The Twins Win Now

It's weird- when I saw the Twins at their spring training complex, I wasn't thinking that these guys would do anything too substantial during the regular season.

Right now, however, the Twins are in this sort of blockaded tie for the top spots, with the Indians, White Sox and Tigers, who all have 15 to 14 wins. Any one of them could end up taking the division, and they're all within a game or so of each other.

(i'd like to point out that the Royals are sitting this one out.)

The Twins have been exceeding expectations, mainly because all the young guys that haven't been hitting are suddenly playing beautifully- Miguel Sano's playing like the guy all the prospectors thought they'd be getting back in 2014. Jorge Polanco, Max Kepler, Eddie Rosario...hell, EVEN KENNYS VARGAS is playing well. The momentum that was there for the 2015 season has suddenly returned, and in time to catch the three contenders.

Not sure how long it will last, not sure how far the Twins will go, but people are looking promising, and Molitor seems to know what he's doing finally, which is fantastic. I'm just excited to see where this goes.

Coming Tonight: Catcher for the best team in baseball.

Box Break: 2015 Topps Pro Debut (Part Two)

Last week I posted a third of this box, and I was not at all pleased with the hits, which were...sigh...a manupatch of a mascot, and a manupatch of a minor league pennant.

This third...will probably be better. Here are eight more packs.

 Pack 9
Major Leaguers: 2/8
Hometown Prospects: 1/8
ROYs: 1/8

Cole Tucker I've vaguely heard of. Alex Blanding was apparently good enough to garner a Distinguished Debuts insert.

 Correa, obviously, is smoking up the bigs and made his debut not long after this card was released. Mark Appel's still toiling in the Phillies minors, and hopefully will show up in a big way for Philly soon.

 Pack 10-
Amazing Hair: 1/8
Major Leaguers: 2/8
Hometown Prospects: 1/8

Grant Holmes' hair. That is all.

Austin Hedges is currently one of the many Padres starters hitting below the mendoza line.

 Matt Imhof's another Phillies pitching prospect (notice how we have a ton of those?). Byron Buxton's potentially having a breakout season finally?

 Pack 11-
Major Leaguers: 4/8
Red Sox: 2/8
Indians Heroes: 1/8

 Jesse Winker's getting a lot of airspace in this product. Rodriguez and Owens are Sox pitchers coming off of subpar seasons.

 This guy, who'd show up later in the 2015 season...he's change the Indians team in amazing ways.

 Pack 12-
I did not know any of these guys.

 Pack 13-
Major Leaguers: 3/8

Not a ton going on in this pack, but Naquin would be starting for Cleveland soon, and Tucker was good enough in the minors that he, too, got a Distinguished Debuts insert.

 Pack 14-
Gold Parallels: 1/8
Major Leaguers: 4/8
Still-Technically-Prospects: 3/8

 Urias is still trying to find his control, Joey Gallo's finally having a nice season, and Brandon Nimmo's doing his best in the minors in Cincinnati.

I saw AJ Cole's debut last year, and he's not bad. Peraza will eventually come up, but he's bopped around a bit.

 This Derek Hill parallel is numbered to 99, which is a nice touch.

 Pack 15-
Major Leaguers: 3/8
Cover Boys: 1/8

Two guys that haven't really made an impact yet, though Mondesi's starting this year.

 Alex Jackson was well hyped, but hasn't come up yet. Addison Russell, meanwhile, is already lighting the league on fire in only his third season.

Pack 16-

Major Leaguers: 5/8

Yankees: 1/8

Lower-tier guys. Sean Manaea's struggling in his sophomore year, and Eddie Rosario's trying to get back to where he was in 2015.

 Albert Almora's starting in Chicago, so he did something right. Hunter Renfroe's not doing as well as he did last season. Luis Severino's off to a fantastic start, and that's a great card.

I'll post the last third soon, as there are two hits left, and these ones are marginally better.

And Now, Noah Syndergaard Riding the Phillie Phanatic's ATV

I think I'm gonna let the picture speak for itself today. Thor's a beast, he's a great pitcher, but...just seeing him riding the Phanatic's ATV can't help but get a smile out of me.

Coming Tonight: A more serious post, I swear. This one of a Twins slugger.

Here Come the Judge

Awright, I've got a funny story here before I talk about Aaron Judge.

My dad has a name for Aaron Judge, and it's 'Mongo'.

Regardless of the fact that he's playing beautifully this season, my dad still thinks of Judge as this big, strong, dumb guy who saunters around and punches horses. 'He's Mongo', my dad goes. I always try to defend Judge's intelligence, but I can never stop him. Like his random infatuation with Roman Quinn, I can't really explain it. But, as Judge kept playing like a beast this year, the Mongo comparisons continued.

Meanwhile, my girlfriend took a different approach to Aaron Judge.

I'm gonna preface this by saying my girlfriend's not really into baseball, but she's hereditarily a Yankee fan, which is fantastic for me. She went to a game not too far before I did this year, and sat in right field, with, in her words "a very nice view of Aaron Judge's ass."

She also said that she thought Aaron Judge was kind of cute, as he's big, tall and smiley...kind of like her boyfriend. So...that's a compliment. "Hey, Jordan, you look like Yankees superstar Aaron Judge!" "Thanks, Girlfriend! I will take that to my grave!"

Yeah, back to Aaron Judge...

Aaron Judge is playing some amazing baseball so far this season, hitting 10 homers in April, playing some awesome right field, and instilling confidence in the fan base after Gary Sanchez' departure. Judge was written off as a simple hitter last year, but he's proving to be pretty versatile, pretty well rounded, and pretty impressive.

Even better, the whole team's doing pretty well. The pitching staff is tight, the lineup's hitting, injuries aren't affecting the team seriously, and the momentum is definitely there. I don't have many qualms with this Yankee team, and I want them to keep pushing. Judge especially.

Coming Tomorrow- Quick custom of a guy that just landed on the DL, but one I just...desperately need to post. You'll see why tomorrow.

Wil Power

There was this dude named Adam that was on Survivor more than ten years ago. This isn't a very good way to start a blog post, but screw it, I'm doing it anyway.

He was on a tribe that kept losing challenges, and after a while, he just goes, poignantly, to the camera, "you know, it's uh...it's hard to soar like an eagle, when you're surrounded by turkeys."

That's Wil Myers right now. He's a fantastic baseball player, 5-tool hitter...and he's stuck on the goddamned San Diego Padres. How sad is that?

Wil Myers became the second player in Padres history to hit for the cycle, and he did it while being on a team with no starting pitching, an undertested starting lineup, and a manager that's basically here as an alternative to 'no manager'. There's a ton of negative momentum on this team, especially considering that some of the rookies were getting really good at the end of 2016. Like last year, nobody but Myers and Solarte are hitting (aside from some -.200 hitters)

The funny thing is, they're still ahead of the Giants in the standings. The Giants have more going for them than the Padres, more tested position players, more...more people that actually want to be there. And they still can't as many games as the Padres. That's wild.

I'm hoping that Wil Myers can finish the season without getting injured, because that'd be even more of a blow to the Padres. He's a great player, and he deserves to continue doing great work...and maybe getting off the Padres.

Coming Tonight: The new slugger extraordinaire in New York.

Dallas Flamethrowers Club

Nice to have you back, Good Dallas Keuchel. It was a depressing year without you, and it's great that you're back here, throwing fire and making Minute Maid Park your own again.

It's also nice that Keuchel managed to find the strike zone again in one of the most fun seasons to be an Astros fan in recent history- everybody's playing well! Nobody's hitting below the Mendoza line! Nobody's got an ERA higher than 5! Three guys have 30+ strikeouts! Four guys have .300+ averages! George Springer, Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Yulieski Gurriel are playing like they own the league...and they might pretty soon...

Look, the Astros did gamble on a few contracts over the winter, but it wasn't a 2016 D-Backs case where the contracts over-crowded the lineup- the lineup's over-crowding the contracts, but the contracts are still playing well! Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Josh Reddick are all doing pretty well, with some emphasis on Reddick, who's hitting like it's 2012 in Oakland again.

Right now the AL West is kinda...weirdly devised, and the Angels are really the only people getting anywhere close to catching the Astros. But...I just wanna see this team play well for as long as possible. It's a fun sight.

Coming Tomorrow- Last gun in the valley...the San Fernando Valley? Nah, that'a a stretch.

There, She Blows!

(I couldn't resist)

The second baseman's benched for his own alcoholism! The right-fielder's benched for steroid abuse! The utility outfielder and third baseman, the two guys on the lineup with any positive momentum, are injured! The star center-fielder's coming off a slump! And the Pirates! Just! Keep! Fighting!

This isn't especially a bad team this year, but there are enough flaws to keep it from being a truly great one. The triple-threat of Ivan Nova, Jameson Taillon and Gerrit Cole is gonna be dangerous as all hell until one of them gets either injured or traded. Gregory Polanco and Josh Harrison are doing their best to keep life in the lineup despite injuries. There's definitely a ton of young talent in this roster, and everybody's getting a shot, but the division's so complex that it's not guaranteed that they'll get to do very well this year.

I do enjoy this team, and I enjoy this city, and I'm always rooting for the Bucs to do well, as I do like them better than the usual alternative (read: the Cardinals winning). With the Cubs still sitting atop the division, and impressive turns from Cincinnati, Milwaukee and St. Louis...the field is technically open, but at the same time it's gonna be hard for them to withstand all four competitors, as well as still technically be a factor. It's tricky. I'm gonna keep rooting for them, but it's a risky season.

Coming Tonight: In 2015, he was the best pitcher in the AL. In 2016, he was one of the worst. Now, the guy from 2015 is back, and a part of one of the most fun teams in the league.