Friday Hits!
By Editorial Staff
When I initially sat down to being this post I could not , off the top of my head, recall any really great articles from this past week, so I thought I might not have a lot to cover. After looking back through the files it appears I was sorely mistaken and once again there are plenty of solid baseball and Minnesota Twins related articles that deserve your attention.
When the Twins are losing what better way to cheer up than checking in on our old friend Scott Erickson? The Onion Sports Network has done just that, and I am very glad they did!
Hitting a baseball is not easy. I petered out of Little League after the other kids started throwing curve balls. Couldn’t hit them. Couldn’t throw them. Maybe that makes me a little bit like Drew Butera? Who knows. Eno Sarris over at NotGraphs dug up this graphic that breaks down all the skills required to hit a baseball, and just how fast those things have to happen, the conclusion? It’s impossible.
Over at The Sweet Spot, Susan Petrone cautions MLB managers that they shouldn’t be trusting anyone over 30 as starting pitchers. The Twins only have two pitchers on their staff over 30, and of those two only Carl Pavano (age 35) makes his living as a starter (The other, Joe Nathan, is in the midst of Tommy John rehab and his results have also been underwhelming.)
Twins fans continue to lament the loss of promising young catcher Wilson Ramos. Ramos turns up again in this piece by Satchel Price as he attempts to sort out the contenders in the AL and NL Rookie of the Year race.
The Twins doing something historically exceptional? That’s what John Autin of Baseball-Reference found out when examining Anthony Swarzak and the Minnesota Twins’ 1 hit shut out of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim from last week. Pretty neat what these guys do with the play-index.
Jacob Peterson introduces the Traditional Manager Index over at Beyond the Boxscore as a way to track the way that managers use intentional walks and sacrifice hits. Not sure if it is terribly useful, but it is terribly interesting.
Just 10 short years ago the Minnesota Twins were one of the hottest teams in all of baseball. Seems like a long time ago. Have fun remembering the way back when and join Bill at the Platoon Advantage in his series looking back at 2001.
Not much has changed in the weekly rankings from Beyond the Boxscore or FanGraphs as the Twins haven’t moved from their slots a week ago. The rest of the league has changed, so these links are still worth your time, and mine.
Flip Flop Fly Ballin’ had a great week in pictures. They have this beauty which draws your attention to a certain former Cy Young winner. For the Twins fan that loves baseball and the great outdoors, there could not be a better way to bring those two together than this image of former Twins manager Billy Martin.
Part of the thing that keeps fans coming back to the ballpark is that fans feel like they are really a part of the games. To get even closer to the action some fans keep a score during the game. Tracy Perlman from CBS Minnesota takes in a game with the official scorer from the Target Field press box.
Rene Rivera in a Joe Posnanski article? This has to bee too good to be true! In truth, it is. But hey, Posnanski does an excellent job talking his way in and around the idea of the Intentional Walk and he really, really wants you to check out his podcost as well, which isn’t half bad!
As a Twins fan in 2011 you should never be behind in your coverage of the Minnesota Twins minor league affiliates. Seth Stohs of SethSpeaks.net does an excellent job keeping tabs on these guys and in a recent post covers the minor league pitchers of the month for May. With the way things are going this season, a lot of these guys will or already have seen time with the major league squad.
I’ll leave you with this, Mark’s Baseball Personality Test, also from the Platoon Advantage. What type of baseball player would you be based on your personality characteristics? Personally, I think I’d be a utility man, I don’t really excel at anything, but I am good enough to dabble at everything! Check it out for yourself!