h2oface

8-9 against teams above .500. At least, yesterday, we were 8-8 and then lost one to a team above .500. But now the standings say we are 6-8 against teams above .500. It seems it is being adjusted as teams' records change. It seems to me the stat should be based on the oppositions record at the time a game is played. I was really hoping for a statement this game. I know we can't win 'em all, but I hate losing games that our pitchers are spotted a 4 run lead, and they blow it. 5 unanswered runs by the offense. I hope Diaz gets more agressive about sending runners home, or more ignore him like Rosario. I hope this fascination with a quirky utility guy is coming to an end. It seems Astudillio is better used less than more. It reminds me a lot of Colabello. His OBP is basically his average, so when he only hits .264 with an OPS of .671, he needs to be off the team.

I guess there was no room for Pressly or Escobar, anyway, eh? I mean, Escobar wouldn't be as valuable as Adrianza, right? And who needs a great bullpen option NOW when we have prospects we can follow for years in the minors, and maybe, one of the not even top ten prospects might even make to the bigs, maybe, one day, in several years. I keep feeling, with the dearth of viable options in Rochester for pitching or position.... that we have been very lucky injury wise on the MLB team. None of this lamenting discounts how good this team has performed. It is just wondering how more excellent it might have been.

I think I heard Gibson say, as he left the field, "Bite me, Nibwits." I was just reading lips though.

I search for "fun with numbers" in the forums, and get nothing close. I can't even find the thread to put anything in it.

Brilliant! God for bid plan C.

It is interesting that the Twins only have been intentionally walked 2 times this year, but who are you going to walk intentionally when they currently lead MLB in homers (98), OPS (.855), slugging (.516), runs (289), extra base hits (208), RBI (277) and tied for run differential (+90); are second in hits (460) and average (.272), and 3rd in doubles (102)! The fear coming into the season with this roster was where the OBP would come from, yet they are 6th (.340), and that there would be massive Ks, yet they are only 28th (366)! They are also only 22nd in GIDP with 29. This is truly remarkable at this point.

Did anyone see that ESPN crew/Scott Van Pelt is/are adopting the Twins as their team as of tonight?

Beat me to it, as the Dodgers slammed the home opener......... https://www.mlb.com/gameday/d-backs-vs-dodgers/2019/03/28/565799#game_state=final,lock_state=final,game_tab=wrap,game=565799 Regardless, what the Twins are doing is relentless and amazing.

And something I missed right here on TD... http://twinsdaily.com/topic/32965-article-twins-minor-league-report-52-kirilloff-gordon-make-season-debuts/page-2 From the Strib article link: "The Twins have released righthander Dusten Knight for a violation of team policy. Knight was a hit on social media this season because he liked to do back flips after notching saves; in seven games, he had posted a 1.59 ERA and three saves. Knight, 28, was selected by the Twins in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft last December from the Giants organization." So what did he violate? It pushed him to Mexico?

I found this. Still not much info. Maybe the minor league write ups will tell us more?

I don't think any of the above will be coveted MLB regulars. It would be great if they would take this deal. Gordon, maybe, but I doubt it. Bumgarner has a post season pedigree that is really second to none. Smith would be a great piece for the pen. It is fun thinking about. Who knows what they want at this point.

The Polonco episode was so much fun at the stadium. There were probably more Twins' fans in the stadium by then, as a lot of the Angel fans were leaving. For the last 3 innings, I ended up on the rail above the camera booth just to the outfield side of the visitors dugout, which is the first base side there. (I had tickets in the same section just about 15 rows up - $21/ticket, $84 for the whole family, day of purchase on stubhub). There were a ton of noisy Twins fans for both games, regardless. But this was something I had never seen. TAKE IT! TAKE IT! I screamed. The whole section was screaming to GO GO GO....... didn't stop for the whole at bat there. The boys in the dugout were looking back at us all and laughing. I mean...... I don't know how, once Luke Bard was set, that he could not score and steal home easily. Palanco was just so close, and he is very quick. I and we all really wanted to see a steal of home. It was LOUD and HIGH-larious. I wish Polanco would have tried and scored. Such fun.

Hildenberger. Wow.

Well, no, but 6 official MLB balls, total. Well, I don't have all of them now, as my sons each have one. One was a game homer in the left field stands at the Metrodome (not a Twins homer and not caught, but winner of the bounce and scramble, and Eric Milton was pitching is all I can remember now). One was a pre-game homer in warmups at Camden Yards in the left field stands at Baltimore (caught!, don't know who was taking batting practice), and one was during pre-game at Angel Staduim (2012 I think) that was an errant warmup long toss in right field from someone to Matt Capps. Capps either missed or it was so wild that he didn't catch it (didn't see the action), and it had bounced off the rail/wall and hit my son in the head, and then right into my chest with great surprise as I trapped it with my arm and hands. We had just arrived and were doing the finding our seats thing, and not paying attention to anything but that really, and my son, Pax, didn't even see it, and I just saw it as it came toward me after it hit him in the head. Not too hard, as he was fine. I gave him the ball of course, as he "owned" it. Capps made sure he was alright, and signed the ball. Whoopee, eh? 3 WERE foul balls during a game and I only caught one of them. The only one I caught was a towering foul just behind the left field (visitors) dugout at Camden Yards (when I lived in Charlottesville, Virginia for 26 years, as my boys were growing up, I would usually have the Twinscation with them for the series and stay at the Renaissance just down the street a few blocks from the ballpark where the Twins stayed) that some Oriole hit. One was last night at Angel stadium, the one that Palanco hit in the 9th. The first, and the one that made me a baseball fan for life, was at age 8 in 1963 at Metropolitan Stadium on a foul ball hit by The Killer. There was hardly anyone out in the left field side low stands/bleachers that sparsely attended night game. My brother, who is 363 days older than me, and I were wandering around as free range kids at the ball park. We had made a deal with each other, that if either one of us got a ball, that it would be both of ours, and we would share it. You know, double our chances to get a ball! Sure enough, the foul ball was hit by Harmon Killebrew, and I only had to beat my brother to it, as it bounced around and settled in an empty row. And I did. That deal didn't seem so great right then, but it was the deal. The Twins used to do what I remember as "Twins Clinics" in the sixties. I lived in Rapid City, South Dakota, then, and my Dad's brother/my uncle lived in White Bear Lake, on the shores of Bald Eagle Lake, and my grandparents lived in Pipestone, Minnesota. It was in Pipestone while staying with our grandparents, that the Twins Clinic was held at the high school gym. We took our prized ball, and got it signed there. Harmon Killebrew, Bobby Allison, Jim Kaat, Jim Meritt, Rich Reese.... I know there were more, but I can't remember and I can't be sure who. You see, as we became adults, my brother and I would take the special baseball that connected us to our youth, and to each other, with us as we traveled for each visit, and hand it off until the next visit. One year, while on by brother's watch, his 11 year old or so son had taken the ball out of his case, and played catch with a friend, and "lost" it. My brother had told of the sad news upon the next visit. So it was over. Then several years later, when a hedge was removed from his home at Lake Okoboji, the now dirty, weathered, brownish ball was found, and only some very slight traces of signatures remained. He surprised me on a visit and now the ball was again in my possession. We stopped trading the ball off, and I just had it for years, like 15 or so. Then, one summer in 1996, living in Charlottesville, Virginia, I had heard that Harmon Killebrew was coming for a talk and some type of event for the Charlottesville High School baseball team. I was a Radio host at the time, and it turned out that I knew the event organizer, and I told her the story of the ball, and asked if it might be OK if I met with Harmon, if it was possible, and had him resign it. She relayed the story and Harmon was all in. I got to meet with Harmon for about 20 minutes previous to his thing on that Saturday, and he resigned the brown and weathered ball, my glove, my two boys' gloves, and their hats. We reminisced together about the 60s' teams. He was so very gracious, sincere, funny, and kind. And he looked thinner than I remember, in great shape. And I was, at 6 foot then, (I've shrunk an inch since) taller than he was! I was taller than the massive Killer I remembered, and now he is the only signature on the ball. So there are the 6 balls. I guess I have been pretty lucky. Not tonight, though, but lucky to see the 8-3 victory and #32 on the season!

Long naps are quite nice, but time to wake up.

I got a foul ball Jorge Palanco skied behind the plate in the 9th. It is a cheapy, as I didn't catch it, and just darted to the open spot 15 feet away, and was the first one there, Still cool, my 6th ball lifetime, and a nice reward for being at the game. Tonight I take my daughter and 6 year old granddaughter. Larg percentage of Twins fans at this sparsely attended game. We made a lot of noise when it counted.

There is getting him the win, and there is letting him continue to give up hit after hit after hit after hit...... after hit after hit. There is the thing about losing confidence, too, regardless of the win stat.

Sweepless In Seattle. I love it. I am going to save the in my Curby Bucket, and pull it out again when apropos.

I am honored to be a part of a group that includes mind readers. Very impressive. And..... I now know the 2 feet is a lot less distance than what I once thought it was.

Time for a 3-day Twinscation at Angel Stadium. The rain looks finished for the 3 day stay here in LA. Start times here are just after 7, 7 and 6 (9,9 and 8 Central). No afternoon game on Wednesday, just an hour earlier. If anyone else it going and wants to meet, let me know.

Minor league baseball is fun. It should be fun. Most of the players are getting paid less than minumum wage. Perhaps he was doing some pushups to show he needed a bit more strength to get it out of the park, instead of hitting the fence. I'm old, and old school bull**** have their back behavior is always, and has always been, foolish, childish, and cowardly. Let the boys have fun, in the minors, especially. To throw a ball at a batter is the most cowardly thing a player can do in baseball. Conform to the unwritten rule or be hazed by the other teammates and managers. That is what I consider knucklehead stunts. Pitchers show up batters all the time with celebrations after a strikeout, etc. The batter doesn't go hit the pitcher with the bat. Royce's pushups? That was funny. And original. It didn't harm anyone, and wasn't intended to. Throwing at a batter at 90+mph is motive to do harm. Pitcher celebrations, bat flipping, having fun running the bases, trash talk..... harmless.

Sano arrived before the game on Wednesday, and was in the dugout. I think if you want to count that as his first game back, you wouldn't be wrong. They purposely had him relax and watch. Unless you had a prediction for his second game back, save your crow eating for later. I hope you get a big helping. Looking forward to seeing this new guy, Perex.

Damn. It looks like I get Odorizzi, Pineda, and Perez in LA next week. I was hoping for Berrios, Gibson, and Odorizzi. Oh well. I guess it won't be as bad as having to pay to watch Colon pitch. I am even looking forward to see how Perez and Odorizzi do live.

Well, your intel, or guess? is half right....... maybe? I am glad that they put Cruz on the IL today. A 3 man bench is already too small, 2 is ridiculous. And that is what it was for 4 games.

Kirilloff facing some adversity after a quick start. Down to .214 average. Things can change quickly with such few at bats. I see Wander Javier's status has changed from early May return, to unkown. What's up with that?