Blake

I'm now looking forward to seeing Pelfrey pitch. I'm only interested in seeing Nolasco from the standpoint that one cannot avert the eyes even though you know it's going to be a train wreck.

Wow, that was some pathetic outfield play by Eaton. I wonder if the Sox would like Schaefer?

So, I leave to go have fajitas with my wife as the Sox load the bases against May. Come back, it's 9 to 2, Twins. What the? Yay MLB TV.. look at the innings, go back, watch the Twins chase Sale from the game. Cool.

I was thinking bag of hammers, but, your suggestion works too.

And I was all ready with my "John Bonnes said" excuse.

Samardzija pitched Thursday? Did I miss a day? Is today actually Friday? Whoo hoo, I don't have to work tomorrow!

Okay, we all knew the Twins needed a pitcher who can miss bats. But, Mike Pelfrey? Really? Anyone who tells me they saw that one coming, well, LIAR!

Well, after tonight against Detroit, this post became incredibly relevant. I don't know what to make of Pelfrey now. Up until this year, Pelfrey would unravel and be done. Now, he unravels a bit, then gets better. Maybe his health really was that bad the last couple of years? Or, it's the old Twins way of finding a reclamation project that finally pays off. Although, Pelfrey as an 8th inning setup man really intrigues me now.

Dick and Bert made the point that Escobar was 2 for 3 against Chamberlain, which is 5 PA's. Small sample size compared to Escobars current lack of hitting. (30 PA's > 5 PA's)* Career numbers are all well and good however, at some point, the here and now needs to be factored in. I do not believe Molitor is doing a good job of balancing the here and now with long term player trends. It's my opinion, nothing more. If managing a baseball team were easy, it would be a minimum wage job and anyone could do it, yours truly included. *30 PA's is a WAG, I admit.

This is one of my problems with the Moneyball approach to pinch hitting, etc. I think people like Molitor may get to caught up in Sabremetrics to the point of ignoring who is currently producing. Sabermetrics may be all well and good for long term trends but it isn't all about numbers. It is also about judgement. Sometimes, you have to play the cards you're dealt.

Ah, Escobar's pinch hitting appearance: the perfect example of small sample size versus larger sample size. If I heard Dick and Bert correctly, Escobar is 2 for 3, now 2 for 4 against Chamberlain. For the year, in, what, 30 PA's, Escobar is hitting a .150. Ah, well, the Twins didn't roll over. And the Tigers looked a bit desperate.

Yeah, that's the ticket: Escobar and his buck fifty average for Robinson and his defense. Oh, did I mention that Robinson is actually hitting? Again with the lefty-righty matchup using someone who is not hitting. Not pinch hitting for Robinson could be easily explained. Pinch hitting Escobar for Robinson? Not as easily explained in my book.

Seattle played like someone slipped them some Xanax. The Tigers seem to have been slipped a roofie or two.

More baseball weirdness in the seventh. I love it.

Groundhog day. Someone best buy a lottery ticket, because that call was right on the money.

The Twins won and it was by a hit by a guy they really couldn't have counted on the last couple of years. The Twins didn't roll over, like they have in the past. Baby steps. Of course, it didn't hurt that Seattle seemed to play like someone replaced their chewing gum with Xanax.

If you want the marker that says this Twins team MAY BE DIFFERENT look no further than the game and series winning hit Sunday. That's right, Joe Mauer, the person who should be counted on to get such a hit got the hit.

Robinson needs to start ahead of Schaefer right now. The catch Robinson made last night was a thing of beauty. Robinson is also hitting. Again, need to go with the hot hand. For better or worse, the Twins are stuck with Hunter. I think Arcia has the chance to be a decent fielder. Not stellar, but decent. Combine that with his bat, things are good. Vargas probably needs to go down. (I think we should nickname Vargas "Jobu") Maybe send Vargas a couple of KFC gift cards? Bring up Pinto in Vargas place. It's too early to make sweeping changes. Vargas, though, isn't a sweeping change. It's a reaction to the obvious: Vargas is lost when it comes to the curveball.

Gardy manages Milwauke with Ozzie as the third base coach and Leyland as the bench coach. Now that would be something to see.

I hope Mr. May builds on his last start. Although, considering the outfield defense, May may very well have an outfield that demolishes whatever he's built.

A little over 100 miles from here, a flock of wild turkeys inhabits a golf course on the coast. Amazing birds.

Late night? Speak for yourself..average night here in CA flyover country.

I watched the whole sequence and Eaton was dawdling getting back into the batters box. Seriously dawdling. Eaton would still be outside the batters box if he could have got away with it. Then Eaton got mad because Ventura pitched as soon as Eaton was close to being ready. As far as I'm concerned, Eaton started the whole thing through his antics and then got upset when Ventura put Eaton in his place. After that, well, neither side covered itself with glory. Yost needs to get control of KC, though. Too many key players wind up suspended and the team doesn't recover.

Another thing to note about Pelfrey's last start: He started getting more strikes later in the game, which allowed Pelfrey to pitch through the seventh. And, no matter what, this is not the Royals team we grew up with. The current version of the Royals is one of the best teams in baseball.

The new pitching coach is encouraging pitchers to find better secondary offerings from what Bert said. A couple of the split-fingers Pelfrey threw were things of beauty. The bottom fell out of them and made hitters look foolish. Notice also that Pelfrey came hard inside. Yes, he hit a couple of batters, but, I cannot believe a free base is worth taking a 90 mph baseball off any part of the anatomy. Tommy Millone is also pitching hard inside. Perhaps the change in pitching philosophy has really helped Mr. Pelfrey?