JB_Iowa

I've been singing that blinking song for the last hour.

"Give us any chance we'll take it .... Give us any rule we'll break it." -Ryan Braun

Go-Go did have a comment for Bollinger: "When I was in New York, at that time, the best thing for me was to move to Minnesota," Gomez said. "It was a two-year experience, and I appreciate it. I don't have any hard feelings with Minnesota. I'm always watching highlights from Minnesota, because they took care of me well [and had] beautiful fans." http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_06_02_minmlb_milmlb_1&mode=preview&vkey=preview_web_away&c_id=min Of course, he didn't mention that he gets a great deal of pleasure from kicking the Twins in the shins (and another portion of the anatomy as well)! Twins miss Lohse but Brewers miss Hughes so I actually think the Brewers may get the better end of that deal. Should be a fun series. And let's hope Jo-Jo gets his mojo going against the NL. .340/.392/.521/.913 at Miller Park for career. Not his best but definitely not the worst NL park for him. EDIT: Ooops, not Bollinger but Caitlin Swieca on the mlb.com story.

Great interview, JC. Sounds like TR will be back at the helm full-time sometime soon. I feel better about TR righting the ship than any of the other in-house options but I still hope that when TR retires, the Pohlads will offer a change of direction and some bring in some outside perspective.

Thanks!

Berardino has been tweeting a series of photos showing where Twins stats leaders rate in the AL. I don't know his source for these. I love the layout of these with the photos and rankings. AVG - Suzuki https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473483707399942147/photo/1 RBI - Plouffe https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473484442338471936/photo/1 Runs - Dozier https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473485068632338433/photo/1 OBP - Suzuki https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473485758859198464/photo/1 Hits - Plouffe https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473486808001425408/photo/1 Doubles - Plouffe https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473487238441881600/photo/1 Walks - Hicks/Mauer https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473488007258177537/photo/1 ERA - Hughes https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473489169893703680/photo/1 WHIP - Hughes https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473491493856890880/photo/1 Saves - Perkins https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/473489677085720576/photo/1 Thought it was a fun way to demonstrate how the Twins are doing in some statistical categories. Looks like the original source is probably mlb.com but I can't find a page that lets you do this. Anybody know?

Unless you are Carnac, neither you nor I nor anyone else knows what will happen from here out.

Adam Dunn, 2011-2013, $41 million. WAR: -1.8 Not such a large contract and only 4 years but still not great. The eventual evaluation of Mauer's contract depends on whether the can turn things around.

Contrast the tweeting done by Mike Berardino and Patrick Reusse. We have Reusse with his tweet: Patrick Reusse @1500ESPN_Reusse · 20h Danny Santana headed for 60-day w/ eyelid cut? @LaVelleNeal And then LEN3's follow-up: LaVelle E. Neal IIIVerified account‏@LaVelleNeal 20h Dr. Andrews to perform eyelid replacement surgery RT @1500ESPN_Reusse: Danny Santana headed for 60-day w/ eyelid cut? @LaVelleNeal On the other hand, we have Berardino: Mike Berardino @MikeBerardino · 22h Twinsights: Late-arriving Josmil Pinto gets "the treatment" from #mntwins teammates ... Mike Berardino‏@MikeBerardino 17h Talked to Josmil Pinto about previous note. Only reason he was late: Cab driver took him to Citi Field instead of Yankee Stadium. It happens Mike Berardino @MikeBerardino · 17h My apologies to Josmil Pinto, his fans and his family for any confusion I may have caused. Being late wasn't the point. Light humor was. Mike Berardino @MikeBerardino · 16h Updated Twinsights: Wayward taxi driver takes Josmil Pinto to a stadium in the wrong borough. #MNTwinshttp://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/06/ Will we see an apology or explanation today from Reusse to Santana or to people who may have misinterpreted his tweet? I doubt it. "Journalists" and bloggers need to understand that there should be a distinction between what they tweet on something that reflects their profession (in this case, the tweet came from @1500ESPN_Reusse) than from something they might tweet on a personal account. Higher standards should apply on the professional account. Reusse should issue an apology/explanation.

Mauer has been disappointing. But I can't imagine that any of us are much more disappointed in his performance than is Joe Mauer. He has always seemed a bit of a perfectionist to me and his inability to make adjustments thus far this year has to be incredibly frustrating to him. What will serve Joe Mauer best? Probably his legendary stoicism and his long time work ethic and desire to improve his game. This would be the best time to let patience and persistence work for him rather than some new emotion.

Laughing so hard I almost stopped breathing.

I was browsing for New York articles about Phil Hughes and found this one that does a good job of describing where he was statistically before today's game: http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/on-base-perception-1.3631854/phil-hughes-scouting-report-twins-edition-1.8293339 While it doesn't offer up a lot of new information, it certainly gives some hope that PH's excellence in the last month and a half can continue: - Can he sustain this start? Hughes' peripherals look strong. He has a .328 batting average on balls in play and 74.6 left on base percentage. Those are normal. Anything below a 70 percent LOB is a cause for concern. Starters tend to have a BABIP around .300. Hughes' is .296 lifetime. So, if anything, his .328 is a little high and it could come down. Newsday also had a nice little story on Hughes' "rebirth" with the Twins: http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/phil-hughes-a-new-man-as-he-faces-yankees-on-sunday-1.8293472 Also from this story: http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2014/05/ex-yankee_phil_hughes.html "I feel pretty good with my mechanics right now," he said. "I have tried to simplify things. I feel really comfortable and everything has been kind of clicking. I feel I never really get out of my delivery too much, which has enabled me to throw a lot of strikes and get ahead of guys. That's kind of where the control stuff is coming from." and Interestingly, Hughes said that after a while the comparisons to Clemens and the huge expectations weighed on him. "It's tough to live up to those exceptions," he admitted. "People talk about those kind of things and anything less is a failure. That's tough sometimes. So I think it was probably a good thing for me to come here and not have those kind of things tied to me. I can just be who I am and just pitch." He certainly pitched -- and pitched well -- today.

Thinking Hughes has to pitch in the ASG.

LOL, no. But he did a fine job mopping up there.

Thielbar.

I really hope that Spirit of Vodka Dave is using his alter ego to be at Yankee Stadium today ... I want him to see a Twins win.

I'll take that even though it wasn't a bomb!!

Yes, yes, yes. Former Yankees!

Hope Perkins is sharp today. Nice way for Dozier to break a slump.

That's the one. Couldn't remember how many runs.

Just saw that Willy had a solo HR. Nice to see him productive since his return.

Okay, I was satellite-less. How did the Twins get the 2nd run?

Didn't Kubel once hit a 2 run HR to win a game against the Yankees (although at Target Field)? I'm sure Ronny G's memories are sharper than mine and that was the basis for his roster move.

I LOVE thunderstorms ... but so far we had thunder and lightning but appear to be in a dry slot (we're near drought conditions) but finally ... glorious rain. It would be lovely if it rained all night.

I've got: A Severe Thunderstorm Warning (warning, not watch); No satellite signal; and no d*mn rain. (C'mon, c'mon.)