BH67

Congratulations to AL batting champ Luis Arraez. And with the balanced interleague schedule in 2023, he might be the last meaningful one.

Per Ted: "...short starts aren’t simply a Twins thing, and they really aren’t a Baldelli thing either. Baseball has trended toward pulling pitchers earlier as hitters have become so much more advanced, and there are so few truly elite arms." Ted, in what way statistically do you mean this?

Local government financial matters, for one.

This win is a perfect nunc dimittis for me and this version of my favorite baseball team. My commentary on the 2022 Twins ends here. Root them on well, whatever happens. The randomness in performance, the constant running on half an engine and the ludicrous volume of injuries are no longer worth my energy and time this autumn. Go Twins.

A win is a win is a win. Time to up my HCTZ dosage considerably. White Sox up big early at Oakland. Looks like Twins and Sox will be 1.5 GB back at night's end.

Depends on how far one views the pipeline. Wichita, Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers are either first or second in their leagues in fewest runs allowed for the season, regardless of the system ratings. None of that emerges to the big stage until 2024, which is frustrating, but that's a very positive status. The bigger issue for me is health once they (and field players) arrive at Target Field. Something is badly wrong with the conditioning program at the big club, as I can't accept statistically this much "bad luck." A change there seems to my novice observation to be most important during this coming offseason.

This story has "folk hero" written all over it. No better venue for the debut. Go get 'em, Louie.

Slight title change: from "Judge Homer Beats Twins" to "Bringing in Megill to Face Judge Beats Twins." There, fixed.

Certain Yankee traditions impress me greatly,like hearing Sinatra at game's end or the late Bob Sheppard's voice introducing Derek Jeter in his final playing years. But they'd better not have an automatic "THUHHHHHHHH Yankees win!" recording playing after now 84-year-old announcer John Sterling dies - ewwww.

Curt Flood paid the full price for enabling hundreds of multi-millionaire baseball players to follow. Someone here once clarified the legalities that make such cause and effect less clear, and I appreciated that, but symbolically he took the biggest step. He belongs in Cooperstown solely on that basis.

Crashing, burning, and yet back into a tie for first place. This is the most bizarre Twins season I can remember. No outcome in the stretch run will surprise me. Que sera, sera.

In 11 innings, Seattle beats Cleveland, 6-3. The Twins are somehow tied for first place. I hereby ask Congress to revoke MLB's antitrust exemption should an AL Central team be admitted to the playoffs.

Dylan Bundy is now routinely providing five reliable innings per start and keeping the Twins in each game he pitches. Deserved congrats aplenty, Dylan.

With this team, I expect Nick Gordon soon to be sidelined due to Tommy John surgery.

Through six innings, police interrogators will compel criminal suspects.to watch the footage of this game in order to elicit confessions more quickly.

Ergo, the team with the deepest first-rate bullpen is most likely to compete for division titles and league pennants. And therefore homegrown bullpen talent is also needed in large numbers, especially since the Twins' forays into bullpen free agency usually have not been positive. Here's a question for everyone's consideration: do you see a positive correlation between increased velocity and occurrences of Tommy John surgery? I may ask this again in a more timely post since most of you have already read it.

Two long-standing themes of this season converged tonight: resilience under adversity, and a huge opportunity to win wasted with the top of the order up. Well, it's never boring...

Headed to the 9th in Cleveland: Orioles 4, Guardians 0. Heck of an at-bat for Piranha Luis,

With Buxton? NEVER.

Grand slam. And Wacha is cruising. Big hole to climb out of. Elsewhere, Gopher volleyball lost a close first set at #1 Texas...long way to go in that one. And Serena took the first set against the #2 seeded player at the US Open.

I just looked at their site and indeed, that are they. They even have their version of the legendary "PawSox" nickname -- they're the "WooSox." Ewww.

The Pawtucket Red Sox, alas, are no longer. Worcester, Mass. is now the home of Boston's AAA farm club. I suspect that departure was bitterly felt by the Pawtucket faithful.

In 2004, the Yankees had a steady bullpen progression featuring Paul Quantrill in the 7th, followed by Tom Gordon in the 8th and Enter Sandman in the 9th. Admittedly, the Curse of the Bambino shattered over them that October, but until then the Yankees looked poised for a seventh Anerican League pennant in nine years. Sons of the first two are emerging as stars as this September approaches: starting pitcher Cal Quantrill in Cleveland and Nick Gordon with the Twins. Genetics and confidence play a role in their burgeoning talent, but Cal and Nick also have their dads' understanding of how to succeed in clutch situations with high stakes. That's a nice intangible for this stretch run and in years to follow.

Good time for a Twins surge. Even with five straight wins, they remain 3 games back of the third wild card spot and 1.5 back of Cleveland. Finishing a sweep tomorrow and then taking advantage of the fading White Sox this weekend is essential. It was another strong night for the bullpen (even for Magill, who retired Bogaerts and Devers after giving up a walk and a double), and we saw plenty of offensive support around Nick Gordon on his magnificent evening.

Thing is, Rocco let Bundy go into the heart of the Bosox lineup for the third time last night, and he let Magill face Bogaerts and Devers tonight after giving up a walk and a double. Given all the injuries, Rocco has to use risky options right now at decisive points of games. He seems to be balancing the risk and reward pretty well this week. Also, Pagan gets a 5-run lead and the 8-9 hitters to start. If you're going to use him with a lead, this is the time.