Jham

Everyone agrees it's strange. Are Molli and Terry on the same page or bumping heads? This happened once before with Meyer (Coach killer?) and Santana SS vs. CF. Next thing we knew Gardy went from safe to fired, to unemployed, to MiLB road consultant or some made up thing. Therefore it's clear, Ryan is actually setting Molitor up for some sort of weird backward promotion. But seriously, no one whole heartedly wants Meyer to fail. But more people than you think value being right (selfish success) more than they wish for others' success. You're being naive to suggest that personal motives don't play in and that everyone desires to see Meyer pitch well. Personally, I think some success as a starter is a step toward dominance in the pen.

Classic metric-fallacy. If we don't have a metric for it, it doesn't exist. I've made no secret that Arcia is one of my favorite players for that reason. Sano is playing himself back into shape, but his off-season eating gives pause as to how focused he has been on improving. Rosario is fiery, Fien as well, Glen when he's in there. I don't doubt the leadership potential of some of the young kids, I doubt whether those young kids are getting the right kind of direction from the veterans. I guess you can see Arcia or Sano getting into the vets' faces or even other young players', earning their respect, and getting them to fall in line. I don't. I'm worried that they're learning to accept losing, and worse, to expect it. So no, it has nothing to do with nationality, everything to do with experience and age.

Gaetti and Puckett were two of the toughest competitors I've ever seen. Hrbek too at least between the lines. Who on this team can bring the fire of a Gaetti or Puckett?

Mostly small sample size, some reality sprinkled in. IE it's way too early to judge Buxton's entire game, but it's clear he will not likely be an above average hitter this season. He'll like need that full 1000 at bats. So does that make his struggle reality or little n? I think it's reality for this season. Some were very critical of the pen citing Perkins decline, Jepsen's unusually good luck last season, May's likely regression, and Fien's overall Fien-ness. I think the plan was to move up Burdi, Charg, Meyer, or Reed as soon as someone (Tonkin) struggled. I was ok with that plan, betting on getting a high end bull pen arm out of the system instead of buying one. You can say that was a bad plan or risk, but if we were in the thick of it, I know we could trade for one, and since we're not, it looks worse than it is. Injuries to Perkins and Burdi didn't help. I have no idea as to whether Mauer's success and Dozier's struggles are n or reality. I'm fairly sure by now Nunez and Nolasco's success is almost purely n. I think the biggest reality with the team is that we lack any sort of leadership. I don't think this team has veterans who know how to handle losing or care an awful lot about much more than their own stats once the team falls more than a few games back. Dozier has nice hair, and builds houses for poor people in the off season, but his hitting approach is just stubborn. After the 0-9 start, I was at the game we won, and it was evident from pitch 1, that we were focused on going back up the box. Everyone was freshly determined. Now it's gone. Molitor is a passive or passive aggressive manager. Worse, the young players are learning that the best way to deal with losing is to just shrug your shoulders and worry about your own stat line. Unpopular opinion: We miss Torii Hunter.

Tonkin, taking a little off to hit his spots and let the ball move a bit?

Dozier is trying to Lew Ford himself out of the league... Lucky he's a middle infielder. I remember he was interviewed about his 2nd half swoon last season and he said he wasn't concerned (willing to change his approach) because despite the drop in power, he was still scoring runs. He only scored 34 (67 in the first half). He's delusional apparently. Maybe the team can do an intervention and convince him to start attending Pullers Anonymous meetings twice a week.

Depends. Did you give her the other half of a Mc Pick 2 or the free one from the Monopoly pull-off game? If you paid full menu price, I think you're good.

2 run deficits feel like 10 right now...

Korean Gangsta! Is he the Twins only All-Star? Not Nolasco right? Mauer?

Meyer was obviously nervous and didn't look like he was enjoying himself much. Tonkin always has that look too. A look of survival rather than determination or competition. Come to think of it, no one really looks like they're having much fun out there. I've commented after the walk off wins that their celebration seems forced. I actually like what I've seen from Tonkin this year which is slight progress. Given, it was hard for him to go down much, but he's shown near-dominance in short bursts. I don't think he was mishandled. The Twins gave him multiple opportunities. It's hard to give the worst pitcher in a bad pen lengthy looks when he has options available. I also realize that the scouts and FO don't share the same curiosity to "see what we've got". They've watched him enough to likely already know. His fastball is flat, his breaking ball develops a hump. That works in the minors, not in the pros. I didn't like that Meyer was brought up to ride pine. It appears Molitor was right not to trust him in a big spot, again scouting and watching his bullpens may have tipped him off. But I'm ok with the usage if the idea was to get him a start or two. Still can't help but think there is some disconnect and struggle between coach and GM. Too much weird stuff between calling up Kepler and not playing him. Possibly calling up Murphy and Murphy quitting. Then Meyer getting called up and not playing. It seems like the chef and the shopper are disagreeing on the ingredients.

I'm cool with that outing. Showed some jitters for sure. Should help settle him down for Tuesday. Hopefully we'll see a more representative appearance Tuesday.

Meyer now starting to understand why the pitching coaches were telling him to develop a third pitch...

Well tonight just got a little more interesting...

What are we even going to expect out of Meyer next week? There's got to be something going on between Molitor and Ryan we don't know about right? Just too bizarre. Seems like some egos and frustration maybe getting the better of someone... Kepler called up, doesn't play, Meyer brought up, doesn't pitch...

Watching this game is more frustrating than normal. I'm here. Also watched highlight footage of the CB the Vikes drafted. I don't get too worked up about games this time of year, but the lack of fire in this team is... disappointing. Lack of leadership is a big big issue here I think. Molitor seems confused and scared more often than not. Meyer is wasting space. And Sano is starting to look better in right.

He had 7 HR in 400+ at bats in 2014. Until he starts driving the ball again, I'm going to say he can't keep it up. He's not tearing the cover off the ball right now. He's finding holes.

I declare deanlambrecht's rant, the single greatest posting in the history of Twins Daily. And he, the greatest poster in internet history, although I get we should probably wait till he hits 1000 Twinsdaily posts before we judge him GOAT for sure. The only thing I don't get is where this notion of forum hyperbole comes from? I've literally never done that.

I love Sano. His power is extraordinary. His athleticism for a man his size is ridiculous. He's fun, wants to be great, and has a patient mature approach. At the same time, I feel like people got a little carried away with how he started last season. He's never really hit for much average at any level. Despite his eye, he strikes out frequently. He can't catch up to good fastballs, and certainly did not come in ready this spring. He may hit a lot of HR's, but he may never hit more than .265 or so, and is unlikely to ever lead the league in HR. He's obviously talented, but part of his initially high prospect rankings were based on his ability to be a plus fielder at 3B if not short. He's a talented hitter, but not a Pujols, Stanton, Trout, Cabrera talent. For what it's worth, I think his OF has been plenty adequate after the first week. He's also looked adequate at 3rd.

Twins biggest problem this year has been competition. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/2016mlbpowerrankings_week3/mlb-ranking-mlb-teams-three-weeks Nats 2, KC 3, Balt 4, CWS 6.... All swept us. We actually played most of those games close. Of course, losing all to all 4 of those doesn't bode too well. Also having the Sox who are moving up, and Royals in our division doesn't exactly scream rebound either. That said, I do expect the offense to click at some point. We should have a couple winning months this summer. May has traditionally been a good month for us. If Mauer keeps hitting, we're going to make a run at some point. Bull pen needs some help. If we can get anything from Berrios, Buxton, Burdi, or Meyer, we can be pretty darn good still. But still that competition...

As Bremer posted last night, 4 of his 5 HR have been on hanging breaking balls with his one off of a fastball an opposite field crush on a 3-1 92 mph pitch. Last night, he showed he's vulnerable (as most hitters are) to 94-95 at the letters. He laid off one, then struck out on the other. He also fouled one back that was belt high. I think in ST his HR came off mostly fastballs. Point is, it's sort of hard to analyze at this point. You can't really survive in this league trying to hit breaking balls out of the park, or go opposite field with fastballs. Well Puckett sort of did, but he was one of the better bad ball hitters of all time, and his approach was avg. over power. I want to see Park turn around some heaters before I jump to conclusions. He and Sano seem to have the same problem catching up to high heat, but not laying off it either. That said, his power to all fields is undeniable. His approach and adjustments show a high baseball IQ. Visually, he's swinging harder, more proof he's getting more comfortable. He's got some swagger, some style, a closed stance, and compact swing that reminds me of Mike Trout. If he can shorten up a little bit more (since he has power to spare) or simply learn to lay off the balls he can't crush, he can easily be a 30-40 HR guy who may hit near .300. If not, the league will adjust, and he'll be hard pressed to stay in the league, Collabello style.

I had the strangest dream that Alex Meyer had been called up to pitch out of the pen. I gotta stop eating leftover gumbo right before bed.

Are you sure you don't remember the beginning, but you never forget the finish?

We should have a contest for who can recite Dick's 9th inning monologue with the most accuracy. I mean, somebody remind the difference between endings and finishes again.

He's got: Dumps like a truck? Wireless fidelity? Geothermal heating in his green house? A Hotpocket in the microwave? Some spinach in his teeth, should somebody say something?

Nice to see Stewart starting to pile up the K's. He could move quickly if his stuff starts to translate into empty swings and outs.