Meet your 2008 Twins!

[DmanDad1980]

How bad is Cuddy?

Been away from the news a bit this week...

[ap4mvp]

He was put on the 15 day disabled list

[ChrisK]

It sounds like Cuddy should be back after he comes off the 15 day DL.

Morneau had a good weekend and Boof had a good start yesterday, good to see my post fired 'em up.

Tolbert is off to a hot start at the plate, how has he looked in the field? Delmon Young is hitting .296 right now, which is OK, but he only has one extra base hit. I was hoping to see some more pop from his bat, but I see that he only had 13 homers last year so maybe I was expecting too much.

All in all, an OK week for the Twins even though they're a game under .500. Gomez has been a force but with the way he plays I'd be surprised to see him make it through the season without a stint on the DL. The pitching has been solid and the hitting mediocre, which is not what I'm expecting for this season. And Craig Monroe is vying for this year's Rondell White Award with one hit in 11 at bats.

[Neutron 14]

And Craig Monroe is vying for this year's Rondell White Award with one hit in 11 at bats.

And Rondell White won the Tony Batista Award...
And Tony Batista won the Bret Boone Award...
And Bret Boone won the Pat Borders Award...

I agree, all in all a good weekend winning 2 out of three from the mighty Royals.

[ChrisK]

And Craig Monroe is vying for this year's Rondell White Award with one hit in 11 at bats.

And Rondell White won the Tony Batista Award...
And Tony Batista won the Bret Boone Award...
And Bret Boone won the Pat Borders Award...

I agree, all in all a good weekend winning 2 out of three from the mighty Royals.

So next year it'll be the Craig Monroe Award?

[Neutron 14]

And Craig Monroe is vying for this year's Rondell White Award with one hit in 11 at bats.

And Rondell White won the Tony Batista Award...
And Tony Batista won the Bret Boone Award...
And Bret Boone won the Pat Borders Award...

I agree, all in all a good weekend winning 2 out of three from the mighty Royals.

So next year it'll be the Craig Monroe Award?

The pattern has been well established.

[Irishmans Shanty]

Anyone know why Rincon drilled Hunter the other night? Torii hinted that it was most likely intentional.

[Govs93]

Anyone know why Rincon drilled Hunter the other night? Torii hinted that it was most likely intentional.

Roid rage.

[packerboy]

But how about this Tolbert kid?

I like him.

I wonder what Nick Punto thinks of him?

[Neutron 14]

But how about this Tolbert kid?

I like him.

I wonder what Nick Punto thinks of him?

I predict Tolbert will be just fine until Vavra instructs him on what a good at bat looks like.

[Irishmans Shanty]

But how about this Tolbert kid?

I like him.

I wonder what Nick Punto thinks of him?

Punto has to love him. Punto is just like Ford. The less he plays, the less he is exposed, the longer he stays in a big league uniform.

[packerboy]

But how about this Tolbert kid?

I like him.

I wonder what Nick Punto thinks of him?

I predict Tolbert will be just fine until Vavra instructs him on what a good at bat looks like.

I am glad that you brought it up.

Mauer had a "good at bat" yesterday. He worked the count to 3-2 and fouled off a bunch of pitches and then fouled out down the third base line. Bremer was just gushing about what a good at bat that was.

There was a guy on first that didnt move and Morneau followed with a base hit. Then Young made an out and end of inning, no runs.

How in the boof is Mauer's at bat a good one? He didint move the runner over and he made an out.

If a guy lines the first pitch into the gap, is that a bad at bat?

Was Mauers at bat a "good at bat" simply because he made the guy throw 20 pitches? If he walks or gets on base or moves the guy to second, fine..good at bat.

You hear it a lot these days..."good at bat' when a player makes an out and doesnt move the runner but makes the pitcher throw a lot of pitches.
It bugs me.

[Govs93]

But how about this Tolbert kid?

I like him.

I wonder what Nick Punto thinks of him?

I predict Tolbert will be just fine until Vavra instructs him on what a good at bat looks like.

I am glad that you brought it up.

Mauer had a "good at bat" yesterday. He worked the count to 3-2 and fouled off a bunch of pitches and then fouled out down the third base line. Bremer was just gushing about what a good at bat that was.

There was a guy on first that didnt move and Morneau followed with a base hit. Then Young made an out and end of inning, no runs.

How in the boof is Mauer's at bat a good one? He didint move the runner over and he made an out.

If a guy lines the first pitch into the gap, is that a bad at bat?

Was Mauers at bat a "good at bat" simply because he made the guy throw 20 pitches? If he walks or gets on base or moves the guy to second, fine..good at bat.

You hear it a lot these days..."good at bat' when a player makes an out and doesnt move the runner but makes the pitcher throw a lot of pitches.
It bugs me.

Is that anything like a "quality start"? 6 innings and 3 earned runs is "quality"? That's a 4.50 ERA.

I'd rather see it renamed as a "barely earning your salary start".

[Can't Never Tried]

7 games in you guys are hilarious, I am going to follow this rant all summer, please remind me to give an update of the Twins "bored" commentators at game 81

I was trying to come up with who has been most positive vs negative but right now it looks as though you're all square.

[ChrisK]

Lord it pains me to say so, but you're right packerboy. Working the pitcher is good, theoretically the more pitches you see the better chance you have of seeing something hittable but you have to do something with that hittable pitch. If you don't, it's not a good at bat.

[Neutron 14]

But how about this Tolbert kid?

I like him.

I wonder what Nick Punto thinks of him?

I predict Tolbert will be just fine until Vavra instructs him on what a good at bat looks like.

I am glad that you brought it up.

Mauer had a "good at bat" yesterday. He worked the count to 3-2 and fouled off a bunch of pitches and then fouled out down the third base line. Bremer was just gushing about what a good at bat that was.

There was a guy on first that didnt move and Morneau followed with a base hit. Then Young made an out and end of inning, no runs.

How in the boof is Mauer's at bat a good one? He didint move the runner over and he made an out.

If a guy lines the first pitch into the gap, is that a bad at bat?

Was Mauers at bat a "good at bat" simply because he made the guy throw 20 pitches? If he walks or gets on base or moves the guy to second, fine..good at bat.

You hear it a lot these days..."good at bat' when a player makes an out and doesnt move the runner but makes the pitcher throw a lot of pitches.
It bugs me.

I too was at Berts on-air party, and also was grated by what Bremer said. Its been apparent that taking a juicy down the pipe fastball for strike one is a good thing too.

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

Mike Lamb Watch:

20 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, .100 AVG, 1.00 FP

[boblee]

Lamb Chop had two RBI 2B today.

Twins bullpen is extremely overrated.

[Irishmans Shanty]

Was Mauers at bat a "good at bat" simply because he made the guy throw 20 pitches?

No.

Earlier today Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, and Carlos Quentin all had good AB's in the 7th inning because their efforts kept the line moving until Joe Crede had a really good AB.

[packerboy]

Wouldnt it be nice if the Twins could sign someone like this:



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseba ... recap.html

[Irishmans Shanty]

Yes, it would be nice to have a guy like that but unfortunately by the time our boys mature into seasoned hitters they are toooooooooooooooooooooooo expensive and other teams reap the benefits of our hard work.

There isn't a doubt in my mind Mourneau and/or Delmon Young will be this guy somewhere between their 29th and 35th birthdays. However, by that time, we still be making a go of it with twenty-somethings still cutting their teeth or a 41 year old Garrett Anderson.

The Twins and the contenders

Twins
3. Mauer 24
4. Morneau 26
5. Young 22

Sox
3. Thome 36
4. Konerko 32
5. Dye 35

Indians
3. Hafner 30
4. Martinez 29
5. Peralta 25

Tigers
3. Sheffield 39
4. Ordonez 34
5. Cabrera 24

Angels
3. Vlad 32
4. Anderson 35
5. Hunter 32

Red Sox
3. Ortiz 33
4. Manny 35
5. Lowell 34

Yankees
3. Abreu 34
4. Arod 32
5. Matsui 33

[UpNorthStars]

Mauer's at bat was absolutely a good one. Do you think seeing all of those pitches helped Morneau get that hit? I do. I played a lot of baseball and i can tell you from experience that the more pitches you see, the better prepared you are. Plus, with the pitch counts being used the way they are now days, 20 pitches to one batter may force that starter out an inning early. Yeah, he got out, but it was still a quality at bat.

[packerboy]

So, if he strikes out on a ball in the dirt and Morneau hits a lazy fly ball, is it still a good at bat?

I was taught that a good at bat was when you got on base and if not , you moved the runner over.

I dont buy the claim that Morneau's hit is a result of him seeing so many pitches in the on deck circle. Young should have hit it 3 miles then.

The KC starter wasn't Sandy Koufax. You'd probably rather have him in the game instead of the KC bullpen.

But if you're the Twins, it doesnt matter because a good at bat is a foul out.

[GR3343]

Mauer's at bat was absolutely a good one. Do you think seeing all of those pitches helped Morneau get that hit? I do. I played a lot of baseball and i can tell you from experience that the more pitches you see, the better prepared you are. Plus, with the pitch counts being used the way they are now days, 20 pitches to one batter may force that starter out an inning early. Yeah, he got out, but it was still a quality at bat.

I agree fully with you. The more pitches you can make a guy throw, the better. If you go with PB's theory, there's not a whole lot of guys that have "quality" at bats then. It's not a given that the on deck guy is going to have success because he sees a lot of pitches, but it increases the odds. Many baseball purists would agree. The game is not all offense, offense, offense either. Pitching and defense with the occasional blast has won a lot of games and a lot of titles.

[Irishmans Shanty]

If this is any solace packerboy that good AB/foul out that Mauer had will probably become a souvenier at the new stadium. I've got to believe that stadium they are going to squeeze onto that parcel of land will all but eliminate any foul territory beyond the bags. I expect heftier averages out of all our boys of summer in the new stadium.