56 thoughts on “June 19, 2013: Game Seven”

  3. Joe Mauer back to doing Joe Mauer things. In the month of June, he has really cut down on his strikeouts: only 6 in 66 plate appearances. 31/121 in the month of May.

  4. I haven't watched/read any analysis of last night's NBA game 6 but is anyone talking about Pop overthinking the last minute of regulation? On paper it might have made sense to keep Duncan on the bench to better protect against the 3, but man it would have been nice for him to be in there and take away those two second-chance 3's from LBJ and Allen. Or is that just "hindsight is 20-20" thinking?

    1. I was more confused by him putting Splitter in to set screens on the last shot attempt.

  5. Inspired by Arcia, Gleeman looks at the best young hitters the Twins have or had. Bert manages to make an appearance as well:

    Bert Blyleven actually has the second-most plate appearances by a 20-year-old in Twins history with 100, because he was an amazing young pitcher who debuted before the designated hitter. In fact, he also has the most plate appearances by a 19-year-old in Twins history with 58.

    Spoiler SelectShow

    1. It gets back to the whole "playing through injuries" deal. It's wonderful that you want to be out there, but if you're not able to help the team, there's really no point to it. You're much better off to get healthy so you can help the team again.

      1. How many of us haven't called in sick to work when we should because either we were afraid of having our integrity called into question or didn't want to let people down?

        1. Where I work, you can't call in sick without getting written up. The store has decided that nobody has ever been legitimately sick.

          2. Is that literally the policy? Or just if you don't bring a doctor's note? I have to imagine there's some law they'd be in violation of.

          1. This.

            One is reminded of the apocryphal story of Wally Pipp and Lou Gehrig. Though it probably didn't happen exactly the way the story's always been told, the real undercurrent of that story is "play through it, you never know when if your replacement might take your place."

          2. I'm having deja vu right now, like we've had the discussion, I made the same point, and someone responded the exact same way.

            1. I think I remember you pointing out the déjà vu before.
              Might have been a different subject.

      2. To be clear, I'm not blaming Burton for continuing to play. I'm blaming a culture that encourages people to play when they shouldn't and management that continues to use someone when they're not healthy enough to be effective.

        1. I agree. One of the most drastic examples was when Morneau was batting .100 with a fractured back a few years ago. Once he admitted he was hurt, the Twins went on a tear.

        2. Or management that tacitly endorses the idea that an injured player who doesn't play is a pansy. Not that I can think of any examples.

      3. Like many things in life, I think my thinking has been overly simplistic on this topic in the past. I agree that as a general rule, players shouldn't try to play through outright injuries, but I don't think it's always that easy to tell what is run-of-the-mill soreness and what is an injury that needs treatment. It's also not clear the extent to which an injury will hamper a player's performance. The Twins arguably needed every inning that Brad Radke pitched in 2006, even though his shoulder hurt enough between starts that he had to brush his teeth with his left hand.

        Most players likely play through some kind of pain at some point in the season, and we have an observation bias where we notice the players whose performance has been negatively impacted, but we don't notice the players whose performance didn't suffer. If Burton was still effective after the groin tweak, we likely would have just forgotten about it, or dismissed it as minor, but there's no bright line test for whether an injury like that will heal quickly and be a non-issue or whether it will linger and negatively impact performance.

        1. I have no problem with admitting I don't know how much the player is hurting. Is he hurting or actually injured? What makes me upset is when a player says he is too injured to play and "team leaders", management, or even media act like he is a big wuss. Most of the time, this is something that even the doctors can only go by what the player is saying. No one calls out a player with a broken bone or a torn ligament. But if it doesn't show up on an MRI, then the guy must not be really hurt. Only the player truly knows how much pain he is in and how much it is affecting his play. It used to be players with concussion symptoms were treated like pariahs because they refused to play.

            1. No. He's continued to pitch. His ineffectiveness made me wonder if he's pitching while his groin is still bothering him. I was just referring to things in the past that have gone on to create a culture where players fear looking weak or soft if they pull themselves from a game. ii talked about Mauer and maybe even Morneau not being able to play through pain, etc.

              1. To what extent do we believe that culture exists in the clubhouse the same way it did when Torii Hunter was with the team?

                1. "There's been a lot (of) inconsistencies. Now he's healthy. We need to move on. But it would sure be nice for a couple straight months so we know what we're dealing with."

                  This is from TR when Plouffe came back. It could be just general frustration over an injury, but it sure sounds like it is directed at Plouffe.

    1. It was one of the more memorable games I've ever seen.

      I also find myself able to just sit back and enjoy it without getting overly emotional. I desperately wanted the Heat not to win a championship after all the idiocy that brought this team together, but they did, so it seems like wasted effort to vehemently cheer against another one. Either the Spurs continue a ridiculous decade or the Heat pad their dynasty. I can live with either at this point, even if I'm cheering for the Spurs.

      1. All the Heat are playing for is validation of the Big Three Era. All the Spurs are playing for is to stake their claim as the best team of the past 15 years. So, no biggie.

    2. I know. 10 minutes left in the game you're thinking no way S.A. loses. Four minutes left you're thinking no way the Heat lose. 30 seconds left in the game you're thinking no way S.A. loses.

      Thursday will be epic. Or a blowout. Who knows, just sit back and enjoy it.

    1. I'd like the people to remember me as having a good voice and a clean suit.

      What more could anyone ask for.

  9. I'm bored today so I checked MLB.tv and saw that the Dodgers have a day game. "Awesome," I though, "Vin Scully." But no, they are playing the Yankees and I am blacked out. Dang.

    1. He didn't travel with the team to NYC anyway. On the bright side, he's taking over the Dodgers' Twitter feed during the game this evening if you want to follow along.

    2. When I was a kid, I only had to read like 20-30 words for a comic, 50 tops, maybe 75 on Sundays. Illustration was an art form.
      xkcd just draws stick figures without expressions. Today's didn't even have a single picture: all words. (If a number is a word.)

      Now Marvin, that was a comic!

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