IndianaTwin

I agree. And I think what magnifies the effect from a fan perspective is that last year’s team seemed unusually lucky in terms of injuries. There were nowhere close to as many major, long-term injuries last year, which is what helped us over-perform and have the surprising 85 wins. If they’d had a few more injuries and ended up a still much-improved 75-78 win team, we’d have felt good and would have been targeting being somewhat above .500 this year. That would have made this year feel like a minor disappointment rather than a major bummer. Going into this year, I was saying that they could be improved and still only end up around 85 wins based on a more normal number of injuries. But all the stuff you name got us into the big hole. But even with the long losing streak, they are 15-14 over the last month. Go .500 the rest of the way and they end up at 78-84. Win 78 last year, and I think 78 this year would have seemed like a good-sized bummer, but not necessarily a full-fled disaster. But realistically, I think the team IS better at this point than it was at many points in the first half. Even decent second-half health, plus Santana, and I think it’s still easily possible to get to at least .500, maybe a few games above. 90 wins? No. But even 83 or 84? Possible.

I can buy that argument too. And maybe the shuttle has begun -- it looks like they just sent Romero back down.

Similarly, it looked like Escobar's verbal response after the strikeout was in response to one of their defenders mouthing off.

Thanks -- I missed that Magill is out of options. But if I look at his game logs, it doesn't seem like his usage is that out of line. His days off pattern the last few weeks has been 4-1-5-1-6-1. The long rests have come on the heels of long outings -- 34, 60, and 45 pitches. He's also in a tough spot. In those six appearances, he's come in in the 2nd three times and 4th or 5th twice. That's a hard role to predict, because the manager is in a constant state of "I'd rather not use him today in case I'm going to need him early tomorrow." Somebody's got to be that guy, and it looks like it's Magill right now. Somebody will probably say, "As long as Belisle is around, why isn't he that guy?" Frankly, over the last few weeks, Belisle has been more effective than Magill. Though Belisle sucked yesterday, he was actually unscored on in the previous five outings. He's either been horrible or pretty good since coming over, but even his three horrible outings all came in the 8th or 9th when they were already down at least three. If the game had been closer, he probably wouldn't have lasted long enough to give up five runs like yesterday. Don't interpret my comments as being down on Magill -- he clearly had some top-notch outings that kept us in games. Perhaps, based on his lack of effectiveness recently, rather than trying to send him to Rochester, they should have considered a DL stint. (Similarly, don't read me as high on Belisle, but maybe not as down on him as a lot of folks.) And here's a wondering on Magill. They didn't name Romero as today's starter until after yesterday's game. That sounds like it could have been Plan B. I could easily see Plan A as having been seeing today as a bullpen game, with a good likelihood of a Magill sighting. But they shot that possibility with so much bullpen usage Friday and Saturday, so it was Romero's start and then play the rest of the game with the guy Molitor thought gave them the best chance of winning. He wasn't ready to go to Magill first, but at one point he appeared to be the next up.

On Magill, I get the love based on the way he started, but he's also given up 11 runs in his last 11.2 innings going back to June 21, with at least a run in all six games. The way today was going, I didn't mind not seeing him in such a tight game. (I also wouldn't mind him going down to Rochester to get a couple innings in the next few days, though a lot of guys are going to be on really long rest the next while.)

That would have been a viable option. But doing so would have also put two guys into situations they aren't used to -- Rodney starting, and Romero coming into a game when he doesn't know exactly when he'll be used. Starters are creatures of habit, and I'm not sure it's fair to a rookie with less than 10 MLB starts to have to guess at the +/-10 minutes of when the second inning will roll around. In addition, with a rookie, there's a reasonable likelihood that he's going to need to be replaced mid-inning. Though that's not the primary way Rodney's been used, he's certainly been there before. And if Romero doesn't need to be replaced mid-inning, there's a good likelihood that he pitched a nice spiffy 5 or 6 quick innings. So yeah, using Rodney as the "opener" would have also made sense, but I think this was a good approach.

Per Molitor's interview, Rodney has an immigration interview in Miami tomorrow morning and needed to catch a flight. They've rescheduled the appointment several times, but were unable to get something better than this. Life happens, and I applaud them for finding a way to still use him for a couple key outs.

Per the post-game show, Rodney needed to leave the stadium by 3:15 because of a citizenship appointment. Always good to know the whole story before assuming the MOY screwed up...

Dozier stinks -- trade him NOW! Or something like that...

Hildenberger... vs. lefties -- .179 Duke... vs. lefties -- .236 I got no problem with staying with Hildy.

Great idea to link to the game recap over in the game thread. How about doing the same thing in reverse and linking the game thread to the game recap? Maybe put "Today's Game Thread" between the "Next Three Games" and "Last Three Games".

Great idea to link to the game recap over in the game thread. How about doing the same thing in reverse and linking the game thread to the game recap? Maybe put "Today's Game Thread" between the "Next Three Games" and "Last Three Games".

With a four-run lead, is it just a fre?

Starter for Sunday? If they don't want to go back to Slegers, they could also go to Romero, whose regular day is also Sunday. While we're also looking at starters, note that the Cardinals sent down Luke Weaver with the All-Star Break coming up. Since Odorizzi has an option, how about doing the same with him? He wouldn't be able to be reactivated until the Monday after the break, but assuming that Lynn, Gibson, and Berrios get the first three games, he wouldn't be needed until then anyway. He could start in Rochester on Wednesday to stay on schedule, and we'd have another reliever (or bat) available for tomorrow, Sunday, and next weekend.

Thinking about a starting staff of... BerriosGibsonPinedaOdorizziRomero/Gonsalves/Mejia/SlegersOne can never have too many starters, plus Pineda will be entering his first full season in a couple years and the No. 5 options are still young. So I wouldn't mind another proven veteran on a one-year deal, a la what we might have gotten with a full spring training of Lynn. At present, my first choice is: Consider picking up the option on Ervin Santana. Given how close we seem to be to his return, we'll have more than two months of evaluation. If those two months go well, I'd think about taking the additional year. I recognize that it's a slight overpay, but I think there's huge benefits in having a known quantity, and it continues to give flexibility with the one-year deal. So while we're at it, I'll offer a bullpen option to go along with your returnees of: HildyBusenitzPresslyRogersReedMoyaMay and the herd of guys in RochesterLet's look for an economical option with a K/BB ratio over 3.0, a K/9 over 10, and an ERA+ of 140+. Which leads us to: Another year of the Fernando Rodney Experience. A couple of those blown saves have really hurt, but I don't yet get the eagerness to trade him or assume that he shouldn't be back, when he could be picked up for $4.25MM. I know that all looks like just re-upping this year's YTD statistically average staff, but it's not. It drops Lynn's ERA+ of 80 and miscellaneous pieces of Hughes, etc., replacing them with Pineda and Santana and a year of experience for the young bunch. To me, the list above is an above-average staff. The other thing all that does is lock in the salary values on the pitchers, freeing up the front office's Daytimers in time to set up a tent in Manny's front yard.

Did I miss it, or are you missing Jason Castro?

Good catchers are hard to get, so I understand the interest in Kelly's potential. But good starting pitchers are harder to get, and Gibson has become one. So nope.

Add the “Did you ever...” fan experience stories to the “things I like about Twins Daily” and “what we should have more of” responses from the “Getting to know people” thread. Fun stuff, folks.

I’ve sometimes felt like he’s been lollygagging as well, but not sure on this one. He’s played a bazillion games and knows that’s a single to left, so it’s not surprising that he jogs over to cover second for the throw in from the outfield. Problem was Polanco made a great play, so Dozier looks bad. Sure, we can say Dozier should have been hustling over, but there’s a fine line between giving full effort and racing to cover the bag when there’s nothing there.

“...THEN boyfriend...” seems logical enough, given his actions.

Especially when you make the switch in your late 30s. I knew I was in trouble when I hit that sure double into the gap and got thrown out trying to stretch it into a single.

1. From near Iowa City though I’ve lived in northern Indiana my entire adult life. 2. 52. 3. Don’t remember what brought me here, but I’m glad for whatever did. 4. You decide what’s the highest level — member of regular-season undefeated Little League team, D league Slow Pitch, or unaffiliated Vintage Base Ball (1856 rules) at local county park. 5. Tony Oliva. In the national eye, I consider Joe Nathan underrated, but I could also go with Butch Wynegar, Jerry Terrell, Juan Berenguer, and probably some others. That night’s winning pitcher. 6. Probably baseball-reference.com or rotoworld.com. CBSSportsline if my fantasy team has a night like tonight when I got 5 HRs and 14 RBIs. 7. My son’s tweets are great. 8. Financial stewardship and other issues of faith. My wife and kids. Traveling. Ice cream, barbecue, pizza, chili, and the pursuit of Iowa’s Best Tenderloin. 9. Game threads and game recaps. I’m starting to enjoy the minor league stuff. But the thing I most enjoy is the civility and spirit of communithy that is present. 10. Nothing immediately comes to mind. 11. One.

I’ve always thought of having the ability to hang with it on a day when you don’t have your best stuff as being one of the marks of a good player in any sport. Sounds like that’s what Lynn did.

Dare I say it, with three innings yet to play? Way to go, J.O.E.

Just call him Geico -- because he makes the catches like a Caveman.