No. 14, Encarnacion/Sojo - The Baseball Thread continues

Over.

 

damn 12-game losing streaks. But three cheers for the NL.

 

Go Twins. I'm jumping on the bandwagon, if Zeke lets me. I just like watching them play and, of course, Mr. Gardenhire is an old friend of mine.

 

Hop aboard! They are a lot of fun to watch. And your buddy Mr. Gardenhire ought to be a lock for manager of the year.

Started out with a rookie in centerfield, a second-year guy in left and ended up with rookies at second and third, as well as four of five starters with less than a full year in the bigs.

Even if they tank from today forward, this team had no business making this run, and it's been fantastic.

 

Maddon in Tampa will have a big say about who Manager of the Year will be. I think he deserves it more than anybody. Playoffs or no playoffs.

 

How sweet would a Twins-Rays ALCS (and Marlins-Brewers NLCS) be?

 

Sweet.

And Tommy, not to take anything away from Maddon, but take a look at both team's opening day rosters and rotations and tell me which team you would take. It might be a shock to people who don't really pay attention that Tampa is still leading the division, but they started the year with nothing but talent.

I didn't pick Tampa to win the East, but I remember numerous conversations with some dickhead on here about how they were going to be good. Even I wasn't saying that about the Twins.

But, then, I'm a huge fanboi, even if Gardy drives me freaking crazy. (Mike Lamb at first yesterday, with Mauer on the bench against a weak righty? Why? And then, of course, Lamb comes up with a huge hit. Go figure.)

 

Hey, no disrespect for Gardy here. He's damn good and has been this year, but I just feel Maddon's going to get the vote because it was the Tampa Rays he turned around. That "talent" they had, well they've had talented, underachieving teams in the past ( I feel). He's totally turned that shipwreck around this year.

 

I think I gotta go with Tommy here.

Nothing away from Gardenhire, but he has a track record of doing good things. And even at the start of the season, some people would say don't count the Twins out. They may have given up their top pitcher and didn't sign anyone worthwhile, but there was still baseball people that figured Minnesota to be right there in the thick of the race.

With Tampa, sure, they had some talent, but no one predicted them to be leading the East this late.

And there may be some people that give the vote to Tampa because they see the big turnaround from years past. Minnesota's past success works against it in that instance.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-ozziesecret080308&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

So, Ozzie Guillen admitted he has ordered pitchers to throw at batters in the past. Maybe he gets a suspension or a fine, but is this a big deal?

 

No, it happens all the time. It's not like it's just Ozzie.