jimbo92107

Wow, that one needed a flight attendant. Impressive BP fastball by Tonkin.

I think Bremmer said Sano fires it at about 95 mph. Jack Morris did not correct him, so maybe he really is throwing it harder than Duffey's fastball. Sano has always been said to have a major gun. Maybe that's why the Twins thought he could be another Michael Cuddyer in RF. That experiment did not go well.

Kepler apologizes to Duffey, "I'm sorry to make you wait so long to go back out there." Duffey: "That's alright, Max. I'll deal with it."

Kepler dingadoppelgangerhomer! Der Kid go Bang! Happy is the werld!

Why didn't the guy on 2nd go to 3rd on that huge, high throw to home?

Pitcher did the smart thing: Walked Sano to let in just one run.

I just laughed, "Oh sh**," after Dick said, "Now the bases are loaded for Sano..." and no outs.

Seems like Duffey is still feeling for the right form. He's trying to get extra mustard on his heater, but he's falling off towards first, which flattens out his stuff. Flat stuff for Duffey is a very bad thing. His success depends on having a high release point and getting a downward plane. BTW, hitters recognize when Duffey flies open early on his heater, and they don't swing because they know that pitch is going to sail. When he shows that left hip a little longer, everything gets better. There's even a drill for that for kid pitchers. You stand them in front of a fence and have them drive their lead hip into the fence, staying sideways. A kid actually showed me that drill. Great idea.

This game's got a little of everything. Ranger blunders, Twins thunder, good and bad pitching from Duffey, and an unexpected power outage from what's supposed to be a great Rangers lineup. The best part is the hitting of Kepler, Buxton and Sano. Very encouraging. Plus good fielding by Sano at 3rd; he belongs there. Time to trade Plouffe.

If I was calling balls and strikes, I'd have a Roman shield in front of me. Screw those puny little pads!

Duffey is flying open again, slinging the ball flat. He's got to stay square, show that left hip a little longer, quit falling off towards first base. Ha! Jack Morris just said what I was typing. Great minds drink a lot!!

You might want to watch the whole game. This one's a hysterical laffer.

I could be wrong, but I think this Sano kid has a chance to be pretty good.

Byron Buxton flying around the bases, arms flailing from just too much speed. This season is a dumpster fire, but we're starting to see the kids show why this team has a bright future.

Duffey is now standing taller on the mound. Problem solved. He looks great when he stands upright. Better snap, harder to read, better downward slant. Now we might see him put up a bunch of 0's. Good thing the Twins coaches follow this thread!

Max derkidgobumen! Eine kline mashenballen!

Duffey needs to stand taller on the mound. He's stooping over, which results in a round-house motion that flattens out his curve ball. Stand tall, square off that front shoulder, drive towards home. That'll get his release point a few inches higher, and allow his fingers to snap over the ball, not around the outside. Duffey needs to get vertical tilt on his curve, that's what gets all the whiffs.

Miguel Sano hasn't been hitting yet, but he looks very comfortable at 3rd base. I'd leave him there.

Duffey's not throwing across his body enough. The ball is not sinking enough. Rockets to come...

If it doesn't do any good, then why send anybody down to AAA to work on their hitting? After initially surprising us with hot hitting in April, Park did what most of us expected him to do - he started to struggle with the enhanced difference between MLB fastballs and off-speed stuff. Since that time he has fallen into the worst kind of plan - trying not to guess, just reacting. That puts him into timing no-man's land, where he's late on heaters and too quick on off-speed. Truth is, MLB hitters sell out pretty much on every pitch. The art of hitting appears to be a kind of poker game, where you have to make a call before each pitch what you think that pitch is going to be, location, speed and spin. When you combine that with really good recognition of any physical cues you can gather, a really good hitter is right about half the time, allowing him to mash the ball as if he knew beforehand where it was going to be. If you don't play this game of poker, you wind up looking like Byung Ho Park - like you have no idea what's coming, and are trying to react to complete randomness. Of course, the distribution of pitches is never random. It depends on what the pitcher throws best, the catcher's call, etc. It could take Park quite a while to evaluate how pitchers are attacking him and come up with a better predictive game. The best place to do that is AAA, where pitchers are a bit more predictable, and the pressure is much lower.

Have to agree with Dick that...excuse me...gagging... Taylor Rogers is one of the few bright spots of this dismal season. Rogers does appear to be developing good command at the mlb level.

Plouffe Plonks!

Fielder better get a good break if he wants to steal second on Suzuki's bazooka arm.

Pretty much agreed. Buxton clearly is a hard worker, but the finer nuances of the game are coming slowly for him. By far the most difficult aspect is formulating a plan for each pitch of each at bat, followed by his swing mechanics, which are still too long, plus he's chopping down over the ball rather than flicking the bat head outwards to get back-spin and pop. Finally, he still doesn't bunt nearly as well as some pitchers do, which is entirely unacceptable for a man with Buxton's game-changing speed. On top of all that, as a runner Buxton still hasn't developed base stealing skills at the MLB level, where pitchers and catchers (other than the Twins) are much better at holding runners than are guys in AAA. He's got a lot of things to learn, but mostly the prognosis is good. Buxton can learn better base stealing technique from Molitor. Hitting mechanics should eventually come around, with enough help from Bruno. The question with Buxton is confidence. If he continues to flail and strike out too much at this level, will he lose the foundation of confidence that he can get better? If he starts looking defeated, then send him down, but not yet. I have seen better technique on the bases. His bunting is up and down, but clearly he's working on it. I'm sure Bruno will keep reminding him to turn his back and hit outwards through the ball, don't try to pull everything like Dozier. Through it all, they've got to keep encouraging him to believe that he can get better. I was watching a Buxton at-bat yesterday when a stray thought drifted through my mind: "This guy is going to be a great hitter." When it happens I'm not sure, but there's something about Buxton that makes me think he's going to realize all the potential the scouts saw in him. He's very determined, that's for sure.

I'm actually optimistic about this team's long-term prospects, unless they start trading away their top youngsters. But you have to concede that for the next couple years, this team is going to look like a bunch of guys transitioning from AAA to the majors. Forget about playoffs with this group, it's far too soon. They may start coming together sometime around 2018, but probably not before. For that reason they should trade or DFA as many veteran players as possible right now, and then start playing younger guys. Don't bring in any more mediocre pitchers or players from other teams. Use the mediocre players from our own system. Might as well get started.