Laughing while a piano rolls over your foot
Posted on September 18th, 2008 – 9:10 AMBy Howard
Yesterday I gave the commenter Bill Brimmer some grief. Today I offer him praise for this fine piece of work:
OBITUARIES
Twins Minnesota, 48, passed away after a recent sudden illness due to heart failure, travel fatigue, and the curse of Little Nicky Punto. Will be remembered for, at various times, significant scuffling, bouts of getting after it, and frequent battling their tails off.
Survivors include T.C. Bear and his wife Goldy Gopher, and amazingly, Carl Pohlad.
A bullpen is preferred in lieu of flowers.
Arrangements by John Gordon Funeral Services, ‘Touching ‘Em All’ for eighteen, correct that, nineteen years.
A couple other notes:
*LaVelle had a post yesterday on his blog asking commenters to submit questions. There’s a lot of good stuff there and I’m eagerly awaiting his answers.
*There was a comment yesterday about Jonah Keri’s column on espn.com in which he makes a comment that Morneau isn’t as worthy an MVP choice as a number of others. More interesting is the part of the column that takes about the season in its entirety — so far. Here it is.
*Who should be the MVP? Can it be a pitcher? I don’t subscribe to the theory that closer is the most overrated position in baseball, which is advanced by Jim Caple, among others. At the same time, I wouldn’t vote for a closer (that would be Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels) for MVP because they simply aren’t in the game enough to be the most valuable player on their own team — much less in the entire league.
That being said, I was an MVP voter in 1984 and I voted for Detroit closer Guillermo Hernandez.
Have I changed my mind.
Nope. The closer’s role has changed that much over time.
Look at these numbers
IP H ER BB K W-L ERA Batters
140.1 96 30 36 112 9-3, 1.92 548 — Hernandez’84
64.3 52 17 33 74 2-3, 2.38 273 — K-Rod’08
K-Rod will finish the season with less than half the number of innings that Hernandez pitched. Hernandez went out for a second inning in more than half of his appearances and his game logs for the season are dotted with appearances of three innings or more. The game has changed to make it easier for closers to rack up impressive numbers because of their limited use (and horrible numbers owing to a few lousy outings)and while I’ll argue that it’s allowed less teams to lock down more close games, the idea of a modern closer as MVP is silly.
*Who should be the MVP? Justin Morneau? That’s a much more interesting question and, like a conscientious MVP voter would admit, I haven’t looked at the numbers closely enough to draw a conclusion. After all, there’s still a week-and-a-half to go.
105 Responses to "Laughing while a piano rolls over your foot"
I know it sounds somewhat absurd but shouldn’t Cliff Lee be in the top 3 MVP voting?
Right now I would say that it is close between Lee, Pedroia, and Morneau. A-Rod is more deserving than K-Rod in my opinion.
Time for today’s Haiku -
Wedge bought Gardy’s brooms
fat lady sees microphone
slowly walks forward
maybe this is the year to give it to jeter just so a yankee or red sox gets it. after all they are the only teams that really count! just ask espn.
So Howard, what IS the most overrated position in baseball? Your post here just goes to show how overrated the closer role has become, with the hype and money spent on these guys seemingly inversely proportional to the amount of innings they pitch.
Without looking at any numbers to back my claim, here is my Top 10 MVP balloting. Hopefully I’m not forgetting someone obvious.
1 Justin Morneau
2 Josh Hamilton
3 Dustin Pedroia
4 Cliff Lee
5 Carlos Quentin
6 Milton Bradley
7 Grady Sizemore
8 Alex Rodriguez
9 Kevin Youkilis
10 Francisco Rodriguez
morneau has 49 more rbi than pedroia has.
if you take morneau out of the lineup the twins are the royals, if you take pedroia out of the lineup the sox will be just fine.
k-rod doesn’t even have the best #’s, era, whip, just the most saves, he’s had more chances is all.
JustinCB,
Most overrated position in baseball: That’s easy. It’s blogger.
Seriously, I’d put my money on batting leadoff in that argument. You can be a contender with Corky Miller (or even Carlos Gomez) batting leadoff if you’re solid through the rest of the order, but there are enough close games in the course of 162 that you don’t want trust the endgame to just anyone. I think LOOGYs (left-handed one-out guys) are second, if only because a disproportionate number are merely cheap labor and mediocre talents.
jama, I don’t think it’s absurd to consider Lee. You’ll run into an argument about whether a guy who takes him from a terrible record to a mediocre one can be MVP as opposed to MOP (most oustanding player). But there’s no doubt he’s had a spectacular season.
I think Sizemore is more valuable than Cliff Lee. I think Morneau has a shot, but the Twins need to win the division; same goes for the Red Sox and Pedroia. I would call K-Rod the favorite, but only slightly. Morneau or Pedroia can win this in this last week-and-a-half.
Bill’s piece was mildly amusing, but also very cliche. Grade: C, at best.
here my 2c about the MVP:
The MVP almost has to be from a post-season team. It is the league’s (not a team’s) most valuable player and how can you show value, if a team does not make it to the post-season or is not close to make it to the post-season.
That said, there is a metric that measures individual value. It is ‘win shares’ and provides an even field between batters and pitchers. Here is a link to the current ranking of all AL players based on win shares.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/thtstats/main/?view=winshares&league_filter=AL
This might change tomorrow, but you see who leads the league in win shares… The closest players to Morneau from contenting teams are Mauer, Youkilis and Quentin. One of the 4 should be the MVP.
Jonah Keri needs to do a bit of research before he opens his mouth.
(and re: K-Rod: in my book, saves are like wins as far as showing the value of a pitcher. For example, Livan led the Twins in wins for most of the year, but he was definitely not the best pitcher of the team. K-Rod has a 1.32 WHIP and a 2.38 ERA. This is not Cy Young worthy, this is not even Rolaids award worthy… For comparison, Nathan has an 1.47 ERA and 0.96 WHIP)
Gardy’s song on the Yellow Brick road:
I could win the close and late ones
Have courage in the tight ones
Win games in the gritty end
I would not be so snarkey
But would be another Sparky
If I only had a pen
…
Other verses welcome
I’m gonna go ahead and say the same thing I said yesterday, Pitchers do not deserve to win the MVP award, especially closers. First, they pitch 1 in every 5 games. The good ones will pitch up to 230 innings. Given 9 innings a game, they end up being in about 15% of the innings. I would not consider that an MVP. A CY Young, yes, MVP no.
That said, before the injury I would’ve given Carlos Quentin the MVP. Now I’m leaning toward Morneau as the guy who deserves it. I don’t know numbers in and out, but I believe he is top 2 in RBI and probably top 15 in AVG. I also don’t subscribe to the sophisticated numbers like VORP and what have you. (I honestly don’t know all those measures anyway).
As for Jim Caple’s article. I absolutely agree with him. The modern closer is an overrated position with an overrated stat. You’re telling me 1 inning with a 3 run lead deserves merit?! C’mon. If your closer is your best pitcher in the pen, use them in any pressure situation. 7th inning, bases loaded 1 out and up by 1, bring in the “closer” so they can at least get you to the next inning. Why let a scrub come in and blow the lead and not even use your best pitcher? On that stance, I absolutely agree with Caple.
Back to MVP talk. I’m gonna look over some stats before I give a top 5, but I have a pretty good idea. I like the idea of combining raw statistics and overall value to a team to make the decision.
I can see that Howard maybe, but I don’t think the leadoff man has quite attained the irrationally super-sexy status that ‘closer’ appears to have attained. The fact that Rodriguez’s name is even being floated as an MVP candidate just goes to show what the ESPN highlight reel has done to cloud everybody’s judgement. The clip rolled out every night of the catcher running out to wildly embrace your effective reliever, arms outstretched, has caused the baseball writers to devalue the numbers. Nothing sexy about a lead-off man. He’s a table setter by definition so some other guy can drive him in and take all the glory. But at least your leadoff man is expected to play day in, day out. If he doesn’t bring a great bat, he is at least expected to have some speed like Gomez had. And the Twins dropped that little strike-out machine to 9th in favor of Span, because he has brought some consistency to the leadoff spot offensively. Its Gomez’s exceptional defense that probably kept him off the bench entirely. I admit that the closer role is different in that there are often no second chances if the lead is given up - unless the team is playing at home. I’d submit that the limited number of innings these guys pitch keeps their numbers artificially lower than middle relievers who pitch twice the innings and have more opportunities to cough up runs. I’d also submit that there is more pressure on a guy who has to come into a non-save, tie game situation with say, the bases loaded, than the guy who gets to come out with a lead and no inherited runners and doesn’t have to worry about any other mess other than his own. In my mind, a good closer is nothing more than a less durable, effective middle reliever. An important role, closing games, but nonetheless overhyped.
Speaking of the highlight reel, if Morneau makes two or three over the next 10 games, the MVP is his. He needs to hit the dinger, not the single, with 2 or 3 runners on base. He needs to be the reason the twins win a few tight games this next week, even if they do not make the playoffs. If he does that, he will need to make room on his shelf for another trophy. Without those highlights, the numbers alone will not carry him and he comes in 2nd or 3rd behind quentin and maybe pedroia.
Six months ago, I probably would have said closer was the most overrated position in baseball, with “set up guy” a close second.
Now… I may have to rethink all that.
Funny how you don’t seem to really see the value in something until you don’t have it any more.
Morneau ranks #1 in RBI and #7 in avg his HRs are a woeful tied for #17 though
Carlos Quentin is still #1 in HRs and he has played 22 less games then Morneau he also has 100 RBI avg is .288 though #25
I guess if Whites win the division it has to go to Quentin otherwise if Twins do it’s Morneau, it’s a tough race to call without a clear cut player above the crowd
The bullpen in general has been bad, especially the last couple months. The bullpen as a unit, maybe the most important piece of a good team, but the closer piece by itself? How many times had Guerrier or Bass dug a whole too deep to climb out of? The guys in those roles are more often than not coming in where there is no room for error. Clearly they couldn’t hack it. Nathan doesn’t pitch in those situations. He gives up leadoff doubles all the time or walks a couple guys without consequence b/c he’s got a run or two lead and he’s just effective enough to protect that. He’s good at what he does, but it doesn’t do the team any good if the other relievers aren’t good enough to get the ball to him.
I remember one of the espn guys, possibly Rob Neyer, mentioning a stat in one of his chats that I kinda liked. It was runs produced. Combo of R+RBI-HR. I thought that was good, because a single that knocks in 2 RBI is just as good as a 2R Homer. It takes the inflated value of the Homer out of the statistics. I believe Morneau is top 5 in that one.
C-Math inspired me but I’m no Bill Brimmer:
Bull Pen
I could while away the innings,
when my team is winning,
Consultin’ with the men.
And my head I’d be scratchin’ while
my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a pen.
I’d unravel every riddle of the re-liever for the middle,
In trouble or in pain.
With the thoughts I’d be thinkin’
my relievers would NOT be stinkin’
If I only had a pen.
That is why it’s always a bunch of “bull”,
deciding who to pull,
When you do not have a pen.
Excellent work, MudCat.
You know, it seems to me Bill Smith could be singing a similar song — except the pen in his case would be signing infielders not named Lamb or Everett.
Way back in the days before all the stats were readily available on the web and fantasy leagues were commonplac, I was in a fantasy league based strictly on the “runs produced” stat.
It’s ok and I have no problem with moderating the value of HRs, but if I’m on base and you drive me in with a single, we both get credit for a “run produced”, even though only one run scored… so it’s still far from a perfect stat for measuring offensive contribution.
“weren’t commonplace” ugh.
In my Baseball Card and Bubblegum days, we thought you had to win the Triple Crown to be MVP. At least very close to winning it. I would think Quentin is closer to it than Morneau. Or has Pedroia already won the Triple Crown? (I listen to ESPN a lot.)
Think about this, all you “pitchers aren’t MVPs” types - starting pitchers are in every single play they are on the field for - about 100 every five games. Consider that 2B might see 4 or 5 pop-ups or groundballs to him per game, see 4 pitches per atbat, and they’re in about 20 plays per game. That averages out to being the same “value” as a starting pitcher, mathetmatically.
That said, Morneau still is the MVP of the Twins, the league, and Canada.
Plunkton, I’ve enjoyed your Haikus, but you are missing an important part. A subtle allusion to nature, especially one of the seasons. Fall seems to be the most appropriate choice.
Ten more games remain,
Like leaves on October trees.
Soon they will be gone.
I:
1.) Don’t believe that the MVP has to be from a playoff team.
2.) Do believe that an MVP has to be from a team that contended late into the season.
3.) Don’t think a starting pitcher or a reliever should win the MVP.
4.) Think that the Save is the most overrated statistic. Set up guy is way more important because they actually come into tough situations.
If I voted today, my vote would go:
1.) Morneau
2.) Pedroia
3.) Mauer
4.) Youklis
5.) Quentin
My vote would go:
1.) Morneau
2.) Morneau
3.) Morneau
4.) Morneau
5.) Mauer
Forgot to say I love the poetry and verse!!!
My view:
Cy Young is for the best starting pitcher
MVP is for the best position player
Fireman of the Year is for the best reliever
Cy Young: Cliff (Pine Tar) Lee
MVP: Justin (Dr.) Morneau
Fireman: Francisco (F-Rod) Rodriguez
BTW: Anybody notice that the back of Lee’s hat looked like the top of Mient’s helmet?
You are correct…I seem to have left out an important character of haiku’s. sorry. I will take more time to construct them in the future.
Not so sure Mauer should be considered for MVP this year, especially with the Twins likely missing the playoffs, though he is pretty important to way the Twins lineup produces runs. Ordonez is having a better offensive year than Mauer but he isn’t mentioned b/c the Tigers haven’t contended at all this year, but I think if you’re going to open the consideration to a team that misses the playoffs there isn’t a whole lot of justification for writing off players with superior numbers that play for lesser competitive teams.
Ok…I think this is better…
Sun shines through white dome
Shows blue seats in October
Spring brings new bullpen
Morneau would have been the hands down MVP winner if he would have had maybe 3-4 more game winning hits over the past month or so. He did earlier in the year, but just missed a little too much lately to get the vote.
This recent slide for the Twins is a reflection that he has tailed off after carrying the team for the first 3/4 of the season. Another 3-4 game winning hits right now would have the Twins up 1-2 games over Chicago - that would have been the difference maker.
Not that he didn’t try - he had a heckuva year, but those are the kind of hairs you split when voting for MVP.
How about most overrated awards in baseball? MVP and Cy Young awards. How do you give out an award based on whom writers/media persons believe it should go to, what’s the criteria? There is none.
At least you can base the other awards off of something concrete, who wins the batting title? the one with the highest batting avg…
MVP awards are mostly given to the highest RBI getter and Cy Young award is given the pitcher with the most “wins”… both are ludicrous and stupid.
my 2 cents.
Closer is the most overrated position in baseball, based on the amount of hype and money they get.
I’m fine with a starting pitcher who had a superior year getting the MVP in a year where there are no offensive standouts, but otherwise think the award should go to a position player. I know a starter only goes every five days, but if the Twins had 1 or 2 guys who went seven innings per start, the bullpen might be in better shape.
PLUNKTON:
That’s the trouble with that darn Haiku. It’s hard find words that rhyme. (LOL)
Actually Haiku’s are not supposed to rhyme..they just need to be 3 lines (first one 5 syllables, then 7 then 5) and have an allusion to nature.
That Haiku looks like fun. I’ll try one:
I once knew a girl from Nantucket,
When I bat I step in the bucket.
My hero’s a guy named Puckett.
No subtle allusion to nature, so f..f..f….”forget” it.
Don’t they have awards for pitchers called Cy Young and for the top reliever?
MVPs should be for everyday players.
Yep, Johnny, pitchers have the Cy Young and Rolaids Relief Award. Everyday players also have Most Likely to Succeed, Best All-Around, and Mr. Congeniality.
Howard- I really enjoy reading your blog, but was chagrined to read what you said about the MVP. Most Valuable Player means that player is the best player in the league. Most Outstanding Player is a recent term for people who have become confused about what MVP means. They are one and the same.
A player needn’t be on a good team to be valuable. What about a playeron a losing team that has a statistically great year? Isn’t he valuable to his team? If they won 68 games, but without that player’s production they would have won 43 games, doesn’t that make him very valuable to his team?
MVP is the best palyer in the league. Yes, that can be very subjective (look at Morneau vs. Jeter in 2006, two very different players), but that is the nature of baseball.
All,
Take a look at http://www.startribune.com/twins if you want to see a seating chart and ticket prices for Target Field.
The most overrated position IMO is the starting pitchers being trained to throw only 100 pitches. Having a five man rotation the starters should be trained to build stamina and go deeper into games. It also seems like a bad idea to have a so called eighth inning guy. All the relievers should be eighth inning guy. I know the game has changed over the years, but not all for the better IMO.
I guess if Whites win the division it has to go to Quentin…
Quentin took himself out of the running when he broke his hand by slamming it against his hand. He is of no value to his team when his team needs him most.
I guess if Whites win the division it has to go to Quentin…
Quentin took himself out of the running when he broke his hand by slamming it against his bat. As a result, he is of no value to his team when his team needs him most and it is of his own doing.
Hard to argue that, Fran. Not much has been made of that, though. I think he’ll get the sympathy vote, but the team and the fans should be really mad at him.
A great “Outside The Lines” story about former Twin Lyman Bostock”:
Fran,
Sox don’t need Quentin when it matters most since the Sox have the Twins’ bullpen to help push them to the playoffs!
Fran,
Your criteria may not be the same as that used by most MVP voters.
If they go with Quentin’s team’s championship plus his individual stats, that may win it for him.
Justice may not be the determining factor for many of the voters.
NO WAY!! MudCat I didn’t know he was a Twin’s prospect.. course I was quite young when he played
Matt Guerrier came in
A win turned into a loss
Better luck next year
Sorry to say I wasn’t young, Fire. It was hard to see Carew and him play for the Angels, much like Hunter and Santana. Another reason to accept less money and stay where you belong.
Sox don’t need Quentin when it matters most since the Sox have the Twins’ bullpen to help push them to the playoffs!
After the MFY lit up the supposedly back from injury Linebrink last night, the Sox bullpen doesn’t look appreciably better. Their pen has been held together with baler twine and DJ Carrasco for a month, so I am not conceding anything yet.
Denard takes a walk
Sometimes small fish make big ripples
Alexi goes boom
MudCat did Carew leave for the Left Coast because of money or problems with Twin’s management?
March began new year
Twins’ year ended 9 times 9
In blog country
I think he left because of differences with the owner and for the money. Thankfully he went into the Hall as a Twin.
Carew came back home
Torii and Johan might too
Lyman’s with Kirby
Lefty righty hmmm?
I will use the book again.
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!
Lefty righty hmmm?
I will use the book again.
Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!
Fran,
Sox bullpen has nothing to do with it UNLESS the Twins take advantage of their mistakes, which hasn’t happened at all.
Howard,
ouch! No cheap seats any more in the Target Field.
Livan did his best
Batters soon figured him out
Balls now in river
FO messed it up
Next year we could be Detroit
Fall is here Twins gone
(weeping sounds in the distance)
Mauer, Morneau, Span
Casilla, Gomez, Harris
Young, Redman, Thanks Twins
Fran,
Sox bullpen has nothing to do with it UNLESS the Twins take advantage of their mistakes, which hasn’t happened at all.
Shaun, 10 games left, that’s a lot of baseball to be played. I am thinking there are at least one or two teams counting their playoff berth before it’s hatched. I am hoping the next two Twins opponents are in that group.
Contrary to (apparently) popular belief, the pennant race isn’t over, it’s really just beginning.
Ouch! No cheap seats any more in the Target Field.
I was surprised the ticket prices aren’t higher, they looked a lot like the ones I paid to see Twins/Rockies at Coors this year.
pedroia:
.326 ave, .377 obp, 114 runs, 79 rbi, 48 bb, 48 so.
mauer:
.324 ave, .413 obp, 93 runs, 75 rbi, 80 bb, 47 so.
imo a catcher is a more important than what pedroia plays. why so little love for joe?
another example of the east coast liberal media yankees-red sox bias, like now they are claiming the economy is bad, can’t trust these guys.
punto-tyner for president!!!!! they’ll battle their tails off for you!!
Wow… this blog has become so much more…… serene lately.
Anyway, to stay with the closer thread, there was an article in the LA times advocating the Angels let K-rod walk in the offseason. (Rob Neyer had the link up on his blog, I don’t spend THAT much time on the internet)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb/angels/la-sp-plaschke17-2008sep17,0,6818198.column
Nice quote: “Closers get three outs, and only after everyone else has first done their job.”
From Neyer’s blog:
Rodriguez has blown seven saves this season. He’s got 58 saves.
He’s converted 89.2 percent of his save opportunities. That’s an excellent figure.
Is it a figure, though, worth a five-year, $75 million contract?
Including Rodriguez, 12 major leaguers have saved at least 30 games this season.
Would you like to guess the average save percentage of the group?
89.1 percent
Brad Lidge tops the list, at 100 percent; he’s 37 for 37. Mariano Rivera has blown one save all season (97 percent), and Joakim Soria has blown three saves (93 percent). Most of the other top closers have blown five or six saves, and are right around 85 or 86 percent success rates.
Would you like to guess K-Rod’s save percentage since becoming the Angels’ closer in 2005?
89.6 percent
The only thing separating Rodriguez from his peers this season is the number of save opportunities. The only thing separating Rodriguez from past versions of himself is the number of save opportunities. Not innings. He’s pitching no more innings than his peers; no more than he’s pitched before. There is absolutely no reason to think that Rodriguez couldn’t have set this same record in past seasons, given the opportunities. There is no reason to think that Brad Lidge or Mariano Rivera or Joakim Soria couldn’t have set this same record this season, given the opportunities.
Maybe a good major league closer is worth $15 million per season. I don’t think so, especially after watching the A’s throw three closer-worthy relievers at the Angels last night. But I’ve got an open mind on the subject. What you can’t convince me is that Rodriguez’s context-driven record makes him any more valuable than he was a year ago.
April 6, 09
Six months 18 days away
Twins baseball and spring
Also Berts Birthday
Hope the pitchers can go long
Can’t wait to see them
‘pen implodes nightly
infield kicks the ball around
cold winter looming
See. Spot. Save. Cheap Seats!
Target Field, outdoor’s Baseball!
Expect More. Pay Less!
Stars align just right
Twins get hot white sox do not
Twins win division
‘08′ surprising
contender to pretender
then the cold begins
Folks making haiku
On their own without prompting
The blog’s season change
I’m going to the Trop tonight to watch the Twins vs Rays. Any words or verse of encouragement from my fellow bloggers?
Explain this to me
There’s No Stat that measures hot
how does it happen
Hope the blog goes back
Because the twins win division
Sometimes nasty’s good
Hump goes Trop
Plastic sky south
brats turn to dogs
Bassamundo, buddy, you forgot the rules.(LOL)
Buy your seats right now
Don’t want a cold Omaha
Buy Vike’s tix also
Too many mistakes
Punto is a little fish
Chase Ozzie from pond
To add to Justin’s excellent post regarding K-Rod.
If you look across the league the general rule is that the closer will pitch with a save opportunity in roughly 50% of the teams wins.
K-Rod has had a SVO in an astonishing 70% of the teams wins. That means that in at least 70% of the games that the Angels have one the margin was 3 runs or less.
K-Rod has more saves this year than any other closer has had SVOs.
what is a Haiku
prose from overseas to blog site
afternoon delight
Piranhas are small
Great Whites are much bigger fish
Both are in the hunt
MudCat,
Hump goes tropical
Plastic sky in southland
Brats turn into dogs
(my apologies)
Grade=A+
K-Rod’s team wins more
K-Rod gets all the glory
Joe N’s team wins less
Here’s a few lines from a children’s song we used to sing on long car rides when I was young (modified for our Twins team…..
“We won’t win the Central division,
Our bullpen’s broken and we can’t fix it,
Same song, second verse, a little bit louder and a little bit worse”
Pirahna’s sharp teeth
Bite great White’s soft fat belly
Small and fast is good
Piranas attack
If they are hungry tonight
The Rays are sushied
Who is the last impact player the Twins signed as a Free Agent? Jack Morris?
Who is the last impact player the Twins signed as a Free Agent?
Winfield and Molitor were after Morris…
recently? Kenny Rogers, 2003
Kubel with homer
Odd I see. Perk gives it back.
Minnesota. Nice.
So, I got tired of the disappointment, and decided to quit watching each Twins game beginning to end, at least long enough for my fragile psyche to heal.
While doing other business, I have been checking in. Each time I have turned on the tube to check on the game, I am treated to something horrifying.
Last night, I saw back-to-back RBI doubles by the Indians. Turned it off again.
Tonight, back-to-back homers by the Rays in the 4th, apparently after Perkins’ early exit. Went back to what I was doing.
I screwed up my courage again, and decided to check the game just in time to see Punto slide into first. He was out.
So tell me, Is it really happening over and over, or is it my deeply wounded psyche (possibly with an assist from some things I took in the 60’s) playing and replaying the seasons horrors over and over?
Someone help me before I start watching the Timberwolves.
Good Grief! I just checked in again, and I saw Longoria hit what Bert said was his third HR of the night. I think I am going to cry.
We need POWER!!!!!
today’s most unbelievable haiku:
Evrette swings away!
Mauer comes around and scores!
Gardy’s a genious!
September baseball
Bandwagon doors are open
Need revolving doors.
Long before the game, I wrote this:
Denard takes a walk
Sometimes small fish make big ripples
Alexi goes boom
Now, Denard reached on an infield hit rather than a walk. But still!
I remembered that one C-Math.
This one made me laugh earlier today: “the old saying of “we need a bloop and a blast” has changed into “we need a bloop and a bloop and bloop and a bloop” because the blast is highly unlikely.”
Beautiful Weather!
Twins prefer under a roof.
Beautiful Baseball?
We’ll see whose BP is best, Tampa’s or the Twins’.
Maybe Eddie G was just in a little slump. You know it doesn’t take much of a change for a pitcher of his ilk to go from being highly effective to highly ineffective.
And we like Mijares. And we like Nathan. Perhaps the latter needed a little wakeup call. And perhaps Crain’s head is back 24/7 now that his childbirth is over.
Guerrier, however, should probably only pitch every 4th day. He’s worn out with all that plantation work for all those months. But he’s a gamer.
And Boof and Breslow inspire more confidence now. Big Sweat? His last chance for a ring probably. Let’s see how he does. He’s looked better.
Tampa Bay? This thing is all new to them. No greater pressure than the pennant-race kind. And such pressure is always most greatly felt by a BP. Are they a BP team yet? They’re a new group, no? And do they have the closer that can do the job?
Twins recent errors are more than troublesome. But if your BP is collapsing in super fashion during a pennant race, what kind of subconscious psychological reverberation is at play?
Concluding, both the Rays and Twins will live and die on their BP. I’m feeling optimistic.
And it was good to see Gardy and Delmon hobknobbing and laughing right after the game. Everett’s success looms large. He and Cuddy and Punto are the vets on this team. Let’s see how they do. Let’s watch their confident leadership.
And the Twins have had more than their share of 1-run bad luck and lots of other bad luck lately. Someone posted these things run in cycles.
And the luck has changed on the injury front compared to last year at this time.
It’s a beautiful sunny day from where I sit this morning in SW MN. Someone tell Reusse.
Ah, Carlos, ya made me laugh with that “Bandwagon doors are open, Need revolving doors,” line. Good stuff.
Seems the Twins reacted to the “obituary” much like Daniel Webster reacted to the offer of the VP slot on his party’s ticket, “I do not intend to be buried until I am dead.”
Good for them.
And major kudos for Humber’s performance last night. Not perfect, but he did what an emergency long reliever has to do… keep his team in the game and give the bats at least a chance to catch up.
Good one Carlos. Twins are inside the rest of the season, what are you betting?
Do you think Everette should just swing away every time when Gardy pinch hits a power guy? (LOL)
For how many times this season has ended…is anybody else amazed that with the Twins TERRIBLE play the last few months that they’re still just 1.5 games back?
If the Twins manage to overcome the White Sox here in the final week, they might start looking to run Ozzie out of town over the Chi-Town.
Look no further than the Marathon Road Trip as the perfect example of the SOX failing to get the job done.
This is just like 2006. Except instead of having two teams battling like crazy to stave off the other, you’ve got two teams battling like crazy to stay at home in October.
Yes T. Thank God the BitchSox suck. Of course some of us have been saying they suck for years.
The only thing better than a Sox loss is a Twins win. Even when the Twins have been out of it, I’ve rooted against the Sox. I guess part of that is the long-standing rivalry, which spans realignment. But it doesn’t help that they have arrogant pricks like Mark Buehrle on the team.
Cancel that obituary!
The cadaver just sat up in the coffin!
And the fat lady lost her music!
