stringer bell

Two on, none out. Do you think the Tribe squanders their opportunity?

That is why a guy with his skill set really has to mash. Hurts the club on the basepaths and doesn't do much more than fill in occasionally at a position (first).

Not very RISPy so far.

There it is!

Kennys still looking for that first single.

Well, that could have been worse.

Great job No Crying! IIRC you are undefeated as a thread starter. Let's hope the streak continues.

I have zero problem with an award named after a Hall of Fame player, I would have a problem if it were the Dunkin' Doughnuts or match.com award or some such. Carew and Gwynn were the best "singles hitters" of their era, roughly contemporaries and both are minorities. Tony is deceased and Rod's health is fragile, to say the least. Five years ago might have been better, but still fitting titles for a batting championship.

At the All-Star break, the Twins sit with a terrible 32-56 record and it is only that good because they've won the last three series against three AL West clubs. For most of the season, the Twins have scored the fewest runs in the AL while allowing the most. I wasn't totally surprised that the Twins pitching staff was bad, but it just doesn't seem right that they would be last in runs scored justifiably because they weren't getting on base and not hitting when they did manage to get runners in scoring position. With good work of late from their offense, the Twins have improved in offensive categories. They rank 10th in runs scored, 8th in OPS and slugging, 9th in OBP and 10th in homers. I would expect those numbers to continue to rise. There's plenty of talent and a lot of them are starting to realize their potential. Certainly, the pitching needs to improve, both the rotation and the back end of the bullpen. However, some guys have stepped up. Fernando Abad was brilliant for the first quarter of the season, but has faded. Brandon Kinzler was signed to a minor league contract, but recalled this spring and has been pretty good. Taylor Rogers looks like he belongs in the bullpen and Ryan Pressly and Michael Tonkin have shown enough to hold spots in the Twins bullpen. There is enough offense to be a good team soon. There isn't enough pitching. The Twins don't have an ace and their most consistent veteran is supposedly on the block. I am of the opinion that every trade made by the Twins from now until they are a true contender has to bring back pitching or catching. It is my belief that the Twins will be good again when their staff is better than average. I'm willing to bet the members of that staff will be homegrown or acquired in minor deals or the Rule V Draft. Signing free agent pitchers is like going against the house in Vegas. You might win once in a while, but long term the house always wins. Ryan has attempted to sign pitchers to eight figure (per year) contracts and it hasn't worked out. I expect the Twins to be more competitive in the second half of the season. I sincerely hope they trade a couple of veterans to allow the kids to play. Chargois and Berrios can cut their teeth in the major leagues. Some of Suzuki, Plouffe, Nuñez, Santana, Nolasco, and Abad should be sold off. I really don't think they are that far away, if they can get middle of the pack pitching. The other factor, which I think is overlooked in the Twins demise this year is defense. The pitching staff has enough trouble getting three outs in an inning and too often, because of misplays, a fourth or fifth out has been donated to the opponent. If the Twins get a new catcher or catching tandem, I would hope they get a solid defender who can limit opponent's running game. Also, another glaring deficiency has been shortstop. Eduardo Nuñez is below average as a shortstop and Eduardo Escobar has had a poor year playing short IMHO. A trade of Nuñez would probably net better defense at short

Kepler is not done growing IMHO. For now, he is mostly a gap hitter, but that could change.

Grossman is young (26), cheap and under team control for four years after this one. Keep him around!

OK, a couple of fun facts. With their domination of the Rangers, the Twins have passed a team in overall record--they nosed ahead of the Reds by half a game. Secondly, the Twins run differential is less than that of the Rays! Progress!

Well, a couple of thoughts--as a group the Twins are taking much better at-bats. Secondly, Texas right now isn't close to what they were for the first eighty games. They have a nice lineup, but their staff is a total mess. Finally, things even up over the course of a season and guys who were in Rochester don't seem to want to go back.

Don't know if that's true, but the Rangers pitching staff makes the Twins hitters look good, for sure.

Dozier needs a break. Four days off for the All-Star break might help.

You have plenty of agreement on that one, glunn!

First grand slam of the year? Kep must already have 20 ABs with the sacks juiced. It was going to happen.

Big Kennys doesn't want to go back to Rochester.

First of all, nice infielding, all three guys--second through third could have made better decisions/plays. Secondly, Smalley is talking about lack of runs, he should talking about bloopers and misplays and not minimizing the damage.

Pretty certain that the Twins need more than two.

OMG! An original Star Trek that I have never seen!

He has started like 11 of the last 13 games, since Rodriguez was benched. He has just about 200 plate appearances while almost always hitting from the bottom of the order.

While the Twins have gotten nothing out of John Ryan Murphy, the New York Yankees have given Aaron Hicks a considerable amount of playing time. Today Hicks is in the lineup again and this is his 74th game for the Pinstripers (out of about 90). While Hicks has played quite a bit, so far he hasn't hit. He's batting .197 with a .568 OPS through today. Hicks has spent a majority of his playing time in right field. It is interesting that Hicks isn't even hitting left handed pitching. He's only hitting .151 vs lefties with a .432 OPS. Either the Yankees really believe Hicks will "find it" or they have given up on this season and want to give Hicks a real chance to show what he can do. The All-Star break is a game away and I find it almost surreal that the winningest franchise in MLB history would have a regular corner outfielder below the Mendoza line this late in the season. It is interesting to compare how the Yankees have handled Hicks compared to the handling of young Twins outfielders, including Buxton, Rosario, and Oswaldo Arcia. Hicks, like Arcia, is out of options and in his mid-20s. In a roundabout way, Hicks is replacing Alex Rodriguez, who has sat most days in the past two weeks while Hicks plays right field and Carlos Beltran supplants A-Rod as the DH. Apparently, the Yankees think their lineup is better with Hicks replacing a guy who has first ballot Hall of Fame numbers while the Twins seemed to think that guys in their organization were better with higher ceilings than Arcia (I do too). I am having a hard time not gloating about Hicks. I have maintained since Hicks' rookie year that he couldn't/wouldn't hit enough to be a major league regular corner outfielder. Incidentally, Buxton's OPS this year is higher than Hicks. Time will tell if the Yankees patience and investment of playing time will pay off. I do wish Hicks well.

Now you did it, Spin! Lohse twirls a three-hit shutout due to you berating him.

While that is true, Kepler made a real nice play earlier in the game to hold Odour to a single on a ball towards the corner. He has the speed and instincts to be a fine outfielder.