The Great Man last night

[JimR]

i thought he looked ok for the first time out. he was not sharp, and he pitched behind a lot, but he battled. if Biggio makes that play, as he should have, they would not have scored.

btw, the Twins are pretty damn good, imo.

addendum: anyone else notice that Clemens drops his elbow quite a bit? not sure if that is a function of age or why exactly it is happening. i guess you saw him reminding himself to keep his left shoulder closed. he needs to add "keep your elbow up" to his self-coaching messages, imo.

[MusicMan]

The Twins have been underachieving, and we caught them just as they got hot.

Thus are the breaks of a season.

[No? in Austin]

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The Twins have been underachieving, and we caught them just as they got hot.

Thus are the breaks of a season.

The 2006 Twins remind me of the 2005 Houston Astros (sans the tombstone of course).  Solid starting pitching, great bullpen, young hitters coming into their own (Cuddyer is a sleeper, sorta like MoBerg last year, watch out for him) and just enough defense.  In fact, their defense isn't as good as Houston's was last year, but they are just good enough to give some teams fits for the second half of the season.

I'm sure Chicago will have something to say about the AL Central when all is said and done, but don't count out the Twinkies as this year's WC for the AL.  Pitching like that will get you very far!

[drew corleone]

They had won, what, seven straight coming in?

Interleague isn't favorable to the good guys this season. Of course they will get to visit the Ballpark just as the rangers' season begins to crumble (as all of my Ranger freinds are predicting right now).

[jasonact]

I thought he looked good, but it seemed he may have been simply too pumped up on adrenaline. After all, the atmosphere and hype was enough to jack up even a veteran such as Clemens. I don't think anyone should have expected him to be in mid-season form in his first start. I was most encouraged to see the way he got over to first base on that double play. Absolutely no problems. That showed his shape, agility, and athleticism. At his age, those things are very important. His arm was there, though. I expect his start in Detroit to be better.

And the Twins may have looked great in those three games, but they are simply a hot team right now. They'll cool off soon. They have some great players, but as a team, they're nothing special. I fully expect them to finish 3rd in the division, far behind the Sox and Tigers hovering somewhere around .500.

[No? in Austin]

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addendum: anyone else notice that Clemens drops his elbow quite a bit? not sure if that is a function of age or why exactly it is happening. i guess you saw him reminding himself to keep his left shoulder closed. he needs to add "keep your elbow up" to his self-coaching messages, imo.

He looked eeriely similar to Nolan Ryan pitching with the dropped shoulder/elbow towards the end of his career.

[No? in Austin]

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They have some great players, but as a team, they're nothing special. I fully expect them to finish 3rd in the division, far behind the Sox and Tigers hovering somewhere around .500.

Their pitching impressed the hell out of me.

[MusicMan]

Liriano impressed me.  I thought the hitters just looked like shit against Silva.

[drew corleone]

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Liriano impressed me.  I thought the hitters just looked like shit against Silva.

I didn't get to see much of the game, but in the couple of innings I did he was mowing down Astros like they were little leaguers. The TV I was watching had about the worst reception I've seen since the 9" tv my parents bought me when I was 7, so it was hard to tell, but was Liriano's breaking ball really falling in there for strikes every time, or was that ump giving him the Glavine treatment? Ausmus, in particular, was among several Astros that looked more than unhappy about called strikes.

[JimR]

as far as i was concerned, they were strikes...or most of them were. he had the Astros down 0-2 all night.

[jasonact]

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Liriano impressed me.  I thought the hitters just looked like shit against Silva.

Sure, Liriano is a very good young player. He may end up being a great player one day, but he's a rookie. Rookies generally don't go an entire season with a 2.17 ERA. Expect him to have a few bad outings, especially once he starts facing teams for the second or third time. And Silva pitched well against the Astros, but he's generally been a train wreck this season. I think their only other starters of note is Santana, who has had a few bad-to-mediocre outings this year, and Radke, who hasn't been very good to this point. The net result is that I do not expect the Twins to be anywhere near the division or even the ALWC picture in September.

[Reuben]

Well, I think they could be ready for a second-half run at the WC. They certainly are hot right now, but they also have some players that have underperformed until recently. Last week they swept the Red Sox, who had been on a good roll and have won 6 straight since. Silva had a great year last year, with excellent control, but had been shit this year til the Red Sox series. Radke is Radke, his season will probably even out. And Kubel, Mauer (37 RBI despite hitting .380 in the 3-hole), and Morneau look like they could be coming into their own and give them a pretty good 2nd-half offense.

It stinks that the 'Stros lost two straight series at home, but the Twins at least are no slouches.

On Roger: I saw the game and have no reason not to feel optimistic.

[strosrays]

All the young hitters - Morneau, Maurer, Cuddyer, Ford... wow.  And that Kugel guy kind of reminds me of Hrbek.  I'l bet he can pound down a few.

[homer]

 

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but don't count out the Twinkies as this year's WC for the AL

The Twins don't have a chance. They are 10.5 games off the Tigers/Sox (in the WC), and have to go through New York and Toronto to boot.

[No? in Austin]

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but don't count out the Twinkies as this year's WC for the AL

The Twins don't have a chance. They are 10.5 games off the Tigers/Sox (in the WC), and have to go through New York and Toronto to boot.

One of the the two from the Sox and Tiggers will win the AL Central.  If the Sox and Tiggers beat each other up, the Twins can sneak by one of the two.

Toronto has good pitching, but their overall game (especially defense) isn't impressive to me.  New York?  They have to beat teams by outscoring them now because they are hurting for consistent pitching.  If the RedSox beat them up as well as the Jays along with a few games lost to the Orioles, the Yankees won't be much of a problem.

The Twins started off slow, but they have the pieces in place to make a run, even from the position they're in.  That is why they remind me of last year's Houston Astros team.  If the Twins have a second half kick in them, similar to what Houston and Oakland have been famous for in the past few years (and the key is pitching), then they're not out of it by any stretch of the imagination.

[Uncle Charlie]

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as far as i was concerned, they were strikes...or most of them were. he had the Astros down 0-2 all night.

It was late in the 7th before he threw his 20th ball (vs. 56 strikes I think)..very impressive.  Liriano was pounding the strike zone all night.

[drew corleone]

Strikes or balls they were certainly consistent.

At the risk of being hyperbolically presumptuous, that kid looks like he could have a helluva future ahead of him.

[Zan]

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if Biggio makes that play, as he should have, they would not have scored.

Bidge played some especially uninspiring D in that series.

[Arky Vaughan]

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Liriano impressed me.  I thought the hitters just looked like shit against Silva.

Sure, Liriano is a very good young player. He may end up being a great player one day, but he's a rookie. Rookies generally don't go an entire season with a 2.17 ERA. Expect him to have a few bad outings, especially once he starts facing teams for the second or third time. And Silva pitched well against the Astros, but he's generally been a train wreck this season. I think their only other starters of note is Santana, who has had a few bad-to-mediocre outings this year, and Radke, who hasn't been very good to this point. The net result is that I do not expect the Twins to be anywhere near the division or even the ALWC picture in September.

No, they don't tend to go the entire season with a 2.17 ERA, but then they also don't tend to hold opponents to a .217 batting average or strike out 10 batters per game, either. He may be an exception to what is general.