Rangers/Twins

[OUEngineer]

Completely ignored the KC series. I will give myself lashes for being derelict in my duties.

Colby vs. Slowey

I heard Nellie may be returning to the DL. Say it ain't so! That would suck.

 

[scharnell]

Should be a good pitching matchup. I think Slowely is weeks away from being a dominate pitcher for a long time and Lewis just needs to keep doing what he has been doing (WHIP near 1.15).

I see Minn winning this one 4-3 though.

 

[Horn2Run]

Interesting series, and Bert Blyleven on the pregame w/ barnett on 105.3 said it best...."This team (twins) is built much like the teams kelly won the world series in 87 and 91 with. Everything is built around pitching and defense. There are hitters that are hot right now, but this team is winning the 2-1 and 3-2 games. That's what champions do in major league ball. You can't ask a lineup to win 8-7 in 162 game season".

Bert knows what he's talking about (and outta be in the HOF).

that brings up tonites game, and Smoak....3 whiffs and a pop up. In the field he failed to call off Ramirez on the foul pop Max got. I know I've said it before, but the kid isn't a major leaguer yet. Might be someday. Certainly not now with that .160 batting avg and no clue at the plate.

bring Davis back. As blyleven said "pitching and defense" is the smart way to build a champion. Davis was perhaps our 2nd best positional defensive player. Gave him up for Smoak and the .160 avg with the 3rd lowest OPS for 1b's in the AL...Bad move.

When smoak learns to hit quality breaking stuff, bring him up. That day sure looks like its a long ways away tho.

 

[HornHuskerDad]

In reply to:

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[Horn2Run]

Borbon has disappointed us too, HHD. One thing he does bring to the table is his speed on the bases. This team's makeup screams for a guy like him and Elvis "getting on, getting over, getting in". I just wish he could "get on" more.

Jules also was exciting from the prospect of having a mickey Rivers type of CF, someone that could run down anything but raindrops, and be able to make up for a weak arm by playing shallow (b/c of his speed). But his play in CF has a lot of work to do imo.

-such as last nite when Guerrero went to the wall late in the game on a fly ball. Jules shoulda immediately gone to RF to back up any ball off the wall. From the camera angle it appeared he didn't shift over until well after the ball was in the air. A better CF goes on instict, esp w/ Vlad over there.

The bright spot is imo, this staff's starters can improve off these performances (esp pitch counts early on). Yet still, they've done ok. But the team does need to make a nice push before the break while we have the easy teams on schedule. A nice opportunity is there for us.

 

[Horn2Run]

Twins sweep. If this is how we play teams with winning records the Bernard Shaw line of "This is going to be a ******* disaster" comes to mind. Watching these games it was clear who the best club is

 

[warrior]

Holland is injured, Nelson Cruz is injured. I like the A's coming out of this division for some reason?

 

[OUEngineer]

Rough. No other way to put it.

Can't believe anyone would still take the A's over the Angels. I know the Angels took some offseason hits to their staff, but they've got enough starting pitching to supplement a great hitting team. The A's are a mirage and have been for the first 1/3rd of the year. Their entire team is so inexperienced and their offense is so anemic that I can't see them beating out the Angels.

I don't know what to make of the R's at the moment. I realize the Twins are pretty good and we're not a great road team, but damn. If Holland is already having shoulder problems, that ain't good. Honestly, Harrison has been in the same boat. I believe Harrison is a little older, though.

Losing a few games, here and there, isn't necessarily a bad sign, but dropping 6 or 7 out of 8 is cause for concern.

Es no bueno.