bighat

Yep. No make-up date set yet. Rats.

Tonight's game cancelled, ya think?

Interesting discussion on Sano here. As I've got the guy on my fantasy team (I know, I know), and watch the Twins every day, I've followed just about every at bat. I think we're all frustrated, just in different ways. I think during the lean years, we were all desperate for that next superstar. We looked at Sano and Buxton, and we thought we'd won the lottery: Miggy Cabrera and Mike Trout were both coming to Minnesota! Our expectations were through the roof, likely because we'd been suffering for so long. I think Buxton's rather slow development has put our focus back on Sano. With Buxton looking more and more like Carl Crawford than Mike Trout (still nothing to sneeze at), we're looking at Sano to live up to his hype. And unfortunately, this is where our high expectations hurt our perception of a guy who is a very, very good player. Sano is striking out way way way too much right now. He's in full Rob Deer mode, all or nothing. But remember when Sano went 4-4 last year with 4 singles, all of them hit the other way? He CAN hit for average, and I think that if the Twins hitting coaches start trying to get him to sprinkle in a few singles we'll see a much more reliable hitter in the 3-spot. He'll get there, he's done it before, and like others have said, he's just 24 years old! Regardless of how disappointed you are in Sano, he's a dangerous hitter and he provides a force in the lineup. His power threat means that Mauer and Dozier are seeing pitches to hit, and you can see how great that's worked out so far. 29 other clubs would kill to have this guy in their roster. I'm just as frustrated as the next guy regarding the strikeouts. Every time I see Sano go to far on a check-swing on a ball outside in the dirt I get ticked off, same as you. But if you step back and really look at what he brings to this team offensively, you shouldn't be worried at all. We should all be grateful we've got him on this roster and he's one of the reasons the Twins might just win the division this year!

Buxton has really been cutting down on the K's. He's struck out just twice in his last 18 at-bats. Sano on the other hand....P.U. He is hammering the ball when he makes contact, though. And at this point Logan Morrison has been so terrible that moving Sano in the batting order isn't realistic.

The ball was in the air for a year, and hit the top of the wall - the outfielder played a little deke move, but Joe shoulda scored. He had time and it was a deep shot.

LoMo must go.

Let's play: "Will it Haunt"? Baserunning gaffes by Mauer, Sano cost the Twins a run in the first.

C'mon Mauer, hustle home on that 2-bagger.

Wow, Hildy has allowed 7 of 7 inherited baserunners to score? That's ugly, no matter how you slice it. I'm also in the "Don't blame Rodney" camp. He saves the game without that ridiculous throw from Dozier. No, it wasn't what we want, but the job would have been done. I'm baffled at all the walks Twins pitchers are giving up this year. Starters, relievers, seems to be an epidemic. Kepler, AMAZING game. Rosario, great game. Buxton good game. Guy in the green jacket/hat who caught the walk-off homer: legend.

Why on earth did Dozier throw that ball?

Oh heck yes, ROSARIO!

Time for Castro to deliver or be flipped to the other side of the platoon!

Thanks - and thanks everyone else as well. That double-arrow thing will work for me, much appreciated!

Is there a way to jump to the "newest" posts on this thread quickly? I often check game threads in the early innings - when I come back later, I have to page through (or manually input a page number into the URL field) in order to get to the most current comments.

Unforgivable at bats by Castro and Adrianza there.

Bert just read from the media guide. Free space indeed.

Can everyone else pretty clearly hear the fans sitting below Dick & Bert? I heard the guy say something about "Dan's wife Shelly" and also heard the guy trip over his seat and say "I'm okay, I'm okay".

Add another hit to the Mauer-o-Meter!

When are the Twins going to stop monkeying around and just put Dozier to the #3 hole?

Yeeps, Gibby.

Leadoff walk. Nice, Gibby.

Just posting my gut feelings on Morrison. Don't hate me, I'm making a bold call here: We all knew he wasn't as good as his numbers last year suggested.That said, I think he's not as good as we hoped and last year was really a flash-in-the-pan season.Kendrys Morales comes to mind. A guy who for whatever reason just isn't a "good fit" for this Twins team, and who would likely succeed elsewhere if the Twins traded/released him.I think the Twins will eventually release him.

Future bingo phrases/actions: "I'm gonna make a call here..."Bert mispronouncing names repeatedlyAny reference to the 1987 Twins"The all-important 'Launch Angle'"

I was thinking the same thing last night...where's the bunt? But he's been in a strange place in the batting order and has come up with men on base a lot, and he seems to come to the plate with 2 outs a lot of times as well. But I do think he should start trying more often. Is his bunting ability below-average? I don't remember him being a particularly skilled bunter, alas.

The final score should have been 9-1, not 4-1. That said, we'll take the 'W'. Let's win the series!