stringer bell

I laughed out loud about Christmas! April 19 is my birthday as well. I can testify that I've seen snow on my birthday as recently as the 90s. My sister-in-law visited us on her birthday on the 27th of April and we had about eight inches of sloppy snow in Rochester (late 80s I think), but never, ever have I seen unrelenting cold and wave after wave of snow this late. This is far from routine and every bit as rare as the 75 degree temps we had in March last year.

Seattle's park is well-designed and looks and feels like an outdoor park when the roof is open. Every other domed stadium does feel like a dome when opened.

I was on board for acquiring Saunders or a Dodger lefthander. Saunders has done well. I was underwhelmed by the three guys the Twins ended up adding, but perhaps they were good purchases.

I agree that the overall health of the Twins has improved markedly. After two years of everything going wrong it figures that some things will go surprisingly well. For the big league club, two numbers stand out--their 4-0 record in one-run games and the bullpen ERA of 2.15 with a 4-1 W/L record. It figures that the Twins will hit better down the road, but it also figures that they will pitch less well. They currently have a negative run differential, which predicts troubles ahead, unless you are the 2012 Oriole.

The forecast I have read says cold but no precipitation tomorrow. High in the lower forties. It won't be great, but the Twins should get the games in. They may have moved the start back because it won't be a "getaway game" for the Marlins, just a guess.

I don't think Mauer is as good defensively as he was early in his career. I think he lets too many balls past him (scored Wild Pitches) and his throwing was off last year. That said, I think he's still a good defender and within reach of winning another Gold Glove. Most of Mauer's throwing woes were from the pitchers not giving him a chance or very little chance. Regarding Doumit, I'm not in love with him DHing and I also don't think he's an ideal backup. The ideal backup for Mauer could/should be a defense-first RH hitting guy with some power and versatility. There aren't a lot of those guys out there, obviously. I don't think the season turns on Doumit's defense. Pitching is the key here and secondly, the guys given an opportunity to become regulars need to earn it--Hicks, Dozier, Plouffe, Parmelee, Arcia and Florimon.

From a hitting standpoint, walks are a really good thing. The whole focus of "moneyball" is the enhanced importance of getting on base. From a pitching standpoint, I think walks can be tolerated if they are exchanged for fewer hits and more strikeouts. The Twins, for many years, have been composed of low walk, low strikeouts starting rotations, with less than wonderful results. Other teams have tolerated more free passes in exchange for weak contact and missing bats. Back to the offensive side of the ledger, Minnesota is sixth (IIRC) in OBP because they are getting the second most walks per plate appearance and they are in the middle for run scoring despite being dead last in homers, and twelfth in OPS.

I was only half-listening, but I think DickBert were saying that Gardy would only pinch-hit Doumit for the DH (Arcia on Saturday). He could still hit for an outfielder under Gardy's "rule", but he'd have to stay in the game as an outfielder.

Well, close but no cigar. Royals win in 10 to take over undisputed first place, a game ahead of the Twins. Anyway, going home above .500 and playing Miami is good news.

I am holding out hope for Pinto to develop into a long term partner for Mauer, perhaps going from alternate to primary catcher if and when Joe changes position. He needs to continue developing both his bat and mitt, but the results have been encouraging both last year and early this spring.

Update on Santana and so far I would have to call him a disappointment. His BA is down to .250 (.586 OPS) and he now has eight errors. I am waiting for a solid shortstop to come up through the minor league system, so I'm quite disappointed in Santana's performance to date.

AJ has a fan in the front office. Terry Ryan said that he thought AJ could very well have a major league career. He said that he could capably play short, has decent speed and took a pretty good at-bat.

Great comments by the last three posters here. If Twins fans are waiting for Santana to take over at SS, they can't be encouraged by his early season production at New Britain. He is OPSing .586 while he has committed eight errors already this season.

I don't see many similarities beyond unproven pitching. Colorado has two great players--Tulo and CarGo--plus an emerging star (Fowler). Cuddy is a veteran with a track record, Helton is literally on his last legs and everybody else seem to be players trying to establish themselves.

So, who pitches the eighth? Burton (second day in a row), Roenicke, Duensing, Fien, Pressly, Bueller?

Shows what I know. But I guess Dunn is strong enough to hit it out in a gale.

I presume Diamond is done. Good outing for him. The wind seems to be the great equalizer in this series. Pretty tough to get anything other than a line drive out of the park.

This is how the lineup is supposed to work!

And Veal leaves after one batter? Does Ventura overmanage much? Time for a big hit from The Hammer.

Give Florimon more time, but I think eventually the sure-handed Escobar will be the shortstop, especially if his hitting so far (I know, I know SSS) isn't a mirage. If Florimon continues to hit acceptably and steadies in the field, then maybe Eduardo moves over to second.

I think we'll be seeing 92-94 if he remains a starter. If he goes back to the bullpen, he might up the velo by a couple MPH.

Probably the most (positively) surprising team in MLB has to be Colorado. The Rockies were among the biggest disappointments last year and looked like a sure bet to be fighting with San Diego to stay out of the basement of the NL West. Somehow Colorado has won 13 of their first 17 games. Dexter Fowler is putting up great numbers, CarGo and Tulo are two of the better hitters in baseball and a couple of other young guys are adapting pretty well to Mile High baseball. My favorite Twin of all time, Michael Cuddyer, is off to a great start. He's hitting .357 with 1.089 OPs--4 homers and 13 RBI. He also is playing well in the field, starting at first and right field and leading baseball with three assists from right field.

In all seriousness, contention is a long shot, and respectability is probably less than a 50-50 proposition. Since before the season started, I've said that players establishing themselves is what this season is about. With the talent in the system coming along, what matters about this season is how many of the young guys can stake a claim to being contributors when the likes of Rosario, Sano, Arcia, Gibson, Meyer and May are playing for the Twins, with Buxton perhaps waiting in the wings.

Melotakis started for Cedar Rapids today and didn't last through the fourth inning in an 11-2 Kernels victory. He only allowed one run on four hits, but also walked four.

If the Twins win tomorrow against the White Sox, and the Royals and Tigers lose, guess who will be in first place? I wouldn't put too much money on that trifecta, but Detroit and KC are playing on the road against pretty good clubs. Despite being outscored by 10 runs, they've gotten back to .500 after 14 games. On a barely related note, the Twins are showing some patience this year. They drew eight walks (plus a HBP) even though the ump had a huge strike zone. For the year, the Twins have 66 free passes in 14 games, second only to the Oakland A's (per plate appearance).