Yawn.

I am having trouble waking up after the all-star break. 

I had this weird dream, that lots of our players were getting injured and nobody knew how to pitch, and that we were in the bottom of the standings. 

Anyway, time to stretch out those disused baseball commentary muscles, throw the ol' ball around, and settle back into the season. Let's check the line ups...

Minnesota:

0. Charlie Barnes (L) P

1. Luis Arraez (L) LF

2. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

3. Trevor Larnach (L) RF

4. Nelson Cruz (R) DH

5. Alex Kirilloff (L) 1B

6. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B

7. Max Kepler (L) CF

8. Ben Rortvedt (L) C

9. Andrelton Simmons (R) SS

 

Detroit:

0. Jose Urena (R) P

1. Robbie Grossman (S) RF

2. Jonathan Schoop (R) 1B

3. Eric Haase (R) LF

4. Miguel Cabrera (R) DH

5. Jeimer Candelario (S) 3B

6. Isaac Paredes (R) 2B

7. Zack Short (R) SS

8. Jake Rogers (R) C

9. Derek Hill (R) CF

 

That seems almost normal... in my nightmare, looking at Detroit line up was like looking into a bizarro Twins team. 2 old Twins players i can stomach.

 

And the standings... What!? We're at the bottom with Detroit and Kansas City?!

How can this happen to the Bomba Squad? No! It's not possible. I must be on candid camera, or crank yankers, or some other crazy joke world....

 

I'll be right back.

Good news, everybody! THE BASEBALL SEASON IS NOT OVER YET.

That's... good news, right?

Computer says...! Lefties!

3 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Computer says...! Lefties!

You're right.

 

It is Righties vs. Lefties, pretty much.

 

Based on the movie Platoon?

15 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Good news, everybody! THE BASEBALL SEASON IS NOT OVER YET.

That's... good news, right?

Should we let them ripen a bit more?

I am excited to watch Uncle Charlie Barnes! Saw him pitch July 8th in Des Moines. He was cruising until the bottom of the 6th, when he ran into control issues: hit a batter, walked two, and all three came around to score on a one-out double. Maybe he duplicate the first five shutout innings against the AAA Mud Hens/Tigers today.

As I remember, he came out of Clemson with a big ol' 12-6 curveball, thus my nickname of "Uncle Charlie." Seth's "Twins Prospect Retrospective" says that "Barnes throws a lot of sinkers and changeups. The sinker tops out about 91. He was touted as having the best changeup in that 2017 draft, and it continues to be an important pitch for him. He also throws both a slider and a curveball."

I remember reading about the curveball. Does anyone else remember that? 

Also, Barnes is nowhere on anyone's top 40 prospect list. Nowhere...

How cool would it be if he matriculates into that crafty lefty that no one saw coming...

Well, that didn't take long. ?

I’m rather done with Rortvedt for awhile. 

6 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I’m rather done with Rortvedt for awhile. 

It seems like he's destined for a career as a left-handed-hitting Drew Butera.

Just now, PDX Twin said:

It seems like he's destined for a career as a left-handed-hitting Drew Butera.

Which is fine if he’s starting 40-50 times a season. 

I haven't been paying a lot of attention: What are Smeltzer's and Dobnak's injuries?

Just got back from grocery shopping and see that Barnes joined Bert Blyleven giving up a HR against his first career batter. 

7 minutes ago, Vanimal46 said:

Just got back from grocery shopping and see that Barnes joined Bert Blyleven giving up a HR against his first career batter. 

Seems to have setttled in?

 

Sure hope that isn't the only run of the game...

Well, we caught up in the errors column....

Oh well.

 

We'll get to 'em next inning.

Decent debut for the lad. At least after the first pitch.

Why the F are both teams going with bullpen games after a full five days off (9 for some)?

 

And then you bring in two guys making their Twins debuts in Game 1, meanwhile taking out the first guy who was sailing along.

 

I swear everything Falvey, Levine, and Baldelli do is with the sole purpose of p1ssing me off.

Nice Baldelli ... Zero reason to pull him there.

Not liking what I’m seeing from Burrows. Dude is all over the place. 

Twins lost 1-0.   No wonder they are terrible.  Bats were ice-cold.    They better win next game today.  
 

7 innings in doubleheaders are joke!   Why 7th innings in doubleheaders.    Manfried must be dumber than 5th graders.

 

People complain about the zombie runner but they aren’t half the abomination that seven inning games are. 

The Legend of Uncle Charlie has a quiet beginning. Let it grow.

1 hour ago, notoriousgod71 said:

Why the F are both teams going with bullpen games after a full five days off (9 for some)?

And then you bring in two guys making their Twins debuts in Game 1, meanwhile taking out the first guy who was sailing along.

I swear everything Falvey, Levine, and Baldelli do is with the sole purpose of p1ssing me off.

I hate to be the one to break it to you but the Twins lost 1-0.

Complaining about pitching usage may be barking up the wrong tree in this specific instance. 

57 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

barking up the wrong tree

May i present a new forrest for everyone's barking pleasure...

 

Conifers:

0. Kenta Maeda (R) P

1. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B

2. Trevor Larnach (L) LF

3. Nelson Cruz (R) DH

4. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B

5. Alex Kirilloff (L) RF

6. Ryan Jeffers (R) C

7. Max Kepler (L) CF

8. Miguel Sano (R) 1B

9. A. Simmons (R) SS

 

Deciduous:

0. T. Alexander (L) P

1. Akil Baddoo (L) LF

2. J. Schoop (R) 1B

3. R. Grossman (S) RF

4. Miguel Cabrera (R) DH

5. J. Candelario (S) 3B

6. Eric Haase (R) C

7. Harold Castro (L) 2B

8. Zack Short (R) SS

9. Derek Hill (R) CF

Check in 5:10pm cdt or so to see if there is more lumber this time.

A double for Sano!!

 

A flower for Algernon...

C'mon, Maeda, put him away!

Baddoo makes Maeda pay. 

2 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

C'mon, Maeda, put him away!

Maeda didn't hear me...

 

3-1 Tigers in the 2nd (logical 4th due to 7 innings) courtesy of a bases loaded triplefrom Baddoo.

Baddoo tripled.   Twins shouldn’t have let him go.   What the hell FO thinking?   

1 minute ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Maeda didn't hear me...

 

3-1 Tigers in the 2nd (logical 4th due to 7 innings) courtesy of a bases loaded triplefrom Baddoo.

Made a must be deaf.