hawkeyecub

Has nothing to do with Theriot being the golden boy. That is the LF's ball. He didn't even have to run hard to get there. Meanwhile, Theriot is drifting straight back and adjusting to the wind. Soriano jogged in and was in position to get there, but he loafed and gave up on it. He needs to take charge and make the routine catch.

You really think that's Theriot's fault?

That's your ball Fonso. My God, wake up.

The ball was hit to Soriano's right, the SS gloved, threw to 3rd and he was tagged out.

Nothing better than knee-jerk overreactions. You honestly think they are? I think I have a bridge in Brooklyn that you may be interested in purchasing. Yes I think they will make it. I don't flip flop and change my mind based on one bad inning. How many times have you done that this year? The Brewers aren't better than we are and have shown they can blow games just as easily as we can. Oh and we have a 1 game lead, two more off days and our schedule is no tougher (even with our struggles against he Reds). But continue to freak out everytime something bad happens and pronounce the season over. You've done it dozens of times already this year.

Nothing better than knee-jerk overreactions.

Jacque just keep the stinking ball in front of you. And Cliff get over there to back that up.

I really hope Arroyo comes back for the 6th.

He was out but it was extremely close. His foot was about an inch from the bag when the ball appeared to hit Lee's glove. Damn I thought Rich was going to be able to give us 7 good ones tonight.

Unbelievable.

I have no idea why people want to take our best reliever and put him in a spot where we don't use him unless we have the lead in the 9th. He's clearly our best fireman to get out of a tough spot with runners on in the 6th-8th. If so, who do you bring in to get out of a tough spot in the 6th-7th in a game? Do you trust Howry, Dempster, Wood or Wuertz to be nearly as successful as Marmol has been? Marmol is more effective and useful in his current role and Dempster has been successful in his role as closer.

Short memory? :) remember the game this year when we blew a 5 or 6 run lead thanks to Dempster? Yeah the Mets game. He's horrible. Put him up in the booth with Ronny as a second cheerleader. He doesn't belong on the mound. 90% close rate. Look at his numbers in save situations. He was bad tonight and he's had some blowups, but he's been a good closer. Don't care. It's luck. His stuff is worse than a career AA pitcher. Every pitch is slop. Well that's an awful lot of luck, because he's kept hitters off base at a solid rate in save situations and kept them from scoring at a decent rate. Oh and he's saved at a successful rate. But it's just been 5 months of luck.

Ward has been better than nearly every one of our every day players this year, Lou has been trigger happy to start everyone but him Do you really want him starting in RF more than he has? I don't think so.

Short memory? :) remember the game this year when we blew a 5 or 6 run lead thanks to Dempster? Yeah the Mets game. He's horrible. Put him up in the booth with Ronny as a second cheerleader. He doesn't belong on the mound. 90% close rate. Look at his numbers in save situations. He was bad tonight and he's had some blowups, but he's been a good closer.

Unreal. Yeah a 90% save percentage screams "gas can". GIve me a break.

Not even close. He's been good as a closer. Tonight he was the only guy warm because it looked like a save situation. The constant Dempster bashing is irrational.

Has your opinion of Pinkel changed at all though? They are good enough to take the North and have a 9 win season. I just don't know if I trust Pinkel to not screw it up and lose a couple of games they shouldn't lose.

Huh? Please don't tell me you think Jessica Simpson is hotter. I'm guessing he meant Biel. It's debatable, but I would agree.

3 pitches, 1 hit (error), 2 outs.

Great start.

Yeah I think a lot of the people who are coveting him don't have a firm grasp of his philosophy. As someone who pays close attention to the Twins, I agree with you. Very concerned about doing the little things the right way, putting the ball in play, situational hitting, values a lot of mediocre veterans, toolsy guys who can play defense, etc. However it is hard to argue with the results vs. their payroll. If he had $100M and could go after a big bat or two to compliment what they've developed in-house, who knows. He gets a lot of the credit for their scouting and development system. Who says just because he has 100 mil to play with he would be any better than he is now. I"m of the belief that big payrools hurt guys like Hendry and Ryan. There is too much emphasis on win now to accept a down year from every once in a while. He woudl be stuck every year trading away his best prospects for aging players. The Yankees are the perfect example of this. Only recently did Cashman convince Steinbrenner to allow him to keep his young guys to help keep the team good for the future. True, good point. It does allow more room for error though and having the flexibility to add just one big bat and another average one at 3B could have put them over the top. Their window of opportunity is starting to close a little bit. You can argue that they would have been better served by trading away some of their arms for a big bat and having a real good chance at winning the WS. As it was due to the payroll constraints, he held on to everyone. Now it looks like Torii will walk this year (no he's not great, but in that lineup he's huge) and Johan will either be traded at the deadline if they're out of it or allowed to walk for a draft pick next November.

Yeah I think a lot of the people who are coveting him don't have a firm grasp of his philosophy. As someone who pays close attention to the Twins, I agree with you. Very concerned about doing the little things the right way, putting the ball in play, situational hitting, values a lot of mediocre veterans, toolsy guys who can play defense, etc. However it is hard to argue with the results vs. their payroll. If he had $100M and could go after a big bat or two to compliment what they've developed in-house, who knows. He gets a lot of the credit for their scouting and development system.

Was just listening to a Twins beat writer (the guy who broke the linked story) being interviewed on KFAN and he doesn't think Ryan will go to another team. He said he's a scouting type guy first and foremost and that's his love. He could see him staying on in a senior consultant role. He said teams have thrown big offers at him before (Blue Jays) but he's very loyal to the Twins organization. Don't know if I buy it, but I could see him doing that at least just for a year or so. There are a few teams who will throw a boatload of money at him and give him a lot of control. He may have the luxury of waiting for a situation he really likes. As far as the Twins, they probably won't see a dramatic shift or change in philosophy. Smith has been Ryan's right-hand man for Ryan's entire tenure in Minnesota.

I hadn't heard about their new stadium, do you know if they are sharing it with the Vikings again or what they are doing there? Nope, it will just be for the Twins. It's an open-air stadium in downtown Minneapolis that will open in 2010. The Vikes are out of luck and are in trouble right now. I think at this point they're just as likely to go to L.A. as they are to get a new stadium.

Oh and I hope he's not headed to Houston.