2011 AL Central Thread

[HD MM]

Here you go HD MM.

Minnesota Twins trade Jim Thome to Cleveland Indians - ESPN

Good move. Glad to see Thome back where he belongs. I forgave him for leaving and welcome him back now. I fear this move is too little too late though. We'll see. Less than 2 weeks ago, we were .5 games out of first. I guess anything can happen with more than a month left to play.

 

[jrp]

The Thome trade saddens me. Another sign of a lost year for the Twins. All the injuries, half-hearted play, and now this.

I always like Thome, even when he was killing the Twins hitting for other teams. I hope he has a great run with the Indians.

 

[HD MM]

Interesting stat: Since Justin Morneau's concussion on July 7, 2010, the Twins have gotten one home run in 368 at-bats in Target Field from Mauer and Morneau.

 

[riffjim4069]

Glad to see Jim Thome going back to Cleveland to finish his career.

 

[riffjim4069]

I just took a Rick Porcello's stats and he has an ERA that makes Brad Penny look good. Not an easy task! Of all major league pitchers throwing more 100 complete innings or more, there is only one pitcher with a more dismal showing; he is 102 of 103 pitchers in all of baseball:

101 Jason Hammel COL 26 25 148.0 161 94 85 63 78 7 12 0 0 0 1.51 5.17
102 Rick Porcello DET 24 24 135.2 163 85 78 32 80 11 8 0 0 0 1.44 5.17
103 Jo-Jo Reyes BAL/TOR 25 24 131.2 162 89 77 46 77 7 10 0 0 0 1.58 5.26

Yikes!

 

[HD MM]

2 More Added to the Already Crowded DL!!!

Stick a fork in us. We're done.

Starting Pitcher Josh Tomlin and Michael Brantley were put on the DL today joining Hafner, Sizemore, Crowe, Kipnis and Carrasco.

If healthy, this team can compete with anyone as evidenced in the first half of the season when we were healthy. We clearly don't have the depth to overcome all the losses though.

To replace Tomlin in the lineup? Double AA LRP Nick Hagadone. Ugh! Maybe we SHOULDN'T have traded away our top 2 pitching prospects for U-Bad-O Jimenez!! :rant:

On another note, Jim Thome has arrived in Cleveland and is expected to bat 4th tonight.

 

[riffjim4069]

Damn HD, it seems like every other one of your posts pertains to the Indians adding to their DL. It sucks! Hey, if you stop posting then perhaps nobody gets hurt.

Seriously, if anyone else gets injured they'll have to bring up an entire AAA team. I feel like sending the Cleveland Indians organization a Get Well Soon card.

 

[riffjim4069]

I can't find anything wrong with last nights game...Porcello pitched well, we hit the snot out of the ball, and we executed (advanced base runners).

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[riffjim4069]

Verlander goes for #20 today.

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[jrp]

Porcello pitched well

Twins have been making a lot of pitchers look good lately.

 

[riffjim4069]

Twins have been making a lot of pitchers look good lately.

...I was thinking the same thing, but I was trying to be positive since he has posted an August ERA that only his mother could love.

Last night I caught myself feeling bad for the Twins...until I remembered them beating the crap out of us in previous years.

 

[riffjim4069]

From ESPN.com

"If Verlander wins Saturday, he'll reach 20 wins on the earliest date for any major league pitcher since Curt Schilling on Aug. 16, 2002, with Arizona. No Tigers pitcher has won 20 this early since Mickey Lolich on Aug. 21, 1971, and Detroit hasn't had any 20-game winners since Bill Gullickson in 1991."

 

[DetFan]

Last AL pitcher to do it was Clemens in 97

 

[riffjim4069]

Last AL pitcher to do it was Clemens in 97

He will be in Hall of Fame company with a win this afternoon...minus the frequent steroid use, of course.

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[riffjim4069]

Nice to see Verlander get his 20th win this afternoon.

 

[Jimbo]

Nice to see Verlander get his 20th win this afternoon.

Particularly without his Best stuff.

 

[riffjim4069]

Particularly without his Best stuff.

He had plenty of velocity, but his fastfall wasn't lively (didn't move much) and he had little control of his curve and breaking ball (of course, the home plate umpire's tiny strike zone didn't help). Leyland is giving him an extra day off before his next start. I guess he afford to since we have a lead over Cleveland and Chicago. Good move IMO. Verlander can have 5 or 6 more outtings this year, but I would rest him as much as possible since he will be our workhorse should we make the playoffs.

 

[Jimbo]

Penny is sucking again ....
Tigers trail 6-2 in the 4th.
Personally, I'd pull him now, Tigers NEED these games.

 

[riffjim4069]

Penny is sucking again ....
Tigers trail 6-2 in the 4th.
Personally, I'd pull him now, Tigers NEED these games.

I was just going to post the same thing...plus, Inge is back to striking-out and grounding into doubleplays. Of course, I get the feeling when the rest Verlander that Coke will be making another start. He's doing fine in the bullpen...I say leave him there. I just noticed that Penny has played for 8 team in his 11 years in the league. I can see him riding a tractor in his native Oklahoma very soon.

 

[riffjim4069]

Tigers trying to comeback after being nickel and dimed and Penny'd by the Twins. Anyway, a couple years ago Ordonez would have hit that 5th-inning shot outside fastball out-of-the-park instead of flying out at the wall. I'm not even going to comment on his attempted catch on that line-drive in the 4th.