Flipped past TBS today and caught some of the Cinci/Atlanta game. Guess who was pitching for the Reds? Our favorite lego vision star, Kyle Lohse. It was weird not seeing him in a Twins uniform. I stopped watching when he kept throwing low...outside...not-a-strike-in-any-way-shape-or-form. I miss him.

Kyle did well - 2 runs, 4 hits, 7 Ks over 5 innings - a good stretch since he'd been in the bullpen for a while previous to the trade. He got betrayed by Lyle Majewski who gave up 4 runs between 4 outs.

(I like to think Lyle is kinda like Gozer and jumps from pitcher to pitcher to cause unsuspecting suckage. He just happens to call Kyle 'home'.)

I'm with infield, I'm all for giving Guerrier a shot.

Travel safely, BG and Jeb!

Guerrier? Why the heck not. It's better than bringing up Garza. I think it would be regrettable if we brought him up. It just seems that he needs to get more time under his belt. He's only been in AAA what, a month and a half? I think if we brought him up now, it would end up creating another Kerry Wood-type dead arm. I don't know, maybe I'm just paranoid.......

Oh, and I got to say that Haiku makes everything better. Safe journey, Bat Girl.

may as well start guerrier, cause if not he'd probably be pitching by the second or third inning anyway.

p.s. i didn't see the game, but is his hair longish again now? or has he kept it short. (i hope not, i was sad when he cut it)

Hooray for sweeps!! I was expecting a little better outing by Mr. Smith though.

What is it about that #5 spot any way? I second (third?) Adam in moving Guerrier to starting pitcher. And I also agree in keeping Garza down in AAA for a little longer. Look what happened to Liriano when we didn't bring him in right away.

The same people who are evaluating Matt Garza evaluated Liriano. Apparently, they know what they are doing. If they say he doesn't mix his pitches well enough, I strongly recommend that he mix up his pitches. Don't bring him up until he learns the lesson so he doesn't have a little success, then get the stuffing knocked out of him and have nothing but bad habits to fall back on.

I just saw Sports Center's recap of the last game of the Royals sweep. They showed all 22 hits in quick succession while reading game and series stats (I think they said we had 99 baserunners in the series). That was pretty nice to watch - swing, swing, swing, bunt, swing, bunt, swing, swing, swing ....

Guerrier COULD work...but does it make anyone else nervous to think that our only other long reliever is Willie Eyre? He hasn't been the most productive, but he seems to be getting slightly better. Neshek can be a 2-3 inning guy if we need him to, but I'd rather see him pitching every other day, than every 3-4 days.

Baseball Tonight has nothing on RD and infield. And infield, I want to give a big AMEN to your theory about Bart's 5-for-5 game and his socks. The two things are undoubtably linked.

I'm glad we have momentum going into Detriot--I've got a good feeling about this series. And this whole Garza situation is really interesting. I hope they keep him where he is for awhile; bringing the kid up now feels a little like ripping open your Christmas presents on December 15--it just feels too early. But I trust whoever's watching him to make the right choice on when to bring him up.

I see we'll miss Verlander again this series. I kind of wish we'd face him; I want to see that kid pitch!

Heh. Every time the Twins got a big lead in the series, I'd joke to my wife, "Now they'll probably bring Willie Eyre in just to get him some work." And they would.

Did anyone else notice that not only was Mr. Smith wearing Scott Erickson's old number, he also had Scotty's old '91 hairstyle as well? Too bad he looked more like the 2004 Erickson as far as his pitching was concerned...

But hey - 'Cisco, Brad, and Johan against the Tigres does sound delightful, and the Bitches have to contend with Vlad the Impaler and his Los Angeles California North America Western Hemisphere Angels of Anaheim Orange County Pacific Time Zone Western United States. I smell the wild card lead getting verrrrrrry close...

Half a game! Half a game!

The LACNAWHAAOCPTZWUS. Love it. I think it'll catch on.

Oh, Bitch Sox...Vlad comes to town, then three games against the Yankee lineup. I have a feeling the Wild Card may change hands in the very near future.

I must say, I am pleased to see that R.D and infield are playing so well together.

You never know how these point-counterpoint type things will go, but I am duly impressed.

And kudos to you infield, on noticing the Bartlett socks.
Of course, how could I expect anything less? ;-)

I think that Guerrier should get a shot at becoming the fifth starter, provided he's up to the task after being fresh off the DL. I didn't watch Smith pitch, but I think he's worthy of a second chance before making a "real" evaluation. I'd like to start Guerrier against Toronto, and if we jump out to a big lead by the fifth inning, let Smith get as many innings as he can handle.

As for the Garza thing, I obviously trust whoever is watching him to have the best opinion of his talent. But if his pitch selection is his main problem, doesn't it make sense to get him working with our quality catchers up here? Just some friendly armchair-managing...

I agree with the sock theory. Barty's cute way of wearing his socks=FIVE HITS!

bubblemint,

I am, of course, gathering empirical evidence to support my theory that (the existence of Luis Rivas notwithstanding) good socks = good baseball.

infield

I lobbied for over a month before the brains of this organization brought Pat Neshek up (even then it was done when necessitated by injury). Now I'm on the Garza soapbox.

It's all well and good to say you want to be cautious and not rush things. Why not give Smith another chance? Why not try Shaggy for one or two turns through the rotation?

That's fine in June, but this is mid August we're talking about and when you're in a sprint with two other teams for the Wild Card, I believe you need to roll the dice and put the guy out there that you think gives you the best chance to keep the other team from scoring. Whether Garza will do that immediately or not, we don't know. But If you wait an extra couple rounds of the rotation and lose 2 games when your '5th starter du jour' is used and then end up losing the wild card by a game, the second-guessing will be thunderous, and rightfully so.

EVERY game at this point becomes critical. Let's get him up here and throw him out there at home against Toronto and see what happens. Does anyone really think he would have a worse chance to be effective than Smith or Guerrier (who not only hasn't started a game all year at any level but also has just come off the DL)?

JC:

Two weeks ago I would have agreed with you on Garza. But not now--it is August 7--we have 3 weeks till the Sept. call ups--with a couple of off days so the 5th starter may go what--once or twice or 3 times at most. Next time (Toronto) give the ball to Shaggy--hes earned the shot. Put Smith or Boof or Baker in the pen for long relief.

In Sept. give Garza the ball in a noncritical game--dont rush him. Next year he will likely be the third starter with Radke retired--let him get non pressure experience in Sept.

DAM

Have you ever noticed what happens to "Twins" when you drop the "T" it ="Wins" (I have no idea where I am going with this so I think I will stop)
I am in the start Guerrier camp; do you remember last off-season? He said he would like to win a starting role, well here is his chance, lets see if he makes the best of it.

This was Here:
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060807&content_id=1597308&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

QUESTION: One thing the Twins have is a dearth of players that start with a J. Between Johan, Juan, Jesse, Josh, Justin, three Jasons and two Joes can't we come up with a great nickname for these guys? Something like the J-Crew?
-- Collin S., Sioux Falls, S.D.

ANSWER: Names with J certainly don't seem to be at a lack when you look at the Twins roster, Collin. And I think that your suggestion seems like a valid one. Trying to think of some nicknames like the J-Squad, I couldn't seem to come up with one that seemed fitting for the group. So I'm challenging you Twins fans to come up with a good moniker for this very "J" dominated group.

Please send me your suggestions about a nickname for the club's plethora of J's and I'll be sure to have a winner for the next edition of the mailbag in two weeks.

THIS IS Kelly Thesier's E-MAIL
kelly.thesier@mlb.com

DAM, funny you should write that... I posted something similar on Gleeman's site.

I'd hate to lose the wild card by one game because we waited til Sept to bring up Garza.

But youre right. This Friday and the 26th are the only times they'll need a 5th starter (barring further injuries). Left to me, I'd bring him up, pitch him Friday and send him back down to get regular work at Roch over the next 2 weeks, then bring him back up for the 26th. Dont want him to just sit around here for 15 days. But they'll need a 5th starter 6 times in Sept and with the race as close as it is, one game could easily be the difference at the end.

Yes, I'm impatient, I know.