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knothole61

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Everything posted by knothole61

  1. knothole61
    They are scrappy, have a good pen and some power, and they are tough to beat at home...and, yeah, there's some luck thrown in for good measure. The Yanks should have beaten them tonight, for example, but the Guardians just kept hanging in there, as is their wont. We still may catch them but not without a supreme effort and a little luck of our own.
  2. knothole61
    Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; but there is no joy in Minnie—mighty Lewis grounded out.
  3. knothole61
    Sad loss...they say "it's just one game" but this one feels bigger to me somehow. As long as these games are played by humans and not androids, forces such as momentum, confidence, spirit, and will must be reckoned with. We had a real chance to get a leg up on all of them this weekend and we let it slip away. I fervently hope that the 2024 Twins have not, (in the immortal words of that great baseball fan William Shakespeare) missed that "...tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries." That could be the case--and yet, we're still only 3 games back in the loss column with the Guardians soon to face Milwaukee and the Yankees on the road in back-to-back series. There's a bad taste tonight but still a reason to believe..
  4. knothole61
    Great DH sweep! It makes suffering through the AppleTV+ experience somewhat worthwhile, although I now have an 83% probability of needing psychological analysis. How about that shot by Wallner? Shades of the Killer in his prime...
  5. knothole61
    Let me preface this by saying: God bless the Diamondbacks! Charlie, I wholeheartedly agree about Richards’ performance tonight and criticize Baldelli for leaving him in so long. You’d almost think that yesterday at Wrigley was a split-squad spring training game wherein the staff was getting a long look at a new pitcher! When I'm about to besmirch him a bit I always give Baldelli his due: Rocco does some things well and he’ll likely finish his managerial career in the neighborhood of .550. Having said that, I also believe that his lineup wizardry is often inexplicably flawed; that he and his medical staff are very, very cautious; and that his misuse of his relief staff (I know he didn’t pick them, but still) is astounding at times. I’m not a medical doctor and even though I’m a member of the “rub some dirt on it and keep playing” generation, I do understand the need to exercise a degree of caution with injuries and to insure proper rest for all players during a grueling 162 game season. However, Twins’ players tend to hit the IL and then disappear like dissidents to Gulags under Stalin. I believe that Baldelli is almost fanatically determined to err on the side of caution (way on the side of caution?), and I think this propensity stems from the frustration he must still feel at having had a very promising MLB career cut short due to serious injuries, and certainly he was a very talented athlete. Tonight, for example, I have a suspicion that Buxton could have played (I think we’ll see him in fine fettle in center on Friday night) and I believe that he also erred in keeping young Lewis out of the lineup with an off day pending. Finally, regarding what I allege to be Rocco’s astounding misuse of the relief staff on occasion: while I might be convinced of the wisdom of tossing Richards into the breech under the duress of an injury to Ryan, leaving him in for an absolutely atrocious 40+ pitch, five walk, two wild pitch performance just boggles the mind. It boggles the mind…
  6. knothole61
    Nice energy Doc...like Brother Love's Travelin' Salvation show on this hot August night! Yeah, I'm a believer...but Cleveland has some serious mojo working this year, and I can't deny it. The Guardians are playing .700 ball at home (.700!) with a potent offense and solid pitching, all assembled with a $105 million payroll. Only three A.L. teams are paying less this season. They have some tough road games coming up (at Twins, Brewers, Yankees, and Dodgers) and we may catch them, but at this point they are "such stuff as dreams are made on" and I tip my cap.
  7. knothole61
    Impressive win tonight...the kind that displays true character. Please pardon this brief off-topic thought, if it violates our strictures I hope to be forgiven. Like some of you, I'm sure, I spent much of the game checking in with news channels trying to get a handle on the shocking events in Pennsylvania today. All I know is that we, of all political persuasions, must learn to stop hating and try to find some common ground--we must be better than this.
  8. knothole61
    This is so funny! I thought it was just me, but I agree that Lee does give off a bit of a Williams' vibe. Not necessarily a .406 vive of course, but there's a slight physical resemblance, including dark hair, similar height and weight, a kind of, for lack of a better phrase, old school bagginess to his uniform and in the way he carries himself, and an undisguised love of the game radiating from his face...the same look Williams had until the Boston press turned him sullen and resentful in his last few seasons.
  9. knothole61
    Yes, game #2 was an important win. The psychological baggage of being swept in a double header by a .284 team, before a sparse crowd might have stayed with the Twins during the series in SF and into the long All-Star Game break: perhaps not, but I'm happy that we'll never have to find out. Duran, by the way, was a monster!
  10. knothole61
    No...please don't change anything!
  11. knothole61
    Such an exciting team right now...Miranda and Lee are a joy to watch and can you imagine the lineup with Lewis in there as well? Still, tonight was a very painful defeat. I can't recall ever (and that's a lot of "ever") watching the Twins put up 7 in the last of the 9th and still lose...it's otherworldly! We can't blame Rocco for every loss, of course, but I do blame him for sending Winder (he of the 13.50 ERA) out for 2.0 hideous innings tonight. Rocco does some things well, but on the whole he is a disappointment to me. In my considered, albeit unprofessional estimation, Rocco appears clueless at times in his use of the pitching staff...utterly clueless. Hats off to Miranda...10 and counting?
  12. knothole61
    Yeah, Max truly is the embodiment of Churchill’s phase: “A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Based strictly on my eye test, he has spent about 75% of his over 4,000 plate appearances these past ten seasons popping balls up, and clopping grounders to second, and waving at balls out of the zone for strike three. But his hot streaks can be amazing and his magical, mystery, home run tour off Trevor Bauer is an MLB classic! I’m too old to be this naïve, but I must admit that despite the likelihood that Keppler’s at bats will end in futility, whenever he steps into the box I’m filled with “that hope which springs eternal.” He’s a big, strong, square-jawed guy with a very majestic swing, a true Casey at the bat who, unfortunately, most often fails as well.
  13. knothole61
    Aggies, during my decade of TD lurking I'm certain that I had about a 95% agreement rate with your comments--but I have to draw the line with tonight's Serpentine offering. Many years ago now my son had a onsie that was very reminiscent of them--in fact, while watching the Arizona pitcher I half expect to see a rubber-bottomed footie rather than baseball cleats.
  14. knothole61
    Yes, I'm glad it's not just me. I'm experiencing a strong gag response so far, and not primarily from Ryan's pitching.
  15. knothole61
    Having lived so long in the "limited stats" era of baseball I find it difficult to arrive at anything approaching an organic understanding of the bevy of modern statistical categories--especially anything that incorporates a + sign! Apparently Fangraphs lists 121 baseball stats and Baseball Prospectus adds a dozen more. Is that right? At any rate, admitting that most of this is lost on me, I do find WPA rather intriguing. DJL, if tweaks were made, such as adding a defensive component, would you be willing to take WPA out of the garbage bin? I'm also wondering if WPA is essentially a "clutchness" index, or am I way off base?
  16. knothole61
    I agree! Back in the day I had a "Bring Billy Back" sticker on the bumper of my car. For all his flaws and, for lack of a better word, tempestuousness, I loved Billy Martin's passion and intolerance of ineptitude. It seems to me that Baldelli is as close to the polar opposite of Martin as possible in a manager. He's cold blooded and calculating--a man of the ledger sheet who might have fared better as a tax accountant. Admittedly he does have his strengths, but of all the essential traits he is lacking, chief among them I believe is common sense.
  17. knothole61
    Hang in there! Clearly, these were three disgusting performances on so many levels, and I'm still shaking my head at Baldelli's use of Jackson on Thursday--but my rule of thumb is that a team needs to play each month 3 games over .500 to have a good season (that's 90 wins). Now, if we can take care of Oakland and Arizona (win 2 of 3 from each) then we will arrive, if my math is true, in Seattle on an upswing and a full 9 games above .500, or right about were we need to be. Keep the faith...
  18. knothole61
    Yes, by whatever calculus one might come up with to determine "deserving" wins, the Twins fell short tonight. So, you are correct in that. You might also add in the fact that three relievers threw some 75 pitches to get through the ugly 7th and 8th innings and probably deserved to give up more than one run in the process. My point is, however, that despite all of the Twins' shortcomings, that was a game they still should have won--as lucky and undeserved as it would have been. After all of the twists and turns the game came down to a bad throw on a routine play: a play that if successful would have put Tampa in a desperate situation in the last of the 10th. We will never know, but I can't imagine the Twins going down on 5 pitches if that crushing play hadn't happened and if the heart of their order had only to move the runner in from second to win the game.
  19. knothole61
    "Magnolia you sweet thing, you're drivin' me mad Got to get back to you babe You're the best I ever had..."
  20. knothole61
    Agreed...I gave up on Thielbar last year after he surrendered that 2-run homer in the 4th against Houston and took the loss in our last playoff game of 2023. He is out of place as a LOOGY in our brave new "must face at least three batters" world. Kiriloff is a bigger day-to-day problem, I think. Whatever Lewis exudes at the plate (call it a supreme confidence and joie de vivre?) Kirilloff right now is his polar opposite. He reflects the countenance of a small boy who has just broken the neighbor's window while playing backyard catch and now must face the consequences. He seems very unsure of himself, almost frightened, these days. Whereas Kepler (and I might be wrong) at times seems a bit lackadaisical at the plate, Kirilloff's problems more likely stem from trying too hard and caring too much. If he can find his confidence again, Kirilloff can become a major part of the Twins' quest to make September meaningful this season...time will tell.
  21. knothole61
    That was one of the strangest games I've seen in a while--but it served as a positive send off to begin what promises to be a successful home stand (7-3 maybe?). Having already endured another drubbing by the Yankees and facing a sweep in Pittsburgh, the Twins did not simply bow their heads and allow Ober's 5th inning meltdown (including a two-out, no-on walk to a .150 hitter) do them in. Not a picturesque victory but a significant one. I see a very solid couple of weeks coming up.
  22. knothole61
    As a fan of the Twins, now and for several years past, it has been necessary to come to grips with the enigma that is Max Keppler: a big, strong kid with a decent glove and tremendous power, and yet he is likely the streakiest player I have followed over these many years. Each season, since the demise of the amazing Bomba Squad, I have called for him to be traded for a solid reliever or a versatile utility player, only to have him win a few games, seemingly singlehandedly over a several day period, before crawling back into his shell of mediocrity again. The sporadic nature of his accomplishments makes me wonder if Max is a creature driven by moods more than mechanics. It may be too much to liken him to literatures’ great brooding German, Goethe’s complex and lovelorn, young Werther, but I believe that there is something more than launch angles, pitch recognition, and hours in the batting cage keeping this man from turning his streaks into long term success. Now don’t get me started on Kirilloff!
  23. knothole61
    Sad, but not unexpected losses to the Yankees. A win tomorrow will provide sufficient salve for me heading into Pittsburgh still six games over .500—but that doesn’t seem likely against this mostly healthy and nearly $306,000,000 New York lineup. This is not a bad Twins team, and with Lewis back (for now) they should make some noise going forward. They have a good chance to end up in the postseason as a wild card entry, yet this Yankee thing continues to be so disheartening. I have put out a standing offer to play the role of Joe Hardy in all of this, but I haven’t heard back yet…I’ll keep you posted.
  24. knothole61
    I'm hoping to see Julian sent down...more than anyone on the team he is in need of a "reset." Among other things, he seems to have lost his discerning eye at the plate.
  25. knothole61
    I think that Baldelli is like a quartermaster general when we desperately need a Patton, at least for a while.
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