a700hitter

An ace would tear through that lineup without Mauer.

356 would be in the second deck at the band box in the Bronx.

They set Valentine up to fail. They gave him the same team as last year less a few key parts. The only shot of winning would have been to change the lazy entitled culture, get these guys in shape and make them accountable. There's no way he could accomplish that with his hands tied behind his back.

Wow, this was just reported, but it happened earlier in the year. I can't believe that the FO talked to Bobby V about this. No wonder he has been acting like an abused puppy this season. They have cut his balls off at every turn. It's a little hard to change a clubhouse culture, when the bosses make it clear that they don't have the managers back. How would these twits and wusses have dealt with a real tough manager like Dick Williams who would have said harsher stuff to his veterans and stars. Rookies were scared to death of Williams. The pansy owners need to get real baseball people in the FO and stay out of their business.

We are so used to our starters getting completely trashed that many fans think Lester pitched a really good game. He did not. He pitched an average game for an ace. If he had pitched a good game for an ace, he would have matched that kid on the Twins and shutdown the Mauerless Twins lineup. I realize that you can't win by scoring 0 runs, but an offensive approach is much diiferent in the late innings if you are down only by a run. Being down 3 runs elininates the usefulness of small ball. It takes away the threat of bringing the tying run to the plate every time you get a baserunner. Lester did not pitch a good game for an ace. It was an average game. The teams that we are battling against have multiple starting pitchers with ERA's in the 3's. Even the O's I believe have a couple of starters with under 4 ERA's. Until last night. The Angels had 2 starters with ERA's under 3. Their average outing is better than what many are calling a good outing by Lester. Don't get me wrong. It was not a bad outing. It just wasn't a good outing for an ace. The steroid era is over. Pitching ERA's are down. Yes the offense did not perform last night, but neither did the pitching. Giving up 5 runs to a Twin team without Mauer is a bad job. The offense has bailed out poor pitching many times this year, but the pitching has almost never bailed out the offense.

Clinging to a position that is clearly wrong erodes your credibility. This guy will finish the season with more than 30 bombs playing in a ballpark that is tough to hit HRs, plus he has a gun for an arm. His OPS is higher than our $22 million slugger. But yes he sucks, because our FO has no patience with young players.

Reddick hit his 23rd Home Run tonight.

If I had zero hope, I wouldn't watch. It's baseball. Anything can happen, but I am not expecting it to happen.

The first 35 thousand go very quickly.

I'm trying to cling to some hope.

That will be too late.

And in the next 3 games our pitchers will get to face Joe Mauer who will hit balls all over the park. This team is just a mediocre mess.

There is no need for a pitcher not to go after our hitters. Without Ortiz, we don't have any established power hitters. Yes, WMB is strong, but without AGon hitting the long ball, we don't have anyone that scares a pitcher.

This guy has not had to break a sweat against us.

Lester is not an ace and this is not a game where our offense is raking.

They have to work this pitcher over.

I don't think we will bash them into submission all 4 games. Our pitchers will have to do their part. Rookie looking play from Kalish.

I think he will be okay. I picked him up in a sell-low trade for one of my fantasy leagues. The guy who had him is known as a mush. He drafts good players who turn to s*** every year, so I was very concerned when he drafted AGon and Lester in the first 2 rounds... And rightly so. Hopefully, getting him away from that jinx will turn him around.

:lol: It gives me something to do.:lol: