Doubles

I had surgery to repair a torn labrum. The injury itself was no fun, the surgery was no fun, and the recovery was no fun. Still have limited range of motion / mobility with that shoulder today. Mine was on my non-throwing shoulder, luckily. I can't even fathom trying to throw, much less pitch, with a torn labrum. Always admired Brad Radke for that.

Hopefully this team can find The Fire Inside, else management may go for a complete Shakedown if the results are Still the Same. Who knows, maybe Paul will tired of playing the role of Beautiful Loser, and ask management at season's end to Roll Me Away.

First off, that's a fine rant right there, Dean. I love me a good rant. Now, here are my thoughts: Agree largely on the knee jerk reactions based on small sample sizes. Where I'll clarify on Buxton is this: To say he has been anything other than a flop at the major league level to this point is pretty much off-base. 'To this point' being the key to that phrase. Buxton has 187 plate appearances over the last two seasons. That's about 1/4 of a full season. There's that snap-judgment thing. He deserves wayyy more time than that before I write him off as a 'bust.' Now am I concerned he may end up being a bust? Frankly, I am, though just a bit. Roy Smalley, whose judgment I trust, has said that he doesn't like Buxton's swing, that it's too long and has too many holes in it. To me, that's a good thing. At least we have a theory on what's up with Buck striking out so ******* much. Now that he's been sent to Rottenchester he can work on shortening his stroke and buttoning up the holes in it. He already plays Gold Glove-caliber defense. Let's give him time to get his swing up to ML standards. Hitting is difficult, people. I'm not sure how many really realize that. I also don't think most people have any idea how much time & preparation great hitters put into their craft. Buxton may turn out to be a flop, but we're a long, long ways from objectively declaring that. I want him to excel right now as much as anyone. But it's not that simple. Completely agree on the talented writing staff here at Twins Daily. We may not always agree with everything they say or all of their opinions (that's the beauty of America & baseball!), but these guys know their stuff and have proven repeatedly over a long period of time that they deserve to be respected. They've absolutely earned it. As for dissenting commenters here in the Twins Daily Forums, I'd encourage you to be thankful for the lively community that y'all have built and continue to grow here. Baseball's a great sport to debate over. It probably lends itself to back-and-forth exchanges as much, if not more, than any other sport. Be thankful for all the commenters that come here and give you something to chew on. After that, it's on you whether you choose to pile any more of what they're serving on your plate. Commenters that are, shall we say, off-base or misguided- provide a valuable service in that they can make the peeps that know their stuff look that much smarter. "If there were no villains, we'd have no heroes." Or something like that. Anyways, the guys that put this site together and contribute all the great content on here should be uber-proud of it. And the many regular commenters that are here deserve credit for keeping the ball moving downfield. If everyone agree on everything all the time, what would we have to pee & moan about?

Nolasco just couldn't give up that lead quickly enough.

BH the DH!!!

This looks like a wasted challenge.

Great sign for Dozier to stay back on that off-speed pitch on the outer half and plunk it into right field. That's an easy grounder to short if he tries to pull it.

Santana was one of the players I saw working in the batting cages early in the morning both days I went to spring training. Like seeing hard work pay off.

Nice hanger to Kipnis. Nolasco Fiasco getting an early start tonight.

Sano hasn't taken any ground balls at 3B since he reported to camp. And now people are clamoring for him to be moved to a position 100 feet away from home plate where balls come off the bat like missiles? Errrr, no. I don't think so.

I'mma give you the benefit of the doubt and venture to guess that you don't really think this would solve all the offensive woes.

Good gravy, here's what I felt like trying to determine what happened when Rosario made that out on the bases on the ball Mauer hit based on Gladden's 'call'.

We're gonna have to get used to all these strikeouts. The makeup of this team is such that they are gonna whiff, and whiff a lot. That's just the nature of quite a few hitters in the Twins lineup this year. They're gonna strike out a lot, and I think they're gonna hit a good number of taters and score quite a few runs, too. We're gonna have to learn to take the bad with the good...

How did I not find out before today that as a paying subscriber of DirecTV, and with FSN included in my subscription, that I can stream all games via the Fox Sports To Go app?

Thanks for that, Paul Douglas.

Agree with Gagne at shortstop here. Eight seasons with the Twins, infield anchor on both World Series champs, extremely durable, and ultra-dependable. Gags had his flaws and was far from perfect, but I can't think of a shortstop in the history of this team that accomplished what he did.

If you haven't yet seen the Buxton catch, do yourself a favor & check it out. Jim Edmonds made some of the very best catches I've ever seen. This play by Buxton is every bit as good as some of those Edmonds used to make quite regularly.

BH the DH

Didn't CC Sabathia come under fire for his lack of conditioning (and for eating like an entire box of Cap'N'Crunch for breakfast each day) around the time his ERA went up about a run-and-half in 2013?

I would generally agree with the comments in the first paragraph above, but I feel a bit of context is needed here. Going home & visiting the family on winter break? No issue whatsoever when worded that way. But given the impression that Sano would be in one spot (back at camp early next week) only to be somewhere else for an 'extended' period (visiting family in the DR for two weeks) is a bit of a red flag, especially if the communication / expectation between player & team was in question. 'Switching agencies'- wording, again- not an issue on its face. But teams are well within their rights to have concerns about their players' lifestyle choices and who they run with away off the field. I think it's a bit naïve to think an organization wouldn't have any concerns about potential distractions stemming from one of their players aligning with one of the most powerful, influential men on the music scene. I find zero fault with this article at all. Reusse knows a thing or two about baseball and had quotes from the manager. I read at as a measuring stick for where Miguel Sano is at in his career right now. He's 22 years old, far from being at a fork in the road career-wise. Plenty of time to figure it out. I, for one, am glad to learn the Twins have their 'thumb on the pulse' here. Much rather read this column now than read the indictment about how Sano's 'lack of professionalism' has us asking 'What might have been' ten years from now.

I'll be in Fort Myers next week. There are games each day starting at 1:05 pm. Anyone know what time of day a baseball junkie should get to Hammond so as not to miss anything? What time of day do things start happening there? Thanks in advance for any answers...

Nothing personal, but I hope you don't get cast as a reliever on the downhill side of his pitching career in a movie that tries really hard to otherwise look semi-legit.

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Herndon must have been dinged up, but I couldn't find anything on that. That's the only explanation I can think of for pinch-running a pitcher for an OF with decent speed, which Herndon was.

LH batting Dave Bergman started the game at DH against RH Les Straker. In the bottom of the 3rd, TK replaced Straker with LH Dan Schatzeder. Sparky went to RH Larry Herndon, who hit a two-run double off Schatzeder to stretch the Tigers lead to 5-0. The Twins would score 2 runs in each of the 4th, 6th, and 7th innings, and what was a 5-0 Tigers lead evaporated into a 6-5 score in favor of the Twins. Herndon lead off the bottom of the 8th against Reardon by lining a single to LF. Now this may be where the question comes in: Herndon was lifted for a pinch-runner. I am wondering if Herndon may have had a bum ankle? Anyways, who was inserted as the pinch-runner? That is my easy-peasy trivia question. Tom Brookens foul-popped a bunt attempt that was caught by Hrbek. Sheridan came up with one out and one on, and drilled a Reardon offering into the upper deck in RF at Tiger Stadium. After staring down a possible 3 games to 0 deficit, the Tigers suddenly had life. But it wouldn't last very long.