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knothole61

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Everything posted by knothole61

  1. 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.
  2. 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?
  3. 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.
  4. 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...
  5. 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.
  6. knothole61
    "Magnolia you sweet thing, you're drivin' me mad Got to get back to you babe You're the best I ever had..."
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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!
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. knothole61
    I think that Baldelli is like a quartermaster general when we desperately need a Patton, at least for a while.
  13. knothole61
    Wabene, I often watch the games late and also love the fast forward option. Sometimes spoilers intrude, and things such as the length of the game can be a "tell" at times, but in general it's cool. And on nights such as this (cold team, on the road against the Division leader, with an unproven starting pitcher, backed by a AAA calibre lineup) I start reading the TD game thread to see if there's any reason to load the game itself--by page #3 tonight I had my answer! So, from the perspective of a fellow traveler, I believe that you are not so weird.
  14. knothole61
    Baldelli needs to throw some bats into the locker room shower, but as far as I can tell he doesn't have that in him. He does some things well, but as an inspirational force he seems sorely lacking: "a man of the system, a number on a page," as a poet once said--he is that, I fear, and little more. No one on the team should feel comfortable after such a drubbing; after three games, that is, filled with town ball fielding and almost casual at bats. Perhaps this (W.S. Henry V) is apropos: "In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility; but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage." Rocco, light a fire...
  15. knothole61
    As an elderly posting neophyte who has shared your chicken dinners and been comforted by your communal suffering for years in silence, allow me to say that I believe "the state of the forums" is good. Twins Daily is a very groovy place, offering a little something for everyone and free, for the most part, of the deep rancor I have witnessed on other less moderated sites. Frankly, the prospect of finding one of Chief's "dad jokes" is reason enough to keep me scrolling through the game threads with a religious fervor. Keep up the good work and win Twins!
  16. knothole61
    Squirrel, I dig your new Minnesota flag motif-very nice.
  17. knothole61
    Tonight's box score lists eight Twins who reside at or below Mendoza (Vasquez after a hot night rose slightly above that ignominy at .205). And even in that inglorious group Farmer stands out glaringly with his .067 average and 297 (!) OPS. He's a likable man and deserves much credit for coming back from the horrendous HBP he endured, but allowing him to continue to take MLB at bats at this point is cruelty. Sad but true...
  18. knothole61
    Well, they have played the White Sox, Oakland, and the Twins for about 45 of their total schedule to date, although I must admit that they have been nearly invincible for over a week now! They say it's marathon not a sprint...I guess that's about all I have to cling to.
  19. knothole61
    They are filled with a terrible resolve...
  20. knothole61
    That's two blown games from him this year and, if memory serves, he dished up the game winning homer in our final playoff game in 2023. He's on a roll. I know that lefties are treated with kid gloves because...well, because they are lefties (and Thielbar has an added feel-good, born-in-Minnesota connection) I believe. Still, I cringe like a dog at the sight of a rolled-up newspaper every time I see him warming up these days. He has some impressive career stats: I'm just saying that at 37 he seems to be in the twilight of a decent career, and that his twilight has been very costly for the Twins.
  21. knothole61
    Of course it's been a depressing start to the season--but as dire as things seem right now it’s not yet time to panic. For starters, one could hardly have picked three more devastating personnel losses near the beginning of the season than Lewis (after just 3 innings!) Correa, and Duran. Also, keep in mind that the Twins have played 10 of their 17 games against first place teams--a difficulty that will come to an end for a long while starting on Friday. Here’s the optimistic formula: pull back up to a respectable .500 by early May and then get some key players back in the lineup and go onward and upward from there. Maybe that is not a likely scenario, but it is a possibility.
  22. knothole61
    Best guess = 9 games back. Save this...
  23. knothole61
    It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. -Bart Giamatti
  24. knothole61
    insagt1 I go back to the '61 season as well but it sounds like you may have a few years on me. In all the years I've never seen such a propensity to strike out--and that horrible flailing away at off speed stuff, especially down and away. has been maddening to watch. Still, it was a successful season and we have only about 123 days until it all starts up again.
  25. knothole61
    Hubie, " "Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no! it is an ever-fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; ...Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom." W.S.
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