The pitches pulled me in so far I can’t wait to watch tonight’s game. To see our hometown hero’s pull out another victory. I don’t wish for a blow out unless Joe Mauer does it all himself. I want a grinder where we win with a walk-off in the park home-run.
Continue reading "Minnesota Twins Fan Ga Ga Over Joe Nathan"
Posted by Dustin | No comments yet
With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.
Posted by Karol Kudyba | No comments yet
It's hard to imagine how Sunday could've gone better than it did for the Twins.
With a win over the Indians, 6-2, and a White Sox loss, the Twins are in first place for the first time in what seems like forever.
Continue reading "Twins in first place after beating Indians"
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
The Twins have had some disastrous series this season, and none was worse than the one in Yankee Stadium a few days after the all-star break. Fans might be forgiven for thinking the Twins were playing themselves out of contention.
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
A few relatively minor items to cover with the moves made by a few teams recently. What might they mean in the second half? I’ll try and puzzle this out.
Tony Clark, who experienced a career resurgence the day he put on an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform back in 2005, hs returned to the cozy confines of Chase Field. Petco, where hitting a homer is as hard as hitting the lottery, wasn’t as kind to the aging Clark as Chase has been, so he’ll certainly improve on his 2008 line of .239/.374/.307. His 32:19 K:BB ratio, as well as hs 165-point difference between BA and OBP, will tell you his batting eye is fine, and some power should follow.
Posted by Street Reporter | 2 comments
One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.
Posted by Street Reporter | 3 comments
Still playing ketchup here, trying to make up for a four-day absence from the blog, so I want to start with the big trade of last week, the CC Sabathia swap. The usefulness of this deal to the Brewers is a little dubious, as CC is likely to be a half-season rental, but let’s break it down:
Posted by Street Reporter | No comments yet
The Twins must wish the Nationals were in the AL Central so they could play them more often. The Twins win Wednesday night, 11-2, with good games from starter Kevin Slowey, center fielder Carlos Gomez, and the MM boys, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
OK, that title was irresistible, but in fact I'm going to say that Chien-Ming Wang's foot injury should force the Yanks hand in a trade, especially when combined with other injuries this season. Funny how little things can combine to lead to something even larger, accumulating momentum gradually until it becomes irresistible, as it has with the murmurs about a trade for C.C. Sabathia, which is really more the point of this blog.
Posted by Street Reporter | 1 comment
It's hard to be optimistic about this year's Twins. Last week, after beating the Yankees on ESPN, they were three games over .500 and within striking distance of the White Sox. Now the team's three games under .500 and are about to be passed by Cleveland.
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
Though they don't seem as devastating as the Soriano/Pujols loss I wrote about yesterday, two key players have gone down on two other teams today. Cleveland put Victor Martinez on the DL, while Seattle placed its once-reliable closer JJ Putz back on the DL, both with elbow injuries. And unlike Soriano's freak fracture, there were hints at undiagnosed problems with both Martinez and Putz.
Posted by Street Reporter | No comments yet
The Twins beat a banged-up Indians team Wednesday, hitting starter Paul Byrd hard in an 8-5 victory.
Nick Blackburn had a strong outing, but once again the Twins bullpen showed cracks in the armor. Boof Bonser and Dennys Reyes nearly gave away the game, but Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan preserved the lead and the win.
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
A week ago the Twins were nipping at Chicago's heels.
Now they're only a game up on the Indians, who appear headed upward as the Twins descend. C.C. Sabathia, who's pitched reasonably well but gotten little support, shut out Minnesota 1-0 on Tuesday. Scott Baker pitched a terrific game but wasn't quite as good as Sabathia.
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
We're starting to see the shape of this year's baseball season a bit more clearly.
Some teams are really good. The Red Sox, White Sox and Angels, perhaps the Rays.
The jury's still out on the A's, who might be able to contend. (Or not.) It's hard to know what to think about the Yankees. They were even worse last year but came back. You can't write them off too quickly -- they have such a huge payroll that they could go out and buy a pitcher.
Posted by Rich Martin | No comments yet
Major League, one of the funniest baseball movies around, told the tale of the woeful Cleveland franchise, so mired in mediocrity that their owner sought to cash in on them finishing in the cellar. It seemed like a good bet. The hapless Cleveland franchise hadn't tasted the postseason since 1954, and hadn't won a world title since 1948, one of the longest pennantless streaks in baseball. But ever since that 1989 movie--wherein, of course, the built-to-fail Indians defied their owner's devious plans--their consistent failure hasn't been a good bet.
Posted by Street Reporter | No comments yet
Much exuberant ink has been spilled over Asdrubal Cabrera's unassisted triple play in yesterday's Indians-Blue Jays game, only the fourteenth in MLB history. That rarity makes it memorable, but I'm not sure there's a ton of athleticism involved--the Unassisted Triple Play (or UTP for short) is more luck of circumstance than anything.
Posted by Street Reporter | No comments yet
Well, let's try this again. I tried to post this morning and the whole thing disappeared into the land of server errors, a less than happy way to start the day.
Yesterday the Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland indians 3 -0, snapping an eight game losing stral against the Indians that dated back to last season. Nick Blackburn pitched 7 and 2/3's shutout innings for his first win of the season. It was a stellar performance that should cement his place in the starting rotation.
Posted by Greg L Johnson | No comments yet
Two weeks into the 2008 season and the Boston Red Sox must be pleased with how the season has gone thus far. Granted they are only two games over .500 at 8 and 6 and have split their last 10 games, but things could be much, much worse. When the Yankees went to Japan to open the season, they proceeded to go 11-19 in the first month of the season before finally snapping out of it and going on to win the division. Boston is only half a game out of first place in the tightly packed American League East which is currently lead by the surprising Baltimore Orioles who do not figure to hang around much longer.
Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"
Posted by Joe Sauer | No comments yet
Cleveland Indians
Can Fausto Carmona sustain his success from last season?
Cleveland came within one game of a trip to the World Series last season before Boston’s comeback from a 3-1 hole. The Indians made no major changes to last year’s squad and figure again to battle for the top spot in the Central. Pitching will play a key role, especially going head to head with Detroit who will boast the top lineup in the Majors.
Posted by Joe Sauer | No comments yet
Continue reading "American League East is a Beast of a Division"
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