wickedslider

Shocked to see Cruz stand there with the bat on his shoulder looking at one right down the middle!?

The Twins were down to their last strike

I doubt you will ever see a lot of money spent on a pitching rotation here. If you look back since around 1994-95, the Twins haven't really invested much in their pitching staff. They've only had one ACE during that time, Johan Santana. Radke wasn't really an ACE, neither was Pavano though he did have a nice season or 2 here. But even when they had Santana, they only had a strong 1-3 the year Santana, Liriano and Radke were on the staff in 06. Liriano and Santana were dominant difference makers on the mound and they haven't had that since. Pitchers are the biggest risk on the free agent market and bankers don't like to take risks. I'm sure Carl gave that same advice to Jim. So unless the Twins develop their own ACE, I don't see them signing a Gerrit Cole type of player, let alone several of them ala the Astros.

Baldelli wants to save May's arm in case he needs him next game.

I wondered that same thing. IIRC there was a guy on 3rd but with 2 outs he didn't need to worry about him. If he'd have been back at the proper depth he most likely catches that ball.

you are right and they've done a better job than we have. Recall last inning, the ground shot snagged by the Yankee 2nd baseman in short right field and throw out at first base. In addition to being in short right, he was shaded towards the 1st base line and the ball was hit nearly right at him. I forget the batter...

What is Sano, 1 for 14 or something?

Sano has been horrible since his game 1 hr. He is seeing some nice fastballs but swinging right through them.

Yeah he has been dreadful which sucks because he is my favorite player.

I agree 100% on Gibson. Kepler I'm 50-50 on. He has played a serviceable center field. But his hitting isn't anywhere near where he was when he was close the being the team's MVP.

Eddie Eddie Eddie

IMHO Polanco has probably been the 2nd best hitter.

Does anyone think the core of this team fall into the same Yankee hex that the 2000's Twins did or do you think they will mature and eventually break through the curse?

Imagine how game 1 may have turned out if Baldelli had used tonight's relievers then? How do you not go to your best relievers in an effort to win game 1 when you have the chance? They had to split in NY and winning the first game is especially important as it was quoted by the announcers that 73% of first game winners end up as series winners.

Yankee starting pitchers aren't "all that" compared to Houston or Washington. They've basically outslugged their slightly above average rotation just as the Twins did. However, the Yankees pitchers don't issue many walks and the Yankees play better team defense than the Twins.

It's been like that all 3 games for crying out loud.

I don't think Mauer was a bad teammate or bad in the clubhouse. He just isn't the type of teammate who inspired others via demonstrative actions ala Puckett. Nor was he a partier blasting music in the clubhouse. I think of him as more of a "cool as a cucumber" type of guy. Nothing wrong with that. It would be worse if he tried to force himself to be "that guy" as it would seem forced and not genuine. Joe was cerebral as a player. If he'd have chosen football instead of baseball, you'd want that "cool as a cucumber" attitude in your QB. And I'd say that as catcher it was a good way to approach the position while figuring out how to help his pitchers approach each hitter. Many people think you need rah rah leaders on every team in every sport but for the daily grind of baseball, you walk a fine line with that rah rah stuff. Too much of it and it gets tuned out, especially if your team is losing. Rah Rah leadership is much more effective on a football field where the game is played once a week, and emotions play a bigger part in the outcome. BB players don't jump around and preen after almost every play like football players do. They hold their emotions a bit closer to the vest. Tom Kelly always preached the "not to high, not to low" approach to playing BB. Sure you like competitive guys like Gladden and Puckett but Gladden wasn't known as being a leader, Puckett was. Baseball players seem to prefer to save their on field excitement for really big moments i.e. dramatic HR's, walkoff wins, or in the locker room afterwards, while celebrating a victory.

I missed Pineda's other starts but I thought I read that his FB velocity had been around 92 or so, down from his pre surgery velocity of 95. But I see him hitting 94-95 tonight so maybe I had bad info, or has he really improved his velo over his past few starts?

With this display, it appears that Joe has decided to retire. If so, I for one will miss him a great deal. He is the last link to the last period of success for this team.

"but when was the last time a real stud came to Minnesota?" I'd say it was Jack Morris for the 1991 season.

Funny how the article in the Strib mentions that Sano's accuser is Betsy Bissen, photographer for Twins Daily, but that Twins Daily failed to mention that in their story.

dammit!

Nice trade. An established ml starter and a catcher for a low end prospect. I wonder if the catcher was thrown in to that the Twins can call up Garver and have this guy take his place?

Bartolo cannot get through the 5th inning anymore. Once he goes through the lineup, they get to him. I hope the arrival of Garcia allows the Twins to waive Colon.

I know many are against sending Buxton down as it would seem that he'd benefit from competing against MLB pitching. But if part of his problem is a lack of confidence, it would seem to make sense. I wonder if Polanco could do with some time in the outfield and become our super sub in place of Dansan/Escobar/Nunez? I'd like to keep Dozier and turn Polance into a 3rd, SS, 2nd baseman who can also play a couple of outfield spots.Try to get Plouffe just enough time at 3rd to shake the rust off, then get what you can in a wavier trade. Hopefully some 3rd baseman on a contender goes down to injury. I think there has been enough talk about Sano in the papers that he would understand that he needs to change his approach. He's been better at the plate the past few games. And I see more benefit to him gaining defensive experience playing 3rd in the ML than Buxton would get by facing MLB pitching the next month. We still have the logjam at 1st base/DH with Mauer, Vargas, and Park waiting in the wings. Maybe we could package Plouffe with Vargas or Park for decent starting pitching prospect?