I went to the better of the two games on the 13th vs the Yankees.  Better because we won.  B squad plus Span, and Nishioka pretty much took it to Freddy Garcia.  Just some notes I made of the game that you really wouldn't know from looking at a boxscore.  

I had some pretty nice seats, sitting right next to the Twins bullpen.  Unfortunetly, Matt Capps was the first one to get work out of the pen and no one else was really worth an autograph.

Twins Pitching was very good minus Bromberg.  Baker was lights out.  He gave up a homerun to CF that Span could have brought back if it was about a foot shorter.  It was a hanging shot that cleared the fence by about 5 feet.  Wouldn't have even made the warning track in most MLB parks.  Baker gave up one other hit and a walk, but he got a inning ending double play from Cano after A-rod lined a shot to left with one out.  Capps came in and made quick work of the Yanks. with 1 SO.  Perkins did well aslo, giving up only one hit and getting a K.  Guerra got into some trouble but was able to get out of the inning after giving up two hits.  Bromberg looked horrible.  He walked three and nearly let the Yanks back in the game.  It was 8-1 when he came in and when he labored through the 8th.  The last out was a deep fly ball that nearly went out and the Yankees had two on base at the time.

Freddy Garcia didn't have it at all.  He went full count to 4 of the first 5 hitters.  Span led of with a line drive hit and Nishioka bunted him over, nearly beating out A-rod's throw.  Span later scored in the inning.  Garcia was lucky to get through the first only allowing one run.  He hit the wall in the 3rd as the Twins broke a 1-1 tie with 3 runs.  Nishioka led off with a drive to right that should have been three bags, but he didn't have the jets on.  I was suprised by his lack off hustle, but maybe his baseball acumen reminded him not to make the first out at 3rd.  An out later, he stole 3rd base without a throw.  Had a great view being on the 3rd base side and he had an amazing jump.  I think he was on third even before the catcher had the ball.  Hughes had a nice ground rule double, and actually had a good AB working the count in his favor before the hit.

The most impressive AB of the night was Rivera.  He worked a count full with the bases loaded and drove a double in the gap.  Talk about clutch.

Dinkelman had a huge three run homer.  The crowd went wild, becuase it was....Dinkelman.

A few other notes.  Yankees made two errors, both routine pop ups.  Jeter dropped one and the stadium just went silent.  But we all know that he is overrated as a defensive SS anyway. 

Pretty nice game for the B squad.  Yankees had the starting lineup in, minus Gardner who didn't play.  Andrew Jones started in his place.  Span, Nishioka and Casilla were the only starters for us.  Kubel did play but he will be platooning often. 

Just so happens that at the moment each team leading a division in the NL has 64 wins.  63 Wins is good enough for the NL wildcard.  Two teams (PHI, STL) trail the Giants by .5 a game.

Top 6 teams in the NL crammed together.  Tough to predict the seeding in the NL.  How does the AL compare?

Well a lot has and has not changed in a few weeks.  The Rangers have 64 wins but are 7.5 ahead of Oakland who would need to make a very impressive run.  The Angels are fading fast.

Their has been a lot of shaking and moving in the East, but the Rays have lost 5 straight and given Boston (64 wins) more hope being only 4 games out of the wildcard.   What is interesting is that puts the Whitesox and Twins only 4.5 out of the wildcard.  

If TB falters down the stretch...maybe its not such a lock for two teams to come out of the AL Central.  I'm not saying it will be easy, but at one time the wildcard was probably not an option at all.  Suddenly, it has become a realistic possibility.

Hopefully, we win the division and don't have to worry about it.   Even better, we have more wins then Texas which would give us the 2 seed.

We all pretty much know what Punto gives us at the plate.  Works the count, taking pitches, fouling pitches off, getting walks to turn over the lineup.  No power, barely over the Mendoza, and gets an occasional clutch hit.  Nobody expects him to come through, when he does, everyone remembers just because it suprised the hell out of us.

But I did find interesting was that the Twins haven't committed an error at 3B all year.  That's pretty impressive.  Maybe Punto/Harris get to share the Gold Glove this year.  I actually doubt that either will be considered, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had realized this. 

I just happened to see this on MLB rumors, ESPN.

I wouldn't think it would be much of a chance with payroll where it is.  Seems I'm wrong.  

"The Star Tribune writes today that it's possible the Minnesota Twins will check in with the Astros on Oswalt's availability and the asking price."

We could for sure send some pitching in exchange.  Perkins?   Maybe Casilla would be included.  

Any thoughts about this?

I know that recently there was a discussion about the last roster spot.  Everyone posted their opinions of who they thought would make the Twins bench this year.  Most agreed that Thome and a backup catcher were a sure thing for two of the spots.  

Opinions varied about the remaining two spots.  Some feel that two infielders in addition to Mr. Nick Punto was the best option.  Most who liked this route, went with Casilla and Harris as those last two roster spots.  

The other fans, for the most part, thought that the two remaining spots would be filled with an OF and IF.  I was one of these fans.  Now with Pridie released, is that going to be the case?

 To me the Jacque Jones signing doesn't make alot of sense unless they plan to play him in the minors, which he has agreed to.  I think that the release of Pridie leaves the Twins with a bigger question mark then if they had kept him.  Who do they lean on in the case of emergency?

Are the Twins done adding to the roster?  With the departure of Pridie, I would think that they add another OF.  Unless they truly believe the answer is Jacque Jones or that they can fill the need of a defensive OF internally.

Another possibility is that the Twins make a trade for an additional outfielder.  They could package a two for one deal or possibly a three for one.  Many like the idea of dealing both Casilla and Perkins together.  I don't believe that Punto or Harris are off limits in a trade either.  Harris has a new deal, and Punto is probably overpaid, but the Twins have more flexibility to do what they choose then the have had in years past.

I just wanted to revisit my thoughts and see what everyone else thought.  I still believe that the best bench for this team would be Punto / Harris, Thome, Backup C, and an OF.  I came across this list of CF FA's. Which would you rather have?