fathom

Crazy stat: Mauer's last 15 games vs RHP = .609 batting average

How's it possible for a young, athletic player to look like such a stiff at 2nd base?

Wow, we're just so f***ing awful right now. Terrible decision by Beckham...nothing new with him at 2nd.

Wow, hell of a play by Alexei! And please, just mute the broadcast Comcast. I love Stone, but this is as painful as it gets.

2nd time thru the order, and Tigers are taking much better swings against Garcia. Of course, with this horse s*** lineup the Sox have, it probably doesn't even matter.

Teahen strikes out way too much for someone with mediocre power. At least Castro keeps proving why he deserves more at bats.

Great inning by Garcia

Wow, pretty big scuffle between Galarraga and Avila/Laird.

Good job Garcia!! His offspeed stuff wasn't sharp, but his fastball actually hit 91 mph. BTW, was just told that Grimes is still 50/50 to sign by tomorrow night.

Garcia already hanging pitches all over the place. Ozzie better have a tight leash on him today, especially with tomorrow's off game.

I also don't like sitting Omar with Garcia on the mound, as it's likely there's a ton of hard hit balls to the left side against Garcia's 63 mph fastball.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:54 PM) Pierre7 Ramirez6 PK3 Q9 Teahen5 Castro2 Kotsay dh Jones8 Beckham4 Garcia pitching Goodness...again, we expect to compete against a very good Twins teams with terrible lineups like this?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:14 AM) We'll still be down compared to last season, but there's an extra couple thousand people a game there because of that streak. Is that taking into account the likely huge crowds with Boston and NYY in town?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:08 AM) We were most worried about salary cuts prior to the winning streak, which honestly gave us a decent attendance surge. We also still don't know if there's any sort of insurance on the Peavy deal. Great first sentence there, as I've also said that lately...even if we fall short in the AL Central, the 26-5 run definitely saved our attendance this season.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 04:06 AM) Are you talking about tonight? Because that ball was not hit very hard at all, I could tell by the sound it wasnt going out. He's done that about 5 times over the last three weeks. It just seems like he has no plan at the plate, and giving up at bats more than usual.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 03:39 AM) Putting in Jones into RF was 100% the right decision and ripping him for that was crazy. I hate losing Quentin's bat though, which makes it even dumber that he's not being put at DH and letting Teahen play RF.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 03:37 AM) Oh and it's shortsighted to blame tonight's beloved closer and not shortsighted to blame the fatter closer when he sucked. ...Right, that makes sense. Look around, Putz is getting blamed. If Jenks was able to keep himself in better condition, then maybe he wouldn't be having back spasms!! I'm sure you'd defend Ozzie for letting AJP face a lefty instead of Castro in the 9th...because you know, AJP is a STARTER. Yep, he's one of the worst offensive players in all of baseball.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 02:36 AM) I'd go with a legitimate AJ and Castro platoon. But I seriously mean "Platoon". Rather than the AJ plays against everyone except when Garcia starts. Especially if we no longer have Garcia. Flowers flat out hasn't proved anything this year except that he's not ready. I have no faith in Ozzie to actually use a platoon correctly. I agree with you about Flowers, and have little doubt he'll be traded this offseason.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 03:25 AM) So who would you rather have as the starter in 2011, AJ, Castro or Flowers? Castro

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 03:25 AM) Really...right now is when the stupid, stupid Thome decision is hurting. You could say that we weren't getting the pitching or defense the first 2 months and screwing with the DH was OK, Kotsay and Jones weren't even bad then, so it all kinda worked...now, we really, really need that bat, and we really needed the Twins to be unable to fill in for Morneau, and we've got neither of those. In all honesty, one stupid decision by Ozzie changed the fate of the AL Central pennant. I really believe it's a fire-worthy decision if the Twins win the AL Central, but we know no one will be held accountable.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 02:20 AM) Wasting great starting pitching irritates me more than anything. The pitching pretty much has done its job over the last week yet we are dropping series because our offense is taking a nap in August. We've never seen this happen...ugh

AJP is showing massive signs of regression. He has no power left, as even hard hit balls by him die at the warning track.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 03:13 AM) The idea that we could compete with no DH because our manager wants to be in the NL is kind of a joke. Ozzie was crazy for wanting it, Kenny was stupid for letting it happen. Now here we are and its pucker time and the bats are being squeezed real tight. This supposed versatility that the floating DH would bring us is a joke. We knew from the beginning that the offense would be challenged and here we are in the dog days trying win pitching duels with teams because we have a terrible offense in a homer haven park. Hawk is giving Teahen the same treatment he was giving Kotsay a few weeks ago. Every ball is "hard hit" or "just missed"

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 03:08 AM) Tomorrow's a huge game. We can't afford to go 2-4 on this homestand. We just happen to have our worst pitcher going. Prove me wrong Freddy. At least Castro gets to play...I still hate Ozzie's unwillingness to use him as a PH.

Even though the 9th was disappointing, I was very impressed by Jackson again tonight. His command of the fastball has been fantastic. I actually found myself wishing that he has more than another year on his contract. If nothing else, he's making Danks a lot more expendable this offseason.