Joe Mauer got engaged over the weekend to Maddie Bisanz. She had $184 million reasons to say yes. I wonder if now that she is married to him she can figure out a way to keep him healthy. Here are the responses from the twitterverse: Here’s $184 million man Joe Mauer’s new fiancee: bit.ly/vGXqR3 — [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
The Domino Effect
Posted: 16th July 2010 by jeffboone in UncategorizedTags: defense, gardenhire, pitching
What happened to our Twins? They went from appearing unstoppable in the AL Central to third place in the matter of a couple of weeks. Here are a few possible reasons for the skid, some offered more seriously than others… 1. Manager Ron Gardenhire jinxed the team when he used “we’re in first place” as [...]
Wrappin' up the Week: No Reason to Panic
Posted: 26th June 2010 by David in UncategorizedTags: Pythagorean Win Loss
Rough week for the local nine. Just when it seemed like the Twins were doomed to face a sweep at the hands of the Phightin’ Phils, Joe Mauer hit a clutch, game-tying home run in the ninth inning, Jim Thome and Drew Butera each went deep in pinch hit at bats, and the Twins rallied [...]
Today in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Kelsie Smith penned a nice piece raising the question that no one really wants to talk about in light of a certain, large, recently-signed contract: What’s going on with Joe Mauer? As Smith notes, the response in the Twins clubhouse is fairly uniform: Mauer is stinging the ball [...]
The way I see it professional sports is a lot like politics. We, the fans, vote with our dollars, whether directly through ticket and merchandise sales or indirectly through watching games and viewing the advertising that brings income to the team. While the management and players don’t directly work for the fans like politicians work [...]
It's Time to Move Delmon Up, Cuddyer Down
Posted: 13th June 2010 by jeffboone in UncategorizedTags: Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer, Twins
It’s time for Ron Gardenhire to do something he doesn’t seem to like to do very often – tell one of his boys to get it done or get moved. Michael Cuddyer is simply not performing at the plate with men in scoring position. With by far the most at-bats with runners in scoring position [...]
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about clutch hitting being a serious problem on this year’s Twins team. Unfortunately this is looking less and less like a short term hiccup and more like a long term trend. It’s easy to point the finger at rookie Trevor Plouffe’s strikeout in the ninth as the [...]
A Winning Formula (For the Regular Season)
Posted: 19th May 2010 by marcsteidler in Looking Ahead, UncategorizedTags: Baker, Cheater McSmug, Liriano, Pavano, Postseason, Strikeouts
Interesting to see that ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick comes out with this piece today, right before we examine reasons why the Twins could struggle against quality lineups in the postseason (isn’t it also ironic how the main photo in the story is Carl Pavano, who got rocked in Toronto today). The Twins currently lead the major [...]
It seems like I have spent the last several months doing nothing but defending Nick Punto everywhere I go. Not that I think he’s A-Rod or anything, but even on larger market team the roles and expectations of certain players has to be taken into account. This goes far beyond whether Punto should be riding [...]
In spring training, much was made about Delmon Young reporting to camp 30-35 pounds lighter. Word was that his attitude had improved as well, and all in all no one seemed the least bit concerned that the Twins’ outfield defense figured to be significantly weakened with Young taking over daily duties in left and Denard [...]