longstrangetrip

I thought so too, shane, but they each threw for 20-25 minutes at a rapid pace...had to be well over 100 pitches.

A couple weeks ago I spent a pleasant day at the Big A with Glunn and Ashbury John Jr. (congratulations, John, on raising such a nice young man)...well, the company was pleasant...the game, not so much. Anyway, I posed a question to these two guys, and although both are baseball PHD's, neither had an answer. Glunn suggested I bring the topic to the board. I went to all three Twins/Angels games (yes, I am responsible for this mid-season swoon), but I went solo to the first game. I got to the park an hour early and spent some time watching Gibson and CJ Wilson warming up. They both started with about 15 minutes of long toss, and then ventured over to their respective bullpens. Here, they gradually ramped up the velocity of their pitches under the watchful eyes of their pitching coaches, and each threw about 150 warm up pitches...at least 50-75 seemed to be at full velocity. It made me wonder about the magic 100 pitch count and the impact of the pre-game warm up on this barrier. If pitches during the game have such great importance in determining how long a pitcher can go, why don't full-bore pre-game pitches count? Or do they? Put another way, if a pitcher significantly reduced his pre-game warm up, say 75 easy throws and 25 full velocity, isn't it logical to assume he could go much further in a game...i.e. perhaps the arbitrary barrier might increase to 125 or more instead of 100? Bert Blyleven is fond of talking about how much sturdier pitchers were in his day and how many more complete games there were. Could it be that pitchers back then just weren't leaving as much in the bullpen, and hadn't thrown as many total pitches by the time the 8th inning rolled around? Pitchers aren't trying to learn how to pitch in the bullpen...they're merely warming up and fine tuning their mechanics. Perhaps they can achieve these goals in a more compact fashion, and have more left in the tank when the game begins. I had baseball practice in Irvine the morning after this game, and I had a chance to talk about this with a couple pitchers in my league. Both of them scratched their heads in a "never thought of that" way, and agreed that 50-75 all-out warm up pitches would have an impact on their in-game durability. What do you guys think? Have I just unlocked the secret to pitchers being able to go deeper into games, like they did in the good old days?

I was chatting with his grandpa during the at bat, and he was disgusted. Said gardy should bench him

THAT will be some valuable information! Okay, off to the game...I'll try to bring home a winner tonight. But I'm not responsible if Gibson spent his off day golfing again.

Clearly the typing monkey was sending a message that Gibson strikes out 13 tonight. I wasn't feeling too confident about tonight until now! In other news, I could have walked down the 5 from LA faster than I drove it today.

I don't know if you've experienced this, Brandon, but I don't find that the Twins are a big draw in Anaheim...great for buying walkup tickets or even below face value ones on the street!

Yeah, it's a pretty stadium all right...just a little tame as a baseball experience. 2002 still makes me a little sick to my stomach when I think of that great home run slugger Adam Kennedy.

As a SoCal transplant, I savor every opportunity to see my beloved nine when they come to town, so I plan to be at all three games this week. While most sports venues in California are great game experiences (Staples Center has it all over Target Center, and AT&T park is wonderful), the Big A is an exception. This is Orange County, where blandness was invented, and the crowds reflect the county. Lily-white and as un-rabid as any baseball fans I have ever seen. And then there is that annoying Rally Monkey... Having said that, I have had three unique baseball experiences at the Big A. Years ago on a vacation to SoCal, my son and I were at the infamous Joe Niekro sandpaper game. Fun to be there during that historic moment! What many don't remember was that Niekro was terrible that day, and he got tossed out with the Twins far behind. It turns out that it was the best thing that could have happened to us, because Dan Schatzeder came in and pitched several good inning while the Twins chipped away at the deficit, and the Twins eventually prevailed! My second unique experience happened during the same series. I don't remember the details, but a Twins' batter hit a line drive off the fence which ricocheted off the right fielder's face and over the fence. The umpire correctly signaled a ground rule double, and TK came out to argue for a HR...albeit without much intensity. My son and I still talk about the "face-rule double" play. My third Big A experience, unique to me at least, was watching Jared Weaver no hit our hapless hitters two summers ago...let's hope that doesn't happen Thursday. I have to admit that despite the 4-game winning streak, I don't enter this series with a great deal of optimism. The Angels hit and field better than we do, and they pitch much better. Josh Hamilton is heating up, and the pitching matchups look unfavorable. Mauer has just started to hit, but he is 2-22 off of Wilson (as is Suzuki). And Arcia isn't likely to snap out of his funk against the tough-against-lefties Wilson. Further, after Wilson we get a 7-2 pitcher followed by Weaver. I would be happy with winning one of the next three, but I'll be cheering for a sweep of course! I think it's time for Kendrys (both of them) to step up against his former teammates. Very important series for the Twins as we sit only 3.5 games behind the Angels in the wild card standings. It's a tough matchup for us, but I think it's time for us to prove that we are contenders. Go Twins (and %&@# the rally monkey)!

Never in doubt...

That's the one that took me from "okay, these are kind of cute" to "ick, I need to take a shower"

Okay, we tolerated Perk's "blown save to allow him to get the win" bit last night, but we're not going to be so tolerant today.

These Direct TV "wires" ads are beyond creepy...they can stop now.

Correia so close to getting the ERA below 5. Isn't that kind of the Mendoza line for pitchers?

Ha, now it works! Let's keep this between us, but I'm strangely aroused...love those biceps!

Counting this one, four out of KC's past 5 outings have been outstanding. Three weeks ago I was calling for his head. Just another on a long list of things I have been wrong about in this crazy backward season.

Attachment didn't work, but I'm imagining a photo of a woman of a certain age at a bar smiling at me through her dentures. Close?

78 and gorgeous here today, but it is every day. Looks pretty nice in Mpls today too.

Oh, I like how this inning has gone...great to see Joe-Joe drive a ball with runners on! Hoping Dozier didn't take that one on the hand...

Dunn trying to make my previous post look really dumb

I missed the first three innings and apparently KC wasn't too sharp, but he's really looked good in the 4th and 5th. Keep it up, cuz we're going to get some more runs against this Brazilian. A Whities sweep would be terrific!

I remember how unhappy a lot of the Sox were when Esco went in the trade...very popular guy in the dugout. and now that he's hitting and playing adequate defense, it must feel even worse for them.

Good call on the connection between Perk's high pitches and lingering back problems. Let's hope for a blowout tomorrow and an off day Monday to heal up a little. No error on Willy on that one, but I think there should have been one. That ball is caught 95% of the time by typical LFers. Too bad, cuz it cost Perk an earned run and a save. But...he got the win instead!

I'm glad the Whitie's manager doesn't know Santana is hitting .423 right-handed. I smell a walk-off here...

Yeah, bullpen is a little thin. Can our collective hearts take Deduno in the 10th?