"Dead Man Pitching"? Is THAT what that look is? I know I've seen it all year, but I wasn't quite sure what to call it! Now I know. . . but hopefully I won't need to use that phrase anymore this year. ;-)

On to the Royals - if there is any team who can help out our flailing pitching staff, they ought to be it. I hope.

Good time for an off day. I GUARANTEE the Twins will not lose tomorrow. As for Tuesday, I make no such promise.

That NY series seems so very far away...

Strange that there was no Twins baseball this weekend, RD. Maybe they were all at the same retreat that Batgirl's at while the World Champion Bitch Sox played Let's Tour the Bases.
I can only imagine that Lew played World of Warcraft all weekend.

Can someone please point to the Kool Aid that will make me forget this weekend?

And can people stop asking when Baker will be taken out of the rotation for Liriano? At this point I think Baker and Liriano can be our number 2 and 3 starters with Loshe the official barbie backpack handler.

And if things don't turn around soon for Bradke he might want to run out to Target for a matching Ken one. That kinda hurt to type.

If this is Bradke's last year (at this point shouldn't it be?) I doubt this is how he wanted to go out. And Silva, time to remix Chacaron or something, put on that BP jersey for the game if necessary but do something.

Thank God it's April. Attention Twins players...Extended Spring Training just ended, the season starts this Tues. in KC. Sorry Dougie baseball but I hope the Twins beat the snot out of the Royals on their way to running a long winning streak.

One last thing, my ears still hurt from having to listen to the Bitch Sox annoucers. You can put that on the boooooooaaaaaaarrrrrrd yes! I don't have to listen to them for while. Thank goodness.

Thanks for reading.

Package Radke and Lohse to some team that needs pitching (or someone who is listed as a pitcher on the roster).

The Devil Rays need pitching desperately, and they have hitters who can hit the snot out of the ball. They've got hitters in the minors too.

The Phillies need pitching too, but I don't want to see David Bell in a Twins uniform. He sucks.

The Orioles could use some pitching. Perhaps Brian Roberts could fill the second base position for us if Luis Castillo is just a rent-a-player for '06.

Please bring on the Royals so I can cleanse myself of this negativity.

1945, The Lost Weekend starring Ray Milland and Jane Wyman. 2006, The Lost Weekend starring the Twins pitching staff. Lord that was painful.

I could have lived with Friday's loss, but there is no way I or anyone could have lived with the two losses yesterday and today. Twins played like shit in these losses outside of Friday. Their pitching sucked outside of Johan. That's the problem right there. We ain't winning games if our pitching is sucking out there. I don't care who the Twins are facing. If the Twins pitched the way they did this weekend, they are going to get swept by the Royals. It's that simple.

You are not going to beat a team like Chicago, the Angels, or the Red Sox with the bats. It's just not happening. I don't care if you have a lineup loaded with great hitters. You gotta pitch well. Twins pitching in this series and really overall this month is reminsecent of the dark days of the 90s where they just stunk. I have been satisfied with the starters till this week. This week, they lost me for good. I have no idea WTF is up with Carlos Silva. Whatever it is, I don't want to hear excuses anymore about the WBC. He is pitching like Joe Mays. He is not even close to last year or his first year here. Twins offense give him a good lead. He is supposed to do his job. This is the same guy who ripped his offense in September. Remember he called out the whole hitters? Well Carlos, maybe you should just shut up and just pitch. It's hard enough for others to do their job as it is so he should just do his job because his job is not that easy either.

The worst part is that the Twins showed no competitiveness this weekend. I thought they looked scared and disinterested. Only two guys showed up this weekend and that was Torii, Johan, and Lew. That's it. When you face great teams like the Chicagos, Bostons, and the Angels of the world, everyone has to step up period. Twins beat NY and Oakland last week beacuse everyone stepped up. Some guys did not pull their weight this weekend and some guys looked lost.

For all the criticism Torii gets by Twins fans, how come Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer gets a free ride. Aren't those two supposed to be the face of the team? Those two were very, very dissapointing. Great that Baby Jesus hit that HR today, but you know what, Mauer should have played better. If anything, I am slowly becomng dissapointed with him as a player for the Twins. He has done alright, but not in the level that Prior and Texiera has done in his class of 2001.

This team got outclassed, outmanaged, outplayed, and out-everything this weekend period. The most dissapointing aspect that this team did not show heart out there. It also does not help the Twins are facing a best team that money can buy.

Twins have yet to win a division game this year and they have only won 1 road game this season. Sounds like the Twins have the same disease that the Wolves have on the road.

GO SWARM!

I have to say (speaking of SNL) that TV Funhouse! segment was LOL funny! And to have our President David Palmer to narrarate for us- that was the icing on the cake!

It is good to know SNL can still be funny from time to time...

I, for one, was just happy to get to watch the twins play this weekend, even if it was on WGN. Remember last season when we went to Chicago and swept the sox in Mid august? We faced Contreras, Garcia, and Buehrle then too. So I'm pretty sure this was revenge for that.

I have a little kool-aid. Only Rincon, Radke, and Silva really struggled on the mound. Johan had a QS. And I think we found out this weekend how important it is to have Stewie and Luis at the top of this line-up. Liriano has some maturing to do, and I think his appearance on Friday was good for him. The worst thing about this weekend is the sox look like a team that just won the series.

Now lets go to KC, get a couple road wins, then come up here and trounce the tigers so I have bragging rights for awhile.

Say Leslie, your comments regarding our pitching is nothing we haven't been puzzled about for the last few weeks.

We honestly have no clue what the hell is wrong with our staff. It seemed like the hitters WANTED to win, and damed if they weren't trying there for a while.

But after what the pitching has put them through, I wouldn't be surprised if we see an offensive revolt reminisenct of last year's pitching collapse in August.

I held my head high this weekend while visiting friends in Chicago. I took the taunts from friends of my friends who knew I was a Twins fan as well as the good natured heckling that I received at Comiskey during the game today and cheered loud and proud for my Twins waaaaaay up in my seat.

I'll admit that I'm a little frustrated with our pitching thus far. I always thought our pitching was our strength which made up for our lack of hitting power.

I agree with Leslie, it seemed like there was a lack of competitiveness. I didn't see the effort. Maybe it was because I was sitting in seats in the lower stratosphere but to me it looked like there were some balls that made it into the outfield that shouldn't have and balls that dropped in front of our outfielders that they could have gotten under. I didn't see hustle. Where's the effort?? Yeah Torii proved why he's a five time golden glove winner when he caught an almost-homerun and Lewwwww's quick throwing prevented some runners from scoring, and Joe Mauer's reflexes caught a runner trying to steal second... but overall, I was disappointed with our defense.

It is only April but I want to see the effort I saw in our come from behind victories against NY and LA. After our performance this weekend I advise not to call your games before they are won regarding our series against KC. They did take 2 games out of 3 against Cleveland.

Last of all I would just like to say, after going to a game at Comiskey: "IIIIII wanna outdoor stadium!"

Well, it was a crappy weekend. But Mauer did go 6-for-12 with a homer, and it seemed that Lew did an adequate job in the leadoff spot.

But the Bitch Sox went out and made serious offensive improvements in the offseason, even though they just won a championship. As much as I like the White and Castillo acquisitions, neither is the big bat we need. Which is to say, neither is someone like Thome.

Castillo has been excellent in his role in the lineup. He's essentially leadoff man 2. And he's awesome.

Batista is having troubles...and White has been a flop so far.

I wish we had Thome. There's really nothing else to say there...

1) Wasn't the Portman SNL a rerun?

2) As pointed out by the Twins TV crew: Mauer's homer Sunday was the first this year by the Twins No. 3 and No. 4 hitters.

About Thome, he didn't want to be here. Him and his agent, Pat Rooney made it very clear to Terry Ryan that he put the Twins as a destination that he did not want to be there. Screw him anyway. He wasn't going to fit in and he didn't want to be there. I want guys who want to be here. Also just who the Twins were going to give up for Thome. Baker and Liriano? Definitely not. Our farm system is way overrated and it's clear that lot of teams in baseball feel that way. Name one player that has excelled in the farm system in recent years. Everyone thought Cuddyer, Restrovich, and others would do well, but they have bombed. You have faith that Span, Moses, and others will do well? I don't. It makes you wonder how good this organization is in developing players.

As for our pitching, that has to be retooled more than anything. Radke is washed up. Let's be honest on that. He never used to get hit this hard until last year. Normally, his pitch count is low over the years, but his first inning home runs and him getting hit hard has to really be caused for concerned. Kyle Lohse is a lost case.
You really have to hope that Carlos Silva does not become Joe Mays for good.

I will be shocked if the Twins win the series against KC at this point.

Leslie you don't like anything about this team and see no hope of it getting better. Why do you watch? Geesh

I've got to believe that Thome would have played for the Twins, and that they could have put a competitive offer out there for him. How about:

Jesse Crain, Jason Bartlett...maybe Torii Hunter?

Actually, now that I think about it, the White Sox' offer would have been pretty tough to beat. Oh, well.

I watch because I love this team, Nora. I love all MN Sports Teams. I love to see them to do this well. There is nothing better than seeing MN Sports Teams well. However, there is nothing wrong with calling spade a spade when the situation calls for it. I would be considered a fool if I blindly come up with excuses or be a homer like Dick Bremer would do at times like he did Saturday night with Brad Radke. If anyone thinks the Twins are in the level of Chicago, Cleveland, or Detroit, he or she is fooling themselves. They are a good scrappy team and that's it. They are a .500 team at best.

Mike: That would have been a good deal, but the Phillies were committed to either Baker or Lirano. Pat Gillick is big on pitching and those two were the only guys out there. Remember the White Sox had two good prospects that the Phillies took. People talk about Rowand, but those two propsects that got in return were huge. There was a reason why Soriano did not come to Minnesota. Texas were determined to get Baker or Lirano at best. This point is moot anyway. Thome was not coming to Minnesota. He did not want to be there just like Thomas and Piazza did not want to be here or Prior did not want to be here. There is no point bringing guys who do not want to be here. He would be a posion in the locker room.

Thomas would have come to Minnesota. In fact, he might have preferred it to Oakland. The reason he's not wearing a Twins uniform right now is that Terry Ryan thinks he's done. And Terry Ryan might be right. But he didn't even take that chance.

Why someone would choose Rondell White over Frank Thomas is beyond me. Jim Thome? Ok. Rondell White? No. Lew Ford? No. Mike Cuddyer? No.

Frank Thomas? Yes, please.

Could it be because of Thomas' reputation for not being a good guy in the clubhouse? The Sox seemed to have problems with his attitude, etc.

Also, if Thomas is done, I think his stats are not proving Ryan wrong heere, will he be better then the players you mention besides Thome? No.

Remember when our pitching was totally awesome, our defense was really good, and our hitting sucked?

I really miss those days.

This weekend was enough to make me consider taking up drinking.

The one good thing I'll say for this weekend was this: yesterday's game was bad enough that I willingly cleaned out the gunge from the pool and put in the fountain just to get away from it. Oh, and clean the stove. And the moldy dishes.
Geez, if the Twins won every game, I'd never get any chores done.

Here we go with the "clubhouse poison" again. Another phrase created by the media, like "a leader in the clubhouse." Folks, until you've either spent time in a ML clubhouse, or at least are very close to someone who has/does, it's probably best to refrain from talking about or even assuming what goes on in there. You have no idea, and those who DO usually don't spout off about it in public. The clubhouse is Vegas. Everything else is just conjecture.

The White Sox sure were spouting off about Thomas not too long ago in the media there was plenty of quotes in the articles I saw.

I said USUALLY. ;-) And yeah, if a player goes around dissing his former team, his former teammates will often pipe and say "dude, who are you to talk?" But most of the time a guy who appears to the outside world as a "problem" will go to another team and everyone just loves him to death. You just never know who or what the real problem is/was unless you personally know the people involved. And while it's OK to criticize a player for on-the-field reasons, it's usually best to not be talking *personal* smack about someone you don't know at all, or at least know someone who knows them.

Just sayin'!

Leslie, I know things look bad right now, but there's no way it's as bad as the late '90s.

Just for the heck of it, this weekend I put in a tape of a Twins game from April of 1999. LaTroy Hawkins started and gave up eight runs in 3 2/3. Dan Perkins came in and gave up four more. Bob Wells gave up two more late in the game. The lineup included such stalwarts as Chad Allen and Denny Hocking. Another rotation starter at that time was Mike Lincoln.

Things may look bad now, but it isn't as bad as then.

Actually, I'd like to add a caveat to my comments... if you personally witness someone being a jerk, or they have been a jerk to someone you know, it's OK to call them a jerk even if you don't know them. :-)

RD: Great video with Portman--missed the show thnx for the link.

Next 18 games include 12 with Royals and Tiggers so lets hold off on doomsday stuff for a while. Besides Stewart and Castillo are coming back giving the top of the order some life and moving R White back to the bench. Dont forget Santana was outstanding on Friday (even the Hawk said so--I get MLB Extra Inning Feed).

DAM

Re: Derby/Sininster Minister -- we locals (Lexington, KY) know better than to put money on him. No horse that has won the Blue Grass Stakes has won the Derby for the past 15 years. (1991 was the last year...) Pick a come-from-behind horse; the theory is that all the speed horses will tire each other out and a come-from-off-the-pace higher odds horse will take it.

Obligatory Twins content: Go Twins. :-) (It's hard hanging on to fandom in a state where the only AL coverage is from WGN when they're showing White Sox games or ESPN/2 is showing a Yankees or Red Sox game of the week....)

So.... thanks, Batgirl blog and bloggers.

Leslie, Brad Radke is not "washed up". Anyone who has watched Radke knows that, when he's not locating his pitches, he gets hit. Hard. That's nothing new. And he's not locating them right now. He's never been a dominant pitcher in the way Johan is, and he never will be - but he's not done. I guarantee you that. And as for your comments about Dick Bremer being a "homer" - well, who pays him? What is his job? Is it to be Pat Reusse and find fault in everything? Is it to criticize every move the Twins make? Trust me, Dick Bremer is a paragon of virtue in this department compared to the idiot who does play-by-play for the White Sox.

And it's impressive that you are so familiar with the innermost feelings of guys I assume you've never met ("Thome didn't want to come here, Thomas didn't want to come here, Piazza didn't want to come here, Nick Punto really didn't want to come here, either..."). Wow.

And finally, this terrible, overrated farm system we have has recently produced Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, and Jason Kubel, among others. If you don't think that's an impressive list, and if you don't think that most other MLB teams would love to have had that kind of success in their farm systems, I think you'd be utterly, completely, and totally incorrect. But what do I know? I'm just a homer, I guess, cheering for my weak-but-scrappy .500 team and its lame pitching staff.

One the bright side, next we play the Royals.

BG et al-

Not here to gloat, I don't do that. In fact, I am here mostly to throw out some complements...

I went to the game Friday, and there were a significant number of Twins fans. I was impressed. Most other teams don't show up that well at The Cell. And all the ones I saw behaved, and weren't obnoxious. Kudos on that.

As for Big Frank, he's not exactly bringing down the house in OAK. Power is there, average isn't. I think he is in his twilight. And while I was not ever in the cluhouse, I read enough of his quotes and saw enough of his tirades over the years to be pretty sure he was not exactly a great guy to be around, especially in the last 5 years or so. That said, he is an intimidating presence in the box when he is on. If he is ever really on again.

Do not assume all is well because you are playing the Royals. They are a better team than they were last year, but quite a lot. They just took 2 of 3 from CLE, and took 2 of three from us earlier this year. You will have to battle to win. The AL Central is tougher all across the board this year than last year.

One more thing - thanks for being good sports. I don't see any of the snark or complaining in here that the Twins lost because of the Umps, or the weather, or luck, or what not. I see that a lot on boards like this. Those of you here have some class and some objectivity (the whole "Bitch Sox" thing aside). I enjoy visiting.

SoxMatt,

Thanks for your words.

Sometimes, in the snapshots that comprise a baseball season, all the pieces of one team come together and appear in sync while the other comes across as a batch of mismatched parts purchased at auction.

That's the way it looked this weekend. Things can change. Nothing is ever as good as it appears (except for YoungRD and Sweet-n-Sassy) and nothing is ever as bad as it appears.

Best, RD

I'm going back a day to the Barry Bonds photos. Comparing what Bonds looked like at age 14 or 15 (clearly a teenager) to a man of 40 is hardly proof of anything.

Look at Roger Clemens' rookie card and then look at him today.

I just wanted to second what Sox Matt said. I was at all 3 games this weekend. Sat. night I had a group of Twins fans behind us. Early in the game there were a few fans who gave them the business pretty hard but they were still cool about it and by the end of the game it seemed everyone in our area had accepted them and they were really good-natured about things. Though I could see the pain when Hunter's near-Grand Slam got caught just in front of us.

I don't think the Twins are going to win the division but I know they are not the team we saw this weekend. I'm prepared for a lot of hard-fought games as the year goes on.

You forgot the Honeydogs show at the 7th Street Entry. I saw them Friday night and they were awesome. They came on at 11:50 and totally cheered me up. Can't remember why I was grumpy. I was watching t.v. at my brother's house beforehand...

And yes, I did see the SNL re-reun. It was hilarious. And for some reason I needed a laugh. I remember drinking a 25 oz. beer at Stub and Herbs earlier that night, and something was on the t.v. Was somebody throwing cookies?

And dang, wasn't yesterday a good day to be outdoors!

With Castillo and Stewart out, this was a disaster waiting to happen over the weekend and it's not surprising that that's exactly what we got.

It's still just 3 games, though, and it's only April. The hitting, across the board, is improved over last season and the starting pitching can't possibly be as bad as it's looked so far. If that aspect comes back around and the everyday players stay healthy, things will be interesting in August. But depth is clearly an issue so any significant injuries will be felt strongly.

Oh and Leslie... as for the Prior/Mauer comparison... you've GOTTA be kidding. One's career is very possibly flaming out after a big start and the other guy hit about .500 in a series against the defending champions of baseball.

And slow start or not, to those of you who think Frank Thomas was a better fit for the Twins than Rondell White... well, I'll just respectfully disagree.

I don't get any SNL (or baseball) on my tv most of the time, living in the UK, but I happen to know several staff members at the Brainerd Mental Health Facility, and they are lovely people.

Annie,

The Barry Bonds "before" photo was a college photo from the Alaska summer league. Physique-wise, it's similar to his 1987 major-league rookie card.

The photo doesn't prove anything. However, the SI excerpts from the book "Game of Shadows" make a pretty convincing case that something is amiss.

RD wouldn't expect Annie Savoy to do anything less than stand up for her ballplayers, though!

Just a note on Minnesota and mental health, should you want some more background info-
Sadly, this is a good state to be mentally ill in, at least relatively speaking, there's a shortage of social services, especially for the mentally ill, everywhere.
We routinely have people migrate here from other midwestern states due to our relatively strong social services.
The Strib story that was linked mentioned it at the end, but a big part of the current shortage of beds is due to a lack of psychiatrists to admit patients to hospitals, as well as the previously mentioned folks who come here from other states.
And while this winter there has been quite a shortage of inpatient psych beds, demand is generally higher in the winter months, so it should and is improving, at least for now.
Additionally, our state and county have recently changed the way they provide outpatient residential services with a more step-based transitional housing system (hospital to crisis/transitional bed to intensive residential bed to supportive housing) that theoritically should have a care team following patients throughout the system. However, there are shortages in all of those steps, so people are often not appropriately placed, and many people don't qualify for all of those services unless social security has judged them to be disabled due to their illness (a process that generally takes more than a year to complete) or they have excellent private insurance, or are rich. And the community-based care teams that should be following folks throughout the system often aren't connected with them, as they were just getting set up as the transition took place.
I'm not sure if that helps get a broader idea or if anyone cares, but since it was linked here, I thought it'd be good to add to it.
Also, seemingly going against type, our governor recently announced some shifting of funding and such things in regards to provision of mental health services. One aspect of that is to bring everyone to eligibility for the services you receive on social security disability for mental health, and that shouuld be helpful, which is nice.

BSox fan in Minneapolis here. It was a rough one this weekend for y'all, but I'm not here to gloat. I think, more than anything else, this weekend was an example of the ancient baseball maxim, "It's not who you play, it's when you play them."

Still looking forward to a fun series in three weeks; I'll be there on Saturday night!

"He smoked the Bluegrass ..."

Actually, it was a blend of bent, bluegrass and California Sensamelian, according to my friend Carl.

The Portman appearance was a rerun, yes.

And while I think she's a fairly talented actress, I found the gangsta rap skit to be pretty contrived.

Portman as a vulgarity-spewing, chair smashing, pot smoking rapper? That would be odd...but not funny for more than 30 seconds.

Just my two cents...

Oh I forgot to mention in my previous post that unlike the Metrodome, US Cellular Field DOES allow actual brooms inside the park (back when we tried to sweep the Yanks RD has posted that brooms aren't allowed in the Dome). I saw a Sox fan walking up the stairs in my section with a yellow broom. And swept they did...

Just got to KC from Chicago... hoping we have better luck here! The Sox fans where we sat were pretty decent, we didn't get ripped on too hard for our Twins jerseys. Hopefully Bert will circle us one of these games in KC! More road-trip comments later!