h2oface

On the 5th day, are they really gonna let Duran Pitch? Don't get him in the close ones so you finally have to use him in a game you don't really need to because now he needs work, and then if you need him tomorrow......

Trout is the thickest center fielder playing the game right now.

Larnach can't slide either. It looked like he hurt his shoulder as his arm rolled under him.

The Twins need to make a soft and slippery sliding trainer for Buxton. He is the most ungraceful slider. Feet first or head first, he bounces. Feet first he bounces on his knee or slams it into the base, and face first he face plants and bounces. It is just painful to watch him. Didn't he used to know how to slide? Is he just too amped up because he wants to do something because he just sits on the doesn't really play the game anymore? Oh...... YES! Beat ya to it.

Maybe Jax just needs some Dock Ellis "luck".

Game Changing. I have always been a Buxton apologist. Still am, I guess. But all this just makes me sad. Game Changing. If what Buxton does at the plate and running the bases (which includes not stealing to his potential, and he doesn't know how to slide any more! He is totally ungraceful and whether he goes feet first or dives and face plants & bounces) is all game changing means anymore, then it is really a shell of what it used to mean. It used to mean hitting for over .300 (sometimes well over .300), OBP of over .400, well over 100 RBI a year, 40+ homers, a cannon arm, 40/40 potential, etc. Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams..... Tony O, Mike Trout, Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols, Kirby Puckett, Frank Robinson, and years like Rendon and Goldschmidt and Freeman and Betts etc have. Several years. Buxton has had a few, and it really is just a few, game changing months, not years, and those months weren't better than months that guys like Colabello and many others have had at the plate for month long runs! I mean, let's get real. So now game changing is just batting in 120+ games and hitting .230ish, 30ish homers, stealing a few bases, OBP of around .340, and OPS in the .800s - maybe, and not playing in the field when you are perhaps the best center fielder and outfielder in the game, but are too afraid (?) to actually play the game? Just hit, and run the bases. That is what Buxton is being saved for. Not all-star numbers, but good numbers only if you think OPS is the only way to judge a batter now, and career .777 OPS is by no means elite. We could sure use more of a game changer than that, even just at the plate, if it is all Buxton is going to do, or is allowed to do out of fear of loss. Watching Buxton be a shell of what he could be, is really sad for me. I bet it is for a lot of Twins' fans. And next year he will already be 30.

Yes. Anybody is going to be better than Hawkins. One for one trade?

If you want to go diving....... Aaron Hicks has been DFA'd and may soon be available for pro-rated league minimum. But do you? Want to go diving? He would fit right in with Correa's up the middle offensive production, and Aaron could even go to the Carlos Correa School of Off Season Mentoring so he is ready to bust out of the gate next year like Correa and Miranda were this year. 😇

Once again, the prognosticators all go with the shiney new object, and declare Lee the top prospect. I believe Royce is saying "bite me" with his performance, and at the higher level than Lee, too.

Buxton. The answer is very simple.

Very apparent for some time now that the Jax part of the plan is flawed. If Duran pitches today, it will be the first time in 5 days. On another note, Larnach is sure deficient in the field. That second run double as it turned out.... weak effort to get to the ball, misplayed bounce off the fence, and horrible throw to miss Correa as a relay, and Farmer took forever to get it to the catcher. Also, these outfield guys and relay throws a not even close to the plate these days. 5-15 feet off line. Do they practice these throws ever?

Another starter was Jax'd! I guess that is better than being Pagan'd. Management loves the predictive stats, and loves to quote them as reasons to spend on them and use them, even if they consistently don't perform when the heat is on. Don't ya love the mantra of "the advanced stats say that it will take care of itself, and they are really better than how they perform." It is just such a shame when you have starters performing, the bats don't, or the pen becomes a blowpen instead of a bullpen. I so hate games ending on a called third strike, especially with an 0-2 count when one swing can tie the game.

No. We should always trade away our best relievers and just dumpster dive for replacements and hope for the best.

Called 3rd strikes to end the game is just pathetic. Not even a count that he could walk on. Just tired, Gallo.

I have not. I haven't seen him since he moved to Florida (I think it was Florida) after his divorce. He did love baseball, though. Still does, I'm sure. He is a great guy. Always doing gigs for homeless benefits and back then was involved in Aids Support Group with his wife.

Damn. The last 3 pitches to Buxton were served up for damage.

"Armed Forces Day, established by President Harry S. Truman in 1949, is traditionally celebrated each year on the third Saturday of May. Throughout the weekend, MLB players and coaches will wear camouflage-designed caps, as well as optional camo-themed socks."

Ha! I know John. My wife then, Eli Frantzen, did the painting for the Family Garden album cover in 1993. We all lived in Charlottesville, VA at the time.

One pitch. There goes the no-hitter.

Easy Fix. Every learns to bunt. Bunt well with the bases loaded and no outs - score a run and give up an out at first. Bunt well. Buxton probably is safe at first. At least you get a run.

Pagan, Lopez, and Duran had a day off yesterday. Of the three, Pagan had 41 pitches thrown the last 3 days, Lopez 35, and Duran 18. Sometimes you need to bring in your best pitcher before the 9th. Pagan did have a couple perfect pitches called balls though (1 and 4) to Heyward. The pitches a pitcher deserves most. The perfectly placed strike. Barely a strike. And he got screwed by the inadequate plate ump. The theme of the series. Heyward struck out looking on the 4th pitch with an acurate system to call balls and strikes.

But he is a vet and has that great baseball IQ and knows how to get ready for the season. Baldelli keeps telling us that.

Wasted ink over and over for Pagan. Never should have been resigned. But yet, people waste time advocating for it. Take that stuff and ................ Baldelli just has to go to Pagan. Pagan, Lopez, and Duran had a day off yesterday. Of the three, Pagan had 41 pitches thrown the last 3 days, Lopez 35, and Duran 18. Did he not see De Leon strike Betts and Freeman out on 6 pitches? You need 7 outs with the one run lead. And there is a day off tomorrow. And Baldelli choses the worst pitcher of the bunch with the most pitches (more than double Duran's) to hold the lead with 2 on. Gordon wasn't hurt when he lazily let that ball drop for a triple, was he? La de da maybe I will get there nope I guess not where did it go anyway.......

I didn't either. But I didn't say it, just thought it. So I was quietly wrong. But hey, one time again we won't like it and we will inevitably be correct.

YES!