Well, hey. It looks like we've got ourselves a little winning streak here. Let's do some in-depth analysis and see how the odds look for extending it.
PITCHERS Carl Pavano (2-3, 4.38 FIP, 4.28 xFIP, 0 k/9) Yovani Gallardo (2-4, 3.89 FIP, 3.96 xFIP, made up name)
Edge: Initially, it would seem that the Brewers have the edge here, but even though Pavano seems to have taken a sacred vow to never strike anyone out ever, I'm going to go with the Twins here. Unless you're Randy Johnson, pitching is 90% luck, 10% facial hair, and Pavano's rebounded nicely after a tough 2011.
HITTERS
I'd be a fool to bet against a lineup that prominently features a catcher sporting a .350/.381/.450 slash line. Twins, it is.
BALLPARK
Miller Park can't possibly hope to match Target Field, so even though they're not playing at Target Field today, I'm giving the advantage to the Twins.
INTANGIBLES
Morneau's radiant good cheer (that is how he won that MVP in 2006, right?) is worth a hundred of whatever the Brewers might have in this department (beer, maybe? brats? Ryan Braun's contaminated urine?)
Adding all of that up (4-0), I'd say it's pretty much a sure thing. The Twins are going to sweep this series!*
* yes, I might be getting ahead of myself here, but with literally every indicator saying that they'll win this game, why wouldn't they win the next one, too?
Stakes: Bragging rights as top football club in Europe
Today is one of international soccer’s biggest days, probably only behind the World Cup or perhaps the European Cup finals. The Champions League final is this afternoon and if you don’t mind spending a couple of hours inside watching the game, I think you will enjoy it regardless of your soccer knowledge. To give you a little edge if you do decide to watch, here are a few reasons why each team could win. I’ll stay away from the technical aspects but Andrew, Pirate, Homer Dome or others feel free to chime in through the comments. If you want a technical review, this one is pretty good.
Matt Maloney was sent outright to Rochester. Chris Parmelee was optioned to Rochester. Justin Morneau was activated from the disabled list. Ben Revere was recalled from Rochester. Nick Blackburn was placed on the fifteen day disabled list. Sean Burroughs was activated by Rochester. Clete Thomas was activated by Rochester. Tsuyoshi Nishioka was activated from the disabled list by Rochester. Lester Oliveros was promoted from New Britain to Rochester. Matt Rizzotti was sent from Rochester to New Britain. Wilkin Ramirez was promoted from New Britain to Rochester. Aaron Bates was released. Joe Thurston was released. Kyle Waldrop was assigned to Fort Myers.
A few citizens' favorites made the list this week.
Arizona sends David Winfree outright to AAA Reno.
Baltimore purchases Lew Ford’s contract from Long Island of the Atlantic League and assigns him to AAA Norfolk.
Baltimore adds Steven Tolleson to their forty man roster.
Boston places Darnell McDonald on the fifteen day disabled list.
White Sox activate Jesse Crain from the disabled list.
Cincinnati organization releases Ron Mahay.
Angels place Torii Hunter on the restricted list.
Angels fire batting coach Mickey Hatcher.
Dodgers designate Trent Oeltjen for assignment, then sends him outright to AAA Albuquerque.
Mexico City of the Mexican League activates Julio DePaula. Milwaukee assigns Carlos Gomez to Class A Wisconsin on a rehab assignment.
Mets organization (AAA Buffalo) activates Chuck James from the disabled list.
Mets organization (AA Binghamton) places Kevin Mulvey on the seven day disabled list.
Yankees organization (Class A Charleston) activates Pedro Guerra from the disabled list.
St. Louis releases J. C. Romero.
San Diego places Jason Bartlett on the fifteen day disabled list.
San Diego releases Orlando Hudson.
San Francisco organization (AAA Fresno) activates Eli Whiteside from the temporarily inactive
list.
Washington places Wilson Ramos on the fifteen day disabled list, then transfers him to the sixty day disabled list. Blayne Weller was traded from River City of the Frontier League to Windy City of the Frontier League for a player to be named later. Nick Lockwood was placed on the injured list by Washington of the Frontier League. Mike Tarsi was signed by Bridgeport of the Atlantic League.
It's not my place to tell a guy to give up on his dream, but when you're in the Frontier League and you get traded for a player to be named later, it may be time to get on with your life.
The only thing more surprising than my little brother giving a speech at his high school graduation last night was seeing that the Twins won their third in a row while we celebrated his being named valedictorian.
Goose Curry (1905)
Gil McDougald (1928)
Curt Simmons (1929)
Larry McCoy (1941) Dan Ford (1952) Rick Cerone (1954)
Ed Whitson (1955)
Luis Salazar (1956)
Eric Show (1956)
Turk Wendell (1967)
Brandon Inge (1977)
Eric Show was drafted by Minnesota in the 36th round in 1974, but did not sign.
So, things don't look good for the PC. Booted Ubuntu, couldn't see that there were any files on the HD, where there should be files. I may be listening to the same 3400 songs on my iPod for a long time.
Babe Adams (1882)
Arndt Jorgens (1905)
Gil Coan (1922)
Jack Sanford (1929) Carroll Hardy (1933) Brooks Robinson (1937) Reggie Jackson (1946) Osamu Higashio (1950)
Dennis Leonard (1951)
Eric Gregg (1951)
Jim Sundberg (1951) Andre David (1958) Jim Bowden (1961)
Erik Hanson (1965)
Eric Young (1967) Rich Garces (1971) Joakim Soria (1984)
Two players who share a name with Minnesota Twins players, Scott Baker (1970) and Roy Smith (1976), were also born on this day.
With the Twins' season on life support, the best hope for this team lies in the future. Unfortunately, their best prospect is at least a couple years away, even in the best-case scenario. As most avid fans know, that top prospect is Miguel Sano, who is dominating in the minors at a young age in a way not seen since a certain young catcher was drafted No. 1 by his hometown team, but even that catcher did not show the power Sano has. Of course, Sano hasn't shown the defensive skills and baseball instincts that Mauer had.
Still, Sano has me thinking what could be in a couple years. Sano is dominating at Beloit, so he should be promoted to Ft. Myers before too long. He could conceivably start 2013 in New Britain and the Twins have shown they are willing to skip AAA for the right prospect (such as Mauer), so Sano could be up in 2014. Mauer will still be under contract and if he is still catching, that could be a dynamic duo to build around. I thought I would look at the team the Twins could put around him.
Those under contract in 2014: Mauer, Willingham, Span and Perkins. So, that is a nice start. The Twins have an option on Blackburn, but I can't imagine them picking that up.
Arb eligible: Duensing, Valencia, Burnett, Swarzak, Gray, Maloney and Butera. One solid reliever but not much else. Valencia might be worth keeping in his first year of arbitration.
Serfs/Prospects: Sano, Dozier, Plouffe, Revere, Diamond, Hendriks, Walters, Parmelee, Benson, Arcia, Guerra, Waldrop, Manship, DeVries, Levi Michael, Wilkin Ramirez, Gibson, Wimmers, Rosario, Florimon, Carlos Gutierrez, Slama, Chris Herrmann.
I think that would be a fun team to watch. At least more fun that what we saw the first six weeks of this season or all but a couple of weeks of last season. The starting pitching looks to continue to be a concern along with the second catcher and first base. Rosario at second is a stretch and Michael has struggled in Ft. Myers, but both have higher potential than most of the prospects. Of course, the injuries to Gibson and Wimmers are real concerns. I'd like to think a top college pitcher could make it to the majors quickly, but 2014 would be pushing it. Even if the Twins get him signed quickly, I doubt they'll have him pitch more than a handful of innings after a full collegiate season, so he'll probably still start 2013 in Ft. Myers. The Twins have had a few college pitchers go from Ft. Myers to Rochester in one season, but that's asking a lot. The good news, is that this roster would be well under the current $100M payroll. The Twins only have about $41M committed to 2014 and Duensing and Butera would be the only players in their second year of arbitration (none in their third), and I doubt either will command much money. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Doumit was re-signed or given an extension. This is a perfect situation for him. A lineup could look like this:
The sun was shining, big and bright and unfamiliar. I hadn't been outside before sunset in God knows how long. I never thought I'd come to miss nighttime, when the darkness wraps around you like a cold, wet towel. But there I was, yearning for it. Never saw myself as the yearning type. Not part of the job, generally. I'm a private eye. The name's Walters. P.J. if you buy me a drink first.
I was in Detroit at the behest of some real down-and-outs, a couple of hard-luck Minnesotans with little more than a sob-story to their name. Not that they told me their names. Just call us The Twins, they said when they came calling. Let's keep this anonymous. Somebody took our wins. Bring them back to us. I had half a mind to tell them off, but the other half saw the stack of bills they seemed to be offering. They played at being hard-up, but it turned out they were secretly living large. I wasn't sure what the game was, but the money spoke for itself. And the misery on their faces was as plain as Norwegian cooking. Whatever else, they needed those wins back, badly.
Hal Carlson (1892)
Del Webb (1899) Cool Papa Bell (1903) Ace Parker (1912)
Billy Hoeft (1932)
Ozzie Virgil (1932) Dan Monzon (1946) Carlos May (1948)
Pascual Perez (1957)
Greg Mathews (1962)
Jose Guillen (1976)
Carlos Pena (1978)
Ace Parker is a member of both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was an infielder for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937-1938.
Left-hander Greg Mathews was drafted by Minnesota in the ninth round of the January draft in 1982, but did not sign.
Twins 11, Tigers 7
WP: Burnett (1, 0(he's perfect(!))), LP: Below (2, 1)
Honorary Save: Perkins. He didn't blow anything up, so, he gets a save.
Twins Record: 11-26. Booooooooooooooooooooooooo. Fangraphs thought this was in the bag after the top of the second.
Snarky comments are the new market inefficiency. Blackburn went 2 innings tonight. Blackburn coughed up 5 runs in the second inning, but finished strong by picking off M.Cab while Del was "batting". The Twins battled back in the top half of the third to tie the game, coughed up the tie again, and took it back by force in the top half of the sixth. The local nine didn't look back after that point. That is to say, Matt Capps didn't have to pitch.
I'd suggest reading the game log, but that would be admitting that it's comments represent a market inefficiency.
Culture club: Well, shoot. I'm all tapped out tonight. I promise an update from the businessman's special at Angles ballpark tomorrow.
Hey look another Wednesday game! You know what's fun? Watching baseball. Even this form of Twins baseball is better than the off season. Right?
Count me out of those asking for changes. Well sweeping organizational changes anyway. I don't think most of us thought the 2012 Twins would be a great team. Hell a lot of us thought they wouldn't be any good. Unfortunately, they've managed to pretty much undershoot anyones worst expectations so far. 10-26 is awful. I don't think this team is really that bad. The offense will come back again. The pitching will level out. Twins will not end up with a .277 winning percentage. The Twins still get to play in the AL Central last I checked.
Porcello is a hittable righty. One would hope that the Twins will take advantage; oh and there is that whole Detroit has a hilariously defensive team. At least killing worms might work tonight. He does rely on a sinker, but he's had some trouble getting it to sink lately. No Adjustments!
Blackburn needs a beard. And an eye patch. But at least he's not Marquis. If he can keep it in the park, he should be fine.
Note: The term "Market Inefficiency" is hereby banned from the game thread. They call it the Dismal "Science" for a reason.
1. Austin Jackson, CF
2. Andy Dirks, LF
3. Miguel Cabrera, 3B
4. Prince Fielder, 1B
5. Delmon Young, DH
6. Alex Avila, C
7. Ryan Raburn, 2B
8. Brennan Boesch, RF
9. Ramon Santiago, SS
first and foremost: i am extremely far down on the list of analysts of our hometown squadron. faaaaaar down. that said, i'd like to query the nation: is it time for regime change? and if so, how far up the ladder?
it's been noted that there are questions about the medical staff. the training staff. the front office. the management. up and down the farm system. what changes are needed?
all of those are valid questions, and a debate in themselves. in what we can more immediately see, how about gardy? he was given the dreaded vote of confidence by the ownership, but is it time for a change to be made? how much of gardy's success has been a fertile farm system that continually supplied him with major league talent?
please don't misunderstand me, i'm not saying that it's time to FIRE GARDY AND VARVA!, but i think we're reaching a point where it's becoming a valid conversation. to be fair, he's had to deal with an antietam of injuries (again, medical staff? training staff?), and bare cupboards in the farm system (front office? farm management?). however, that is nothing new for a lot of baseball teams.
personally i feel that, yes, gardy doesn't have a lot to work with. even so, or maybe even more importantly, he doesn't seem able to manage what he has. gleeman's been banging the platoon drum for years. the rigid lineup by position has been in effect for just as long. why does he (if it is him) have an insistence on redundant pitchers, extra catchers, non-boat rockers, and scrappy middle infielders to the detriment of the rest of the roster? is it time for a manager with a more savvy, problem-solving approach to take the reins? new blood instead of old guard? as an honest question that i'm not quite sure how to answer, what strengths does gardenhire bring to the table in dealing with the situation he has in front of him?
again, i'm not advocating a position, just a conversation...
May 19th, 2012, at 2:00 pm 
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hungry joe 
May 19th, 2012 
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