Thursday, May 8, 2008
Random Ramblings
It is quite unlikely that I am going to be able to stay awake for the whole Twins game thanks to the rain delay in Chicago giving us a West Coast-like start time. Also, three of the Twins four full-season affiliates did not play tonight. So, I thought I would just throw out some random thoughts for discussion or just for fun. Feel free to add others or comment on anything I mention. Let's see where this goes:
In the top of the fifth inning, Matt Tolbert "muscled" a single over shortstop and in front of the outfielders. As he hit it and I could see it would land, one question popped into my head. Who can bench press more, Tolbert of Adam Everett?
I am not at all a fan of Nick Swisher, but man, can that guy do some really cool facial hair stuff. Do you think he does all those fancy designs and such himself, or does someone do that for him?
How old do you think Livan Hernandez really is?
Remember when Brett Favre was drafted to the NFL about 20-30 years ago and the commissioner and likely many others pronounced his name FAV-Ruh. Well, he wasn't very good at that time and the Falcons just wanted to get rid of him. By then, people knew his name was pronounced FARV. Well, do you think that Joe Vavra would be a better hitting coach if we started pronouncing his name VARV?
We have seen that Darnell McDonald can not hit a big league curveball, or really anything offspeed. He was made to look silly in his short stint with the Twins last year. Yet, he absolutely rakes at AAA, and has for the last eight years. I realize that AAA is not the big leagues and that the pitchers at AAA are not as good. But don't they have the same scouting reports? How is he that successful at AAA and does nothing in the big leagues. I do have a philosophy. In the big leagues, he has not been given regular playing time for an extended period. I just wonder what adjustment he would make if he was given a month of every day duty.
Delmon Young was intentionally walked by Mark Buehrle tonight in the top of the 6th. Was I the only one who was wondering if it might be better for Young just to set down the bat, you know, to remove the temptation to swing?
Remember when Nick Punto used to do the little things right? I don't either.
Vote for the most annoying nickname given to a Twins player in the last couple of years... GoGomez or LNP?
Isn't it fun to watch Mark Buehrle get lit up by the Twins!?
In 29 games for the Tucson Sidewinders (AAA Diamondbacks), Trent Oeltjen is hitting .337/.402/.459. The former SethSpeaks.net Top 10 Twins prospect was lost by the Twins as a six year minor league free agent. On the same team is another SethSpeaks.net Top 10 Twins prospect, Alex Romero. Romero actually made the D-Backs opening day roster, but he didn't get much playing time. In 13 games at AAA this year, he is hitting .327/.373/.491 with three doubles and two homers. Oh yeah... Romero was lost by the Twins when he was taken off of the 40 man roster when they decided to keep Chris Heintz instead.
Like most Twins fans, I am no fan of Tim McCarver. However, Chris Coste recently appeared on his TV show and you can view the entire interview here. It's actually quite lengthy and very good.
What should we expect from Kevin Slowey this afternoon? I think he is healthy and strong, so we should expect six innings. But at the same time, we don't know what kind of adrenaline we'll see from him.
Have a great day!
|