Don Walcott

And me, too.

And the next one!

Another easy play for Arenado.

Dozier to right?

That's redundant.

Desmond hit an absolute laser. Rockies announcers are talking about how Hughes doesn't miss bats much. That being said, why are they bunting? Thank you, Bud Black.

I watch the Rockies all the time and I couldn't agree more about Arenado. When the ball is hit near him, you just know he's making the play. He regularly makes plays that just make me laugh out loud. I've never seen anyone better.

I've been looking forward to this series, as I can watch the games (even though I have to listen to the Rockies broadcasters). However, my wife's from Denver and is a huge Rockies fan, so I'll have to keep quiet if the Twins are winning.

I think this is an interesting topic. The term "Ace" is used a lot, but never defined. I think that is because there are at least two ways of looking at it: staff ace and ace in general. Santana is definitely our staff ace. He wouldn't be the staff ace for many other teams, but he is pitching like a staff ace this year. I looked into the definition of ace a few years back when I was arguing for Jack Morris being inducted into the Hall of Fame on sites where everyone was against him. He was definitely considered an ace for the three teams that he helped win the World Series. Part of that is subjective: he started every opening day for 14 straight years; managers set him up to pitch as often as possible, and specifically games 1 of the ALCS and WS in 1984, 1991 and 1992. However, Morris also exemplified two other less subjective aspects of an ace. First, it seems to me that your ace ought to lead your team in getting outs (IP), and your team should win more when your ace is pitching. Second, during the course of a season, your ace should step up when needed. This means he leads the staff when the team has a winning streak, he stops losing streaks, and he wins important games against division rivals and down the stretch when the pennant or the playoffs are on the line. Then, finally, he wins big games in the playoffs. So far, Ervin is ticking these boxes for this season for this team. I hope he continues to through what would be an improbable season.

What are you guys talking about? Kintzler got a win!!

0-11 with one walk and six strikeouts. i should just shut up.

Makes me wanna holler.

That's another great Marvin Gaye song.

So far this season, Cotton's better against lefties than righties. SSS, though.

I like the psych-up music theme. Are they still playing Prince during the 7th inning stretch? if not, why not?

I do like 1-4 of this lineup. Maybe that will be enough today.

Wasn't Castro supposed to benefit Gibson most with his framing wizardry?

I just want to see Vargas get a significant stretch of regular ABs, sink or swim. I think he'll do swimmingly, and having a big bat in the middle of the lineup makes this team look really good offensively.

Not sure you can find a more "futility" guy than Santana on any MLB roster.

I agree with Brock that we need to be patient and not so quick to judge the front office, especially when we don't know for sure why Berrios isn't being called up. So I am trying . . . . However, it is frustrating to see the numbers Berrios puts up in AAA, and not see him with the Twins. At some point, what is he going to learn in AAA when, whatever he's doing right or wrong, he's dominant? It just seems like the next step of learning whatever it is they want him to learn should be taking place in the majors. Although I agree that we shouldn't do something that jeopardizes a good season so far: (1) who are we kidding? Do we really think this team is a playoff team with this staff? Aren't we in a rebuilding phase? (2) Isn't Kyle Gibson already killing us every fifth start?

Thank you all for the feedback. With some preparation. I have no doubt that the amateurs picked by Twins Daily would entertain and educate. I also think it would be informative to hear the opinions of fans from other teams. Hey, if it doesn't work, it's a truly minimal risk.

Just do the opposite, and I'm sure you'll get there.

Remember when George Costanza was hopelessly out of work, and he was going through some options he might have at Jerry's apartment? George: I like sports. I could do something in sports. Jerry: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. In what capacity? George: You know, like the general manager of a baseball team or something. Jerry: Yeah. Well, that - that could be tough to get. George: Well, it doesn't even have to be the general manager. Maybe I could be like, an announcer. Like a color man. You know how I always make those interesting comments during the game. Jerry: Yeah. Yeah. You make good comments. George: What about that? Jerry: Well, they tend to give those jobs to ex-ballplayers and people that are, you know, in broadcasting. George: Well, that's really not fair. I agree with George. I have no problem with Dick and Bert, they are very good for MLB announcers, in my humble opinion. However, like anyone, they need a break once in a while. And I think this would be a good time to bring in some fans as commentators. Here's how I think it could work. FSNorth would commit to one game at home and on the road against our division rivals during the season. For each game, Twins Daily would choose two commentators: one for the booth and one in the stands/on the field. A fan web site for our opposition would choose two commentators as well: one for the booth and one in the stands/on the field. These commentators would announce for the last game of the series. FSNorth would pay to fly the visiting fan commentators to and from the site of the game, arriving the day before the first game, and leaving after the last game of the series. The commentators would get a reasonable per diem, hotel accommodations and access to all games of the series. The commentators for both teams would get together the day before the game for dinner or a night on the town, paid for by FSNorth, so the home commentators could show the visiting commentators something fun to do in their city. They could also talk about their teams and start coming up with good material for their broadcast. Then, for the first 2 or 3 games of a series, the commentators would attend the games together. For the last game of the series, the fan commentators take over the broadcast. They should be allowed to use K-Zone as much or as little as they want. The fan commentators in the field will have check-ins a few times during the game to talk to fans or show something cool at the park. They would also get to do an interview on the field after the game. I think these broadcasts could be a lot of fun. The commentators can razz each other about their teams or their cities, argue close calls, and show some genuine fan emotion during the game. But even more interesting would be the perspective the fan commentators could bring to the broadcast. There are a lot of very entertaining, but also very knowledgeable people who run Twins Daily. And I'm sure that's true of fan sites for the other teams in our division. I truly believe that people would tune in for these broadcasts for the fan perspective, and keep tuning in because it will be fun (and refreshingly different). And if it became a popular broadcast, it could be expanded to some teams outside our division in future years. Anyway, it's something I would like to see. So if anyone reading this has a connection with FSNorth, please pitch this idea.

I'm from St. Paul, with brief stops in St. Peter and Minneapolis, I went to High School at Breck. I went to College in SoCal, then law school in St. Paul, then moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico after law school and have been here the past 21 years. I'm 47. I've been a Twins fan my whole life. My favorite memories include Rod Carew chasing .400 in 1977; Hrbek hitting a home run in the 12th at Yankee Stadium in his first game; watching Puckett live get 4 hits, hit a line drive to the wall that looked like it never got higher than 10 feet off Dave Stewart in 1992, knocking Stewart out of the game, and getting his 2000th hit. I was in San Francisco during the 1991 season, surrounded by A's fans, but able to watch the Twins knock the dynasty off their perch for one season, most memorably: Harper's 3-run homer in Oakland in a 7-run 8th inning to turn that series around; then Morris crushing their souls by pitching a complete game win at the Dome the day after a 12-inning win. Favorite players who I can remember watching: Carew, Butch Wynegar, Hrbek, Puckett, Blyleven, Viola, Gagne, Mauer, Morneau, Hunter, Johan Santana, Brian Dozier. Oliva, Kaat and Killebrew would be on the list, but I was too young to remember actually seeing them play as Twins. Molitor is a hometown favorite, as I saw him play for the Gophers, then he threw out the first pitch in the little league all-star game to my brother, at Linwood Park, where I grew up playing sports, and where Molitor was a legend. I strongly believe Morris should be in the Hall of Fame, but he was only a Twin for one year, then he won the WS the next year with another team, so I don't count him as a great Twin. I also loved the late-career cameo from Dave Winfield, who was also a legend in St. Paul, and I played sports against teams coached by his brother, Steve, who was such a great guy, I have to believe Dave is too. I've been reading Twins Daily off and on for a few years. I became a member in 2015. I like to read the content and the comments. Lately, I've just been reading and not commenting as I don't have the time or energy to get into debates about my opinions, and I find it hard to not respond to criticism (I am a lawyer, after all). I like the fact that most people are polite and respectful of each other, even when they disagree, and that the moderators jump in when things start to spiral out of control. But most of all, I'm here for the game threads, which are so enjoyable, I got to thinking about an idea for FSNorth that I'm going to put forth in detail in a new Topic. I truly enjoy this site, and I want to thank everyone who runs it.