Comments by zkonedog
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Posted on May 2 at 11:12 a.m.
I agree with you on this point...I also think the Twins preach "taking the ball the other way" just a bit too much. I'll never forget reading an article in the Star Tribune a few years ago where David Ortiz said that had he stayed in the Twins organization he would never have hit 30 home runs in a season. The reason? As you point out, he said that the Twins coaches would, even when he was batting third or fourth, scold him for "letting it rip" and commend him for punching ground balls to move runners up a base. In Boston, he now has free reign (although, hitting in front of Manny Ramirez is nice!) to swing how he chooses and look how it has turned out!
What it comes down to is whether an organization wants to work with each individual players' style, or change them into a organizational style. The Twins are definitely the latter. Ever since TK took the reigns (and Gardy manages much like TK), the Twins have tried to convert hitters into their organizational form. The problem comes with guys like Jacque Jones, Torii Hunter, and now Delmon Young...while all good hitters, they are also all free-swingers. To them, slapping hits to the opposite field must have been as foreign as it was to David Ortiz.
Posted on January 8 at 2:02 p.m.
I agree that this is not a "mom and pop business" issue...
About 15-20 years ago, the video rental business in Fergus Falls was dominated by Skogen's (in the current Movie Gallery location) and Riverfront Video (where I believe Sears now resides on Lincoln Ave).
Riverfront was the first to go under, first moving to the tiny space that is now "Biffley's" on Lincoln Ave. and then closing altogether.
Skogen's made a go of it for a few more years, but was eventually bought out by Total Entertainment Center, a relatively small (but national) rental shop. Within a few more years, TEC was bought out by Movie Gallery, the second largest video rental chain in the U.S. (not counting online rentals).
A few years later, Premiere Video (another large, national chain) try its hand in Fergus Falls and ultimately failed, as Movie Gallery (or at least their location) had the edge in both location and longevity in the community.
While the closing of Premiere Video may anger some, I do not feel it should be portrated as a "small business" succumbing to the "Movie Gallery giant".
The small businesses were run out of town long ago...
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Posted on June 12 at 11:45 p.m.
I think that the success of the Twins this season will largely depend on one thing...consistency. This concept can be applied to nearly every aspect of the team:
Hitting: When the Twins are able to use their team speed to their advantage, the offense actually produces quite nicely. Besides Delmon Young (and, really, the Twins could do worse at that position), every offensive player has had his positive moments this season. However, some nights (in particular those in which Gomez and Casilla do not perform well) the offense just seems to vanish.
Starting Pitching: Much like the hitting, at some points the starting pitching has been very good, while at others (like right now, for example) it is been horrendous. I believe starting pitching to be the single biggest element in a team's success, so consistency in this area is vital.
Bullpen: For the third time, consistency (besides Joe Nathan) is a huge problem here as well. Only Matt Guerrier has been anywhere near reliable out of the pen. Rincon is now gone (and he wasn't effective anyway), Crain still collapses in pressure situations, and Reyes is very hit or miss.
Also, I am a strong believer that a team is really built on a strong pitching staff, thus that is the first thing that needs to get straightened out, as I think that batters' psyches get messed up when the pitching fails. This can be either the fault of the starting pitching or the bullpen. Everybody knows how gut-wrenching it is to see the bullpen blow a lead, but the same can be said for a starter digging his team a big hole to climb out of. The batters start to try to do too much, and that is when you see Gomez whiff, Morneau pop up, Young overswing, etc.
Thus, I think that the starting pitching and bullpen will go a long way in determining where the Twins will finish come October. The troubling factor is that young teams are often quite inconsistent, as they tend to get too high or too low for their own good...and the Twins are a very young team. Are they good enough to contend for a playoff spot? Probably not. But, all one can ask for is for them to stay in the race until mid-August or so, when any team can get hot and win the thing (look at Colorado last year). Plus, in the surprisingly weak AL Central this year, it shouldn't take a mammoth effort to just hang in the race until the stretch run. Remember, this is a team that should get better with every game played, as the youngsters get more experience every inning.
On How far can the 2008 Twins go?