stringer bell

The Twins need you to post that more often.

Brand new ball game!

Not to speculate too much, but my guess is that the pitcher broke his nose. I hope he's not too badly hurt. I'm really surprised more pitchers don't get hit.

Tight zone early, with the exception of strike three to Hicks.

The Twins current playoff probability according to Baseball Prospectus is just 7%. That seems low, given the fact that they only trail wild card leader Baltimore by 1.5 games and play the Orioles four games within the week. Here's a tale about the underdog winning. A young sophomore track runner has had a respectable season in the 1600 meters going into the conference meet. However, she hadn't beaten three older runners (one of whom went on to win the state championship) all year. On a cool, cloudy spring day the sophomore starts out in the lead, as the other higher-seeded runner settle into a trail position, eyeing the other favorites, while the young slender sophomore takes a big lead. Nobody challenges for the first half-mile. On the third lap, the favorites decide they had better start to challenge the leader. It takes a while to close the gap and after three quarters of the race, it looks like the younger runner will fade to fourth place as the three older, stronger runners are clustered within a few yards of the leader. Two challengers try to pass, but can't get past. The last major challenger waits until the last 100 meters, but the leader somehow has a kick left and holds her off as well. The sophomore runs her best time by 15 seconds. It is good enough to hold off the contenders she had never beaten before or after the one conference meet. This story has the advantage of being true, at least as I remember it. My daughter was a sophomore and stunned herself, her coach and her dad winning the conference race. If there were a prospectus for high school track meets then, I'm sure her victory percentage would have been lower than seven per cent. That is what makes sports fun!

I want Buxton here in place of a pitcher. I also think that Hicks should play left field, not right. I believe Rosario would be the superior right fielder immediately and with time Hicks would be a little better in left than Eddie. Plouffe is an everyday third baseman, who has played a few games at first to accommodate the phenom. It makes far more sense to trade him for value than make him into a guy who moves all over the field. I presume, without another OF being signed, that Hicks, Rosario, and Buxton have the lead for the three starting position next year. The other outfielder to start ST would be the out of options Arcia, with Kepler being given a shot to join the club, but most likely starting in AAA.

Buxton has played as long at AAA as he did with the big boys. We should probably hold equal weight for each (ie not much at all). I guess I would look at how many balls he has hit hard, and how many times he has struck out and then look at what pitches (breaking balls, chain jumps [that's for Always 33] got him out.

The optimum thing would be to go back to 12 pitchers, adding Buxton for a pitcher. That could be accomplished as soon as the end of the Yankee series, if the Twins starters go deep in games.

Disagree here Kwak. Dozier became an All-Star precisely because he is able to generate so many extra-base hits. Yes, i hope he moderates just a bit next year and starts using all fields more, but he's good because he hits homers and doubles. Plouffe was all or nothing in the year that he hit 24 homers. He's been a better player the last two years because he is using all the field, especially with two strikes.

Kepler for POY in the Southern League? I wonder how much that matters to the Twins' front office. I could see him staying in Chattanooga 'til the playoffs are over and then getting a couple weeks with the Twins.

Don't look now, but through four innings, the Twins have............one hit.

Gibson's BABIP continues to regress.

Not much of a swing.

My favorite bluegrass group is the Steep Canyon Rangers.

Nice facial hair Yovani.

Sweet GDP!

Prince up w/ two on, none out. Not good.

This will be one of my first chances to watch an entire ballgame in some time. A lot of small things going on plus opportunities to play a lot of golf have kept me away from my TV. It is also an opportunity to watch Gibson pitch. I like the way he goes about his business and he seems like a really nice young man.

My gripe with Robinson starting as many games as he has lately is that there is one too many pitchers on the active roster. A competent hitter to fill in as a a DH/corner outfielder so that Hunter, Rosario or Mauer could have a day off. Shane Robinson should be a defensive replacement, pinch runner and position player to pitch an inning in a blowout. As was mentioned earlier, no organization would call up a top prospect to have him play two or three times a week. I don't think such usage would be a positive for the player or for the team. Further, I believe that Buck will benefit by playing 15-20 games for the Red Wings. Certainly, if Hicks were struggling, it would change the calculation of whether Buxton should be in the majors. It appears to me that Buxton would not make much of an impact at this stage of the season coming off of more than six weeks on the DL.

They got a win in their red unis. If Pelf is superstitious, he probably won't go with them again, but I actually kind of like the way they look. When they were sporting the "reds" in Spring Training, I thought another team was warming up to play the Twins.

Bremer saying it was an ugly game. It was an ugly half game, but they won the second half 3-0. Much more crisp than the last four and a half games.

Boyer is older than Perk. C'mon Bremer.

Zuke has hit a lot of weak fly balls this year.

I'd actually bat him lower. He is a good base runner and high percentage base stealer. He could and should be able use his legs more hitting fifth or sixth.

Vulture May in to claim another relief win.