Hosken Bombo Disco

The funny thing is they are still only a game out of first

Who they bringing in to pitch, Garlick?

Alright go get your pitcher, ffs

I know the circumstances and the win possibility is minimal, but Nick Gordon pitching in a 7 run game - that’s a hard, hard, hard pass for me. Not cool.

Come on Urshela, this is your moment! Bring it home for Hosken!!!

Not sure how I feel about this, but I see your perspective on it

Man this has all the feels of the real deal, no bull, no-hitter tonight

Noted; I disagree, and now we will move on.

Actually if it’s not too late, I’d like to switch my no-hit spoiler to Urshela

I’ll go Garlick

Losing the Sox manager was a huge blow to the Twins lol

Under Pressure ? we are the Champions? We will We will rock him?

I’ll think to drat , ahem drink to that!

In theory, yes.

The Rays shutting out the Yankees again tonight, however that game is still in progress. last thing we need is a Yankees team steaming hot mad and waiting to take some frustrations out on the next team they play (which is the Twins, next week)

Same, unfortunately

No Twins coach or advisor looked at Mahle’s bullpens and said, “he’s not ready”?

I also agree with you on Hrbek. For example, especially on those bases loaded situations, I think he had a knack for knowing when to place a tag and which bases to throw to. There was the 3-2-3 double play late in that game as well. He also could see an opportunity — Maybe like when he pulled Ron Gant off first in Game 2, something none of us are too proud of, at least I’m not. But in real time I really did think Gant had lost his balance. Similar was AJ Pierzynski (by then with the White Sox) running to first base after striking out in the 2005 ALCS—another sketchy use of Baseball IQ but still an example of a player who is able to do an instant risk/reward and seize an opportunity. Throw in a little bit of acting like Hrbek did. Many of the players on those Twins teams of the late 90s early 2000s all seemed to have the Good version of Baseball IQ: AJ, Torii, Dougie, others. Joe Mauer had it in spades but rarely used it (behind the back catch of that foul ball careening back to him, hello?) and Eddie Rosario also had it in spades, but was also pretty reckless too. The current Twins team? Yeah I agree Buxton. Arraez probably. Not sure, who else? Any other particular play stand out?

So this is the bullet that bothers me. How would you know you are seeing baseball IQ by looking at the stat sheet? Dan Gladden talks about baseball IQ or instinct a lot. My sense is he thinks it’s more innate and not something easy to learn. I don’t have a sense about what percentage of players he thinks has it. It can’t be many, or else most players would have it and it wouldn’t be a “thing”? Dunno… Anyway, Gladden led off the 10th inning of Game 7 with a double. Grounder inside the third base bag? Drive into the gap? Nope, broken bat blooper out behind second base. Gladden was running all out, right out of the box. I am convinced that he knew getting to second was possible, over and above the quality of just wanting to hustle hard for it, and am also convinced that he would have slammed on the brakes and dashed back to first safely just in time with a head first slide if necessary, if he saw Atlanta making the right clean play on it. But the ball took a nice hop that the fielders couldn’t corral, and that was a possible break Gladden was looking for, and off he went into second. Imagine the adrenaline rush on that play.. Anyway, Terry Pendleton also doubled in that game—a poster above mentioned Knoblauch’s deke. So my question for you is how do you look at the stat lines and see Gladden’s baseball IQ double as something very different from Pendleton’s double? They both look the same on paper.

Agreed. There’s nothing as fun as a pitcher on a roll. I started saying the same thing about Brett Favre in his second season with the Vikings. “One of the best NFL quarterbacks of all time, but was the second best quarterback on the Packers.” (Aaron Rodgers)

Duran the first three or perhaps four hitters, Lopez the next six or seven as the lineup rolls over.

draws a base on balls in his first at bat, 10 pitch at bat.

I found out later that the reason traffic was so bad that day, was because of Mauer’s motorcade had closed down the streets

Good article! Duran is special, no doubt. Let’s hope his shoulder holds up—no indication that it won’t at this point, at least through 2022. If we are counting half seasons, then Scott Erickson’s splinker ranks up there too. Joe Nathan had a great curveball, I thought. I’m sure I will think of some more and post again later!

If Maeda is on schedule, and the report is not saying he isn’t, then we can expect him to appear in minor league games soon as part of his rehab. Pitching motion should be the same regardless. As long as Maeda stays on schedule, I don’t think it would hurt to bring him up for a couple appearances with the Twins near the end, as Otto said the season is an extra week long*. I’d just keep it to very low leverage appearances, assuming there will be some. So I am wondering if he’s just a little behind schedule and they are just trying to plan out September and get certainty on some guys? * Otto didn’t say that and it’s only an extra series long