MN Sports Journal

5:46:59 AM EDT
This was a horrible performance. I thought the team quit last night for the second night in a row. You would think they would be embrassed after last night, but tonight was even worse. Some guys went through the motions defensively and offensively. Some guys also quit tonight. Whatever it is, I am tired of it. If some guys don't want to play hard, maybe they should be traded or be released. This was very embrassing out there. This team usually play all nine innings, but these last two nights, they have just quit. That should really bother Twins fans. I know it's bothering me. Everyone who played tonight should be ashamed of themselves.

I want Joe Mays out of the starting rotation. Enough is enough. This team went as far as they could with him. He is not getting it done. He was awful as usual tonight. The third inning was really pathetic. Gardy and Terry Ryan has to be doing some brainstorming about who can step up in the rotation because it's clear Kyle Lohse and Joe Mays are not the solution. It's time to find someone else. I am ready to see what Scott Baker or Dave Gassner can do. If they struggle, so be it. I can live with them struggling than seeing Lohse and Mays get lit up at every start. It's time for a change.

Tonight was a waste of time. Three hours were better served doing something else at work. I can't believe I did not finish punching holes for the dittos to file on that notebook. I should have done that instead of watching a snoozefest.

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5:45:51 AM EDT
Feeling Angry
I am very dissapointed and disgusted about this loss Tuesday night.  That's all I have to say. I am tired of this garbage. The first two losses to the Tigers was a very disgusting loss. I did not think the Twins did the little things which has been one of the reasons why the Twins stink. What I mean by little things is stealing bases at the wrong time. Why waste an out when Pudge Rodriguez is catching? You never steal of Pudge because odds are you are going to be out. You would think the Twins learn that by now considering he has been with the Tigers since last year. Not hustling was another example of not doing the little things. I thought some guys out there were going through the motions when the Tigers led 5-1. I was so turned off that I turned the game off and went outside for a walk.

I am really peeved at Kyle Lohse. I have had it with him. I am tired of him. I wish he would just go away. This guy can't even pitch in a beer league. I thought he stunk. Yeah he got out of it in the first, but it all caved in for him in the fifth inning as he just started getting hit hard. The worse indictment of him came when he was begging to leave. He just did not want to be there after the fifth. His body language said it all. Also what bothered me was when Kyle did not tip his hat or even thank Torii when Torii robbed Brandon Inge of a HR. That was a joke. I was so disgusted. Most times, pitchers would tip their hat or give thumbsup if his defensive player made a great play. Notice when the Twins starters point at Torii as a sign of Thank You. Kyle Lohse did not do that. All he did was walk to the dugout and just had that stupid freaking look of his face. That bothered me. That type of stuff could destroy clubhouse chemistry right there.

I just don't think Kyle has any business being in the rotation. I had enough of him. I did not want him back in the off-season. I was hoping the Twins got something for him. He is never going to pitch to his potential and honestly, I am not sure if he wants to be successful with that lousy attitude he has. He seems too uncoachable and he never listens. I think he needs to be demoted to the pen till he gets his attitude straightened out. Personally if the Twins want to send a message to anyone, they should trade him. I am sure some team may have the idea that they can fix Kyle Lohse. The guy can has talent and he can throw strikes so that could attract people.

I have no idea what is even worse. Theloss or Dimitri Young hitting a HR to break it open. Young hitting HR was like rubbing salt in the wounds.

I swear some guys on that team need a heart transplant. A great example is Kyle Lohse. He might also need a new brain.

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5:43:22 AM EDT
Well this is it. Tonight is the last game of the year. I hope it's down to the wire and I hope the Pistons pull it out. The thought of seeing ex-Timberwolf Rasho Nesterovic winning a ring would kill me.

I probably am going to watch it.

I expect the Spurs to win Game 7. I can't see them losing at the SBC Center and I can't see Duncan letting his team lose tonight. I hope I am wrong.

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5:40:21 AM EDT

After a day off, the Twins go right back at it tonight as they head to Detroit to play the Tigers. Here's hoping the Twins players did some soul-searching out there yesterday afternoon and here's hoping that they made the most of a mental day off to clear their mind. It's time for them to start playing baseball and start playing with a sense of urgency.

It's time for the starters to start pitching better and it's time for the hitters to start playing especially Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, who was supposed to be the power hitters, but it hasn't worked out. If anything, I have been dissapointed in the M & M boys who were compared as the Twins version of Mantle and Maris by the Twin Cities media in spring training. It's time for those two to really step up now along with the starters who are not named Johan Santana. Tonight is a great place to start.

Twins should not be worried about how far they are behind the White Sox in the standings and they should not be worried about the Wild Card standings. Twins just need to worry about themselves and play Twins baseball like they have done overall with the exception of last week.

It's time to play with an sense of urgency. Yeah it's June, but you know what, Twins could be 12 games out and they may be hard-pressed to catch up with the White Sox.

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5:04:07 AM EDT
Feeling Angry
This caps off a very lousy week. They haven't recovered from that loss in LA on a Sunday afternoon last week. Today is just example of why this team is just on a tailspin. When the pitching is great, the hitting stinks. When the hitting is great, the pitching stinks. There is absoultely no excuse to look bad against Darrell May. I thought May had crappy stuff today and the Twins just did not get it done. When the Twins can't score for Johan, that's a crime. Anytime Johan pitches, there is no excuse to not score. That's just unacceptable. 
Johan got screwed yesterday by the home plate ump who made questionable calls especially in the seventh. Some of the balls should have been strikes.  That call was freaking bad by Kevin Kelly, home plate ump. That was a joke. Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven, who does the Twins games on FSN North, called him out today and the fans were on his case for the rest of the game. Those two pitches that Johan threw to Blum was strikes. That idiotic ump decided to reward Blum as balls and Blum got walked to have Johan pitched with the bases loaded. Then when Damian Jackson got the double that clear the bases as the runners scored. After that, Johan confronted the home plate ump as he was begging to get tossed. Gardy immediately took the ball as Johan kept yelling at the home plate ump. Good for Johan. It was nice to see that emotion from him. I am also glad Gardy got tossed as support for his pitcher. Kevin Kelly should be ashamed of himself.

Johan rarely ever argues balls and strikes and he rarely ever gets mad, but today he was hot and you know it has to be bad when Johan had to argue with the ump.

That home plate ump must have been a Whiney Sux fan or a Indians fan because he even had to knew that it was strikes. Shame on him. I hope he is proud of himself because what he did was embrassing. I think Kevin Kelly is an ump that is filling in because I never heard of his name till now. I hope this is the last time he refrees any Twins games. This was simply bad.

Johan pitched well. I thought he did a great job. Too bad the home plate ump screwed Johan good. That Jackson's bases loaded hit took the sail out of the team, the Twins announcers, and the fans at the game. It went downhill right after that.

The only bright spot was seeing Matthew Lecroy homered to give the Twins lone run

In the beginning of the telecast, Dick and Bert was talking about how this game was a sense of urgency today. Too bad the team did not play like one. Now She-ca-go is up by 7.5 games and the Indians are just a game behind. Twins wild-card lead is now just a half-game lead and Boston or Cleveland will likely surpass them for the wild-card lead tommorow with a win. Of course, the standings are the least of the problems. The way the Twins are playing right now is a huge problem. The starting pitching stinks and the hitters have all of sudden have no clue how to hit.

Bottom line, folks. This Twins team stinks.   Today is a day off as this team will be participating in a fishing tournament. This team could use a day off mentally.

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1:32:37 PM EDT
Feeling Happy

Twins baseball would not be Twins baseball without extra innings. This team has played so many extra innings this year that it's not funny. Fortunately, they have been winning those games. Last night, the Twins won 5-4 in 11 innings. This was a game that the Twins really needed after having a rough week. This team was starting to fade a little bit so it was good to tie the game from behind and then winning it in the eleventh inning.

It was good to see Lew get the leadoff walk, then Luis Rodriguez got a double as Lew ran from first to third. Michael got the walk. That set the stage for Glenn Williams to be a hero with the bases loaded and he came through with the GW Hit. Twins win the game 4-3

I never thought the Twins would come from behind to win it or even tie it. They looked flat after Carlos had that bad inning. Twins could not execute with runners in scoring position in the middle innings as they struck out or ground into double play. Fortunately, they came through in the eighth. That started with Torii getting the leadoff hit and then stealing second and third. That heads-up steal by Torii to second and then to third was the play of the game in my back. Without that, there would be no tie game and we likely would be agonozing another loss.

Carlos had that one bad inning in the third just like how the Twins starters has had one bad inning lately, but at least Carlos picked himself up and got out of it. Carlos was good overall after that. 7 good innings.

The pen was very good. Jesse was fantastic. Terry Mullholland did well in the ninth. Juanie was huge in the tenth and eleventh after a rough night last night against the Giants. J.C. had to leave the game in the seventh as he got hit with the ball. He was limping. You know what? I don't like to see people get hurt, but I thought that was a blessing in disguise. I just don't trust J.C. at all. I don't care if he is lights out. I just have no faith in him and I was happy to see Jesse replace him there. That might have been the key of this game too.

Great win tonight. I was very happy to see the Twins get this one. I had to admit I did not have any faith in seventh inning. I am glad I was wrong.

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4:56:14 AM EDT
This was a very bad loss tonight. Twins did not pitch well after the fifth inning. I don't know if the mound hurted the Twins pitchers or what. Twins pitchers seem to have problem with the Dodgers mound all night long. Dodgers are so used to pitching in that high elevated mound at Dodgers Stadium while a team like the Twins are not used to it. They clearly had problems all night as you saw with the extra pitches. It does not excuse the Twins pitchers because they should find a way to get it done. Now I see why LA pitchers are great. They are so used to pitching in that high elevated mound while the other pitchers don't seem to grasp it. I ain't whining. I am just being honest. I notice a lot of managers have had problems about how the Dodgers pitchers use that mound to that advantage while the other team pitches on it.

Joe Mauer seemed to have problems with receiving catches from the pitchers out there so hencey why I felt that mound was an issue with the Twins. Also Joe is normally gold when he throws runners out, but that throw to second was way off.

Twins pitchers just did not get it done. Joe Mays was not very good at all. Jesse and Juan labored out there and they were fortuante to get out of it. It's unfortunate Choi homered of Mullholland in his first and last pitch. That ball looked like it was going to be foul, but it hit the pole. I swear Dodgers Stadium's foul pole is the longest in baseball. Dodgers really have what you call a real home-field advantage where the conditions are tough to play for the other team.

Twins really wasted a good offensive showing tonight. 5 runs should be good enough to win you a game. Penny and the relievers just found a way to get it done.

Some great defense in this game. First, Shannon made a fantastic catch as he banged himself in the foul pole. Unfortunately, Shannon had to be taken out of the game for precaution. Still, he will be okay. Great job by Shannon. Second, how about Jacque saving Jesse Crain as he robbed an double from the Dodger hitter. That catch kept the game tied at 5.

Speaking of the Dodgers relievers, I had no idea why the Dodgers relievers were yelling at the Twins dugout. Something tells me that we will see nonsense brewing this weekend. I know both teams were plunking each others batters. Stay tuned.

Tough loss.

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4:54:54 AM EDT
It was unrealistic to get a sweep. Arizona is not a good team for nothing. They played well and their beleaguered pen did a great job last night. The turning point of this game was Shannon not getting that HR as Cruz robbed him of a 3-run HR. That was the story of the game. It would have been nice if Lecroy got the big hit in the ninth to tie the game, but that's expecting too much.

Kyle did okay Thursday night. Wasn't special, but wasn't bad either.

I am just glad the Twins took the series against a good Arizona team. Let's hope the offense keeps it up against a good team in LA.

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4:53:49 AM EDT
Great job by the Twins Wednesday evening in Phoenix. Twins did a great job. The offense was clicking in all cylinders. Everyone in the Twins lineup got a hit.

How about Shannon? He has really played well lately. He got lot of hits tonight.

Joe Mauer was fantastic.

Jacque hit a two-run HR to give the good guys a 2-0 lead and then the Twins just piling it on.

I am really liking what the Twins are doing offensively lately. They are really hitting which is a great thing. This Twins team seem to be pretty good offensively paper and now you are seeing why.

Johan was great as always. The shocking thing was that he does not have 10 Ks. You know he always get 10 or more Ks. Still he did a very good job.

Just a great game and it was great to pound Arizona.


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4:52:27 AM EDT
Feeling Happy
What a win Tuesday night. I thought the Twins were done in the first two innings of that game. Fortunately, the Twins kept plugging in against Estes and then took care of the D-Backs struggling bullpen. This Twins team has been very resillent lately as you saw Sunday and then Tuesday night. Resillency has been the trademark of the Twins since 2001.

Torii had a great game. He had a double, homered, and score the GW run in the ninth. Torii has really played well lately. I tell ya what. When Torii and Jacque really get hot, this team is in a different level. This team can be so much better when those two guys get it going and it's beautiful to see. I am really happy that Torii is getting it done. I expected a big year from Torii and I haven't see that, but right now, he is looking very good and this team does well when Torii plays well.

Michael Cuddyer played well

I am really getting tired of Brad's first inning problems. I really am. He stunk in this game to be honest with you. I did not think he was great. Fortunately, Arizona's pitching wasn't anything to write home about so the Twins were able to win that game. Brad needs to find a way to cure that problem in the first inning because he can't go on like this. Eventually, the team will have a hard time coming from behind. Teams win when their starters set a tone. Brad has to get it going.

Juan had a rough night.

Fortunately, Arizona gave the run back in the ninth.

This is a win that the Twins should be fortunate to even win and you can bet that they won't apologize either.

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