag trade, admitting failure on not just their 2021 chances but for the entire window of contention for this core. My thought is, "no". They might convince ownership that trading Berrios is the right thing; the corollary is a change at the top of the FO too. Thus I can't see it happening.

It is an unwritten rule that when someone breaks an unwritten rule I must angrily denounce ALL unwritten rules. I should know, because I just un-writ this one myself. Grrrr!

You have brought TD comedy to a new and higher level.

From BAH-stahn.

After the third HR, I bet if you listened closely you'd have heard Ryan say into his phone, "welp, looks like we're not getting Sano after all."

That just means Tyler's a better thespian than Rocco. Rocco clearly didn't have his heart in it, to get thrown out, but I'll give him credit for persisting until he got what he knew he had to have. I wish I could read lips - I'm betting his monologue was something like "you gotta throw me out. Come on, throw me out. Don't make me bring your mother into it., You've got a job to do but so do I. Just throw me out." He waved his arms a bit, to try to sell it to the crowd, like he's seen it done.

Sitting at my desk, I want to agree with you. But I think the history of sports tells us that when hormones like adrenaline come into the picture, such as when a home run is hit on 3-0 in an obvious "take" situation, there will be one repercussion or another. Take away a pitch thrown behind someone's gluteus maximus, and I guarantee that the result will be more bad outcomes, not fewer. Maybe someday the human race will be perfected. Not in my remaining lifetime.

It's not a double-header.

Twins FANS have been unlucky in 2021. The record attached to the players has been earned, though.

Duran has been injured. He was activated only yesterday. A resume including 7 starts at AA in 2019 doesn't strike me as a good reason to bring him up to the majors right away. Let's see how AAA goes for a month.

C'mon Rocco. Your ejection-fu is weak. Review this video and improve. (NSFW) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAXHXJ2WgrQ

They hit a home run off our bullpen ace-in-the-hole Astudillo. Season Officially Over.

The first-inning HR by Olson was disappointing. Berrios got him to an 0-2 count, then couldn't quite finish him, and eventually on 3-2 he gave him a center-cut fastball. I realize this is second guessing, but it was the difficult AB (don't want to run up the pitch count, don't want to walk him) that can make or break a pitcher's game on a given day. Berrios is SO CLOSE to being a dominant starter, with his excellent assortment of pitches, but there is some final tip that he's not getting from his pitching coach on what to do when the going gets tough.

Give up 5 runs, over an entire game and not just the starting pitcher's portion, and you're odds-against to win. I think you're willing to call "he gave up enough runs that they'll very probably lose" as keeping the team in the game. That's a really low bar to clear. You could probably do a similar analysis of other starters having an ERA around 6, and get similar results. And asking who else in the system could have done better is an irrelevancy, for me. In 7 starts, he has had 2 games that were clear successes. First start of the season against Detroit, and his May 7 start also against Detroit. Great work. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 2 putrid games against Oakland and KC. Those can happen occasionally, even if the name is Kershaw. Accept them and move on. It's the other 3 games that will shape my opinion of him, then. April 25 against Pittsburgh, 2 runs in 5 1/3 innings. That's what I call keeping the team in the game - not shutout ball, and turning the ball over to the bullpen for 11 outs if they are to win, but it doesn't require a huge game from the batters. May 14 against Oakland 5 runs in 6 innings. Not a good outcome, but probably a bit unlucky, with only 7 base runners but 3 balls flying out of the park for HR. But I don't call that keeping the team in the game, except as a very low standard; he already gave up enough runs to expect them to lose. April 11 against Seattle, 4 runs in 5 innings. Relies on 12 outs of shutout ball from the bullpen to make even 5 runs from the offense stand up. (They lost 8-6.) I count 3 good games - Detroit, Detroit, Pittsburgh. Now, take into account that these two teams have turned out to have the poorest offenses in their respective leagues thus far in 2021. He pitched good ball against glorified AAA teams. I found less to praise him for, the closer I looked. Courage and composure, that's probably what he's brought.

From this corner, he's met expectations, but only because my expectations were so low.

I'm tired of guys with nasty stuff they can't command game in and game out. The coaching state of the art is pretty high and it's getting harder and harder to find gems in someone else's trash pile.

My Saints t-shirt from the 90s is a frequent reminder of one of the things I miss about the Twin Cities.

Not one pitcher in the bullpen strikes the slightest fear in a good batter's heart. Not one. I can't rank such a list of arms.

Fire sale, if all these forecasts come true.

Kind of our season in a nutshell. Things are bad when... Astudillo is the least of your worries.