jimbo92107

Beer ball pitch, meet beer ball swing. Mercedes did not break an honor rule. In the Astudillo case, the Twins put a guy in that decide to throw sugar donuts. Most "emergency" pitchers at least throw the ball hard, which is more in line with "unwritten rules." If Torts throws an eephus to embarrass the Sox hitters, it is their option to smash it into the upper deck, if they can. Now, if the guy laid down a bunt, that would be breaking a rule. See the difference?

That's a horrible pitching motion. Looks like it's guaranteed to wreck every moving part in his upper body, as well as produce pitches scattered all over the place. Why has Canterino's motion not been majorly re-trained? Where are the professional coaches?

If perfect human happiness is 100 psi, Twins fans have been hovering around 30 psi for the last month. A full-team effort win like this puts at least another 35 psi into the Happiness Tire. Congratulations to Bailey Ober, whose stuff and command looks like it will play in the majors. Time will tell if his command and K/BB rate puts him in the middle or back of a starting rotation. He throws a lot of strikes. Congratulations to Miguel Sano. His struggles are well documented, but I don't think his level of effort has ever been in doubt. Today it all came together. May he have many more great days at the plate. Congratulations to Jorge Polanco. Like a lot of Twins, he has been struggling to find his game. Lately he has been getting better, and today he crushed a pitch (batting lefty) to win a game. Skol Twins! Pump that tire and plug the holes!

The Andrus flop was hilarious. Most of these guys are superior athletes that you couldn't knock over if you got a full running start. Suddenly one of them falls down from the merest suggestion of contact with the catcher. Call it cheating if you want, but you can bet the A's fans were cheering and laughing. A well-executed flop is every bit as artful as a wide receiver pushing off just with his elbow. Yes, it's cheating. Yes, they sometimes get caught. Yes, it's part of the game. Rortvedt's error in the rundown was simple: You're supposed to run as fast as you can at the runner, with the ball held next to your cheek, wrist back. If the runner makes a full brake for third, you snap a throw to the baseman, sticking your two fingers in his eyes. Then you're supposed to circle around the play to get ready for the next round. The rookie catcher instead followed the play, allowing Andrus the opportunity to execute his flop. The reason the flop worked was typical sleight of hand. The umpire's attention was split between the guy with the ball and the runner. When Andrus suddenly slipped on an invisible banana peel, the ump automatically assumed that Rortvedt had knocked him down. Well played, Elvis.

Clearly this season we will need to derive our satisfactions from little victories. Today the team won, and Miguel Sano vanquished his personal demon, at least for one day. The fact that his homer sailed over the right field fence is significant in that the team wants him to be able to hit the ball where it is pitched, not just try to pull everything. After David Ortiz went to Boston and became Big Pappy, he ragged on the Twins for trying to make him an "all-fields hitter," as if that was a bad thing. Well, just like Sano, Ortiz had plenty of strength to hit homers oppo. He just didn't do it. Even so, if pitchers are constantly tickling the outside edge to get you out, at some point a hitter must adjust, even if that means collecting a mere single to opposite field. Even Ortiz was forced to admit, later in his career, that the Twins were right to show him how to collect oppo hits. Some of those hits drove in runs that won games, just as sure as his homers did. Miguel Sano's power exceeds even that of Big Pappy. When Sano goes oppo, the ball will clear the fence, sometimes even when he doesn't quite get all of it. He doesn't need to settle for mere singles in that direction. If the Twins have been tinkering with Sano's swing, it's probably with oppo power in mind. He needs to punish pitchers that refuse to come inside. Speaking of which, I just checked the video of Sano's game-winning tater. Yup, it was a 95 mph heater on the outside edge. Boom, opposite field home run. Let the punishment begin.

Simple question. Given the self-interest of the team, should the Twins organization seek to partner with the city/state gov't to offer free vaccine shots to fans that have not yet had one? Probably this would limit the choice to the J&J single-shot vaccine, which also is easier to store than the other two. This would be a positive public relations move, plus it would of course help the state of Minnesota achieve a higher level of overall immunity from the Covid virus.

If you're talking about presenting stats with charts and graphs, Jax might want to look into another language, Python.

This is exactly what makes baseball so great. Either you win and feel good for yourself, or you lose, and by doing so you make your opponents very happy. Either way, happiness is created by the grand old game of baseball!

I've noticed that the new site also lags significantly during processing time, like after you hit Save on a comment. It's gonna take a while, possible a couple months before they get it mostly smoothed out. For an initial release, this is working very well.

Signing in was a bit of a hassle because extending my username to be my email address meant that I had to reset my password. After that, it said "Something went wrong" again, but I noticed I was logged in, so I clicked the good old logo and wheeee, a populated website! Perfect choice for the font. This is an easy read variety with an explicit curl on the end of the lower case l. Helps us bad spellers differentiate our 1, capital I, and small l. Definitely easier on the eyes, thank you. The color scheme and spacing seems more upbeat, a bit cheerier. We may need that desperately, along with convenient links to puppies, kitties, cheerleaders, cannabis dispensaries and psychotherapists before this season is done. If the Twins get buried by Detroit again...quick, show me that kooky squirrel! The new site looks good. May it serve you well.

Tempted to be optimistic about Shoemaker, but he was facing the lowly Tigers, not a good team. Best sign of this game was Kepler's two dingers. If Der Kid has found his home run stroke, we have seen before what he can do. He could have a two-week stretch where he's tearing the cover off the ball. When that happens, teams will walk him every at bat, so you follow Kep with your second hottest hitter. Another good game for Garlick. Could be a gamer. How is Stashak still on the active roster? Is there seriously nobody in the minors that will not walk two guys, then serve up a cookie?

I would rather stumble on bells and whistles than walk barefoot on a Lego. Forward, march!

Almost agree. Still early, but I'd keep Garlick around over Rooker. Don't know what's wrong with Kep - either he's lost enthusiasm for baseball (a German immigrant??), or he's hiding a sore back. He's not swinging hard anymore. Agree that Arraez today is better than Polanco, Luis to 2B. He seems to mesh better with Simmons anyway. Don't know if I'd bring up Larnach if Kep is put on IL or something. Maybe bring up Celestino for a faster corner and to give Buck a break now and then. I would cut Cave. We have seen his ceiling and his floor. We can do better with guys in the organization. We also know that three of the guys that missed today's game (Alex, Turts, Luis) were getting hits, while their replacements were not, and that includes Sano.

If Vanimal is right, I agree completely. If he is wrong, then the degree of my disagreement will vary depending on how wrong he is. ;-) Like most of us, I realize there is a certain amount of hopeful hype invested in an organization's minor leaguers. If only this guy could learn to lay off the curve / throw a better curve, he'd be a big star. In seasons leading up to the pandemic we have seen what usually happens. The guy simply can't throw that curve for strikes, or he throws them for strikes...right down the middle. Turns out that making it in the show takes more than making a baseball curve. Gotta throw it where you want, when you want, no matter the situation. What we discovered was that almost all the best relievers the Twins found in the minors were unable to make the needed pitches on demand. Nevertheless, the Twins should do this again. Call up the best relief specialists from AAA and AA. See if just one of them has the stuff to stick. After that, go ahead and sell half the farm for a couple veteran relievers.

When Simmons's throw bounced under Kirilloff's glove, I thought, "Herbie would have got that." So would Justin Morneau, or Mauer. Time for K to field a thousand more jugs balls fired at the ground around 1st base. Gotta keep that bat in the lineup. I feel a little bad for Jake Cave. He's got the look of a guy that's soon to be replaced by Garlick or somebody else. Anybody else think Arraez battle at home plate looked familiar?

I like this recap much better, thank you. First, about the Sano situation. Ain't no way Sano is bumping Kirilloff from the batting order. K's bat has made that decision already. At this point I could see the Twins cutting Cave (still a good 4th OF) to keep Kirilloff or Garlick in LF when Sano gets back, with plenty of time off for the big guy to play DH or spell Donaldson at 3rd. The bats I saw today were terrifying, and would have been even more so with Garlick in LF instead of Cave. I had no idea Andrelton Simmons could hit a baseball that far. I wonder if Max Kepler could learn a few things about power hitting by watching Alex Kirilloff in the batting cage. When you compare the two, Kepler's style looks downright dainty compared to the manly rips Kirilloff takes. Relief pitching: This game provided some much-needed low leverage relief pitching. Hansel Robles took advantage to flash some good stuff, but the real winner was Jorge Alcala, who looks like he's starting to believe in himself. Alcala has the stuff to be a lights-out closer, and he showed that stuff today. Bank this experience for future, tighter games. Prediction: Ben Rortvedt is going to develop into one hell of a good catcher, including a good hitter. That kid looks like a dominant athlete. However, his hit tool will take a long time to develop. Luckily, he can now watch an entire team full of baseball mashers, and decide which ones to model his swing after. I recommend Kirilloff.

Sure, why not Dobnak? Team's got more data on him at the mlb level than any other candidate. He is young, strong, intelligent, and his stuff produces a lot of ground balls. Dobnak has also been developing strike-out stuff, and it has been starting to show. Tell you what - short leash starts for a few games, with long relievers ready to go. If Dobbs flounders, then it's time to go fishing in the minors. Basically you're swapping roles with Shoemaker, assuming the Twins don't just release the old dog.

If you flirt with disaster long enough, eventually you'll get a date. That's what Matt Shoemaker teaches us. His fringy stuff reminds me of a few veterans the Twins have brought in for a one-year deal, then regretted it.

I turned on the game just in time to see one play: Donaldson smashes a line drive, pitcher Brady Singer tries to field it behind the back with his foot. I thought, "That's what you get for playing high school soccer."

The particular lineup we saw today should be tough to beat. Lots of home run potential, and the infield should be great. Also good to see Happ pitch another effective game. Maybe the breaks are starting to even out.

Oscillations are a simple idea. Over time, something goes up and down. A little higher, then a little lower, etc. Over a long enough time, you can draw a line that equally divides the high from the low, to get an average. The Minnesota Twins are definitely swinging very low lately. If you are averaging fewer than 4 runs per game while allowing more than 6, you are going to lose a lot of games. Questions: Are Twins hitters historically better than this? Yes, much better. Are the Twins pitchers historically better than this? Starters, yes. Relievers, hard yes. Have Twins coaches been better than this? Yes, Rowson appeared to have the whole team hitting. An upward oscillation is likely, at least for the hitters. Keep practicing, keep following a good process. It finally worked for Buxton. Meanwhile, the bullpen could definitely use some substitutions, starting with Colome, Stashak and Thiebar. Jhoan Duran, Jordan Balazovic and Matt Canterino could replace them, or whoever is the best reliever in the system. Maybe a trio of hard throwing talent can swing this line back in a positive direction. You can see it in a player's face, whether they are feeling pressure or are applying pressure. Time for the Twins to start applying pressure.

Just watched Stashak's 7th inning. Yeah, he's trying (and failing) to hide some kind of pain in his throwing arm. He can't throw the heat because it takes max effort, so he's trying to ease a get-me-over slider for strikes. Problem is, even the slider takes max effort to get that hard break. A soft-breaking slider tends to go the other way at high speed. Sorry kid, careful mechanics won't fix a tear in the rotator cuff, or a sprung elbow. Twins need to get this guy an MRI to see what's hurt.

Looking for bright notes... hmm. I will say Kirilloff looks competent at the plate. Like several other Twins, he made good contact, but drove fly balls straight at outfielders. Odds are that some of those drives will fall between the fielders at some point. Pineda looked like average Pineda, except he wasn't moving the ball around enough. Is that the catcher's fault?

Trick for Gordon is to be silky smooth in the field, then at least look competent at the plate, like he has a plan and tries to execute. Just the opposite for Kirilloff. He needs to look really good at the plate, and then at least serviceable in the field. Meanwhile, I really hope the Twins are ready to play musical chairs with the bullpen. Colome is making opponents very happy. Maybe invent an injury for him and bring up Duran.

Wow, what a long, strange road it has been for Nick Gordon. He just seemed to disappear off the prospect radar after that blow to the knee. One thing after another kept going wrong. I didn't know he kept his average in the upper .200's for such a long time. Maybe finally Nick Gordon's bad luck is behind him. May the future grant him a bunch of healthy years. By this time he should be a pretty darn slick infielder.