66 thoughts on “Game 104: Twinkies and Soxies”

  2. Cleveland up 5-0 in the third. Would be nice if they could lose once or twice a week.

    1. I'm still playing that slot machine. Pretty soon I will move to find a "hot" machine.

  5. I needed a new lawn mower and bought a battery operated one. Because I'm a boring old man, this will probably be the highlight of my summer.

      1. we got one a few months before my ankle surgery because the Mrs was not about to push my reel mower around while I was convalescing. It's Ryobi. Feels a little plasticky (because lots of plastic), but it mows just fine. Battery lasts 2-3 mows on our postage stamp-sized lawn.

        1. I looked at the Ryobi, because cheaper, but Home Despot had a refurb of the more expensive Ego that brought the price down quite a bit.

          1. Got mine from the local Despot as well. I'm sure I considered the up-market, but didn't have a hot deal like you mention.

      2. I got an Ego which claim a 40 minute recharge time, so getting it done all in one day should be no problem

        1. mine has two batteries involved, and one is about half the size of the other. i can usually finish the lawn with those, but not if it's particularly long or wet. if i had two full size batteries, wouldn't be an issue.

          1. I really liked my reel mower (a Brill I bought in 2000). It was quiet, smooth (when the blades were sharp), and oh-so-environmentally correct.

            The electric is much easier, about as quiet, and odorless, if not perfectly environmentally correct.

    2. I have close to an acre of lawn and 40 some trees. Toro zero turn purchased 12 years ago and still chugging. I tried a battery trimmer for a while but switched to gas.

      1. I'd still be using the craftsman I bought 11 some years ago (I've only got 1/3 of an acre.) it still runs great despite the fact that I treated it just terribly, but the mower housing cracked just behind the front left wheel so it's pretty much unfixable unless I had a welder.

  7. CJ Cron apparently thinks that Game of Thrones is historical novels. Also that Ken Griffey Jr was the GOAT.

    Trying to decide which take is more mistaken. Probably the former.

        2. Not happy to give up Diaz, although if you want someone worth having you have to give up something. But Diaz has reached AA at age 22 and is doing really well there. I'm sorry to see him go.

          1. Well, either the Twins website is really fast at updating or Lewin Diaz wasn't even in the Twins' Top 30 prospects. If Diaz is that good, then their system is loaded and can afford to give him up.

          3. Twins also got back a minor league pitcher and a PTBNL, so they obviously felt Diaz was worth more than half a season of Romo. Chris Vallimont is the pitcher acquired. He is ranked 29th in the Twins' prospect list now. This is the writeup on him:

            Vallimont led Mercyhurst (Pa.) to the 2018 NCAA Division II College World Series, leading D-II with 16.5 strikeouts per nine innings and setting a school record with 147 whiffs. He also matched big leaguer Dan Altavilla as the highest pick in Lakers history when the Marlins took him in the fifth round. He rebounded from a rocky pro debut to start the 2019 low Class A Midwest League all-star game, where he struck out baseball's top prospect (Rays shortstop Wander Franco) a week before getting promoted to Class A Advanced. Six starts later, he was sent to the Twins as part of the Sergio Romo deal near the Trade Deadline.

            Vallimont's fastball velocity improved from 85-88 mph as a Pennsylvania high schooler to a consistent 92-96 mph after three years of college. He also can miss bats with a sweeping mid-80s slider. He rounds out his repertoire with a hard curveball and a changeup that has been effective against lower-level hitters.

            The key to Vallimont's future will be his ability to throw strikes, which never has been his strong suit. His control has been much better in his second year in pro ball than it was in his first, and he also has tightened up his breaking pitches. He hit 98 mph with his fastball in short stints in college, giving a hint of what he could become as a reliever.

      2. I have warm memories of him with Los Gigantes. He had a nasty slider.

        But, age-36 and hasn't been very good since 2017, when he had a nice 30+ innings when he came over to Tampa.

        2. I'll caveat. Looking at his splits this year, his OPS+ allowed is 70 as a rightie vs RH batters (well better than average) and 86 as a rightie vs LH batters (better than average).

          If the cost is modest, he could turn into a solid 8th-inning option.

      1. ah.

        Twins minor-leaguer first baseman Lewin Diaz will head to Miami in return. He’s played for both Pensacola (AA) and Fort Myers (A+), hitting .297/.339/.558 with 19 homers and 61 RBI.

        1. Diaz (age-22) has been with the Twins' system since 2014. Does that mean he is Rule 5 bait?

  11. I'm not sure how I'm just learning this, but the actor who played Clay Davis went to college in Marshall, Minnesota.

    3. And now I just saw a Stella Artois commercial with Stringer Bell. What in the world?

    1. If he had stuff like that every game, he would have. Hist sinker was moving all over the place and he had great control of his slider. It happens. Considering how well the Twins hit the last week, I don't they all of a sudden collectively stopped hitting.

  13. how did Sanchez reach on a "pop up to 2nd baseman Schoop"?? I was feeding the cats, not that Daz necessarily would have 'splained it.

    1. It was a pop up that was just out of range of both Schoop and Buxton. About fifteen feet past the infield

  15. The Mrs is out for a glass of wine with a friend. I'm now on my second can of water Goose Island Kölsch. I may or may not put effort into dinner when she gets home.

  16. I had one of these on nitro last night at a bar with the Mrs and friends. Great reminder that Anderson Valley is a really good brewery. On nitro, that's not a good oatmeal stout, it's a great oatmeal stout.

    1. and by "shave," I am being very generous. Dude could probably shave with a paper towel. And probably should shave.

  27. When you have what's basically a "home run or nothing" offense, there will be games when you get nothing. Just so there aren't too many of them.

    1. It's 2019. Every team is a homer or nothing offense. Twins are second in batting average. 6th in OBP.

      Runs are scored off homers and Twins hit the most . That's good

  28. Thanks for the pinch hit last night. Weekends have been insanely busy lately.

    For as much as we've been annoyed with the Twins pitchers, it looks like the Yankees are much more annoyed with theirs.

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