jimbo92107

The word, "discombobulated" comes to mind. Archer's mechanics are falling apart. Odd.

Santiago's ceiling is about one foot above his floor, and that's in the mezzanine.

What?? Just when Pressly gets his command, you yank him? Paul, that's over-managing. Match-ups don't matter when Pressly is on.

I see what's keeping Pressley's fastballs straight. He strides on a straight line towards home and throws straight overhand. To create movement, he needs to stride to the right of his target, then swing his hip around, causing natural cutter motion. Then his four seamer would slide left. Combine that with a two seamer that bends right, and he could dominate. Guaranteed! ;-)

Good call to pull Santiago. He didn't have much, lucky to get away with only two runs.

Damn. I hope Nick Burdi's friends keep telling him that he'll be back. They'll fix the elbow, and his arm talent will still be there. Seems like half of all pitchers get TJ surgery these days. Are they simply trying to throw too hard? Yes, of course. Our species may have evolved to throw rocks for hunting and defense, but we did not evolve to throw as hard as possible as often as a major league pitcher does, not to mention the extra punishment from spinning a baseball in the high 80's. We are seeing more and more kids throwing fastballs in the high 90's. It is no coincidence that we are also seeing more kids tearing their elbow ligaments.

That's why there's an e but not an i in 'team.' Irrational's okay, but keep it simple.

RB, reading your stuff is a pleasure.

Yo Del Rosario, eat a sandwich!

As a trained word herder, I was impressed by May's delivery and easy command. Best part is, if you break a computer, you just buy a new one!

Totally agree. We can all see that the strength of this year's AAA and AA class is relief pitchers, partly because most of the high-talent starters are either on the DL or just not ready. Tyler Duffey is great in the pen, granted. However, in his most recent performances as a starter, without his new angle trick, he was significantly better than this year's versions of Santiago, Gibson, Hughes and Mejia. As I mentioned before, it would be much easier for the Twins to plug Duffey into the rotation, then find a couple relievers in AAA and AA to replace him, than to find a sure-fire #3, #4 or #5 starter in the minors. This year the farm has a plethora of talented relievers, but nothing much (at the moment) for starters. BTW, I acknowledge that Slegers has been good, and there might be a couple other guys that would be okay. But none of them has the kind of swing-and-miss stuff Duffey has. Start Duffey, throw Gibson in the pen, DFA Wilk, and promote Hildenberger or Boshers, or both.

A Saints game is more than a ballgame, it's a fabulous day at the park. That's what I heard, anyway...

This makes sense for two huge reasons: First, promoting successful AAA players is exactly how the system is supposed to work. We are supposed to expect a gradual flow of players from the minors to the majors. Not all of them are high-round picks (Brian Dozier), and some of them aren't even "prospects." So what? Let merit have some weight! Second, not a single guy in AAA wants to remain there a minute longer than absolutely necessary. Every one of them craves to get to The Show. Therefore, acknowledging all their hard word with well-deserved promotions will serve to motivate Twins minor league players to work their butts off with even more enthusiasm. ******BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE******** Third Bonus Reason: The Twins are owned by the Pohlad family, a group of billionaire bankers with a reputation for stinginess. Stay stingy, Pohlads! AAA guys are much, much cheaper than established veterans, and you can use them and throw them away like toilet paper! So have your GM call up these cheap, enthusiastic Question Mark players, give 'em a cuppa, see what happens! It'll be fun, I promise, and the fans will love it!

Quick impressions of expectation / reality so far this season: Pitching expected/reality so far Santana: worse/better - who expected Erv to be this good, even after a great second half? Hughes: better/worse - trying to hold on with less and less velocity, more arm troubles Gibson: better/worse - needs to assert himself on the inside half. Bullpen? Santiago better/same - outcomes seem random, an enigma Berrios: better/much better - not a fluke, this is a star emerging Mejia: better/better - various experts predict he will become a horse, eventually. Looks legit. Duffey: better/better - found a better angle to pitch righties, now the best in the pen. Starter? Rogers: better/better - gradually stronger, improving his repertoire. At some point a starter candidate. Belisle: same/same - known quantity, average quality. Breslow: same/slightly better - lower arm angle and pivot stride makes movement, but control issues. Haley: na/better - rule 5 guy has good zap, down plane. Kintzler: same/better - no big heater, but razor command of outside corner with his 2-seam. Pressly: better/same - still inconsistent, but the stuff is still electric. Wilk: bad/bad - we see flashes of dominance, but then he'll throw a cookie. Boom. Position players expected/reality so far Castro: same/better - so much better than Suzuki. I forgot what a league average catcher looked like. GiMENez: same/same - classic backup catcher, good glove, not much bat. Garver might do better. Adrianza: na/better - unknown coming off injury, has been playing like a good starter. Great D. Dozier: worse/worse - bat's been relatively cold so far. He sure got hot second half last year... Escobar: same/worse - tough read, he's still a super-sub, but Granite might be better, cheaper. Mauer: same/better - Mauer has made himself a gold glove 1B, and his hitting is better than last year. Polanco: better/much better - start him, leave him. Makes plays in all aspects of the game. Sano: better/much better - leave him at 3rd, please! Learning to dominate the league. Fun to watch. Buxton: better/better - don't expect sudden leaps in improvement. Great D, slowly improving offense. Kepler: better/better - better and better every year, every month. Awesome to watch a star emerge. Rosario: better/same - such talent, so little plate discipline. Eddie, walks are a good thing!! Grossman: same/much better - was a 1st rounder. Finally looking like one? Vargas: better/better - Vargas 2.0 has a short, compact swing, good glove at 1st. Mini Papi. The team I just described (badly) is not a bad team, it's a team with potential to kick some butt. The starters are still dubious, but not at the top. Santana and Berrios should stay good. If Mejia continues to improve, that could give the Twins 3 horses in the starting 5. According to LaTroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado, it's just a matter of time and learning to relax out there. Surprisingly good defense, surprisingly good offense, and just enough good pitching to keep them in games is what we've been seeing so far. Pretty soon the offense and defense won't be surprising. This is a team on the rise.

Seth, is Alex Robinson another Sam Deduno? Great movement, no command?

Berrios looks like he regrouped. He's as dominant in the sixth inning as he was in the first.

Five pitches to Sano, not a single one in the strike zone. Every pitch was outside, outside, outside. Miguel, you gotta take yer walks.

Come on Sano, just a little bingo...

Ah, a relaxing inning for Berrios. Well, for us watching Berrios. Nice curve, clever change-up, keeping that fastball low. That's fun to watch.

Too bad Berrios wasn't feeling that bender earlier. Heck of a pitch.

Letting Baltimore hang around too long. Berrios better be good this next inning.

Orioles outfielders are chewing on their clown shoes.

See if Buck bothers Tillman on the mound, tee-hee!

Pitcher beat Buxton, but he runs faster than a normal human.

I'd say this is the classic error of explaining the joke, but sometimes the joke is on the joker.