Excuses and the Palooza.

Well, the excuses have started. Something to do with an inconsistant strike zone during Tuesday's game. Another rookie pitcher "making pitches when he had too" and dominating our squad as well as the Twins "no taking advantage of opportunites" (see 14 LOB last night). I was shining my shoes last night while watching the game, guess which activity was more fun?

Just so I can start talking about Garza sooner, I'm going to be brief. Blame Tuesday's game on another boot by our shortstop (sort of), but mostly on our inability to hit. Ditto that for last night. The strike zone did some inconsistant Tuesday, but at least it was inconsistant for both teams. Joe needs to be swinging on close pitches with 2 strikes. Garza's curveball to Ordonez that was a called strike 3 was too high. Cuddy took at least one pitch in the 6th that was right down the middle and called a ball. Don't blame the umps, sort of blame the defense but completely blame this squads inability to hit left hand pitching. Robertson isn't a terrible pitcher. I mean, he's no John Dank's, wait a minute ..... he is. Come on guys, just score a run or two. Oh, I understand Punto is a very good defensive player, but if you aren't going to hit (please see .209 batting average) then get a damn bunt down. Like I've said before, if Punto isn't going to hit in the .290-.300 area & steal some bases, he shouldn't be starting. I can live with the Punto of last year as our starter (can you say career year), but I can't live with the Punto from the other two years.

How much do we love Garza. I'm not going to start saying we've found our new "pitcher not to be named", but he has looked good. Granted it's two starts and let's see if he's still doing this good at start 5 and 6, but it gets me excited for our staff next year. The kid looks good out there. Seems to mix his pitches better. Now, can we trade someone for a thrid baseman? Six guys I can think of that might be interesting (and younger): Atkins, Chad Tracy, Ty Winnington, Mark Teahan, Bill Hall or Ed Encarnacion. Baker's been pitching well, Slowely wasn't terrible, Garza looks pretty good. I mean, really? They still want Perkins to be a starter so how many prospects can we have?

Happy day-late birthday to the namesake. 32 and still kicking ass. Hope I can still hit bombs in softball when I'm that old. Who am I kidding with that last statement.

Trade Proposal #1

I can't get the trade hype out of my head. So I've started brainstorming on what out beloved team could do. But instead of putting three or four hopefully rational proposals together, I think I'll start with one a day and see the reaction. Please note that Kyle Lohse will be involved in every trade because, well, why not.

I'm going to shot for the stars on this first one cause you need to. Plus I need to fantasize about the prospects of having this guy on our squad.

Twins trade to the Marlins: Garza, Duesing, Daniel Velencia and Kyle Lohse

Marlins trade to the Twins: Miguel Cabrera

Marlins would get two top pitching prospects and (in my limited research) a good 3B prospect from our organiziation. MC is at $7.4 million for this year and don't know for next year. But I think we've heard some Ensberg talk ($4.3 million) and Wigginton talk ($2.7 million) and I'd pay an extra $3-4 million for a top 10 player.

The only snag I see in this is the Marlins wanting a major league ready player. Maybe throw in Boof. Don't know, but I think this trade seems reasonable.

Hold me back Jimmy!

I'm starting to like Jim Leyland more and more. Okay, didn't like the fact that his squad worked us last weekend. It was nice that the entire offense woke up on Saturday. Maybe I like the old, surly managers, maybe I want to have a smoke with Jim in the tunnel between innings, I don't know. The most recent reason is his take on Matsuzaka. When asked a question about the almighty Dice-K, he said "It's another pitcher. We're playing Boston. Obviously, he's an outstanding pitcher. He's a major league pitcher. And that's who we're facing." I agree.

I know as a manager, you've got to say those things. Can't let your players be shaken by fancy nicknames, shiny new uniforms or the hord of Japanese reports. But really, this guy isn't sliced bread. I'm sick of hearing about the gyro-ball (only works if you actually have a slider to set it up), how good Matsuzaka is, and how "imposing" he is. Come on SportsCenter, can't you lead with anything else when coming out of every break?

Has he been good? Sure. Has he been dominate. In a handful of the starts, I'd give it to you. But I'm not ready to call him an ace of a staff. That's why I agree with Leyland. This guy is just another pitcher. Like any other pitcher he can get beaten around (see starts 2, 4-6). Hey, one CG an all-star makes you not. Other guys with CG's this year include Cha Seung Baek, Paul Maholm (not to be confused with Pat Mahomes), Joe Blanton, and Matt Belisle. Major league pitchers should expect to pitch CG's. That's their job, stop the other team.

He's a good pitcher, but he's got lots of things to work on. Did I mention the 4.16 ERA or 12 BB in 3 games? I just want to know if he's really any better then Kelvim Escobar, Cole Hamels, Matt Cain, John Maine, Rich Hill, Tom Gorzelanny or James Shields? Right now..no. In three years...maybe.

Trade: If the Twins are out of it come July, could we trade with the Blue Jays for Nathan? How about Nathan, Baker & Bartlett for Alex Rios and Aaron Hill.

Dropping Bombs

I will start this post by saying I didn't actually see the game, just hi-lights. Or Yankee batting practice, whatever works for you. This year's "feel good story" for our beloved club got rocked last night by the Yankee All-star lineup. When I saw the score at a friendly neighborhood Applebee's last night, I really wasn't that shook up. Maybe I expected Sid to get rocked, but I think it's really a couple things that went through my head:

1. I don't expect my 5th starter to beat the Yankees. Yes, I want him to do better but truly what should we expect out of the 5 spot. 10 wins? 12 wins? 15 wins would be amazing. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves. It's more disturbing that a sinker ball pitcher gave up two homers and two doubles.

2. We got the back up plan sitting in Rochester waiting for his (their) chance at the big leagues. I'm fine with giving Sid 3 or 4 starts to see what he's got cause we got three guys in Rochester that could fill in. For the record it's Garza, Perkins and Slowey. Not Baker, don't see him as a starter for our squad.

3. I'm really more disappointed in the hitting and fielding. Specifically from our shortstop. I'm going to disagree slightly with Hops and say that in order for Mauer to get RBI's he needs two things: runners on base (see Punto and Bartlett batting averages), but does need to hit better with guys on. I'm not about to bash the batting champ (yet), especially when he's hitting about .350 for the young season. More disappointed with the Kubel error and Bartlett having 3 errors this year. I want to see that improve at a quicker pace cause I think (hope) the bats will come around. I do agree with Hops, Joe needs to be around the 100 RBI spot.

Namesake watch - How much do I love Torii? 2-3 last night, going to wear 42 in memory of Jackie and was on KFAN with Barreiro saying he's going to have a great year this year. I love this guy and definetely think he's worth the option.

The Dream is over?

I can't help be read about the latest cuts and be a little sad. The day-dream sets in, I picture myself outside the Twins locker room, walking towards Gardy's office hoping to get a nice Gardy comment on the upcoming season. Out of the corner of my slightly smaller eyes I see a bowling ball sized man walking down the hall. Powerful and compact. Could this be the next guy to challenge TC in a softball hitting home run contest? Maybe the Twins front office finally found Les Straker. Or, no, could it be TPX taking is final steps in these hallowed halls? It is, the dream of having our favorite, soon to be greatest softball player of all time, Twins Catcher/1B/DH joke with Torii and Cuddy about the good-ol-days is gone. Over the PA I hear Patick Swayze's "She's like the Wind" playing softly. I tell myself that baseball is a business, but this man has heart. He's got that Lou-se-ana something that everyone loves to have near. The anger sets in. I feel a little like Ricky Vaughan in "Major League"; I want to storm into Gardy's office, break some filing cabinets (with nothing in them I might add) and tell him he's made the biggest mistake cutting TPX. Then I hear Souhan & Neal say Silva and Ponson are going to be in the rotation. Swayze's record scratches and I'm back to reality. What? They are both making the rotation?