rukavina

Feckless stretch of baseball...

Crappy ending. I remain optimistic; SP should be good, Falvine can assemble a good bullpen and there are pieces in the minors who are finally ready to contribute.

Gonna be a crazy year. Free agents are going to be cheap and on shorter contracts.

Momma said there would be games like this.

Good gracious this game is slow. Two hours for 5 innings.

"Strangely inconsistent?" Perhaps pretty good starting pitching on the other team?

A few ifs here, but if Cave hits, would it make sense to platoon him and Buxton? Not so much for hitting, but to lessen the chances of Buxton getting injured.

Bauer isn't everyone's cup of tea, but he implies that Pressly's jump in spin rate with the Astros could only be explained by the "application of a foreign substance." Be interesting to see if their bullpen performs differently this year assuming that they aren't cheating as much.

Sounds like Kato.

'Cause I couldn't find another place to post this, but Robbie "bleeping" Grossman was runner up for a Gold Glove.

Too many good at-bats by the Yankees. Don't swing outside the zone, and punish stuff in the middle.

Looks like he (Gonzalez) is in the line-up

Labrum repairs are not trivial...I hope the team gets a bit of clarity on his availability for next season.

I tallied 146 hits in 14 games - I guess homers are better than singles, but they have had a great approach against our pitchers. The just grind through AB's against us - and only us.

The yankees - feel free to check my math - had an oba for the series of .445 and slugged .742. That is a team full of Barry Bonds...

I know he's not stupid, and he still has tremendous potential, but how many AB's does Sano need to figure out he is not going to see one single fastball over the plate with guys on base. On this team where the next guy is just as likely to hit a home run. Rant over.

By my count the Angels had 55 baserunners in three games and only 15 runs. That we won two of three has to be a source of some frustration to Angels fans.

I think the owners and commissioner will make concessions only if the game becomes more entertaining. They have accumulated so much leverage through metrics and exploiting the controlled period of a player's career. The result is that the players are younger and contracts are shorter. This, in turn, has led to fewer balls in play and imo, a less enjoyable product. I think the players will need a work stoppage of some length but it's difficult to imagine much concession unless the owners are convinced the sport is in trouble.

Scratches head. Thinks about Buxton and literary references...

God bless Mike. If anyone can teach mediocre talent into the big leagues, it's him.

Last of the old guard, watching the end of his career. I sympathize somewhat, because he's watched a lot of his co-workers lose jobs. But that level of vitriol says more about him than it does about TD. If it's any consolation, the only way I know about his articles is if I see the link on this site.

That's a great article Seth. You tied a good amount of Twins history together and carried it into the present.

My heart wants to believe these records matter, but experience says it's noise. This is all about individual prospects - I begin to pay attention when: - prospects get to age 22/23 - prospects tear up AA and then AAA I stop paying much attention when they hit 25. Dozier is an exception.

What is Deduno up to these days?

A lot of ifs here, but if Berrios pitches to a sub-4 era, buxton continues to get better and the rest of the starters don't turn into pumpkins, I would expect the Twins to be buyers (a reliever, most likely) and compete in this division with Cleveland.