gehringer_2

That was the grin of an evil dude. Aurelio would field the ball and then sort of loaf until the runner was starting to hope he might beat it out, then gun him down.

Ernie was unique in a lot of ways that may be pretty much lost. 1st and most importantly I think, since he mostly worked alone he was always talking directly to you, the audience. It changes the dynamic when a 'conversation' is directed to you, vs overhearing a conversation between two other people. A lot of complaints in this thread are exactly about the guys in booth being too distracted with each other and not nurturing their connection to the the audience. Ernie worked harder than any other broadcaster I ever heard at being interesting to the audience all the time. His work ethic to find all the things he talked about, stories he related, broadcast to broadcast puts today's guys to shame. He was probably better because he worked harder at it. The other thing he understood better than Dickerson is that over 162 game too much emotion is fatiguing to listen to. If I have one critique of Dickerson it's that he could stand to dial it down a notch - e.g. Jon Miller. (that and stop talking so much about pitch counts in the 1st inning!).

Rules committee in pro sport never seem to miss an opportunity to shoot their sports in the foot.

Sure, and parenthetically, I heard a lecturer once expounding that the difference between Minnesota and Wisconsin was that for some reason a bunch of Massachusetts Puritans had gotten to Minnesota before the Scandinavians and had set a different tone. Migration patterns do leave a mark but I think in general they are more regional than state by state, which was my nit to pick with the original contention. The Scandinavian influence is the same across the whole upper mid-west - didn't make any of those states unique in particular the way I think Detroit/auto industry created an ethos particular to Michigan or Hollywood does for CA. But of course everything is in the mix to different degrees.

the other thing which has been interesting to watch is how the sudden seriousness of a possible playoff berth has resulted in the team to showing us what they really think of their pitchers. Holton, Brieske, Vest, have Hinch's confidence. We will still see Foley late but he's just one among other equals now. Rotation wise, not only has Montero has moved ahead of Mize on the starting depth chart, but "opener + Hurter/Hanifee" have as well, leaving Casey to play a swing role.

I think the primary lesson team have to take from the Tigers is that if the back of the rotation is weak, and you can match an opposite hand reliever with one of your weak starters, the you clearly get an advantage in platoon splits. All you need to exploit the strategy is a deep bullpen, since you are burning one extra pitcher at the start of the game, but deep bullpens are pretty much a standard requirement today anyway. If the league doesn't step in to stop the practice, I can't see why other teams won't follow. Then eventually teams will respond on the other side of the ball by increasing their valuation of switch hitters and/or hitters with lower platoon splits,

I don't know if you could tell the difference between rural MN and rural MI, but as of a few years ago when we lived there, no question Minneapolis felt different from the SE MI metro. People were more diffident. Also the drinking culture was stronger, which was supported in the consumption data. I would argue that it's Cities that have developed unique culture more than states. Not least because a city may have or have had a dominant industry that draws a particular kind of worker. A movie/entertainment industry town like LA is naturally going to develop a different cultural set than a manufacturing center like Detroit, or an oil industry dominated town like Houston, financial center like NYC etc. Climate can be a driver also. A place like Minneapolis were you can freeze to death pretty easily if you are not at least a little bit careful leads to a certain level-headedness you don't necessarily get other places.

we have 5 more to pass them.

they do

KC - Wash goes to the 10th 0-0.

KC - Was, 11 hits plus and error and no runs on the board after 8. So I have the audio stream open from the Minnesota game and during an inning break I got an local Ann Arbor ad. The internet is frightening.

twins get one back. 4-1 Fish, top 4th

Ober getting knocked around 4-0 Fish

Marlins draw 1st blood against the Twins on a Bride HR. 1-0 top of 2nd

they both have reasonably favorable matchups tonight, but that hasn't stopped either from losing all month.

Torkelson with two of the worst at bats you are ever likely to see so far.

First rule of warfare is that you can't start one and then complain you get back worse than you gave. Not the way it works in the real world.

another old white guy whose intellect is bound in his obsolete prejudices, leading America in its political death spiral by his lack of imagination of what the future could be.

goes a little against the numbers, but he wasn't going to be back next season and if Hinch didn't trust him at leverage he was going to have no role for these last 6 games.

you're just being cruel now..... 😳

I don't see Clark until maybe after the ASB at the earliest. Has to be stronger and more consistent - I don't think he can carry a positive OPS+ in the majors yet. I could see McGonigle in the mix though.

Twins were a top contender when they traded Santana and went on to win the division twice. Which is sort of a cautionary tale either way since they got nada back for him even though he was under contract for the full season. They might as well has kept him for 2008 and let him walk for nothing for all they got out of Humber, Gomez, et all.

Doesn't have to be either/or. You are going to find a subset of racist - or at least culturally chauvinistic, people everywhere who don't want anything to change. If outsiders can leverage that discontent, regardless of whether it's pervasive or not, to sell a national narrative, they will.

I suppose if they don't want to pay to keep him, for best value return they should move him when the receiving team still has the year of control, but that has to be an off-season deal.

meh - on twitter everything/one is random.