Ultima Ratio

I didn't get a chance to review where Duensing's pitches were in the zone tonight, but perhaps he had a chat with Diamond about how to get the ball down and on the corners. Let's hope the this outing is a real change rather than an aberration.

Not I said the fly with the polka dot tie.

Will Mauer work a walk?... sorry, couldn't resist.

Flormonsy now nearing the .500 average mark....seriously, nice debut guy.

Yeah, back in April. Maybe at the Yankees one game I think.

Tough call there Bensy.

Don't look now, Florimonsy is hitting .400. Will he be the next Ted Williams?

The bad news...still no Span. The good news...he's now less than a week away from his DL trip. Exactly

Brian Duensing ladies and gentlemen, Twins starting pitcher.

Uhh.... TBA has come and gone.

Someone here stated that he'll never post an ERA above 4. Does that count? I think you are referring to me in another post a couple weeks ago. I meant that for the next few seasons, I don't see him posting a +4 ERA given the way he's pitching now. I stand behind that still. Also, a 3.99 ERA does not make one an ace on a good team either, so while I know you are just having a laugh, I don't think it's worked this time.

I don't think most people are saying "ineffective", they are more saying why hasn't he been effective as it seems he should be. Here is an counter example to your stats above. BB% With Bases Empty Mauer - %11.0 Willingham - %11.7 Both guys seem to be equally patient as batters when nobody is on. BB% With Men on Base Mauer - %17.0 Willingham - %13.6 When runners get on it appears that Willingham is able accept a few extra walks when he gets pitched around but seems to keep the same approach. Mauer's differential is so much greater that one must assume his approach at the plates changes and he becomes more passive. Or, that pitchers are more careful with Mauer when runners are on in front of him. There's really no stat for what you guys are really searching for... it's going to have to be an extrapolation of some sort. Why would pitchers be more careful around Mauer this year than Willingham? Willingham has an OPS over 60 points higher than Mauer? Wouldn't they garner similar respect and have similar adjustments to their Walk Rate? Impossible to say for sure. I think the closest, most relevant stat is aveRISP, where Mauer is much higher. Two edged sword: 1) This is why in a one run game we should want Mauer over Hammer to swing for a hit. 2) opossing pitchers know that and may pitch around him. Now in a 3-run game in the ninth, of course you want Hammer over Mauer at the plate. What makes this situation interesting is that all we needed was one run to take the lead in the ninth. We had our best hitter at the plate to score that run and he didn't swing at two strikes. The only serious argument we can have about that situation is whether Mauer should have swung and/or whether the pitches were so good that it's better that he didn't.

I don't think most people are saying "ineffective", they are more saying why hasn't he been effective as it seems he should be. Here is an counter example to your stats above. BB% With Bases Empty Mauer - %11.0 Willingham - %11.7 Both guys seem to be equally patient as batters when nobody is on. BB% With Men on Base Mauer - %17.0 Willingham - %13.6 When runners get on it appears that Willingham is able accept a few extra walks when he gets pitched around but seems to keep the same approach. Mauer's differential is so much greater that one must assume his approach at the plates changes and he becomes more passive. Or, that pitchers are more careful with Mauer when runners are on in front of him. There's really no stat for what you guys are really searching for... it's going to have to be an extrapolation of some sort.

Don't you think that a good hitter's approach changes with the circumstances of the game? Wanting you best hitter to swing and hit at least one of the two strikes he watches -- to hit to score one run with two outs in the ninth is not the same as wanting him to change his overall approach to hitting. Willingham's general approach is to put a power swing on any pitch over the plate... swinging for a home run/power every chance he can. I really hope his approach in his final at bat was not that, but to get on base, get that one run home. See the difference? Kind feel like I have to say that Mauer is the best Twins since Kirby Puckett now -- get the bona fides out there -- to head off silly responses that I hate, am overly critical or just can't say something nice about Joe. It's my opinion that when you have a talent like Joe Mauer, you let him decide which pitches to hit. If he had weakly grounded out to second, the board would have been up in arms, yet that's essentially what some were advocating he try to do. If he had been given "his pitch", I really doubt that bat would have stayed on his shoulder. A guy doesn't rack up a career BA of ~.320 by hoping to take a walk in every AB. His at bat was hardly memorable, not something stupid or really disappointing. It was prudent. Some of us are just a little disappointed, and I think that's okay, that his AB was a little too prudent, too safe. And who cares what the board would do with a 4-3 putout to end it. That's a red herring and many would say (irony thick) that that's who you want swinging and since it's more likely to make an out when making contact, we shouldn't be so critical of him unless we expect him to hit over .500. Thus, some on here won't stand for any criticism of Mauer, in any measure, even something as benign as this issue.

Don't you think that a good hitter's approach changes with the circumstances of the game? Wanting your best hitter to swing and hit at least one of the two strikes he watches -- to hit to score one run with two outs in the ninth is not the same as wanting him to change his overall approach to hitting. Willingham's general approach is to put a power swing on any pitch over the plate... swinging for a home run/power every chance he can. I really hope his approach in his final at bat was not that, but to get on base, get that one run home. See the difference? Kind feel like I have to say that Mauer is the best Twins since Kirby Puckett now -- get the bona fides out there -- to head off silly responses that I hate, am overly critical or just can't say something nice about Joe.

I mean Mauer has the highest OBP in the league, he isn't exactly the guy we should be ripping on for plate discipline, if anything the Twins should be using that at-bat as an example moving forward. (i.e. Walks help win games to!) The funny thing is, if Mauer "mans up" and swings at that 3-1 pitch and hits a grounder back to the pitcher we would be getting posts and articles about how Joe wasn't clutch etc etc. Red herring. Also, does anyone think Mauer didn't have a green light on 3-0? Sitting fastball (sinker) and got one -- for a called strike. It's not as if the only strike he could swing at was the 3-1 slider.

Dave, we didn't need 4 RBI, just one. Mauer's RISP is pretty, pretty good and average way better than Hammer. Yeah, he is probably sitting dead red on fastball, but he's supposed to be able to handle a slider over the plate. At least offer at it.

Gotta laugh, right?

Right, if they throw you 4 straight balls or even one strike you don't like that's one thing. But to be a franchise player and pass up even swinging at one of the two strikes, the second strike right in the happy zone--only to work a walk... that's way too passive, to be polite, and down right cowardly to be accurate.

Doesn't Mauer want to be the guy to win the game? The second strike he took was right down the middle. Compare that to Morneau.

Over/Under on Willingham finishing the season with a sub .250 average? Rather, True/False: Willingham finishes the season with a sub .250 average.

Just checking the game now glunn, after last night I'm only checking in time to time.

Bark, yes you were clear. Realistically Blackburn will be pitching all of next season. That's a different kind of crying altogether.

I agree with you on much of the above but I think that no matter which team has him at the end of next year, he'll only get 1 year contracts until he retires. At least if I were a GM, I wouldn't commit to a multi year deal for Morneau. So..... I hope Parmelee is batting above .275 in his next 300 MLB ABs before we do anything. If Parmelee is not and the Twins are competing for the central and Morneau is playing well and healthy, keep him and resign him to a one year deal 6M/year maybe. And continue each year unless Morneau wants to walk. I really am not sold that Parmelee is going to give anything more than replacement level production at first. Of course, I hope I'm wrong and he's an all-star.

October 2013. I cried a little bit. Touching' date=' your [u']realism[/u]. :):):) Just to be clear, I took October 2013 as if he's pitching in the playoffs -- optimism.