11 1/2 game lead is huge, losing it by August 10 is terrifying. True, we have time left and Cruz will come back and maybe Buxton too. Jack Cave might be replaced by someone who can do better in MLB from our minor leagues and maybe we will strike gold with one or two pitchers as we allow the entire minor league system to audition for us this year, but still 11.5 games! That is a lead worthy of 7 percent of the season. So come on Twins. Beat the bad teams. I think most have given up on beat the
Nick Nelson's excellent look at Byron Buxton and his injuries made me think about who would be a counterpart to him and his career so far and Pete Reiser immediately came to mind. Called Pistol Pete long before Pete Marinovich, he was a sensation. Read this paragraph from his Wikipedia Page - "In 1941, his first season as a regular starter, Reiser helped the Dodgers win the pennant for the first time since 1920. He was a sensation that year, winning the National League batting title while lead
Ted wrote "Arguably the most exciting game the Minnesota Twins have played in nearly a decade, the home team dropped a 14-12 affair last night (err this morning) at Target Field." In his recent post - Yankees blog. So I got to thinking - what are the best games the Twins have played - win or lose? Do the two extra innings affairs with the Oakland A's count? Certainly the game seven Jack Morris game is number one. I was there and will never forget it. (Don't tell me Jack isn't a hall of fame
I had to share this quote from Sid Hartman's column since I too have a concern about Buxton and his ability to be on the field. We really miss him right now and I would love to see him play 150 games a year for us, but injuries take a toll. I have no solution for him, I love his all out style, but other than a bubble wrap uniform I cannot see him as a long term player. I have had a life of outdoor adventure and the cumulative injuries I have had are all calling on my in my old age. In five
I am struck by some comments about Gibson and Mejia and Littell in the July 13 recap and it makes me wonder how we would rank our own pitchers right now. I would certainly have Rogers first and Blake Parker does not rate high on my faith index. Here is my attempt at ranking them all. Taylor Rogers - two inning saves are great. 41 innings in 34 games, 1.73 ERA and for what it is worth 13 saves. Jose Berrios - He is our Ace Jake Odorizzi - I hope he can keep this going all year. Ryne H
What if the all star game was the end of the season? What kind of records would we have? Home Runs – 12 have 33 or more – Harmon Killebrew in 1964 had 30 and the total with 30+ first half homeruns is – 36 and Harmon is the only Twin on the list. TOP 12: • Barry Bonds, 2001 Giants, 39 • Chris Davis, 2013 Orioles, 37 • Mark McGwire, 1998 Cardinals, 37 • Reggie Jackson, 1969 Athletics, 37 • Luis Gonzalez, 2001 D-backs, 35 • Ken Griffey Jr., 1998, Mariners, 35 • Frank Howard, 1969 Senators, 34 •
At the half way mark the one area of Twins baseball that is really bothering me is fielding. It used to be that the fundamentals of fielding were the Twins specialty, but now that we have the bats, we seem to be slipping in the field. I went to the various web sources to see if my eye test was right on a night that Adrianza makes two errors behind Berrios in a loss to the White Sox. Looking at fielding stats in Baseball Almanac http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/fielding.php?y=2019&
Okay - I just read that Lewis Thorpe is up and Adrianza is back and Wade is up and Rosario is down and Buxton is still???? This has been a fascinating year - despite being in first place all season, in spite of great production and such a strong showing there has been a tremendous amount of shifting and turn over. Some of it because of injuries, some to give a player a reset and some because we have played such long games and given the MLB roster so many innings they need a break. But who has be
Wow what a concept and a really good one too. Tampa Bay has had a great team and lousy support, Montreal had lousy teams and good support. Put them together and we have something fun to talk about. 82 games is an expensive season ticket, 41 might be more affordable. Each city would compete to be the most supportive and the team and MLB comes out on top. Yes, I like these kind of out-of-the-box ideas. Remember the time with Mr Pohlad was willing to contraction? http://a.espncdn.com/mlb/columns/mc
Today they announced that David Ortiz was shot in the back in the Dominican Republican. Not lethal, but lower back and there is no good gunshot. He was in the Dial Bar and Lounge and two other people were wounded. It sounds like the way that Wild Bill Hickok was killed. The shooter, a motorcyclist, was beaten by the crowd and has to recover from his injuries before he can be questioned. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david-ortiz-shot-dominican-republic_n_5cfdbf29e4b0aab91c083ba5?ncid=newsltushpm
A nice note from CNN: Say the name Bill Buckner, and what do you think of? Probably a baseball rolling under his glove and through his legs. And that's just not fair. Buckner, who died yesterday at age 69, was an elite hitter, winning a batting title with the Chicago Cubs in 1980 (hitting .324), and he was an All-Star in 1981. He managed to hang around the big leagues for 22 years, an accomplishment in itself. But he'll always be associated with that fielding error in the 1986 World Series tha
Have you ever heard of the Kansas City Antelopes? They were a baseball team before the Cincinnati club that has been give credit for being the first baseball club. They played from the end of the Civil War into the 1870s. We might not have recognized the game – the pitchers tossed underhand, they wore no gloves, and a ball caught on the first bounce was considered an out. When the cowbells rang a run scored. Hurls tossed to strikers and bad fielding with bare hands caused many muffs. And there w
The love that the fans and now the media have for Willians Astudillo is great. It is fun, inspiring, laughable and also good baseball. Out of nowhere Astudillo has risen to mythic levels for his speed, his body, his smile, his hitting skills, and his ability to play everywhere. It got me thinking – who else has had this unique position on the Twins roster – beloved for the style and character that they bring to the team. Puckett was a similar build and a similar smile. If we forget the off the
The home opening games: We have a long history of opening games now and I got to wondering what our record is. Here is the summary of games. 1961 – Our first opening game was 1961 and who did we play – the new replacement Washington Senators. Pascual pitched and went 8 innings with three runs and reliever Moore gave up two and lost the game. Mincher and Green hit HRs. 3 – 5 1962 – Los Angeles Angels clobbered us 12 – 5. Jim Kaat started and gave up 4 in 4. Versalles, Green and Rollins hi
I started out to explore Spring Training stories, but soon got caught up in a lot of the strange stories of baseball and had to share some of them. The stories are part of what makes baseball fun. Spring Training is about getting ready for the season, but that does not mean this collection of athletes can’t generate some stories that might cause you to scratch your head from Ryan Klesko straining his back picking up a lunch tray – what was he eating? To Wade Boggs getting hurt pulling up his b
After reading this in the Patrick Ruesse column - "Major League Baseball security held its annual meeting with the Twins on Friday, and among the issues was a review of baseball’s long-standing prohibitions against gambling. The exact rules against gambling for players and staff also were read to the entire clubhouse at the start of spring training last month, in both English and Spanish. "This anti-gambling reminder for the Twins came a couple of days after Peter Gammons, the baseball writi
What is the roster? This is a real chore - as you might have noticed as I examined each of the positions in the previous weeks.The Bench for the Best in Twins history is made up of people who fill roles and not just the best players of all time. From the bench to the starters I have tried to find the men who would truly represent the Twins best of all time based on where they played and how they fit the roles. The Bench in today’s game has to have some special qualities. The easy one is backu
The Best Twins General Manager and owner - really a difficult task - the manager, the owner, the GM, the players - who do you blame? • Calvin Griffith. (1961 – 1984) It is not a long list since Calvin served as both owner and general manager. We won a World Series under Calvin, he moved the team to Minnesota, he insulted and lost Rod Carew. • Howard Fox. (1985 – 1986) He was a member of the Twins organization for sixty years. When he was traveling secretary, he had a fight with Billy Marti
Who are our managers and who was the best? I have to say that I have a lot of questions about how to judge managers. They are given a roster to work with, they do not sign players or create the roster, they work with the GM and the GM is not judged like the manager. Right now we play in a lousy division which gives us 19 games a year versus the Royals, White Sox and Tigers plus the best team in the division is far below what the other division leaders do. What would our records be if we were in
Relief pitchers This is the hardest section for me to do an analysis. Is it the closer, is it the person who is in the most games? How do we define this role? There is a different role before saves became the negotiation tool, and now there is, finally, a change in perception of what makes a great reliever. In 1961 Pedro Ramos was in 53 games and started 34, Ray Moore was in 46 games and started none, Jim Kaat was in 47 games and started 29 and Bill Pleis was in 37 and started none. Looking at
The best starting pitcher in Twins history 1961 The starting pitchers had a history that began in Washington DC with the Senators. For all the starters there years with team, w-l, pct, era, SO/W and WAR. We started out with a very good starting staff. In the early years the started averaged 34 starts per year. Camilo Pascual 13 years starting in DC – 145-141 .507 3.66 SO/W = 2.07. WAR 33.2 Jim Kaat 15 years beginning in DC . 190- 159/.544 3.34 2.54 SO/W WAR 30.7 Jack Kralick 5 years 34-32/.515
The DH began in AL only in 1973 and Tony Oliva with terrible knees was the first to take advantage of the new position. He was DH in 142 games, Mike Adams 16, Danny Walton 13 and 10 others appeared in various games. 1974 had Oliva 112, Killebrew 57, Terrell 20 and 5 others. Oliva continued with 120 games in 1975, Darwin 19, Hisle 15, Luis Gomez 10 and 15 others got appearances. In `976 Tony O got just 32 appearances, Steve Braun 71, Craig Kusick 79, Butch Wynegar 15 and 8 others. Tony Oliva 15
Last full time position – Right Field – who fills out the rosters. For me Clemente epitomizes RF, the arm, the bat, the range so who do the Twins have? In 1961 Bob Allison was there 150 games. He was written about in LF so I will not go into details here. Allison dominated 1962 as well with Tuttle and George Banks getting the other games. In 1963 it was Allison, Jimmie Hall and Wally Post. 1964 Tony Oliva sent Allison to 1B. Tony Oliva was a dream. I loved to watch him. He was almost perfect
The Best Twins Centerfielder in history? The outfield is a challenge because so many times managers see them as interchangeable parts. But a great Centerfielder must have range and perhaps some flare. The NY press had a great time when there were three teams – and they had Mays, Mantle, and Snider. Lenny Green Was our first year CF and Bill Tuttle backed him up when he was not playing out of position at 3B. The same two in 1962. Green was traded to the Angels for Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall
The best Left fielder in Twins history presents one more puzzle. This is an addition. I got so caught up in Killebrew I forgot Jim Lemon. He played 120 games in LF in 1961 near the end of his career. I loved to watch him play. Lenny Green, Dan Dobbek and Joe Altobelli shared the rest of the leftfield games. He played seven years with the Senators before they moved. His career numbers Senators/Twins were .265 /334/.470/.805, but only 7.7 WAR because he was not a fleet fielder. He hit 38 and 33
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
