Sam Morley

What change? and why? A different GM, right? Maybe a different manager, not from inside? I do want some clarity here. People want change because of the last four or five seasons of losing? I hear people say no other team would tolerate so many successive seasons of losing without making changes in management. Or, do people want change want it because of specific mistakes made by management? I said, earlier in this thread that my only big criticism of TR is when the team was good, he didn't do enough (anything) to make it better. It seemed like we were always one or two pieces away from being competitive in the post season, but the management was content with division titles. To me, the previous four-five seasons of losing are a function of rebuilding the minor league system. I think it's well worth enduring the losing seasons for the result of a stocked farm system. I think this is the way to achieve sustained success. I've come to appreciate the Twins' "family-style" approach to management. It makes me feel like I'm rooting for real people, not some abstract idea of the Twins represented by a jersey. The team/organization are the actual people that compose it. TR is a part of the Twins. Ron Gardenhire is a part of the Twins. Paul Molitor is a part of the Twins. Joe Mauer is a part of the Twins. All the former players and Minnesotans on the broadcast crews are part of the Twins. I don't just want to see the Twins win the World Series, I want to see the people who are the Twins win the World Series. Don't get me wrong, I'd be very happy to see the Twins win the World Series with any collection of players and management, but for me it would be much much better to see Joe Mauer win the World Series with the Twins. From what I can tell, the Twins family/loyalty approach toward management does extend to the players as well. If anything, I wish it did even more so. I think loyalty results in a better product, and I think in this era it's really difficult to foster. I think the loyalty makes the players feel like they are a part of something. I think it leads to them making stronger and more lasting connections in the community. Players seem to like being a part of the organization so much that in the rare event someone gets treated with some measure of disloyalty, they are seriously offended for years. Papi has held a serious grudge his whole career, and Carlos Gomez too. Speaking of Papi, there's your specific mistake. Anyway, I try to remind myself that when I root for a team, I'm rooting for the players who are on that team as much as the colors and the history of the team. I'm glad the Twins make this easier. I reason that the players are playing for the team, for each other, and that they want to win for themselves, for each other, for the team- all the more so if the team has treated them with respect. I don't think the players are playing for me, a fan. The team plays because that's what it does. It doesn't play for me. It's not trying to win for me, for the fans. As for the notion of firing Molitor, mid-season or after: they won't, and that's good. Even if it were a good decision baseball-wise (which it probably isn't) it would be dishonorable and disgraceful. It would be extremely disrespectful to Molitor, a Hall-of-Famer, a former Twin, and a Minnesota native. I don't think, in the grand scheme of things, any management direction alternative to Molitor is worth the disrespect. Personally, my preference at the time of the search for Gardy's replacement was Mientkewitcz, but whatever, Molitor is the guy, and he's fine, and he's an all-time great, so that's cool too- all the better if it's him that brings home a title. I think the Twins will return to winning baseball in the next few seasons, and I think they are building to stay a winning team for several seasons beyond. I think watching those teams is going to be extremely gratifying and fun because they will be comprised of players we have watched the organization draft and develop, and it will be fun to have a hall of famer minnesota native at the helm. As for TR, I hope he's still the guy when his work comes to fruition, and this time I hope he's ready and willing to make the little tweaks and additions necessary to win it all. I'll have to reserve my judgement of him until then.

I'd say, everyone on this list, with the exceptions of Mauer, Park, and maybe Dozier, is a placeholder. I believe that the team is committed to the rebuild in process via the farm system and prospect development. So, somebody has to play the games while we wait for the youngsters. Everyone on the list, with the exceptions of Nolasco and Park, contributed to last season's push for the playoffs. From the point of view that they are placeholders, it would've been a remarkable achievement of management had they made the playoffs (where anything can happen, even the Royals winning the world series). When they were in the midst of the push, it was tormenting for me, a bystander with no responsibility in the matter, to decide what I thought Ryan should do- should he make deals to improve the team and increase chances for the playoff push, or should he hold steady on the rebuild front? If he had gone for it, and the team had made the playoffs, we would be sitting here now in the same situation, but with a far less stoked farm system. In my opinion, it would have only been worth it in exchange for a real shot at the world series. Losing Hu to gain Jepsen might not have been worth it. I've only ever had one general significant criticism of Ryan. In the seasons when the Twins were making the playoffs and getting eliminated in the first round, I don't think he did enough (anything) to make the team into a playoff competitor. He didn't do it mid season, and he didn't do it in the off season. The starting rotations of those teams were built to get through the season, but didn't have the talent to compete in the playoffs when everybody steps it up a notch. Ryan has done an excellent job building the current farm system. I am very excited about more players than the MLB team has room for. I am hoping that Ryan has learned something from the failures of the playoff teams of the 2000s, and that when the team is good again with the talent he's amassed, he doesn't make the same mistakes. I'm willing to wait and see. It doesn't make any sense to have someone build something and then dismiss them right before their efforts come to fruition, especially with the risk of their replacement ruining everything.

After Hughes performance tonight, hopefully, he is hurt and heading to the DL. Otherwise, what a disgusting outing. So, maybe we'll see Meyer back in short notice after all. I thought Molitor was too quick to pull him last night, especially after he got a couple outs. Molitor went for the lefty-lefty matchup with Milone though, which seems pathetic in the third inning. But maybe Meyer was out of gas. His fastballs had dropped down into the 93 mph range. The whole thing was disappointing because he was pitching pretty well. The Castro HR was a fly out. The first walk I don't remember, but the second one was tough- it came to a full count, and Altuve checked his swing on what was called ball four, without an appeal- I thought he went (but even if he didn't, it was still a good pitch to a great hitter). The wild pitch to Rasmus was unfortunate. Berrios struck him out three times on the same pitch the night before. Also, I thought the strike zone was even more inconsistent than it was the first game of the series. So all that made the demotion even more disappointing. I thought there was enough good in his start to build on in a succeeding start. I thought he was close to a breakthrough. Clearly, there is a problematic trend with the way some of the young prospects have been used this season: Polanco, Kepler, and Meyer all being called up to limited use. Kepler is struggling since being back at Rochester. On a positive note, Buxton hit a homerun yesterday, and his hitting like 280, so at least he's headed in a good direction.

dang it

...or maybe you're saying that the Twins should be calling Lenny Webster out of retirement, not Torii Hunter!

yeah, that's what I meant when I said what's happening is crazy: to lose nine in a row is crazy, to lose nine in a row to start the year is crazy. It's crazy for a bad team... and this isn't a bad team. but your sound logic and application of probability is a welcome check to my emotional intuition. it also feels like losing nine to start is worse than a nine game losing streak later in the season. Maybe it just feels like that now. I might need another dose of advanced statistics to combat all these feelings I'm having...

my point is that I don't see Dozier being the vocal leader that Hunter was, even though he seems to be the most natural fit for that role, and I'm just speculating as to why he might be struggling to fulfill the role. It is difficult to be a vocal leader, to do those things I listed, when you are really struggling yourself. My point is that if you're the leader, you have to be it despite your poor batting average. Hunter did have the luxury of being the emotional leader of the team without having to carry very much performance weight and responsibility. Dozier certainly has more performance responsibility than Hunter did last year. It's not really fair to Dozier that almost everyone else is sucking too. It really puts the magnifying glass that much more on the team's perceived leader. Obviously, the whole thing is mute, because Hunter isn't on the team. Hopefully, the team's recent struggles will birth the next natural leader of the team; these situations have the potential to do that. Batting averages and Torii Hunter aside, do you think this team, right now, has a leader, a vocal leader, an emotional leader? Do you think it's Brian Dozier? Someone else? Do you think a team needs that type of leader? I guess these are the types of situations- an 0-9 start- where a good leader can keep the team from really falling into the abyss, and I'm worried we don't have that guy.

I don't know, I agree with him. I think if Torii Hunter was on this team, we would not 0-9. I can't substantiate that claim. Leadership isn't quantifiable. I would say that his leadership did vanish, though, yes. This team does not have a leader. Mauer is doing the best he can at leadership (leading by example) and that's it. Seems like Dozier was in line to take over for Torii. But it's pretty tough to be a vocal leader when you're batting 160 or whatever. One, would Torii be batting 160? I don't think so, but it's possible. Two, if he was, it would not affect his confidence or his ability to be the vocal leader of the team. What does a vocal leader even do in this situation? Get pissed and fired up, get in guys' faces? Keep things loose and light, not let guys get down? Both? Sounds like Torii Hunter to me. Is Brian Dozier doing that stuff? Somebody else?

I agree. This is the most concerning thing to me in terms of management. It smells of irrational bias against Arcia. I'm about to say something irrational myself now, but it's how I feel, so bear with me: The Twins know Arcia is talented, but they don't like him. They don't like him because he is a fiery, emotional, free-swinging, Latino power hitter who is a little indifferent to playing quality defense. This is not to say that their dislike is personal, but more so that it is based on some un-stated concept of the ideal Twins player. But! maybe it is personal! And maybe they are railroading his career out of spite by neither playing him- nor releasing him, because they know he is talented and will likely go crush for some team that can handle his passion and make them look stupid and stiff and old-fashioned (in a bad way) for the next fifteen years ala David Ortiz! (of course, secretly, or not so secretly, they are doing the same thing to Miguel Sano by jerking him around- hey, big guy you're going to play outfield now with no preparation, and you're still going to hit third in the order, with Trevor Plouffe and Byung-Ho Park for protection- good luck!)

In no way, was this kind of start even remotely foreseeable for this team. What's happening is crazy. 7 out of 9 starters are hitting below 200 Mauer is hitting damn near 400 The pitching staff is actually keeping this team in games despite the woes of the offense- we've been blown out once. If even one of those 7 guys hitting under 200 was hitting say 250, we'd have at least a couple of wins, maybe even be close to 500 (if that one guy hits between Mauer and Escobar) I think optimism for this season was reasonable (maybe a little less so now). I don't think that our expectations for success, for building on last year's success were ill-founded just because we have several young players primed for regression and bound for periods of adjustment. If Dozier, Plouffe, and Suzuki were performing anywhere near league average at the plate (let alone their own historical standards) this team would be 500 or better. This lineup should be more than able to handle the developmental lumps of Sano, Rosario, and Buxton- especially given the performance of the starting pitching staff (not that we should necessarily expect that to continue). I said to my brother the other day, there's no way we'd be 0-9 if Torii Hunter was on this team. I don't know if there's a way to substantiate that claim. I mean, if we're going to sign David Murphy, did we at least give Torii a poke first?

I was handling this bad start pretty well until I saw this. What a bummer.

Where is the appropriate thread for me to say: Should've traded Plouffe so Sano can play his position; Nolasco stinks; and Park should be in AA because he's never played major league baseball before; and If we lose Arcia, he's going to go somewhere else and mash; and If Duffy isn't going to make the rotation, shouldn't Berrios. Nolasco stinks; and Nolasco stinks.

i think a different and maybe better comp to the park signing is the chris colabello signing. both are older high k power hitters from independent leagues. i think the way the twins handled cola's development is a good model for park. he should report to chattanooga. if he plays well, advance quickly. he'll see the velo in AA we're concerned he hasn't in the kbo- and we won't have to suffer the expieriment on what is going to be a competitive mlb team. nishioka shouldve reported to double a as well. i don't think any of the cuban players who've hugely successful have come over and right into the show- correct me if i'm wrong. if park does go right to the twins then i think critical nishioka comps are just- not because of their hailing from asia, but because they were both granted a free pass to the show without merit- performance in an indy league is not merit enough. obviously, it didn't take a bajillion dollars to sign cola. the money involved with getting park will pressure his advancement but i don't think it's a mandate to pencil him in for opening day. we couldn't get TR to bring up the best sp in the org during a playoff chase we lost by a game- i think he's immune to pressure.

booyah

I feel like Mauer's defense has been pretty good. I have nothing to validate that, I just feel it. I don't feel like he has been a total disappointment this season at the plate. I think he's been slumping during this bout of losing, along with pretty much everyone else, but I think his performance at the plate was positively significant during their success in May. All of Parker's analysis in this piece is fascinating. It would be interesting to split some of the highlighted stats between pre-slump and post slump and reconsider whether or not they are really indicative of overall downward trending performance, or just a regular slump. It's easy to speculate in general that the concussion is responsible for a great deal of his offensive struggle, but it's really hard to specify why. His average was good through May and he was driving in runs, so the concussion wasn't affecting him then, but now that he slumping, it is? (obviously, I'm over simplifying). If Mauer's efforts to conquer the shift by focusing on learning to pull with more frequency and authority are behind his recent struggles (and I think this is a better hypothesis than concussion) I think he has earned a significant measure of patience. I also think it will be worth the patience. I think we have seen some signs of success- both of his home runs were pulled and hit with serious authority. If you revisit those clips and freeze frame the point of contact and then freeze the follow through, it's a thing of beauty. I remember watching the second one with my brother, and him saying something like, "jeez, why doesn't he do that all the time?" which sounds sort of silly, but when you see Joe hit a homer like that, it does look like he should do it all the time. Anyway, I think that with time, the grounders he rolls over to the right side will turn into line drives and even deep flies. Mauer's swing is perfect. As Parker presented, his bat speed is fine. I think the difference between grounders and liners is subtle, and that he'll find it if he persists. I think he should persist, because the payoff is worth it. I don't think he should be working on it from the three spot. I do think the down and away calls going against him are disgusting, and I hope he sticks to his guns and keeps taking them. Don't give in to the bastards, Joe! You're Joe Mauer. You tell them where the strike zone is. Show them your batting titles and MVP trophy. (God, that would be the ultimate demonstration. The next time he gets rung up on that down and away crap, he should come back to the plate in his next at bat with his trophies, and just leave them at the plate when he gets tossed... and throw his batting gloves and jersey).

This. I would even rephrase to say that I would be relieved of ever watching the NFL again if the Vikings won a super bowl. I also agree with this: It wouldn't be magical if it were guaranteed. The magic is believing in your chances, maybe even against odds. I would give up, without hesitation but heavy heart, any of the following: Byron Buxton, Twins Daily, a Twins winning record for the next 10 years, etc, in exchange for the permanent removal of video review/challenges, the infinite promise of no pitch clock or any other clock to "speed up the game", the removal of the all-star game deciding home field advantage in the world series, and an infinitely replenishing veto card for any other nonsense the league/espn cooks up to mar the game.

anybody else have the radio broadcast on and hear Dazzle say the Cardinals are "sundamentally found."

Yeah, I thought it was hit pretty hard too. When he hit it, I thought it was going through.

Nice. That's one of my favorite stadiums. I was there five or six years ago for a series, and Nick Punto hit a home run. I think Liriano struck out Michael Young three times. He was just falling over at his change up.

I drove to Stout's on Snelling and Larpenteur with the pregame on the radio. Dazzle was introducing the national anthem as I parked. I walked to the doors with my brother, who had arrived separately. "We could be missing a diving catch," he said. We hustled up a step entering the bar, scouring the rooms for the best TV spot. None, NONE, of the TVs had the Twins game on.We sat at the bar. I can't count how many times I've gone into a bar this season and had to ask the bartender to put on the Twins game. They did have the Mets-Braves game on though, and the X-Games. I wasn't too concerned about missing anything since Buxton was batting ninth and we were away. I very well should've been concerned; by the time they changed the channel, we were watching Mauer bat with one out and a run on the board, and postulating whether Dozier or Rosario was responsible. If anyone out there in TD-land has recommendations for Twins game bar viewing in Hamline-Midway, let me know. If only there was somewhere within five minutes walking and three dollar premiums on tap... No matter. I drove to the bar to see Byron Buxton's debut, and see it I did. If I have grandchildren, I will be able to tell them all about it. And in case I forget, here is the written account. Byron Buxton is skinny. I knew that. I thought maybe the promotion would've added some bulk. Nope. It did somehow convince him to wear his pants long. Barry Bonds was pretty skinny for his debut, as was Junior. I wonder whether Buxton will stick with number 25. I don't know, I just don't feel as confident as I should about buying a jersey. On Buxton's at-bats: OK, could someone punch Nick Martinez in the face and tell him to throw the kid one, ONE, stinking fastball! Jeez. I feel like the first three ABs could be boiled down into one AB: curve ball over, taken, strike one; curve ball over, taken, strike two; curve ball over, taken, strike three. What a mind-eff. What are the rules of batting here, Ted Williams Science of Hitting style? By the time you get to that third AB, after two called first pitch curve ball strikes and two 0-2 counts, are you thinking, 'no way he does it again; he'll throw the curve, but way off the plate to see if I chase' or 'no way I let him beat me on that s@#t first pitch again.'? On the Rangers' young, speedy hotshot outfielder, Delino Deshields Jr: What was he doing there five feet away from second base to end the inning after a terrific bunt for a base hit? What was he doing running into the left field wall when he could've stopped five feet before it? What a wild game. With Fielder, Moreland, and Gallo all batting in a row, my brother said, "sheesh, how many first basemen do the Rangers have?" And we thought Leonys Martin's homer was a replay of Gallo's. I think they landed in the same damn seat. It was good to see Hughes keep it together, and keep the team in the game, but he was definitely hit hard and was bailed out by some defense- Dozier's leaping snag and DP for one; Mauer picking Deshields off 2nd after the run scored as well. As disappointing as Mauer has been at the plate since his move, he's been pretty good at first. Who would have thought that in Byron Buxton's debut, the Twins would hit four triples and none would be by Buxton. I thought I heard a blurb that only once before in history has a team hit three triples in one inning and scored only one run. I thought I also heard a blurb that maybe Escobar missed a safety squeeze sign and that's why Robinson was picked off third by Robinson. It's too bad if that's the case. A safety/suicide squeeze is such an exciting and rare play, especially for the go-ahead run. The sound was off on the TV broadcast in the bar, so I only got to see the interview with Buxton's fiancee... I think these guys are getting married waaaaayyyy too young... I was going to say something about Suzuki facing Keone Kela and it being Hawaiian vs. Hawaiian, and that being rare and cool, but I just double checked Kela's profile page and he was born in California. Casey Fien pitched really, really well. I didn't think there was any way a player would wrench the award for worst AB of the game away from Buxton's third AB, but then Justin Smolinski whiffed on a bunt, bunted foul, and swung wild and missed, tying him with probably hundreds of guys for the worst AB of all time. Personally, I hate sacrifice bunting; and I know Earl Weaver and maybe Bill James have my back. So even if Smolinski had been successful, I would've thanked him for the free out. He should've gone back to the dugout after strike two. He should've just stayed in the dugout in the first place. When Buxton squared around in his fourth AB, I'm hoping he was inspired not so much by Smolinski, but rather by Deshields' sac bunt-turned-bunt single. Somehow it ended up somewhere in the middle; a pretty god-awful bunt, but in fair play at least. They did get the lead runner which makes the free out look pretty terrible, but Buxton on first is probably just as good as anybody else on second. I know that it seems like a good idea to give up an out to move a runner from second to third when you only need one run late in the game, and I think this is one of the only situations in which sac bunting is maybe acceptable- especially if the bunter has a pretty decent shot of getting on with a decent bunt- but I think you have as good a chance getting a hit in three at-bats as you do getting a sac fly or hit in two. But, as you know, all ended well. Eddie Rosario murdered that ball to center, and Buxton scored standing from first. Probably any of our usual nine hole hitters (Santana, Hicks, Robinson, etc) would've scored, but Buxton definitely made it a no-doubter, and it was a perfect ending to the game. He's definitely the spark the Twins needed to keep things from spiraling out of control. Hopefully he can make a quick adjustment in his approach at the plate coming into a tough series against St. Louis. They are coming after you, dude, and not with fat fastballs. If only Arcia was around to tell him, "Just try to pull it every time." or Delmon to tell him, "Just go up there and try to hit the foul pole." or maybe Hicks should tell him, "Hey, you're not up here to work the count; put that first pitch hanging curve ball in the seats." One last thing, "let it Sano", please. Click here to view the article

I drove to Stout's on Snelling and Larpenteur with the pre-game on the radio. Dazzle was introducing the national anthem as I parked. I walked to the doors with my brother, who had arrived separately. "We could be missing a diving catch," he said. We hustled up a step entering the bar, scouring the rooms for the best TV spot. None, NONE, of the TVs had the Twins game on. We sat at the bar. I can't count how many times I've gone into a bar this season and had to ask the bartender to put on the Twins game. They did have the Mets-Braves game on though, and the X-games. I wasn't too concerned about missing anything though, since Buxton was batting ninth and we were away. Should've; by the time they changed the channel, we were watching Mauer bat with one out and a run on the board, and postulating whether it were Dozier or Rosario responsible. If anyone out there in TD-land has recommendations for Twins game bar viewing in Hamline-Midway, let me know. If only there was somewhere within five minutes walking and three dollar premiums on tap... No matter, I drove to the bar to see Byron Buxton's debut, and see it I did. If I have grandchildren, I will be able to tell them all about it. And in case I forget, here is the written account. Byron Buxton is skinny. I knew that. I thought maybe the promotion would've added some bulk. Nope. It did somehow convince him to wear his pants long. Barry Bonds was pretty skinny for his debut, as was Junior. I wonder whether Buxton will stick with number 25. I don't know, I just don't feel as confident as I should about buying a jersey. On Buxton's at-bats: okay, could someone punch Nick Martinez in the face and tell him to throw the kid one, ONE, stinking fastball! Jeez. I feel like the first three ABs could be boiled down into one AB: curveball over, taken, strike one; curveball over, taken, strike two; curveball over, taken, strike three. What a mind-eff. What are the rules of batting here, Ted Williams Science of Hitting style? By the time you get to that third AB, after two called first pitch curveball strikes and two 0-2 counts, are you thinking, 'no way he does it again; he'll throw the curve, but way off the plate to see if I chase' or 'no way I let him beat me on that s@#t first pitch again.'? On the Rangers' young, speedy hotshot, outfielder, Delino Deshields Jr: What was he doing there five feet away from second base to end the inning after a terrific bunt for a base hit? What was he doing running into the left field wall when he could've stopped five feet before it? What a wild game. With Fielder, Moreland, and Gallo all batting in a row, my brother said, "sheesh, how many first basemen do the Rangers have?" And we thought Leonys Martin's homer was a replay of Gallo's. I think they landed in the same damn seat. It was good to see Hughes keep it together, and keep the team in the game, but he was definitely hit hard and was bailed out by some defense- Dozier's leaping snag and DP for one; Mauer picking Deshields off 2nd after the run scored as well. As disappointing as Mauer has been at the plate since his move to first, he's been pretty good at first. Who would have thought that in Byron Buxton's debut, the Twins would hit four triples and none would be by Buxton. I thought I heard a blurb that only once before in history has a team hit three triples in one inning and only scored one run. I thought I also heard a blurb that maybe Escobar missed a safety squeeze sign and that's why Robinson was picked off third by Robinson. It's too bad if that's the case. A safety/suicide squeeze is such an exciting and rare play, especially for the go-ahead run. The sound was off on the TV broadcast in the bar, so I only got to see the interview with Buxton's fiancee... I think these guys are getting married waaaaayyyy too young... I was going to say something about Suzuki facing Keone Kela and it being Hawaiian vs Hawaiian, and that being rare and cool, but I just double checked Kela's profile page and he was born in California. Casey Fien pitched really, really well. I didn't think there was any way anyone would wrench the award for worst AB of the game away from Buxton's third AB, but then Justin Smolinski whiffed on a bunt, bunted foul, and swung wild and missed, tying him fwith probably hundreds of guys for the worst AB of all time. Personally, I hate sacrifice bunting; and I know Buck Weaver and maybe Bill James have my back. So even if Smolinski had been successful, I would've thanked him for the free out. He should've gone back to the dugout after strike two. He should've just stayed in the dugout in the first place. When Buxton squared around in his fourth AB, I'm hoping he was inspired not so much by Smolinski, but rather by Deshields' sac bunt turned bunt single. Somehow it ended up somewhere in the middle; a pretty god-awful bunt, but in fair play at least. They did get the lead runner which makes the free out look pretty terrible, but Buxton on first is probably just as good as anybody else on second. I know that it seems like a good idea to give up an out to move a runner from second to third when you only need one run late in the game, and I think this is one of the only situations in which sac bunting is maybe acceptable- especially if the bunter has a pretty decent shot of getting on with a decent bunt- but I think you have as good of a chance getting a hit in three at bats as you do getting a sac fly or hit in two. But, as you know, all ended well. Eddie Rosario murdered that ball to center, and Buxton scored standing from first. Probably any of our usual nine hole hitters (Santana, Hicks, Robinson, etc) would've scored, but Buxton definitely made it a no-doubter, and it was a perfect ending to the game. He's definitely the spark the Twins needed to keep things from spiraling out of control. Hopefully he can make a quick adjustment in his approach at the plate coming into a tough series against St. Louis. They are coming after you, dude, and not with fat fastballs. If only Arcia was around to tell him, "Just try to pull it every time." or Delmon to tell him, "Just go up there and try to hit the foul pole." or maybe Hicks should tell him, "hey, you're not up here to work the count; put that first pitch hanging curveball in the seats." One last thing, "let it Sano", please.

Sooo... thoughts on what exactly is going on in the background of the Jose Velez pic... ???

Unforgivable.

Hey, watch it. Kevin Slowey was framed!