Comments on: Thoughts On The Near No-No

By: Razor Shines

Razor Shines — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:42:27 +0000

I see some fans were lucky enough to see the great Rincon pitch again last night.

Remind me why he’s still with the Twins.

By: tgd

tgd — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:48:36 +0000

Happened to be in Chicago on business, and caught the game in person (row 34, dead behind the plate). LEN III has it exactly right: Floyd justmissed throwing the worst no-hitter ever, and he was aided and abetted by overanxious bats. Look! A pitch! I’m hacking! At Ball One! And popping up harmlessly!

Which was then followed by Wednesday’s massacre of Buehrle. Ahh, baseball.

By: Dean

Dean — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:33:03 +0000

If we score 50% of games with 4 or more runs, and 50% of games with 3 or fewer runs, which is about what we’re doing this year and did last year, then we’ll be hard pressed to even play .500 ball. Last year being exhibit A. I don’t care if 50% of our games line with 13 runs. We’re still not going to the world series if the other 50% are 3 or fewer run games.

Re: attributing statistically poor hitting to a hitting coach, it’s absolutely real. When a batter is in the box he’s not swinging at whatever he wants. He’s taking signs from the hitting coach and other staff about when to swing, how to swing and at what to swing and where to ideally place the ball. Each at-bat is as much a product of the hitting coach as it is the batter. If the batter ignores instructions and gets a hit, great! Doesn’t always happen, they typically follow orders (and for good reason). The game’s played more strategically than each player just getting up and swinging for the fences each time. Therefore offensive statistics are EASILY attributable to the hitting coach. Their job doesn’t happen just in the batting cage. It continues when the game starts.

If the Twins begin to score 4 or more runs in, say 65 - 75% of their games, and maintain that rate over the length of the hitting coaches time in job, then it’s a good hitting coach. If not, and with Vavra that’s the case, then it’s time to adjust.

Is the Twins overall hitting system the fault of Vavra? No, but even within that system he’s a poor performer. Firing him won’t change the system, but a better hitting coach (can anyone say Molitor, Oliva or Carew?) will increase our chances of both performing better and changing the overall system. Vavra seems to completely buy into the system, as evidenced by the signs he gives to hitters from the bench.

By: cmathewson

cmathewson — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:14:03 +0000

Number of comments: 225
Number of comments expressing displeasure with the Twins offense: 158
Score of last night’s game: 13-1
Twins record in the last seven games: 6-1
What is wrong with you people?!

By: TK(2)

TK(2) — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:52:25 +0000

Matt, he shouldn’t have been able to do it at all. He’s already proved many people wrong on that. I liked the signing, but didn’t expect this well. He, like every pitcher, can lose it at any time. We’ll just have to hope that it never comes. Great job pitching so far- not to mention the fact that the Twins hit like crazy when he’s on the mound.

I have officially stopped (at least for a while) not dreading Punto AB’s. He’s not tearing the cover off the ball, but he has done MUCH better than I, and most of you, expected of him so far. He’s bought some time with me, as has Mr. Joe “GIDP” Mauer. He’s also done very well and, most importantly, stayed healthy so far. Stop, at least temporairly, bashing Punto. Not an everyday player, but doing very well for a back up- for Punto at least.

About the One hitter- yes, the Twins hitters were God-awful that night. I would have told them not to swing at anything before they had 2 strikes, because I’m not convinced that the umpire would have rung anyone up. Hope we never have that guy again as he was Terrible. On the plus side, the Twins had won 5 straight, and were bound to lose sometime soon. I also thought, after a night like that, the twins bats, at least for one night, would come very alive- which they did.

Lastly, props to Gomez for hitting the cycle. That guy is amazing to watch. Actually like having him more than Santana, and to extent of which I can’t really explain, Hunter.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:54:17 +0000

In the wake of Livan’s complete game, some food for thought for my fellow Twins fans:

3.83, 4.80 - Livan’s ERA, and his ERC - his component ERA, what his ERA really should be based on the number and type of hits he’s given up.

He might not be Ramon or Ponson, but he’s not going to keep this up.