Puckmen

As Bill Belichick would say, we are on to 2026.

I usually can catch just the last few innings of Twins games due to work and the time difference (live in CA). Watching the whole game tonight because they are playing the A's in Oakland. Didn't appreciate how painful it is to watch this team come to the plate for the whole game...so many unproductive at bats, even against the A's pitching. Yikes.

Jumbo shrimp. Military intelligence. Twins offense.

The White Sox are coming. 2020 might well be the last year the Twins are better than the White Sox. So the window to win is now. In a vacuum, I wouldn't trade Graterol for Maeda. But in the context of going for it in 2020, I like the trade.

No, Mr. Stanozoltana is suspended without pay.

Trout stolen bases in 2013 = 33 I believe I had that.

The Verlanders

8. Trout will not experience the dreaded sophomore slump. Trout will put up good hitting numbers, but there is no way he gets 49 SB's again. He came into camp at 240 pounds this year...even if he drops some pounds during camp, stealing bags at that weight will put a pounding on his body. I doubt the Angels will let him steal like he did last year (and with Hamilton and Pujols hitting behind him, they don't really need him to run wild). I say Trout steals about 30 bases this season.

Yikes, I think you might have been hitting the vodka a little too hard when you wrote that!

Another Japanese middle infielder might not be working out...who could have seen that coming? Don?t be surprised to see A?s shortstop Hiro Nakajima open season with Triple-A Sacramento | Oakland Athletics : The Drumbeat | an SFGate.com blog

And he struck out the side in the 11th. Impressive A's debut for Neshek.

Pat Neshek just came in the game for the A's in the 10th inning, and he got the last out of the inning with just two pitches. Go Pat!

Nice, and while you are at it, could you fix things so the Twins play better? Thanks!

Sano hit the grand slam off of a pitcher named Goforth. Go forth and prosper, Sano!

I have seen Appel pitch in person 6 times this year (live close to Stanford). There is no issue with his velocity...he routinely throws 94-95 and can hit 97 whenever he wants (but he does dial it down to 91 when he needs to throw a strike). The concerns (based on conversations with scouts at these games) are lack of movement of his fastball and the lack of a top-notch secondary pitch (his breaking pitch is hard to describe...sort of a hybrid curve/slider). That said, the last game he pitched for Stanford in the NCAA regional last weekend was pretty incredible as he was pretty much unhittable for the first 6 innings and cruised to a complete game 4-hitter with 11 K's. The only pitcher I saw play at Sunken Diamond (Stanford's baseball stadium) this season who threw harder than Appel was Chargois of Rice. He hit 99 with many of his fastballs and was fun to watch.