Willihammer

Inning from hell

Fly ball distance does matter. The guys who hit longer fly balls will hit more home runs. Its why a guy like Dozier, sadly, probably won't keep pace with Jose Bautista very long, even though both players have 15 HRs atm. Also Joe Mauer cca. 2009

Here's how I look at it. In Gardy's mind, the bullpen pecking order looks like this Perkins Fien Burton Guerrier Duensing Swarzak Theilbar Deduno If you dump Burton, then all those game breaking spots are going to fall to Duensing and Guerrier. Is that what we want? No no no no no. We had a decade of watching those two choke in big spots. Burton may not be the best setup man in the game but he is a better big-time pitcher than Gardy's two favorites. [TABLE=width: 500] [TABLE=width: 582] [TD=colspan: 2]Guerrier [TD=colspan: 2]Duensing[/TD] Burton Leverage BB% K% OPS BB% K% OPS BB% K% OPS High Lvrge[TD=align: right]6.01%[/TD] [TD=align: right]15.10%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.741[/TD] [TD=align: right]7.73%[/TD] [TD=align: right]14.35%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.787[/TD] [TD=align: right]8.83%[/TD] [TD=align: right]19.57%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.644[/TD] Medium Lvrge[TD=align: right]11.84%[/TD] [TD=align: right]17.85%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.671[/TD] [TD=align: right]6.86%[/TD] [TD=align: right]14.42%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.752[/TD] [TD=align: right]9.46%[/TD] [TD=align: right]21.28%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.741[/TD] Low Lvrge[TD=align: right]7.16%[/TD] [TD=align: right]15.50%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.667[/TD] [TD=align: right]7.31%[/TD] [TD=align: right]17.06%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.733[/TD] [TD=align: right]9.08%[/TD] [TD=align: right]20.39%[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.658[/TD] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TABLE]

Its pretty rare that they actually show a guy dipping. I'm pretty sure broadcasts deliberately try to avoid filming it, in fact. Mostly we just see em spit and a lot of time its guys just hawking LOOGYs. I don't see how a ban would reduce usage outside of the league itself but maybe I'm underestimating MLB's audience.

I don't have a problem with guys swinging out of their shoes. As others have mentioned, Carlos Gomez does it, half the Blue Jays lineup does it. You can do it and be s uccessful but you have to pick your spots and there is no reason to throw Arcia a strike as long as he keeps swinging at crap out of the zone. I don't know if its a pitch recognition issue or what but his terrible count management is a much bigger problem than the ferocity of his swing IMO.

Garver with a HR, a double, and a bunch of walks in the past week. Batting .310/.411/.488 on the season

The 2013 Twins won 66 games. The 2014 Twins are on pace to win 78 games. Therefore the 2015 Twins are on pace to win 90 games.

Maybe it shouldn't be an all or nothing thing anyway. Stand in the box RH-RH until 2 strikes, then switch to LH? Or vice versa, depending on what the pitcher throws.

Among Twins regulars, the best defender on the team, according to UZR, is Trevor Plouffe (+2.2).

It was interesting watching the NESN broadcast during the Boston series - they pin a foxtrax on the screen similar to ESPN during the playoffs. It was clear the Twins were losing strikes. Suzuki just seems to give up on some pitches, almost like he cant be bothered to even try and frame them. I believe this is why he doesn't get some of the borderline calls - he doesn't seem to want them.

Fun fact: Hawk Harrelson was the first player to wear batting gloves (or so says Wikipedia).

SSS obviously, but I think this snapshot shows how hard bunting is. There are tradeoffs in giving away outs and strikes when you don't get it down. Bunting isn't easy or automatic by any means.

Predictably Pino went and made me eat crow last night (I'm not the only one). OK great, that's the beauty of the dark side. When you win you win, and when you lose, you still win. Yes he deserves another start.

Promote him!

If Perk doesn't come out throwing 103 mph, fine him. He's had more rest than Yohan Pinto

Dazzle said some guy, Yohan "Pinto," threw a heckuva a game tonight. Who is he?

The beast has awakened

Who can the Twins acquire? Any catchers or center fielders on the trading block?

Leaguewide its around .700 for linedrives IIRC. For Mauer's career, he has done better. http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php/5300-A-Closer-Look-At-Joe-Mauer-s-Struggles

I believe there are 3 things to blame for Mauer's season: Hard BABIP regression on liners He's hitting more ground balls as a result of trying to pull the ball Career high 1st pitch strike% is putting him behind in the count and forcing him to swing at pitchers pitches more frequently.

Fair enough. And actually, looking back at the game logs, the relief really wasn't that bad, aside from Fien (who I like as much as Perk). Take Swarzak's mopup appearance in DET out of the sample and they've been pretty good. I still think Perk should never sit even 4 games in a row though.

Relief totals from the past 5 games: [TABLE=width: 500] [TABLE=width: 517] Relievers IP H ER ERA BB K HR Burton[TD=align: right]2.1 [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.00[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] Duensing[TD=align: right]2.2[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.00[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] Fien[TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]18.00[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] Guerrier[TD=align: right]3.1[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]2.70[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] Swarzak[TD=align: right]1.2[/TD] [TD=align: right]5[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]16.27[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] Thielbar[TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]4.50[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [/TD] total[TD=align: right]10.2 [TD=align: right]16[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] average[TD=align: right]3.11[/TD] [TD=align: right]4.57[/TD] [TD=align: right]2.00[/TD] [TD=align: right]5.91[/TD] [TD=align: right]2.00[/TD] [TD=align: right]2.00[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.14[/TD] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TD] [TD] [/TABLE] Who's missing? That would be the Twins best reliever. Gardy's gotta find a way to get Perk into close games.

Earlier this week Gardy told us that we can't promote the kids (Meyer) because there are roster issues at play and that you can't put all your stock in AAA stats because of the difference in competition, but who do they promote? The guy with the best stats who requires a 40 man move. I'm going to go out on a limb and wager Pino's 87 mph fastball doesn't translate so well to the change in competition.

Best record?