IndianaTwin

From the post-game interview... Dozier: I've always liked hitting 5th.

And the adventure continues... Per Mike Berardino: Jorge Polanco cut a finger on his throwing hand in a car door and will have to delay the start of his minor league rehab assignment.

EDDIE!

Hopefully it autocorrected to "Judge" or "Lindor."

The thing is, if you squint, that resembles an MLB lineup, and one that could get better pretty quickly...

Me too. There's a billboard on I-94 between here and Chicago offering a great deal: if you get one snip, the other one is free.

Washing machine aside, is the cat fixed?

I realize that Motter's the obvious answer for the second call-up, being on the 40-man and all, but I have to wonder, "What's the point?" Career .198 average. Batting .167 at Rochester. Played 1B in five games and LF in one this year in the majors (and pitched once, so maybe that's the point), though he has played some 2B and 3B at Rochester. But realistically, with both Mondays off between now and when Polanco is eligible to return on July 2, the over/under on at bats Motter is going to get is about 0.5*, so how about bringing up another reliever rather than wasting a roster spot? Or even bring up a third catcher for a look-see. Yeah, the argument is that you need an emergercy back-up infielder, but with Double E's flexibility to play 3B or SS and Adrianza at SS or 2B, can't Garver/Wilson/3rd catcher be the emergency 3B until the end of the game? Heck, didn't Puckett even play a couple of innings in the infield? And with shifts, you could float the emergency guy back and forth between 2B and 3B. If an injury that's more than day-to-day occurs, there would still be time to call up Motter or make the emergency call for Sano. *I'll take the under.

Should I use a baking soda/water mixture or standard dishwashing solution to get the crud off my grill grates?

Apparently the name "Ted" had fallen out of favor with parents in the 90s -- I can't find any of them still playing. One would think that Williams would still be able to hit better than some of the guys we've got, but he's on a bit of, uh, a cold streak.

Yeah, it would be interesting to read more. Billjamesonline makes reference to "Shift Runs Saved." I'm surprised we haven't heard of folks trying to quantify it, but it does seem like it would necessarily need to be somewhat objective. When is it a "shift," for example, compared to shading a player a few steps?

Eduardo Nunez Edwin Encarnacion But can we also have Paul Edward GoldschmidtMichael Edward Brett SaundersEdnel Javier BaezWillson Eduardo ContrerasStephen Edward Piscotty(There's a few others, but I don't feel like typing them.)The rotation's doing pretty well, so we probably don't need Clayton Edward Kershaw, but Cody Edward Allen could come in handy in the 8th right now. On the other hand, if middle names count, someone forgot to tell Robert Edward Grossman...

Considering that it was 8.37 on April 30, I'm impressed. Since that point, he's been at 3.05 heading into today.

Provus: "Only the Rays have saved more runs by shifting than the Twins have." The Twins have saved a net 17 runs for the year. (I was too busy reading TD to catch their source, but that seems like a plus for the front office.)

Decisions like this are a blend of art and science. My momma always said, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." So I think you make a general plan and adapt as the circumstances call for it and as things play out. Odorizzi shows us that not every inning is equal, since he's been averaging 18.6 pitches per inning, so I like Jeremy's approach of looking at pitches thrown. And 2400-2500 seems about right for the year. That leaves Romero in the neighborhood of 1250 pitches remaining. If you ballpark 90 pitches per start, that's around 14 more starts. So keep that in mind and see how things play out over the next month or so. Considerations in that are: Staying on the current 5-man rotation with no rainouts gives Romero five starts -- June 22 and 28 and July 3, 8 and 13 -- before the all-star break.How's Santana doing? None of the current guys has really pitched himself out of the rotation. If Santana or May gets to the point of being ready, it only takes three starts by one of them (in a six-man rotation) to save a start before the break. Or two starts and a rainout, etc.If that doesn't happen, move Romero to the back of the rotation coming out of the break, which essentially is the same as skipping a start.If all five current guys are still healthy and pitching effectively when (if) Santana (or May) are ready, go ahead and go to a six-man rotation for a few times through the rotation and see how things go.By that time, you also have a pretty good sense of whether you're buyers or sellers. If sellers, and everyone is healthy, Lynn's going to be a trade candidate.And if sellers, that also means that it's pretty easy to shut down Romero when it seems appropriate based on fatigue and effectiveness.In a best case scenario (the Twins are still in it and guys are healthy), I think Romero would be a good candidate for the bullpenning approach. I'd think about pairing him with Odorizzi, since Odorizzi seems to particularly struggle with the third time through the order. But to keep Romero on a regular preparation pattern, consider starting him and letting him go two innings. Often, that would bring Odorizzi into the game at the bottom of the order, so when he starts his third time through, he's starting with the 7, 8 or 9 hitter. Similarly, two innings of Romero and five of Odorizzi gets us to the eighth inning and very close to the FRE, so it (in theory) also provides a lighter day for the bullpen.

FREe fallin’ (I’m FREe fallin’...)

Yeah, let’s have him do all the sixth games of series and then let him take the playoffs off!

And mine.

Yes.

Actually, we did that too after the Mill City Museum this afternoon.

Checking in from section 108. And thanks to the folks from the Greater Twin Cities Chamber of Commerce (Sconnie, Blake, Riverbrian, Glunn, and Winston). Didn’t get to all your suggestions from a prior game discussion, but thumbs-up on the James J Hill House, Summit Street (plus St. Paul Cathedral), Jucy Lucy at Mike’s, Mason Jar for hot dish, and my personal favorite, the awesome Mill City Museum.

Gladden: Depending on what happens with Mauer, do you see maybe Escobar being at third, with Polanco at short and Sano at first? Provus: Escobar is a free agent. They’d have to sign him. Gladden: They haven’t done that yet? Really? He doesn’t know the contract status of guys?

Gee, I guess it wasn’t costly then. Other than that Hildenberger had to face two extra batters, leaving him less available for tomorrow, and the lineup turns over. Sorry, but errors are pretty much always costly to some degree.

Gladden: “If they don’t score, it’s not a costly error.”

One game series on a mutual off day on August 20 and a doubleheader September 28.