h2oface

Which just makes it worse. Lots of incorrect calls. Pitchers getting robbed, and batters getting robbed. Business as usual, even though the tech is there to correct it.

Yup. The only thing that will fix all strikes and balls being called the most correct possible is automation.

I never said they are expected to carry the team every night, did I. I just said it would have been nice to get something from them this night. It was needed.They had the opportunities. It is not unnoticed, nor unappreciated, that they are carrying the team right now.

It is sad that Castro is someone we miss. He has created so many wild pitches that should have been caught or blocked that I have a hard time missing him, and wish for a catcher other than him. And when he doesn't hit at all, it gets even worse. Garver sure has made some bonehead plays, I agree, especially that play up the line where he didn't just pick up the ball and get the tag or force out instead of doing nothing and letting the run score and runner be safe at first. Right up there with Granite at Dodger Stadium.

Ramos can hit and catch. Oh, that's right, we already wasted him for Matt Capps.

Not a bad night for Brendan McKay, eh? Yet another one. Royce was eaten up.

No relief. That hurt. How is that new pitching coach working out? Sure could have used something other that zeros from Escobar, Rosario, and Morrison tonight. Berrios? I hope he gets it together. Talk about missing the catchers targets tonight.

Nevermind. I really don't care that much. The options are not pleasing. Sell it if you want.

I am not that interested in career stats, especially for this discussion. Career stats won't make Pujols worth his salary, for example. Now is all there is. History is fun, notable, sometimes remarkable, but over. Career stats don't help a team this year. This year's stats, do. I haven't been outspoken about Castro, but I have never been enamored. Not at the signing, not with his creating wild pitches and passed balls out of pitches that a catcher should stop or catch or block. I was pleasantly surprised that he hit some last year. But this discussion is about who is taking his place, not Castro.

Shhhhhhhh..... catchers can't hit.

They signed Wilson to not get hits? To be an automatic out? Sure, glove first, but I don't believe that they signed him to not hit (worse than ever this year, and in AAA)! Not for a heartbeat. I like hits in every position, and the higher possibility of them. I don't subscribe to short stops, center fielders, and catchers don't need to hit. To take that as normalized and OK is one of the problems with team constructions all over the league. I am a Garver fan because he is on the Twins. If he wasn't, for what he has offered so far, I certainly wouldn't be. To settle for no bat is to dwell in mediocrity.

The Twins seem to enjoy putting players in the lineup that are automatic outs. Hence no A-stud, but yes to no bat Wilson. More dark hole at the end of the lineup.

I can't even imagine how hard it must be for a 19 or 20 year old athlete since a child to get to play baseball almost everyday. The kid needs his rest! One doesn't want him to wear out by 35 to forty. Just think if Nolan Ryan would have gotten all that needed rest. He might still be pitching.

If this keeps up, the Twins will soon be in last place and MOY will be MOR.... Manager of the Rear!

Grossman leading off and playing in the field, Morrison hitting, Petit out of position and just called up..... Gibson thinking privately, "thanks a lot", I bet. Grossman seems to be Molitor's Punto..... his now not so private grossmance.

If results constitute the correct way to judge a pitching coach, Garvin Alston gets an F for the first months report card. Eddie gets an F minus. Or is that a double F?

Just pretend he isn't starting from the jump for the first game up, and maybe you will be right.

Bring up a guy that can't make the show, and have him give Dozier a day off and make that shortstop play a different position. Tell me how this FO is different, again?

Back to dumpster diving off the waiver wire for pitchers, no offense, poor defense, Grossman playing in the outfield, Castro making wild pitches out of pitches that should be blocked or caught, Hughes and Rodney marched out regardless of the case to just move on, a blowpen matching the last two years......... and this team is even worse than Detroit at present. How is it Hughes gets paid millions, has tons of free time, and still comes back soft bellied and out of shape, instead of svelte and looking like a new man ready to really be a professional athlete? And the incessant walks from the pitchers supplied by the expert FO identifiers. How is it that it seems almost every walk from our staff turns into runs, and our guys seem to not get to home plate after they walk, even with 4 errors by the opposing team. Dozier now back down to .260. How does the fastest team so often not make it first to third on a single, or score from first on a double, but we see it happen to us way too often? I have to take a week off. I have a headache.... and as long as Rodney is on this team, I don't have hope it will go away.

Where are the "pace" posters now? I think, without doing the math, it must be over 100 losses now.... But fear not, pace is just a fantasy, a figment of one's imagination. There is no pace. Gotta take a break for a week to go up to Fresno and catch 3 just scheduled Neil Young and Crazy Horse shows at a small theater. Maybe I am the bad luck guy, and they will prosper if I don't watch.

Rodney = suffering

Rodney entered the game with a 2 run lead. He needed 3 outs. Average against him, for the year, was .345 when he entered, and when the game ended, .375. Rodney pitching makes the whole of the opponents he has faced bat a collective .375! Not just a couple of players.... all of them! Is that the kind of pitcher you want coming in for your team in the most crucial times? The particular pitch in question, which in the replay shows was just inside, was also up in the zone, thigh high in the sweet spot (ask Dozier about getting a pitch like that to pull) and he missed Garver's target, which is clearly held in the very bottom inside corner of the zone. The pitch was at about 96 mph, but had no movement, ala Jesse Crain in his troubled time. Absolutely, Rodney needed to not throw it there. He even said so in the post game. And it would help if his fastball was thrown with command, and where the catcher wants it. A fastball with no movement in the mid nineties is just what MLB hitters like to square up on. This was made to order to pull down the left field line. Shame on him, is right. Eight pitches, and 3 runs later and he lost the gem that Gibson pitched. Go ahead and pretend he got the out from Gregorious, and there was no throwing error. It would have still been a blown save with a 2 run lead handed to him, and he would still need 2 outs to get out of the inning without a loss, too. Dink hits count. Home runs count. And it is scored a blown save and a loss, and that loss counts, and was extremely painful and disheartening. And what happened on the next outing, Saturday, when he came in again with the same 3-1 score? Walked the first batter on 4 pitches, and the third batter on 5, and brought the winning run to the plate with one out. Dozier saved the horror from repeating making a great catch on another "weak contact" floater. What is the new catch phrase? "Times up"? Time is up for Rodney.

They need at least 3 in the bottom of the 8th to save us from Rodney. I won't be watching. I can't watch him pitch anymore. I won't. Cant wait until he is gone.

It would have been nice is Duffey's AAA performance this year translated to the show too. Unfortunately, just because they do it in Rochester, doesn't mean they will here.

Well.... balls in play, that can become singles and doubles, and what the hell, even triples and home runs - to replace half those walks. But I will take the walks. Walks rarely drive in runs. They are very nice for the OBP stat and becoming a base runner with the potential to score a run... the most important stat. The walks would be really cool if it was followed by a stolen base. But no, I hope Mauer doesn't pitch. And I agree, the pitching staff is not his fault. Who assembled that staff, anyway?