See What I Mean??

Congratulations to our Twins for a 7 game streak and 9 of the last 10. I've been a Kevin Slowey fan since he was mowing them down in Fort Myers several years ago, and he has not disappointed. A great outing last night, besting Jake Peavy, one of the best in the NL. And for that great job, Kevin got an attaboy, and a NO DECISION! Dennys Reyes, who threw one pitch and retired one batter was credited with the "W". This is crap and everyone should know it. Why bother to keep a W-L stat for pitchers when there are so many flaws in the system. Pitchers are credited for wins or losses based on how many runs the offense scores, and which inning they are scored. Pitchers have no control of this function of the game in the American League, and very little in the National League. So who should care about wins and losses as individual stats. I'll stick to the standings. Congrats to Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher also. Joe, Justin, and Jason need help some days, and last night was one of those days.

Vote for Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Go Twins!!

Power Outage

Hilary Clinton is out, Al Franken is in, and the White Sox lead the AL Central by virtue of their pitching. The so called weak hitting Sox have crushed Twins pitching the last few days, as Gardy tries to decide which pitcher to let go from the current 13 man staff. It's not that they are all too good, but that they are so bad it's hard to decide on the worst. But in baseball, every day is a new day. Delmon Young? Home Run? Maybe that's a sign of good things to come.

What I cannot fail to notice, is the first time we were in Chicago (That's Chicago, Bert, not Sheecago), was the sparce crowd decked out in parkas, mittens, blankets, etc. This time they have upgraded to umbrellas and plastic rainsuits. If the Twins had an outdoor stadium this year, I imagine they might have 10 home games in this far, and the attendance would be worse than it already is. Would you pay $50.00 for a tank of gas to drive down from Duluth to sit in a 40 degree rain shower to watch America's pasttime? I wouldn't, even if the team were better. Face it, that's what we have to look forward to in 2010. Brrrr

No Justice

David Justice has left the scene after a successful career with the Braves and Yankees. There is also a matter lacking justice in the way "W"s are awarded for pitchers. Take the case of Nick Blackburn of the Twins. Last week in Kansas City, Nick breezed through 8 1/3 innings of shutout ball, put two men on in the ninth, and was removed. The Twins lost their 3-0 lead on a fluke inside the park home run by Mark Teahan but scratched out a tenth inning win. So Jesse (One good inning) Crain picked up the W and Nick received a no decision. Yesterday, Nick was on the mound again and held the Yankees to one run while cruising through the fifth inning with a 4-1 lead. He took a line drive off his face and was removed from the game. Brian Bass pitched well to 5 batters and the Twins held on to win 5-1. So Bass picked up a W, and once again Blackburn is credited with a No Decision because a starter must go 5 innings to be credited with a win. This is crap. Official scorers are not turnips, and should be given latitude to give credit where credit is due. To make the mountain higher, Blackburn was also involved in a 1-0 loss earlier this year. He could be 8-3 right now with any justice.

Boof got a no decision the other night after allowing 5 runs, 2 earned, and was not even on the mound when an earned run scored!

Want a better example? Yesterday, future Rookie of the year Tim Lincecum of the hapless Bay area Giants threw 7 innings of one run baseball against the equally hapless Padres. A couple of relievers got one, two, or three outs and the 1-1 game went to extra innings. Hinshaw came in to the tenth and promptly allowed the Padres 2 runs to take a 3-1 lead. Trevor Hoffman was equally ineffective as the Giants scored three in their half to win the game. Winning pitcher? Hinshaw, loser- Hoffman. No Decision - Lincecum. Geez.

If MLB and their fans are going to put so much glory on a pitcher's W-L record, and in many cases a player's future salary can depend on this statistic, then maybe it should mean something.