h2oface

After a day off....... three more strikeouts. I am guilty. I am one paralyzed by hope. I was one tantalized and enticed from spring training brightness. But it is not to be, at least yet. Please, it is getting very painful to everyone that is watching, and to Hicks himself. Please, nobody even knows if he can excel in AAA, yet. It is time to see. That is were the confidence is hiding. It is not on the Twins, right yet.

The norm. The coaching norm. It totally discounts some of the best hitters. The Ken Griffey Jr hip shimmy, the Joe Morgan elbow twitch. Mike Trout totally doesn't fit ....... and is why so many teams, including the twins, passed on him, the gold mine. In music... the Louis Amstrong puffed cheek armature......... you just never really know. if it works, leave it alone, may be the best coaching of all.

I will be loving it when CC gets called up. Hey........ Benson has an average that could lead off for the Twins!

Can you imagine a stare down between Doumit and Hendriks' close together eyes?

I watched a lot of the Baltimore games last year, because I was in need of exciting, tenacious ballgames. Watching a team consistently, for a year, find a way to win in high pressure games, over and over,.......... well.......... like is said, I can't consider it a fluke, and I am not spinning. Just because a string of high level performance can't be repeated, it doesn't mean it was a fluke. I saw a lot of clutch hitting skills go down. Over and over and over. Thankfully, most of the interesting things in life are not about the norm, but the skews away from the norm.

A lot has changed in baseball for an ERA in the 4's to be considered an asset. After a 162 game season, making the playoffs is never a fluke. Other than a 83-79 record getting in because it wins a division and that is just the best a division can offer.......... I always despise discounting what is earned over a 162 game season. However a team does it, including a 29-9 record for one run games (they should be revered for accomplishing that amazing feat instead of discounted as a fluke), they deserve it and I could never consider it a fluke. Is the two hole in the Twins lineup jinxed? .... Whoever hits in that spot is destined to not hit? Joe Mauer sure seems rusty behind the plate..... missing an easy pop up, helping the bouncers become wild pitches by not catching the several catchable ones...... maybe it is just early rust. That play in center where Hicks stumbles around for the routine catch was truly delmonesque. It will be a great blooper sometime in his future. Aside from the futility of it, it was really funny. Once the top of the lineup gets more than a .143 and .286 OBP from the top two spots in this batting order, things should really get interesting for the offense.

Bold stance. I don't know that he has ever been "fine" yet, and now his fastball velocity is down to 85-86. Time will tell..........

Watching Hicks misjudge Adam Jones' first drive to center today..... not even take a stab at it... was pretty depressing after hearing so much talk about his great fielding. And then, not that he had much chance of throwing the runner out at home, but double clutching and taking the extra step is never going to help.

NOT so ready, it would seem after today.

Yes, Hicks is proving to be over matched by all pitchers at the plate. I fear watching a whole bunch of K's, both looking and swinging. If that continues, it will be interesting to see how long and how long he leads off.

Love it! Great report! Pretty scary day on the mound for AAA pitching depth. I am certainly not a fan of the lame moniker "Kernels". Makes me think of what it looks like......... on the way out.

Being a teacher now....... you should know that some things are more important than school. Sometimes, the education is not institutional BS, it is the real word....... a higher education. Thanks for this story. You are to be commended for your stealth, cunning, and determination. In 1969, when I was in 9th grade in Lincoln, Nebrasksa, my history teacher brought a radio and the class got to listen to a World Series game of the Amazing Mets beating the vaunted Baltimore Orioles (he also played us Alice's Restaruant on another day). My boys, now 22 and 19, both love baseball, but sucked at playing it. I would take them out of school every 3 or 4 game stand the Twins had in Baltimore (when it wasn't the summer vacation) when I lived in Virginia for 24 years, and we would stay at the Renaissance where the Twins stayed, so they could see them after and before the games. It all started with taking them out of school and picking them up after a half day for a "Dr.'s appointment" to see Johan Santana defeat the Yankees in one of the Gardenhire managed teams rare playoff wins. Teach your children well. Learning is important, and learning how to learn....... school not so much, especially with parents that can give them memories that are way more important than make up work. Opening day has never been that important to me, really, but up close and personal, it is something my boys and I will have forever. We still go to as many baseball games and stadiums as we can, and meet places to to see the Twins play as the visiting team. When the season starts, it is all future and no past. Thanks for your off kilter blogging. It is a real joy.

Inherited runners scored was a Burnett specialty. Doesn't Boston have to put him on waivers to send him to AAA, too?

I agree, he might surprise. I hope he does, of course. I was never impressed with him, and the minor league performance in AAA doesn't give me encouragement. I stick with my comment, though, and he did earn it this spring.

Would you rather have Cole DeVries on the staff or ............ Cliff Lee. Check out the spring training stats.......... Cole Devries is a mirage. His upside will surface all too soon once the season starts, me thinks........ and it will not be pretty.

Yeah........ well, if you think that is even remotely in the same discussion as this one, more power to you. Your new snark should fit right in here....... with some.

Pretty sure he was doggin' me this time. I don't take things personally, even if someone tries to make it that way. A comment is a comment, and it stands on its own, regardless whether it gets picked apart and tried to be made something it wasn't. When accessing articles through the forum....... the likes and share button appear, and the actual poster is #1 it seems. In that way, your first comment actually has a #2 attached to it. When accessing the article from the front page, none of that is there. It is inconsistent that way.

Sample size, schmample size. Some just love to hang on to the catch phrases of the day. The change has to start somewhere. 3 kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.

..... and to be a different fair..... what to you think would happen NOW if the Twins made him available to every other club? ......... things have changed since then. Good thing they are not removing him from the 40 man roster now.

I really don't care about Kirby's butt pinching fetish after he was done playing ........... and I respect and honor what he did for the Twins and the only 2 World Series championships. My pick is "The Killer", and I love that nickname. I saw them all play, and even was lucky enough to get a foul ball he hit deep deep in the left field stands where I was cruising in a 1/3 full stadium with my glove as a 10 year old in 1965 at the Met. History doesn't disappear just because someone wasn't born yet. Joe isn't done yet, so the pick could change, maybe, even hopefully.......... bring on the championships....... but Harmon gets my vote for "Mr. Twin".

Sammy? You too, Parker? Not Dedy? (I'll give you a typo on Pagan - Peggy? Too familiar for not being a Twins' player?) Interesting how well Deduno has done in the WBC without Anderson (Andy?) or Gardenhire (Gardy?) in his ear. Very interesting. If Samuel Deduno hasn't won a starting role in this mediocre rotation, something is drastically wrong. Bring on the tightrope act, the hook, the electric stuff, and the scary fastball.

Mastroianni's ability to play all outfield positions my be the asset that hinders his dream of earning an everyday starting position.....

How did Brandon Crawford get that extra thousand dollars?

If he earns it, yes. Definitely. But keep him around and see if he earns it. I don't think of him as a novelty. Butera is much more of a novelty - a player that can't hit at all taking up an active roster spot for how many years now? Paying Correia 10 million for 2 years is a novelty. I also think performance in the WBC should count big (and CC hit .333 while leading Team Italy with two homers and seven RBIs in the WBC), and is more important than spring training games and Gardenhire's School of Basics.

You have a great point there........... one ought to be ashamed and embarrassed as an organization......... for more reasons than one.