Aerodeliria

(We all have our ways of coping ?) New Episode Tomorrow of GAME THREAD! If you thought today's show was off-the-charts map cap, tune in tomorrow! GAME THREAD is a brave new comedy surrounding the slapstick antics of nine guys gathered as a team feigning to be baseball players. If you're itching to say, "That didn't really just happen, did it?" just tune in to this soon-to-be smash hit and watch the follies unfold before your very eyes. As this is an interactive comedy, your insightful barbs will become part of the fun. Tickets are free, so why not join? *Not responsible for any broken furniture or injuries resulting from such actions that occur during the show.

? Thanks Ted! Fun to read!!

...oh and the hitting by the Twins didn't help either.

I was able to watch the Dodgers and the Cardinals game yesterday (the Japanese default is either the Yankees or the Dodgers if no Japanese player is featured). Gant is a very similar pitcher to Dobnak. The biggest difference is how the defense played behind him. Despite Gant's elevated WHIP (he had no inning that I watched where at least one hitter wasn't on base), his ERA is below 1.50. The talking heads kept saying, you know it is only a matter of time before this WHIP kills him, but every play by the defense was clean. If you have pitchers such as Dobnak or Gant, the defense must perform to a high standard. We didn't and the Orioles win.

Thank you Steven. Always fun to find out what's transpired down on the farm.

ESPN writers still think the Twins have too much talent not to compete at least for the wildcard this year. Apparently, they get paid for writing such things I've heard. Sounds like a good gig.

At least we can rely on Pineda to give us five or six decent innings... You just can't brag on any Twins player these days...

I don't know why, but every time I look at the standings, the Twins are nine games underwater. They'll have to play .500 ball the rest of the way to maintain that ?

Fun stuff! My vote would have also gone to Canterino. His numbers have been silly and he should be moved up sooner rather than later.

I really agree with your overall assessment. Let's see what we've got in the minors. I doubt we can get much (if anything) for Shoemaker; maybe we can get a flier minor leaguer for Happ? I think we should shop Polanco, Cruz and even Kepler. They have value but are expendable in the long-run IMHO. They'll be a push to shop Simmons, but I want to keep him around because I think he does a lot of things at SS that go unnoticed. He hasn't played up to his potential (has anyone?), but if we get rid of him, we go back to square one at SS (unless we are thinking Gordon there once again).

Thanks Seth. I thought that Minaya's name rang a bell. He has been around for a few years. If he can return to his form of a couple of years back, that would be a nice boost.

Thanks Matt. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this has always been Vasquez's main trouble, hasn't it? I know he gets a lot of movement on his pitches but he seems to suffer these bouts of control problems (as I recall)).... Happy to see Stashak demoted, not because I am a meanie, but he was just getting eaten alive in tight situations with the big boys. Let's see what Minaya brings upstairs. I know Kirilloff is the number one prospect, but I like Larnach's approach more. He's perfectly happy to take the walk or work the count in his favor. Good stuff!

PS-What is the limit on warm-up pitches a reliever can throw upon entering a game? It seems strange to have a reliever warm-up for two innings out in the bullpen then come in and throw a bunch of warm-up pitches again. Maybe we could cut it to five max unless the reliever was forced into the game because of injury.

Batters stepping out and then pitchers stepping off. They should definitely enforce the time-limit on pitchers. Some pitchers fiddle around for 20 seconds and in the meantime, the batter steps out right when the pitcher finally gets set. Then, everyone has to readjust again. Then the batter puts his hand up and we have to start all over again. I know their will be a lot of whining by both hitters and pitchers but they will quickly adjust--just like they did in tennis. On the other hand, the notion that a pitcher needs to face three hitters as a time-saving device is somewhat shortsighted. Take today's game. How much time was really saved by having Stashak stay in the game? He walked one and gave up three hits amongst his three outs. The inning lasted an eternity and a half. Besides that, I just don't like taking that strategy away from the manager. As for starting the runner at second. I've never liked this rule at any level--not just because the Twins suck at this. I'd prefer the post-12th inning tie rule like in Japan to keeping the present rule. However, I noticed that some of the talking heads mentioned how they were starting to appreciate the rule more each day (on one of the few Twins broadcasts we received here in Japan). Such statements lead me to think that pressures from above are pushing the idea as being sound. I think the rule damages the fabric of baseball.

Do you think Jax is ready for a spot start for the big boys or not yet?

Nice! I'm always looking for those players who have a high OBP because in the era of free-swingers, their value becomes that much more important.

I'll say it again. Stashak is NOT a mlb caliber pitcher IMHO--not yet anyway. Yes, Dobnak was struggling and through for the night, but Stashak was well-rested and he couldn't even keep one runner from scoring, not to mention giving up a couple of additional runs to boot?

I was going to make a joke that the hats also came with a Kent Hrbek fishing lure attached and played 'We're gonna win Twins' electronically when you put them on, but I might not have been that far off. Thanks for the very thorough wrap. The minor league summaries are something I really like reading.

Well-said. I have the exact same opinion as you do about Maeken. It seems like he's constantly behind hitters this year.

Nice write up. It is interesting that he was trying to become a pull hitter at one point because what struck me from highlight reels from this week's performance is that he was taking the ball to right and right-center, which I thought was a very good sign. I'll take this version over the pull hitter every time.

I actually like this version of Sano better than the previous versions, which is the reason I've been on his bandwagon this year. Sure he's going whiff on some big occasions, but as long as he is patient at the plate, he is also going to get some huge hits that carry the day--as he did today. (I am guessing here but I think he'll finish the year above the Mendoza line with an OBP above .300, and that's really all I am asking from him.) I do not advocate trading Sano away at the deadline unless the offer is just too fantastic to ignore.

"Rogers slammed the door in the 9th to help the Twins improve to 5-2"...Personally, I wouldn't say slammed, but maybe gently closed it while no one was looking. (Granted, Refsnyder's error didn't exactly help.)

The Twins played poorly but won. The Orioles are awful, but I'll take it! The Twins have now crossed into double-digits in the win column at home. It's scary that it has taken nearly two months to get number 10 at home...

I would have been afraid to watch the bottom of the 10th actually. I don't think I could have done it.

Series won! Extra-inning game won! (This is not the minor league report, right?)