Teflon

No chance of the Twins taking over first place tonight. The Indians defeated the Royals 6-2 this afternoon behind 2 home runs and 2 doubles from Francisco Lindor.

touché

A pleasant Saturday and a happy fishing opener weekend to you all. Great lots of you have undoubtedly decamped to one or more of Minnesota’s many lakes* to drop a line, float a bobber, relax and forget all about Mother’s Day in some of the most idyllic surroundings this side of western Wisconsin. For many of you, the carefree time on the lake is also accompanied by your favorite MLB team broadcast. Ah, fishing and listening to baseball. Could life get any better? Why, yes, it could. I could be writing the intro to tonight's Game Thread! And I could have a fish story to tell! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Not so long ago on a peaceful lake not far from here, I was out in my small boat, the Omarosa, casually watching my fishing line and listening to the Twins game through an ear piece. I typically use an ear piece on the lake 1) so as not to disturb the fish, and 2) because sound carries widely over the water and I did not have permission to disseminate or rebroadcast the accounts and descriptions. (I learned that lesson the hard way) Anyway, I had been on the lake for about 45 minutes when I heard what sounded like something out of Mad Max: Fury Road coming around the small cove towards my little fishing spot. It was a lime green runabout full of teenagers blaring the soundtrack for the apocalypse over its stereo. As it neared, I strained to make it's name through the cloud of reefer haze emanating from the boat, The Anemone. (uh-nem-uh-nee) And it was launching depth charges! No, make that beer cans. The young hooligans were tossing empties over the side! I pulled in my line, lifted my anchor and trolled the Omarosa up next to the Anemone. “Pardon me. Young man?” I asked politely. { Belches from the teens. Giggles. More belches.} Finally one of them responded as if annoyed. “What, dude?” “Can you turn that racket down?” I asked. I was going to explain how it disturbed the fishing but didn’t get a chance as the young ne'er do well said “Racket? You mean this?” and turned the volume up to 11. Meanwhile, one of the other wayward youths decided to answer nature's call over the side of the boat directly into the lake. My eyes tightened to a Clint Eastwood squint. Then I noticed another boat motoring towards us. Good, I thought. Maybe they’ll join my protest too, and we’ll have strength in numbers. After all, the enemy of the Anemone is my friend. No such luck. The boat just slowed, took a look, shook their heads, and kept on going. Great. “Knock it off! I mean it” I yelled at the occupants of the Anemone. As I approached the boat's stern, I admit I had little faith in my stern approach. The response I received was a collection of obscene gestures and loud derision. My anger rose unchecked and, at that moment, something inside me snapped. In a scene reminiscent of the confrontation between the Civil War ironclads, Monitor and Merrimack, I grabbed the Omarosa’s anchor and heaved it in a great parabola towards the Anemone. (I have freakish mid-section strength from a lifetime of kegels) We all watched as the anchor reached and then fell from its apex and plummeted into the Anemone with something akin to the force of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs - leaving a gaping void in the flimsy hull the size of – well, a small boat anchor. The corrupted vessel quickly began taking on water as its motley crew flailed about in confusion. Eventually the boat succumbed and went under, leaving a number of cans bobbing in the water and the drenched occupants abandoning ship to dog paddle and slog the forty or so feet to the shore tugging at their droopy togs and flinging epithets my way. I pulled the cord on the Omarosa’s motor and made a beeline for the other side of the lake, still in disbelief at what I'd done. Alas, there’s no happy ending to this story. The wreck of the Anemone survivors called the police, who were waiting for me when I made shore. Epilog Ultimately, I had to pay for the ruined boat and perform community service. Worst of all, I had to attend court-ordered anchor management counselling. * It would be awesome if someone would make a nice round estimate of just how many lakes there are in Minnesota so we could boast about it in some way when we go out of state. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Tonight's Game, 8:07 CDT Minnesota (16-18) at Los Angeles Angels (23-15) Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Mostly sunny, 65 degrees, wind 5 mph blowing out Kyle Gibson - RHP (1-1, 3.49) for the Twins vs. Nick Tropeano - RHP (1-2, 3.42) for the Angels The Twins scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th last night to beat the Angels, 5-4, and even the series. Cleveland (18-19) lost to Kansas City, moving the Twins to within a half game of the lead in the AL Central. Twins Lineup 1 Joe Mauer (L) 1B 2 Brian Dozier ® 2B 3 Max Kepler (L) RF 4 Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B 5 Eddie Rosario (L) LF 6 Mitch Garver ® C 7 Logan Morrison (L) DH 8 Ehire Adrianza (S) SS 9 Byron Buxton ® CF Angels Lineup 1 Zack Cozart ® 3B 2 Mike Trout ® CF 3 Justin Upton ® LF 4 Albert Pujols ® DH 5 Andrelton Simmons ® SS 6 Luis Valbuena (L) 1B 7 Ian Kinsler ® 2B 8 Kole Calhoun (L) RF 9 Rene Rivera ® C

After going 0-4 in the series opener against Jackson on Monday, Nick Gordon was 6-12 over the last three games of the series with a homer and a pair of doubles on Wednesday. Having settled into the third spot in the Lookouts lineup, his batting average remains a robust .342. (5th in the Southern League) The Lookouts were trailing the Generals in the Southern League North (I know...) as the week began but Tommy Watkins' squad has now moved into first place by a game and a half with a 21-13 record and looks to complete a 5-game sweep of the Generals tonight at AT&T Field. Nick currently leads the Lookouts with 17 RBI and is slugging .542 with a .381 on base average. Nearly all of Gordon's pop has come against RH pitching, however, (.607 slugging vs .389 against lefties) but he's still batting over .300 against lefties and getting on base at a .350 clip so is not exactly what you'd call a liability. The club's experiment with Gordon at 2B seems to have been suspended for the time being as Nick's now logged over 200 innings at shortstop. (4 errors, 21 DPs)

Thanks for posting this, Bob. It was an interesting listen. Their theory on why switch hitting hasn't reemerged with the shorter positional benches is that switch hitting effectively is more difficult in today's game with all the situational adjustments teams make with pitchers and defense. I also like DocBauer's thought that small ball fosters a greater need for switchhitters than large ball. I wonder, too, if there is some cultural shift in the development of younger players who are now exposed to more sports. While the kids growing up in the U.S. and Latin America in the 60's and 70s might play baseball more exclusively and have a greater focus and opportunity on developing switch hitting, today's kids are splitting more of their time between baseball and soccer or hoops. (or e-sports).

The Twins are now 15-17 in 32 games played. Roughly one-fifth of the season meaning you can take all the current stats x 5 and project them for an entire year, Eduardo Escobar's 7 home runs and 20 RBI would give him 35 and 100 on the season, for instance, and Lo Mo's current batting average of .183 x 5 would be .915. (No wonder he was in the lead-off spot!)

Yes - pitchers are the pawns. All you can do is sacrifice them.

Is this one of those "Turn Back the Clock" game threads?

Official Tally: After Saturday, the Twins are 2-0 this year when I lunch at food trucks. Does anyone know how much food trucks cost? Wondering if the Twins might want to set me up in one.

Note: I just read on City Pages that there is a Food Truck Fest opening tomorrow at the Midtown Farmer's Market on Lake Street in Mpls. As I ate lunch at a food truck on 5/2, prior to the last Twins win, I'll be able to test this a second time. Again, not sure this is a sustainable superstition - but worth a shot. I encourage any other readers to locate a food truck on Saturday, as well. The Maplewood Mall will be having food trucks on site this weekend. Also many other kinds of trucks in the parking lot for kiddies to crawl on and touch - capturing some of the old Machinery Hill vibe from the State Fair. Schedule - Noon: Lunch at a Food Truck. 6 pm: Twins win.

Perhaps it wasn't the fact that it was on or off on 5/2, but, instead, the actual procedure of it being removed. I suggest wearing it as you were, but removing it prior to the next game - as closely matching the removal protocol from 5/2.

Never doubt Red Sox Nation! Katherine Clarke, 18, Mission Hill She says her first game ever at Fenway was in 2007.“My mom went to the bathroom and to make sure that she had enough toilet paper the next time she went, she took a roll from the stall,’’ Clarke said. “That game, Clay Buchholz had a no hitter, so we kept the roll of toilet paper. We keep it in a plastic bag hanging in our poolroom and no one is allowed to touch it. Now, during a game, we take it out if they are doing poorly and start chanting and dancing around until they start doing better.’

I volunteered to do the 5/12 thread to assess how the Twins respond. Please suspend all other superstitious practices on this day so we can isolate the true effects.

PS - This is not a paid promotion for Hot Pockets.

The math needed to unravel the behavior of the smallest objects in our universe requires additional dimensions to explain the physics. If these dimensions do indeed exist, then it's possible that some superstitions such as lucky socks, rally caps, etc - may indeed exercise an undetectable influence in one of these theoretical dimensions. With that as our premise and with the Twins definitely in need of some extra-dimensional mojo, you're invited to experiment with your superstitious behaviors and document them in this thread - tracking them game-by-game and posting which appear to be most coincidental with Twins' wins. As an example - when the Twins won the World Series in 1991, the team had a much better win rate when I had a microwaved pepperoni Hot Pockets for supper. (Unfortunately, I didn't document this phenomena statistically) While the pitching of Jack Morris, Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani was undoubtedly a major factor that season as was the addition of Chii Davis at DH, I do take some small amount of credit for my contributions, as well. You're invited to use this thread to post your observances regarding any rituals or superstitions you practice and to track the rate at which they coincide with wins. You're encouraged to modify your practices as needed to abandon those with lower success rates in favor of those that prove most fruitful. At some point, perhaps we can also experiment with a collective superstition to see if there is any strength in numbers. You're also welcomed to post any details about past rituals you may have observed. As of this first post, the last Twins win was on Wednesday, May 2nd. I did two things out of the ordinary on that day. I ate lunch at a food truck and I rode in a friend's Corvette. While these may not be as sustainable a habit as my '91 Hot Pockets ritual, I will try to replicate each individually to see if they continue to be effective. I will also do some research to see what superstitions fans of other teams have had luck with. My guess is Red Sox nation is teeming with examples.

Question - is the money owed Hughes recouped in some portion by the Twins from insurance if he is injured? Does this then incentivize the team to pitch him until he breaks down again?

One weird stat is that the Twins starting pitchers' batting average against on balls in play is an oddly low .278 while the Twins bullpen's BABIP is an abnomally high .348. Normally this number ends up close to .300 for teams and leagues and nearly all pitchers not named Kershaw or Sherzer. (Last year it was .299 for Twins starters and .296 for Twins relievers) I don't know what to make of that, exactly. If it was attributable to bad alignment on defense - or something controllable like that - it should affect the starters, too, but it hasn't. They seem blessed with some better-than-usual luck. Considering Berrios, Orodizzi and Gibson still all have ERAs under 4 with the battering the Twins have taken, this doesn't seem outside the realm of rational thought. Once the relievers' BABIPs start regressing toward the inevitable .300, things should stabilize - providing thestaff can keep the controllables - HRs and walks - reasonable.

Hot Week for Chattanooga and Gordon Chattanooga won their 7th straight in a row on Thursday and Nick Gordon, now batting third in the lineup, has been mashing. In the just-completed series against Jacksonville, Nick went 5-15 with a pair of homeruns, 5 runs scored and 3 batted in. Through 13 games, he has the following slashes .353/.377/.588 After a solid showing in Spring Training, Nick continues to demonstrate everything the Twins might want to see from him as a hitter. He's getting on base, he's getting extra bases, he's showing some pop with the bat. Nick and the Lookouts will try to keep the hot streak going as they open a weekend series against the Jackson Generals in Jackson tonight.

Mauer's unique set of accomplishments puts him in a select group of players. The most comparable player to Joe in the context of these is Larry Walker who also won a triple-slash title, three batting titles, an MVP award and a number of Gold Gloves. Walker finished his career with 2,160 hits and spent a good deal of his career playing in an offensive-skewed ballpark in Colorado, which is why his Hall of Fame voting results have been low. (Although improving as of late) [Obviously the Gold Glove award and MVP did not exist for some or part of these earlier 20th century players.]

Bears a striking resemblance to another football stadium configured for baseball that we used to know and love. http://s3.amazonaws.com/ogden_images/www.messengernews.net/images/2017/02/24001135/022417ICBASE-1100x825.jpg

Nine games into the Lookouts' 2018 season, Nick Gordon continues to hit well. In last night's 3-2 victory over Pensacola, Gordon went 2 for 4 with the go-ahead RBI and a stolen base. On the season, Gordon's hitting .361/.395/.500 with 13 hits and 18 total bases in 38 plate appearances - all of which lead Chattanooga. He's also only struck out 5 times has made just one error at short. (Last night) After starting the season batting lead-off, Nick has been moved down to the #2 spot by manager Tommy Watkins to try to generate some more scoring as the Lookouts' offense apart from Gordon has been anemic so far. (24 runs in 9 games) Gregorio Petit, a 15-year minor-leaguer with 171 games of MLB experience in call-ups over 5 different seasons, has been the everyday shortstop for the AAA Red Wings to start the season and would be the most likely contingency currently for the Twins in case of an injury to Eduardo Escobar or Ehire Adrianza. The Twins will be forced into interesting decisions once Jorge Polanco is eligible to return from his suspension. Polanco wouldn't be eligible to play in the post season so it would seem unlikely that the Twins would put him back at starting shortstop. Both Polanco and Adrianza are out of options so couldn't be sent down without clearing waivers, first. What does all of this mean for Gordon? The AAA shortstop position will likely be used by the Twins to keep Petit on-call until Polanco returns and then will be up for grabs between Petit, and whichever player, Polanco or Adrianza, the Twins choose to expose to waivers. Nick Gordon may play well enough to earn a promotion to AAA this season but, at this point, it looks like circumstances may be a hurdle to getting there.

Very interesting read - although to me, pitch framing is sort of like turning double plays. It's dependent on an opportunity for it to occur before it can occur - and those opportunities vary depending on the quality of the pitching staff and the mix of home plate umpires involved. (Framing should be adjusted for umpires and pitchers just like hitting stats are adjusted for ballpark and era.)

Gordon Triples in First At Bat - Gets 4 Hits in Chattanooga Season Opener. Nick batted at the top of the order yesterday and played shortstop for the Lookouts in their season opener against the Birmingham Barons at AT & T Field in Chattanooga. Nick batted 4 for 5 and had a hand in the first two Lookout runs of the season, scoring on Edgar Cocino's sac fly following his leadoff triple in the first inning, and driving in Ryan Walker from second base with a third inning single. The Lookouts lost the game, 5-4, however, as their pitching staff issued 10 bases on balls and reliever Todd Van Steensel surrendered the lead in a rocky 7th and 8th inning appearance.