Jim Crikket

Yes, that's the plan, as long as we have people show up. Babs and I were discussing last night when we want to do the first one. She and Andrew are down in Ft Myers, but I may open up a chat at Knuckleballs for the game tomorrow night. That's on TV in Minn, right?

Suffice to say that Burroughs did nothing this inning to reinforce the belief that he'd be a defensive upgrade over Valencia.

OK... Im not even sure how to describe that play... but a lot of people screwed up.

Dumatrait gives up a leadoff double to RF to Pedroia

I didn't notice a ton of movement on Burton's fastball.

Parmelee 2 run homer over in the other game

Yep, Hughes struck it well

Burton fell behind one hitter 3-0 before getting the ground out on the dive by Chang, but otherwise a very clean inning. Fastball was 90-91 on the NESN gun, but a nice change up or two.

Beautiful play on a ground ball up the middle by Chang... diving and then throwing batter out from his knees

Getting a look at Burton next. Should be worth watching

Must be a system problem. I lost the video feed on MLB.tv too

Perfect throw by Saltawhateverhisnameis gets Burroughs

Looks like Doyle had a good 2 innings vs TB

NESN broadcasters were joking that a year ago, they laughed and said that losing the Mayors Cup might be the beginning of the end for Terry Francona... didn't turn out to be so funny when it became true!

I suspect that the ball would carry more in Ft Myers, especially in the summer, than it does in Minnesota so I don't think it would be quite as power-killing. Besides, if the Miracle players expect to play for the Twins, they might as well get used to it. It also could allow Twins talent evaluators to get a sense of how a player's game might eventually translate to TF.

I discovered that too, jamar. Unfortunately CR doesn't have Sprint's 4G service yet and at the regular data rate, the live streaming video is crap.

NESN broadcasters talking about Gardy claiming the Mayors Cup competition is over. They... disagree.

I love the look of the new ballpark the RSox have. They're talking about a facelift for Hammond Stadium soon and they really should take a page out of what they did at JetBlue. They should configure Hammond to replicate Target Field's dimensions and fence height. Let players get a feel for what they'll be playing in when the season starts. Anyway, I've already got a ticket for a Twins/RSox game over at JetBlue toward the end of ST and I'm really looking forward to seeing it in person!

The game is on MLB.tv too. I didn't have to log in to bring the game up, so it may be "free"... if anyone doesnt get MLB Network and wants to try the internet

John, you obviously have no understanding of how important it is for people to continuously find additional matters on which to second guess the Twins front office and field management. How can people demonstrate how much smarter they are than the people who actually make the decisions if we don't keep coming up with new "problems" to solve?

The only reason for a wild card is because there's an odd number of divisions in each league, so they need some way to create a 4 team playoff in each league. That doesn't mean you have to give the WC equal footing with the Division winners. I actually don't think this system makes it anyn more likely that the Yankees qualify for the postseason more often. Let's be honest, they're already qualifying almost every year. In the AL, this system will mean that some OTHER team besides the AL East runner up will get a one-game shot at making the real playoffs... and it will also mean that, unless the Yankees win their division, they will have a much more difficult time advancing.

I agree that Souhan is leaping to a conclusion (shocking, isn't it?) by assuming Plouffe would be in RF and Willingham in LF, just because that's where Willingham has played in the past. I'd think that would happen only if they discover in ST that he simply can not play RF. In that case, the obvious adjustment I'd make in those situations where Revere plays and Plouffe sits would be to put Revere in CF and shift Span ro RF. Then again, what's obvious to me isn't necessarily what Gardy would do. In reality, those situations would probably be fairly rare. If Revere enters as a late inning defensive replacement, it's more likely he'd take Willingham's spot (unless Plouffe turns out to be an awful outfielder), so he could just play LF. Otherwise, your 4th OF is most likely going to be used to give each of the OFs a day off once in a while and occasionally pinch run or pinch hit. In any event, Ben Revere should never play RF.

... now that you have THIS thread started, just ask your question(s) here as they arise. When you or someone else posts a new question, the thread rises to the top of the list, so we all know there's been a new question and/or answer(s).

Thanks for the comment, even if we aren't in agreement. The 2001 season was clearly an exceptional situation. Even so, that inequity is as old as the World Series itself. There have always been seasons where a second place team in a particular division or league was perceived to be much stronger than another division/league winner. Before divisional play, did anyone say, "hey the 2nd place team in the NL won 10 more games than the AL pennant winner, why the hell should the AL be guaranteed a spot in the World Series if clearly the two best teams in baseball are both in the NL?" As I wrote in the post, the WC game is no more than a way to determine which loser should get in to the real postseason, so I have no problem with a single game determining that. Why hold up the whole postseason process while a couple of teams that shouldn't be playing any more anyway face off? Let's just play a single game, which will provide great theatre, and move on with a system that rewards actual Division winners. I agree that inserting days off for no reason is wrong, but most off days in postseason are travel days, which is a necessity that goes back for as long as the WS has been played.

This post appeared originally at http://www.knuckleballsblog.com Right up front, I LIKE the expanded playoffs adopted officially by MLB today. I went on record supporting this concept a couple of years ago and I stand by that support. Beginning this fall, there will be TWO Wild Card spots in both the AL and NL, instead of one in each. In a perfect world, I’d have no Wild Cards at all, but that realistically is never going to happen. This is the next best thing. I know that scheduling issues meant that, for 2012 only, the LDS will have a goofy format where the first two games are played in the lower seeded team's stadium and the following three in the higher seeded team's place. That's not ideal, but they'll go back to a 2-2-1 format next season, so whatever. The primary reason I like this concept is that it returns emphasis where I believe it belongs… on winning your Division title. Players and managers (and thus most fans) have become conditioned, since 1995, to establishing their team’s season-long goal as being to “make the playoffs.” This is the way it is in the NFL, NHL and NBA, and while MLB has had fewer playoff spots than other major sports leagues, that same mentality has established itself in baseball since the Wild Card was implemented starting with the 1995 season. Since that time, it has no longer mattered if you win your Division or not, as long as you managed to win enough games to beat out all of the other Division “runners up.” Several times over this period, teams that have locked up the Wild Card spot have stopped bothering to even compete for their Division championship, preferring instead to rest players and set their rotation for the playoffs. In at least one case, a team very clearly tried NOT to win their Division, in an effort to get the first round match-up they felt most comfortable with. That cannot be allowed to happen. It won’t happen again. There are only two real objections raised to the new plan. One is that it results in the likely outcome that a strong second place team in one Division is placed at too great a disadvantage to Division winning teams of lesser talent and abilities. We’ll call this "the Yankee objection" and it goes something like this: “The Yankees are always the best team in the American League, even when they let another AL East team win the Division and this format will mean that when the Yankees do allow someone else to win the AL East, they won’t get in to the playoffs on equal footing with the AL Central and AL West Division champions who are never ever as good as the Yankees. Therefore, the Yankees will gain their rightful place in the World Series less often than they deserve.” To this I say, “If you’re so much better than everyone else, win your f’ing Division or shut up.” The other objection, raised by a lot of players and managers, is that it just isn’t fair to make a team go through a 162 game season and then have their playoff hopes hinge on a single game. Everyone is conditioned to believe that you’re supposed to get a series of some sort in the postseason to establish your right to move on or go home. And I agree… for Division champions. But we’re not talking about Division champions here. We’re talking about two teams that didn’t win a damn thing over the course of that 162 game season. By all rights, they shouldn’t get to play ANY more baseball. They finished no better than 2nd place in their Divisions. But we need an even number of teams in the “real” playoffs for each League, so one of those losers has to be let in to the postseason party. That’s fine, I guess, but this business of letting that also-ran team enter the playoffs on equal footing with the teams that DID win their Division needed to end. So, once again, my answer to the whiners who think their 2nd place finish should entitle them to getting to play more than a single play-in game is pretty similar to my response to the first objection… “If you don’t want your playoff hopes determined by a single Wild Card game, win more games.” In the end, Major League Baseball is saying that they want Division Championships to matter more than they have since 1995 and this change absolutely guarantees that teams will go flat out to win their Division, rather than settle for a Wild Card spot. There are other benefits of this change, of course, but they are not so much real reasons to make the change as they are pleasant byproducts. More teams will be in contention for one of those Wild Card spots late in the season. This is important, not only to fans in the markets directly affected by their team continuing to have a shot, but across the entire fan base, because it will mean more fans continuing to pay attention to more games at a time of year when baseball loses a number of eyeballs to football games. The playoffs and even World Series have become less watched in part because, by the time the playoffs roll around, fans in most markets have lost interest in baseball and have been watching football for over a month. I also really like knowing there will always be two “win or go home” games every season. The down side of having playoff “series” is that there are years when not a single postseason game has the drama of both teams needing a win to avoid elimination, because there are years when no playoff series goes the full five or seven games. That will never happen again. The handful of “game 163” contests in recent years have been instant classics. Now there will be at least two of those games every season (though not many of them are likely to have the drama of the Rockies, White Sox and Twins wins this decade). And it won’t come at the cost of other potential game 163s because there will still be potential tie-breaker games. I understand that there are plenty of people who don’t like this change. That’s fine. As always, I acknowledge that everyone is entitled to their opinion… even if it’s wrong. - JC