OK, I’m gonna say one more thing about the Morneau/Hamilton lack of recognition thing, just because I almost drove into my garage door when I heard this. Bill Ripken, who I’m usually like listening to on XM, was talking about the contest and said that Morneau would have done the right thing by turning the title over to Hamilton during the postgame ceremony. I love when hyper-competitive people — and pro athletes go into that group by default — tell other people how they should compete.

Here’s a better and more constructive thought: The geniuses from State Farm should have acknowledged Hamilton’s extraordinary performance by cutting a $50,000 check to the Boys and Girls Club that Hamilton was hitting for, in addition to the check for the club that Morneau represented.

That would have been the classy thing to do.

OK, we’re done with that. We are, right?

Not much wisdom and analysis to offer. I’m glad Gardy found a reason to pitch Glen Perkins tonight because that gets the left-hander a start at Yankee Stadium against the left-tilting Yankees in a ballpark that favors lefty pitchers. Did you notice that the Twins get to face Sidney Ponson in the series opener on Monday? Oh, the drama.

I think this is also a good time to stop talking about a Beltre-for-Cuddyer/Livan deal, mostly because the Twins would make it in a second, and there’s no way that the wretched Mariners need an above-average veteran right fielder and another ex-Twins pitcher with a high ERA.

I’m hoping Carlos Gomez went to a batting cage when he went home to the Dominican Republic over the break. I know that having four days off is good for the players, but the days after the All-Star break have been loooooooooong. I did an extra errand last night so I could listen in the car to Johan getting knocked out in the fourth by the Reds. The inning went homer-homer-single-walk-double-triple. That’s homer-homer-single-walk-double-triple.

This sort of analysis has a tendency to be tedious in the wrong hands, but Aaron Gleeman’s midseason report on Twins hitters and pitchers is worth a close read. His take on Morneau: “The shape of Morneau’s performance has changed, but the end result is similar to his MVP-winning campaign. In fact, with offense down considerably across the league this year his .903 OPS is perhaps more impressive than the .934 OPS that he posted en route to winning the award in 2006. He’s on pace for a disappointing 25 homers, but has still been one of the league’s top five hitters overall, ranks third in WPA, and is on track to drive in 110-plus runs for the third straight season.” Go here for the rest. It’ll be worth your time.

If you get to the Dome when the gates open at 5:30, you should be able to catch Hamilton taking batting practice. I suspect the cheap seats will have some extra visitors.

I know we made lots of fun of the Rangers earlier in the season, but I’m glad they’ve gotten it together because their manager, Ron Washington, was one of my favorites to chat with during my baseball writing days. Washington was an offensive-minded three-position infielder. (Think Brendan Harris.) Once, the former Twins general manager Howard T. Fox referred to Washington as “Roberto Duran.” When I looked at him funny, Fox said to me, “You know. Hands of Stone.” That was the first thing I thought of a few years back when I was in the Metrodome press box during a game and Roberto Duran himself was there.

Joe C. had the news yesterday about Liriano’s agent asking the players’ union to investigate whether the Twins are violating the labor contract by keeping Liriano at Rochester. I’m skeptical of any suggestion that the Twins have been dealing shady in their treatment of Liriano, but I don’t blame the agent for being his player’s advocate. One irony that Joe points out: Liriano’s agent also represents Livan, who would be the starter most likely to be evicted from the rotation. After Liriano’s performance early in the season, it’s made sense to bring him along slowly. Very slowly.

At this point, however, I’d be tempted to bring him up next week when the Twins are in New York to get a second lefty starter at Yankee Stadium — and see what happens from there.

other people are here too

This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 8:23 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.